Posted by Meagan Bemis on May. 31, 2009, at 4:00 pm
I am dating a guitarist. Original, I know.
The point is, though, that I have a unique inside vision to the woes that local bands endure. Joel, my boyfriend, is in the band Dreadful Memories (who freakin’ rock by the way — check them out). They work so hard, I mean really. Whenever Joel and I both have a day off, it’s hardly spent together because he needs to get to practice. All the members of the band have at least one part time job, some of them have two and all of them struggle to make ends meet.
I have bought more than my fair share of tickets to their shows, just to make sure they sell enough to be able to play. They’ve dealt with producers and agencies that seem to care only about profit rather than actually helping local bands make it. They struggle to have enough time for the band and the rest of their lives. They deal with the struggles of everyday life while trying to win the right to their dreams day after day. It just seems like they can’t get a break.
For the last few months I’ve been thinking about ways I could utilize my twitter account to capture my immediate feelings about things before they have the ability to be filtered and clouded by time and/or sobriety. Then along came the Katy Perry show and I decided I wanted to go, not because I am a fan of her music (though I know her two hits), but because I thought it would be a fun show. More on that later. Somewhere along the timeline from finding out I had a press pass for the show to actually getting to the show, I decided it would be the perfect candidate for testing the “live blogging via twitter” idea out at the show. Here are those tweets:
My buddy Wes Price from Polysound Studios sold me on the fact that this handwritten note was created by Jazz God Thelonius Monk in 1960 as an advice sheet for his new drummer. I think that most of the advice here is valid for anyone in the music business. This is a great companion piece to Quincy Jones’ SXSW Keynote speech. Enjoy!
This release from Rage Against the Machine’s Zack de la Rocha and former Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore came out back in July 2008. I think its interesting to see what some jam sessions lead to among career musicians. At a mere 5-songs, the repetitive yet inspired debut eponymous EP seems like a good weekend jam that was captured and carved into entrancing neo-funk hip hop riff rock, without guitars. You can check them out at www.onedayasalion.org. Thanks to Disqo for the tip.
Lily of Inertia! welcomed Ryann Slauson and Nikki Navarro of Giddy-Up Helicopter!,for her set. I then found out Giddy-Up are calling it quits in the spring when Nikki plans to leave for Chicago.
Super Secret Best Friends played their first show at New World since their first-ever show early this year. SSBF drummer Alex told me it’s their favorite venue. Agreed.
that local bands endure. Joel, my boyfriend, is in the band Dreadful Memories (who freakin’ rock by the way — check them out). They work so hard, I mean really. Whenever Joel and I both have a day off, it’s hardly spent together because he needs to get to practice. All the members of the band have at least one part time job, some of them have two and all of them struggle to make ends meet.
