Hi, EveryBody -
Here it is March, 2015 - about fourteen months since last i was onstage. Previous blog outlined how 2014 went.
Yes, i'm still in the starting gate; haven't left the starting block yet, however one phrases it. The world is still looking at me, going, "Well?" {The world, not people.}
i am very active, musically, and have been for at least the past bunch of months. I'm not inactive. If i wasn't playing, i'd be inactive. I'm Playing - a lot. I'm also working continually on material, new song ideas and all that - always looking ahead, not back. I'm also keeping my current set list polished and ready, going over a couple of dozen songs with particular focus, out of the several hundred originals in my whole repertoire {approx. 200 of which are performance-ready, Right Now}.
For the past couple of months, i have been so enthusiastically involved in learning new things on the guitar, learning to really express myself through my guitar, that this has been my main focus. It has taken much of my focus away from getting out onstage, and everything else. As of March 12 - yesterday - i have readjusted my focus back onto getting back Out There, onstage, so i am now using most of my musical energy on going over {& over & over} a handful of songs that i want to do publicly a.s.a.p.. I expect that i'll be doing a bunch of Open Stage things, which will allow, in most cases, anywhere from 2 to 10 songs, usually 5 or 6. So, i've got, right now, a set list of 16 songs {* Listed, Below} that i'm focusing on, with of course particular attention given to the 6 or 8 i'm most likely to be doing. I want to hit with a Big Punch, and leave a crater. I Will be noticed. This is why i practice so hard, so intently, deliberately and exhaustively - this is Everything to me. Going onstage, for me, is an incredibly intense moment of truth. In practicing at home, i feel like a fighter in training for the Main Event; and when i go onstage - Show Time - the title's on the line, every time. You won't find anybody that takes this more seriously than i do. If i'm going onstage at all, i'm going to KICK ASS, and every moment i've lived up to that time, comes with me and it's ALL on the line. That's how i feel about it.
Now, for some very serious matters of strategy. How am I going to Start Out?
Here i am, a Kick Ass Rock'N'Roll Player, solo. As yet unknown. Unconnected. Broke.
How, in the year 2015, does such an artist begin? How to actually Get Somewhere? In this case, Get Somewhere means that when you're going to play at a place, a whole bunch-a people flock to see you, because they know who you are, they know what you do, and they like it so much that they're willing to leave their home to go pay a few bucks at the door to where you're playing.
All right, so this involves, mainly - as i see it - getting my music heard by a bunch of people, initially. Seems to me, that's Step #1. This is done in two main ways, the first by far more powerful: 1} Get it online, free, & promote the hell out of it as much as possible. 2} Go out & play it, live, in front of as many people as possible. Step #2 suffers greatly, if Step #1 is not yet in place. This is the position i'm in. Getting good recordings of myself online, i have not yet managed to accomplish. There are of course some Free Downloads right here on this web page, but sub-par quality, due to technical insufficiency.
Videos, of course, is part of getting one's music heard, and this is another goal of mine that i have not yet managed to pull off: getting good videos of myself, to put online. Again, there are a number of Jim Danger vids on YouTube, but again, nothing satisfactory as a fair representation of this artist. "I Guess That's Love" video, from 1986, is a good quality video, and a good video, yes. However, it was done nearly 30 years ago, and i wasn't playing the guitar myself, as i do now.
SO, while i continue to work on getting good recordings and videos of myself online, i'm going to go ahead and start playing publicly, even with these disadvantages.
What can i hope to accomplish, in playing Open Stages? So, i get 15, 20 minutes onstage, in front of a crowd that doesn't know me at all. Let's say i impress the hell out of them - the best case scenario. What have i then got? A few people now know who i am and are familiar - those few who were there, who paid attention {i'm a very good attention-getter, but some people wouldn't pay any attention to Alice Cooper Himself if they're sitting in a bar doing whatever they're doing}. In the classic Never Really Happens scenario, someone in the little crowd happens to be some Mr. Big, who takes notice & approaches with a briefcase full of Stardom. No. I've impressed 5 or 6 people, then i go home & so do they. Have i advanced my career? A tiny bit, yes. A tiny bit. Have i made any money? Laugh laugh!
Seeing the relative benefits of going out & playing Open Stages, which include simply onstage experience itself, which is pretty much Vital {one doesn't really want one's FIRST onstage experience to be in front of a massive crowd, scrutinized by cameras & recorders & stuff}, i am going to use this way, and do that, yes. However, i have no delusions of reaping any great benefits to my career as a musician, by going out & playing even a thousand Open Mic events. It's just a Step - one that i CAN take, and so i will.
Here's the thing. I am The Real Thing, in terms of being ABSOLUTELY NOBODY, as far as anyone but myself is concerned, as a musician. I am, truly, one with no connections, no funds, no technological gadgets OR technological know-how - just a Skyscraper full of talent, The Goods, for Real, as a rock'n'roll musician. Here i am, a goose with a golden egg, stuck in an obscure barn in nowhere land. HOW do i bridge the gap - to Somewhere?
What i am hoping for, and still trying to accomplish, this year, is to put good recordings of myself & good videos of myself, online. Better Stuff. All i really want to do, for the foreseeable future, is become known, by getting my music heard by as many people as possible. I have faith in my music, that once enough people hear it, things will fall into place pretty naturally, and all will be well. My career will seriously BEGIN, as i see it, when i start getting paid to play. I don't see this happening any time in the foreseeable, because first things haven't happened yet - nobody's heard my stuff yet. So, i plan on continuing to work a regular day job to support myself and my family, while Becoming Known. That's the only Goal i have, for now.
Thanks for taking the time, for caring enough to read this.
If anyone wants to talk to me, jimdangerzone@gmail will work. Or friend me on Facebook.
I will Play practically anywhere anyone wants to have me come & Play.
Best of Everything to You. - Jim Danger 3/13-Fri./15
* My Current List of 16 Songs I'm Focusing On, with the first 10 being most important:
1} She Doesn't Want Me Anymore
2}She Cut The Cord On Me
3}The Long Way Down
4}Hot Wax Baby
5}Cut Up
6}Streets of Kittery
7}Cool & Bared {new, never before heard}
8}She Don't Want Any {new, never before heard}
9}Einstein's Grave
10}Moose
11}Who Gives A Fuck?
12}I Guess That's Love
13}She's A Zombie {newish, never before heard}
14}Get Over You {newish, done once in public before}
15}I'm All Alone When I Cry {video on my FB page - Jim Danger - in Photos/Videos}
16}As Long As The Wind Blows {Newish, never before heard publicly}
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