Caitlin Canty | Home In Maine

Website: www.misharamusic.com

Aug

Life & Summer in Maine in photos, Caitlin Canty – a great way to listen, Don’t Go In The Basement & Music Conventions – the Marcrescue blog

Greetings All,

It’s been weeks since I’ve written..

We’ve been trying to make the most of summer and we’re horrified that it’s almost over.

We had so many plans, hopes and dreams for the endless stretch of summer days when school got out last June…..and now Ethan goes back to 2nd grade in about a week.

So…..no summer cleaning of the basement and garage…..they’re still scary places full of things we don’t need but don’t have time to get rid of.

How does that happen?

What were we thinking when we thought we had to have all that stuff…..when will we ever learn?

The good news… there’s a local Facebook “Garage Sale” sale page started by a friend of ours.

You can post things you want to get rid of…..and if the price is right almost everything sells.

A great way to clean out and de-stuff.

Except of course – you sell your junk…and end up buying someone else’s…and it ends up in the basement.

It’s just constant movement from one person’s house to another.

I’m sure beyond a doubt that one of these days we’ll buy something on the garage page….get it home and realize that it used to be ours in the first place.

But we’ll get a deal on it!

Be safe though….don’t go down in our basement!

So let’s wrap up the summer.

First new music and then summer in photos….and just the last part of summer…who can even remember back to the beginning.

Music.

Mishara Music by next week will have released three new albums this summer.

Early summer was Caitlin Canty’s “Golden Hour”

Acoustic, etherial and haunting.

Once you dig into the lyrics you’ll find an intensity that you didn’t expect.

I’ve always known that music attracts but lyrics are the emotional bond that really connects us to the artist.

Here’s our YouTube Listening Channel for the album – an easy way to listen to the entire album:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgzz0N-FJm71aOw2q2pBO_g

Mid-summer Sam Brenner released an acoustic guitar, vocal EP “Here At Home”. There’s nothing better than hearing an artist with just guitar, vocals and songs.

It’s pure, enchanting and hard to do.

It’s tougher than you think to make a “simple” acoustic album – check out “Here At Home” on it’s YouTube Listening Channel and see how he did (while he’s working on his full album with all kinds of cool instrumentation):

Our last Mishara Music album of summer is from Canadian native and Berklee School of Music grad Ken Yates and his album “twenty-three”

It’s our end of summer album and highlights Ken’s songwriting which was written about in a blog post by none other than John Mayer.

John spoke to Ken’s class at Berklee in Boston and after hearing Ken’s song “I Don’t Wanna Fall In Love” he wrote about it on his blog and among other kind words said this:

“Want to hear a great song? (I mean a REALLY great song?)” – John Mayer, one forty plus

Wanna hear it? Check out twenty-three’s YouTube Listening Channel here:

http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLs9y9Hs3XzleIObqXBT6Vg

Mishara has YouTube Listening Channels for almost all of our albums….I’ll post a bunch of them at the end of this letter.

On to summer in Maine with a 7 year old.

With my broken ankle (detailed in an earlier version of this blog – read them all at www.marcrescue.wordpress.com) it seems I’ve taken fewer photos than normal.

Hard to do with both hands on crutches (thankfully I think I’m finally off of them).

But my wife Kim has taken more than usual and any photo that you think is particularly cool, interesting and artistic…..you can probably bet she took it…..and I haven’t given her proper credit.

Swimming.

Nana’s apt has a pool:

We’ve been sneaking out at the end of the day lately to our favorite lake swimming hole at Barrett’s Cove:

Movies

In the seven years since Ethan was born I think Kim and I have seen only two movies that weren’t animated and oriented for kids.

Thankfully kids movies are a big business these days and pretty great.

We loved Despicable Me 2:

The flyer for the movie had cutouts for kids…..and no self respecting seven year old wouldn’t try them out:

Wild Maine Blueberries.

Every year local farms open up on a certain day for self picking and we always go:

Later as all the blueberries ripen we always buy 20 pounds of blueberries and freeze them for smoothies all winter:

They harvest a lot of blueberries:

Our 20 pounds:

Baseball.

Every summer we buy tickets for 4 Portland Sea Dogs (the Double A Boston Red Sox farm team).

This year we hit both fireworks night:

And “kids run the bases” after the game day. Didn’t get a good photo of Ethan running the bases but we got to take pictures standing in left field by the “Green Monster” wall at Portland’s Hadlock Field – which is an exact replica of the “Green Monster” at Fenway Park:

Nothing like singing “Take Me Out To The Ballgame”….”And it’s One, Two, Three Strikes you’re out”:

Conventions.

During the summer there are two radio / record business conventions that I attend every year

The great advantage of going to music business conventions is that the music companies bring artists in to play for the radio programmers and it’s a great opportunity to see wonderfully talented people up close in a setting that we’d never get to have any other way.

One of my favorite stories of how the professional and personal worlds can intersect happened a few years ago at the Boulder AAA radio / record gathering.

We had lunchtime and late afternoon mini concerts in a big tent set up in the back yard of the hotel. This particular hotel was situated right by a river and running path used by the public.

There were no security fences or anything of that sort.

At this particular lunch meeting we were delighted to have a private concert by Patty Griffin. A personal favorite artist of my wife and I.

I was standing by the back of the tent…..and watched out of the corner of my eye as a woman running on the jogging path…..stopped as she heard the music….and walked up the tent and peeked in and stood there in shock. She told a couple of us standing around after the performance ended that her favorite artist of all time was Patty Griffin and that she was running along and heard music from the tent and thought – “Wow, whoever that is they sound so good….and they’re doing a great version of one of my favorite Patty Griffin songs”.

She of course thought it was some local singer doing a Patty Griffin imitation…..and then looked in the tent and was dumbfounded…..there was her favorite artist performing in a tent at lunchtime in downtown Boulder.

We explained the circumstances….she said thanks and continued on her run – still in a bit of shock but with a big smile on her face.

It was so much fun to see how music can make such a difference in someone’s life.

It’s why I do what I do.

This year in that same tent you would have heard and seen “The Courtyard Hounds” – who if you don’t know are sisters Emily and Martie – two thirds of the Dixie Chicks – who have been performing as the hounds with two albums released since the Dixie Chicks went on hiatus in 2007.

The other convention I hit every summer is The Conclave in Minneapolis.

It’s more of a business meeting than musical and unlike so many meetings at conventions The Conclave specializes in having speakers that you can actually learn from.

This year was no exception.

I had three favorite moments this year in Mpls.

First the longtime director of The Conclave was retiring and as he was giving his farewell speech after having been given an award for his long service to the industry…..he noticed that his wife in the audience wasn’t paying attention and was doing something on her smartphone. He stopped the speech and asking her what she was doing…..she was texting a friend.

That got the best laugh of the meeting.

For those of us guys who think we’re so darned important……our wives can put us in our place in a fraction of a second.

Lesson learned….which I’m sure I’ll forget again….and again….and again.

BMI – which is a performing rights organization for songwriters sponsored a session with Randy Bachman who was both a founding member of The Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive.

He told some great songwriting stories and demonstrated on acoustic guitar. Randy talked about finishing the song “Takin’ Care Of Business” actually on stage during a performance when he substituted the line “Takin’ Care Of Business” into the chorus instead of what he’d previously written after hearing a local dj use the line to start his radio show that afternoon.

You never know where inspiration comes from.

The best talk of all was given by the former COO of American Express John Baker. His discussion about his book “The Asking Formula – Ask What You Want and Get It” was one of the best presentations I’ve seen at any convention ever.

Ever!

But my favorite photo from either convention was from Colorado on a quick trip away from the meetings for breakfast with a friend in the mountains.

On the way back we noticed this sign – on the road next to a rushing river right along side us:

Easy for the sign people to post….not so good for people still on crutches (as I was at the time).

I’ve never tried rock climbing on crutches….but I guess there’s always a first time for everything.

Thankfully the weather was dry.

Concerts.

As I mentioned on the last blog post – we took Ethan to see Paul McCartney at Fenway Park…..and 47 years ago my mother took my sister and I to see Paul and his first band in the Boston area as well.

Photos, stories and set lists from both concerts on the last blog post which you can read at:

https://marcrescue.wordpress.com/2013/07/16/then-now-pics-summer-mccartney-shows-47-years-apart-life-in-maine-with-a-7-year-old-the-marcrescue-blog/

The one thing I forgot to mention on that last post was what Paul said after he finished playing “I’ve Just Seen A Face”.

