I hate coming up with titles for blogs. They're never witty enough, always too cliche. I always struggle with titles for festivals, emails, and anything else that requires creativity. Thus the ???.
Last night, at 1:30 in the morning, I was sitting in my video game chair in front of the computer, watching "Together We Are Free", the documentary that reviews the Rescue, Invisible Children's worldwide awareness event that got me hooked on the cause back in April. It was moving, just like their movies always are. I'm so proud and excited to see Connor and Alicia, my two adorable door kids at Livingston County shows, starting their own Schools for Schools groups in their respective high schools. They started the groups, but I know that at least Alicia is having trouble coming up with ideas on how to get people's attention.
Every time I watch the films, I feel inspired to do something, but I can never quite figure it out. Then suddenly, it hit me. What are the two things I need to do with my life, other than of course make money to pay bills? Well, first I need to find some meaning to my existence (I sit at my laptop all day long, every day). Secondly, I need to lose weight and get in shape (soon, or I'm going to suffer the consequences forever).
So I thought to myself, what about setting up a weight-loss, health-gain program for myself that not only benefits myself, but gives a financial donation to the kids in Africa while I'm shedding the pounds? If I can get my family and friends to donate a nominal amount per pound, I can start to accumulate some major dough for someone less fortunate than I.
To start, I'm going to need to find activities to do every day to start bringing my metabolism back up. I'm going to need to quit drinking pop and eating fast food, eat healthier, get out of bed earlier, and just change my lifestyle. I don't care enough about myself to do it, but do I care enough for the cause that I'm always popping off at the mouth about?
What do I need to get started? My camera charged, a way to track progress, a way to take donations, a scale, and a confidence that isn't just some stupid thing that no one will care about.
My current inspiration is this: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hadiamani/186332060151 Started in Michigan by two girls with a heart for Africa. Specifically, this: http://peacefeet.yolasite.com/
These girls have talents, and they use them, for good rather than profit. We all have bills to pay and we all have responsibilities. But what are we doing right now to show compassion for someone else, all the while improving our own lot in life?
I need to lose weight, to save my own life. These children in Africa need our help, to save their lives. This should be obvious, right?
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Inner turmoil - and not just the veggie enchiladas I had for lunch...
So if any of you follow my onslaught of Facebook statuses, you'd know by now that I'm on tour with Koji for a week or so. Running around the country in the Colormake van, going to his shows, helping him sell merch and generally just being away from my everyday life for a while. It's pretty awesome so far, but I'm conflicted.
I'm inspired by the boy and by the people that I'm around, but it's one of those "how the hell am I going to make a living like THAT?" situations. Of the three shows, the best one was by far the house show in Chicago, which doesn't exactly speak highly of what I'm doing for a living. Promoters may have lost their place in this world.
But I wasn't going to get into another "how viable is my chosen career path" blog. I talk about that too much. I was thinking about how much I miss Teresa, my bed, and my home (and I do, severely, already). I'm a homebody for the most part. There's so many things I want to do though, that make being a homebody difficult. For one, I'm hugely overweight and out of shape, and I'm so tired of that! I definitely want to travel, I want to make differences every night. It's a weird place to be, not 100% sure where I belong.
Touring is not for me at this age. I'm having a blast, but I'm glad I'm getting it out of my system now. I might be able to tour with an Invisible Children type thing, but these crazy late nights, long drives, and smelly couches aren't my thing. 1 week will be plenty.
But I'm thinking that I could do more. Make a bigger difference in someone's life. I could really make some waves in the charitable sector, and I'm not sure how to do it and still pay the bills.
I'm not sure what exactly I'm trying to say other than that I love my life, I love the people in it, and I'm glad I chose to do this, but I'll also be ecstatic when I get home to see my wife and my cat!
I'm inspired by the boy and by the people that I'm around, but it's one of those "how the hell am I going to make a living like THAT?" situations. Of the three shows, the best one was by far the house show in Chicago, which doesn't exactly speak highly of what I'm doing for a living. Promoters may have lost their place in this world.
But I wasn't going to get into another "how viable is my chosen career path" blog. I talk about that too much. I was thinking about how much I miss Teresa, my bed, and my home (and I do, severely, already). I'm a homebody for the most part. There's so many things I want to do though, that make being a homebody difficult. For one, I'm hugely overweight and out of shape, and I'm so tired of that! I definitely want to travel, I want to make differences every night. It's a weird place to be, not 100% sure where I belong.
Touring is not for me at this age. I'm having a blast, but I'm glad I'm getting it out of my system now. I might be able to tour with an Invisible Children type thing, but these crazy late nights, long drives, and smelly couches aren't my thing. 1 week will be plenty.
But I'm thinking that I could do more. Make a bigger difference in someone's life. I could really make some waves in the charitable sector, and I'm not sure how to do it and still pay the bills.
I'm not sure what exactly I'm trying to say other than that I love my life, I love the people in it, and I'm glad I chose to do this, but I'll also be ecstatic when I get home to see my wife and my cat!
Saturday, September 19, 2009
I love this story...
