Colorado Springs Compilation and Festival?

My latest scheme comes off of an argument with a friend of mine. We were discussing my place here in town and how i was working hard on building something worthwhile here. She argued that I was building NOTHING and wasting my time in Colorado and that i could do better work elsewhere in the same field.

Well I feel like me and my fellow friends in the music works of Colorado Springs ARE actually doing well for this town and we are building a better foundation for a better music scene. Mostly to prove her wrong and the rest of the naysayers, I want to start a new project.

Last summer I put out a free music sampler of the upcoming touring bands coming through the Triple Nickel. I have been told by a few people it was a "great idea" and a "huge success," but I am quiet unsure it had the desired effect of bringing attention to the music we were bringing last summer. I'd like to do another this year with a larger scale in mind, and not just me sitting at the computer copying 100+ cds by my lonesome.

Then the wheels started turning. A lot of local bands wanted onto this compilation, which was designed to mostly promote the touring bands. The idea of a just local compilation wouldn't be a bad idea and over the last few weeks and months, this is the basis for what i want to do.

I want to do a local music compilation of bands who regularly play in Colorado Springs.

To Qualify for the compilation, each band must submit a track and a small nominal fee. I'm thinking around $20 - $30 bucks.

The money collected from the application fee goes into a fund to press the cds. I'm not thinking anything fancy, but a simple CD and cardboard slipcase.

I want to form a committee of 8-10 people.

These people would come from all walks of the art community in town. Their purpose would be to help judge the merit and fit of the songs on the compilation to make sure it fits and give a good impression to people who do NOT normally frequent local live music.

Not all tracks will make it to the final cut. I'm thinking about 20 tracks. If your track was not picked, you will not get your money back, but it will instead go into the fund for the CD pressing. Much like a film festival you do not get your application fee back if you are not chosen, this will work in the same manner.

The Cds would be given away FREE around town, with the main purpose of exposing people to different music they are not already aware of. It would also be used to attract people who do not frequent live music events in Colorado Springs. This would be the target audience for this project.

The tracks would also be available for free online so those who can not find the CDs may still enjoy it and be enriched by the music.

I'd like to do a huge release weekend EVENT, where several spaces around town have FREE showcases with local musicians. I'd like to do this in a similar way as Fort Collin's FoCoMx (http://www.focomx.org/) Which is a localized music festival where different bands who normally do not perform together share the same stage at venues they do not frequent often. IE Stab Crew plays with Edith Makes a Paperchain. (which is an extreme example, but you get the idea.) Only musicians featured on the compilation would make the cut, But i envision a week long event at several, several local bars, art galleries, ect.

How musicians would gain from this is the added exposure. The free Cd with their name and track circulating around the town would only help their exposure and find a new and different audience and help grow their fan base and show turnouts, resulting from bigger paycheck from the shows they do play.

The venues hosting the free shows would of course benefit from the added exposure to their spaces, and of course would still make profit off the bar, drinks, food, ect.

Bands who are not chosen, would also benefit from the added exposure to the music scene and concerts around town. They would also benefit from playing with other bands whose tracks made it to the final cut, and could grow off of their exposure.

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This is just a hair brain idea that's been rattling around in my brain for a few months now and has finally come to a head with the help of my negative friend and too much time on my hand.

This is not something I wish to do alone and on my own. We have A fabulous collective of people who wish to help and further the arts scene here in Colorado, and I wish to involve them every step of the way. Plus, with a committee of sorts to help decide the tracks, it makes it more fair for other bands who i might not necessarily enjoy to make it on the compilation rather than if i had just done it on my own.

Its a chance for all of us to come together and really work to unify the various art and musician cliques and bring us together and have some damned good parties because of it.

These are just ideas. I value your input and am eagerly awaiting it.

Let me know what you think.

and I'm a fool

As a young man I watched too many John cusak movies. I learned to believe their honesty, but in real life things don't work out like in the movies. So as i have spent my whole adolescent life I've spent trying to live up to my heroes as a John Cusak archetype, my brethren passed me by.....

I sit here confused. I am a 28 year old boy with the dating skills of a 15 year old boy. I've sat here trying to become the man i thought women wanted me to be only to learn the movies were wrong. Now I'm alone..... and no clue who or what to do....

John Cusak taught me wrong. Lloyd is not what women want. They don't want. Lane Meyer is not what they want. I am not what they want and I wonder. Have I wasted it all. Will I ever find that one who really and truly wants her lane Meyer? the one who will be loyal till the end? I doubt it. I honestly think i will be alone till the end....

But I am intoxicated. I am heartbroken over women. The ones who sucked me in, and the ones who sucked me out.... Friends. loves. looses.

Photos

I sit and stare out the window trying to soak up all the imagery. I search the landscapes for meaning and look to find hope for a better tomorrow. I sleep and dream of the colors of Seas I'll never know and times all but forgotten. We see so much and comprehend so little of this short journey. We seek answers when questions are not even made known. Perhaps there is no meaning. Perhaps this is all happenstance and nothing will become of any of this. Perhaps, just as I dream of lands I'll never see, this is all someone else's dream. Pawns to the stars. Pawns to the winds. We fight, but the sea always takes control, it always has its way. Helpless, we let go and let the adventure take us away.