Well, hello Rodeo Republic! I hope you all are doing well! I know, I am. It's been awhile, since I've been on here, so I wanted to pop on and give everyone an update, as to what has been going on.
We moved on from the Happy Armadillo fiasco, and played two shows, back on February 15th & 16th. On February 15th, we invaded the Oui Lounge, and had a great time. Their were some wild women at this gig, and we like wild women! The next night, we traveled down south to Glen Rose, for a show at Hollywood & Vine. This was supposed to be an outdoor show, but alas, the weather was not cooperating again, and we had to move it indoors. We will be back at Hollywood & Vine on March 23rd, and hopefully the weather will be nice, and we can move it outdoors. They have an awesome outdoor patio area, with a huge elevated stage. I'm dying to play on it. For more details on these gigs, please check out Roy's blog here http://royholliday.blogspot.com He goes into more detail on each and every show, that we play, or not play, in the case of the Happy Armadillo. Ok, that's it, I'm done mentioning the Happy Armadillo. They've received enough free pub, from us.
Moving along, aside from the two aforementioned gigs, we've pretty much spent the month of February, working on the new album. We are in the home stretch, and I'm so excited, I can barely contain myself. I finished up all of my guitar parts and backing vocals, this past weekend. We might have to go back in and do an overdub or two, but the heavy lifting is done. Roy still has some vocals to record, and maybe a piano solo on one of the new songs! I'm really pushing for this, so if you see or talk to him, encourage him to do it! Other then that, we are entering the mastering stage. This will take several weeks to complete, but we are still on target for an April 2nd release date. As of press time, 7 of the 13 songs are mastered. That means, that they are completely done!
We are currently running a poll on our Facebook page http://m.facebook.com/sanddollarrodeo to see what song you think should be the lead single from the new album. The nominees are the title track entitled "GPS To Nowhere", another one called "I'll Just Have A Beer", and a slower one called "Tailgate To The Beach". Please visit our Facebook page, follow the link to listen to the songs, and vote for your favorite. We will also be releasing a song called "What Kind Of Life Is This" to Beach Front Radio. They specialize in Trop Rock music, and this song seems to be going over well, amongst the Parrot Heads. The album will be available via itunes, Amazon, and all the other online retailers. We will also have CD's available, if you prefer that.
In other news, we are excited to announce that Sherry Jane Cooke Publishing, is going to publish an interview with us. You can find Sherry's website here http://sherryjanecook.com I'm not sure when the interview will be available, but we will announce it everywhere, once we have a date.
The last bit of news, that I would like to share, is that we have a big show coming up this weekend, at the Across The Street Bar, in Dallas. Across The Street is located at 5625 SMU Blvd., Dallas, TX 75206. We will be co-headlining this show with some good friends. They are also a duo, called August & J. They are promoting their latest album, entitled "40". August & J will also be appearing at South By Southwest, in Austin, later this month. You can check out more information on them, at their official website located here http://www.augustandj.com Also joining us, on this night, will be the 5 Hands Band. They will kick things off around 9:30pm. So grab a friend, date, spouse or significant other, go eat some dinner, and then come out and join us all, for a night of fun! Our set, will consist of a heavy dose of songs from the upcoming album. We are really excited about the show, as well as playing Dallas, for the first time.
Ok, that's it for now. Thanks for reading, and I'll talk to ya soon!
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Paying The Dues
Well, hello there! As the title of my blog states, it's purpose is to chronicle the journey of Sand Dollar Rodeo. I want to give you, the reader, a sort of inside view of what goes on, behind the scenes.
As you may know, a journey is usually never, a smooth trip. If it is smooth sailing all the way, then I'm not so sure it would qualify as a journey. Whether, you go to school, build a business, or work a job, their are usually challenges associated with these types of endeavors. Not every day, week, or month is going to be smooth sailing. Your going to have times when it's tough, frustrating, and seemingly unfair.
This past week, was one of those weeks for Roy, Cisco, and me. I was so frustrated, stressed, and exhausted, that I considered not sharing on the blog, this week. My thinking was, the blog, needs to have positive, uplifting posts, and this past week was anything but that. It finally hit me, this past Thurday though, duh! The name of my blog is Sifting for Sand Dollars, A Musical JOURNEY! As stated before, in my eyes, a journey will be full of ups and downs. Every day, is not going to be perfect. With that being said, I feel like I would be doing my readers a disservice, if all I shared were the great things, that were happening to us. It dosen't paint an honest picture, and that was my whole purpose, in starting this blog. I can tell you though, that I have been totally honest, on all of my previous blog posts. Everything has pretty much been, hunky dory, so far. I was kind of surprised, that it took this long, to run into some adversity.
We had a gig scheduled, this past Saturday, February 2nd, at a place called the Happy Armadillo. It is located in Everman, Texas. We were scheduled to go on at 9pm. The place was about a 30 minute drive, from my house. We planned to be their at 7pm, to set up, soundcheck, and get ready to play. This means that I needed to start loading up, at about 6pm, or so.
Well, as luck would have it, I was running a little behind schedule. This seems to be a common theme, with me. I have no idea why, it is what it is. It drives my wife crazy, though. I don't blame her, it would probably me crazy, if I was on the other end of it. She says that me, my son, and my oldest daugher, are the biggest "piddlers", that she knows. She says it's like herding cattle, to get us all out of the house. When Roy and I record, I usually start getting ready about 30 minutes earlier, then need be. I'm usually, always early, or right on time, when I do this. I don't want to have him sitting around, waiting on me.
Anyway, I seem to be running about 15 minutes behind, or so, as I am cruising down the highway. My mind was totally on the gig, when all of a sudden, an officer of the law is tailing me, with lights and sirens blasting. My first thought was, "They are probably mistaking me for someone else." The reason I was thinking this, is because of the siren. In my vast experience with police stops, I've never been pulled over, with the full siren going. Usually, it's just the lights flashing. If the siren is going, I'm thinking, that must be something serious. Well, I know that I've not commited any crimes, so I'm thinking he will check my information, and send me on my way.
