IdeaJones

Tag: marketing

  • Playing A New Game

    Playing A New Game

    Take a chance on yourself.

    Hi. I hope the new year is treating you well. So far it’s not bad from here. True, I have a cold, but those happen. No sense taking it personally. I get frustrated when I get sick. Long story, but I took a long time to get around to living my own life, so I tend to think I shouldn’t take down time. I have “too much to catch up on!”

    But I realized recently that I can’t start from anywhere but where I am, and can’t start as anyone but myself. I am who I am and I am where I am, and if sometimes it feels like I’m not where I “should” be, is that a useful idea? So I’m working on not living in the past, or trying to live in the future, or constantly measuring myself or my life against some invisible yardstick. This moment, cold and all, isn’t bad.

    A friend of ours just got her driver’s license. She’s over 30 and had never intended to do anything but use Uber and Lyft and public transit, but she got a chance at a new job and they need her to drive occasionally. So, nervous as she was, she faced it head on and learned to drive. She’s continuing to challenge herself, learn new things, and go in whatever direction looks best to her at the time. That’s brave, not to get stuck in a rut because anything else is unfamiliar and uncomfortable.

    I’m learning new things. For the first time, I got hired to create the art for a CD cover. It’s not something I had done before, but I met with the musician and his producer, they liked my ideas, so I decided to stretch myself and learn to do a new thing. We’re all happy with how the final artwork turned out, but I admit, it was a nervous business in the beginning. I wanted to do a good job for the client, and my own pride in my work.

    I researched the covers in his genre of music and gave it some thought — it seemed to  make sense to honor the conventions of his genre (blues rock), but not simply be “one more in a herd of just that.” So we (yes, I created the artwork, but he had choices to make and participated in the creation) took a common theme in his genre and changed it up. It still fits his genre, but it won’t be just like hundreds of other covers. Still, could I pull off my idea?

    Here’s one thing I figured out — most music is sold online now, which means a potential customer could first see it as a postage-stamp-sized picture on a phone or tablet. It used to be that album covers had to work in a fairly large size, that of an LP record. Then 45s came in, and the images had to work smaller. Then audio cassettes, now online sites showing pages of little “stamps.” The cover has to work at the size of, say, a tee shirt, and at that postage stamp size. I poured hours into creating an image that would be clear and interesting whether it was scaled up or scaled down. So I learned a new thing — to create artwork that works no matter what size it is.

    I’m trying new media artistically, and trying new things as a writer. Who knows how successful it will all be, but I’m trying. Like our friend, I’m learning all I can and then getting in there. It’s like a roller coaster. Sometimes scary, sometimes exhilirating. I hope your new year brings you just enough of the right kinds of challenges to keep you growing.

  • Pumpkin Dances and Good Vibrations

    Pumpkin Dances and Good Vibrations

    ideajones-happy-jackI created this short video as a holiday greeting for our Facebook page. It’s set to the music of Mick Martin & The Blues Rockers.

     

    Fortunately, we have good working relationships with a few artists who allow us to use their music for non-commercial projects.

     

    Too often, what could be a good moment, or a good project, goes down in flames for lack of basic courtesy. Case in point…

    My friend Janice and I volunteered to hand out information for a charity at a concert. We wanted to go to the concert (The Monkees, supporting their “Good Times” cd and the band’s 50th anniversary). The charity, The Davy Jones Equine Memorial Foundation, supports a herd of horses left behind by one of the founding members of the band (Davy Jones).

    We wanted to approach people who came for the concert and tell them about the charity. From the venue’s perspective, this can go very wrong. We could have arrived and just started approaching people in line — people who might not have want to be bothered. We might have slowed down the line of people entering for the concert, talking to people who were interested, and making things harder on the people charged with seating the audience and getting the show started.

    Janice and I went the day before, explained what we were going to do, and asked who we should speak with. Because we approached the people at the venue when they weren’t too busy to talk to us, and asked politely (1) if we could and (2) how they’d like us to do it, they were receptive.

    Eventually, we spoke with the head of Operations for the venue and he had the staff set up a table and chairs for us inside, and allowed us to enter early to set up. We were told a few times by various people at the venue that they appreciated how we went about it — that we asked beforehand, and were mindful of not wanting to interrupt the jobs other people needed to do. They checked on us a few times to see if we needed anything. When the wind picked up, they even taped the back of our poster to our table so we wouldn’t have to chase it.