This is a great story. It kind of wraps up what we're trying to do with Invisible Children. I'm sitting here, at home, after a pretty pointless show, trying to motivate myself to do something with my life. Anyway, read this. It's good.
Once upon a time there was a wise man
who used to go to the ocean
to do his writing.
He had a habit of walking
on the beach
before he began his work.
One day he was walking along
the shore.
As he looked down the beach,
he saw a human
figure moving like a dancer.
He smiled to himself to think
of someone who would
dance to the day.
So he began to walk faster
to catch up.
As he got closer, he saw
that it was a young man
and the young man wasn't dancing,
but instead he was reaching
down to the shore,
picking up something
and very gently throwing it
into the ocean.
As he got closer he called out,
"Good morning! What are you doing?"
The young man paused,
looked up and replied,
"Throwing starfish in the ocean."
"I guess I should have asked,
why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?"
"The sun is up and the tide is going out.
And if I don't throw them in they'll die."
"But, young man, don't you realize that
there are miles and miles of beach
and starfish all along it.
You can't possibly make a difference!"
The young man listened politely.
Then bent down, picked up another starfish
and threw it into the sea,
past the breaking waves and said-
"It made a difference for that one."
Once upon a time there was a wise man
who used to go to the ocean
to do his writing.
He had a habit of walking
on the beach
before he began his work.
One day he was walking along
the shore.
As he looked down the beach,
he saw a human
figure moving like a dancer.
He smiled to himself to think
of someone who would
dance to the day.
So he began to walk faster
to catch up.
As he got closer, he saw
that it was a young man
and the young man wasn't dancing,
but instead he was reaching
down to the shore,
picking up something
and very gently throwing it
into the ocean.
As he got closer he called out,
"Good morning! What are you doing?"
The young man paused,
looked up and replied,
"Throwing starfish in the ocean."
"I guess I should have asked,
why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?"
"The sun is up and the tide is going out.
And if I don't throw them in they'll die."
"But, young man, don't you realize that
there are miles and miles of beach
and starfish all along it.
You can't possibly make a difference!"
The young man listened politely.
Then bent down, picked up another starfish
and threw it into the sea,
past the breaking waves and said-
"It made a difference for that one."
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Friends and family
Today has been an interesting day, to say the least.
I'm not writing this to get sympathy, or to get pats on the back. I'm writing to get some things off of my chest. To give myself something to refer to in order to keep myself focused on what I want to do in this life. To rally actual support to the cause, and to hopefully inspire you to rise above the things in life that drag you down.
In my time in the music industry, I like to think that I've done some good things. I like to think I run a good, ethical, and fair company that has made a positive impact on a lot of people's lives. A few things that have happened recently have put some things into perspective. And it is this perspective that I want to explore, be honest about, and change some things about myself and the way I do things in order to properly continue what I'm doing.
Back to the events of today. I won't name names, because honestly, it won't get me anywhere. I stood up for a friend who promoted a show, and a band did their best to tear apart the positive thing he had put together. They probably didn't do it to spite the promoter, but they simply don't understand how their actions affect everyone else, and they don't care. I wrote an email to their booking agent, which was angry but fair. And it was forwarded along to the band, who has now encouraged their fanbase to "bust my fucking head". The scary part about this is that my phone number, email address, and AOL IM s/n were posted on the bulletin where they encouraged their fanbase to do this, and I've received multiple calls, IMs, and messages threatening all sorts of bodily harm.
So again, this message is not to have people feel sorry for me. Let's get to the root of the problem. My goal with Fusion Shows is to provide a positive atmosphere for music fans (mostly teenagers, let's face it) to be themselves, see bands, and just not be stuck under the thumb of other "teen events", where kids cannot be themselves and are ruled with an iron fist. I've managed to eek out a living doing this, which is a wonderful thing, and something I feel so blessed about.
However, in this business, you have to ride a very fine line between honoring your morals and your beliefs, and taking care of business relationships. This band we speak of has done some Fusion events, because their agent is someone that I respected and wanted to gain some history with, to get to some of his bigger acts.
Sadly, what I ended up with is threats on my life for my time. Who do I blame for this? Myself. I chased the money. I saw the culture of negativity and hate that surrounds this band and bands like it, and I allowed myself to get involved anyway. Many times, I find myself becoming the people in this business that I don't respect. I send nasty, snarky five word emails. I don't say hello. I don't treat people with the respect that they deserve. I book bands that don't respect themselves and their fans. Their fans are trouble. They look for it.
THIS IS NOT MY SCENE. And as much as I feel OK about my decision to stick up for the promoter that I did, it was a bad move, because it brought me to this situation. Now because of that, and some poor decisions on the part of some industry folks, I've been fielding death threats and foul messages all day long.
As was said at the Invisible Children "Lobby Days" event in DC in June, "If you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem." I've been part of the problem far too many times lately. I've allowed us to give a place for this kind of hatred to grow, to thrive. I'm putting my foot down. Today.
