Times, they are a’ changin: Episode 5

For Episode 5 of Charlie’s blog, we give you this link.  Charlie commented on Bob Lefsetz’s blog and told him about a few new concepts we’re trying – A Single Revolution and Name Your Own Price for CDs.  Read Kevin Oliver’s (writer of “Music that Matters” blog) response to Charlie HERE.

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts, suggestions, etc…. even if you just flat out think we’re crazy.  We tend to enjoy a good healthy debate (and we’re the first to recognize that at times and in certain circles we are, in fact, crazy.)

Horse, Flamingo, Penguin and Chicken Wing

The facts were these…

I was at Charlie’s house, in his kitchen, baking cupcakes with my sister, Annie (using our other sister’s secret recipe).

Charlie was in another room practicing his guitar.

Charlie’s daughter, Sally, was in yet another room playing on her computer.

Suddenly, all were drawn into the kitchen by the warm, chocolatey aroma of Sugar and Spice Bakery’s Best Chocolate Cake recipe cupcakes with chocolate buttercream icing and white chocolate drizzle.

Charlie really wanted a cupcake, but Annie was going to make him work for his dinner. Her new favorite Sarah Mac Band song is “Reaper” (one of the upcoming singles in A Single Revolution). So in exchange for a cupcake, Charlie was playing “Reaper.”

I’m not sure how exactly it happened, because I was intently putting white chocolate drizzle on cupcake tops in an artful fashion…  suddenly I looked up to find both Sally and Annie dancing like crazy to “Reaper” in their best Sarah-Mac-dancing-on-stage-imitation. It was one of those moments that I wished that I had a video camera, or even just a high tech phone that takes pictures. They danced and danced, with Sally jumping up on a footstool so that she would be tall enough to really get the full Sarah Mac effect (because she’s only like five feet tall).

I’m sure that I’ve blogged before about the first time that I saw myself dance on video and how I was so embarrassed… I yelled at Charlie and Claire, “Why do you let me humiliate myself like that?!?!? One of you should lean over and say, ‘Sarah, STOP’.”

Before he joined AmeriCorps and was still around in Tallahassee, our friend Ruben Lane used to come to all the shows and became quite familiar with my dance moves, coining special names for each of them. Some notables were ”the horse” and “the flamingo.” Now he’s gone and my moves have evolved as I’ve grown to appreciate (and balance better in) high heeled shoes. Now I’ve also got, “the penguin” and “the chicken wing.” Interesting that they are all named after animals…

I would encourage you to come out and see us soon to check out the special moves mentioned above… We’re going to be at the American Legion Hall tomorrow night (Friday, April 24th) for Bob Nite (all Bob Dylan covers), Saturday during the day in Jacksonville at the Riverside Arts Festival, then Saturday night at Freebird Live in Jacksonville at the beaches. Then Sunday, we’ll be back in town for teh SAAM benefit at Lake Ella. A jam packed weekend with many chances to pick up a dance move or two… or maybe share one of your own as did our Sarah Mac Band dancers at our RR Square gig last weekend (don’t worry, their parents are okay with us taking their pictures and putting them online– we’re not creepsters).

PICS: Florida Earth Day Jam

Something Beautiful

Hi everyone! I hope that your gardens are growing well… all of your little seedlings found good ground to put roots down in and didn’t get washed away in the storm yesterday. I was so excited about everyone’s response to the seedling adoption party that we had at our Warehouse show last weekend! Yay, you! Don’t forget that it’s been scientifically proven by thousands of third grade science fair projects that talking to your plants makes them grow better.
In other news, I’ve been getting lots of questions about the next single in A Single Revolution lately…

1.What’s the next song?

2.When will it be released?

3.What does it feel like to wake up every morning and know that you guys are the most prolific and influential songwriters of this era?

Here are the answers:

1. The next song to be released is “Something Beautiful.” It’s an oldie, but a goodie. We wrote it several years ago, but never felt like we quite had it where we wanted it. Then, when we started working with Dave at Winterstone Productions, we finally felt like we got the song to a place that really fit us. Or as Charlie likes to say, “we found the song.” So, thanks to Dave, the next song to be released in our little musical revolution will be “Something Beautiful.”

