Happy New Year everyone! I hope you enjoyed your Holiday Season. I know, I did! I haven't been on here in a couple of weeks, due to all the chaos, associated with this time of year. We had a great Christmas, and a quiet New Years. My kids made out like bandits, this year, as they seem to do every year. Santa, was pretty good to me, as well! I received a new overdrive pedal, that I had been eyeing for some time, now. Santa, must have realized that SDR was about to kick off 2013, with a flurry of live shows, as he also delivered a new guitar rack, that will hold 5 guitars on stage. It just so happens, that Roy and I have 5 guitars between us, so this sucker will be perfect for holding our axes. He also delivered me a drink holder, that will fit on my mic stand. How cool is that? Pretty cool, if you ask me.
As I stated earlier, it was a quiet New Year's, around our front. I got together with Roy and Cisco, around noon, on New Year's Eve, for our final dress rehearsal. It went well, and the only concern I have, is with my voice. I have been battling colds and conjestion, since mid-December. I'm to the point, of being totally frustrated, with it. Other then that, I feel really good, about everything. We finished our rehearsal about 4pm, and I went home to rest my voice and chill, with the family. We played Twister and Connect 4, with the kids, and the wife and I watched a Pawn Stars marathon, in between.
On New Year's Day, we chilled some more, and just enjoyed the down time. I practiced some of my parts, that weren't quite tight enough, for me, and the wife and I watched Braveheart. She had never seen this movie before! I couldn't believe it! It's one of my favorites, but I hadn't seen it in a long, long time.
I really didn't make any New Year's resolutions, but I'm always striving, to be a better father and husband. I'm really looking forward to 2013, as I anticipate it being a great year, for my family and I, as well as for Sand Dollar Rodeo. Marti has already booked 14 shows, for 2013. We are really excited about "hitting the road", so to speak, and bringing our music to you. If you are interested in booking us, for an event, please contact Marti here eventsbymarti@sbcglobal.net
This week, on Friday, January 4th, we will be playing at Fred's Texas Cafe, which is located at 915 Currie St., Ft. Worth, TX 76107. Their phone number is 817-332-0083. This place is a pretty famous hole-in-the-wall, and was once featured on the popular TV show, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. They are well known for their famous burgers, and the place can fill up in a hurry. We will be on the patio area, but don't fret. They have promised that the patio will be wrapped, and the heaters will be blowing. We are really excited to be playing at Fred's, so come on out and enjoy a burger, and some music. SDR will take the stage at 7pm.
If, braving the weather ain't your thing, then you can also catch us the next night, at the newly named, Dirt Road Dancehall, located at 12301 Camp Bowie West, Aledo, TX 76008. Their phone number is 817-244-6638. This place was formerly known as, Wet Willie's. It's really not in Aledo, though. It's right off of the Linkcrest Exit on I-30. Here, you won't have to deal with any weather issues, whatsoever, as it's a totally indoor honky tonk, complete with pool tables and a dance floor. We are co-headlining this show, with another artist named, Zach Coffey. SDR will be taking the stage around 9:30pm, so come on down, and boot scoot with us. Zach will take the stage about 11:30pm. We are really looking forward to meeting Zach, and having a fun evening with him, and his band.
We hope to see you at one, or both of these shows. So, until next time, remember, you are what you eat, or not! Ehh.. honestly, I just couldn't come up with anything better, to close this post, ha ha! See ya next time!
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Rodeo Radio Event And Other Stuff..
Greetings and salutations to all! I hope your having a good week! I know, I am. Yes, it's been another busy week on the SDR front, so let's get right to, the latest news.
We will be performing live, this Saturday, December 15th at 8pm CST. This is for a private Christmas party, in McKinney, Texas. The good new is, though, that you can join in on the fun, too! That's right! We will be broadcasting, live from the Christmas party! You can access the performance, by going to our website, www.sanddollarrodeo.com and clicking on the "SDR" logo at the top of the page. Just to clarify though, this will be an audio, only, feed. We do not have the capabilities, at present time, for a video cast. We are really excited, as this will be our first live performance, since the Angels In Tropical Shirts benefit, back on September 22, of this year. We will be debuting, quite a bit of new material. We may also throw in a Christmas song or two, so be sure and log on. It should be a great time!
In other news, we have received three nominations, from the internet radio site, Beach Front Radio. Two of our songs, GPS To Nowhere and Carry Me Home, have been nominated for song of the year. SDR, has also been nominated for band of the year. We are very excited and humbled by the nominations. If you get a chance, could you please stop by Beach Front Radio's website located here www.beachfrontradio.com and vote for your favorite SDR song, out of the two listed above. Feel free to go ahead and vote us, band of the year, also, if you feel we are deserving.
Marti has been busy, as well. She has booked several new shows for us. We were originally scheduled to play Boozer's, in Weatherford, on February 15. That show was cancelled, due to the club closing. Instead, we will be playing at the Oui Lounge on February 15 at 9pm. The Oui is located at 3509 Bluebonnet Circle, Ft. Worth, Texas. For more information on the Oui Lounge, please feel free to check out their Facebook page.
The next night, February 16th, we will be heading south to Glen Rose, Texas, for a show at Hollywood and Vine. SDR will take the stage at 7pm. For more information on Hollywood and Vine, check out their website www.hollywoodandvinerestaurant.com Looks like some good food!
On Saturday, March 2, SDR will make it's first appearance in Dallas, at the Across the Street Bar. This is ironically enough, across the street from the campus of Southern Methodist University (SMU), hence it's name. You can check out their website here www.acrossthestreetbar.com Joining us, on this night, will be August & J. I went to school with both of these guys, and they are awesome! Both musically, and personally. They are currently promoting their latest album, entitled "40". You can check them out at their official website located here www.augustandj.com While your at it, please check out the new music video, for their latest single, entitled, "For Once" I have embeded it, at the bottom of this blog post. This video is picking up a lot of steam, and is at almost 3,000,000 views, as of this blog posting. We are really looking forward to this show. So, if your in Dallas, that night, c'mon by. The show starts at 9:30pm.
We will be at Woody Creek BBQ on Friday, March 8, at 7pm. This is the Ft. Worth location, next to Ridgmar Mall, located at 6986 Green Oaks Road. I just wanted to clarify this, as they also have a location out in Springtown, Texas. For more information on Woody Creek, you can visit them here www.woodycreekbbq.com They have some great barbeque, so come on out and join us, for dinner and a cold drink.
On Saturday, March 23, we will be back at Hollywood and Vine, in Glen Rose, at 7pm. Glen Rose is a really neat, little town. They have Dinosaur Valley State Park, which is really cool. For more information, check them out here http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/state-parks/dinosaur-valley They also have Fossil Rim Wildlife Center. This place is really neat. You can drive through the park, and various animals, and critters will come right up to your car! It is really something you should experience, at least once. If you have kids, they will love it! Heck, I love it, but I'm a kid at heart. For more information on Fossil Rim, please check out their website here www.fossilrim.org We plan on hitting both of these places, on one of our trips down to Glen Rose. So bring the family out, make a day out of it, and then relax, with some food and music, afterwords.
Well, that's all I have for this week. Thanks for reading, and for your continued support! Talk to ya soon!
We will be performing live, this Saturday, December 15th at 8pm CST. This is for a private Christmas party, in McKinney, Texas. The good new is, though, that you can join in on the fun, too! That's right! We will be broadcasting, live from the Christmas party! You can access the performance, by going to our website, www.sanddollarrodeo.com and clicking on the "SDR" logo at the top of the page. Just to clarify though, this will be an audio, only, feed. We do not have the capabilities, at present time, for a video cast. We are really excited, as this will be our first live performance, since the Angels In Tropical Shirts benefit, back on September 22, of this year. We will be debuting, quite a bit of new material. We may also throw in a Christmas song or two, so be sure and log on. It should be a great time!
