MSi9W – Week 7.2 & 8.2~ Building the List & Networking – addendum

 Music Success in 9 Weeks  No Responses »
Aug 272010
 

I want to add an update to these two post topics and it comes from an experience that I had last night at an outdoor gig.

When I was up on stage playing I could clearly see that people were digging my music. People were smiling, laughing at my banter between songs and bobbing their heads to the groove. Yes! They like my stuff. They will definitely come up and talk to me afterward, I know it! I made a point of inviting people to talk and to sign up on the list.

My set ended and another performer was up. Out of respect to the performer I did not work the crowd when she was up. I was preparing myself for the networking that was coming up after she was done. I was going over things in my head that I wanted from this crowd and it was mainly email addresses. I didn’t expect to sell CDs since the crowd was being asked to donate money for a charity, but I had them out anyway. I created a goal for myself of getting at least 5 email addresses. That was reasonable and it was a large crowd of about 40 people and their kids and dogs.

Dickenson Park, Newtown CT

This is what happened that makes me take a different look at collecting emails at gigs. I was on stage for a last song with all of the performers and prior to getting on stage I happened to ask my lovely wife to pass the email list around until I got off the stage. That was the key: asking my wife (or someone other than doing it myself) to work the crowd. As the song finished I saw people stand up and start to leave! I had to put away my guitar, unplug, get off the stage, talk to a few officials who were thanking us, etc. I was stuck on or near the stage and people were leaving. WAIT! I want your email addresses… I finally got off the stage and started to network in the crowd, but then I got caught up in single conversations that took time; people were leaving!

At some point, as the sun was disappearing beyond the trees, I bumped into my wife and she handed me my clipboard. It had 10 email addresses! I had gotten 2 using my iPhone to automatically sign them up to my Constant Contact service. So, wait let me do the math… 12 emails! 200% of my goal!

Here’s the takeaway: I will get more from an audience in terms of email addresses, tips, CD sales, etc, if I have a team member there to help out.

To have someone whose task is to simply ask for an email address is a huge asset. I, as the performer, am at a disadvantage. I just got done with a performance, I have to pack up. If I do talk to people, they want to have a conversation which keeps me from mingling. But having a person work the room with just 2 questions to ask: Did you enjoy the show? Can you sign p for Darryl’s list? That’s creating a system that works.

Now I just have to get my wife to come to ALL of my gigs with her clipboard!

Rustbelt Mini Tour – Day 2

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Aug 132010
 

Howlers Coyote Cafe in Pittsburgh, PA

Yesterday we arrived in Pittsburgh with the rain and humidity, checked into our hotel and I promptly took a nap while my wife and son went to a museum. I was already thinking that this driving all day and then playing in the evening was too much and I hadn’t even started.

Pittsburgh is an interesting city – weird streets and a mixture of old and new architecture. Lots of different neighborhoods make a mosaic out of the landscape. The place I was playing was in the Little Italy district on Liberty Street about 2 miles from my hotel.

After a light dinner I packed up my guitars and headed out. I got to the venue early because I get anxious about getting lost when I’m going to a new place. Since I was in a new city I wanted to check out the area before I had to play. I usually like to take a little walk before I go on stage so I started off down the street to explore the other businesses.

When I got back to the venue I got to meet Beth the bartender and Jo the booking agent. Beth sported multiple tattoos and jet black hair with Cleopatra bangs. She seemed a little on edge, but was very helpful when I asked her where I should park so I wouldn’t get towed. Jo was an “everybody’s grandma type” who bought the other band and me pizza right before the show. At one point before the show she grabbed my hand and drew a B with a black magic marker on it – so’s ya ken get Pabst for $1.50 – she told me. I didn’t bother to tell her I don’t drink.

