what is going on in your musical life

Real cool to see you for a second the other night Sund4r

heh, sorry emil.y have i been inadvertently spamming you?

Nope. Check the other bands playing.

You're Slum of Legs?! I had no idea. Well that's a turn up for the books and now I'm even more irrationally nervous than ever.

Hehehe. It should be a good show, I reckon.

this is great - looking forward to meeting you and your bunch. could even be a good excuse for an ilx FAP.

started a really loud band and quit all my other bands (except argentinum astrum)

first spiritual ensemble gig of the year on Friday

also the last original founder told us she's planning on retiring from the group after our 20th anniversary concert in Dec so she can concentrate on her education contract work with the White House, which was basically just flat-out bragging IMO

how many people are in your group?
also did you ever find out who stole your wife's pitch pipe?

Right now, 9 (2 sopranos, 2 altos, 2 tenors, 3 bass/baritones); I think we are also courting three new ppl (sop/alt/bass). We're also losing a tenor, who is 75 and about to retire to Philly to be closer to his kids, so maybe we should be actively seeking a tenor (we've got a friend who might do it but he tries to do a bunch of shows plus his job has him traveling all the time so he may not be able to commit to the group).

The other baritone stole my wife's pitch pipe and insists to this day that he didn't, he just magically has two now. It's kind of funny.

i have wondered about it! i dont know why

emil.y - apparently my bandmate is the cousin of someone in your band. now it's getting coincidency.

having a 'jam' tonight after doing same on saturday arvo. tbh my contribution was droning on one note and 'playing' the resonance on the filter to vary the tone.

i heard something i recorded recently for the first time in a couple of months and was so horrified by the (lack of) quality of the recording that i decided on the spot to never record anyone else again

on the upside more time for my own shit

well this is happening

i feel like i am going completely bananas but i also feel like i am on a roll
i have something that needs to happen and i am giving it my best try, in part so i can determine what that looks like for me.
tbrr i am very uncomfortable but it's getting better; i'm a terrible hypeman aside from hyping language/education related topics to my students.
still, feelin pretty good!

(inspired in no small part by the power explosion of roxymuzak!!)

am i experiencing a power explosion?? perhaps!

uh yeah
believe it!

is there a thread for promotional advice? i need some!

i dont think there is but i can help maybe!

Promoting yourself to audiences, the press, or to potential bandmates/collaborators?

ok here is my situation:

i need to practice playing with people, so i thought it would be fun to have people over and play VU songs (because they're easy, because they're well known, because they're the cornerstone, etc)
the first time two friends came over and we had a lot of fun
the time came to plan #2 and i thought "what would be more fun than playing a whole album that everyone knows?" and i thought october -- perfect month for white light/white heat
so i made a flyer, carried around copies in my purse to give out, posted it to my social media outlets
i wrote a FAQ and posted it
then i found out that john cale was going to be in chicago, and i managed to get myself in the same room with him and i got a picture of me and the flyer and him (i'm a huge fan and that album is the last VU to feature him)
i have told everyone i know and a decent number of friends have helped me to spread the word

so far i have received a grand total of…are you ready…
0 emails/inquiries about joining me
what am i doing wrong? is there something else i should be doing?
i don't feel dejected even -- just kinda confused. i thought this was a really good idea and i think it will be really fun. i have banished the thought that it has anything to do with me personally; i'm just not reaching interested people and i don't know how.

* note: i am inviting people into my home, so craigslist is not an option. also i'm kinda nervous/shy about playing with 100% complete strangers.

i realize that it's kind of a weird concept, but i guess i was under the impression that sometimes people like to jam for fun? not for public consumption or as a performance, just for the sheer fun of it?

i think it's fun

i have 10 days left to find people as of today

It is fun, in theory! Like I can see it being super fun, but I could also see it being .... awkward.

What is easy and nice about inviting the two specific friends is that everyone knows who is going to be there and can figure out how that is going to work for them, both socially and musically. I have been at too many "jam session/party" things where I end up barely getting to play -- not getting into the gender dynamics of how this tended to work out -- and then there are the occasions where the "people I want to hang/jam with" quotient is too low to be fun. I have thought about facebook events way too much, probably, and how the attendee lists function socially.

