Chris Hartzog » Blogging Musicians

Free Culture in a Thrift Store

chartzog — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:36:08 +0000

There are frequently stories about someone who found a great treasure in a thrift shop or pawn shop like maybe a rare pre-war Martin D-28 or some other cool thing. Finally, I can join the ranks of the thrift shop story tellers, only my find was not a guitar or piece of jewelry, but rather the game changing treatise of professor Lawrence Lessig, “Free Culture“! For any of you who have followed my blog posts here, you will know that Lawrence Lessig and his brain child, “Creative Commons” have been a huge interest and excitement for me personally. In fact, it was Jonathon Coulton’s work that first turned me on to this whole idea that I don’t need to be afraid to share my music with the world. There is a cool middle option between the totally restrictive, conventional copyright “ALL rights reserved” approach and total anarchy – The middle, cool option is called Creative Commons.

Now, I can begin as I should have and actually read Free Culture cover to cover rather than in bits and pieces on the internet. The internet is wonderful for many things, but don’t you sometimes like to sit down in a chair with an old fashioned book? Now I will. Now I will reread the telling of the tale of how Walt Disney was one of the all time greats of “creative borrowing”, and used this carrying forward of culture to create new and more exciting culture, but now they along with others like RIAA, attempt to control everything and change us from a “free culture” to a “permission culture”. As you can tell, I love this book and the Creative Commons movement. Sadly, whoever owned this book before me appears to have never even read it…it looked like the cover had never been opened. I have changed all that. Alright, back to my book. What are you doing tonight?

Adios Tables

chartzog — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 01:07:41 +0000

Well, heck in my continuing effort to spend more time on my own web site and less time on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, I discovered the most important page on my web site, Download Music, was screwed up when you view it in Internet Explorer. Thanks again Microsoft! The table that I was using to list all of my songs was completely wacked in IE. With Firefox and Safari it looked just fine. Since I realized I was spending way too much time monkeying around with something as mundane as a table >> Can somebody tell me why someone can’t make a WYSIWYG table editor for WordPress that is easy to use and actually works?<< to put my important work in. I would have done this earlier if I had known IE didn’t render it correctly, so to put it to an early death I decided to convert from using a table to a simple text list. You can now find all of my songs on the same download page.

I think it should be a lot easier to update from now on. And this should serve my goal of simplifying and prioritizing things so I can focus most of my energy on what is most important to me: Writing songs and recording. I am in the blues mode right now, so I have to go get back to work on the next song and when I publish it I know there will be no agonizing tables to interfer with posting the fruits of my labors to the world. Incidentally, for now the songs are all still free. I am working on adding a shopping cart system and payment processing capability to my site. Once this is done the tag after each song, “Buy $1″ with be converted to a shopping cart icon that will add the song to your cart so you can pay me for the stuff you take. Cool huh?

Good night for now world, time for me to get back to the fun stuff.

Moving Furniture Around

chartzog — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:41:59 +0000

I suppose we all inherit various traits from our parents. Me? Every now and then I get the urge to rearrange things. Mom loved to rearrange the furniture in the house, which could make it interesting if you came home after dark and didn’t turn on the lights. Today though, I am just moving things around on my web site. Why? Because I can do it. Actually, there is a deeper reason. I have been doing a trial since I launched this site of using some ads, mind you ones that I tried to keep minimal and as non intrusive as possible, from Google AdSense and Amazon.com. After a year of trying this I concluded:

They have not made me rich….not even close. Google has paid me barely enough for a fast food meal and Amazon has paid nothing at all.
They have not increased my site traffic. In fact, I have a feeling that some visitors find any kind of ad inherently annoying and immediately depart never to return.
I realized Google and Amazon have control of what ends up appearing in these ads on my site and there is no guarantee that their content is always appropriate or something that I would choose given the chance.
They are just another distraction for me to devote my time rather than the core content of what I intended this site to focus on: My music, songwriting and recording and my causes of care for the disadvantaged – Namely those living with autism and seniors secluded from the rest of society in nursing homes.

Therefore and whereas, as of today there shall be no more ads on my site. If you find one let me know right away. You might have also noticed that I moved my current blog posts back to the front page of the site. I had had a static summary information page as the default, but my hunch is that the dynamic blog will be more useful…..I hope I can leave it like this and not change my mind again in a year or six months.

Does this make my site more useful for you?

In another version of me moving the furniture around I had to make a few changes to the mix on my last published song, Saving Grace, as I discovered somehow on the first release I had shifted the bass guitar part slightly from the rest of the tracks which made the playback less than ideal. I like this version much better and I think you will too.

But you know I need to admit that there is more motivating me to do these things than simple OCD, (not that that disorder is at all “simple”) — I actually feel a need to “simplify” some areas of my life…..especially in things that distract me from being creative. I have a hunch that before you know it I will also be scaling back the amount of times I spend on other things that experts have told musicians are necessary >> social networks << ….there – I said it. While stuff like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and the plethora of music sites like iLike (did I studder?) and lastFM are strangely addictive and probably have a lot of potential to help one market their music, they take an incredible amount of time to maintain. It appears MySpace has decided to do some housecleaning themselves. So anyway, I am starting to think what if I actually devoted that time to actually practicing, or writing songs, or recording?

Guitarists: Are You on a Tone Quest?

chartzog — Mon, 25 May 2009 17:53:30 +0000

Guitar players – There is a cool site for you to check out if you would like a convenient resource to sample the tone of a variety of axes, amps and effects pedals. Cruise on over to TonePedia.com and take a listen or even upload your own samples. When I get the time I might even upload some of my own.

Lance is Tweeting

chartzog — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:14:12 +0000

Holy macaroni! I just discovered that Lance Armstrong is on Twitter. (http://twitter.com/lancearmstrong) It looks like I am his 737,306th follower. Can you believe that?! The guy is out there. Anyway, that also reminds me I need to get back with our Lance Armstrong book study. Stay tuned. More tunes are in the works too. I promise.

TwitPic

chartzog — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 23:50:15 +0000

Twitter is taking off like wild fire with new aps available to leverage off it all the time. The latest one I discovered to use is “TwitPic”. It’s as easy to post pictures now as it is to tweet. You can find my TwitPic’s here. Someday I will add a permanent ink to it on my home page.

Little Known Ways to Prevent Musician Back Strain

chartzog — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:14:10 +0000

I think when you find a great product that fills a need for a good price you should tell other people about it. It’s the great American, capitalist way.

Guitar players, and I am sure musicians in general, tend to have a lot of “stuff” we accumulate that needs to be carried around and hauled to gigs and band practices. For years I could never seem to find a solution that I was completely happy with. I have tried carrying all of my stuff….but my body tends to rebel after a while. I am sure everything I own is becoming heavier every year. Maybe it has something to do with the pending Earth magnetic reversal? I have tried employing slave labor, but that bothers my conscience. I have tried luggage carts, and while that has worked okay most luggage carts are just not the grade of industrial strength that guitarists want and need. This became readily apparent when I upgraded to a larger bass amp – the very fine Gallien-Krueger “Neo” series, while light by bass amp standards was still too big for my little luggage cart. Dang it – back to the brawny method. Uh-oh, then the back says, “OK bud, you do that to me, let me show you what I can do to you.” Next option: Enter the Home Depot super duper refrigerator mover complete with pneumatic tires, shocks and overdrive. Tim Taylor would be so proud….ooo, ooo. I was sure this was a great, manly solution, but then I realized the Home Depot cart felt like it weighed almost as much as my amplifier. Besides, it barely fit inside my trunk and once I did fit it in, half the time I could not remember how to get it back out….it was that tight. So, after centuries of toiling under the most unbelievable burdens, the people were finally set free. One night while strolling through the King’s storehouse (Costco), little Christopher spied the most ingenious of devices:

The MAGNA CART! Christopher knew salvation had arrived.

I bought myself one of these and used it last night to haul my gear to band practice. The cart weighs under 10 pounds and it collapses down to around an inch or two thick – small enough to lay flat in an aircraft overhead compartment. You can open it up with one hand an a foot….the tounge and wheels fold out and the telescoping handle slides up to about 3 feet high. Here is the real beauty of it: It held my GK Neo 112 bass amp (which weighs around 70 lbs), plus my gear bag (which weighs around 20 lbs) and music stand and it had capacity to spare. It is rated at 150 lbs. My guitar gig bag went on my back and I was off pulling all of that with only one hand. If you have been looking for a similar low-cost, light-weight gear hauling solution, I recommend you buy a Magna Cart.

