Showing posts with label red river. Show all posts
Showing posts with label red river. Show all posts

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Video Again! An Instrumental This Time!


Yes, I had a bit of time on my hands, so I thought I'd dash off a video of Red River's instrumental, "Josie's Got a Mini Cooper'. (Don't ask. There's really no rhyme or reason to it. It just is what it is. She's got a Mini Cooper.)

So, on this long holiday weekend, here is a quickly thrown-together video of the afore-mentioned instrumental:

Saturday, May 14, 2011

NoiseTrade

NoiseTrade is another of those sites that one hopes will help their band gain new fans.

Downloaders can leave a tip from $1.00 to $100.00 per song. I'm hoping for the $100.00! hahahaha

What's in it for a band? (other than the non-existent $100.00?) Well, if somebody downloads your song, you at least get their email address, and thus, you can spam notify them anytime you have a new release.

Win win, right? Or just "win"?

Face it, it's all about getting heard. I'm open to new opportunities. And if someone chooses to pay $0.00 to download one of our songs, hey, at least somebody downloaded one!


Friday, March 25, 2011

Promotion




I've been thinking a bit about promotion (or "marketing", as the snake oil salesmen prefer to call it).

As musicians and/or songwriters, everyone tells us that promotion is key. In fact, there are a WHOLE BUNCH of sites out there just begging us to believe that.

But do we ever stop to think about who we're marketing to, and why?

Here's the thing; I just like making music. In fact, I find that I like the process more than I like the finished product.

Thus, even though I created my own ReverbNation site for my acoustic songs, by no means does that mean that I'm looking to grab the brass ring, or any other cliche you can recite. I just wanted a place to keep all my songs in one handy spot. Not everyone with a music page is trying to promote themselves (but I guess most probably are).

The fact about ReverbNation, Soundclick (that old chestnut), PimpMyMusic.com, ListenToMeOrElse.com (okay, I made up those last two), etc., that none of those sites want you to figure out is, the only other people there are other artists.

Yet, all these sites are more than happy to try to get you to buy the "pro" package, or "pro" widget; pretty much the "pro" anything. Can't they make enough money from ads? And why in the world would I need a pro package? Will that get me discovered? ha ha

I've ranted about "fanning" before, but humor me: I keep getting all these stupid emails clogging up my in box, telling me that John or Estelle just became my fan. Yet, when I checked my stats on ReverbNation today, I've had only 26 song plays. Twenty-six song plays and 58 fans. It's amazing!

So, this morning, I posted this in my bio:

PLEASE NOTE: I REALLY APPRECIATE GETTING FANS, BUT I RESPECTFULLY ASK THAT YOU DON'T BECOME MY "FAN" UNLESS YOU'VE ACTUALLY LISTENED TO MY MUSIC, AND YOU LIKE IT. I WILL NOT TRADE "FANNING". THANKS FOR UNDERSTANDING!

I haven't gotten an email since! Wow ~ I don't get it! ha ha

I consider it a rookie mistake to post one's music everywhere on the web, and to take seriously someone deciding to become your "fan". I'm not saying there aren't any true fans out there, but believe me, they're few and far between. As I said before, 99.99% of the people on these sites are other musicians, and they just want you to listen to their music.

If I could remember every place I've uploaded our music, I would go to those sites and cancel our membership, although I've noticed that some sites don't even give you that option.

Choose one or two sites to host your music, at the most. Then you'll still have a place to direct your friends to, if you want to share your music with them. Cuz honestly, it's only your friends that will listen, and even they might not really want to.

As the manager of our band, I've decided that I'm only going to promote something I really like. Face it, every artist does a lot of songs; not all of them are gems (just ask me!) I'm focusing on promoting the best of the best.

And by promoting, I mean, trying to get the best of the best to someone who might actually do something for us. (Never fear, since this is my personal blog, I'm going to continue to promote all our stuff here; that's what blogs are for!)

In a future post, I'll talk a bit about "opportunities"; the good, the bad, and the ripoffs.

And yes, I love fans ~ real ones!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Goodbye

No, silly, I'm not saying "goodbye" to my blog! Heavens! What would I do with all my pent-up thoughts and crankiness?

No, "Goodbye" just happens to be the latest Red River video.

I really like this one, because:

a) I really like the song;
b) Cats playing the piano make me laugh.

Don't ask my how or why I ended up incorporating piano-playing cats in this video. I think it was divinely ordained. Either that, or my cat, Bob, was sending me subliminal messages, as he pawed me at 4:30 in the morning, trying to awaken me so I could feed him.

Oh, it's not all about food with Bob. Bob is also a music lover. But he tends to prefer those tinkly piano songs; not really my taste, but that's just Bob. He's a jazz cat.