2. As we said before, we’re releasing the second single in the revolution once we’ve sold out of the first one. I don’t know how soon that will be… honestly, I don’t even know the exact numbers right now. But over the weekend, I checked the box, and I think that there were about 15 of the limited edition “Burden Beast” singles remaining. And I delivered another one to a proud new owner this morning. My advice would be to go ahead and order it if you’re still considering it. Otherwise, you might lose your opportunity in the next few days. And obviously, given the fact that “Burden Beasts” are disappearing at a pretty good clip, I would expect “Something Beautiful” to hit the market sometime in the next few weeks (however, that’s more of a Sarah Mac Band business team question… and by business team, I mean Claire and Charlie).

3. I made that question up… people don’t really ask us that. Although if they sincerely did ask that, I’d probably be so shocked that I wouldn’t be able to formulate an answer.

What I can answer is the next question that you didn’t ask: “How do you feel about the new single, Sarah?”
I’m really excited about bringing “Something Beautiful” out to meet everyone. For one thing, it’s both my sister’s and my dad’s favorite Sarah Mac Band song. That immediately gives it some special significance. But on top of that, it’s been giving me lots to think about lately.

Outside of gardens, Ed Harris, and Jeannie, from Sleepin’ Dogz (all universally considered beautiful by those who encounter them), I don’t know what else might qualify as “something beautiful” to others. I talked to Claire about it and then we decided that we would open it up to you, our fans, family and friends, to see what you think. Part of it is just out of curiosity and another chance to foster togetherness with you guys. The other part of it is to gauge your taste. I mean, you like us, or you wouldn’t be following our blog– so we want to see if your ideas of beautiful, pleasant looking/feeling/sounding/tasting (and I guess) smelling things match our ideas. Isn’t that an interesting experiment?

I don’t really know how we’ll do this. Originally, I thought that you could email us a photo (please make sure that it’s not a dirty photo, I might get a little creeped out by that) at info [at] sarahmacband [dot] com and we would start a “Something Beautiful” photo album section on our website (yeah, I haven’t told our webmaster about this yet). But, maybe it could be more than photos, maybe poetry and little thoughts, I don’t know. Be creative and we’ll find a way to accomodate that.

Okay, well.. who’s excited? Me. And hopefully you. I’m leaving you with some of my personal beautiful somethings. Although, honestly, I don’t actually own a camera, so these beautiful somethings are photos that I ripped off of my friends’ facebook pages…

 

family dinners

 

puppies (when they're not pooping on the floor)

flowers on your back porch

cannonballs

And now for your submissions…..keep them coming!

 

4/10/09 at the Warehouse: Sarah Mac Band Community Garden

….and I love gardens.

I’m not entirely sure what is so appealing about them. Maybe it makes me feel like I’m more a part of the bigger picture. Maybe it’s the idea of the elements combining in a way that fosters an environment where a little stone can intuit its way into a living, breathing, vibrant thing. Regardless, I love to look at the little green tendrils folding their way through the black dirt. I love to watch the progression through the days as the leaves begin to spread and eventually rid themselves of the shell of the seed that once housed all of their future potential.

My heart was also marked one year at a Cinco de Mayo party. I was sitting on the porch being a jerk with a margarita and another couple arrived carrying a basket of fresh produce from their garden for the hosts. Not only was I impressed by the fact that they were actually able to grow real live vegetables like you can buy at Publix (the world’s fastest growing employee owned supermarket, where shopping is a pleasure), but I thought that it was so sweet to share the bounty with others. And I decided that I didn’t want to be a margarita drunk at a Cinco de Mayo party, but rather a sweet, bounty-sharing gardener instead.

This is the first year that I’ve been able to have a garden. Every year since my gardening awakening, I’ve been living in someone else’s house, where I didn’t have the freedom to dig up the yard as I pleased. The same is true this year. Although I wasn’t able to convince anyone here that a garden is a good idea, my parents graciously consented to hosting my garden in one of their fields this time around.