I pull over, and the officer approaches me, on my passenger side, because we are in a construction zone. If he would have come up on the driver's side, he would have, most likely, been hit by oncoming traffic. He says, "Good evening sir. I'm officer so and so." I couldn't remenber his name. He continued, "Do you know what the speed limit is through here?" I replied, "65?" I knew this was wrong, but I figured, maybe play dumb, and he would let me off with a warning. He said, "No sir, this is a construction zone, and the speed limit is 50. I was in the right lane, and you blew by me, like I was standing still. Did you not see me?" I answered, "No sir, I sure didn't." At this time, I'm thinking, just be honest with the guy, and maybe he will let me off. I really had no idea, that I had passed a DPS officer. That's kind of scary, in and of itself, isn't it? Where the hell, was my head at? He continued on, "I had to hit 76 mph to catch you. Where are you going, in such a hurray?" I explained that I was driving to a gig, and was running a little bit behind. He said, "Ok, I'll be back in a minute." I proceeded to text my wife, to let her know what was going on. The officer came back and said, "Ok, I've cited you for speeding, 73 in a 50." I figured I would ask, although I figured it would do no good, "Can you please, just give me a warning? I promise, I will slow it down." He responded, "Not for no 23 mph, over the limit. I can't do that." He went on, "You have a good gig, and please slow it down." "Great!", I thought. Now, all of my gig money for tonight, will be going towards this ticket.
I continued on, and made it to Everman, without further incident. Roy was already there, and had started setting up the P.A. I got the lay of the land, and then started unloading my gear. Their was a really nice waitress, that kept coming up to us, and asking if we needed anything, or any help setting up! I was pretty shocked at this. I've never had an offer like this, at a dive bar. I told Roy, "This could be a great night." He agreed, and we were looking forward to playing. Cisco arrived a short time later, and set up his percussion set. Their were only about 10 customers in the place, at this time. The waitress came back again, and I asked her if the place usually gets busier then this. She said, "It just depends. I've seen it stay about like this all night, and other nights, it will be packed." I decided, I wasn't going to worry about it. We would have a good time, regardless, of how many people showed up.
We moved on to soundcheck. As I've stated before, we do use sequencers, in our live shows. It's a pretty common practice, these days. U2, for example, who are still one of the biggest bands in the world, uses them. The first thing we do, during soundcheck, is to get the levels for the sequencers. We usually use one of our originals, called What Happens Now, or one of our covers, called Postcard, to get the sequencer levels. This night, we also used another original called Carry Me Home. By this time, it was about 8:45. We were pretty much ready to go. A few minutes later, one of the other waitresses, I'll call her the "head waitress", came over and said, that some of the crowd was complaining about us. She went on to say, that her manager was told that we would be playing country and classic rock. I explained that we have plenty of country songs, that we can do, but we are not a classic rock band. Roy went on to explain, that if they are judging us totally off of our sequencer levels, then they are way off base. All we were doing, was getting levels set. Roy had barely sung anything, and I had hardly played a note, on the guitar. Cisco asked to speak to her manager, and of course, the waitress said that she was unavailable. He asked, "Is she here?" The waitress replied, "Yes, but she is off duty." The waitress, was clearly, not going to rat out her chicken shit manager, who was too much of a coward to come and talk to us herself. I went on and explained that we do play originals too, as you should be aware. She looked at me, like I had grown a second head. "Oh, that's not gonna go over well here, at all." I was really annoyed by this point, and so was Cisco. You see, he had turned down another gig, with a different band, to play this one. I continued on, with the waitress, "Look, the only songs listed on our reverb page are originals! Did you guys even pay attention to this? Did you even listen to them? We are an original band, that will play the occasional cover for fun or filler! That's what we represent, that's what you hired!" Roy could see that this was quickly escalating, so he said, "Look, do you just want us to go?", and she responded, "I think that would be best."
From there, we proceeded to breakdown our equipment, and load it back up. In the meantime, we were all texting and calling, Marti (our booking agent). She was coming to the show, but had not made it yet. She asked us to please wait for her, and advised that she was on her way. Cisco went ahead and left. A short time later, I noticed a lady get into a truck, that was parked right outside the front door, and leave. I told Roy, "That was the manager, I guarantee it!" I had a few other choice words, that can't be printed here. Roy and I both deducted, that they just didn't want to pay a band that night. I guess, they were thinking, that they would not have enough business to offset our cost. Marti arrived a short time later, with her daughter, and they walked inside to speak with the staff. I knew nothing would change, but I appreciate Marti going to battle for us, and being there.
The final kick-in-the-nuts, of the evening, occured a few minutes later, as a police officer pulled into the parking lot. Roy and I were finishing our impromptu meeting with Marti, and sipping on some bottled water. The officer approached and said, "Hey guys, we received a call that their were people loitering out her in the parking lot, and drinking beer." We raised our water bottles to him, and he smiled. He jumped on his radio, and told his backup that everything was under control. I heard the guy, on the other end of the radio say,"Is their any drinking going on out there?" The officer at our location, radioed back, "Yeah, lots of Dasani bottled water." The officer was clearly irritated with the bar, apologized to us, and went inside. I would have loved, to have heard what transpired inside. On that note, we headed home. To read more about this non-gig, check out Roy's blog here http://royholliday.blogspot.com
On the way home, I was already strategizing our next move. Roy was doing the same thing, although neither of us realized it, until the next morning. We communicate a lot by email. The next morning, I emailed him a list of venues, that cater to original music. I also told him that I did not want to do anymore 9pm-1am bar gigs. I went on to explain that, at these places, we are basically a live jukebox, and our originals are getting buried, amongst all the covers. He emailed back, and said he was doing the exact same thing that I was, and agreed with my assessement, totally. We will, of course, honor all of our commitments that are on the books, but going forward, we will be pursuing more concert-type bookings. We bombarded Marti with a bunch of ideas, and the types of venues, we wanted to play.
I wanna stop right here, and just say that, Marti has done a great job for us. I don't blame her for the Happy Armadillo fiasco, or the Buffalo West cancellation. Sometimes, things are just beyond your control. I'm also not griping, or putting down any of the places, that we are booked at. I don't want anyone to get the idea, that we think we are "too good to play there." That's not the case at all. This has sort of been a trial and error, for all of us. Your are never gonna know about these things, until you get out and try it. Some of the places, that we are booked at, seem to want mostly covers, or all covers. Again, I don't blame Marti for this. We do not have a single cover tune recorded, anywhere. When Marti submits for us, she is submitting original material. If the venue dosen't pay attention or listen to us beforehand, I'm not sure what else we can do.
It can be a real Catch-22, when you go the original music route. Their can be some real lean nights, as far as money is concerned. Most of the time, you are playing for the door, so it all depends on how many people come to see you. A lot of places will let you come in, and open for a headliner. In many cases, the opener is not paid a dime. They can sell merchandise, and hope to gain some fans though.
In the cover music scene, you will get a guaranteed rate. Most places, that have cover bands, do not charge a cover charge to get in. These places are typically dive bars, restaurants, and sports bars. These places normally have a built in crowd. The people that come to these places, wanna get their drink on, play some pool or darts, and maybe do a little dancing. As stated earlier, you are pretty much their live jukebox.
