September 28, 2006Liveblogging Gonerfest 3 in 3-D!It's that time of year again...Goner Fest! Where all the craziest, crustiest, most insane Goner fans gather in Memphis to see the best garage/punk bands in the world! It is always quite an experience. I will be liveblogging it all weekend and will be frequesntly posting updates, pictures and some video. Check out the trailer for the Goner Fest II: Electric Booglaoo DVD from last year - produced by the good people over at Live From Memphis. Due to a slight accounting error, I am actually quite broke, so feel free to buy me a beer if you see me. Check this out... King Louie on Live @ 9! I'm Number One!Alrighty. Here is what's going on. If you would like to read about my Seattle trip and all the drama it caused, I wrote something about it here. This weekend I will be liveblogging Gonerfest. You can follow along here. If you're looking for the Spin.com stuff, go here. I'll write more about that show on Scenestars later, along with a wrap up of ACL, and I'll finally post the Ted Leo pics... In other news, last night was the Memphis Flyer "Best of Memphis" party. Thanks for voting for me, I had a fabulous time and The Glass and The Secret Service put on a great show for everyone. I don't know Kris' last name, but the guy who owns The Warehouse, if he ever offers you a tour of the secret living quarters - you should take it! That place is off the hizzook! There's a big party there Friday night, I'll be at Gonerfest, but you should totally crash it if mingling with the garage punkers isn't your thing. After the party we went over to The Hitone to see Blair Combest, Holly Cole and Giant Bear. It was really really fun. I love those guys! A lot of people have emailed me about the being "spit on" comment. That situation has been resolved, but what happened was that I was at a show at the Hitone and was outside with my friends and it seems some girl thought that I kicked her. I think she was just hammered though and got confused, cause I'm not exactly the type of person that would kick anyone... So, this guy (her bf, I guess) comes up to me and was like, 'Do you like to kick people?" What a retard. Anyway, I've cleared my scheduled for blogging this weekend - so stay tuned. September 26, 2006Honorable MentionEven though I am defintely going to Gonerfest - this flyer is just too good not to post - plus the people in this band actually like me, and I fully expect to be spit on at the Hitone next weekend.
September 25, 2006I'd Like To Thank The Little PeopleMy brain is still scrambled from this past weekend - but boy was it fun! I highly recommend going on tour with a band if you ever get the chance. More blogging when I get some actual work done, in the meantime...
September 21, 2006Lil Filmfest ThreeThe third in the ongoing series of five-minutes-max projects by Memphis filmmakers is this Saturday, 2 p.m. at the MeDiA Co-op (First Congo Church, 1000 S. Cooper). The event, sponsored by Live From Memphis, is free, although donations on your part would be thoughtful and gracious. Go to livefrommemphis.com for more on Li'l Film Fest 3, but you may already know it's a showcase for local filmmakers to keep the creative juices flowing. There will be films by: John Pickle, of PickleTV In other local movie news, did you know that Commercial Appeal film critic John Beifuss has his own blog The Bloodshot Eye? He told me about it a few months ago, and me being a total dolt thought he was ust telling my for my own info - but then I realized - Hey! He proabbly wants me to link him! duh! He also wirtes for Rotten Tomatoes which I have never read, but I think I may start now. Austin City Limits: Sufjan Stevens, The Raconteurs, and Cat Power Plus Secret Joanna Newsom ShowOne of the definite highlights of being invited to blog The Austin City Limits Festival this year was being invited to three Austin City Limits tapings with Sufjan Stevens, The Raconteurs and Cat Power and the Memphis Rhythm Band. This year will be the popular public television show's 32nd season and will kick off on October 7th on PBS with a performance by former Kink's frontman Ray Davies. Other performances will include Calexico, Van Morrison, KT Tunstall, Alejandro Escovedo, and of course, the three shows I watched, I highly recommend you set your Tivos with a season pass.
Sunday evening I ducked out of the festival early to grab a shower and some food before heading down to the ACL studio on the UT campus to meet up with Scott and Amrit from Stereogum, Chris from Gorilla vs. Bear, and Sunni from Project DU. We somehow ended up being the first group to be invited inside. As we walked through the door they started to hand us beer. We had first choice of where we wanted to sit to see a double billing of Detroit's finest: Sufjan Stevens and The Raconteurs (Yeah, I know The Raconteurs claim to be from Nashville now, but whatevs.)
After picking out three different sets of seats, we finally settled on 4 seats on the front row on stage left, about 4 feet from the stage. Our seats turned out to be great because they were so close, but gave several of my cohorts minor anxiety as we were the group the camera turned on every time they were looking for a crowd reaction shot. I have to say, I have no idea why most bloggers are so adverse to having their picture taken. Anyway, Sufjan played first. Here's the setlist - held by Mr Stereogum himself who was quick to yank it as soon as the band was done playing.
Sufjan's set was flawless. They did not ask to replay one song. He is as beautiful in person as his voice is on tape. He dedicated "Detroit, Lift Up Your Weary Head" to Jack White (and himself). It was quite surreal to take in the whole experience sitting between his two biggest fans in all of the blogosphere (Scott and Chris). We weren't supposed to have cameras, but no one seemed to mind us taking pictures as long as we weren't shooting the bands during the taping. Luckily, the people at ACL were nice enough to introduce us to Scott Newton who has been photographing these tapings for all 32 seasons. (If you went to ACL you might have seen his black and white shots of past performers all over the festival!) Anyway, he offered to send us a few shots for our blogs:
After Sufjan, we grabbed some more beer and basked in each others afterglows. Were we really here? Did that really just happen? Are we really about to see The Raconteurs? Yes! Yes! Yes! Here's a shot of Jack White's guitars:
From Gorilla vs Bear: The Raconteurs were great as well, and Jack White returned the favor by dedicating "Together" to Sufjan. The band tore through most of Broken Boy Soldiers, and threw in Gram Parsons, Nancy Sinatra, and Flamin' Groovies covers to boot ("The Christian Life," "Bang Bang," and "Headin' for the Texas Border," respectively). The band absolutely killed a face-melting rendition of "Blue Veins," but Jack White, ever the audiophile, wasn't happy with it and made the band do it again. Ah, the magic of television.
The Raconteurs were definitely the highlight for me.
Setlist:
So, if that had been our only taping, I would have been more than happy, but Chris and I were invited back on Monday night to check out the Cat Power taping.
This time my friends Joe and Palli (with whom I crashed this weekend) sat with us. Joe Presti has a new record coming out in October that was produced by Doug Easley, so he and Palli got to pal around all weekend with the band and Chan. When she came out on stage she looked over and acknowledged the guys.
Her setlist was considerably longer than the previous night's performers and until the band left and she started to play a few songs solo, her performance went off without a hitch. It does actually work to her advantage to play with a band full of premiere players like she has in The Memphis Rhythm Band. You don't stop Doug Easley, Teeny Hodges, or Rick Steff in midsong and ask for a monitor to be turned up or down, you just don't.
