Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Denton, Texas: my Crappy Indie Music home away from home!

Rubber Gloves Recording Studio is located in beautiful Denton, Texas.



I made two new awesome friends! Pictured below are Hunter Braasch a future PDX resident/bike mechanic (make friends with him now and when he moves here he will fix your bike!) and Caleb Hensley aka Chopper future PDX resident and heavy metal lord (send him links to your favorite Portland Metal bands and shit!):



This is the bar inside of RGRS:



This is a booth inside of RGRS:



This former members of Austin,Texas band Big Bear, Adam Steinfink and Nick Warrenchuk standing across the street from RGRS:


I don't remember what band I went to go see but it was fun. I was reminded how cool it is to see an all ages show. Duh! Portland Crappy Indie Bands need to gear up for when the OLCC hopefully reverses their gay rules about serving booze and all ages shows. I bet you won't even know what hit you when you play for a group of kids who think you are rad! I am happy to have experience the glory of Denton, Texas.
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Friday, November 16, 2007

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Blogs: My Indie College or How I learned to love SEO Chicks

Blogs are a dialog! For an example of what I mean please go to this link and read the blog and the following comments!: Example of Why Blogs are Awesome

"SEO Chicks: The SEO Blog with attitude" taught me AND provided an awesome learning environment for me.

I woke up this morning to find I had a new subscription post in my Google Reader file titled "Google Blog Search: Crappy Indie Music". I subscribe to that particular Google Blog Search so that I can see if anyone is blogging about something in my blogs' department.

And the Google Blog Search did it for me. They sent me a link to the article that somehow used the words "crappy indie music" in the text or tagged "crappy indie music".

I woke up. Got all excited and opened the article up. Read it. And then posted a really articulate and wise response to what this chick had written*.

And then I got a response about what I had written.

And then I left another comment.

And then got another response.

Please, for entertainments sake. Go to the link I provided. You will read a real dialogue between two complete strangers and find out for your bad self how you can use blogs to promote, directly or indirectly, your beautiful self. AND LEARN COOL STUFF FOR FREE!!! (woot woot, raise the roof!)

And like this work of art:



It really blows my mind!

I LOVE THIS STUFF MAN! :-)

* Like I always do. Don't hate.**
**JK!***
***not, psyche, etc...
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Monday, November 12, 2007

ACTION ALERT! ALL POINTS BULLETIN

REPOST:

Heya-

Just wanted to remind everyone that Tuesday, November 13 at 5pm is the deadline for submitting feedback to the OLCC about their proposed rule changes that would allow music venues and other art spaces to admit minors and still sell alcohol (i.e. stay in business). Send your emails in support of the changes to:
jennifer.huntsman@state.or.us

For more information on this issue, or to see a sample email, check out:
http://www.pdxpopnow.com/olcc

Opening more music and cultural events to people under 21 is the right thing to do for young people, local musicians, venues, and our community as a whole.

These emails will play an absolutely critical role in the OLCC's ultimate decision to adopt or reject the proposed changes, so take a minute to write in today.

Best,

Cary Clarke
PDX Pop Now!
www.pdxpopnow.com
olcc@pdxpopnow.com
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Friday, November 9, 2007

[Updated 8/26/08]Open Mic Nights! -- An Indie Music Staple

Open Mic's have many purposes:

1. work on stage fright
2. meet new people
3. share/shape your artistry
4. support your friends
5. have FUN!

Two of the BEST open mic's in Portland, Oregon are:

SUCK ON MY MIC

Suck My Open Mic
Wednesday Nights Hosted by Tamara J. Brown
@ The Alberta St Pub
1036 NE Alberta, Portland, OR.
"Performers of all sorts, come knock our socks off! We promise to reciprocate!" 7:30 (sharp) sign up, show starts at 8pm!

and

Someday Lounge Incubator

THE NEXT INCUBATOR WILL BE OCTOBER 14TH 2008
Hosted by Goldie Davich
@Someday Lounge Incubator
125 NW 5th Avenue
Portland, OR 97209
"movement artists, performance artists, musicians, idealists, conceptual thoughts and ideas shall take their flights of fancy for this weekly night staple. Participants and cohorts, dreamers, party crashers, brashness and courage shall all be explored to bring forth the slumbering splendor lurking in the undiscovered creative territories of this fair city Portland."

Both open mic's are:
+21
Hosted by incredibly creative, talented, supportive and endearing women.
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Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Why Meyercord is playing a show with NIRE


I asked Ben Meyercord of the band Meyercord to write a little something about his upcoming show. This is what he had to say:

I am very excited to play this show on Thursday.

A while back I decided I was going to play a show with the band NIRE because a) I like their music and b) they live here in Portland just like me. In fact, I remember when I first found/bought their CD, I played a house show the following day with Tigersaw who happened to be staying with NIRE while they were in Portland. I thought that as a sign.