Money is not the motivation for doing this. If your motivation is solely money, then music is the wrong field to get into. Roy and I have greater aspirations, then just being a bar band. Although, their is nothing wrong with that, it's just not for Roy and I. We understand, that in the beginning, it may not compensate us as well as a cover gig would. We also understand that it will take a lot of hard work and determination, and we are both ok, with that. We find it much more fulfilling to write, record, and perform our own music. That to me, is more important then money.
Marti asked for a conference call, this past week. Roy and I were both a little nervous about this, as we were not sure, what it was going to be about. Really, all it boiled down to, was for us to strategize, and get a gameplan together for the future. Marti has been great, and she is adjusting with us. She just wanted to make sure that we were all on the same page, going forward. She books several other bands, and we are all very different. We all have our own goals and aspirations, and she works hard, to make sure that they are all met.
I've also come to the realization, that not everyone is going to like us. I had a hard time with this, at first. Their is nothing I can do about it though, and that's ok. Heck, even the biggest bands in the world, have people that don't care for them. My wife can't stand Metallica, and they've seemed to have done ok. I'm just going to continue the journey. I know their will be bumps in the road, along the way. Roy says, "This is just part of it, and think of it as, paying our dues." Roy and I also agree, that the Happy Armadillo fiasco, may have been the best thing to happen to us. It sort of slapped us in the face, and made us really re-evaluate everything.
We have some really exciting ideas, that we are discussing. Other then that, we just plan to enjoy the ride. We have no idea where this journey will take us. One thing I'm finding out though, is you never know what's going to be around the next corner. Roy and I feel that if we stay true to our vision, then good things will happen.
Well, that's all I have for now. As always, thanks for reading, and I will talk to you soon!
As you may know, a journey is usually never, a smooth trip. If it is smooth sailing all the way, then I'm not so sure it would qualify as a journey. Whether, you go to school, build a business, or work a job, their are usually challenges associated with these types of endeavors. Not every day, week, or month is going to be smooth sailing. Your going to have times when it's tough, frustrating, and seemingly unfair.
This past week, was one of those weeks for Roy, Cisco, and me. I was so frustrated, stressed, and exhausted, that I considered not sharing on the blog, this week. My thinking was, the blog, needs to have positive, uplifting posts, and this past week was anything but that. It finally hit me, this past Thurday though, duh! The name of my blog is Sifting for Sand Dollars, A Musical JOURNEY! As stated before, in my eyes, a journey will be full of ups and downs. Every day, is not going to be perfect. With that being said, I feel like I would be doing my readers a disservice, if all I shared were the great things, that were happening to us. It dosen't paint an honest picture, and that was my whole purpose, in starting this blog. I can tell you though, that I have been totally honest, on all of my previous blog posts. Everything has pretty much been, hunky dory, so far. I was kind of surprised, that it took this long, to run into some adversity.
We had a gig scheduled, this past Saturday, February 2nd, at a place called the Happy Armadillo. It is located in Everman, Texas. We were scheduled to go on at 9pm. The place was about a 30 minute drive, from my house. We planned to be their at 7pm, to set up, soundcheck, and get ready to play. This means that I needed to start loading up, at about 6pm, or so.
Well, as luck would have it, I was running a little behind schedule. This seems to be a common theme, with me. I have no idea why, it is what it is. It drives my wife crazy, though. I don't blame her, it would probably me crazy, if I was on the other end of it. She says that me, my son, and my oldest daugher, are the biggest "piddlers", that she knows. She says it's like herding cattle, to get us all out of the house. When Roy and I record, I usually start getting ready about 30 minutes earlier, then need be. I'm usually, always early, or right on time, when I do this. I don't want to have him sitting around, waiting on me.
Anyway, I seem to be running about 15 minutes behind, or so, as I am cruising down the highway. My mind was totally on the gig, when all of a sudden, an officer of the law is tailing me, with lights and sirens blasting. My first thought was, "They are probably mistaking me for someone else." The reason I was thinking this, is because of the siren. In my vast experience with police stops, I've never been pulled over, with the full siren going. Usually, it's just the lights flashing. If the siren is going, I'm thinking, that must be something serious. Well, I know that I've not commited any crimes, so I'm thinking he will check my information, and send me on my way.
I pull over, and the officer approaches me, on my passenger side, because we are in a construction zone. If he would have come up on the driver's side, he would have, most likely, been hit by oncoming traffic. He says, "Good evening sir. I'm officer so and so." I couldn't remenber his name. He continued, "Do you know what the speed limit is through here?" I replied, "65?" I knew this was wrong, but I figured, maybe play dumb, and he would let me off with a warning. He said, "No sir, this is a construction zone, and the speed limit is 50. I was in the right lane, and you blew by me, like I was standing still. Did you not see me?" I answered, "No sir, I sure didn't." At this time, I'm thinking, just be honest with the guy, and maybe he will let me off. I really had no idea, that I had passed a DPS officer. That's kind of scary, in and of itself, isn't it? Where the hell, was my head at? He continued on, "I had to hit 76 mph to catch you. Where are you going, in such a hurray?" I explained that I was driving to a gig, and was running a little bit behind. He said, "Ok, I'll be back in a minute." I proceeded to text my wife, to let her know what was going on. The officer came back and said, "Ok, I've cited you for speeding, 73 in a 50." I figured I would ask, although I figured it would do no good, "Can you please, just give me a warning? I promise, I will slow it down." He responded, "Not for no 23 mph, over the limit. I can't do that." He went on, "You have a good gig, and please slow it down." "Great!", I thought. Now, all of my gig money for tonight, will be going towards this ticket.
I continued on, and made it to Everman, without further incident. Roy was already there, and had started setting up the P.A. I got the lay of the land, and then started unloading my gear. Their was a really nice waitress, that kept coming up to us, and asking if we needed anything, or any help setting up! I was pretty shocked at this. I've never had an offer like this, at a dive bar. I told Roy, "This could be a great night." He agreed, and we were looking forward to playing. Cisco arrived a short time later, and set up his percussion set. Their were only about 10 customers in the place, at this time. The waitress came back again, and I asked her if the place usually gets busier then this. She said, "It just depends. I've seen it stay about like this all night, and other nights, it will be packed." I decided, I wasn't going to worry about it. We would have a good time, regardless, of how many people showed up.