Like I said, the first portion of the set when she played songs from her latest album, The Greatest, was pretty flawless. She finally lost her forward motion when she was trying to play "House of the Rising Sun." When she started over for the fourth time it was time for me to duck out to head down to The Parish to check out Joanna Newsom who had just booked this show sometime over the weekend. I went down with Chris who snapped some pics. I thought it would be really annoying if we were both up front taking pictures so I let him do the dirty work as some drunk girl took a nap on his back.
I find Joanna to be a little too precious for my taste, she's good for listening to at the end of a long night as you're trying to go to sleep, but in concert, although all around me I kept hearing people throw out words like, "Amazing!" and "Beautiful," I found the show to be slightly meandering, which means I left my spot at the front and went and finished the show at the bar closer to the beer. Two members of the Brazilain Girls were also in the house and talked throughout most of the set. So, in conclusion - Michael Feferman (who hooked me up all weekend) is the coolest person on earth and if he ever needs a kidney I will be the first to offer him one of mine. I would offer him my liver, but I highly doubt he would be willing to take it. Also, muchas gracias to Sunni Thompson for helping to coordinate the whole weekend and "Big Ups" to Capital Sports & Entertainment for inviting me and to AT&T for footing some of the bill. Still to come, a wrap-up of Sunday's festivities and some other parts of the festival that are totally blog worthy. I know I am late on getting all of this up, but after driving 10 hours on Tuesday back to Memphis, Wednesday was my deadline for my Commerical Appeal column, and then I went to bed at 5 PM Wednesday and didn't make it fully out of bed today until around noon. Telling that to my friend on the phone today, he couldn't beleive I had slept for 17 hours. My reply was, if you can sleep for 17 hours then you probably really needed to. And I did. On the agenda for this weekend? The 5th Annual Midpoint Music Festival! Maybe He Lost My NumberYou know, the best and only piece of advice I could ever give anyone about anything is to have a sense of humor about things. Sometimes, that's the only thing that will get you through it. For instance, a few months back I fully knew that it would be a bad idea to try and develop a relationship with someone I had been hot and cold for for the past few years. I knew from the beginning that it would never work out. But with a new affection from that said someone, I talked myself into letting down my guard and trying to be more open to possibilities. All along I was feeling pretty giving, like I was doing this person a favor to let the relationship progress, feeling like a regular Mother Theresa. I definitely wanted to be the cool, non-attached, easy going person that made things effortless and let things progress naturally without any pressure. And I'm so busy, it was pretty easy not to think too much about it. I fully planned to just let the relationship happen without any preconceived notions about what the future might hold. Then I go out of town for a week and realize, we aren't in a relationship at all. I guess it was all in my head. I mean, I was super busy the whole weekend, I didn't need a phone call or for him to even ask me where I was staying or when I was coming back, but a text message would have been nice. So, yeah, I was trying to be easy going and not worry about the whole thing, I don't want to be that girl that over-reacts when someone doesn't call. But 8 days without calling? This really isn't happening afterall. And this is where the sense of humor part always comes in handy. When you are an idiot, it really helps if you can just laugh at yourself. September 20, 2006September 18, 2006While You Were OutNo time to update this site, driving back to Memphis tomorrow... We were down once again due to technical difficulties, we're making plans to change hosting as sson as I get back! If you want to read about what I've been doing the last 5 days... I have a ton of stories to tell...stay tuned. September 14, 2006What I Have Been Up To
Many more pictures and details to come about the past week and my trip to Seattle. For now I'm running out the door to head to Austin for the ACL festival. I am also attending the Austin City Limits tapings this weekend for The racounteurs, Sufjan Stevens and Cat Power. It's ok to be jealous. This Week at OtherlandsPress Release: THANKS TO ALL FOR ATTENDING OUR LIVE SHOWS AND SUPPORTING MEMPHIS MUSIC. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15: LYNN DRURY, TWILIGHT HOTEL, & REBECCA ALMOND. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16: THE FIRST EVER MAKESHIFT SONGWRITER STAMPEDE, STARRING THE COACH & FOUR, BRAD POSTLETHWAITE, HOLLY, PAUL TAYLOR, & JD REAGER!!! We have a new events hotline... 901-692-5772. This phone number will have everything you need to know about Live Bands at Otherlands. Directions. Hours. Special Promotions. It should be up and running Tuesday afternoon. The inside line as always, will remain 901-278-4994. All purchases at the Live Music shows will be cash only from now on. We have a teller machine that charges a little. If you have to use it, you can present your receipt and get that charge deducted from your purchase. Shows are All Ages. Doors 7 pm. Coffee, beer, food. Smoke free. $5 cover. Large patio. EARLY SHOW. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15: LYNN DRURY, TWILIGHT HOTEL, & REBECCA ALMOND. LYNN DRURY Blown in from Katrina, New Orleans singer/songwriter/composer, Lynn Drury, washed up on the banks, and is making Memphis her home. Her fourth album and 219 Records release, "All You Need," will hit stores on July 11th, 2006. A mature release that combines her Delta Mississippi roots with the funkiness of the Big Easy. Lynn's was the last record to be recorded at Delta Recording Studios in Clarksdale, MS before they had to tear it all down and move, with Jimbo Mathus(Squirrel Nut Zippers) engineering, producing and also playing guitar, Wurlitzer, dobro, and mandolin. And with the help of local luminaries Paul Taylor, drums; Justin Showah, bass; Bryan Ledford, accordion & banjo; and New Orleans pedal steel player, Dave Easley. This record finds her sound at home and sippin' on a little go-go juice. http://www.myspace.com/lynndrury www.lynndrury.com TWILIGHT HOTEL Winnipeg Manitoba, freezing winters, scorching summers, salty streets and broken sidewalks; a gritty oasis on an otherwise bald prairie. Growing up in Winnipeg leaves its' mark. Twilight Hotel can give you the feeling of being behind the wheel and staring out at that endless horizon, but this isn't the kind of wheel you fall asleep at. Twilight Hotel leaves your average folk/roots music in the dust with the power of dueling electric guitars, soaring vocal harmonies and the unexpected sound of an accordion. The songs are heavy set with passion and fuelled by guts; they tell the stories of life's odds, sometimes harsh, sometimes sweet. Twilight Hotel have recently wrapped up the recording of their new studio album Bethune for release in early 2006. Bethune features 12 original songs ranging from their characteristic dark twang and circus cabaret to honky tonk rock n' roll. http://www.myspace.com/twilighthotel REBECCA ALMOND Performing first at 7:30 is Rebecca Almond. She has been showcasing her thoughtful songwriting and crytal clear voice at clubs around town. You shouldn't miss this excellent new artist if you like anything from alt country to jam bands. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16: THE FIRST EVER MAKESHIFT SONGWRITER STAMPEDE, STARRING THE COACH & FOUR, BRAD POSTLETHWAITE, HOLLY, PAUL TAYLOR, & JD REAGER!!! This show will start promptly at 7:30 but is liable to run a little later than 11 pm. It will end by 12 lastest. THE COACH & FOUR are a refreshing jolt of blues/garage-free Memphis rock. If you like rockist Jim O�Rourke, early Sea and Cake, poppier Sonic Youth, and I guess whatever has made great indie rock great, then listen up. "Oxytocin" is Brad Postlethwaite's current release on Makeshift. An entrancing blend of cosmic American music that owes as much to pioneering psychedelic country/pop legends like the Byrds and Gram Parsons as it does to modern-day fellow travelers like the Flaming Lips. It is available at many indie record stores as well as from http://www.makeshiftmusic.com/releases.htm Two cuts from the record can be heard on the snowglobe myspace page ("happy" and "dry"). It is the first of a series of "snowglobe solo records", each of which will be composed by a different band member. "Oxytocin" was composed and produced by Brad Postlethwaite, but performed by Snowglobe and other talented artists. The next record in the series, "The Black Squirrels", is currently planned for release in the Fall. HOLLY (just Holly the artist formerly known as Holly Cole but not the jazz singer) lists her influences as Cat Power, Maria Taylor, R.E.M., Aimee Mann, Bright Eyes, Clem Snide, Neutral Milk Hotel, EmmyLou Harris, and "others I can't think of right now." Her new Cd "Fearless and Free" is fresh out of the box on Makeshft PAUL TAYLOR Paul's new solo CD "Open Closed" is in stores now (shangri-la, goner, cat's midtown, spin street, and soon at tower and borders). You can also order a copy from www.makeshiftmusic.com. Paul Taylor Currently performs with Amy LaVere and the Tramps. He is a veteran of some of the best bands ever to come out of Memphis, North Mississippi AllStars, Big Ass Truck, Bloodthirsty Lovers, Gut Bucket, DDT, and quite a few more. JD REAGER is a veteran Memphis musician. He currently fronts the band JD Reager and the Cold Bloded Three. JD is also a founding member of the Makeshift Record Label and a producer/engineer at the brand new Unclaimed Recordings, Memphis hottest new recording venue. Live accoustic performance. All Ages. Doors 7 pm. Coffee, beer, food. Smoke free. $5 cover. Large patio. EARLY SHOW. September 10, 2006Remembering September 11thDuring the summer of 2001 I was 27 years old. I had a great job as a production coordinator and lived in downtown Manhattan with my boyfriend of three years. I was in love. We had recently moved into a beautiful brand new apartment on the corner of Greenwich and Rector in the financial district. The building was located at 88 Greenwich Street, NY, NY 10006. Mapquest it. We loved our new neighborhood. It was bustling during the day, but around 7 PM every night it became a ghost town. It was calm and quiet and we liked it that way. That summer we adopted two puppies and every evening when we both got home from work we would make dinner and then take our dogs for a walk. Sometimes we would walk over to Battery Park City and go to the dog park or walk around the esplenade where we had a terrific view of the Statue of Liberty. That summer every weekend there were fireworks going off at the esplenade. We would often get up early on the weekends and walk to the Krispy Kreme Donut shop in the base of the WTC and have coffee and donuts as we read the paper on the benches in front of the Twin Towers. Many people don't know this, but there was a mall in the basement of the towers. There was a Gap, and a Sam Goody, a Bath & Bodyworks, and a J. Crew, and a Duane Reade where I bought shampoo and deoderent, where I bought magazines and gum, where I bought lipgloss and toothpaste. We had acclimated to the neighborhood, found the perfect grocery and liquor stores, we knew many of the counter workers and subway attendents. We finally felt at home. Our existance was very picturesque. Almost too good to be true. Everything changed on September 11th. We lived on the 12th floor of a 35 story building located two "short" blocks from the World Trade Center. (Short blocks meaning the distance between blocks going north and south, versus east and west, which are significantly, well, shorter.) On that infamous Tuesday morning I did not wake up to the sound of a plane hitting the north tower, or even to the sirens and commotion going on out on the street below my apartment window. I awoke to a man screaming in the hallway, "Do you wanna die?" I thought there was some kind of domestic altercation going on in the hallway. I jumped out of bed and ran to the door to my apartment. My boyfriend was in the shower at the time and as he came out of the bathroom he asked me what was going on. I answered that I thought one of our neighbors was about to kill his girlfriend. I had my ear up against the door trying to listen to what was going on long enough to figure out that the person the man was yelling at was obviously not being taken against her will (I remember her saying something like, "Should we take our rollerblades?) and so I laid back down in my bed while my boyfriend continued to get ready for work. I also had to go to work but I ususally didn't get up until around 9:30 to be at work by 10:30. I was lucky, the 9 subway train station was directly under my apartment building and it was an express to the Paramount Building on 51st and Broadway where I worked. It was the easiest commute you could ask for in NYC. My boyfriend worked downtown at Goldman-Sachs and walked to work. He usually left around 8:45 to be at work by 9. Just as I was falling back asleep he kissed me goodbye and left for work. Our apartment was shotgun house style in it's layout. The door to the apartment opened into our bedroom, then there was a hallway with a bathroom, then the kitchen, then the dining area, then the living room. In the living room there was a single huge window that looked out over Washington Street. Our bed was set up against the wall that was next to the elevator shafts in the main corridor of our floor. I could always here the elevator bell ring when the doors would open to let someone on and off. I remember hearing that bell ring for the elevator that Jason must have stepped onto and then hearing the doors close. Thats when the second plane hit the south tower and shook our building so hard that I was thrown to the floor. Since I was only wearing my underwear at the time, I immediately jumped up and grabbed some pajama bottoms out of a drawer and threw on a t-shirt. I then ran to the one window in our apartment that overlooked Washington Street and pulled it all the way open. The next moment I will never forget because I remember it happening in slow motion, like straight out of a movie. I looked down to the street, to try and figure out which way my building was falling down and saw a sea of people on the street looking up into the sky. Before I was able to turn my head and follow their gaze, I felt the heat on the side of my face. I slowly turned my head towards the south tower and my mouth fell open. There was a giant burning hole in the side of the tower, in the shape of an airplane. I could see that the north tower was on fire also. Tears immediately welled up in my eyes. I had no idea what was going on. My phone started ringing. I turned on the television. I fielded calls for the 15 or 20 minutes. Friends, family, my work, they all called to see what was going on. I was pretty calm throughout the whole thing. I was too caught up to even think at the time where Jason might be, it turned out he was stuck in the elevator that he was on when the second plane hit. I spent a long time on the phone with my mother, trying to assure her that everything was going to be fine, and at the time, I really did believe that. She kept trying to encourage me to leave my apartment and I kept trying to convince her there was really no place to go. There was chaos in the streets, the subway system was obviously out of commission, no one would have been able to find a cab at that point, and since I lived south of the towers, the only place to go was into the water. Manhattan is, afterall, an island. So, I sat and watched television and tried to figure out what the hell was going on. I went to my window and watched for a while and got out my binoculars when I saw that something kept falling off the towers and landing on the ground with a dull