Blogging 'Til I Win A Grammy

Day 668

2010-12-21T15:13:00.000-08:00

Post #36 of ANNIE B.’s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE: Is It Harder to Learn How To Be A Successful Artist Than To Learn How To Be A Neurosurgeon?

“I promise to post blogs here, sharing some daily activities & the work I do to achieve my career goals, and when I do win that Grammy, YOU can say you followed me all the way! I also hope to give inspiration, information, & advice to indie artists, and I hope you take a little something away with you when you read my posts, whether or not you are yourself an artist!”

I recently had this conversation with another musician friend of mine who had owned his own label, and the label did not last as long as he wanted it to. This guy has been in the music business for years and years, and with the people he knows and the experience he has under his belt, you’d think he could have a successful record label. Well, the fact is, there are no proven courses or degrees at any schools on how to have your own successful career in the music business. Sure, there are classes you can take at colleges all over the U.S. (especially in Los Angeles), there are seminars and conferences (such as SXSW) and workshops and speaker events and all sorts of resources. But after everything is said and done, it’s actually easier to learn how to become a successful neurosurgeon (provided you get accepted into med school, and you subsequently get accepted through all the different hoops you have to get through). If all I had to do was study my behind off & get good grades and pass all the tests I had to pass to become a successful artist, even if it took me 12+ years to do it, I would have started on that path right after high school, and I’d be there by now! But that’s just not how it works. Every time an artist decides he or she wants to learn how to make a living with their music, they kind of have to re-invent the wheel. They have to come up with creative ideas on their own, or by reading what other artists have done, and find their own success. OK, they can also look for a record label that already has a wheel in place, but that does not guarantee they will get anywhere. One time I heard, for every act that “makes it big” on a major label, there are 99 that don’t. Those 99 get dropped, shelved, or even worse, they end up owing the label thousands and thousands of dollars after getting shelved or dropped. Even worse than that, they can’t do anything with the music they wrote & recorded while under contract with that label. They are in limbo for years. It’s really pretty scary when you think of it. Why would anyone want to put themselves at risk like that? If you do want to be on a label, work with a small, local record label who you have done your research on!

So, I think it’s actually easier to become a successful practicing neurosurgeon than to become a successful musical artist. Even the neurosurgeon that graduates LAST in his class gets the diploma and the credentials and the ability to practice medicine and make lots of dough. There is a system in place that he or she needs to get good enough grades to be accepted into, and the rest of it is following the rules and studying hard.

But there is no such system in place for the artist. The system in place (record labels) can be very scary, and lots of them can put the artist in a worse place than when they started. And lots of artists think the answer is to start up your own record label, and so to those folks, I say, “Good luck!” That would be the ultimate in re-inventing the wheel, and I believe artists would serve themselves better by just concentrating on making great records, playing shows, and selling merch.

Studying the industry and learning about which record label or labels would be right for you are also good ideas, and then you can go after those labels if you are so inclined. But the best case scenario is to be so successful on your own that the labels are coming to YOU.

One of the reasons for this lack of a learning system in place for us artists is because, especially now, the industry is changing so fast that people in the biz, even those who have been in it for a very long time and seem to know A LOT, can’t keep up with how fast it’s changing. Yesterday, I heard about this guy who JUST graduated from college with a marketing degree (or some other business degree) and he started working with a company who makes this tongue brush that gets rid of bad breath and other germs. He was the guy who never listened in class… he was too busy researching the in’s & out’s of the workings of Facebook, learning how YouTube can reach more people with less marketing money spent, and all the other blogs & online news about how it all works. He got hired to get a YouTube video up as a commercial for the tongue brush, and it has sold millions, with NO marketing dollars spent except the $500 spent to produce the video. Figuring out how to use YouTube as your ultimate marketing tool is one of the things this guy concentrated on while he “should have” been paying attention in class, and now he’s going to that same school to speak and share his expertise. But he figured stuff out on his own. That’s the challenge that we as artists all have. We are challenged with learning how to survive and succeed in an industry that is changing & presenting new concerns and considerations EVERY SINGLE DAY.

“Going Viral” was the key with this guy. As it has been with other success stories. But, how can you “make” a video on YouTube “go viral”? I guess THAT is the ultimate question for the day.

How do we deal with this? Well, the tongue brush guy got smart and could see how powerful the internet is, especially YouTube, and he researched it daily and came up with a plan. For the musicians, last year a group of business people got together to figure out how to help an artist “Make It”… 6 different “expert” groups who are supposed to know something about how to help musicians succeed banded together to create a basic, actionable music marketing plan designed around simple strategy, prioritization of tactics, easy to use tools, and a reasonable budget. The hope was that any hard working, talented musician can utilize this plan to grow their fan base and help lay the foundation for a sustainable career in music. Well, this plan did not result in any measurable increase in success for “Indie Artist X”, as he was referred to during the project. I wrote about it here: http://anniebmusic.com/day-335/, and it was very disappointing.

Is “going viral” on YouTube our answer right now? Even if it is today, that could change tomorrow! So, I urge all indie artists to continue playing, and continue researching what they can do to keep moving forward. Do at least one thing every day (or, better yet, spend at least one hour every day) working on getting better gigs, e-mailing your fanbase about your goings-on, blogging, putting a video up on YouTube, creating event pages on Facebook for your gigs & inviting all your FB friends who live in that area, and working on the business (& promotions and marketing) side of your career.

Today, I did four things so far: I called a manager about a potential gig, created a FB event for my show this week & invited all my Milwaukee friends, I blogged on my website (obviously), and I sent out an e-mail to my regular e-mail list about the “Annie B. Holiday Happenings”!! (Unfortunately, I have a limit and can only send e-mails to 500 people a day, and now I have reached my limit so I can’t send out any more e-mails today! Ugh! Guess it’s time to pay for an e-mail service like MailChimp!) All this stuff took me much longer than an hour, but every little thing I do will move me forward just a little. And at some point, there will be a snowball effect, and the avalanche will start!!!

Day 667

2010-12-21T15:11:00.000-08:00

Post #35 of ANNIE B.’s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE: Creating Your Creative Space Part 3
(Dec. 20, 2010)

Still working on the feng shui in my office, but one thing I have noticed is that this water fountain that I constantly have running seems to help with my productivity. This was purchased and placed in my office around Nov. 1, and it seems to help bring the right energy into my work space, or at least it helps with the flow of energy.

My office just feels really good and I feel a different energy than I ever have before when it comes to my career. It seems that things are moving in a new direction, and I have learned to create more opportunities for myself than ever before. For the months of November & December of this year, my income has increased by $500 per month, as compared to April through October of this year. This could be due to the fact that I now have my own office separate from all the other rooms in my house, but I strongly believe that’s it’s also due to the energy flow in this space, even though I’m not done designing it. (I guess that $100 fountain was a good investment!!) Just wait until my office is done and I have everything set up in here just how I have planned! I’d love to double my income and I believe it’s possible. That’s what I was making in Austin, just before I moved back to WI in December of 2007 (due to family stuff)!

Also, I’m the kind of person that generally has too many projects going at once, and can’t put enough time into most of them. This results in a lot of wasted time on things that really may not be going anywhere anytime soon, or ever! I’m now working on finding the right balance between my career and my personal life (this has been a struggle ever since I first picked up that guitar in 1993)!!! Eliminating certain projects or limiting the time I spend on them has been a very good move for me.

Working hard at practicing the national anthem for the Milwaukee Wave Game on Dec 31st at the US Cellular Arena in downtown Milwaukee in front of thousands of people! I’ll be sending my “audition tape” to other sports teams including the Brewers, Bucks, and Packers in the next couple of weeks. Very busy getting ready for the holidays, but that has not stopped me in the career department… in fact, I might have more work right now due to the holidays (I’ve played a few holiday events)… we’ll see what happens to my schedule & income in January. I am actively looking for new venues right now as well. The focus has been Racine & Kenosha, so I’ll start looking at other towns after the holidays. January is typically a very slow month for bars, so that may or may not be good for myself as an artist. Some places will not have live music like they did in December, and some might want to try something new to bring more people in.

I need to run to drop off some Christmas cookies and gift CDs to the fine people at Clark Graphics today (I go there for all my short-run poster orders) as well as drop off my guitar case… the handle broke! See you again soon!

Day 664

2010-12-21T15:02:00.000-08:00

Post #34 of ANNIE B.’s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE: How To Copyright Your Songs
(Dec. 17, 2010)

I had 2 different people ask me how to copyright songs at a gig I played yesterday at Honda of Kenosha. It was a great show, and I think everyone at the Honda Event had a great time! I’ve decided to post this copyright information here on this blog, so I can refer people to it anytime!!! PLEASE feel free to send a link to this page to your songwriter friends!!!

First off, you can copyright a GROUP of songs… you DO NOT have to copyright each song individually. At least 50 songs can be copywritten at one time. I’m not sure if you can copyright more, but with the preferred form (Form CO), you are provided up to 50 spaces for different song titles. (If you have as many as 50 songs that you need to copyright, I think it’s best to protect them asap!!!)

The basics are here: http://www.copyright.gov/forms/

To explain it to you, the form you need to copyright & protect the basic music & lyrics is Form PA, and it’s $65 to use this form. You print it out and after you’ve filled it out, send it in with the fee, your CD and lyrics: http://www.copyright.gov/forms/formpa.pdf

For $50, Form CO replaces Form PA if you use it correctly: You fill this form out ONLINE, THEN print it out after it’s all filled out online, then & sign it. Send it in with the fee, your CD and lyrics… here is the link: http://www.copyright.gov/forms/notice.html – you need to download the form (there’s a link at the bottom) and then fill it out online, etc. The instructions are right there. For copyrighting your basic songs, check the “Performing Arts” box in section 1a. (Then, when you’ve recorded the song professionally with full production, drums, bass guitar, harmonies, or any other things the song called for when you were in the studio, all these “sounds” will be protected when you copyright the song AGAIN, this time using From SR. If you only have a fully-produced song to copyright, you may as well use Form SR, or Form CO with function of protecting the sound recording. This will protect both the basic song [music & lyrics] AND all the extra “bells & whistles” in your fully produced recording.)

OK, so this will protect the basic melodies and lyrics. This should be done as soon as you have a number of songs that you can send in (even if it’s only a few songs… although you can certainly copyright just one song,) which will protect you if anyone hears it and tries to steal it by hearing it on a YouTube performance of the basic song by the artist, or at a live performance.

Once the song is recorded professionally, you need to protect the full production sounds, including guitar licks and other “sounds” you need to protect. (A great example here is the bass line on “Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie, but Vanilla Ice never got permission to use it. No lawsuit was filed, but it is likely that Vanilla Ice agreed to pay Queen and Bowie a settlement. According to industry insider Hans Ebert, Brian May of Queen first heard this song in a disco in Germany. He asked the DJ what it was, and learned that it was #1 in the US. – Source: http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1414. If you, a relatively unknown artist comes up with a cool “sound” on the recording of your song, you’ll be glad you have protected it with Form SR in case you ever hear someone sample or steal your work. Form PA only protects the basic melodies -generally of the words- and lyrics.)

OK, so after professionally recording the song with full production, you should fill out form SR (it’s recommended you use Form CO for this also, but you’ll check the “Sound recording” box in section 1a).

If you want to use the “old” Form SR, that’s right here: http://www.copyright.gov/forms/formsr.pdf

Form CO has kind of replaced forms PA & SR, and it’s cheaper to use, so I recommend doing it that way. My guess is that CO Forms are probably processed quicker at the Copyright Office as well.

If you have ANY questions, please feel free to send me a message via this website… I am more than willing to help!

In other news, I’m VERY EXITED that I’ll be singing our national anthem for the Dec. 31, 2010 Milwaukee Wave Game against the Missouri Comets (major league indoor soccer) at the U.S. Cellular Arena in downtown Milwaukee. A friend will be videotaping the performance so hopefully it will be up on my homepage soon afterward. I was fortunate enough to be asked to perform at a high-school basketball game & charity event a few weeks ago, and The Milwaukee Wave was sponsoring the event. I sang the national anthem before that basketball game, and the Milwaukee Wave Goalkeeper Coach, Mark Litton, came up to me after the event, bought one of my CDs, and told me he’d try and help me get a date to sing our anthem before a Wave Game. He was able to hook it up (Thanks, Mark!!!) and now I’m very excited about the opportunity! Hope to see you at the game! Just more evidence of how important it is to JUST BE OUT THERE as a singer/songwriter! Never pass up good opportunities to perform, especially if there could be some important people there!

Been very busy with finding new venues and putting together a permanent lineup for my original band. I also starting playing with a Guns N’ Roses Tribute band, and that’s been a lot of tun! Be sure to check out my schedule at AnnieBMusic.com/showdates/ to see when that band is playing if you’re a fan of GnR!

Hope to see you soon!
:)
Annie B.

Day 613

2010-10-27T22:28:00.000-07:00

Post #32 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE: Creating Your Creative Space Part 2
"I promise to post blogs here, sharing some daily activities & the work I do to achieve my career goals, and when I do win that Grammy, YOU can say you followed me all the way! I also hope to give inspiration, information, & advice to indie artists, and I hope you take a little something away with you when you read my posts, whether or not you are yourself an artist!"

If you ever have ANYTHING you'd like to respond to in my blog, PLEASE find me at http://AnnieBMusic.com
THANKS!!!

OK, so you may be wondering, "What ever happened to that plan to get organized and feng shui and all that?" Well, I am happy to report that I've successfully moved forward and have cleared the dining room, so that I can work on projects temporarily and then pack it up at the end of the time set aside for that project that day, leaving my dining room for my boyfriend and I to enjoy (or to just notice that it's not cluttered!!!) The spare bedroom has successfully been converted to my new office (much thanks to Dave Rossignol who helped me move the bed and other furniture ouuta' there including my Mom & Dad's antique secretary desk)!! The new office isn't quite feng-shui-ready yet, but I will give you the progress soon! In the meantime, I have found a whole travel bag of junk including old sets of USED strings I kept in case of a broken string at a gig!!! This system used to come in quite handy when I first started traveling all over the U.S. and played way too hard with too heavy a pick. I used to break a string at almost every gig. I guess I used to think it was cool..... I was a mean-ass guitarist, breaking strings all the time, right? (Wrong!!!) I finally learned that it was much better to play with the right guage pick and to have a few different guage NEW strings on hand in case of a broken string at a gig. I guess I thought it was better to have used strings to replace a broken string at a gig since then the string would be nice & stretched out and would stay in tune. But strings DO go bad after awhile, believe it or not! I found out not too long ago they do have an expiration date... like spoiled milk!!! Besides, who wants to play an old, dirty, dull, worn out string besides Eric Clapton??? Not me, I'm not talented enough to make those old strings sound good!!

So, moving forward and I'll soon have my new office ready to rock and will be back in business with all sorts of new gigs and opportunities. Like Jamie Lee said, you have to keep things orderly in order to have time for the things that are REALLY important!!!

