The “Dirty White Coats” Video
Some time ago, when I was putting out the first Lipstik record, Everything Is Good, I ran an early-listening campaign through Richard Young’s company, First Listen. First Listen has a pretty cool service whereby you get copies of a record to a bunch of presumed taste-makers and they give you feedback on the album and what they thought of it.
Now, on the one hand, the album got skewered by most of the people that are part of First Listen and it was a mildly brutal and extremely humbling experience. But, on the other hand, there was a guy that really dug the record and his name was Monte Krause.
Monte has a long history in the music industry, including having managed Edie Brickell & New Bohemians. And Monte is also an artist. And Monte is a man of opinions and tastes.
Infectious Organisms (2 of 2)
When last we left our hero, he had just come from a good meeting with Infectious Organisms in Harrisonburg, Virginia. I’d put a plan in front of them that had us all becoming rich and famous by the Spring of 2001. All was well in the world.
Of course, the real story here is how none of this worked out and the lessons that I learned from it.
In reality, I did do some good things for the band and I worked hard to get things for them. We agreed on a trial management period where I’d work for them in return (if I remember correctly) for 15 or 20% of new stuff I got them and 10% for management of existing stuff they already had. Part of the whole idea was to get them into new markets where they hadn’t previously played so I tried to put on my booking agent hat and get them into some new venues.
But, of course, the hard work they’d done on their own trumped the work I was able to do on my own. I got them a some shows in Virginia Beach (this was how I met Ned who put on the poetry festival featuring Jim Carroll) and I got them some shows in DC. But most of the time I was handling their existing shows and their existing tour and just inserting myself into their process. On the one hand, the fact is that managing all of this existing business is work and an adminstrative pain in the ass and worth something. And on the other hand, if I wasn’t increasing their income significantly, I was just taking 10% of their income and, until I created some new opportunities for them, it wasn’t offset by anything.
I think the band was willing to put up with this for some time while we saw how other opportunities played out. But, understandably, they were getting antsy to see some of the things I’d put down in my presentation come to fruition. Of course, as I did more and more work, either on existing relationhips or trying to open up new ones, I was getting nervous myself that things would open up for the band but I wouldn’t have a contract in place and I’d be dumped for someone bigger as soon as it became convenient.
Infectious Organisms (1 of 2)
Telling that story about Jim Carroll brought back a flood of memories from years ago. When I used to run an unprofitable record label called Annex Records and when I managed a few artists. A topic I haven’t really covered here before and I’m not sure why. They were a formative couple of years in my life. I remember the feelings I had back then very well. They provided the basis for a kind of professional humility I’ve acquired that I think has served me well in the years since. The primary feeling I remember from those days was one of desperation. A sense of futility pervaded much of what I did. I tried hard. And I did what I thought were the right things to do. And it mostly didn’t matter.
There was a band called Infectious Organisms.
This Fall
We’re very busy over here at TFC and there are some great things coming down the pike. These are real things and not vaporware things so keep your eyes and ears peeled.
1. Fall Booking Calendar firmed up
We’ve got three shows in the next three months. First, we’re doing a show October 6th for The College of New Jersey in Edison (near Trenton). Next, we’re making our debut at Pianos with a big gig on Wednesday, November 11th. Finally, we’re closing out the season with a holiday smash at Rockwood on Thursday, December 3rd where we’ll go on at 9pm and kickstart the holiday season with some beautiful music. So there is live TFC coming your way. Don’t worry – if you’re on the email list or on Twitter or on Facebook I will spam you relentlessly about the last two shows. So get ready.
2. More Videos
Monte and I are in final stages of finalizing the full-length video for “Dirty White Coats”. This is set to Monte’s trademarked animation style and is one more in the line of beautiful, gorgeous and heartbreaking videos that Monte has done. This is our first full-length together and Monte has done an incredible job on it so stay tuned because it’s going to be beautiful. If you haven’t seen our videos yet, click here to go to the Youtube channel.