It was an intense process. I did quite a bit of research—what grows well in this climate, what variety of each plant and vegetable is best for my soil type and area, when and where I should plant, timing, everything. Then, because I don’t actually have any space to my name, I didn’t have a place that I could start my seedlings. Covering every flat surface in your home with little peat cups is not generally considered a best practice in house sharing circles. As I was brainstorming possibilities, several people rose to the occasion, offering to start some of my seeds (including one sixth grade science class at Swift Creek Middle School). So we split up seed packets and went to work cultivating sweet little leafy babies.

My friend Denise (former bass player for Gainesville band, Redboy and current bass player for Marcé) learned from her daddy that you never plant until the last full moon before Easter. That would be… um, now. So, today, along with my mini-me, my sisters and my grandma, I transplanted a million little plants of a million different varieties into the earth in my parents’ front field.

 
Although my garden plot is bigger than the great room at our house, we still had more seedlings than land for them. I couldn’t figure out what to do with all of the extras. Then, Maggie, the proprietress of Textures Handmade Market (and one of my seedling foster moms) suggested that we spread the love. Before the Sarah Mac Band show tomorrow, she will help me prepare my extra cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, eggplants, and watermelons for adoption. We’ll bring them tomorrow night to the warehouse and give them away to anyone who would be willing to take them home and give them some ground to live in. It’s our way to pay it forward. I obviously can’t leave a basket of fresh vegetable on the doorstep of all of our fans, but I can still share my bounty and hope that it gives you enough to do the same.

.. ..

Friday, April 10th

Sarah Mac Band with Paxico via Mexico and Evan Mathews

The Warehouse

Show starts at 9:00

 

 

See you then!

M. Keli Swearingen, Ds,M.B

You all know our former drummer, Keli, right? If you’re new to Sarah Mac Band fandom, we’ll give you a little backstory. If you’re an old friend or a longtime card-carrying member of the S’mackheads, then this is just a sweet trip down memory lane…

M. Keli Swearingen, Ds, M.B. (Drummer Sarah Mac Band), Leader of the #1 rhythm section in showbiz…

M. Keli Swearingen, Ds, M.B. (Drummer Sarah Mac Band), one of the few and proud female drummers with a corporate sponsorship by Pearl Drums, and connoisseur of fine hand-knitted goods…

M. Keli Swearingen, Ds, M.B. (Drummer Sarah Mac Band), inpeccable fashion sense…

And now, we are proud to announce that she is also:
M.Keli Swearingen,
PhD, Education Psychology.
Yay! Keli, we’re so proud of you!!!!

Bob Dylan Covers

Okay….we’ve probably asked most of you for suggestions of Bob Dylan songs for us to cover. Just thought we’d update you on what we’ve heard so far:

Lay Lady Lay (Nashville Skyline, 1969)
Heart of Mine (Shot of Love, 1981)
Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright (The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, 1963)
Desolation Row (Highway 61 Revisited, 1965)
Gotta Serve Somebody (Slow Train Coming, 1979)
Hurricane (Desire, 1976)
I Want You (Blonde on Blonde, 1966)
Just Like a Woman (Blonde on Blonde, 1966)
Make You Feel My Love (Time Out of Mind, 1997)**
Tangled Up in Blue (Blood on the Tracks, 1975)
The Times They Are A-Changin’ (The Times They Are A-Changin’, 1964)

**We’re thinking we’ll definitely do this one. In fact, the exact phrasing of the request from our friend Eric was: “If you DON’T cover To Make You Feel My Love, there will be a beating.” We like to avoid those situations.

Thanks for all of the suggestions! Feel free to keep them coming. We are going to learn 4 or 5 and only have 1 or 2 in the works so far. To see the first one live, come to our show at the Warehouse this Friday, April 10 at 9pm.

By the way, if you don’t know all of the above songs, check out Bob Dylan’s website. You can listen to all of them there. Great website. And NO, we are not being paid by Bob Dylan for any of this.