He said that at every concert people hold up signs and he has to keep reminding himself as he’s trying to remember chords and lyrics….”Don’t read the signs, don’t read the signs”…..and of course he can’t resist and reads the signs and then has to try and remember where he is in the middle of the song.

They turned the cameras on a number of the signs in the audience so we could see them and the two I remember reading were:

“I’m a Maccaholic and there is no cure” (For those that don’t know “Macca” is a long time Paul nickname).

And

“The guy behind me can’t see”.

I googled that one and it turns out that’s been an annoying sign at concerts of all sorts for quite a while.

What some people will do to get attention.

It’s a wonder that Paul got through the song with all he had to read in front of him.

A fun story and an excuse to post another photo from the concert……so much fun:

We all hear the rumors every time he tours that this is the “last” tour….and at 71 how many more can there be?

One of my favorite moments of the show was when he walked to the front of the stage and stood there for a moment not saying anything just watching the crowd cheer….and he finally said….”I just wanted to take a moment to take this all in”.

An interesting comment.

At 71 Paul knows that this won’t go on forever as well.

I feel lucky to have witnessed these moments. Paul and his Liverpool mates are such a big reason I ended up in music as a career.

Although to be fair to myself – before the Beatles came to America I was already involved in music – at that point having studied both classical violin (I played in the Mpls Youth Symphony Orchestra) and classical guitar.

In a completely different setting a few weeks ago Kim and I drove to Portland to see our new artist Ken Yates perform – opening for one of our favorites – Liz Longley.

Ken was terrific live…..both as a singer-songwriter:

And a storyteller:

I know both sides of Ken’s performance worked very well…..because after the show it took me a while to say hello…..he made a lot of fans that night:

Liz Longley was great as always and my wife and I had a great rare date night out.

One of the very few times we didn’t take Ethan with us.

Fenway Park or One Longfellow Square in Portland – live music is always a joy.

Lobster.

Every July is the annual Lobster Festival in Rockland Maine – next door to us.

Nothing like fresh lobster:

A sidenote here…..I know I never had my own lobster until I was long into adulthood…..growing up in Maine as a kid sure has it’s advantages:

More live music – this time The Nutopians:

Nothing beats the bungee jumping:

We’re always among the last to leave – we love our family adventures:

It’s been a summer of adventure for sure……witness our mini superhero telling us on a camping trip this past weekend:

“I’m pointing to adventure!”

Super Ethan Pointing To Adventure 08-17-2013

I hope you all had the adventure of summer in your lives as well!

One final note – if you like what you read here – you can sign up on the right hand side to get a notification email when I publish a new posting….or just sign up for my Twitter account – that’s where I notify people of new posts, free songs and post more photos.

www.twitter.com/marcrescue

Marc

Here are a few more Mishara Music Listening Channels:

Barnaby Bright “The Longest Day”

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheLongestDayBB

Chris Ross “Halfway To Wonderland”

http://www.youtube.com/user/HalfwayToWonderland

Clarensau “This One’s For You”

http://www.youtube.com/user/ClarensauThisOnesFor

Connor Garvey “Where Ocean Meets Land” (New album coming this fall):

http://www.youtube.com/user/WhereOceanMeetsLand

Kat Maslich “The Road Of 6”:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TheRoadOf6KatMaslich

Peter Bradley Adams “Between Us”:

http://www.youtube.com/user/BetweenUsPBAdams

Enjoy…..and remember – free songs from all of these albums are available on the Mishara Music website at www.misharamusic/freesongs and we never ask for an email address or any kind of registration;

And

More free songs are available on our free song samplers at Amazon.com:

http://tinyurl.com/AmazonFreeMisharaSamplers

Marc RatnerMishara MusicE-mail: marcrescue@gmail.comWebsite: www.misharamusic.comWordPress: www.marcrescue.wordpress.com

Jul

Then & Now pics – Summer / McCartney shows 47 years apart – Life in Maine with a 7 Year old – The Marcrescue blog

Greetings All,

How is it that these last few weeks have been the busiest I’ve had in a long time…..and also the slowest…..

…..because of course I’m doing it all on crutches with my broken ankle:

Ever tried crutches in deep sand?

Not fun…..until you get to where you’re going:

My wife’s dad and stepmom get a house on Long Beach Island in New Jersey every summer for a week and invite us down to join them.

A 13 hour drive for us but well worth it.

Of course like everyone else we wondered what the island would be like this summer after the devastation of Sandy.

The house we stay at every year was lucky enough to be on a slightly higher part of the island and has a small raised foundation so there was some minor damage to pipes underneath the house but otherwise it fared well.

But we understood what it could have been like…..my father-in-law broke through the flooring on the storage shed when he took a step in it. That floor needs to be totally replaced.

That unfortunately is what needed to be done with so many houses on other parts of the island.

But I’m happy to report that overall the island looks great. There’s obviously been tremendous work done…and a lot of rebuilding to new standards – to protect houses from the same kind of damage if and when a storm comes again. Many, many houses are / have been raised on new foundations. Good to see.

I’m thrilled to report though that the businesses most important to me have survived and are doing well.

That would be of course…..the coffee place:

The bakery:

The Fudge place:

And most importantly…..thin crust NY / NJ style pizza:

Here’s what the main street in that area of town looks like now – note the same bakery awning at the left of the photo and note the B&B store – now also with blue awnings across the street on the right:

All’s good now…..but here’s what that same section of town looked like during Sandy….and this wasn’t even the highest part of the flood – that happened after dark:

The resilience of the human spirit is heartwarming.

Life goes on.

Which is why we drive 13 hours every summer to meet up with Kim’s dad.

There’s nothing more important than a young boy and his grandfather flying a kite together:

And finding out how cold the water is:

We had a great fireworks show on the island to celebrate July 4th as well.

A perfect summer evening:

Here we go:

“The rocket’s red glare” – again, the human spirit at work:

Which in turn brings me back to our summer Mishara Music concert here in Maine a few weeks ago:

A great night was had by all:

The thing I love most about singer-songwriters is they write about the human spirit.

I’ve known for a long time that music attracts people but lyrics sell.

People buy music for the emotional connection that it brings them.

That’s why singer – songwriters – the good one’s – have long careers.

They may not get big headlines from the lowest common denominator press these days and make more money then they know what to do with.

But their fans are loyal and in it for the long run….and that’s me.

Mishara Music is an indie singer-songwriter company because that’s what we love.

Our mission statement is “Music we love – People we like”.

It couldn’t be simpler.

For example.

Emotional Connections – Five artists – Five songs.

1. Barnaby Bright “Just The Same”

I’ve heard gasps in the audience when these two lines are sung by Becky:

“I’ve got a way of winning every time we fight

I can’t admit it but you’re almost always right”

It’s a love song for couples.

Here’s Barnaby Bright performing it live at 9am at WNRN during an Anne Williams interview:

2. Chris Ross “Your America”

Chris just recorded a new live b&w Stageit concert version of this song and uploaded it to YouTube and Facebook on July 4th.

Here are two of the first comments:

Here’s why they’re commenting about it:

“So you run off to the desert so sure of black and white

And you find out real fast it ain’t all stars and stripes

And the man that’s in the mirror, he’s braver than most

But he still gets scared of the holy ghost

So you see a few things you’ll never get rid of

You leave a few friends in the sand

And everyday there’s more taking than giving

And it just don’t feel

Like your America, man”

Here’s the video link:

3. Clarensau “I Would Trade”

Real life this!

“Another night in the waiting room
You’re 50 feet from me, but I still miss you
Your body sleeps in that scary room
Unaware of the doctor’s that are trying to save you

I would trade all of my days
to take the pain away”

Real response:

Here’s a listening link:

4. Peter Bradley Adams “Between Us”

“there’s comfort, comfort in things we believe

but i live in danger, wanting the the things i can’t see

wherever you live now, wherever you walk

this distance between us, i’m willing to cross”

Emotional connection?

Some woman in Norway of all places made a YouTube video of “Between Us” – using just a photograph and the song…..she’s only posted 4 other videos…..and this clip of the song has over One Million Six Hundred Thousand views:

5. Caitlin Canty “Every Day”

“every day I wake up and the sun fades your face from my eyes

/ I try to keep them shut but you still go no matter how tight I keep them closed

/ you still go”

Caitlin’s “Golden Hour” album is the latest release on Mishara Music:

You can hear the entire album on the “Caitlin Golden Hour” YouTube listening channel:

http://misharamusic.com/free/EveryDay/

You can download “Every Day” for free (no email or registration of any kind required) at:

Free feel to share the free download link with anyone and everyone that may enjoy the song!

