Summer of Live Music
Music IS my muse. It’s also my lover, my therapist, my antagonist, my personal devil and the storyteller of my life. Coming of age in the AOR (Album Oriented Rock) era, music was charged with newness, rebellion, hope, angst and sex. And although these things were foreign to me somehow it spoke directly to my soul and that of millions in my generation. I remember falling asleep with my radio under my pillow because they were playing Houses of the Holy from start to finish on the radio with no commercials. Amazing. From the first time I wrote a song until this day I still feel the music before it comes out. Music is more the just sound – it is spirit.
And then there is the industry. Being a Buddhist I have to say that the current state of the music biz is the epitome of karma. COMA was created out of my need to make some sort of difference in how art was marketed and artists are treated. My personal experience with a record label was soul shattering, ego bruising and doubt creating. However my ultimate rejection was probably the best thing to have happened to me as a person and as a musician. Whenever I see a ”New Hot Thing” I cringe knowing what lies ahead and wonder if they will survive it. Fame is a bitch and I’m not holding artists harmless for their bad lifestyle choices but the entertainment industry as a whole tends to eat their young after the have sucked them dry. The public is fickle too and easily distracted, always looking for the next soup du jour made to order from the last big thing. Making a living in music is a difficult thing but living without making music for me, is impossible. And what is a musician without an audience? We are by are nature attention seekers.
Which brings to my point: The Summer of Live Music. We at COMA believe in supporting the arts so we are putting our money (which we don’t have) where our mouths are. We are committing ourselves to going out and experiencing 2 live acts a week from now until Labor Day! We will be covering both national & local acts but the caveat is they actually have to “play live” – real music you know? No cover-bands either, all original all the time. We hope to go mainly to smaller venues but I’m sure Green Day isn’t going to help us out with that one.
So join us in our summer quest and support the arts. Please let us know what you think and you are more then welcomed to participate and send in suggestions. If you want to write on your own summer of live music experience, register here on this site comaunity.com and then send us an email. Just keep it positive – hey, we’re all in this together.
Up next: Our first show of the season the Goo Goo Dolls at Hampton Beach Casino & Ballroom on April 15, 2010.