How to Tour 101- Weekend Warriors
A group like Lefty Williams Band has the great luxury of being able to tour optimum nights of Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Lefty Williams Band does it so well, the band is in demand on weekend nights.
This is not a scenario that plays out with many original bands in the beginning. Coveted Thursday, Friday and Saturday night shows are generally reserved for bands that draw big numbers since those are the nights most people find themselves off work and out and about.
Bands generally work up to weekend spots by playing weeknight shows. Weeknight shows are often the only way to “audition” and allow the bar, staff and patrons to see the group.Weeknight shows are usually paired with drink specials or food enticements. Eventually,after a few weeknight auditions, a group is deemed worthy of a precious Friday or Saturday night show.
How do we get around this dynamic? Consider booking shows OPENING for bands in a steady Friday and Saturday night rotation. Realize this is won’t be financially rewarding but it will get you from the weeknight audition routine into the possibilities of weekend shows much faster.
Sometimes you simply have to be a Weekend Warrior and tackle opening shows with a headlining mentality.
The Playroom Celebrates National Heart Month!
We all know music hath the power to sooth the savage beast, but did you know music can sooth the heart?
Research has shown that music has a profound effect on your body and psyche. In fact, there’s a growing field of health care known as Music Therapy, which uses music to heal. Those who practice music therapy are finding a benefit in using music to help cancer patients, children with ADD, and others, and even hospitals are beginning to use music and music therapy to help with pain management, to help ward off depression, to promote movement, to calm patients, to ease muscle tension, and for many other benefits that music and music therapy can bring. -Elizabeth Scott,M.S.
How to Tour 101 : Getting there
Touring has its moments. Being on stage rocks. Making new fans in new markets is cool. Traveling and seeing the nation or world while playing music is a sublime experience.
But GETTING there? That is a real test of a band’s fortitude.
We’re lucky to live in the era of GPS navigation. Whether you use Neverlost, Garman or one of the other types of direction systems, they are truly a god send and quite indispensable. But don’t forget, navigation systems sometimes fail, particularly in overcast or stormy weather when you need them most.
Always mapquest or otherwise get directions and WRITE THEM DOWN to the venue. Make sure you have directions from the venue to your hotel. As you’re advancing shows, ask about street closures or construction, bridges, tolls, etc you need to be aware of. Be sure your advance sheet notes the PHYSICAL ADDRESS of the venue and not the business address or talent buyers home address. Remember, buyers often have posters and promo material sent to their home and their home address may be on your contract. Be sure you go over the PERFORMANCE ADDRESS as part of your advance conversation.
It’s a great idea to note landmarks on the directions sheet. It’s also nice to know about parking (is it in a secure lot, on the street, in an alley?) and load in parameters (upstairs, downstairs, indoors, outdoors, is there a freight elevator?) . The more questions you can ask and get answered, the better off you are when it’s time to get in the van!
Meet The Playroom’s acting coach Adam Jennings!
| Adam Jennings was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and began performing on stage and television before the age of ten. Following a run of exciting and diverse roles in musicals and plays for Burlingame High School and other community productions, Adam studied as a Theatre major at CSU Northridge. His professional acting career officially started in Los Angeles in 2004, and after an obscure audition one year later, he booked a unique job as a motion capture performer which has led to more than five years of steady work as the “face” of video game development company Neversoft Entertainment.Adam’s facial expressions and lip-synching talents bring to life every speaking and singing character in some of the most recent TONY HAWK skateboarding games, the western epic GUN, and each title in the GUITAR HERO franchise since LEGENDS OF ROCK. He has recorded movements for several thousand lines of dialogue, over 500 songs, and in 7 different languages, including German, French, Italian, and Native American Apache. Additionally, Adam helped guide Steven Tyler through facial motion capture | |
| sessions so they could share the virtual stage in GUITAR HERO: AEROSMITH. Some other celebrity collaborations include Metallica, Sting, Van Halen, and Taylor Swift. He also created alien characters for the big screen in Disney’s MARS NEEDS MOMS, a movie produced by Robert Zemeckis which is set to release in 2011. Credits outside of mo-cap include TV shows SAMANTHA WHO? and SO NOTORIOUS, and short films CONVINCING BENNY and DHARINI. And recently, Adam finished shooting the first season of MURDER SQUAD, the smash-hit comedy webseries about a federal crime office in which he plays a leading role. All six episodes can be found at www.murdersquad.net – Pow!Currently studying improvisation with an award-winning director from Second City, Adam is excited to bring his experience and love for the arts to students at the Playroom Academy. |
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Meet Bass Teacher John Shaughnessy
| John Shaughnessy has an extensive performing an teaching resume. He has A.S. in Electric Bass Performance from Villa Maria College where he studied with former Spyro Gyra bassist Jim Kurzdorfer; a B.A. in Music from SUNY Buffalo; and Jazz theory and improv studies with Frank Gerard. He was also the winner of the Audrey Schillo Performance Scholarship in 1990. John has played all over Charlotte and the Northeastern US, and toured Alaska, Canada, South America and the Caribbean. He has played virtually every style of popular music from heavy metal to big band and all points in between. He has also played with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, does studio session work as a performer and producer/engineer, and composes music for his own bands. |
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| John has been teaching bass and piano for over 20 years, teaching 4,5,6 string bass, fretless bass, and upright bass to hundreds of students. His philosophy is to train students to handle the rigors of the professional music world. Many of his students have gone to study music in college and become professional musicians themselves.
