Daniel Lee James

Our band played this last Friday at Cherrywood Coffeehouse in Austin, Texas.  It was on the outdoor stage.  The weather was perfect and the big wall behind us ended up being a perfect backdrop for some old timey movie action as we played.   Thanks to everyone who was able to make it out to see us!  And special thanks to David Gottlieb for taking some great shots of the band!

Last night at Lucky Lounge was a good night.  Clay was on fire with his guitar.  I think his new nickname is going to be Master Shredder.  And we’re all thankful that John’s father’s bypass operation went well and he was able to make it.  Everybody rocked out and had fun!

Come and rock out with us at the Lucky Lounge!

Hope to see you there!

A few things are in the works now…

• We’ve been writing new music, and it’s all heading in the progressive rock direction, which we’re all enjoying quite a bit.  We’re hoping to have enough material for an April 2012 release, as time may allow.
• We’re in talks with a number of venues in downtown Austin for gigs in January and February.  We’ll post dates as soon as we know more.

Check back for updates!  Thanks!

Come see us live at the Iguana Grill

Friday Nov 18, 2011 @ 7pm

2900 Ranch Road 620 N, Austin, TX

We had a fun show Saturday at Kick Butt!  Fosskit No. 5 opened up, sounded great, and did I mention they’re a nice bunch of fellows?

We have another show coming up this Thursday at 7pm at Iguana Grill @ 2900 Ranch Road 620 N, Austin, TX 78734.  Come out and enjoy a great view of the water, good Tex-Mex cuisine, and our music as the sun sets!  Hope to see you there!

I still have notes from the symposium that I haven’t transferred yet, though I will at some point.  In the meantime, though, I figured I’d go ahead an put out my own summary.

Firstly, and this may be a limitation in my perception and the people I hang around with, but Austin’s sound is predominantly Americana, country, rockabilly, or classic garage rock…  and most of the artists and industry people I ran into fell into those genres.  I didn’t see any hip hop, limited amounts of what would qualify as pop, no rap, no R&B, no jazz, etc, etc.  So I felt a little on the outside, and, honestly, I didn’t recognize a single song played in the opening showcase.  That’s not to say that I didn’t like what I heard, cause there were some really good artists there.  It just wasn’t in the spaces I usually occupy.

I found myself wondering where all the Austin celebrities were.  When I went to the ASCAP Expo last year, there was Quincy Jones, Jason Mraz, John Mayer, Justin Timberlake, Bill Withers and others all telling stories that really inspired.  The thing is, though, that right here in Austin we have our own share of people who could have come out to represent, but they didn’t.  Like Bob Schneider, Shawn Colvin, Fastball, or Spoon.

However, all in all, I did find it educational, especially the feedback I got from producers and publishers, and I do think it’s good encourage and be encouraged by others in this field.  We need all the help we can get.  I picked up new-to-me information regarding booking and SXSW, among other things.  So all in all, even feeling a little bit on the outside, I would definitely recommend this conference and would go again.

Regarding Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys…

I’ve been making my way through the book Songwriters on Songwriting by Paul Zollo, which in of itself has been a very interesting read so far.  All of the stories have common themes.  Most of the artists believe that their music comes from a higher place…  God or otherwise.  All have had their fair share of nay sayers they had to push through to be successful.  Etc.

However, Brian Wilson stood out a little for me, since he’s so quirky, depressed and average as a performer, yet wrote music that has become a part of America’s heritage, more or less.

Take this video, for instance.  When I first watched it, I was thinking that if this was some unknown local walking into an open mic in downtown Austin, and no one had ever heard “Good Vibrations” before, this would sound pretty weird.  You would think this guy was in his own unique little world and a bit “out there”, especially if he started talking about how caffeine kills creativity and how it’s better to just be “on the natch, man”.

Good Vibrations

This in no way implies any dislike of Brian Wilson.  I love his music, really.  It’s just that I don’t think it’s easy for the average person to recognize something good when they hear it in the raw like the above.  Brian Wilson does not have a great voice.  I pointed this out in an earlier post about how Brian Wilson’s unique triple harmonized layering of slightly out-of-tune vocal tracks is what gave the Beach Boys their recognizable sound, and how Brian Wilson was the Beach Boys.  But it takes a lot of work in the studio for him to get it “right”.

Anyway…  just one of those things I found interesting and wanted to share!

I watched “The Pixar Story” the other day, and I found it inspiring.  I hadn’t realized that John Lasseter had been fired from Disney prior to directing Toy Story.  Apparently he had written and story-boarded “The Brave Little Toaster”, proposing it as one of the first films that would make extensive use of computer animation.  The execs at the time said that if the computers didn’t save costs or time, they weren’t interested.  5 minutes after the presentation, he was let go.

Months after that, he managed to hook up with a computer animation team at Lucas Arts.  George Lucas realized eventually that the team really wanted to do a full feature length computer animated film, but he didn’t have the money to invest in it, so he let them branch off to become what we know today as Pixar.  Steve Jobs ended up being their first major benefactor, investing $10 million and then losing about $1 million per year for 5 years before they finally hit it big with Toy Story.

So… it’s inspiring.  Perseverance.  Sticking with what you love to do…

Soon thereafter I watched “Glee” for the first time, and, well, there’s that part of me that sang in Pop Chorale in high school that just likes the campy atmosphere, but there it was again…  teacher having to decide between getting a boring day job or following his passion.  Inspiration.  Anyway, it made me an almost instant fan.  Maybe soon to be a proper Gleek.

Who?

Daniel Lee James Band and Fosskit No. 5

When?

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Where?

Kick Butt Coffee @ The Triangle