We moved on to soundcheck. As I've stated before, we do use sequencers, in our live shows. It's a pretty common practice, these days. U2, for example, who are still one of the biggest bands in the world, uses them. The first thing we do, during soundcheck, is to get the levels for the sequencers. We usually use one of our originals, called What Happens Now, or one of our covers, called Postcard, to get the sequencer levels. This night, we also used another original called Carry Me Home. By this time, it was about 8:45. We were pretty much ready to go. A few minutes later, one of the other waitresses, I'll call her the "head waitress", came over and said, that some of the crowd was complaining about us. She went on to say, that her manager was told that we would be playing country and classic rock. I explained that we have plenty of country songs, that we can do, but we are not a classic rock band. Roy went on to explain, that if they are judging us totally off of our sequencer levels, then they are way off base. All we were doing, was getting levels set. Roy had barely sung anything, and I had hardly played a note, on the guitar. Cisco asked to speak to her manager, and of course, the waitress said that she was unavailable. He asked, "Is she here?" The waitress replied, "Yes, but she is off duty." The waitress, was clearly, not going to rat out her chicken shit manager, who was too much of a coward to come and talk to us herself. I went on and explained that we do play originals too, as you should be aware. She looked at me, like I had grown a second head. "Oh, that's not gonna go over well here, at all." I was really annoyed by this point, and so was Cisco. You see, he had turned down another gig, with a different band, to play this one. I continued on, with the waitress, "Look, the only songs listed on our reverb page are originals! Did you guys even pay attention to this? Did you even listen to them? We are an original band, that will play the occasional cover for fun or filler! That's what we represent, that's what you hired!" Roy could see that this was quickly escalating, so he said, "Look, do you just want us to go?", and she responded, "I think that would be best."
From there, we proceeded to breakdown our equipment, and load it back up. In the meantime, we were all texting and calling, Marti (our booking agent). She was coming to the show, but had not made it yet. She asked us to please wait for her, and advised that she was on her way. Cisco went ahead and left. A short time later, I noticed a lady get into a truck, that was parked right outside the front door, and leave. I told Roy, "That was the manager, I guarantee it!" I had a few other choice words, that can't be printed here. Roy and I both deducted, that they just didn't want to pay a band that night. I guess, they were thinking, that they would not have enough business to offset our cost. Marti arrived a short time later, with her daughter, and they walked inside to speak with the staff. I knew nothing would change, but I appreciate Marti going to battle for us, and being there.
The final kick-in-the-nuts, of the evening, occured a few minutes later, as a police officer pulled into the parking lot. Roy and I were finishing our impromptu meeting with Marti, and sipping on some bottled water. The officer approached and said, "Hey guys, we received a call that their were people loitering out her in the parking lot, and drinking beer." We raised our water bottles to him, and he smiled. He jumped on his radio, and told his backup that everything was under control. I heard the guy, on the other end of the radio say,"Is their any drinking going on out there?" The officer at our location, radioed back, "Yeah, lots of Dasani bottled water." The officer was clearly irritated with the bar, apologized to us, and went inside. I would have loved, to have heard what transpired inside. On that note, we headed home. To read more about this non-gig, check out Roy's blog here http://royholliday.blogspot.com
On the way home, I was already strategizing our next move. Roy was doing the same thing, although neither of us realized it, until the next morning. We communicate a lot by email. The next morning, I emailed him a list of venues, that cater to original music. I also told him that I did not want to do anymore 9pm-1am bar gigs. I went on to explain that, at these places, we are basically a live jukebox, and our originals are getting buried, amongst all the covers. He emailed back, and said he was doing the exact same thing that I was, and agreed with my assessement, totally. We will, of course, honor all of our commitments that are on the books, but going forward, we will be pursuing more concert-type bookings. We bombarded Marti with a bunch of ideas, and the types of venues, we wanted to play.
I wanna stop right here, and just say that, Marti has done a great job for us. I don't blame her for the Happy Armadillo fiasco, or the Buffalo West cancellation. Sometimes, things are just beyond your control. I'm also not griping, or putting down any of the places, that we are booked at. I don't want anyone to get the idea, that we think we are "too good to play there." That's not the case at all. This has sort of been a trial and error, for all of us. Your are never gonna know about these things, until you get out and try it. Some of the places, that we are booked at, seem to want mostly covers, or all covers. Again, I don't blame Marti for this. We do not have a single cover tune recorded, anywhere. When Marti submits for us, she is submitting original material. If the venue dosen't pay attention or listen to us beforehand, I'm not sure what else we can do.
It can be a real Catch-22, when you go the original music route. Their can be some real lean nights, as far as money is concerned. Most of the time, you are playing for the door, so it all depends on how many people come to see you. A lot of places will let you come in, and open for a headliner. In many cases, the opener is not paid a dime. They can sell merchandise, and hope to gain some fans though.
In the cover music scene, you will get a guaranteed rate. Most places, that have cover bands, do not charge a cover charge to get in. These places are typically dive bars, restaurants, and sports bars. These places normally have a built in crowd. The people that come to these places, wanna get their drink on, play some pool or darts, and maybe do a little dancing. As stated earlier, you are pretty much their live jukebox.
Money is not the motivation for doing this. If your motivation is solely money, then music is the wrong field to get into. Roy and I have greater aspirations, then just being a bar band. Although, their is nothing wrong with that, it's just not for Roy and I. We understand, that in the beginning, it may not compensate us as well as a cover gig would. We also understand that it will take a lot of hard work and determination, and we are both ok, with that. We find it much more fulfilling to write, record, and perform our own music. That to me, is more important then money.
Marti asked for a conference call, this past week. Roy and I were both a little nervous about this, as we were not sure, what it was going to be about. Really, all it boiled down to, was for us to strategize, and get a gameplan together for the future. Marti has been great, and she is adjusting with us. She just wanted to make sure that we were all on the same page, going forward. She books several other bands, and we are all very different. We all have our own goals and aspirations, and she works hard, to make sure that they are all met.
I've also come to the realization, that not everyone is going to like us. I had a hard time with this, at first. Their is nothing I can do about it though, and that's ok. Heck, even the biggest bands in the world, have people that don't care for them. My wife can't stand Metallica, and they've seemed to have done ok. I'm just going to continue the journey. I know their will be bumps in the road, along the way. Roy says, "This is just part of it, and think of it as, paying our dues." Roy and I also agree, that the Happy Armadillo fiasco, may have been the best thing to happen to us. It sort of slapped us in the face, and made us really re-evaluate everything.
We have some really exciting ideas, that we are discussing. Other then that, we just plan to enjoy the ride. We have no idea where this journey will take us. One thing I'm finding out though, is you never know what's going to be around the next corner. Roy and I feel that if we stay true to our vision, then good things will happen.
Well, that's all I have for now. As always, thanks for reading, and I will talk to you soon!
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Back At It
Hello, Rodeo Republic! Well, it was nice having some time off. We were able to re-charge the batteries, so to speak, but now it's time to get going again!