Check this out:

Available at Costco or online at Amazon.com

Rockin’ & Ridin’ For Autism

chartzog — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 01:10:23 +0000

Hi everyone — This is a shameless plug for a great autism charity: Rockin’ & Ridin’ for Autism. I added the link to RRFA’s web site along with a picture of their cool banner to my page, Autism Support. Won’t you please stop by their site and support autism awareness?

One Year Already?

chartzog — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:43:44 +0000

Hi everyone and Aloha!

I can hardly believe it has been a whole year since I became an on-line Troubadour and launched www.chris-hartzog.com and the Kilika Music songwriting project, Musing Mana. Happy Birthday!

I have learned a lot and done a lot these past twelve months, which some of you have followed along via my blog posts, my Twitter tweets or on ReverbNation, FaceBook or sadly on MySpace. In January, I even attended my first JoCo and Paul and Storm concert!

Yes, believe it or not, I am still anxiously awaiting the papers to sign that big recording contract with Capitol Records!

Stat-wise, I think this has been a good start at my very first attempt at hosting a web site, becoming a blogger and an indie, self-publishing singer-songwriter and musician, and Creative Commons evangelist. So far I have published nearly 200 blog posts, added 35 permanent pages to my web site and had over 6,200 visitors to my site. My Musing Mana Song Project got off to an encouraging start as well. I have written and recorded 10 songs, 5 of which are my own composition that I have launched into cyberspace beginning with Irish Rockerwoman. During these song-o-nauts’ cyber journey you have given them over 2000 plays/downloads. Thank you very, very much! Or, as they say in Hawaii – Mahalo nui loa!

As I mentioned earlier, being one who never can sit still and just watch trees grow, I have more things planned for the future. As the initial Musing Mana songs were rough demo cuts, I am planning to re-record most or all of the MM songs at a studio quality level and re-release them….under Creative Commons licensing, of course. Eventually, as I find my way along, both sets of music will also get mastered and published on CD and they will be available for sale at various outlets, such as CD Baby and Amazon and iTunes. While everything I do is done for free and out of love for the causes I believe in, I do need to find creative ways to actually make money! Of course any money I make will help fund not only our lifelong responsibilities of care as special needs parents, but also help me get the word out about autism, Alzheimer’s/Dementia and promotion of respect for life.

Beyond that or actually in parallel with that, I have new song ideas that I am also working on and I may post excerpts on my blog as I go along to let anyone who wants peek into and participate a bit in my creation process.

-Chris (Kilika)

Tips For Musicians: The Lance Armstrong Method – Ch. 4 Positive Attitude

chartzog — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:36:33 +0000

This episode is on Chapter 4 – Success Factor 1: Positive Attitude.

What have I been doing with all of my time?! It has been months since I posted last on our Lance Armstrong book study. I hope you haven’t given up either and have been reading along. In case you missed the previous episode, we are reading from the book, “How Lance Does It” by Brad Kearns“.

The concept of a positive attitude has been such an important concept for me during my life. I understood the impact a negative attitude could have from a young age. During 5th grade math class I had to solve a dreaded word problem at the blackboard in front of the class. Well, little Christopher came up with the wrong answer. That was bad enough, but instead of turning the event into a positive learning experience the teacher criticized me and made fun of me in front of the class and told me she wouldn’t want to shop in my grocery store “because you would probably rip me off!” I still remember the class laughing at me. I was kind of amazed that a nun even knew the phrase “rip me off”……

Have you ever embarrassed yourself or been embarrassed Royally? Have you carried around a memory that still makes you cringe when you think about it? Have you had songs rejected, perhaps laughed at? Did you ever sing off key? Forget your lyrics? Loose the groove?

Well, the good news is that bad stuff happens to everybody, you and me included. How do you take the bad and use it for good? For one thing – Try to remember what people say or do to you is all about them. It is not about you.

Anyway, lucky for you, that is exactly what this chapter is all about.

Lance Armstrong has been criticized mercilessly during his cycling career. Especially intense were the allegations, probably from jealous competitors and their sponsors that he used steroids or other performance enhancing drugs. “Doper!” How has he managed to survive the criticism and seemingly thrive during all of it and go on to blow our minds? Since the book study’s focus is to consider what we might learn from Lance’s life and apply it to our music, we must ask ourselves: If I have been, or will be, criticized mercilessly during my music career, how can I survive and more importantly thrive in spite of it?

The key, the first piece of body armor that we need is a POSITIVE ATTITUDE. Okay then, how do we get one?

Page 63 of the book gives an excellent example of how pervasive negativity can be in our society in general and in all of us. The Brad Kearns tells a story of a muggy day at the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s Ride for the Roses weekend to celebrate and support cancer survivors. Lance had just arrived and had fallen victim to an allergy attack and a series of sneezing. Brad wrote, “The air seemed visibly heavy and dirty, and my runs along the beautiful Lake Austin trail downtown felt sluggish and hindered by constricted lungs. I remarked to Lance, ‘I can’t believe how bad the allergies are here! I don’t see how you can even train, I mean…..’ At which point Lance paused his pen, looked at me right in the eye and said, ‘Quit bitching.’ I was a little taken aback…….Upon further reflection, I realized that I had learned a valuable lesson. How dare I complain about e weather, to a cancer survivor, at a gathering of cancer survivor, in a beautiful town like Austin! …..Even a seemingly inconsequential subject like your attitude about the weather deserves to be challenged and reframed into something positive.”

“Everyone wants to know what I’m on. I’m on my bike six hours a day. What are you on?”

The following is a summary of the major points in Chapter 4. Steps to Develop Success Factor 1: POSITIVE ATTITUDE:

Make attitude a choice. Regardless of external circumstances, attitude remains the most powerful and empowering choice you can make. Make the choice to be honest, correct, and real in dealings with yourself and others, especially in the face of difficult circumstances. Cultivate a healthy, balanced lifestyle to support your positive attitude.
Avoid “bad air”. You can achieve this by calling it out and breaking the cycle of emotional power struggles between loved ones and close associates. Even an innocent comment about the weather contributes to negativity and must be challenged and reframed. Take the high road and remain positive in the face of conflict and challenge. A traffic jam provides an opportunity to learn more about yourself and become a better corporate or athletic performer in the future and so on.
Develop your air filter. In a physical, practical sense, you must prioritize your time and energy and eliminate the distractions that hamper your pursuit of goals and happiness. In an emotional sense, you must move on from difficult experiences, criticism, and other setbacks. Focus on the positive elements of the challenges that you experience and eliminate the negatives. This is especially relevant because we are not perfect. If you enjoy a decadent slice of cheesecake for dessert in conflict with your diet, instead of feeling negative about it, just enjoy it as an element of a happy, balanced life. Then strengthen your commitment to emphasize a diet of healthy, natural foods.
Practice. Developing the ability to remain positive requires repletion and reinforcement. Realize that an excessively stressful daily life brings great risk of burnout, exhaustion and consequent negativity. When you encounter bad air, don’t take things personally. Instead, draw strength from negative experiences by letting them go and choosing a positive attitude in the present.

Lance Armstrong Book Study

chartzog — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 17:33:07 +0000

Just a note to let you know that I have not totally forgotten about our Lance Armstrong book study….I just fell off my bike temporarily! Anyway, dust off your books because I am finishing up anohter chapter and should have a new post on it soon. I hope you have all been reading along. In case you missed the previous episode, we are reading from the book, “How Lance Does It” by Brad Kearns“.

Jonathan Coulton @ The Moore – Seattle

chartzog — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 04:11:17 +0000

OK folks, we are getting ready to go into Seattle on Friday and see Jonathan Coulton in concert with Paul and Storm. Jonathan, aka JoCo, is my creative commons demigod and guru that I have been following and listening to for at least the past year, and probably even a bit longer than that. He was my original inspiration that is not only okay but good and necessary to squeeze my creative lemonade and offer the world a free seat at my juice stand and to even help me blend the concoction if they want. Anyway, it’s time for you to help JoCo out as he still has a few tickets left to sell.

