If you want to rent the original Star Wars series from Apple TV or Google, you’re out of luck! No streaming on Netflix, either. Nope, it’s going to be $59.97 to buy the series in a digital format.
The cash grab (n.) reaching for the easy money.
Yesterday, I was happy to search the basement for the VHS player and Natalie’s Star Wars VHS box set to start our marathon in preparation; but I can’t help but wonder if that billion dollars earned from the Phantom Menace wasn’t enough money to take a risk.
Does it seem risky to offer the old catalogue for free on streaming, for a limited time, as a thank you to the families and fans that have supported the brand over three decades?
Either way, the Vial/Burg house is excited for The Force Awakens’s opening weekend, or whenever we find a babysitter, so no spoilers please!
The Force is strong with this one!
Before our run of gigs, Spencer took his daughter to the Piston’s game last week. He texted me an observation as Silentó sang “Watch me whip, watch me nae nae” at half-time, and Spencer watched his daughter sing along in awe.
“Disposable entertainment, Mike!”
“That sums up the music biz,” I replied.
At times, songwriters might feel at odds with pop culture, a fight for attention beneath the current trends; but fads are usually following in the footsteps of something else that was groundbreaking and authentic. Our fight with the current fads may not be what it seems, but actually a choice to follow our own path.
Who knows, maybe what you are doing is a few steps ahead of the next trend. The danger is if you are truly on the edge with your art, there’s a chance you might be too far ahead and not break into mainstream; however, you may influence the next center.
Two days after I finish a set of travel gigs, I feel a little dip, a heaviness or anxiety, the post tour depression!
Spencer and I got home from our short weekend of gigs, which was my last travels of the year. Sure enough, I was feeling that post tour slump yesterday. [Check out the video of us playing WNJR here.]
The arc of a musician on the road often matches the arc of a fairy tale. Vonnegut would lecture about the shape of stories’ arcs:
I love these simple ideas! Derek Sivers outlined these Vonnegut plot lines in a blog too. Let’s review one of those common story line arcs:
Yep! That’s kind of like tour life right there!
However, when we get home real life returns…
Which makes returning from tour feel like this:
Musicians get used to that strange schedule of gig life: the long car rides, camaraderie with our band mates, the peaks of the great shows, the lows of the poorly attended shows, the excitement of seeing a new place for the first time, the adrenaline rush, etc. Yet all the way, there is a schedule, even a redundancy, in the spontaneity of touring, which is shaded by the excitement of performing.
I’ve learned to expect the post tour dip. It happens on the second day of being home, but if I keep my head on straight, I can beat it by day three or four. If I wallow in it, I’ll feel a little off center for weeks.
It’s helpful to plan a post tour schedule BEFORE you get home. Get the routine back in shape, and add in a few social and creative things:
- Maybe schedule coffee with a friend to get those social endorphins
- Go on a date with your significant other
- Try to get creative right away, write a song or learn a new cover
- Exercise and eat well (Avoid alcohol!)
Most importantly, if you feel the post-tour depression, too, recognize it’s normal!
* * * * * * * * *
PS, if you’re a parent, here’s a fun anecdote of a Twitter conversation I had with Colin Meloy of the Decemberists about post tour blues:
Big thanks to T. Mitchell Bell (songwriter and host of acousticSongs on WNJR at Washington & Jefferson College for having Spencer Michaud and I on the radio. Here’s the live video from the radio cast:
- 0:44 – The Spy – Spencer
- 4:04 – Damn Fine Day – Mike
- 20:55 – Boom Town – Spencer
- 25:50 – Burning Bright – Mike
- 37:50 – Tightrope Walker – Spencer
- 46:10 – Love & Be Proud – Mike
- 54:16 – Dust Particle Dance – Spencer
- 58:45 – One Way Road – Mike
The fun and problem with “best of 2015” lists
It’s that time of the year for music journalists to post their “best of 2015” lists and to peruse the Grammy noms.
Art doesn’t really exist in a calendar of 12 months or 365 days. The action of creating art is timeless.Some art becomes indeed timeless; other art is famous in your neighborhood.
It really doesn’t matter what day or month it is when I visit the DIA or see a David Zinn street art piece in Ann Arbor. I feel inspired, whether it’s December 10 or January 1st.
I do like seeing my friend’s lists of their favorite albums from 2015, though. Lists offers a frame around the painting, a perspective to organize our thoughts. However, the lists aren’t the inspiration, the art is.