Day 603

2010-10-18T23:05:00.000-07:00

Post #31 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE: Creating Your Creative Space
"I promise to post blogs here, sharing some daily activities & the work I do to achieve my career goals, and when I do win that Grammy, YOU can say you followed me all the way! I also hope to give inspiration, information, & advice to indie artists, and I hope you take a little something away with you when you read my posts, whether or not you are yourself an artist!"

If you ever have ANYTHING you'd like to respond to in my blog, PLEASE find me at http://AnnieBMusic.com
THANKS!!!

These last several weeks have been spent organizing & submitting papers, tax documents, and other documents regarding my father's passing. I hired an organizing service a week or two ago; I was so overwhelmed with everything. I have had stuff & papers (& still have) in boxes since I left L.A. in 2006, and I am finally trying to empty ALL those boxes and find a place for everything. That's been my problem since I left L.A. in a frenzied scurry-hurry in 2006... I didn't even have time to finish packing everything... a friend of mine finished for me (Thanks, Roger!!), and when I returned to my boxes and threw them in the back of a pickup in 2007, I thought I'd unpack them all sometime before 2010!!!!! Living on the road and moving umpteen times in the last few years has prevented me from unpacking. It's time now. And I'm a little scared of what I am about to face.

The organizing guy organized one big banker's box of papers in about 2 hours, and it felt really good to just get through that one box. He helped me see that it's just a matter of doing it. It's really not all that complicated. It's just a pain in the rear & VERY BORING. I have some of that "hoarder" tendency in my family, and I can see it with how I have kept so many things that I just will not be needing anytime ever. I still have a box full of papers, publications/magazines, & other contacts I collected from SXSW (THE BIGGEST music industry conference in the U.S.) in 2006. Will I ever need any of those contacts? Will any of that stuff be useful to me at anytime? I guess I will never know unless I bust open the box and start looking. Oh, and THROW AWAY (recycle, that is) the papers & stuff that does not apply to me anymore.

What I AM learning through this whole process is that I am feeling a LOT better about getting rid of some of the clutter, and I'm slowly but surely finding more time for the important things, like vocal practice at home, keyboard drills and exercises, and working on the MUSIC part of my career as a musician. Remember the blog I wrote not too long ago about honing your craft? Well, it's very hard to hone your craft when your brain is bogged down with trying to figure out how to fit it all in to your busy day. There must be SPACE. Space in your home and in your HEAD. I picked up a recent issue Good Housekeeping (does that mean I'm old???) with Jamie Lee Curtis on the cover... the article was on her sharing her secrets on how she keeps her home tidy & organized, and how that allows her to do the things that are IMPORTANT. I used to think, "Ok, I can see I need to send this guy a CD in the mail, but I'll do that later tonight; the daytime hours are for phone calls & e-mails." And I HONESTLY thought that was the right way to go about things... make the best use of those 9-5 "business hours" contacting those 9-5 people (press people, radio people, talent buyers, etc), and the "other stuff" should be done later in the evening... because it wasn't crucial that those things were done in the daytime hours. I used to make a list of the things I needed to do that evening. Like work on my MySpace page, address envelopes for CDs to mail, and print out press kits & posters. Tell me: Do you think that "evening" stuff ever got done? HELL NO! I would get so disorganized with my backwards & disorganized multi-tasking, that by the end of the day, the list of things to do would be lost, or WAY TOO LONG to actually begin to tackle. I could make you a list of things on my radar screen right now and you tell me... does this list look like anything you'd get within 20 miles of?
1. Answer Facebook friend requests (I now have over 250) - this ALONE would take HOURS.
2. Enter e-mail addresses from mailing list sign-up sheets from my last 10+ shows (I am serious... I have NO IDEA why I don't enter these as soon as I get home after a gig... oh, wait... sometimes I am too tired from driving home 90 minutes after a 4-hour gig.) These have seriously piled up.
3. Review footage from Bay View Bash performance
4. Review footage from Lindenfest performance with UA (I don't even know what I did with the DVD at this point!)
5. Get chords & lyrics printed for "Ain't No Sunshine," American Honey," any song from Neil Young, any song from Lady Gaga, Green Day's "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," and practice "Give a Little Bit" from Supertramp.
6. Follow up with talent buyer from Potawatomi Casino.
7. Continue to research venues for CD Release Party in Milwaukee.
8. Figure out how to create playlists on my mp3 player.
9. Make a better sign for my CD sales at shows.
10. Burn promo CDs for The Kiwi Cafe
11. Create artwork for Kiwi Cafe Promo CDs
12. Review potential gigs/opportunities for submission via Sonicbids
13. Artbeat: Thank You letters for 2010 season. Start planning for 2011.
And the list goes on.

So it's no wonder why I can't seem to make the headway I'd like to make. I don't have any SYSTEMS in place. So, I've allowed myself to get caught up in all the stuff that needs to get done, with out actually doing any of it. I have piles of notes here & there, and lots of them get lost, ignored, and certainly forgotten. There needs to be a FLOW to my work and my workSPACE. It starts with just tackling that first box, like the organizing guy did. I can't beat myself up for not having all my tax documents ready for the tax lady, even though, I consider my taxes to be done as best as they can be. I'll submit my papers and see what she says. That will have to do for now!

So, the organizing guy asked me if I ever used feng shui to organize my work space. I know about it, but have not utilized the principles. How can I utilize feng shui if I can't get organized enough to find the space?

Like I said before, the thing to do is to just DO IT. Will things "fall into place" as the saying goes??? I hope so. Back to the act of doing the work. It's all fine & dandy if I sit here blog about it, about the work that I must do, want to do, or actually do. DOING it is the most important thing, however. So I'll finish up the day by cleaning up the dining room table that I have EVERY REASON TO CLEAN UP, now that my taxes are done. Wish me luck with the feng shui!!!!!!!!!

Day 542

2010-08-19T10:57:00.000-07:00

VCT: Walker's Pint
Village Pub

Day 541

2010-08-18T08:39:00.000-07:00

Started my list to submit The Kiwi Cafe for review:
The Shepherd Express
The Isthmus (Madison)
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (Cue Section)
Third Coast Digest (online)
Milwaukee Magazine
Riverwest Currents
UWM Post
Marquette Tribune
(Network: Hayden House of Healing)

National Publications:
Filer Magazine
Blurt Magazine
Spin (Indie releases section)
Rolling Stone (Indie releases section)

VCT: Lilly's (Chicago)
Rock Island Cafe (Neenah, WI)

Day 539

2010-08-16T14:10:00.000-07:00

Post #28 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE: Making a Living as a Successful Toruing Singer/Songwriter
"I promise to post blogs here, sharing some daily activities & the work I do to achieve my career goals, and when I do win that Grammy, YOU can say you followed me all the way! I also hope to give inspiration, information, & advice to indie artists, and I hope you take a little something away with you when you read my posts, whether or not you are yourself an artist!"

If you ever have ANYTHING you'd like to respond to in my blog, PLEASE find me at http://AnnieBMusic.com
THANKS!!!

There is a really cool online community of female artists called GoGirls Music. They have a yahoo group and one of the posts was: "Acoustic tour advice". I figured, "I can offer a lot of good advice.... I think I'll respond to this."

I am also posting it here in case you are interested in finding out more about how I got to where I am today. This would be of particular interest to you if you are thinking about going on tour as a solo artist yourself! I hope you enjoy, and pass it on to a friend who is a singer/songwriter!!!

I have added two things to this list... in the DON'Ts list... the last two were added as I posted it to my blog here.

HERE WE GO:

I lived in my car for a year in 2006 and that's when I and learned how to make a living playing music... on the road. And now I make a living playing mostly in WI & Northern IL. The first time you do it, just plan ahead as many dates as you can, and DON'T be afraid to call venues a few days before or even the DAY OF your arrival in any given town.

DO:

1. Learn plenty of cover songs in addition to REALLY OWNING your originals... have as much music to perform as possible. I've already had a guy give me a $100 tip to "Keep playing" after I had played for 4 hours that evening.... he just got there and wanted me to keep going with the live music. I played for 2 more hours, playing every single song I knew that evening, only repeating about 3 or 4 songs. After tips & CD sales, I made about $300 that night. People who you play for your first time out will not be familiar with your originals, so you need to entice them with some covers that will blend in with your originals. They will put money in your tip jar asking for a certain song or a certain artist, and if you can "sell them" a different song from that artist, or a song from a similar artist, they'll be happy.

2. THIS IS HUGE, ESPECIALLY FOR YOUR FIRST TIME OUT: DO NOT rely on making money in big cities or even medium-sized towns. Stay with the small towns to rely on making money... bars & restaurants in these towns will most likely NOT already have music booked, and they are much happier to have you come down and play, and they might even pay you if you end up keeping people there who would not normally hang out late. They might just do it for the heck of it, since many bar owners are often open to trying something new, or they like to help the "little guy" since they are one of the "little guys". If you call a bar/restaurant (non-corporate... avoid Applebees and the like, of course!) in a small town, you're more likely to get the owner or the manager who can make that decision last-minute.... making it easier for you to get last-minute gigs. DO play some opening slots in big cities but do not expect to make much money. It's good exposure, though, to play a reputable venue in a big city, so find a good BALANCE between money-making gigs, and "exposure" gigs.

3. Book as many gigs as you possibly can while you're "on tour", leaving zero to to two nights off per week. This will keep you MOTIVATED to make some more calls that next morning when you wake up.

4. When booking, ask the bar owner if you can crash on one of the bartenders' couches. More than likely, they will be able to hook you up (and may feel especially obligated if you are playing for tips only). I can't tell you how many perfect strangers' couches I have slept on and was treated like gold, sometimes even the bar owner, but usually someone who worked at the bar... these people are trustworthy, or the bar owner would not have hooked you up to crash with them.

5. DO NOT BE AFRAID to HUSTLE THE CRAP OUT OF YOUR CDs AND YOUR TIP JAR (if the bar owner does not mind)!!!!!!!! This saved my ass.... I went up to every single person during my break and told them, "I'm working for tips tonight... I'm worth a buck, right???" Or, "You are REALLY gonna love my CD... I promise... it's just like what you've been listening to tonight!" VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION = Artists at the level we are at will sell most of their CDs at live shows, NOT online, NOT in record stores, and NOT out of their trunks, unless you're a hip-hop artist. My band in Los Angeles sold less than 100 CDs in 2005 (when our CD came out), and when I left L.A. to live out on the road, I sold the rest of those 800+ CDs (we gave lots away for promotional purposes, but I had about 800 left when I left to hit the road in 2006) in about 15 months. At $10 per CD, that's $8,000+ in 15 months = $533+ per month in CD sales alone. My mistake is that I did not re-order more CDs when I sold out. I could have easily made another $10,000 in another year.

6. The more merch you have to sell = THE MORE MERCH YOU WILL SELL. Purchases of CDs or other merch from the person playing at the bar/festival/restaurant/coffeehouse are ALWAYS IMPULSE purchases. This means they like you, and they want to have something to remember you by, and it's kind of on a whim. If you have a CD, they may or may not buy it, depending on if they want to spend that extra $10 they may need for beer. If you have CHOICES for them, they feel like they're "going shopping" (which is soooooooo much for fun, especially for girls.... we LOVE to shop) like a keychain for $2, a sticker for $1, or even a Tshirt for $15 or ball cap for $20 (in addition to those CDs,) they might just buy that $15 Tshirt instead of your CD (which is fine... take it!), OR you can do a special deal... CDs are $10 but a CD AND A Tshirt is $20........... get it? Or, with any purchase, you'll get a free sticker!!!!

7. BE SURE to be a part of the CDBaby Credit Card Swiper Program, so you can accept credit cards!!!!!!!!! YOU WILL SELL MORE IF YOU CAN TAKE CREDIT CARDS. I have found that about 1/10 of every credit card sale does not go through. This is due to the fact that you cannot actually run the card at the time of purchase... you have to mail in the carbon slip to CDBaby and track the sale on CDBaby. If you do not have your CDs for sale on CDBaby, you are MISSING OUT ON A LOT OF TOOLS to help you. GO TO: http://cdbaby.net and get your CD on there!!!!!

8. CREATE An 8 1/2 x 11 POSTER on your photo editing software on your computer for EVERY GIG and e-mail it to the talent buyer (owner/manager) and ask him/her to post it as far ahead of time as possible. Even if you book something the day before... it might spark the interest of a few of the patrons who go there every day after work.

9. Bring a pillow and blanket for those "sleep in your car" nights. Investigate where to stay, like truck stops that are OPEN & LIGHTED all night long. DO NOT STAY IN REST AREAS... THEY ARE UNSAFE. You should take the key out of your ignition since it's actually illegal to have your key in your ignition, or be sitting in the driver's seat (even with no key in the ignition) if you are sleeping in your car.

10. Eliminate bringing a huge P.A.... you can easily get away with a head and two speakers for almost any venue. I rarely use monitors. Those new BOSE towers are really nice and easily portable. MAKE THE INVESTMENT FOR SMALLER/LIGHTER EQUIPMENT NOW. YOU WILL MAKE YOUR MONEY BACK IF YOU WORK AT IT, and you will save your back, and LOTS of gas money, by avoiding using a trailer. Get good at "playing Tetris" in the packing your gear. Invest in those wonderful bags for your stands... they will make all your gigs and your life so much easier!

11. EAT AS HEALTHY AS YOU CAN. Bring a small cooler and stock it with tortillas, cold cuts, and cheese. You'll save $$$ on food, you'll eat healthier, and YOU'LL FEEL BETTER! Grab an apple, banana, and orange at the truck stop rather than a Snickers bar & a bag of chips. Look for the package of 2 Pop Tarts, the Nature Valley Granola bars, the vanilla ice cream bar, instead of the cookies or M&Ms. They have fruit at lots of gas stations, believe it or not!

12. KEEP A RUNNING DATABASE of ALL venues contacted, all communications & dates of communications, all agreements and dates booked, guarantees paid, tips made, CD/other merch sales, and contact people's names/phone numbers/e-mails addresses.

13. JUST LIKE YOU HUSTLE CDs & merch, HUSTLE to collect e-mail addresses of every person in that bar. Keep a good list of e-mail contacts according to city.

14. BE SURE TO ASK THE TALENT BUYER/OWNER: Can I have a tip jar? Do you mind if I go table-to-table during my breaks to collect e-mail addresses and tell people about my CDs? If you prefer I don't, do you mind if I leave a card on every table asking people to fill out their e-mail address? GET A BOX OF THOSE LITTLE GOLF PENCILS and create cards to put on every table for every gig, even if you end up going table-to-table. BUT ALWAYS ASK THE BAR OWNER/MAGANER permission for anything you want to sell or do in addition to performing at their venue.

15. NETWORK WITH OTHER BANDS/ARTISTS!!!!!!! This will help you in finding a place to crash, in getting a better gig in that town, and in getting people to that gig! Gig-swapping is HUGE and a great way to build your fanbase... when you open for a band/artist in their town, they are more likely to tell their friends & fans about you. BE SURE to do the same for them when they are ready to play a gig in YOUR town.