I’m home for a couple of days and then out again to Seattle on Friday and Portland on Saturday – still still plenty of tickets left for both, so don’t be shy.

You can check the schedule and ticket stuff here: http://www.jonathancoulton.com/2009/01/21/more-shows-2/

Blues Rock Goodness – Galaxy 7

chartzog — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 18:33:10 +0000

There are a lot of good, unknown or underknown artists on ReverbNation. I recently listened to some music by a RN artist Galaxy 7 who is an example of this. G7 has a song called “Two Step Boogie” that is an awesome amalgamation of SRV blueness with threads of Clapton and a hint of George Harrison’s influence along with a bit of funk! Very cool. Check out Galaxy 7.

WordPress 2.7

chartzog — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 20:20:47 +0000

I recently upgraded my site’s database to WordPress version 2.7. Besides including some needed security enhancements it includes a completely new administration interface and most important and exciting to me is the automatic upgrade feature. I love WordPress as a content management application, however I kind of dread the version upgrade process. But now we have been promised the magic bullet. I suppose you can check back if and when I go through the WP 2.8 upgrade to see if it is really that much easier.

This upgrade caused a lot of things in my site’s theme (basic format) to get generally out of whack and you might notice that the color scheme and column layout has changed. I also fixed some broken links that I found and revised some of the font and paragraph formatting. If you come across anything that is not working or needs some work, just leave a comment or email me.

Thank you!

Happy New Year

chartzog — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:37:59 +0000

In the spirit of leaving no stone unturned, just in case you are not on my newsletter email distribution list, here is a web posted copy of my end of year newsletter. I am not sure why the table border and the background color did not line up properly. Better luck next time! Have a safe and happy New Year!



	Chris Hartzog Seattle, WA

	Folk / Folk-Rock / Christian Members: Chris Hartzog – Guitar, Vocals, Bass, and everything else
	PLAY SONGS SHARE SONGS

Dear friend,

December 2008

News From Chris

www.chris-hartzog.com

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Hot Links

Looking Back on 2008

Nursing Home Music Outreach

During the past year I was honored to perform nine concerts at four different venues in two states.

Bringing God’s love to people, families and caregivers dealing with Alzheimer’s, other memory impairments, or autism spectrum disorders through the gift of music has been more rewarding that I can describe. Witnessing just one person moved enough to sing or even tap their foot is a wonderful thing. For booking info click here to Email Me. Click for my brochure: PDF or JPEG

Concert Band

I completed my second season playing bass in the Woodinville Concert Band (official band for the city of Woodinville, Washington.)

We are a a traditional wind symphony made up of woodwind, brass and percussion players (and stringed and electric basses – I play the electric bass). We play classical music, marches and Broadway show tunes, as well as more contemporary band literature. We had four major concerts during the 2008 season, including hosting a Pacific Northwest regional concert band festival. The WCB concluded 2008 with a very successful Christmas holiday concert at the Seattle Center, in the shadow of the Space Needle.

The Musing Mana Song Project

I jumped into this not really knowing what I was doing, but with the noble intent to write, record and publish as many songs as I could. Given my newbie skills in recording and musicianship I was pleased to see that I managed to pump out 11 creations since starting in March. I even surprised myself with a spur of the moment, 30 minute creation called “Vaccai Meets Trip Hop”. The complete list of recordings are available for free download, (donations lovingly accepted via PayPal or Amazon.com) on my download music page.

What’s Coming Up

As of today, I have 12 concert bookings for nursing home concerts. Woodinville Concert Band currently has two concerts planned for the spring. As for my Musing Mana Song Project, I have one more new song that I am recording and after that I plan to record “studio versions” of all the songs I originally released in 2008. When that is done, look for both to be available for sale as CD’s.

Thank you…..

Thank you again for your friendship, encouragement and support.

God willing, I will see you all in 2009! Until then I hope that you had a very Merry and Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Chris

Click here to put our songs on your Facebook profile.

Upcoming Shows for Chris Hartzog
01/11/2009 04:00 PM	Everett, WA	Private Show: Clare Bridge Silver Lake
02/15/2009 07:00 PM	Bothell, WA	Northshore Performing Arts Ctr
04/12/2009 04:00 PM	Everett, WA	Private Show: Clare Bridge Silver Lake
05/03/2009 04:00 PM	Everett, WA	Private Show: Clare Bridge Silver Lake
05/17/2009 07:00 PM	Redmond, WA	Redmond High School Performance Center
06/07/2009 04:00 PM	Everett, WA	Private Show: Clare Bridge Silver Lake
06/28/2009 04:00 PM	Shoreline, WA	Shoreline Community Center
07/12/2009 04:00 PM	Everett, WA	Private Show: Clare Bridge Silver Lake

Are you an artist, label, or venue? Use FanReach™ to collect and connect with fans.

Update Contact Info Unsubscribe Report Abuse Privacy

Global Translator & Site Upkeep

chartzog — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 18:03:37 +0000

Global Translator is now working again.

The automatic upgrade feature in WordPress would not work for me so I had to uninstall and reinstall GT manually on the web server. This has been the most on again off again love affair. She promises to stay with me forever now. Time will tell. I hope it continues to work, because it is a great free resource for blogs and it can instantly make your blog accessible to millions of other people who you normally could not reach. A free traffic booster! If you want a copy of the latest version (1.0.9.2) of Global Translator, you can download a copy at: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/global-translator/ The plugin support forum is located here: http://wordpress.org/tags/global-translator

I have upgraded my Twitter feed to one that is a non-flash version that should be more firewall friendly and also contains clickable links. You might note that I am now Twittering Seattle’s daily weather report.

I have incorporated the Google XML Sitemaps plugin for Wordpress by Arne Brachhold which automatically informs Google, MSN, Ask.com and Yahoo of sitemap changes to ensure search engine indexing. You can download your own copy of the Google XML sitemap plugin at: http://www.arnebrachhold.de/projects/wordpress-plugins/google-xml-sitemaps-generator/#P18DL

Musician’s Cooler

chartzog — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:53:39 +0000

One of my favorite musician’s resource type sites to visit is, www.Musicianscooler.com. It is run by Jammin Dave Jackson and he is always posting tons of helpful tips for musicians. You should be sure to check it out.

For example, today I came across a tip the Dave posted that has nothing to do with music, but is helpful nonetheless. How to get a discount on your rental car. If you are like me, most of the available discounts don’t apply: AARP? Nope. AAA? Nope. Military? Not any more., etc. But, Dave advises that if you go to Budget car rental’s web site and use the link, www.budget.com/musician, you can get a 10% discount. It’s not huge, but every little bit helps, right? So, if you are getting ready to rent a car and you want to try this out, comment back and let us know if it actually worked for you.

And I love Dave’s tag line:

“For those who have money there is therapy. For the rest of us there is music!”
-Jammin Dave Jackson www.Musicianscooler.com

The Vinyl Just Won’t Die

admin — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:15:17 +0000

For some reason the post on Is Vinyl Making a Comeback attracted a whole record shop full of attention.

I have gotten more hits on that post than just about anything on my site. Now I sat down and ready my local Sunday newspaper (yes, I still read things printed on paper….maybe that’s akin to folks thinking spinning vinyl is cool….) and I spied yet another article on our beloved records complete with a reference section on where to buy vinyl records locally: Stores are giving vinyl another spin

Before I know it they’ll want us to wear ties at work again.

Info About Global Translator

chartzog — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 16:29:13 +0000

For quite a while I had been using Yahoo’s AltaVist Babelfish translation engine, but now for some reason it appears to not be working. So I have once again switched back to Google’s translation engine. Google had been rather unreliable itself in the past, so I hope it is more stable now. The nice thing about Google is that it provides more language options than Babelfish.

The link to Global Translator plugin download is here: http://www.nothing2hide.net/wp-plugins/wordpress-global-translator-plugin/

I have pasted in some comments from the Global Translator plugin for your reading enjoyment in case you are interested:

Global Translator uses a fast, smart, optimized, self-cleaning and built-in caching system in order to drastically reduce the connections to the translation engines. This feature cannot be optional and is needed in order to prevent from banning by the translation services. For the same reason the translation process will not be immediate and the full translation of the blog could take a while: this is because by default only a translation request every 5 minutes will be allowed (see next section).