In other news, we have received three nominations, from the internet radio site, Beach Front Radio. Two of our songs, GPS To Nowhere and Carry Me Home, have been nominated for song of the year. SDR, has also been nominated for band of the year. We are very excited and humbled by the nominations. If you get a chance, could you please stop by Beach Front Radio's website located here www.beachfrontradio.com and vote for your favorite SDR song, out of the two listed above. Feel free to go ahead and vote us, band of the year, also, if you feel we are deserving.
Marti has been busy, as well. She has booked several new shows for us. We were originally scheduled to play Boozer's, in Weatherford, on February 15. That show was cancelled, due to the club closing. Instead, we will be playing at the Oui Lounge on February 15 at 9pm. The Oui is located at 3509 Bluebonnet Circle, Ft. Worth, Texas. For more information on the Oui Lounge, please feel free to check out their Facebook page.
The next night, February 16th, we will be heading south to Glen Rose, Texas, for a show at Hollywood and Vine. SDR will take the stage at 7pm. For more information on Hollywood and Vine, check out their website www.hollywoodandvinerestaurant.com Looks like some good food!
We will be at Woody Creek BBQ on Friday, March 8, at 7pm. This is the Ft. Worth location, next to Ridgmar Mall, located at 6986 Green Oaks Road. I just wanted to clarify this, as they also have a location out in Springtown, Texas. For more information on Woody Creek, you can visit them here www.woodycreekbbq.com They have some great barbeque, so come on out and join us, for dinner and a cold drink.
On Saturday, March 23, we will be back at Hollywood and Vine, in Glen Rose, at 7pm. Glen Rose is a really neat, little town. They have Dinosaur Valley State Park, which is really cool. For more information, check them out here http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/state-parks/dinosaur-valley They also have Fossil Rim Wildlife Center. This place is really neat. You can drive through the park, and various animals, and critters will come right up to your car! It is really something you should experience, at least once. If you have kids, they will love it! Heck, I love it, but I'm a kid at heart. For more information on Fossil Rim, please check out their website here www.fossilrim.org We plan on hitting both of these places, on one of our trips down to Glen Rose. So bring the family out, make a day out of it, and then relax, with some food and music, afterwords.
Well, that's all I have for this week. Thanks for reading, and for your continued support! Talk to ya soon!
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Another Busy Week
Well, just as the title suggests, it was another busy week on the SDR front. Roy and I spent the last week, working on the new album. The album is coming together, very nicely. We made a couple of decisions on the album, that brings it more into focus, and gives us a gameplan on finishing it. First, we decided on a title. We kicked around several ideas including, just calling it Sand Dollar Rodeo, but eventually decided on, GPS To Nowhere. It's named after one of our songs, that has the same name. We think it describes us perfectly, as we have no idea where this journey will eventually take us.
We also made a decision about a song, that was on the bubble. It's a song called What Happens Now. We always planned on playing it at the live shows, but were unsure on whether to include it on the album or not. You see, it's sort of a Christmas song, but it has a message, that can be applied year round. We want to promote this message throughout the year, not just at Christmas, so we decided to include it on the album. You will probably also hear this song at most, if not all, of our live shows, as well.
We have decided to include at least 12 tracks on the album, but more then likely, it will end up being 13 tracks. Right now, we have 11 slots filled. In addition, we have one acoustic instrumental piece, where the lyrics are still being written. This song is slated to be included on the album. Roy and I, also have a couple of other songs that we are working on. I have some lyrics and a basic melody, for a possible song, and Roy is working on another song idea, that is basically at the same stage as the one I'm working on. We will see how things go with these, and make a decision shortly.
As of right now, 7 of the tracks are basically done. We still have some tweaks to do here and there, but the hard part is done. The music is basically done, for two other songs. We just need to record the vocals for these two. We have two other songs, where the backing tracks are done. I still need to record the guitar tracks for these, and Roy needs to add the vocals. The aforementioned acoustic track, still needs the lyrics finished, and the other instruments added. Recording has not even begun ,on this one, yet.
To say we are excited about the album, would be an understatement! We can't wait to get it done, and in to your hands!
On the live show front, their have been a couple of changes. First, our show scheduled for Saturday, January 5, 2013, at Wet Willie's is still on. The club has changed names and owners, though. The new name of the club is called The Dirt Road Dance Hall.
I noticed this, as I was driving home, on Sunday afternoon. This club sits right off of Interstate 20, at the west outskirts of Fort Worth. Anytime, I drive into Fort Worth, I pass right by it. I really didn't think anything about it at the time, though later on, at home, it finally hit me, like a ton of bricks! New owners, new management, do we still have a show there? I went into panic mode, and told my wife, that I was going to go down there and see what was going on. Ever the penny pincher, she said, "Why don't you just call down there, before wasting gas?" I said, "I doubt anyone is down there on a Sunday afternoon." She said, "Well, I'm going to find out, before you waste your time, driving down there." She proceeded to call the club, and actually reached someone. She asked them about the name change, and was about to let them go, when I held up my hands, and whispered, "Wait! I need to know the status of our show!" She told the guy, "Hold on a minute, my husband wants to talk to you." She then handed me the phone, without any warning. I talked to the guy and explained my reason for calling. He said that I needed to talk to the person, who books the shows. I was transferred to him, explained who I was, and the situation. He proceeded to tell me, that Marti had called him, and cancelled the show! I knew this had to be a mistake, so I quickly found my phone, and called Marti, while having the other guy on my wife's phone. I quickly explained everything, as fast as I could, and asked her if she had cancelled the show. She said, "No!!", and continued on, "I have been over this, with them, a thousand times!" I won't repeat everything else that was said, on here, but let's just say that Marti, was a little aggravated.
The next few minutes were total chaos, on my end. I had a phone in each ear, and pen and paper, in hand. Marti was talking in one ear, and the booking agent, for the club, was talking in the other. After several minutes, he confirmed that he still had us on the books, and was looking forward to seeing us. Marti and I, breathed a sigh of relief. She said she was still going to send a follow up email, to confirm everything. The next morning, she sent a confirmation email, advising that everything was still on. Whew! What a crazy Sunday, that turned out to be!
We've also had a change, with our February 15, 2013 booking, at Boozer's, in Weatherford. Marti received a call from them, advising that they had sold the location. They have another location in Granbury. We are not sure, if they sold both locations or not. The booking agent at Boozer's, told Marti that they were trying to book as many shows, as possible, at the Granbury location. As of now, we are not sure if we will be playing in Granbury, or not. We will update our website www.sanddollarrodeo.com , as soon as we have more information.
Marti, has also reached out to some big names, in the Texas music industry, about us possibly being an opening act, for some of them. No word yet, on anything, but we are very excited about the possibilities.
That's all I have for now. Talk to ya next week, possibly, probably, or for sure!
We also made a decision about a song, that was on the bubble. It's a song called What Happens Now. We always planned on playing it at the live shows, but were unsure on whether to include it on the album or not. You see, it's sort of a Christmas song, but it has a message, that can be applied year round. We want to promote this message throughout the year, not just at Christmas, so we decided to include it on the album. You will probably also hear this song at most, if not all, of our live shows, as well.
We have decided to include at least 12 tracks on the album, but more then likely, it will end up being 13 tracks. Right now, we have 11 slots filled. In addition, we have one acoustic instrumental piece, where the lyrics are still being written. This song is slated to be included on the album. Roy and I, also have a couple of other songs that we are working on. I have some lyrics and a basic melody, for a possible song, and Roy is working on another song idea, that is basically at the same stage as the one I'm working on. We will see how things go with these, and make a decision shortly.
