There is, yet again, another page on my blog. The Links page (see the tab at the top of this page) lists all of my official pages on the internet, as well as all of the bloggers in The Great Blog Off. If you don’t know what The Great Blog Off is, join the facebook group, read the blogs, and vote for me at the end of the month!
When I was a kid (and by kid, I probably mean teenager), I would daydream about being a rock star. I remember spending extended periods of time in the washroom staring into the mirror - pretending to sing to huge stadiums full of screaming fans, and conducting one-way interviews where I would explain what life is really like as a tortured artist. I think my toothbrush made a decent substitute for a microphone, but it wasn’t quite the same.
Now if I’m perfectly honest, I’ll admit that perhaps I still entertain the mirror from time to time. There’s something fun about picturing a distant life of prestige and stardom. However, in all reality, I don’t foresee any stadium-rock or MTV interviews coming my way anytime soon. But things are happening, slowly but surely, and I’m getting pretty excited about it.
Yesterday was my debut radio appearance. Tony Bookless, and I drove out to Abbotsford (singing along to Michael Jackson songs most of the way) to meet Nathan at CIVL radio. I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t even know if we were going to do an interview, or if I was going to co-host a show, or if I was going to play a song, or whatever other options there could be… so I brought my guitar and some CDs and hoped for the best.
Nathan greeted us at the door and that immediately gave me a good first impression of him and the studio. We proceeded into one of the booths and just started chatting casually. Tony joined in the conversation from time to time, but was mostly there to shoot footage for the new Jeffisode # 3, which will be coming soon. Nathan interviewed me with very well-phrased questions. He even did some research on me and quoted my bio a couple of times. I was quite flattered about that. I felt like I was some sort of professional (which, I guess, is what I’m trying to be). I am not very good at speaking off the top of my head. I tend to stumble over words, so I was a bit nervous about being interviewed. But Nathan asked questions in such a way that made it easy for me to sound interesting. The guy’s got skills.
After the interview, he had me record something called IDs, which is something like, “Hey! This is Jeff Hawker, and you’re listening to CIVL radio.” That was pretty fun. But not quite as fun as what came next… I got to perform “Shame on Me” in the studio. Interviews and IDs are part of the job and I enjoy them, but it is the music that I get excited about.
Anyway, I had a great time at CIVL radio. If you get the chance, look them up online at www.civl.ca They support local artists and they are doing something really good here. I’ll let you know when you can get the mp3 recording of our interview.
I went to another open mic last night. It was a good experience, but nothing glamorous. Open mics involve staying up all night in a crowded room listening to a lot of bad performances (and being blown away when someone half-decent takes the stage) only to play just a couple songs when your name is called. It is unlikely anyone will buy your CD or even remember you the next day because most of the people just came to play their own stuff - they aren’t really interested in listening to the other acts.
Open mics are to a new singer-songwriter as moring sunrise shoots are to a new photographer, or as blogging is to a new writer. They are good practice and they do help to get your name out there, but, in a way, you have to force yourself to go to them.
For as realistically dull as I made open mics sound, I actually did have a great time last night. There was one girl who had a fantastic voice, and there was another group that was fun to listen to. And there were a handful of other decent acts as well. And of course, I got to play, which is always enjoyable. There is something indescribable about shaking off my nervous twitches, stepping on stage and just givin-er. Some people actually started dancing to “Shame on Me“, which was so awesome to see.
Tony actually came with me to the open mic and we shot some video footage for a Jeffisode (…that’s right… I’ve combined the word episode with my name, Jeff, for my new web reality series). I believe this one will be for Jeffisode #2. Stay tuned. I believe we’ll post Jeffisode #1 (behind the scenes of the music video) pretty soon.
If you aren’t already following The Great Blog Off, I encourage you to join the group and tell your friends. Remember to vote for the best on April 1st.
Somehow I got roped into this blogging competition, The Great Blog Off, with three friends of mine: Adam Loewen, Alan Schram, and Tony Bookless.
I think that blog-off sounds like a British swear. I can picture Gordon Ramsay yelling, “Blog off you bastard!” and then throwing someone out of his kitchen.
Anyway, if I understand it correctly, The Great Blog Off works like this: You join the facebook group and read as many articles as possible in all four blogs. At the end of the month, comment on the facebook group saying, “I vote for Jeff” (you could say something else, but I suggest that one)
All three of my competitors have their own advantage:
- TONY is the comic threat (plus he makes friends as fast as Jamison Dick… if you don’t know either of them, it’s a bad sign)
- ADAM is the creative threat (he did all the photography and production for my album)
- ALAN is the intellegent threat (plus I think he’s a hacker… he’ll find some way to rig the vote)
- ME, well… I’ll probably just lose… :( …vote for the underdog!
Here are the blog links:
http://alanschram.blogspot.com/
http://adamloewenphotography.wordpress.com/
http://tonynobooks.blogspot.com/