The cache invalidation will be automatically (and smartly) handled when a post is created, deleted or updated.

Memo to Me: The 5 Minute Songwriting Class

chartzog — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 20:47:09 +0000

I am republishing the following article courtesy of Taxi.com “The World’s Leading Independent A&R Agency” because I have been slacking off on my own songwriting focus in recent months and I need my own pseudo kick in the butt. So, to begin the kicking, I present this timely article by Michael Anderson.

The 5-Minute Songwriting Class

Songwriting

By Michael Anderson

If you have been reading this series of articles you know that I have been referencing film and screenwriting as another paradigm for creative use of technique in your songwriting.

I have lately found a source of inspiration that has been quite a revelation to me in that I found someone preaching the same guerrilla techniques for film that I have been preaching for songwriting.

His name is Robert Rodriquez, and you may know his work from films such as El Mariachi and Sin City

Anyway, he also has a book about his experience in making his first feature length film, El Mariachi. The book is called Rebel Without a Crew, and the narrative has similarities with my experience in the music business—a good read if you are into seeing how other people have pulled it off.

Part of his book is the “10 Minute Film School”—I thought I might vamp on that concept for songwriters:

“The 5-Minute Songwriting Class”

Part I: The first thing is you need a good idea—I have lectured on that over and over here. Creativity is about process—the old “success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration” routine—but without that 10% inspiration the other 90% of your work is a waste of time. In fact, you can hire the “perspiration” part if you have the money—somebody will take your money and do all the necessary work for you if you know how to delegate and focus in that way.

But if you are a struggling artist chances are you will end up doing most of the work yourself too because you can’t afford to hire somebody to be your “go fer.” That is OK, as Robert Rodriquez repeatedly points out, the only way to really be sure you are getting what you need is to do it yourself. That means learning all the little “processes” in the overall big picture process—learning your instrument, learning your tools for recording, learning your business procedure.

But the initial spark is where it starts. Eddie DeGarmo told me that genius is defined by limitations—in other words, making what you have to work with work in your favor—do something on a low budget someone with all the resources in the world can’t do because they don’t have the focus for that. Find a creative way to solve a problem that no one could have come up with in any other way.

To find that magic “idea” I recommend a few exercises that again, I am sure you have heard before.

A: “Morning Pages”—direct from “The Artist Way” formula—you can do them in any way that works for you but the point is to get writing immediately in the morning while your brain is still connected to your creative subconscious and start flowing.

Working without interruption starting first thing in the morning gets more creative work done than anything else I have ever found—a close second is late at night when it is quiet and you are tired—the same process—connecting to that part of your creative self that is a bit left of your reasonable, rational normal thought process.

B: A similar process—the “Artist Date”—again, straight from “The Artist Way.” Set aside time to goof off. Do nothing. Do what you want. Relax.

I know, you don’t have time. Well, you can’t force creativity any more than you can make time go backwards—it is a flow and you need to find the rhythm of it—it is in another dimension, a parallel universe—and you need to find it — sync to it—it will not find you through your will. It may smack you upside the head at any moment, but you can’t control that. You have to be ready for it.

Part II: Do it. Write it down and record it. Use what you have, when you have it. Don’t wait for the ideal guitar, perfect piano, latest software, newest recorder, machine, time, professional studio, whatever. Again, do it with what you have, when you have it. And do the very best you can do with what you have available. But also:

A: Lower your expectations. Some people never do anything because they have such egotistic perfectionist tendencies that they can’t allow themselves to make a mistake. Get over that. Make mistakes. Fail. Learn. Do. Get better. Do it all again.

B: Have a goal—what are you going to do with the demo? What are you going to do with the finished product? What do you need to do to get it to that point and how can you do that now?

Part III: Mainly, enjoy the process of your work—enjoy the rush of the new idea. Enjoy the satisfaction of actually hearing a new part, a new line, a new creative way of doing something no one else has done—say the same thing in a fresh new way. Entertain yourself—make your melody, your lyric, your demo something you want to experience over and over again and show to people you trust who appreciate you.

When you get there the other people will find you.

Class dismissed. Go write a song.

You can contact Michael Anderson or purchase his Little Black Book of Songwriting at michaelanderson.com

Need a to get your Songs to Record Labels, Publishers or Major Artists? Then check out TAXI: The World’s Leading Independent A&R Company, helping bands, artists and Songwriters get signed.

Tips For Musicians On The Lance Armstrong Method – Chapter 3

chartzog — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:56:08 +0000

This episode is on Chapter 3 – Success Factors in Action! I hope you have all been reading along. In case you missed the previous episode, we are reading from the book, “How Lance Does It” by Brad Kearns“.

Some highlights from this chapter:

World class athletes have intense, relentless FOCUS on nothing less than victory – No matter what.

Are you focused and intense on achieving your music goals, whether they are songwriting, recording, promoting your band/self, or mastering your instrument?

In Japan there is a sports and corporate culture value concept called doryoku. It implies visible demonstration of effort and giving one’s best consistently. In terms of applying this to your life, do you only practice “when you feel like it” or do you discipline yourself to follow a regular schedule and measure and evaluate your results? Lance Armstrong’s total focus in training and his complete love of everything to do with cycling are in effect his doryoku.

Do you LOVE MUSIC and EVERYTHING about it? Check your DORYOKU!

The comprehensive commitment to all aspects of the sport are what give Lance the extra edge to advance to the level of success that he has obtained. Examples from other walks of life are Bill Gates and Paul Allen, co-founders of Microsoft, who became absolutely obsessed with the idea of “a PC in every home” which seemed kind of crazy in the 1970’s, but now look at where we are today. In the music world, an example is Eric Clapton, probably the world’s preeminent blues/rock guitarist. Eric reportedly put himself into a self-imposed exile at home to do nothing but practice guitar for a entire year.

Are you able to demonstrate these levels of commitment to your goal?

Beginning on page 52 of the book we find in a nutshell the core of what it takes to put success factors into action:

Step 1: Begin by defining your purpose:

Kearns writes, “The first question a business or athlete should ask is, ‘What do you WANT to do?’ and ‘What hill do you want to climb?’”

Step 2: Assemble a great team:

For Armstrong this meant (and means, now that he his back in the Tour de France once again) coaches, strategists, mechanics, cooks, massage therapists, etc. What does it mean for your music career? Who do you need to help you get to where you want to go? Do you need a great co-writer/collaborator, a vocal coach, a teacher for your chosen instrument, PR and marketing advice?

Step 3: Employ “best practices”:

Observe your competition. Learn from their successes and mistakes. It helps enormously if you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Steven Spielberg leveraged off this technique.
Innovate on the competition’s successful practices to gain advantage. How can you do what they did even better or in a more unique way?
Don’t forget that “best practices” includes “best technology”. Look critically at what you are using and consider upgrading. If you are trying to perfect that guitar solo on a guitar you bought at Walmart, you probably won’t have as much success as you would like. If you are recording vocals with a $19.99 karaoke microphone, don’t expect the best results. Champions invest in themselves and their future even when it doesn’t seem financially sensible.
Take the information you have learned in this exercise and distill it into your own personal template which you can use over and over. This new knowledge application becomes your personal intellectual property.

Try to remember, “We are all CEO’s of our own lives. We can take control of our health, our peak performance goals, and what we bring to the table when we are part of something greater than ourselves….”

“Fooled” by Microsoft Again

chartzog — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:32:22 +0000

For quite a long time I have used Mozilla’s Firefox web browser including for work on this web site. I learned an important lesson yesterday: I need to check my work with multiple browsers to see how it actually displays. Out of curiosity, I fired up Internet Explorer and took a drive around my web site. To my horror, I discovered that the Download Music page, my raison d’être, was not displaying my songs! The entire table was not there. So, I republished the page and table several times, using Firefox, went back to IE, nothing….went to Firefox…there it was. Aggh! In a final desperate attempt to salvage my remaining sanity, I logged into WordPress’s admin using IE and rebuilt the page there, hit the “publish” button….waited for the page to be saved….clicked on over to the download page….finally there it was. Computers – gotta love ‘em. Well, I have absolutely no idea how long that page has been blank to people visiting using IE as their browser. But, it is fixed now. Thanks Microsoft. By the way, the original page also displayed correctly with Safari too. So there.

