Category: my music & performances

my songs and shows

Been A Long Time

It’s been over a month since I posted anything, but I’m home sick with a soar throat today, so I’ve got the first free hour in a while. My buddy Mark made my day several times recently by sending me reminders to blog. That’s the beauty of a blog, it’s for yourself, and the ones that care about you. So nice to know someone misses you. Godin says, what people really want is to be missed when they’re not there.

At work, we finally launched two new sites that we’ve been working on for over a year. It’s a relief, but it brings a whole new set of problems now that they’re live and being handed off to me. At home, Maile’s working more, Anais is more of a handful (of the best kind) every day, and all of my little side projects add up to a lot of work sometimes.

My rule of three has been breaking down because I’ve been so busy, at work and at home. Not sure how to re-apply my rule except to remind myself not to care too much about 4, 5, 6, and beyond.

Here are a few things I’ve been up to.

1) My kid’s band Family Time Rocks! released our first album as a free download.

Checkout Bananas, a song I sing that Sara and I wrote together.

2) We dressed Anais up as a ladybug for her first Holloween.

Ladybug

3) My mom was in town for my Grandma KK’s 90th bday. She picked out some old photos, I scanned them and made a slideshow we projected at the party.

With my remaining 3 hours (while the nanny has Anais) it’s back to #3, music. I’ll get ready for my gig this Sat night at Flipnotics and work on my album, FOK DUB. (It’s mired in file management issues at the moment, so I’ve got to consolidate two hard drives worth of sessions. Not the fun part.).

Pressing FOK DUB

Today I turned 38. My birthday wish is to make my second album, FOK DUB. We went into the studio yesterday and laid down some nice drum and bass and we’ll finish up tomorrow.

I’m taking pledges for the next 38 days at Kickstarer from anyone who wants to hear the album and support my music. Check out the video, drawings, and custom art I’m offering. Pledge now for your CD and Tshirt!

Kickstarting “FOK DUB”

Here is the first draft of a video I’m submitting to Kickstarter.com, to use their service to get the support I need to press my second full-length album, FOK dUb. The video is rough, and has no titles, text, but I think it gets the idea across.

Kickstarter is a brilliant idea that creates an interface for artists and supporters to work directly together. Direct engagement is exactly what I’m always reading I should be doing, and Kickstarter inspired me – with it’s endless catalog of interesting, funded projects – to use it to try to explain to my fans exactly what I’m trying to do and why I need their support in the clearest value proposition possible.

I discovered how much better it feels to ask people to fund a project than to buy a product. I want to believe in it, not feel like I’m bugging people. It’s a better application of the Obama campaign communications code.Fok Dub

I still need to do some creative thinking about what I can offer for various levels of support, but basically I’m going to start with

  • $1 gets you the digital download
  • $5 also gets you the CD
  • $10 also gets you the t-shirt
  • $50 also gets you a custom song
  • $100 also gets you a house concert

I don’t know what the right goal is, but I’m thinking somewhere between $500 and $1000.

Originally conceived of over the last year as “Folk Dub,” I’ve spent this year refining the set and the business behind it, into “fOK DUb,” an acoustic-soul reggae-remixed album of ten songs.

I’ll record the album at Tonehaus and ask fans and friends to remix the tracks, dub-style (or however they want).

There is a funky, syncopated feel and frequent beach/water theme running through the songs below, making them a perfect set to subject to a reggae-remix production.

  1. I Can See You -  reggae soul
  2. Mi Estilo Es Tranquilo -  reggae tejano
  3. Un Momento Perfecto – folk samba jazz
  4. All The Above -  pop folk rock funk vocal
  5. Speeding1 and Speeding2– reggae folk rock bluegrass
  6. God Has Been Good To Me1 and 2 -  gospel funk
  7. Sat Morn (video)
  8. Nobody Knows What It Means – soul pop horns and harmonies
  9. Lake Rules  –  reggae kids fun
  10. Dub Lub – stone cold reggae jam (needs lyrics?)

That’s FoK DuB. Over the next six months I will make an album out of these songs with full band, horns, and backup singers while at the same time asking friends, fans, and the public for feedback and colaboration. As I post songs please make sounds of your own, send to me to remix, or remix yourselves. fOk dUb.