Do you remember the popular Point and Click Adventure games produced by Lucas Arts in the Early 90's? It was their bread and butter for a long while. Games such as Maniac Mansion, Mokey Island and Sam and Max. Simple games where the characters simply go around collecting objects in which that can use further in the gameplay to solve puzzles and essentially beat the game. If games such as these were still mass produced I would still consider myself a gamer. These games would consume hours upon hours of my time and I would scour level after level searching for those few components to finally allow me to WIN.
Perhaps these games attributed further to my obsession as a collector, or perhaps the collector was in me all along. Looking at my mother and father and their pack-rat traits, i would say it simply appeased the collector already buried within my genetic code.
Now 15 or so years after playing these games and obsessing over them so much i find that i still to this day follow their guidelines, but in a far more universal sense. While at present I am working to shed myself of earthly good and possessions I am working to further capture ideas and philosophies to further help me win this game called life. I'm no longer pulling the gum off of the floor and sticking it in my pocket for further use in the game, but rather the experience of pulling that gum off the floor.
Sometimes we keep these ideas and experiences to ourselves. further saving them for some deep dark day or sometimes we pass them along to someone who really needs them. Sometimes in life we are but conduits for these ideas to reach other people.
I'm getting off the topic which sparked this idea. I found myself on my day off sitting in a neighborhood coffee shop which boasts unlimited refills on some mighty fine coffee. Sitting there enjoying my 6th cup of coffee, I read a passage of my book which i know is not for me. I read it and savor it. I roll it over in my mind. I begin to think of a friend in a situation which is metaphorically similar to the one examined in the book. The passage is about fear, and how fear can strip us down to our core, and what kills us is US, responding to the fear. Loosing our whits and panicking. I thought of my friend and their panic.
I sat there lost in thought simply watching the world pass by sipping my coffee, drinking in these thoughts created by the incredible scenes of life. Its odd to say, but reading this book, i know it is not for me. Its not mine to keep. Its not really for me to enjoy, but I am simply suppose to read this part, this chapter and pass it along to whom needs it most, whom it might help out.
While thinking these thoughts i find that They are not alone, that there is a fear that i have yet to faced and continue to ignore. After reading this passage today and thinking of the plight of my friend, I understand that I too and to face my fear and do something i have not wanted to do... In the end it might hurt, but I shall learn from this experience and file it away with the others for usage another day...
I've found that the universe often puts objects and people in our paths to help us along when we most need them. I've found that they are right there in front of us, but often we are too stubborn to look or listen, or worse. To ignorant and angry to pick these things up and put them in our pockets for future usage. We loose the game of life because we can not or are unwilling to see the experiences left for us.
Just simple silly ideas from an over-caffeinated boy, but interesting how answers can hit us when we're not even sure that we have questions....
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Essay I wrote in the Colorado Springs Independent's "Naked City Article"
So. I'm in the Independent yet AGAIN. This time, its an Essay I wrote about Colorado Springs and its Arts/Music scene. It was truly and honor to be asked to write this essay and I'm kind of happy with it. I usually write Thousands of words to discuss and idea and i was very limited with the 350 word limitation they gave me here, but i think i got some points across. I'm happy with the result and yadda yadda yadda...
Check out the entire article, of which i am a part of here: http://www.csindy.com/colorado/naked-city/Content?oid=1433733
and my specific essay here:
http://www.csindy.com/colorado/damian-burford/Content?oid=1433736
There is a photo of me too, i had a photographer following me around all night and THIS is the photo he chose? Not the best, but it works....
Check out the entire article, of which i am a part of here: http://www.csindy.com/colorado/naked-city/Content?oid=1433733
and my specific essay here:
http://www.csindy.com/colorado/damian-burford/Content?oid=1433736
There is a photo of me too, i had a photographer following me around all night and THIS is the photo he chose? Not the best, but it works....
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Best description of me EVER!!!
"you charm the pants right off me, it's like I am talking to an innocent 8 year old half the time, charles bukowski 1/4 of the time, and the rest is some mix to be determined by blood work"
Needed to save this somewhere. Why not here.
Needed to save this somewhere. Why not here.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Myspace Is DEAD! Ideas on the Future of Music Promotion.
Once again I wrote too much about a simple idea.
Here are the cliff notes:
1. Myspace is dead.
2. How do we gainfully promote music?
3. Bands need flyer more!
4. The Economy of FREE SHOWS.
4. We're making a Triple Nickel Music Compilation of upcoming artists.
5. Damian writes too much.
If you're a myspace user like i have been for the past five years, you've probably noticed the same thing i have.
Its DEAD. Well not entirely dead....
The musicians are still alive and well and using myspace to "network." What i think these Networkers have failed to realize is that WE have effectively killed Myspace.
We posted10-15 bulletins. We added everyone, their mother and their dogs. We spammed the hell out of their comments page. We bugged them mercilessly. We Networkers, We promoters, we egotistical assholes thinking people cared so much to read the same bulletin 20 times, we lazy sons of bitches.... We killed Myspace. People went on to more personal avenues of social networking, and created a new juggernaut FACEBOOK. Facebook decided not to allow bands to add and add and add 1000 people a day. They did not give us the wide range of freedom to bug the living shit out of our friends.. Facebook got it right! I love facebook. I don't get 100 friend adds a week from bands who, "Thought you'd like our music! Check us out! Comment! We comment back!!" So the masses fled.... And who can blame them?
Now I include myself in this. I posted 2-4 bulletins a day on myspace. Most of my life long myspace "friends" deleted me. They didn't care about the shows i was promoting and did not want to hear about it every single day. What they did want was a place where you could spend all day doing pointless little surveys on which character from Little House on the Praire you are. (I'm Little Laura! Who'da Thunk?)
So the users of myspace have left by the troves, they've ran away from Myspace to other avenues of Social Networking or just stopped period so they could commit more time to World of Warcraft of X-Box Live....
And I can't blame them. I use myspace now just to book and promote shows. That's it. I would have abandoned the website along with everyone, (anyone remember the mass exodus of Friendster? Anyone even remember Friendster?) but its the easiest place for me to "connect" with the other musicians. Where i can get the most visability at the moment. So I stay. It use to take me an hour to read half a day of bulletins. Now it takes about 10 minutes. The majority of the bulletins? Bands promoting shows.
So here I am, I have an amazing summer of shows coming up at the Triple Nickel (http://www.myspace.com/555nickel or http://www.facebook.com/pages/Triple-Nickel-Tavern/77734541596) and I was at a loss of how to promote them adiquately. Even before the mass exodus of Myspace, I was contemplating on how to reach those people who no longer use myspace or were ignoring the massive amounts of bulletins being posted. Facebook has their invite system which is descent enough, but it doesn't allow for the visibility one could obtain from posting a bulletin or blog. So How do we do it? How do we promote these shows?
I come from the "Old School" of show promoting. Back in the day when bands and promoters had to actually leave their house with these things called FLYERS (or Fliers depending on how you feel like spelling it.) These FLY-ERS would promote music with attractive illustrations/photos that would catch the eye and make you LOOK at it, and it would also have information such as the Venue, The bands playing the show, The date and time and the cost! Wow! What a novel, antiquated Idea!
As the years went by and Myspace grew to be the behemoth that it was Flyers went the way of the dodo, or the Cassette (which some labels are trying to bring back...). Bands simply did not take the time to hit the streets and meet people and put these flyers in the hands of unsuspecting music patrons.
I'll also blame the venues. The Soda Jerk fellas who have done some great, great, great things in the town of Colorado Springs, took it upon itself to start up street teams and their own brand of promotion. All Great and well, but the musicians and bands in this town got fat and lazy and stopped making their own flyers. They left it up to the Venues and the Promoters to advertise their shows and to do the work for them while they once again sat in front of their TV's or couches or whatever it is bands do other than Flyer. I do it too, or as much as i can. I DO all the work, instead of the bands. It should be the other way around.
There are only a few bands out there who take the time and care and EFFORT into Flyering. I won't name any names, but of these bands that do this small amount of legwork i have found that THESE BANDS, the ones who take it upon themselves to Flyer and promote their shows, tend to have the BEST SHOWS of any of the bands in town!!!
(A Topic for another day, some of the bands/venues who do make flyer and posters.... They look like fucking dog shit. Make them look GOOD. Simple is the best way to go.. Again. This is a topic for another day.)
This is something that should be self evident. The simple idea of PROMOTING YOURSELVES!!! Any musician can download a friend adder for myspace and have it do all the work for them, but if you think of how many musicans are doing this... HOW DO YOU SET YOURSELF APART? HOW DO YOU STAND OUT AMONGST THE CROWD?
GOING TO SHOWS. FLYERING. NETWORKING.