Fiddlefreak

chartzog — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:56:52 +0000

I discovered an interesting folk music blog today called Fiddlefreak and they are a group after my own heart. FF’s introduction states:

Fiddlefreak is a music blog dedicated to exposing good folk music–the music of the people.

As I stated in my intro about what this site is about:

You do not have to be on American Idol to use and enjoy the gifts that God gave you. Life is music and rhythm! If your heart is beating, then you have rhythm! I am not Hawaiian by blood, but I am Hawaiian at heart. I am into music that is all about aloha and mana. In Hawaiian it is kanikapila, in other cultures it is folk music…People’s music:

They have a great post of a video of Seattle’s own “The Tallboys” performing at Ballard’s Tractor Tavern. Good foot stompin’ stuff. You can find Fiddlefreak at: http://fiddlefreak.com/

You can find The Tallboys at: http://www.thetallboys.com/

Click here to view the embedded video.

Huit Tour de France Victoires?

chartzog — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:11:19 +0000

Here is proof that I chose the right topic and book, “How Lance Does It” by Brad Kearns for our virtual book club study series on how to supercharge your songwriting and musical goal pursuits:

Lance Armstrong announced this week that after competing in a 100 mile, lung-searing race through the Rocky Mountains, that he is coming out of retirement to compete in next summer’s Tour de France.

So, if you haven’t bought yourself the book yet, now is the time. I should have a something to post on the next chapter in the not too distant future. If you start reading now, you still have time to catch up….just like Lance.

Woo Hoo – Now It Really Is A Mac!

chartzog — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:07:23 +0000

This is my very first post ever created on my new Mac computer. I knew I had to get this out today as it is the 1st of September (and Labor Day). I have not been laboring, though my body is not convinced, since I decided to redo my studio in celebration of getting all this new Apple hardware. So the last few days I have been keeping busy completely emptying my studio, ripping out the old carpet, installing new carpet, putting everything back and in the process discovering that I had a whole lot of books stored in here along with everything else. Oh yes, I saved until the very end, unpacking my new Mac. It is a stark contrast to see it sitting atop my 30 pound desktop PC. For now, until I am fully comfortably migrated from Windows to OSX and the Mac I will switch between the two systems via a KVM switch. Let me tell you, the Mac part was a snap, by far the hardest part in this little adventure was the KVM switch. The first one that I bought, from “CompuCable” is a simple manual AB switch, but it did not ship with VGA monitor cables and I looked in every electronics store I could think of and no one has the right type of VGA extension cables that I need to get the thing connected. So finally in exasperation, I decided to buy another KVM switch, this time a “Flip”, that comes with attached monitor cables. That part was great. But once I got it all hooked up I could not get the darn thing to flip between systems. It appears the little remote switch is not working….so back to the store I go again. Patience is a virtue I am told. Anyway, I am looking forward to installing Logic Studio…that should be the last of my mini projects and then I can get back to working on the next song that was actually due in August, but now will be a September kind of release instead.

Tips For Musicians On The Lance Armstrong Method – Chapter 2

chartzog — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 02:07:41 +0000

It is now time to move on to chapter 2.

This is the third installment in the read-along-with-me series on how Lance Armstrong’s philosophy might apply to songwriting and music. We are only on chapter two even though this is the 3rd installment because the first covered the introduction.

I hope you have all been reading along. In case you missed the previous episode, we are reading the book, “How Lance Does It” by Brad Kearns

For me, this chapter boils down to a fairly compact summary: Get over yourself and the negative energy that you create by obsessing over results. Instead, just go out there and kick some ass today!

And don’t forget that the Eagles wrote a song called Get Over It

We have to understand first of all that not all of us are Olympic athlete material….or Mozarts. The book succinctly points out that the people you see in these settings have a couple of unique characteristics that many people don’t have:

1. They are Freaks of Nature. They possess unique 1 in a million physical characteristics.
2. They have the X Factor. They’ve got it. Many want to win; Lance HAS to win.

Nevertheless, if you are not a freak of nature or a natural born X factor baby, what can you and I learn from these super-performers, especially in application to music, whether you are a composer, song writer, or performer? The top things that I took away in this regard are:

1. Avoid negative self talk.

Have you ever dissed yourself? Do you unleash a stream of negativity after or while you struggle hitting that high note or find your fingers turning to mush every time “that passage” of notes comes by? Page 32 of the book provides some excellent examples of this kind of negativity:

Athletes today are conditioned strongly to appreciate victory but not the enjoyment of the experience and striving to get better. With the young athletes I work with it is surprising to observe the barrage of self-limiting statements and beliefs that they harbor about competition. At a recent practice session for high school high jumpers, one of the athletes announced to his peers, “I’m like the worst high jumper ever, ” just before launching himself at the bar. Second grade children assembled for the distance race will whine, “Do I have to do it? I stink at running.” The passenger next to me on a recent airplane flight told me she worked in a dental office but was “just an assistant,” implying that this was not as valuable or impressive as being a dentist or certified hygienist. These self-deprecating comments that are ubiquitous today are simply a protection mechanism against the way we measure and judge everyone by their accomplishments. We worship money, victory, and prestige, while ignoring the subtler traits of exhibiting good sportsmanship, contributing goodwill to the community, or being a good listener, a mentor to youth or workplace associates, or generally a kind , decent and fair person.

2. Life is like a high jump bar. See page 33.

In a high jump competition, the bar is set individually for each jumper, providing a completely personal challenge with unlimited potential for success. ….. The metaphor of the high jump bar applies to whatever challenges and goals you have in your life. If your bar is set at becoming the best dental assistant you can be, there is great honor in that pursuit — far more honor than with a dentist who is more interested in deep-sea fishing than dentistry and just goes through the motions with the patients in his chair. As I explained to the young jumper after his statement, the “worst high jumper ever” is someone whose feet never leave the ground.

3. Learn to think more efficiently.

Do you get distracted when you play, or sing or try to compose a new song? Do you waste time on things that are unimportant to achieving your goal at hand? As described on page 35:

Knaggs explains that the speed of Lance’s brain is right up there with his pedaling speed as a key component of his winning formula.

“Like the flickering images that make up the display on a computer screen, our brains have a cognitive refresh rate,” said Knaggs…..Lance’s refresh rate is three times as fast as the average person’s. he never zones out at any time; he’s always hypervigilent, during the Tour and during his busy, multifaceted life. he’s a good fully step ahead of everybody, always thinking toward something, moving at a faster speed and never resting. he gets three hours out of the day that no one else does.”

4. Strive for Ideal Performance State (IPS)

IPS is not to be confused with IBS! I think IPS is that state where you lose track of time. You are totally into what you are doing purely for the enjoyment of it. You are relaxed and loving it….you are in touch with the music itself. Interestingly, this ties in in a timely manner with yet another book that I am currently reading called The Inner Game of Music, which just so happens to be modeled and inspired from the sports realm…after, “The Inner Game of Golf”….more about that though on another day. Anyway, from page 37 of the book:

My favorite line to describe this optimal approach is “Results happen naturally when motivation is pure.” With a pure motivation, I would experience a higher level of performance without having to struggle or force anything. At those times, I was experiencing what James Loehr calls the “Ideal Performance State” (IPS) affectionately known as the zone…….described as”physically relaxed, mentally calm, fearless, energized, positive, happy, effortless, automatic, confident,” and so on.

The one story from this chapter that best crystallizes what all of this is about is the “bagel shop” story on page 38:

Lance and I had … made plans to bicycle to the starting line on race morning….he was running well behind schedule…..Pedaling toward the waterfront race venue, we approached a bustling coffee and bagle shop, causing Lance to proclaim, “Man, I’m hungry. Let’s stop for a bagel, B.K.” While eating a bagel as the last thing on my mind (most athletes set their alarms for two or three hours before an event, consume some high-tech nutritional supplement … and then go back to sleep), I indulged him in another detour. Circular snack in hand, Lance and I pedaled on toward the race venue, now dangerously close to the start time. While my nervousness and anxiety were building inside, I could not help but laugh at the sight of my riding partner rolling into the transition area with a bagel stuffed in his mouth.