We were originally scheduled to play a show on January 25th, but it was cancelled. In lieu of that, Roy and I decided to hole up in the studio, and get some work done on the upcoming album. A lot of progress was made. I finished the electric guitar tracks, on a new song called Rodeo Radio. All that's left to do on this one, is to record the vocals. After that, we will work on the levels, and then send it off to be mastered. Mastering, basically levels off the eq's, and makes it "sizzle", as Roy likes to say.
I also applied some guitar overdubs, to another song called, What Kind Of Life Is This. We have played this song, at all of our recent live shows. I've gradually added a few things live, that were not on the studio version. We wanted that same "feel" on the recording, so we went back and added them. It's nothing major, but it makes the song "sizzle" a little more. Hmm.. their is that word again. Anyway, moving along.
We have another song idea, that has taken on the name of "Track 6". The reason we call it this, is quite simple. First, we were looking at it, as the sixth song on the album's running order. Secondly, the lyrics aren't done yet. We went ahead and laid down the acoustic guitar track, as a guide for the lyrics, and the rest of the song.
The next order of business, was to get a tempo down, for another new song called Into The Night. This one actually has the lyrics complete, but not the music. As you can see, Roy and I have no rhyme or reason, in the way that we write. We have three other ideas, in various forms, that we are working on, but they will not be included on this album. At some point, you have to make a decision to close the album, so to speak. We currently have 13 songs, that will be included on this album. We feel that anymore then that, would be overkill. We also have set a release date for the album. It will be released on Tuesday, April 2nd. It will be available on itunes and Amazon. It will also be available on our reverbnation page, found here www.reverbnation.com/sanddollarrodeo Here, you will be able to order it either digitally, or via CD. We will also have it available, as a CD, at our live shows. To say we are excited, would be an understatement. We will be back in the studio, during the weekend of February 9th, and again, the weekend of February 23rd. Our goal, is to be completely done with recording, by then.
I would like to share, one last bit of album news. We received our first mastered track, back, this week. That means, it's completely done! It is the the title track of the new album, called GPS To Nowhere. We are working on getting this out, to some area radio stations, in advance of the album's release date.
This week, we will also be getting back out on the road, so to speak. We have a show on Saturday, February 2, at the Happy Armadillo. The Happy Armadillo is located at 1701 Everman Parkway, Everman, Texas. SDR will take the stage at 9pm. If your in the area, c'mon by and see us.!
I have one more, live show note. We have booked a return trip to the Keller Tavern, on Friday, April 12th, at 8pm. This is scheduled to be an outdoor event. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate with us, this time. If not, I guess we will move it indoors again.
Well, that's all I've got, for now. I'm outta here! See ya next time, and thanks for reading!
We were originally scheduled to play a show on January 25th, but it was cancelled. In lieu of that, Roy and I decided to hole up in the studio, and get some work done on the upcoming album. A lot of progress was made. I finished the electric guitar tracks, on a new song called Rodeo Radio. All that's left to do on this one, is to record the vocals. After that, we will work on the levels, and then send it off to be mastered. Mastering, basically levels off the eq's, and makes it "sizzle", as Roy likes to say.
I also applied some guitar overdubs, to another song called, What Kind Of Life Is This. We have played this song, at all of our recent live shows. I've gradually added a few things live, that were not on the studio version. We wanted that same "feel" on the recording, so we went back and added them. It's nothing major, but it makes the song "sizzle" a little more. Hmm.. their is that word again. Anyway, moving along.
We have another song idea, that has taken on the name of "Track 6". The reason we call it this, is quite simple. First, we were looking at it, as the sixth song on the album's running order. Secondly, the lyrics aren't done yet. We went ahead and laid down the acoustic guitar track, as a guide for the lyrics, and the rest of the song.
The next order of business, was to get a tempo down, for another new song called Into The Night. This one actually has the lyrics complete, but not the music. As you can see, Roy and I have no rhyme or reason, in the way that we write. We have three other ideas, in various forms, that we are working on, but they will not be included on this album. At some point, you have to make a decision to close the album, so to speak. We currently have 13 songs, that will be included on this album. We feel that anymore then that, would be overkill. We also have set a release date for the album. It will be released on Tuesday, April 2nd. It will be available on itunes and Amazon. It will also be available on our reverbnation page, found here www.reverbnation.com/sanddollarrodeo Here, you will be able to order it either digitally, or via CD. We will also have it available, as a CD, at our live shows. To say we are excited, would be an understatement. We will be back in the studio, during the weekend of February 9th, and again, the weekend of February 23rd. Our goal, is to be completely done with recording, by then.
I would like to share, one last bit of album news. We received our first mastered track, back, this week. That means, it's completely done! It is the the title track of the new album, called GPS To Nowhere. We are working on getting this out, to some area radio stations, in advance of the album's release date.
This week, we will also be getting back out on the road, so to speak. We have a show on Saturday, February 2, at the Happy Armadillo. The Happy Armadillo is located at 1701 Everman Parkway, Everman, Texas. SDR will take the stage at 9pm. If your in the area, c'mon by and see us.!
I have one more, live show note. We have booked a return trip to the Keller Tavern, on Friday, April 12th, at 8pm. This is scheduled to be an outdoor event. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate with us, this time. If not, I guess we will move it indoors again.
Well, that's all I've got, for now. I'm outta here! See ya next time, and thanks for reading!
Thursday, January 17, 2013
On Tap This Week: Some Downtime
Well, 2013 is off to a roaring start, for Sand Dollar Rodeo. We hit the ground running, with 4 shows, over the first two weekends, of January. We would like to thank, Fred's Texas Cafe, Dirt Road's Dancehall, Wet Creek Bar, and Keller Tavern, for having us out. Also, a big thanks to Marti Ludwig, our booking agent, for booking these shows.
Each venue was unique, in it's own way. Fred's, is a restaurant, with some of the best burgers ever. Dirt Road's Dancehall, is a good old fashioned honky-tonk, complete with pool tables, and a dance floor. I would especially like to thank, all the folks, that came out to this particular show. A lot of friends and family, showed up for this one, and Roy and I appreciate it, very much. Wet Creek, was a good old fashioned dive bar. I mean that in a very positive way. We had a blast, with the good folks out there. We also had a special guest with us, that night, as Benay Dennis and The No Names, joined us. They have a great sound, and if you get a chance, you should check them out. Rounding out the group, was the Keller Tavern. This is a sports bar and grill, that has a kind of "Cheers" feel to it. Normally, they have their bands play outside. They have a nice stage, and a huge patio area. Unfortunately, we knew that we were going to be inside, and were not sure what to expect. You see, the temperature plunged down into the 30's, and we had rain and hail. Not really ideal conditions for an ourdoor concert, huh?