Here's the thing though. It's not going to be "march" against anything. I'm not protesting anything. I'm simply going to refocus on our creed, our purpose. We are here to provide a POSITIVE atmosphere. And not that fake "Posi-" bullshit, where people say they are all positive, and then get in fights with people who aren't. I'm talking about creating an atmosphere where art thrives, where people are given the opportunity to make positive change. I'm going to continue to dive into the Invisible Children charity that I'm working on. I'm going to give everything I can to make people's days better, not worse. I won't foster negativity. I'll say hello, and thank you, and I'll reward people that work hard, that are positive, that make a difference.
I apologize personally to anyone who has been dragged into "the business" end of what I do. I value you as people, and I care for what you're trying to do.
I'm 30 years old, I'm happily married, and I'm far too happy with my life to get dragged into this kind of stuff. Instead of emailing an agent to "tattle" on a band that does wrong, I'm just going to put more effort into a band that's doing it right. Instead of calling out an agent who is asking ridiculous amount of money and being unethical, I'll simply move on and work with the people who do value what we're trying to do here.
I'm not going to get into pissing matches with Live Nation and Ticketmaster. They'll do their thing, I'll do mine. I don't need negativity to further my cause.
If you want to show support for this blog, and for what Fusion Shows is planning to do, please DO something to support. It's easy to voice support, it takes a lot more effort to actually do something.
Thanks for reading. I'm not getting into specifics, so don't ask.
Nate
Edit: One more thing I forgot to mention. Please, for your own dignity, do not accept this behavior in your friends, yourself, or in the music you listen to. There's another band that sounds just as brutal but doesn't act this way. There are talented musicians out there that do things that will make you the feel the way you like to feel, without being so negative all the time. Please support the people that do things the right way, and don't enable and make excuses for those who act this way. It's not right, and I don't have a problem in saying that.
I'm not writing this to get sympathy, or to get pats on the back. I'm writing to get some things off of my chest. To give myself something to refer to in order to keep myself focused on what I want to do in this life. To rally actual support to the cause, and to hopefully inspire you to rise above the things in life that drag you down.
In my time in the music industry, I like to think that I've done some good things. I like to think I run a good, ethical, and fair company that has made a positive impact on a lot of people's lives. A few things that have happened recently have put some things into perspective. And it is this perspective that I want to explore, be honest about, and change some things about myself and the way I do things in order to properly continue what I'm doing.
Back to the events of today. I won't name names, because honestly, it won't get me anywhere. I stood up for a friend who promoted a show, and a band did their best to tear apart the positive thing he had put together. They probably didn't do it to spite the promoter, but they simply don't understand how their actions affect everyone else, and they don't care. I wrote an email to their booking agent, which was angry but fair. And it was forwarded along to the band, who has now encouraged their fanbase to "bust my fucking head". The scary part about this is that my phone number, email address, and AOL IM s/n were posted on the bulletin where they encouraged their fanbase to do this, and I've received multiple calls, IMs, and messages threatening all sorts of bodily harm.
So again, this message is not to have people feel sorry for me. Let's get to the root of the problem. My goal with Fusion Shows is to provide a positive atmosphere for music fans (mostly teenagers, let's face it) to be themselves, see bands, and just not be stuck under the thumb of other "teen events", where kids cannot be themselves and are ruled with an iron fist. I've managed to eek out a living doing this, which is a wonderful thing, and something I feel so blessed about.
However, in this business, you have to ride a very fine line between honoring your morals and your beliefs, and taking care of business relationships. This band we speak of has done some Fusion events, because their agent is someone that I respected and wanted to gain some history with, to get to some of his bigger acts.
Sadly, what I ended up with is threats on my life for my time. Who do I blame for this? Myself. I chased the money. I saw the culture of negativity and hate that surrounds this band and bands like it, and I allowed myself to get involved anyway. Many times, I find myself becoming the people in this business that I don't respect. I send nasty, snarky five word emails. I don't say hello. I don't treat people with the respect that they deserve. I book bands that don't respect themselves and their fans. Their fans are trouble. They look for it.
THIS IS NOT MY SCENE. And as much as I feel OK about my decision to stick up for the promoter that I did, it was a bad move, because it brought me to this situation. Now because of that, and some poor decisions on the part of some industry folks, I've been fielding death threats and foul messages all day long.
As was said at the Invisible Children "Lobby Days" event in DC in June, "If you aren't part of the solution, you're part of the problem." I've been part of the problem far too many times lately. I've allowed us to give a place for this kind of hatred to grow, to thrive. I'm putting my foot down. Today.
Here's the thing though. It's not going to be "march" against anything. I'm not protesting anything. I'm simply going to refocus on our creed, our purpose. We are here to provide a POSITIVE atmosphere. And not that fake "Posi-" bullshit, where people say they are all positive, and then get in fights with people who aren't. I'm talking about creating an atmosphere where art thrives, where people are given the opportunity to make positive change. I'm going to continue to dive into the Invisible Children charity that I'm working on. I'm going to give everything I can to make people's days better, not worse. I won't foster negativity. I'll say hello, and thank you, and I'll reward people that work hard, that are positive, that make a difference.
