Fever Ray-Keep The Streets Empty For Me
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Music you should hear-Amanda Pallmer sings Hurt w/Boston Pops
Amanda Pallmer sings Hurt w/Boston Pops
Monday, January 4, 2010
Happy New Year!
Past
At the end of 2009 Joe and I found ourselves without a singer/lyricist as Danny decided to commit himself to the culinary arts. Can't really say I blame Danny for the change of direction since the last two years have been less productive then they should've been and certainly music didn't earn us cash or the promise of cash like it had in better days. At some point we might have Danny finish a few songs that we should've released ages ago, but since he will be in Spain for the foreseeable future, I wouldn't hold your breath waiting to hear those. We will miss having Danny's vocals, lyrics and guitar, but that was his choice to make. If Danny changes his mind we've left the door wide open for him to return but we are proceeding as if that won't be happening. We've chosen to keep using the name Marqui Adora but we realized this won't please all of you. When it comes to my favorite music plenty of bands I enjoy went through major changes through the years and this will certainly be a big one for us. Some people like early Pink Floyd, some middle, and some later. Some people like Peter Gabriel with Genesis and others without. At first we thought we'd release music under another name, but then we realized that would be abandoning this bunch of songs to the scrapheap since no further attention would be given to them.Present
The next step for Marqui Adora will be releasing a few instrumental tracks Joe and I have been recording this past year. My self imposed goal is to have them out before the end of time...Future
Sometime after that Joe and I will be putting out more music and, as usual, you should expect the unexpected.-Tooker
Marqui Adora
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
An unexpected email leads to a course correction.
After working on one of the Marqui Adora songs all day I read this email message from Danny Ashe:
Subject:Hey Guys
I've been giving this a lot of thought and have come to a big decision. My days with Marqui Adora are over.
The fact that it doesn't bother me that we haven't done anything in months, tells me my heart is not in it anymore. For months I've been debating whether or not I should do this and I guess certain things have happened lately that have made me realize there's too many things I sacrificed for music. It was fine to sacrifice them at the time, but now I feel I need to move on.
I got a job in Spain, so I'm leaving right after Christmas and will be there for most of, if not all of 2010. Not sure if I'll be coming back to the States though... at least for a while.
It's been great working with you guys but after 20 years of playing music I'm officially ready to concentrate on a new career, new experiences and new goals.
I wish you both the best with the music and if at any point you want vocals done for the songs we haven't finished, let me know.
Take care,
This is Danny Ashe signing off...
So there you go. Joe and I hope Danny does well in everything he chooses to do in his life. (For my part I hope he falls back into making music someday since he is one of the most talented musicians I've ever worked with.)
Thanks for all the good times and good tunes Danny.
-John Tooker
Marqui Adora
Subject:Hey Guys
I've been giving this a lot of thought and have come to a big decision. My days with Marqui Adora are over.
The fact that it doesn't bother me that we haven't done anything in months, tells me my heart is not in it anymore. For months I've been debating whether or not I should do this and I guess certain things have happened lately that have made me realize there's too many things I sacrificed for music. It was fine to sacrifice them at the time, but now I feel I need to move on.
I got a job in Spain, so I'm leaving right after Christmas and will be there for most of, if not all of 2010. Not sure if I'll be coming back to the States though... at least for a while.
It's been great working with you guys but after 20 years of playing music I'm officially ready to concentrate on a new career, new experiences and new goals.
I wish you both the best with the music and if at any point you want vocals done for the songs we haven't finished, let me know.
Take care,
This is Danny Ashe signing off...
So there you go. Joe and I hope Danny does well in everything he chooses to do in his life. (For my part I hope he falls back into making music someday since he is one of the most talented musicians I've ever worked with.)
Thanks for all the good times and good tunes Danny.
-John Tooker
Marqui Adora
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Where is Art & Entertainment heading?
John sent me these two links last night...
http://blog.amandapalmer.net/post/200582690/why-i-am-not-afraid-to-take-your-money-by-amanda
http://www.wbur.org/2009/08/20/basement-musician
I agree with Amanda Palmer. She totally has the right idea. Why the hell should you not be compensated for the art you create? The idea of every artist or band being a street a street performer and saying "Yo, give me some money!" might be a bit hard for some to adjust to, but it does make a lot of sense.
