One thing I just realized: I gotta start doing these blogs a little earlier. 1 am and I am getting kind of tired. It's been quite a day. I feel like I've been on a rollercoaster of emotion from very low to extremely high. well, not terribly "low" but more worried about some personal matters. but I actually got a lot done today. spent much of my time making cd's for some publishers. I've been having meetings for a few weeks now and I've got some more meetings tomorrow, all day and into the night, about music and music, what else?!
everything is still moving forward with recording. today I did a video blog which we are going to start adding to the process. I'm employing a company called media-jag to do the job. we've been filming stuff for a while now and will start putting some things up on current tv and youtube very soon.
here's something fun: today I was going to the market, [as you do], around 7pm and i noticed there was a call on my cell phone. it was a missed call from a guy named stevie salas. who is that? well, if anyone remembers the shakespear's sister song, "you're history", he is the one who put that amazing lead guitar on it in the solo. he and i got back in touch with each other after several years. he is a very busy man! he's the musical director for some big time bands and is also a record producer. anyway, i called him back, standing outside my local trader joe's and he says, "hey marcy, i'm up in canada doing a record for someone and i thought of you. they need a female vocal on something, here talk to the record company president"...next thing i know I'm talking to this record exec in canada telling me she'd love me to sing on a song for one of her artists. it was a great chat, and i'll be getting the mp3 soon. looking forward to that.
busy tomorrow as i said with meetings to make this thing happen. next week, lots of stuff to do as well and i'll be posting blogs here again, naturally, as well as myspace and facebook.
so, stay tuned as the journey unfolds...
love always;
marcy
Friday, July 31, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Day 7, "the making of...."
Ok, here we are at day 7. I should have done this earlier, it's nearly 1:30 am and my eyes are closing so i'll keep this brief.
things are still moving forward.I had dinner tonight with an old friend. He's working at a very cool online distribution company and he told me all about it. it sounds like something i'd be very much into doing once my songs are finished. even though the music industry has changed so much, there are still some great opportunities out there. i've experienced the old school ways and know that for all but a chosen few, those options don't really exist anymore. i.e. having a big label sign you and give you huge amounts of money. now, even the little guy, the medium guy and the big guy can get their music out there and make some kind of profit. of course, where the big record companies came in handy was having enough money to raise awareness thru advertising and that is very expensive. but there are also other ways to do things now and i'm learning about them every day.
stay tuned.
love always;
marcy
things are still moving forward.I had dinner tonight with an old friend. He's working at a very cool online distribution company and he told me all about it. it sounds like something i'd be very much into doing once my songs are finished. even though the music industry has changed so much, there are still some great opportunities out there. i've experienced the old school ways and know that for all but a chosen few, those options don't really exist anymore. i.e. having a big label sign you and give you huge amounts of money. now, even the little guy, the medium guy and the big guy can get their music out there and make some kind of profit. of course, where the big record companies came in handy was having enough money to raise awareness thru advertising and that is very expensive. but there are also other ways to do things now and i'm learning about them every day.
stay tuned.
love always;
marcy
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Day 6 of "the making of"....
Or we could call this: 10,000 reasons NOT to do it! I had a meeting with someone at a big company who proceeded to list many reasons why not to work on and release an independent project. and boy, they had me going for a while. yes, it's true, there is a lot of competition out there with very well known bands now doing the same thing and it's hard to get an agent to book you; the big fish are getting the attention. but oh, i just remembered, i have a few booking agents right now who are chomping at the bit for me to get some product out there so they can book me some gigs. ah, let's see what else, they said, it's hard to make money on music these days which is very true. even record companies and publishing companies are having to think of creative ways to monetize their artists records and catalogues since the event of "downloading" things for free began. that's a whole other blog. but yes, i understand that and I have people again waiting for me to hand them some new music so they can get to work with placing it in tv and or film. and yes, people seem to be making money on their cd sales mostly at gigs and do I really want to do that? yes, I do! so, thanks for all the information, I am aware, you are right, but, i'm now on a mission and will follow through. but they also gave me a few other very cool ideas on how to make money with my music that i hadn't really thought of before, so thank you very much for that.
so, I had some very good news today: we have one studio that we wanted on hold and another great place also a very strong possibility if the first one falls through. i'll have confirmation very soon. band is standing by, all is moving forward. having a meeting tomorrow night with a cool company that I may be able to work with for my distribution.
so, you see, big wheels are in motion and all that.
i'm on it. and now it's off to dreamland.
peace always;
marcy x
so, I had some very good news today: we have one studio that we wanted on hold and another great place also a very strong possibility if the first one falls through. i'll have confirmation very soon. band is standing by, all is moving forward. having a meeting tomorrow night with a cool company that I may be able to work with for my distribution.
so, you see, big wheels are in motion and all that.
i'm on it. and now it's off to dreamland.
peace always;
marcy x
Monday, July 27, 2009
Day 5, "the making of"....
