East Bay Community Show

Tomorrow Afternoon, I’ll be doing a neighborhood show at my local market place. How cool is that?

I do a lot of my grocery shopping at Farmer Joes Marketplace. It’s in my neighborhood (biking distance! Yeah!) It’s a locally owned family business who source locally as they can, with eco-conscious ethos. I feel blessed to have Farmer Joes near me.

I was buying a latte from the fellow who runs the little espresso stand (Cuppa Joes) on the patio front of the market a couple of weeks ago. He expressed interest in my music. I gave him some mp3s to add to his play list (and because he’s a great guy!). He loved the music and invited me to play a couple of Saturday afternoons on the patio at the market. November 28th & December 19th, starting at 1PM.

I love it!

* Giving back to my home community.
* Supporting a couple of conscious businesses (Farmer Joes and Cuppa Joes, who are also Salaam Coffee).

This is right up my alley, to be sure, true community service.

Not that I actually like playing music for folks or anything like that!!!! (liar, liar!)

As the many folks who know me know only to well, I love to play. So this is a match made in heaven.

If you’re around, come by Famer Joes between 1-5.
I won’t play all that time (you might have to take a post-Thanksgiving turn through the market!). But I will do 2 solid sets, one at 1 and one later in the afternoon.

In 2 weeks (December 5th, 7PM), I’ll be at The Bazaar Cafe. I think it’s been about 5 or 6 years since I played there under my name, though I’ve played a few shows there over the years at the invitation of musical friends, as I did with Mokai in September.

The Bazaar cafe is a strictly acoustic space, strictly original music, a true “listening room”.

Plus, as Farmer Joes and Cuppa Joes, The Bazaar Cafe is a conscious business, a right-livelihood for the owner and his workers. The food & drink are terrific. It’s so great to work with and support business like this one.

I’m sharing the show with my long time collaborator, Bernie Gilbert, master of the sharp lyric turn, the parody, and the heart tugging story in song. If you’re a Charlie King fan, perhaps you know Bernie’s “Apple Song”, which Charlie has recorded?

And, my dear friend, Robert Temple, asked me to play a few songs for the holiday craft fair that takes place along Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley on the 20th of December. Since that’s the day before the Solstice, my set will be early in the afternoon – I have to get to other things by sunset! Robert will be sharing his amazing alternate tuned guitar work and warm, R&B tinged baritone & socially conscious songs with us all day – interspersed with bevy of his buddies – like me!

Take are, all,

/brook

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Magic Brook Plays Brazil

“magic brook plays Brazil”

Well, not quite. “The Source” has made it onto the play list of a Live365 podcast from Brazil, Animalumen.

“Animalumen folks, thank you, thank you. I love it. Any chance there’s a gig or two somewhere your way? I’d love to see Brazil – especially if my guitar would take me there!”

More seriously, I know that I have fans spread across the planet: Europe, South Africa, Australia, India, Japan, and now Brazil. It’s so heartening to get these tidbits about whose enjoying the music. Please keep sending your news my way.

And, also, it was fun to exchange an email with the Animalumen folk – they seem very reasonant. So, if you can, give them a listen, please.

By the way, for those folks who live in the San Francisco Bay Area, I have a show upcoming, December 5th, at the Bazaar Cafe.

I’m sharing the show with my long time collaborator, Bernie Gilbert, master of the sharp lyric turn, the parody, and the heart tugging story in song. I’ll post more as the show approaches

Take are, all,

/brook

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Pleasant Surprise from Vermont: "Stony Creek"

A few days ago, I was feeling a bit down – this continuous ride of “Up, people noticing & enjoying my music”, “Down, is the ride over?” is taking a bit of a toll.

Then, I received an email from my publicist, Curtis Smith of Maelstrom Music PR, about his trip to Vermont.

At some inn at which he was staying he ran into some random woman from Bondville, Vermont. I have no idea why they spoke to each other or why Curtis mentioned me? Still, when he did, she told him, “Oh, I know his music! I hear “Stony Creek” all the time on the radio.”

Hey, how cool is that? Somebody not only knows of Magic Brook, but listens to him (me!).

Now mind, readers: Bondville is nowhere near where my friends have places in “The Northeast Kingdom”; that is, in the Northeast portion of Vermont. I figure I might get play there – because I know folks. But in the center or South of Vermont? I’m not sure I know but one person there.

So, whoever is spinning Magic Brook’s The Source, thank you! (if you read this, let me know who you are, ok?)

Thanks, Curtis, for passing that along. I needed something to pull up from my current funk. All work and not much play makes those brooks very cloudy and dammed up!

Thank you listeners. I create this music to be heard as much as for any personal sense of whatever it is that drives me to create? (sometimes, I think it may be nothing more than an itch that has to be scratched! smile. These tunes will drive me batty if I don’t honor them by composing them, learning to play them and thus getting them “out” as it were).