16. Bring your computer and make sure you have somewhere to log on every day... there's so many free wi-fi spots even in small towns, you should be able to log on every day... check your e-mail to make sure your poster went through, book another gig for those open slots you still have in your schedule, log on to FACEBOOK and create an event page for EVERY GIG, and invite your friend(s) who live in that area and ASK THEM TO INVITE ALL THEIR FRIENDS!!!!!!!! KEEP EVERYONE ON A LIST on Facebook, according to what city/town (or state?) they live in.

DON'TS:

1. DON'T invite all your Facebook friends to all your gigs while on tour, asking them to invite their friends who live in those cities. They will stop opening your invites.

2. DON'T set yourself up to have to drive more than 6 hours in one day, unless you DO NOT have a gig that night. It will exhaust you and you will not be able to perform at your best that night.

3. DON'T be afraid to call and ask to play at a bar at the last minute. Call & ask for the owner or manager and WITH A POSITIVE ATTITUDE, tell them you're traveling and you have an opening, and you'd rather work for tips than not work at all.

4. DON'T get offended when someone turns you down for a gig. BE POLITE and tell them you appreciate their time & consideration, and maybe you can work something out next time you are in town.

5. DON'T get drunk every night after or during (or especially, before) your gigs!!! This will KILL you and you might even end up canceling gigs due to your hangovers!!!

6. If this is your first tour, DON'T ASSUME YOU ARE AN ARTIST WHO IS TOUR-READY. Prepare for this tour physically... if you are a singer, your body & your vocal cords are your instruments, and you need to TAKE VERY GOOD CARE OF THEM!! You will find that unless you are used to performing 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 nights in a row, your voice will get tired very quickly unless you have learned how to sing properly for hours, and for several days in a row. The best advice I have for someone who's never done it before is to start small... start with no more than 3 gigs in a row, no more than 2-3 hours per night, and then have a night off. You will learn what your limitations are, and you will learn what to do and what not to do (like drinking heavily at gigs!) as you go. I also advise that your learn how to strengthen your voice with voice lessons. Take some voice lessons before your tour, and spend good money for the RIGHT vocal coach for YOU. Many voice teachers don't tour, they teach a few days per week, and they can't advise you on how to strengthen your voice so it's tour-ready. Look for a voice teacher that can advise you on how to become tour-ready. This is KEY to the success of your tour. You want to KICK ASS every night of your tour. You don't want your voice to be weak, you want it to be STRONG at every gig, for the duration of the entire evening. I've had pop, blues & jazz, and operatic vocal instruction, and the operatic training was the best instruction for vocal strengthening, in my experience. Opera singers need to be able to sing with amazing power & endurance, or they don't make the cut. The best rock singers have had operatic training, including Pat Benatar, Ann Wilson, and Steve Perry.

I hope that helps!!!!!!!!!!

PLEASE feel free to visit my blog to find out more about my experiences MAKING A LIVING AS A SINGER/SONGWRITER: http://anniebmusic.com/category/blog/page/3/ - - Scroll down to the bottom and start with "DAY 1" and read on until you just don't want to read anymore!!!

I learned how to make a living as a singer/songwriter in 2006, when I left L.A. to live in my car, and I did that for about a year. I then moved to Austin, TX, and still traveled/toured a lot, then back to my hometown of Milwaukee, WI in 2008 when my mom went into the hospital. Now that it's been 4 years, I still schedule a tour about once a year, and I've built up a good database of gigs that pay well, and a whole lot of other contacts and opportunities for future tours.

I still make a living as a singer/songwriter today, and my current goals for this year are to (1) make a BETTER living as a singer/songwriter, and (2) to get more recognition as an original artist and to sell more CDs and get better gigs opening for bigger acts.

My name is Annie B.
Thanks for reading, and ENJOY THE JOURNEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:)
Annie B.

Day 536

2010-08-13T15:33:00.000-07:00

Post #27 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE
"I promise to post blogs here, sharing some daily activities & the work I do to achieve my career goals, and when I do win that Grammy, YOU can say you followed me all the way! I also hope to give inspiration, information, & advice to indie artists, and I hope you take a little something away with you when you read my posts, whether or not you are yourself an artist!"

If you ever have ANYTHING you'd like to respond to in my blog, PLEASE find me at http://AnnieBMusic.com
THANKS!!!

Well, today was another hard day. I got some cards & other stuff in the mail from people sending condolences. One letter was from another Marine, he sent a bunch of articles and poems about the Marines. I started to cry. I am finishing up with all those and will make copies for my family.

It's hard for me to move forward right now... I am feeling kind of stuck... kind of numb, kind of overwhelmed by it all. I have not been to check e-mail for at least a week. Somehow, I got lucky and decided to check my MySpace messages today. I got offered 2 gigs at a venue which is new to me: Magellan's in Waukesha. This girl Stacey used to work at the Coach House and she sent me a MySpace message looking to hire me. I called her we we booked a date in Oct. & one in Nov. I also got a call today from Dee of Almost Famous Booking. She secured a date for me at a place called Towne Square in Trevor, WI. I'm so thankful that I am reaching that point where people are contacting me for gigs and I don't have to bust my ass 8-10 hours a day looking for new venues & contacting old ones, although I really should spend at least an hour or two per day on that. There's plenty of venues that would be new & plenty return venues I would do well at. Like Walker's Pint, Sammy's in East Troy, and lots of others.

I have decided to cancel the Artbeat show in October. I have too much administrative stuff on my plate right now and not enough music-making. Besides the fact that I am dealing with my dad's passing and everything that goes along with that.

I can't remember when is the last time I added a new song to my set... Maybe "I Still Got My Guitar" but that's kind of a novelty song. I keep having songs come to me, and I do what I can to get them recorded in some fashion, but there's too much music coming to me, and not enough follow-through in making these new song ideas into complete songs. I bought a new loop station and have not had a chance to open the box! It's awful, how I have been busting my ass doing all this promotion and networking and poster-making and I still feel like I'm not where I want to me. Is it just a matter of time? I am so thankful that Vic Thomas called me two days ago to offer me a gig at the Bay View Bash. I am sooooooo excited about that... I will play with my new trio, all original music! But I do need to push for new songs. I do need to push for more of a "WOW" effect when I play a show. I feel that I am capable of so much more, but I have not had the time to develop it.

Maybe it's time for me to re-group. I think I need to put all my Artbeat stuff aside right now and get back into my career as an artist. I am a singer/songwriter first & foremost. I am a promoter and a producer of shows secondarily. I need to remember that. Artbeat will be on temporary hiatus until the beginning of next year. I will need to find the perfect balance to make it all happen properly next year; I cannot go on doing how I'm doing things right now. There is something crucial missing in my life right now.

I got a reading from Barbara Kruck at Artbeat in the Heat, and she told me some very interesting things. The main message is that I am on two (or more?) divergent paths right now. She said it's not necessarily a bad thing, but these paths are definitely divergent. I believe that my efforts as a promoter and event planner has taken away from my growth as an artist, and I need to return to my path as an artist.

Sure, I still have spend at least 5-10 hours/week on booking, making posters, and promoting my shows, but perhaps I need to scale it back so it's all about my music right now. More songwriting and rehearsals, more practice and learning how to use that loop station, more vocal exercises and guitar lessons.

I remember when I lived in L.A., I once waited on Helen Hunt... one of my favorite actresses. After she finished her dinner and walked out the door, I thought to myself, "You idiot! Ask her that one question you need to ask her right now, before she gets into the car & drives off and you never get this opportunity again!"

So, I chased her out there, thankful that she was waiting on the porch at the front doors, and I said, "Hey, Helen, I just love your work! I'm so glad I got the chance to wait on you! But I have to ask: If you were asked by people struggling in the business what is the ONE most important thing or key to success... what would you tell them?"

Her answer made SO much sense: "I'd tell them to study, and then study some more, and then go on auditions, and then study some more and study more after that... go on more auditions, and keep studying until you just hate it. And then study some more."

"Thank you!" I said, so excited that her answer applies to artists of every kind. The answer "Hone your craft" is so obvious, but so ignored by so many, including myself.

I've bumped into Jeff Goldblum in the coffeehouse parking lot, I've waited on MY FAVORITE Kurt Russell, Brooke Shields ate at that same restaurant, hell, I hung out with Dave Grohl at Paladino's in the San Fernando Valley and I've spent the whole night drinking with MY VERY FAVORITE Kiefer Sutherland at Joya in Beverly Hills (I have his cell #!!!) But I never asked their advice about how to "make it"!

I have read plenty of books and stuff online, I've gone to seminars and conferences and workshops and all sorts of crap, but getting advice from someone who I admire so much has more of an impact. So many of these "experts" at these conferences really don't know much of anything. There are true experts, but many of these people aren't telling you anything that will really increase your chances of success. They did a big study on this, which I told you about back in October or November of last year. They tell you how to promote, they tell you how to network and you can be taught how to get gigs, but the one thing that will allow you to stand out is if you are BETTER THAN THE REST. And really, there are only two ways to become better than the rest... you are either born with some amazing God-given talents, or you work hard at it for a long time and you continue to work at it every day.

That's my new success strategy. Vocal exercises every day. More guitar lessons. Time writing songs and learning new techniques for songwriting and better playing. I just changed my strings for yesterday's gig. Now is a really good time to find my way down that path.

:)
Annie

Day 534

2010-08-11T20:48:00.001-07:00

My dad passed away last Thursday. Dad was a victim of Alzheimer's disease. The hardest part was watching him get confused, angry, irritable, paranoid, and when my mom told me she heard him crying saying, "What's happening to me?" He knew his mind was not right and he could do nothing about it. Eventually, and he did not open his eyes much, and he had to be spoon-fed pureed foods and encouraged to drink liquids. He did have a good spell about a month ago... but you could tell he sometimes had a hard time finding the words he wanted to say. That last time we saw him, he was asking to go out to a restaurant for lunch, or go for a picnic outside. I thought he was making a turn for the better.

The nursing staff thinks he had a stroke on Thursday morning last week and when they could see he might not survive very late into the day, they called me & my sister and we called the rest of my family and we stayed with him all afternoon/evening. He was unable to speak, and I don't know if he could see me (his eyes were sometimes open on that last day, but they did not seem able to focus). When the nurse said she was going to wash him up and maybe we should get a bite to eat, we left only to get a phone call before we sat down at the restaurant. The nurse told us to get back there asap. He may have passed away before we all got a chance to say "Goodbye." When I told him I loved him, it seemed like there was just oxygen coming out of the tube... he did not seem to be breathing anymore. I am thankful that I was able to sit right next to him, very close to him all afternoon long, and I held his hand and talked to him about the family members there who came to visit him, and about the rosary that the nurse put into his hand (it was blessed by the Pope). There was a chaplain who gave him his last rites before I got there, and the chaplain returned after my dad passed away, to say a bible passage for the family.

It was so sad to see him suffer. It was the hardest thing I've ever witnessed in my life. I wish I could have cared for him myself, since it was difficult to leave him every time I visited. The hardest day of my life was either the day my dad died, or the day I first moved him into the first nursing home (of two). That was also extremely difficult, because my dad knew he did not want to move there, but he knew he had to. I told my family I'd be willing to take care of my parents, but my brother and sisters talked me out of it... they said it would be too difficult for me emotionally and for my own sanity, and I'm sure they were right. Thank goodness his first move into the nursing home was into the facility where my mom was, and the staff was able to get them into a room together after about 30 days. At least he was not being moved into some place with nothing but strangers. That happened later... also a very difficult & sad day for me.

Well, I can say that these last 2 1/2 years of my life have been difficult, but also I am really glad I was able to help out. My dad's care was of the highest level, especially at this last facility he was living in. He lived there for about 9 months, and they were awesome. (The first nursing home my parents lived in was not so great, but I was there as an advocate for every issue that had to be dealt with... getting the heat turned up, getting my mom's medication when they seemed to "run out"... it was pretty pathetic and I was sooooo glad when we were ale to move them outta there.)

Anyhow, I am very sad because my dad went through some suffering, and no one deserves to go through the pain that one goes through with Alzheimer's. My mom witnessed a lot of it, and I am sad that she suffered as well. I guess you could say that Dad is now in a better place, but that does not make it all go away. It makes me want to do something to help other families who deal with the disease. I joined the Memory Walk... there is one in Milwaukee on Oct. 2nd. I have a page of my own as a person doing the Walk: http://Memorywalk2010.kintera.org/milwaukee/annieb

If you want to donate, that would be appreciated by myself, my family, and others who are dealing with, or have dealt with, the disease. I just think it's a tragedy and I wish there was more I could do. If I could just get all of my 908 Facebook friends to donate $5 apiece, I could raise $4,540 towards Alzheimer's research!

I guess you don't know what a tragedy it is until you know someone DIRECTLY affected by it. I am doing okay, for right now. I might start crying again later on or tomorrow, or maybe in a few days but it comes & goes.

Day 507

2010-07-15T11:04:00.001-07:00

Post #25 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE: "A Day in the Life"
"I promise to post blogs here, sharing some daily activities & the work I do to achieve my career goals, and when I do win that Grammy, YOU can say you followed me all the way! I also hope to give inspiration, information, & advice to indie artists, and I hope you take a little something away with you when you read my posts, whether or not you are yourself an artist!"

If you ever have ANYTHING you'd like to respond to in my blog, PLEASE find me at Facebook.com/AnnieBMusic
THANKS!!!

So far it has been a good day. I am way, way behind on all things Artbeat, but I am moving forward nonetheless. Just confirmed the face-painter, Indie LaLonde, and the boys from D.C. Monroe are donating face-painting supplies. Working on having Artbeat in the Heat posted on the Volunteer Center of Milwaukee's website so we can hopefully recruit some good folks. You can have a free 6-month trial on thier site if you are a certified non-profit (I am still working on the LONG application for Artbeat)! The YWCA is the 501(c)3 we are working with, so I just left a message for Jeanette at the Y to see if she can create the event page there to start recruiting volunteers. She & the Y have been pretty amazing to work with!!!

Still recruiting artists/artisans who might like to have an Artbeat in the Heat booth as well.

Last week, Sarah Horvat invited me to the Spreenkler meeting and I got a chance to meet Steve Glynn (head honcho of Spreenkler) who also happens to be involved with Danny Gokey's foundation Sophia's Heart. I'd LOVE to have the youth choir who performed with Danny at Summerfest also perform at Artbeat in the Heat. I left him a message yesterday... wish me luck! Also at the Spreenkler meeting, I met Sarah Patterson at True Skool. True Skool works with kids who enjoy the hip-hop culture, and they provide creative & productive ways for these kids to perform & create art, such as breakdancing, graffiti art, music, and other cool stuff! Hoping to get some of the True Skool kids in Artbeat in the Heat as well! Then I also met LaDonna Leazer with B.E.A.M. (Business and Economics Academy of Milwaukee). They work with kids to create art and I think we'll be able to have a booth that will feature some of their work (ceramics & photography). They graced me with a beautiful gift... a ceramic bowl made by one of the students! Photo on Facebook to be posted later today!!!!!!!!

Lots more to accomplish today, but I gotta run... I have a 2pm with Chris from Sooper Dooper to pick up my CDs for my CD Release & Website Launch at the Elbo Room tomorrow night!!!!!!!!!

