Post #32 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE: Creating Your Creative Space Part 2
"I promise to post blogs here, sharing some daily activities & the work I do to achieve my career goals, and when I do win that Grammy, YOU can say you followed me all the way! I also hope to give inspiration, information, & advice to indie artists, and I hope you take a little something away with you when you read my posts, whether or not you are yourself an artist!"
If you ever have ANYTHING you'd like to respond to in my blog, PLEASE find me at http://AnnieBMusic.com
THANKS!!!
OK, so you may be wondering, "What ever happened to that plan to get organized and feng shui and all that?" Well, I am happy to report that I've successfully moved forward and have cleared the dining room, so that I can work on projects temporarily and then pack it up at the end of the time set aside for that project that day, leaving my dining room for my boyfriend and I to enjoy (or to just notice that it's not cluttered!!!) The spare bedroom has successfully been converted to my new office (much thanks to Dave Rossignol who helped me move the bed and other furniture ouuta' there including my Mom & Dad's antique secretary desk)!! The new office isn't quite feng-shui-ready yet, but I will give you the progress soon! In the meantime, I have found a whole travel bag of junk including old sets of USED strings I kept in case of a broken string at a gig!!! This system used to come in quite handy when I first started traveling all over the U.S. and played way too hard with too heavy a pick. I used to break a string at almost every gig. I guess I used to think it was cool..... I was a mean-ass guitarist, breaking strings all the time, right? (Wrong!!!) I finally learned that it was much better to play with the right guage pick and to have a few different guage NEW strings on hand in case of a broken string at a gig. I guess I thought it was better to have used strings to replace a broken string at a gig since then the string would be nice & stretched out and would stay in tune. But strings DO go bad after awhile, believe it or not! I found out not too long ago they do have an expiration date... like spoiled milk!!! Besides, who wants to play an old, dirty, dull, worn out string besides Eric Clapton??? Not me, I'm not talented enough to make those old strings sound good!!
So, moving forward and I'll soon have my new office ready to rock and will be back in business with all sorts of new gigs and opportunities. Like Jamie Lee said, you have to keep things orderly in order to have time for the things that are REALLY important!!!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Day 603
Post #31 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE: Creating Your Creative Space
"I promise to post blogs here, sharing some daily activities & the work I do to achieve my career goals, and when I do win that Grammy, YOU can say you followed me all the way! I also hope to give inspiration, information, & advice to indie artists, and I hope you take a little something away with you when you read my posts, whether or not you are yourself an artist!"
If you ever have ANYTHING you'd like to respond to in my blog, PLEASE find me at http://AnnieBMusic.com
THANKS!!!
These last several weeks have been spent organizing & submitting papers, tax documents, and other documents regarding my father's passing. I hired an organizing service a week or two ago; I was so overwhelmed with everything. I have had stuff & papers (& still have) in boxes since I left L.A. in 2006, and I am finally trying to empty ALL those boxes and find a place for everything. That's been my problem since I left L.A. in a frenzied scurry-hurry in 2006... I didn't even have time to finish packing everything... a friend of mine finished for me (Thanks, Roger!!), and when I returned to my boxes and threw them in the back of a pickup in 2007, I thought I'd unpack them all sometime before 2010!!!!! Living on the road and moving umpteen times in the last few years has prevented me from unpacking. It's time now. And I'm a little scared of what I am about to face.
The organizing guy organized one big banker's box of papers in about 2 hours, and it felt really good to just get through that one box. He helped me see that it's just a matter of doing it. It's really not all that complicated. It's just a pain in the rear & VERY BORING. I have some of that "hoarder" tendency in my family, and I can see it with how I have kept so many things that I just will not be needing anytime ever. I still have a box full of papers, publications/magazines, & other contacts I collected from SXSW (THE BIGGEST music industry conference in the U.S.) in 2006. Will I ever need any of those contacts? Will any of that stuff be useful to me at anytime? I guess I will never know unless I bust open the box and start looking. Oh, and THROW AWAY (recycle, that is) the papers & stuff that does not apply to me anymore.
What I AM learning through this whole process is that I am feeling a LOT better about getting rid of some of the clutter, and I'm slowly but surely finding more time for the important things, like vocal practice at home, keyboard drills and exercises, and working on the MUSIC part of my career as a musician. Remember the blog I wrote not too long ago about honing your craft? Well, it's very hard to hone your craft when your brain is bogged down with trying to figure out how to fit it all in to your busy day. There must be SPACE. Space in your home and in your HEAD. I picked up a recent issue Good Housekeeping (does that mean I'm old???) with Jamie Lee Curtis on the cover... the article was on her sharing her secrets on how she keeps her home tidy & organized, and how that allows her to do the things that are IMPORTANT. I used to think, "Ok, I can see I need to send this guy a CD in the mail, but I'll do that later tonight; the daytime hours are for phone calls & e-mails." And I HONESTLY thought that was the right way to go about things... make the best use of those 9-5 "business hours" contacting those 9-5 people (press people, radio people, talent buyers, etc), and the "other stuff" should be done later in the evening... because it wasn't crucial that those things were done in the daytime hours. I used to make a list of the things I needed to do that evening. Like work on my MySpace page, address envelopes for CDs to mail, and print out press kits & posters. Tell me: Do you think that "evening" stuff ever got done? HELL NO! I would get so disorganized with my backwards & disorganized multi-tasking, that by the end of the day, the list of things to do would be lost, or WAY TOO LONG to actually begin to tackle. I could make you a list of things on my radar screen right now and you tell me... does this list look like anything you'd get within 20 miles of?
1. Answer Facebook friend requests (I now have over 250) - this ALONE would take HOURS.
2. Enter e-mail addresses from mailing list sign-up sheets from my last 10+ shows (I am serious... I have NO IDEA why I don't enter these as soon as I get home after a gig... oh, wait... sometimes I am too tired from driving home 90 minutes after a 4-hour gig.) These have seriously piled up.
3. Review footage from Bay View Bash performance
4. Review footage from Lindenfest performance with UA (I don't even know what I did with the DVD at this point!)
5. Get chords & lyrics printed for "Ain't No Sunshine," American Honey," any song from Neil Young, any song from Lady Gaga, Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," and practice "Give a Little Bit" from Supertramp.
6. Follow up with talent buyer from Potawatomi Casino.
7. Continue to research venues for CD Release Party in Milwaukee.
8. Figure out how to create playlists on my mp3 player.
9. Make a better sign for my CD sales at shows.
10. Burn promo CDs for The Kiwi Cafe
11. Create artwork for Kiwi Cafe Promo CDs
12. Review potential gigs/opportunities for submission via Sonicbids
13. Artbeat: Thank You letters for 2010 season. Start planning for 2011.
And the list goes on.
So it's no wonder why I can't seem to make the headway I'd like to make. I don't have any SYSTEMS in place. So, I've allowed myself to get caught up in all the stuff that needs to get done, with out actually doing any of it. I have piles of notes here & there, and lots of them get lost, ignored, and certainly forgotten. There needs to be a FLOW to my work and my workSPACE. It starts with just tackling that first box, like the organizing guy did. I can't beat myself up for not having all my tax documents ready for the tax lady, even though, I consider my taxes to be done as best as they can be. I'll submit my papers and see what she says. That will have to do for now!
