The first day of the rest of my life.

Since we last had the pleasure of blogging together, I turned 30. Not a big deal, really. Had a cool show with Damiera at the Opera House. Since, we've had some serious winners on the Fusion Shows end of my life, and I've been working quite a bit at the Nature Center, which just shows me how out of shape I am. Your Best Friend just landed some dates with Chiodos, which is exciting for them. And we're working on some great tours for Koji for the summer and fall, and I'm hoping to get out on the road with both of them for a bit.

I'm really, really excited to be heading to the Rescue this Saturday with Teresa and Kimberly. I'm a bit concerned, however. I'm one of those people who really dives into things, so if I get the feeling about this weekend that I hope I get, you guys are going to have to deal with me jamming this Invisible Children thing down your throat, for a long long time.

Here's what it is, in a nutshell. Deep in the jungles in Uganda and The Congo, the longest war in modern history is raging on. A large band of rebels, led by a man named Joseph Kony, has been storming into villages, kidnapping children, and marching them back to his camps, where they break them of their ways, and teach them to become some of the world's most violent soldiers.

This Saturday, in over 100 cities, people will gather from miles around to "abduct" themselves, gathering in peaceful community until a local "mogul" (famous person) comes to "rescue" us all. At that time, a press release will be called, and the "mogul" will speak to the local press about Invisible Children and their efforts to bring Joseph Kony to justice, and to bring these children home to their families in Uganda.

I have never been this into a charitable event, and I truly hope that those people who I've spoken with that have shown interest in going actually follow through and go! It's going to be an absolutely perfect day, and we will all get to hang out together in a beautiful park in downtown Grand Rapids, at Rosa Parks Circle, and work together to make a difference!

Please, head to http://therescue.invisiblechildren.com. Watch the video. It's a half hour of your time, and will leave you wanting to help. I promise.

There are other ways to help. Go to their webstore and order a shirt. Send me with a cash donation, I'll make sure it finds its way. Write a letter to someone important, supporting I.C. Even if you have stuff to do this weekend (Sparty's Spring Party, Demetri Martin, New Found Glory, other shows), YOU CAN STILL HELP!

I can't wait for Saturday.

Invisible Children

What a wild weekend. Koji was in town all weekend, crashed on the floor for five straight days. What a good human being, surrounded by good people. It was a lot of fun. He introduced me to a charity called Invisible Children. I've heard about it ten million times, but I never really soaked it all in. He showed me the video for "The Rescue", and man, I'm pumped. I think I'm going to dive in headfirst. My concern is that once I dive in, I might not want to do anything else.

In this business that struggles to have meaning sometimes, I think I've been searching for meaning lately. I just feel like we're spinning our wheels. The La Dispute, Mason Proper, Your Best Friend, and For Today shows aside, not many of our recent shows have had much meaning.

There's going to be some things happening to start truly making a difference in this area. I'm sick and tired of providing you guys with a shitty product like Millionaires, and having the money just get sucked into an abyss. There's talent out there that will get paid less money, let some go to charity, and everyone will go home much happier. There's a better way to do things than the way it's done right now.

But first, I must sleep. I'm so tired, it's been a looooong weekend. Tomorrow is a new day.

I told you I was ready for this life....

Be prepared to be knocked on your ass, folks. The new Manna and Quail EP is so, so freaking good. That band, plus Mason Proper (so good tonight), Your Best Friend, La Dispute, and quite a few others, make me feel pretty good about Michigan music.

What a long, long weekend (and it's not over yet). I think there's a light at the end of the tunnel, though. I hope this all works out.

I think I saw you in my sleep, darling...

That album fucking inspires me. I think the sunshine inspires me too. Tonight was a weird night. For Today played. Legit dudes, with a crazy good live show, and the right intentions, but are they really doing it right? I mean, are you getting through to kids? Is that what you're supposed to be doing? I guess if you believe it, then yeah, I guess it is.

Tiger Tiger and Your Best Friend are off to great starts to their tours. Played a huge show in Richmond, IN on a Monday tonight. It just motivates me to believe what I already believe in for this "business". It's all about the power of the small town. Why the hell bother to play Detroit, Chicago, and New York? You're just the little guy, in a big, happening world. You should go play Richmond, Indiana and Howell, Michigan. Where you're the big guns.

So with all the inspiration lately, from the La Dispute shows, from seeing Koji, from digging up new great music from bands like Settle, The Rise of Science, and seeing how hard work can get the job done for bands like Your Best Friend, it's sad to have to go back to the same shitty metalcore and pop music time after time. I'm doing some major research on the area, on real estate. There's a lot of thought in my head about just turning this whole thing upside down. Shaking out all the bullshit, the bad bands, the spin-kicking assholes, and just doing this right.