    Janice and I had a great time. Lots of people who are fans of Davy Jones learned about his charity, and we enjoyed the concert. We also enjoyed working with the staff at Vino Robles.

    Which is how Mark and I approached people about using their music for videos. We did it far enough ahead so that nobody was rushed, explained what we wanted to do briefly and clearly, and asked permission. It sounds simple, but I’ve seen people just charge ahead without asking more times than I can count — and it usually doesn’t end well.

    Mom used to say “Respect other people’s work and don’t get in the way of it.” Good manners are good sense. They don’t guarantee you’ll get a “yes,” but they take a lot of obstacles out of the way and make that “yes” more likely.

    Btw, I can’t say enough about Vino Robles, which is a lovely venue, and Paso Robles, a lovely small town on the California coast. If you’re making vacation plans, it’s worth checking their event calendar, picking a concert, and making a trip. We stayed at the Best Western Black Oaks, which was clean, comfortable and has a friendly, efficient staff.

  • Back To The 60s

    This poster, just finished, celebrates some great 60s memories.
    This poster, just finished, celebrates some great 60s memories.

    This is the 50th anniversary year of a lot of 60s stuff:

    The Monkees tv show (and band) launched September of 1966;

    Star Trek (the original) debuted the same year;

    The Chevrolet Camaro, The National Historic Preservation Act (preserving sites with historic significance in the U.S.), the last official Beatles concert, the Batman tv series, and Francie, the Barbie doll’s “hipper” cousin, all made their bows in 1966.

    I was in kindergarten and Mom said that my older sister would be taking me to see The Monkees in San Francisco, CA the following January. To say I was thrilled would be an understatement.  They were playing The Cow Palace and I hadn’t been there. They were playing San Francisco and I hadn’t been there (even though we lived in Santa Cruz, which isn’t that far away). And they were The Monkees. I played their records until they were so fuzzy it sounded like static.

    Then Mom told me the concert had been canceled. Someone was sick. That was that.

    Well, that wasn’t really that — Mom lied. I think she got a look at the chaos that was the audience at a Monkees concert and decided that she didn’t want her five-year-old daughter to be trampled to death. Or my sister, who was a hippie, adamantly refused to take me. I’ll never know. Either way, it would be years before I’d hear them live. I got to see “the Threekees,” which is any three members of the band, a couple of times in the 80s. Those times it was Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones. The shows were a lot of fun. I even got pranked by Davy, which is a very special memory for me.

    This year, Mark took me to see “the Threekees” again, in Monterey. Initially it was to have been “the Twokees,” in this case Peter Tork and Micky Dolenz, but Mike Nesmith came onstage for the last part of the concert. It was in an old “golden age” movie theater, The beautiful Golden State Theatre in Monterey, and we got to meet up with friends. Thanks to our friend Janice, we even ended up center stage, second row, and we had a lot of fun. And while I didn’t get to see them in San Francisco, I will be seeing them in Paso Robles, CA with Janice — which is why Mark and I made this poster.

    Davy Jones died suddenly, leaving his daughters and a herd of horses, some of them rescues, behind. Horses are expensive to maintain (I grew up with them and it’s both labor-intensive and expensive to keep a horse), and his daughters set up a charity to keep their father’s little herd together. As my time in fandom comes to a close, it seemed like the right note to do something to support the Davy Jones Equine Memorial Fund. So Janice and I will be out in front of the theater before the show, passing out information.

    This poster of Davy Jones is also a nod to one of my favorite artists of the 60s, Peter Max. I’ve been a fan of his work since I was a little kid.  It’s colorful, flowing, and when I was a kid in Santa Cruz, psychedelic art was everywhere. Of course, I was much too young for the “tune in, turn on, drop out” 60s, but the aesthetic was in magazines, on tv, in the music, clothes, movies…  Since Max’s work and The Monkees both came out of the 60s, it seemed right to mix a bit of Peter Max into the style. I’ve also got a thing for stained glass. Most often associated with churches, there’s something about stained glass that makes the subject more of a statement.

    Stained glass is bold in its use of color and light, but fragile. It also forces the eye and brain to do one of the things they do best — find patterns. The face here is rendered minimally, but it’s clear what and who it is.

    So I’ll be standing around this weekend in Paso Robles, hoping this encourages people to approach us and get information about Davy Jones’s charity (yep, official charity, 501(c)3, I checked), and making people smile. If you’re in the area I hope you stop by!