Marti warned us, to please keep the volume down, as much as possible at Keller Tavern. One of her other acts had previously played there, and faced the same challenge, that we would. They had problems, keeping the volume down, to the venue's satisfaction. I'm not blaming her other artist, at all, for this. Honestly, it's really hard to keep the music "quiet", when you are playing live. A lot of people, seem to think that you can just reach up, and turn a knob, as if you are adjusting a stereo. Well, it's a whole lot more complicated then that. For one, you are pretty much at the mercy, of the drums. Drums are loud, their is no other way around it. Even if your drummer plays, "quietly", they still produce, a lot of volume. Cisco did a fabulous job, of keeping things in check. He is a pro, and has been in this buisness for a long time. In the end, the manager was very happy with us, at the end of the evening. He went on to say, that we could have brought the volume up, some, if we had wanted to. That was really nice to hear.
For more details, on these shows, please be sure to check out Roy's blog here http://royholliday.blogspot.com His blog, goes into more detail about each show. He plans to blog about every live show, that we do. Here you can find the good, the bad, and the ugly, of each show. Included, will be a good dose of Roy's, twisted, sense of humor.
I would like to share a couple of other observations, from the shows. First, for whatever reason, time is a really loose thing, with live music. It always has been, and I guess, it always will be. A friend of mine, from a prior band, used to say, "It's rock-n-roll, you never start on time." First instance of this, was at Fred's. We were scheduled to start at 7pm. We were told, that load in, was at 6pm. Roy, Cisco, and I, all thought, that this was cutting it pretty close. We agreed to get there between 5:30 and 5:45.
I arrived first, and decided to get the, "lay of the land". Roy and Cisco, arrived shortly, thereafter. The first thing we noticed, was no PA system. I looked over my notes, and they said, "House PA." I asked the person, in charge, about this, and he said, "Oh yeah, he's really fast, and if you guys don't start right at 7, it's no biggie." "Well, ok, that works for me.", I replied. We proceeded, to set up our gear. We were finished, by about 6:30, and still no soundman! The manager, came up a short time later, and advised that the soundman was running late. He said that he would be there, between 6:45 and 7. I knew that we wouldn't start on time, now. The manager seemed unconcerned, so I was not going to worry about it, either. The soundman, showed up at about 6:50. I will give him props though, he worked fast! He had everything up and running by 7:20. We were supposed to play until 10, but ended up running a little over, due to the late start. Anyway, we ended up having a fun time, and hope to come back, some time.
More drama, started, the following day. It was the day of the show, at Dirt Roads Dancehall. I was chilling, with my girls, and almost in nap mode, when I received a call from Marti. She received either an email or call, from the club (can't remember which), that they wanted us down there at 6pm, for setup and soundcheck. This was a whole hour earlier, then anticipated. I went back over my notes, for the show, and they specfically said, that setup, and soundcheck, was at 7pm. This seemed ridiculous, as the show was not scheduled to start, until 9:30! Not only did they want that, but they also wanted both bands to have their gear, on the stage, at the same time! We were playing this show, with another artist, named Zach Coffey. In all of my years of performing, I have never had, or heard of an issue, such as this. A 30 minute break was scheduled, between bands. Naturally, I assumed that this would allow us, to get our gear off stage, and allow Zach, and his band, to get set up, and checked. Well, we weren't going to have to worry about this problem, as Zach, simply wasn't going to be able to be there, that early. He was driving from North Dallas, which is about an hour and a half, away from the venue. His band, was not going to be able to be there, that early, either. Some of them, were at work, and couldn't come that early. Marti, was frantically texting back and forth with me, and Zach. Roy, was kind of out of the loop, at this point, as he had a pretty long drive, also. He was busy, getting ready to go. Marti texted me back, to advise that Zach would not be there, until 8pm. She asked if we could pleaasee!, be their by 6. I told her, "No problem. We will be there." She then texted me back, to relay a message from Zach. He was wanting to know if it would be ok, to load his drums onstage, with our equipment. I let Marti know, that we would do whatever the club, wanted us to do.
I arrived at 6, and Roy was already there. We went in, and met the manager. I asked about the change of time, and he said, he always likes to do it at 6, to get it over and done with. I told him that our e-mail confirmation, said 7. He said, "Yeah, I think I screwed up, and sent out the wrong time." I said, "Ok, I understand.", and then proceeded to ask him, if he still wanted us to start at 9:30? He said, "Sure, whenever you want, 9:30, 10, it dosen't matter to me." Well, we were setup and soundchecked by 7pm. Roy and I, decided, we would start right at 9:30. With that long of a wait, both of us would be antsy, and raring to go. We played a mostly original set, and it seemed to go over well. The crowd, did a lot of dancing, and hoopin and hollerin, so that's always good.
The only thing, that jumped out to me at Wet Creek, aside from some ghost sound issues, (see Roy's blog mentioned above, for more details on this), happened during one of our sets. For the longer shows, we are supplementing some cover tunes, to go along with our original songs. One of the covers, is a song called "Home". It was written by Michael Buble, Amy Foster-Gillies and Alan Chang. The version, that we are playing, was recorded by Blake Shelton. It is a very challenging song, both vocally and musically. It's one of the best written songs, that I have ever played. It's also, easily, our most difficult cover song.
Well, we got the bright idea, to strip it down, to an acoustic version, and make it even more difficult! We worked on it, at every rehearsal, leading up to these shows. Somehow, though, we never could get it to gel, just right. It was on our setlist, for 3 of these first 4 shows. We intentionally left it off, of the Dirt Roads setlist. At Fred's, when it came up, we all looked at each other, and said, "Skip it." After the first round of shows, Roy decided to give up on it, as far as an acoustic arrangement, goes. I wholeheartedly agreed, with this decision. #1, it would alleviate me having to haul my acoustic guitar, to the gig. Less gear, to haul, is always a good thing. #2, I could now play the arrangement, on my Fender Strat, which is a much easier guitar to play, especially in a live setting.
Roy, Cisco, and I use a file sharing service, called Dropbox. We use this for original compositions, as well as cover arrangements. Whenever, one of us puts something in there, we notify each other, via email. It works really well, for us. Roy sent me an e-mail, mid-week, that he had arranged a backing track for Home. I went to go practice it, later that night, but the track was nowhere, to be found! I e-mailed Roy, about the issue, and he responded the next morning, saying, "Weird, I'm seeing it, on my end." From that point, I totally forgot about it. That is, up until the time, it was time to play it, at the gig! Roy, was kind of talking about the song, when it hit me! I whispered, "I haven't practiced this at all, so I'll be following your lead." Roy's face turned pale, and he looked at me, like I had grown a third eye ball. I reassured him, that everything would be fine. I explained, that I always practiced the song, along with the CD version, anyway. He said, "Ok.", and we went for it. Honestly, I have no idea, how it turned out. During two separate conversations, with Roy and Cisco, Roy stated, "I think that went pretty well." While, Cisco said, "I don't know if we should ever play that song again." When it came up again, the next night at Keller Tavern, we again, skipped it. I guess time will tell, whether we keep this song, or not.
