Local Gigging 101 for Dummies
Current mood: overstimulated
Category: Music

Last night I hosted one of my monthly "Chris Mitchell Presents" showcases at The 5 Spot, a local venue in ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />East Nashville.  It was truly a wonderful night of music and good friends. But…There is always a considerable amount of stress involved with coordinating and driving these events to completion.  There is a wide array of concerns that must be dealt with in order have a successful event.  Now let me clarify that the word "successful" must be loosely interpreted in any of the possible ways it can be understood.  Is "successful" packing the house with alcohol buying friends and fans, or is it bringing great art to the stage to be appreciated by the few or the many.  Club owners and musicians, err "artists" may disagree sharply on this point. 

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If I am lucky enough to get booked at nice venues for a minimal production fee, then, is it not my responsibility to do my absolute best to get an audience out to see my performance and support the club that gives me the opportunity to play?  I have had many conversations and arguments with disgruntled club owners and bands over this point.  If I have to "pay to play" shouldn't the club be doing something to promote?  Vs. We have to supply a sound system and a technician to run it, and that costs too much money.  h   

The problem really is this.  There is no room for lazy musicians in the clubs.  Music and the performance thereof is expensive.  I have been to countless shows where the venue books a band that does not do any work to promote their event, has their girlfriends and a couple friends show up and then cop an attitude with the club for not having a big nite.  Usually this attitude happens after completely exhausting their free drink tabs.  Not the way to make any club owner get behind you and help you out.

If as many musicians spent as much energy promoting themselves as they did bitching about not getting paid there would be a lot more success for the players, and for the clubs.  Even if everybody does everything that they can to make an event fly, there is still the mysterious X factor that can come into play and bomb your date.  At the same time I have seen zero promotion happen and the event fly.  The latter does not happen often.

For any given event my company does the following:

1. Book the Show
2. Confirm the Booking
3. Secure different Bands for the event
4. Confirm Bands
5. Write press releases and distribute to all major local publications both by email and delivery to key press agents.
6. Design and distribute posters and handbills (average cost $75 to $150)
7. Email and Myspace potential attendees 2 weeks before a show, and then again 2 days prior to the show.
8. Send out snail mail list to locals who may attend
9. Send scouts out with free tickets to clubs and bars to target folks who may be interested in coming. (I have found this to be a great tool for gaining new fans.  30% of free tickets given out will attend the show on average, and they usually return to subsequent shows so the lost revenue is made up in the future)
10. Put handbills in windshields around the venue the weekend before you play
11. Make sure that your website's calendar and your myspace calendar are frequently updated and all pertinent information is readily available to your fans.
12. BE GRACIOUS!  Nobody and I mean nobody likes a cocky son of a bitch!

Being a musician is a job, it requires hard work, good ethics, and a desire to be excellent at what you do.  As a performer, nobody "owes" me a chance to do my thing and be heard.  There are 500 other guys here in Nashville, TN that sing and dance just as good as I do and the exposure and stage time is going to go to the guy who busts his ass to please his fans, and the venues he performs in.

If you can't afford posters, I recommend a day job.

2:08 PM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Moving On
Current mood: mellow
Category: Life

There are times in my life when I feel completely overwhelmed by the ticking of some imaginary clock that I wound up in my head as a young twenty-something.  It is the great unstoppable ticker of doom, my faithful friend and enemy always warning me to hurry up and succeed before it is too late.  It reminds me constantly that I have not fulfilled all my goals or realized even one of the dreams of my youth.  There is a line that the devil (played by a young and expressive Tim Curry) speaks in a film called "Legend" in which he proudly proclaims that "Dreams are my speciality, I use them to manipulate mankind, the dreams of youth are the regrets of maturity".  How true I have found this to be. 

Upon closer scrutiny I have also found that each opportunity or missed boat that has passed me by has taught me to deal with loss, and disappointment without completely falling apart at the seams.  The selfish child who delights only in his own successes and glories has slowly been replaced with a more even tempered adult with a greater awareness of the previously ignored world around him.  And greater still, I have become through my own failures more compassionate and willing to help my fellow man through his failures. 

Every year the ticking of that devil clock grows more faint, and I seem to find more freedom to engage the real issues of my life that affect my happiness.  Success does not bring happiness, it may bring physical comfort, but not healing of the soul.

As a teenager I said "fuck the world, fuck you!  I’m doing this my way!".  As a broke, 40 year old man with more than a few scars I have through much pain and suffering learned to say "I need help, my way is not working well, do you know a better way?".  This is in fact the lesson that has saved my life in so many ways that I can not count them all, it would required too much thought, but I really enjoy it when I recognize one of them.

So finally I am able to move on from the place where I was stuck for decades worrying about the future, into a place where I can once again breathe freely, and have a sense of hope for myself and those around me.

I am in fact, Moving On…

2:17 PM - 5 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment

Rest In Peace Angie
Current mood: sad
Category: Friends

I got an email from a friend of mine early on Sunday March 23, technically the day before yesterday, asking me to call her immediately, that something bad had happened in her home town.  I called her and as she started to tell me what had happened I realized that somehow I new it already.  An old friend of mine, Angie Pitts, had comitted suicide by shooting herself in the head.  I immediately went into shock and have remained there ever since.  Angie was  30 years old, she was kind for the most part, she loved animals and and children, and desired to do the right thing.  She had been having some problems with alcohol and substance abuse for some time and I had only heard about it through the friends we share in common. She had moved to LA and then back home to Mississippi to be close to her family.  Every once in a while she would reach out with an email that I would respond to very carefully as our friendship had been stressed in the past.  I wanted to tell i still loved her, but I did not.  I don’t know why.  Did she need to know?  Would it have changed her outlook on her situation? I will never know.  I do know that she was tortured by pain to commit such an act, that somehow she could not escape her demons and fears.  Why did she even have a .38?  Oh Angie, why have you done this?  I’m filled with so many feelings, anger, fear, regret, compassion, helplessness.  I will give them all up tonite in my prayers.  I will pray for her family and her friends who are all so confused and hurt.  I will cry because I will never again hear her beautiful voice sing out to God, and I will never get that chance to say that I was sorry for the past that we shared and the pain we caused each other.  I know now she has found her way into the arms of the God she loves and that the voices of fear and confusion have been silenced forever.  Rest in Peace Angie,  I love you...

11:26 PM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment