I'm off to Seoul today. I will never truly experience tomorrow, Monday. My flight leaves at 8:35pm tonight and after a quick connection in LAX, I will land in Seoul on Tuesday morning at 6:30am.
I expect the trip to be quite productive especially after being at CTIA all week. I have quite a few new product ideas and it will be great to see how much further ahead the South Korean's are with wireless technology.
With the short notice for the trip I realized I would not be here for the elections. Last Tuesday I faxed in an absentee ballot request form and received it on Thursday. As of Friday morning I had voted. Who do you ask, W. of course.
Ever since I've been voting there doesn't seem to be a clear cut winner. I try not to think of myself as republican or democrat, however I realize that the upper middle class seems to be a big fan of republicans. So I can't tell if this is a function of who I've become or if the candidates really do speak to my concerns. Regardless W. got the vote this time around, and I'll call it now, if Hilary runs in 2008, Cheney better look out.
Sunday, October 31, 2004
Seoul
Thursday, October 28, 2004
Duran Duran
For the week ending October 30, 2004 Duran Duran had the #1 album on the US Internet Sales charts. I guess this shows that housewives buy cds on the internet. Oh and did I mention that my wife bought hers on the internet as well!!!
Jacki just got her tickets to the Jingle Jam with Duran Duran here in December. Several of her friends, Janice, Jennifer and Owen are flying in for the show.
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
Hot Ringtones Chart
A flash from the conference I'm at today. Billboard, starting November 6, will publish the Hot Ringtones of the week. A few stats I heard this morning. The top ringtone is downloaded over 100K times a week and the Top 20 account for 500K a week. Expect to see explosive growth much like we saw with iTunes a year back. 1M downloads a week for the Top 20 by the end of the year won't be surprising.
http://www.billboard.com/bb/daily/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000684908
Sunday, October 24, 2004
Travel
I'm heading out for a couple of weeks. First to San Francisco for CTIA. I'll be there for the majority of this week. I'm also putting the Powerbook to the test. I've moved nearly all of my work files from the 1Ghz Dell laptop to the 15" 1.5Ghz Powerbook. I've decided to travel light and only carry the Mac. We'll see how it works out. Since I'm only out of the office for 4 days this week I know I can catch up on Friday if I end up needing the Dell for some reason. As far as I can tell the only program I really need is Visio. and I have not found an acceptable work around on the Apple yet.
The following week I'm making my trip to S. Korea. The travel visa has arrived and flight arrangements have been made.
Unfortunately all this travel delays the recording plans for the band as well as being away from the family for the better part of 2 weeks.
Saturday, October 16, 2004
The trip that wasn't meant to be...
As I type this I was supposed to be in South Korea on a business trip. After planning, visa applications, and changing previsou plans, the trip ended up not happening. I would like to blame it not happening on FedEx but after all that happened it became quite obvious I wasn't meant to go at this time.
It all started a week ago Wednesday. My manager at work informed me that he'd like for the make the trip so I'll need to bring my passport to apply for the work visa tomorrow. That Thursday I brought in everything I needed, obtained a passport photo for the visa application, and filled out all paper work and FedEx'd overnight to Arlington, Virginia for processing. The plan was to get the visa back on Saturday and after the Falcons game gig I'd leave.
Friday morning I call the visa processing company to inquire about timing and they inform me that they never receieved the application. I then spend the bulk of that Friday calling FedEx trying to find the overnighted package. They couldn't say why it wasn't delivered, just that it wasn't going to happen that day. So the original plans to leave on Sunday after the gig were changed.
Monday morning I receive a call from FedEx stating they delivered the package. This would have been great had it not been a government holiday. Tuesday morning I called the visa processing place and they had received and were pushing through the system. We had an overnight rush for processing but 24 hours to process and 24 hours to process and return mean two different things. So it was a wait and see. The next flight out to South Korea was Wednesday afternoon. If I didn't make that flight the next flight out would be Friday. Wednesday morinng came and no visa arrived. At this point I realized the trip wasn't meant to be. I informed my management and said we can try again in a few weeks.
Thursday morning arrives, in comes my visa and I'm still here in the states. Maybe in a few weeks I'll get to update the map of visited places with South Korea.
Sunday, October 10, 2004
Falcons Game
We played the Atlanta Falcons pre-game today. By far our largest crowd, although not a crowd necessarily there to hear live music. The day started bright and early, actually it was still dark when I left the house.
We played two sets. The first set was pretty rough. Or at least it felt that way. We took the tunes a little fast. I must say having a cool wind blowing with the sun in your eyes isn't anywhere close to rehearsing or playing in a dark smoky club. Not to mention this show took place 12 hours before our usual sets.
Highlights of the set include a crowd pleasing When The Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin. The only cover we played, but big outdoor shows like this the crowd seems to appreciate hearing music that is familiar. My guess is we played to 100-125 people that were near the stage and in the general vicinity there were probably 300-400 people walking around, tailgating and just having a good time.
