Claiming Atlanta by big crescent moonlight - rambling

so the other night my body was riveted with anxious energy...I didn't have the focus to sit down and meditate before dozing off..I felt like I'd had 3 cups of coffee and I'd had none...I'm guessing the cause of my racing heart and fidgety impulses was the fact that I'd just finished mastering my first record fulfilling a promise I'd made to myself 5 years ago : That I'd have finished my first record by 30...Here I am 1 week away from my 31st birthday and I've done it....Just barely making my self imposed deadline. The excitement was so strong that I couldn't sit still even though I was sleep deprived.....I decided that I'd circle Atlanta proper by bike..I left my house at 11:45 PM wearing nothing but some athletic shorts that looked like they belonged to a 13 year old boy and some ratty white havaiana flip flops.

In the big city, no one takes much notice of a shirtless, mulleted man biking helmet-less past his bedtime on a school night.....some, what must have been, former sorority girls in a late 90's BMW seemed curious as they slowed down to take a peak at me as I turned left onto Peachtree Street near uppity Lenox Mall. The moon, a smidge past half full, shone true above the glaring city light..As I headed south through Buckhead passing gleaming high rises, banks, and chic restaurants, I was vainly grateful that I was not one of the big bellied 40 somethings I saw walking back to their hotel after what must have been a late nite out being entertained.....I was glad that I narrowly escaped that stale life...I guess someone has got to do it.

Riding down Peachtree Street, I thought about how much I need adventure to keep me feeling fresh.....The scent of risk puts me on edge just enough to remind me that this really is my ONE trip around the sun...There's a well loved poem by Dylan Thomas entitled "Do Not Go Gently into That Good Night"....Mr. Thomas appears to be referring to the end of one's life when he says "rage, rage against the dying of the light", but He could have just as well been talking about people who allow the light to die inside of them as they get older and become consumed with the physical world's demands and desires slowly allowing their internal brightness and inquisitive nature to dim.....I've had several moments during the last couple years where I wondered if I was sinking into that stale existence where nothing seems fresh and life tastes like a stale piece of bread.

I felt very free and a new riding through empty streets...I took a right on Collier Road and road past a construction crew fixing a bridge..I noticed their bright orange hats, bright green safety vests, and glaring beam providing them light to do their work.....I began to notice that nearly everyone I saw in their cars was either holding their phones, texting, or talking to someone...I was grateful for those moments to be untethered to the technological web that we allow to invade more and more of our time.... leaving us feeling anxious, uneasy, and unfocused......Riding through the West side of Atlanta, I was surprised to see a woman outside by herself waiting or a MARTA bus.....at 12:15 AM...It's easy to forget how the less fortunate monetarily live...The road become increasingly desolate as I rode along Howell Mill past vacant property, old tire shops, and the massive water treatment plant...Heading towards downtown propery, I merged onto Marietta street passing the desolate looking rail yard and a couple of suburbans with tinted windows looking like part of the set from a movie about the "hood".....

I eventually made my way through Centenial Park, Dekalb Ave., East Atlanta, Kirkwood, and the Highlands before arriving home....What a ride. I hope to do it again....That's all the randomness I have for you today : ) hugs

Recording and Beyond/ThankYou!

Recording Update : So..The recording process has gone very well up to this point. Having Willis Sprayberry on as the Producer & Sound Engineer has been a real blessing. I've also had a great experience at both Doppler Studios and Parhelion Studios here in Atlanta. I've been blessed to have the collaboration of many talented musicians throughout the process for which I'm VERY grateful. We are going to be mixing for the next few weeks and then it's on to mastering and finally submitting the EP to all of the digital stores and beginning the marketing campaign......Having a quality product that sounds like I need and want it to sound is a major step towards being able to support myself on original music.

Right now it will take a miracle to raise the funds I need to get my Kickstarter campaign funded..... This week I'll begin tapping into my credit line. Doing things right is not cheap. I'm confident though, that the final product will show that it is worthy of what I've invested. There is a great deal of music available now with how powerful computers are and how cheap it is to have a home studio. Thus, releasing an EP with mediocre sound quality is NOT an option. Keep your eyes out for an invitation to my CD Release/Listening Party.

Thanks to All of your for your Support!

Tim

I DONT believe in chasing Dreams......