Howlers was not what I expected. Well I wasn’t’ quite sure what to expect, but when I walked in I had this flash back to the bars my father would drag me to when I was a kid. I call them “Old Man Bars”. You know, the kind of bar where a bunch of old guys sit along the bar with a draft beer, an empty shot glass and a few dollars and change sitting in front of them. Howlers was half Old Man Bar and half rock club. In the rock club part the stage was huge and there were t-shirts on the ceiling from the bands that had played the venue. Jo said they were shirts that the bands had tried to get her to wear over the years. ha, hmmm.

I played to a crowd of about 15 people. 5 were my friends and family, 7 were with the other band and the rest floated in and out of the room and back to the bar. The sound was good and the house engineer was a cool dude who talked about ukuleles with me and was very happy to adjust the sound any way I wanted. Very cool – you don’t get that very often, especially for  a solo artist.

Robbie Hazen and The Riot

I played through my set and had fun with the crowd. At one point a woman came in from the bar and started dancing and then high-fived me after the song. The boys in the other band had great things to say after the set. I was happy, I made a few bucks and sold a few CDs. I was happy.

I packed up and talked a bit to the people that stayed and then got some water and ice and listened to Robbie Hazen and the Riot rock the house. In talking to Robbie and his band before the show he told me that they were planning a 300 date tour and they were committed to the van life. They were all in their early 20s and very happy to be there! I kept thinking of the song from “School of Rock” where Jack Black sings ‘You’re not hard core / Unless you live hard core‘. These guys were living the hard core rock life – I went back to my hotel room to my wife and 6 year old and slept in a nice soft bed.

Off to Cleveland to play another show in a more familiar venue setting – the coffeehouse. Stay tuned!

Rustbelt Mini Tour Day -1

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Aug 112010
 

photo by Tain Gregory

I’m setting out on a little “tour” of sorts and I’m already in the hole. Well, I need to be clear about this and that before I say something so negative as “in-the-hole”.

I’ve never toured as a solo musician before and I was planning on doing a small 4 gig tour this summer that took me from Sandy Hook, CT to Cleveland, OH and back. I successfully booked the Cleveland show and anointed it my “anchor gig”. It was almost too easy to book it and the venues was located right in the middle of the community where I grew up so I knew I would have an easy time getting an audience. I then went on line to search for gigs along the I-80 corridor and to solicit house concerts from people in Ohio. Here is where I ran into a wall.

I found several appropriate venues along I-80, sent my EPK, followed up and got nothing. Well not exactly nothing. I had a very strange email exchange with a booker from Williamsport. He emailed me several times saying – I just found your email what exactly do you do? – I go this from him three times and I told him three times what I did. After the third time I never heard from him again.

I then got an email from a booker in Pittsburgh who was very apologetic about not seeing my emails earlier and offered me a gig on the way to Cleveland. This booking was a little late so I didn’t really get to do my media press as I did for Cleveland, but I’ve been tweeting. So I’m 2 for 4 and I still could get a house concert while I’m in Ohio, you never know.

I was being picky about where I went for these gigs. I didn’t want to go to far afield because I have my wife and son traveling with me. Yes, I’m on the road with my family in tow and I’m combining this with a visit to the family relations in Ohio. So is it a “tour”? Probably not in the traditional sense, but I am traveling and playing while I visit family. This is an experiment, a toe in the pond to test the water.

Getting back to my financial declaration: Why am I “in the hole”? Well since we’re all traveling together we are taking the 10 year old Subaru Outback that needed new rear brakes and four new tires. The bill? Brakes and tires = $700. I’m in the hole.

But my rationalization is that this needed to be done to the car anyway for the upcoming school commuting season. This is the car that my wife uses to take my son to school and back in the sun, rain and snow of hilly Connecticut. But if you think about it in terms of a working/traveling solo musician: I’m in the hole. That’s what scares me about touring. I think the romance of traveling to places where I haven’t played is alluring, but the reality of not making money to pay for the travel is sobering.

Please check back in as I blog from the road. We’ll be in Pittsburgh tomorrow where I will play at Howlers Coyote Cafe at 9 PM. Travel on Friday to Ohio. Perform in Middleburg Heights (a suburb of Cleveland) at Seekers Coffeehouse on Saturday.