But enough about Bob. I hope you enjoy the video of "Goodbye", and if not, I hope at least that you like the song, because it's one of my favorites.


Friday, January 21, 2011

Last Video - DUST

This is not our last video; there are others. It's just the last video I'll be posting here.

Slideshows are fine for what they are, but it's time to move on. I won't be creating any more videos until I gain some expertise in finding and integrating real video footage. I guess I have some research to do.

It was a fun diversion, and I actually did learn a lot about editing, so learning is good!

If anybody has any tips to share regarding "real" video creation, I'm all ears!

So, with that said, this is the only song that my husband and I recorded together (so far). It's called "Dust".


Thursday, January 13, 2011

Since I'm Posting Videos....Here's One For North Dakota!

I did this one for my North Dakota friends. It's kinda cheesy, but I wanted to celebrate my home state. I wasn't going to share this video, but it actually turned out to be fun.

I was strict with myself when creating this one ~ all the pictures had to be authentic North Dakota pics. There are two photos that are generic, only because I needed them to match the storyline. The rest are from North Dakota.

Yes, North Dakota does seem to revel in kitschy monuments scattered across its prairies, but that just adds to its charm.

You should visit one day. It's not all blizzards and floods, you know.

Here is Let's Go To Town:

My Latest Video Creation

The song is my husband's; the video is mine.

When They Go Down:

Thursday, December 30, 2010

2010 - A Year of Trying



The end of the year lends itself to reflection. I'm a big "reflector". I like it, when I can clear my mind enough of the mundane junk that I deal with every day, and actually take the time to do it.

Since this is, in essence, a music blog, I started to think today about what I have done in 2010, music-wise, and what I would write about that.

I kept coming back to the word, "tried". I tried to do a lot of stuff. Well, not a lot, but a few things that were important to me.

And I learned. Learning is good. It keeps one from becoming befuddled and crotchety. Or at least from becoming befuddled.

I learned that, if one keeps trying long enough, eventually she will become better at something, inevitably, except for math (on a personal note).

I've been writing songs for eight years now (yes, that's all), and I keep trying, and I think I'm getting better. Baby steps. Big long baby steps. I mean, c'mon, eight years, and I'm just now getting better? But still.

I tried FAWM seriously in 2010. I'd done it before, but I never really committed. I wasn't fooling anybody, least of all, me.

In 2010, I became disgusted enough with my lack of follow-through, to force myself to, just once, do it and complete it. And I did. The FAWM challenge is to write 14 songs in 28 days (in February), and I wrote 16, dang it!

I was reading some prior blog posts I'd made about my FAWM success, and boy, I was really full of it. I said something about most of the songs being keepers. Well, that's not true!

I'd say two of them are keepers. The rest are exercises in mawkishness. Yet, not futile mawkish exercises. Because I learned. Yes, I learned how to be a better songwriter, by doing. They're not all going to be winners; rather, I'm lucky if 2 out of 16 are ~ really lucky, in fact. But the work helped me. And the "trying" made me feel good about myself.

I also tried to write songs after February. I tried, in fact, working and reworking, and re-reworking a great song idea that I've had in my pocket for about a year. I learned that some things are better left to die. So, I scavenged the best lines out of it for a different song. I can be mercenary when pushed too far.

Most fun for me, music-wise this year, was that I tried making music videos (okay, "slideshows", if we're being technical). Even if they are slideshows, they still require a lot of effort and a degree of imagination, if one is to do them creatively.

I used to do an updated video each December for one of our songs, called "Ring In The Old". That was the only video I would do each year. I recently looked back at some of these prior "efforts", and they were appalling. I've gotten better. WAY better.

This year I created nine music videos, and I like most of them (I would, however, like to know why YouTube keeps suggesting that I tag every one of my videos with the word "kayak". None of these songs say one word about kayaks, and why in the world would they? I think YouTube has some kind of "bug" or has been hacked by a loose organization of kayak-lovers).

All kayaks aside, I really, really like doing this! I find that I'm a visual person, apparently, and sadly, for a so-called songwriter. Or else, it's just more making up of stories, which is sort of what songwriting is anyway. I think I'll keep doing it until I run out of songs.

I wrote two songs that I really like (see FAWM). One of them is in the process of being recorded, but it won't be done in 2010. It still counts, though. I consider it a bit of weather-related inspiration, mixed with a healthy dose of imagination. Even my husband, the producer, likes the song.

I'm going to spring the other song on him the next time it's my turn to have a song recorded (there are three of us in the band, each with his or her own songs).

So, as lazy as I know I can be, I think I did a pretty good job of "trying" in 2010.