I apologize personally to anyone who has been dragged into "the business" end of what I do. I value you as people, and I care for what you're trying to do.
I'm 30 years old, I'm happily married, and I'm far too happy with my life to get dragged into this kind of stuff. Instead of emailing an agent to "tattle" on a band that does wrong, I'm just going to put more effort into a band that's doing it right. Instead of calling out an agent who is asking ridiculous amount of money and being unethical, I'll simply move on and work with the people who do value what we're trying to do here.
I'm not going to get into pissing matches with Live Nation and Ticketmaster. They'll do their thing, I'll do mine. I don't need negativity to further my cause.
If you want to show support for this blog, and for what Fusion Shows is planning to do, please DO something to support. It's easy to voice support, it takes a lot more effort to actually do something.
Thanks for reading. I'm not getting into specifics, so don't ask.
Nate
Edit: One more thing I forgot to mention. Please, for your own dignity, do not accept this behavior in your friends, yourself, or in the music you listen to. There's another band that sounds just as brutal but doesn't act this way. There are talented musicians out there that do things that will make you the feel the way you like to feel, without being so negative all the time. Please support the people that do things the right way, and don't enable and make excuses for those who act this way. It's not right, and I don't have a problem in saying that.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
My top 10 live bands, and my musical bucket list.
Just for fun, before I finally go to bed here, I thought I'd try to compile my list of the top ten live bands I've seen. And after reading an article on Pearl Jam, also my musical "bucket list", the bands I need to see before I die.
TOP TEN LIVE BANDS
10. Mute Math
9. Coheed and Cambria
8. Thursday
7. Thrice
6. Foo Fighters
5. Our Lady Peace
4. Jimmy Eat World
3. Dave Matthews Band
2. Incubus
1. Muse
Honorable Mention: Zebrahead, Finger Eleven, Fuel, Manchester Orchestra, Kevin Devine, The Living End, Blink 182, Patent Pending, Koji, La Dispute, Damiera, Audrye Sessions, Mae, Silence the Wake
BUCKET LIST
Pearl Jam
Rage Against the Machine
Metallica (w/ their full lineup)
Rise Against
TOP TEN LIVE BANDS
10. Mute Math
9. Coheed and Cambria
8. Thursday
7. Thrice
6. Foo Fighters
5. Our Lady Peace
4. Jimmy Eat World
3. Dave Matthews Band
2. Incubus
1. Muse
Honorable Mention: Zebrahead, Finger Eleven, Fuel, Manchester Orchestra, Kevin Devine, The Living End, Blink 182, Patent Pending, Koji, La Dispute, Damiera, Audrye Sessions, Mae, Silence the Wake
BUCKET LIST
Pearl Jam
Rage Against the Machine
Metallica (w/ their full lineup)
Rise Against
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Blogs are a funny thing...
One day, you're all amped to write in them. Then two weeks later, you think to yourself, remember that blog I wrote about my vacation that was "Part 1"? And then I never wrote "Part 2"? Oh well.
My blogs are generally written when A. I'm bored, or B. I'm pissed. Right now, it's definitely A. But it's not just bored. It's like incomplete. I'm just malfunctioning right now on some level, and I can't find it.
I had a great day today. Disc golfed with Teresa (shot terribly, but who cares, it's fun). Had dinner with my brother and sister-in-law. Played some games (NHL 2009 on the X-Box, then some Scene It, also on the X-Box).
I don't know. I'm just not real happy. Shows have been slow (summer usually is very hit and miss). Tour booking is nearly impossible, and pretty pointless. I love Your Best Friend and Koji, and believe in them both, but I'm unable to get good shows for them. I just don't have the time it takes nor the motivation to spend hours and hours contacting 50 promoters/bands per date to nail down what's good. It's a problem, and it's going to come to a head soon.
Outside of my work life, I'm out of shape, and it's not that I feel particularly bad, but I definitely can look in a mirror and see that I'm not going to be able to be what I am now and hope to live until I'm 80. And I love apartment life, but I've lately had slight pangs of longing when I hear people talk about owning a house, having kids, etc. It's weird. It's not at all about having possessions. It's more about having a place where I belong, which is a strange thing for a 30 year old man to think about. I do belong, but it's in a world of teenagers at shows, and in a world of people who are trained to take as money from you as possible (agents and such). Neither of those are places I want to, nor should I want to, hang out.
But all in all, life is still pretty good. Roof over our head. Bills are paid (if barely). Teresa and I are content. I work when I want to work, which is becoming less often lately, which might be part of the problem. I've delegated so much of what we do at Fusion, I don't think it's done as effectively as I'd like, but I don't want to just do it myself. So we kind of sit in limbo, not selling shows very well, and just treading water. And with Irving, my business partner, basically up and leaving the business for me to deal with, I'm not sure what I'm doing next.
