Too soon?

Why in the world is 94 FM The Fish already playing Christmas music? As I scanned the dial in my car last night longing for a little "Thriller", "Ghostbusters" by the late great Ray Parker Jr. (wait, he's not dead), "Monster Mash", or anything else to make me feel all Halloweeny, I couldn't find anything. But The Fish was playing "Joy To The World, The Lord Has Come" and followed it with "Merry Christmas from 94 FM The Fish, Safe for the whole family."

The Covers Project

This is a really cool idea. Say you love a song and want to know if someone else has done it? Maybe you hear a song that sounds incredibly familiar and you're just sure it must be a cover song. Maybe you love a band and would like to know if anyone has covered one of their songs or if they have done any covers of other bands. Or possibly you're in a band that wants to do a cover song that no one has already re-done.

Check out The Covers Project, a database of songs that have been re-recorded by other artists.

A Survey of Hymns

Got an email from the United Methodist Publishing House you should see...

You are invited to participate in an online survey by telling us your ten favorite hymns. You may choose any ten selections in any combination from The United Methodist Hymnal (1989) and/or The Faith We Sing (2000). The survey consists of the alphabetical listing of both books' contents and a check box for each title. You simply click on your ten selections. You may find it helpful to think about your selections prior to actually completing the survey, perhaps even by browsing through the hymnal and making a list.

After selecting up to ten of your favorites, you will then be asked to select up to ten selections of your LEAST favorite hymns and songs, or titles that you wish had not been included. Once again, you may select up to ten titles from either or both books in combination.

The survey will not allow you to select more than ten titles. After choosing your selections, you will be asked to respond to five demographic questions that will help us in analyzing the survey. Your participation and responses are confidential and anonymous. You will not be asked for your name or identifying personal information.

This information will be used to help us plan for future resources in congregational singing and in identifying changes and trends in musical style. We are grateful for your participation and ask you to encourage your friends, your children, your congregation, Sunday School classes, students, professors, pastors, choir members, church staff, -- any United Methodist - to participate. It is our hope to have as wide a participation as possible.

To take the survey, go to www.gbod.org/favoritehymns.html

What in the poop?

Clay Aiken is doing an interview on top of a horse sitting next to Jimmy Kimmel.
Oh and he's wearing a green vest. He looks like a freaking leprechaun. Look on
YouTube. I'm sure it will be there by the time you read this.

Wanna Buy A Band?

This is really weird. Last week I was trying to remember the one hit wonder that had a hit song with a version of "Cotton Eye Joe". Then I got this really weird email that skipped my screened email and went straight to my inbox.

The band that sang that song is Rednex and for $1.5 million you can buy the band! Yes, buy the band.

Check it out: http://www.popbandforsale.com/

I'll be watching the eBay sale closely for poops and giggles.

I hope this does not start a trend.

crossdogs.com

I haven't blogged in a long time so I hate for my first blog in this long to be a negative rant but here goes...

I am writing this blog for one simple reason: to let the world know that www.crossdogs.com is unprofessional and a waste of money. I would not feel the need to do this if the company had not continued to promote itself as a worthwhile venture and if the company had not saturated the pages of google with press releases on websites that all hold the same inaccurate claims.

If you are not a Christian artist then you might as well not waste your tmie reading this.

I am a Christian artist in a regionally successful band that is on the rise. I book gigs for the band so I thought it would be a good idea to sign up with Sonicbids.com and the Christian version crossdogs.com.

I was right about SonicBids. I was dead wrong about CrossDogs. Both sites allow you to create an online press kit that you can send out to churches and venues where you would like to play a concert. That's a fine option but it is unnecessary if if you have a website and MySpace and PureVolume and any other number of free websites available to artists.

