Off the Stage: The Cloers

The Carrboro Music Festival

Where to start with the Carrboro Music Festival. First of all, they had been calling for terrible weather all week, and most of this event is held outdoors. So, we were a little bit concerned, because we knew the stage where we would be performing was definitely going to be outside. But, we crossed our fingers, and jumped in the car to head up to Carrboro anyway. All the way there, we were pleased to see pretty blue skies, and much cooler temperatures than we had suffered with the day before at the Mt. Holly Music Festival.

Carrboro, NC is a small community right next to Chapel Hill, NC, and they have this giant music festival once a year. Basically, any direction you go, you will hear music, and one of the best things about it - it's all totally free! This year, they set up 23 stages of music throughout a few block area. The NC Songwriter's Co-Op group performed in the Beergarten at The Southern Rail. What a great set-up! Dwight Sullivan and Jim Haggard ran sound for the group, and we averaged between 100-150 people in the audience at any given time. After we performed, we walked around a little bit, and saw that almost all of the stages were well attended. 

Our performance went well, even though, I (Cate) knew I was getting sick. I've learned how to sing with a head cold, and at that point, I was just congested and feeling run down. But, we didn't let that bother us. We stayed around and heard many other great NC Songwriter's Co-Op artists, and made many new friends. Carrboro Music Festival is one of the coolest musical events we have ever attended. We enjoyed this festival so much, and hope that we will be able to perform again next year.

Also, for our veggie friends out there, we found the most amazing restaurant in Carrboro. The Spotted Dog is by far our favorite new restaurant. We really loved it! If you aren't able to eat pork for some reason, but you still like it, then definitely try the Vegan BBQ sandwich. It is out of this world! I had to talk to the manager just to make sure that they didn't accidentally give us real BBQ. Everything we had there was scrumptious, and we can't wait to go back there in a couple of weeks.

Thanks to the NC Songwriter's Co-op for having us perform. Here's a list of all of the NC Songwriter's Co-Op Group that performed. Check some of them out, when you get a chance.

 1.  Jon Batson, Joe Woodson, Rupert Wates (writers in the round)

 2.  Amber Dutton

 3.  Tokyo Rosenthal

 4.  Jo Gore & The Alternative

 5.  The Cloers

 6.  Jim Haggard

 7.  Jamie Purnell & Wes Collins

 8.  The Tubby Ridge String Band

 9.  Lang Baradell

10.  Pete Leary, Tim MacLean, David Bultman (writers in the round)

Autumn on Main Music Festival

On Saturday, we performed for the Autumn on Main Festival in downtown Mt. Holly, NC. We were afraid that no one was going to be there because the forecast was for rain all day. Luckily, the rain held off and only the humidity rushed in, so we were able to perform, albiet very hot and sweaty. Good thing the audience is kind of far away (phew-wee)! 

The show was running a little late, so we only performed 5 songs. However, one of them was the singing debut of John Cloer. Many of you know that John doesn't hear all that well sometimes, so if you are talking to him, and he seems to be ignoring you, he isn't. You just need to get in front of him and say it again. John has a really cool vibe to his singing and writing, but I'm the only one who really gets to enjoy it. A little while back, he got the idea to create an on stage in-ear monitoring system, and started putting one together piece by piece. It was finally ready to use, so we talked to the sound guy, Stan, and they had it up and running in no time. At this point, I would like to say a big thank you to our sound technician. He did an amazing job. It was without a doubt, the best I have ever heard myself on stage. Yay!!!!

Also, we had a great da great day just as artists. We met several other visual and performing artists and even bought a couple of pieces from Becky Story and Elaine Spallone. They both make such beautiful things. Becky is a ceramic artist who has been concentrating on making barrel fired birds. They are so beautiful! And Elaine makes bowls, plates, and all sorts of amazing things. The bowl we bought from her is so gorgeous! The entire length of the small downtown strip was lined with artists booth, and we've heard it should be even bigger next year.

Several great artists performed before us and after us, and some of them are even friends of ours. The one we're going to tell you about today is the guy who actually booked all of the performers for the stage and made sure that we were all taken care of. Jamie Kay has been writing and performing his original work for over 30 years, and still has the drive and passion to continue playing music, even after moving to a new part of the country. He is quickly making connections in his newly adopted state, and made this 2nd annual festival event very successful. You can hear his songs on his Myspace page and check out his calendar to see if he will be performing in a town near you. Jamie and his partner, Karen (who sang beautiful backing vocals for Jamie), had a "artist lounge" for us to keep our equipment, a very clean bathroom, and bottles of water. This was such a treat because it made it possible for us to go out and enjoy the festival ourselves without having to worry about carting around all of our equipment. We hope to come back to this festival in the future, and hope those living in the area will check it out next year.  We had a great time!

