Aware of my flair for the obvious, I can unequivocally state that this music business is hard. It always has been, but with the advent of the digital explosion it has gotten even harder. In fact, it has tilted the table in a wholly different direction. The proliferation of the internet, together with the ubiquity […]
Category: music
Chasing Musical Styles
It started simply enough a few years ago. Some musician friends got together one night every week or so to write some songs, or at least sketch out some song ideas. Pooling resources and using each others’ feedback as sounding boards, the song snippets began to gel and some of these ideas eventually became complete […]
Favorite Bass Players
Although I scarcely ever go out anymore into the bar music scene, I ventured out this past weekend to check out a band that I had been wanting to see and to scope out a room for its future show potential. I ran into a friend there who invited me to sit at a table […]
Drunk Gigs
This may end up being the least popular post I’ve ever made. And I’m sure a few folks will accuse me of being too jaded and judgmental, because of my personal history. My hope is that my fellow musicians will take it to heart, though, also because of my personal history. I only have the […]
Allan Blazek, RIP
Sometimes angels come into our lives and leave an indelible impression on the trajectory of our subsequent years. We may not recognize them as such at the time, especially if they’re “angels with dirty faces,” so to speak…they hide their wings well. In the summer 1976, a music producer came from Coconut Grove, Florida to […]
Equity In Creativity
Much has been said lately of the need to revisit the way recording artists are being paid. Especially now, in the midst of the pandemic driven life changes. The old accounting system is hopelessly arcane in this information age. Performance royalties are still based upon the old so-many-cents per spin at a radio station, which […]
Producer Psychology 101
In the course of my career as a musician, I’ve been blessed to have done things that other aspiring musicians have only dreamed of, complete with minor exposure to the national and international stage; to have had the opportunity to at least climb the foothills of that mountain. And I’ve been particularly blessed to have […]
Musical Influence
Although I scarcely ever go out anymore into the bar music scene, I ventured out this past weekend to check out a band that I had been wanting to see and to scope out a room for its future show potential. I ran into a friend there who invited me to sit at a table […]
Quantum
As many friends know, occasionally I muse, and frequently lament the state of rock music as it applies to both today’s live and recording landscape. It has devolved over the decades into a seemingly endless desert where every day that you stride toward, you end up further away from the distant cool mountain springs. The […]
Ruth Copeland
Ruth Copeland came to Baltimore to play a date in ‘76 or ‘77 at the legendary Four Corners Inn. The venue was a small club, but very progressive and brought in many up and coming acts. I was playing in a band called Climbadonkey at the time and we frequently played at Four Corners Inn. […]