As of right now, 7 of the tracks are basically done. We still have some tweaks to do here and there, but the hard part is done. The music is basically done, for two other songs. We just need to record the vocals for these two. We have two other songs, where the backing tracks are done. I still need to record the guitar tracks for these, and Roy needs to add the vocals. The aforementioned acoustic track, still needs the lyrics finished, and the other instruments added. Recording has not even begun ,on this one, yet.
To say we are excited about the album, would be an understatement! We can't wait to get it done, and in to your hands!
On the live show front, their have been a couple of changes. First, our show scheduled for Saturday, January 5, 2013, at Wet Willie's is still on. The club has changed names and owners, though. The new name of the club is called The Dirt Road Dance Hall.
I noticed this, as I was driving home, on Sunday afternoon. This club sits right off of Interstate 20, at the west outskirts of Fort Worth. Anytime, I drive into Fort Worth, I pass right by it. I really didn't think anything about it at the time, though later on, at home, it finally hit me, like a ton of bricks! New owners, new management, do we still have a show there? I went into panic mode, and told my wife, that I was going to go down there and see what was going on. Ever the penny pincher, she said, "Why don't you just call down there, before wasting gas?" I said, "I doubt anyone is down there on a Sunday afternoon." She said, "Well, I'm going to find out, before you waste your time, driving down there." She proceeded to call the club, and actually reached someone. She asked them about the name change, and was about to let them go, when I held up my hands, and whispered, "Wait! I need to know the status of our show!" She told the guy, "Hold on a minute, my husband wants to talk to you." She then handed me the phone, without any warning. I talked to the guy and explained my reason for calling. He said that I needed to talk to the person, who books the shows. I was transferred to him, explained who I was, and the situation. He proceeded to tell me, that Marti had called him, and cancelled the show! I knew this had to be a mistake, so I quickly found my phone, and called Marti, while having the other guy on my wife's phone. I quickly explained everything, as fast as I could, and asked her if she had cancelled the show. She said, "No!!", and continued on, "I have been over this, with them, a thousand times!" I won't repeat everything else that was said, on here, but let's just say that Marti, was a little aggravated.
The next few minutes were total chaos, on my end. I had a phone in each ear, and pen and paper, in hand. Marti was talking in one ear, and the booking agent, for the club, was talking in the other. After several minutes, he confirmed that he still had us on the books, and was looking forward to seeing us. Marti and I, breathed a sigh of relief. She said she was still going to send a follow up email, to confirm everything. The next morning, she sent a confirmation email, advising that everything was still on. Whew! What a crazy Sunday, that turned out to be!
We've also had a change, with our February 15, 2013 booking, at Boozer's, in Weatherford. Marti received a call from them, advising that they had sold the location. They have another location in Granbury. We are not sure, if they sold both locations or not. The booking agent at Boozer's, told Marti that they were trying to book as many shows, as possible, at the Granbury location. As of now, we are not sure if we will be playing in Granbury, or not. We will update our website www.sanddollarrodeo.com , as soon as we have more information.
Marti, has also reached out to some big names, in the Texas music industry, about us possibly being an opening act, for some of them. No word yet, on anything, but we are very excited about the possibilities.
That's all I have for now. Talk to ya next week, possibly, probably, or for sure!
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
The Latest News
Whew! Well, it's been a very busy last couple of weeks, for me. Both personally, and with Sand Dollar Rodeo. Last week, of course, was Thanksgiving week. I took some time off from my day job, but still seemed just as busy. Among other things, I had to get my drivers license renewed, take care of some guitar maintenance, and put up Christmas lights!
Thanksgiving was a wonderful time. Am I thankful, for anything? You bet I am! I have been blessed beyond belief. I have a wonderful, immediate and extended family, as well as some great friends! I've finally found a great musical project that I am super excited about, and to top it all off, Christmas is coming! I love this time of year. I'm also thankful for the roof over my head, and a car that starts every time. I celebrated a birthday, on the 24th of this month, and couldn't have asked for a better day! I'm thankful for another year on this earth, and looking forward to what 2013 has in store for me. I know this may not seem like much, but it is to me, and it seems like a lot of times, we take these types of blessings for granted. I know that I have been guilty of that, in the past. I have so many other things to be thankful for, that I could probably write a book about it.
On the SDR front, it has been a very busy, couple of weeks. Roy and I auditioned a percussionist, to help us with the live shows. I had previously met him, when I was working with the Talking Heads tribute band. We went through all the songs, and he picked them up quickly. After the rehearsal, we offered him the job, and he accepted. His name is Cisco, so when you see his name mentioned in future blog posts, you will know who I'm talking about. We all meshed really well, and I'm looking forward to a long, and fun, working relationship. I'm really glad that we did not have to place ads, and audition a lot of people.
This past weekend, Roy and I worked on the upcoming album. We made a lot of progress, and are really excited about it. We completed the music tracks for two new songs, and will spend this upcoming weekend, recording, as well. December will be a very busy month as we alternate between recording, and getting ready for the upcoming live shows.
Speaking of live shows, Marti booked another show for us. We will be making our first appearance in Weatherford, Texas, on Friday, February 15, 2013. We will be playing at Boozers. Showtime is 9pm. If you are in the area that day, drop on by and see us! It will be a good time. For more information on Boozer's, you can check out their website here www.boozersbar.net Marti is also working on several other shows. She has so many irons in the fire, right now, that I can't keep up with them all. This is a very good thing though, so I'm not complaining!
Roy has been hard at work, as well. He has totally overhauled, and redesigned our website. You can check it out here www.sanddollarrodeo.com Roy has also started a blog, of his own, called Holliday Road. His blog will primarily focus on the details of each SDR live show, including, the good, the bad, the ugly, and everything in between. Here is a link to his blog http://royholliday.blogspot.com or you can find a link to it on the official SDR website, listed above. So, what are you waiting for? Go check it out! Their should be some interesting stories coming up.
Well, that about wraps it up for now. Until next time, as Jerry Springer would say, "Take care of yourselves and each other." And to Maury, "No, I am NOT the father!" Talk to ya soon, and stay safe out there!
Thanksgiving was a wonderful time. Am I thankful, for anything? You bet I am! I have been blessed beyond belief. I have a wonderful, immediate and extended family, as well as some great friends! I've finally found a great musical project that I am super excited about, and to top it all off, Christmas is coming! I love this time of year. I'm also thankful for the roof over my head, and a car that starts every time. I celebrated a birthday, on the 24th of this month, and couldn't have asked for a better day! I'm thankful for another year on this earth, and looking forward to what 2013 has in store for me. I know this may not seem like much, but it is to me, and it seems like a lot of times, we take these types of blessings for granted. I know that I have been guilty of that, in the past. I have so many other things to be thankful for, that I could probably write a book about it.
On the SDR front, it has been a very busy, couple of weeks. Roy and I auditioned a percussionist, to help us with the live shows. I had previously met him, when I was working with the Talking Heads tribute band. We went through all the songs, and he picked them up quickly. After the rehearsal, we offered him the job, and he accepted. His name is Cisco, so when you see his name mentioned in future blog posts, you will know who I'm talking about. We all meshed really well, and I'm looking forward to a long, and fun, working relationship. I'm really glad that we did not have to place ads, and audition a lot of people.
This past weekend, Roy and I worked on the upcoming album. We made a lot of progress, and are really excited about it. We completed the music tracks for two new songs, and will spend this upcoming weekend, recording, as well. December will be a very busy month as we alternate between recording, and getting ready for the upcoming live shows.