So, the organizing guy asked me if I ever used feng shui to organize my work space. I know about it, but have not utilized the principles. How can I utilize feng shui if I can't get organized enough to find the space?
Like I said before, the thing to do is to just DO IT. Will things "fall into place" as the saying goes??? I hope so. Back to the act of doing the work. It's all fine & dandy if I sit here blog about it, about the work that I must do, want to do, or actually do. DOING it is the most important thing, however. So I'll finish up the day by cleaning up the dining room table that I have EVERY REASON TO CLEAN UP, now that my taxes are done. Wish me luck with the feng shui!!!!!!!!!
"I promise to post blogs here, sharing some daily activities & the work I do to achieve my career goals, and when I do win that Grammy, YOU can say you followed me all the way! I also hope to give inspiration, information, & advice to indie artists, and I hope you take a little something away with you when you read my posts, whether or not you are yourself an artist!"
If you ever have ANYTHING you'd like to respond to in my blog, PLEASE find me at http://AnnieBMusic.com
THANKS!!!
These last several weeks have been spent organizing & submitting papers, tax documents, and other documents regarding my father's passing. I hired an organizing service a week or two ago; I was so overwhelmed with everything. I have had stuff & papers (& still have) in boxes since I left L.A. in 2006, and I am finally trying to empty ALL those boxes and find a place for everything. That's been my problem since I left L.A. in a frenzied scurry-hurry in 2006... I didn't even have time to finish packing everything... a friend of mine finished for me (Thanks, Roger!!), and when I returned to my boxes and threw them in the back of a pickup in 2007, I thought I'd unpack them all sometime before 2010!!!!! Living on the road and moving umpteen times in the last few years has prevented me from unpacking. It's time now. And I'm a little scared of what I am about to face.
The organizing guy organized one big banker's box of papers in about 2 hours, and it felt really good to just get through that one box. He helped me see that it's just a matter of doing it. It's really not all that complicated. It's just a pain in the rear & VERY BORING. I have some of that "hoarder" tendency in my family, and I can see it with how I have kept so many things that I just will not be needing anytime ever. I still have a box full of papers, publications/magazines, & other contacts I collected from SXSW (THE BIGGEST music industry conference in the U.S.) in 2006. Will I ever need any of those contacts? Will any of that stuff be useful to me at anytime? I guess I will never know unless I bust open the box and start looking. Oh, and THROW AWAY (recycle, that is) the papers & stuff that does not apply to me anymore.
What I AM learning through this whole process is that I am feeling a LOT better about getting rid of some of the clutter, and I'm slowly but surely finding more time for the important things, like vocal practice at home, keyboard drills and exercises, and working on the MUSIC part of my career as a musician. Remember the blog I wrote not too long ago about honing your craft? Well, it's very hard to hone your craft when your brain is bogged down with trying to figure out how to fit it all in to your busy day. There must be SPACE. Space in your home and in your HEAD. I picked up a recent issue Good Housekeeping (does that mean I'm old???) with Jamie Lee Curtis on the cover... the article was on her sharing her secrets on how she keeps her home tidy & organized, and how that allows her to do the things that are IMPORTANT. I used to think, "Ok, I can see I need to send this guy a CD in the mail, but I'll do that later tonight; the daytime hours are for phone calls & e-mails." And I HONESTLY thought that was the right way to go about things... make the best use of those 9-5 "business hours" contacting those 9-5 people (press people, radio people, talent buyers, etc), and the "other stuff" should be done later in the evening... because it wasn't crucial that those things were done in the daytime hours. I used to make a list of the things I needed to do that evening. Like work on my MySpace page, address envelopes for CDs to mail, and print out press kits & posters. Tell me: Do you think that "evening" stuff ever got done? HELL NO! I would get so disorganized with my backwards & disorganized multi-tasking, that by the end of the day, the list of things to do would be lost, or WAY TOO LONG to actually begin to tackle. I could make you a list of things on my radar screen right now and you tell me... does this list look like anything you'd get within 20 miles of?
1. Answer Facebook friend requests (I now have over 250) - this ALONE would take HOURS.
2. Enter e-mail addresses from mailing list sign-up sheets from my last 10+ shows (I am serious... I have NO IDEA why I don't enter these as soon as I get home after a gig... oh, wait... sometimes I am too tired from driving home 90 minutes after a 4-hour gig.) These have seriously piled up.
3. Review footage from Bay View Bash performance
4. Review footage from Lindenfest performance with UA (I don't even know what I did with the DVD at this point!)
5. Get chords & lyrics printed for "Ain't No Sunshine," American Honey," any song from Neil Young, any song from Lady Gaga, Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," and practice "Give a Little Bit" from Supertramp.
6. Follow up with talent buyer from Potawatomi Casino.
7. Continue to research venues for CD Release Party in Milwaukee.
8. Figure out how to create playlists on my mp3 player.
9. Make a better sign for my CD sales at shows.
10. Burn promo CDs for The Kiwi Cafe
11. Create artwork for Kiwi Cafe Promo CDs
12. Review potential gigs/opportunities for submission via Sonicbids
13. Artbeat: Thank You letters for 2010 season. Start planning for 2011.
And the list goes on.
So it's no wonder why I can't seem to make the headway I'd like to make. I don't have any SYSTEMS in place. So, I've allowed myself to get caught up in all the stuff that needs to get done, with out actually doing any of it. I have piles of notes here & there, and lots of them get lost, ignored, and certainly forgotten. There needs to be a FLOW to my work and my workSPACE. It starts with just tackling that first box, like the organizing guy did. I can't beat myself up for not having all my tax documents ready for the tax lady, even though, I consider my taxes to be done as best as they can be. I'll submit my papers and see what she says. That will have to do for now!
So, the organizing guy asked me if I ever used feng shui to organize my work space. I know about it, but have not utilized the principles. How can I utilize feng shui if I can't get organized enough to find the space?
Like I said before, the thing to do is to just DO IT. Will things "fall into place" as the saying goes??? I hope so. Back to the act of doing the work. It's all fine & dandy if I sit here blog about it, about the work that I must do, want to do, or actually do. DOING it is the most important thing, however. So I'll finish up the day by cleaning up the dining room table that I have EVERY REASON TO CLEAN UP, now that my taxes are done. Wish me luck with the feng shui!!!!!!!!!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Day 541
Started my list to submit The Kiwi Cafe for review:
The Shepherd Express
The Isthmus (Madison)
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (Cue Section)
Third Coast Digest (online)
Milwaukee Magazine
Riverwest Currents
UWM Post
Marquette Tribune
(Network: Hayden House of Healing)
National Publications:
Filer Magazine
Blurt Magazine
Spin (Indie releases section)
Rolling Stone (Indie releases section)
VCT: Lilly's (Chicago)
Rock Island Cafe (Neenah, WI)
The Shepherd Express
The Isthmus (Madison)
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (Cue Section)
Third Coast Digest (online)
Milwaukee Magazine
Riverwest Currents
UWM Post
Marquette Tribune
(Network: Hayden House of Healing)
National Publications:
Filer Magazine
Blurt Magazine
Spin (Indie releases section)
Rolling Stone (Indie releases section)
VCT: Lilly's (Chicago)
Rock Island Cafe (Neenah, WI)
Monday, August 16, 2010
Day 539
Post #28 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE: Making a Living as a Successful Toruing Singer/Songwriter
"I promise to post blogs here, sharing some daily activities & the work I do to achieve my career goals, and when I do win that Grammy, YOU can say you followed me all the way! I also hope to give inspiration, information, & advice to indie artists, and I hope you take a little something away with you when you read my posts, whether or not you are yourself an artist!"