     

     

  • Tips For Creative Types — Entertainment Sites and Artist Pages

    As we gather information from those who know about promoting artists and arts groups, we're sharing them. May your art thrive!
    As we gather information from those who know about promoting artists and arts groups, we’re sharing them. May your art thrive!

    Entertainment Calendars
    And Artist Pages

    Do you play music, write, dance, act, draw, sculpt or otherwise create? Do you give readings, show your work or perform? Do you have an Artist page on the entertainment websites that serve where you are?

    If not, you really should. Take Eventful.com for example. It’s a searchable site with information on entertainment options, used by residents and visitors to find that “something to do” we all look for from time to time.

    I just figured this out recently. On Eventful, you can create an account that lets you list events, but what some people don’t realize is that you can also create an Artist page. This is a chance to get your work, and yourself, out there, and a chance for cross-promotion. You see, when someone lists an event in which you’re participating, if you’ve told them you’re on Eventful, when they create the listing they can tag you as one of the people participating. You can only tag people who are on Eventful. When that person tags you in the listing, the event appears on your Artist Page as well as on Eventful’s searchable database. Someone looking at your page will see the event (good for the event) and someone looking at the event will see you.

    People can event click to say that they’d like to see you or your work where they are. If you get enough interest, you’re in a good spot to tell a venue or organizer in that town that there’s a demand to see you.

    Go to Eventful.com. If you haven’t set up an account, do. Then click on “My Eventful.” At the bottom of the page on the right, you’ll see “Add Stuff.” One of the options is “Add Performer Profile.” Click on that and follow the directions.

    There are other entertainment websites that also allow Artist pages. If you’re not listing on the entertainment calendars and websites that cover where you or your work will be, it’s time to take care of that. People can’t want to see your work if they don’t know you exist! Here’s a link to my new Eventful page so you can see what it looks like: http://eventful.com/performers/joey-jones

  • Arts Life — Dispatches From The Trenches #4

    As we gather information from those who know about promoting artists and arts groups, we're sharing them. May your art thrive!
    As we gather information from those who know about promoting artists and arts groups, we’re sharing them. May your art thrive!

    Here’s the final dispatch in this series (until we learn more)… the last part of Why Should Anyone Give A Rat’s? Advice Gleaned From The Gatekeepers:

    3) Know who you’re talking to.

    Before you submit a story idea or send a press kit, pay attention to what is on that station. Read that publication at least once and pay attention to what is in it, including the ads. Look at the website. How is it written? What does it talk about? That gives you clues to their target audience. How well does that mesh with the target audience for what you’re promoting?

    If it’s not a natural match but there’s something special, that’s your hook. Your ballet recital might not be what your average reader of Biker Bar Monthly is looking for… unless your event is Ballet and Bikes and your dancers will be performing with, or around, motorcycles. Not that there aren’t motorcyclists who like the ballet — but as Mom used to tell me, “You shoot ducks where ducks like to gather.” Your chances are better in a setting that is more in line with the style of the event.

    I’m told that if you pitch something that isn’t obviously for that publication, show or website without making the case for why it really is a good fit, that’s a big red flag.

    Also, for local stations or publications, pay attention to what your local connection is. If you don’t have any, you don’t, but if the director, or a performer, or the writer, or the artist was born in that area, lived in that area, had parents who lived there, something that connects it to that area, feel free to mention it. Not belabor it, but mention it.

    4) Remember what you’re up against.

    Don’t let it stop you — just don’t forget it. In any midsized city, there are many, many events happening almost any week in the year. That’s your competition for time/space/attention. So do your homework. Which leads me to the last one for now:

    5) Follow the *&#(#! instructions.

    Contact whoever the way they want to be contacted. There’s not one magic format. Some like email, some like snail mail. Some have an online form to fill out. Whatever it is, show the basic respect of paying attention and following instructions.

    Any show or publication gets many pitches for stories, for calendar items, for PSAs. The instructions aren’t meant to make your life difficult. They’re meant to help smooth the flow of information coming in. That’s how they are set up to handle incoming information. No point railing against it. Show that you value the chance to promote your art, your event, your performance.

    Actually, that’s the biggest complaint I’ve heard. The #1 thorn in the side of gatekeepers — people who don’t bother to do the homework or follow the instructions. Do that and you’ve just increased your chances of a favorable reception.

    There are no guarantees. You can do everything right and still not get it every time. But you can increase your chances. Good luck!