And I'm good with that.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

New Red River Video - Remember Me (How Sweet The Moon)

I find myself with some free time on my hands, and no songwriting ideas, so instead I've been using my handy dandy Windows Moviemaker (such as it is!) to put together some slide shows of Red River's songs.

Here's one called Remember Me (How Sweet the Moon).

Saturday, November 6, 2010

New Red River Video - DUST

I've been spending a bunch of time putting videos together for some of Red River's songs. It's frustrating, yet exhilarating, if you know what I mean.

It's quite time-consuming, if one wants to do it right. But the rewards are worth it.

Here's one I did for our song, Dust:

Saturday, July 10, 2010

The Songwriter

My boss once asked me (feigning interest), "How do you write a song?"

This happened in the midst of an actual work-related conversation, so needless to say, I was taken by surprise.

So, there was a lot of stuttering and stammering, and I believe I said "you know" approximately 38 times. Meanwhile my boss was thinking, "I was just being polite".

I never did answer the question satisfactorily. And mercifully, we went back to discussing weekly production goals and overtime.

The problem, as I see it, is that songwriting is such a technically challenging vocation that it defies description.

Alas, if I'd only had this video to show her. It truly explains my songwriting process.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

When You Write A Song For Someone...




I once wrote a song about my dad, but I was either too much of a novice at the time, or I simply couldn't capture what needed to be said.

My dad passed away in 2001. He was a lot of things to me, but if I boil all those things down, what I come up with is, he was a hero. And not necessarily a hero in the John Wayne mode, but more in the way he faced life. He was, after all, like all of us. We all have our challenges and our weaknesses and our downfalls. His was called alcoholism.

I lived through the years of turmoil that his disease wreaked upon all our lives. It was a bitch, but you know, I am what I am today because of the stuff that I went through when I was growing up. I learned a whole lot of stuff that I didn't even know I'd learned, like empathy. And acceptance, and forgiveness.

The thing that my dad did that made him a hero to me, though, was that he never gave up. He went through substance abuse treatment three times, until it finally "took". I think he was just stubborn enough that he wasn't going to let it beat him. He was going to reclaim his life. And that he did, in 1976.

I was pregnant with my first son at the time (although no one knew it yet), and I attended the dreaded "family week" that was part of my dad's treatment. When the day was done, I went home and laid on the couch with a throbbing headache and wondered if I could even face the whole thing again tomorrow.

But, selfishly, I only considered what I was going through, and it never even occurred to me what he was facing. Six long weeks of having his life laid bare in front of a bunch of strangers, and admitting a whole lot of things that he didn't even want to admit to himself.

I don't know what got him through it, but all I know is, he came out of Heartview after six weeks as the man I knew when I was just a little kid. He actually started caring about other people, just the way he used to, when I'd follow him around on the farm and make a pest of myself, and he'd delight in the little person that I was; his daughter.

So, I finally figured out what I wanted to say about my dad, in song. I tortured myself over the lyrics and melody of the thing. Harder than I ever worked on any other. Because I had to get it right, you see.

If my dad could hear this song, I think he would cry. And I do think he's heard it, you know? I hope that he thinks that I captured it just right. I don't know, but I feel like I did.


Is this a church or a prison
The windows aren’t stained
And I can’t even tell
If that woman is prayin’

“Six weeks you’ll be here”
My head hurts like hell
“Admit you’re powerless”
Well, how can she tell

But the angels sing
Oh, the angels sing

Accept what you can’t change
Recognize the difference
You’re not a prisoner
Unless you choose it
You can’t stop the world
Or tell it how to turn
But you can have the courage
To live in it

I needed to get outside
I needed to clear my head
A guy offered a smoke and asked
Surprised that you’re not dead?

I said I can’t go back there
He said you think it’s tough in here
This part is easy
Try lookin’ in the mirror

And through my tears
I heard the angels sing

Accept what you can’t change
Recognize the difference
You’re not a prisoner
Unless you choose it
You can’t stop the world
Or tell it how to turn
But you can have the courage
To live in it

© Michelle Anderson 2008

Here's the song:

Heartview

And here is the video I made:

Friday, November 27, 2009

Red River's Latest Video - Lovely Day

Long weekends are nice. They give me time to do something creative...so here's my latest creation; a video for our song, "Lovely Day". Hope you like it!

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Ghost Town Video







I don't own a video camera. Therefore, all our "music videos" are more like glorified vacation slides set to music. Yet artfully done!
Here's one I did recently for our song, Ghost Town:

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

April Days Video

I played around a bit this weekend with creating a "video" for one of our songs. It's actually pictures set to music, but I'll just call it a video.

Here's April Days:

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Another New Song



This completes the trifecta!

(Actually, we have one more coming very soon, so it's a quad-fecta?)