If you ever have ANYTHING you'd like to respond to in my blog, PLEASE find me at http://AnnieBMusic.com
THANKS!!!
There is a really cool online community of female artists called GoGirls Music. They have a yahoo group and one of the posts was: "Acoustic tour advice". I figured, "I can offer a lot of good advice.... I think I'll respond to this."
I am also posting it here in case you are interested in finding out more about how I got to where I am today. This would be of particular interest to you if you are thinking about going on tour as a solo artist yourself! I hope you enjoy, and pass it on to a friend who is a singer/songwriter!!!
I have added two things to this list... in the DON'Ts list... the last two were added as I posted it to my blog here.
HERE WE GO:
I lived in my car for a year in 2006 and that's when I and learned how to make a living playing music... on the road. And now I make a living playing mostly in WI & Northern IL. The first time you do it, just plan ahead as many dates as you can, and DON'T be afraid to call venues a few days before or even the DAY OF your arrival in any given town.
DO:
1. Learn plenty of cover songs in addition to REALLY OWNING your originals... have as much music to perform as possible. I've already had a guy give me a $100 tip to "Keep playing" after I had played for 4 hours that evening.... he just got there and wanted me to keep going with the live music. I played for 2 more hours, playing every single song I knew that evening, only repeating about 3 or 4 songs. After tips & CD sales, I made about $300 that night. People who you play for your first time out will not be familiar with your originals, so you need to entice them with some covers that will blend in with your originals. They will put money in your tip jar asking for a certain song or a certain artist, and if you can "sell them" a different song from that artist, or a song from a similar artist, they'll be happy.
2. THIS IS HUGE, ESPECIALLY FOR YOUR FIRST TIME OUT: DO NOT rely on making money in big cities or even medium-sized towns. Stay with the small towns to rely on making money... bars & restaurants in these towns will most likely NOT already have music booked, and they are much happier to have you come down and play, and they might even pay you if you end up keeping people there who would not normally hang out late. They might just do it for the heck of it, since many bar owners are often open to trying something new, or they like to help the "little guy" since they are one of the "little guys". If you call a bar/restaurant (non-corporate... avoid Applebees and the like, of course!) in a small town, you're more likely to get the owner or the manager who can make that decision last-minute.... making it easier for you to get last-minute gigs. DO play some opening slots in big cities but do not expect to make much money. It's good exposure, though, to play a reputable venue in a big city, so find a good BALANCE between money-making gigs, and "exposure" gigs.
3. Book as many gigs as you possibly can while you're "on tour", leaving zero to to two nights off per week. This will keep you MOTIVATED to make some more calls that next morning when you wake up.
4. When booking, ask the bar owner if you can crash on one of the bartenders' couches. More than likely, they will be able to hook you up (and may feel especially obligated if you are playing for tips only). I can't tell you how many perfect strangers' couches I have slept on and was treated like gold, sometimes even the bar owner, but usually someone who worked at the bar... these people are trustworthy, or the bar owner would not have hooked you up to crash with them.
5. DO NOT BE AFRAID to HUSTLE THE CRAP OUT OF YOUR CDs AND YOUR TIP JAR (if the bar owner does not mind)!!!!!!!! This saved my ass.... I went up to every single person during my break and told them, "I'm working for tips tonight... I'm worth a buck, right???" Or, "You are REALLY gonna love my CD... I promise... it's just like what you've been listening to tonight!" VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION = Artists at the level we are at will sell most of their CDs at live shows, NOT online, NOT in record stores, and NOT out of their trunks, unless you're a hip-hop artist. My band in Los Angeles sold less than 100 CDs in 2005 (when our CD came out), and when I left L.A. to live out on the road, I sold the rest of those 800+ CDs (we gave lots away for promotional purposes, but I had about 800 left when I left to hit the road in 2006) in about 15 months. At $10 per CD, that's $8,000+ in 15 months = $533+ per month in CD sales alone. My mistake is that I did not re-order more CDs when I sold out. I could have easily made another $10,000 in another year.
6. The more merch you have to sell = THE MORE MERCH YOU WILL SELL. Purchases of CDs or other merch from the person playing at the bar/festival/restaurant/coffeehouse are ALWAYS IMPULSE purchases. This means they like you, and they want to have something to remember you by, and it's kind of on a whim. If you have a CD, they may or may not buy it, depending on if they want to spend that extra $10 they may need for beer. If you have CHOICES for them, they feel like they're "going shopping" (which is soooooooo much for fun, especially for girls.... we LOVE to shop) like a keychain for $2, a sticker for $1, or even a Tshirt for $15 or ball cap for $20 (in addition to those CDs,) they might just buy that $15 Tshirt instead of your CD (which is fine... take it!), OR you can do a special deal... CDs are $10 but a CD AND A Tshirt is $20........... get it? Or, with any purchase, you'll get a free sticker!!!!
7. BE SURE to be a part of the CDBaby Credit Card Swiper Program, so you can accept credit cards!!!!!!!!! YOU WILL SELL MORE IF YOU CAN TAKE CREDIT CARDS. I have found that about 1/10 of every credit card sale does not go through. This is due to the fact that you cannot actually run the card at the time of purchase... you have to mail in the carbon slip to CDBaby and track the sale on CDBaby. If you do not have your CDs for sale on CDBaby, you are MISSING OUT ON A LOT OF TOOLS to help you. GO TO: http://cdbaby.net and get your CD on there!!!!!
8. CREATE An 8 1/2 x 11 POSTER on your photo editing software on your computer for EVERY GIG and e-mail it to the talent buyer (owner/manager) and ask him/her to post it as far ahead of time as possible. Even if you book something the day before... it might spark the interest of a few of the patrons who go there every day after work.
9. Bring a pillow and blanket for those "sleep in your car" nights. Investigate where to stay, like truck stops that are OPEN & LIGHTED all night long. DO NOT STAY IN REST AREAS... THEY ARE UNSAFE. You should take the key out of your ignition since it's actually illegal to have your key in your ignition, or be sitting in the driver's seat (even with no key in the ignition) if you are sleeping in your car.
10. Eliminate bringing a huge P.A.... you can easily get away with a head and two speakers for almost any venue. I rarely use monitors. Those new BOSE towers are really nice and easily portable. MAKE THE INVESTMENT FOR SMALLER/LIGHTER EQUIPMENT NOW. YOU WILL MAKE YOUR MONEY BACK IF YOU WORK AT IT, and you will save your back, and LOTS of gas money, by avoiding using a trailer. Get good at "playing Tetris" in the packing your gear. Invest in those wonderful bags for your stands... they will make all your gigs and your life so much easier!