Well, more news to report. this train is inching slowly but surely up that big ole hill. today i did some research on lots of things including how to set up a paypal account for my website and other related issues once the cd/ep is ready to put out there. it's pretty easy, really, when you put your technophobia aside.
I sent out an email to a old friend of mine who is married to someone who manages one of the top studios in los angeles. I did many demos with this guy many years ago, he's a sweetheart. he contacted me on facebook earlier this year and we had lunch together at the studio and made a plan for me to come in and record one song acoustically. it was a lot of fun. what a great studio. it's called glenwood studios and lots of big name acts have worked there and continue to work there including the black eyed peas, gnarls barkley, dave stewart, joss stone, our dear ms. britney spears and many more. there's one room in there that could easily house a complete band to record everyone at once which is really what i want to do. I love the sound of real musicians playing together and playing off each other. then we can take everything away to another studio, maybe chop stuff up, make it sound beefy, in your face, punchy, modern and sprinkle some fairy dust on it all. so, i told john [porter] about my friend and the studio,[he's worked in the studio before and loved it] so we'll see what happens with it all. he's also got connections with a few other studios and i know one or two others as well.
aside from that i'm having a meeting at the end of the week with someone who might be able to help with the finances. but i'm not holding my breath. he said he would help back in march and said i would be in england this summer, like now, "making the record i always wanted to make" but here it is july and it's not happened yet. that being the case, that's why i'm pursuing other means so as not to be dependent on this particular party/person. we'll see what happens on friday. if i see he's not got anything to offer it's back to plan b, which will then become plan a. confused? good thing i'm not!! either way, the diy plan will be a good one. the diy plan will have me seeking sponsorship from fans, friends, business associates, anyone who wants to be a "patron of the arts" the way they did it in the old days.hey, just think of it as, the old days are here again.
I'm also working on another possible song for the record with a very cool, summery, feelgood kind of motown vibe, my favorite thing.
so, that's it, over and out, 10-4, etc.... I will have more to report tomorrow night after I get home from being out all day and night down in LA having some meetings and going to see a very talented young lady named billy the kid at the troubadour with one of the coolest new people i've met in a while named randy cooke who is a great drummer; he's played with loads of people, lately, with dave stewart, ringo starr and now billy the kid. very talented and just plain nice!!! and billy, well she is a treasure, and cute as a button.
hasta manana;
marcy xoxo
ps ah, you may notice, i've not mentioned some names and instead have said, "he" a lot. this is done to protect the innocent!!
I sent out an email to a old friend of mine who is married to someone who manages one of the top studios in los angeles. I did many demos with this guy many years ago, he's a sweetheart. he contacted me on facebook earlier this year and we had lunch together at the studio and made a plan for me to come in and record one song acoustically. it was a lot of fun. what a great studio. it's called glenwood studios and lots of big name acts have worked there and continue to work there including the black eyed peas, gnarls barkley, dave stewart, joss stone, our dear ms. britney spears and many more. there's one room in there that could easily house a complete band to record everyone at once which is really what i want to do. I love the sound of real musicians playing together and playing off each other. then we can take everything away to another studio, maybe chop stuff up, make it sound beefy, in your face, punchy, modern and sprinkle some fairy dust on it all. so, i told john [porter] about my friend and the studio,[he's worked in the studio before and loved it] so we'll see what happens with it all. he's also got connections with a few other studios and i know one or two others as well.
aside from that i'm having a meeting at the end of the week with someone who might be able to help with the finances. but i'm not holding my breath. he said he would help back in march and said i would be in england this summer, like now, "making the record i always wanted to make" but here it is july and it's not happened yet. that being the case, that's why i'm pursuing other means so as not to be dependent on this particular party/person. we'll see what happens on friday. if i see he's not got anything to offer it's back to plan b, which will then become plan a. confused? good thing i'm not!! either way, the diy plan will be a good one. the diy plan will have me seeking sponsorship from fans, friends, business associates, anyone who wants to be a "patron of the arts" the way they did it in the old days.hey, just think of it as, the old days are here again.
