The Reason

Every morning, the first thing I do when I get out of bed is to hobble into the living room and do some stretches. Yeah, part of it is the ‘old guy’ in me who took playing shortstop a little too seriously and has dues to pay for game time acrobatics from years past. The other part of it, though, is that I truly enjoy waking up with the feeling of gently pulling my muscles in different directions. And, when I’m done, I like to lie quietly for a few minutes and listen. There are some great things that come down the pike sometimes. Like today, for instance.

Today, I heard these words… Crystal clear… And unprovoked:

“Money is a reason. It isn’t the reason.”

Yeah. That.

There are two other posts I’ve been meaning to write for some time now, but this one just seems more appropriate right now.

Why do you do what you do? Whatever ‘it’ is… What is The Reason? Why do you get up in the morning? Why do you race around in a mad dash to get ready for work, fight the traffic on the commute and hustle to get your backside in your chair before 8am?

I’m not going to pretend here… I don’t have the answers. But I’m going to be doing a lot of thinking to try to find some of them. I hope you do, too.

Do you like great music? Then support touring bands!!!

Just a quick follow-up to my post below about The Greencards…

The band will be playing in Oklahoma City this Sunday night (March 20th) at the Blue Door.

If you haven’t heard the band before, check them out. They are really cool. Some call their style of music “new grass”. I just call it awesome. Real musicians putting it out there every night. I am really excited about their forthcoming album, too. This is good stuff!

And, if you haven’t been to the Blue Door before, you NEED to check it out. You can’t get a more personal experience with a band unless you have them playing in your living room. Intimate. Cool vibes. It’s a wonderful place to catch a show… And this is the perfect band to introduce you to this gem.

I hope to see you there Sunday night!

(Blue) Grass Roots Marketing on the Interwebz

 If you have been around this blog for any length of time, you have probably realized that I have strong feelings about “content creation” (thanks for the term, Bobby Lehew!), marketing and music, just to name a few things. And, I absolutely love it when someone combines all three together! Check this out…

A couple years ago, I had the chance to go to a bluegrass festival in Kansas called Winfield. OK, so it’s actually called the Walnut Valley Festival, but everyone I know just says “Winfield” and immediately heads begin to nod. It’s like nothing you’ve ever seen. If you ever get the chance… GO! You can thank me later.

Anyway, while I was there, I had the opportunity to hear a great band called The Greencards. They play some great bluegrass, with incredible harmonies and pretty darn fancy string plucking. I was so taken with them that I purchased a cd after their set and waited in line to have them sign it. This was the only cd I bought the entire time I was at Winfield.

So, flash-forward to the present day. I’m on The Greencards’ email list. I like knowing where they’re playing, when a new album is coming out, etc. I’m not a die-hard fan or anything, but they’re cool and their emails are always non-intrusive and written in a friendly voice. I like that.

Earlier this week, I received another email and this one took things to another level. Here’s what it said:

 

You better believe this got MY attention!

With visions of myself in the studio trying to keep up with these talented folks, I quickly clicked on the link to see how I might be able to become immortalized on this album. Well, not only was I relieved to see that I didn’t have to audition to join them (which, for the record, I could not have done!), but that playing music was absolutely not required. They have an entirely different approach to this.

The Greencards are offering fans a chance to “buy a brick” on the artwork of their next album for a very small fee. Now, how cool is that? You can forever have your name on the album art of a wonderful band. Can you imagine? These folks are already successful… This album could be the one that sends them into super stardom! And YOUR name will be on the artwork.

So, let’s recap here: Great band who plays awesome music. They keep in touch with their fans via a permission-based email newsletter. They engage their fans rather than market TO their fans. And they are offering people a chance to be a part of their newest project.

Yeah. The Greencards are definitely “Turning It Up To 11″!!!