If you’ve spent any time in Boston and have an affinity for the city – then you probably have an emotional connection with the “Citgo” sign that sits atop of a building in Kenmore Square.

I was in Boston last week and the sign was shining as always:

I wondered….how long has it been there?

Turns out it was first put up in the 1940’s as the “Cities Service” sign when the building it’s on was that company’s headquarters.

In 1965 that gasoline company modernized it’s name to “Citgo” and the sign was changed.

Which means I probably saw it in 1966 when I went to my first concert.

I went to my latest concert last week in Boston at Fenway Park right next to Kenmore Square where the Citgo sign is. Took the family – while the Red Sox were out of town – they had a guy singing songs in the old baseball park.

He looked familiar – as did that funny shaped bass guitar.

He started out with a song named “Eight Days A Week”:

I caught Ethan singing along to “All My Loving”…..but to be fair he first heard it on one of his “Alvin and The Chipmunks” albums:

The guy on stage told some great stories.

He mentioned that his old band put out an album titled “Sgt Pepper’s” and two days later he went to a concert in London and this guy named Jimi Hendrix started his show with the title song from the album.

H said that guitars in those days had “whammy bars” that when played as hard as Jimi did – often put the guitar out of tune. After that 1st song Jimi asked from the stage….”Eric…..Eric…..are you out there? My guitar’s out of tune…..want to help me tune it?” The guy Eric was in the audience but was too shy to be acknowledged like that so he just ducked his head. Some guy named Clapton. Must be a guitar tech.

The reason the guy at Fenway brought all this up is because he’d just strapped on an old guitar with a “whammy bar” on it and he mentioned that this was the actual guitar that he recorded the guitar line that started out the next song….and proceeded to play a song called “Paperback Writer” with a killer intro guitar line:

Later on he mentioned a song that he wrote about racism in America back in the 60’s – sadly a very appropriate song to play again these days:

After it was over he asked the audience if anyone had ever tried to learn “Blackbird” on guitar?

We all laughed and cheered…..if you’re a guitar player you’ll know why…..every person in the audience that ever played guitar had..

He played a couple different pianos – this colorful one for songs named “Maybe I’m Amazed” and “Lady Madonna”:

We saw some cool fireworks that had something to do with James Bond:

Don’t quite know how he did it but he again got all those people to be quiet (well – quite a few sang along) for a song he sang on an acoustic guitar. You woulda thought that just playing an acoustic guitar and singing by yourself in a baseball park – it would be sort of tough to be heard….but he pulled it off. Some song called “Yesterday”….amazing that so many people knew the words…..I guess they’d heard it before:

Then came some “Helter Skelter”:

And then it was “The End”:

Turns out he played 38 songs:

But I kept thinking I’d seen him somewhere before.

Sure enough seeing the Citgo sign after the show brought it all back – I realized that I’d seen him 47 years before in the Boston area back when the Citgo sign had just changed names.

That time he only played with three other guys instead of four.

It was just as crowded:

But I remember the audience wasn’t as quiet as they were at Fenway….something was upsetting the girls:

But there he was – the guy on the left with the funny shaped bass guitar:

He didn’t play as many songs that night – but he did play three of the same ones:

Wonder what he’s been doing for the last 47 years?

Marc

PS If you want more free easily downloadable songs – we’ve got two places to go:

The Mishara Music free song page:

www.misharamusic.com/freesongs

And our Amazon.com free song samplers – four samplers – # 5 coming soon – with a total of 39 free songs:

http://tinyurl.com/AmazonFreeMisharaSamplers

Enjoy and share!

PPS Who was that guy?

And the other band he played with?

Marc Ratner

Mishara Music

Website: www.misharamusic.com

Jun

Broken! Lawn 2 – Marc 0 / Unconventional music biz / Summer life in Maine with a 7 year old – the Marcrescue blog

Greetings All,

Summer is official.

Last Friday was the longest day of the year.

A great day to sit a bench by the harbor and enjoy the day:

Speaking of the longest day of the year….did you ever wonder how Becky and Nathan Bliss – the husband & wife duo also know as “Barnaby Bright” got that name?

It’s from an old English / Scottish proverb:

Barnaby Bright, Barnaby Bright, The Longest Day, The Shortest Night”

Here’s my FB post about it last week:

BB FB BB the longest day, the shortest night

And as I mention above – that’s why the latest album is called “The Longest Day”:

Here’s the link to the live version of “Castle Rock” that I posted on Facebook. It was performed live at 9am during an interview with Anne Williams at WNRN in Charlottesville.

9am!

I can hardly talk at 9am….and this was done after starting a tour halfway across the country and working their way to Charlottesville late the night before.

Here’s a taste of what’s coming on the next album…..any bets on it being called “The Shortest Night”?

A song titled “Just The Same” – brand new and I can’t get enough of it.

It’s a love song for couples…one of the best ever.

I did a Facebook post about it a couple days ago and here’s the way a friend shared it:

They haven’t recorded it in the studio yet and the best version to listen to is also from the WNRN live performance.

Here are the lyrics:

The best song you will hear today – a great way to celebrate – literally and figuratively “Barnaby Bright”

Speaking of sitting on a bench by the harbor….the last time I wrote….I was stumbling around on a badly sprained ankle.

Which I got while mowing the grass.

Doesn’t make for a great story.

My long time friends know that I have done many adventurous things in my life.

I’ve hiked around Mt Blanc in Europe.

I’ve done 2 week river rafting and kayak trips in Alaska.

I’ve done serious mountaineering peak climbs (14,000 ft+) in the High Sierra’s in California.

I spent 20 years rescuing people as a part of a professional mountain search and rescue team.

(Want to know more about how many people donate their time doing that? Check out www.mra.org – the website for the Mountain Rescue Association).

And now the hardest of all – I’m the father of a 7 year son!

But the lawn got me!

I slipped mowing a hillside.

Oh did it get me.

After limping around for a week on the bad ankle which wasn’t getting better as my doc and I thought it would…..he sent me for an xray. (He didn’t previously because there were no signs that it was broken).

Oops.

Now we know why I wasn’t getting better.

It wasn’t a sprain.

Break # 1

Break # 2:

Can’t wait to travel again…..gonna have fun with the TSA.

After surgery Monday I now have what looks to me like at one big plate and 13 pins and screws in my ankle:

Now I’m wondering if you had a very strong magnet…..and put it by the floor and pulled it hard….

….would you knock me off my feet?

So much to have fun and explore with.

These are my three best friends right now…..(the first 48 hours after the surgery I had to spend in bed with my foot propped up).

My pal Advil:

Books, books, books…..read these four the first two days – bless our local library:

And of course my buddies that I wouldn’t go anywhere without…..well can’t actually…..for most of the summer:

But that hasn’t slowed the family down at all.

We were supposed to have a Father’s Day camping trip – had the campsite reserved and all the gear ready…..but it turned into a picnic instead.

But what a great picnic.

Kim made the food at home and we spent the afternoon at the campsite.

Yum…..Arctic Char – my favorite fish (a milder version of salmon), asparagus and watermelon:

A great afternoon:

School ended a week ago.

The parents got to see a great concert- nothing like the last song – for the last day of school – “Hit The Road Jack”:

And boys will be boys on the last afternoon on the playground:

Summer day camp is on now.

This week was “Beach Week”.

Every day the camp their campers and hits a different beach….some fresh water….some ocean.

Does this kid look happy to be at camp or what?

After the fourth day of camp – when Kim went to pick him up……Ethan turned his cap around backwards and said to her – “I’m more of a dude than a kid”:

He’s seven.

I’m definitely going to need the guidance of friends when we hit those teen years.

Help!

So I mentioned “Unconventional Music Biz” in the headline.

Developing artists in the 21st Century is really about taking every avenue – every fork in the road and not leaving a single path unturned.

Here’s a bunch of what we do to develop artists at Mishara Music.

Our goal – simply stated – is to “Build The Audience”.

Here’s a number of ways that we do it.

Chris Ross is doing a “Stageit” concert on Sunday June 30th.

“Stageit”?