Oh, and also I have to day, Heather Acton is doing an AMAZING job with all my websites!!!!!!!

Woo-hoo!!!!!
:)
Annie

Day 459

2010-05-28T12:58:00.000-07:00

Post #24 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE: The Importance of COMMUNITY
"I promise to post blogs here, sharing some daily activities & the work I do to achieve my career goals, and when I do win that Grammy, YOU can say you followed me all the way! I also hope to give inspiration, information, & advice to indie artists, and I hope you take a little something away with you when you read my posts, whether or not you are yourself an artist!"

If you ever have ANYTHING you'd like to respond to in my blog, PLEASE find me at Facebook.com/AnnieBMusic
THANKS!!!

Today I am so excited - getting a lot accomplished!! Got a drum kit secured for Artbeat In The Heat, secured the Jeanna Salzer Band for the show & the compilation CD, and got some leads on a sound guy. Also, will be checking out a band called I'm Not A Pilot tonight at Linneman's, then it's a going-away party for a friend & loyal Annie B. fan who is moving to China!! Looking forward to a fun-filled night, although I will certainly miss my friend Alon!

Just got off the phone with the Sunset Playhouse, they sound like a fantastic venue for my CD release party, with seating from 80-150 in their studio theater. And they also have a kitchen (but don't serve/sell their own food)... we'd be able to bring in appetizers. It should be lots of fun. Will be checking out more venues soon.

As I was talking with J. Christopher Hughes at the studio yesterday, the point came up about how an artist he used to work with (a hip-hop guy) was able to sell 1000 CDs from "the back of his car" in just a few months. We were talking about how many of the artists who make the most money are actually not very well-known, but underground artists, who are working on creating their own success, NOT relying on labels. Then he also brought up the jam bands, and how they are also very successful on their own, with no label support. This got me to thinking, what's different about the hip-hop world and the jam bands that they have sort of a built-in means to success? What they have is something that some other music communities don't have (except the punk scene, for sure): A real sense of community that seems to go hand-in-hand with that genre. These people hang out with each other and become friends with their fans. It's certainly got to be a huge factor in how successful they are. So it's now got me thinking... I've got this new idea on an artist/fan collective, where there are events that really involve the fans, and it becomes more of a community, and it's also artists who agree to promote each other. They try to play shows together, and they share their mailing lists with the whole group. I would have to put some thought into this, but I want to start up a little group of bands who are like-minded who want to be a part of something like this, and track the success of each band involved. It would be a little experiment, and if it works, how cool would that be?

Wanted to work on the poster today too... those need to go up this weekend but Kevan at Clark Graphics is not back in until Monday.

Tomorrow is Lisa's Lakefront Splash - looking very forward to that! I hope it's not too windy!!!!!!! The wind was not good to me when I played outside at Starbuck's two weeks ago!!!

I have to be up early to take my Mom to the clinic... she needs some antibiotics, and that's at 8am tomorrow morning!!!

Just got off the phone with the Sunset Playhouse, they sound like a fantastic venue for my CD release party, with seating from 80-150 in their studio theater. And they also have a kitchen (but don't serve/sell their own food)... we'd be able to bring in appetizers. It should be lots of fun. Will be checking out more venues soon.

Hope you have a spectacular Memorial Day Weekend!!!!!!!!!
:)
A

Day 454

2010-05-23T22:31:00.000-07:00

Post #23 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE
"I promise to post blogs here, sharing some daily activities & the work I do to achieve my career goals, and when I do win that Grammy, YOU can say you followed me all the way! I also hope to give inspiration, information, & advice to indie artists, and I hope you take a little something away with you when you read my posts, whether or not you are yourself an artist!"

If you ever have ANYTHING you'd like to respond to in my blog, PLEASE find me at Facebook.com/AnnieBMusic
THANKS!!!

Well, these last few weeks have been interesting! For my Linneman's show on May 14th, I was hoping to get more friends out, but I was very happy that morning when VIC THOMAS (yes, Vic Thomas from Summerfest) actually called me, letting me know he's heard good things about me & he'd try to make it out to Linneman's to see me! I was surprised to get a call from him, but I also found out that some friends of mine are friends with him, and they had some very nice things to say to Vic about me the Thursday night before my show. Thanks, guys!!!! It turns out I did not see Vic at my show, but that does not mean he did not make it out (it's a very dark venue inside)!

Anyhoo, my schedule has changed... I am now looking to have my website launch party in July at the Elbo Room, and a CD Release party in Sept., maybe. I am scheduled to get back into the studio to work on the bass track for The Kiwi Cafe (title track) this Thursday. We started tracking bass about 10 days ago, and will hopefully finish editing on Thursday.

In another area of my life, I visited my Dad today (he has Alzheimer's) and he is not doing the greatest. I can tell he has lost weight but he can still converse with me. I hope to visit him a few times a week these days, rather than once a week or so. I have a picture of him on my dresser from when he was in high school... he was quite the handsome guy. And no, I'm not just saying that because he's my Pop.

Life is short, that's for sure. I know my Pop always wanted to be a famous actor. When I lived in Hollywood, he used to tell me about his trip to Hollywood when he was down there in So Cali (probably training in boot camp)... he went to the Brown Derby and the owner there said my Pop should go back to the Derby after the war to become a famous actor. My Pop used to tell me all the time, "Go find that guy at the Brown Derby (which is how just "The Derby") and tell him you're my daughter.... he'll remember me!" I guess I have always been a lot like my Pop... a person with some big dreams! Although I also think my Pop should have been a drummer... When I was a little girl, my family used to all eat dinner together at the dining room table at least once a week, & he used to do paradiddles at the kitchen table with his utensils... topped off with a couple of tasty drum fills on his milk glass and dinner plate. That's my Pop.... generally a happy guy, often in a sing-songy mood, but with a little Archie Bunker mixed in for good measure.

This should be a busy week. Last week, Sig (from the Hide House) and I met with Alderman Zielinski to get his blessing for ARTBEAT IN THE HEAT happening on July 31st in the Hide House parking lot! Need to get to the Licensing Division this week and talk to the guy about all the permits we'll need. Artbeat Board Meeting tomorrow night, and I need to rehearse with Eroc & meet with Heather Acton (website developer) on Tuesday if possible. Wed. is a day I can hopefully get caught up on e-mail & FB (over 100 friend requests that I am trying to answer, sorry I have been sooooooooo behind)!! Wed. night is our last JustFaith meeting, Thursday is my first "Afterwaterfest" gig in Oshkosh, and then we're already into Memorial Day weekend! The following weekend is the big Unnatural Act: Milwaukee debut at RipTide!!! Totally excited about that! We have to really spread the word - Lisa's List is helping get the word out on that one!!! Thanks, Lisa!!!

Hope you have a fabulous week. Peace & Harmony,
Annie B.

Day 423

2010-04-27T21:15:00.000-07:00

Post #22: 'Making it through this week' : ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE
"I promise to post blogs here, sharing some daily activities & the work I do to achieve my career goals, and when I do win that Grammy, YOU can say you followed me all the way! I also hope to give inspiration, information, & advice to indie artists, and I hope you take a little something away with you when you read my posts, whether or not you are yourself an artist!"

If you ever have ANYTHING you'd like to respond to in my blog, PLEASE find me at Facebook.com/AnnieBMusic
THANKS!!!

Milwaukee Artbeat's One Year Anniversary is Friday. Thanks to all the amazing board members, I did not have to do almost everything by myself this time!!! We'll have a raffle, a silent auction, and a salsa dance lesson! These are all new since the last Artbeat. But I am STILL sick this week (I usually get sick the week of, or the week after Artbeat, due to all the stress of all the extra activity)!!!! But the fact of the matter is that there are almost 11,000 kinds in 30 MPS schools who have NO ART classes in their schools, & I want to change that!!!!

Good news = There will be an article online about Artbeat in the Shepherd Express, and in the Third Coast Digest - YAY!!! Plus I'll be on 91.7 WMSE on Thursday at 2! Totally cool!!!

Anyhoo, I am still working on getting my original music gigs too... I have been trying to get a hold of the Alchemist Theater for my CD release party. Thinking that June might be a good time for the CD release party, hoping I do not conflict with festivals. The website launch will be September maybe?

Too many tasks for one person... do I get an intern? To come to my house? Is that safe? Not sure... I guess I'd have to talk with Mike about that. I could really use one.

How to prioritize & balance everything - that's the big question. I know I am looking for more ORIGINAL music gigs right now, and that's been a nice change in direction. More soliciting for gigs, and less pay at first. But now I might be able to put together a promotional budget. Getting enough work these days to actually have the ability to put something back & start re-investing in my career. I'll totally have to remember to contact the Bay View Compass about my CD release since I want to do it in Bay View. Plus, getting posters up all over town for shows such as the Art Bar, etc., would have been a good idea. Street team... must do!!! But Don (Art Bar owner) estimated I had 80 people to see me at the Art Bar... was that mostly online/Facebook promotion, or what? I wish I knew!!! I guess my Linneman's show on May 14th & Elbo Room show on June 16 will be a good thing to start promoting right now!!!

Must get started on that Artbeat program... that's always plenty of work. Since I am a perfectionist... UGH!

Have a great evening, and send good vibes so I get better and my health is back to 100% by tomorrow!!!!!
Peace & Harmony!!

Day 416

2010-04-20T19:47:00.001-07:00

Post #21: 'COVERS VS. ORIGINALS: LIVING YOUR LIFE TO CREATE YOUR LIFE THE WAY YOU WANT IT' of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE
"I promise to post blogs here, sharing some daily activities & the work I do to achieve my career goals, and when I do win that Grammy, YOU can say you followed me all the way! I also hope to give inspiration, information, & advice to indie artists, and I hope you take a little something away with you when you read my posts, whether or not you are yourself an artist!"

If you ever have ANYTHING you'd like to respond to in my blog, PLEASE find me at Facebook.com/AnnieBMusic
THANKS!!!

Well, it's a question that all original artists have. Do you play covers, or do you not? Plenty of us have to play cover gigs to pay the bills. We play hits on the radio, learn those songs from other artists, and we play the ones that we do well, since lots of bars that hire bands & musical entertainers cater to people who want to hear their favorite songs.... the radio hits. They can be from Frank Sinatra or from Lady GaGa. Either way, it's not a song written by the artist up there on stage. And I know some venues that will not book you again if you play "too many originals". But let's face it: We are never going to "make it" by playing covers. We need to get out there and push those original songs, we need to get our original music out there consistently and regularly growing a bigger fanbase with every show. In most venues, you can get away with playing one to four original songs in a whole night. You "sneak them in". Or, you just decide that you are not going to play cover gigs, and then you have to find another "day job" (which is what I call cover gigs.... that's my "day job")! Thank goodness I can make a living as a "live music entertainer" (but I am moving towards making my living as an artist, which is someone who plays their own music)! Granted, at this point, it's mostly cover gigs that pay my bills. But I am on a mission to earn my living with my original songs, making money at "original music venues", selling CDs and merch. So, how can that be done???

I guess the first thing we need to do is start looking for those venues, and start booking enough cover gigs to allow us to take a Friday night "off" and play a gig at an original music venue... where we won't make the same kind of money, if we make anything at all! But then, let's NOT PUT THAT OUT THERE! We have to start looking for our target audience at the right venues... it is here that we will find people who WANT to discover new artists, who will buy our CDs & Tshirts, and who will tell their friends about you!

Although, we might be better off just booking original gigs on Sunday/Monday/Tue. nights... since those are the nights that the club does not usually expect to have a big crowd of people who want to hear their favorite radio hits. I just e-mailed the Elbo Room in Chicago - I have played there before with Sparklepussy and am looking for some opening gigs as a solo artist. They should be able to offer me some dates. I also just e-mailed a venue in Madison.

So, the goal is to keep contacting venues until you get a substantial amount of dates lined up with your original music, and hopefully you will be asked back and can start building a regular following as an original artist.

It's hard to find that balance, though. As an original artist, you will not make the same kind of money until you have been doing it and returning to those venues for a year or more. It takes time and patience, which most of us do not have! I was just reading a book about building your audience, and the author recommends the artist hangs out at the venue where they want to play for a month or two, offer to play for free on a weeknight, and then work your ass off for weeks to promote the show to fill the joint and get a great review. Well, that sounds like a great plan on paper, but actually doing it would be frustrating. How can you put so much energy into ONE show, and expect to feel like you are accomplishing your goals? There HAS to be a better way.

We must actively create that perfect situation where we are making enough money playing original music to pay the bills and also have enough to keep getting back into the studio to record new CDs, etc, etc. That requires us to travel. You can't keep playing the same market an expect people to come out to your shows if you are playing every week. You must make your shows a big deal, and they must be sparse enough to compel people to come out when you do have a show, since they might not get a chance to see you again for 2 or 3 months or more.

Well, now at least we have a plan. I'll let you know how it goes with me! Anyone who can suggest a venue in SE Wisconsin or Northern IL, even as far as Dubuque, IA, PLEASE e-mail me at AnnieBBaby at gmail dot com!

Thanks!!!

Day 362

2010-02-17T11:31:00.000-08:00

Post #20: 'THOUGHTS OF AN INDIE ARTIST ON THE RADIO TAX BILL' of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE
"I promise to post blogs here, sharing some daily activities & the work I do to achieve my career goals, and when I do win that Grammy, YOU can say you followed me all the way! I also hope to give inspiration, information, & advice to indie artists, and I hope you take a little something away with you when you read my posts, whether or not you are yourself an artist!"

If you ever have ANYTHING you'd like to respond to in my blog, PLEASE e-mail me at: RespondToAnniesBlog at gmail dot com
THANKS!!!

Day 362
You've heard the commercial, right? Talking about how everyone wants a new bailout and this is one that's going to only put money into the pockets of "people who don't need it... big record companies, most of which are overseas."

Hopefully you have at least heard about the Radio Performance Tax bill going through Congress right now, and most of your corporate radio stations & conservative groups are saying, "VOTE NO - it will only put more money into the pockets of big record labels, most of which are overseas"

Well, I am here to say "VOTE YES" and I will tell you why I feel that way about it, as an indie artist, and as someone who has worked for an independent radio promoter myself in Los Angeles for 5 years.

First off, let's take a look at the bill.
Here is the summary of the bill:

S.379
Title: A bill to provide fair compensation to artists for use of their sound recordings.
SUMMARY AS OF:
2/4/2009--Introduced.

Performance Rights Act - Amends federal copyright law to: (1) grant performers of sound recordings equal rights to compensation from terrestrial broadcasters; and (2) modify the circumstances under which the public performance of a sound recording is subject to statutory licensing.

Establishes a flat annual fee in lieu of payment of royalties for individual terrestrial broadcast stations with gross revenues of less than $1.25 million and for noncommercial, public broadcast stations. Grants: (1) an exemption from royalty payments for broadcasts of religious services and for incidental uses of musical sound recordings; and (2) terrestrial broadcast stations that make limited feature uses of sound recordings a per program license option.

