A New Direction

 

 

Who Are They To Say?

They tell you that if you are gonna be successful as a musician in this digital age you have to do it all. You need to be everywhere. You must maintain every profile on every social network, play live, promote yourself, and when you find some free time write and record hit songs. You have to do this without ever making a dime until something or someone comes along and decides to help. Or Apple decides to use one of your songs in a commercial(btw they won’t pay you either). It’s not the same old music business anymore. It’s not even the same one it was yesterday. Everything has changed. And so have I. And for that reason I am resurrecting this blog and changing the direction of it. At least for now. This blog was, if I do say so myself, pointless. It’s just another avenue for me to promote myself and my music. It’s a way for you the reader or listener to delve deeper into who I am. But now I want to do something different here. I want to tell you what it’s really like being an independent musician. And it’s not for you to feel sorry for us musicians. Or for me to have a place to vent(though I am sure I will). So why am I doing this? To get the truth out. I try my best to tell my truth when I am writing music and I want to do the same here. My goal is for what is to follow is to give some insight to music lovers and some direction for those thinking of becoming professional musicians. Take from it what you like.

 

A little history lesson:

Runaway Dorothy has been a thing now for about 6 years. At least the name has. I am the only remaining original member of a side project that started in a small apartment in downtown Charleston, SC. At the time I had just quit a fairly successful band that was somewhat known. I would later learn that I was gonna be fired at any moment. No one bothered to tell me until a few years later. And then my best friend and guitarist let me in on the secret. He was the one who was supposed to fire me. But I am not bitter. Really, I am not. Being in that band for the short amount of time I was in it was the best learning experience ever. I learned how a successful band should operate. But more importantly I got to see where they fell short. It wasn’t music or talent. They had that in spades with a great looking singer with an incredible voice who could write catchy songs in his sleep( I actually think he did). So what was it? More on that another time. So RD was born in January of 2006. I know this because that is when I first started the myspace page. I think at the time I had written only one song I was proud of. It was a song called ‘Matter of Time’ and it was about my mom and dad. It made the first album though I lost more than half of the lyrics when I moved out of my apt in Charleston. I apologize now to anyone who is reading for the sporadic thoughts and horrid grammar and punctuation. It won’t get any better from here on out. I just write. I let someone else edit. Now where was I? Oh, yes. I have one song, a myspace page and a name. I am a full-fledged musician in the digital age.

A Little More…

Fast forward a few years and our debut album ‘The Arc’ is out. The small group of people who found it love it. The reviews have been great. AND famous and successful musicians have been singing it’s praises. Great! Right? Well yes, but that doesn’t mean much when you can’t pay the rent. Well you could say ‘Go get a job you lazy bum’. I have one. I teach guitar lessons and do other side jobs now. In the past I have worked for a non-profit, I have worked in a coffee shop, I even worked for a clothing boutique all while being a musician and playing shows. Though I have had many jobs(too many to name or even remember) this is the first time I have ever let on about this. I never mention it in interviews or online or on any of our social media sites. I couldn’t destroy your image of a successful musician. What would you think? You want your musicians to be cool, carefree, and only working on music. You don’t want to know Chris Martin is working at Starbucks when he isn’t on tour. Or that after Beyonce gets off stage she has to get home because she has to get to her Temp job in the morning. Am I wrong? If so let me know because this is what the industry has been telling us to keep from you for years.**Side note(this will happen from time to time. You will learn that my mind works like a JD Salinger novel. It’s all over the place.) Musicians can’t have normal jobs if we want to be successful musicians. We can’t work a 40 hour traditional work week. Why? We HAVE to play shows. No one is buying the record. They are illegally downloading it. So in order to make some money and to broaden our audience we have to play shows. And you have to play shows on week days. IF you are a successful act the venues give you the weekends. And let’s be honest you aren’t gonna make much on a Monday night. Thus we have to work weird jobs that allow us to have more flexible schedules. Downside to this is they usually pay less and are a less steady income. But you have to do it. Otherwise you work your M-F job and not tour. And as far as I know it’s impossible to work a 9-5 at Citibank and be on tour at the same time. If someone knows different please let me know. The upside is we want to play shows. Or at least I do. And you as fans want to know we are coming to a city near you soon. I get emails all the time asking when are we coming to Detroit, or Chicago, or even small town Georgia. We want to go. Believe me. We would be in our non-existent van in the morning if we could. Damn…I have done it again. Off on a tangent. Where was I? Jobs…oh yes. We all have jobs that we do our best to work around to go play shows and rehearse.