I don't believe in chasing dreams.(Warning this is just a convoluted, disorganized nite time rant Be advised that reading this could turn your brain to mush)

When I was a kid , the possibilities for the future seemed endless....A message not so subtly preached by the media and passed on to us at school, was that we could be anything that we wanted to be.....Closely related to that message, was an underlying feeling of entitlement....There was the unstated belief that everyone had a "true calling" and that we should all be able to dedicate ourselves fully to whatever that calling was.........that We should ALL "follow our dreams" because they just might come true.....If this dream following business were so easy, everyone would be millionaires with dynamic and nourishing love lives, flourishing and rewarding careers, warm social lives, and a brilliant spiritual connection....

First, I want to make clear that the last thing I want is to paint myself as someone who does not believe in having a calling or taking a career path that you're passionate about....I simply feel that not ENOUGH emphasis is placed on the great sacrifice that is necessary to excel in LIFE in general or more specifically, in a given field...We are not entitled to success,health, happiness, wealth, or respect....We must figure out what we want to achieve, and then go out and expect to TOIL smart and hard to get there ..BUT That to me is not "chasing one's dreams". That is being on a MISSION. It is masterminding a game plan and giving everything you have to achieving that goal.....The words SACRIFICE and FOCUS come to mind......

A dream is unfulfilled desire floating listlessly in the ether of our grey matter.......I have dreams but they are of little consequence....I'd love to have a ski boat on a beautiful mountain lake or buy a vacation home in Brazil....or spend 6 months at a Buddhist monastery in Japan....However,I've done nothing to make any of those dreams a reality and I probably never will....They are harmless topics of conversation...They are a pleasant fantasy land to visit while waiting in line at the grocery store on a Sunday afternoon or while enduring a couple hours of dental work.

We are all mounds of flesh endowed with a brain and a spirit....and thus I believe to a very large extent, our own creation...We mold ourselves out of the clay we are given at birth influenced to varying degrees by life circumstances and our reactions to things we cannot control...

We mold ourselves and chart our life's course...Dreams don't come true....Missions are often accomplished though....Expecting a dream to magically come true is like betting our life's fortune on the weather and being crushed when it rains. ...Dreams are for those languishing in the bone dry dessert of the infinitely unfulfilled and serially disappointed....Missions are something entirely different.They are for the hard working, focused, courageous types...Missions are possible. Dreams are for the weak minded and frail hearted.

Details for my Kickstarter Campaign ; )

I'm making my first Debut Record and utilizing the online web application Kickstarter to do so! My plan is to make a quality RECORD that portrays my deep passion for the human experience , that SHOWS what I'm capable as an artist, and that allows me to segway my business from being a favorite Atlanta artist to becoming an established regional act making a living from selling and performing my original music.

Without a quality recording this goal is impossible to reach.................

With your help, I'll have the resources to move forward much more quickly in the process of running a profitable music business. My goal is to be making $50,000 per year writing and performing my original music on a national and perhaps international stage by the spring of 2011. But first things first.....I have to get this album done and done RIGHT. You can help me do this by donating. I have saved $3000.00 of my own money to pay for recording. I must raise the additional $4,825.00 to cover my costs without going into too much debt. I'll be recording a total of 6 songs.
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*Please Review my Budget below if your interested in the Specific Monetary details ; )
**Budget Rundown
Total Budget = $7825
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Line Item Run Down
Studio Time/Production Costs/Sound Engineer = $2000
Mixing Time = $500
Misc Costs (Equipment, Meals for Musicians etc) = $500
Musicians Pay = $625.00
Mastering = $500
CD Replication in Jewel Cases with inserts = $1700
Marketing Campaign in 5 Key Markets = $2000

Speaking of Faith...... Random Ramblings on Faith

How important is faith in your life? When I say faith, I AM NOT categorically referring to organized religion. I am referring to a strong belief in something or someone. How important is it to have faith your special someone loves you, wants the best for you and can be trusted, or that your band mates and music business partners are as focused and committed to your success as you are? How important is it for you to have that feeling in the deepest part of your gut that the course you are taking in life is right for you? How important is it for you to place your faith in people even when you know there's a chance that those people will fail? How important is faith in your own instinct when all you have to guide your are your determination and gut?