thud. As I looked through the lenses I caught sight of a man and a woman holding hands and jumping to their death. I put the binoculars away and left the window. Jason was finally released from the elevator and made his way back to the apartment. We talked about what was going on as we watched it on television like we were in Boise, Idaho, not two blocks away. We flipped through all the stations and everyone was saying that it was obviously a terrorist attack. "A what? Bin Laden? What are these people talking about?" "But we're in America, you can't do that to Americans!" Yes, I was naive then, just like the majority of us. Jason and I never really discussed what we should do. It seemed like the fire would just burn itself out. I didn't feel like we were in any real danger. And then we heard the south tower begin to rumble. I ran to the window which was still wide open and looked out at the tower. It looked like it was shaking in an earthquake. I looked down and saw hundreds of people turn and run for their lives. Jason, being smarter than me, came over and grabbed me and slammed down the window. We looked at each other with fear in our eyes. If the building fell like a tree when you hack into it with an axe, it could definitley land on our building, we were that close. We ran to the back of our apartment and got on the bed with our two small puppies and braced ourselves. Then we listened to the building fall. We watched through the window as a huge black cloud of smoke engulf everything to the point where it was just black outside. After a few minutes everything kind of settled and our phone rang. We looked at each other in shock that we were alive and okm, and then I got up and went down the hallway and picked up the phone. Once again it was my mother. After I convinced her that we were ok, once again she tried to convince me to leave. And once again I asked her where we were suppose to go, especially now that outside was pitch black. I stayed on the phone with her until the second tower fell. When the second tower fell, we lost power and the phone went out. We were crouched in the corner of our bed in complete darkeness. And that's when I kind of lost it. I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. And we had no idea what to do. It was like getting the air knocked out of you and having a panic attack because you can't breathe, except this one didn't last for only a minute or two. It lasted for at least 20. I don't remmeber what we said, or what I thought really. I just remember being scared. At some point there was a knock at the door. We opened it and it was our super. He told us to put on sturdy shoes and clothes, find something to put some water in and come down into the basement. As we tried to prepare ourselves to leave our apartment by the light of a candle, I looked around at everything I owned and wondered what I should take with me. At the time, I didn't know if I was ever going to be able to come back or what lay ahead of us outside. I packed a bag with the FM radio from my shower, a ziploc bag full of dog food, emptied a 2 liter of coke and filled it with water, and packed a loaf of bread. Then I grabbed my laptop and one of my puppies, with Jason carying the other one, and we left our apartment and made our way to the basement. Our basement had a huge fitness center and among the treadmills, elliptical machines and weights were about 30 other people sitting on the ground, all looking slightly bewildered. Some were covered in ashes, as they were obviously outside when one of the buildings fell and probably ducked into our building for cover. Many had their pets with them and a bag. Nobody really talked much. We just sat there dumbfounded. A few hours later they finally told us that we could leave the building. No one told us what to do or where we should go really, just that we should start walking up FDR drive. When I stepped out of my apartment buidling, it felt like I had stepped into the aftermath of a nuclear war. There was ash and dust a foot deep on the ground. You could not see the sky, just smoke and haze. There were papers flying everywhere. We carried our dogs and began walking, not knowing really where we were going. Just away. As we walked towards the east side of the island I stopped at a pay phone and called my mother. We had been on the phone when the second building fell and had lost our connection, that had been at least two hours before. When she answered the phone she was in hysterics. She kept saying that she wanted me to come home (to Memphis) and I kept having to explain to her that nobody was going anywhere anytime soon. I finally convinced her to calm down enough so that I could get out of downtown and that I would call her when I found another pay phone (Cell phones were on overload and none could get through). So, we started to walk up FDR to the Brooklyn Bridge where we had been told we should cross over and go into Brooklyn. It took us a least a couple of hours to make it that far, along with thousands of other people making the trek. I'll tell you this, almost the most scary thing that happened that day was walking across that bridge thinking that it could blow up any minute. I'm surprised no one had a heart attack crossing that bridge because my heart was beating out of my chest. When we landed in Brooklyn, most everyone just kind of stopped. Where were we supposed to go? We all kind of just found a place and sat down. I pulled out my shower radio and tuned into a news station and had 20 or 30 people gather round as we sat and tried to figure out what was going on. We heard about the Pentagon and the other hijacked plane that had crashed. Some people were saying that the Brooklyn courthouse had been bombed (which obviously turned out to just be some visious rumor that made it's way through the crowd). At some point we decided that we were hungry and walked further into Brooklyn until we found a restaurant that was still open. We went in with our dogs and sat at a table and ordered macaroni and cheese. (Talk about needing some comfort food.) And then we plotted our next move. Jason's Aunt and Uncle lived in Norwalk CT, which seemed to be the closest people we knew that did not live in the city (we couldn't get in touch with any of our friends anyway since we couldn't get through to cell phones.) So, we called them from a pay phone and somehow figured out that MATA was giving free train rides to people at Central Station. Now all we had to do was make it there. no easy task when you're in Brooklyn and no public transpo is running. So we walked back to the bridge and sat there until they told us we could cross back over into the city. When we got back into the city, we tried to go back south towards our apartment for the small chance they might have let us back in, but that was a shot in the dark and they were not letting people go south of Houston Street. So we began the long walk to Central Station. It was late when we finally made it. We were tired and dirty and hungry, but it felt like we had survived. Like we had somehow won because we made it. The next three days I spent on the couch in front of the television at Jason's aunt's house. Though we stayed together for two more years after 9/11, that harrowing day was definitly when the first cracks in our relationship happend. I didn't get along with Jason's aunt and that strained our relationship. We couch jumped and stayed in hotels for the next three weeks before they would let us back into our apartment. Two weeks after I returned to work, MTV laid off my entire department. We had to deal with FEMA and join an asscociation to battle our landlord to let people out of their leases and to lower our rents (cause obviously the $2500 a month we had been paying was hardly what the property was worth now). We endured round the clock work going on at Ground Zero. We walked by the pictures of the dead and missing every day. plastered on every building, fence, wall, waindow, everywhere. Almost every day as I walked around my neighborhood, I would hear loud crashing noises that sounded like bombs going