Times, they are a’changin: Episode 4

Episode 4:
I was reading my favorite blogger the other day (that would be Bob Lefsetz. If you are into music and where it is going then you need to read his stuff. We have his link over to the right there and if you read him much you will see that most of the time I am just ripping off his ideas — mainly because they agree with mine. But hey, isn’t that what the internet is all about?)
OK, back to my story. I reading Lefsetz and he is talking about the new music paradigm and says this:

It’s easy to write and record a song and distribute it. Everything

that was difficult yesterday is easy today. You just fire up GarageBand,

select some loops, create a track and upload the result to MySpace and

you’re an “artist”!

Man, that is so true. It used to be that you couldn’t make a record without a lot of money and backing. And even if you did make a record there really was no way to get it distributed outside of your own backyard unless you had a record label. Being on a major label was really essential to having any hope of getting your music out there. But not anymore! We can all record cheaply or even for free and with places like iTunes, Amazon, Last FM, etc., etc., I get worldwide distribution in a matter of weeks without the help of any record label.

This is incredible! We can bypass the labels because they are no longer the gatekeepers and even when they are involved they have less and less influence. But there are some serious drawbacks to this new world. Everybody can be an artist but that doesn’t mean that everybody should be an artist. There are thousands of bands out there putting out millions of songs everyday and the reality is that most of the stuff is not that good. And the stuff that is good gets harder to find because there is so much crap in the way. Kind of like being at the $5 shirt table at Old Navy or wherever you shop and digging through a huge mess of shirts trying to find the really good deals. You know there are some in there but after a while you give up looking because the pile is too high.

So all of this really dovetails into my musings about the future of recorded music. Realistically, what are my chances of being discovered in that huge pile of crap on the table? And who knows, maybe I’m one of the crappy shirts. In the past the record labels decided who was crap and who wasn’t by virtue of whom they signed. They had the keys to the kingdom. But those keys have been stolen now and as much as they are trying to get them back; well it is just too late. They are gone, baby.

So if recording and worldwide distribution are easy now what is the hard part? And who are the gatekeepers now?
Well, the hard part is writing music that more than just your circle of friends want to hear. Do you have music that connects with people and creates new fans? That is not so easy. And more importantly: are you willing to get out there, play wherever you can to create new fans and generate excitement about your music? Because now the gatekeepers are the fans. Oh there are the pop acts that will spring up from the big labels but they don’t have much staying power. Can you create fans that love your music and will follow you for years? That is the hard part.

If you really believe in your music then get it out there. See if people really like it. Go out there and find out if you are part of the crap on the ‘sale’ table or if you are that great find we all look for. A lot of us don’t want to risk the possibility that we might just be part of the crap on the table. And maybe not crap, but just not that special shirt you wear for years. We pour our lives into our music and it is a scary prospect to put it out there and risk being shot down. But we need to do it. And the sooner you get started the sooner you are going to know if you have a talent for this or not.

Maybe all you want to be is a weekend warrior playing every once-in-a-while and if so that is cool. There is certainly a different level of commitment and talent that can succeed there. But if you want to try and make a living doing this, then you need to get the stuff out there and see how people react. Are you getting new fans at every show? It doesn’t have to be a lot. Maybe 2 or 3 but are you getting them. Are they going back and telling their friends and bringing them next time? If so, then you are on the right track. The gatekeepers are noticing you and that is good. That is a sign that there is potential there.

However, remember the mere fact that you can make a CD or an EP or whatever, is not the test. Man, that is the easy part these days. I know you are thinking, “Charlie, you don’t know because that was NOT easy.” Well, I do understand because I have been there. But let me tell you, compared to writing and playing music that people really like and building a fan base; well making the cd is easy. Your CD is just a small step on a very long journey. And if you think you want to take that journey then get moving now. The easy part is done.

Respect the VAN!

On the road again….to Gainesville, FL today. This is how we roll….

PICS: Potbelly’s 3.14.2009

Thanks to all of you who came to Potbelly’s last night!

Glory Land

Eric Case joins SMB for Amazing Grace