 

Today

It’s Grammy night 2012. We just got done with our vocal rehearsal for the week and are practicing our acceptance speeches for next years Grammys. Everyone has gone home and I am up starting this blog entry. I don’t have a home. I really haven’t had one since I moved to New York over 5 years ago. I have spent most of my time on my brother’s futon in his living room. And that is where I will sleep tonight. Why? I can’t afford my own place. Great reviews and all aside we haven’t sold enough records nor do I have enough students or side work to afford me a room. I put all my time and money into this music that I believe in. Maybe it’s stupid, but it’s the only thing that feels right. I heard a story about Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest that he lived with his mother on her couch even after they had a few albums out and were ‘successful’. I now fully understand what that is like. It’s hard. It’s hard to be creative and write music in this place and then stand on a stage and become the character of success and then return here every night. Sorry, I will stop bitching now. Everyone has his own story(finally some correct grammar). Most of the time it isn’t easy.

 

Moving Forward

So this in a nut shell is where we are. One album out. One almost done. Dates are lined up for a small tour in about a month to SXSW(we have no clue how we are gonna pay for it). The following entries will be an honest and grammatically incorrect account of what is happening with me and the band. I won’t promote this blog on Twitter or Facebook or whatever new social thing is coming out tomorrow morning. If you want to read it you will have to find it on your own(it will always be at this web address). And if you are reading it it must mean you really want to know. You want to know the highs and the lows. And that unfiltered is what I will bring you. That is until my manager makes me take all this down. I know the story so far is missing some pieces. Fear not, I will fill you in as we go, but for now I bid you goodnight or good morning wherever you are. I must shower and go to sleep. I have to get up early tomorrow and look for a new job so I can afford this tour and finish this album. Ok, ok. Honesty. I am gonna shower, I will watch one episode of ‘Downton Abbey’(I am addicted to the show) and then I will go to sleep.

 

Dave

 

News, Recording Process, Wish List and Thank You.

So much has happened since my last post. We are well into recording our new album which we are realistically hoping for a summer release. It will be done before that time, but for us to go through all the proper channels of publicity it will take that time to officially release it.

So what is done? We are done with all the major recording. Guitars, bass drums, and more guitars are done. We did some pretty obscure recording techniques to get some pretty awesome sounds. For instance we recorded all the electric guitars in the bathroom. So what is left? Well the vocals for one thing. And I am going crazy on the vocals this time around. I have recently become re-obsessed with Fleetwood Mac and Queen. I will leave it at that for now, but I will tell you it’s gonna be really involved. We are also needing to track the string section, Violin, Viola, and cello. We have an amazing trio coming in for this(part of them are a part of this post-rock ensemble call industries of the blind, listen to them here: Industries of the Blind ). Pedal steel. If any of you have been following us on Twitter and Facebook you know that I have been crying for a pedal steel guitar. We haven’t yet found one to borrow, but we are still looking. And when we find it we will record it. And lastly we have to add the ear candy. Ear candy? Yes, ear candy. This is all the little things like shakers, and tambourines, and background noises, and dogs barking(if you listen closely on our first album you can hear Oran’s dog bark at the beginning of ‘With You’).

In other news we are fortunate to have Adam Duritz and Rosanne Cash as fans, friends, and neighbors. They have been a huge help in getting our name and music out there. Just this week Rosanne has been connecting us with new fans and helping us acquire a proper booking agent. Her booking agent that is. I am actually talking to him tomorrow(March 21) so wish us luck. This will be a huge help in getting us out on the road which is where we want to be. Playing shows. We also have a line in the water for a new management team. I can’t expand upon this now, but as soon as something finalizes I will let you know(check our Twitter for instant updates). And just yesterday my brother and our guitar player Brett ran into Adam at SXSW. Adam was having some chicken, but Brett had to interrupt him long enough to thank him for all his help.

After being asked by a few fans what we need to finish recording I decided to make a list. Here are a few things we are waiting for to move forward with recording:

1) Golden Age Pre 73 Vocal pre amp -$300 Bucks at musiciansfriend.com
This is to make our vocals sounds amazing.
2) Pedal Steel -$700-1000 on Ebay
This is to make all those sad songs even sadder.
3 Pizza – $36 for 2 pies at Rose and Joe’s in Astoria
It’s fuel for inspiration. We gotta eat right?

If you have any of these things and we could borrow for the duration of recording please get in contact with us at info@runawaydorothy.com. Or if you would like to make a contribution to help us afford to buy/rent these items you can do so at Paypal.com and use the address paypal@runawaydorothy as the recipient.

Lastly, I want to thank everyone for their support. We are a completely indie band that survives by the kindness of our fans. You help me get up early in the morning to do my work. Thank you. And I want to especially thank Brenda Likavec, Ingrid Lundt, and Jerllin Cheng for their continuous support and dedication to our music. You have no idea how much you mean to me.

Until next time,

d

Oh and the photo above is of the Festival for Humanity we will be playing this Memorial Day. More details to come.

Get Our Debut Album and Help the Less Fortunate at the Same Time.

It’s the holiday time of year again and we have so much to be thankful for. This year has been the best for us as a band and for me personally it has been the best too. With that in mind it’s time to give something back. Last year at Christmas we decided we were gonna raise some money(not for us for a change) for a little girl we sponsor in Columbia through Children International. Her name is Kelly and she is 9. If I were smarter at using computers I would figure out a way to post a picture of her. Anyway, with the help of some fantastic people we raised some money to send to Kelly and her family to help them have a better Christmas. We want to do that again this year. And this time we want to make it bigger and better.