off. I never knew whether to run away or to ignore them. The air was horrible, but we were told it was safe. We were both basically aggrivated 24/7. And then there were the tourists. The fence to keep people away from the mass grave was located directly in front of my building, so every time I left or came home I had to fight my way through gawkers. I think Jason and I just kind of went numb. Our perfect world was gone. And if we had been stronger people, maybe everything that happened would have brought us closer together, but instead it just drove us apart. We continued going through the motions so long, one day I woke up next to someone that I felt like I didn't even know. I didn't know anyone who died on September 11th. But I know that a little peice of all of us did. It changed all of our lives forever, in so many complex ways. Ways in which many of us are only fully coming to grips with now, 5 years later. I don't want any of this to come off like what happened to me even compares to how it effected those who lost friends and family in the attacks, or even those whose friends and families continue to lose their lives in the ongoing war that is happening right now as I write this. It's just my story, and many people have asked me about what happened that day, and tonight I felt compelled to tell you. September 7, 2006Two Must See Shows @ OtherlandsPress Release: CHECK OUT OUR MYSPACE!!!! www.myspace.com/otherlands Thanks for enjoying our shows and thanks for supporting live Memphis music! Please feel free to forward these messages to all of your friends and neighbors. Doors for all shows open at 7 pm. The headline entertainment starts around 9 pm. Hot shows coming this weekend at Otherlands... FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8: BRAD POSTLETHWAITE!!! Member of Snowglobe and Co-Founder of Makeshift Records, Brad Postlethwaite performs at Otherlands, Friday, September 8. Snowglobe "Oxytocin" is Brad Postlethwaite's current release on Makeshift. An entrancing blend of cosmic American music that owes as much to pioneering psychedelic country/pop legends like the Byrds and Gram Parsons as it does to modern-day fellow travelers like the Flaming Lips. It is available at many indie record stores as well as from http://www.makeshiftmusic.com/releases.htm Two cuts from the record can be heard on the snowglobe myspace page ("happy" and "dry"). It is the first of a series of "snowglobe solo records", each of which will be composed by a different band member. "Oxytocin" was composed and produced by Brad Postlethwaite, but performed by Snowglobe and other talented artists. The next record in the series, "The Black Squirrels", is currently planned for release in the Fall. Live accoustic performance. All Ages. Doors 7 pm. Coffee, beer, food. Smoke free. $5 cover. Large patio. EARLY SHOW. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9: HARLAN T BOBO!!!! We are pleased and proud to host Harlan T. Bobo at Otherlands, Saturday, Sept. 9. Harlan will be performing with string section and his special guest is Shawn Crips. Backed by members of the Reigning Sound, F*ck and Viva l'American Deathray Music, and recorded at Easley McCain Studio, Harlan's record has already been hailed as the best Memphis record of the last five years by the Memphis Flyer. And rightfully so- it's a purely, perfectly American album, wide open and alone with touches of melancholy, paranoia, loneliness, depspair and simple hope coloring every little moment. Love will do that to you. "Too Much Love" garnered the highest rated song of the week on NPR's "All Songs Considered" http://www.npr.org/programs/asc/openmic/index.php?episode=46 RateYourMusic.com says "A masterpiece by an extraordinarily talented artist, this is music I guarantee you'll still be listening to many years from now. Five stars are not enough. Warning: Too Much Love is extremely addictive!" http://rateyourmusic.com/view_album_details/album_id_is_339749 Live accoustic performance. All Ages. Doors 7 pm. Coffee, beer, food. Smoke free. $5 cover. Large patio. EARLY SHOW. Michael Vs. Prince
If you need more evidence that the '80s are the new retro cool, look no further than The Complex dance floor on the 8th. It's where anyone who owned an Atari, remembers the Tylenol scare, or understands "Tron" references should be this Saturday night when Chicago area hip-hop consortium Classic Material Promotions presents the clash of the ultimate '80s pop titans Michael Jackson and Prince. The sounds of a pre-Neverland Michael Jackson will attempt to end Prince's Purple "reign" over the 80s, while a pre-symbol Prince will try to dethrone the King of Pop. Presented by legendary Chicago Area hip hop promoter Chi.Soul, Prince vs. Michael Jackson distills nostalgia-laden tracks like Jackson's "PYT (Pretty Young Thing)" and Prince's "Kiss" with hip-hop humor. And like any good street brawl, musical or otherwise, it wouldn't be a real throwdown without some backup. Jackson's been known to call on the rest of the "The Five" to watch his back, if Prince wants to be startin' somethin'. While Prince has been known to lean on such '80s pop luminaries as one-time rival Morris Day and the Time. And if necessary, Prince may call on ex-girlfriend Sheila E. The King of Pop may respond by throwing down the gauntlet with sister Janet, (Ms. Jackson, if you're nasty.) So practice those moves because when Thriller comes on it's over!!! September 1, 2006Devine InterventionLi'l Film Fest 2 Entry by Christopher Reyes A modern tribute to the amazing talents of Terry Gilliam's Monty Python animations by Christopher Reyes. VMA's Sucked? No Way!After hitting the sack fairly early last night, this morning I awoke to a plethora of stories about the MTV VMA's which happened last night in NYC. I am not sure if it will lower my credibility or make me that much cooler to admit that I am pretty in the dark about most of the attendees and winners. I could not have watched the show even if I had wanted to since I don't have cable, but what I found most surprising is the number of websites that liveblogged the event that basically spent three hours lamenting about how much the show sucked along with a slew of snarky commenters. Did it ever occur to any of these people to just turn it off? I've said it before and I'll say it again, I just don't get the trend of people wasting so much time trashing things. I have a pretty awesome job that allows me a lot of time every day to pursue my interests, which mostly revolves around three things, listening to music, reading, and watching documentaries and films, and the occasional season of television on DVD, and you know what? It's still not enough time to curb my appetite for things I am interested in. And to think that there are people out there that waste so much time trying to feel better about themselves by belittling things THAT THEY ARE OBVIOUSLY FUELING is the true definition of irony! If it sucks, DON'T WATCH IT, EINSTEIN! I have certainly taken my share of beratement for not being overly critical, but it helps me to not feel like the total twerp that I see people morph into when they have gone on record tearing some celebrity or musician a new asshole, and then they meet them in person and kiss that freshly minted 8-pointed asterick. No medium will ever be able to completely sum up who anyone is and I know from experience people can often be misrepresented. The bile that can be spewed from someone sitting alone in their apartment with the room lit up by only the glare from their monitor is some of the most self-loathing hatred I have ever read. And the funny thing is, the majority of people who are willing to type it would never, ever have the guts to say it to someone's face, cause it would just make them look C-R-A-Z-Y. I don't know where I am going with this other than, God! People! Get A Life! Making Memphis Music WorkI meant to link to this post that Sherman Wilmott wrote for Smart City Memphis a few weeks back. With his permission, I am reposting it in its entirety. It's a long read, but there are some really great suggestions with a lot of insight!
