by k. cortez on March 17, 2008
Last night in Pittsburgh marked the beginning of a bit of a short break for the band. A quick look back at the tour dates show that Grace, Scott, Bryan and Matt have been on the road pretty much non-stop since May 2nd of 2007 with a few weeks off for good behavior holidays. That stretch included a few amazing runs of performances that make me weary just to think about. From October 3rd, 2007 - to November 17th, 2007 the band played an incredible 36 shows in 46 days. Just a few months later they started another run on January 10th, 2008 that went until February 23rd, playing 29 shows in 45 days.
I know this site has lots of readers that rarely if ever leave comments but I think now might be the time to delurk a bit and leave a big “Thank you” to the band, crew, bookers, management and everyone else involved. They all helped put Grace Potter and the Nocturnals music and show in front of the thousands of people who appreciated it.
All images copyright Chad Smith
by k. cortez on March 14, 2008
You know, or not. “A Vermont based band best described as a timeless, organic brand of American Rock & Roll”.
Via tava.com. Download “Apologies” for free, watch and listen to more music.
SXSW via the NY Times
Sooner or later, public forums and private conversations at this year’s festival end up pondering how 21st-century musicians will be paid. For nearly all of them, it won’t be royalty checks rolling in from blockbuster albums. Musicians’ livelihoods will more likely be a crazy quilt of what their lawyers would call “alternative revenue streamsâ€: touring, downloads, ringtones, T-shirts, sponsorships, Web site ads and song placements in soundtracks or commercials.
Thoughts? Me - I say get paid baby.
More on the Tava Campaign. Tava is a product of Pepsi and should not be confused with Kava or Java.
by k. cortez on March 4, 2008
Seth Godin, one of the ‘nets chief marketing gurus, lays it out in an essay he calls “the live music talk”. Nothing you haven’t heard before as far as independent bands and what it takes to be successful but, as always, Seth is clear and concise with his thoughts.
The next thing is this idea that people care very much about who is sitting next to them at the concert. They care very much about the secret handshake. They care very much about the tribal identification. “Oh you like them, I like themâ€. The Grateful Dead is an amazingly successful paradigm for many of the things I’m talking about. They didn’t make any money selling records compared to the way they made money doing everything else. Part of it was, you knew if you met someone at a dead concert, they had some things in common with you. The secret handshake, the clothes, whatever it was. And that was important and you were willing to pay money to be with those people. And after Jerry died it was very interesting. Because obviously there was thousands of hours to listen to but that’s not what the people missed. The people missed the place they could go to meet the people like them.
The next idea is this idea of liking. There is a lot of music I like. There is not so much music I love. They didn’t call the show, “I Like Lucyâ€, they called it “I Love Lucyâ€. And the reason is you only talk about stuff you love, you only spread stuff you love. You find a band you really love, you’re forcing the CD on other people, “you gotta hear this!â€. We gotta stop making music people like. There is an infinite amount of music people like. No one will ever go out of the way to hear, to pay for, music they like.
How many people have you given a Grace Potter and the Nocturnals mix to? How many people have you dragged to a concert? That’s the way it works baby, so keep it up. (OK, I’ll take my cheerleader costume off now).
by k. cortez on February 25, 2008
Click on the image to read the writeup. Thanks to all of you for the nomination and your support.
by k. cortez on February 19, 2008
Harp Magazine brings us news of the upcoming presidential bid by Dave Grohl (Foo Fighter) that includes this interesting nugget . . .
It’s not all yuks, however: we’ve commissioned a number of thoughtful, even provocative, politically-themed essays James McMurtry, Chris Lee, Anti-Flag’s Justin Sane, D.O.A.’s Joe Shithead Keithly and Grace Potter (of Grace Potter & the Nocturnals, who literally drapes herself in nothing but the American flag to prove her point).
by k. cortez on February 9, 2008
Made In Vermont
But she’s proudest of her greatest masterpiece, one decades in the making: her family. Peggy Potter chuckles, “There could be something in the water.”
That’s because her husband and kids are all artists. Sparky Potter makes high-end, hand-carved wooden signs for businesses. Their son Lee is a poet and occasional stand-up comic, daughter Charlotte is a glass blower, and their other daughter is one of Vermont’s most closely watched musicians: rocker Grace Potter.
Grace Potter says, “I feel blessed to have a family of successful craftspeople. It’s not that easy.”
She and her band the Nocturnals tour the country. The singer/songwriter says it was her upbringing, when mom balanced bowl-painting with piano lessons and dad augmented lean sign sales giving art classes, that taught her “if at first you don’t succeed try, try again.”
Grace Potter says, “For me it was trying to get my music career going. And they knew, because they went through it themselves. It’s not an easy thing to do. But the payoff is so much more fun. You’re doing things for yourself, you know?”