Financially, I'm in a tough spot at the moment. The business isn't exactly lucrative (June never is), and I'm taking too many shows that I don't need, just to "help out". I never got paid from the tours I booked in the spring (Brad, if you're reading, send me a damn check, it's not cute anymore). And the tours I'm booking now aren't lucrative enough to be worth the immense amount of time I spend on them. You have to "look to the future", and hope that they're going to pay off in the end, but let's face it, I'm not good enough at tour booking to book a band that's actually drawing big crowds. If you ask me what venues there are in St. Louis, Missouri, a market not too terribly far from here, I could name a few, but I know NOTHING about them.
Anyway, enough crabbing. I think that every 4-6 months, I have one of these days where I simply need to refocus myself on what's important. And what's important is being happy, fit, and keeping the bills paid. Happiness and fitness come from seeing friends, getting outside, getting the kayaks wet, disc golfing, camping/hiking, etc. The bills get paid by making sure Fusion Shows is a smartly run organization.
I can work on those things, and I'll get by. I'm looking into some new nutrition and diet/exercise routines, to lose some of this excess weight, which will make me feel better too. I wish I had the willpower to do the P90X like Nick Diener did. Dude is ripped all of a sudden. 90 days. Man, if only.
So yeah, I guess I should end this blog and start making progress again, eh?
My blogs are generally written when A. I'm bored, or B. I'm pissed. Right now, it's definitely A. But it's not just bored. It's like incomplete. I'm just malfunctioning right now on some level, and I can't find it.
I had a great day today. Disc golfed with Teresa (shot terribly, but who cares, it's fun). Had dinner with my brother and sister-in-law. Played some games (NHL 2009 on the X-Box, then some Scene It, also on the X-Box).
I don't know. I'm just not real happy. Shows have been slow (summer usually is very hit and miss). Tour booking is nearly impossible, and pretty pointless. I love Your Best Friend and Koji, and believe in them both, but I'm unable to get good shows for them. I just don't have the time it takes nor the motivation to spend hours and hours contacting 50 promoters/bands per date to nail down what's good. It's a problem, and it's going to come to a head soon.
Outside of my work life, I'm out of shape, and it's not that I feel particularly bad, but I definitely can look in a mirror and see that I'm not going to be able to be what I am now and hope to live until I'm 80. And I love apartment life, but I've lately had slight pangs of longing when I hear people talk about owning a house, having kids, etc. It's weird. It's not at all about having possessions. It's more about having a place where I belong, which is a strange thing for a 30 year old man to think about. I do belong, but it's in a world of teenagers at shows, and in a world of people who are trained to take as money from you as possible (agents and such). Neither of those are places I want to, nor should I want to, hang out.
But all in all, life is still pretty good. Roof over our head. Bills are paid (if barely). Teresa and I are content. I work when I want to work, which is becoming less often lately, which might be part of the problem. I've delegated so much of what we do at Fusion, I don't think it's done as effectively as I'd like, but I don't want to just do it myself. So we kind of sit in limbo, not selling shows very well, and just treading water. And with Irving, my business partner, basically up and leaving the business for me to deal with, I'm not sure what I'm doing next.
Financially, I'm in a tough spot at the moment. The business isn't exactly lucrative (June never is), and I'm taking too many shows that I don't need, just to "help out". I never got paid from the tours I booked in the spring (Brad, if you're reading, send me a damn check, it's not cute anymore). And the tours I'm booking now aren't lucrative enough to be worth the immense amount of time I spend on them. You have to "look to the future", and hope that they're going to pay off in the end, but let's face it, I'm not good enough at tour booking to book a band that's actually drawing big crowds. If you ask me what venues there are in St. Louis, Missouri, a market not too terribly far from here, I could name a few, but I know NOTHING about them.
Anyway, enough crabbing. I think that every 4-6 months, I have one of these days where I simply need to refocus myself on what's important. And what's important is being happy, fit, and keeping the bills paid. Happiness and fitness come from seeing friends, getting outside, getting the kayaks wet, disc golfing, camping/hiking, etc. The bills get paid by making sure Fusion Shows is a smartly run organization.
I can work on those things, and I'll get by. I'm looking into some new nutrition and diet/exercise routines, to lose some of this excess weight, which will make me feel better too. I wish I had the willpower to do the P90X like Nick Diener did. Dude is ripped all of a sudden. 90 days. Man, if only.
So yeah, I guess I should end this blog and start making progress again, eh?
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Dear diary...
Dear diary...
What do you do when your industry is dying, and there's no other industry in your area that isn't? I'm on such a rollercoaster. 4 days ago, I'm in Washington DC talking to senators. Today, I'm wrapping up a weekend where we lost a whole lot of money. "But dude, Fusion's blowing up!". Wrong. We're just doing all the things we once hated.
I don't know what to do. Hopefully "THINK LOCAL" will jar something loose in my stupid head.
EDIT: This is an example of how blogs are usually only written when someone's crabby. The industry is definitely in trouble, but Fusion, for the most part, has made the right decisions. We're just having a tough month, and I'm struggling to figure out what's next. I want to re-focus on the strong local talent in Michigan, build them a scene to be proud of, and then sprinkle some good, solid national talent here and there.
