New Decade, New To-Do

As they come to mind....

1) Investigate CRC/Calvin-connected shows

2) Video at AAC w/ RZ + Strings - put on Youtube

3) Raise financial support for CD of RZ + Strings

4) Texas tour

5) Musical

6) Ars Nova Show/Reading of Musical

7) Advice column

8) Memoir

9) Small-Town Tour

Big Bucket O' News

So, hi,

I've been a pure deliquent in the ol' bloggersphere these days. Last entry October 2007? Today is April 17 2008? FAIL. Nice try. Everyone can see you are a punk face.

Okay, self-verbal-lashing, check... now for the goods. It was over 1 1/2 years ago that I had my first meeting with PD. He gave me some good advice; pointed me in a good direction. At his guiding I paid better attention to my vocals and improved upon them. I listened to live recordings and made notes on the things I could do better. I built up my relationship with the Sidewalk and got myself a residency there. Baby steps, yeah.

Now since October, some more stepping stones:
-In two sessions, one in October and a follow-up in January, recorded 8 songs in a simple but excellently miced and recorded piano-vocal demo (thank you DB, TD, and AAC!)
-Have been introduced through PD to several industry movers and shakers, who have subsequently been introduced by PD to my rough mixes from aforementioned recording sessions
-Am getting professionally mixed and mastered said recordings and releasing them publicy as an EP as well as using them for an industry demo.
-Continue to play about one gig per month and have as of November started getting booked at The Living Room on a semi-regular basis.
-Continue to write new songs/keep the variety
-Have temporarily revamped rachelzylstra.com and am using a new webhost so that when a full redesign is logistically/financially feasible, it will ALSO be easily uploadable.

So that's it for now; I hope to have more to say in another month or less. On the move!

To Do Before Month End (Accountability Partner, thanks...)

1) Find your BMI account #

2) Register all songs from Most of It Is True

3) Contact the company that NC put you in touch with re: Film/TV placement

4) Pick/polish songs for October 26th recording

5) Send email re: October 30th show

6) File 2006 taxes

7) Send belated gift for CJZ

8) Make a poster for October 30th

9) Catch up on giving

10) Book Thanksgiving & Christmas travel

11) Bring tape from October 26th to PD for feedback

12) Make & duplicate "September Shows" incentive CD for distribution at Oct 30th show

13) Upload pics from September show #1

14) Make MJZ mix

mending the gaps

Yow!

An expression of delight, surprise, and a healthy dose of sassy. I'm feeling it right now.

This past week was what I considered, going into it, the biggest week of my musical career thus far. Now that the milestones have passed and I am coasting into the weekend, I sense that I was perhaps building it up a little too much in my anticipation. The two events that made it so "monumental" were as follows:

~On Tuesday, a concert at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, PA, at which I was the opening act for Dave Bazan and for Over the Rhine. I took two days off my day job and drove a total of 13 hours to do it.

~On Thursday, the opening show for my four-month residency at the Sidewalk Cafe in the East Village in NYC. For this residency, I invested in hiring stellar graphic designers and printing 1,000 promotional postcards that look like this:



Okay, so now that all this hulabaloo has passed, I'm thinking to myself, that was nice. My life isn't really different than it was three days ago. Certainly, besides the adventures in themselves, the lasting values of these experiences are:

-some new fans in western PA
-the "resume builder" (aka music bio builder) of having opened for a couple of national acts
-a couple new fans in NYC
-the "what works, what doesn't" and "learn, tweak, and relaunch" aspects to a starting show in a series of shows.

Regarding disappointment: I confess I was minorly dismayed that more people did not turn out for the Sidewalk gig. I was really thankful for the friends and acquaintances who came and supported; at this point however I am itching not to have to rely on loyal friends to fill seats (which makes it sound like I'm eschewing loyal friends, which is absurd and untrue, but hopefully you get my gist). I would love to be able to draw a roomful of strangers (that sounds so sketchy). I am encouraged though that audience turnout IS something that can be improved upon via a new, or perhaps just heavier, promotional approach. So, just putting this in my backpocket for the next show (May 31!).

Alright, but here's the pleasant realization: after coming home last night, I popped in the CD recording of the show and gave it a listen. The recording sounds good! Since getting the comment in September that I could benefit from some voice lessons, I have been working on the ol' voice. Though I never got lessons (I pursued one potential teacher - it feel through), I have been listening to a lot of recordings of performances since then, hearing the "bad habits" and the different qualities that my voice has and deciding which ones I want to bring out most often. Mostly since, I'm just working on keeping my vocals consistent, controlled, properly supported. And I do believe they has improved. It helps of course, having those beautiful strings winding in and out of songs... (Burning Down Rome definitely did their part last night).

