Cerebellum Blues

Thinking about fame! Fortune!

Remember that tune "Cover of the Rolling Stone" by Dr. Hook? Back when it was written, getting on RS's cover was the Holy Grail for musicians. It still matters, to be sure, but with the 'net, there are so many more places to gain a little notoriety. And this month's issue of Computer Music does a soup-to-nuts job of describing how to get heard on the 'net. There's way too much for me to cover in my measly blog, so if you're really interested in the stuff, run out and buy the mag. It's $16, but worth it, I think.

After reading the issue, I'm more filled than ever with ideas about promoting my music, and as I pursue my dream, here are the principals I plan to adhere to:

1) Free is good. Obviously, I want people to pay for my music, but to my mind, restritictive licensing  and other barriers that prevent music from spreading across the 'net are bad. They're like friction. Far better to pour a little grease on your pig, and let it run wild. If people decide they really want to own it, a few will actually pay for it, and for those generous souls, I plan to offer them a choice of formats (MP3, AIFF or AAC Lossless) using some sort of tiered pricing scheme. Haven't worked this out yet, but it's the plan. I will also sell merchandise!

2) Control of my copyright, publishing and licensing is good. Trent Reznor's manager, Jim Guerinot, say's in a recent Rolling Stone article, "You have to control your publishing, you have to be able to control your masters, and you have to be able to control the brand." I'm sure he's right, and I will seek to control these things, but starting out, I think it's all about copyright, publishing and licensing.

3) Videos are good. Though it pains me to admit it, the simple truth is that music and video now go hand in glove, and if you want to build your audience, having a catchy tune on YouTube is smart. I've already got a tune and concept in mind, and on Friday or next week, I will meet with a friend who has agreed to help. My original plan was to a video that would be shot around the world, and though I was able to devise a way to do it for a reasonable sum, the logistics were just too daunting. My new plan is merely national!

4) Songs AND recording quality matter. Duh, right? Well, a lot of people put out real crap and I DO NOT INTEND TO BE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE. To my utmost, I will write my songs well and invest to have them performed by great artists.

It's official. Almost.

Today I braved the bane of human existence, government bureaucracy, to finally and officially start Cerebellum Blues Music, my music publishing company, by registering the business as a soul (yup, that's what I mean) proprietorship in San Francisco. And you know what? It wasn't that bad. There were no interminable lines, no indecipherable forms, and no rude, uninterested clerks. In fact, I'm kinda stunned at how easy and painless the whole thing was. So much so, that I'm almost -- but not quite -- willing to forgive the City of SF make a process that could easily be completed online into one that can't. (For other counties in California, registering a small business is a couple of mouse clicks. But in tradition laden SF, it remains in the hands of overpaid clerks. Oh well.)

The last step I have to do before I can actually say I am up and running is to notify a newspaper. Not sure why, but that's da law. Doing that shortly.

ASIDE: I am STILL trying to figure out how to add a music player to my blog. Stay tuned.

Here comes Larkin Gayl!

On Friday, Larkin Gayl, a singer far better than my songs deserve, joined Jaime Durr and me at Hyde Street Studio C to put a vocal track on my song Here Comes The Weather. From the minute she sang the first note, both Jaime and I were dumbstruck, gobsmacked even. Wow, I mean WHAT A VOICE. Thank you, Larkin, for helping me out!

To hear a rough mix of the session, please visit my fuzz.com page. To read the lyrics, go here, and scroll down. For the photo album, click here.

With luck, I'll have a final mix of the song soon, but I dunno, lots going on and I'm not sure when I can back into the studio.

One final note: I removed The Mighty Micky D's from Fuzz.com for now. It'll be back when I have the finished version.

Today: Going into the studio with Larkin Gayl!

Starting at 11:00 AM today (Friday), I'll be ensconced within the walls of Hyde Street working with the estimable Jaime Durr and recording the amazing voice of Larkin Gayl for a tune called Here Comes the Weather. If you're interested, you can read the lyrics by clicking here and scrolling down. I'll post a rough mix as soon as I have something!