You'd be surprise how many people simply do not grasp this concept. These are where the bands with larger followings come from. I see the Jack Trades guys out at shows. I see the Stab Crew kids out at shows (not to mention throwing some KILLER parties..) Go to any show in Manitou and its packed with Musicians from the area! Its the most simple thing i can tell people, and something i take seriously. If you band wants a show at the Triple Nickel Tavern, COME TO SHOWS AT THE TRIPLE NICKEL. We're not trying to build a scene here, We're trying to build a COMMUNITY. That's what I'm striving to do, and that's what many other folks out there are working on.
Fuck the scene. Communities work together, support each other and a ton of other adjectives I'm too lazy to describe! We all know what a community is. I'm not interested in building a scene, or as i like to think of it, a "Seen".
I've gotten off topic here. I blame the massive amounts of coffee flowing in my veins. So let me get back to my point.
I'm working on building a community and working on ways to better promote the incredible music coming to the Triple Nickel. I often write in my newsletters about how "Great" the shows we have coming up are, and I MEAN IT. We book the absolute BEST shows here in town and we get very little credit for it, but we keep toiling away. We know that the work and foundations we're building now will outlast any scene we have. So what if the shows are small. They're made of hard work and great quality.
How do we continue to get so many GREAT bands coming through? Word of mouth! Our reputation is spreading amongst touring bands as a great place to play with a great, dedicated crowd. Its spreading... and its growing... I'm getting to the point where I'm turning great bands away now simply because we have too much going on.
So Myspace is dead. How do we get the words out to the masses again? We're going to turn back the clock. I'm going to get better about making flyers and posting flyers for shows, but that's simply not going to cut it. If you're Joe Smith who has never been to the Triple Nickel, and maybe never HEARD of it or the bands we have coming through, How do we get your attention?
FREE MUSIC.
It came as a culmination of reading an article called "Free! Why 0.00 Is The Future of Business" (http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/16-03/ff_free) and reading Virgil Dickerson's blogs about Suburban Home Records and his giveaways of many of his artists upcoming records via the internet.
We've been doing mostly Free shows for a while now, with the idea that if the Music is FREE, you'd be much more inclined to come out to watch it and buy more booze. We've found that the more you like the band, the more booze you tend to buy! Booze sales are the key.
How do we get away with so many FREE shows? Let's look at the retail world:
Let's take Target as an example. Remember that new HOT DVD you bought on Sale the other day at Target? It cost you $13.99 or something like that, on the day it came out. Well guess what, Target is actually LOSING MONEY on that item. Why do they do this? They hope you'll come in while you're there buying that new HOT DVD, you'll browse and remember, "Hey! I need some new underwear! Mine all have Skidmark Stains!" You buy the DVD, Underwear and Milk. The milk and underwear have 15% mark ups and they're making back the money (and then some) that they lost on the DVD. Make any sense? It doesn't? Well fuck you too, then! I've been working retail for 12 years... This is old hat to me.
We've been using this model at the Nickel for some time now. Hoping that the Low, Low, Low priced shows (and the Low Low Priced PBR at $5.50 a Pitcher or $2 for a Pint. Shameless plug.) will bring you in and get you to buy that extra shot of Jager, or that Lemon Drop shot you and you're girlfriends love so much. And from there we pay the bands a percentage of the bar. Some nights this works amazingly well, and on slow nights... Well you get the idea. The Nickel is not necessarily a live music destination, and we're trying to break that mold, but as it is, we're the great decider. If you band has pull, you'll know it at the Triple Nickel.
One problem I have run into with this model, is that people think if the shows are FREE then the bands must be terrible or not worth the time to pay attention to. These same people ignore the bulletins and postings and ignore the shows altogether. Their close mindedness is their loss, but how do we attract these people? That's the question I ponder every night as i lie in bed drifting of to sleep... Well sometimes i think about He-Man and The Masters of The universe, or DragonBall Z or porn or Ponies. I love ponies.
So I'm going to attempt a new experiment and take things back a few years....
I'm working on putting together a music Compilation. It will be a FREE D.I.Y. Comp that will feature a number of the bands coming through to The Triple Nickel this summer. I plan on making about 150 of these on CDRs and passing them out at Record Stores, the skate parks, Shows, Tupperware parties, wherever music fans may be.
It astounds me that more bands and Venues are NOT doing this, They are NOT giving away CDS. They've allowed themselves to become lazy and expect the internet to do the work for them, but its so SIMPLE.
You can buy a spindle of 100 CDRs at Costco (or the evil Sam's Club) for about $20 bucks. With the advancement of Cd burning technology it only takes moments to burn a CD (unless you have my 6 year old computer...) and BAM! Make a paper case, cool atractive photo / illustration on the front. On the back, songs, Website and upcoming shows. Staple or Tape to close the DIY case and BAM! Done! This website: http://www.papercdcase.com will help you do ALL the work.
Its sooo fucking EASY and CHEAP, and NO ONE IS DOING THIS. This very simple idea is how you can reach those NOT using myspace, those people NOT regularly going to shows! This is your gateway to a growing fanbase and Musicians are not using this very simple, DIY model.
So fuck it. So we're going to do it, instead. I'm going to pay for this project out of my own pockets (I do not get regularly "paid" for my show promoting, instead i mostly give the money I would make to the musicians or pump it back into promoting). We'll make 100 to start with, with the bands coming through in June and July and if things go well, We'll make 100 more or so to continue promoting throughout the summer. If all goes well, I should actually MAKE money off these shows for once! Woo hoo! Horray!
Its a Win-Win-Win for everyone! This is a great promotional tool not only for the BAR but for the bands involved. Again, the idea is that we give these Cds out to people. They throw them in their CD players in their car, they listen, they LIKE, they come to shows. The shows are FREE (well the majority of them anyways) and they buy lots of BOOZE and they like the bands so much they buy merchandise from the bands! Hopefully they enjoy their experience at the bar so much, they come back on a Tuesday night and enjoy a few more libations, or perhaps they go check out The show down the way at the Rocket Room the next weekend.
Maybe they don't have a babysitter the night That awesome band from the comp plays. They go see them down the street at the other bar, or drive to Pueblo to see them the next night. Maybe they buy their cd from Amazon instead, and tell their friends!!
This isn't about building up business for any one place, this is about building a community! Hopefully if this does well, we can talk the local bands into doing something like this every few months for ALL the venues and ALL the bands, not just The Nickel and the bands on this compilation. Its a way to expand the community and our movement. Baby steps, people. Baby steps.
Hopefully you've read all of this over caffeinated diatribe. I'd REALLY like you're input, ideas, and suggestions. Not just on this project, but on ALL aspects of promoting and community building. The community can not be built by just a few of us, but ALL of us and its important that we all work together to make this town actually worth a damn, and i know we can all do this.
I'll try to keep you people updated on this experiment and how it goes and when and where you can find it. I would love to have the first batch done and OUT this weekend in time for the Burlesque show Friday night (May 29th), but I'm going to be realistic and assume we'll have it ready to go by June 13th. Hopefully We'll be at the Pike's Peak Derby Dames Bout passing them out, and after wards at the Triple Nickel that night with the amazing ROOSTERD!, RJ FLETCHER, and 4H Royalty. I'll keep you posted via here, myspace and facebook!!
Also. Local bands, If you are interested in becoming a part of this complitation, contact me ASAP. I'll require one Mp3 that you think best represents your band. Not all bands will make it on this comp, but I'll try my hardest to make it so. If you are interested email me at: damian(dot)burford(at)gmail(dot)com or Myspace me at: http://www.myspace.com/iamdamian
Take care, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
------------EDIT-------------
I just posted this in two blogs and two bulletins... On myspace... So i Guess its not TOTALLY dead....
Here are the cliff notes:
1. Myspace is dead.
2. How do we gainfully promote music?
3. Bands need flyer more!
4. The Economy of FREE SHOWS.
4. We're making a Triple Nickel Music Compilation of upcoming artists.
5. Damian writes too much.
If you're a myspace user like i have been for the past five years, you've probably noticed the same thing i have.
Its DEAD. Well not entirely dead....
The musicians are still alive and well and using myspace to "network." What i think these Networkers have failed to realize is that WE have effectively killed Myspace.
We posted10-15 bulletins. We added everyone, their mother and their dogs. We spammed the hell out of their comments page. We bugged them mercilessly. We Networkers, We promoters, we egotistical assholes thinking people cared so much to read the same bulletin 20 times, we lazy sons of bitches.... We killed Myspace. People went on to more personal avenues of social networking, and created a new juggernaut FACEBOOK. Facebook decided not to allow bands to add and add and add 1000 people a day. They did not give us the wide range of freedom to bug the living shit out of our friends.. Facebook got it right! I love facebook. I don't get 100 friend adds a week from bands who, "Thought you'd like our music! Check us out! Comment! We comment back!!" So the masses fled.... And who can blame them?
