Is it me, or is this getting a little narcissistic?

Is it me, or is this getting a little out of hand?

I understand and respect what the "Occupy Wall Street" crowd is trying to do. The point they are trying to make is legitimate. But they seem to have inadvertently triggered something really annoying: People with handwritten autobiographical signs talking about themselves.

It started with the statistic that 1% of the US population control something like 40% of the country's wealth. Is it inequitable? Yes. Should we try to fix it? Probably. Should every person in America make a sad, MySpace-photo style statement about it? I think you can sense where I'm going on this...

So here's the original self-pitying "We Are the 99%!" blog.

http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/

Here, a response to it, created in solemn solidarity by the other 1%.

http://westandwiththe99percent.tumblr.com/

And finally, an angsty, self-righteous group who weren't getting any attention and came up with a 53% club (which they don't even explain in the blog). 

http://the53.tumblr.com/

I didn't feel like I fit neatly into any of these three groups so I'm starting a new one altogether! It's called The 22.6% and our motto is "Hey! Hey, everybody! Look at me! Give me some attention too!!! Please! Pleeeeeeeease!"

This blog post was written in good humor and not intended to legitimately offend anyone.

Prize Ribbon and Pig Show

My new favorite poem is Sylvia Plath's "Sow".

I'm going to memorize it.

I picked up a copy of her collection The Colossus a couple months ago in a used bookstore on Avenue A. I recognized her name from a reference in Next To Normal and then fell in love with the cover art.

But it didn't stop there. I read a few poems and then came to "Sow". I read it again. And again. And again. For two full days I carried the book around and could not stop reading "Sow". The prose and imagery were amazing! But the ending was what really killed me. Without spoiling it, the last couple lines are so imaginative and outlandish and shocking that I was chuckling idiotically to myself every time I read them!

But back to the memorizing.

But first I have a question for any literary types (or others) who care to weigh in: why do poets create stanza structure that is so different from instinctual spoken rhythms? Don't get me wrong - I love it. It gives me the feeling that I'm decoding something and that gives me permission to put my own signature on the way I read/speak the words. Maybe that's the reason - to get the reader involved and invested in the words. This little decoding process actually has me sort of translating the written structure into an ear-catching, performable format. Here's my chunk for today's memorization. First is the original written formatting:

God knows how our neighbor managed to breed
His great sow:
Whatever his shrewd secret, he kept it hid

In the same way
He kept the sow—impounded from public stare,
Prize ribbon and pig show.

What? It's visually stunning but who would read this with those breaks? My suspicion is that no one with half an imagination would... So here's my best crack at restructuring these stanzas in the way that they would make sense to me:

God knows how our neighbor managed to breed his great sow.

Whatever his shrewd secret, he kept it hid in the same way he kept the sow:
impounded from public stare, prize ribbon, and pig show.

The italics indicate not only a bit of emphasis but also, I find, places where I tend to slow the text a bit. I will admit that in writing this out, there is still a lot of inflection and drama lost. Maybe once I'm memorized I'll do a dramatic reading for you all to capture more of that. In the meantime, it strikes me that perhaps some musical notation would go a long way in conveying the tone of a live performance (at least to a limited audience).

Literary types: weigh in! Save me from my pedestrian level of poetical understanding!

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Location:The E Train

America's Next Top Model

Wet weather makes for great photography. The grey light and earth tones are just my style. Not to mention that wet weather brings out frogs, worms, and......snails! These are all great subjects for some iPhone camera shots. We found this specimen while trying to get in some outdoor time before Irene hits....(click these for nice, higher-res versions)


And finally, THIS: You're welcome.

The High Cost of Gigging

Last week I wrote a post about what it means to try to make money as a freelance artist, and specifically about valuing your skills highly enough to not undersell yourself (you can find that post HERE). This is nothing new but it had hit home for me in a certain way and I was ready to share my thoughts about it. Turns out quite a few others share my thoughts on the subject and my favorite response was a suggestion to explore the actual cost of taking a gig, as balanced against what is coming in from the gig. This will certainly vary based on your specific profession and situation but here is my request: Crunch some numbers and come up with a range of what your cost output looks like for taking a gig. If you feel comfortable enough, post your findings as a comment to this post. Make sure to include as many things as you can think of...

