I’ve been running a little high-octane of late. Was able to finally recharge a little today by doing some yard work. Mowing and weed-whacking, primarily.
My mind tends to wander while doing such tasks. It’s while trimming an overgrown hillside that I have to laugh at the futility of my feeble efforts. One can only reach the conclusion that, since it is ultimately going to be overgrown, why attempt to manicure it anyway.
And yet, I didn’t stop weed whacking.
Saturday: finished up the last of the mixes. Monday: dropped them off to be mastered.
Things are moving right along!
Every so often, we get hair-brained ideas that we decide to pursue. Initially everything sounds great. But after that preliminary brain cluster comes the reality. Big projects take time, preparation and money (more often than not). We often feel the urge to tell people about the projects on which we’re working as though it somehow legitimizes the idea and moves the process forward. But as Derek Sivers debates in this TED Talk, it can have quite the opposite effect.
I don’t doubt that you may find this as difficult as I, but it seems to be fundamentally true. However, there comes a time when you have to promote your projects. I was curious about this, so I decided to read about it, and test it.
Over the last year I have planned some sizable projects and utilized every bit of restraint I could muster to not talk about it until it was absolutely pertinent to the success of the project. The Bicycling tour didn’t go so well, but getting hit by a car has that effect. The last Music Video “Get 2 Know U” was something I had composed a while back and really wanted to record and though it didn’t go swimmingly, the end result was not so bad.
Now, some resources suggest that you wait to promote until you have the finished product in-hand. On the other hand, that seems anti-climactic. Can you imagine if you put in months, or years of work on a project, then you waited until you had 1,000 or more units warehoused before you actually promoted the release? How long is the gestation period for promotion?
The problem with this is that as soon as you have the product, you want to start selling. Who want’s to hold onto the finished product for a month or more before the great reveal, when the entire time, this is what you’ve been working toward?
There is another side to this conundrum. Quite often, deadlines help us to finish projects. Procrastination is a natural tendency. Hence the phrase, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Actually, here’s a great article about procrastination. So, it stands to reason that others’ expectations of us can play a pertinent role in our productivity. At this moment, you probably have something seemingly more important to be doing than reading what I have to say.
So, I guess I better get to the point and let you go do something more useful. I have observed that there is a threshold where promotion becomes a necessity for accomplishing a project. It is an ambiguous point, but it seems to be a functional relation between the amount of real-time effort that has been applied to the project (not just talking about it), versus the necessary time to build interest in the finished product.
Taking my own advice, I have booked the CD release for the “Live @ Picasso’s” album for May 31, 2013. We are recording on April 7, (this coming Sunday) and that allows us, basically, a month and a half for mixing, mastering, proofing and pressing the album.
Wish us luck!
Tickets are available for the upcoming show at Picasso’s Coffee House. Here’s the Details:
It’s been a long time coming, but finally the website is getting a full overhaul. Since it will take some time to get things placed as they should be, I thought I should give you some of the essentials for which you’re probably looking.
Here’s a MUSIC VIDEO:
And you can watch more on my YOUTUBE CHANNEL
I’m making a night of working on the site, so there should be more coming soon, but these will have to suffice for the time being.
See you soon,
-Eddie