Now I include myself in this. I posted 2-4 bulletins a day on myspace. Most of my life long myspace "friends" deleted me. They didn't care about the shows i was promoting and did not want to hear about it every single day. What they did want was a place where you could spend all day doing pointless little surveys on which character from Little House on the Praire you are. (I'm Little Laura! Who'da Thunk?)
So the users of myspace have left by the troves, they've ran away from Myspace to other avenues of Social Networking or just stopped period so they could commit more time to World of Warcraft of X-Box Live....
And I can't blame them. I use myspace now just to book and promote shows. That's it. I would have abandoned the website along with everyone, (anyone remember the mass exodus of Friendster? Anyone even remember Friendster?) but its the easiest place for me to "connect" with the other musicians. Where i can get the most visability at the moment. So I stay. It use to take me an hour to read half a day of bulletins. Now it takes about 10 minutes. The majority of the bulletins? Bands promoting shows.
So here I am, I have an amazing summer of shows coming up at the Triple Nickel (http://www.myspace.com/555nickel or http://www.facebook.com/pages/Triple-Nickel-Tavern/77734541596) and I was at a loss of how to promote them adiquately. Even before the mass exodus of Myspace, I was contemplating on how to reach those people who no longer use myspace or were ignoring the massive amounts of bulletins being posted. Facebook has their invite system which is descent enough, but it doesn't allow for the visibility one could obtain from posting a bulletin or blog. So How do we do it? How do we promote these shows?
I come from the "Old School" of show promoting. Back in the day when bands and promoters had to actually leave their house with these things called FLYERS (or Fliers depending on how you feel like spelling it.) These FLY-ERS would promote music with attractive illustrations/photos that would catch the eye and make you LOOK at it, and it would also have information such as the Venue, The bands playing the show, The date and time and the cost! Wow! What a novel, antiquated Idea!
As the years went by and Myspace grew to be the behemoth that it was Flyers went the way of the dodo, or the Cassette (which some labels are trying to bring back...). Bands simply did not take the time to hit the streets and meet people and put these flyers in the hands of unsuspecting music patrons.
I'll also blame the venues. The Soda Jerk fellas who have done some great, great, great things in the town of Colorado Springs, took it upon itself to start up street teams and their own brand of promotion. All Great and well, but the musicians and bands in this town got fat and lazy and stopped making their own flyers. They left it up to the Venues and the Promoters to advertise their shows and to do the work for them while they once again sat in front of their TV's or couches or whatever it is bands do other than Flyer. I do it too, or as much as i can. I DO all the work, instead of the bands. It should be the other way around.
There are only a few bands out there who take the time and care and EFFORT into Flyering. I won't name any names, but of these bands that do this small amount of legwork i have found that THESE BANDS, the ones who take it upon themselves to Flyer and promote their shows, tend to have the BEST SHOWS of any of the bands in town!!!
(A Topic for another day, some of the bands/venues who do make flyer and posters.... They look like fucking dog shit. Make them look GOOD. Simple is the best way to go.. Again. This is a topic for another day.)
This is something that should be self evident. The simple idea of PROMOTING YOURSELVES!!! Any musician can download a friend adder for myspace and have it do all the work for them, but if you think of how many musicans are doing this... HOW DO YOU SET YOURSELF APART? HOW DO YOU STAND OUT AMONGST THE CROWD?
GOING TO SHOWS. FLYERING. NETWORKING.
You'd be surprise how many people simply do not grasp this concept. These are where the bands with larger followings come from. I see the Jack Trades guys out at shows. I see the Stab Crew kids out at shows (not to mention throwing some KILLER parties..) Go to any show in Manitou and its packed with Musicians from the area! Its the most simple thing i can tell people, and something i take seriously. If you band wants a show at the Triple Nickel Tavern, COME TO SHOWS AT THE TRIPLE NICKEL. We're not trying to build a scene here, We're trying to build a COMMUNITY. That's what I'm striving to do, and that's what many other folks out there are working on.
Fuck the scene. Communities work together, support each other and a ton of other adjectives I'm too lazy to describe! We all know what a community is. I'm not interested in building a scene, or as i like to think of it, a "Seen".
I've gotten off topic here. I blame the massive amounts of coffee flowing in my veins. So let me get back to my point.
I'm working on building a community and working on ways to better promote the incredible music coming to the Triple Nickel. I often write in my newsletters about how "Great" the shows we have coming up are, and I MEAN IT. We book the absolute BEST shows here in town and we get very little credit for it, but we keep toiling away. We know that the work and foundations we're building now will outlast any scene we have. So what if the shows are small. They're made of hard work and great quality.
How do we continue to get so many GREAT bands coming through? Word of mouth! Our reputation is spreading amongst touring bands as a great place to play with a great, dedicated crowd. Its spreading... and its growing... I'm getting to the point where I'm turning great bands away now simply because we have too much going on.
So Myspace is dead. How do we get the words out to the masses again? We're going to turn back the clock. I'm going to get better about making flyers and posting flyers for shows, but that's simply not going to cut it. If you're Joe Smith who has never been to the Triple Nickel, and maybe never HEARD of it or the bands we have coming through, How do we get your attention?
FREE MUSIC.
It came as a culmination of reading an article called "Free! Why 0.00 Is The Future of Business" (http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/16-03/ff_free) and reading Virgil Dickerson's blogs about Suburban Home Records and his giveaways of many of his artists upcoming records via the internet.
We've been doing mostly Free shows for a while now, with the idea that if the Music is FREE, you'd be much more inclined to come out to watch it and buy more booze. We've found that the more you like the band, the more booze you tend to buy! Booze sales are the key.
How do we get away with so many FREE shows? Let's look at the retail world:
Let's take Target as an example. Remember that new HOT DVD you bought on Sale the other day at Target? It cost you $13.99 or something like that, on the day it came out. Well guess what, Target is actually LOSING MONEY on that item. Why do they do this? They hope you'll come in while you're there buying that new HOT DVD, you'll browse and remember, "Hey! I need some new underwear! Mine all have Skidmark Stains!" You buy the DVD, Underwear and Milk. The milk and underwear have 15% mark ups and they're making back the money (and then some) that they lost on the DVD. Make any sense? It doesn't? Well fuck you too, then! I've been working retail for 12 years... This is old hat to me.
We've been using this model at the Nickel for some time now. Hoping that the Low, Low, Low priced shows (and the Low Low Priced PBR at $5.50 a Pitcher or $2 for a Pint. Shameless plug.) will bring you in and get you to buy that extra shot of Jager, or that Lemon Drop shot you and you're girlfriends love so much. And from there we pay the bands a percentage of the bar. Some nights this works amazingly well, and on slow nights... Well you get the idea. The Nickel is not necessarily a live music destination, and we're trying to break that mold, but as it is, we're the great decider. If you band has pull, you'll know it at the Triple Nickel.
One problem I have run into with this model, is that people think if the shows are FREE then the bands must be terrible or not worth the time to pay attention to. These same people ignore the bulletins and postings and ignore the shows altogether. Their close mindedness is their loss, but how do we attract these people? That's the question I ponder every night as i lie in bed drifting of to sleep... Well sometimes i think about He-Man and The Masters of The universe, or DragonBall Z or porn or Ponies. I love ponies.
So I'm going to attempt a new experiment and take things back a few years....
I'm working on putting together a music Compilation. It will be a FREE D.I.Y. Comp that will feature a number of the bands coming through to The Triple Nickel this summer. I plan on making about 150 of these on CDRs and passing them out at Record Stores, the skate parks, Shows, Tupperware parties, wherever music fans may be.
It astounds me that more bands and Venues are NOT doing this, They are NOT giving away CDS. They've allowed themselves to become lazy and expect the internet to do the work for them, but its so SIMPLE.
You can buy a spindle of 100 CDRs at Costco (or the evil Sam's Club) for about $20 bucks. With the advancement of Cd burning technology it only takes moments to burn a CD (unless you have my 6 year old computer...) and BAM! Make a paper case, cool atractive photo / illustration on the front. On the back, songs, Website and upcoming shows. Staple or Tape to close the DIY case and BAM! Done! This website: http://www.papercdcase.com will help you do ALL the work.
Its sooo fucking EASY and CHEAP, and NO ONE IS DOING THIS. This very simple idea is how you can reach those NOT using myspace, those people NOT regularly going to shows! This is your gateway to a growing fanbase and Musicians are not using this very simple, DIY model.
So fuck it. So we're going to do it, instead. I'm going to pay for this project out of my own pockets (I do not get regularly "paid" for my show promoting, instead i mostly give the money I would make to the musicians or pump it back into promoting). We'll make 100 to start with, with the bands coming through in June and July and if things go well, We'll make 100 more or so to continue promoting throughout the summer. If all goes well, I should actually MAKE money off these shows for once! Woo hoo! Horray!