Here is mine: Most of the gigs I play (and seek out) are within the theater community. Not only theater productions themselves but also concerts, readings, workshops, and cabarets put on by theater performers. Let's say that I'm called to play a one-night concert for a composer at a popular bar/performance venue in the West Village. The first and most obvious cost is getting my drums there. Fortunately I have a space to store my gear in Manhattan so cab fare is only about $16 each way ($32). For these type of things there is typically only one rehearsal (probably 3-4 hours), a load in/sound check/tech before the show (≈2hrs), the call and show itself (another 2 hours) and then load out and taking my drums home. All told, this is already a good 8 hours of work, give or take depending on the specific gig requirements. But can I really just show up and play? That depends largely on how organized the charts are. Nearly all my gigs are reading gigs, which is really what allows me to jump in and play the show with minimal preparation. But 75% of the time, instead of specifically notated drum charts, I get handed full scores or cumbersome piano/vocal charts with about 6 bars per page and the instructions to "just make something up". Not only is this a lot of page turning but there is usually not much information about what the composer wants from the drums (and often they don't even know what they want). Because I want to play the gig to the best of my ability I'll need to record the rehearsal and then spend 2-4 hours in a practice room listening back, doing some quick arranging, and writing out (at least sketches of) charts for myself. It's a lot of extra work but it's worth it if I want to be solid on the gig. Oh, and practice space costs money too. Most people that I've polled pay $250-$300 per month for 3-4 hours a day in a rehearsal space. This is only about $2.50 per hour but we'll factor that in as well (by-the-hour drum rooms cost about $12-15, for the sake of comparison).

Ok, so here's the bottom line. On the above (not so) theoretical gig I've put in 10-12 hours of work. Backing out only my most obvious costs (not including equipment cost, maintenance, and depreciation; insurance; professional training etc.) puts my monetary output at $42. So if the gig pays $100 (which is pretty typical) here's where that money goes:

Taxes (for all you law-abiding citizens) - $25
Cartage - $32
Rehearsal space - $10

This leaves $33 to cover my time investment in the gig and nets out to about $2.75 per hour.

Two seventy-five.

The same gig for twice the pay breaks minimum wage and to make something approaching union rehearsal rates the gig would need to gross nearly $350.

This scenario is, to some extent a worst-case-scenario. But it is also one that is all too common for those of us who are working hard to hustle our way onto the scene as professional musicians. Not all the gigs I play are this low paying but the frightening thing is that at this level producers, composers, and other people who hire musicians don't have a clue about the amount of time, preparation, and investment that goes into providing a quality product. Part of my job is to educate them along the way and use any possible opportunity to tactfully and constructively provide realistic glimpses into what I do and why my skills are worth more than $2.25 per hour.

So let's hear from you!

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Location:On the bus to a gig in NJ

Your Art is my Career (and Vice Versa)

As a freelance musician, my job is to find or create ways to get paid for making music. It's a little easier to do this when I'm making other people's music because the music already exists. Someone has already created it and I'm helping interpret and bring it to life. This can be done in a recording studio, a rehearsal room, or on stage. It doesn't really matter to me where it happens, as long as I get paid. Sound soul-less? Heartless? Money grubbing? Make no mistake, I absolutely love helping composers, singers, and songwriters give life to their work. Almost nothing else is as thrilling to me...under certain conditions. I need to make money and be treated well. Not an exorbitant amount of money, but enough to pay my bills and have a couple beers on Friday (Monday, actually). After all, if you are an artist who has hired me your art is my career and if I can't pay my bills, I can't continue doing this. And ipso facto - neither can you.

But what if I put myself in the shoes of the composer or singer/songwriter of whom I speak? What if I now find myself with something to say artistically? Clearly, I must get paid to create my own work too, right? Sure. But it's not as cut and dried as that. Now my job is to produce my product. That doesn't mean just writing a song and some lyrics. If I want my art to be out in the world it has to be performed and this requires people outside myself being involved in the process. Say I write a song with a cello part and I want to record it. I have a couple options: I can play it myself (I don't have a cello. Oh, and I can't play the cello), or have someone else do it. It's very tempting to call up one of my cellist friends and ask if they would be willing to do me a favor. But now the tables are turned and my art is your career! See what I'm getting at here?

I made a promise to myself a long time ago that I would never ask anyone to participate in the development of my artistic ventures for free or for an insultingly low fee. If I can't fund it, it's not ready to be made. Period. To me nothing reeks of amateur more than asking someone to do something "for exposure" or "because you'll get to meet some great people" or "for the potential of future paid work". If you can't fund it (or find a way to), it's not ready.