It’s an online concert “venue”….much like a “Kickstarter” concert.

People donate “tips”.

I’ve seen some real successes with it and with Chris building such a big following with his album at radio these past few months – especially with the song “Mostly Sober”…..(again – another radio station comment this week on FB – this time mentioning WMVY) there’s a very large audience that would love to see him live that he can’t possibly get to in any immediate terms – but he can with Stageit.

Here’s the WMVY mention:

Here’s the “Mostly Sober” video link he mentions:

Here are the lyrics to “Mostly Sober” – a song that seems to strike a chord with so many people:

And here’s the Chris Ross Stageit show mention on his Facebook page:

Here’s the actual Stageit link to the show – please share. The show is Sunday June 30th at 9pm Eastern.

http://www.stageit.com/ChrisRoss

Clarensau continues to get great response on Noisetrade another artist development website. This one gives away free songs / albums for tips and email addresses:

Here’s the link:

http://www.noisetrade.com/clarensau

It works – I keep seeing their Twitter feed grow:

Our newest artist Caitlin Canty has her new album releasing on Mishara Music next Tuesday June 25th. (It’s shipping a bit late to radio….it’s an ankle thing):

It’s called “Golden Hour” and we’ve posted a YouTube listening channel for the album:

http://misharamusic.com/free/EveryDay/

We’ve started right off giving a song away!

Let’s build the audience.

“Everyday” is about heartbreak.

Lyrics:

Here’s where you can go to get it for free – no email or registration of any kind required to download:

And of course there’s nothing like our Amazon.com free song samplers – we’re closing in on a million free song downloads – they do wonders to “Build The Audience”:

http://tinyurl.com/AmazonFreeMisharaSamplers

But that doesn’t mean that the old ways don’t work.

Remember – do everything – old and new.

Sometimes the stars all line up for a great Mishara Music hometown concert. But even then we do it a bit differently – after the concert a free ice cream tasting by a local Maine creamery that makes the best ice cream I’ve ever had:

There’s nothing like a live performance.

Except perhaps a live performance on radio.

“Build The Audience”.

Here’s the third song that Barnaby Bright did at WNRN a few weeks ago – “Highway 9”:

In the meantime while I spend lots of time with my foot up – doctors orders….my wife is taking very good care of me.

She drove us to a new lobster shack in an off the wall fishing harbor last Saturday – which was actually National Lobster Day (and note – all of these cool photo collages – are hers!)

She made me some great homemade Maple ice cream on Father’s Day:

Maple Ice Cream - Father's Day 06-16-2013

But of course with all the great things she does……

She just couldn’t resist taking a couple photos of the patient:

She especially loved the little blue hat that I had to wear in surgery!

And she just had to post the photos on Facebook!

And you know all the wives stick together on these things:

The moral of this story?

You take the good with the bad.

So what if you break your ankle in two places…..

…..when you live in Maine you get to drown your sorrows in lobster rolls!

Have a great week.

Marc

Marc Ratner

Mishara Music

Website: www.misharamusic.com

Jun

Ouch / Classic Rock and Roll Stories / Free Songs are the best / Summer in Maine with a 7 year old – the Marcrescue blog

Greetings All,

You’re wondering I bet.

Well, let me clarify that.

Of all the various people that get this post as an email or a facebook, twitter or wordpress notification – disclaimer in a moment – the 7 people that read it regularly have probably been wondering why they haven’t received a post in a while.

Disclaimer – this is the Marc Ratner “Life in Maine with a 7 year old with some Mishara Music artist & music news thrown in for good measure” email / blog post that comes out every couple of weeks or so. It used to be oriented privately towards AAA format radio programmers who mostly ignored it so now I send it out to anyone that hasn’t progressed enough in their email communications to have a spam filter. If you’re on and want off the email address list – just hit reply and I’ll take you off my list but consider this. Prism would consider this email so ridiculous that the NSA would totally ignore anyone that consents to receive it….thereby protecting the rest of your communication. Consider this then very advanced spy communication protection.

If you read this by finding it via Twitter, Facebook, randomly on the internet or because you’re being punished by someone and you’d like to receive it as an email – just let me know at marcrescue@gmail.com and I’ll add you to the list.

Signing up at my Twitter account at the bottom is the other best way to get notified of when I post something new.

Don’t worry about not reading it.

I send it to my wife and she doesn’t read it either.

So now that I’ve cleared that up.

Why is this post so late in coming.

Because I can’t cut the grass.

Ahhh…let me back up a moment.

For 20+ years in Los Angeles I volunteered as a mountain search and rescue team member.

We even got transported in helicopters from time to time and wouldn’t you know I managed to do this many times with nary a scratch:

But now living in Maine…..I’ve found I can’t even cut the grass without doing damage:

Gotta use the push mower on some rather steep hillsides where the big mower just can’t go and…..whoops…..slipped…..

…..You don’t want to know how bad it was at the moment…..just know that this photo was taken 48 hours later…..when the ankle / foot sprain was looking much better:

So what did I do…..when I got back from the doc?

Immediately got on the riding mower and did that part of the lawn that can be done with the sit mower (my wife took the photo to post on Facebook to show all her friends how silly her husband is):

A friend of the family had to come over to finish the hand mower part – (thanks Shawn!)

I haven’t moved much since.

So let’s catch up a bit.

A number of weeks ago I was at the Non-Commercial Radio / Record meeting in Philadelphia.

Lots of great artists – lots of great meetings….and as always when I go to Philly – one amazing moment of food.

Because of my schedule I didn’t get to see all the artists but loved many of the ones I did see.

It was a hoot to see Tom Jones (yes that Tom Jones) perform:

Great band – great classic songs from his new album and a terrific story. Tom told the story about how a songwriter from the old days in the 60’s offered him a song that he’d written for Tom to record. Tom said thank you he’d love to do it – but then the record company released a single and had to get the album out right away – so he never had a chance to record the song.

Recently he ran into that songwriter again and asked him if he’d write him a song for his new album. The songwriter replied – “I wrote you a song before and you never recorded it” Tom laughed and admitted it.

The great part of the story of course – is who the songwriter was….and what was the song he offered Tom…..before the songwriter’s own band recorded?

The songwriter?

Ready……

Wait for it…..

Who you thinking?

Would you have passed on recording the song?

If…..Paul McCartney…..

Offered you…..

Ready…..

Wait for it…..

“The Long And Winding Road”

Duh!

The other great classic rock and roll story of the meeting was offered up by musician / producer (Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones etc) Don Was during his interview with convention host Dan Reed. It was about the time he met with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to discuss whether or not he might be a good choice as an outside producer for the Stones next album – they hadn’t used an outside producer in quite a while – and Mick was tentatively for it while Keith was against it. So they sat down on a couch in the studio with Don in the middle and Keith and Mick on either side of him….and he described how Keith and Mick – both starting talking about it – Mick for / Keith against – at the same time. Neither would give in to the other to let him talk by himself. This went on for a while with them both talking constantly. Don trying desperately to pay attention to both – until finally there was a lull in the conversation and Keith said:

“Are you sure you want to be the meat in this sandwich?”

He did – at last count he’s worked on 5 or 6 Stones albums:

My personal favorite act that I saw at the meetings was Josh Ritter – no surprise there – because of my love for singer-songwriters…..just a great performance and his guitar interplay with his guitarist was just fantastic:

Which of course leads me to – what is happening with a few of the Mishara Music singer -songwriters?

This wonderful artist:

Is Caitlin Canty. Her new album “Golden Hour” will release on Mishara Music on June 25th and will ship to radio about the same time.

Watch for it:

If you’d like a preview – head over to:

http://misharamusic.com/free/EveryDay/

Where we’ve set up a YouTube Listening Channel for the entire album

It’s a gem.

And shhhhhhh……if you’d like a free track from the album…..a gorgeous heartbreaking song titled “Every Day”…..you might click on this link:

(You don’t even have to give an email or register for anything to get the song and you can pass it along to anyone you want….as many times as you want.)

Barnaby Bright is on a mini tour break and I’m still dumbfounded by their live performance on the air at WNRN in Charlottesville with Anne Williams a few weeks ago.

Remember this was at 9am in the morning.

I can’t even talk at that time of the morning……sing?

Hah.

But then again Becky Bliss has one of the finest voices I’ve ever heard at any time of the day or night.

It runs in the family – her brother – a professional opera singer – was just hired by the New York Metropolitan Opera….it doesn’t get any better than that!