By the way, for those folks who live in the San Francisco Bay Area, I have a show upcoming, December 5th, at the Bazaar Cafe.

I’m sharing the show with my long time collaborator, Bernie Gilbert, master of the sharp lyric turn, the parody, and the heart tugging story in song. I’ll post more as the show approaches

Take are, all,

/brook

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Quiet Saturday, Musing on the Nature of Mastery

I finally upgraded my wordpress blog so that spammers who’d been able to comment without my permission will no longer have access. Whew!

I didn’t lose any posts; I didn’t lose any content from my old version of Wordpress. But I sure hated offering any help to folks who sell fake drugs and fake anti-virus software that compromises people’s computers. Ugh! And, the never ending chore of removing these fake users and their fake comments wasted my time. I’d rather be composing, teaching, playing, writing. Heck, writing blog posts!

In the meantime, 2 weeks ago, I had a fun time at the Bazaar Cafe at the invitation of my dear friend, Mokai. Mokai put a show together in honor of his 10 year anniversary with his partner, the amazing CeCe! Included, besides myself, was singer-songwriter and guitarist extraordinaire, Gerrin Benfield. The show also included Mia & Jonah, and of course, Mokai’s soulful singing, playing, and writing.

I absolutely adore the way that Gerrin performs: his guitar playing is reason enough to see him. But a couple of years ago I noticed that his singing had gone from good to great. Maybe Gerrin’s even edging beyond great to diva? (is that “divo” for men?)

Gerrin and I met through a mutual friend about 6 or 7 years ago (not sure how long, Gerrin?). Gerrin was just getting some serious attention a that point, on top of his first solo album. Over the years, from time to time, we run into each other, and I get to hear what he’s doing, what’s changed, what’s new, what’s really settled in Gerrin’s work. What a treat to observe the development of mastery.

At the Bazaar, I told Gerrin how much I’m enjoying his singing; that I’d noticed a shift a couple of years ago. He responded that, indeed, a couple of years ago, suddenly, he felt “freed” when singing, that it came together in a new way. I believe that he said he was on a gig when he noticed? (please correct if I mis-heard, Gerrin)

Someone (I forget who?) turned me on to George Leonard’s book Mastery. In this book, Leonard tries to explain the nature of the process towards mastery – which is never achieved, of course. There’s almost always a long, slow plateau that seems to go endlessly, where one must simply surrender to continual practice, “for its own sake”. The shifts that occur in this part of the process cannot often be felt consciously.

The change comes when all the tiny shifts, all the somatic understanding in the body that has been accumulating, suddenly allow for greater control, greater ability – perhaps there’s a synergy of accumulation that takes place?

At any rate, whatever you’re doing to grow, Gerrin – please keep it up. I love what you’re doing!

By the way, catch Mia and Jonah sometime if you live the Bay Area (and they tour, as well). They achieve a consistency of sound that’s pretty interesting, considering their diverse material and instrumentation. I also really enjoyed the carefully crafted lyrics.

And, Mokia! I love your love songs. I wish you’d do more of them in your shows. In fact, Mok’, I would love to help with a recording of your love-oriented song book! Great stuff.

cheers

/brook

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I forgot to post about this review. I guess I was too busy musing about fan contests!

Mark S. Tucker reviewed "The Source" for the Peterborough Folk Music Society, "FAME Reviews". Wow!, I'm humbled to be compared to these wonderful players. Thank you, Mark. I appreciate that you really listened to my work with care and attention.

cheers,

/brook

Thank you very much, Nate Seltenrich for your wonderful compliements and encouragement:

The East Bay Express: Your Daily Lick

I'm humbled. And, I'm trying.

Take care, Nate.

In a blog post about helping one's self (http://sivers.org/up2you), Derek Sivers writes about the hard realities of gigging music:

"There are no great agents that would want to take you on unless you're already earning $5000 a month gigging, so that their 10% cut (only $500) would be worth their time. "

This, I believe and have experienced, is most certainly true.

This remark is tangential to Derek's point, which was that no one but one's self is going to help. If I want gigs, I must book them myself, simply because the economics of the music business dictate that it's not worth the effort for a professional.

Still, Derek's remark got me to start thinking about the economics of music gigging, agents, and the music business in general. It's not a pretty picture.

But I would offer that the realities are not a factor of either the lack of interest on the part of agents, nor of the skill of musicians.

It's the economics of music that have driven some big changes from my grandparents' time to the present time. Couple these changes with antiquated booking models and agent laws. This creates a situation where the less well known players and other music-minded folk cannot help each other. Doing so is literally a violation of state laws.

While there are corners of the business that operate a little differently (weddings and corporate events), for most clubs and other performance venues, I think the economics are more or less consistent with what I'm going to write, below.