Why This Matters
As people with freelance careers, we are all in this together. I don't care if you are a musician, photographer, web designer, writer, or lion tamer, we all know what it's like to hustle for work, to go through the ups and downs of the freelance market, and to panic when we realize that we don't have anything booked from September on. And even if taking lower paid or gratis work means you may work more often, it doesn't necessarily mean that you'll be more gratified with your work or net the same as choosing fewer, better quality jobs. If I play gigs five nights a week for $50 a pop, not only am I making a pittance but pretty soon I'm exhausted! And burnt out. And jaded. And bitter. And that, my friends, is no way to live.

I have found it very gratifying to support other freelancers by doing everything I can to pay them what they deserve to be earning. Of course I'll always take a little discount if offered but it's usually only offered out of a sense of mutual respect that comes from a relationship that I've built.

So if you want to hire me to play drums for you but my rate seems a little high, just remember that we're in this together. For the long haul. And as soon as I need you for something, I'll return that respect with gladness. It matters because in a community of colleagues where we get hired based on referrals, the quality of our work is only one part of what makes people want to re-hire us.

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Location:The F train

City-versary!

"It's the city so nice they named it twice!....The other name is Manhattan." -Michael G. Scott

Three years ago today, my wife and I, along with our neurotic dog Maya, loaded up a small Uhaul trailer and a friend's van and made the 5 hour drive to become permanent residents of New York City.

New York City! What other three words are so pregnant with promise? Previous to the move, we had both been living in the same areas where we had grown up and were starting to get serious gypsy fever. We explored the idea of several cities around the country and finally settled on New York for a combination of personal and pragmatic reasons. We were both deeply attracted to the cultural and gustatory offerings of New York. We both love music, theater, and various other artsy junk, and the city is at the center of a great deal of said junk. We also love food, and where else can you find the type of diversity and innovation in that arena?

On the practical side, we would still be close (but not too close) to our families, Jenny was a public school teacher (a relatively transportable career) and I was ready to try and make a career as a professional musician (something that has been a slow but steadily accelerating venture (and a whole different blog post)).

So here we are, three full years later. There have certainly been compromises and challenges to living in one of the world's busiest metropolises, but the available opportunities and rewards have been correspondingly great. So happy anniversary to us! Come visit - our couch is always open!



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Hollywood Nights

So several weeks ago, my good friend Eric Day, author of the blog Zilwaukee, proposed a songwriting challenge to himself and all the world involving "mindless" pop music. I won't go into too much detail because you can find it all in his original post at Crazytown. After hearing Eric's response to his own challenge, I decided to embrace it myself and write my own "fun/dumb/great" pop song. A few others joined in and we had a little show-and-tell session. My submission is now released before you.

A little about my process: The first thing I recorded were the drums. I figured that of primary importance was a simple groove with not too much variation and that it would force me to build a song that was correspondingly simple around it. I recorded a series of 4 and 8 beat segments and some single hits and edited them all together using Audacity and Logic. After that I banged out a simple 4 chord progression that essentially stays the same for the entirety of the song, keeping Eric's mantra "don't over think it!" foremost in my mind. The bass part is a synthesized Logic instrument, as are the two synth keyboard sounds on the choruses. I recorded a scratch guitar track on my acoustic and sent the rough draft out to my friend Maggie Anderson (of RSO's Living Dead acclaim) and she recorded the vocal track in LA. Once she sent the track back, I re-recorded the guitar parts and some additional vocals (oh, you'll probably think you're hearing Tariq Trotter. Understandable.), did some cleaning up, had the brilliant Dana Gertz whip up some cover art for the single and here it is! The toughest part was coming up with a poppy stage name for Maggie. We finally decided on "Andi Ashly".

So now, released to the public for the first time is Andi Ashly's Hollywood Nights! If you love it, go buy it on iTunes - it's only a buck!

Unintentional Art?

The other day someone had strewn a whole slew of small cards all over the sidewalk across from my apartment. From a distance it just looked like the typical post-trash-collection leftovers that hadn't been taken care of by the building maintenance staff yet. But on closer inspection the printed cards turned out to be from either some type of game or vocabulary-learning system. And there were a lot of them, strewn over 30 feet or so of sidewalk. It looked like more like a downtown art installation than leftover garbage and I wonder if it was actually done intentionally by someone with a creative artistic sense who was getting rid of them anyway. But whether intentional or not, it made me start thinking about the question, can art exist if no one deliberately creates it? Do my photographs of it create art even if the "it" itself doesn't qualify as such? If a tree falls in the forest...

My New Resume Has Arrived!

Earlier this month I got inspired to do a complete overhaul to my resume. I wrote a blog post outlining my problems with the current format and asked for feedback from other industry colleagues. You can find the previous post HERE. I got some great feedback (mostly via Facebook and Twitter), took some inspiration from Dave Hahn (I hope it comes across as sign of professional respect and not a rip-off), and even invited all of you design-conscious folks to weigh in on some font choices via a Google doc (graciously created by the awesome Chris VanPatten).