How to Make the Memphis Music Pie Bigger The music business has changed quite a bit since the day when Memphis was on top of the music world in the 1950’s, 1960’s, and early 1970’s. Historically, sales of 78’s, 45’s, and lp’s by artists or bands from Memphis on small, independent labels based in Memphis constituted the basis for the Memphis music industry, making Memphis internationally renowned in the world of music. Record sales did two things: 1) made Memphis known worldwide for its studio output, and 2) allowed the artists with the biggest sales to become national and international recording and touring stars. All of this history is fine and good, but the Memphis music “industry” no longer works that way. What Memphis needs to understand is how to grow its current music business as it has been crawling back from its deep malaise in the late 70’s and early 80’s since 1990. Understanding exactly what comprises the current state of the Memphis music business helps to envision where scarce financial resources should or could be implemented. The Memphis music business is about live music and the people who consume it--along with beer, alcohol, meals in restaurants, hotel rooms, rental cars, and shopping. Once one understands and acknowledges this premise, then one can understand why Memphis should concentrate on improving its live music infrastructure and amenities in order to continue to build and grow the Memphis music industry. The wrong and often tried paradigm - especially in the last 20 years in Memphis - of trying to get major labels or “hot” producers to move to Memphis or trying to get Memphis acts signed to major labels--is mere fool’s gold for anyone trying to build a long-lasting business model in Memphis music. The Memphis Music “industry” should recognize these changes and adapt a program accordingly. Currently, the money in the national music industry is spent on a relatively small number of acts that are hand-picked by the major labels, which are owned by huge multi-national corporations. These labels move their promotional machines behind their artist’s cd/mp3 and do expensive marketing and crossover promotions with their young artists with whom they have signed the lowest royalty rates. The “industry” has very little to do, proportionally dollarwise, with recording music any more, and everything to do with expensive cross-promotions by these major corporations: “If you put our band on your fast food cup, we’ll pay advertising for your burger chain…” etc. Studios are not where the money is made in the national industry anymore. Where is the money made in the Memphis music industry? Hotels, restaurants, bars, instrument shops, record stores, beer distributors, and radio stations, as well as other media outlets that sell advertising for the Memphis music heard in the clubs, theaters, and concert halls. Far more money is made in Memphis in the live music industry than in the studio or record label industry. Studios have become commoditized. Currently there are probably over 500 recording studios in Memphis - around 30 or so commercially available - and none of them are booked full-time. Most of the commercial studios are available at steeply discounted rates whenever an artist or label needs the service. One busy night at a Memphis nightclub can contribute far more dollars to the Memphis music business than a two-week session at a Memphis recording studio. The upcoming Tom Waits show is a perfect example of this. Expect at least 20 percent of the concert-goers to be driving (or flying) in to Memphis for the weekend. 600 people will be paying for hotel rooms for at least one night, possibly two or three. 600 people will be buying drinks all weekend. 600 people will be buying two or three meals a day. 600 people will be shopping in Memphis stores for the weekend. 600 people will be buying gas or renting cars here. 600 people will be spending money in Memphis who otherwise would be spending their money in another city except for the fact that the Orpheum booked the concert in Memphis. Do the math. How much money do you think those 600 people will spend in Memphis that weekend? Far more than the impact of a $100,000 studio recording budget, which would be a pretty damn rare event these days anyway. Once one understands the vastly greater potential for live music dollars than making money through traditional music business paradigms, then one can understand how to improve the music business in Memphis. How does this business work? Music fans come to Memphis to see and hear live music. They fly or drive in (plane tickets/cab fare or gas in town), book a room at a Memphis hotel, buy meals at Memphis restaurants, buy cover charges and drinks from the club, buy a t-shirt or cd from the band at the show, buy records at Memphis record stores, visit Sun Studio/Graceland/Stax/Gibson/RocknSoul/Civil Rights/Brooks/etc. That in a nutshell is the Memphis music business. The studio and record label business pales in comparison to the beer sales and cover charges clubs make. D. Canale and Jack Daniels are making far more money off the Memphis music industry than Young Ave. Sound. This music business theory is no different than the premise that hosting large soccer tournaments for youth teams creates far more business than having a professional soccer team in Memphis. Enhancing the music scene costs a whole lot less than trying to convince or incentivize major labels to move to Memphis. Memphis already has the infrastructure of the clubs, hotels, and great musicians/bands in place. In order to take advantage and improve this growing business, Memphis should do a few things to enhance the market. 1) Build (and Maintain!) a Great Website for Memphis Music events. Update it and keep it accurate. The closest example in Memphis is www.memphismojo.com or www.livefrommemphis.com, but these are privately-owned resources that need investment to improve the offerings and keep them current. Live from Memphis has the added bonus of promoting live footage of Memphis music as well as maintaining as complete a database of Memphis musicians and production resources as there is - a unique website for sure. This is the cheapest, most economical way to promote Memphis music, and it has been unbelievable to watch the Music Commission not work with this established organization. 2) Create a Satellite Radio Station Broadcasting Memphis Music/Events and 3) Create a Nationally Distributed Memphis Soul Stew Television Show a la Austin City Limits—with Blues Caravan, possibly at Orpheum, Beale St., Cannon Center, etc. Live performances as well as feature pieces a la Behind the Music or Biography. Possibly work with WKNO or Library Channel studio (Cost estimated: weekly show--$750,000 (30 shows x $25,000); monthly show $480,000 (12 shows x $40,000)) Syndicate nationally/internationally with BBC. Broadcast from website. Not a valentine to the good ole days featuring past icons, but a hip show that presents the best of the past, present, and future. 4) Increase the Number of Live Music Options. Improve the budgets of current music events. a) Boost current live music events/festivals to new levels by increasing budgets. Amounts as small as $5,000-10,000 would increase the quality of virtually every event already on the Memphis music events calendar. Give the above events more resources to book more local bands, better regional bands, and the occasional national acts to complement the overall event. By building up the smaller events, Memphis will continue to create stronger, more consistent (at least once a month, and ideally, far more often) reasons for people to come to Memphis and spend money on a more regular basis. Do this once or twice a month and the tourism market will see an incredible boost. Memphis becomes a “happening” music town when people can count on some sort of music event every weekend in which they come to Memphis. During the day, visitors will go to Sun Studio, Graceland, Rock ‘N Soul Museum, and the Stax Museum (as well as other retail shops, art galleries, museums, zoo, etc.). At night they will go hear music in the clubs or concert halls. Remember, Memphis is competing with Disney World, the NFL, Chicago, St. Louis, Nashville, and museum attractions in other cities for visitor’s attention and dollars. Memphis needs to offer the best music package possible to compete with other cities. There should be at least one strong, quality music event every month to attract visitors—many more if possible. With the exception of Memphis in May Music Festival and the BBQ Festival, these are small events which could become much bigger. There are other smaller events, not listed here, which could become bigger as well. Other events could and should be created in off-season months (January, February, July, August, and November/December need more music events) to enhance the slower seasons. This work would take the drive of an aggressive music promoter, but the rewards would be visitors who could always count on music happenings in Memphis—all year round. The Folk Music Alliance gathering in Memphis in February, 1996, was a huge, much-needed boost to the usually slow February visitor season. This music convention will return in February, 2007, for what should be another banner music-related event for Memphis, Memphis clubs, and Memphis retailers, restaurants, and hotels. This event is an example of the type of event that a strong Music Commission could help recruit to permanently host in Memphis. Hosting events like these in slow seasons like February increases the value of the event to Memphis since business is normally down then. For all of these events, spend resources communicating with and attracting the vast numbers of