Here are the three songs recorded at 9am in the morning – kudos to Anne Williams and WNRN for the stunning recording quality:

First up is a new song “Just The Same” – that’s a great honest couple’s love song….and people at shows are going nuts at the merch table because they can’t buy it yet – this is the only recording:

Here are the two songs that have been getting all the AAA radio play from “The Longest Day” album.

“Castle Rock”:

“Highway 9”

Clarensau continues to get great tweets on Twitter – and lately a bunch have been about the free sampler we’ve released on Noisetrade:

Songs from the latest two albums:

Here’s the review that was being tweeted about:

Here’s the Noisetrade link – 7 free songs – go for it:

http://www.noisetrade.com/clarensau

Got a great event coming at the end of the month with Chris Ross – details next post.

But in the meantime – no one is better at posting on Facebook than Chris.

You never know what he’s going to post about….and his take on it.

Meditation:

The heat:

Previous employment:

But as good as he is at writing on Facebook – there’s no one better at lyrics.

He’s a poet with a guitar and a great voice.

You want a gritty story song – nothing beats “Jack and Jill” – here’s a free song link:

http://misharamusic.com/free/chrisross/

…..and still to this day Chris keeps getting posts to his YouTube and Facebook accounts from fans who heard his classic “Mostly Sober” on a radio station somewhere across the country…..here’s the two latest fan emails he just got this week:

“Mostly Sober” is on the “Halfway To Wonderland” album:

Here’s a YouTube Listening Channel link where you can hear the entire album:

http://www.youtube.com/user/HalfwayToWonderland

As I sit here – leg up – iced with my personal best friend at the moment always nearby:

I marvel at the change in seasons.

Spring is basically done.

Summer is here.

T-Ball is already over with all the kids getting their medals and ice cream on the last evening:

They’re having special events these last few weeks of 1st grade – Ethan’s team won the last event at Field Day – I have no idea what you call it – it just involved a lot of running and picking up items and filling up the bucket with them:

They’re also having special dress up days at school – this was favorite team day – that’s my guy:

The schooners in Camden Harbor are on the move:

Flowers are blooming:

And the Camden Farmer’s Market is now open on Saturday mornings….yum:

Speaking of “yum” I did mention a “food” item in Philadelphia up near the beginning of this missive.

No matter where you go – no matter what state you happen to visit……some restaurant somewhere will have a “cheesesteak” on the menu.

If I’m hungry and there’s nothing else appealing (or healthy) on the menu….I’ll go for it.

It’s always a disappointment.

But once a year at the Non-Comm meetings in Philadelphia I find a moment to sneak away…..with a buddy….usually Chris Wienk the PD at WEXT (and maybe with another special friend as well) and we head to Jim’s Steaks:

Decisions, decisions:

Here it comes:

It’s so very rare that anything that you have anticipated and waited a year for – will meet expectations….in this case – it was worth waiting for:

I’m so hungry right now as I type this…..I’m almost willing to walk from Maine to Philadelphia on my sprained foot to get another Jim’s cheesesteak.

They’re that good.

But save yourself some trouble.

Hire someone to cut the grass!

Marc

PS Notice how many free songs we offered above?

Here’s a whole lot more….on our Mishara Music Amazon Free song samplers…..4 released to date….# 5 coming soon.

Easy to download at Amazon.com – just click on the link for a whole bunch of free songs from Peter Bradley Adams, Glen Phillips, Barnaby Bright, Chris Ross, Clarensau, Connor Garvey etc.

Enjoy:

http://tinyurl.com/AmazonFreeMisharaSamplers

Why so many free songs?

It’s simple……give someone a free song they love and they’ll talk about it.

It’s not a secret formula.

It’s not a difficult concept.

It’s simply that “word of mouth” is the most powerful music tool there is.

If you love one of our songs – tell someone and feel free to share the song with them.

Thanks.

Marc Ratner

Mishara Music

Website: www.misharamusic.com

http://www.wnrn.org/2013/05/barnaby-bright-visits-wnrn/

May

Gluten Free New Orleans / More Jazzfest / A Lego Mother’s Day / Life in Maine with a 7 Year Old – the Marcrescue Blog

Greetings All,

Last I wrote we had just come back from a couple of the rainiest days that Jazzfest in New Orleans had ever had – with the schedule still going on and the days not being canceled.

As wet as it was it was a wonderful trip to one of our favorite cities and besides our fun days at Jazzfest we had some great adventures in the city.

Because we have some severe food allergies in the family (gluten, dairy & eggs) Kim does some amazing research when we travel to find great places to eat…..and breakfast is particularly difficult.

She found a gem this trip in the French Market (just past Cafe Du Monde).

Meals From The Heart Cafe (https://www.facebook.com/pages/MEALS-FROM-THE-HEART-CAFE/126409233527 & http://www.mealsfromtheheartcafe.com/

Ohmygoodness!!! If you need gluten free, vegan, whatever – not only can they make it – it tastes great – and anyone with food allergies knows – just because someone says their food is gluten free – doesn’t mean it doesn’t taste like sawdust.

The best restaurant for those kinds of dietary needs we’ve ever come across.

In the course of our trip we had blueberry pancakes, crab cakes, gumbo, power shakes and much more that covered all of our allergies.

Roland works the counter (his sister is the chef and inventor of the amazing recipes):

We loved the food so much we went every day we were there – a perfect start to every morning.

The only problem…..Roland and Ethan bonded and this is the best smile Ethan has ever done for a photo…..we can’t ever get him to smile like that at any other time posing for photos. Drives his mom crazy. So I guess we’re going to have to ask Roland to travel with us on vacation from now on so we can get great Ethan photos all the time:

Our first day in the city we wandered through the French Quarter – always a joy and a place of discovery…for instance this mysterious reveler:

Great dancing breaks out on a moment’s notice wherever music is played on the street:

Our favorite sweet treat for the last few trips to New Orleans in the French Quarter is Meltdown – a frozen treat shop that makes treats that also fit our diet restrictions. You can get all kinds of frozen bars including dairy free & vegan that just rock:

My favorite is the Salted Caramel – Kim’s the Lavender Coconut:

Ethan’s is Watermelon:

The main shop was just preparing to move when we were there (evil landlord upped the rent) so the best way to keep track of their new location (and even better news – they may very soon have rolling carts in the French Quarter serving their bars!) is on their website: http://www.meltdownpops.com/ and on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Meltdown/192498824095400?fref=ts

Which reminds me that one of the great reasons to visit New Orleans……which hasn’t escaped the city promoters…..is the food – all the marvelous, wonderful, unique food. They know it and promote it. This was in the magazine in our hotel room and to my mind is a most perfect descriptive phrase:

The other major stop we made in New Orleans was to their aquarium (last trip we hit the zoo) and it was a great afternoon:

The “coral reef” exhibit was wonderful:

Nothing like a sleeping white alligator to make your day:

“Parakeet Point” was a bit too much like Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”:

Before we knew it we were back home for the beginning of T-Ball season:

And of course back to work.

Barnaby Bright is back from Europe and on tour again.

Even if I didn’t have their schedule I’d know where they are.

All I have to do is check Twitter.

Every show every day shows up.

The tweets just keep getting better and better:

BB Twitter Atlanta Nashville Just The Same

The “Love Song” one fan asked about is “Just The Same”

As I mentioned in my last letter – it hasn’t been recorded yet…..which is driving fans crazy at the merch table when they ask about it – because they can’t buy it.

But they did do it on television in Kansas City a few weeks ago – here’s that version (keep reading on for another astonishing live recording of the song):

Barnaby Bright also got a thank you email the other day.

One of the most heartfelt I’ve ever read.

The big surprise was who it was from.

The marketing director at WNKU in Cincinnati.

Radio folks have artists visiting all the time.

In the station / on the air / and at station events.

It’s not a big deal – it’s fun, it’s music but it’s work.

At Mishara Music we love partnering with music radio because when it works there’s nothing better.

Last week WNKU tried something different that they’d never done before.

They held a fundraising event at a local restaurant with an artist performing for the first time.

Lots of set up / lots of questions – how to do this, do that…

I’m always nervous about artist events.

Especially when I can’t be there….believe me I’ve had some disasters happen.

Late that night after the event I got this email from Becky from Barnaby Bright:

Thank goodness.