I'm also working on another possible song for the record with a very cool, summery, feelgood kind of motown vibe, my favorite thing.
so, that's it, over and out, 10-4, etc.... I will have more to report tomorrow night after I get home from being out all day and night down in LA having some meetings and going to see a very talented young lady named billy the kid at the troubadour with one of the coolest new people i've met in a while named randy cooke who is a great drummer; he's played with loads of people, lately, with dave stewart, ringo starr and now billy the kid. very talented and just plain nice!!! and billy, well she is a treasure, and cute as a button.
hasta manana;
marcy xoxo
ps ah, you may notice, i've not mentioned some names and instead have said, "he" a lot. this is done to protect the innocent!!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Day 4 of "the making of...
well, you gotta be quick around here! i just tried typing into the blog, my finger hit the wrong button and it went up, unfinished!
so, let me try this again.
here it is, day 4 into the making of my new cd. well, actually, the plan is to do 4 songs. maybe 5, we'll see. it's sunday night, so i am going to wait till tomorrow to contact the producer john porter to confirm with him that the drummer and bass player are on for it at the beginning of september. first thing tomorrow i will be emailing and calling him. hopefully then, we can decide on two days between september 1st and 4th. but i suppose that will be up to the availability at the studio that we're trying to get into. i hope to have that sorted out by the end of this coming week. time is hurtling by and the plan must be made.
also, tomorrow, i'll decide exactly how this will be financially done and how to proceed as well as marketing and getting the word out there. i will do my best to make it known. a friend of mine has a company called, "artist's first" online, which is a licensing company. it helps the artist get their music placed in television and film. he's already asked me for some music for that purpose. i'll give him a few songs i've done, like my whole "dancing madly sideways" album and my "feeler" album. those will be best to give him at first since i own the masters and the rights for those two albums. i also have all the demos i've done over the past few years. some of them sound pretty good; but i want to make sure they are broadcast quality before i give them to him. yet more administrative work that i need to do, but it must be done.
had a weird nite tonight; went to see an old friend of mine. we met in acting class. he had a party and invited me to come sing. so, there i was 7 pm in the blazing l.a. summer heat and picked up my guitar and sang about 4 of my songs. it went over well, but if someone could tell me how i could be more nervous playing on someone's porch to 40 people than i am in front of 10,000 people in an arena, i'd like to know! maybe it's because i'm close enough to see their dental work-or maybe i'm worried that i'm close enough for them to see mine! i don't know. but either way, it's not fun when i'm not having fun. the past several years, i've been battling with this, which i wrote in my first blog. you know, some nights, i have the most incredible time and others, well, not so much. but, i am in it for the long haul and i'm either brave or a masochist and i will not let it stop me. i remember reading about hugh jackman doing the oscars. he said, "i am determined not to let my nerves stop me from enjoying this" and i can completely relate to that. tonight my husband said something interesting: "stop pretending like you're not good!" i don't know, maybe he's right. after all, being "good" has always gotten me in trouble and that's what i relate it to. then again, they say nerves are natural and just part of it.
so, that's the story, morning glories....off to have a snack and watch some mindless, maybe play a few games on me iphone b4 dreamland.
with love;
marcy
so, let me try this again.
here it is, day 4 into the making of my new cd. well, actually, the plan is to do 4 songs. maybe 5, we'll see. it's sunday night, so i am going to wait till tomorrow to contact the producer john porter to confirm with him that the drummer and bass player are on for it at the beginning of september. first thing tomorrow i will be emailing and calling him. hopefully then, we can decide on two days between september 1st and 4th. but i suppose that will be up to the availability at the studio that we're trying to get into. i hope to have that sorted out by the end of this coming week. time is hurtling by and the plan must be made.