Networking Takes...TIME!

Just a quick blog entry today. This past week, one of our fellow artists asked how we are booking events even though we don't have a CD yet. It was a genuine question, not intended as rude. We told them it was all about networking, and that we were going to log all of the time that we spent between Monday, 9/14/09 and Sunday, 9/20/09 so we could do a blog post about it.

In the past, we had a negative view of the word "networking". We thought it was a bad word meaning fakery or just being nice to people to get something for yourself. But now we have come to realize that networking is just socializing, building genuine friendships, and just hanging out with other folks with similar interests and finding ways that you can help each other. So...now were cool with it.

This was a particularly busy week as we were getting geared up for a weekend of shows, but it was also fairly representative of the time we really do spend weekly. Sometimes we feel like we don't have a lot of free time, and now that we've added it up, we can see why. Building relationships and music connections takes time, but we know that we have to be willing to put in this kind of time for music to become a reality. Just like any other business, there are no "real" short cuts. Yeah, yeah, yeah... I know American Idol, and the other one, but if you read later in Billboard Magazine what kind of deals some of these folks are getting, it may not seem like such a great short cut after all. The fact is, there is nothing else that we would rather do than music, so spending this time doesn't feel like work to us. This part still feels like fun!!!!

Online Networking: 2-3 hours a day x 7 = 14 - 21 hours

Phone Conversations with music business associates: 5 hours

In Person Meetings with music business associates: 3 hours

Emails: 30 minutes a day x 7 = 3.5 hours

Open mics: 3 hours

Attending other artists live shows: 10 hours

* Music Business Associates = other touring artists, festival directors, bookers for venues, etc...

Do Stuff, Even When You Don't Feel Like It!

Last week, one of John's relatives called and said that she really wanted us to bring the sound system up to the foothills of North Carolina and perform for her mother and father's 60th wedding anniversary celebration. Did you catch that, 60 YEARS!!!! How were we supposed to say, "NO" to that. Well, of course we said yes, even though we were feeling more than a little tired. It was a family event, and we were happy to be a part of it. Besides, many of John's family members didn't even know we were singer songwriters, so it was a chance for them to hear what we do. At this point, we are still working full-time at our "real job" gig, but music is picking up very quickly. Now, that's a good problem to have, but we're starting to feel stretched a little thin.  

We got to the reunion/anniversary party early, and set up the equipment. I went and picked up John's grandmother to bring her over to the party while John stayed and talked to some of his relatives and set up sound for us and April. Our cousin, April, has a beautiful voice, and sings religious music at her church in South Carolina. After everyone ate, April and The Cloers performed for the crowd. Needless to say, our happy couple (Trilby and J.C.) were thrilled that so many people were there to give them well wishes, and they loved that we came to sing for them.

After we performed, we sat around and talked to our cousins Janice and Judy. Janice has a house on a nice sized piece of property and said that she would be happy to help promote us through a house concert. House concerts are basically the same concert that you would see in your local music venue, but the performing artist does the show at someone's home. We told her that house concerts are going to be a large part of how we will be making our income as we work into full-time music. Well, anyone who knows Janice knows that if she invites people to do something, then they are probably going to do it. She is very persuasive! Everybody loves her, and she knows lots of people through her business. As soon as we finish the CD, we are going to have a house concert up there, and we hope to have anywhere from 40-100 people show up. Hopefully, these house concerts will be a big boost to CD sales when it is finished.

Her sister, Judy, also knows a lot of music people, and has already started telling people about us. She has talked to a couple of venue owners and is trying to get us bookings in the foothill region of North Carolina. She also has never met a stranger and is someone that you definitely want in your corner pulling for you and believing in you.

So, even though we were exhausted from all of the events that we had during that week, just going to a family reunion/party led to some pretty cool things. Imagine if we attended every MUSIC event that we were free for. Who would we meet and be able to work with? What new friends would we make? Networking (or mingling, or socializing, or whatever you want to call it) can be a lot of hard work. But when you are doing it in association with something you love, it becomes pure joy.  

The Tosco Music Party & Our NSAI fundraiser

Last Saturday, we attended the Tosco Music Party at the Halton Theatre at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, NC. The Tosco Music Party (henceforth referred to as the TMP) is a quarterly music showcase that features professional and amateur artists, some local and some touring musicians. The Halton Theatre holds 1020 people, and usually the TMP sells out all of the seats. The party is hosted by John Tosco who is also the producer, executive musical director, and official leader of the house choir. 

