I am not going to talk about my midterm. I am not going to talk about how, after spending all of that time memorizing conferences and conventions and treaties, the one (one!) major conference on the test was about the Lausanne Conference. A conference that I did not spend much time studying. I mean, look at how short that Wikipedia article is. It’s tiny! Clearly, my professor did not use “Wikipedia Article Length” as a metric to decide which summit conferences to include on our midterm. He would probably be horrified to know that I am looking at Wikipedia Articles on summit conferences at all (blah blah blah not a reliable source blah blah). I’m just glad that we were able to choose two essay questions out of eleven. I wrote about Woodrow Wilson’s failures with the League of Nations and also George Kennan (author of the X Article on containment) and why he didn’t like the Truman Doctrine or the North Atlantic Treaty.
I was brilliant.
I think.
But, I am not here today to talk about these things. We all know that I am a huge nerd and overly anxious about tests. No, today I am here to talk about the fact that Jill Sobule apparently talked her fans into paying for her next record. And how incredibly, incredibly jealous I am.
I start recording for my next album in two weeks (yay!) and, hot damn, that shit is expensive. My record won’t take $75,000 to produce like Jill’s apparently will, but it’s still going to take several thousand dollars and will probably drain my savings account. Right before I (hopefully) will be going back to school, will stop working full-time and will be taking on lots and lots and lots of student loans.
I are smart.
I am happy to spend the money. Thrilled, in fact. I’ve had these songs floating around for so long and I can’t wait to hear them with good production values, strong backing musicians and a wee bit of studio magic. I’m happy to drain my savings if it means that I can get my music out there. I’m totally ecstatic at the prospect of a couple of extra special guest musicians (mum’s the word for now, but these are big enough names that I could almost pee my pants out of excitement) (just kidding, that would be gross) (but, seriously, I am very excited at the prospect). If the Flying Spaghetti Monster hadn’t wanted us to fly with the world’s tiniest safety net, he wouldn’t have invented credit cards.
But, I’m still very jealous that Jill Sobule was able to get her album paid for without selling her soul to a record label. Especially since she’s the woman who sang “I Kissed a Girl” and I freaking hate that song. I would be willing to actually kiss a girl if I could get that kind of cash. You know, if Kristian was ok with it and all that. And not in a prostitution-ish way. I do have some moral standards. But Madonna/Britney fake kiss publicity stunt? I’m all over that shit.
I have actually thought about doing presales of the album, once I have a track or so done for y’all to listen to and (hopefully) approve. Maybe some sort of extra perk for paying in advance? The only thing I can think of is an autographed picture and that just seems silly. Would an autographed copy of the CD be worth something? Leave me a comment and let me know if that’s something that you might be interested in. I could also do baked goodies (of the cookie or cupcake variety) for any extra $$.
Because I promised cat pictures in my last post, here is some kitten yoga:
Hope;
Believe me you’re not the only one who is jealous that Jill has struggled for over eighteen years to build a fan base thrilled enough to donate $80,000 (yeah, she got 5,000 more than she expected but she will probably destroy a hotel room or two during her tour,so…) Some people are not as nice as you about what they write. The $80,000 actually isn’t just to make her record, it is also to produce, distribute and promote it. And the more money you have to promote a CD, the more chances you have of having people actually hearing it and buying it. She has basically been screwed by record companies all her life and has nearly nothing to show for it. She is not rich or particularly famous –certainly not in line with her talent. Now that she has decided to put her record in the hands of people who actually care –herself and her fans, this will change.
One of the reasons her fans rushed to help her so quickly was because of the sense of fun and joy she brought to the record drive — and to everything she does, her records, her journals her blogs. looking at your photos and reading your blog, I see that you have that spirit of whimsy and enthusiasm too. I suspect that you are going to do just fine. It will be a struggle and people will keep trying to discourage you…but don’t believe them.
By the way — cute cat!
Vincent
I think you might enjoy downloading a free concert by Jill and NO it doesn’t include “I Kissed A Girl”. Promise. It is an hour and a half of reasons why her fans are delighted to support her; http://www.jillsobule.com/home.html
As for extras for pre-paying for your CD; downloadable extra songs not on the CD, downloadable demo versions of the songs or a live concert that can be downloaded or as an extra CD. Be your charming self — record it in your living roam with friends eating your cup cakes. And what are in those cup cakes that are making your friend so giggly — no, I’m sure not.
Good Luck, Hope. The world needs more great music. Go kick some ass!
Yay, new album! I can’t wait!
(I will take some giggly cupcakes too, they sound good).
Weee!!! I can’t wait to hear your new album! And cupcakes too!