Here was today's itinerary.
6:45am - wake up
7:25 - leave the house
7:50 - arrive at the gulch
8:00 - set up
9:00 - sound check
9:45 - first set
10:20 - break
11:00 - second set
11:45 - end set
12:15 - break down gear
1:00pm - return home
Here is a picture taken from behind the stage of my drums. Why, because I like it.
Monday, October 04, 2004
Atlanta Falcons Pre-Game
We just found out The Superlatives will be playing the Atlanta Falcons Pre-Game at The Gulch. This should expose us to quite a few people and we may even get to take in a little of the game.
The Gulch - Lot A down at the Georgia Dome.
We will be playing 2 sets
9:45am - 10:30am
11:00am - 11:45am
Hope to see you at the game.
The Official Web Site of the Atlanta Falcons
Saturday, October 02, 2004
Battle at Andrews
We played Thursday night at Andrews Upstairs for the final battle in the battle of the bands. We didn't win but we had a great time.
One thing that caught us by surprise included the fact that we had the second most votes from the audience, but only a single vote out of the four judges. We had made the final round because of the judges the Thursday before but it was great to hear that people liked our music.
Out of 15 bands we came in 3rd place which I think is respectable. Andrews did a great job of packing the venue. We played to 100-150 people in the venue which was by far our largest crowd yet. We typically play to 30-40 our in the case of Smiths on Monday to 10.
The high profile gigs have gotten us a few calls this past week and we have lined up a show at the Brandyhouse in October and will probably play at the Masquerade again in the next month. In the meantime we will get back to recording and continue to keep up our profile around town.
Thursday also marked our 20th public performance.
The Superlatives
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
The Superlatives
Its been a great few days for The Superlatives and live music in Atlanta.
Picking up where we last left off, Jacki and I went to see deSol at Andrews Upstairs Saturday night. We got there during soundcheck and Soto waived to Jacki and I as we walked in. After the finished up Jacki went down and talked the band. Evidently Soto and James had told the other members about The Superlatives performance from Thursday. All the guys came by and introduced themselves and were very supportive of the fact that we won Thursday night.
I had taken some pictures of them from Bonnaroo and Aquafina on the Bricks and Armando and Albie had seen the pictures and were visibly excited about how they turned out.
After the set we talked to the band a little more and then watched The Connells. I know I'm in no position to criticize a band, but watching REM type music just isn't my thing.
We stepped out met up with deSol again and closed out the night. A very good Saturday night.
Sunday we rehearsed and Jacki and I went to the Allman Brothers Band at the Fox. Great music, although not too exciting to watch. They were selling Instant Live cd performances of the show immediately afterwards and I'm realizing that I'll enjoy the cd of the show better than the show itself. At least I can now say I've seen them. I must admit they brought a guest keyboardist and proceeded into a great jam between him, Warren and Derek Trucks. That jam was worth the price of admission.
Monday night we played an 11pm set at Smiths Olde Bar. Of course load in at 5:30 occurs just as Hurricane Jeanne, which is now Tropical Storm Jeanne blows into the greater Atlanta area. I'm out trying to take my drums up a flight of stairs fighting rain that is coming down in horizontal sheets. Needless to say I was soaked after load in.
As the first band from Nashville went on, I could immediately tell we've gone to the next level. The first two bands were great. Very tight, good songwriting, great musicians, and in general young people that love original music. Most of the places we had been playing preferred cover bands, so having a full night of original music was definitely a treat.
A few of my co-workers and their significant others came out and we put on a great 50 minute set. Short and sweet. After our show some people from the crowd that we didn't know asked how they could get more information on us and some of the other bands came by and gave us their approval.
We have Andrews again on Thursday and it appears we are moving up in the world of local Atlanta music.
Friday, September 24, 2004
And the winner is...
We went on an hour and a half later than our scheduled performance, to a moderate sized crowd and won the wildcard for the battle of the bands. So we've been invited back to play next Saturday in the final round. The votes were 10 points from the judges and 1 point from any person you brought through the door. The amazing thing is we only had two people come through the door but still managed votes into the high 20s. Maybe we are the next critically acclaimed band :-)
One of the high points of our set was The Weather Song. You had people out in the crowd visibily feeling the groove of the song and having a good time. And then after the song, the sound guy comes across our monitors and tells us that was a really good song.
It turns out a new band, deSol, that Jacki and I discovered at Bonnaroo was in the audience. James, the conga player, Soto, the lead guitarist and a friend of theirs was sitting right in front of my band. I approached them, reintroduced myself and after a weird moment of them not realizing who I was, they remembered Jacki. We talked about some pictures I took of them at Bonnaroo and at a show a month or so back in Atlanta that they were able to check out.
deSol was gracious enough to stay long into the night to see our set. They had nothing but good things to say about our music and about my playing. The funny thing is they seem to have the Spinal Tap syndrome with drummers, so I said next time the rotating door opens, then give me a call. :-) They are on Curb records and their album came out about 3-4 weeks ago.