Prohibits anything in this Act from adversely affecting the public performance rights or royalties payable to songwriters or copyright owners of musical works.

And here is a .PDF file link to the 21-page Text of Legislation:
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:s379rs.txt.pdf

Well, one of the first comments I got on this is from my fried, Tim, lead singer of a great indie band from Madison called Government Zero, he said:
"The problem is that they won't be exempt. Apparently this threatens to bankrupt small stations. Then again, it might get stations to play more local stuff. But let's not hold our breaths. :)"

If you look at the PDF file, you'll see that the stations making $50K or less a year pay an annual fee of $100, and it goes in increments... the stations who make $500K pay an annual fee of $5,000.
Start reading this thing on page 7 and you'll see the numbers in a few pages... here it is again...
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:s379rs.txt.pdf

Well, let's just start by saying: YOU, the listener, won't get taxed. So, I am not so sure it's a bad idea, unless you support the huge radio conglomerates who will get hit the hardest. I am hoping it will be a vehicle for the little radio stations who actually play local artists, to having the playing field leveled a little. Indeed, they will have a small fee to pay, relatively small compared to the royalties the big stations will have to pay. The big stations will probably end up changing formats, becoming even more unpleasant to listen to (playing more of the same 15 songs on the radio, playing more commercials, maybe going down to 10 songs?) losing more & more listeners every day, and eventually having to go off the air. That would be fine with me!

The bad thing is that in the interim, the local businesses will suffer by paying for it (due to higher advertising rates on these big stations), but there are other ways to reach the local public, and hopefully local businesses are ahead of the curve and thinking along those lines right now. Since the internet, marketing can be done for a FRACTION of the price... and I've been doing it for FREE for some time now. Bands started a great trend by showing they could sell out shows by building a huge list of friends on MySpace. Social networking is really the way to go if you are paying attention, people. Now, local businesses are turning to Facebook and other networking sites and I think it's totally cool.

Getting back to the stations: If Clear Channel, Entercom, Bonneville, and all their compadres had to close down or change formats, then that's fine with me. They are in bed with the labels. The labels want this tax. They should have consulted with their bed buddies first, but we all know that big labels are in trouble and that's just fine with me. Looks like they have to take what they can and get a divorce before the radio stations come up with some way to get their money back!

Whatever happened to stories like The Coal Miner's Daughter, who drove around the country with her record and knocked on the doors of the radio stations and once she got them to play it, people loved it? These days, you have a little brother who is cute and can barely play guitar and you have an uncle who works at a big record label and they say, "You two could put out a record and make us millions" and that's exactly what happens... they hire a producer to basically write all the songs and they're off to take over the world. I won't mention what band this is, because you might like them and then get mad at me for dissing them, but do your research on these new bands out there and you'll find out that it's half of them! You should also take a look at the liner notes on the CD and see who recorded the album. I can think of one huge major-label band in particular where the only person who you are listening to on the CD (or on the radio, for that matter,) is the lead singer... all the other musicians were replaced on the CD for hired studio cats. But the band members who are not good enough to be on the record are the ones who go out on tour. And we wonder why some of these major-label bands sound like shit live.

Thank Goodness though, that the whole industry has been changing... since the internet came around and made distribution of records almost completely dispensable... among other things like artists having the ability to record their own music or at least have the ability to pay for it at a good, local studio. Things are changing, and I think it's all moving towards being a better situation for the indies. So, hey, support your local bands! Support them by buying their CDs, going to their shows, buying their Tshirts, hats, and buttons! When you see that sign that says "THINK LOCAL, BUY LOCAL" don't just limit it to the locally-owned restaurant, clothing store, or produce grower.

How about that cool 3/50 Project? You don't know about it? Well, check out this major coolness: http://www.the350project.net/home.html

Yeah, pick 3 local businesses to spend $50 a month at, instead of Wal-Mart (although I am guessing that anyone who's reading my blog does not shop there), Applebee's, and Kinko's, go to the local clothing/gift store (better yet, the cool second-hand store with amazing vintage styles at a GREAT price!), the locally-owned restaurant around the corner, (I'm a HUGE fan of Cafe Centraal on KK in Bay View) and Clark Graphics on Oakland. You can DO IT! And you feel good about it!!!

OK, here's my 3/50 proposal for music fans: Look at your music collection right now... your iPod, your CD collection, your record collection, For every 50 CDs you own that are from bands that are NOT local, or for every 50 songs you have in your iPod that are not local, buy at least 3 CDs or song downloads from local bands today. Hell, you can buy 3 of the same CDs from your favorite local band and give them away as St. Patty's Day presents for all the Irish drunks (just kidding!), birthday presents, Christmas presents, JUST DO IT! Then, start working towards making the ratio closer to 3/5, instead of 3/50. I know it will be hard to get the radio all the way up to 3/5, but work on it! You'd be surprised how much AMAZING local talent there is out there.

Indeed, I have digressed again.

Hopefully, the locally-owned radio stations will not suffer... THEY will hopefully be the ones to benefit, since they won't have to increase their advertising rates like the Clear Channels will have to. Local businesses will stop buying ads on the Clear Channel stations since they can't afford those rates anymore, and they'll buy their ads on the local stations!!! Let's put that out there! Join me on this, people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NOW, the OTHER thing I didn't even mention is that this tax is actually supposed to go to the radio stations to be paid AS ROYALTIES... to who? WHO gets paid royalties??? THE ARTISTS!!! Ok, WHAT IS WRONG WITH THAT????? Do you realize that music is the ONLY art you can enjoy for FREE because there is a thing called the radio, providing you songs for FREE? How many of us as teenagers recorded the songs we liked on the radio on tapes so we didn't have to go out & buy the record? Can you get a sculpture and enjoy it in your own home for FREE? How about a painting? How about a live theater production... are those usually free??? OK, TV is "free" to a certain extent, but we all know how much those actors on TV make!!!!!!

Honestly, I am not really sure that the artists will be collecting all that money (don't trust record labels unless your mom runs it), but that's why I don't choose that as my reason to VOTE YES for the "RADIO TAX" BILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tell your Congressmen!!!!!!!!! Level the playing field for locally-owned & community stations! My hope is that the result will be: Something will HAVE TO HAPPEN to how you learn about new music. Lots of you people right now out there learn about new bands because you hear them on the "Clear Channels"... The new bands who are supported by big labels. They DON'T need your help. Most of them aren't bona fide artists anyway. They're manufactured by the labels. We've already had that conversation.

Tell your Congressmen to vote YES ON THE PERFORMANCE TAX and help artists get paid the royalties they deserve. (The "artists" on the radio who are manufactured won't see any of that money anyway, trust me on that one. The record contracts they sign are not good for them.)

Tell your Congressmen to vote YES ON THE PERFORMANCE TAX and watch the Clear Channels raise their advertising rates, passing that expense on to the buyers, who will start buying elsewhere.

Tell your Congressmen to vote YES ON THE PERFORMANCE TAX and watch local businesses buy less ads on the Clear Channels and more ads on the locally-owned stations and sponsoring more of the community stations like 88.9

Tell your Congressmen to vote YES ON THE PERFORMANCE TAX and take the first step in changing things around here from a controlling class of the wealthy to more of a democracy. This is ONE AREA where we still have control people... WE STILL GET TO CHOOSE which radio stations we listen to. But because the powerful record labels have been controlling what's ON the stations, they are actually shooting themselves in the foot by taxing the vehicle by which they control us: The radio stations. I AM TELLING YOU, LET THEM DO IT... VOTE YES!!!!!

(Why do you think it's only the big "Clear Channels" airing those commercials that "Say NO to the tax"?????? Do the math, people!!!!!!)

(They want to expose us to only THEIR CRAP on the free radio stations, and then they put their own [yes, they are in bed together, people] radio stations out of business? It's wonderful!!!!!!!!!!! The result will inevitably be more cool music for us, less major-label crap for everyone!)

Tell your Congressmen to vote YES ON THE PERFORMANCE TAX and watch the Clear Channels slowly suffer, few will close down, some will change formats, and yes, lots will survive and SUCK even more. (It's okay if they still exist. Let the stupid people continue to listen.)

Tell your Congressmen to vote YES ON THE PERFORMANCE TAX and join smart listeners as we all stop listening to Clear Channel, moving to the 88.9s of the world, the college stations, and the locally-owned commercial stations, who will soon be playing less music from big major labels (they don't want to be taxed for playing those songs from those bands), and more LOCAL MUSIC.

Tell your Congressmen to vote YES ON THE PERFORMANCE TAX!

THINK LOCAL! BUY LOCAL!

WOO-HOO!

As for the tasks I am doing this week: I'm adding this to my schedule: Submitting to at least one new venue every day. If it's just an e-mail, or mailing a whole press kit, I promise to submit to a new venue every day, whether it's for a solo/acoustic act, or for Sparklepussy The Midwest Surfing Cat... One A Day!!!

Day 335

2010-01-26T21:23:00.000-08:00

Post #19 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE "Annie could be the most hard-working woman on the indie music scene today." - George Radai, Deep End Productions. ANNIE: "I promise to post blogs here, sharing some daily activities & the work I do to achieve my career goals, and when I do win that Grammy, YOU can say you followed me all the way! I also hope to give inspiration & advice to indie artists, and I hope you take a little something away with you when you read my posts!"

If you ever have ANYTHING you'd like to respond to in my blog, PLEASE e-mail me at: RespondToAnniesBlog at gmail dot com
THANKS!!!

Day 335
Sorry it's been almost 100 days since my last post! I guess I got pretty busy during the holidays, and now I am in WAY deep with Milwaukee Artbeat (www.MilwaukeeArtbeat.org)!!! Also working on getting my new band, Sparklepussy, into the studio for our first 2-song 'single': "Cat Girl" & "Marigold". My solo/duo/trio projects are still going but we don't have lots of gigs... looking to book more of that stuff since it pays $$$. And my cover band, Unnatural Act, is doing well and we were pretty busy last fall and this last month, but at this time we don't have any shows booked. I told the guys last fall that it might be time to start looking for a new lead singer since I was putting together Sparklepussy at that time, and now we have an AMAZINGLY talented female co-lead Aubrey... I'll keep playing with the guys and Aubrey until I just can't do it anymore. In the meantime, I look forward to some hot chick-rock songs with killer harmonies like "Heartbreaker" to sing with Aubrey - the guys LOVE to hear the two of us rocking out together!

Lisa's Birthday Bash & Charity Event is happening on Feb. 5th and I am involved in production for that show and Sparklepussy's Milwaukee debut performance happens at this event! Woo-hoo!!! Totally busy helping promote that event. I helped set up a radio interview on 3 Entercom stations for this event and it was a great interview. Nice job, Lisa & Chuck!!!

I'm FINALLY getting organized in my office and I got me a dry-erase board, a wet-erase calendar, and it's helping me keep my daily tasks organized. Immediate tasks include: Besides Artbeat, Lisa's Bash, and the single, I gotta call a few booking agents/contacts I met over the last month or so, also working on remedial children records page at Facebook.

I just received in my in-box a "GoGirls Music" yahoo-group post on a Billboard article about how CD sales are going down, down down, as well as digital sales. There was this additional comment about the article:

"One thing that all of the major stars in our business know is that the
bulk of the money that you make as an artist will come from performing, not
music sales."
-MAJOR TOM

Well, I have one thing to say about that:
Indeed, that is why we all need to get out there and PLAY, PLAY, PLAY! Plus, indie artists who are out there making it on their own with no support from a record label sell MOST of their CDs at their shows! Something to keep in mind when you are wondering why the CDs you have placed at the one record store left in town aren't selling. Play in your hometown and then make that drive to play in surrounding towns consistently and you WILL sell more CDs. Because you'll be selling them at all your shows. And don't be afraid to GET OUT THERE during your breaks to get people on your mailing list AND bring a couple of your CDs to each table. People will buy if you make your product known to them. I released a CD with my Los Angeles band SHUT UP MARIE in 2005 and sold less than 100 in the first year because we were only playing 1-2 shows per month. I left town to live on the road, started playing 1-4 shows per week, and sold out the rest of my 800+ CDs in about a year. That's $8000 in CD sales in about a year. Not bad!!!!! And it's not hard if you just get yourself out there. All you have to do is book some shows!

OH, and for those of you who, like me, wanted to know the results of the ARTIST X MUSIC MARKETING PROJECT, the official results can be found at: http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2009/11/indie-artist-x-project-wrap-up.html

The bottom line is: (Quoted from this site): "A solid music marketing plan is certainly helpful but there is no single tool or approach that can guarantee a successful career in music. Building a sustainable career in music these days takes a considerable amount of time, an extraordinary amount of talent and hard work, a “build one fan at a time” mentality and infinite patience."

That's why it's so important that if YOU like the music of an indie artist that you know of (hmmmmmmm... maybe you know of one who is struggling in Milwaukee, WI?), it's VERY important that you SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL ARTISTS. Remember, many, many of the great bands and artists you hear on the radio were once little indie artists trying to "Make It", and they simply cannot make it if they do not have your undying support!

What can YOU do to support your favorite unknown/indie artists?

1. Find out when they are playing & go see them.
2. Buy their CDs whenever they release one, & buy their Tshirts & other merch.
3. Tell your friends about them.
4. Burn a few of your favorite songs on a CD and give it to your friends.
5. Brings your friends to go out and see that artist.
6. Be on the artists' Street Team and do what you can to help out: Help post flyers up for their shows around town, invite YOUR Facebook friends to their shows via a Facebook invite, help spread the word!
7. Communicate with the artist - when you get an e-mail from the artist announcing an upcoming show or CD release, write back and ask how you can help get the word out for a specific show/CD release.
8. Follow their blog!

Thanks for reading and PLEASE invite your friends to read this blog!
Hope to see YOU at a show soon!!!
Peace, Love, & Light!!!
:)
Annie

Day 236

2009-10-19T03:13:00.001-07:00

Day 236
Post #18 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE "Annie could be the most hard-working woman on the indie music scene today." - George Radai, Deep End Productions. ANNIE: "I promise to post blogs here, sharing some daily activities & the work I do to achieve my career goals, and when I do win that Grammy, YOU can say you followed me all the way!"

Day 236
Well, it has been exactly 4 weeks since my last blog, so I must apologize! I have been to and from Texas, Milwaukee Artbeat came & went, my mom had surgery, my dad is in the hospital, and I FINALLY finished my mom's & dad's taxes for 2008! What more can I say? Can you blame me for not keeping up?

Texas was a blast, but next time I take such a trip, I will have to insist on better guarantees. I am glad I made the trip, but next time it will be different. I am glad I got to Austin to see my friends this time, however, since the last time I was down there, I did not make it to Austin. My boyfriend Mike met me in Dallas so he could experience the drive home with me, which was a lot of fun... we talked almost the whole time. Music was playing only for a few songs from New Maximum Donkey, a band my friend Steve from Sherman, TX told me about... very funny lyrics and groovy 60's kind of songwriting. We stayed with JJ in Tulsa that night, after a nice dinner at her folks' house. The next day was a 12-hour drive which was included a visit to "The Biggest Gift Store in the World" and a huge candy store... somewhere in the middle of MO, I think.

