The process of tolerance...

So it's been a long, ultimately productive week. Quintopus recorded 10 songs for our upcoming album last Friday. Everyone played great and had a lot of enthusiasm through a long session. We got the mixing going this week, but because of technical problems (don't worry nothing was lost) and scheduling we won't be able to finish the mixing until July.

Been trying to figure out how to do as much of the album work on my own to save costs; I think I'll learn a lot about PhotoShop in the next couple of weeks... We're really going to gloss this album up, so get violently excited about an August/September release (don't hurt anyone).

Other projects coming up this week as well! Gave myself a crash course on making click tracks in Garage Band, so if anyone wants help with that... too bad, I'm not doing any more!

I'm looking forward to getting back into the networking/community organizing part of being a full-time freelance musician. People who are dedicated to making music a sustainable source of income are the best, and really inspire me to keep going here in Rochester! It's certainly not easy dealing with selfishness, ignorance, and apathy and I have to give Bruce Fife and Fair Trade Music a lot of credit in dealing with a comment to their recent article in the Oregon Music News. I'd recommend reading up on FTM music, this article is a great introduction. But, the first commenter to this article doesn't quite agree that musicians getting paid fairly for their services is a good idea:

"This is a fucking HORRIBLE idea. Live Music is NOT necessarily a skilled trade with implicit, tangible value. Bands aren’t coffee growers, or plumbers. Any jackass can start a band, and play shows. They’re not entitled to shit if the have no draw, and have not put in their dues."

I'd recommend reading the whole article and all the comments, but here's how Bruce (the President on Portland's American Federation of Musicians, Local 99) responds:

"Steve, I think you’re missing some very important points. Playing music is a skilled craft, though not everyone is skilled at it. If there was no tangible value to performances at venues, why would a “for profit” business use music. Even bands that have a draw don’t necessarily benefit from their draw until after everyone else has been paid. Why the soundman and doorman before the musicians? We recognize this is not going to work in every venue, as there will always be clubs that offer startups a chance to perform or are willing to take advantage of a musicians desire to be on stage, but at its core, the goal of FTM is to support and build the business at venues that support live music and fair compensation for musicians. As stated, this should be a win win for all."


Hell yes. Get involved.


CT