4 strong candidates......

Update…update….sorry I’ve been slacking a bit…with the OH tour, things got a little busy around here! I am finally recovering from BAD jet lag and feeling like a human being again. (Sushi, wine, and dishing the dirt with my best friend last night helped considerably).

So, since my last entry:
1. I had a meeting with “candidate #2”….we’ll call him Kyle
2. Roc got back to Mark re: his thoughts on the additional songs I sent and the $$ sitch
3. Mark and I are meeting with “candidate #3” on Monday….we’ll call him Carson
4. Being on the radio show in Cincinnati has lead to an unexpected “Candidate #4”….we’ll call him Tiger

Kyle is currently working on a project in Canada so we met via phone call. He was very complimentary of my songs, vocals, and band and during the course of our conversation it hit me that HE was selling himself to ME, not vice versa. This was an unusual and unfamiliar place for me to be. Ahhh. It was kinda nice. Overall, we had a really good conversation – I really dig his whole vibe. He’s all about live recording and setting up his studio in really unconventional places…like, this project he is currently working on was recorded in a big barn. He’s all about the song…..the story of the song…the communication of music. Man, I dig that. I really think I could work well with him. I like his work (what I’ve heard anyway) which is mostly one female singer/songwriter in particular, of whom I am a huge fan. Mark sent him my home recordings of the additional 16 songs and we will speak to him again next week.

Mark spoke with Roc today re: his thoughts on that very 16 song home recording. Roc said he has been listening to it for the past couple of days in his car. He particularly likes my song “Needleman.” He also mentioned that my vocals were GREAT on this recording (see, I can take direction ;) ). Then the conversation turned to the greenbacks….blah. My least favorite part. I don’t want to get into too much detail (I got in trouble for that last time) so I’ll just say that he’s not out of the picture but he is asking for more than we want to spend. Maybe he’ll be in for a couple of tracks and someone else we’ll do the rest more affordably….or maybe I’ll get another investor….or maybe I’ll win the lottery….

Monday is the day we talk with Carson. I know Carson’s work well – he has already produced a really solid track for me that has gotten really good feedback. So why not just go with him? Well, for one – even though the track was great, in and of itself, it is not 100% representative of the album I want to make. Secondly, as Hollywood as it may sound, he doesn’t have the “name” that Roc or Kyle have. If Roc ends up doing a couple of tracks for me though, Carson may be just the guy to complete the album.

After the radio show on Monday night (check it out at http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wnku/local-wnku-526419.mp3) the producer of the show got in touch with me saying that he has a relationship with a producer (“Tiger”) who is responsible for producing almost the entire body of work for a very well known American rock icon (who shall remain nameless.) Well, this peaked my interest as well as Marks. Mark will be having that initial meeting tomorrow over the phone.

So…exciting stuff is afloat….stay buoyant! (alright….that was REALLY bad…sorry) :)

Late nite update....

Hi - short entry because it's 11:15 and I have to wake up at 5am to go to the gym (yes, I am a freak).

I just finished recording 10 tracks on my little 8-track Boss recorder. Just me and the acoustic guitar. It's for Roc - I think I mentioned that at our meeting he told me he wanted to hear the rest of my songs. In total, I have 36 of them. He's heard 8 on the demo I gave him and after tonight, I only have 5 more to record! I should have everything ready to give him by thursday. This is getting exciting. It's cool, I sat down and looked at my material tonight and I am starting to see what songs I think are going to make up the album. I think I found the title song too....but I don't want to get ahead of myself and say anything just yet....I'll tell you that it is a newer song...actually, a very new song....i haven't played it at a show yet.

I found that out of the 36 songs I have, I hate 10 of them, they would be on the "C" side if there was such a thing. There is another 10 that are most likely "B" siders and then I have 16 that I absolutely love and must record. That'll be cool because with 16 recorded we'll have freedom to pick and choose which ones will make the album the best and most cohesive it can be.

Alright - time for sleep...I can already hear the treadmill calling my name....ugh...

Breast Cancer Walk...help in any way you can ;)

SCROLL ALL THE WAY TO THE VERY BOTTOM......

Hi guys - my fabulous friend Kyle put this together for me...I am walking in the Avon Walkathon for breast cancer and am a mere $200 and some change away from meeting my goal of $1,800 - if you can give ANYTHING, it would be REALLY AWESOME...
thanks!!!
xo,
jules

Oops

Alright, so i acted a bit hastily yesterday when i sent out my mass email about my new blog. I included an excerpt from the blog and in that excerpt was the exact dollar amount that I have raised. I got an email about 30 seconds later from Mark saying, "Was this for my eyes only or did you actually just send this out to everyone?"