I'm not 100% sure what that means, but I can tell you this: I'm not content where we are right now. Artistic Services Group is probably not going to work out for me. Brad goes AWOL almost weekly for three days, leaving the people who depend on him hanging. Fusion Shows is making strides, but I think we're wandering away from where I want to be. I want this to be about art. We're just becoming mini-Live Nation. Take care of the agents first and foremost. Never mind the artistic value. It's not become about money so much as it is about status and relationships with businesspeople.

THIS "BUSINESS" IS ABOUT PEOPLE. About art. About connections with music, not about connections with managers and agents. Those things have to happen too, but it comes after the music makes a connection. You should first and foremost be concerned about your music. Everything else is secondary. That's why La Dispute's new album is so good. It's connecting with people on a level that nothing else is these days. That's why I can't get the fucking thing out of my head, and out of my CD player.

End rant. It's 3am, I should be sleeping. I'm stoked for Scouts Honor tomorrow.

On a rollercoaster

What a weird last 5 days. I've been filled with so much inspiration, and felt so lifeless, and it's gone back and forth for the past five days. Let me tell you about it.

Friday was the best show I've ever been a part of. Not financially, not numbers-wise, but just in spirit. I mean, the numbers were great. 248 paid for an all-Michigan bill in Howell was amazing. But here's the thing. As much positive buzz as La Dispute has in this area, which annoys some people, they've earned it. They've connected with local kids in this area in a way that no other band has. Not Island View Drive. Not Tips. Not The Mathematicians. Not Monte. This band has inspired of a group of kids in an area to be together, to think outside the normal box that you're supposed to live in. It was a total inspiration to be a part of that show, and I truly felt like we were doing something right, like we were making a difference in people's lives. La Dispute has put out a record that's truly a work of art, and they work their asses off to get everything they've earned. And they're so humble.

On Saturday, we brought the La Dispute show to Mac's. That place sometimes is awesome, and sometimes is just depressing. Even with the buzz of 120 or so La Dispute fans in the room, and the amazing positive aura that is Koji, I was down most of the night. It was amazing to see so many friends, and to spend time w/ Koji and the LD boys, but I was so annoyed with the venue. Little things bother me after a while.

Koji crashed with us on Saturday night, and he's such an inspiring dude. He just has an aura of confidence about him, of caring about the world, and about people. The crew he had with him were the same, and he talked so kindly of his hometown of Harrisburg, PA, which he loved more than anything. I tried to see if Howell could be the small town that he spoke of, to see if they were comparable. Howell and Brighton are so hung up on the corporate bullshit, and the money, and the politics, I can't imagine it being anything like Harrisburg, at least the way he described it. But maybe he just sees life differently.

Sunday night, we went to the Mixtape for Stick To Your Guns and Shai Hulud. It was the first of three straight losing shows. But it wasn't the losses that bothered me. Shai Hulud and STYG were great people, but I don't feel their music. At all. The Mixtape is an interesting place, the remnants of a place that I'm jealous of. Skelletones was one of the country's longest-running true all-ages music venues, and it was a mess. The place is dying, quickly, with the new owners in place. JR's a nice enough dude, but he doesn't understand the business, and the heart has gone out of the place. I think Mirf took it with him, which is sad. His goal, upon leaving, should have been to ensure that the place stayed strong once he left. Instead, he made it an ending, leaving JR to try to save the place, with all momentum dead.

Monday, we were at Mac's with Jimmy Robbins and Mark Rose. Both nice dudes, Mark's music was really solid, but it was one of those nights that didn't belong at Mac's. Our venue situation has to be the worst of any promoter at our level. We have lots to choose from, but none exactly have it figured out. The Mixtape is cool, but two hours from here. Mac's is a dump, but we love it on and off. The Crofoot doesn't really have the location for what we're doing, though it's beautiful. And the Howell venues have their issues. I got thinking, based on my inspiration from Koji, on a possible idea for a venue in Howell, an arts center of sorts. We've had our eye on the old LanLords space in downtown Howell for years now, just solely for the location. Howell needs the kids downtown. All towns do. It's good for a vibrant downtown, to have the energy of youth. There's too many issues to make it work (mostly noise issues with the upstairs apartments), but I'm not letting the idea die. I'll find a place someday, and I've got a million ideas for what to do with it, that would be beyond any small venue you've ever seen. It would be amazing, a multi-sensory art experience.

Finally, today was simply a terrible day. From the arguments with agents about overpriced shows to the Oh Sleeper show that did 34 people, I was a miserable piece of shit all day, and I apologize to anyone who was in my path. It was so beautiful out, and I just wanted to hop on the freeway, and drive until I crossed three state borders.

