The Dawning of the Age of Gregarious
Category: Music
It seems like the time between these posts just keeps getting longer and longer. Maybe that's because it does keep getting longer and longer... My apologies:) I'm going to shoot for bi-monthly updates from here on out. We'll see if that sticks.
I hope 2008 is off to an excellent start for everyone. Mine has almost entirely been in the excellent category. Back in January & February we played a string of very cool shows all over the map... The Basement (Nashville), Mercy Lounge (Nashville), Doc Watson's (Philadelphia), The Hi-Tone (Memphis) and the legendary Bitter End (New York City). Posters designed by the celebrated Hatch Show Print for the Bitter End gig are available for purchase here. Lightning 100 (WRLT-FM Nashville) was kind enough to include me in their very first Miller Made Music Showcase at the Mercy Lounge. This hugely successful event was filmed and recorded for later release.
MTV placed 3 of my songs in their shows so far this year, which was great news. Eastham was used in the season finale of Real World: Sydney, and Ashes and Water and Not Enough were used in Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Gauntlet III. As the saying goes, I want my MTV!
Off to Vandyland... In March, the band and I played the Marrowthon Benefit Concert for cancer research & awareness at Vanderbilt University. I was interviewed for VTV (Vanderbilt Television), and the piece will run on UWIRE.com, Billboard.com, CBSNews.com, and college websites worldwide. I was also the subject of a presentation on the independent singer/songwriter in music industry legend Tim DuBois' class at the Vanderbilt University Owen Graduate School of Management.
With the help of friends Zac Adams & Bill Cornelius I filmed and released my first music video. They did a bang-up job, and you should check it out if you haven't already! The video is for the song Everything About You, and features Tiffany Karns and my amazing band: Andrew Sovine (guitar), Sharon Koltic (bass) and John Richardson (drums). Embed the video on your website or profile! Go on... do it!
Another milestone was passed a couple of days ago when I reached 100,000 plays on MySpace. I'm also up to 25,000 friends. I've just started a Facebook Music Page. It's a lot easier to do show announcements & invitations over there, so if you have a Facebook profile, please add yourself as a fan. Thanks to everyone who keeps coming back and listening... and especially to those of you who download or order the album! You have no idea how much that means. As the major labels merge, fold, drop artists, and struggle to stay viable, please remember to support independent music.
In the last few weeks I've begun writing and mapping out the next record. I'm excited about the material, and the direction of the music... I think you will be too.
Hey guys! This blog is a long time coming. I hope everybody had a great summer. Mine was busy, and quite hot. Did I mention hot? For those of you who don't live in Nashville, we had a few weeks of temperatures above 100 degrees, and a couple of months of almost no rain at all. It was pretty damn miserable, to put it bluntly. I think it effected everyone's mood. Certainly people weren't hanging outside getting their barbecue on. It's almost the end of September and the highs are still near 90 degrees! What the hell? But hey, you didn't come here to read my blog about the weather...
We just finished playing two months of shows in Nashville. The response has been great! Many thanks to the regulars that come out almost every time we play (Jackie, Sarah, Rachel, Ed... you know who you are!). The band is sounding great, and getting tighter all the time. We'll be back out in October, expanding our reach beyond Nashville. I'm working on bookings in just about all the major southeastern cities, and already have dates scheduled at the legendary Bitter End in New York City. If you want to stay abreast of the show schedule, I highly recommend subscribing to my blog AND signing up on my mailing list. As much as I'd like to send each and every one of you a personal email when I play in your town, that's next to impossible.
Wrapped up a scoring project on a new independent film in early September. It's a short titled "Late," produced by my good friends at Oddly Buoyant. The score is entirely solo piano. I've had songs placed in film & tv projects before, but this was the first time I actually wrote to picture. Though a bit daunting at first, it was a very interesting process, and my job was made that much easier by the great piece of cinema I was given to work with. It's a clever tale about a girl who leads something of a double-life, and must make some choices. Check it out at next month's Indie Memphis Film Festival!