11. EAT AS HEALTHY AS YOU CAN. Bring a small cooler and stock it with tortillas, cold cuts, and cheese. You'll save $$$ on food, you'll eat healthier, and YOU'LL FEEL BETTER! Grab an apple, banana, and orange at the truck stop rather than a Snickers bar & a bag of chips. Look for the package of 2 Pop Tarts, the Nature Valley Granola bars, the vanilla ice cream bar, instead of the cookies or M&Ms. They have fruit at lots of gas stations, believe it or not!
12. KEEP A RUNNING DATABASE of ALL venues contacted, all communications & dates of communications, all agreements and dates booked, guarantees paid, tips made, CD/other merch sales, and contact people's names/phone numbers/e-mails addresses.
13. JUST LIKE YOU HUSTLE CDs & merch, HUSTLE to collect e-mail addresses of every person in that bar. Keep a good list of e-mail contacts according to city.
14. BE SURE TO ASK THE TALENT BUYER/OWNER: Can I have a tip jar? Do you mind if I go table-to-table during my breaks to collect e-mail addresses and tell people about my CDs? If you prefer I don't, do you mind if I leave a card on every table asking people to fill out their e-mail address? GET A BOX OF THOSE LITTLE GOLF PENCILS and create cards to put on every table for every gig, even if you end up going table-to-table. BUT ALWAYS ASK THE BAR OWNER/MAGANER permission for anything you want to sell or do in addition to performing at their venue.
15. NETWORK WITH OTHER BANDS/ARTISTS!!!!!!! This will help you in finding a place to crash, in getting a better gig in that town, and in getting people to that gig! Gig-swapping is HUGE and a great way to build your fanbase... when you open for a band/artist in their town, they are more likely to tell their friends & fans about you. BE SURE to do the same for them when they are ready to play a gig in YOUR town.
16. Bring your computer and make sure you have somewhere to log on every day... there's so many free wi-fi spots even in small towns, you should be able to log on every day... check your e-mail to make sure your poster went through, book another gig for those open slots you still have in your schedule, log on to FACEBOOK and create an event page for EVERY GIG, and invite your friend(s) who live in that area and ASK THEM TO INVITE ALL THEIR FRIENDS!!!!!!!! KEEP EVERYONE ON A LIST on Facebook, according to what city/town (or state?) they live in.
DON'TS:
1. DON'T invite all your Facebook friends to all your gigs while on tour, asking them to invite their friends who live in those cities. They will stop opening your invites.
2. DON'T set yourself up to have to drive more than 6 hours in one day, unless you DO NOT have a gig that night. It will exhaust you and you will not be able to perform at your best that night.
3. DON'T be afraid to call and ask to play at a bar at the last minute. Call & ask for the owner or manager and WITH A POSITIVE ATTITUDE, tell them you're traveling and you have an opening, and you'd rather work for tips than not work at all.
4. DON'T get offended when someone turns you down for a gig. BE POLITE and tell them you appreciate their time & consideration, and maybe you can work something out next time you are in town.
5. DON'T get drunk every night after or during (or especially, before) your gigs!!! This will KILL you and you might even end up canceling gigs due to your hangovers!!!
6. If this is your first tour, DON'T ASSUME YOU ARE AN ARTIST WHO IS TOUR-READY. Prepare for this tour physically... if you are a singer, your body & your vocal cords are your instruments, and you need to TAKE VERY GOOD CARE OF THEM!! You will find that unless you are used to performing 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 nights in a row, your voice will get tired very quickly unless you have learned how to sing properly for hours, and for several days in a row. The best advice I have for someone who's never done it before is to start small... start with no more than 3 gigs in a row, no more than 2-3 hours per night, and then have a night off. You will learn what your limitations are, and you will learn what to do and what not to do (like drinking heavily at gigs!) as you go. I also advise that your learn how to strengthen your voice with voice lessons. Take some voice lessons before your tour, and spend good money for the RIGHT vocal coach for YOU. Many voice teachers don't tour, they teach a few days per week, and they can't advise you on how to strengthen your voice so it's tour-ready. Look for a voice teacher that can advise you on how to become tour-ready. This is KEY to the success of your tour. You want to KICK ASS every night of your tour. You don't want your voice to be weak, you want it to be STRONG at every gig, for the duration of the entire evening. I've had pop, blues & jazz, and operatic vocal instruction, and the operatic training was the best instruction for vocal strengthening, in my experience. Opera singers need to be able to sing with amazing power & endurance, or they don't make the cut. The best rock singers have had operatic training, including Pat Benatar, Ann Wilson, and Steve Perry.
I hope that helps!!!!!!!!!!
PLEASE feel free to visit my blog to find out more about my experiences MAKING A LIVING AS A SINGER/SONGWRITER: http://anniebmusic.com/category/blog/page/3/ - - Scroll down to the bottom and start with "DAY 1" and read on until you just don't want to read anymore!!!
I learned how to make a living as a singer/songwriter in 2006, when I left L.A. to live in my car, and I did that for about a year. I then moved to Austin, TX, and still traveled/toured a lot, then back to my hometown of Milwaukee, WI in 2008 when my mom went into the hospital. Now that it's been 4 years, I still schedule a tour about once a year, and I've built up a good database of gigs that pay well, and a whole lot of other contacts and opportunities for future tours.
I still make a living as a singer/songwriter today, and my current goals for this year are to (1) make a BETTER living as a singer/songwriter, and (2) to get more recognition as an original artist and to sell more CDs and get better gigs opening for bigger acts.
My name is Annie B.
Thanks for reading, and ENJOY THE JOURNEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:)
Annie B.
"I promise to post blogs here, sharing some daily activities & the work I do to achieve my career goals, and when I do win that Grammy, YOU can say you followed me all the way! I also hope to give inspiration, information, & advice to indie artists, and I hope you take a little something away with you when you read my posts, whether or not you are yourself an artist!"
If you ever have ANYTHING you'd like to respond to in my blog, PLEASE find me at http://AnnieBMusic.com
THANKS!!!
There is a really cool online community of female artists called GoGirls Music. They have a yahoo group and one of the posts was: "Acoustic tour advice". I figured, "I can offer a lot of good advice.... I think I'll respond to this."
I am also posting it here in case you are interested in finding out more about how I got to where I am today. This would be of particular interest to you if you are thinking about going on tour as a solo artist yourself! I hope you enjoy, and pass it on to a friend who is a singer/songwriter!!!
I have added two things to this list... in the DON'Ts list... the last two were added as I posted it to my blog here.
HERE WE GO:
I lived in my car for a year in 2006 and that's when I and learned how to make a living playing music... on the road. And now I make a living playing mostly in WI & Northern IL. The first time you do it, just plan ahead as many dates as you can, and DON'T be afraid to call venues a few days before or even the DAY OF your arrival in any given town.
DO:
1. Learn plenty of cover songs in addition to REALLY OWNING your originals... have as much music to perform as possible. I've already had a guy give me a $100 tip to "Keep playing" after I had played for 4 hours that evening.... he just got there and wanted me to keep going with the live music. I played for 2 more hours, playing every single song I knew that evening, only repeating about 3 or 4 songs. After tips & CD sales, I made about $300 that night. People who you play for your first time out will not be familiar with your originals, so you need to entice them with some covers that will blend in with your originals. They will put money in your tip jar asking for a certain song or a certain artist, and if you can "sell them" a different song from that artist, or a song from a similar artist, they'll be happy.