also, tomorrow, i'll decide exactly how this will be financially done and how to proceed as well as marketing and getting the word out there. i will do my best to make it known. a friend of mine has a company called, "artist's first" online, which is a licensing company. it helps the artist get their music placed in television and film. he's already asked me for some music for that purpose. i'll give him a few songs i've done, like my whole "dancing madly sideways" album and my "feeler" album. those will be best to give him at first since i own the masters and the rights for those two albums. i also have all the demos i've done over the past few years. some of them sound pretty good; but i want to make sure they are broadcast quality before i give them to him. yet more administrative work that i need to do, but it must be done.
had a weird nite tonight; went to see an old friend of mine. we met in acting class. he had a party and invited me to come sing. so, there i was 7 pm in the blazing l.a. summer heat and picked up my guitar and sang about 4 of my songs. it went over well, but if someone could tell me how i could be more nervous playing on someone's porch to 40 people than i am in front of 10,000 people in an arena, i'd like to know! maybe it's because i'm close enough to see their dental work-or maybe i'm worried that i'm close enough for them to see mine! i don't know. but either way, it's not fun when i'm not having fun. the past several years, i've been battling with this, which i wrote in my first blog. you know, some nights, i have the most incredible time and others, well, not so much. but, i am in it for the long haul and i'm either brave or a masochist and i will not let it stop me. i remember reading about hugh jackman doing the oscars. he said, "i am determined not to let my nerves stop me from enjoying this" and i can completely relate to that. tonight my husband said something interesting: "stop pretending like you're not good!" i don't know, maybe he's right. after all, being "good" has always gotten me in trouble and that's what i relate it to. then again, they say nerves are natural and just part of it.
so, that's the story, morning glories....off to have a snack and watch some mindless, maybe play a few games on me iphone b4 dreamland.
with love;
marcy
Day 3, The Making Of....
Right, so it's saturday night, kinda late, i'm a little tired, but i said i would do this every day so here it goes.
today, i had a mini brain storm meeting with number one man. we're thinking of great ways to proceed with the making of my record: marketing ideas, exclusive perks for those interested in helping out. there's a lot to think about. I figure, everyone else is doing this, why can't i?! believe me I could think of a thousand excuses not to do this!! the minute I realized, wow, this could happen, the fear started to set in. as in, what if this, what if that, the usual self doubt and all that nonsense that goes on in my head. but this time, i'm gonna "feel the fear and do it anyway".
i've been getting some great responses and support from people reading these blogs and I thank you for the encouragement. as i mentioned last night, the rhythm section has responded positively and they are available the beginning of september. as it's sunday tomorrow, i will wait till monday morning to contact john porter about them and about locking in some studio time.
off to zzzzz-land very soon. doing about 40 minutes of P90x and 30 laps in the pool, made me pretty tired today which is a good thing.
more tomorrow.
love;
marcy x
today, i had a mini brain storm meeting with number one man. we're thinking of great ways to proceed with the making of my record: marketing ideas, exclusive perks for those interested in helping out. there's a lot to think about. I figure, everyone else is doing this, why can't i?! believe me I could think of a thousand excuses not to do this!! the minute I realized, wow, this could happen, the fear started to set in. as in, what if this, what if that, the usual self doubt and all that nonsense that goes on in my head. but this time, i'm gonna "feel the fear and do it anyway".
i've been getting some great responses and support from people reading these blogs and I thank you for the encouragement. as i mentioned last night, the rhythm section has responded positively and they are available the beginning of september. as it's sunday tomorrow, i will wait till monday morning to contact john porter about them and about locking in some studio time.
off to zzzzz-land very soon. doing about 40 minutes of P90x and 30 laps in the pool, made me pretty tired today which is a good thing.
more tomorrow.
love;
marcy x
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Day 2, the making of....
so, here it is, two days into the dream, the plan. i put emails out to the rhythm section, james gadson [drums] and reggie mcbride [bass]. as of a minute ago, I've heard back from both of them and they are free at the beginning of september. I've just emailed john porter who will be producing and let him know their availability. I think i'll give john a call as well, just to make sure he got my email. I know he's busy and may not always have time to check.
