Gave out 100 business cards, received 50 cards, shaken roughly 200 hands, seen over 20 bands, walked over 30 miles, lost 10 pounds, drank 2 cappuccinos a day, drank 5 new beers, threw up once, road the subway 17 times, lost 4 pens, and slept an average of 5 hours a night with only 1 nap. I’d say that the week was worth the price of admission.
CMJ was a week of numbers
31 12 2008Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: beer, CMJ, music, subway
Categories : CMJ 2008
Hungry and Naïve: Reflections on my Journey to Austin
31 12 2008In retrospect, this whole experience, from planning to tour managing, was very eye-opening for me. It may not have been the money making tour that I had initially hoped it would have been, but this was my first major tour, so I have to start from somewhere with moderate expectations. It will make me appreciate future tour bookings even more.
I have realized firsthand that nothing worth doing comes easy in this world. I am extremely proud of myself for following through with an idea in its entirety for once in my life. More importantly, I got to really know Tyler, Blake, Sam, Ryan, Jared, Milo and Mike, and I am proud that we could experience both joy and pain together from Boston to Austin.
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Tags: booking, Carlon, Otis Grove, Ropeadope, tour
Categories : Boston to Austin, Career Advice, Life
Day 6 — I’m ready to to go home
30 12 2008Waking up in Green Point at 12:30PM after going to bed at 7AM, I forgot that I had stayed at someone’s apartment that I barely knew.
I had been too lazy to figure out my plans ahead of time. I do this a lot. I’m a very polar individual. I’m either lazy or intense, ecstatic or depressed, energized or drained, so there is not a middle ground for me, which is something that I have struggled to find for myself for quite some time.
As I made my way towards to the East Village where Jared lived, I realized that he was probably already on his way to Dirty Jerz to go to his parent’s for the afternoon, so I had to bank on one of his roommates being at the apartment. I felt there was no reason to get angry or concerned because the situation would be figured out one way or another. I had no specific bus to catch, so I was not in a hurry, although I was irritated and desperately desired to sleep in my own bed for the first time in a week.
I grabbed a slice of pizza and finally got a hold of Jared’s roommate, grabbed my shit, picked up the next bus to Philly, and passed out on the bus. Realizing all I had I done and seen as well as the people I met, it was due time my body give out.
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Tags: Brooklyn, CMJ, Dirty Jerz, East Village, Green Point, pizza, sleep, tired
Categories : CMJ 2008, Life
Night 5 — Waiting in lines Redux
29 12 2008After the show, Jared went back to his apartment while I went with his buddy Brandon to Le Poisson Rouge for the Ghostly International showcase.
This is a newer venue that I had never been to before. Inside, it was casually and artistically decadent. As you walk in, there’s a metal fish sculpture along the stairwell downstairs. For the linguistically challenged, poisson means fish in French.
So we get inside and I meet up with these two girls both named Sara that I met while waiting in line for Lykke Li and then again on the subway ride back to Brooklyn that same night, so I gave them my card to contact me. The four of us had a great time listening to the first group who had an Of Montreal meets Animal Collective vibe to it, but in an uncomfortably emo way. The last group was a jazz, hip-hop hybrid consisting of DJ’s, horn players, and a drummer whose name escapes me.
After the show, I had planned on staying with Sam’s (Otis Grove) brother, but the girls said I could stay on their pull-out couch, so I chose a bed over the floor. However, we didn’t end up going to sleep until 7am when the Canadian Sara goes, “Dude, it’s light out”, at which point I said, “Fuck it. I’m goin to bed.”
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Tags: Animal Collective, Brooklyn, CMJ, DJ, Ghostly International, Le Poison Rouge, Lykke Li, Of Montreal, Otis Grove, subway
Categories : CMJ 2008, Live Music
Ending how it began aka The Balance of it all
29 12 2008Everything I had done for the past 6 months had lead up to this day: the ACL after party.
Otis Grove kicked off the night to get people funked up with the windows wide open with an outdoor dance party to supplement the indoor crowd. Their set was highlighted by Sam Gillman’s high-intensity organ playing to the point where he stood up and knocked down his stool with intense force.
Up second was a band I personally did not like, but was local and was supposed to bring a draw for Carlon who was up last. However, this was a bad idea because the truth was that no one really knew who the local was and everyone who was thoroughly enjoying Otis Grove left after they heard the second band.
This resulted in Carlon having an almost-empty room in front of them, which made me rather temperamental. However, I was told by the doorman that there was a total of 400 people who came into the bar throughout the night, which ain’t too shabby considering everything that happened.
At the end of the night, I bought Carlon, Otis Grove, myself, and a Ropeadope fan a shot of Jack. It all started with Jack, so it might as well have ended with it. Job well done!
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Tags: ACL, Austin, Carlon, Jack Daniels, Otis Grove, Ropeadope, tour
Categories : Boston to Austin
Night 5 — OG in the house
28 12 2008After a quick nap I at Jared’s, I prepared for Otis Grove at Blue Note. However, before they went on, we walked over to Fat Cat to get us in the jazz mood. I had never been there, so I was loving every second of it. We have no down-to-earth free for all jazz clubs in Philly; the closest is Ortlieb’s, but it is nowhere near the same vein as Fat Cat.
Otis Grove are a band that thrive live. Having seen them them for two slots on Ropeadope Stage at All Good Music Festival this year and on the Boston to Austin tour, I got to know their instrumentalfunksouljazz style well. Driving with them for 30 hours straight from Austin to Philly, I got to know them personally as well. You gotta be creative to think of shit to talk to someone else about after the tenth hour of straight driving.
The interesting thing about them is that every show one member is particularly on fire making each show something special. This night was no different as Tyler Drabick ripped through his solos with precision and care…especially the killer “Whipping Post” encore.
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Tags: All Good, All Good Music Festival, Blue Note, CMJ, Fat Cat, funk, jazz, Ortlieb's, Otis Grove, Ropeadope, Ropeadope stage
Categories : CMJ 2008, Live Music
Day 5 — What next for Carlon?
27 12 2008There were no panels on Saturday, so I had time to relax, but I’m too insane to relax. “I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” I reminded myself. I went from Hoboken to the West Village to meet with Anthony D’Avella, Carlon’s manager. Previous to meeting with him, I had time alone with everyone except Milo (drums) to talk about the band, so I had an understanding of the individual perspective on the past, present, and future of Carlon.
One killer record, a 12-city tour and a CMJ appearance in the past, so what’s next? We were focusing on creating a brand for Carlon, getting scattered gigs around the region, plan for opening slots on major tours, festival appearances, and most importantly SXSW, which hopefully create some more buzz for them. If CMJ is Coke than SXSW is cocaine. From what I’m told, the intensities between the two are incomparable.
Being on Concert.TV and their upcoming February residency at Arlene’s Grocery should help as well.
If you haven’t checked out their music already, please do and email me with your thoughts and where you think they should head in the future.
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Tags: band, Carlon, CMJ, cocaine, Coke, gig, image, Johari Window, music, Ropeadope, SXSW, tour
Categories : Career Advice, CMJ 2008, Industry Commentary