Staying Fit On The Road ~ easy ways to work out while on tour

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Jul 042010
 

I’m about to do a little tour from Connecticut to Ohio in a month and I was planning some things in my head as I was running and working out at the gym. As I was sweating away it occurred to me that I would not see a gym for more than two weeks. And then I started to wonder what other musicians do when they go on the road for longer periods and what would be the best way to stay in shape.

Well I figured I’d ask my friend and owner of The Fitness Loft, Cody Foss, just what he would recommend would be the best way to stay in shape on an extended road trip. Here’s what he had to say.

Darryl: Let’s all agree that staying in shape while on the road is an important thing to do, but how to do it when you’re traveling 4-5 hours then setting up for a gig, then playing until midnight, sleeping and then hitting the highways again for another show in Cleveland?

Cody what would you say is the most important thing a touring musician should think about in terms of staying healthy while on a long road trip? Let’s assume that some alcohol and other recreationals might be used…

Cody: Planning ahead of time nutritionally in order to reduce the amount of scenarios where you don’t have good food options. Pack some healthy non-perishables like nuts, dried fruit, protein bars… Use these items as meal replacements when either you can’t access real food or you don’ t have good options in front of you.

The other stuff you mention, well — everything in moderation I suppose, but know that it all takes it’s toll in one way or another.

Darryl: Are there exercises that could be done while traveling? What are they?

Cody: Well you don’t need a gym to do the simple bodyweight exercises. For another $15 bucks you can buy a Thera Cord (see picture) and complete an entire circuit. These aren’t the end all workouts but they will suffice and you don’t need to be in a gym to do them. So in other words…. no excuses!

Body Weight Exercises (using your own bodyweight as the resistance):

  • Squats
  • Push ups
  • Alternating Lunges
  • Planks
  • Dips of a Bench
  • Lateral Plank Right
  • Mountain Climbers
  • Lateral Plank Left
  • Quadruped

Thera Cord Exercises (using the Therea Cord as the resistance)
15 reptitions each, then repeat 3 times.

  • Resistance Squats
  • Resistance Push Ups
  • Squat and Row
  • Bicep Curls
  • Horizontal Rotation
  • Mountain Climbers
  • Overhead Triceps Press
  • Crunches

Darryl: Cool – Those sound pretty simple and straight forward and I’ve seen those Thera Cord things in Target. Plus you can do them in a park or even in your hotel room for about 45 minutes. What are some thoughts about nutrition on the road? There are a lot of truck stops along the interstate – what do you suggest I order for lunch?

Cody: Keep it simple. Lean protein, fruits and vegetables. Stick with this combination and you’ll be fine. Avoid all fried foods, sodas and saturated fats.

Darryl: No Mickey D’s? No Taco Bell? Yikes. The hard thing about that is that those places are so… everywhere and convenient. It’s even worse if you’re a vegetarian.

Cody: Well just stop at a grocery store. You might have to go a little out of your way, but you can get fresh stuff from there and keep it in a cooler.

Darryl: Yep that makes sense. So how could good nutrition and the exercises you mentioned help me be a better performer on stage and a better traveler? Why bother since fast food is fast – cheap and easy.

Cody: Nutrition is chemistry and good nutrition leads to better focus, performance, endurance, mood and overall energy. I would imagine that musicians are a lot like athletes and if you can’t focus on your game you’re gonna have a bad day, you’re gonna lose it.

Darryl: Yeah and you’re not going to have fun because you’ll be tired and cranky.
Any final ideas or tips that a musician could use while on the road to stay fit?

Cody: Ya… look at the legends that partied their faces off and didn’t take care of their bodies and ask if that’s how you want to end up physically? You don’t have to be a Mormon, but moderation, a little nutritional planning combined with a few exercises will go a long way!

Darryl: Cool! Thanks Cody. See you at the gym. Hey you comin’ to my next gig?

Cody: uhhhhh….

Cody Foss is the owner and personal trainer at The Fitness Loft in Newtown, CT.

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