Speaking of live shows, Marti booked another show for us. We will be making our first appearance in Weatherford, Texas, on Friday, February 15, 2013. We will be playing at Boozers. Showtime is 9pm. If you are in the area that day, drop on by and see us! It will be a good time. For more information on Boozer's, you can check out their website here www.boozersbar.net Marti is also working on several other shows. She has so many irons in the fire, right now, that I can't keep up with them all. This is a very good thing though, so I'm not complaining!
Roy has been hard at work, as well. He has totally overhauled, and redesigned our website. You can check it out here www.sanddollarrodeo.com Roy has also started a blog, of his own, called Holliday Road. His blog will primarily focus on the details of each SDR live show, including, the good, the bad, the ugly, and everything in between. Here is a link to his blog http://royholliday.blogspot.com or you can find a link to it on the official SDR website, listed above. So, what are you waiting for? Go check it out! Their should be some interesting stories coming up.
Well, that about wraps it up for now. Until next time, as Jerry Springer would say, "Take care of yourselves and each other." And to Maury, "No, I am NOT the father!" Talk to ya soon, and stay safe out there!
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Happenings And Events
Hello gang! It's been a busy, and eventful last couple of weeks, around the SDR fold. I wanted to hop on here, to give everyone the lowdown, on what's happening. Not the old TV show, mind you, but with us!
First off, we have regretfully decided to cancel our Rodeo Radio event, which was originally scheduled for this Saturday, November 17. While we hate to do this, it's actually not a bad thing. You see, Marti has already booked five live shows for us. These shows will kick off in January. As a result, we have had to shift gears, and really start preparing for these shows. We also have a live show scheduled in McKinney, Texas, at 8pm on Saturday, December 15. This is a private Christmas party. We are, however, looking at broadcasting this performance, over the internet. I will keep you up to date on this, as we get closer to the date.
With that said, we have also decided to expand our lineup, for the live shows. We will be adding a percussionist. We plan to meet with a potential percussionist, this Saturday. This is another reason for the cancellation of Rodeo Radio. Hopefully, all will go well with this, and we can continue moving forward.
As I stated earlier, we are very busy, preparing for our live shows. We are in the process, of putting together some cover tunes, to fill out our set. Learning covers, is a time consuming experience. While you can sometimes take some liberties with them, for the most part, you want to stick to the original formula. We've all heard bad cover versions of songs, and how awful they can be. Roy and I are trying to avoid this, and thus, we are being super selective on the cover songs that we will play, and what liberties we will take with them.
Our primary focus though, is the original music. That is our passion, and what we enjoy doing the most. It's the reason, SDR exists. We are working hard on our debut album, and hope to have it out, early next year. We have not set a deadline on the album. It will be done, when it's done. Hopefully, sooner then later, though. We are currently, in the process, of writing several new songs. These will be added to the setlist, as they are completed.
2013, looks to be avery promising year, and we are looking forward to bringing our music to you. Marti, is filling our calendar up very quickly. If you are interested in booking SDR, please contact her her here eventsbymarti@sbcglobal.net Below, is a listing of all of our shows, currently on the books:
Friday, January 4, 2013-Fred's Texas Cafe, Ft.Worth, TX 7pm, No Cover
Saturday, January 5, 2013-Wild Wet Willie's Saloon, Aledo, TX 9pm, $10
Saturday, January 12, 2013-Keller Tavern, Keller, TX 8pm, No Cover
Friday, January 25, 2013-Buffalo West, Ft.Worth, TX 7pm, No Cover
Saturday, May 4, 2013-Mayfest, Ft. Worth, TX 6:30pm, Park Admission
For more information on these shows please check out our reverb page at www.reverbnation.com/sandollarrodeo You can also check us out on our official site at www.sanddollarrodeo.com our facebook page www.facebook.com/sanddollarrodeo or our Twitter feed @SandDollarRodeo
We anticipate several other shows, being booked, over the next several weeks. Please feel free to check the sites, for updates. That's all I got for now. Thanks for reading, and I'll talk to ya soon!
First off, we have regretfully decided to cancel our Rodeo Radio event, which was originally scheduled for this Saturday, November 17. While we hate to do this, it's actually not a bad thing. You see, Marti has already booked five live shows for us. These shows will kick off in January. As a result, we have had to shift gears, and really start preparing for these shows. We also have a live show scheduled in McKinney, Texas, at 8pm on Saturday, December 15. This is a private Christmas party. We are, however, looking at broadcasting this performance, over the internet. I will keep you up to date on this, as we get closer to the date.
With that said, we have also decided to expand our lineup, for the live shows. We will be adding a percussionist. We plan to meet with a potential percussionist, this Saturday. This is another reason for the cancellation of Rodeo Radio. Hopefully, all will go well with this, and we can continue moving forward.
As I stated earlier, we are very busy, preparing for our live shows. We are in the process, of putting together some cover tunes, to fill out our set. Learning covers, is a time consuming experience. While you can sometimes take some liberties with them, for the most part, you want to stick to the original formula. We've all heard bad cover versions of songs, and how awful they can be. Roy and I are trying to avoid this, and thus, we are being super selective on the cover songs that we will play, and what liberties we will take with them.
Our primary focus though, is the original music. That is our passion, and what we enjoy doing the most. It's the reason, SDR exists. We are working hard on our debut album, and hope to have it out, early next year. We have not set a deadline on the album. It will be done, when it's done. Hopefully, sooner then later, though. We are currently, in the process, of writing several new songs. These will be added to the setlist, as they are completed.
2013, looks to be avery promising year, and we are looking forward to bringing our music to you. Marti, is filling our calendar up very quickly. If you are interested in booking SDR, please contact her her here eventsbymarti@sbcglobal.net Below, is a listing of all of our shows, currently on the books:
Friday, January 4, 2013-Fred's Texas Cafe, Ft.Worth, TX 7pm, No Cover
Saturday, January 5, 2013-Wild Wet Willie's Saloon, Aledo, TX 9pm, $10
Saturday, January 12, 2013-Keller Tavern, Keller, TX 8pm, No Cover
Friday, January 25, 2013-Buffalo West, Ft.Worth, TX 7pm, No Cover
Saturday, May 4, 2013-Mayfest, Ft. Worth, TX 6:30pm, Park Admission
For more information on these shows please check out our reverb page at www.reverbnation.com/sandollarrodeo You can also check us out on our official site at www.sanddollarrodeo.com our facebook page www.facebook.com/sanddollarrodeo or our Twitter feed @SandDollarRodeo
We anticipate several other shows, being booked, over the next several weeks. Please feel free to check the sites, for updates. That's all I got for now. Thanks for reading, and I'll talk to ya soon!
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Ahh...Craigslist!
I have a confession to make. I think I may have an addiction. This is a very common thing, among musicians. Heck, even Roy, has an addiction. His, is called fried okra! For more information on that, please check out our song, with the same name here www.sanddollarrodeo.com As for mine, it's not a food, drink, or drug, but a website. The website in question? You guessed it, it's Craigslist. For those of you not familar with it, it's basically an online garage sale and/or classified ads website. You can place, and respond to ads, for free. What's really nice, is you do not have to give out your personal contact information. If you place an ad, you can set it up with an anonymous email link. That way, the person that responds to your ad, does not have access to your real email address, until you want them to. The site contains ads, for just about everything, that you can imagine. From items for sale, to job listings, garage sale ads, services, housing, and personal ads. I would probably avoid the last one though, but that's just my opinion.
I was introduced to Craigslist, through a buddy of mine, who is a bass player. We've known each other since grade school, and have played together in a few projects, over the years.