Marqui Adora (http://www.marquiadora.com) rarely played shows for this exact reason. We quickly got tired of haggling Promoters to get paid at the end of the night after playing with 10 other bands on a tiny stage not large enough for a drum kit let alone a 4 piece band and a shit PA. We knew we were never going to be singing with a record label and endless touring when no one knows who you are wasn't really appealing either. John and I continually said there has to be a better way. We went the music licensing route and even though we had some successes, when the well ran dry on placement opportunities, we quickly realized we had no real fan base, not one large enough to support us, and it was time to get day jobs. And although the music industry is in flux, some really awesome things are happening as a result. For one, John and I know a shit ton about how to fix and troubleshoot an Apple Computer and Danny knows how to expertly make your mouth water while preparing food in the kitchen. Howard can make a new tooth for ya.
With the basement musician guy... he is just as silly to me as Jonathan Coulton, but he has good ideas, just like Jonathan. And for that matter so did Radiohead with their Thumbs Down webcast videos during In Rainbows.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8GKRb-INFE
These videos got me excited to go see them live. And many bought the Box Sets. I paid five bucks for the record, even after getting the whole thing free a week or two before it's "Official" release.
The key here is both artists are taking chances and go about their business in ways that make the most sense to them. Neither of their approaches will work for everyone but they will work for those who put in the time and energy to build relationships with the fans/customers.
"Bob Lefsetz says it's all about the live show, what about recorded music and all the money I spent buying recording gear and the time I spent learning how to do it on my own? Does recorded music have value any more?"
Good question. I ask my self that question whenever I go into my office and see 10's of thousands of dollars worth of recording equipment, instruments, computers and shelves full of 12" records and CD's. I ask myself that question whenever I think of how many times I listened to "The Downward Spiral", "Broken" and "The Slip"; or the number of times I walked to school listening to "Disintegration", "Pornography" and that Ethyl Meatplow record; or the time I spent dissecting "Fook", and the many drives to anywhere just to listen to "Either/Or" and "XO"; Or how about the trips to Orlando with "Ruby Vroom" or "The Bends" as the soundtrack or the number of times I just sat down with headphones to take in "In Rainbows" or even most recently "xx". Of course these recordings have value! Look at how much use I got out of them! I see the music landscape becoming more interesting everyday and I think the value of recorded music is still there and is expanding in the form of royalties through services like Spotify. Not that Spotify is the end of the line, but it's a big step in the right direction when it comes to this topic.
Which leads me to my next topic...
As for Art and Entertainment as a whole, I feel really comfortable with the idea of owning very little but having access to everything. I've been doing that for years with Movies (The Theatre, Netflix, iTunes etc.) and now with Spotify I'll be doing it more so with music (don't worry eMusic, I still love you). The People who really want the access will pay for it via subscription or buy the Album/Song/Movie out right, those who don't will tolerate the Ad's because really, they don't care that much anyway, otherwise they would own the record/movie themselves. I feel the same applies with Books, TV, Radio and all forms of art that can be digitized. When on demand services mature and every play/stream/download is accurately accounted for and reported to the rights holders and collections services, the amount of revenue generated as whole will be insane, even at fractions of a penny per download. And of course Labels, Publishers and Movie Studios will find their place again by delivering prominence and front page placement. It will all level out
You can't buy the Statue of Liberty, but you can pay admission and see it in person... while you're there you can buy a print, a postcard, a t-shirt, go home and download the screen saver or desktop img, etc. This applies to the Album and seeing a band live. You can't own the band (well, ok maybe you can), but you can own a copy of the album digitally, a t-shirt, a poster, blah blah blah. And there will always be diehards who want a collectable, like a CD, Vinyl or A Super Duper Blue Ray ultra amazing 5.1 more real than real Audio/Video 3D DVD 128 Page Full Color (to big for your book shelf and takes up so much space on your coffee table that you can't actually place a cup of coffee on it) Enhanced Box Set Thingy.
We (bands this means you) just have to stick around long enough to capitalize off of all the changes ahead of us.
-Joe
http://blog.amandapalmer.net/post/200582690/why-i-am-not-afraid-to-take-your-money-by-amanda
http://www.wbur.org/2009/08/20/basement-musician
Here are some thoughts after reading them:
I agree with Amanda Palmer. She totally has the right idea. Why the hell should you not be compensated for the art you create? The idea of every artist or band being a street a street performer and saying "Yo, give me some money!" might be a bit hard for some to adjust to, but it does make a lot of sense.