I purposely pared down my resume in an attempt to make it more readable and to emphasize things that I feel are particularly important. In its previous format, I listed over 40 credits! I've cut it down to 10, and tried to take a more design-based approach while still remaining a bit formal.

Thanks for all your wonderful help and input; it truly took a village. So here, with no further ado, is my new resume! Let me know what you think!

How I Spent My Final Hour

Chapter 1 - Prelude
A few months ago I started noticing posters in the subway advertising the imminent arrival of Judgement Day, May 21st of this year. Being very interested in the extremes of human behavior and belief (especially faith/religion-related), I was very excited to see that someone was on the "We know when the rapture is happening!" train again. Turns out it was Harold Camping, who has something of a knack for incorrectly predicting the end of it all. He did it with pinpoint accuracy in 1994. It seems Camping had reworked the numbers and come up with the correct date this time! I promptly put it on the calendar on arriving home, garnering a good eye-rolling from my wife (ok, so I sometimes fixate on this type of stuff).

Pretty soon I started noticing a bit more pervasive presence of the Family Life Radio crowd (Camping's followers). There were people yelling and waving bibles on Manhattan street corners. There was a van driving around midtown plastered in graphics and towing a billboard urging me to repent. There were giant billboards on the BQE. These people were going out in style, and sparing no expense in letting the rest of us know about it!

Chapter 2 - Judgement Day
And then the fateful day arrived. Talk about something going viral! (See Tom Diggs' blog "What Went Viral?" for an ongoing analysis of viral media phenoms - http://whatwentviral.blip.tv). I don't think I saw a single Facebook or Twitter post that wasn't taking a shot at the prediction, either humorously or using other scripture (!) to combat the belief that the world was ending today. Every conversation overheard on the street had to do with will it/won't it.

In the end I wound up spending the hour leading up to that fateful moment (worldwide rolling 6:00pms) on a rooftop in Manhattan with Alex Brightman and F. Michael Haynie drinking beer and discussing the likelihood of the clouds opening and the faithful being sucked up to glory. What would we think? Would we try to do anything, go anywhere, call anyone? Or maybe it would start with a natural event - an earthquake, meteor, flood. A giant wave washing toward us across Manhattan might actually be unbelievably beautiful in we're-about-to-die kind of way. I suppose I wouldn't mind if that were the last thing I ever saw. Would we suddenly be filled with regret over anything we had ever done, or not done? Probably not, we concluded. We would be disappointed that all the projects we are currently invested in wouldn't have the opportunity to play out, and that we would never have Fête Sau's brisket again. But those thoughts would pass pretty soon as were were instantaneously baked into ash, or swallowed by the earth, or thrown violently against the air duct behind us. Six 'o clock came and passed. Someone released a bunch of balloons from a nearby rooftop, couples dined on the sidewalk below, a dog yawned. It was as anticlimactic as expected. I left to meet my wife and sisters-in-law, drink more wine, and eat some Indian food. I went home buzzed and full of good food, and fell asleep.

Chapter 3 - What Can We Learn?
In the weeks leading up to the predicted Judgement Day, I began to think more about it and a few things began to concern me. I never entertained the thought that the predictions might be true, but I did wonder if people who believed would begin acting irresponsibly, believing that it would all be over soon. I heard of a couple who abandoned their young children because they were under the "age of accountability" and not eligible for rapture. Several companies promising post-rapture pet care took deposits from hundreds of poor cat lovers (http://on-msn.com/jAC3iT). Would extremist believers carry out acts of violence or righteous vengeance toward non-believers at the last minute?

Outside of immediate concerns, there are thousands of people who have been misled into believing Camping's teachings. Not only has massive amounts of money been dedicated toward the dispersion of this message but the emotional and psychological scars of this giant letdown are bound to be deep for some. People have been staking their futures on the belief that this event will occur. Now what?

In the end Alex, F., and I concluded that it doesn't really matter if we all die tomorrow and life as we know it ceases to exist. Carbon will still exist and it will all start again. We don't have any control over it anyway so what's the point of worrying, or trying to plan for it, or thinking about what we had or hadn't accomplished. But everything seems so much clearer from a rooftop in Manhattan. Maybe they are right and Harold Camping just needs to tweak his formula one more time. Maybe I'm missing an important lesson about believing something for belief's sake. And maybe I'll go back to school and become a therapist. I have a hunch that we may be short a few in the next few years

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