What do you do when your industry is dying, and there's no other industry in your area that isn't? I'm on such a rollercoaster. 4 days ago, I'm in Washington DC talking to senators. Today, I'm wrapping up a weekend where we lost a whole lot of money. "But dude, Fusion's blowing up!". Wrong. We're just doing all the things we once hated.
I don't know what to do. Hopefully "THINK LOCAL" will jar something loose in my stupid head.
EDIT: This is an example of how blogs are usually only written when someone's crabby. The industry is definitely in trouble, but Fusion, for the most part, has made the right decisions. We're just having a tough month, and I'm struggling to figure out what's next. I want to re-focus on the strong local talent in Michigan, build them a scene to be proud of, and then sprinkle some good, solid national talent here and there.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Vacation: Day 1 - Howell, MI to Olean, NY
Getting an early start by our standards (noon-ish), Teresa and I set off on our week-long vacation to the east. We're on what I like to call the "no plan plan", where we just kind of have a general route in mind, but don't have anything figured out. Teresa took first shift while I used the laptop and internet card to drum up some options. We were either going to stay in a small Lake Erie town east of Cleveland called Painesville, OH, or we were going to push on to Olean, NY, a small town in the foothills of western New York. I guess you could call these mountains. Not huge, by any means, but definitely bigger than anything we have in Michigan.
We decided to keep rolling towards Olean. Cleveland was cool. We kind of jumped off the freeway on the west side and rolled through what was obviously the nicer part of town. We rounded a bend, and bang, there was downtown. And then it was over, and we got stuck in traffic in the ugly part of town on the east side. I tried to stick to the coast of Lake Erie for some scenery, but there wasn't much to be had, so I jumped back on the I-90 and made some good time through the 50 miles or so of Pennsylvania while Teresa took a nap.
Towards the end of the 9 hour drive (with many stops), I was getting sleepy, so Teresa and I played 20 questions for about the last hour of the drive, which kept me going. I kicked her ass at it. Woot.
We got into Olean, a nice enough little town. Not too much happening, but that's kind of what we're shooting for, I think. Today, we move on towards Watkins Glen, where we'll hike the gorge, do some camping, make some S'mores. Hopefully the mosquitoes won't be too bad. It's just nice to be on the road, and enjoying ourselves together.
We decided to keep rolling towards Olean. Cleveland was cool. We kind of jumped off the freeway on the west side and rolled through what was obviously the nicer part of town. We rounded a bend, and bang, there was downtown. And then it was over, and we got stuck in traffic in the ugly part of town on the east side. I tried to stick to the coast of Lake Erie for some scenery, but there wasn't much to be had, so I jumped back on the I-90 and made some good time through the 50 miles or so of Pennsylvania while Teresa took a nap.
Towards the end of the 9 hour drive (with many stops), I was getting sleepy, so Teresa and I played 20 questions for about the last hour of the drive, which kept me going. I kicked her ass at it. Woot.
We got into Olean, a nice enough little town. Not too much happening, but that's kind of what we're shooting for, I think. Today, we move on towards Watkins Glen, where we'll hike the gorge, do some camping, make some S'mores. Hopefully the mosquitoes won't be too bad. It's just nice to be on the road, and enjoying ourselves together.
Friday, June 5, 2009
I'm going to Washington DC! And I'm meeting with senators. Please help me.
Hey everyone,
It's not often that I solicit people's help for non-concert events. It feels weird to be doing this at 30 years of age, but Invisible Children is a charitable organization that has been laid on my heart. The overall idea is this. In Uganda and surrounding countries, a madman named Joseph Kony has spent the last 20-some-odd years running a rebel band of soldiers called the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA rules the jungle in these countries, descending upon villages in the middle of the night and killing, burning, and pillaging, and most importantly, abducting the children of the village. He then marches them to their strongholds, where he tortures them and forces them to become the world's most violent soldiers.
This problem was brought to light by a group of filmmakers who went to Uganda to film a completely unrelated event. They were then introduced to the atrocities happening every day, and filmed some of the craziest footage you'll ever see. Since, the filmmakers began Invisible Children, whose sole goal is to bring these children home to their families, and to end the terrors by Kony and his LRA.
For more info on Invisible Children, head to www.invisiblechildren.com. To watch the video "The Rescue", head here: http://therescue.invisiblechildren.com/en/#/watch/
Fast forward to today. On April 25th, 2009, Teresa and I joined over 10,000 people in 100 cities across the globe as part of The Rescue, one of the largest organized awareness events in the history of earth. We marched through the rain in solidarity to help raise awareness across the globe. The six-day event concluded with us marching on Oprah Winfrey's studio at 2am in Chicago. She saw the 500 or so of us surrounding her building, and came out and invited the filmmakers onto her show.
Check out our appearance on Oprah here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2jFISVUXxc
And check out a follow-up on CNN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5Zt1xsokns&feature=related
So why DC? Well, this is kind of the capstone of the whole process. Together with thousands like me, we're going to the Capitol, to officially meet with our senators from each state, to make them aware of our feelings on what's happening in Uganda. I will be meeting with Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin, senators from Michigan, in an officially scheduled session. We will be delivering to them the hundreds of letters that were written at the Rescue by the participants, which they are legally required to read.