2. THIS IS HUGE, ESPECIALLY FOR YOUR FIRST TIME OUT: DO NOT rely on making money in big cities or even medium-sized towns. Stay with the small towns to rely on making money... bars & restaurants in these towns will most likely NOT already have music booked, and they are much happier to have you come down and play, and they might even pay you if you end up keeping people there who would not normally hang out late. They might just do it for the heck of it, since many bar owners are often open to trying something new, or they like to help the "little guy" since they are one of the "little guys". If you call a bar/restaurant (non-corporate... avoid Applebees and the like, of course!) in a small town, you're more likely to get the owner or the manager who can make that decision last-minute.... making it easier for you to get last-minute gigs. DO play some opening slots in big cities but do not expect to make much money. It's good exposure, though, to play a reputable venue in a big city, so find a good BALANCE between money-making gigs, and "exposure" gigs.
3. Book as many gigs as you possibly can while you're "on tour", leaving zero to to two nights off per week. This will keep you MOTIVATED to make some more calls that next morning when you wake up.
4. When booking, ask the bar owner if you can crash on one of the bartenders' couches. More than likely, they will be able to hook you up (and may feel especially obligated if you are playing for tips only). I can't tell you how many perfect strangers' couches I have slept on and was treated like gold, sometimes even the bar owner, but usually someone who worked at the bar... these people are trustworthy, or the bar owner would not have hooked you up to crash with them.
5. DO NOT BE AFRAID to HUSTLE THE CRAP OUT OF YOUR CDs AND YOUR TIP JAR (if the bar owner does not mind)!!!!!!!! This saved my ass.... I went up to every single person during my break and told them, "I'm working for tips tonight... I'm worth a buck, right???" Or, "You are REALLY gonna love my CD... I promise... it's just like what you've been listening to tonight!" VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION = Artists at the level we are at will sell most of their CDs at live shows, NOT online, NOT in record stores, and NOT out of their trunks, unless you're a hip-hop artist. My band in Los Angeles sold less than 100 CDs in 2005 (when our CD came out), and when I left L.A. to live out on the road, I sold the rest of those 800+ CDs (we gave lots away for promotional purposes, but I had about 800 left when I left to hit the road in 2006) in about 15 months. At $10 per CD, that's $8,000+ in 15 months = $533+ per month in CD sales alone. My mistake is that I did not re-order more CDs when I sold out. I could have easily made another $10,000 in another year.
6. The more merch you have to sell = THE MORE MERCH YOU WILL SELL. Purchases of CDs or other merch from the person playing at the bar/festival/restaurant/coffeehouse are ALWAYS IMPULSE purchases. This means they like you, and they want to have something to remember you by, and it's kind of on a whim. If you have a CD, they may or may not buy it, depending on if they want to spend that extra $10 they may need for beer. If you have CHOICES for them, they feel like they're "going shopping" (which is soooooooo much for fun, especially for girls.... we LOVE to shop) like a keychain for $2, a sticker for $1, or even a Tshirt for $15 or ball cap for $20 (in addition to those CDs,) they might just buy that $15 Tshirt instead of your CD (which is fine... take it!), OR you can do a special deal... CDs are $10 but a CD AND A Tshirt is $20........... get it? Or, with any purchase, you'll get a free sticker!!!!
7. BE SURE to be a part of the CDBaby Credit Card Swiper Program, so you can accept credit cards!!!!!!!!! YOU WILL SELL MORE IF YOU CAN TAKE CREDIT CARDS. I have found that about 1/10 of every credit card sale does not go through. This is due to the fact that you cannot actually run the card at the time of purchase... you have to mail in the carbon slip to CDBaby and track the sale on CDBaby. If you do not have your CDs for sale on CDBaby, you are MISSING OUT ON A LOT OF TOOLS to help you. GO TO: http://cdbaby.net and get your CD on there!!!!!
8. CREATE An 8 1/2 x 11 POSTER on your photo editing software on your computer for EVERY GIG and e-mail it to the talent buyer (owner/manager) and ask him/her to post it as far ahead of time as possible. Even if you book something the day before... it might spark the interest of a few of the patrons who go there every day after work.
9. Bring a pillow and blanket for those "sleep in your car" nights. Investigate where to stay, like truck stops that are OPEN & LIGHTED all night long. DO NOT STAY IN REST AREAS... THEY ARE UNSAFE. You should take the key out of your ignition since it's actually illegal to have your key in your ignition, or be sitting in the driver's seat (even with no key in the ignition) if you are sleeping in your car.
10. Eliminate bringing a huge P.A.... you can easily get away with a head and two speakers for almost any venue. I rarely use monitors. Those new BOSE towers are really nice and easily portable. MAKE THE INVESTMENT FOR SMALLER/LIGHTER EQUIPMENT NOW. YOU WILL MAKE YOUR MONEY BACK IF YOU WORK AT IT, and you will save your back, and LOTS of gas money, by avoiding using a trailer. Get good at "playing Tetris" in the packing your gear. Invest in those wonderful bags for your stands... they will make all your gigs and your life so much easier!
11. EAT AS HEALTHY AS YOU CAN. Bring a small cooler and stock it with tortillas, cold cuts, and cheese. You'll save $$$ on food, you'll eat healthier, and YOU'LL FEEL BETTER! Grab an apple, banana, and orange at the truck stop rather than a Snickers bar & a bag of chips. Look for the package of 2 Pop Tarts, the Nature Valley Granola bars, the vanilla ice cream bar, instead of the cookies or M&Ms. They have fruit at lots of gas stations, believe it or not!
12. KEEP A RUNNING DATABASE of ALL venues contacted, all communications & dates of communications, all agreements and dates booked, guarantees paid, tips made, CD/other merch sales, and contact people's names/phone numbers/e-mails addresses.
13. JUST LIKE YOU HUSTLE CDs & merch, HUSTLE to collect e-mail addresses of every person in that bar. Keep a good list of e-mail contacts according to city.
14. BE SURE TO ASK THE TALENT BUYER/OWNER: Can I have a tip jar? Do you mind if I go table-to-table during my breaks to collect e-mail addresses and tell people about my CDs? If you prefer I don't, do you mind if I leave a card on every table asking people to fill out their e-mail address? GET A BOX OF THOSE LITTLE GOLF PENCILS and create cards to put on every table for every gig, even if you end up going table-to-table. BUT ALWAYS ASK THE BAR OWNER/MAGANER permission for anything you want to sell or do in addition to performing at their venue.
15. NETWORK WITH OTHER BANDS/ARTISTS!!!!!!! This will help you in finding a place to crash, in getting a better gig in that town, and in getting people to that gig! Gig-swapping is HUGE and a great way to build your fanbase... when you open for a band/artist in their town, they are more likely to tell their friends & fans about you. BE SURE to do the same for them when they are ready to play a gig in YOUR town.