Then the next day – I was cc’d on this thank you to Barnaby Bright:

I can count on the “thumb” of one hand – how many thank you letters like that I’ve seen from someone in Aaron’s position.

So I guess I’m putting across two messages here.

1. They’re not many stations – not many Marketing Directors like WNKU and Aaron Sharpe.

2. When you read the above twitter comments / the thank you letter from Aaron and then watch the video for “Just The Same” by Barnaby Bright – you may start to understand how special Becky and Nathan are.

But there’s more radio stories about Barnaby Bright – that wasn’t the only radio stop on this leg of the tour.

After the Cincinnati show they drove halfway across the country to Charlottesville Virginia and got up early to do an interview with Anne Williams at WNRN – the non-commercial music station that covers a wide swath of the area.

How do you sound at 9am in the morning?

Artists hate morning interviews.

Radio stations love them because morning shows are often their most listened to shows of the day.

Anne Williams has a great morning show and has interviewed hundreds of artists. She always asks a few important questions but lets the artists shine in performance.

I’ve heard lots of radio interviews over the years and I was blown away listening to this one.

Barnaby Bright played three songs at 9am in the morning….”Highway 9″ & “Castle Rock” from “The Longest Day” album and the above mentioned new song – “Just The Same”.

It’s simply the best live recording I’ve ever heard done at a radio station……anytime of the day.

But at 9am in the morning?

C’mon….who are these people that can sing and play like this at that time of the day?

When you listen – keep in mind – there’s only two of them – playing and singing live – no tapes or extra musicians. “Highway 9” is great and then they just hit it so perfectly on “Castle Rock” and “Just The Same” that I’m amazed….again….at 9am in the morning….how well do you sing in the morning….(outside of the shower that is)?

Here’s the podcast link……video coming soon.

(You can hear all of Barnaby Bright’s “The Longest Day” album on our YouTube Listening Channel @ http://www.youtube.com/user/TheLongestDayBB)

Have you ever noticed that I don’t ever put sales links in these blog posts?

Instead there are lots of links that give away a whole bunch of our songs.

You can get quite a selection of free songs by Barnaby Bright (along with songs by Peter Bradley Adams, Glen Phillips, Chris Ross, Clarensau and a number of other artists) on our 4 Amazon Mishara Music Free Song Samplers @

http://tinyurl.com/AmazonFreeMisharaSamplers

All for free.

As are the free songs on the Mishara Music website @

www.misharamusic.com/freesongs

The best part about our website free songs – you can download anywhere in the world and there’s no email or registration of any kind required……ever.

Speaking of Chris Ross

Still the best Facebook posts of anyone:

But he’s also a singer songwriter of exceptional ability.

And a most gracious person – who when I remember to make him aware of radio airplay – is always thankful – here’s two recent examples:

Chris does something unique among the artists I know. Within days of writing a “keeper” song he records an acoustic version and posts it on YouTube.

Here’s one of my all time favorites – “Your America” – a lyrical masterpiece:

If you watch and listen you’ll understand why the first comment underneath the video reads this way:

“Mighty fine music, Chris. Mighty fine. I’m off to iTunes, brother”

(You can hear all of Chris’ album “Halfway To Wonderland” on our YouTube Listening Channel @ http://www.youtube.com/user/HalfwayToWonderland)

Don’t forget there are free songs by Chris on our free music links as well.

Then there’s Clarensau.

Tyler from the band is in agreement with me about how best to promote themselves and their music (as we do with all our artists on Mishara):

Give the music away!

Now we’ve taken what we call “The Commitment Songs” from the two Clarensau albums “Until Our Lungs Give” and “This One’s For You”:

And put a free download album up on Noisetrade:

The reason we chose these songs is because the band gets so much response and so many thank you’s from people that appreciate their lyrics and the back and forth vocals from Tyler and Sally.

They write Clarensau about how the songs have meaning in their own lives.

Isn’t that what music is all about?

Please share the link – it’s all for free @ http://www.noisetrade.com/clarensau

(Hear both Clarensau albums on their YouTube Listening Channels @ http://www.youtube.com/user/UntilOurLungsGive & http://www.youtube.com/user/ClarensauThisOnesFor)

You can also hear our next release on Mishara Music – “Golden Hour” by Caitlin Canty (free songs coming soon on our Amazon Free song sampler # 5) @

You might think it’s strange that as a company we believe in giving away so many songs.

Our philosophy is rather unique.

“Build The Audience”.

We never look short term at cd sales, song downloads or ticket sales.

We’re passionate about our music and want to share it.

If we build the audience – our finances will work themselves out…..hopefully.

I suspect you’ll never see Mishara Music on Wall St….as our motivation is music instead of money.

Crazy huh?!

So if you hear some music you like from one of our artists…..click on the free song links and download away.

Share the songs and our passion for the music and the artists.

The last time I’d checked our Amazon free song samplers had produced over 800,000 free song downloads.

Can’t wait to get to a million.

Here are our free song links again:

http://tinyurl.com/AmazonFreeMisharaSamplers

www.misharamusic.com/freesongs

http://www.noisetrade.com/clarensau

So after New Orleans we hit Mother’s Day the following weekend.

And as we all know – being a mother is all about family and for this Mother’s Day we had a big surprise for Ethan…..but I told him we were taking his mom to a special convention in a hotel in Manchester New Hampshire – a 3 hour drive – that was all about Mother’s Day.

That it was a surprise for her.

He was totally into it.

Excited about surprising his mom for Mother’s Day.

The whole trip Kim kept asking “Where are we going, what’s the surprise?”

Ethan and I kept telling her – “Can’t tell you – have to wait and see”.

Ahhhhh but it wasn’t a surprise for Kim…..it was a surprise for Ethan.

Once we hit the hotel convention center – we said – “Oh Ethan, look….it’s not a surprise for mom….it’s a surprise for you!”

“Brickfair” – a convention of dealers and exhibitors for LEGOS – who knew they had such a thing?

But they sure did:

If you’re 7 years old…..life is all about Legos.

This was the best surprise I’ve ever been a part of.

Ethan raced from table to table looking at characters, displays and the play Lego tables:

In the end Ethan ended up with three Star Wars characters he’s wanted for quite a while – including his very favorite – Yoda:

Couldn’t ask for a more fun Mother’s Day:

I was going to write about my trip to Philadelphia to the Non-Commercial music radio meeting in this letter…..so much great stuff happened there…..but it’ll have to wait until the next post as this post is already about the length of “War And Peace”…..but I’ll leave you with two teasers about it.

1. An interview that includes a story told by someone who ended up sitting between Keith Richards and Mick Jagger and was asked by Keith “Do you really want to be a part of this meat sandwich?”

2. Speaking of meat sandwiches…..because of our family food allergies I rarely eat an item like this but once a year when I hit this annual convention in Philly – I have what I consider to be my favorite sandwich ever (disclaimer – my favorite sandwich that doesn’t contain lobster that is). A classic Philly cheesesteak – and as everyone does – I have my special place that I consider to be the best:

More about the Philly trip next time.

In the meantime the schooners in Camden Harbor are getting ready for a busy summer season:

It’s a time of discovery by the pond near the house – sometimes you even get to sneak out of the house in your pj’s if it’s a lovely lazy weekend day:

We also can’t help but relive our trip to New Orleans.

They definitely do things a bit differently there:

The late night hotel treats are wonderful:

Sadly as Ethan gets older this was probably the last trip where we could pick him up and carry him when he was tired and the crowd was overwhelming:

The iron work everywhere in the French Quarter is so beautiful:

As is the city itself – and note here – this photo and most of the great artistic one’s were / are taken by my wonderful wife Kim who graciously allows me to use them without me ever giving her as much credit as she’s due:

But she didn’t take this one……which was taken nine years ago this week…..on the occasion of our marriage…..imagine putting up with someone like me who does all the stuff described in these letters for nine years – she loves her son and loves her husband and we wholeheartedly love her back:

We’re already wondering if we should / could find a way to head back to Jazzfest next year.

Maybe you can join us for a wonderful meal of fresh boiled seafood – crabs, shrimp and my favorite crawfish:

See you then?

Marc

PS I’m always amazed by what they build with Legos…..and this Memorial Day weekend….this construction can help us spend a moment thinking about how many brave people’s lives were changed by just this one event – not to mention all the times in human history where unselfish and honorable men and women sacrificed themselves for the betterment of all humankind:

PPS Lastly…..another Lego surprise…..sooner or later it appears everyone will be “Legoized”.