A lot of you have asked what I do outside of writing, recording & playing shows. Any spare time I have is spent outdoors. I love to hike, camp, climb, ride my bike, and spend time with my dog Cornbread. I work as a mentor in the after-school program at University School of Nashville, and volunteer as a piano teacher for children from low income families at W.O. Smith Music School. I was fortunate to have some great role models growing up, and I do my best to pass along what was given to me. Of course I also spend many nights immersed in the awesome Nashville music scene. If you haven't been here because you think it's hillbilly central, you are so wrong. Get over here and check it out, ya here!
I want to apologize to all the people who've written or commented me and haven't gotten a response. I do try, but I've got to figure out a better system. Given the way MySpace email is set up, and the fact that you can't search or organize it, it's easy for a message to get buried pretty quickly. If you're contacting me regarding any kind of business matter (collaboration, booking, etc.), please, please, please use info[at]chipgreene.com. It works so much better, and I promise you'll get a more timely response. If you're contacting me just to say hello, please be patient. I know some people have gotten upset for not hearing from me, and I do beg your forgiveness and understanding. I'm a one-man act at this point, and no one else is picking up the slack. Let there be no doubt that your support means everything to me, and I'll do my best to get back to you individually. As I said in an earlier blog, though I may post the occasional bulletin, you'll never get a generic mass mailing from me. I promise.
If you haven't picked up a copy of the new CD yet, what's the hold up?!? I've gotta eat too, ya know! They're available in Nashville at Grimey's, Borders and Davis-Kidd. You can order signed copies online directly from me via PayPal, or unsigned copies in pristine shrinkwrap from Amazon. The tracks are available as downloads as well, via iTunes et al. For those of you that would like to help out, new banners are posted below. Link away!
Thanks again, and I hope to see you out on the road!
Chip
Currently
listening
:
Farewell to the World
By
Crowded House
Release date: 16 January, 2007
I don't know what was better, the 15-feet tall stilt girl, the Police, or the shower when I got home. If you don't mind getting a little dirty and you LOVE music, then this is the place to be. Though this year was particularly dusty because of the drought we've been in. 4 days later and I'm still hacking up a lung! Note to self: remember to take the bandanna next year. Good to see everyone that I ran into at the 'roo. Here are a few pics for your viewing pleasure...
Chip
Currently
listening
:
High Fidelity
By
Various Artists
Release date: 28 March, 2000
Okay, not quite, but definitely a group George Martin would be proud to work with. After a few months of readying the CD release, and rethinking my approach to live shows, I've assembled a band that's made me actually like my songs again! That may seem odd to all you non-songwriters out there, but trust me, you tend to get tired of your own material, or start to doubt it. These guys have re-energized the songs and me. All I can say is damn. It's taken me a while to get the sound that I want, and it is here! The starting lineup is as follows: John Richardson on drums, Jenn Stone on synth and bg vox, Jordan Bennett on bass, Andrew Sovine on guitar and bg vox, and yours truly on vocals and electric piano. Sharon Koltick Novikov will be pinch-hitting on bass and bg vox.
We rehearsed on Saturday, and director (and 1st cousin) Roger Pistole shot footage for use in a music video for "Everything About You." Can't say when that'll be done, but of course I'll post it and make an announcement when it is.
I've recently started co-writing with a bright new face on the Nashville music scene, Megan Light. We're just about finished with our first collaboration, and I think you're going to like it. A lot of you probably know that I don't co-write easily or often, so it was a nice surprise to hit it off with Meg. I'll post a demo once we have something we're both happy with. (It's up, for a limited time... 5th track on my player, and we're not quite sure what it's going to be called just yet. This isn't anything anything fancy; just us singing and playing into the mic on my laptop, all one take... one live track and a drum loop. Tell us what you think!) We're also cooking up plans to tour together, so stay tuned for details!
I'll leave you with a little home movie I made at rehearsal on Saturday.
FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
Current mood: thirsty
Category: Music
The first review is in... and it's pretty good (whew!). Have a look: http://www.nashvillefeed.com/node/109. Aside from the fact that I got a favorable review, the Nashville Feed is a great website. If you're in town, check it out for a very unique perspective on Music City.
It's a beautiful day, and I think it's time to get my ass away from this computer and take that bike ride I've been putting off. Thanks for all the support, everyone!
