Andy Best: May 2010 Archives

Events: Kungfuology blog party

| | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)
Jake and MM
Me and Jake's music blogs had birthdays last month. Two years for mine and the site in general, one year for Jake's

So we decided to have a low key, not for profit, birthday party at Yuyintang.

It was to be a low key event on a Tuesday. Yuyintang doesn't have anything on on Tuesdays so we called Sophia there and made the agreement that it was a non-ticketed event where Yuyintang made money from the bar. 

We also invited Ho Tom the Conqueror and Miniless Record's Han Han to play guest slots. They know the blogs and were happy to do it for free. 

We made a Douban event page, for posterity more than anything: here it is

Compare the sign up numbers and activity to this event that we did, which was fully pushed and promoted: PETA show

Most people who came did so via the announcement on the blogs themselves. Also Morgan Short of Boys Climbing Ropes was kind enough to throw out a reminder at the site Smart Shanghai

The whole thing just needed a few e-mails to set up. It went down well and many people who came took advantage of the park at the back of the venue and stayed after the acts were done.

Most true gigs here, even at smaller venues and bars are done on a ticket/cover charge system. It is also a fairly accepted model that bars make money from drinks and attractions such as bands are there to stimulate bar activity. I mention this because of recent conversations. The majority of people who came to our (free entry) party stayed late and were drinking all the time. I imagine there was more bar business done that night than at Mao on a night with five times the amount of people.
bennett
Last Friday I had a meeting with Tom to check over the latest chapters of the book. It was an interesting gauge of the progress that I blogged here. Talking about how many words per session you need to be doing.

So, I meet with Tom for feedback every time I finish three chapters. In the post we looked at a model that had an average chapter at 5 000 words. That is shooting for a 250 page book. Mine is slightly shorter, an average chapter is between 3 000 and 3 500 words. 

So, I meet with someone to get feedback, revisit the writing and chat about the ideas therein about once every 10 000 words. 

I give Tom new material at every other meeting. So I suppose I'm writing this at a rate of 5000 words per week. I generally fit in three sessions a week, so between 1-2 000 per sit down. I'd prefer to be doubling that rate by one way or another ... but I'm closing in on 70% done, 12 out of 18 chapters. 

At the current rate I should be finished the full draft around 5th July 2010.
ren hang
Photo by Ren Hang. Check out his amazing work here

This post is specifically about the Shanghai underground rock live circuit. However, it may still make you think about similar situations in your own city so there you go.

As usual, there are premises. Shanghai gigs tend to fall into three categories:

1) The audience is almost all locals who are often students or have lower incomes.

2) The audience is almost all international with a lifestyle that allows them greater flexibility.

3) A very rare crossover of the two.

There is an exception. Some bands have built a specific following that they can rely on to come to any given show.

For longer term scene/following building we would all hope that more and more younger locals get involved. Everyone knows this and talks about it. There's no need to expand on this here. So, after keeping an eye on things for a few years and being surprised at how this has not changed much at all ... I give you, the cut off point

<<ticket price 40 yuan and/or the main band running over 11.00 p.m.>>

This also translates into visible anxiety when the band the fans are there to check out have not taken the stage by 10.00 p.m.

This must be observed unless you are super famous and on TV or something. Of course, if you are not interested in long term building, it doesn't matter.

What's a blog?

| | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
from douban again ping
In case you're wondering, the photos come from galleries of friends on douban.com

So yeah, we all know what a blog is right? I mean, you're reading one now. They are very useful for the indie mind too. Saying that, there are some misconceptions going around that are useful to examine.

1) form vs content
2) standards and legitimacy

So, what's a blog ... drum roll please ... it's a type of computer software. That's right. It's a computer program that has many functions with the overall goal of letting you put things in the public domain via the internet.

The content - that is the things themselves, words, pics, ideas, topics etc - can be anything you like. So when you hear people talking about how blogs are like whiny personal diaries, they are just making an association. An incorrect one. You could research, write and produce a piece for a newspaper and have it in the print edition and also put it on your blog with no difference in the process. It's just available in two different mediums.

Rock Band 4: Demos

| | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
subs studio
There may well be more than one post on demos. There are so many ways to do it.

At some point you may want to record your music and for a variety of reasons. In fact, these days there is little difference between the idea of a 'demo' and just a straight indie recording of your music. With either the internet, or by physical distribution at your shows, once your music is in the public domain - it is.

In this post i'm going to give an outline of how our band did a 'demo' and then let you hear it.

The traditional idea of a 'demo' recording carried an idea of legitimacy. The demo was a stepping stone for an unsigned band to try to get shows and to get signed to a label. A full budget recording done by a label was like 'the real thing'. But with modern technology you can achieve pretty good quality by yourself, or with self-financing. 

But also, with the indie philosophy and a sub-culture non-commercial approach, you do not necessarily need quality to be legitimate. Let's go on.

Abusive Editing

| | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
fire cups
One part of the creative world that drives us into the DIY and indie corners is the idea of having to give your work over to abusive editors. 

Everyone is familiar with stories about movies whose scripts are butchered, directors are forced to change entire endings to suit the random whims of studio execs and stars that demand fundamental story ideas are changed to suit their persona.

In writing and journalism there is a similar culture but we are told it's normal and a vital part of the process.

There are many different ideas here and, as usual, it will help us to sift them a little. 

Let's try writing as a simple example.

In my mind there are only two kinds of editing. I'm not going to use accepted industry terms here exactly because they are loaded and abusive. Here we go:

What does selling out mean?

| | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)
fader
Ever since humans could put their thoughts down using written representations they have been wrestling with the idea of art.

We, as organisms, have the ability to reflect on our world and lives and express ourselves. It's a natural state, it just happens. Art represents the many ways we communicate these ideas to others.

Once we were living in large enough communities several issues came up. One biggie is art in the service of power. Like propaganda. Some fellow coined the phrase the pen is mightier than the sword.

Another issue is art used to sell things, or the intersection of art and commerce. This is especially relevant today as we live in a global consumer age and the people who run it have the power.

This is nothing new or controversial. 

Talking about this shouldn't bring up shock, panic or defensive behavior. But ...

Rock Band 3: more rehearsing

| | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
douban pink guitar
After another rehearsal this week it occurred to me that the post I did on how many words per session you should do when writing a book was based on the same premise as when you have band practices.

That is:

1) Taking time to work out exactly how much you are getting done and arriving at a time frame.

2) Then either adjusting your goals/expectations or your workload accordingly.

This gives you a definite plan and makes a huge difference to your chances of getting shit done. And, before we go further here are the premises:

You are not in a funded full time band. Your time is limited.
You are writing all original material. You are not in a bar-band or a jobbing musician.
crowley hat
These book posts are coming out in no real order. Sorry about that.

Today: having someone check your work and feedback

Summary:
*You want feedback at the draft stage
*You need a specific type only: personal response
*You need to find someone to do this

Part of the attraction of DIY book writing is that you can have complete control of your content. Various forms of checking and feedback are very useful and necessary but there is a definite culture of abuse in big publishing and pro journalism that we can happily avoid. I will write a separate post on that then come back and link it.

But but but. Especially for long form writing, you do want feedback. In our world though, you can choose to ignore it.

I use Shanghai based writer and musician Tom Mangione.

I try to do it once a week - especially since I'm trying to hit good quotas

About this Archive

This page is a archive of recent entries written by Andy Best in May 2010.

Andy Best: April 2010 is the previous archive.

Andy Best: June 2010 is the next archive.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.