16. Bring your computer and make sure you have somewhere to log on every day... there's so many free wi-fi spots even in small towns, you should be able to log on every day... check your e-mail to make sure your poster went through, book another gig for those open slots you still have in your schedule, log on to FACEBOOK and create an event page for EVERY GIG, and invite your friend(s) who live in that area and ASK THEM TO INVITE ALL THEIR FRIENDS!!!!!!!! KEEP EVERYONE ON A LIST on Facebook, according to what city/town (or state?) they live in.
DON'TS:
1. DON'T invite all your Facebook friends to all your gigs while on tour, asking them to invite their friends who live in those cities. They will stop opening your invites.
2. DON'T set yourself up to have to drive more than 6 hours in one day, unless you DO NOT have a gig that night. It will exhaust you and you will not be able to perform at your best that night.
3. DON'T be afraid to call and ask to play at a bar at the last minute. Call & ask for the owner or manager and WITH A POSITIVE ATTITUDE, tell them you're traveling and you have an opening, and you'd rather work for tips than not work at all.
4. DON'T get offended when someone turns you down for a gig. BE POLITE and tell them you appreciate their time & consideration, and maybe you can work something out next time you are in town.
5. DON'T get drunk every night after or during (or especially, before) your gigs!!! This will KILL you and you might even end up canceling gigs due to your hangovers!!!
6. If this is your first tour, DON'T ASSUME YOU ARE AN ARTIST WHO IS TOUR-READY. Prepare for this tour physically... if you are a singer, your body & your vocal cords are your instruments, and you need to TAKE VERY GOOD CARE OF THEM!! You will find that unless you are used to performing 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 nights in a row, your voice will get tired very quickly unless you have learned how to sing properly for hours, and for several days in a row. The best advice I have for someone who's never done it before is to start small... start with no more than 3 gigs in a row, no more than 2-3 hours per night, and then have a night off. You will learn what your limitations are, and you will learn what to do and what not to do (like drinking heavily at gigs!) as you go. I also advise that your learn how to strengthen your voice with voice lessons. Take some voice lessons before your tour, and spend good money for the RIGHT vocal coach for YOU. Many voice teachers don't tour, they teach a few days per week, and they can't advise you on how to strengthen your voice so it's tour-ready. Look for a voice teacher that can advise you on how to become tour-ready. This is KEY to the success of your tour. You want to KICK ASS every night of your tour. You don't want your voice to be weak, you want it to be STRONG at every gig, for the duration of the entire evening. I've had pop, blues & jazz, and operatic vocal instruction, and the operatic training was the best instruction for vocal strengthening, in my experience. Opera singers need to be able to sing with amazing power & endurance, or they don't make the cut. The best rock singers have had operatic training, including Pat Benatar, Ann Wilson, and Steve Perry.
I hope that helps!!!!!!!!!!
PLEASE feel free to visit my blog to find out more about my experiences MAKING A LIVING AS A SINGER/SONGWRITER: http://anniebmusic.com/category/blog/page/3/ - - Scroll down to the bottom and start with "DAY 1" and read on until you just don't want to read anymore!!!
I learned how to make a living as a singer/songwriter in 2006, when I left L.A. to live in my car, and I did that for about a year. I then moved to Austin, TX, and still traveled/toured a lot, then back to my hometown of Milwaukee, WI in 2008 when my mom went into the hospital. Now that it's been 4 years, I still schedule a tour about once a year, and I've built up a good database of gigs that pay well, and a whole lot of other contacts and opportunities for future tours.
I still make a living as a singer/songwriter today, and my current goals for this year are to (1) make a BETTER living as a singer/songwriter, and (2) to get more recognition as an original artist and to sell more CDs and get better gigs opening for bigger acts.
My name is Annie B.
Thanks for reading, and ENJOY THE JOURNEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:)
Annie B.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Day 536
Post #27 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE
"I promise to post blogs here, sharing some daily activities & the work I do to achieve my career goals, and when I do win that Grammy, YOU can say you followed me all the way! I also hope to give inspiration, information, & advice to indie artists, and I hope you take a little something away with you when you read my posts, whether or not you are yourself an artist!"
If you ever have ANYTHING you'd like to respond to in my blog, PLEASE find me at http://AnnieBMusic.com
THANKS!!!
Well, today was another hard day. I got some cards & other stuff in the mail from people sending condolences. One letter was from another Marine, he sent a bunch of articles and poems about the Marines. I started to cry. I am finishing up with all those and will make copies for my family.
It's hard for me to move forward right now... I am feeling kind of stuck... kind of numb, kind of overwhelmed by it all. I have not been to check e-mail for at least a week. Somehow, I got lucky and decided to check my MySpace messages today. I got offered 2 gigs at a venue which is new to me: Magellan's in Waukesha. This girl Stacey used to work at the Coach House and she sent me a MySpace message looking to hire me. I called her we we booked a date in Oct. & one in Nov. I also got a call today from Dee of Almost Famous Booking. She secured a date for me at a place called Towne Square in Trevor, WI. I'm so thankful that I am reaching that point where people are contacting me for gigs and I don't have to bust my ass 8-10 hours a day looking for new venues & contacting old ones, although I really should spend at least an hour or two per day on that. There's plenty of venues that would be new & plenty return venues I would do well at. Like Walker's Pint, Sammy's in East Troy, and lots of others.
I have decided to cancel the Artbeat show in October. I have too much administrative stuff on my plate right now and not enough music-making. Besides the fact that I am dealing with my dad's passing and everything that goes along with that.
I can't remember when is the last time I added a new song to my set... Maybe "I Still Got My Guitar" but that's kind of a novelty song. I keep having songs come to me, and I do what I can to get them recorded in some fashion, but there's too much music coming to me, and not enough follow-through in making these new song ideas into complete songs. I bought a new loop station and have not had a chance to open the box! It's awful, how I have been busting my ass doing all this promotion and networking and poster-making and I still feel like I'm not where I want to me. Is it just a matter of time? I am so thankful that Vic Thomas called me two days ago to offer me a gig at the Bay View Bash. I am sooooooo excited about that... I will play with my new trio, all original music! But I do need to push for new songs. I do need to push for more of a "WOW" effect when I play a show. I feel that I am capable of so much more, but I have not had the time to develop it.
Maybe it's time for me to re-group. I think I need to put all my Artbeat stuff aside right now and get back into my career as an artist. I am a singer/songwriter first & foremost. I am a promoter and a producer of shows secondarily. I need to remember that. Artbeat will be on temporary hiatus until the beginning of next year. I will need to find the perfect balance to make it all happen properly next year; I cannot go on doing how I'm doing things right now. There is something crucial missing in my life right now.
I got a reading from Barbara Kruck at Artbeat in the Heat, and she told me some very interesting things. The main message is that I am on two (or more?) divergent paths right now. She said it's not necessarily a bad thing, but these paths are definitely divergent. I believe that my efforts as a promoter and event planner has taken away from my growth as an artist, and I need to return to my path as an artist.
Sure, I still have spend at least 5-10 hours/week on booking, making posters, and promoting my shows, but perhaps I need to scale it back so it's all about my music right now. More songwriting and rehearsals, more practice and learning how to use that loop station, more vocal exercises and guitar lessons.