Several of you have inquired about banners, and I've been holding off until the album went live on iTunes. That day is today! Most you you tech-savvy people already know how to do this, but to get the banner you need to copy the HTML code below the one you want, and paste it where you'd like it to appear on your MySpace. Thanks for helping to get the word out, and happy downloading!
Chip
Copy Code:
Copy Code:
Copy Code:
Currently
listening
:
Plans
By
Death Cab for Cutie
Release date: 30 August, 2005
THOUGHTS ON MYSPACE BAND-SPAM.....
Current mood: aggravated
Category: MySpace
Once upon a time MySpace was a quirky little on-the-fringes networking website that borrowed heavily from its older sister, Friendster. For those of you who don't know what Friendster is, you're probably too young to be reading this; cover your eyes NOW and run away from the computer! Friendster was a model for how MySpace looked and acted, but had a slightly older crowd. It was really a place to reconnect with old friends, the website Classmates.com always wished it had become. Enter: MySpace. Social networking, with a twist, and targeted at scenester kids instead of young parents with kids.
I remember chatting online with someone I didn't really know very well, and I asked her if she had a profile on Friendster. She shot back with a quick "no, but you should really check out MySpace. It's awesome. Trust me, you'll like it much better." Honestly though, after creating a profile, I couldn't really see much difference. Then something strange happened-I started getting contacted by people I didn't even know. While not that strange in the IM world, it was kind of novel in the world of personal email. Then people started putting pages up for their bands. Then the almighty Tom, the guy who seemed to single-handedly manage the entire site, offered a band profile option so you could *gasp* host your original music on the site for free. May not seem like much to you non-musicians, but trust me, at the time this was a very big deal. More bands came. Then more still. It just kept getting bigger and bigger. So big Tom had to sell to Mega Media Whore, NewsCorp for what I'm sure was a sum that could've easily fed most starving third-world countries. To be fair, I'm sure he could see what was coming, and it was going to be too big for him to handle alone.
Back then you might get a handful of messages a day, all from people you actually knew. Well, at least "virtually" knew. The point is these words were typed character by character with fingers belonging to a human being with whom you had some connection, and they were meant for you and only you. Seems like soooo long ago, doesn't it? Now I can't even log in to my account without being bombarded with messages about ringtones and penis size... Oh, and another one: mass-generated completely impersonal ads from thousands upon thousands of my fellow musicians! Oh, and the kicker? Quite a few of the ones that I get requesting in such a modest and genuine way that they just happened to see that I like band xyz, so I'll definitely love them, and I should immediately go and check them out and add them to my ever-growing list-o-friends are from bands that I'm ALREADY friends with! Come on guys, you can't leave the thing on autopilot. You have to check on it yourselves from time to time... Or better yet, sit down and write short messages to your fans that are actually from you.
I understand, believe me, that it's an overwhelming task, and sometimes you need to get a lot of info out to a lot of people in a timely fashion. Well, that's why God (or Tom) invented bulletins. They don't clog up your inbox and can be seen by hundreds of thousands in an instant. What? Not good enough for you? Then how about a good old fashioned email list that gets the information to the people who really want it? Apparently the good folks at MySpace would rather see you get spammed by bands using third party software than let an artist (me) post a link to his email list in a bulletin. After trying to do things the right way, and not spam you to death, my bulletin was taken down after less than 5 minutes. That's pretty quick. How long do you think it takes them to pull those mass emails? I'm pretty sure it's a little more than 5 minutes. As my friend Joel likes to say, no good deed goes unpunished.
So here's the deal. I can promise you that I'll never use software to mass mail my friends. But I'm an artist, and I do need to be able to communicate with the people interested in my art, so I'll continue to post bulletins. But I know a lot of people never even look at them... Maybe they look at my blog? Okay, I'll repost all my bulletins as blogs, so the surest way to get this info will be to subscribe to my blog. It will only ever get as intrusive as a "new blog posted" message on your main page. That's not bad. Of course if you really don't want to miss anything, and be the super-supportive fan that I know you are, you'll sign up on my email list. You can do it right on my profile (or, for your convenience, right below this post!), and it only takes 5 seconds. It's painless, I can assure you, and you'll never get anything from me unless it's important. In other words, no penis pump emails. I'll also be offering the occasional exclusive download, merch sale, discounted tickets, etc. to people on the list. It's in your best interest. Go now!