Are you envisioning one person per bandmember? Are you envisioning a large group of ppl taking turns?

in my dreams i am envisioning one person per band member and to play the parts of that person in the songs and i guess if other people want to show up to like sing/dance/enjoy that would be great too
people can switch off instruments if they want, i'm ok giving up the throne (lol) for a song or two and i can sing with enthusiasm
i think it would be awkward until we started playing, then it would be really fun unless someone didn't know the song well enough (but that's why i chose VU -- those songs are in the bones, yknow?)

it's just weird bc i feel like i have gone totally bananas overboard and i clearly haven't done enough

also in my dreams i will find people who recognize that i am a cool person and they will want to be in a band with me
it may be a dream, but it's my dream
and it's not THAT far-fetched?!

also in my dreams i will find people who recognize that i am a cool person and they will want to be in a band with me

It isn't that far-fetched! You live in a big city, and there are lots of people with different levels of ability, commitment, etc. so it can definitely happen. It is kinda like romantic dating -- I think Branwell posted something that noted the similarities on the no boys thread recently.

But if it were me, I would approach it like a party. Get commitments from a core group of people that would make it a fun time even if no one else shows up. Also, invite people individually, or be more specific what/who you are looking for. Also, I would keep it open to non-standard instrumentation: for example, if someone who plays piano/keyboard/synth wants to play the viola parts, then cool.

oh yeah! i am open to whatever!!
i guess it's the "it's a lot like dating" part that is making me uncomfortable -- i have not flexed that social muscle in…15 years?! and i have never used it in this non-romantic way. this is my first event i have ever tried to recruit ppl for. i guess i was kind of banking on the idea selling itself but that's clearly not amounting to anything.

i need some tips if i am going to cold-invite people who don't know me at all…i don't want people to think they're going to be lobotomized in my basement.

Do you know people that are your friends that are also interested?

Actual friends -- I've tried that. There's one person I haven't asked, but he moved away and basically I would be asking him to ask his friends on my behalf, or to allow me to address his friends (who don't know me at all).
I guess I'm also embarrassed to ask people like my teacher to help me because I don't want to impose or wear out my welcome. Also I haven't talked to him since I was accidentally seated next to him at a restaurant in January or something.

I don't have a lot of existing connections, in case that wasn't already clear.

I don't want you to think that I'm giving excuses -- I really have done virtually everything within my power to make this happen outside of approaching people who are WAY WAY WAY out of my league.

yeah, that's a challenge! In my case, I had a lot of musician friends, and it was getting them to view me as a musician also.

i have even been waiting to see various people out and about so that i could approach them with my pitch/flyer but i haven't had the luck of being in the right place at the right time for those people yet
i prefer to introduce myself in person and have an irl convo vs sending an email but i might have to be one of those people who sends left field emails to people who don't know me

i would join your band (duh)

well obvs that would be ideal :)
my kingdom for a local crüt or two

I think that going from pretty much no connections to even the tiniest foot in the door is the hardest part, really. This is the sort of very cool thing that in my experience works best when it's done with friends, maybe with a reasonably open extension to friends-of-friends. But if you don't already have a network of people, then it's super-hard to get anyone interested in stuff like this. Like, your wariness about inviting people into your home is also going to be their wariness about being invited into someone's home, if they don't know you well.

I wish I could offer some concrete advice, because you're ace and the idea for the night sounds ace, but... I'm not really sure how to advertise such a thing any better than it sounds like you already have.

xp I've repeatedly thought about starting an incredibly ill-advised thread on "fantasy ilx bandmates"; LL would be very high on that list. I can't even remember what our imaginary band was a while ago, some kind of cage theremin and mystical hat duo?!

some kind of long-distance ilx collab thing would be fun!

chicago's not that far but...i've never listened to that album.

xp - i think i was doing interpretive dance with motion-sensor sound triggers and you were playing a theremin gong!?

jordan do you have any possibly interested musician friends here who i could approach?

i have come to terms with the idea that this is going to be me alone in the basement this time but maybe the increased visibility will help me next time. at the very least it gives me something to talk about.

hmm i'll see if any of them are VU fans.

maybe another factor is that after some musicians get accustomed to being paid to perform, and their lives get busier, playing for fun may not sound like much fun. and i'm guessing that there are more older, experienced musicians that are VU fans than there are young, hungry-to-play VU fans, but idk.

young weirdo musicians still adore the Velvet Underground ime

do you have friends that would have fun doing this that aren't "musicians" -- there's another option.

young weirdo musicians still adore the Velvet Underground ime

― example (crüt), Thursday, October 16, 2014 3:23 PM (8 seconds ago)

like, at this point i wouldn't even consider going over to a stranger's house to do non-goal-oriented playing. but i would totally do it if a good friend asked me. maybe.

xp ok cool

that's what i'm afraid of, that everyone i approach will be like "what's in it for me?" and i don't know if i have an answer to that aside from "a good time?"

i guess that, like dating, it's ok because you don't want to play with those people anyway, and the people that are interested will share your enthusiasm.

Good point.