Out My Window

What a strange weekend. I am learning so much about the music business.
My favorite artist and band are playing in a little town about an hours drive away. That close... we have to go see him.

Now you have to know part of the back story about my musical ability.
When I was young, we had a band, we were paid quite well, to stay away from parties. Yeah, we knew five songs that we all could play and two of them sounded alike.
Now my musical appreciation consist of turning on the radio, listening for a song I like, turn up the radio. If there is no song that I like, I push the Blue Collar Comedy channel.

Now here is where it gets complicated. I hear a song I like, I ask Baby who it is. She in turn tells me who it is and other songs by the same artist that I have asked her who it is. Now if enough songs by the same artist are liked, I might buy one of their CDs.
So far that would be Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Ron White, and all of john Arthur martinez. Baby, on the other hand, does buy music because of .... well, I don't know why she buys music to be honest but if she likes it, who am I to refuse her a $15 indulgence? So we do have an assortment.

So the scene is set. If the music is not something special, I push the button. I have 200 channels. I can afford to be very picky.

Ohhhh, now comes the live music venue. This is great. I have also done the live music or concert scene. I have been to shows like Jimmy Rodgers, Johnny Cash, Cheech and Chong, Leon Redbone, Teen Age Mutant Nija Turtles, and john Arthur martinez. Oh, and got to watch Ernest Tubb fall off a bar stool.

Now back to my "learning" story. John Arthur playing, hours drive, you know... We figure it will be late when it is over so we must book a room. Damn it! Oh, not having to do that but I have a bad knee and some big bus is in the parking lot, no ground level rooms because the band has them all booked.
Oh well, John Arthur is still worth it. (I say from the balcony as I grit my teeth, rub my sore leg, and watch these young guys run back and forth from the rooms to the bus.)

My youngest son was auditioning for band so we went with him to kill some time. Got to tour a recording studio! What a treat! Met a talented young lady that I think will go places. I think that because she knows artist that I remember their names. At any rate, what my son is doing makes a whole lot more sense to me now that I know a little bit about what goes into making music.

Greater news! When you know someone in the business, you can get great seats. Are you kidding me? A table with my name on it right up front!
Now the bad news. It is not John's show. He was opening for some guy and this the worst... this guy brought his own opening band! Yep, the guys in the big bus at our motel.
So now I have 200 bucks and a sore knee invested in a band that I have never heard of.

Thanks to the owner of the place, John still will be playing a full set. So other than having to sit through some mediocre band, we will still be entertained. Come to find out, (part of this learning curve) this little band is going to have a CD produced by the guy in the big bus. That is why we are forced to be exposed to this music. Get it? Can't push the button and make it go away.

The next insight I am exposed to; A little competition is great. I don't know if it is the fact that they only have to do one set so they can put all of their energy into every song they do or if they were all wanting to just show off how good they were but John, Travis, Sterling, and Chris put on the best show I have seen them do. They were unstoppable. John always gets into it. Even Sterling was caught with a smile on his face a couple of times and Chris actually nodded when the crowd applauded his playing. Travis looked like he had just finished a marathon and won. Of course I'm poking fun but these guys were great!

The guy with the bus? Well, he has been around for a long time. Surely he has talent. I guess I am just to use to pushing the button when I'm not impressed. After the third song, we looked around for a deserving couple that might enjoy our table more than we were and decided to mingle.

I would like to encourage my readers to seek out talent. You can find it in little restaurants, back street bars, street shows. If they have a big bus, they may be talented but not necessarily entertaining. Don't let the industry decide what you like. And when you find that talent, tell everyone about it.

Go listen to some samples of his music. John even says that if you want to send some of his CDs for Christmas presents, to just contact him on his web site. You can buy them and have them shipped to each person on your list.