I remember when I lived in L.A., I once waited on Helen Hunt... one of my favorite actresses. After she finished her dinner and walked out the door, I thought to myself, "You idiot! Ask her that one question you need to ask her right now, before she gets into the car & drives off and you never get this opportunity again!"
So, I chased her out there, thankful that she was waiting on the porch at the front doors, and I said, "Hey, Helen, I just love your work! I'm so glad I got the chance to wait on you! But I have to ask: If you were asked by people struggling in the business what is the ONE most important thing or key to success... what would you tell them?"
Her answer made SO much sense: "I'd tell them to study, and then study some more, and then go on auditions, and then study some more and study more after that... go on more auditions, and keep studying until you just hate it. And then study some more."
"Thank you!" I said, so excited that her answer applies to artists of every kind. The answer "Hone your craft" is so obvious, but so ignored by so many, including myself.
I've bumped into Jeff Goldblum in the coffeehouse parking lot, I've waited on MY FAVORITE Kurt Russell, Brooke Shields ate at that same restaurant, hell, I hung out with Dave Grohl at Paladino's in the San Fernando Valley and I've spent the whole night drinking with MY VERY FAVORITE Kiefer Sutherland at Joya in Beverly Hills (I have his cell #!!!) But I never asked their advice about how to "make it"!
I have read plenty of books and stuff online, I've gone to seminars and conferences and workshops and all sorts of crap, but getting advice from someone who I admire so much has more of an impact. So many of these "experts" at these conferences really don't know much of anything. There are true experts, but many of these people aren't telling you anything that will really increase your chances of success. They did a big study on this, which I told you about back in October or November of last year. They tell you how to promote, they tell you how to network and you can be taught how to get gigs, but the one thing that will allow you to stand out is if you are BETTER THAN THE REST. And really, there are only two ways to become better than the rest... you are either born with some amazing God-given talents, or you work hard at it for a long time and you continue to work at it every day.
That's my new success strategy. Vocal exercises every day. More guitar lessons. Time writing songs and learning new techniques for songwriting and better playing. I just changed my strings for yesterday's gig. Now is a really good time to find my way down that path.
:)
Annie
"I promise to post blogs here, sharing some daily activities & the work I do to achieve my career goals, and when I do win that Grammy, YOU can say you followed me all the way! I also hope to give inspiration, information, & advice to indie artists, and I hope you take a little something away with you when you read my posts, whether or not you are yourself an artist!"
If you ever have ANYTHING you'd like to respond to in my blog, PLEASE find me at http://AnnieBMusic.com
THANKS!!!
Well, today was another hard day. I got some cards & other stuff in the mail from people sending condolences. One letter was from another Marine, he sent a bunch of articles and poems about the Marines. I started to cry. I am finishing up with all those and will make copies for my family.
It's hard for me to move forward right now... I am feeling kind of stuck... kind of numb, kind of overwhelmed by it all. I have not been to check e-mail for at least a week. Somehow, I got lucky and decided to check my MySpace messages today. I got offered 2 gigs at a venue which is new to me: Magellan's in Waukesha. This girl Stacey used to work at the Coach House and she sent me a MySpace message looking to hire me. I called her we we booked a date in Oct. & one in Nov. I also got a call today from Dee of Almost Famous Booking. She secured a date for me at a place called Towne Square in Trevor, WI. I'm so thankful that I am reaching that point where people are contacting me for gigs and I don't have to bust my ass 8-10 hours a day looking for new venues & contacting old ones, although I really should spend at least an hour or two per day on that. There's plenty of venues that would be new & plenty return venues I would do well at. Like Walker's Pint, Sammy's in East Troy, and lots of others.
I have decided to cancel the Artbeat show in October. I have too much administrative stuff on my plate right now and not enough music-making. Besides the fact that I am dealing with my dad's passing and everything that goes along with that.
I can't remember when is the last time I added a new song to my set... Maybe "I Still Got My Guitar" but that's kind of a novelty song. I keep having songs come to me, and I do what I can to get them recorded in some fashion, but there's too much music coming to me, and not enough follow-through in making these new song ideas into complete songs. I bought a new loop station and have not had a chance to open the box! It's awful, how I have been busting my ass doing all this promotion and networking and poster-making and I still feel like I'm not where I want to me. Is it just a matter of time? I am so thankful that Vic Thomas called me two days ago to offer me a gig at the Bay View Bash. I am sooooooo excited about that... I will play with my new trio, all original music! But I do need to push for new songs. I do need to push for more of a "WOW" effect when I play a show. I feel that I am capable of so much more, but I have not had the time to develop it.
Maybe it's time for me to re-group. I think I need to put all my Artbeat stuff aside right now and get back into my career as an artist. I am a singer/songwriter first & foremost. I am a promoter and a producer of shows secondarily. I need to remember that. Artbeat will be on temporary hiatus until the beginning of next year. I will need to find the perfect balance to make it all happen properly next year; I cannot go on doing how I'm doing things right now. There is something crucial missing in my life right now.
I got a reading from Barbara Kruck at Artbeat in the Heat, and she told me some very interesting things. The main message is that I am on two (or more?) divergent paths right now. She said it's not necessarily a bad thing, but these paths are definitely divergent. I believe that my efforts as a promoter and event planner has taken away from my growth as an artist, and I need to return to my path as an artist.
Sure, I still have spend at least 5-10 hours/week on booking, making posters, and promoting my shows, but perhaps I need to scale it back so it's all about my music right now. More songwriting and rehearsals, more practice and learning how to use that loop station, more vocal exercises and guitar lessons.
I remember when I lived in L.A., I once waited on Helen Hunt... one of my favorite actresses. After she finished her dinner and walked out the door, I thought to myself, "You idiot! Ask her that one question you need to ask her right now, before she gets into the car & drives off and you never get this opportunity again!"
So, I chased her out there, thankful that she was waiting on the porch at the front doors, and I said, "Hey, Helen, I just love your work! I'm so glad I got the chance to wait on you! But I have to ask: If you were asked by people struggling in the business what is the ONE most important thing or key to success... what would you tell them?"
Her answer made SO much sense: "I'd tell them to study, and then study some more, and then go on auditions, and then study some more and study more after that... go on more auditions, and keep studying until you just hate it. And then study some more."
"Thank you!" I said, so excited that her answer applies to artists of every kind. The answer "Hone your craft" is so obvious, but so ignored by so many, including myself.
I've bumped into Jeff Goldblum in the coffeehouse parking lot, I've waited on MY FAVORITE Kurt Russell, Brooke Shields ate at that same restaurant, hell, I hung out with Dave Grohl at Paladino's in the San Fernando Valley and I've spent the whole night drinking with MY VERY FAVORITE Kiefer Sutherland at Joya in Beverly Hills (I have his cell #!!!) But I never asked their advice about how to "make it"!
I have read plenty of books and stuff online, I've gone to seminars and conferences and workshops and all sorts of crap, but getting advice from someone who I admire so much has more of an impact. So many of these "experts" at these conferences really don't know much of anything. There are true experts, but many of these people aren't telling you anything that will really increase your chances of success. They did a big study on this, which I told you about back in October or November of last year. They tell you how to promote, they tell you how to network and you can be taught how to get gigs, but the one thing that will allow you to stand out is if you are BETTER THAN THE REST. And really, there are only two ways to become better than the rest... you are either born with some amazing God-given talents, or you work hard at it for a long time and you continue to work at it every day.