These Lego figures were a present for Ethan from our family friends Anne (private message to Anne – “You’re It”) and Mel.

I immediately kidnapped them and they’re on a special place on my desk…..I was already passionate about music before they changed my life – but without them – I might never have taken the path in life I did – which brought me to Jazzfest, Mishara Music, our family life in Maine and most of all Ethan and Kim. Thanks guys:

Marc Ratner

Mishara Music

Website: www.misharamusic.com

https://www.facebook.com/songwriterross

May

“Survivor Jazzfest” in New Orleans – Music, Crawfish, Mud & a SONG – Life in Maine with a 7 Yr Old – the Marcrescue blog

Greetings All,

It wasn’t so long ago that our feet looked like this:

But with mud season arriving in Maine – last week Kim’s shoes looked like this:

But it wasn’t mud from Maine.

The weather in Maine was fantastic – 70’s and sunny – all week long!

We weren’t there.

Every other year we do our one non-relative oriented vacation and head to one of our all time favorite festivals in one of our favorite locations – The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (www.nojazzfest.com) otherwise known as Jazzfest in New Orleans.

Jazzfest at the New Orleans fairgrounds runs over two weekends every year – the last weekend of April and the first weekend of May.

This year with the vacation budget cup very empty I surprised the family – who unhappily thought we’d miss the festival this year – with airline tickets & hotel secured with every frequent flyer mile I could scrape together.

Of course this means we basically went in between the two big weekends – can’t get free tickets and free hotel rooms on the big festival days.

Can you guess which days we were in New Orleans?

Yup. You guessed right.

We got the rainy days!

But a great time was had by all in spite of the weather.

Ethan’s fourth trip to Jazzfest!

Here we go:

Now rain is just water…and the mud – water with a bit of dirt mixed in…but it’s big mess and I felt badly for the artists that so looked forward to their opportunity to play at Jazzfest and had their audience clobbered by the rain and mud. But as every professional always does – even when playing for a lot of mud and a few people – every single act put on amazing performances!

Even though they’re always huge acts booked every year as headliners we love wandering from stage to stage and to the various tents – “Jazz”, Blues & “Gospel” to listen to the amazingly talented acts that we don’t know. That’s the joy of Jazzfest. With something like 12 performance stages – there’s always someone great playing – that you’ve never heard of – who’s better than most of the people you have heard of.

Here’s a few of the acts we saw that I happened to take photos of (and sadly didn’t make note of who all they were).

Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie (so very good):

Ethan was dancin’ away to the French Rockin’ Boogie:

Henry Butler & Friends:

Ana Popovic & Mo’ Better Love (that girl can play that guitar):

No one had the blues in the tent while Ana was playing:

One of the reasons I love Jazzfest so much is that it gets me back to music for the simple joy of it.

Going from stage to stage reminds me of browsing through the vinyl album bins at Tower Records at 10pm at night looking for great discoveries.

It’s why I have a music company that’s all about discovering new singer songwriters for their music….not their look, their moves or their reality tv shows.

Even when you’ve known them for quite a while they surprise you.

For instance.

Even though their album “The Longest Day” has been at radio since the beginning of February Barnaby Bright continues to get increased rotations at the AAA (Adult Album Alternative) radio format and new playlist additions (KXCI Tucson this week!).

(Hear the entire “The Longest Day” album on it’s YouTube Listening Channel @ http://www.youtube.com/user/TheLongestDayBB)

They just returned from a very successful European tour and start off on another mid-East Coast swing in May.

And in the middle of all that – they just happen to throw out there one of the most amazing songs I’ve ever heard.

It’s a brand new song I’ve heard them do in concert at a few recent shows and I’ve heard audience members actually gasp at lyric lines in the song.

It’s not a rock song.

It doesn’t have “tempo” (which radio programmers love).

It’s simply a love song with lyric and melody.

It floors people.

Of course I have no business mentioning this now.

It’s not on the new album.

Who knows when the next album will be out.

So radio can’t play it.

Mishara Music can’t sell it.

There’s no money to be made here.

But it’s the love of music that powers this company.

So I’m sharing it.

And the best story is how I found out about the YouTube video.

Barnaby Bright didn’t tell me.

Artists always forget to tell management / label what they’re doing.

And that’s okay – we’re here to help – not to constrict.

So how’d I find out?

From Chris Ross

Chris’ “Mostly Sober” is still incredibly viral. He continues to get emails, YouTube and Facebook comments. This one from just yesterday:

Don Currier

Heard your song Mostly Sober tonight on some radio station in Northern NH. Loved it! Found your videos on YouTube and listened to three of them. All great. Last last call and I Lied. Downloaded them from iTunes. Wish you would come to Manchester NH or Nashua NH to perform. I plan on buying more of your music.

Chris recently posted this new house concert version of “Mostly Sober” – with great sound:

From his “Halfway To Wonderland” album:

Hear the entire “Halfway To Wonderland” album on it’s YouTube Listening Channel @ http://www.youtube.com/user/HalfwayToWonderland)

He continues to have the best Facebook posts of anybody:

And now he’s got himself in a contest with his local pizza shop he used to work at:

Pats Pizza is into it – here’s their take on the contest:

Pat’s is absolutely wrong.

Chris won’t be the only one who benefits.

I love pizza.

When he wins I’m going up to eat with him as often as I can.

If I get my fill of pizza – then I’m a happy guy.

If I’m a happy guy – I write better (and probably shorter blog posts).

So everyone that reads these letters is a winner as well.

Here’s Chris’ Facebook address……..please “Like” him:

And please – tell everyone….broadcast it, FB it, Twitter it, tell the world.

We’ll have a huge pizza party….finally a good reason to “Like” someone on Facebook.

But Chris is also all about music.

He posts about other artists all the time.

He posted about Caitlin Canty – the newest Mishara Music artist – music coming soon:

He just posted about the new Barnaby Bright tour dates:

And then I saw this:

Forget what I say about “Just The Same”.

Read what Chris said.

And then listen to Barnaby Bright sing “Just The Same”.

Like I said….you can’t play it, I can’t sell it….all we can do is love, enjoy and share it:

There are many great singers, great guitar players – truly great musicians all over the world but it always starts with a song.

It could be “Mostly Sober” by Chris Ross

Or “Highway 9”, “Castle Rock” or now “Just The Same” by Barnaby Bright

Or the simple sentiment of “Dance With Me” by Clarensau

KCLC in St Louis – the same station that discovered “Mostly Sober” by Chris Ross is now up to 14 spins on Clarensau’s “Dance With Me” (a few spots higher on the playlist than Barnaby Bright’s “Highway 9”):

It’s all about the song.

Here’s the video for “Dance With Me” – it’s not fancy.

It’s not full of special effects or beautiful people from NYC or LA……it’s a song for the heartland:

And the heartland responds about Clarensau’s songs…..tweets everyday about their songs:

(Hear the entire “This One’s For You” album on it’s YouTube Listening Channel @ http://www.youtube.com/user/ClarensauThisOnesFor)

If you know me.

I’m not cool.

I don’t care.

I had my days in Hollywood in the big time record business.

I have way more fun now.

I wear cargo pants (cargo pockets are perfectly sized for a kindle, music and all sorts of odds and ends) and t-shirts.

There’s a music business blogger named Bob Lefsetz (www.lefsetz.com) who has the # 1 read blog about the business.

He’s controversial, opinionated and you’ll agree with him one moment and be outraged the next.

He’s cool right now.

Everyone reads him.

He gets invited to go backstage and hang with the artists.

That gives him unique insights.

He wrote about the same Jazzfest days that I did.

We had completely different experiences.

He was on the side of the stage, he was with the artists. (Sign up for his blog at his website above and read it – great fun)

I used to be where Bob was – when I worked at Warner Bros Records and DreamWorks Records.

Now I’m in the mud.

It’s hard to explain – but I prefer it.

One great reason – I don’t answer to anyone (except my wife of course – c’mon – let’s be real).