So here is the plan. Anyone who donates to help Kelly and her family have the best Christmas ever will receive a free digital copy of our debut album ‘The Arc’ for themselves AND a friend. Donate any amount and get two copies. Not bad huh? All you need to do is:

1 Go to Paypal.com

2 Enter your amount to send (ie $100.00)

3 Select ‘Buy Something’ – This is so you do not pay any fees. We are responsible for all fees.

4 Enter the email address ‘paypal@runawaydorothy.com’ in the ‘TO’ field and enter your email address so we know where to send your download

5 Enter your paying option on the next page and send.

And then you will receive and email with a link to download the album. It’s that easy. ALL the money raised will go to the family. And if you have any questions please feel free to contact us at info@runawaydorothy.com.

Thank you and Happy Holidays!

Dave

Adam Duritz Loves Us…

Do you ever have that moment when you realize things have come full circle? I recently did. And to be honest I think I am living inside of the circle. Let me tell you a story.

When I first began performing music I used to frequent an open mic in Southern Pines, North Carolina. The place was called the Picnic Basket. My friend, an awesome musician, Laura Vincent introduced me to the place. At first I came along just to accompany her on guitar. Play a lead part here and come up with a cool lick there. No singing and I definitely wasn’t gonna play one of my songs. But after a few weeks of going I got the courage to break out and attempt some things on my own. I wanted to sing my songs(this is something I have know since I as 12 when I only knew 2 chords on the guitar. My first song ‘Sticks and Stones’ was written with those two chords. I still remember the chorus to this day. It is a bad song. But a start).

And so I started doing songs by myself. I would mix in an original and then play a song from my current favorite album ‘Recovering The Satellites’ by Counting Crows. **Editors note. This is still my favorite album by them. Dark, gloomy and full of all the right emotions in stellar songs. I don’t think the audience liked my renditions too much. I was encouraged to just play guitar for my friend. Now these people were not like the Brooklyn Open Mic going hipsters. These were older retirees who wanted to hear the pretty girl with the pretty voice sing. I didn’t listen. And week after week I would drive 45 mins to show up at that open mic to play my three songs generally consisting of an Oasis tune, an original, and a Counting Crows songs. Some weeks I would get skipped. On purpose perhaps. But the next week I would be back again. To try again. This is what I want to do. And if it takes getting knocked down and told ‘no’ then I am not going to listen to anyone or anything but my gut.

Fast forward to two weeks ago. Adam Duritz of Counting Crows is doing an interview on a great music blog where the first thing he mentions is how much he loves our album. He calls it ‘Killer’. I can’t believe what I am hearing. The musician whose songs I used to butcher when I was first learning to be on a stage thinks my album is ‘great’. This is blowing my mind. I can’t believe it. But it’s true. It says it right there in print. I read it with my own eyes. So I immediately tweet at him to say thank you for such high praise. And that coming from him it really means a lot. He responded by saying that all he did was listen. And he thanked me. And just this past weekend he was home and tweeted that he was listening to our album again and how great he thought it is. Unbelievable.

Now if I can only get him to produce our next album….

Get our debut album and new EP for just $2

We have decided to team up with the guys at Kickstarter.com to raise money to fund our new EP. Over the next 78 days we will be going for 5000 dollars. This is what we will need to record, mix, master, and press our EP ‘Chases’. If we reach our goal of $5000 we get all the money. If we don’t…we get none of it

Here’s how it works:

We have set up a project at kickstarter.com.

We spread the word like wild fire that we are making a new record and ask people to donate a buck or two. BUT instead of just asking for money we are giving away prizes with each donation. For instance if you give a dollar to make our record you get a free download of our debut album. Not bad huh? You get our debut album that sells on iTunes for $9.99 for just $1. And there are pledge levels all the way from $1 to $10,000 so everyone can participate at a level they feel comfortable. Donate $10,000 and Runaway Dorothy will come and play a private show for you WHERE EVER you live(as long as it’s in the lower 48).

Also, we know that times are difficult financially for us all right now so if you can’t give you can still help out. Just tell someone about our project. We would greatly appreciate any help you could give us and will forever be grateful.

Thanks,

RD

For more details and to contribute visit

WHO NEEDS RECORD LABELS WHEN WE HAVE YOU!!!!

Become our friend on facebook

Today only. Become our friend on facebook. Leave us a wall post. We will give you a free copy of our debut cd. Already a fan? We will be giving away a runaway dorothy prize pack today to a lucky wall poster too.

www.facebook.com/runawaydorothy

Pandora

Just heard us on Pandora for the first time today. I must admit it was a little weird. Kinda like the first time I heard myself on the radio. It was almost like it wasn’t me singing. And in all honesty I liked what I was hearing. This was the first time I was able step back and kinda admire the work we have done.