Its a Win-Win-Win for everyone! This is a great promotional tool not only for the BAR but for the bands involved. Again, the idea is that we give these Cds out to people. They throw them in their CD players in their car, they listen, they LIKE, they come to shows. The shows are FREE (well the majority of them anyways) and they buy lots of BOOZE and they like the bands so much they buy merchandise from the bands! Hopefully they enjoy their experience at the bar so much, they come back on a Tuesday night and enjoy a few more libations, or perhaps they go check out The show down the way at the Rocket Room the next weekend.
Maybe they don't have a babysitter the night That awesome band from the comp plays. They go see them down the street at the other bar, or drive to Pueblo to see them the next night. Maybe they buy their cd from Amazon instead, and tell their friends!!
This isn't about building up business for any one place, this is about building a community! Hopefully if this does well, we can talk the local bands into doing something like this every few months for ALL the venues and ALL the bands, not just The Nickel and the bands on this compilation. Its a way to expand the community and our movement. Baby steps, people. Baby steps.
Hopefully you've read all of this over caffeinated diatribe. I'd REALLY like you're input, ideas, and suggestions. Not just on this project, but on ALL aspects of promoting and community building. The community can not be built by just a few of us, but ALL of us and its important that we all work together to make this town actually worth a damn, and i know we can all do this.
I'll try to keep you people updated on this experiment and how it goes and when and where you can find it. I would love to have the first batch done and OUT this weekend in time for the Burlesque show Friday night (May 29th), but I'm going to be realistic and assume we'll have it ready to go by June 13th. Hopefully We'll be at the Pike's Peak Derby Dames Bout passing them out, and after wards at the Triple Nickel that night with the amazing ROOSTERD!, RJ FLETCHER, and 4H Royalty. I'll keep you posted via here, myspace and facebook!!
Also. Local bands, If you are interested in becoming a part of this complitation, contact me ASAP. I'll require one Mp3 that you think best represents your band. Not all bands will make it on this comp, but I'll try my hardest to make it so. If you are interested email me at: damian(dot)burford(at)gmail(dot)com or Myspace me at: http://www.myspace.com/iamdamian
Take care, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
------------EDIT-------------
I just posted this in two blogs and two bulletins... On myspace... So i Guess its not TOTALLY dead....
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Damian's Advice on Interviewing People.
So a few days ago a friend of mine asked me for advice about doing interviews. She wanted to interview one of her favorite Musicians coming through her area and wanted my advice about how to do an interview. Thinking about it, I have no clue if i answered her questions, but this is the advice i came up with for her.
Hopefully it all makes sense as I've only eaten is toast and I probably had too much coffee... you be the judge. Let me know if any of you have any more questions, respond in the comments or email me at: damian(dot)burford(at)gmail(dot)com.
Maybe I'll respond with more from our exercises and what not.
So interviews, eh?
Well I really have no formal training outside of intro to Journalism class i took in high school and a the High School Tv Station I worked for, for one semester in school, back in Louisiana.
I simply read, and read, and read, and read interviews. Interviews with anyone and everyone. I always gravitated more towards reading interviews. Why? Who knows. I enjoy good conversations, maybe that's why. Maybe its because I was/am a weird little kid who instead of imaginary friends, I would sit around and interview my future rockstar self and I learned inevitably how to ask the questions for the answers i wanted to get.
My biggest piece of advice is to READ interviews. Find what you like, and what you don't like.
Me I HATE email interviews with Question- Answer. Question - Answer. Anyone can do that. Anyone can come up with questions... How do you make it flow? How do you make it entertaining? I of course have failed at this a number of times, but still, its what i try to do.
To prep for an interview I sit down and i try to read and read and read about the subject. I'll read pages and pages and pages of interviews, articles, reviews, videos, ect and as I'm reading other questions come up. I write them down. I also look for questions NOT getting asked.
I look at it this way. There are hundreds of interviews with musicians, artists, ect online. Anyone can do an interview with The Gaslight anthem and ask about Bruce Springsteen and his influence, and the problem is, it seems that that is what EVERY ONE is doing. Every single article is about that. Can you find another route? Another Spin? What questions are NOT being asked of these guys? What's going to make your interview different than the hundreds of other circulating the internet.
I've found that if i am a HUGE fan of a band/musician, the worse the interview, usually if i am detatched and unaware of the interviewie, I generally feel more free to ask questions, and in the same regard if i obsess over a band, I know everything, so it leaves me BLANK and not sure what to ask and the interviews are usually stale.
So usually the more detached I am, the better it goes, because its mostly FRESH for me. still new to the brain. So it kind of goes against everything i said before. haha. I did an interview with a the band, THE ERGS. It wasn't planned, but i met the guys before the show and I fell in love with them, and then they played and i knew i had to do it. I had to interview these guys. Little did i know then that they would go on to be the flag carriers of the new Pop-punk movement, I just really liked them and what they were doing. So i took what i knew from reading their myspace page and checking out their blogs, and from watching their set and jotted down a few questions, I think 10, and with the help of a few beers (It seems i do better the looser i am. same with dates. haha) and did a GREAT interview. The last time i saw them they talked about how it was one of the best interviews they had ever done. So there you go.
But it is not just you. Its also them. The more receptive the interviewee is to being interviewed, the better the interview. So i found that talking to the interviewee before the show, and chatting it up, letting them get a feel for you and vise versa can help. Small talk, bullshitting, showing you know who they are and their past works, and to a lesser extent, kissing their ass a little, will help immensely getting them to open up.
But its really all just trial an error. I look back at my first couple of years of interviews and they're ok. Not great. I see where i should have asked this question, or done this or done that. All you can really do is DO IT.
And the more fun the better, but its not just on you, its on them.
So how about an exercise? Interview Me.
This interview i did with Damian Willcox of Dorkboy Comics was done at the last minute via Email. You wouldn't know it by its tone, i had been emailing this guy back in forth for months before i did this "interview." We were "friends" so i could anticipate his answers and i tried to make the questions FLOW from one another to illustrate a conversation that wasn't really happening. check it out:
http://s599.photobucket.com/albums/tt78/dammitdamian/mh2/?action=view¤t=mostlyharmless2-11.jpg
http://s599.photobucket.com/albums/tt78/dammitdamian/mh2/?action=view¤t=mostlyharmless2-12.jpg
http://s599.photobucket.com/albums/tt78/dammitdamian/mh2/?action=view¤t=mostlyharmless2-13.jpg
So why not break your cherry interviewing me in this way. We know each other and we have a nice friendly smart ass rapor. Lets go with that. Ask me a few questions, i don't care about what. I'll write you back in about a year or two and haha we'll work on some stuff. If you're not interested in that? That's ok too. It was just an idea.
Hopefully it all makes sense as I've only eaten is toast and I probably had too much coffee... you be the judge. Let me know if any of you have any more questions, respond in the comments or email me at: damian(dot)burford(at)gmail(dot)com.
Maybe I'll respond with more from our exercises and what not.
So interviews, eh?
Well I really have no formal training outside of intro to Journalism class i took in high school and a the High School Tv Station I worked for, for one semester in school, back in Louisiana.
I simply read, and read, and read, and read interviews. Interviews with anyone and everyone. I always gravitated more towards reading interviews. Why? Who knows. I enjoy good conversations, maybe that's why. Maybe its because I was/am a weird little kid who instead of imaginary friends, I would sit around and interview my future rockstar self and I learned inevitably how to ask the questions for the answers i wanted to get.
My biggest piece of advice is to READ interviews. Find what you like, and what you don't like.
Me I HATE email interviews with Question- Answer. Question - Answer. Anyone can do that. Anyone can come up with questions... How do you make it flow? How do you make it entertaining? I of course have failed at this a number of times, but still, its what i try to do.
To prep for an interview I sit down and i try to read and read and read about the subject. I'll read pages and pages and pages of interviews, articles, reviews, videos, ect and as I'm reading other questions come up. I write them down. I also look for questions NOT getting asked.
I look at it this way. There are hundreds of interviews with musicians, artists, ect online. Anyone can do an interview with The Gaslight anthem and ask about Bruce Springsteen and his influence, and the problem is, it seems that that is what EVERY ONE is doing. Every single article is about that. Can you find another route? Another Spin? What questions are NOT being asked of these guys? What's going to make your interview different than the hundreds of other circulating the internet.
I've found that if i am a HUGE fan of a band/musician, the worse the interview, usually if i am detatched and unaware of the interviewie, I generally feel more free to ask questions, and in the same regard if i obsess over a band, I know everything, so it leaves me BLANK and not sure what to ask and the interviews are usually stale.
So usually the more detached I am, the better it goes, because its mostly FRESH for me. still new to the brain. So it kind of goes against everything i said before. haha. I did an interview with a the band, THE ERGS. It wasn't planned, but i met the guys before the show and I fell in love with them, and then they played and i knew i had to do it. I had to interview these guys. Little did i know then that they would go on to be the flag carriers of the new Pop-punk movement, I just really liked them and what they were doing. So i took what i knew from reading their myspace page and checking out their blogs, and from watching their set and jotted down a few questions, I think 10, and with the help of a few beers (It seems i do better the looser i am. same with dates. haha) and did a GREAT interview. The last time i saw them they talked about how it was one of the best interviews they had ever done. So there you go.