so, now i'm getting excited. the next plan is to get a studio lined up. we do have options: shangri-la, out in malibu. this is a great studio, although it's a little out of the way for james and reggie. i worked there with clapton a long time ago and went to revisit it a few weeks ago. it's been remodeled, but the basic bones are still there. this guy beej is now managing it and he's restored it very nicely. got lots of cool vintage amps and mics, though i'm told some of the equipment may not be working properly. but the vibe is very, very cool, quiet, secluded, inspirational. walk out the back door and your about 2 blocks from the pacific, you can see it in the backyard. oooooo. there are a few other options too; the "house of blues" studio in encino and two other possibilities, all fantastic with cool vintage gear to make my record sound as warm and fuzzy as i want it to. oh, i learned something interesting about shangri-la yesterday: it used to be a whorehouse back in the 50's! wow. it was also the location where they shot a well known tv series here in the U.S. called, "mr ed" about a talking horse. the little guest house where they filmed it is right near the entrance and you can see the door that opened in the middle where mr. ed used to hang out, yahoo. very cool.
ah, one last thing. I should mention, I do not have a label behind me. I am just doing this all on a shoestring, favors, whatever I can. these days, lots of well known artists are doing things themselves since the record industry has changed so much. labels are not as quick to sign acts so many are just taking it upon themselves to produce and fund their own music. right now, for me it's going to involve some funding. I am going to do what a fellow artist friend of mine named janet robin did. get some sponsorship. I'm gonna put it out there and ask fans, friends, business associates if they would like to become a financial sponsor to my project. that will start formally in a few weeks.
I'm feeling very positive about it all. I'll be doing this blogging every day and i will add new elements like little videos and some music periodically. sounds like fun to me....!
i'll report back tomorrow.
with love;
marcy x
so, now i'm getting excited. the next plan is to get a studio lined up. we do have options: shangri-la, out in malibu. this is a great studio, although it's a little out of the way for james and reggie. i worked there with clapton a long time ago and went to revisit it a few weeks ago. it's been remodeled, but the basic bones are still there. this guy beej is now managing it and he's restored it very nicely. got lots of cool vintage amps and mics, though i'm told some of the equipment may not be working properly. but the vibe is very, very cool, quiet, secluded, inspirational. walk out the back door and your about 2 blocks from the pacific, you can see it in the backyard. oooooo. there are a few other options too; the "house of blues" studio in encino and two other possibilities, all fantastic with cool vintage gear to make my record sound as warm and fuzzy as i want it to. oh, i learned something interesting about shangri-la yesterday: it used to be a whorehouse back in the 50's! wow. it was also the location where they shot a well known tv series here in the U.S. called, "mr ed" about a talking horse. the little guest house where they filmed it is right near the entrance and you can see the door that opened in the middle where mr. ed used to hang out, yahoo. very cool.
ah, one last thing. I should mention, I do not have a label behind me. I am just doing this all on a shoestring, favors, whatever I can. these days, lots of well known artists are doing things themselves since the record industry has changed so much. labels are not as quick to sign acts so many are just taking it upon themselves to produce and fund their own music. right now, for me it's going to involve some funding. I am going to do what a fellow artist friend of mine named janet robin did. get some sponsorship. I'm gonna put it out there and ask fans, friends, business associates if they would like to become a financial sponsor to my project. that will start formally in a few weeks.
I'm feeling very positive about it all. I'll be doing this blogging every day and i will add new elements like little videos and some music periodically. sounds like fun to me....!
i'll report back tomorrow.
with love;
marcy x
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Day 1, The Making Of...
Okay, so here it is, Day 1 of, "the making of"! Of what you may ask? The making of my new record, cd, whatever you want to call it. Okay, so it's been taking forever to do this! But it's not like I haven't been trying. In the last 5 years, I've actually been writing, recording, meeting with people, doing gigs, working with producers, working with managers, agents, etc., trying to bring my dream to fruition. My problem: once I meet someone who says they are going to help, I believe them. I know, what a concept, right? The problem is I give them too much time to come through. I've given 5 people, in the last 5 years, a year each which was waaaaay too long to do what they said they would do which amounted to not much. So, I made a conscious decision to stop WAITING AND GET THE JOB DONE. sorry, I don't mean to yell; I'm just pointing out how adamant I am about taking things into my own hands. It's not that all of the people had bad intentions; some of them meant well but were just not capable of doing what they said they would do. Others were, well, not so well-intentioned. I have a tendency to give my power away too easily. So, now that I realized that, guess what? I'm stopping that behaviour and taking control of the situation.