media music and travel writers and reporters who will readily come to Memphis given a musical opportunity or excuse. The publicity Memphis generates through embracing the media becomes a massive payoff in national/international tourist awareness of Memphis thus creating new visitors to Memphis. b) Create new music events/festivals for off-season activity in January, February, March, August c) Create world-class Memphis Hip/Hop, Gospel, Blues, Rockabilly, and Soul/R&B Festivals (or tie in more intensely with Helena, Arkansas, or even Clarksdale, MS. Blues festivals) All of these genres emanated, thrived, or are known to be heavily based in Memphis. Why are there no major festivals featuring these genres here? Each of these genres has its own distinct, different fan base. Bringing diverse groups of music fans to Memphis for each different festival increases the income for the city. Book music symposiums, book signings, special tours and events around each music festival--as the Ponderosa Stomp did in May and South x Southwest has done with its new music festival in Austin. d) Add a 2nd weekend to Memphis in May Music Festival a la New Orleans Jazz Festival. The current Memphis in May music festival is broken. Instead of enhancing Memphis in May, Memphis as a music destination, or the Memphis in May music festival itself, the bookers have been aiming for the lowest common denominator music fan for several years. The bookers have been more concerned with not losing money than with taking chances and making the festival an international destination like Jazzfest is in New Orleans. Their idea seems to be, “If it rains, folks from Arkansas will still drive up for the day, drink beer in the rain, and watch Styx or .38 Special and then go home.” If the festival were booked with a better quality of music in mind, the fans would come from all over the world (and have!) and be here rain or shine. This selling of Memphis short hurts the long-term viability of the festival. A major overhaul is necessary. I would recommend, at the very least, making the festival two weekends in a row to give people two great weekends to choose to come (or stay the whole week in between, which is normally down time for hotels). Ideally, the festival would spread the budget (and the music) out over four or five weekends beginning in late April, booking a better quality of reggae, world, blues, folk, alternative, jazz, Afro-Cuban, etc., mixed in with the best of Memphis’ talent. Memphis’ downtown would be better served having the music spread out over the month rather than this one-and-done, wham-bam, let’s-fill-up-the-park-and-destroy-it-with-drunks-one-weekend-thank you ma’am approach. The risk of one wet weekend ruining the festival would be diminished. The ruination of most of downtown for Memphis residents for one whole weekend would no longer be an issue. Overall, Memphis would increase its income if the music were to be spread out over 4 weekends of quality, smaller concerts. (Make one weekend Memphis hip-hop, the next Memphis gospel, the next Memphis blues, the next Memphis Soul/R&B, then Memphis rockabilly…that’s just one idea. You get four or five different music fans coming to town). If the festival is taken to the next level, people will come from all over the world to visit Memphis and spend money. If it stays as it is, they will drive home to Osceola after getting drunk in the mud and spend zero dollars in Memphis. Memphis in May is not enhancing the Memphis music industry. 5) Create an environment where “local” music is not a bad word. Memphis bands need radio play to be successful. The almost complete dearth of Memphis music heard on commercial radio has been a stranglehold on a potentially major business that could be thriving in the Memphis market. Blame it on Clear Channel radio station consolidation; payola; poor understanding of the market; or whatever scapegoat you want, but the lack of radio play for current Memphis music has held the Memphis music industry back. Memphis radio has not understood nor caught up with the revitalized new legion of Memphis music that is currently thriving on independent labels and in Memphis clubs—as well as on satellite radio stations and clubs and stages all over the world (Has one Memphis commercial radio station played the new Cat Power record, which was recorded at Ardent Records in Memphis last summer with some of the hottest Memphis musicians? The band is one of the hottest tickets in alternative rock ‘n roll these days. Cat Power & the Memphis Rhythm Band features some of the best Memphis musicians going and has been on David Letterman, headlined Coachella and Bonaroo Festivals, played on the BBC-TV as well as theaters in N.Y. and London and is receiving critical acclaim from stages all over the world, but they are not even heard on Memphis radio!) A major awareness campaign must be undertaken immediately to convince skeptical radio programmers why it is great business to promote Memphis music on the Memphis airwaves. This needs to be done publicly in a grassroots/billboard/bumper sticker campaign and privately behind the scenes by taking program directors and key advertisers to lunches and educating the often from-out-of-town programmers who do not understand the market here and why playing Memphis music on air is good business. If bands can sell enough cds from Memphis radio play to help build a bigger base, then they can start touring regionally and nationally with the sales from the Memphis market aiding their tours. A corollary to all of this is that the Memphis Arts Council, a major funder of the arts and one which has ignored non-classical Memphis music funding for my entire life, needs to understand that Memphis music is an art. Memphis music needs to be incorporated into their long-term budgeting as well as their live art displays, openings, and events. Much like the controversial UrbanArt budget, which has allowed art projects to be incorporated into new public architectural projects, live music needs to be budgeted into the fabric of Memphis lifestyle if Memphis is to grow its music industry. There should be live music at the airport greeting visitors every day. There should be live music outdoors in the South Main arts district every Friday evening. There should be live music in the Pepsi Pavilion (formerly W.C. Handy Park) every day. The Overton Park Shell should have live music three or more nights a week. There should be live music at the proposed Beale Street Landing every weekend. The Arts Council needs to step up to the plate on Memphis music, if only to engage its wealthy patrons to hire more Memphis bands for their private parties. Memphis musicians need more opportunities to ply their trade. This is not charity work for musicians; having Memphis music permeate the culture makes Memphis a greater destination internationally and pays off when competing for tourist dollars. For the corporate folks who don’t get it, having Memphis music played live everywhere helps to “brand” Memphis as the music capital of the world. Finally, the Memphis Convention and Visitor’s Bureau needs to catch up to the 21st century and begin ardently promoting current Memphis music and musicians. The MCVB has made a nice living for the past 15 years promoting Memphis’ incredible heritage of the 20th century. It is time for them to change gears and begin promoting what is happening now with the untouchable coffers they receive from the hotel tax. A great example of how the MCVB could step up would be by financially supporting the company that has done more to promote Memphis’ current arts scene worldwide in the last five years than any other group: the Live from Memphis people. Not only have they been promoting live music and arts events, but they also made the best promotional tool Memphis has seen in years: the My Memphis tv show, paid out of the pockets of the company, but benefiting tourism, Chamber of Commerce, Downtown stakeholders, etc. These two organizations, Memphis Arts Council and MCVB, have large honey pots of money and are not supporting and promoting the current Memphis music renaissance as they should be. If Memphis is to increase its music business, then these two organizations, with all of their taxpayer funding, need to step up and get with the times. All of these ideas and events would emphasize (and benefit) Memphis music and Memphis musicians—past, present, and future—but would also build more toward the future musicians than the past. Also, hosting the events with quality promotion by the various entities putting on the festivals will greatly enhance Memphis’ reputation to the music world. The increased amount of live music will enhance the likelihood of visitation for future festivals as well as focusing Memphis on potential visitor’s itineraries for the occasional weekend visit. The more gigs the current Memphis musicians have, the more incentive there is for the best musicians to live in Memphis. If the musicians can make a decent living playing in Memphis, they will stay in Memphis--or move here if they don’t already live in Memphis. Once located here, the amount of recording opportunities for the musicians/bands will naturally increase by demand/supply. A couple of minor tweaks to the system… 6) Fix the Musician’s Health Care ProgramThe health care plan designed for Memphis musicians is a great pro-musician incentive the music commission created to get bands to be able to live in Memphis with affordable healthcare and is probably the most useful, practical program the Music Commission has ever come up with. However, if a musician cannot make at least half of their income from their music - which is the case with most Memphis musicians currently - the health care plan means nothing as the musician does not qualify for the program. To be useful, this program needs to be more amenable to the reality of working Memphis musicians. 