Doyt! (said like Homer Simpson)

Uh, yup - that'd be the latter....everyone. All 400 fans on my list. (Hmm...should I tell how many fans I have? Maybe i should just refrain from ALL numbers).

Ya, in hindsight, telling the world (well, my world) the exact dollar amount I have obtained from my 5 investors was not the brightest move. Why? Well, first of all, it looks tacky and amateurish. I admit, I'm a rookie and I was excited. It was not an undaunting or easy task to go out and get it and well, dammit, I'm kinda proud of myself. The second and most important reason I regret it is it potentially puts me at a disadvantage when negotiating with people I will be hiring along the way (ie: producers). Well, thankfully none of them are on my mailing list. Still, coulda-woulda-shoulda....hindsight is 20/20.

I did remove it from the blog, as you can see. Can't retract the emails, but oh well. I didn't kill anyone. I didn't steal. Things could be worse. I could be Mel Gibson.

The Brit from Malibu

The first thing on my virtual “to-do” list is to find a producer for my album. Mark and I met with our first candidate yesterday afternoon at a Starbucks in Malibu. With a resume as long our drive from Studio City to Malibu, this Brit was surprisingly laid back and incredibly humble. I’d love to tell you who he is and the people he worked with but again, the anonymity thing, so we’ll just call him “Roc.” He has produced some recent Grammy award winners and had some very telling stories about them as well as other household names. Some of these stories were unbelievable. Like one guy had poor Roc fly a 7 piece band down to New Orleans where they were recording and then attempted to sabotage the session by forcing the musicians to swap instruments (like the drummer played the guitar, bass played the drums, etc) and record that way. Roc thinks it’s because he was intimidated by what good musicians they were. It only made the “sabotager” more angry when they still sounded pretty damn good on different instrument! So, he told Roc to send them all home and they finished the album alone.

It was a fascinating meeting and pretty cool that Roc told me he liked the demo of mine that he had heard. “Your songs are really pretty good.” Wow. Not that this guy is the voice of God but considering all the musicians he’s worked with, it felt pretty good to hear him say that. He did say he thought I was “singing” too much in places, like with too much attitude and I needed to lay back more. Hmmm. I’m still thinking about that one….not quite obsessing over it but more being hyper conscious of it. This is difficult because I am not even really sure what he means. Note to self: definitely something to bring up in meeting #2.

Yes, meeting #2. That should happen in the next few weeks. Before that, two things need to happen: I need to get the rest of my songs (10-15 more) down on a basic recording (just guitar and vocals) for him to hear, and second, Mark needs to have a serious budget conversation with Roc. Is an album with him something I can even afford? With publicity and marketing taking up the bulk of the budget, we can’t afford to spend much more than 20% on the actual making of the album. I mean, if you create a masterpiece but you have no effective way of letting people know about it, what’s the point? To sit in your living room and listen to it saying, “Wow. I sound great.”??? Then again, if you skimp on the production so that you can afford to market the hell out of it, who cares? How many people are really going to buy a highly publicized piece of shit? (Alright, nevermind, I forgot – this is the good old USA.)

So that’s where things stand now…..Alright, I am at work at the moment, sneaking this all in….need to get back before I get caught. ;)

Rags to Record: the backstory

My 1st entry…on August 1st. I like that.
(*ok, technically it's the 2nd today but I wrote this on the 1st.....i just didn't get around to posting it until now)

So, I’ve decided to document this process I’m embarking on….the process of doing for myself, a musician, what a label would be doing for me if all the major labels weren’t these ridiculously big corporations with virtually no artist development even for pre-teen prodigies, the only people, by the way, they will even bat an eyelash at. These days, 21 is pushing it and 22 is over the hill. Jesus, just send me to a home already….

But I digress.

I’m not here to bitch about the state of things. I’m here to document my journey; a journey I began a year ago when I decided that no label was going to sign an unknown 30 yr old singer songwriter. So, I went out and found the money myself. 10 months, 5 investors, a manager, a lawyer, and an LLC later – I have formed my own production company, Neumark Melody Productions LLC.

Rags to Record: I am about to begin the process of what I call, “Rags to Record.” (I’m not really in rags though, I usually wear pretty cute clothes I think.) But the point is, I am about to take the money invested in me and operate as my own label, funding the recording of my album, the publicity, marketing, and distribution that will follow, as well as tour support starting early summer 2007.

The Players: I am not alone in this – my manager, Mark, is a key player, as is my lawyer, Kevin, and of course my 5 investors: *Seinfeld, *Frasier, *Raymond, *Lucy, and *Kramer. Of course, I’ve changed to investor’s names to protect their anonymity. I went with famous leading men/women in their own sitcoms (except I couldn’t think of a 5th, so I went with Kramer.) Anyway, I’m sure in addition to these players there will be many more along the way.