The option I was interested in for both sites is the ability to submit your band to festivals, concerts, churches, colleges and other opportunities that are looking for a band that matches what they need. For instance, if a church said they are looking for a band that could provide a celebratory concert with a lot of fun and a message of hope..well I'd submit in a heartbeat. So, for a small fee equal to or around the amount one would spend to create and send a press kit (folder with CD, bio, photo, recommendations from past venues, requirements, etc.), one could do it online with a music player and all of the things venues have come to expect in a press kit.

Well, SonicBids is constantly listing new events for just about every state and several countries around the world. I have not always had success when submitting to events, but there has never been a shortage of opportunities on the site.

CrossDogs on the other hand has literally and without exaggeration had 3 events listed for the past year.

SonicBids charges $5 a month and you can opt out at any time. I have not opted out because there have been so many new opportunities listed each month that I feel it is worth it to continue my membership even if I do not submit to an event each month.

CrossDogs, on the other hand, charges $49.95 a year and literally offers one to two new events a year despite claims to the contrary.

I am not trying to destroy this company. I wish them the best and hope they will begin to provide the services they say they offer. I am, however, trying to let others know not to waste money. I have emailed several times in the past, as have many other artists about what the company is doing to remedy this and have heard nothing but empty promises and lame excuses. For the past year their message boards have been filled with complaints and laments from the people that paid for their "services". I was going to tell you to see for yourself but they actually took the message board down.

So there you go. Please do yourself a favor and do not pay Crossdogs.com for a year of nothing.

Good thing this story didn't come out on April Fool's Day because no one would have believed it.

Keith Richards: 'I Snorted My Father'
By Associated Press

LONDON - Keith Richards has acknowledged consuming a raft of illegal substances in his time, but this may top them all. In comments published Tuesday, the 63-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist said he had snorted his father's ashes mixed with cocaine.

"The strangest thing I've tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father," Richards was quoted as saying by British music magazine NME.

"He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn't have cared," he said. "... It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive."

Richards' father, Bert, died in 2002, at 84.

Richards, one of rock's legendary wild men, told the magazine that his survival was the result of luck, and advised young musicians against trying to emulate him.

"I did it because that was the way I did it. Now people think it's a way of life," he was quoted as saying.

"I've no pretensions about immortality," he added. "I'm the same as everyone ... just kind of lucky.

"I was No. 1 on the `who's likely to die' list for 10 years. I mean, I was really disappointed when I fell off the list," Richards said.

___

On the Net:

Rolling Stones:

http://www.rollingstones.com/home.php

NME:

http://www.nme.com/

MySpace April Fool's Day Fun

I had a ton of fun for April Fool's this year.

I was driving on Wednesday and heard an acoustic emo song on the radio that sounded just like every other song (specifically the Dashboard Confessional stuff) and I started singing "This is my emo song..." to it. Well, that made me laugh and started my wheels turning and what came of it was Emic Coomer.

So, I changed my Eric Coomer MySpace to Emic Coomer and made it completely emo. If you don't know what emo is...well look it up on Wikipedia and check out Jonathon's blog.

I changed the picture from this:

to this:


I changed my influences from the broad spectrum of music I enjoy to a narrow list of emo bands and a few fun influences like Jeff Goldblum (for his glasses) and Michael W. Smith for his gorgeous almost-nasal-enough-to-be-emo voice.

I wrote and recorded 3 new songs in less than 24 hours and made one of them sound live--complete with pre-recorded applause, a cell phone (mine) going off, coffee and espresso machines, hecklers, and an uninterested audience. The lyrics and melodies incorporated every emo cliche I could muster.

I added a ridiculous bio which included leaving KNAPSACKHEROES!, being raised by an inner-city school teaching mother (pretty much true), not knowing my father but suspecting it might be Leonard Cohen (silly), running away from home at age 16 and getting a record contract at 18.

And the insane thing is that a ton of people bought it. Maybe they didn't read the bio...they certainly didn't realize the date.

Anyway, I had so many requests to keep the songs up that I added a new MySpace account at www.myspace.com/emiccoomer that is an exact mirror of how my page looked on Sunday.

So enjoy the crap. Oh and check out the top friends list as well.