7) Fix the public transportation situationThere is no reliable way for visitors to get around town or to mid-town clubs esp. in late night hours. Trolleys don’t get to mid-town clubs and shut down too early to be effective for late-night tourism in the downtown area. Memphis cabs don’t exist when you need them. Solving this situation for tourists would also benefit Memphians who have a mutual interest in safe, reliable late night public transportation. So, where and how does the infrastructure of Memphis Music industry benefit from these new music platforms and programs? The bands take their gig money and use it to (in addition to paying rent) buy new instruments and equipment, spend more money promoting their band (print shops, web sites, poster designers, etc.). When visitors from out of town hear bands they like, they buy cd’s, records, dvd’s, and t-shirts from the bands. Visitors go into record stores and spend money on their cd’s or download them from a site like I-tunes. If the band has nothing to sell, as they build up a following, the band goes into a (Memphis) studio, cuts a record, and releases the record - either with their own gig money or money from a small, independent record label. The record label spends money on design, printing, advertising, a web site and pressing the record. All of a sudden, you have a small music industry. This small, cottage industry has been growing for over 15 years and the number of independent releases from Memphis bands and labels has increased every year. With each additional strong record release, interest in Memphis music grows. As interest in Memphis music grows, major labels and major “hot” producers come scouring for talent. It is a demand driven industry. If there is interest in Memphis music, the money will come in the form of labels/producers/recording budgets etc, but the demand has to be built. It starts with the music and musicians, not by bringing in producers first. The ripple effect of these expenditures is extraordinarily strong. Soon you have people who can actually make a living in peripheral businesses to music: printing, design, promotion, distribution, etc. This organic growth makes a big impression quickly in a city as small and insular as Memphis. The energy becomes infectious, and other people get involved when they see success of others (look at the growth of the indie film/video scene in Memphis since the success of Craig Brewer’s P&H as well as the interest in Memphis as a filming location). Other musicians see the success of Memphis musicians and bands and want to move to Memphis to become part of the creative atmosphere. Eventually, when the “local bands” have built large followings thanks to their increased exposure at larger Memphis events, they begin touring to other cities to promote their new record they have released. They buy vans, hire a manager, and the whole band effort moves to the next level. As more bands from Memphis hit the road and spread the Memphis Sound, other musicians and creative people want to venture to Memphis to capture that feeling and become a part of something successful. More people hear these Memphis bands on the road and become curious about the Memphis Sound. They then want to visit Memphis to hear the happening music live. The cycle continues and grows. Success begets success. As the success and national/international reach of the Memphis bands increases, more media and eventually bigger record labels will come to town to cherry-pick the vast quantities of talent. The record business can be demand driven, but that demand has to be created by hard work. The best recent example of building up demand is what the North Mississippi All-stars have done. By playing all over the country before they even released their record, they built up a demand for their music. The promotion of the band and record had been done before the record even came out. Memphis currently has a track record of several successful bands, and the media has become aware that there is a “buzz” in Memphis due to the tremendous exposure given the Memphis hip-hop/rap/blues world in recent documentaries by Martin Scorsese as well as Hustle and Flow. Memphis is a great place to visit, drink, eat, party, and see bands. After visiting Memphis, music and travel writers go home and write about how Memphis has an amazing history as well as current music scene and is a fun place to visit. Memphis receives great free publicity to bring more people to town. The cycle continues and grows. It all starts on the grassroots level by making an atmosphere that is pro-musician. It is important to note in this formula that in addition to being a catalyst for the musicians, the Music Commission needs to be a liaison with national media (travel writers as well as music writers). When music events are created or enhanced, a strong Music Commission should work with the MCVB and the hotel industry to make sure that writers are invited, feel welcome, and receive v.i.p. treatment. The hotels should get involved for obvious reasons. When these music writers have a great visit to Memphis, see great music, and sample some great local cuisine, they will write about their experiences in Memphis nationally and internationally with major payoffs for Memphis. Currently, writers come on their own volition, but they need constant urging by the Commission to visit here more regularly. They have expense accounts for these junkets; they just need to be informed and encouraged to visit. What Not to Do Getting Memphis acts signed to major label deals should not be a priority for Memphis. Why? Because, outside of a few Nashville lawyers and maybe one studio and a producer from L.A., no one in Memphis really benefits long-term from a major label band signing. Once the advance from the record company is split four or five ways by the band (not much left after the fees the lawyers and managers take), the record comes out, sells nothing, and then the band is dropped by the label. Then it’s back to working at the used guitar shop for the band once that $30,000 advance is gone. Couldn’t even buy a house for such little money. With these deals, the long-term effect on the Memphis industry is nil. If bands build up their following as Lucero and North Mississippi All-Stars have—as well as others—creating a fan base with demand for recordings, there will be no shortage of record labels - both big and small - wanting to put out their records, as seen with the recent interest in Memphis rap. Following up on that idea: is it the charge of the Music Commission to try to get Memphis bands signed to a major label (or any label)? I ask, does the Film Commission exist to sell Memphis films made in Memphis to major film companies? I do not think we should have the music commission “brokering” record deals with taxpayer money. It would be great for the Music Commission to set up a platform in Memphis for bands from Memphis to get better exposure (satellite radio, festivals, local radio play, etc., as listed above), and let the marketplace handle the rest. By setting up record deals, the commission involves itself in a situation where the music commission is using tax dollars to “play favorites,” and that type of activity does not give it much credibility from every other band the commission is not pushing to get signed (and is supposedly helping). Trying to convince major name producers to move to Memphis or have “showcases” in Memphis is equally as ill-advised. Don’t bother trying to bring in “producers” from out of town to sign bands to contracts. The only ones making the money are the producers who will “legitimize” the already incredible Memphis music scene. This has happened time again in the last 20 years in Memphis music. Exhibit A: Chips Moman. What did the Memphis music industry get from that boondoggle? 2.5 mediocre records, much embarrassment, and an embittered business community! Memphis has held dozens of showcases over the last 15 years, with the only real result being thousands of bands have paid someone a $15 entrance fee. ********************************************************************* Because of the nature of the size, scope, and financials of all of the above ideas, one Memphis music business on its own cannot undertake the proposed programs. All of the above recommendations could or should be undertaken by an organization like the Memphis Music Commission, an organization created to increase Memphis music business. As of today, the commission/foundation has been in business for over seven years and has spent well over a million dollars in public money, not to mention untold private funding Memphis Tomorrow has contributed. In seven years of the commission, I have seen no real change or improvement in the Memphis music industry affected by the commission despite the quantity of money it has had access to. (Mis)understanding the marketplace has been the key factor in this lack of change. A recent concrete example of the lack of understanding for the Memphis market the Music Commission is its new website, which took over three years to create. When it came on-line last month, it featured (and still prominently features) one of the bands the Commission helped to get signed and only 3 other acts out of all of the other hundreds of currently working Memphis bands. One of those other acts featured currently lives in New York. Needless to say, this type of self-dealing, half-ass effort does not endear the Commission with the Memphis music community. |
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