The first thing I've done is obviously made the decision to do something. I decided I needed a producer to help me achieve this goal. If you're not familiar with what a producer does, he/she helps you arrange the songs, can put a band together for you, uses all their connections to find the best studio for the way you want your music to sound. A good producer will bring out the best in the artist, not just massage their own ego. they will enhance the artist and make it better than you could have imagined or just as great as it sounds in your wildest dreams. Last year, I put a very cool band together. I was doing my best to get us into a studio with this great producer named John Porter. John has worked with some of the best bands around including producing, in my opinion, the best songs the Smith's had ever done AND produced the breakout album for Los Lonely Boys last year, plus tons of other acclaimed records. John and I go way back to my days with Eric Clapton. John plays guitar and at that time he was in Ronnie Lane's band [of the Small Faces]. We did a fun little tour in the South of France with Ronnie Lane and his band and went on to Majorca, Minorca, Barcelona, and then finally went on to St. Tropez. It lasted 2 weeks, we sailed around on the Meditteranean and did 2 gigs. I remember busking with John and a few other of his bandmates on the beach in St. Tropez. We made a few bucks too which was good fun. I've crossed paths with John through the years and last year he called me to do some backing vocals on a project he was working on. I could go on and on but I'll stop there.
As I was saying, I was trying to get the band I put together in a studio last December with John producing. But he got a call to do some production for one of the Eagles, Joe Walsh, and I had to put our plans on hold. It was disappointing, but I understood. So, I hadn't talked to him for quite some time and decided to try contacting him again a few weeks ago and brought up again, that I'd love to work with him on my own recording. He said he'd love to so we made a plan to get together.
He came over to my house today and I played him several new songs I'd just written to add to the other songs I had sent him copies of late last year. He really liked the songs and requested that I send him some mp3's of them which I did this afternoon. We also discussed my getting hold of the same rhythm section I used in that rehearsal last year. I put the rehearsal up on youtube: www.youtube.com/marcelladetroit. There are several songs with "the gadson band", with the great, legendary James Gadson on drums and Reggie McBride on Bass. James has played with so many great artists like Marvin Gaye, Bill Withers, Paul McCartney, and Reggie has also played on a host of great records with Keb Mo' and Taj Mahal. They are both incredibly funky, yet they understand modern music as well. So, I contacted James and Reggie today and already heard back from Reggie who is available in early September. Just waiting to hear back from Gadson now. Once I hear back and check their avails, I will let John know. He knows of some great studios in the Los Angeles area. We're looking to do the recording in September sometime. The plan now is for me to only do 4 songs. That was my idea. It makes things a bit easier to concentrate on a smaller number of songs rather than a whole album. I want to focus on that, and then put it out there. It seems most artists these days are doing singles or smaller amounts of songs for many reasons. The music biz has changed a lot, in some ways, for the better.
I'll be writing about this every day now until it happens and then while it's happening, and after it's happened too. The recording is the fun part. After that, the work begins. But the good news is, there are options and there is interest.
Until tomorrow.
With Love;
Marcy
The first thing I've done is obviously made the decision to do something. I decided I needed a producer to help me achieve this goal. If you're not familiar with what a producer does, he/she helps you arrange the songs, can put a band together for you, uses all their connections to find the best studio for the way you want your music to sound. A good producer will bring out the best in the artist, not just massage their own ego. they will enhance the artist and make it better than you could have imagined or just as great as it sounds in your wildest dreams. Last year, I put a very cool band together. I was doing my best to get us into a studio with this great producer named John Porter. John has worked with some of the best bands around including producing, in my opinion, the best songs the Smith's had ever done AND produced the breakout album for Los Lonely Boys last year, plus tons of other acclaimed records. John and I go way back to my days with Eric Clapton. John plays guitar and at that time he was in Ronnie Lane's band [of the Small Faces]. We did a fun little tour in the South of France with Ronnie Lane and his band and went on to Majorca, Minorca, Barcelona, and then finally went on to St. Tropez. It lasted 2 weeks, we sailed around on the Meditteranean and did 2 gigs. I remember busking with John and a few other of his bandmates on the beach in St. Tropez. We made a few bucks too which was good fun. I've crossed paths with John through the years and last year he called me to do some backing vocals on a project he was working on. I could go on and on but I'll stop there.