Faith is important to me because without faith I would've missed out on some of the greatest experiences of my life. Without faith that ALOT of people care deeply for their fellow citizens and want to make the world a better place, I would never have co-founded a non profit in college. Without faith in my ability to adapt I would never have spent two years in South America after college becoming fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, conquering my lifelong fear of the ocean, and learning to play guitar. I've also been on the ugly side of the faith paradigm Because I lacked faith in my musical abilities I stood back for two years after returning from Brazil before I began playing in public....faith and fear and are enemies while fear and pride are close friends...seriously.....Because I allowed fear instead of faith to rule my decisions over those two years, I hampered my musical progress and my career.... Where there is faith, fear has little room to co-exist. When you believe, fear of failure loses its power.

I've also found through personal experience that faith is a MUST for healthy personal and business relationships. People need us to place our faith in them whether they ultimately end up failing or not. How many times have you heard successful people emotionally thank those who believed in them.....Having faith in people empowers them by planting the seed of self confidence and BELIEF in themselves they need to fully harness their potential..........

the end of the day job

I feel the end of my day job fast approaching. I now own a complete PA system and will soon have shored up the weekly gigs to pay my monthly expenses. Playing at night and then working in the morning is starting to take it's toll on me....It's very hard for me to "turn it on" at night to perform, go to shows to support my friends in the music community etc etc and then simmer down in time for bed. its nearly 2:30AM and here I am working on my blog.....I just bought a Mackie PrFX 12 to go with my two Mackie SRM 450 powered speakers so I'm now equipped to do anything from a restaurant gig to a small rock Venue...The end of the day job is fast approaching..Music is what I do.

I was thinking about how just 3 years ago, I'd never been in a band and had barely ever even played out....Now I have shows in Atlanta and in neighboring states and have written nearly 40 tunes myself...There is much to be said for finding your vision and sticking to it...... As trite as it may come across god really does help those who help themselves

Tonight I played a couple of my tunes at The 5 Spot here in Atlanta with my good friend Josh Yoder who was the entertainment for the night....I truly felt greatly humbled to be sharing the stage with him, his brother Graham, and the gentleman from the band Stokeswood....All of them are so talented and genuine! To even be sharing the same stage is mind blowing for me. The growing sense of community and camaraderie that I sense between the musicians in these two bands in particular is exemplary and an example of where the Atlanta music scene is headed. Talented passionate people willing to work together for the betterment of us all. Good Things keep coming : ) I'm humbled to be part of what's happening. Sometimes I think it must be a dream..

Taking A Moment to Bitch
I get frustrated sometimes with the lack of planning, focus, and business acumen that the average person in the music business possesses.

There is a pervasive apathy among many of the musicians, producers, and club owners I meet…..People seem to think that greatness is achieved by hanging out, smoking weed, and getting around to making music, scheduling shows, guerrilla marketing, and orchestrating recording sessions only when the wind tickles that hair on their ass and they decide to get up and do something productive. They say things like, “Don’t worry bro…things will happen when they are meant to” or “I’m just waiting to get my break” or “The chips just haven’t fallen for me yet”. That is a load of horse shit. Success is man made not divine. Don’t point to Britney Spears or Justin Timberlake and claim they had it easy. Give me a break....those kids were busting their tail since early childhood building their business and honing theirs skills.

Lucky Breaks may determine how quickly one rises but it DOES NOT DETERMINE the ultimate height of their climb. Just ask Dave Matthews , Butch Walker, Zack Brown, or Kings of Leon or any of the other household names that spent years building their business….

NEWS FLASH!!!! >>>
People become successful by honing their craft, having intangibles that people are drawn too, and BUSTING THEIR TAILS on the business end cause they have fire in their belly and want more than anything else to make a living playing music. They learn how to treat the music business as the business that it is and they learn how to pick people who feel the same way and demonstrate that through their actions. I’ve been around too long to work with musicians who don’t show up, don’t call me back, or are too unmotivated to rehearse. There are hard workers in this business defeating people whose talent rivals the greats every day….Have you ever listened to Corey Smith, the country leaning musician from Athens who caters to southern college & blue collar audiences??? Take a listen and try to convince me that his music is original or compelling…seriously. But that guy is pulling in upwards of 500K/year playing music because he works hard and has learned how to promote himself and manage the marketing end of his career.

The longer I’m involved in the music business, the less time I have for crap, and the quicker I smell an apathetic or sheisty musician/music businessperson right off the bat. I’ve got news for you lazy pieces…..Keep on moving on. I don’t have time for you.