What you have to do versus what I have to do

Let’s start with you. Your to-do list this week is very simple, very sparse, but very important to your musical well-being. First, you must reserve this Saturday night for a trip to (surprise!) Armando’s. The room that night will be filled with the sweetest Chicago blues guitar you will hear live outside of Chi-town itself. Because Saturday night is when the Steve Freund Trio hits town. And it doesn’t get any better than Steve, if you even slightly care for blues guitar.

Showtime is 8 p.m., and don’t miss a note. Steve writes much of  his own material, and plays the blues. Nothing fancy, nothing overstated, no caveats or fine print. Just down and dirty blues. Not rock, mind you. If you want Stevie Ray Vaughn stuff, go elsewhere, and God bless you. Steve Freund plays blues. Unadorned, unadulterated blues that will make you shiver and make you shake. He borrows the vocabulary from the masters of the genre, but it’s not like you close your eyes and pretend he’s Albert King or Otis Rush. You’ll hear elements of those guys and dozens of others in his playing, but close your eyes and it’s still Steve Freund playing. And that’s what makes it blues. He’s playing straight from his heart to his fingers to his guitar to his cord to his amp. No pedals in between, no tricks or triggers or treachery. Just a man and his guitar and his tales of a life lived. His band mates are the best blues accompanists in the business, too. This is a night of blues you won’t forget. It’s the best entertainment investment you will find within a 200-mile radius.

But wait! There’s more! Just when you thought you could have a Sunday off, perhaps watch a little TV, hang around the house all day and all night, wear your pajamas and walk around in a semi-coma until it’s time to go to work on Monday – well, no way. Not this Sunday. Because you’ll have just enough time to get rested from the Freund show before you have to get up and head out to Armando’s yet again. This time, you’re in for an equally spectacular treat. This time, it’s the Lavay Smith Quartet. Now, you may know Lavay from her work with The Red Hot Skillet Lickers. I certainly do, and that’s enough to get me to just about any show she does. Lavay pours whiskey and honey and raw electricity into her vocal performances, and she will leave your jaw on the floor. Do not miss this show. You’ll be home in time for dinner, and to catch a little rest before you go back to work on Monday.

But you’ll have to eat dinner pretty fast, because Blues Jam starts at 7 p.m. on Monday, and I don’t want to be forced to come to your house and personally escort you to Armando’s. I’m hosting, after all, and I need to remain on stage. So kindly cooperate. Thank you.

Ok, that’s your to-do list. Mine is far heftier. You know how I rail and fuss and whine about the demise of the evil music business? Well, now that the power has been turned over to the artist, it turns out that the promotion end of the business is pretty darned complicated and, at best, hard work indeed. In the old days, if you were lucky enough to sign a record deal, the company put its promotion department on the case, and you showed up for photo shoots. The press packets, photos, biographies, etc. were all mailed out to the appropriate outlets, records got recorded and manufactured and distributed, DJs got paid off to play them, promoters booked the shows, etc.

Well, these days this is all done by the artist. Think about that. All of this business and marketing stuff is now in the hands of the artist. That is a person who, at least in my case, can barely shuffle out of bed and make coffee in the morning. Oh, I can write the songs. And I can arrange them, and get the band together to rehearse them, and we can even, on inspired days, figure out the best way to record them.

But now, I have to schedule photo shoots. And then take the raw photos and run them through Photoshop and figure out which of the 150 shots are the ones we all like, then crop those just right. And then edit the video we shot of the last show. And then, worst of all, figure out how to make WordPress look like a Web site. I’m a little technical, but not a lot technical, and WordPress is NOT the easy software they keep claiming it is.

Meanwhile, there is this thing called a life that keeps demanding my attention. So I am feeling more than a little overwhelmed with my new venture, and my to-do list is far too crowded. Eventually things will settle down and I’ll get back to focusing primarily on the music. But right now, I am definitely feeling the “business” part of show business.

Thanks for letting me vent. See you Saturday, Sunday and Monday at Armando’s. If you have any WordPress tips for me, bring them with you.