Now, as mentioned in the title of this blog post, SDR, is taking some much needed, downtime, this week. You may be thinking, "Wow! They already need a break, after only 4 shows?" Well, their is a lot more to this, then just that. You see, Roy and I, have pretty much been going non-stop, since October. This includes, getting together at lease once a week for rehearsals, and/or recording sessions, as well as practice time at home. In between all of that, their was communication, almost on a daily basis, in regards to future planning, and other various business issues. In addition to that, we both write blogs, we manage our social media, and Roy manages our mailing list. I don't want you to think, that I am complaining, because I am not. I love what we are doing, or I wouldn't be doing it. I'm just giving you the inside scoop, and to let you know, that a lot more goes into this, then "just showing up and playing."
As I've said, we've had this open week, planned for some time now. Roy's birthday is on January 18th. He has some family coming in to visit, this week, and then he is heading to Galveston, this weekend, to celebrate his birthday, with some friends. I hope he has a great time.
Cisco, is taking off, for the great white north, of Minnesota. He will be visiting some family, up there. I wish him safe travels, and hope he dosen't get stuck up there.
As for me, I will be sticking close to home, and taking my girls, to the Fort Worth Fat Stock Show. They are farm animal crazy, right now, so they are really looking forward to this. I'm hoping, that this might cull their wants, for awhile. I doubt it, but we'll see. My youngest daughter, actually asked for a cow, for Christmas, and my oldest daughter, asked for a pony. Maybe one of these days, I can buy a farm for them, and all that livestock, that they plan on owning. In any case, I'm looking forward to this weekend, and will welcome some downtime.
Our next live show, was scheduled for Friday, January 25th, at Buffalo West Steakhouse. However, I found out on Tuesday, of this week, that the venue had contacted Marti, and cancelled us. The owner had scheduled another band, on the same night, so it appears, that it was double booked. Marti, is looking into an alternate date, as of publishing time.
As a result of this latest development, we have switched gears, and will be going into the studio, that weekend, to continue work on our album. Our next live show, is now scheduled for Friday, February 1st, at the Happy Armadillo, in Everman, Texas. SDR, will take the stage at 9pm.
Now, for one last tidbit. We hope to have a very big announcement, in the near future. We are keeping our fingers crossed, and should know something, in the next few weeks! That's all I have, for now. So until next time, see you in the funnies!
Each venue was unique, in it's own way. Fred's, is a restaurant, with some of the best burgers ever. Dirt Road's Dancehall, is a good old fashioned honky-tonk, complete with pool tables, and a dance floor. I would especially like to thank, all the folks, that came out to this particular show. A lot of friends and family, showed up for this one, and Roy and I appreciate it, very much. Wet Creek, was a good old fashioned dive bar. I mean that in a very positive way. We had a blast, with the good folks out there. We also had a special guest with us, that night, as Benay Dennis and The No Names, joined us. They have a great sound, and if you get a chance, you should check them out. Rounding out the group, was the Keller Tavern. This is a sports bar and grill, that has a kind of "Cheers" feel to it. Normally, they have their bands play outside. They have a nice stage, and a huge patio area. Unfortunately, we knew that we were going to be inside, and were not sure what to expect. You see, the temperature plunged down into the 30's, and we had rain and hail. Not really ideal conditions for an ourdoor concert, huh?
Marti warned us, to please keep the volume down, as much as possible at Keller Tavern. One of her other acts had previously played there, and faced the same challenge, that we would. They had problems, keeping the volume down, to the venue's satisfaction. I'm not blaming her other artist, at all, for this. Honestly, it's really hard to keep the music "quiet", when you are playing live. A lot of people, seem to think that you can just reach up, and turn a knob, as if you are adjusting a stereo. Well, it's a whole lot more complicated then that. For one, you are pretty much at the mercy, of the drums. Drums are loud, their is no other way around it. Even if your drummer plays, "quietly", they still produce, a lot of volume. Cisco did a fabulous job, of keeping things in check. He is a pro, and has been in this buisness for a long time. In the end, the manager was very happy with us, at the end of the evening. He went on to say, that we could have brought the volume up, some, if we had wanted to. That was really nice to hear.
For more details, on these shows, please be sure to check out Roy's blog here http://royholliday.blogspot.com His blog, goes into more detail about each show. He plans to blog about every live show, that we do. Here you can find the good, the bad, and the ugly, of each show. Included, will be a good dose of Roy's, twisted, sense of humor.
I would like to share a couple of other observations, from the shows. First, for whatever reason, time is a really loose thing, with live music. It always has been, and I guess, it always will be. A friend of mine, from a prior band, used to say, "It's rock-n-roll, you never start on time." First instance of this, was at Fred's. We were scheduled to start at 7pm. We were told, that load in, was at 6pm. Roy, Cisco, and I, all thought, that this was cutting it pretty close. We agreed to get there between 5:30 and 5:45.
I arrived first, and decided to get the, "lay of the land". Roy and Cisco, arrived shortly, thereafter. The first thing we noticed, was no PA system. I looked over my notes, and they said, "House PA." I asked the person, in charge, about this, and he said, "Oh yeah, he's really fast, and if you guys don't start right at 7, it's no biggie." "Well, ok, that works for me.", I replied. We proceeded, to set up our gear. We were finished, by about 6:30, and still no soundman! The manager, came up a short time later, and advised that the soundman was running late. He said that he would be there, between 6:45 and 7. I knew that we wouldn't start on time, now. The manager seemed unconcerned, so I was not going to worry about it, either. The soundman, showed up at about 6:50. I will give him props though, he worked fast! He had everything up and running by 7:20. We were supposed to play until 10, but ended up running a little over, due to the late start. Anyway, we ended up having a fun time, and hope to come back, some time.