Both of our days at Jazzfest were great….besides the great music….there was lots of mud, more rain and lots of fun:

They’ve got special events for kids – including this cool interview tent:

And the best tea any of us have ever had – the Rosemint tea sweetened with honey – our favorite every year – even if we have to march over an acre of mud to get to it:

We always love the Jerry Douglas Band – we’ve seen them before…..it was a tough hike to get to that stage this year:

The act I was most looking forward to (and was absolutely worth waiting for) was Jimmy Cliff – “The Harder They Come” was a favorite movie and record of my youth:

Sometimes when the crowd is big – it’s best to be on dad’s shoulder:

Kim was looking forward to checking out Maroon 5….as were about a million other people….who continually moved in and out from their performance:

It was so packed Ethan and I backed out and went and got our annual “snowcones” – which were yummy even though it was 50 degrees….by the time he was finished Ethan’s lips were blue and he was shivering….but he wouldn’t give it up:

So we headed for the warm food. Jazzfest always has an amazing selection of New Orlean’s cookin’ – all by local vendors. Our favs this year were the Red Beans and Rice, Crawfish Rice & my all time favorite Crawfish Etouffee. We always love the Fried Green Tomatoes and the Crawfish Boil as well. Lucky for Ethan he got to sit on the table to eat – mom and dad had to stand in the mud:

Jimmy Cliff and Maroon 5 were two of the last scheduled acts of the day and it empties out fast – time to head to the French Quarter for dinner:

Sad to leave – but we’ll be back:

But the party continues outside the fairgrounds – many of the surrounding houses have bands that are just as good as the artists inside:

You never know what you’re going to see outside the fairgrounds in New Orleans – here’s a first – a woman painting through her identical marionette:

My favorite but saddest yet most heartwarming photo of the day.

This couple sat on their porch on lawn chairs both days as we walked by listening to the music coming from the fairgrounds across the street.

We stopped to talk to them on our way out the last day.

They’re moving to Dallas to be nearer to family…..after living 69 years in this house!

They’ve seen it all:

We definitely did the festival this year on a very low budget including using public transportation…..but as you often discover using public transportation…..it was faster getting back to the French Quarter on the bus than any other way (and a whole lot cheaper!):

In the next letter / post – what we did in New Orleans when we weren’t at Jazzfest.

It’s like two vacations in one!

Marc

PS The logo of this year’s fest on the stage screens as the days ended:

PPS Don’t forget Mishara Music always offers up lots of free songs – no email or registration required to get them!

39 free songs including songs by Barnaby Bright, Chris Ross, Clarensau, Peter Bradley Adams, Connor Garvey and Mishara friend Glen Phillips are featured on our Amazon free song samplers @

http://tinyurl.com/AmazonFreeMisharaSamplers

And for our international readers that may not be able to access our Amazon samplers – more free songs are available at

http://misharamusic.com/site/?page_id=18

Enjoy!

PPPS Lastly – I don’t know where a 7 year old learns this stuff – I sure didn’t know it when I was his age – Ethan was a dancing fool at Jazzfest and his favorite move was “shaking his booty”:

Marc Ratner

Mishara Music

Website: www.misharamusic.com

http://tinyurl.com/AmazonFreeMisharaSamplers

Mar

Snow at 100 & 10,000 feet – who travels for more snow? I had a great reason – the Marcrescue blog

Greetings all,

If you’ve been paying attention to these blog posts you know we’ve had “some” snow in Maine.

Not just snow – we’ve had some chilly days as well – the coldest week this winter never got to a double digit temperature all week (meaning it never got as warm as 10 degrees).

If you’ve been paying attention to the family part of these blog posts you know that we live in exactly the right place – we love winter, snow and cold.

Strange?

Of course.

It gets worse.

If you’ve been paying attention to the photos I take you know I like to take photos outside during the winter.

I just can’t pass up the opportunity to take photos no matter what the weather.

So I found myself a couple weeks ago driving past Hosmer Pond (not really “pond” size – don’t know why it’s not called a lake – but that’s Maine for ya) at 6am in the morning and the light was perfect and I just had to put on a pair of ice spikes on my shoes (yup – keep a pair handy in the car all the time) and head out on Hosmer to take photos of the ice fishing houses.

A small problem.

It was 8 degrees.

My hands kept freezing.

I’m used to that.

But so did the shutter on the camera.

So I had to warm it up inside my pocket before and after every shot.

But I got the photos.

These fishing houses in some parts of the country are fancy store bought mini homes but here in Maine – they’re home built from whatever materials are handy.

I never know what to expect each winter.

Here’s the 2013 edition of the Hosmer Pond Ice Fishing Houses:

One of these days I’m going to find a way to get tours of the insides so I can get those photos as well.

I’m writing tonight from the West Coast. I’m out here for a 10 day road trip part of which involves more snow.

Like I’m not getting enough in Maine.

But before I get to that there are a few interesting things happening musically at Mishara Music – our indie music company that gives me an excuse to write this email / blog.

Barnaby Bright’s album The Longest Day in two weeks is already # 110 on the FMQB Top 200 Non-Com Public radio chart:

But anyone can read charts.

Sometime’s it’s more important to mention things that are happening outside the chart world that demonstrate the audience appeal of Barnaby Bright.

Love seeing FB posts like this:

And this one:

We love to work with radio (and make note of the WUMB interview with Caitlin Canty):

All things Barnaby Bright are pretty swell at the moment.

“Highway 9” appears to be the first lead track at radio (followed closely by “Castle Rock”):

Here’s how good they are live – “Highway 9” in concert:

The new album by Clarensau This One’s For You is also going for radio airplay now:

It’s fun to browse Twitter and Facebook and watch the audience discover Clarensau as well:

Notice that last Pandora mention – the “Caitlin Canty” channel?

It’s the same Caitlin Canty that was being interviewed on WUMB.

One of the Mishara Music slogans that we use is “A Home For Singer – Songwriters”.

It’s fun watching our brand grow.

All four of our Mishara Music Amazon Free Song Samplers…..

…..Have been getting new reviews recently – here’s a sample:

Amazon Samplers New Reviews February 2013

It’s especially interesting to see Caitlin Canty mentioned twice above – on the WUMB website and the Clarensau fan Facebook Pandora post.

Seems like there’s some synergy happening here.

Oh – did I mention the next Mishara Music artist?

The very same Caitlin Canty.

Watch for her new album Golden Hour on Mishara Music coming soon:

Lastly let’s talk about the latest Chris Ross news.

WBSD is the first to add new track “Your America” which has amazing lyrics:

Chris continues to amaze with reaction to “Mostly Sober”:

He also continues to have the most fun Facebook page ever:

And TV is noticing:

So all’s good in the Mishara Music world

So I can spend some time on the road.

Sure I tell most people that I’m in Los Angeles for meetings.

And I am….for much of the time.

But that’s not why I made the trip.

Some know – many don’t that for 20+ years I was on a Mountain Rescue Association search and rescue team based out of Los Angeles.

The first weekend of March every year the California Region of the Mountain Rescue Association does a recertification examination of all 19 MRA (www.mra.org) teams in California.

This year was the “Snow and Ice” recert.

And as I do every year I return to California to work at the recert as an examiner.

Hanging with my team members (me on the right with the yellow examiner vest on):

Then up we go on the mountain (arghhh – it was almost straight up) – I was one of 2 examiners for the testing of the San Diego SAR team – those rescue packs average 50 pounds:

Because it’s a “snow” test – the first rescue anchor can only be made in the snow – no useage of trees or rocks is allowed. What’s the best anchor? A “bollard” – a tear drop shaped trench dug very large that uses snow “pickets’, show shovels and even packs to help support a mainline rescue rope.

Which means you have to shovel, shovel, shovel – at 10,000 feet:

Then the rope rigging:

Ready to lower:

Down the victim goes – in special rescue packaging – the team medical people have to be prepared to do the same kind of emergency medical care that happens at sea level – it’s tough at sea level – very tough at 10,000 feet:

Take a look at this photo below – every one of these people from all over the state of California is a volunteer that donates hundreds of hours every year and spends a huge amount of their own money to buy additional gear that their teams can’t afford to supply:

When you caught up and frustrated with the state of world affairs – take a moment and get no little comfort in knowing that these fine people and others like them all over the world – will at a moment’s notice put their own lives at risk to save their fellow men, women and children no matter what the situation.

They don’t get paid, they don’t charge for the rescues, they’re not rich, they’re not famous, they’re not on reality tv but when you need them they’ll be there.

So for once sleep well and have a safe week.

Marc

PS If you ever get lost or hurt in the California mountains (and they’re some big ones) near San Diego – rest assured – you’ll be rescued – San Diego Mountain Rescue passed the exam with flying colors!

Marc Ratner

Mishara Music

Website: www.misharamusic.com