There's a lot of things at work in my brain at the moment. Some are things that'll advance my current endeavors. Some are things that'll stop me from taking on too many projects outside the scope of what we normally do (see compilation CDs, Music as a Weapon battles). I'm working on ideas to eliminate the bullshit bands from our lives (Millionaires, Brokencyde), and start focusing again on local music. I feel like we're so buried in touring acts, that the locals are just pushed to the side. I'd like to build some of the talent in Michigan into local stars, and I think that can be done.

I'd really like to travel and get on the road this summer. I'd like to take Teresa with me, but still be me and do the type of things that interest me. It's going to be an interesting summer.

I'd like to diet, and get more physically active. Today, I should have been outside. I need a bike. It was a perfect day to ride a bike, and I don't own one. If I had a bike, and just put my iPod on, I could knock out ten miles a day.

And finally, I want to continue to grow the business, but start returning to the values I've had for this thing since day one. I feel like I've got dollar signs in my eyes a bit, and I've kind of forgotten what made this a success.

Time to go bike shopping. God bless the internet.

Continuing yesterday's post

Has live music been affected by the "I don't need to pay for anything because I have the internet to keep me warm" thing that I discussed last week?

I just feel like people are apathetic to everything, because they are surrounded by so much stuff, that it's really hard to truly care about anything, because something better comes along the next week to take their affection away.

I remember the sense of mystery that used to go into trying to find out when my favorite band was going on tour. There were no websites to tell me. No blogs. No Twitter. It was just AWESOME when you heard that ad on the radio, or found that date in Metro Times. Now, you know when your favorite bands had stir-fry for lunch. It takes some of the mystique out of it.

I guess I say this because tonight, Thursday, one of the most influential and important bands of this past ten years, just played tonight for a semi-enthusiastic crowd of about 350 (after half the crowd left after Bring Me The Horizon, which might be the suckiest band I've seen on such a huge stage in a long time). Don't get me wrong, there were Thursday fans there. But I think this band has become irrelevant because there's a ton of other bands that now sound a lot like them, and their political thing is kind of buried. And since they toured with bands like BMTH and Pierce the Veil, the politically-conscious kids that dig this band decided that it wasn't worth the $21.50 ticket price to sit through this shit-fest to get to Thursday.

I don't know man. Maybe it was just a bad bill. I just don't see anyone truly get excited for anything, because there's no anticipation anymore. You can get anything you want, as soon as you want it, on the internet, which kills that buzz that used to build about a new record, a new tour, or any sort of announcement. And that buzz wears out faster, too.

I guess I'm getting old and the world is spinning too fast. I just feel like there should be 800 people out there (at least enough to sell out St. Andrews Hall) that would dig Thursday enough to come be a part of what happened tonight.

Three questions about concerts for this summer:

1. Will Blink 182/Weezer (if it happens) sell out at DTE or the Palace (20,000 kids)?
2. Will No Doubt/Paramore sell out the Palace?
3. Will Warped Tour numbers suffer because of the reduction in stages (and the "scene" lineup)?

I'm intrigued to see if these tours, the hottest of the summer for the 15-30 year olds, will do the numbers they certainly would have done five years ago.

The internet has killed, well, everything.

This is a short post. Because very few people will read it. Because everyone else is writing their own blogs right now. Which is sort of the point. Everyone blogs. And therefore, no one reads what everyone writes. Everyone writes music, records it, and releases it. No one listens to it. People don't need to buy anything, because it's all on the internet.

Am I bitter about it? Not really. More than anything, I just see it as being very interesting. The most wonderful times of my life have been spent with people, yet I find myself in front of this screen more often than not. I'm not sure why, either. It's where I "work". But could I do my work without it? Could this business work without the internet? And would it be better?

Thoughts to ponder....

Blogging can be harmful for your health

I just had an interesting email exchange, due to a post I made on a public forum about what I honestly felt about a band's performance that I had booked. It's now led to a broken relationship, which will likely never be mended. That makes me quite sad, but I guess it's OK. I've learned a pretty valuable lesson. The farther I take this Fusion Shows thing, the more I have to realize that the walls have ears. This will be twice that my "big mouth" will have burned a bridge.

However, at the same time, I had a really positive day. I interviewed with a local high school student about what our shows mean to our community, and I had a local girl "tag" me in a Facebook note, with an amazingly sweet paragraph about how much our shows have meant to her being the woman she is today. Every time I feel like my life is pointless, and some totally slick business dude who's "got it all figured out" on the outside gets me down, someone like Sharon Korzek comes along and reminds me about what the hell I'm doing, and why I'm doing it.