That's it. I'm done ranting. 5:30 am and time for bed! Thanks for taking the time to read my incoherent ramblings. Special thanks to those who follow through and sign the list. Goodnight!
Chip
Currently
listening
:
Bossanova
By
Pixies
Release date: 20 May, 2003
BIG PUSH 2 - Round 3. Hurry! ENDS 4/30!
Current mood: optimistic
Category: Music
Thanks to your tremendous support, I've got a decent shot at WINNING the Big Push 2 competition on American Idol Underground... but I need your votes! I've made it to the final round, and could win up to $20,000... and trust me, that's a goldmine for a struggling musician.
If you even mildly enjoy my music, or just don't strongly dislike it, then please vote! You can vote once a day, per competition, through April 30. I have one song in the Pop category (Everything About You) and one in the Rock category (Not Enough). Here is exactly what you need to do:
1. Login to/create account at http://www.idolunderground.com/ 2. Click on Competitions header at top of page 3. Scroll down to Big Push 2-Rock (Not Enough) or Big Push 2-Pop (Everything About You) 4. Click on Status/Details 5. Scroll down to my song Not Enough (rock) or Everything About You (pop) 6. Select button to the right of the song 7. Scroll down to bottom of Current Standing section 8. Click Vote Now
You can still rate the songs, though I'm not sure what if any effect this has on round 3 of the competition. It can't hurt! Start by visiting Chip Greene on American Idol Underground, scroll down to the My Music section, click on the aforementioned song titles and rate. There are 5 categories (overall, vocals, lyrics, production & "it" factor), and 5 is the highest rating. A couple of hints: move the sliders to 5 as soon as the song starts playing. If it messes up or you forget to rank and it goes on to the next song, I automatically get a 2.5 (50%). That's called passive rating:( The longer you listen, the more the rating counts... and I think you can rate as often as you'd like.
Please repost and/or forward this to anyone you think might be interested in helping. Thanks for the support!
Hello everybody! I hope 2007 is off to a great start. It's been a while since I've sent out an update, and the new year seems like the perfect time to catch up.
First of all, the bloody record is coming! Soon. Trust me. A text edit here, a graphic change there, and it's off to be pressed. In the meantime, download to your heart's content via Snocap on my MySpace page and chipgreene.com. A special thanks to those of you who already have!
Back in the fall, I was lucky enough to be a semi-finalist in the Independent Music World Series. I also signed a co-publishing agreement with an amazing little label in Philly called Mad Dragon Records. Keep your eyes on these guys. They're working with some really great bands and artists.
You may remember some badgering from me last summer about American Idol Underground nominations. Well, thanks to your help, I was one of the few that made it to round two of the Big Push 2 competition. Right now I'm sitting at #16 on the charts, and I need your high rankings to keep moving up! See chipgreene.com for the link, and details on how to help.
During the week of Christmas I was the featured local artist on on WRLT Lightning 100. Congrats to them for being voted "Best Radio Station in Nashville" in the Nashville Scene Reader's Poll for the 11th year in a row!
I recently became a Kurzweil-endorsed artist. This is a huge honor, as I've long been a fan of their keyboards and instruments.
In October I attended the premier of an indie film that features my song "The Art of Abandon." The movie is called "Eat," and if you've ever worked in the restaurant industry, you'll find this highly entertaining. Also, an entire episode of the video podcast "Love Me" is built around my songs. See the links page of chipgreene.com to sample these goods.
A couple of weeks ago I passed the 50,000 plays mark on MySpace. Wow! Thanks so much for coming back to listen and for telling your friends. I continue to be amazed by your support. Please be patient with my replies. I do not send blanket add requests, mass emails or comments. I'm doing this one at a time, and it takes a while! I promise I'll get to you.
Look for a CD release show in Nashville very soon, and a southeastern tour to follow. Hope to see you at a show!
All the best in '07,
Chip
Currently
listening
:
The Golden Republic
By
Golden Republic
Release date: 08 February, 2005
thirsty
aggravated
optimistic