We will be encouraging our senators to support "The LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act", originally introduced just a few weeks ago to the Senate by US Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Sam Brownback (R-KS).
The entire bill can be viewed here: http://www.invisiblechildren.com/includes/phpbin/download_resource.php?id=72
I am driving to Washington DC on Sunday, June 21, staying in a church with hundreds of others on June 22 and 23, and making the trek home on Wednesday, June 24. To help pay for the massive costs of the event, Invisible Children has set up a way for friends and family to make donations. It is costing me $60.00 to attend the event, and I donated $30.00 extra to the cause. I set a goal of $200.00 to be raised, and I'm asking you to donate even $5.00 to help me do something that has been laid upon my heart.
To donate, head to my personal IC page at: http://invisiblechildren.kintera.org/howitends/natedorough
I'm not worried about my costs being covered. I'll worry about my gas money, and I'm staying with friends in Harrisburg, PA and then staying in a donated living space in Washington DC with the rest of the crew. The important part is that the operation itself is funded.
Want to help? Here's how.
1. Watch the movies. You will be inspired, I promise.
2. Head to my page (URL above) and donate. $5 even.
3. Write a letter to Stabenow or Levin. I will personally deliver it, along with the hundreds gathered at The Rescue.
Finally, to help raise awareness locally for this cause, I will be hosting a dual screening of the two I.C. films that I own. The first is the original Invisible Children film, and the second is The Rescue. For now, unless numbers dictate otherwise, I will plan on hosting this in my home on Tuesday, June 16 at 7pm. If numbers dictate, I'll work with my friends at the Hartland PAC to potentially move the screening across the street to the PAC.
LOCAL INVISIBLE CHILDREN FILM SCREENING
Tuesday, June 16, 7pm
My apartment. Please RSVP by emailing me at natedorough@gmail.com ONLY if you're really coming. Facebook users, you can RSVP here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=86557792841 If enough people RSVP, we'll show the movie on the big screen across the street. We'll write letters to our senators, which I will personally deliver to them on June 22 and 23.
I'm terribly sorry this is so long. Please, react how you feel necessary. You can donate, or you can delete. I understand either way, we all have our places that we put our discretionary money. This is where I put mine. Thanks for reading.
Love,
Nate Dorough
It's not often that I solicit people's help for non-concert events. It feels weird to be doing this at 30 years of age, but Invisible Children is a charitable organization that has been laid on my heart. The overall idea is this. In Uganda and surrounding countries, a madman named Joseph Kony has spent the last 20-some-odd years running a rebel band of soldiers called the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The LRA rules the jungle in these countries, descending upon villages in the middle of the night and killing, burning, and pillaging, and most importantly, abducting the children of the village. He then marches them to their strongholds, where he tortures them and forces them to become the world's most violent soldiers.
This problem was brought to light by a group of filmmakers who went to Uganda to film a completely unrelated event. They were then introduced to the atrocities happening every day, and filmed some of the craziest footage you'll ever see. Since, the filmmakers began Invisible Children, whose sole goal is to bring these children home to their families, and to end the terrors by Kony and his LRA.
For more info on Invisible Children, head to www.invisiblechildren.com. To watch the video "The Rescue", head here: http://therescue.invisiblechildren.com/en/#/watch/
Fast forward to today. On April 25th, 2009, Teresa and I joined over 10,000 people in 100 cities across the globe as part of The Rescue, one of the largest organized awareness events in the history of earth. We marched through the rain in solidarity to help raise awareness across the globe. The six-day event concluded with us marching on Oprah Winfrey's studio at 2am in Chicago. She saw the 500 or so of us surrounding her building, and came out and invited the filmmakers onto her show.
Check out our appearance on Oprah here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2jFISVUXxc
And check out a follow-up on CNN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5Zt1xsokns&feature=related
So why DC? Well, this is kind of the capstone of the whole process. Together with thousands like me, we're going to the Capitol, to officially meet with our senators from each state, to make them aware of our feelings on what's happening in Uganda. I will be meeting with Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin, senators from Michigan, in an officially scheduled session. We will be delivering to them the hundreds of letters that were written at the Rescue by the participants, which they are legally required to read.
We will be encouraging our senators to support "The LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act", originally introduced just a few weeks ago to the Senate by US Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Sam Brownback (R-KS).
The entire bill can be viewed here: http://www.invisiblechildren.com/includes/phpbin/download_resource.php?id=72
I am driving to Washington DC on Sunday, June 21, staying in a church with hundreds of others on June 22 and 23, and making the trek home on Wednesday, June 24. To help pay for the massive costs of the event, Invisible Children has set up a way for friends and family to make donations. It is costing me $60.00 to attend the event, and I donated $30.00 extra to the cause. I set a goal of $200.00 to be raised, and I'm asking you to donate even $5.00 to help me do something that has been laid upon my heart.