We exchanged phone numbers and there is a chance that Jacki and I will take some of the guys out to dinner in appreciation of their music.
Our next show is at Smith's Olde Bar on Monday night and we hope to see you there. And remember my offer, if you come out to our show, find me, and mention my blog, I'll buy you your first round of drinks.
Thursday, September 23, 2004
Battle at andrews
I'm sitting at Andrews Upstairs waititng for our time to go on stage. As usual things are a bit unorganized as you'd expect with 10 bands. The best I can tell they are running about an hour behind which should put us on stage around midnight.
Sent wirelessly via BlackBerry from EarthLink.
Monday, September 20, 2004
Super Demos
I'm pleased to present for your listening pleasure the new demos from The Superlatives.
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Katie Voss - Vocals / Guitars
Michael Voss - Guitars / Background Vocals
Michael Gavrielides - Bass / Background Vocals
David Howard - Drums
Recorded August 2004 at Voss House studios.
Engineered, Mixed and Produced by David Howard and Michael Voss.
All songs written by Katie Voss and Copyright 2004
For more information check out The Superlatives website
Special thanks to Ron Rudd for some feedback during the early mixing stages.
MSNBC - Forecast: Song Costs May Fall Like Rain
Article from msnbc. Real has done the standard loss leader experiement in order to attract new customers. Their experiement worked. They gained new customers but more significantly. Real sold six times as much music and took in three times as much money.
Now lets put the math together. For simplicity, let's assume Real sold 6,000,000 tunes.
Real's revenue = 6,000,000 songs * $0.49 = $2,940,000
Apple in the same period, if you believe Real's CEO :-)
Apple's revenue = 1,000,000 songs * $0.99 = $999,000
With Apple the music publisher received approximately $0.70 per song therefore $700,000
With Real the music publisher received $4,200,000
Quite a big difference. Unfortunately this is a model that Real can't sustain, and the opportunity the music publisher gives up today is quite large (4.2M - .7M=3.6M)
Even if the publisher cuts their royalties to $0.20 they will still receive more cash in the above scenario $1,200,000.
Music publishers take notice. Finding a middle ground, between $0.20 and $0.40 would be better for all players, except Real. Honestly who are they fooling if all parts are equal. iTunes will win everytime if price isn't a differentiator. The one thing Real and Napster has going for them that Apple hasn't figured out quite yet, is a subscription model for services.
MSNBC - Forecast: Song Costs May Fall Like Rain: "This summer provided a clue to further harnessing the force of digital nature. For three weeks, Real Networks tried to lure new customers by slashing prices to 49 cents a song and $4.99 per album. Since Real paid the full royalty load to the labels (almost 70 cents a tune), the company lost money on every transaction. CEO Rob Glaser says that the company did get new customers, but here's the real news: Real sold six times as much music and took in three times as much money."
Sunday, September 19, 2004
The Superlatives - Super Demos
After nearly two months of sporadically working on the album demos we've finished. Three songs completed for others to hear. These will be posted on our website in the next week or so and if the band can afford it, we may have the tracks mastered and put onto cd for promotional purposes.
I strongly recommend a ProTools 6.X setup on a Mac as a viable recording solution. Although a G4 iMac with only 768MB of memory might be cutting it close if you will be using many of the plugins or a large number of tracks. The recording equipment and software cost $1195 but was well worth the price. The iMac was another $2K or so, but Apple just announced their new G5 iMacs which should nicely do.
The Superlatives has a few gigs over the next couple of weeks. I suspect after we finish those we will put together the plan for the cd. We have been toying with the idea that we will use fewer tracks, maybe 5-6 instead of the 8 or 9 we had originally discussed. And then to throw everything off Katie mentioned tonight she has two more songs she has been working on, one of which is probably worthy of our next batch of recordings.
For those of you wanting to hear the tunes, you can check out our website under the Music section, or you can pester me at a show or via email and I'll post them or burn a disc for you.
The Superlatives
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Shows keep coming in
My band has gotten a windfall of new shows lined up. After a month of dealing with death, heavy work schedules and little rehearsal we are back to playing.
It all starts Sunday at Jake's Toadhouse to finish off the battle of the bands. A bit uncoordinated on their part, but its all just rock and roll now, isn't it? Next Thursday at Andrew's Upstairs, the following Monday at Smiths Olde Bar, and then the last show is perhaps something to get excited about.
We've been invited to play the Atlanta Falcons Tailgate party pre-game on October 10. This should get us hopefully in front of out largest crowd yet. A full 2 hour set.
Come out and support live music. Mention this site and I'll personally buy you a beer at the show. (Band members don't count!)