Let me stop right here, for a moment. Most musicians have a condition called G.A.S. No, it's not a build up of flatulence, but a condition known as Gear Aquisition Syndrome. I'm not making this up! Don't believe me, Google it! You'll see many musicians, make reference to it.
Anyway, my friend, as I, had this condition. I still have it, to some degree. Whenever, someone in the band would mention something about gear, he would say, "Craigslist." I noticed that he was buying and selling, quite a bit of geat on there. He was getting, said gear, at great prices too!
I started scanning Craigslist, in my spare time. I was never looking for anything, in particular, just kind of seeing what it was all about. My first experience, with any sort of transaction, occured a few months later. It was actually on a guitar trade. Big surprise, huh?
I had acquired a Paul Reed Smith, several months before. At the time, I thought it was the perfect guitar, for me. It played like butter, and looked great, but I never bonded with it. One of the mistakes that I made, was not testing it out with my amp. I guess I was just so blinded, by the G.A.S, that I figured it would sound fine with my rig. To make a long story short, I could never get that guitar dialed in, with my rig. I was not happy, with the way it sounded. The pickups on it were very hot, which made it almost impossible to get a nice clean sound. I was really disappointed, and trying to figure out what to do, next. I really dreaded telling my wife this, as I had bugged her to death about this guitar, and how much I "needed" it. I finally got up the courage to broach the subject with her, and she was very understanding. I just explained the way I was feeling, about the situation. She suggested that I look at either selling it, or maybe work out a trade on another guitar.
I decided to start browsing Craigslist, to see what was out there, and what I might be interested in. A couple of Gibson Les Pauls caught my eye, but my thinking was, "Yeah, right! That will never happen, so just forget about it." I had always wanted one, but they can be very pricey. I found out, through my research, that Gibson made a lower end Les Paul called a "Studio". It didn't have all of the bells and whistles of the more fancier models, but I thought, "Why not go try one?"
I headed out to Guitar Center one day, to check them out. I played several of them and thought they sounded pretty good, and were nice and all, but they didn't "wow" me. I discussed a trade with them, but the terms were laughable, and I declined. I discussed the dilemma, with a guitar player, friend of mine, and he suggested swapping out the pickups. I explored the option, but it was going to run me about $350.00 to do this, and their was no guarantee that I would be satisified with the sound, once it was done. I decided against the pickup swap, and continued looking for a deal on Craigslist.
On Labor Day morning, 2010, I was off of work, for the holiday. I was browsing Craigslist, when I ran across an ad, that caught my eye. The person was looking to sell or trade his Gibson Les Paul "Classic", for a Paul Reed Smith. The model he was looking for, just so happened, to be the one that I had! I contacted him, to see if he would be interested in working something out. He responded, rather quickly, asking if I could send him some pictures of my guitar. I sent the pictures, and received a response, that he was interested in my guitar. He lived about 30 minutes away, and I agreed to meet him at his place, much to my wife's dismay!
The only way this deal was going to happen, would be a straight up trade, and I was not sure if that was gonna happen, or not. You see, this guitar had been upgraded with some Seymour Duncan pickups, and he was asking about $300 more, then what my guitar had cost me. It was a fair price, for what it was. I figured it was worth the chance to drive out, though. The worst he could say, was no, right?
As I mentioned earlier, my wife was not real happy with this arrangement. I guess she was having paranoid visions of me walking into Leatherface's, Jason's or Michael Myers' lair, or some such. She had strict instructions for me to text her when I got there, text her five minutes after that, and to text her, when I was leaving. Failure to comply, would result in her calling the police, and having them dispatched to this guy's address. I thought she was overreacting, a little, but I complied, as that would be a very embarrassing situation, and I really hoped to work out a deal. I'm sure, the police showing up at this guy's house, would have killed any deal.
I grabbed my amp and guitar, and headed over to the location. I texted my wife, to let her know I had made it. I met the guy, and knew right away that he was not a serial killer. Still, I obliged my wife, and sent her another text, informing her that I was still alive and well.
I plugged that guitar up to my amp, and knew right away that I wanted it bad! It was perfect. It played like a dream, and had a nice warm sound. The other guy was checking out my guitar. I honestly didn't think he would do the deal. Best case, I thought he might trade, and ask for $200 to $300 on my end, which I was not in a position to do. He agreed, that the guitar had really hot pickups in it, and that he would probably want to change them out. I had mentioned this to him, before we ever met, just to make sure he would still be interested. I told him how much I was quoted for a pickup change, and figured that would be the end of the deal. He looked over the guitar for sometime and finally said, "Well, I can't believe that I'm about to trade a Les Paul, but I really like yours better." Trying to hide my out and out joy, was nearly impossible. I honestly couldn't believe that the deal was going down! I was going, to be going, home with a Les Paul! At this point, I wanted to get out of there as fast as I could, before he could change his mind. I loaded up my amp and new guitar, texted my wife, to let her know that I survived, and headed home.
From that point on, I was hooked. I became a Cragislist "junkie". I was always looking, for some sort of deal. My wife would mention something, that she might want, and I would always jump on Craigslist first. Mainly, I just wanted to see if their were any awesome deals out there.
Last summer, 2011, I had my first experiences, selling on Craigslist. I was in the market for a new road bicycle, and decided to part with a couple of items. The first item was a lower end guitar, that I was no longer using. This was a great little guitar but, it was just taking up space now. I received quite a few responses, but only one concrete offer. I cringed at the offer though, as the guy lived in Abilene, which is about 2 hours west, of me. He proposed that we meet in Eastland, which would be an hour drive for both of us. He said he would give me my asking price, so I agreed to it. My wife was really not thrilled about this, as she said, "Well, I guess I get to spend my Friday evening, going to Eastland." I was somewhat surprised by this, and asked, "Your going with me?" She responded, "Uh, yeah! Do you think I'm going to let you drive all the way out there to meet some stranger?" I just laughed, and told her that I would be fine, but she was having none of that.
We headed out, and met the gentleman in a Wal Mart parking lot. He had his wife with him, also. I guess she was probably thinking the same thing, that my wife was. He looked over the guitar, was satisfied, and handed me the cash. We visited for a few minutes, until both of our wives rolled down the car windows, indicating that it was time to go. On the way home, we stopped in Strawn, Texas, for a great meal at Mary's Cafe. If your ever out that way, be sure and check it out. I promise, you will not be disappointed.
My next deal was on a bicycle, that I had purchased from Wal Mart. This, along with the guitar, were going towards the purchase of my new road bike. My wife insisted that I buy an inexpensive bike, first, to see if I would enjoy the sport. I reluctantly agreed, but in hindsight, it was the smart decision. I rode my Wal Mart bike, for a little over a month, and was hooked. I decided it was time to upgrade and my wife agreed. The thing that we didn't realize though, was we could have returned the bike within 30 days, and received a full refund, no questions asked. We missed the deadline by a few days, though.
I had been scouring Craigslist, looking for a good used bike. I did a lot of research, and narrowed my choices, down to a few models, that I liked. In the end though, I decided to buy a new bike, as these types of bikes require some maintenance, and mechanical skills. I possessed neither, at the time. Another added bonus was, that the bike store could professionally fit me to the most appropriate bike. They also offered lifetime adjustments on the bike, itself. I decided to forego the Craigslist route, this time, even though I could have found a used bike, cheaper. In the long run, I know I made the right choice.
