DIY Musicians Meetup – WordPress for Musicians & Top 5 Must Haves for a Musician’s Website
Next month on Feb 19th the DIY Musicians Group will be joining forces with the Atlanta WordPress User’s Group for a massive meetup!
It’s an afternoon deal, 3:30 – 5:30pm
The first hour I will talk about using WordPress for a Musician’s(or other business) site and the Top 5 Must Haves on your Website
Music (or product for any other business)
About Page
Email Signup Form
Images
Contact Information
I’m going to show you exactly how to set up your website for success.
The second hour will be open for general questions . If you are stuck we will unstick you. If you need help we will try to get you to someone who can help.
RSVP on Meetup.com or on Facebook
Ira Glass talks about the Creative Process
This video made me think about several things in my life.
It all seems to come back to the 10,000 hour concept.
it takes roughly ten thousand hours of practice to achieve mastery in a field
In my music life, I’ve always had a clear idea of the kind of sound I want to produce, and the kind of music I want to make.
Early on, before I was competent on my instruments, the music I made never seemed to bring out the same excitement in other people as I felt when listening to my favorite music.
For the first couple years that you are making stuff, it really isn’t that good. But your taste, your taste is still killer!
Was the music I was making really bad or not creative enough? No, but it wasn’t that good, I was still learning and I will forever be learning and growing as an artist.
Now though, when we perform for a crowd of others, I am beginning to see that excitement in other people. The responses after songs and shows is an undeniable joy that we are bringing to other people.
I also feel it myself when we really lock in during a song, or when I listen back to something we’ve recorded(which is a whole other 10,000 hour process to master).
It’s been close to 20 years since I first picked up the guitar and started writing songs, and I’m just starting to get the hang of it.
Hopefully I can last another 20 years!
Ear Worms – Darkwave Duchess – BLQ VELVET
Abra aka Darkwave Dutchess aka Gabrielle has a great sound.
I first saw her perform with a live band under the name Darkwave.
We enjoyed it so much that we invited them to play our Phantomfest last year and they killed it.
Shortly after they stopped working together and she kept moving solo.
Fast forward to a year later, and she’s released her first ‘body of work’ called BLQ VELVET.
She does her own production, writing, and recording.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with her a little bit on some things, one of which was a song for the Christmas album I released last year, and I am really excited to see where this path takes her.
Enjoy!
DAMS, Hank and Cupcakes, PLS PLS @ The Earl – Friday Jan 30th
This Friday, Jan 30th at The Earl in East Atlanta Village.
My band DAMS is opening for our good friends from New York/Israel Hank and Cupcakes, and local Atlanta band PLS PLS.
Doors at 9pm | $8 | 21+
adv tickets: http://
Never miss a party if you can help it!
Last year I watched a documentary on Sampson Gordon “Sam” Berns.
Sam suffered from Progeria and helped raise awareness about the disease before he passed away.
Though I do have my own struggles every day, I will never know what it is like to live a life like Sam did.
I did however take away a few things that he said.
Don’t waste energy feeling sorry for yourself.
Sam was diagnosed with progeria when he was 2 years old.
This disease is an extremely rare genetic disorder wherein symptoms resembling aspects of aging are manifested at a very early age. There is no cure. Most people that have this do not live past 13 years of age.
Sam lived to be 18 years old.
His entire life he was ‘different’. His mind worked just as good as anyone, but his appearance was not normal.
I’m sure some of you grew up feeling ‘outcast’ based on your looks. I can tell you it wasn’t as bad as Sam.
The best part? Sam had an amazing outlook on life. He didn’t let his physical features, and disease, keep him from being happy and participating in life as fully as he possible could.
Whatever you are going through right now that makes you feel sorry for yourself isn’t that big of a deal.
All you have to is change your outlook and get back to whatever it is that you want out of life.
Spend some time focusing on yourself, what you want, and go make that happen.
Use that negative energy and self doubt at motivation to take your life to the next level.
Surround yourself with people you want to be with.
This is something that comes up often in the ‘self help’ world.
Any successful people that speak, write books, or tell their story always mention that one of the keys to success is to surround yourself with positive people. People who not only want the best for themselves, but also want the best for you.
If you surround yourself with people that are constantly saying or doing negative things, you are more likely to do the same.
You do not HAVE to be friends with, or associate with anyone that you do not want to.
Sure you may have to tolerate some people in your work environment, but in your ‘real’ life, you need a solid support system if you plan on living a happy healthy life.
Sam could have ‘tried to fit in’ with the cool crowd, instead he did his own thing and became the cool crowd. He didn’t let what anyone thought or said about him get to him. He let it go and allowed the positive people to come in and make his life better.
On one of the morning shows here in Atlanta, the host constantly talks about Energy Vampires. These are the people in your life that suck that positive energy right out.
You know what? When they suck that energy out, it doesn’t have a positive affect on them, it just disappears. Don’t let people suck up your positive energy, let them be stinky all on their own.
Keep moving forward
Everyone looks back on their life and wishes they had done something different. You are not alone in this.
Many of the most successful people wish they had done MANY things different, I know I do often.
You know what though? Without having made the choices I made, and gone through what I’ve gone through, I would not have the wisdom today to make better decisions.
Being able to take what you’ve learned from the past, and apply it to your future, is a HUGE step towards success.
Never forget your mistakes, instead use them as stepping stones towards your future.
If you don’t, you’ll be stuck in the past forever and never fully satisfied with your life. You want to be satisfied don’t you?
When you get knocked down you are always allowed to take some time and digest what happened. It’s OK to feel bad about something, it’s not OK to dwell on it so long that it keeps you from moving forward.
Get back up, get out there, and live your real life.
Bonus: Never miss a part if you can help it!
Sam was certainly not someone that could stay out late getting wild and crazy…but that didn’t keep him from having a good time.
Through all the unnecessary life drama, physical ailments, and awful situations he had to deal with, he kept an extremely positive outlook on life. That is so powerful to see and moved me.
Life is serious and you should take it seriously, but not so seriously that you miss out on the good times.
I hope this helps you all as much as it helped me.
Have a kick ass week!
We Are Surrogates – I Made You Something
Last year We Are Surrogates approached me to help them record and produce their debut EP to put out on Blood Drunk Records. I really enjoy their music and was definitely in.
I helped them with their first single and a holiday song before, so we had a good head start on how to work through it.
For these songs, we recorded everyone individually to make sure we got the best performance from every musician and I think it really paid off.
Over the course of several months, we tracked what we could when we could. They spent a lot of time crafting this and I’m proud of the outcome.
Their live show is just as intense as this record, so if you get a chance definitely catch them.
Enjoy!