But it is not just you. Its also them. The more receptive the interviewee is to being interviewed, the better the interview. So i found that talking to the interviewee before the show, and chatting it up, letting them get a feel for you and vise versa can help. Small talk, bullshitting, showing you know who they are and their past works, and to a lesser extent, kissing their ass a little, will help immensely getting them to open up.
But its really all just trial an error. I look back at my first couple of years of interviews and they're ok. Not great. I see where i should have asked this question, or done this or done that. All you can really do is DO IT.
And the more fun the better, but its not just on you, its on them.
So how about an exercise? Interview Me.
This interview i did with Damian Willcox of Dorkboy Comics was done at the last minute via Email. You wouldn't know it by its tone, i had been emailing this guy back in forth for months before i did this "interview." We were "friends" so i could anticipate his answers and i tried to make the questions FLOW from one another to illustrate a conversation that wasn't really happening. check it out:
http://s599.photobucket.com/albums/tt78/dammitdamian/mh2/?action=view¤t=mostlyharmless2-11.jpg
http://s599.photobucket.com/albums/tt78/dammitdamian/mh2/?action=view¤t=mostlyharmless2-12.jpg
http://s599.photobucket.com/albums/tt78/dammitdamian/mh2/?action=view¤t=mostlyharmless2-13.jpg
So why not break your cherry interviewing me in this way. We know each other and we have a nice friendly smart ass rapor. Lets go with that. Ask me a few questions, i don't care about what. I'll write you back in about a year or two and haha we'll work on some stuff. If you're not interested in that? That's ok too. It was just an idea.
Friday, May 1, 2009
May 2nd: Ninja Gun, Mike Hale, Only Thunder & Rj Fletcher.
Hey guys. I write a ton of bulletins about bands coming to my bar, The Triple Nickel. I might post them here, I might not. Until i figure out if i am going to do it continuously, here's the one i put together for this week (and next week.)
Holy Crap! The Triple Nickel had a GREAT fucking weekend. Thanks to everyone who came out to help break in the new stage and back room set up. We received sooooo much praise from all the patrons and bands in attendance. We're super excited about the new stage and the great shows we have lined up for this summer.
Once again, I am here to write a ridiculous amount about the upcoming shows we have over here at the Triple Nickel. This week is a two for one, since we have two incredible shows for you in the next two weeks....
First up:
Saturday May 2nd!
Suburban Home Recording Artists:
NINJA GUN (Georgia / Florida)
MIKE HALE (Vans)
with:
Denver's ONLY THUNDER
& The Spring's own RJ FLETCHER.
http://www.myspace.com/ninjagun
http://www.myspace.com/mikehalemusic
http://www.myspace.com/onlythunderrock
http://www.myspace.com/rjfletcher
Mike Hale is the lead singer of IN THE RED who you may have seen at the Nickel back in Febuary. He's making his return to the Triple Nickel in support of his new Solo album, LIVES LIKE MINE.
Suburban Home Records owner and music marketing guru Virgil Dickerson are conducting an experiment in Music sales. Virgil and the gang have decided to GIVE you folks Mike's new record for FREE. Yes, Free. COMPLETELY FREE. The idea is that by giving away the record for free, you'll be much more inclined to pick up other merchindise, such as limited edition Vinyl, T-shirts, Pint Glasses, ect... and You'll be more likely to give the artist a chance, fall in love with the record and go support these struggling artists LIVE. Its a great experiment and I wish Virigl and Mike the best of luck, but they don't need it. The record is GREAT.
All of you, Download LIVES LIKE MINE now. Its FREE!!! All you have to do is go here: http://liveslikemine.suburbanhomerecords.com/
Its a damned good record and we are supper excited to have Mike Hale back at the Triple Nickel.
Also returning to the Nickel are the almighty NINJA GUN. My absolute favorite edition to Virgil's new roster of amazing bands. These guys played the very first show i worked as "PROMOTER" and I'm super excited to see these guys come back to the Nickel.
Yes they have the world's worst band name, but it is southern fried goodness. The best explaination I can give to you is this: Imagine if the REPLACEMENTS were born in the middle of nowhere Georgia rather than Minneapolis.
As if this show did not need any more awesomeness, we have a band that needs no introduction: ONLY THUNDER Denver's premier Post-Punk / Hardcore / powerhouse. Hot Water Music meets The Lawrence Arms and A Wilhelm Scream meets sex. Good sex, not that crap you had in high school either. Not that i had sex in high school, but i bet it would have been bad. ONLY THUNDER is NOT bad. They are incredible...
And fuckin RJ FLETCHER is playing too!! Damned! Can this show get any more awesome? RJ Fletcher is a Lucero/Drag The River/ John Cougar Mellencamp-esque band from the boys from City of Vanity (and Andy Tanner's Drummer Jonathan.)
RJF played a few weeks back for us here at the Nickel and i was blown away by how smooth and natural these fellars are on stage with one another. You see bands playing their first few shows and they seem awkward and nervous, but then you see these guys and it looks like they've been a band for years... It was hard to believe it was their second show!! Wowzahs!
This show is 21 and up (as always) 9pm and a modest cover charge of $3 bucks. All of which goes to the touring bands. Saturday May 2nd.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Saturday May 9th:
CORY BRANAN.
THE JACK TRADES.
CHAD PRICE.
$7.00
9pm
21 and Up.
Now you're probably reading and asking yourself "$7.00 What the fuck?" Am i Right?
Well Mr. Cory Branan is worth it!
Here are what critics are saying about our friend:
“Ryan Adams. Gillian Welch & David Rawlings. Conor Oberst. Cory Branan. These are names that are thrown around a lot when you are talking about modern day singer-songwriters.” - Twangville
"Intense dynamics, deep humor, brave production and heavy songwriting: A new voice emerges to run with the greats." - Playboy
"There's a new breed of singer-songwriter - Ryan Adams, Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst and now Cory Branan." - Rolling Stone
"Songwriting prodigy gives John Prine a run for the money." – Billboard
“What Paul Westerberg did for sensitive Minnesotans, Cory Branan does for sensitive Southern boys.” – Paste
If that doesn't do it for you, check out this performance of Cory Branan on DAVID LETTERMAN:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqNjwkNE3wU
Rumor also has it that Cory is in the process of inking a Major Label debut with a little label that will make him label mates with Ryan Adams...
He has a great following amongst our musican friends, and this is Cory's 4th time visiting us at The Triple Nickel. He's toured pretty extensively with Drag The River, Lucero and more. Chances are our friend will be a little too big for us at the Nickel next time he comes through Colorado.... Come see him in our newly remodeled room! Our capacity has also grown from about 100 to about 125... So come! Come check him out!!
And playing with him and needing no introductions are the always incredible THE JACK TRADES as well as CHAD PRICE, occasional lead singer for ALL and co-singer of DRAG THE RIVER.
So after all this, are you still asking if $7.00 is too much a price to pay? If this show was at the Black Sheep, chances are it would be more like a $12 cover for all this awesomeness... Instead you can come enjoy it at our place for $7.00 and enjoy $5.50 pitchers of PBR and $2 pints....
http://www.myspace.com/corybranan
http://www.myspace.com/thejacktrades
http://www.myspace.com/dragtheriver
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
That's all for this week folks. Keep checking back we're working on even more special things for the bar in the upcoming weeks!! FREE things... Exciting, eh?
Holy Crap! The Triple Nickel had a GREAT fucking weekend. Thanks to everyone who came out to help break in the new stage and back room set up. We received sooooo much praise from all the patrons and bands in attendance. We're super excited about the new stage and the great shows we have lined up for this summer.
Once again, I am here to write a ridiculous amount about the upcoming shows we have over here at the Triple Nickel. This week is a two for one, since we have two incredible shows for you in the next two weeks....
First up:
Saturday May 2nd!
Suburban Home Recording Artists:
NINJA GUN (Georgia / Florida)
MIKE HALE (Vans)
with:
Denver's ONLY THUNDER
& The Spring's own RJ FLETCHER.
http://www.myspace.com/ninjagun
http://www.myspace.com/mikehalemusic
http://www.myspace.com/onlythunderrock
http://www.myspace.com/rjfletcher
Mike Hale is the lead singer of IN THE RED who you may have seen at the Nickel back in Febuary. He's making his return to the Triple Nickel in support of his new Solo album, LIVES LIKE MINE.
Suburban Home Records owner and music marketing guru Virgil Dickerson are conducting an experiment in Music sales. Virgil and the gang have decided to GIVE you folks Mike's new record for FREE. Yes, Free. COMPLETELY FREE. The idea is that by giving away the record for free, you'll be much more inclined to pick up other merchindise, such as limited edition Vinyl, T-shirts, Pint Glasses, ect... and You'll be more likely to give the artist a chance, fall in love with the record and go support these struggling artists LIVE. Its a great experiment and I wish Virigl and Mike the best of luck, but they don't need it. The record is GREAT.
All of you, Download LIVES LIKE MINE now. Its FREE!!! All you have to do is go here: http://liveslikemine.suburbanhomerecords.com/
Its a damned good record and we are supper excited to have Mike Hale back at the Triple Nickel.
Also returning to the Nickel are the almighty NINJA GUN. My absolute favorite edition to Virgil's new roster of amazing bands. These guys played the very first show i worked as "PROMOTER" and I'm super excited to see these guys come back to the Nickel.
Yes they have the world's worst band name, but it is southern fried goodness. The best explaination I can give to you is this: Imagine if the REPLACEMENTS were born in the middle of nowhere Georgia rather than Minneapolis.
As if this show did not need any more awesomeness, we have a band that needs no introduction: ONLY THUNDER Denver's premier Post-Punk / Hardcore / powerhouse. Hot Water Music meets The Lawrence Arms and A Wilhelm Scream meets sex. Good sex, not that crap you had in high school either. Not that i had sex in high school, but i bet it would have been bad. ONLY THUNDER is NOT bad. They are incredible...
And fuckin RJ FLETCHER is playing too!! Damned! Can this show get any more awesome? RJ Fletcher is a Lucero/Drag The River/ John Cougar Mellencamp-esque band from the boys from City of Vanity (and Andy Tanner's Drummer Jonathan.)
RJF played a few weeks back for us here at the Nickel and i was blown away by how smooth and natural these fellars are on stage with one another. You see bands playing their first few shows and they seem awkward and nervous, but then you see these guys and it looks like they've been a band for years... It was hard to believe it was their second show!! Wowzahs!
This show is 21 and up (as always) 9pm and a modest cover charge of $3 bucks. All of which goes to the touring bands. Saturday May 2nd.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Saturday May 9th:
CORY BRANAN.
THE JACK TRADES.
CHAD PRICE.
$7.00
9pm
21 and Up.
Now you're probably reading and asking yourself "$7.00 What the fuck?" Am i Right?
Well Mr. Cory Branan is worth it!
Here are what critics are saying about our friend:
“Ryan Adams. Gillian Welch & David Rawlings. Conor Oberst. Cory Branan. These are names that are thrown around a lot when you are talking about modern day singer-songwriters.” - Twangville
"Intense dynamics, deep humor, brave production and heavy songwriting: A new voice emerges to run with the greats." - Playboy
"There's a new breed of singer-songwriter - Ryan Adams, Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst and now Cory Branan." - Rolling Stone
"Songwriting prodigy gives John Prine a run for the money." – Billboard
“What Paul Westerberg did for sensitive Minnesotans, Cory Branan does for sensitive Southern boys.” – Paste
If that doesn't do it for you, check out this performance of Cory Branan on DAVID LETTERMAN:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqNjwkNE3wU
Rumor also has it that Cory is in the process of inking a Major Label debut with a little label that will make him label mates with Ryan Adams...
He has a great following amongst our musican friends, and this is Cory's 4th time visiting us at The Triple Nickel. He's toured pretty extensively with Drag The River, Lucero and more. Chances are our friend will be a little too big for us at the Nickel next time he comes through Colorado.... Come see him in our newly remodeled room! Our capacity has also grown from about 100 to about 125... So come! Come check him out!!
And playing with him and needing no introductions are the always incredible THE JACK TRADES as well as CHAD PRICE, occasional lead singer for ALL and co-singer of DRAG THE RIVER.
So after all this, are you still asking if $7.00 is too much a price to pay? If this show was at the Black Sheep, chances are it would be more like a $12 cover for all this awesomeness... Instead you can come enjoy it at our place for $7.00 and enjoy $5.50 pitchers of PBR and $2 pints....
http://www.myspace.com/corybranan
http://www.myspace.com/thejacktrades
http://www.myspace.com/dragtheriver
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
That's all for this week folks. Keep checking back we're working on even more special things for the bar in the upcoming weeks!! FREE things... Exciting, eh?
Sunday, April 26, 2009
How I Went To The ER Before Noon Today Or How I Became Earringless.
Holy shit.
I kick ass.
That's all there is too it.
After a fun filled evening of music and chasing tail at the Triple Nickel, I found myself without any phone numbers (which wasn't really the point. I was just enjoying flirting with the beautiful baby girls.). I did however talk to an old friend of mine JAMES PORTER, who commented on my gauged earrings and how he never thought me of all people would get my ears pierced. Me neither for that matter... The night got late as hell, and I found myself getting home from the bar around 2:30ish. I got the coffee pot ready, and laid down for about 45 minutes or so.
Got up and did the usual 5-6 mile bike ride to Costco, how i found the energy to make it there I'll never know and thank god for Coffee. Coffee, you are my best friend.
I found myself stocking the freezers once again. Its a job I'm damned good at and I usually end up over there 2-3 days a week covering other people's days off.
The store got the shit kicked out of it yesterday and the freezer was a mess. I knew i was worn out and this day was going to be a chore so i dove in head first and started busting my ass....
It felt as though i was not making any headway... I kept stocking and I kept stocking, but It seemed as if it wasn't enough... It was about 6:30am, and 7am, our break time, fast approaching, and i try to pick up the pace even more.
I started stocking an ice cream variety pack. Its wiped out, so I've got myself pretty much completely inside the door stocking the product and moving as fast as i can, which to be honest wasn't anywhere near top speed.... I was pooped, but still fast enough...
That's when it happened.
You see, each freezer door has a florescent bulb, with a plastic cover upon it. Keeping that plastic cover attached to the wall is a Metal CLIP. Here, let me show you a photo:
Now I'd like to show you another photo. In this photo, I want you to take a good look at my ears.....
And now here is another photo, and I'd like you to take a good look at my ears....
See the difference? One has earrings, the other definately does not have earrings.
Now I know how awesome this looks, please take your eyes away from the awesomeness that is I, Damian, and allow me to continue my story.
You see, I'm all the way in the freezer door stocking these wonderful ice cream variety packs (which i took a photo of, but it didn't turn out. Sadface.) I'm coming out of the freezer door at "full blast," which as previously noted is more like half blast on this day.... My earring had somehow got caught on THE METAL CLIP shown above. Yes, that photo above is the actual culprit and its identity has not been changed to protect the innocent. Now I had absolutely no clue the earring was in the door, or i obviously would not have stood up and back as abruptly as i did. No sir, I sure would not have....
So I pretty much jump out of this door so i can grab more fucking Ice Cream Variety packs, and POP! Out comes the earring. Now I immediately knew i lost the earring, but i didn't know the severity of it for about another 2 seconds. As I stand there I see the earring sitting on the metal clip and i think to myself what any reasonable half asleep man would.
"Fuck. That ain't right."
Well folks, as you have already seen in the photo above, i ripped the mother fucker clean out of my left ear. Yes sirree-bob. There would be blood. I immediately went to the reciving bathrroom, I peed, cause you know, I had to pee. Lots of coffee. Then I washed my hands like every good employee should, and I grabbed a handful of paper towles and clotted up my ear and went back to work.
Read that again. I went BACK TO WORK. I'm a stupid, stubborn mother fucker and in my sleepless daze, I didn't think it was that bad, and lets be honest, there was probably a small ping of Shock involved as well.
Did i mention that it did NOT HURT AT ALL. I just ripped the damned thing out and it didn't sting, hurt, anything. POP! It was just ripped out. Woo hoo!
So I go back to work, and the guy I'm working with, who i have to add is my favorite person in the store and I love working with this guy. He gets it, and he took me under his wing and makes sure I get what i need and he always gives me constructive criticism, and he just kicks ass. So Mark Jones drives his forklift up to me and asks what's wrong. When i tell him what happened he insisted that i tell a manager, but man, we had a ton of stuff to get done and Gosh Darn it! I wanted to get it all done! So I refused!
Well Mark is smarter than me, and went and grabbed Matt the manager (and one of the guys who hired me and also likes to tell me how much i kick ass.) He takes one look and demands I stop everything and go to the ER.....
So by now, I realize, yes. I need to go to the ER. Ok. Fine. I'll go. and we go. For a sunday morning, it was a wham bamb thank you ma'am, kind of morning. We were in and out in about an hour and a half.
I was honestly having a blast. I'm an attention loving whore, and I was eating all this up. The nurses in the ER were laughing at me as i told them the story and how I kept trying to work, yadda, yadda, yadda and we had a good time. The doc was all business and was in and out, and the CNA asked it i had any neosporan, then recalled a few minutes earlier how i was discussing being a bachelor and gave me a handful of samples, which she in turn told me to hide in my pocket. I liked her a lot. :)
We got there at about 7am, and returned to the store right around 8:20ish. Super, quick, and I received 9 stitches, a new record for me.
What's funny is, the only times i have been admitted to the hospital were to get stitches. This is the first time they were NOT in my right hand. haha.
Got back to the store and filled out paper work, all while showing off my wonderful new body modification. They asked if i wanted to call it a day and go home, but HELL NO. There was still work to do, so I went back to the scene of the crime and went right back to work.
We were still fucked and it looked like SHIT, but i was a trooper, and besides, It didn't hurt at all. The stitches hurt more than the actual ripping.... So I manned up and went back to work. (and lets face it, I was trying to impress everyone as well with how HARDXCORE I was. haha) And that was about it.
Oh and thank god for workman's comp! whew! If this had happened at home or something, I don't know what i would do... I would probably just have a fucked up ear....
And the doc said I should be able to put my earrings back in in a couple of days. We'll see if i do. We're not suppose to wear them at work to begin with. Its mostly a dress code thing, but since i work before the store opens, no one cared because the customers rarely saw me. So we'll see. Maybe its a sign that I need to get rid of them.
Oh and James Porter? Fuck you for bringing it up! haha. You jinxed me you bastard....
That was my day. I told the story about another 100 times before i made it out the door and since i got home I've told it about 3 more times...
And how do i feel? Great. My ear is sore, but for some damned reason my ego is soaring. I'm the only guy i know who eats this kind of shit up. I love it, but of course its all the attention I'm loving... haha.
So to gain further attention, here are more photos for your viewing pleasure. Please don't stare at the awesomeness for too long. Its just simply too much for you to handle.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand... All stitched up:
I kick ass.
That's all there is too it.
After a fun filled evening of music and chasing tail at the Triple Nickel, I found myself without any phone numbers (which wasn't really the point. I was just enjoying flirting with the beautiful baby girls.). I did however talk to an old friend of mine JAMES PORTER, who commented on my gauged earrings and how he never thought me of all people would get my ears pierced. Me neither for that matter... The night got late as hell, and I found myself getting home from the bar around 2:30ish. I got the coffee pot ready, and laid down for about 45 minutes or so.
Got up and did the usual 5-6 mile bike ride to Costco, how i found the energy to make it there I'll never know and thank god for Coffee. Coffee, you are my best friend.
I found myself stocking the freezers once again. Its a job I'm damned good at and I usually end up over there 2-3 days a week covering other people's days off.
The store got the shit kicked out of it yesterday and the freezer was a mess. I knew i was worn out and this day was going to be a chore so i dove in head first and started busting my ass....
It felt as though i was not making any headway... I kept stocking and I kept stocking, but It seemed as if it wasn't enough... It was about 6:30am, and 7am, our break time, fast approaching, and i try to pick up the pace even more.
I started stocking an ice cream variety pack. Its wiped out, so I've got myself pretty much completely inside the door stocking the product and moving as fast as i can, which to be honest wasn't anywhere near top speed.... I was pooped, but still fast enough...
That's when it happened.
You see, each freezer door has a florescent bulb, with a plastic cover upon it. Keeping that plastic cover attached to the wall is a Metal CLIP. Here, let me show you a photo:
Now I'd like to show you another photo. In this photo, I want you to take a good look at my ears.....
And now here is another photo, and I'd like you to take a good look at my ears....
See the difference? One has earrings, the other definately does not have earrings.
Now I know how awesome this looks, please take your eyes away from the awesomeness that is I, Damian, and allow me to continue my story.
You see, I'm all the way in the freezer door stocking these wonderful ice cream variety packs (which i took a photo of, but it didn't turn out. Sadface.) I'm coming out of the freezer door at "full blast," which as previously noted is more like half blast on this day.... My earring had somehow got caught on THE METAL CLIP shown above. Yes, that photo above is the actual culprit and its identity has not been changed to protect the innocent. Now I had absolutely no clue the earring was in the door, or i obviously would not have stood up and back as abruptly as i did. No sir, I sure would not have....
So I pretty much jump out of this door so i can grab more fucking Ice Cream Variety packs, and POP! Out comes the earring. Now I immediately knew i lost the earring, but i didn't know the severity of it for about another 2 seconds. As I stand there I see the earring sitting on the metal clip and i think to myself what any reasonable half asleep man would.
"Fuck. That ain't right."
Well folks, as you have already seen in the photo above, i ripped the mother fucker clean out of my left ear. Yes sirree-bob. There would be blood. I immediately went to the reciving bathrroom, I peed, cause you know, I had to pee. Lots of coffee. Then I washed my hands like every good employee should, and I grabbed a handful of paper towles and clotted up my ear and went back to work.
Read that again. I went BACK TO WORK. I'm a stupid, stubborn mother fucker and in my sleepless daze, I didn't think it was that bad, and lets be honest, there was probably a small ping of Shock involved as well.
Did i mention that it did NOT HURT AT ALL. I just ripped the damned thing out and it didn't sting, hurt, anything. POP! It was just ripped out. Woo hoo!
So I go back to work, and the guy I'm working with, who i have to add is my favorite person in the store and I love working with this guy. He gets it, and he took me under his wing and makes sure I get what i need and he always gives me constructive criticism, and he just kicks ass. So Mark Jones drives his forklift up to me and asks what's wrong. When i tell him what happened he insisted that i tell a manager, but man, we had a ton of stuff to get done and Gosh Darn it! I wanted to get it all done! So I refused!
Well Mark is smarter than me, and went and grabbed Matt the manager (and one of the guys who hired me and also likes to tell me how much i kick ass.) He takes one look and demands I stop everything and go to the ER.....
So by now, I realize, yes. I need to go to the ER. Ok. Fine. I'll go. and we go. For a sunday morning, it was a wham bamb thank you ma'am, kind of morning. We were in and out in about an hour and a half.
I was honestly having a blast. I'm an attention loving whore, and I was eating all this up. The nurses in the ER were laughing at me as i told them the story and how I kept trying to work, yadda, yadda, yadda and we had a good time. The doc was all business and was in and out, and the CNA asked it i had any neosporan, then recalled a few minutes earlier how i was discussing being a bachelor and gave me a handful of samples, which she in turn told me to hide in my pocket. I liked her a lot. :)
We got there at about 7am, and returned to the store right around 8:20ish. Super, quick, and I received 9 stitches, a new record for me.
What's funny is, the only times i have been admitted to the hospital were to get stitches. This is the first time they were NOT in my right hand. haha.
Got back to the store and filled out paper work, all while showing off my wonderful new body modification. They asked if i wanted to call it a day and go home, but HELL NO. There was still work to do, so I went back to the scene of the crime and went right back to work.
We were still fucked and it looked like SHIT, but i was a trooper, and besides, It didn't hurt at all. The stitches hurt more than the actual ripping.... So I manned up and went back to work. (and lets face it, I was trying to impress everyone as well with how HARDXCORE I was. haha) And that was about it.
Oh and thank god for workman's comp! whew! If this had happened at home or something, I don't know what i would do... I would probably just have a fucked up ear....
And the doc said I should be able to put my earrings back in in a couple of days. We'll see if i do. We're not suppose to wear them at work to begin with. Its mostly a dress code thing, but since i work before the store opens, no one cared because the customers rarely saw me. So we'll see. Maybe its a sign that I need to get rid of them.
Oh and James Porter? Fuck you for bringing it up! haha. You jinxed me you bastard....
That was my day. I told the story about another 100 times before i made it out the door and since i got home I've told it about 3 more times...
And how do i feel? Great. My ear is sore, but for some damned reason my ego is soaring. I'm the only guy i know who eats this kind of shit up. I love it, but of course its all the attention I'm loving... haha.
So to gain further attention, here are more photos for your viewing pleasure. Please don't stare at the awesomeness for too long. Its just simply too much for you to handle.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand... All stitched up:
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Mostly Harmless Issue #2
So tonight we continue to look at my past life a zinester. It was somewhat short lived in its colorado form. Once upon a time, I lived in Shreveport, Louisiana and with my, then, closest friends we has a Zine called KGB Propaganda, where i honed my skills as one of the best punk rock interviewers around (Once again, I am being humble here.)
I look at Mh#2 with half pride and half horror. I threw this monster together within days before the deadline with hopes that i could get it printed and done in time for Tour with my then roommates band: Harrison Bergeron (myspace.com/harrisonbergeron) and SxSw.
Some of the layouts and pages I'm quite proud of and some of them... Well.... They suck Page 3 for example, is just awful. I had intended to dedicate a great portion of this issue to a fallen comrade, Kyle Wattz. I posted a few queries on the internet asking for people to write about their favorite memories of Kyle and i even wrote to the 1-800-Hopeline letting them know I would donate a full page add to them. I got zero replies with the exception of a very quickly written piece by our friend Ryan Moore.
I was hoping for pages of photos and pages for memories of Kyle and his short lived life, and planned for it accordingly, but when it came down to the deadline i had nothing except Ryan's letter, which was originally meant to be used as a dedication to the section.
I used the best photo i could get my hands on and tried to make the layout work to the best of my abilities, but it was super last minute and I was already late sending it off to the printers. I threw it together and have regretted it ever since. You open the first page of the magazine and you see this poorly, poorly, POORLY laid out page... Its my biggest source of embarrassment with this issue...
I found out once i got it from the printer that a few things were missed here and there. Pictures shifted, words dissapeared, graphics out of layout, ect, and really amateuresque stuff that i think detracts from the quality of this issue. There are also some really subpar reviews hastily thrown together by yours truly. I have such a hard time explaining why i like or dislike music. Its a pain to write reviews. You'd think after 10+ years of doing it, I'd have gotten a little better.... And then the Column by my friend Renee, was mostly Filler. Really not very good stuff. It needed to be flushed out more, but because of the lack of Kyle memorials i had space to fill and in it went...
But Its not all bad. I'm rather proud of the Layout on the Joey Cape article, and the photos (taken by yours truly.) It was nice to get some help and not do it all 100% by myself and have some help from Tim Browne (who promised to do more for issue #3 but never came to the rescue, thank you very much.)
I absolutely fell madly in love with THE ERGS working with them on this issue, and oddly enough when i saw them perform, I was not even in attenance to interview them, but them impressed me so GREATLY that I went for it and it was well, well worth it. I love the layout, and I love the interview even more (you can actually listen to it at: myspace.com/mhmagazine). Great Guys. Great band. I'm glad i got to not only meet them, but interview them before they broke up last year. :(
I absolutely LOVE the cover and would one day like to get a tattoo of it upon my body. Damian Willcox is a phenomenal artist and he really came through for me at the 11th hour when Travel Foreman could not... The interview was most excellent as well... Reading it you'd never know it was done Question and Answer style via EMAIL. I sent him 15 or so questions, but tried to predict the course of the conversation and created a real FLOW for it that is missing in almost all "interviews" done via Email. It also helps that Damian really GOT what I was going for.
All in all, I love this issue for all its faults and its promises. I'm sadened that this was the final chapter for Mostly Harmless, or at least its final chapter in Print.
I had issue #3 halfway finished. Interviews with No Trigger, Sick of it all and NONE MORE BLACK were to grace the issue. I was searching for a heavier comic book artist to do the cover art, but alas could never find anyone who i felt comfortable with doing the cover for what i perceived to be a heavier issue.
I also never could sell any advertising. I'm just not a salesman. I'm great at interviews. I'm good at booking shows and making flyers and writing about shows, but when it comes right down to it, I was awful at selling ads for the zine.
I think if i tried to revamp this TODAY, right now, and make it happen, i could do it very easily. I've made all the right connections and i know all the right people that i could plausibly make a really cool zine and make it FREE and have the advertising to support it. But I think for now, Print is in a massive recession. I don't want to say print is dead, because it will never be dead.
Just as Vinyl l was perceived as dead, is in the process of making a solid comeback. I think Print and more specifically ZINES will do the same. We just have the embrace the collectivity and the specialty that a print zine can hold. The Internet will slowly fade and one day we'll find ourselves reading actual books again. I mean, Myspace seems to be on a swift decline as people move on to other forms of time waste/management. Who knows what will be next..... Who knows.
In the meantime, I'm going to join the enemy, I'll work on posting more posts related to music, movies, comics and whatever the hell else i feel like writing about. I'll post video and video interviews. I'll make an ass out of myself and we'll all have a good time. I'll never give up hope on restarting the old girl and doing her RIGHT, and with the knowledge and experience i have learned.
Please read the old girl and enjoy her, if you can. Write me and let me know what you think. I can be reached here in the comments, myspace (myspace.com/iamdamian) and email: damian(dot)burford(at)gmail(dot)com
Keep watching this page for more stuff.... Please send your ideas and kick my ass if i lag too much between postings....
Until next time....
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Bookmarks
I've found a bookmark on the 86th page of one of the greatest books i have ever read. Was this the last page the previous owner turned? Marking the next chapter for him or her to come back to before losing the book? Was the book not quite the flavor the expected? Or was this simply the chapter the loved the most and upon finishing the book, chose to mark it for the next one whose path this book may lie in? Or perhaps it is just another piece of paper in a book, trapped between two pages. Lost. Forever.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Mostly Harmless Magazine Issue #1
So this is the "First" Issue of Mostly Harmless Magazine. I had previously compiled an issue of Mostly Harmless #1 waaaay back in 2002 or something like that. Waaay back in the day. It was compiled and finished, but never published. Most of the interviews in that issue are allllllll the way over on my old website: www.shrevepunx.com/iamdamian.
I also put out an Issue #Zero of Mostly Harmless to promote Issue one. It had the A Wilhelm Scream interview along with the, what i believe to be the FINAL interview with my favorite pop-punk band from Denver, THE GAMITS. It only had an 100 issue print run all done at Kinko's.
Fast forward to November of 2005, I put out the first official issue of Mostly Harmless. We did a 1,000 issue print run and included was an incredibly open and honest interview with Christian Jacobs, the lead singer and producer of Yo Gabba Gabba! (the world's greatest children's television show). As well as a reprinting of the amazing drunken interview with A WILHELM SCREAM (which you can listen to at: http://www.myspace.com/mhmagazine) and another incredibility drunk interview with an incredibly underrated Gainsville Band, J.Page.
I look back at this issue and it makes me cringe. The Graphic design is AWFUL (while better than almost all other Zines...) I self taught myself Adobe InDesign and made issue #1 in a couple of Days. I didn't edit enough stuff out, and well, the music reviews in the back are AWFUL. Its come to my attention that while I love music and i am one of the best interviewers of bands on this PLANET (and this is modesty. I've read a ton of zines and most interviewers are awful....) I'm good. Anyways, I can't write CD/Music reviews to save my life... But i keep trying... Just like that fat kid trying to sleep with the head cheerleader. Maybe he'll finally succeed when she's fat, divorced with 4 kids and the only accomplishment in life she has is she went to beauty school and graduated 7th in her class.....
Anyways. I'm working on my new music projects and well, Why not start at the beggining and re-evaluate what I've done before and where I'm going from here. So here we go. Here is issue one in all its JPEG Glory.
It got good reviews from all the right people, but I didn't sell a single add... Not only can I not write music reviews, I can't sell ads. Alas... I'll stick to getting drunk and asking stupid Questions.
Issue #2 will be on here soon and then We'll move on to the new, new project.... Maybe for that post, I won't have drank 5 New Belgium Might Arrow Pale Ales on an Empty Stomach and be able to write more coherent sentences, but probably not. haha
Stay Tuned.....
BTW T-shirts were never made... Sad Face....
I also put out an Issue #Zero of Mostly Harmless to promote Issue one. It had the A Wilhelm Scream interview along with the, what i believe to be the FINAL interview with my favorite pop-punk band from Denver, THE GAMITS. It only had an 100 issue print run all done at Kinko's.
Fast forward to November of 2005, I put out the first official issue of Mostly Harmless. We did a 1,000 issue print run and included was an incredibly open and honest interview with Christian Jacobs, the lead singer and producer of Yo Gabba Gabba! (the world's greatest children's television show). As well as a reprinting of the amazing drunken interview with A WILHELM SCREAM (which you can listen to at: http://www.myspace.com/mhmagazine) and another incredibility drunk interview with an incredibly underrated Gainsville Band, J.Page.
I look back at this issue and it makes me cringe. The Graphic design is AWFUL (while better than almost all other Zines...) I self taught myself Adobe InDesign and made issue #1 in a couple of Days. I didn't edit enough stuff out, and well, the music reviews in the back are AWFUL. Its come to my attention that while I love music and i am one of the best interviewers of bands on this PLANET (and this is modesty. I've read a ton of zines and most interviewers are awful....) I'm good. Anyways, I can't write CD/Music reviews to save my life... But i keep trying... Just like that fat kid trying to sleep with the head cheerleader. Maybe he'll finally succeed when she's fat, divorced with 4 kids and the only accomplishment in life she has is she went to beauty school and graduated 7th in her class.....
Anyways. I'm working on my new music projects and well, Why not start at the beggining and re-evaluate what I've done before and where I'm going from here. So here we go. Here is issue one in all its JPEG Glory.
It got good reviews from all the right people, but I didn't sell a single add... Not only can I not write music reviews, I can't sell ads. Alas... I'll stick to getting drunk and asking stupid Questions.
Issue #2 will be on here soon and then We'll move on to the new, new project.... Maybe for that post, I won't have drank 5 New Belgium Might Arrow Pale Ales on an Empty Stomach and be able to write more coherent sentences, but probably not. haha
Stay Tuned.....
BTW T-shirts were never made... Sad Face....
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