I listed my Wal Mart bike, on Craigslist, for $125. I was hoping to get $100 for it, but if someone offered to pay the asking price, all the better. Again, I received several inquiries, but only one of them turned serious. The guy asked if I would be willing to take $100, if he liked it, and I agreed to this. He lived near downtown Ft. Worth, so we decided to meet at my sister's hair salon. They have a nice size parking lot, that allowed him to test the bike out. My wife was ectatic, as she did not have to go! I guess, she figured that a parking lot in broad daylight, was safe enough. We met, he road the bike, liked it, and tried to talk me down to $80. I refused, and he agreed to the $100. With that, I was able to purchase my new road bike.
So far, I've had great experiences, using Craigslist. The people that I've met and conversed with, have all been very nice. As stated, in my previous blog post, it's how Roy and I first became aquainted. It was also the vehicle I used, to land the gig with the Talking Heads tribute band, and it's how Marti became our booking agent. I've also used it to research products, and listed a garage sale ad, among other things. To date, I've only had one item listed, that never did sell. It was a guitar amp, and for whatever reason, I never received a single response on that ad. I re-listed it several times, before giving up, and selling it to a music store. I was able to get my asking price, from the music store, which was a surprise.
Today, I still jump on almost everyday. I usually skim the musicians section, looking for shows. I'm starting to see venues advertise on there, more and more. The House Of Blues-Dallas, actually had an ad on there, a couple of weeks ago. They were looking for local bands, in our genre. When I saw the ad, I immediately contacted Marti, to advise her of what I had found. She was on step ahead of me though, and had already seen the ad, and submitted to it. She told me that she was a "Craigslist Junkie", as well.
I also check out the musical instruments from time to time. I'm not really in the market for anything, at present time. It's fun to look though, and who knows? You might just run into that , "Deal of the Century", and I would hate to miss that! Wouldn't you?
The only other advice that I can give, is to use common sense. You probably already know this, because you are smart, but it's still worth mentioning. I would never, ever give any type of bank or credit card info to anyone. Go with cash, and meet in person. I would also advise that you bring someone with you, if you plan on meeting at a home, or a place that is not populated. I know I was joking around, with my wife's caution, but she is right. You never can be too cautious, in this day and age. Other then that, just have fun with it.
Lastly, no, I am not a paid endorser of the site. Although, maybe I should be, ehh????
I was introduced to Craigslist, through a buddy of mine, who is a bass player. We've known each other since grade school, and have played together in a few projects, over the years.
Let me stop right here, for a moment. Most musicians have a condition called G.A.S. No, it's not a build up of flatulence, but a condition known as Gear Aquisition Syndrome. I'm not making this up! Don't believe me, Google it! You'll see many musicians, make reference to it.
Anyway, my friend, as I, had this condition. I still have it, to some degree. Whenever, someone in the band would mention something about gear, he would say, "Craigslist." I noticed that he was buying and selling, quite a bit of geat on there. He was getting, said gear, at great prices too!
I started scanning Craigslist, in my spare time. I was never looking for anything, in particular, just kind of seeing what it was all about. My first experience, with any sort of transaction, occured a few months later. It was actually on a guitar trade. Big surprise, huh?
I had acquired a Paul Reed Smith, several months before. At the time, I thought it was the perfect guitar, for me. It played like butter, and looked great, but I never bonded with it. One of the mistakes that I made, was not testing it out with my amp. I guess I was just so blinded, by the G.A.S, that I figured it would sound fine with my rig. To make a long story short, I could never get that guitar dialed in, with my rig. I was not happy, with the way it sounded. The pickups on it were very hot, which made it almost impossible to get a nice clean sound. I was really disappointed, and trying to figure out what to do, next. I really dreaded telling my wife this, as I had bugged her to death about this guitar, and how much I "needed" it. I finally got up the courage to broach the subject with her, and she was very understanding. I just explained the way I was feeling, about the situation. She suggested that I look at either selling it, or maybe work out a trade on another guitar.
I decided to start browsing Craigslist, to see what was out there, and what I might be interested in. A couple of Gibson Les Pauls caught my eye, but my thinking was, "Yeah, right! That will never happen, so just forget about it." I had always wanted one, but they can be very pricey. I found out, through my research, that Gibson made a lower end Les Paul called a "Studio". It didn't have all of the bells and whistles of the more fancier models, but I thought, "Why not go try one?"
I headed out to Guitar Center one day, to check them out. I played several of them and thought they sounded pretty good, and were nice and all, but they didn't "wow" me. I discussed a trade with them, but the terms were laughable, and I declined. I discussed the dilemma, with a guitar player, friend of mine, and he suggested swapping out the pickups. I explored the option, but it was going to run me about $350.00 to do this, and their was no guarantee that I would be satisified with the sound, once it was done. I decided against the pickup swap, and continued looking for a deal on Craigslist.
On Labor Day morning, 2010, I was off of work, for the holiday. I was browsing Craigslist, when I ran across an ad, that caught my eye. The person was looking to sell or trade his Gibson Les Paul "Classic", for a Paul Reed Smith. The model he was looking for, just so happened, to be the one that I had! I contacted him, to see if he would be interested in working something out. He responded, rather quickly, asking if I could send him some pictures of my guitar. I sent the pictures, and received a response, that he was interested in my guitar. He lived about 30 minutes away, and I agreed to meet him at his place, much to my wife's dismay!
The only way this deal was going to happen, would be a straight up trade, and I was not sure if that was gonna happen, or not. You see, this guitar had been upgraded with some Seymour Duncan pickups, and he was asking about $300 more, then what my guitar had cost me. It was a fair price, for what it was. I figured it was worth the chance to drive out, though. The worst he could say, was no, right?
As I mentioned earlier, my wife was not real happy with this arrangement. I guess she was having paranoid visions of me walking into Leatherface's, Jason's or Michael Myers' lair, or some such. She had strict instructions for me to text her when I got there, text her five minutes after that, and to text her, when I was leaving. Failure to comply, would result in her calling the police, and having them dispatched to this guy's address. I thought she was overreacting, a little, but I complied, as that would be a very embarrassing situation, and I really hoped to work out a deal. I'm sure, the police showing up at this guy's house, would have killed any deal.
I grabbed my amp and guitar, and headed over to the location. I texted my wife, to let her know I had made it. I met the guy, and knew right away that he was not a serial killer. Still, I obliged my wife, and sent her another text, informing her that I was still alive and well.
I plugged that guitar up to my amp, and knew right away that I wanted it bad! It was perfect. It played like a dream, and had a nice warm sound. The other guy was checking out my guitar. I honestly didn't think he would do the deal. Best case, I thought he might trade, and ask for $200 to $300 on my end, which I was not in a position to do. He agreed, that the guitar had really hot pickups in it, and that he would probably want to change them out. I had mentioned this to him, before we ever met, just to make sure he would still be interested. I told him how much I was quoted for a pickup change, and figured that would be the end of the deal. He looked over the guitar for sometime and finally said, "Well, I can't believe that I'm about to trade a Les Paul, but I really like yours better." Trying to hide my out and out joy, was nearly impossible. I honestly couldn't believe that the deal was going down! I was going, to be going, home with a Les Paul! At this point, I wanted to get out of there as fast as I could, before he could change his mind. I loaded up my amp and new guitar, texted my wife, to let her know that I survived, and headed home.
From that point on, I was hooked. I became a Cragislist "junkie". I was always looking, for some sort of deal. My wife would mention something, that she might want, and I would always jump on Craigslist first. Mainly, I just wanted to see if their were any awesome deals out there.