The following week was an interesting, as I woke up with a sore throat on Tuesday, and then found out on Wed. that our permit to serve/sell beer & wine was not sufficient. All day Wed. & Thurs. I was on the phone trying to figure out how to get the correct permit, but we ended up not having alcohol at the event. I was in bed for a good part of the week as well, which made for a crazy Friday, the day of Artbeat. I woke up early to color my hair, programs were designed and printed, cue cards for all 5 artists were written and printed, (which would explain all the typos, including the question asked by Nick Ramsey, "What's your most embarrassing sex story?" for Jeremy Scott, the SAX player!!!! This was a very funny moment in the show!!!), items for giftbags were gathered and some wonderful Artbeaters including Tally Hayden & Shelly Bird (among others) helped to stuff all 200 of them, the set was designed by the M.U.T.E.S. and and thank Goodness Theo Q was available to bring the water & soda from the house, (plus buy more,) Mike ended up dealing with the coupons for Cafe Centraal at the last minute... it all seems like a big blur to me now, but it was a great show and we all had a great time!

Dad ended up in the hospital on Sunday morning, and visits are happening on a regular basis. Not sure the plan for what happens next, but please say a few prayers, also for: My uncle, who is also now receiving a higher level of care and I'll be taking my mom to visit on Tuesday for his birthday.

Taxes were the next item on my To Do list, and those got finished, which is a HUGE burden off my shoulders, Yay! I am now trying to get caught up with rehearsals (we had 3 weeks off, right?) and other Shut Up Marie & promotional issues. I just realized that some people actually post their e-mail addresses on Facebook, so I'm now working on getting those of my friends and adding them to my list. There is a HUGE list of suggestions for promoting your show at the Elbo Room, and now I can start that. If you wish to see it, I can post it. You would FREAK.

Facebook promotions for the BBC is moving along, but there is more work to do with swapping mp3s from the other bands on the bill to cross-promote. Fortunately, these two bands are just as hard-working as S.U.M., so I believe we are all pulling our weight. I send an mp3 from the other bands to my fans, and they send a S.U.M. mp3 to their fans. Hopefully people bother to download the song. Terry from Ian and the Dream suggested just sending links, but I think there is something about sending an actual mp3... it's a free song, like a gift. Most websites don't offer the song as a free download.

It's 6:20am! OMG I have been up all night! Better get some sleep!

Peace, Love, & Light!
Annie

Day 208

2009-09-21T16:06:00.000-07:00

Post #17 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE "Annie could be the most hard-working woman on the indie music scene today." - George Radai, Deep End Productions. ANNIE: "I promise to post blogs here, sharing some daily activities & the work I do to achieve my career goals, and when I do win that Grammy, YOU can say you followed me all the way!"

Day 208
I am packing & arranging everything I can for this trip to TX - I was planning on leaving this morning, but too much work (especially for ArtBeat) had me thinking one more day would be good to finish stuff... Promote for these shows this week, pay some bills, lock in the gallery artists for ArtBeat (and I did!!! Two more artists locked in today and we might just be done with our search - I will have them posted at MilwaukeeArtBeat.org by the end of this week!)

Also got a GREAT idea from another post from the amazing Derek Sivers: http://sivers.org/livecd

This would require that I have lots more CDs available to sell, which also means that I need to burn more CDs before I hit the road... might not happen, but I might have a little free time before my show on Wed. night. Staying with a good friend and her beautiful daughter Teylor in Tulsa tomorrow night... I met this girl when I was looking for venues in Tulsa way back in 2006 and I stayed on her couch the night of that first gig and we have been friends ever since! Yay!!!

Wed. night I play at Rendezvous in Sherman, TX - that gig was set up by my friend Oliver White, who is also kind enough to have me on his couch Wed. night! Oliver is an AMAZING artist I met in TX a few years ago. MySpace has it's good points, even though there is a LOT of crap on there - Oliver got a hold of me there and we hooked up this gig! Thanks, Oliver! http://www.myspace.com/oliverwhitegroup

Just sent a bulletin on MySpace about my shows.

Spent a bit of my day on Facebook - promoting ArtBeat. I still have 30 friend requests I have to deal with, but I should be able to do that Wed. & Thurs during the day. I have some free time before the gig Wed. night... the drive from Tulsa is only 3hrs, 10 min. I also have to create flyers for Break Time and the Field Office... should get those e-mailed out tonight.

Mostly been working on promoting these shows coming up, including the Shut Up Marie shows in Nov. (5th in Chicago, and 6th in Milwaukee). Locked in the closing band for Nov. 6th at the BBC - Government Zero will be playing that show with us!!!!!!!

Also found out that a friend of mine used to work at a radio station in Chicago and might be able to hook up a connection at Q101... I am working on that also this week... will have to try and mail a CD to this guy so he can get it to the right person!!!

So much work to do, so little time!!!!!!!!!! I need to start packing now!!!!!!!!!!!

Have a killer night, and keep loading your gun!!!

Day 203

2009-09-16T22:10:00.000-07:00

Day 203 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE (Post #16) "Annie could be the most hard-working woman on the indie music scene today." - George Radai, Deep End Productions. I promise to post blogs here, sharing some daily activities of all the work I do to get there until I win, and when I do, YOU can say you followed me all the way!

Yep, I DID get that iMix done - it's called GREAT GRRL MUSIC! Please look it up in the list of iMixes! Planning on making more when I have more free time.....................????????????????? So, I noticed on that Artist X thingy that Artist X is not really doing any better when it comes to improving his success. With all the marketing stuff there is out there that artists need to be doing, how can anyone get it all done??? I can totally understand how he's not doing any better. There's not time to get all the stuff done that any one artist has to get done.

Anyhoo, so I am finishing up those press kits tonight, making posters for the TX gigs, and also have to start burning more CDs for Plein Air on Friday. My fabulous boyfriend is helping me sell CDs and getting info to people... having a person to do your merch is crucial. I need Tshirts!!!!!!! I guess I should have some made, but I can't decide on a design. Maybe the Kiwi Cafe artwork would work well if Jesse Engelbrecht would get the stuff to me!

Anyhoo, Artbeat and TX is creeping up on me real quick-like! Better get back to work!!!!!!!

Day 200

2009-09-14T15:46:00.000-07:00

Day 200 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE (Post #15)

I was up til 5am after discovering a new music site: www.thesixtyone.com... just over 12 hours later I already have 22 listeners for the Shut Up Marie stuff I posted, and I can't keep up with all the "hearting"! I am not one to miss any sleep, though. I slept happily until 11:30am when I took my 3rd phone call today... Don't people know that musicians rarely get up before noon????

Anyhoo, so other activities today - making 20 press kits for Theo to mail out, including creating the cover, re-vamping my bio, and other press kit stuff (like updating the listing of venues played,) all the Artbeat Thank You letters (FINALLY - what a slacker!!!) Getting these killer pamphlets printed, although that happened last night/this morning. I think I kept Theo awake.... I know I woke him up a few times. He's still crashing on my futon and I am not sure when he'll be able to get a place of his own, but he's a great guy and he can stay as long as he needs to if it were up to me!

Working on bookings for Shut Up Marie & for my solo & duo projects too... might have something for the duo in Nov., and working on an opening bill for Shut Up Marie (opening for my cover band Unnatural Act!) at the Penny Road Pub in South Barrington, IL. Good thing I have no problem singing all night long thanks to my amazing vocal coach Kelli Ann of Who Knew!!! Woo-hoo!!! The Musician's Atlas is what we're using to find venues and we'll be using it to find all the other stuff we need when the album is done.

Also studying this Artist X Music Marketing Project... trying to see how a guy who has a full-time job and is married would have the time to do all the stuff they recommend for him to do! Should be interesting to find out how the whole thing ends! My goal by the end of my workday today is to create one iMix for iTunes... a strategy recommended by one of the chapters in the project. I might be able to figure out how to get that done before I have to leave for the meeting with Artbeater Steve Daubs at 7:30 tonight!!!!!!!

Wish me luck!!!!!!!
Keeping loading your gun!!!!
:)
Annie

Day 199

2009-09-13T22:09:00.000-07:00

Day 199 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE (Post #14)

Wow, lots has happened since my last blog only 20 days ago - the biggest thing is I am sick and tired of not having a bass player for my band, so I am learning how to play bass! Yep, Paul McCartney did it when the Beatles (or the Quarrymen?) needed a bassist! Why can't I? So far so good, we've had at least 3 rehearsals with me on the bass, and things are starting to sound pretty good. I keep saying to myself, "If only I had learned the bass years ago when I first thought of it... think of where I'd be now." But the fact of the matter is: Yes, I thought of picking up the bass years ago, and my singing suffered. I think it was that lifetime decision I made to give everything up 3 years ago to live out on the road - it got me singing 3, 4, 5 nights a week... my vocal chops HAD to improve. Now I can kind of let the vocal part go and concentrate on the bass. Lots of these songs I have sung hundreds (thousands?) of times and they are kind of in my blood... especially those early songs from when I first started writing like the "Kiwi Cafe" and "Girl of Secrets." This new instrument has been keeping me pretty busy, so my activity level when it comes to all the biz stuff is a little low right now. But I am enjoying all the stuff CDBaby founder Derek Sivers has to say! He wrote about a very cool project all indie musicians should know about: The Indie Artist X Music Marketing Plan. You can actually follow this plan YOURSELF if you are a musician/starving artist (LIKE ME!)!!!!!!!! Here's a summary of the project: http://gigdoggy.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/the-indie-artist-x-music-marketing-plan-on-the-go/

I can only hope I have the inclination to follow these steps put forth by the experts involved.

Also these past few weeks, I found 2 local recording studios for the new album. Need to visit & get some demos, but they both come highly recommended. I'll keep you posted!

Still waiting on the Kiwi Cafe artwork from Jesse Engelbrecht, I would have loved to have that ready to rock for this Friday's Plein Air show, but it looks like that's not going to happen. UGH!!!

Totally excited about Shelby Keefe in the Artbeat show for October. She's a trip and a half! I have to get on the appetizers for that show... I have been slacking a little since my Pop moved... There's always something going on there that I have to deal with.

So, that's my story for today. Oh, I FINALLY saw the Jersey Boys in Chicago this weekend! What I great show and now I need to buy all the Four Seasons records I can get my hands on!!!!!!!

Peace, Love & Light!!!!!!!
Annie

Day 179

2009-08-25T21:08:00.000-07:00

Day 179 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE (Post #13)

This past weekend was great - Saturday U.A. played Russ' backyard party "Katzenjammer" (Russ plays guitar for Unnatural Act) and then Zoo Ala Carte on Sunday and it was great to hang out with Melissa's (best friend from college) family for the rest of Sunday afternoon! Was supposed to meet with Steve Daubs Sunday night to get a full update about his trip to the Ukraine and also talk about the Oct 9th Artbeat, but I was way too tired after my full day Sunday.

Scott Berendt is hooking me up with a song on the Buck's local artist CD compliation featuring songs from bands who play in the Atrium at the Bradley Center before Bucks games. I played there last January with my acoustic cover trio and Scott is supposed to hook me up with another gig like that this year. I dropped off my CD to Scott yesterday morning so I hope to hear from him later this week.

Anthony just talked to a bass player for the new project. Anthony and I met today to work on songs at his house and things are moving along with that project. Kind of in a new direction? I did e-mail another bassist from Craigslist this morning, too. We're trying to get into the studio to record a 4-song demo, but now we are not sure what songs to include on the demo. Changes in direction are making for some frustration but we ARE moving forward.

Also today I dropped off some promo materials for myself (solo/duo/trio) and for Unnatural Act for Johnny B. to get some bookings for us, perhaps at Rookies in Oconomowoc. We might have a few sweet & well-paying gigs in Sept. if he can pull it off. I need to check in with him tomorrow to find out more details on these gigs... he's supposed to meet with these folks tomorrow.

This morning I emptied out a big box. Believe it or not, I still have unpacked boxes here (I moved in a year ago), but that's because some of the boxes contain kitchen stuff & other stuff which I do not need to unpack here. Unpacking is still happening also due to the organization I desire. I can't seem to unpack everything at once, it gets too disorganized. But since I cleaned the hell outta this place last week, it feels sooooooooo much nicer, there is more room, and the energy is better. I hope to unpack & organize one box every morning until I am done. I think I can do that and be done in a week or two. Wouldn't that be fabulous?

Also last night, I visited my Pop. He and I played Connect Four. He liked that game.

Tomorrow night is orientation for JustFaith, through Three Holy Women Church. I am really looking forward to that project, and I hope I don't have time conflicts with it.

Well, have a great night and I'll see you again soon!!!!!

Day 175

2009-08-21T18:46:00.000-07:00

Day 175 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE (Post #12)

Today was a bad day 'cuz my boyfriend and I broke up. Lots of energy drained today, and I am sad.

That's one thing you need to know about moving your career forward. Do not stay in unhealthy relationships or unhealthy friendships. They DRAIN you, and Lord knows, indie artists need LOTS of energy in order to compete in this crazy business. Not that this relationship was particularly unhealthy, but it was unhealthy for a lot of last year. This year, it was really quite healthy, but it just didn't work out after all. It was ultimately about those deal-breakers, you know. Like, some people don't want their boyfriend or their girlfriend to maintain close friendships with the ex or ex's. Yep, that's a deal-breaker for me. I don't think there's anything anyone can say to convince me that it's perfectly fine & healthy if your boyfriend's best friend is also his ex.

Anyhoo, so I also ended up with a nasty allergy attack today, so not much was done today at all. I did get a phone number for a recording engineer that comes highly recommended by my friend Brian Douglas who works at Cream City Music. Brian also plays in a band called The Black Saints. I hope to see them soon!!!!!

Also just got another possible tips gig for Austin... it showed up in my MySpace in-box about an hour ago! It's pretty awesome how the energy starts flowing back to you: Putting out positive energy => more positive energy right back atcha'. Putting out negative energy => more negative energy right back atcha'! I am trying to keep the positive energy flowing and flowing with a nice, strong current. Breaking up with the boy who wants to remain best friends with his ex is probably a good move in that direction.

So, I need to get some rest. I also screwed up my back yesterday moving my P.A. head before doing my morning stretches. Gotta be more careful!

Have a beautiful night!

Day 165

2009-08-11T20:43:00.000-07:00

Day 165 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE (Post #11)

What's going on? I am blogging every day now! Oh, my, there must be some mistake!!!

No, no, my friend, there is not. I am actually keeping FOCUSED... remember, I was having BIG trouble with that not long ago! Just read yesterday's blog and I honestly have to admit I am surprised how well I am keeping focused!

Got the Artbeat THANK YOU's out, got the Des Moines e-mail list updated, in communications with booking for MOTOR, and sent an e-mail to the guys about rehearsing for the 21st at the Coach House. Sent the CD to Jesse for the cover artwork, and Theo is, AS I WRITE, building that database of the Midwest venues. Good thing Ralph and I are not working together since he would not be happy doing the work that Theo is doing to get us BOOKED... building that database, sending out e-mails, follow-ups, etc. Is it really the job of an intern to do that sort of stuff WHEN YOU HAVE NO INTERNS???