So let it be known. I don't give a flying shit how life is "supposed to work". I don't care about "the way it is". I've chosen the path less traveled, and while I have to model it after other business, Irv and I are different at Fusion Shows. We genuinely care about our communities. We want kids to want to stay in Livingston County, in Lansing, because there ARE things to do.

I refuse to let people drag me into their miserable little holes. I love my life, I love what I do. I'm pretty broke, I don't have insurance, I'm not in great shape. But I'm doing something that I love, every day. It's not for everyone. In fact, what I do isn't really for anyone, but it's important that young people understand, through all the gloom and doom about the economy, you can do whatever it is that you want.

I'm happily married, happily self-employed, and on a comfortable couch, under a warm blanket, in a nice apartment, under a perfectly functional roof, and about to each some pretty tasty chips and salsa. So there you go!

Revelation!

Thanks to a guy that I never really understood, I finally found something out today! I know why music is the way it is. It's simple. 14 year old girls (and boys) buy music. And they buy merch. We don't. So whatever they like is what becomes huge. Like Metro Station. And Manchester Orchestra plays Mac's Bar, sells it out, and then flops at the next level. Or worse.

It's so blatantly obvious, but it has never been said so that I really understood the magnitude of it. I don't buy merch. It's because I have bills, etc. And I'm ruining the future of those bands. It's not that I don't go see the bands I want to. They get less exposure because they sell less, which means they don't have the money to pay for advertising and what not.

I like to have enough faith in humanity that if it were different, and 25-30 year olds were to buy merch, it would be Thrice, Thursday, Manchester Orchestra, Murder By Death, and more would be selling out arenas, and the Metro Station's and All Time Low's of the world would not bother us so damn much.

It's solely our guilty conscience that drives us to "hate" those bands so much. That, and all the "copycat" bands out there that are modeling themselves after All Time Low or Bring Me The Horizon are doing so not because they truly love the music. They see the adoration from the mobs, and the merch sales.

Uggggggghhhhhhhh.

I'm going to buy a CD sometime. Soon. Just buy one. I encourage you all to do the same.

Busy, busy times!

So I just started working as a booking agent for Artistic Services Group from Tampa, Florida. It's pretty exciting to have some resources to work with to help some great bands get noticed. I've always enjoyed booking shows that people wanted to book. I'm working on a tour for one of my favorite bands, Damiera, on Equal Vision. I'm pretty excited about that. And my first signing to my roster was Your Best Friend, another one of my favorite bands. I've confirmed like ten shows in the past few days, with a bunch more on the way. It's addicting.

I'll be able to submit bands for tours with some of the industry's biggest bands. They probably won't get them often, but it's just nice to be on a recognizable level with others that work as hard as I do.

As far as Fusion Shows goes, things are going pretty well. We're advancing a bit, but kind of at a plateau at the moment. We can't get any bigger without really rolling with the big boys, getting radio involved and such. It's just going to take one big gig that we land to get it all rolling. We'll see what that'll be.

Mac's Bar really has the potential to be an amazing club, considering what we've built it into. It needs a little bit more direction, a floor, and for the other promoters to recognize that their shows that do 30 people aren't helping anyone. We've invested money there, and will continue to do so, as long as it continues to be what we need it to be. The Planet's a decent option for some larger shows, but nothing's better than a packed out small club.

Same with the Mixtape Cafe in Grand Rapids, but that's a little bit different story. We haven't established ourselves out there, and it'd be difficult to do in a market that's 2 hours away from me. The Crofoot is the Crofoot. Beautiful room with too many people involved. That place should own the earth right now, but it is slowly pulling market share away from some of the others. The Magic Stick/Majestic doesn't have a lot of great shows coming, nor does the Blind Pig. It's a weird time in the Detroit music scene, but we're glad to sit back, be the B market buyer, and wait for the perfect show to vault us into contender status.

The battle of the bands finals is Saturday, and I think we let that whole project down. We didn't give it enough push, and it's going to be disappointing. There'll be a very good crowd there, but not anywhere near the numbers we've done in past years. We simply didn't push it hard enough. Howell's music scene is a mess right now. Kids only come to see metal acts en masse. There's a small group that like indie and other stuff, but they're so picky, it's just easier to take stuff to other markets. Maybe as this new venue works itself out, things will improve in Howell. I need the ability to just have smaller local shows, to get the locals a chance to play out more.

I can ramble all day about this stuff. It's what I do now. Every day, all day. I've been on this laptop 14 hours a day all week. I like it, but I need to find a way to get out of the house more, get some exercise. If I could shake this cold (yes, I'm still coughing), I might be able to go skate or play hoops. Ugh. Oh well. Back to watching the Wings.