Marqui Adora (http://www.marquiadora.com) rarely played shows for this exact reason. We quickly got tired of haggling Promoters to get paid at the end of the night after playing with 10 other bands on a tiny stage not large enough for a drum kit let alone a 4 piece band and a shit PA. We knew we were never going to be singing with a record label and endless touring when no one knows who you are wasn't really appealing either. John and I continually said there has to be a better way. We went the music licensing route and even though we had some successes, when the well ran dry on placement opportunities, we quickly realized we had no real fan base, not one large enough to support us, and it was time to get day jobs. And although the music industry is in flux, some really awesome things are happening as a result. For one, John and I know a shit ton about how to fix and troubleshoot an Apple Computer and Danny knows how to expertly make your mouth water while preparing food in the kitchen. Howard can make a new tooth for ya.
With the basement musician guy... he is just as silly to me as Jonathan Coulton, but he has good ideas, just like Jonathan. And for that matter so did Radiohead with their Thumbs Down webcast videos during In Rainbows.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8GKRb-INFE
These videos got me excited to go see them live. And many bought the Box Sets. I paid five bucks for the record, even after getting the whole thing free a week or two before it's "Official" release.
The key here is both artists are taking chances and go about their business in ways that make the most sense to them. Neither of their approaches will work for everyone but they will work for those who put in the time and energy to build relationships with the fans/customers.
"Bob Lefsetz says it's all about the live show, what about recorded music and all the money I spent buying recording gear and the time I spent learning how to do it on my own? Does recorded music have value any more?"
Good question. I ask my self that question whenever I go into my office and see 10's of thousands of dollars worth of recording equipment, instruments, computers and shelves full of 12" records and CD's. I ask myself that question whenever I think of how many times I listened to "The Downward Spiral", "Broken" and "The Slip"; or the number of times I walked to school listening to "Disintegration", "Pornography" and that Ethyl Meatplow record; or the time I spent dissecting "Fook", and the many drives to anywhere just to listen to "Either/Or" and "XO"; Or how about the trips to Orlando with "Ruby Vroom" or "The Bends" as the soundtrack or the number of times I just sat down with headphones to take in "In Rainbows" or even most recently "xx". Of course these recordings have value! Look at how much use I got out of them! I see the music landscape becoming more interesting everyday and I think the value of recorded music is still there and is expanding in the form of royalties through services like Spotify. Not that Spotify is the end of the line, but it's a big step in the right direction when it comes to this topic.
Which leads me to my next topic...
Ownership vs. Access.
As for Art and Entertainment as a whole, I feel really comfortable with the idea of owning very little but having access to everything. I've been doing that for years with Movies (The Theatre, Netflix, iTunes etc.) and now with Spotify I'll be doing it more so with music (don't worry eMusic, I still love you). The People who really want the access will pay for it via subscription or buy the Album/Song/Movie out right, those who don't will tolerate the Ad's because really, they don't care that much anyway, otherwise they would own the record/movie themselves. I feel the same applies with Books, TV, Radio and all forms of art that can be digitized. When on demand services mature and every play/stream/download is accurately accounted for and reported to the rights holders and collections services, the amount of revenue generated as whole will be insane, even at fractions of a penny per download. And of course Labels, Publishers and Movie Studios will find their place again by delivering prominence and front page placement. It will all level out
You can't buy the Statue of Liberty, but you can pay admission and see it in person... while you're there you can buy a print, a postcard, a t-shirt, go home and download the screen saver or desktop img, etc. This applies to the Album and seeing a band live. You can't own the band (well, ok maybe you can), but you can own a copy of the album digitally, a t-shirt, a poster, blah blah blah. And there will always be diehards who want a collectable, like a CD, Vinyl or A Super Duper Blue Ray ultra amazing 5.1 more real than real Audio/Video 3D DVD 128 Page Full Color (to big for your book shelf and takes up so much space on your coffee table that you can't actually place a cup of coffee on it) Enhanced Box Set Thingy.
We (bands this means you) just have to stick around long enough to capitalize off of all the changes ahead of us.
-Joe
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