As I was saying, I was trying to get the band I put together in a studio last December with John producing. But he got a call to do some production for one of the Eagles, Joe Walsh, and I had to put our plans on hold. It was disappointing, but I understood. So, I hadn't talked to him for quite some time and decided to try contacting him again a few weeks ago and brought up again, that I'd love to work with him on my own recording. He said he'd love to so we made a plan to get together.
He came over to my house today and I played him several new songs I'd just written to add to the other songs I had sent him copies of late last year. He really liked the songs and requested that I send him some mp3's of them which I did this afternoon. We also discussed my getting hold of the same rhythm section I used in that rehearsal last year. I put the rehearsal up on youtube: www.youtube.com/marcelladetroit. There are several songs with "the gadson band", with the great, legendary James Gadson on drums and Reggie McBride on Bass. James has played with so many great artists like Marvin Gaye, Bill Withers, Paul McCartney, and Reggie has also played on a host of great records with Keb Mo' and Taj Mahal. They are both incredibly funky, yet they understand modern music as well. So, I contacted James and Reggie today and already heard back from Reggie who is available in early September. Just waiting to hear back from Gadson now. Once I hear back and check their avails, I will let John know. He knows of some great studios in the Los Angeles area. We're looking to do the recording in September sometime. The plan now is for me to only do 4 songs. That was my idea. It makes things a bit easier to concentrate on a smaller number of songs rather than a whole album. I want to focus on that, and then put it out there. It seems most artists these days are doing singles or smaller amounts of songs for many reasons. The music biz has changed a lot, in some ways, for the better.
I'll be writing about this every day now until it happens and then while it's happening, and after it's happened too. The recording is the fun part. After that, the work begins. But the good news is, there are options and there is interest.
Until tomorrow.
With Love;
Marcy
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Caring too much.....
hmmm. so, i went to youtube today, having been invited by some cute fans of mine who created a tribute video to my song and video "flower", it was very sweet! they did the same for "stay" last year. the new one is called "tribute to flower" by a girl named torrie smith and her friends.
meanwhile, while I was there, I thought I'd take a little look at some youtube stuff of my days with shakespear's sister. there was one tv show in the UK we did back in 1992 at the peak of "stay" being a hit. It was a live television show which are always more frightening to do than taped shows because you can't say, "hey, can we do that over again?" and you usually can, just in case there are some hideously blatant mistakes. well, someone made a comment about me on there saying, "ooo, she's really struggling with her guitar on this". Of course, I read something like that and I get upset, stupid me. So, I listened and sure enough, I was struggling with the simplest chord progression of all time on the song ["stay"]! I remember doing the show and that day, I also remember being incredibly nervous for some reason. It upset me that someone noticed, but hey, they were right!!! so, big deal. here's a little bit of info: when I toured with God, I mean, Eric Clapton, there was this one night we were on stage in some huge arena playing to 20,000 people and he was playing this blazing solo. Well, right in the middle of it, he made this obvious mistake, playing a completely wrong note, so much so that you couldn't say, "hey, man that was jazz!" he kind of laughed at himself and played the same wrong notes again on purpose. Now, I thought, he's got a good sense of humor! Even a rock God can make mistakes now that I think about it, so why can't I?
Trouble is people seem to like it when you make mistakes and they want to make sure they let you know when you do. You just can't please everyone, that's for sure. I'm not sure why it bothers me so much except to say that I've always been a people pleaser and I want people to like me, which sucks!!!! I'm dealing with that issue of mine now.
I've always gotten nervous when I perform. I've always looked for some kind of assurance that it was normal and found it often in remarks by the great acting teacher Stella Adler saying "nerves are your talent" and came to my own conclusions that without nerves I'd be dead or less than human so I found comfort in that. But the nerves started getting really bad, almost paralyzing when I was working with Shakespear's Sister. I started having panic attacks on stage, yes, it is not fun, believe me. Something can trigger it and I would just go. And I couldn't just run off stage and say, "hang on, I'll be right back after I take this here little blue pill" so I had to deal with it, fight my demons right there on stage in front of whoever was there. They probably could sense that I wasn't completely there although they may not have been able to tell you exactly what was wrong with that picture. But I knew, boy did I know. I think the reason that my fear and anxiety increased during that time was my partner Siobhan and I were not getting along. There were fights, there was insecurity on both sides; I was encouraged to be good, but not too good. so, it was an outward struggle that became inward. I didn't want her to hate me for being good or trying to steal the show or the band away, which I was accused of quite often believe it or not. So, my deep fear of wanting to be liked, was quite obviously internalized and morphed into this anxiety on stage. it was a feeling of, I feel all this emotion inside of me wanting to get out through my singing, but I better not cuz I'll be a bad girl for doing it. So, many times, I was "frozen" and up until a few years ago, it was really messing with my live performances. I still even struggle with it now and have these showdowns with myself to this day.