Each performer usually does 2 songs, and then in between the artists, the audience joins in on several sing alongs. It's a really great event and an excellent way to hear many different artists all in one place. The TMP has hosted more than 500 musicians in its 20 year history. If you are ever in the Charlotte area on the night of one of these shows, make sure to buy a ticket and attend the TMP.

Our local NSAI group usually runs the concession stand at one of these TMP events every year. The profits made from running the stand go toward securing guest speakers for our group. Special thanks to Linda Johnson who was our boss lady and told us what we needed to do. She is completely organized and easy to work for. Her husband, Bruce, and Steve Simpson worked hard to get everything into the building and ready for the volunteers who would help to sell the snacks. We had such a great time with our friends, and even got to sneak in and out and watch parts of the show.

Tosco Music Party Video compiled and recorded by Greg Baker (group chairman/formal video/editing), Aaron Smith (candid video), Barbara Ivey (script) Casey Connerly (voiceover), Bruce Johnson (content) Steve Baughman and Robin Bullock (backing track)

Our Monthly NSAI Meeting - September

This is a very special month for us. It marks our one year anniversary as members of NSAI. Now, I know we still sound like NSAI newlyweds, but we can't begin to explain just how much this organization and our local members mean to us. One year ago, we were sitting at home without any real music connections. Because we are so used to it being the two of us against the world, we are totally content with hanging out with each other and writing music. But, the problem is... if you want people to actually HEAR your music, then it's pretty necessary to get plugged into your local music scene.

We literally did not know a soul in our local music scene at this time last year, and right now, we cannot remember what it was like to be without some of the friendships that we have made through this group of folks. So, you'll have to excuse us if sometimes we sound a little "evangelistic" about this group. We just can't help ourselves!

Tonight, one of our coordinators, Fiona McAllister, brought a voice DVD to share with the group. Many of our writers are working on becoming better performers and others just want to work on becoming better writers. A lot of us are trying to do both. Some of our members are strictly songwriters and have other people sing for their demos. But, it becomes very expensive very quickly if you are having to pay someone every single time an idea pops into your head. If you can sing well enough to get the point across to someone else, then that is usually good enough to get you started with pitching your work. 

The DVD we watched is called, "The Total Singer" by vocal coach, Lisa Popeil. We actually learned a lot from this video, and can confidently say that it is one of the best vocal DVDs we have ever seen. Now, many of our group found her personality a little annoying, but if you can just get past her silliness and enthusiasm, you will realize that she is giving you great information.

Both of us like the process of singing, so we are always looking to better our voices. We own no fewer than 10 DVD/CD, vocal enhancement systems, but we don't like to endorse any particular one, because we have learned something important from each of them. However, we feel like this DVD has the best of what we have learned gathered together in one place. If you are thinking of improving your voice, then you may want to see if this is a system that will work for you. I am looking forward to watching this DVD slowly, taking notes, and seeing everything that needs to come together, in order for someone to become a good vocalist. 

On a personal note (no pun intended), we performed a song called, "Can't Get You Down". It is kind of a silly song, but hopefully it will be a fun, light moment in our show. We are trying to write a few songs that aren't so heavy to help balance out all of our serious writing. Most everyone liked it, so we will keep pushing ourselves creatively, and try to write things that we aren't necessarily comfortable with, but that we think the audience will enjoy.  Thank you to all of the great folks at NSAI. We are better writers because of you. We love you all! 

Find Your Muse Open Mic on Labor Day

Today was a really great day. Some friends of ours invited us over to the lake to hang out for the day. This was exactly what we needed! We spent the entire day just lounging around and talking. It was such nice weather, and our friend's dad took us out on the water for a boat ride. Now, as sad as this is, we have been living near the lake for 15 years, and have never been out on the water : (. We were so grateful that we were able to spend this time with our friends, and felt recharged to go out and play some music.

But, after our lazy day at the lake, we started to get all lethargic and contemplated not driving down to Charlotte for the weekly open mic. Now, we had promised a friend that we would meet her down there so she could perform and have some friends in the audience. So, even though we were feeling tired, we went anyway. Said friend, who shall remain nameless and you know who you are, never showed up for the open mic. She said she got "stuck" in traffic, but you never know (ha! ha!). Anyway, we love her and we still had fun because another one of our songwriting buddies, David Petty, was there. We had a great time, and really enjoyed getting to hear him perform. 