As I completed my hurried prerae preparations and hustled off anxiously toward the start of the swim, I heard Lance yell, “Hey, B.K.!” As I turned to face him, he flashed the thumbs-0up sign and said, “Let’s kick some ass today!” Instantly, my nervousness and tension melted away yinto a big smile, thanks to a fellow competitor no less.

Alright – Do you feel lucky?

Now, just go out there and kick some ass today!

Avoiding the Dead Zone

chartzog — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:13:53 +0000

As I was talking about the other day, my current recording project is a departure from the acoustic realm into more of a pop genre with synth, electric instruments, drums and more of a rock feel….So somehow I managed to stumble upon Seth Godin’s post today about “The Dead Zone of Slick” and I am assuming this is a message to me to be sure to not overdo it. In an age of instant-on, it is easy to overdo it when we have incredible power at our finger tips. (I think this applies to life outside of music too…..) Furthermore, Seth makes the insightful comment in another post, “A concert isn’t about the music, is it?”

Global Translator Update

chartzog — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 15:10:30 +0000

While I was performing some WordPress maintenance on my site, I noticed somehow I had accidently deleted the Global Translator box. So, now not only is it back where it was used to living, but the software is upgraded to the latest version to capture all of the latest bug fixes and also the WordPress version 2.6 functionality. For now, I have Google Translation Services running as the translation engine for global translator, but since it has been a bit unreliable in the past, please let me know if you find that it is not working or otherwise causing trouble. I am also going to let WP 2.6 simmer a while longer before I upgrade to that though. It’ summer and there are too many other things to to.

iTunes MiTunes YourTunes…

chartzog — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:58:23 +0000

Well, somehow I managed to get my RSS feed listed twice on iTunes podcasts. I suppose twice is better than none. But, it is kinda confusing, so after I figure out which feed is the “best” I will have iTunes delete the redundant one. Just so you are forewarned.

Can You Find Me On iTunes?

chartzog — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 23:57:33 +0000

I Found Myself On iTunes

Wow….I took the big step this week of getting my music onto iTunes as podcasts! I think that is pretty cool. It is listed as the Musing Mana Song Project. At this point, these are the free versions….eventually, per my original master plan, when I have album-ready music available, I will be creating albums and release those for sale for real money on iTunes as well. For now, if you have iTunes installed, go to iTunes and search for my name under podcasts and you will find me….at least I have found myself. I found myself and never even had to leave home to do it…how cool and efficient is that?

One of the reasons I chose iTunes is regarding Digital Rights Management on digital media: iTunes is DRM Free. I don’t want restriction on my work and I can’t imagine why anyone else would want to put DRM on my songs. I know any time that I have gotten music that is DRM protected, the main thing it makes me feel is annoyed! Oh, I also suppose since I am a Mac-ite in training (see It’s Gonna Be A Mac), I felt moved to do some other Apple-ish activities.

Anyway, here is a good post from a few years ago by Cory Doctorow on Digital Rights Management on digital media basically saying that DRM is a really stupid idea and that people shouldn’t be complacent and allow it to gain a foothold.

So far, from my little vantage point it appears to me that the forces of IP freedom are winning the battle against DRM. Cory wants DRM dead and I don’t blame him.

Nine Inch Nails Making Money by Giving It Away

chartzog — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:49:05 +0000

Here is yet another story on the example of the changes taking place in the recording industry, Nine Inch Nails gave their new album “The Slip” away for free to their fans prior to it hitting store shelves. Whether or not this truly is a good business model is probably yet to be seen over the long term, however the important thing, especially for small, indies is that the control has shifted….from the labels, the guys in the suits to the artists, where I think it should have been all along.

Do You Have to Pay For Music?

chartzog — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 05:09:57 +0000

So, guess what? You don’t need to pay or subscribe to my Musing Mana Song Project in order to get all the music. BUT, I would definitely appreciate it if you did.

So……I know this is a non-conformist type of business model I’m experimenting with – essentially giving the music away with completely voluntary donations and purchases. At this point, I can’t quit my day job, but we’re getting there. Now — if you think I should receive some decent fiduciary compensation this way, you can help make it happen by parting with a dollar ($1) a week for as long as the Musing Mana Song Project lasts.

Here’s the deal: You can pick which method you like the best: Either use Amazon.com Honor System or Paypal to transfer a dollar from you to me as often as you can, and I will write a song and post it as often as I can. You might like it, you might not.

Heck, we’re talking about less than a cup of coffee right? You can cancel at any time and still continue to get the music if you think it’s not a good deal. I’ll of course let you know if the Musing Mana Song Project stops.

NOTE: Amazon and Paypal are not connected to the podcast – you must still subscribe (at no cost) in iTunes or some other podcast aggregator to get the mp3s delivered to you automatically.

Expanding Creative Commons

chartzog — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 03:46:59 +0000

I continue to explore the lonely frontiers of the open source movement. Today I opened an account at the Internet Archive and there along with tons of other fascinating stuff, like free live concert archives of the Grateful Dead…I was never a deadhead, but thought you might like to know….you can also find my wonderous new creation – Wild Man From Tennessee. You might want to pay a visit to the library and browse around. It looks like fun.

What is Folk Music? Opening Up Creativity.

chartzog — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:01:34 +0000

There is a great discussion on New Hampshire public radio (NPR) on “What is folk music?”. My comment is that I think there as many answers to “What is folk music?” as there are people to answer the question. I prefer to not debate which instrumentation is or is not appropriate as many others have already debated this to death. The thread that I found very captivating in the NPR discussion was the idea of public domain as mentioned by jimgiddings:

>>The core of folk music is anonymity and the public domain.<<

And further:

>>I would add that the music needs to be part of a community, although the community can now be a worldwide-web community as easily as a geographically-based community. True folk music will always be the mortal enemy of intellectual property rights: i.e. it can only thrive when people are free to build on the work of others. Pop music and country music (though maybe not jazz) all treat musicians and songwriters as islands whose creative “product” is inviolable. To make a living in folk music performers need to be constantly interacting with fans and other musicians in ways that labels and established pop musicians would find dangerous.<<

This is an awesome statement and it is exactly what the Creative Commons movement, founded by Lawrence Lessig, is all about. We need to lower barriers and increase creativity and interaction. The internet and especially Web 2.0 has provided a tremendous opportunity to independent artists and those in the folk music movement to interact with their fans and other musicians in a meaningful, fundamentally different way than has ever been possible. Big Brother is no longer in control. We have the means to restart the engines of creativity. Besides professor Lessig, another internet collaboration pioneer and favorite of mine is Jonathan Coulton. And of course, if you are reading my site, you already know that I have also thrown my hat into the ring and established my own web site with the desire to expand the circle of collaboration and creativity even more.

Twittering

chartzog — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 02:49:55 +0000

I can’t say that I really “get it” yet, but I signed up for a Twitter account today. Yes, today while I was stuck waiting around for my car’s broken water pump to get replaced, I signed up for Twitter. Which reminds me, I’m going to need a whole lot more of you to “buy me a beer” now that I gotta pay the mechanic. I’m kind of thinking that music’s not where it’s at now that I’ve seen the invoice from the garage. Anyway, what IS Twitter? I heard someone say it’s the next wave now that MySpace is passé and every band and musician just has to get on board. Like I said, I’m not quite sure where this little bus might be twittering off to, but I love an adventure, and I’ve always loved getting lost, so I’m ridin’ it. Now that I think about it, I could have twittered, “my car doesn’t leak anymore”. Only if I knew how to tweet from my cell phone….

Lance Armstrong and Music – Chapter 1

chartzog — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:06:56 +0000

This is the second installment in the read-along-with-me series on how Lance Armstrong’s philosophy might apply to songwriting and music. In case you missed the previous episode, we are reading the book, “How Lance Does It” by Brad Kearns

As was mentioned in the introduction, Lance does not get bogged down in psychoanalyzing his past. (BTW, I love the Eagles “Get Over It” from their Hell Freezes Over CD.)