3. Remixes
We’ve got four different artists working on remixes of ‘The Mayo Clinic’, ‘Burning a Horse’, ‘The Ways That We Destroy Ourselves’ and ‘If You See Something’. Those should all drop in the next few months and they’re all going to be great.
4. Posters and T-Shirts
I’m trying to get the folks at Compound Design to do a poster for the Fall shows. If you saw their Scarlet Shame Variety poster you’ll know these things are true collector’s items. I’m also in touch with Aaron Hogg who did the first Lipstik T-shirts to do some TFC t-shirts. I know he’ll do an incredible job.
5. Writings
People have been digging the writing on the site. Spectrum Culture, who featured my take on the ‘Songs of the Decade’, is going to feature the memoriam I wrote for Jim Carroll next week. Striker Bill featured the article I wrote “How to Write a Song From Your Life” a few weeks ago as well. I have a feeling more will turn up from these efforts. But check out Spectrum on Monday for more.
Then of course at some point this Fall I’m going to give Paul a few CDs worth of demos and we’ll whittle down ~40 songs to the 10 that will be featured on the next full-length. My guess is that we’ll start recording for that next Spring and finish by next Winter and that the official release date will be March 2011 but we’ll see. These things take time. And I might get together with Nancy Hess to work on this other project which will be a Field-inspired EP called ‘Singer/Songwriter’. Two songs, 16 minutes of dance-inspired music. Oh, and I’m trying to get some of the amazing singer/songwriters to cover a few tunes as well. Oh, and I’m adding a percussionist to the band.
So stay tuned. As always, good stuff on the horizon and much of it to come very soon.
The Human Voice
There’s something special about the power of the human voice. About the power of a vocal performance. There’s something that captures the imagination and puts its stamp on something and makes it real. Maybe this is obvious.
I make the point because the singer is often the least trained and the least talented member of the collective, or at least in a rock band. And it’s interesting because even though the musicians that are playing the instruments are often unbelievable and capable of creating real magic, there is still something so special about the voice that I wonder if it’s annoying for talented musicians to train and learn and ply their craft and then have someone with that special voice come in and all of a sudden they’re the star and they are the front man.
But it’s real. And I guess my point is that the front man should be the singer. Because the voice and the vocal performance are the critical magical component of the tune. Whether it’s Sinead O’Connor’s yodeling in ‘Last Day of Our Acquaintance’ or Janis Joplin or Thom Yorke or anyone. The band is the band but the magic happens when the human voice is added.
I liken it to the film industry. All these people working their butts off. Grips and technicians and engineers and people lugging around crap and scouting locations and doing this and doing that and the actors come in and they’re pampered and given all the attention and I’m sure people are resentful that they work all day to set up a brief 5 minute scene while the actors are in their trailer or doing whatever it is that they do. Yet, the truth is that whatever skill it is or whatever instinct it is that separates a great actor from a lesser actor, the actor and their emotions and their beauty are the thing that bring life to the production and make the words on the script emerge from their entrapment. And as annoying as it can be, it is the actors that are the critical catalyst and probably deserve more attention than other contributors.
Because the reality and the presentness of the human condition, brought to life in music by the human voice or in film by an actor’s performance, that is the thing that makes it magic.
I just think it’s interesting given that so many singers and actors are such insufferable assholes. And yet, indispensable.
Jim Carroll, Catholic Boy
I heard today that Jim Carroll passed away. This news made me very sad. Jim is one of those strange characters in my life with whom I had a very intense couple of days and then never saw or heard from again. And I doubt he’d remember me. But I do remember him and I found him a warm and generous person and someone who could tell great stories seemingly endlessly.
Jim wrote “The Basketball Diaries” and was a pivotal figure in the New York punk and poetry circles in the late 70s and early 80s. He was a contemporary of all the legends – people like Lou Reed, Patti Smith, etc. and knew all of them very well. His ex-wife, Rosemary Carroll, is also one of the most powerful music lawyers in the city and married to Danny Goldberg.
Here is my remembrance of Jim.