That's my new success strategy. Vocal exercises every day. More guitar lessons. Time writing songs and learning new techniques for songwriting and better playing. I just changed my strings for yesterday's gig. Now is a really good time to find my way down that path.
:)
Annie
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Day 534
My dad passed away last Thursday. Dad was a victim of Alzheimer's disease. The hardest part was watching him get confused, angry, irritable, paranoid, and when my mom told me she heard him crying saying, "What's happening to me?" He knew his mind was not right and he could do nothing about it. Eventually, and he did not open his eyes much, and he had to be spoon-fed pureed foods and encouraged to drink liquids. He did have a good spell about a month ago... but you could tell he sometimes had a hard time finding the words he wanted to say. That last time we saw him, he was asking to go out to a restaurant for lunch, or go for a picnic outside. I thought he was making a turn for the better.
The nursing staff thinks he had a stroke on Thursday morning last week and when they could see he might not survive very late into the day, they called me & my sister and we called the rest of my family and we stayed with him all afternoon/evening. He was unable to speak, and I don't know if he could see me (his eyes were sometimes open on that last day, but they did not seem able to focus). When the nurse said she was going to wash him up and maybe we should get a bite to eat, we left only to get a phone call before we sat down at the restaurant. The nurse told us to get back there asap. He may have passed away before we all got a chance to say "Goodbye." When I told him I loved him, it seemed like there was just oxygen coming out of the tube... he did not seem to be breathing anymore. I am thankful that I was able to sit right next to him, very close to him all afternoon long, and I held his hand and talked to him about the family members there who came to visit him, and about the rosary that the nurse put into his hand (it was blessed by the Pope). There was a chaplain who gave him his last rites before I got there, and the chaplain returned after my dad passed away, to say a bible passage for the family.
It was so sad to see him suffer. It was the hardest thing I've ever witnessed in my life. I wish I could have cared for him myself, since it was difficult to leave him every time I visited. The hardest day of my life was either the day my dad died, or the day I first moved him into the first nursing home (of two). That was also extremely difficult, because my dad knew he did not want to move there, but he knew he had to. I told my family I'd be willing to take care of my parents, but my brother and sisters talked me out of it... they said it would be too difficult for me emotionally and for my own sanity, and I'm sure they were right. Thank goodness his first move into the nursing home was into the facility where my mom was, and the staff was able to get them into a room together after about 30 days. At least he was not being moved into some place with nothing but strangers. That happened later... also a very difficult & sad day for me.
Well, I can say that these last 2 1/2 years of my life have been difficult, but also I am really glad I was able to help out. My dad's care was of the highest level, especially at this last facility he was living in. He lived there for about 9 months, and they were awesome. (The first nursing home my parents lived in was not so great, but I was there as an advocate for every issue that had to be dealt with... getting the heat turned up, getting my mom's medication when they seemed to "run out"... it was pretty pathetic and I was sooooo glad when we were ale to move them outta there.)
Anyhow, I am very sad because my dad went through some suffering, and no one deserves to go through the pain that one goes through with Alzheimer's. My mom witnessed a lot of it, and I am sad that she suffered as well. I guess you could say that Dad is now in a better place, but that does not make it all go away. It makes me want to do something to help other families who deal with the disease. I joined the Memory Walk... there is one in Milwaukee on Oct. 2nd. I have a page of my own as a person doing the Walk: http://Memorywalk2010.kintera.org/milwaukee/annieb
If you want to donate, that would be appreciated by myself, my family, and others who are dealing with, or have dealt with, the disease. I just think it's a tragedy and I wish there was more I could do. If I could just get all of my 908 Facebook friends to donate $5 apiece, I could raise $4,540 towards Alzheimer's research!
I guess you don't know what a tragedy it is until you know someone DIRECTLY affected by it. I am doing okay, for right now. I might start crying again later on or tomorrow, or maybe in a few days but it comes & goes.
The nursing staff thinks he had a stroke on Thursday morning last week and when they could see he might not survive very late into the day, they called me & my sister and we called the rest of my family and we stayed with him all afternoon/evening. He was unable to speak, and I don't know if he could see me (his eyes were sometimes open on that last day, but they did not seem able to focus). When the nurse said she was going to wash him up and maybe we should get a bite to eat, we left only to get a phone call before we sat down at the restaurant. The nurse told us to get back there asap. He may have passed away before we all got a chance to say "Goodbye." When I told him I loved him, it seemed like there was just oxygen coming out of the tube... he did not seem to be breathing anymore. I am thankful that I was able to sit right next to him, very close to him all afternoon long, and I held his hand and talked to him about the family members there who came to visit him, and about the rosary that the nurse put into his hand (it was blessed by the Pope). There was a chaplain who gave him his last rites before I got there, and the chaplain returned after my dad passed away, to say a bible passage for the family.
It was so sad to see him suffer. It was the hardest thing I've ever witnessed in my life. I wish I could have cared for him myself, since it was difficult to leave him every time I visited. The hardest day of my life was either the day my dad died, or the day I first moved him into the first nursing home (of two). That was also extremely difficult, because my dad knew he did not want to move there, but he knew he had to. I told my family I'd be willing to take care of my parents, but my brother and sisters talked me out of it... they said it would be too difficult for me emotionally and for my own sanity, and I'm sure they were right. Thank goodness his first move into the nursing home was into the facility where my mom was, and the staff was able to get them into a room together after about 30 days. At least he was not being moved into some place with nothing but strangers. That happened later... also a very difficult & sad day for me.
Well, I can say that these last 2 1/2 years of my life have been difficult, but also I am really glad I was able to help out. My dad's care was of the highest level, especially at this last facility he was living in. He lived there for about 9 months, and they were awesome. (The first nursing home my parents lived in was not so great, but I was there as an advocate for every issue that had to be dealt with... getting the heat turned up, getting my mom's medication when they seemed to "run out"... it was pretty pathetic and I was sooooo glad when we were ale to move them outta there.)
Anyhow, I am very sad because my dad went through some suffering, and no one deserves to go through the pain that one goes through with Alzheimer's. My mom witnessed a lot of it, and I am sad that she suffered as well. I guess you could say that Dad is now in a better place, but that does not make it all go away. It makes me want to do something to help other families who deal with the disease. I joined the Memory Walk... there is one in Milwaukee on Oct. 2nd. I have a page of my own as a person doing the Walk: http://Memorywalk2010.kintera.org/milwaukee/annieb
If you want to donate, that would be appreciated by myself, my family, and others who are dealing with, or have dealt with, the disease. I just think it's a tragedy and I wish there was more I could do. If I could just get all of my 908 Facebook friends to donate $5 apiece, I could raise $4,540 towards Alzheimer's research!
I guess you don't know what a tragedy it is until you know someone DIRECTLY affected by it. I am doing okay, for right now. I might start crying again later on or tomorrow, or maybe in a few days but it comes & goes.
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