Last summer, 2011, I had my first experiences, selling on Craigslist. I was in the market for a new road bicycle, and decided to part with a couple of items. The first item was a lower end guitar, that I was no longer using. This was a great little guitar but, it was just taking up space now. I received quite a few responses, but only one concrete offer. I cringed at the offer though, as the guy lived in Abilene, which is about 2 hours west, of me. He proposed that we meet in Eastland, which would be an hour drive for both of us. He said he would give me my asking price, so I agreed to it. My wife was really not thrilled about this, as she said, "Well, I guess I get to spend my Friday evening, going to Eastland." I was somewhat surprised by this, and asked, "Your going with me?" She responded, "Uh, yeah! Do you think I'm going to let you drive all the way out there to meet some stranger?" I just laughed, and told her that I would be fine, but she was having none of that.
We headed out, and met the gentleman in a Wal Mart parking lot. He had his wife with him, also. I guess she was probably thinking the same thing, that my wife was. He looked over the guitar, was satisfied, and handed me the cash. We visited for a few minutes, until both of our wives rolled down the car windows, indicating that it was time to go. On the way home, we stopped in Strawn, Texas, for a great meal at Mary's Cafe. If your ever out that way, be sure and check it out. I promise, you will not be disappointed.
My next deal was on a bicycle, that I had purchased from Wal Mart. This, along with the guitar, were going towards the purchase of my new road bike. My wife insisted that I buy an inexpensive bike, first, to see if I would enjoy the sport. I reluctantly agreed, but in hindsight, it was the smart decision. I rode my Wal Mart bike, for a little over a month, and was hooked. I decided it was time to upgrade and my wife agreed. The thing that we didn't realize though, was we could have returned the bike within 30 days, and received a full refund, no questions asked. We missed the deadline by a few days, though.
I had been scouring Craigslist, looking for a good used bike. I did a lot of research, and narrowed my choices, down to a few models, that I liked. In the end though, I decided to buy a new bike, as these types of bikes require some maintenance, and mechanical skills. I possessed neither, at the time. Another added bonus was, that the bike store could professionally fit me to the most appropriate bike. They also offered lifetime adjustments on the bike, itself. I decided to forego the Craigslist route, this time, even though I could have found a used bike, cheaper. In the long run, I know I made the right choice.
I listed my Wal Mart bike, on Craigslist, for $125. I was hoping to get $100 for it, but if someone offered to pay the asking price, all the better. Again, I received several inquiries, but only one of them turned serious. The guy asked if I would be willing to take $100, if he liked it, and I agreed to this. He lived near downtown Ft. Worth, so we decided to meet at my sister's hair salon. They have a nice size parking lot, that allowed him to test the bike out. My wife was ectatic, as she did not have to go! I guess, she figured that a parking lot in broad daylight, was safe enough. We met, he road the bike, liked it, and tried to talk me down to $80. I refused, and he agreed to the $100. With that, I was able to purchase my new road bike.
So far, I've had great experiences, using Craigslist. The people that I've met and conversed with, have all been very nice. As stated, in my previous blog post, it's how Roy and I first became aquainted. It was also the vehicle I used, to land the gig with the Talking Heads tribute band, and it's how Marti became our booking agent. I've also used it to research products, and listed a garage sale ad, among other things. To date, I've only had one item listed, that never did sell. It was a guitar amp, and for whatever reason, I never received a single response on that ad. I re-listed it several times, before giving up, and selling it to a music store. I was able to get my asking price, from the music store, which was a surprise.
Today, I still jump on almost everyday. I usually skim the musicians section, looking for shows. I'm starting to see venues advertise on there, more and more. The House Of Blues-Dallas, actually had an ad on there, a couple of weeks ago. They were looking for local bands, in our genre. When I saw the ad, I immediately contacted Marti, to advise her of what I had found. She was on step ahead of me though, and had already seen the ad, and submitted to it. She told me that she was a "Craigslist Junkie", as well.
I also check out the musical instruments from time to time. I'm not really in the market for anything, at present time. It's fun to look though, and who knows? You might just run into that , "Deal of the Century", and I would hate to miss that! Wouldn't you?
The only other advice that I can give, is to use common sense. You probably already know this, because you are smart, but it's still worth mentioning. I would never, ever give any type of bank or credit card info to anyone. Go with cash, and meet in person. I would also advise that you bring someone with you, if you plan on meeting at a home, or a place that is not populated. I know I was joking around, with my wife's caution, but she is right. You never can be too cautious, in this day and age. Other then that, just have fun with it.
Lastly, no, I am not a paid endorser of the site. Although, maybe I should be, ehh????
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Gigging
Playing live is the lifeblood for most bands. Whether they want to call it a concert, gig, or live performance etc., it all means the same thing, which is getting out, and connecting with your audience, in a face to face setting. It's the single best way for an unknown band to develop a following, and earn fans, in my opinion. It's also the main way, that up and coming bands, as well as established ones, generate income, these days.
Before the age of mp3's, iTunes, and digital distribution, artists earned most of their income from album sales and hit singles. Back then, an artist would would put out an album, and tour to promote the album. The tour's goal was basically to break even. Some might earn a little and some might lose a little, but all in all, it was not the artist's main source of income.
In today's world, the exact opposite occurs. An artist signed to a major label, hardly earns anything on album sales, unless it is a smash hit and sells millions. These days, the artist's primary source of income is through touring, and playing live shows. Have you noticed how much more, concert tickets are these days? The reason why? The artist still needs to be able to cover the costs involved, in putting on the show, and now needs to be able to make a profit from the show, as they are no longer generating income from album sales. Where as before, a show was done to support an album, now an album is done to support a show.
To date, Sand Dollar Rodeo has played two live shows, and one internet broadcast. Roy originally booked the two live shows, as Roy Holliday solo shows. We changed them to Sand Dollar Rodeo shows, once Roy and I teamed up. We thought this would be a great way to get SDR jump started. The first ever Sand Dollar Rodeo show, was held in McKinney, Texas, at the Mack Farm, on September 2, 2012. The event, was a brand new festival called "Okra Fest", that was hosted by Jeff and Shelly Mack. Jeff is a part of the filming crew, for the televison show Troubadour, TX, which chronicles the lives of Texas musicians, all across the state. For more information, and show times, check out their website at http://trobadourtx.com
Our second show was held in Seven Points, Texas, on September 22, 2012. The event, was the "Angels In Tropical Shirts" cancer benefit. It was an all day event, and featured many other talented musicians such as Ben Reyna, Scotty Lee Shuffield, Lucky Boyd, Terry Rasor, Don Burke, Mike Elras, Joe Bennett, Dennis Davis, and The Bad Monkeys. This is a wonderful benefit and it raised over $14,000.00, for cancer research.
Our first ever internet broadcas,t occured on October 20, 2012. We plan to do these from time to time, as our schedule allows. We call these shows, "Rodeo Radio". We had a nice response from our first broadcast, and had listeners tuned in all over the country. Among the states represented, were Michigan, Pennsylvania, Massachussetts, and of course Texas. If I missed your state, please forgive me! I'll do better next time, I promise!
One of the hurdles, facing new bands, is just being able to book a show. You can sound great, have a great promo pack, really present yourself well, and still have a problem, landing gigs. I think there are probably muliple reasons that this may happen, but I think the biggest one, the venue is concerned with is, "How big is your following?" I can see that being a concern for a venue, as the last thing that they want to do, is bring in a band, pay them, pay their staff, and then have an empty venue. It's a real Catch-22. On the band side you can say, "How are we supposed to build up a following, if no one will book us, and let us play?" I think this is the reason a lot of bands, fold up the tents. You have to believe in yourself, plus have an incredible drive, and passion for what you are doing.