He also specializes in helping new and experienced players to perform with their church’s Gospel or Contemporary Christian groups. John is the author of two instruction books “Extreme Slap Bass” and “The Beginners Guide To Slap Bass”. |
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Meet Fonz Linney at The Playroom Academy
| Alasondro “Fonz” Linney has been surrounded by music his entire life. As a child he grew up listening to his mother play piano in the church and at home. Over time he became actively involved with the music programs at his church in voice as well as piano. In the 4th grade, along with sports and friends, he decided to learn music. After playing the trumpet for awhile, he began the violin, which was to be his instrument of choice.
Through his middle and high school years, he continued the violin as well as the viola. His primary instructor was Vartan Mamoogian and he also was coached under Eleane Richey. After attending several summer camps and music building classes, he decided to pursue the violin as a college major. He would later graduate with a Performing Arts Degree in Violin from The North Carolina School of the Arts. While earning his degree, he toured with the NC School of the Arts Orchestra through Europe and the United States from 1977 till 1979. After graduation, Alasondro joined the Alabama Symphony as a full time performer from 1980 to 1981. In 1981, he moved to Charlotte, NC and became a full time member of the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, where he was from 1981 until 2004. |
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| With over 25 yrs experience in performance with regional symphonies as well as here in Charlotte, he is a wealth of knowledge. His teaching experience includes not only 20+ yrs of private teaching, but also with Mecklenburg County Schools and various music stores. His teaching styles include Suzuki as well as traditional methods. He is joining the Playroom Academy staff as instructor in Violin, Viola, and Cello. | |
Brigid’s Day, Candlemas, Imbolc, Groundhog Day
“The hours of daylight are lengthening. Bring out your corn dolly with her dress of dried husks and silken hair or the Brigid cross made of summer wheat stalks. Sweep your hearth and light a new fire; after sunset, light every lamp in the house to encourage returning Sun light. Walk outside and draw an image of the Sun in the snow and visualize the heat of Lammas. Bring in a bowl of ice or snow inside for your altar and fill it with candles. Honor Brigid, the complex Triple Goddess whose many gifts were corrupted by Christian monks. Dedicate yourself to her survival, her mysteries, and the glory of her fires-the forge of creativity, the hearth that makes a home, and the fire that stimulates ideas.
She still lives and inspires.” – K.D. Spitzer
The Playroom Academy thinks TOTS ROCK! Unveils new programs for parents and toddlers
January 29, 2010-Back by Popular Demand! DREAM GIRL!
She’s been sitting on my desk for a couple of days now, with my red wish box (red is a power color and I put wishes on strips of paper inside the box) a big belly buddha and my crescent moon oil burner (which is out of oil and now is the repository for magic stones). She seems to fit right in, cozied on the prosperity corner of my desk, propped daintily on a cloth of red velvet. She is Dream Girl and she is visible and practical, in a sweet blue fairy outfit, her flowing hair held up with a butterfly clamp, barefoot , with outstretched arms that end in upturned hands. She appears ready to fly, feet in a permanent point, flexed and ready to dance. She sports a nice pair of fairy wings on her back and startling blue eyes with, yes, I think I see it, the definite spark of a sprite.
Dream Girl started life as a gift from my dear friend Tina. She came with a card created by my friend and until now, she had gussied up my dragon lair downstairs, sitting complacently on a black shelf close to the piano. She had company. My baccarat glass crescent moon and another pewter fairy figure kept her company while she was waiting on me to rediscover her. On a recent dusting spree,I nonchalantly picked her up to clean the shelf and viola. I knew I had my Dream Girl.
As my work life shifts, many things lie outside the realm of my financial where withal. Groceries and bills take top priority and unnecessary items (which is anything other than groceries and bills at this point) are noted on a list I’ve titled “I’d like to have this but it is totally ok if I don’t” or (another favorite) “If God can figure out how to bless me with this, I’d really appreciate it.” Finding a Dream Girl was on the latter list.
Dream Girl came into existence exactly the way she was intended . I’m into re-purposing things, so her entrance into my life as one thing to end up as another, fits my mode of thinking perfectly. The Universe unfolds exactly the way it’s supposed to.
Dream Girl’s skimpy attire has to be adjusted for we are expecting 14 inches of snow tonight and, having imbued her with human traits and feelings, I must busy myself fashioning a coat and hat to keep her warm. I bet she’d like some shoes on those perpetually pointed toes and maybe a nice place to sleep. After all, she is the personification of so much of me. I’d like to make her comfortable, cozy and warm on a winter’s night.
Looking at Dream Girl makes me smile. It always did. My friend Tina has always charmed me with little gifts. She has always believed in me to a degree that sometimes has left me scurrying to keep up with her good opinion.
Tina has always believed I can be more, do more, and should be seeking my bliss. And now that I have time to make it happen, and Dream Girl to guide me, I feel confident that I can perhaps live up to my sweet friend’s high expectations.
Meet Michael Kenney at The Playroom Academy!
| Guitarist, Michael Kenney began his musical studies at age 8 with the violin followed by piano studies in his early teens. At 16 he received his first guitar as a Christmas present and settled on it as his primary instrument. Influenced at first by classic and hard rock Michael’s studies veered towards classical music. He went on to major in guitar performance at the University of Memphis. Michael was awarded a performance scholarship in 1985 and graduated in 1988 cum laude. That same year he was invited to join the teaching staff at the Howard Vance Guitar Academy. Michael enjoyed a 3 year tenure at the academy teaching both class and private guitar lessons.In 1990 Michael placed first in the Beethoven Young Artists Competition, an annual tri state event held in Memphis. Michael had placed second the previous year. Through years of teaching he has developed facility teaching a variety of styles from Bach to Rock and most points in between. | |
| Since settling in the Carolinas in 1992, Michael has continued to teach and perform throughout North and South Carolina. Presently, he is the on call guitarist for two local country clubs.Michael, his wife and three kids currently reside in Fort Mill, SC. | |