some of you may be surprised to hear this from me. I've been told I come off as "arrogant" or "in control". HA! If you only knew what was going on inside me. I just care too much [about what people think of me] is what it boils down to. I can tell you that I've recently performed and convinced myself not to care too much, to not try too hard and not try to be perfect and I had the best time I've had in years. and the bonus was, so did everyone in the audience, much to my surprise. so, that's what I'm working on, not caring so much and not tryintg too hard. And am now trying to adopt the same attitude as the late great Judy Garland: " F*ck 'em!!!"
meanwhile, while I was there, I thought I'd take a little look at some youtube stuff of my days with shakespear's sister. there was one tv show in the UK we did back in 1992 at the peak of "stay" being a hit. It was a live television show which are always more frightening to do than taped shows because you can't say, "hey, can we do that over again?" and you usually can, just in case there are some hideously blatant mistakes. well, someone made a comment about me on there saying, "ooo, she's really struggling with her guitar on this". Of course, I read something like that and I get upset, stupid me. So, I listened and sure enough, I was struggling with the simplest chord progression of all time on the song ["stay"]! I remember doing the show and that day, I also remember being incredibly nervous for some reason. It upset me that someone noticed, but hey, they were right!!! so, big deal. here's a little bit of info: when I toured with God, I mean, Eric Clapton, there was this one night we were on stage in some huge arena playing to 20,000 people and he was playing this blazing solo. Well, right in the middle of it, he made this obvious mistake, playing a completely wrong note, so much so that you couldn't say, "hey, man that was jazz!" he kind of laughed at himself and played the same wrong notes again on purpose. Now, I thought, he's got a good sense of humor! Even a rock God can make mistakes now that I think about it, so why can't I?
Trouble is people seem to like it when you make mistakes and they want to make sure they let you know when you do. You just can't please everyone, that's for sure. I'm not sure why it bothers me so much except to say that I've always been a people pleaser and I want people to like me, which sucks!!!! I'm dealing with that issue of mine now.
I've always gotten nervous when I perform. I've always looked for some kind of assurance that it was normal and found it often in remarks by the great acting teacher Stella Adler saying "nerves are your talent" and came to my own conclusions that without nerves I'd be dead or less than human so I found comfort in that. But the nerves started getting really bad, almost paralyzing when I was working with Shakespear's Sister. I started having panic attacks on stage, yes, it is not fun, believe me. Something can trigger it and I would just go. And I couldn't just run off stage and say, "hang on, I'll be right back after I take this here little blue pill" so I had to deal with it, fight my demons right there on stage in front of whoever was there. They probably could sense that I wasn't completely there although they may not have been able to tell you exactly what was wrong with that picture. But I knew, boy did I know. I think the reason that my fear and anxiety increased during that time was my partner Siobhan and I were not getting along. There were fights, there was insecurity on both sides; I was encouraged to be good, but not too good. so, it was an outward struggle that became inward. I didn't want her to hate me for being good or trying to steal the show or the band away, which I was accused of quite often believe it or not. So, my deep fear of wanting to be liked, was quite obviously internalized and morphed into this anxiety on stage. it was a feeling of, I feel all this emotion inside of me wanting to get out through my singing, but I better not cuz I'll be a bad girl for doing it. So, many times, I was "frozen" and up until a few years ago, it was really messing with my live performances. I still even struggle with it now and have these showdowns with myself to this day.
some of you may be surprised to hear this from me. I've been told I come off as "arrogant" or "in control". HA! If you only knew what was going on inside me. I just care too much [about what people think of me] is what it boils down to. I can tell you that I've recently performed and convinced myself not to care too much, to not try too hard and not try to be perfect and I had the best time I've had in years. and the bonus was, so did everyone in the audience, much to my surprise. so, that's what I'm working on, not caring so much and not tryintg too hard. And am now trying to adopt the same attitude as the late great Judy Garland: " F*ck 'em!!!"
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