Roy and I were previously spending a tremendous amount of time, trying to obtain show bookings. A lot of times, we would get no response back from the venue at all. One venue, in particular, had a phone number listed on it's website, to call for bookings. I contacted this number several times, left messages, and received no call back. There were numerous others, that wanted you to email information to them. I would follow the instructions, and get no response back. When I would get a response back, it was usually something along the lines of, "What kind of following do you have?" "How much do you charge?" "Do you also play covers?" "How many gigs have you played?', and so on. The last one, was an actual question I received. I'm thinking, "Huh, what does that have to do with anything?" I had one venue contact me, said they liked the music, and wanted to book us. I replied back, that day, and told them, "That sounded great." I asked them for some more details, never heard anything back, so I contacted them again, a few days later. They responded back, that day, with more details. I replied back, the same day, to confirm a date and time, and again, never heard back from them. I attempted to follow up, five days later, and never received a response back.
Roy was having the same kind of issues, that I was. One day, he said, " This is almost getting comical." I agreed and asked, "I know it sounds ridiculous, but should we maybe look at getting a booking agent?" He agreed with me that it was ridiculous, at our level, to need an agent. He came up with an idea, to post an ad on Craigslist, (ahh... Craigslist again), to get feedback on our music, and to get opinions on where we should be looking for gigs. He received a response from a booking agent, named Marti, who said she liked our music, said their was a good market for it, and that she could get us booked.
Shortly thereafter, we had a conference call with Marti, to go over all the details. We decided to bring her aboard, to handle all of the bookings for SDR. Roy and I handed over all of our booking information, to her, that we had been working on.
Marti is off to a running start, and has been doing a phenomenal job. She has already been able to make contact with several of the venues, that Roy and I were unable to. She just booked a show at a venue, that I had no luck with, and is in the process of booking several other shows. If you are interested in booking SDR for an event, please email Marti here eventsbymarti@sbcglobal.net with information, and she will contact you back.
Roy and I both felt like a weight had been lifted off of our shoulders, when we brought Marti onboard. This has freed us up to concentrate on other areas of SDR, namely rehearsing, writing new music, and recording our album. We plan to hit the live shows hard, starting in January 2013. Until then, feel free to catch one of our Rodeo Radio events. The next one is scheduled for Saturday, November 17, 2012, at 2pm Central Time. For more information on Rodeo Radio, please check out my blog post entitled "Rodeo Radio." You can also find out more, at our official website www.sanddollarrodeo.com
Well, that's all I have for now. Until next time, thanks for reading and I'll talk to you soon!
Before the age of mp3's, iTunes, and digital distribution, artists earned most of their income from album sales and hit singles. Back then, an artist would would put out an album, and tour to promote the album. The tour's goal was basically to break even. Some might earn a little and some might lose a little, but all in all, it was not the artist's main source of income.
In today's world, the exact opposite occurs. An artist signed to a major label, hardly earns anything on album sales, unless it is a smash hit and sells millions. These days, the artist's primary source of income is through touring, and playing live shows. Have you noticed how much more, concert tickets are these days? The reason why? The artist still needs to be able to cover the costs involved, in putting on the show, and now needs to be able to make a profit from the show, as they are no longer generating income from album sales. Where as before, a show was done to support an album, now an album is done to support a show.
To date, Sand Dollar Rodeo has played two live shows, and one internet broadcast. Roy originally booked the two live shows, as Roy Holliday solo shows. We changed them to Sand Dollar Rodeo shows, once Roy and I teamed up. We thought this would be a great way to get SDR jump started. The first ever Sand Dollar Rodeo show, was held in McKinney, Texas, at the Mack Farm, on September 2, 2012. The event, was a brand new festival called "Okra Fest", that was hosted by Jeff and Shelly Mack. Jeff is a part of the filming crew, for the televison show Troubadour, TX, which chronicles the lives of Texas musicians, all across the state. For more information, and show times, check out their website at http://trobadourtx.com
Our second show was held in Seven Points, Texas, on September 22, 2012. The event, was the "Angels In Tropical Shirts" cancer benefit. It was an all day event, and featured many other talented musicians such as Ben Reyna, Scotty Lee Shuffield, Lucky Boyd, Terry Rasor, Don Burke, Mike Elras, Joe Bennett, Dennis Davis, and The Bad Monkeys. This is a wonderful benefit and it raised over $14,000.00, for cancer research.
Our first ever internet broadcas,t occured on October 20, 2012. We plan to do these from time to time, as our schedule allows. We call these shows, "Rodeo Radio". We had a nice response from our first broadcast, and had listeners tuned in all over the country. Among the states represented, were Michigan, Pennsylvania, Massachussetts, and of course Texas. If I missed your state, please forgive me! I'll do better next time, I promise!
One of the hurdles, facing new bands, is just being able to book a show. You can sound great, have a great promo pack, really present yourself well, and still have a problem, landing gigs. I think there are probably muliple reasons that this may happen, but I think the biggest one, the venue is concerned with is, "How big is your following?" I can see that being a concern for a venue, as the last thing that they want to do, is bring in a band, pay them, pay their staff, and then have an empty venue. It's a real Catch-22. On the band side you can say, "How are we supposed to build up a following, if no one will book us, and let us play?" I think this is the reason a lot of bands, fold up the tents. You have to believe in yourself, plus have an incredible drive, and passion for what you are doing.
Roy and I were previously spending a tremendous amount of time, trying to obtain show bookings. A lot of times, we would get no response back from the venue at all. One venue, in particular, had a phone number listed on it's website, to call for bookings. I contacted this number several times, left messages, and received no call back. There were numerous others, that wanted you to email information to them. I would follow the instructions, and get no response back. When I would get a response back, it was usually something along the lines of, "What kind of following do you have?" "How much do you charge?" "Do you also play covers?" "How many gigs have you played?', and so on. The last one, was an actual question I received. I'm thinking, "Huh, what does that have to do with anything?" I had one venue contact me, said they liked the music, and wanted to book us. I replied back, that day, and told them, "That sounded great." I asked them for some more details, never heard anything back, so I contacted them again, a few days later. They responded back, that day, with more details. I replied back, the same day, to confirm a date and time, and again, never heard back from them. I attempted to follow up, five days later, and never received a response back.
Roy was having the same kind of issues, that I was. One day, he said, " This is almost getting comical." I agreed and asked, "I know it sounds ridiculous, but should we maybe look at getting a booking agent?" He agreed with me that it was ridiculous, at our level, to need an agent. He came up with an idea, to post an ad on Craigslist, (ahh... Craigslist again), to get feedback on our music, and to get opinions on where we should be looking for gigs. He received a response from a booking agent, named Marti, who said she liked our music, said their was a good market for it, and that she could get us booked.
Shortly thereafter, we had a conference call with Marti, to go over all the details. We decided to bring her aboard, to handle all of the bookings for SDR. Roy and I handed over all of our booking information, to her, that we had been working on.
Marti is off to a running start, and has been doing a phenomenal job. She has already been able to make contact with several of the venues, that Roy and I were unable to. She just booked a show at a venue, that I had no luck with, and is in the process of booking several other shows. If you are interested in booking SDR for an event, please email Marti here eventsbymarti@sbcglobal.net with information, and she will contact you back.
Roy and I both felt like a weight had been lifted off of our shoulders, when we brought Marti onboard. This has freed us up to concentrate on other areas of SDR, namely rehearsing, writing new music, and recording our album. We plan to hit the live shows hard, starting in January 2013. Until then, feel free to catch one of our Rodeo Radio events. The next one is scheduled for Saturday, November 17, 2012, at 2pm Central Time. For more information on Rodeo Radio, please check out my blog post entitled "Rodeo Radio." You can also find out more, at our official website www.sanddollarrodeo.com
Well, that's all I have for now. Until next time, thanks for reading and I'll talk to you soon!
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