More drama, started, the following day. It was the day of the show, at Dirt Roads Dancehall. I was chilling, with my girls, and almost in nap mode, when I received a call from Marti. She received either an email or call, from the club (can't remember which), that they wanted us down there at 6pm, for setup and soundcheck. This was a whole hour earlier, then anticipated. I went back over my notes, for the show, and they specfically said, that setup, and soundcheck, was at 7pm. This seemed ridiculous, as the show was not scheduled to start, until 9:30! Not only did they want that, but they also wanted both bands to have their gear, on the stage, at the same time! We were playing this show, with another artist, named Zach Coffey. In all of my years of performing, I have never had, or heard of an issue, such as this. A 30 minute break was scheduled, between bands. Naturally, I assumed that this would allow us, to get our gear off stage, and allow Zach, and his band, to get set up, and checked. Well, we weren't going to have to worry about this problem, as Zach, simply wasn't going to be able to be there, that early. He was driving from North Dallas, which is about an hour and a half, away from the venue. His band, was not going to be able to be there, that early, either. Some of them, were at work, and couldn't come that early. Marti, was frantically texting back and forth with me, and Zach. Roy, was kind of out of the loop, at this point, as he had a pretty long drive, also. He was busy, getting ready to go. Marti texted me back, to advise that Zach would not be there, until 8pm. She asked if we could pleaasee!, be their by 6. I told her, "No problem. We will be there." She then texted me back, to relay a message from Zach. He was wanting to know if it would be ok, to load his drums onstage, with our equipment. I let Marti know, that we would do whatever the club, wanted us to do.
I arrived at 6, and Roy was already there. We went in, and met the manager. I asked about the change of time, and he said, he always likes to do it at 6, to get it over and done with. I told him that our e-mail confirmation, said 7. He said, "Yeah, I think I screwed up, and sent out the wrong time." I said, "Ok, I understand.", and then proceeded to ask him, if he still wanted us to start at 9:30? He said, "Sure, whenever you want, 9:30, 10, it dosen't matter to me." Well, we were setup and soundchecked by 7pm. Roy and I, decided, we would start right at 9:30. With that long of a wait, both of us would be antsy, and raring to go. We played a mostly original set, and it seemed to go over well. The crowd, did a lot of dancing, and hoopin and hollerin, so that's always good.
The only thing, that jumped out to me at Wet Creek, aside from some ghost sound issues, (see Roy's blog mentioned above, for more details on this), happened during one of our sets. For the longer shows, we are supplementing some cover tunes, to go along with our original songs. One of the covers, is a song called "Home". It was written by Michael Buble, Amy Foster-Gillies and Alan Chang. The version, that we are playing, was recorded by Blake Shelton. It is a very challenging song, both vocally and musically. It's one of the best written songs, that I have ever played. It's also, easily, our most difficult cover song.
Well, we got the bright idea, to strip it down, to an acoustic version, and make it even more difficult! We worked on it, at every rehearsal, leading up to these shows. Somehow, though, we never could get it to gel, just right. It was on our setlist, for 3 of these first 4 shows. We intentionally left it off, of the Dirt Roads setlist. At Fred's, when it came up, we all looked at each other, and said, "Skip it." After the first round of shows, Roy decided to give up on it, as far as an acoustic arrangement, goes. I wholeheartedly agreed, with this decision. #1, it would alleviate me having to haul my acoustic guitar, to the gig. Less gear, to haul, is always a good thing. #2, I could now play the arrangement, on my Fender Strat, which is a much easier guitar to play, especially in a live setting.
Roy, Cisco, and I use a file sharing service, called Dropbox. We use this for original compositions, as well as cover arrangements. Whenever, one of us puts something in there, we notify each other, via email. It works really well, for us. Roy sent me an e-mail, mid-week, that he had arranged a backing track for Home. I went to go practice it, later that night, but the track was nowhere, to be found! I e-mailed Roy, about the issue, and he responded the next morning, saying, "Weird, I'm seeing it, on my end." From that point, I totally forgot about it. That is, up until the time, it was time to play it, at the gig! Roy, was kind of talking about the song, when it hit me! I whispered, "I haven't practiced this at all, so I'll be following your lead." Roy's face turned pale, and he looked at me, like I had grown a third eye ball. I reassured him, that everything would be fine. I explained, that I always practiced the song, along with the CD version, anyway. He said, "Ok.", and we went for it. Honestly, I have no idea, how it turned out. During two separate conversations, with Roy and Cisco, Roy stated, "I think that went pretty well." While, Cisco said, "I don't know if we should ever play that song again." When it came up again, the next night at Keller Tavern, we again, skipped it. I guess time will tell, whether we keep this song, or not.
Now, as mentioned in the title of this blog post, SDR, is taking some much needed, downtime, this week. You may be thinking, "Wow! They already need a break, after only 4 shows?" Well, their is a lot more to this, then just that. You see, Roy and I, have pretty much been going non-stop, since October. This includes, getting together at lease once a week for rehearsals, and/or recording sessions, as well as practice time at home. In between all of that, their was communication, almost on a daily basis, in regards to future planning, and other various business issues. In addition to that, we both write blogs, we manage our social media, and Roy manages our mailing list. I don't want you to think, that I am complaining, because I am not. I love what we are doing, or I wouldn't be doing it. I'm just giving you the inside scoop, and to let you know, that a lot more goes into this, then "just showing up and playing."
As I've said, we've had this open week, planned for some time now. Roy's birthday is on January 18th. He has some family coming in to visit, this week, and then he is heading to Galveston, this weekend, to celebrate his birthday, with some friends. I hope he has a great time.
Cisco, is taking off, for the great white north, of Minnesota. He will be visiting some family, up there. I wish him safe travels, and hope he dosen't get stuck up there.
As for me, I will be sticking close to home, and taking my girls, to the Fort Worth Fat Stock Show. They are farm animal crazy, right now, so they are really looking forward to this. I'm hoping, that this might cull their wants, for awhile. I doubt it, but we'll see. My youngest daughter, actually asked for a cow, for Christmas, and my oldest daughter, asked for a pony. Maybe one of these days, I can buy a farm for them, and all that livestock, that they plan on owning. In any case, I'm looking forward to this weekend, and will welcome some downtime.
Our next live show, was scheduled for Friday, January 25th, at Buffalo West Steakhouse. However, I found out on Tuesday, of this week, that the venue had contacted Marti, and cancelled us. The owner had scheduled another band, on the same night, so it appears, that it was double booked. Marti, is looking into an alternate date, as of publishing time.
As a result of this latest development, we have switched gears, and will be going into the studio, that weekend, to continue work on our album. Our next live show, is now scheduled for Friday, February 1st, at the Happy Armadillo, in Everman, Texas. SDR, will take the stage at 9pm.
Now, for one last tidbit. We hope to have a very big announcement, in the near future. We are keeping our fingers crossed, and should know something, in the next few weeks! That's all I have, for now. So until next time, see you in the funnies!
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Happy New Year!
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!
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!
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!
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