We've already got venues from IL, IA, WI, & MN asking about rates & avails. Not bad, "Intern-Boy"!!! And what I like about the online database we are using to build our own is that there is ALOT of information on each record for each venue. Capacity, genres, lots of contact into including MySpace links, percentage of cover bands vs. original bands booked, it's AMAZING!

Next BIG project: Working on cleaning out my e-mail in-box. Turns out that the girl who books bands & artists for MOTOR already contacted me earlier this summer and I never got back to her! Can you imagine that? Her e-mail got LOST in my in-box! NOT GOOD!!! Boy, does that make me look like a disorganized flake, or what??? So, I am doing my best to get rid of 200-300 e-mails out of my in-box every night. (No, Honey, you really don't want to know how many are in there right now.) I hope I can do it. It will still take me a long time to clean out my in-box, but I now know the secret: FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS!!!

Also started submitting for more Sonicbids opportunities. I guess since we got the GAP one, I should keep the good energy flowing!

Gosh, it seems like a lot got done today. It really does help - this blogging thing. You should try it!

Peace, Love, & Light!!!
:)
Annie

Day 164

2009-08-10T12:39:00.001-07:00

Day 164 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE (Post #10)

Hello, Hello! Working today on getting all those long-overdue THANKS YOU's out to all the Artbeaters! Also need to send out that e-mail to all the new Des Moines fans from our show last Friday. Did sell a few CDs but I will be happy if we get paid better next time since we did not even get paid expenses (and that was actually part of the deal). But we did really have a GREAT time on the drive out - lots of laughing and bonding. The three of us work well together in the rehearsal studio, and now that I know we can get along fine on a 6-hour small-car drive, that's really a good sign. The show was great, not a HUGE crowd, but a decent crowd... again, sold some CDs, collected some e-mail addresses... moving forward in Des Moines!

Anyhoo, got an e-mail from Kandall Polster (welder artist from the last Artbeat) who is helping me get a show at the Harley Museum restaurant, Motor. Also got hooked up with a gig at Momo's in Austin through a contact there - John Doughty. Scott Berendt also hooked up a gig at the Coach House since he double-booked himself. (Oops!) But it feels REALLY good to be getting offers and calls now instead of always having to solicit the gigs, make the cold calls, etc etc etc. I guess hard work really DOES pay off!!!

New this week: my artwork for The Kiwi Cafe being done by Jesse Engelbrecht (gallery artist from the April Artbeat). His sketchwork would be PERFECT for the Kiwi Cafe album cover, so we are to talk about it tonight over the phone. (TOTALLY excited about putting out the album the way it should be, instead of burning copies for my shows every time!)

Also, I am no longer working with Ralph from Active Artist Management. I guess that's no surprise, since we have been butting heads since almost Day One. He is a good guy, but I know that we do not belong working together.

Thank goodness the dry songwriting spell over the last 3 years or so seems to be FINALLY OVER! Those 3 new songs we started working on at rehearsals are definitely worthy additions to the set!

Theo started e-mailing venues all over the Midwest last week so the band can start building a regional following. So far, we have been getting a pretty good response, but there is a great need to build an online database that we can use to communicate all activities, and find people's e-mail addresses quickly, since I notice that most responses do not indicate the venue/town they are representing. ANOTHER project!!!

I ALSO need to start working on contacting publishing companies for "What Do You Do"... since that song just does not seem to fit in with what we are doing right now. When I am going to find time doing that, I am not sure... but I hope to fit in in somewhere soon!!!!!! Anyone who is interested in interning for a record label based out of Milwaukee, please give a shout: anniebbaby@gmail.com. I know a LOT about the music business and I know how to make things happen, but with everything we've got going on, it can't all be done by just a few people! We need interns!

Have a beautiful day and NEVER GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAMS!!!!

Day 160

2009-08-06T16:29:00.000-07:00

Day 160 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE (Post #9)

Today we had a VERY productive rehearsal, and yes, we will be ready to rock the House of Bricks tomorrow night in Des Moines. 9 songs, 3 of which are VERY new (I have to memorize the lyrics for 2 of them tonight!!!!!) and the trip will be LOADS of fun! Mapquest says the trip is 6 hours and 4 minutes but with it now being "construction season"...

I still have to burn a bunch of CDs so I have product to sell tomorrow night, too...

So, I will meet Theo in maybe an hour at our rehearsal space to run through these songs one more time with him... he needs one more run-through.

FINALLY got the CDs mailed for our GAP performance for "Born To Play" on Aug. 20th, and e-mailed the posters. That GAP manager Joey Deitz is a swell guy, very helpful and totally excited about having us!

I better get back to work, just wanted to say HI!
:)
A

Day 159

2009-08-05T19:25:00.000-07:00

Day 159 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE (Post #8)

The weekend was crazy and fun and Artbeat was a huge success! Honestly, I am not sure if I broke even or if I barely made enough to donate to Express Yourself Milwaukee, but I will be making a donation this week and getting that good energy out there! Thanks to all the Artbeaters for coming out and making Friday night fabulous!!! I also had a great show Thursday night with Scott Berendt at the Coach House, and we will defintley be booking more shows together - he's a very talented guy and lots of fun to work with!

This weekend we have another show at the House of Bricks in Des Moines - it will be with the acoustic trio since we are currently looking for a bass player but there is a kid coming in to check out the band tomorrow - Yay! Anthony and Theo and I have been working really hard this week on this show and it's really turning out to be pretty amazing. 3 new songs for this show and lots of great energy! 9 songs total so we are well on our way to that new album!

Theo has now taken over the job of booking and A&R for remedial children records. He's doing a great job so far and it's working out well since he loves to hang out online a lot (we are using an online database: MusiciansAtlas.com - an AMAZING resource!!! I started with this resource when I first started out on the road in 2006 and it easily paid for itself with one gig booked.) Way to go, Theo - you rule!!! Contacting venues in WI, IL, IA, MN, IN, ND, SD, MI, MO, KY and OH! Wow. No, WOW. Wowza.

Already gearing up for the next Artbeat - got a new gallery artist lined up - met this artist at the Artbeat after-party. Met some folks who really liked Artbeat and want to help promote the next show via their contact lists & other lists they know of. Networking and viral marketing, networking and viral marketing, networking and viral marketing, networking and viral marketing!!!!!!!

Hope all is well for you. Keep the faith, good energy and love flowing from your heart!!!!!!!
:)
A

Day 144

2009-07-21T19:16:00.000-07:00

Day 144 of ANNIE B.'s D.I.Y. MAGAZINE (Post #7)

Well, earlier this week, I booked 2 more gigs at the Klavier Lounge in Germantown - they are gigs where I play mostly covers, but hey, it's better than waiting tables!!! I also got a gig at The GAP for their Born To Play campaign which celebrates their 100th anniversary or something cool like that! This is not a paid gig, but hopefully it will bring some exposure since they are doing a big ad campaign to hype up the whole thing!

Today, however, I did not do much for my career, in fact, I am a little behind, especially when it comes to Artbeat! I had a family crisis late last week and I am still working on resolving the crisis, but it will be resolved in the next few weeks. I was up at 5:30 this morning to get some flyers and a promo kit to "Darlin" Nikki Janzen, the opener for Artbeat. Then off to pick up my mom & deal with the family situation all day today. I got home around 3:30 and needed a nap. In the meantime, I am now blogging on a computer that is sitting on a desk that is so full of papers and projects in the middle stages, it's hard to keep everything straight.

So, here I am , trying to refocus, as I wrote about last week. The band is not rehearsing this week, due to people out of town. But we will resume next week Monday, and we are now looking for a bassist. Two interested players responded to my craigslist ad, so I will investigate this week.

Just wrote a new song tonight, perhaps another that will be pitched to someone like Katy Perry, or maybe we'll keep it and make it work for S.U.M. or the other project. It's too new to know what needs to happen with it.

I did have a meeting with HeyWhatever.info yesterday and they are now handling my websites for Annie B. and for Artbeat! They should be able to make Artbeat's online network a reality before July 31st, so I am VERY excited about that! I found out about the company through Jim, the owner of the Coach House in Big Bend. He uses them for his website, and they seem to be very cool people! Totally excited about the new relationship!!! They are not only going to build my websites, but they will help in marketing & bringing in traffic - which is really more important than the site itself, in terms of what's going to help you sell products online. Please look out for www.annieb.net soon!!!!!!!!! Yay!!!

In other activity, the GAP store I am performing at in IL is very excited about the Aug. 20th show, and 15 sampler CDs for all store employees are being burned as I blog. Still undecided as of right now if I am bringing the full band or what. The sampler CD consists of "Everything", "You and Me", and "The Shining Light". I know that "Everything" is not a acoustic song, but we will be doing an acoustic version of that song at this show for sure.

I need to run off and drop off some quarter-page ARTBEAT flyers to Scott Berendt right now, so I will sign off for tonight...

Until my next exciting blog, have a GREAT evening, and keep loading your gun!!!

Day 135

2009-07-12T23:50:00.000-07:00

Yes, here is where I post my activities and goings-on as a successful, be it "small-time" Midwest struggling singer/songwriter trying to "make it big"... hoping to give some insight to other struggling musicians and help them on their way, while they also may be able to help me on mine... it's about working together and your network of friends that will play a big role in your success. And, so, since my last blog..............

Guess what?! Shut Up Marie is now reforming in the Midwest (and I am sure you can guess how excited I am about that!!!) Woo-hoo!!! So, we started working on the songlist for this year's new album and I have found that this band actually has 2 different types of songs... and these two types of songs probably should not be on the same album, or people will be like, "What the hell kind of band are you guys? What kind of music do you play?" So now the band has to split into two different bands. Crazy, I know, but we will have musical and stylistic integrity with each project, which is very important. You don't want to be all over the place with your music. That's one thing I have learned throug the years. People like to know what you sound like, so they can "get into" it. They can't "get into" something that is all over the board. They would not know what to "get into". And they want to be able to explain you to their friends. They can't do that if you don't really have a well-defined sound.

So, as a result, "What Do You Do" is getting reserved for major label artists only. We'll be pitching it to the likes of Kelly Clarkson, Jewel, Michelle Branch, etc etc etc. It does not belong on any new album of mine this year. It will be one of those exclusive unreleased tracks that maybe you'll get to download after it's been re-recorded by some big pop/adult contemporary artist. (Unless you go to my MySpace page right now and get it before it gets removed from my profile.)

Shut Up Marie will remain intact, and there will be a new band project. Some sort of funky-folky-moody-gritty-cowboy-acoustic thingy... a direct descendant of my solo/acoustic stuff. Not much like S.U.M. at all. But fun, for sure!

In other news, Milwaukee Artbeat is coming along swimmingly. I have a TV appearance scheduled on FOX6 news here in Milwaukee on July 29th at 8:15am, and a radio interview on 91.7 WMSE at 2pm that same day! Woo-hoo!

This week I had an epiphany. It's actually a reiteration of what my manager has been telling me for some time now. I have to get a better focus on my goals. I have been all over the board with my 3 (now 4) bands and all the other projects I have going on like Artbeat, the duo with Scott Berendt, and etc etc etc! So, I am trying very hard to find out how to get that focus. It's kind of like what I had to do with the band... find out what the thing is really all about, make sense of it, and then start working towards only the most important & worthy, solid goals. Making sense of the music and making sense of how we can market it and make a good solid album... it just had to be broken up into two pieces. That ultimately will add more "projects" to deal with, but at least it's will just one band.

So, this epiphany came from this dream I had last night - I met this very small, young, blonde-haired, blue-eyed man who was an extremely successful magician. He did this big show somewhere and he was out in some lobby after the show and he was doing a little demonstration and he looked me right in the eye and said "If you want to succeed, you have to pinpoint where exactly it is you want to be, and start putting all your focus and energy towards that one point. You have to pinpoint that one little square millimeter in the miles of surface area out there and put all your energy towards it, and that's how you will jump-start the huge success you desire." Well, those words perhaps were not the exact s spoken to me in my dream last night, but it was something along those lines.

What I took from that is how I got all these things going on and how I need to just start focusing on the one thing I desire the most... my new band and my new album being recorded this fall. If I can make just that my focus and put all this amazing energy towards it, and keep putting more & more energy in that one little square millimeter, pretty soon the thing is going to explode, right? You can't keep putting all this energy into this one space or this one thing... pretty soon the thing gets overloaded and explodes!!! It's a real, scientific, quantum physics thing, I guess... the energy that we project and how it affects the world we live in and the lives we live.

So, I guess I am kind of going through a little transformation. My next few weeks has to be spent refocusing and getting a grip on how to put that energy into the band & the new album. Does that mean I have to give up all my other projects? Do I have to give up Artbeat??? (That would be a shame!) It's been kind of tough since my relocation to Milwaukee. Most of last year was spent managing everything that has to do with my parents, and I still spend lots of time doing that this year. But this year I kind of jumped into so many projects just to get back on my feet as an artist here in Milwaukee, get into the music scene here, and get a grip on Milwaukee. But now it's kind of become too much, I would hate to say I bit off more than I can chew, but I sure need to take a look at things and refocus.

Wish me luck!!!!!

Day 108

2009-06-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been so long since that last blog! I AM going to blog til I win that Grammy - I promise!!!

So, here's what I've been up to... I went out of town on a little mini-US tour for about 3 weeks...

Started with a show in Des Moines on April 10th was amazing – we played to a packed house, opening for gb Leighton, and he was stellar and perfectly hospitable… the owner of the House of Bricks thought ahead and asked gb Leighton’s people if we could use their backline and it was not a problem. We left Milwaukee around 12:30 and had enough time to eat before we hit the stage. The crowd warmed up to us right away and I sold 14 CDs before we started driving home about midnight! Got home at about 6am and slept all morning and into the afternoon.. It was totally worth the trip, and I got a call back from the owner on Easter Sunday – he was very impressed with us and is totally looking forward to having us back!

The rest of the week was eventful, I had a solo show at a regular venue of mine (the Coach House Grill) on Thursday night before Des Moines and that was fun, and another solo show in Watertown, and that was another huge success. The owner of another bar I played in Watertown was there and asked me when I would come back to play for him. I’ll have to set it up again to play for Happy Hour at one bar (Riverview Water Trap), and then at the Uptown again that night. People in Watertown seem to like what I’m doing quite a bit!

Well, I officially took off for my solo road trip on Wednesday at about 1pm, and made it into Des Moines for my first show just in time! I wanted to have a little more breathing time, but it’s hard getting organized for these trips. Good thing I remembered everything… one time I drove out to a venue and forgot my PA speakers! I had to ask my landlord to drive out there with my speakers (the venue’s speakers were not right for my PA), so I offered my landlord $50 to make the drive and he was nice enough to help out!