None of us go through life without any struggles, with a perfect childhood, and Lance certainly didn’t either. He had his own share of difficulties as a kid: A broken home, disappointing father figures, no money, a snobby school, etc. But one of the key differences for Lance is that he simply chooses to not waste time dwelling on the negative. Process it and don’t carry it around for 6 months. The bible has a quote that deals with this kind of thing: “…do not let the sun go down on your anger…” (Ephesians 4:26)

Lance praises his mom, Linda Armstrong Kelly, for her influence on him. Linda, pregnant at 16 years old, was kicked out of the house. But she too chose (note the active, act of the will again) to survive and succeed. Linda’s answer to every setback was to push back, to try harder, to try a different way, to try smarter. Her attitude was, “It’s okay to lose, but never quit!”

Lance would get the opportunity to put these lessons to the test many times, but perhaps the biggest test would be enduring and overcoming cancer and this was before he ever won a Tour de France. Per Wikipedia, “Prior to this, he also survived testicular cancer, a germ cell tumor that metastasized to his brain and lungs, in 1996. His cancer treatments included brain and testicular surgery and extensive chemotherapy, and his prognosis was not originally considered to be great.”

What did Lance have to say about his cancer? “It was the best thing that ever happened to me.” (pg. 6) I see Linda reflected in Lance’s reaction to his cancer. He made a conscious choice to make the best of it and process the event in a positive way instead of wallowing in self-pity. He never dwells on defeats – always thinks of the next race and how training needs to change to improve.

The last thing that stood out to me in this chapter, that can definitely apply to us as songwriter and musicians. That was the idea that you should not spend your time and energy either trying to emulate some celebrity who is your hero, or spend your time trying and hoping that you will get to meet them in the hope that this experience will somehow change or transform you. 1) You will probably never get the opportunity to meet this person, and 2) Even if you did, it might not make that much difference anyway.

The last page of chapter 1 has a great some great advice:

If a book is as close as you will ever get to Lance, maybe that should suffice. Take inspiration from Lance’s words and example of how to live life to the fullest. Then go out and make a difference in the world and inspire others to do the same. In doing so, you will honor yourself and also Lance as an inspirational component to your success. With this arrangement, you are connected in a far more meaningful way than having an autographed photo hanging on your wall.” (pg. 21)

Have you ever failed as a musician?
How did you deal with it?
Did you run and hide and pout and refuse to sing or play in public again? Or refuse to ever show anyone one of your songs again?
Or did you get back up, dust yourself off and ask yourself what you need to change to do better next time?

So, there you go. Be yourself. Don’t pout. Get over it. Get going and get working.

See you next time.

Global Translator Update

chartzog — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:20:25 +0000

Last week I had to switch the Global Translator plugin for WordPress from running on the Google Translation Service engine to the Babel Fish engine. For some reason, Google had stopped working. Google offers more language choices than Babel Fish: English, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Greek, Dutch, Norwegian, Bulgarian, Czech, Croat, Danish, Finnish, Hindi, Polish, Romanian and Swedish.

Today, I tested the Google translation engine and it appears to be back on line. So, I switched Global Translator plugin back to using Google. Let me know if you experience any problems with it.

Refining My Niche

chartzog — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 02:37:50 +0000

As time has gone along, I have seen more clearly that I cannot be all things to all people. I guess we each have our unique calling and journey we undertake as the body needs many different individual members in order to survive. So it is with me. I am finding that the thing that resonates most deeply with me in terms of how I conceive, produce, think of and focus my music, is with it somehow connected with the world of autism, of which I am most closely linked via our daughter and all of the other autistic and other special needs kids we have come to know because of her. I have touched on this connection earlier:

Part of this is because of what I have come to realize is my larger purpose and mission, especially in regard to this site, my songs, my nursing home ministry, my life with a child living with autism, having endured many years of infertility and failed attempts at achieving pregnancy and as an adoptive parent:

I must heed Christ’s call as so eloquently echoed by the late, Great Pope John Paul II to proclaim the Gospel of Life.

This linking continues outward beyond strictly autism, but to anyone struggling with a developmental, medical or aging condition such as Down’s syndrome, mental retardation, cerebral palsy, dementia, alzheimers or whatever affliction aging might throw at someone.

Due to my progression through this thought process, you will notice that as of today, I have modified the tag line on my web site to now read, “Chris Hartzog dot Com – Music From and For Autism, Dementia and Alzheimer’s”

5 Tips to Achieve Your Musical Goals Faster

admin — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 15:30:02 +0000

There are some things that you can do besides just wishing for things that will expedite your journey towards your goals as a songwriter and musician:

1. Think Positive

Believe in yourself, even when you think no one else does…especially when you think no one else believes. Believe that metamorphosis is possible even when you have not seen the changes that you want yet. I bet if you think about it you can come up with examples in your life when you did not expect something to happen and then suddenly it appeared. If you can’t find examples from your own life history, look outward and find somebody else that this happened to. Read and absorb stories about “incredible people” who overcame seemingly incredible odds to achieve tremendous transformation in their lives. Find a musical icon to learn from or some other person who is a success story. The person I am presently focusing on myself is Lance Armstrong. You might want to read along as we progress through the book. Any one can make it.

2. Stay in the Present

If I am running and I look at the clock for how much longer I have until I can quit, my body…actually my mind…wants to quit right then and there. If I take my eyes off the clock and just run…usually listening to music at the same time….the time seems to fly by and before I know it I have achieved my goal and I wish I didn’t have to stop. How weird right? Remember the past is past, tomorrow is not here yet and all we really have is this present moment.

3. Set Realistic Goals

Don’t expect too much too soon, you’ll only get discouraged. Aiming high is nice to say but truly it is easier to stay positive if you set your sites on realistic, smaller goals. If you just started playing guitar last week, do you really think you are going to be invited to be the opening act for U2 when they go on tour next month?

4. Eliminate Temptation

Remove distractions. For example, if you are songwriting, you need to create an environment that is conducive to creativity and free flow of ideas. Don’t try to balance your checkbook when you are trying to come up with the hook for the chorus of your next killer song. Surround yourself with people and an environment that reflect the goals that you have for yourself. Hang out with happy, creative people, read inspiring books, and listen to some great music that motivates you to get moving and take action.

5. Stop Making Excuses

Everyone can always find an excuse for something. It doesn’t take much effort to think up one. I bet you have even used some yourself. When you want to change more than you fear change you will chuck the excuses and nothing will stand in your way from achieving your goals, whatever they might be…writing a hit song, becoming a “guitar hero”, starting your own band, whatever.

So what are you waiting for? Like Lance Armstrong says, “When it’s raining, I just put on my rain jacket and go.” Ready? Go!

Should I Buy a Mac or PC?

admin — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:37:19 +0000

I am going to need to replace my computer this year.

I have been using PC’s since before Windows. My first PC was in 1987. I have done DOS, Windows – Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, etc!

But, suddenly this time that I find myself needing to upgrade/replace my computer, I have had a new idea growing in my mind: Maybe I should consider switching to a Mac? (There, I said it.)

I would like to hear others ideas on why I should switch or not switch. Obviously, one of my big concerns/uses will be music: Recording, Playback. Graphics as well as I am a bit of a graphic artist wannabe.

What do you think? Send me your comments!

Buy Me a Beer?

chartzog — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 21:36:48 +0000

You might have noticed that there is now a convenient way for you to participate in my happiness and in further supporting my music. The “buy me a beer” feature has been added to my left sidebar. If you have been reading my site, listening to my music, or downloading things, do me a favor and won’t you buy me a beer? I get thirsty doing all this hard work. If I can ever figure out how Brad Sucks mood altering substance icons work, perhaps some day I can offer to display your own memorial icon on my page for your kind donations.

For the Geekish Among You

chartzog — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:24:37 +0000

Firefox 3

Firefox 3 was released recently. You can download your copy here. I’ve just installed it, and so far it looks good. It has an updated user interface, more features, and it’s more secure.

Take a look!

Lance Armstrong and Music

chartzog — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:00:17 +0000

How Does Lance Armstrong Apply to Music?

My current reading list includes “How Lance Does It” by Brad Kearns

I love reading stories about successful people and who is a better example of a success story than Lance Armstrong?