Music City?

Starwood Ampitheatre is closing. No more. Caput.

Nashville is a strange town for music now. And yet we're known as "Music City".

Big concerts don't come to Nashville because there isn't a big venue for them except Gaylord downtown. Most cities that have an NFL stadium open it during the off season (and sometimes during the season) to large tours. Not us.

And now, with the demise of Dancin' In the District and Starwood's closing, there is no large outdoor concert venue for Nashville. So let's hope someone steps up because we're missing out on big tours.

It's ironic that Bonnaroo is so close. They have announced that newly reunited The Police will headline at this year's festival.

My New Geetar

Last week was momentous...I guess. I turned thirty. For my birthday my parents gave me some money. As dumb as it sounds, I always kind of hate that because then I have to figure out what to get and end up feeling guilty for spending money I could be spending on bills. I think inside I'm an old Jewish lady.

Anyway, my acoustic guitar was stolen from me over a year ago and I still haven't replaced it. My electric keeps breaking and/or not working correctly. I had to choose which one to replace.

For the love of the band, I went with an electric and I love it. It's a Fender Strat -- can't get any more rock and roll than that. I got it at Nashville Used Music. I have no idea why that was the first time I have ever visited that place in the ten years I've lived in Nashville.

Here 'tis.

Beck on SNL

Saturday Night Live is one of those traditions I can't seem to kill. Even when it's terrible I watch. Week before last it was just that. Last Saturday it was more good than bad but still not great. But the highlight was definitely Beck. He put on two of the best performances I have seen on SNL.

Both performance featured a replica set of the music stage with marrionettes for each member of Beck's band doing whatever the real members were doing. Classic. The second featured Beck on a small guitar with the rest of his band playing dinnerware.

I have found neither performance on YouTube or the like. However, Borat's hilarious intro (which reminded me of early SNLs with special guests like Andy Kauffman or Penn & Teller) is available here. Schwing?

Caffe, where have you gone?

Whilst driving home today from yon church in Mt Juliet (take that, Google!), I smelled--with car windows up--a distinct waft of garlic bread floating through Hermitage. They say smell is the sense that most strongly conjures up memory. It took me a moment to figure out where I associated that particular smell.

And then it hit me...Caffe Milano. What the heck happened to that place? For years it won The Nashville Scene's best sounding room and hosted some amazing concerts. Then, seemingly our of nowhere, it shut down. Gibson purchased it and re-opened it for a minute and then they shut it down too.

I saw so many great artists there: Over the Rhine, Sixpence, Patty Griffin, Caedmon's Call, Vigilantes of Love and others I can't remember at the moment (but I'm sure Jennifer will comment with some...please?).

Anyway, I miss that place and its food. Now I have to figure out where that smell on Lebanon Road was coming from.

Am I the only one?

I think it's weird that Target doesn't play music. You know, the music that comes from the ceiling? Yeah, they don't.

20 Free Downloads

I haven't posted a legal MP3 in a while. So here's 20.

To all my emo/screamo/alt-rock friends out there: Tooth and Nail and PureVolume have teamed up to allow us to download an entire sampler.

On the CD are some bands I love like Mae, Starflyer 59, Underoath, Anberlin and yes Hawk Nelson. There are also some new bands like Jonezetta and Terminal (good stuff).

You can stream it too. Check it out here.

Life Is Precious.

I have had a really good couple days.

Last night Daphne, my band KNAPSACKHEROES!, and I went to the album release concert for the Wes King tribute album "Life Is Precious". Almost a year ago I posted a blog from Emergent and said that I had just heard from Michael Card that Wes King (if you don't know him he wrote or co-wrote "I Believe" and "We Believe In God" and "This Is Your Time" and is one of the best acoustic guitarists on the planet) had cancer. I remember thinking, "I wish there was something I could do. This man is a big influence on me and as a musician I bet he has really crappy insurance. But what can I do?"