So I set up a show with NIRE. First I emailed them to say 'hey what a crazy coincidence I bought your CD and then I play a show with your friends crazy' (I did not ask why they didn't go to the house show and support their friends there by seeing me play 'casue that would have been awkward). They were nice enough to write back. NIRE took the time to listen to my music page (they left a positive comment on my myspace page it is probably still there if you want to find it, I don't delete unless it is spam).

Next, I went to their show and gave them my demo CD. Then I saw them at various shows. At that point I did what I call 'letting it simmer'. Next thing I know, six months after I set out to make it a reality, they ask me to play with them at Dunes this Thursday. There is even talk of Meyercord playing with the NIRE folks in Hood River sometime in December. But I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. I guess the point of this little schpeel is that I am excited about the show and you should go!

-Ben

The band Meyercord will be playing in Portland, Oregon THIS THURSDAY November 8th, 2007 at:

Dunes 1909 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd.

Doors are at 8pm. The music will start at 10-ish o' clock.

Curious about NIRE check out this video of them explaining themselves:





** photo of Ben Meyercord and Andy Wood by Ste. Goldie
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Monday, November 5, 2007

Unlease your inner Indie Music Dominator! Write a blog!


Marketing is not just about wasting natural resources like florescent pink 8 1/2 x 11 inch pieces of paper.

It is about SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION.

If you have a band, recording studio, record store or t-shirt company you need a blog.

Blogs are:

web·log (wĕb'lôg', -lŏg') pronunciation
n.

A website that displays in chronological order the postings by one or more individuals and usually has links to comments on specific postings.

That is what they are defined as at answers.com, but what they really are:

1. Current, relevant, topical information posted in bite size chunks
2. Specific in scope.
3. Open dialogs
4. Found by people looking for answers.
5. Published at the rate of 3-7 times a week
6. Written by people are enthusiast and knowledgeable about a certain, specific subject or just plain clever

INTRIGUED? Then leave a comment. Ask me what you want to know.

As a self proclaimed member of the Web 2.0 revolution I ask you to join me! This epic journey into online marketing of your crappy indie band or whatnot will take you to new heights! IT MIGHT EVEN GET YOU THE #1 SPOT ON A GOOGLE SEARCH!!!
USE YOUR REAL NAME or BAND NAME or BUSINESS NAME

When you leave a comment you are getting a hit on the web!

Plus -- we don't have anything to hide here. The internet is not just for stalkers. It's for real people who are living a real life. Leaving comments using your real name or at least a link to your site builds your online reputation. (ask me why that's important if you care!?

Sincerely with an overly abundant supply of sunshine on a cloudy day in Tehran 4eva,
Goldie Davich*

P.S.
Here if you are hot to learn:
Here is a blog guru: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

Here is where you can start one for free:
Blogger http://www.blogger.com/
WordPress http://wordpress.org/
TypePad http://www.typepad.com/

OR:
Start with your myspace blog and make it PUBLIC


*this my real name, the link is suppose to be a joke.

**photo credit
dailymail.co.uk and yes that is Tony Robbins
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What I Learned at Old Town Pizza Tonight

1. some people look good dressed up as gnomes
2. Brandon Gordon and Adam Steinfink like to chat it up like a couple of hungry seagulls.
3. Gary from Gas House Recordings may have a thing or two to learn from the old Goldster! Well not really two things...
4. Gabriel Darling, host of Incubator (which is not happening this week November 6th by the way) is hatching plans all of the time. Warning I think we might be putting together an art show...
5. Dave Allen -- who is this guy? And why did he start an awesome online community?
6. Mark Palumbo said "Monday morning quarterback" and I had not heard that phrase before. I LOVE IT!
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Sunday, November 4, 2007

Chairman! He's not crappy! He's my brother!

Here is a video of Chairman's solo musical odyssey (he's of DRATS!!! in case you didn't know) THE CHAIR PROJECT. This performance took place at the Portland Mercury's PIZZAZZ! talent show at the Wonder Ballroom (Friday, October 26th 2007)



p.s. He will be doing another Chair Project show on Thursday, November 29th at Langano Lounge (15th & SE Hawthorne, PDX).
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Saturday, November 3, 2007

Pandora.com Vs. Last.fm

Last.fm is cool.

but

Pandora is EASY.


If you are looking for an online community to sink, sink, sink your sharp, astute, teeth into then go with Last.fm



If you are at a friends house and you are jonesing for M.I.A. and your friend doesn't have the CD and your iPod is in the toilet (or you don't have one) then go to Pandora.com and start a station by typing in one name of one band and then have music bustin' out of da computer speakers in no time. And they play LOTS of whomever you type in. And it's easy.
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