To donate, head to my personal IC page at: http://invisiblechildren.kintera.org/howitends/natedorough
I'm not worried about my costs being covered. I'll worry about my gas money, and I'm staying with friends in Harrisburg, PA and then staying in a donated living space in Washington DC with the rest of the crew. The important part is that the operation itself is funded.
Want to help? Here's how.
1. Watch the movies. You will be inspired, I promise.
2. Head to my page (URL above) and donate. $5 even.
3. Write a letter to Stabenow or Levin. I will personally deliver it, along with the hundreds gathered at The Rescue.
Finally, to help raise awareness locally for this cause, I will be hosting a dual screening of the two I.C. films that I own. The first is the original Invisible Children film, and the second is The Rescue. For now, unless numbers dictate otherwise, I will plan on hosting this in my home on Tuesday, June 16 at 7pm. If numbers dictate, I'll work with my friends at the Hartland PAC to potentially move the screening across the street to the PAC.
LOCAL INVISIBLE CHILDREN FILM SCREENING
Tuesday, June 16, 7pm
My apartment. Please RSVP by emailing me at natedorough@gmail.com ONLY if you're really coming. Facebook users, you can RSVP here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=86557792841 If enough people RSVP, we'll show the movie on the big screen across the street. We'll write letters to our senators, which I will personally deliver to them on June 22 and 23.
I'm terribly sorry this is so long. Please, react how you feel necessary. You can donate, or you can delete. I understand either way, we all have our places that we put our discretionary money. This is where I put mine. Thanks for reading.
Love,
Nate Dorough
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Today was blogtastic
I don't usually blog unless I'm pissed. But since I'm over it, I'm not sure how to approach this blog. I just feel like writing my ramblings until they lead me to bed. My eyes are starting to flutter, so it might not take very long.
Anyway, here's the deal. Tonight, I hated myself for booking this show full of angry gorillas whose sole goal it was to beat each other to a bloody mess. I hate hardcore music, at least what it's been morphed into. Hardcore dancing is stupid, and I'm sick of it. YOU KIDS LOOK STUPID. It's not cool. You are ruining your youthful lives, and I'm sick and tired of keeping my mouth shut about it. I'm not booking this crap anymore. I'll help some of the local bands continue to have shows, but I don't want to do this anymore. I'd rather book juggalo rap than this crap. At least there's some entertainment value in that. You guys are just stupid losers that need to find some other way to spend their time. And you Lakes Area Hardcore douchebags, you are going to die early in life, alone and pathetic. You are useless pieces of crap, and I don't advocate nor do I support your violence. I hope you get hit by cars.
Phew, now that that is off my chest, we're good. Kevin Devine this weekend was amazing, as usual. I felt like I kissed his ass a bit much, but he's a pretty inspiring dude, and it was important to me that he knew that.
This summer, I'm bringing back some of our DIY roots. We're putting out a "Think Local" concert series that's going to unite local (yes, local, as in Livingston County) bands and locally owned small businesses into one joined force to bring a positive change to our county. We're going to help some top-notch upcoming talented bands gain some footing, so look for some very diverse options in your area very soon. In the meantime, I suggest you check out Paper Mache, Farewell Flight, Lorien, and some of the other smaller bands we've booked lately. You might actually enjoy them (no you can't swing your arms to them, but you'll be OK, I promise).
My brain is swirling right now as to how to best revitalize Livingston County's music scene, and I've got some great ideas coming to a Fusion Shows website near you. Please stay tuned.
Anyway, here's the deal. Tonight, I hated myself for booking this show full of angry gorillas whose sole goal it was to beat each other to a bloody mess. I hate hardcore music, at least what it's been morphed into. Hardcore dancing is stupid, and I'm sick of it. YOU KIDS LOOK STUPID. It's not cool. You are ruining your youthful lives, and I'm sick and tired of keeping my mouth shut about it. I'm not booking this crap anymore. I'll help some of the local bands continue to have shows, but I don't want to do this anymore. I'd rather book juggalo rap than this crap. At least there's some entertainment value in that. You guys are just stupid losers that need to find some other way to spend their time. And you Lakes Area Hardcore douchebags, you are going to die early in life, alone and pathetic. You are useless pieces of crap, and I don't advocate nor do I support your violence. I hope you get hit by cars.
Phew, now that that is off my chest, we're good. Kevin Devine this weekend was amazing, as usual. I felt like I kissed his ass a bit much, but he's a pretty inspiring dude, and it was important to me that he knew that.
This summer, I'm bringing back some of our DIY roots. We're putting out a "Think Local" concert series that's going to unite local (yes, local, as in Livingston County) bands and locally owned small businesses into one joined force to bring a positive change to our county. We're going to help some top-notch upcoming talented bands gain some footing, so look for some very diverse options in your area very soon. In the meantime, I suggest you check out Paper Mache, Farewell Flight, Lorien, and some of the other smaller bands we've booked lately. You might actually enjoy them (no you can't swing your arms to them, but you'll be OK, I promise).
My brain is swirling right now as to how to best revitalize Livingston County's music scene, and I've got some great ideas coming to a Fusion Shows website near you. Please stay tuned.
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