Durango Songwriters Expo
So, a friend of mine that I met a while back after a gig in Santa Barbara (Mark Okrusko) kept telling me about this Durango Songwriters Expo and insisted I check it out. I deliberated over attending, didn’t really have the cash, made all sorts of excuses, and then finally, at the eleventh hour, decided to make a run for it and fly out to Boulder, CO (thanks, Southwest, for the frequent flyer miles!) and check it out.
My mobile recording setup here at The Omni in Boulder, CO.
Turns out, I wasn’t really that prepared when I arrived… I learned upon my arrival that I needed to have recorded material ready on CD for the listening sessions/critiques. (Oops!) Thank goodness I brought my Pro Tools LE system with me (I knew there was a reason I dragged that stuff out here!). Anyway, I spent most of the afternoon on Thursday, 10/7 franticly recording five of my new tunes with live takes (vocals/guitar at the same time) in an effort to just get something down for the industry folks to listen to during the workshops. I didn’t have a CD cover or any packaging, so I literally ran down to Best Buy, bought some CDR’s, a few jewel cases, and made a little scratch book style cover.
Found objects for the cover: 1 ChiMcClean.com sticker, 1 page of loose legal paper, a marketing card from The Omni Hotel, and some Scotch tape.
It ended up ok and I heard some of the material for the first time (other than on headphones) yesterday during my listening session. It sounded pretty good, actually! I got some great feedback on my new tune “Hole In My Heart” and was psyched to also get some good advice on a few tweaks, etc.
Daniel Ate The Sandwich: one of the many outstanding singer/songwriters performing at the DSE industry showcase.
Later last night, I was fortunate enough to be invited to perform one of my songs at the industry showcase. I played “Hole In My Heart” and, while I was sort of nervous and didn’t think it really went all that great, the crowd seemed to really dig it… I played it a few more times for some industry folks after my performance, had a number of great conversations with some interesting people, and even got invited to join some of the pro songwriters tonight (Saturday) for a part of their set. Long story short, things went as good as they could have and now I’m pretty psyched while, at the same time, freaking out that I have to share the stage with industry pro writers later this evening. Eek!
Left to Right: Larry, Lizzie, and Mark playing one of Alisse's new tunes. Awesome!
Later on, after the showcase ended and the crowd dispersed, everyone split up into small groups to jam, write, etc. I was lucky enough to drop in on these three guys (above) playing some really cool stuff. Here’s a picture of 17 year-old Lizzie Garn playing one of her new tunes. Be sure to track her down. She is an amazing writer, has a great presence, a beautiful voice, and is a great guitar player. Why she doesn’t have a record deal already is beyond me…
So, it’s Saturday morning, and I’m back at it for some workshops, listening sessions, etc. Stay tuned here for more updates and have a great weekend!