Anyway, here is "As Best I Can" (by Dave):



















All of our music is available on our website, and most of it is available for mp3 purchase.

Thanks for listening!



Photograph by John Leslie/Alamy
~~~

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Two Songs - All New!


Red River's got a couple of songs that are finally finished!

The producer has been hard at work (very, very hard at work!) to complete our latest songs. And there are still two more waiting to be mixed!

The two new songs are "Angel In Disguise" and "Heartview".

You will note, if you listen to both of these songs, that Red River is a diverse outfit indeed! These songs are completely different styles, but that's what makes us unique!

Here's Dale:


















And here's me:




















Yup, all of our music is available on our website.

Drop us a line and let us know what you think. Thanks!

~~

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

I Do Also Write Songs


 Yes, it's true.

I don't only write about music, I actually participate!

Sometimes that fact gets lost amongst the blogging and ruminating about the music industry.

But the fact remains that I DO write songs. And I actually sing them; best as I can.

Pretty much, all my songs have a story behind them, and this is the story of "April Days":

I’ve had a few jobs in my life. I’ve been the lowest-level peon (cleaning motel rooms for my parents’ business) and I’ve been a manager of a 150-person department, and everything in between.

Doesn’t really matter. Work is not fun.


Oh, I remember back when I was just out of school. I was so excited to get my first job and to be out in the REAL WORLD.

I got a job as a clerk-typist for the State Health Department. And you actually had to take a test to even be considered for an interview!


I was eighteen and answering phones, basically.
Then, as a special bonus and a nod to my superior abilities, I was asked to become part of a “special project” for the department. All the birth, death, marriage, and divorce records were going to be microfilmed. (Before that, they were just bound in big books).

What was this special perk that I was chosen for? I got to go through all the records (starting back in the 1800’s) and trace over any printing that was too faint to be read by the microfilm machine! What an honor!


So, I was holed up in this back room with one window, with one other person my age and a supervisor.


We spent our days with our pencils, tracing over letters, and alternating using the microfilm machine to film the records. It was fascinating work!
I was eighteen! Who could ask for more??

The one saving grace in that dank, smoky room (yea, all three of us smoked) was the AM radio. At least we could listen to tunes as an alternative to blowing our brains out.


Gordon Lightfoot had a hit song at that time, “Sundown”.


Just to amuse myself and to break up the monotony, I would sing along with the radio whenever that song came on, in an effort to supremely annoy my co-worker friend. And it worked! She shot me some really evil looks whenever I would sing that song. Ah, good times.


We were on the 17th floor of the State Capitol building, and we had one tiny little window that we would sometimes walk over to, to see if there really was any actual life going on outside our little oxygen-starved room. You could hear birds singing! Well, sure, they were singing! They weren’t PRISONERS.


It was pretty much my worst job ever. At least when I was cleaning motel rooms in high school, I got to go out into the sunlight once in awhile.


My friend lived about a block and a half from the capitol building, so sometimes we’d walk down to her place for lunch — Spaghettios — because we were quite poor. But we did at least get to bask in the sun as we made our trek from the gates of hell down to her apartment. It was a welcome diversion, as we walked in our short dresses and platform shoes. (had to dress up for work, you know.)


I lasted there about a year. I had to either quit or commit myself to an institution for the mentally deranged. I actually went back to work for my parents (in the office this time, thank God).


It just occurred to me that I rarely left any job because I wanted to pursue a better opportunity. Usually I was just really bored or ticked off about something. I always told them, though, “It’s not you; it’s me.” But it really was them.


But anyway, that’s the TRUE story of April Days. Yes, it all happened the way I wrote it. Lo, those many years ago.


So, with that bit of background, here's "April Days":

















Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Just In The Nick Of Time - New Music!


Red River's recording another song, just before the clock strikes twelve on New Year's Eve!

It's a song that I wrote on May 2! Wow - time flies!

This is kind of a "folkie", called "Heartview".

My husband tells me it reminds him of some of the songs from Bob Dylan's "John Wesley Harding" album. I don't actually know......cuz I don't actually know that album. Sorry, I like Bob Dylan, but I'm not a Dyl-addict, like my husband, who insisted on naming our cat "Bob".

Anyway, I'm looking forward to recording my vocals tonight. Then mixing comes tomorrow!

This song is very personal to me, and I'll confess, I spent more time refining this song than I ever have with any of my others. (Frankly, I don't spend a lot of time messing around with songs that I write - which really isn't a good thing.)

Remember, if you join our mailing list, you get a free sneak peak at our latest demos, including "Heartview" and a brand new fresh track, called, "As Best I Can".

Join our mailing list here

And here's wishing everyone a very happy 2009! Let's hope it's better than 2008. Couldn't get much worse.

~~~