Recently, we have begun learning a very valuable lesson. We should perform ANY time we have the chance. We seriously didn't feel like going down to The Muse tonight, but after our performance, a guy who is planning a large benefit event here in Charlotte approached us and asked us to be one of the featured performers the night of the event. Also, we are discussing a pre-party performance that will be used to promote the large benefit. That's 2 show opportunities that we were offered in 1 night. So... lesson learned. Play whenever you can, even when you don't feel like it. Put yourself out there, do your best performance EVERY time, and many times you will grab the attention of someone who can help you out with your goals.

The Find Your Muse Event occurs every Monday night at 8:00pm, but get there by 7:30pm. That's about the time that they draw numbers for the performance order. Each artist plays 2 songs or for 10 minutes. It is hosted by Eric Scott, who makes the night fun with his excitable introductions and the price is right - $3.00. You can bring CDs to sell, and if you have a show at The Evening Muse within 2 weeks of the open mic, Eric will put you in the first half of the night so you can promote the show. We are very fortunate to have such a well attended open mic in our city. We've never been there when it wasn't basically packed. There is a featured performer at the half-way point, and we've found a few new bands we like. Check it out if you get the chance.

Our Myspace Page Fiasco

Well, we finally decided to go ahead and take up residence on our myspace site. We had secured myspace.com/thecloers a while back and threw up some basic information, but it was time to make it look like something and get our gig dates posted. We had hesitated on making a myspace page because our impression was that the pages are ugly, juvenile, and that myspace was probably on it's last leg. However, we see now that they have a lot of templates to make the page look good, and they have a lot of filters so you can keep it looking a little more professional, instead of a sparkling unicorn page with a line of stripper comments at the bottom. 

You know, whatever we thought of myspace, we realized that we have to meet people on whatever platform they are on and that they enjoy using. Many people had told us that they had tried to listen to our music on myspace, but couldn't find our page. We realized a lot of people started the era of social networking with myspace and then later got their facebook page, so we better use this networking tool if people are looking for us there. Besides, it really is a good place to have a player and a calendar.

We really want all of our online representation to be consistent in appearance. When the CD is done, we will restyle everything to be consistent with the CD design, but for now we want everything to reflect the design of this blog. Because of this, we knew we would be totally changing the look of our myspace page. This seems like it would be an easy task - just changing the colors, right?  Wrong! It took no less than 6 hours to make this "simple" tweak. It takes about 5 minutes to find a template and plug that into your bio, but then you have to contend with that template company's branding all over your site.  So... I finally figured it all out and am pleased with the result.  You can check it out at www.myspace.com/thecloers.

Our First Tosco Open Mic @ The Muse

Tonight was our first time visiting the Tosco Open Mic at The Evening Muse, and we had a blast! We didn't know what to expect, but we were excited to see what the Tosco House Party was all about. Many years ago, John Tosco began having song circles in his living room, and they just continued to grow. This open mic is similar to what he began doing in his living room. Each person performs one song, then if it comes back around to you, then you perform another one, and they do this until time runs out for the night.

Right about the time that the open mic was supposed to begin, we were surprised to see everyone dragging down chairs and placing them in a circle in the middle of The Evening Muse. For 45 minutes or so, we all sat around calling out various popular songs, and those with instruments played and we all sang along (at least the words that we knew). We had so much fun that we forgot to be nervous about our performance.

By the time we got up on stage, we felt like we almost knew everyone in the room, already. That was a very cool feeling. We've always heard how much all of our friends love the Tosco House Party, and now we know why. John Tosco is, without a doubt, one of the warmest, genuine supporters of local, live music that we have ever met. His easy style kept the night flowing along, and his excitement about hearing each of the performers really shines through. Also, we made some great new friends and heard a lot of very promising songwriters perform.

When it was our turn to perform, we did, "Make Me Cry" and "I Want To Say". Overall, I think that we did well. It does get easier every time we get up and play and sing. We are just beginning to not feel like we are going to throw-up when we hear someone say it's our turn to get on stage. We were genuinely surprised and honored when John asked us to come back at the end of the night and close out the show. We were really taken aback. We closed the show with "It Doesn't Mean Anything". Being asked to end the night was a very big deal to us, and we will never forget it.

We will definitely be back at the THP as soon as we can, and for any of our local performing songwriters who want a non-threatening environment to try out their songs, you cannot go wrong by attending this open mic. John hosts this open mic on the 1st Wednesday night of each month at 8:00pm. You can find more information on The Evening Muse website. Make sure to get there early to sign-up and grab a drink from the friendly bartenders. There is time before the open mic starts to socialize with the other performers and possibly find a co-writer or two.