Going back on Strike: more thoughts on Digidesign's drum machine (and a "new" tune).

Many moons ago I bought Digidesign Strike and promptly put it to use, finding it to be quite nice sounding and a good songwriting tool. But after working with it for bit, the bloom came off the rose, and I went back to my Doggiebox, which is much simpler to operate, a sounds darn good, too. Here's the thing though: the patterns in Strike were truly inspirational and became the foundation of some fun, if trite, songs, songs that have wormed their way back into my brain of late. Now these songs aren't good enough to warrant a full studio treatment -- not to mention budget -- but they are kinda cool, and my plan is to re-record them, but with some mods. First and foremost, I've redone the drums with Strike set to its maximum resolution; second, I plan to ask The Mighty Sam Bevan to play bass; third, I will approach Josh Fix for vocals; and fourth, I will do the final miux at Hyde Street with Jaime.

The first tune to get this treatment will be The Mighty Mocky D's, my ode to McDonald's. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, it's a slightly sick thing to write an ode to a massive company that basically sells deadly feed to humans and supports meat raising practices that would seem brutal even to Pol Pot, BUT, I love McDonald's, I really do. It's my favorite burger joint and one of the most satisfying things I've ever ingested. Anyway, back to the tune: you can check out the "before" track on my fuzz.com page; in a few months I will post the after. For your reading pleasure, the lyrics are printed below.

WARNING: It's me singing and I SUCK.

THE MIGHTY MICKY D's© 2007 Jeff Shattuck

I've been to the French Laundry
I've been to Three Stars in Paree
I've been to some of the best in New York City

Of course, I've eaten caviar
I've sipped Sauternes with seared foie gras
I've had cracked quail egg over steak tartare

And it's all been served with grace and style
But sometimes it's just not for me
So when I want a place that loves to see me smile
I head straight to Micky D's

(CHORUS)
And get a Quarter Pounder with Cheese
And a Coke and fries with that please
And a lotta extra ketchup and a few bags of salt
There's nothing quite like the Mighty Micky D's

I've savored Montrachets
And vintage bubbly French rosés
They seem to go quite well with foams and gelees

But sometimes I have to find a jacket that fits
To get past the maitre'd
So when I want to just say "I'm lovin' it!"
I head straight to Micky D's

CHORUS

(BRIDGE)
You can take Thomas Keller / And all the fuss

Anthony Bourdain / And Alice Waters if you must

And Jean Georges Vongerichten / And Gordon Ramsey
Have them all pack their knives and go / 'Cause they're not the Mighty Micky D

And I love grass fed steak
I love otoro fresh from the sea
But on days when I deserve a break
I head straight to Micky D's

Speaking finished songs.

Please check out the two new links on the upper left of my blog. One will take you to a lyrics page; the other will take you to my new page on Fuzz.com, where I'm (gradually) posting new tunes and demos. Enjoy!

More on whether songs are ever finished.

A little while back I posted about whether songs are ever finished, and if they are, how do you know, as a songwriter, when you're done? A comment by Dave Tutin made the most sense to me. He wrote:

"I find a song is a moment in time. And it needs to say everything it needs to say to make its point - and nothing more. As a writer you know when this is true - you get a feeling about what you've created."

I agree with that, although I still struggle with knowing when I'm done.

Dave also wrote about structure dictating form and leading to unnecessary repetition, which is something I really struggle with. I hate feeling like, well, I'm at the chorus again, gotta sing it. I think this is why I like to have my choruses change slightly throughout the song.

So, what's my point? Well, I think songs can indeed be finished, and that, to Dave's point, as a writer I need to know when that finish line is still out in front or behind. I also can't let myself be a slave to form. Form, like songs, are part of the whole piece. The right lyric, melody and rhythm can still sound somehow wrong if the form isn't right for what you're trying to say. That said, there are limits, and personally, I like limits in art. I always think about Robert Frost's comment that "writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down." Sure, Bob's quote is a bit harsh, but I really his meaning, and I interpret it for myself to mean that if I don't want to go with an accepted form, then I have to create my own. After all, art is a form of expression, not just plain old expression. At least in my opinion.