I think for my own edification and yours, if you are reading this, I will begin a series of posts on my progress through the book and give my thoughts on how the “Lance method” might apply to us as songwriters, guitar players, or whatever kind of instrument you play.

So, there’s no better way to begin than by simply beginning. So, today,I will begin with the beginning! Here are some highlights and my thoughts on what I have read so far:

Introduction

The basis of Lance’s secret is his pure joy of living life and riding his bicycle.

Lance’s approach to his sport and life is simple and clean.

Lance tends to live in the moment and does not get bogged down in complex psychological “issues”. Rather, his attitude is best summed up by his statement, “When it’s raining, I just put on my rain jacket and go.” How can we apply this to our own “bad weather” of our own lives? We might not be training for the Tour de France, but we all have stress that comes into our lives, unexpected crises, etc. Do you discipline yourself to write that next verse and just pick up your pencil and go, or do you get sidetracked and distracted with other issues and make excuses to waste time thinking about or worrying about things?

The Lance Success Factors

1. A Positive Attitude: He chooses to interpret past and present experiences in a positive manner. Note the emphasis on choice and free will. This resonates with the “psychology of mind” school of thought (also known as “health realization”) that says that the thoughts we think dictate the feelings we will experience and the best part is that we have the power to choose our thoughts. You don’t like how you are feeling? Think about something different!

2. Clarity of Purpose: Lance Armstrong knows what he wants and he makes the sacrifices needed to reach his goals.

3. Specialized Intelligence: You don’t need to know everything in the world, but you should hone your skills and deepen your knowledge about your chosen area.

4. Pure Confidence: There is an old fashioned way of achieving confidence and building a positive self image: Doing it! Work hard and achieve your goals and you will feel good about yourself and you won’t need others to tell you.

Well, that’s my all for this installment. You might want to get your own copy of the book and read along.

Aloha.

Chris Hartzog is a folk singer/songwriter. He produces his music and records everything in his own studio making his own MP3’s and CD’s. Chris plays guitar, electric bass, ukulele, Irish penny whistel and harmonica. His philosophy is all about Hawaiian “aloha” and “mana”.

The Best WordPress Plugin So Far: Global Translator

chartzog — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 03:04:10 +0000

As I mentioned a few days ago, I added “Global Translator” to my web site. Notice the pretty little country flags in the top left corner of my web site? Kind of looks like a mini United Nations. Clicking on the language flag you want instantly translates the post/page you are on into your language and then all subsequent pages that you view after that. Since going live with GT, the page hits on my site have tripled!

If you are a musician or blogger or maybe a blogging musician, this is a zero cost and very low effort way to increase your audience size. I doubt that the auto-translated pages are perfectly translated, but it does give someone a good understanding of your content.

Can You Have Your Identity Stolen Via P2P?

chartzog — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 02:10:12 +0000

Online Music Habits Could Lead To Identity Theft?

According to this new article, Online Music Habits Could Lead To Identity Theft, by Amy Clancy, http://www.kirotv.com/consumer/15530001/detail.html if you have a P2P program installed, even if you don’t have it running or open, your computer is still accessible by others if you have a live internet connection.

What do you think? Is this true, or is this fear mongering?

I’m not sure how big of a concern this really is assuming you opt out of sharing any files on a P2P network and use it strictly for download and have a basic firewall installed. But at any rate, this lends support for using other options such as downloading legitimately from indie artists such as me or from reputable DRM free sites.

Welcome To My Studio

chartzog — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 01:48:41 +0000

I don’t know if it’s just a male thing in general, or if it’s just my own idiosyncrasy, but I love gadgets and I love to fool around with every gadget to see what other kinds of hidden gadgetry it might have deep in its bowels. OK, so I discovered (call me lame) that my new Sony Cybershot DSC-S700 digital camera not only is a still camera, but it can also take movies with sound. I don’t know what the max limit is on length, but I assume it is only limited by available memory.

Consequently, I had to try it out. What you have linked here is my first ever (Please be kind) digital video creation. A video tour of chartzog’s studio.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Global Translator!

chartzog — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:50:02 +0000

Global Translator

I recently added the functionality of “Global Translator” to my web site. The plug-in is made available by David of Nothing to Hide. Thanks David!!

It is a Wordpress Plugin that can automatically translate the contents of this site into the following different languages:

English, French, Italian, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, Greek, Dutch, Norwegian, Bulgarian, Czech, Croat, Danish, Finnish, Hindi, Polish, Rumanian and Swedish..

To translate, you will see country flags on the left side of this page. Click the flag you want to translate the text into and the page is automatically translated.

Now, this is really cool! Did you hear this ITALY? I’d be happy to come play guitar in Rome, Venice, Naples or anywhere in between. I am waiting to hear from you.

Thank you! Mahalo nui loa!

chartzog — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 16:51:47 +0000

Wow, thank you to you if you visited ReverbNation and helped accomplish this!

After only one month of being on ReverbNation, I have gone up in the artist rankings from something like 4000 out of 4000 to now in the top 5%! As of this morning, I am at # 230 out of 4073 in the Folk Artist category !

Recommended Music Page

chartzog — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 21:54:21 +0000

This is new too! Recommended Music Page. One of my top picks (I have many) that I will recommend first is Mr. Jim Croce. America and the world lost a great musician with his untimely death.

Jim Croce:

New page – Recommended Items

chartzog — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:41:06 +0000

Aloha,

New page published today on my site: Recommended Items. This will simply be my growing laundry list of things, books, videos, music, etc. that I have enjoyed. Just a continuation of the Aloha Spirit.

Mahalo!

Song Details

chartzog — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 05:26:37 +0000

I have added one “song details” page for Always There, and will eventually create one for every song. This should provide a centralized spot for everything about each song: Lyrics, Info, Guitar Tabs, Visual, and a method to Submit Fan Content. Not to mention, links to download the MP3, buy the song and/or make a donation to a starving artist. The song details will all be clickable for each song on the downloads page.

Chris Hartzog » Blogging Musicians

Free Culture in a Thrift Store

Adios Tables

Moving Furniture Around

Popular Posts

Guitarists: Are You on a Tone Quest?

Lance is Tweeting

TwitPic

Little Known Ways to Prevent Musician Back Strain

Rockin’ & Ridin’ For Autism

One Year Already?

Tips For Musicians: The Lance Armstrong Method – Ch. 4 Positive Attitude

Lance Armstrong Book Study

Jonathan Coulton @ The Moore – Seattle

Blues Rock Goodness – Galaxy 7

WordPress 2.7

Happy New Year

Global Translator & Site Upkeep

Musician’s Cooler

The Vinyl Just Won’t Die

Info About Global Translator

Memo to Me: The 5 Minute Songwriting Class

The 5-Minute Songwriting Class

Songwriting

Tips For Musicians On The Lance Armstrong Method – Chapter 3

“Fooled” by Microsoft Again

Fiddlefreak

Huit Tour de France Victoires?

Woo Hoo – Now It Really Is A Mac!

Tips For Musicians On The Lance Armstrong Method – Chapter 2

1. Avoid negative self talk.

2. Life is like a high jump bar. See page 33.

3. Learn to think more efficiently.

4. Strive for Ideal Performance State (IPS)

Avoiding the Dead Zone

Global Translator Update

iTunes MiTunes YourTunes…

Can You Find Me On iTunes?

I Found Myself On iTunes

Nine Inch Nails Making Money by Giving It Away

Do You Have to Pay For Music?

Expanding Creative Commons

What is Folk Music? Opening Up Creativity.

Twittering

Lance Armstrong and Music – Chapter 1

Global Translator Update

Refining My Niche

5 Tips to Achieve Your Musical Goals Faster

Should I Buy a Mac or PC?

Buy Me a Beer?

For the Geekish Among You

Firefox 3

Lance Armstrong and Music

How Does Lance Armstrong Apply to Music?

The Lance Success Factors

The Best WordPress Plugin So Far: Global Translator

Can You Have Your Identity Stolen Via P2P?

Online Music Habits Could Lead To Identity Theft?

Welcome To My Studio

Global Translator!

Global Translator

Thank you! Mahalo nui loa!

Recommended Music Page

New page – Recommended Items

Song Details