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Showing posts from January, 2011

The War of Art and The Lizard Brain

Material to stimulate Art - Continued This is a repetition somewhat of a previous post with some additional material on the subject of guides for the production of Artistic Work. The war of Art - Pressfield speaks of a tremendous animus force pushing headlong against our greatest need to create, trying to suppress us creating ( creating anything new whether an entrepreneurial venture or a sculpture or song).  Turning pro is a step in defeating this as is putting work out there to suceed or fail and mostly fail. Failing does not mean I'm a failure - in fact it probably is the opposite - the Lizard and the Resistance did not have their day in the sun either - so is it a draw or a win?  Pressfield  writes that fear is the thing we can use to indicate what we most need to do. Go in the uncomfortable direction - the road less traveled as it were. Derek Sivers     says the same thing; his idea is to - do whatever excites you or makes you afraid - and if there's somet

Fighting the Lizard Brain Resistance

Feel the fear and do it anyway Symptoms of 'The Resistance' as discussed below All week I was sick All week I was afraid All week I was being convinced there was a 100 better things to do and better ways to do it All week I went back and forth between feeling futile but doing it anyway, fighting the good fight, trying to prepare when I couldn't  breathe through my own nose - "Nah nah nah - How're you going to sing if you can't breathe", the Lizard said Lessons learnt: It was good to do show and push my envelope ( performing a full set is a bigger task than an open mic) Friends are great- and Encouragement is important ( with reality) The struggle is an inside issue not and outside one - this can be a whole blog subject itself. Create VIP list of folks to email and let know I'm playing out and send them a nicely worded HTML invite with a gift or encouragement to come to gig Share the stage and create team poportunities ( Nice new w

Killing the Golden Goose v The Milkman of Human Kindness

I wrote previously about Sonic Bids and wanted to add an update: Sonic Bids Blog ADDENDUM: 2011 I just read this on Derek Siver's Site : ( Awesome dude! and founder of Original CD baby site) Kinda re-enforces my point - why does Sonic Bids exist - is it to milk the musician or help them ... Derek's Advice to his staff as he delegated authority to them - “Yes refund his money in full. We'll take a little loss. It's important to always do whatever would make the customer happiest, as long as it's not outrageous. A little gesture like this goes a long way to him telling his friends we're a great company. Everyone always remember that helping musicians is our first goal, and profit is second. You have my full permission to use that guideline to make these decisions yourself in the future. Do what makes them happiest. Make sure everyone who deals with us leaves with a smile.” I wonder what advice the Sonic Bids or any of the other music sites

Tireless Tiresome Self Promotion

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 Anyway this week has seen me in the trenches self-promoting - it's a full time job and kinda leaves a trail after me of posts like a digital snail where I have been - twitter, blog posts, emails, group emails, facebook, myspace updates, flyers, poster, uploads downloads, postings replies  yak yak yada yada -  - oh boy I thought I was a songwriter and all for one show on Saturday - (Special thanks for above poster and pix by Christina Lord co-writer of The Unemployment Blue's) In case you did n't notice here it comes again - the info about the show - "What Show?" My show on Saturday 22nd at path Cafe ? "Oh, wheres that? " 131 Christopher Street - B/D to West 4th or 1 to Christopher "Nice.. What time you on at ?" I'll be on shortly before 9 - hope to see you there... John --- LaughJohnLaugh ASCAP Award Winning Songwriter plays the Path Cafe Saturday 22nd January at 8.30 pm. plus special guest Ryan Morgan also appears P

Path Cafe NYC 8.30 Saturday January 22nd 2011

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LaughJohnLaugh (John Munnelly) ASCAP Award Winning Songwriter plays the Path Cafe Saturday 22nd January at 8.30 pm. http://www.myspace.com/laughjohnlaugh Ryan Morgan also appears Path Cafe http://pathcafe.com/location.html 131 Christopher Street New York City, NY 10014 Irish owned and operated cafe-bar with a great selection of beers, wines and a hospitable welcome from David Sheridan.

Inspire - Be Inspired

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Hugh MacLeod GapingVoidGallery Well I don’t know about the rest of the web world but I’m in a constant state of arousal - ahem, excuse me,  I mean I feel inspired a lot of the time. But it’s not emanating from an empty vessel - inspiration needs some challenge or nourishment.  I read a book or listen to an interesting provocative discussion on radio and it sets off a thought or a feeling that I then need to ACT upon. This generates something new (like a song in my case) that adds into the circle of ideas. As a direct example of this circular e-motion I wrote 2 more verses and a chorus to Hugh’s “She’ll eat you for breakfast” - Why? I felt inspired! Personally I get a lot of inspiration-mileage out of real life stories and biographies - I connect to other peoples creative struggles and it gives me hope to continue on the ‘un-mapped way’, the uncharted territory Artist’s and creator’s voyage across in search of the Muse. Because once the Muse has breathed her sweet