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.

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

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?

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.

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.

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

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.

Refreshing end to a terrible day

Today was one of those days. Got up on the wrong side of the bed. Whatever you want to call it. Here's a review:

* Got up early to go tech some dance classes. My back started spasming randomly.
* Came home, got offered a really exciting show that I can't tell you about yet.
* Loaded the car (back hurts more), stopped to get water.
* Got to the show, realized that it wasn't going to do as well as I thought, lost money again. Sucks that we'll kill with a show like Danger Radio tomorrow, but we lost $500 on the two Forgive Durden shows. Someday we'll make money on good music. Someday, good musicians will make money.
* Got in fight with an agent about a stupid deposit. I was being childish, for the most part, but it's a stupid rule.

Then Forgive Durden went on. It's so refreshing to see a band doing something original, thoughtful, and just overall using their talent to create something and not just regurgitate a formula they've seen their favorite bands use in the past.

I'm kind of down on the Michigan music scene right now. There are certainly some good bands, but not many that I've seen. Here's the thing, local bands. Strive to be good! You should want to blow people's minds. You shouldn't be touring if you're not that good. There's maybe 15 bands I've seen in Michigan that should be trying to tour and "make it". None of the others are good enough. You have to be able to set yourself apart, and make people happy with your music. A great live performance, PLUS a great record, PLUS a special sort of charisma and the right attitude. If you don't have those things, please stay home, you're just fucking it up for everyone else.

Durden just kind of reminded me what music can be. It was needed, because it's been a long day, and I was a major crab-ass. I apologize for anyone in my path. I had to go for a walk for a bit during the show to re-center myself. I'm not sure if I've done it yet, but I think I can go to bed soon and sleep well.

Seeking 1-2 interns

Hey guys,
Since leaving Artistic Services Group, I've started my own tour booking company, called Get in the Van Touring. So far, I'm just booking tours for Your Best Friend and Koji. More will be added as I'm ready.

YOUR BEST FRIEND
www.myspace.com/yourbestfriend
KOJI
www.myspace.com/kojisaysaloha

I'm currently seeking 1-2 interns who are interested in helping me get things rolling again here. This is an unpaid position. Perks include lots of free tickets to Fusion Shows events, invaluable experience, the ability to use this for college credit and resume material, and the potential that if this goes well, I might be able to hire an assistant by the fall!

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Lots of data entry! Our first major task is to gather all of my booking contacts into one, easy-to-use format.
2. Creating band itineraries and tour books.
3. Researching area promotional opportunities surrounding our shows.
4. Other administrative and promotional tasks as needed.

JOB SKILLS NEEDED
1. A killer work ethic.
2. Attention to even the smallest detail.
3. Internet skills, including basic HTML, understanding of email communication, and ability to use MySpace and Facebook to promote.
4. Top-notch grammar and spelling.
5. Must be 18 or older.
6. Would prefer Michigan residents, but will consider the right candidate from out of town.
7. Some experience in the live touring industry desired, but not 100% necessary for a sharp, bright individual.

This is something that I would expect would take you 10-20 hours per week, throughout the summer. In the fall, my goal is to hire a full-time assistant based out of Howell, but we'll start here!

If you are interested in learning more about the touring industry, and doing a ton of networking, please email me at natedorough@gmail.com, and attach a resume.

Thanks!
Nate

Rescue follow-up

Hey everyone,
Those of you that have been following my Rescue efforts with Invisible Children, here's some great places to check out what all happened.

COVERAGE OF THE EVENT
Tons of great photos from Chicago Rescue event

OPRAH RESCUING US


US BEING HAPPY


WHAT'S NEXT


This has been pretty cool. I'm pretty sure I'm going to Washington DC in June for this. If you'd like to join me, let me know ASAP.