Look out, here comes da Fuzz. Fuzz.com that is.

The other day, I posted a faintly desperate plea for ideas on how to socialize my blog a bit more, but on further thought, what I really need is a way to socialize my music. How fortunate then for me that today's SF Chronicle had an article in it on sites for music and musicians. After reading about Snocap, Buzznet, Indie911, MySpace and a few others, I visited the sites and the one that just felt best was Fuzz.com, which describes its mission as "connecting people who create and love music". That's me, to a tea.

On the site, I had to pick a band name, and I've decided to go with My Shirt Is Cool, a name I've been kicking around ever since a uttered the line a party and my friend Roland Deal said, "That'd be a good name for a band." To make sure I don't end up with a crazy URL, I've registered myshirtiscool.com and redirected the URL to my blog for now. In the future, I might launch a MSIC web site, but given my warm and fuzzy feelings toward Fuzz, I might bail on the idea.

After picking a name, I entered all the requisite info, loaded a photo and tune, and, presto, myshirtiscool.fuzz.com was born. Damn, I love the digital age!

WHEN you visit the site immediately up reading this post, you'll see only one, measly tune, and a rough mix at that. But I promise to post more tunes as soon as they're ready. And pics. And maybe even videos and some lyrics.

Stay tuned.

Contrary to popular belief, people do not suck.

The other day I was out for a run (yes, I know that sounds weird for someone with my balance issues, but somehow running is something I can do, sort of) and as I was plodding along I stumbled. Well, given my cerebellar issues, a stumble for me usually results in a close encounter of the asphalt kind and this day was no different. I splattered. Hard. So hard, I broke my steel watch band, ripped a few impressive holes in my palms and hit my chest on the ground with such authority that I have chest pains even still, a few days later. But here's the good part. A car -- a dreaded BMW no less -- stopped, backed up and, as the tinted glass rolled down, I heard a voice ask if I was okay. And it was not a perfunctory request. The guy meant it. He and his girl looked at me with real concern and asked a few more times if I was indeed fine. I laughed a bit sheepishly and said that I was, but still, they lingered and made sure.

And you know what? Ever since I first ventured back out into public after my fall, people have always been just like those folks in the BMW: helpful, concerned and not at all self-absorbed or unable to be bothered. Over a year ago, when I was much worse off than I am now, I would be out on a walk and have an "event" and without exception, when people noticed -- as they very often did -- they would offer to help. They would guide me to a place I could sit, they would offer me a ride to the emergency room, they would offer to call someone to come get me, if that was what I preferred. And the only time people laughed or snickered was when they thought I was drunk, which was often! But, hey, you see a guy stagger our of a restaurant and you have every right to think he's hammered. He should be! But once they realized that I had a "problem" and it wasn't booze, they immediately blushed and offered assistancel. Always. I mean it. Every single time. And,to me, every single time it meant the same as the last: the world. Thank you to all you strangers out there!

Socializing my blog. Or, how the hell do I get more readers?

I've been maintaining this blog for quite awhile now, and my total readership hovers at just about 30 souls, exactly where it was a year ago! I wouldn't mind, except that when I finally have an album to release, I'd like to think that more than 30 people will know about it. So, I have begun the dreaded process of socializing my blog by adding my URL in comments I leave on other people's blogs. Yes, I feel a bit desperate doing this, but how else am I supposed to spread the word?

Blogs I've left a touch of graffiti on inlclude bloggingmuses, measureformeasure and a few others, but so far, my readership remains at, you guessed it, 30. AND I WAS IN ADVERTISING FOR TEN YEARS. Damn, I suck. Anyway, ideas for socializing blogs are hereby requested!