A few months ago, Craig Mason (who actually signed Wes to Word, I think in the 90s) contacted us through MySpace and asked if we would like to be involved in the album, Life Is Precious. I was already familiar with it. Derek Webb was involved. Kim Hill and Paul Colman were involved. Freaking Phil Keaggy was involved. So, to even be asked was astounding. And there was my answer to "what can I do?"

By the time we got involved a lot of the songs I would have chosen (The Robe, Holy, etc.) were already taken. So, as I looked at the list of songs that were left and narrowed it down, I realized "Move to the Moon" would be perfect. I realize now that the song is complete (we finished it today) that we couldn't have picked a better song! For people who buy the album, it will be downloadable at www.wesking.com. You'll also be able to hear it at our MySpace soon, but buy the album because 100% of the money will go to Wes to help him pay for the cancer treatments.

Anyway, to know we are involved in the same project with so many great artists was more than enough, but sitting there lasty night felt unbelievable and quite surreal!

A bunch of great artists did their versions of Wes' songs. Kim Hill was wonderful. Derek did "I Believe" before leaving to do a webcast with Blue Like Jazz author Donald Miller. Paul Colman was great. He went solo recently…and last night he announced he’s joining the Newsboys!

This project also highlights the talents of a lot of really great up and coming artists. Caitlin Evanson performed last night was absolutely awesome. Check her out. (She's also really nice and she christened Daphne and me "Daphic" after the show. )

And then Phil Keaggy got up and blew the audience away...because he's Phil Keaggy. How do you top that? Phil and Randy Stonehill got up and did an old song. THAT blew my mind.

Wes got up and did a song (his first performance since finding out he had cancer) and we all remembered why we were there. He is so, so, so good.

We didn’t perform (thank GOD! We were nervous enough as it was and Wes sat on stage the whole night while people did his songs), but this door that has opened is going to open more doors! Pray for us with this whole thing. God is really blessing us in this ministry. And God has certainly blessed me in finding these new brothers!

So, then to top things off I find out that good old Shane Raynor has posted my solo song, "Nothing", on the Wesley Blog.

So, don't rain on my parade. I'm enjoying the candy being thrown from the floats too much.

Free Legal MP3 of the Week - Mute Math - "Control"

I am anxiously awaiting Mute Math's full length debut album. Their EP has been a regular in my CD player for...gosh, has it been almost two years? Wow.

For now you can only get it at their shows. They'll be in a town near you, check it out: www.myspace.com/mutemath.

Since they aren't coming to Nashville until March, I'm enjoying this MP3.

I very much want Knapsack Heroes to tour with this band.

Coldplay on Austin City Limits this Weekend

I'm a big fan of Austin City Limits on PBS.

Last week, Coldplay taped an hour-long concert for Austin City Limits. Michael Stipe of R.E.M. joined them for two songs. This I have to hear!

PBS will air the performance on Saturday, December 17th. In the meantime, you can watch a sneak preview by clicking here. Be sure to check the same link for air times in your hometown.

This time I really mean it.

I'm really back now. My laptop is gone. The computer store said it wasn't worth it to fix that model because it would just break down again in a couple months. One guy there told me that they had seen 15 or so of the Dell 5150 in the past couple months and that, since Dell obviously isn't going to do a recall, that someone ought to do a class action suit against Dell.

Oh well...so I'm on my old Compaq with a new copy of XP.

I'm back.

Oh yeah, my laptop is still MIA (or is it DOA?) but I jury-rigged (I looked it up...it's not actually jerry, it's jury) my desktop and am now able to be online. Sort of.

Oh and I got a digital camera for my birthday! So more pictures soon.

U2 singing Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes?

Okay, I haven't put a legal MP3 up this week...but my computer is back and I would like to share a very funny video with you.

MotherGooseRocks.com has done some really funny parodies of bands singing Mother Goose songs.

This is a parody of U2 singing "Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes".

There are 3 other videos listed at the bottom of that page. The Dave Matthews' version of "Frere Jacque" is particularly funny.