There is a little more news - more than a little, but better to watch my head about it and keep it little in my heart. :) PD and I had another meeting a couple weeks ago, after he had listened to the recording of a live performance from February. He told me, "You are ready to go; all you need is a really good demo." He proceeded to tell me/show me the webiste of a friend of his with whom we may be able to work to get a simple 5-song demo recorded, and he advised me to pick and practice 5 of my best songs. I do not know the timeline on this, just that there seemed more of a sense of immediacy to this meeting and to this assignment than there was to our initial meeting in September. So this is incredibly encouraging to me, as I look down the track at the next several hurdles. I'm still running...

Thoughts/Intentions for 2007

Alrighty, so it's been a while; time for an update.

Good things are happening. This Friday I leave for a weeklong trip to Washington State where I will play two shows on two consecutive weekends. When I get back I will be rehearsing with Burning Down Rome for my next NYC show which is in early February. Since late November I have gotten into a habit of booking a couple shows per month (vs. the usual one show every one or two months), to positive result. I think it's important for me to keep up this new frequency because it's motivating me, keeping my skills sharp, and getting me out on the scene even when I don't always "feel" like it.

On the recording front: I'm still a total novice when it comes to my crummy-yet-nice home recording equipment, but despite the frustration and my tech-tarded ways, I aim to make recording a bigger priority and use these resources more often. This year I would like to make great recordings of six songs I don't currently have available for public consumption, enough for a nice EP. I think this is a conservative goal. But the reason for making these records will not be to release them but rather to run them by PD (See "The Conversation" post) and hopefully recruit him to help me record with awesome people that he knows, who actually know what they are doing in the studio and aren't just knocking things around blindfolded like I do.

Notes to Self

1) You emailed The Store on Thursday or Friday about a gig Ocotber 11 in Chicago.

2) You need to confirm with Ken the 13th

3) Check in with JP re: western PA coffeehouse gig

4) Drop off CD at The Sidewalk Cafe tomorrow

5) You emailed Rockwood tonight about a residency - way to go

6) You are 4 months behind on your new year's goal to complete one song per month

7) You emailed JL regarding voice lessons - follow up this week

8) Tend to your email list and CDBaby list

9) Email links and a gig bid to the nice girl at Think Coffee - but you want BDR on board with that, don't you?

10) Columbus possibilities... have you any other ideas?

The Conversation

All right, so Friday was a big day in music. At night, the show was a success. Jason played a great set, I played; I got to sing harmonies on his "Lion Song" and "Carolina," which was just peachy. A good crowd turned out, and at the end of the evening, filed out pleased. Yes, it was a venue in which "filing out" was the default manner of exiting.

Hours earlier, Friday afternoon brought its own small triumph. A conversation commenced in an unassuming office, twenty-some stories above the canyon of Times square, launched by the meeting of an earnest young, demo-wielding artist with a well-connected, well-versed music industry executive. He asked me if I wanted to know specific things from him or if he should just spew things as they came to mind. I told him to please spew.

I'm going to try to capture the gist here. The gist is, he thinks I can go places. He's willing to help. He had some good solid critical advice for me regarding my vocal performance, and regarding playing out. Some of his connections are with people who have been or are currently involved in the careers of my favorite piano-singer-songwriters (RW. BF.) We were talking on a loose timeline. We talked about concrete details. Before I left he set me to task with a couple "assignments" while he meanwhile was going to talk to a couple of his connections on my behalf. He asked me if I wanted to make a living doing this, and then he told me that I can.

What makes me more hopeful and simultaneously calm about this situation, compared to situations in the past where I had a record label contact and wished upon a star that it would lead to somewhere, is the closeness, the accountability, the familiarity. This is my very own connection. I see this gentleman on a daily basis. We're already acquainted. He and my own boss work closely together on several projects. I'm friends with his assistant. He passes by my desk a dozen times a day by default. That is to say, he is under no obligation to invest anything in me, and yet now that he is expressing that he will, it is particularly significant that we do interact daily, because inherent in that is a measure of accountability, for both of us! "Following up" in the past meant me bothering a friend of a friend for the fourth time to find out what Mr. X thought of my demo, or waiting for a phone call from Mr G. about whether he thinks I have a future in music. Following up in this case means, walking down the hallway, knocking on his door, and sitting down for another chat -- once I have finished my assignments, that is.

So we'll see.