I've gigged a great deal, getting paid everything from dinner, a drink, and tips for a couple of sets to getting $400+a gourmet meal for 15 minutes playing (not bad. Too bad it was only once!). I've happily played for free because I wanted to or the cause was right for me. And, I've been paid some nice chunks, as well, for everything from reading charts of music I didn't particularly like, to playing with great folks that I would happily have worked with for free.

One of the big changes that I made 5 years ago was to let go of the idea that if I wasn't being payed, I was playing for "real", whatever that means. That was incredibly liberating.

But, now that my 3rd solo album is having a little bit of success, I'm back considering once again the economics of gigging and touring.

Derek's post has me thinking about some important realities.

Consider this story. I was playing a jazz gig, I think perhaps, subbing for a sub at the No Name in Sausalito, California some years ago (bass player called me. Thanks, Lee!) The sax player on that gig (also subbing. hehe) told me this story.

There was a sax player who worked the jazz clubs in North Beach, San Francisco in the 1950's. At that time the median income for the USA was in the neighborhood of $135/week. Local gigs paid $35-50/night/player. As you can see, a couple of gigs a week brings in a more or less middle class income. Working for $50/gig 3 times in a week is starting to look pretty nice. This sax player bought his house in San Francisco, raised his kids, sent them to college in the '60's. Golly, it's great to be a musician, huh?

Now, let's consider the booking agent law. California's (like other states that have such laws. not all do!) mandates that agents may only take 10% of the performer's compensation. These laws were enacted to protect performers from unscrupulous business practices. The law mandates that the majority of the earnings goes to the performer. That should be great, right?

In the 1950's, this system worked fine. If an agent had 5 performers, all making $100/week (perfectly reasonable, in those times), that's $100 for the agent, too. If the agent worked hard and the performers made a little more, then life is good all 'round, see? Even local musicians and local agents can make a living under this system.

Now, fast forward to the 1990's: That same saxophone player was still playing in North Beach. Pay each night? $35-50!

And, those numbers have not shifted particularly since the millennium. While it is certainly true that a band may get more than this, $200 is typical pay for 4 in small clubs. (When working as a soloist, I do a sight better, but it's not big money in music!) For the agent, that's only $20. Not worth the time and effort - all those recalls to get the club owner on the line, to pitch the band, ugh!

So, the booking agents chase the stars, the already successful. Of course. That's where a living can be had.

That leaves yer local musicians with no possibility of help. None. Booking a tour? All those calls are on you, friend. Got a day job? I hope they don't mind phone interruptions during your work day?

Where am I going with this?

I believe that our laws are antiquated. They were put in place in a different time:

– there were fewer musicians trying to work professionally
– live music was the usual, not the un-usual: there were more gigs to go round
– pay was much, much higher, relatively

Today, there are millions of folks who'd very much like to work as musicians. Just take a listening tour around myspace.com. There are fewer venues. There are many more competing events - how many CD release events are happening this week where you live? And gig pay has fallen or at least, not risen in 50 years.

Most importantly, the technology for reproducing recorded sound has vastly improved in the last 50 years. Why have live music at all? (some clubs owners say.) Add the new art forms for DJ'ing, mixing pre-recorded and sampled music, who work where bands might have worked in the past. (I don't mean to dis great DJs. Like any musical skill, it takes time, ears, taste, experience to be a great DJ, just like it does to play any instrument well. Still, if ya wanna dance, DJ'ed music is just as big, maybe bigger sound than a band)

Nope, the situation is not good for all but the well known names.

I'm thinking that we need a different model. I'm thinking that like everything else in the music biz, gigging has changed dramatically. But the process, the roles, the economics have not.

What about a collective of folks who are the "production company"? Each contributes what skills they have: performers, publicist, someone good on the phone (booker?), graphics, engineering, all the skills that must come together well for successful performances? Maybe they all share whatever financial gains are seen by the collective work?

I'm probably just dreaming? But I do think that the day of the booking agent is over. Just like labels (who buys CDs any more? Well, I do, but I'm weird!), booking agents are dead. But that doesn't mean that the performer must do it all him/herself!

Sorry Derek, I disagree. Rather, can we think outside the box that has been given to us? Can we figure out other ways to get booked than having a brilliant but perhaps highly introverted performer trying to book herself? Or should she just sit home letting the more brazen but perhaps far less interesting performer get the gigs?

This situation calls up the activist in me. Why live with the world as it's given? Maybe that's not the best choice? Why not make the world that which we want to live in? Let's make it different right now?

cheers

/brook

Today, R J Lannan published a review of “The Source” radio EP. Wow! Thank you, RJ, for your kind words of encouragement. I’m humbled and more than a little stunned at what you wrote.

I’m not sure that I can musically live up to your praise. But I do promise to try.

Thanks
for listening, for hearing the music behind the notes, the intent to
create something beautiful, my meager attempt at painting with my own
kind of strange broad brush strokes.

peace,

/magic brook