The first show this week was at a place called Scooter and Bab’s and those folks were totally cool, it was a tips only gig and I sold some CDs and made some tips and had a groovy chicken salad for dinner. Fun people. I had a long drive the next day, so I started driving after the gig. (Quite a bit after the gig, actually… I met a guy named Tim and we hung out at the bar for awhile until I finally decided I had to start driving, at 1AM.) Got about 2 hours of driving in and decided to crash at the first travel center I saw, in the parking lot, under a light, with my car locked. My friend Edie bought me a killer travel blankie and pillow for Christmas, so I was able to sleep until about 9/9:30AM, and hit the road for Muskogee, OK.

Max’s Garage was a great venue; it used to be a car garage with four bays. High ceilings, totally keeping the garage vibe inside. I must have had another chicken salad… my usual fare. Started playing around 4:30 and people were generous towards my tip jar, plus the owner gave me a little bonus at the end of the night. I sold a few CDs and had a great time, but I should not have played that last set. My voice was tired and I had 3 more nights of performing coming up. Stayed with the owner’s friend, Billy. Billy was awesome, and he had to leave for work in the morning before I had enough sleep to start driving again. He woke me up to move my car with the house doggie, this cute female poodle, and I can’t remember her name right now. I left him one of my CDs and a thank you note. I had a great night’s sleep! Thanks, Billy!!!

The next night was in Denison, TX, at a venue where I have played many times before (Break Time), and they give the artists a nice guarantee, plus anything extra that comes in through the door. When I booked this show, the girl who I was on the phone with told me that the date I wanted was already booked, so I asked her if she could call the band already booked and see if they could switch to the following weekend, which was not booked yet. She was able to reach them that evening, and they had no problem switching their date. Nice guys! I slept in on Friday morning at Billy’s house, and got to Denison at about 5pm. Steve is the friend in Sherman, TX (town right next door – 5 minutes from Break Time) who I stay with whenever I am there, and he got switched to graveyard shift due to these hard economic times. He didn’t have to be at work until 9pm so we went out for dinner at a great little place called Cellarman’s, where they have tons of different beers on tap. We enjoyed crab cakes and shared beers & a pizza. Got in a quick nap before we both had to go to work, and when I showed up at Break Time it was empty but the usual crowd filled up the place so that by the end of the night there was a great crowd of beer-drinking fools!!!! Gotta Love Them Texans!!!!!

Stopped in El Paso for a mini "420 fest" and I had fun there - friend drove down from Albuquerque to see me but, I think he got to see me sing like, one song! Also got to see this great little band from the area, Ya Ya Boom. Loved 'em! Had a great night but not such a good morning since I got so drunk I was not ready to check out of the hotel when it was check-out time, so I slept in my car for another 4 hours and finally was able to keep down some food & start driving to CA sometime around 6pm.

The rest of the trip went well… I played the Shut Up Marie reunion show in L.A. with the line-up on the GIMMIE CD, and we had a great time!!! I wish I could go out there more often. Got to hang with the first friend I ever made down there, Lisle Engle – also a GREAT singer/songwriter – we’ve been friends since 1999 and he is good people. Got married a few years ago to a beautiful burlesque dancer Eliza Bane, and they just had a beautiful daughter, Sammy who I got to meet!

Got to see Luvie, Barbara, and Garrard, really enjoyed visiting my friends in L.A., and then up to Reno! Played shows in Truckee, Reno, and Fernley, and got to visit Karen, (Babe-Doll), and Kevin & Katherine, Bob & Kathy, former Beach Boy Adrian Baker, the whole Reno gang!

Next show was in Elko at Machi’s – where they do “Dinner & Annie B.” night – a fun night of great food, friends, music and fun! Hope to head out there again in the fall!!

Drove through to visit a friend in Wyoming and then stayed with another friend in Des Moines… racing back to Milwaukee to get back on my projects!

The July 31st Milwaukee Artbeat is the big project on my plate right now! Working on locking in the final artists for the show, and the gallery artists! It should be a great night! Please visit the ARTBEAT MySpace page to find out more! And tell your artist friends about ARTBEAT – we’re ALWAYS looking for great, interesting artists for the show!

Also working on my new album... the new band is called Annie B. & The Starlight Heroes but I'd like to change the name to the Starlights Hotels... I'll keep you posted! Also working on putting out a compilation CD on remedial children records of female bands & artists mostly from the Midwest! Keep your eyes out for that, too!!!

Peace, & Much Love! I promise I’ll write again much sooner next time!

Annie

1 Month, 8 Days

2009-04-07T23:25:00.001-07:00

Well, it's now after midnight and yes, I did organize for an hour. I actually got a little more organized, and until I get totally organized, it will continue to be a mess, since there is always new stuff being added to the "pile".

Much to my chagrin, I found a whole lot of e-mail sign-up sheets that were never entered into my e-mail list in my computer. I guess I can dedicate an hour or two to getting rid of that pile every day until I'm caught up. Why do I have such a bad sense of organization??? Will these people even remember they signed up on Annie B's mailing list long ago???

Anyhoo, thanks for being there. I now feel like I have to answer to you, and I think it might help. God bless, have a great night, and I'll see you again soon!!!

1 Month, 7 Days

2009-04-07T21:50:00.000-07:00

Here's the skinny: I have been working on Milwaukee Artbeat for 6 weeks now, and that's why I have not been blogging recently. The event was last week Friday, and it really went over well. Had to get this event organized and I'm glad I did! It was a huge success and I'll be doing it all over again in July. I wish there was more about it online, but there's just not. However, you can read all about it in the previews that have been published:

In the Shepherd Express!! http://www.expressmilwaukee.com/article-5928-a-cultural-community.html
In the Bay View Compass!! Twice!! http://bayviewcompass.com/archives/759, & http://bayviewcompass.com/archives/666

Had about 100 people show up and was able to make a modest donation to Express Yourself Milwaukee (www.expressyourselfmilwaukee.org). Did not make any money after that, but I spent close to $1000, so, to make my money back, have money to make a donation, and not actually lose money, well, that's pretty amazing! Ready to start planning the July ARTBEAT!!!

As far as my trip to CA, I have a good start on gigs lined up, and I need to work on that from now until I leave. This, an addition to doing my taxes and my parents' taxes. I hope I can get it all done, but I have found that my ablity to stay sober has really been coming in handy when it comes to getting everything done I want to get done.

I actually FINALLY put some pictures up on my walls tonight. I have been living here for about 8 months. I got some flowers from my boyfriend last Friday (to help create some good energy on ARTBEAT Day) and those are looking great. Doing what I can to create in my life and living space some good juju and feng shui.

Did get some bad news about a friend, my ex, in fact. He lost his very good job. I tried to get a hold of him and since he had a company phone, computer, and car, no one could get a hold of him. He ended up in rehab and hopefully he can learn to stay sober, but I can tell you, I know how hard it is. I do, I really do.

Today I was able to get posters e-mailed to a venue in Des Moines, I moved all the stuff that needed to be moved back after the ARTBEAT show on Friday (that was a TASK,) delivered a throne to a musician who left it at the venue on Friday, I got both my acoustic guitars fixed, and that's a load off... my new Taylor has had this rattle (I just bought it last fall)! The amazing guy at Cream City Music really did a great job. Got all my Thank You's out for ARTBEAT supporters/helpers, started working on the press release for the success of Artbeat, and got the new cover art going for The Kiwi Cafe CD. I received some good feedback & suggestions on how to make Artbeat even better next time, and those need to be filed. One of my biggest problems is my lack of organiation. Too many papers, too many things pending, not enough prioritization. It makes it difficult for me sometimes when I am looking for a paper I knew I wrote something on, and it takes a few minutes (or longer) to locate it. I wish I had a better system in place. I guess that's how my brain works. No real method to the madness, but somehow an effective madness.

How can I get organized? I could make a public statement to you all about spending 1 hour a day organizing, and report back to you on a regular basis, until this place is organized. Might not work 100%, but I bet it would help.

OK, I am making a public statement: I will spend an hour a day organizing all this stuff until it's completely organized. (When I am home, of course.) Did I spend an hour today? Not yet. Can I spend an hour right now? You bet. See you in an hour.

Day 4

2009-03-04T21:45:00.001-08:00

I promise to post blogs here until I win a Grammy, and when I do win a Grammy, YOU can say you followed me all the way there!

Today is Day 4 of this little blogging project.

Yesterday and today were very productive, which is really good, since I go out of town tomorrow for 6 days. Not much work will be done while I'm at this weekend's festivities. Myself and 24 friends are renting a house for a birthday party & big wine-tasting weekend in Northern Cali!!! Woo-hoo!!!

Yesterday I landed a gig in TX, and I also got confirmation from JC at the House of Bricks for opening for national touring artist G.B. Leighton, in Des Moines at the House of Bricks. Totally excited about this opening gig, and I am working with a drummer (and as of today, a bassist) so I can play with a 3-piece band for this gig. Might not be able to do the whole 40 minutes with the band, but we can open with a few songs, do some stuff as an acoustic duo (the bassist plays acoustic guitar as well) in the middle, then close out the show with the band again. I've got my landlord, a graphic artist, working on posters for that show.

Also yesterday, I reactivated my Sonicbids account so I can use that when contacting clubs. It's much nicer for talent buyers to review my act with this online press kit, than going through MySpace and dealing with all the poo on there!!! This took probably 2 hours, since I had to upload songs, photos, I streamlined & updated my bio (like I try to do almost every week), I had to fix all the old info, and I had to re-do some other stuff like my press page. It's done and it looks great: www.sonicbids.com/annieb

I logged in to LinkedIn and found a totally FABULOUS recommendation from S.U.M. bassist George Radai. What a great guy, that George!!! So, I had to use part of that quote in my SonicBids bio as well.

Also started gathering info so I can write the bio for my cover band, Unnatural Act. The guys in the band love to e-mail info about pending band projects lined with goofy comments and remarks to the whole group and each other during the day. I find when I get caught up in this, it gets to be too much fun and I don't get as much work done as I should.

Also continued research and contacting clubs in TX & KS. Bernie's in Giddings, TX is a no-go... I have a gig in Des Moines the day before the only possible Giddings date - that would not work since it would be an 11-hour drive!!! Danny's in Topeka, KS might happen... waiting to hear back from Jason, the talent buyer.

Day 1 (actually, Day 2)

2009-03-02T18:17:00.001-08:00

Ok, it's actually Day 5706 on my way to winning a Grammy... which is one of my 5 major career goals. I promise to post blogs here until I win a Grammy, and when I do win a Grammy, YOU can say you followed me all the way there!

I will hopefully keep blogging here even after I win that Grammy, but I am now obligated to blog here until I do win one. I have made a public statement, and I will come through.

So, like I said, it's probably more like Day 5706 (somewhere between 15 & 16 years) since I wrote my first song that I actually kept and recorded, and considered myself to be a bona fide artist... (That song was called "Follow Your Heart," and I wrote it in the summer of 1993. I could probably still sing & play that song today if I needed to. I have since written well over 300 songs. Some of 'em are pretty good, some are great, and some are not so good and you will never, ever hear them.)

That's when it all began, when I first started dreaming of winning a Grammy, and having my other 4 career goals. Those would be (1) hearing my songs randomly on the radio, (2) headlining for an audience of 10,000 or more, (3) going on a world tour with a real tour bus and real riders and hotel rooms and all that stuff, (4) I actually forgot the other one, but I will let you know if I remember what it is. Those first few are the best indicators that I've "made it," I guess you could say. I have actually toured the U.S., but it was in my car and most nights I did not know where I would end up crashing. I crashed in my car a lot that year.

Perhaps I have already "made it," since I only play music for a living. Isn't that reason enough to celebrate??? I also get some hosting gigs, but that's also being in the spotlight, so it kind of counts. (Sorry about the narcissism/need for attention. Maybe I didn't get enough attention as a kid, being 5th out of 6?)

Anyhoo, so I'll call this Day 1, since it's Day 1 of Blogging 'Til I Win A Gammy. Even though it's really Day 2, since I'd like my "start date" to be March 1. That will make my life easier... to have Day 1 on the first day of the month.

So I'll be writing about the things I am doing to "make it." The little tasks I perform every day or every week, what I am doing to get bigger and better gigs, other things I am doing to move my career forward towards that Grammy and my 4 (today it's only 3) other goals.

It's kind of like getting a chance to be behind the scenes and say "I knew her when..." in case I really do make it to the "Big Time." Wait a minute! "In case"???? Nope. That stops right here. Half the way to success is attitude and believing in yourself. Actually, it's more than half.

So, WHEN I make it to the big time, you can say you knew me when I was on Day 1 of my Blogging 'Til I Win A Grammy"!!! How fun would that be????

OK, so let's get started...

What did I do today?

Well, I slept at a friend's place last night (still trying to decide if this guy is my boyfriend... ??????) and he had to be at work at 6:15 so I was up at 5:50 and home by 6:30am which is very unlike me. I did get a lot accomplished today and that's because I got a huge jump-start on the day.

I helped shovel snow and had a great breakfast (like I do every morning... not the shoveling part, the breakfast part!!!) Had to be at a producer friend's house to edit a promo for www.milwaukeeartbeat.com - Milwaukee Artbeat is a new artist showcase I am producing and hosting. Fun stuff. Please visit the website for more info.

Got done editing around 2pm but then I got a call from the place where my parents live regarding my pop. He's got dementia and that can lead to aggressive behavior for some. Oddly enough, the video producer I am working with (www.xfactafilms.com) is also a social worker so he knows all about it... we talked about stuff for almost an hour.

Then I headed over to Bukalou, our web people for Milwaukee Artbeat, so they could upload the video. Hopefully they'll be able to do that tomorrow or sometime this week.

Send me an e-mail when you see our trailer up at www.milwaukeeartbeat.com, will ya?

Got home around 4 and sent out a few e-mails. I am trying to get 88.9 and the local arts/entertainment papers to sponsor Milwaukee Artbeat so I left a few phone messages, too.

Ate a turkey sandwich. An exciting day so far!

Also waiting on word from the House of Bricks in Des Moines to see if I can open for G.B. Leighton when he comes through. I know, Des Moines is 5 hours away, but I am headed down to L.A. for a Shut Up Marie reunion show at the end of April, so I'm trying to make that part of my trip down.

Went to the bank, they let me sneak in right as they were closing.

E-mails, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Last.fm, and Eventful came next. How can people keep up with all the online networks you have to do these days? Bugsy and I agree - it's a 40-hour a week job!!! And guess what....... now I have ANOTHER thing to do online... my "Blogging 'Til I Win A Grammy" blog!!!!!!!!!

Next up will be laundry (that's a break for me - most of the evening I am at my computer). Then I need to create a cool loop for the trailer. We're trying to fix the audio on the trailer, and that's my opportunity to put in a different loop for the background music. I enjoy that stuff... actually doing MUSIC instead of promotion, e-mailing, press kits, and all that jazz.

Last thing is to make my "to do" list for tomorrow, and I'm trying to read a little from "The Prophet" before I hit the hay these nights.

UGH!!!! I forgot to get a Thank You card for Nick at Sunny 97.7 in Fond du Lac!!! He interviewed me on the station last Thursday morning. Thanks, Nick!!!!!!!!

Have a great night. See you again in a day or two!!!!!!!!