I have so much to do so of course I’m going to blog. The fact that I don’t know what I’m going to write about won’t stop me. I won’t bury the lede, I’m getting my COVID-19 vaccine tomorrow. I became eligible on February 15. I read that I could make appointments starting on the 14th and I did. One of the sites was from my hospital system, Montefiore. It said there were none available, but I could sign up. I never got any feedback from them so didn’t count on anything. Every day I repeatedly checked multiple sites for an appointment to no avail Then yesterday I get a phone call. It was from Montefiore. After confirming who I was the woman on the phone asked me if I still wanted my shot. When I said yes she gave me an appointment for tomorrow. That’s right, less than two days after making the appointment. I was quite excited. At the end of the conversation, she asked if there were anything else she could do for me. Let’s see how well you know me, what did I say? “I don’t suppose you’d say yes if I asked you to marry me.” She burst out laughing. I live for that. Sure, it’s a joke I keep making, but I’ll continue to make it as long as I get laughs. She made my day so the least she deserved was a good laugh from me.
I have shown great restraint and not asked any of the musicians I met at Folk Unlocked to marry me. I’m continuing to make new discoveries. I’m fairly sure Scotland is winning on the national level. Folk Alliance International is living up to its name, there are musicians from around the world. Maybe it’s not true of a geographically small nation like Scotland but classifying music by country of origin is oversimplifying. Canada punches way above its weight musically but the music is not homogeneous. There’s no such thing as Canadian music. The music of Newfoundland and the Maritimes is distinct from francophone Quebec, which is different from Toronto, which is different from the plains and Rockies, which is different from the British Columbia. We take the regional variations for granted in America.
There’s a technique to watching an online conference with multiple showcases going on simultaneously. I keep multiple tabs open so I can quickly go from one to another. Some I preplan, others I try at random. What I can’t do that I do at an in-person conference is walk around and hear things from the hallway. That’s often a great way of discovering new music. I also can’t chitchat with my friends and hear who they like. I do message a bit with John Platt. I am not just there as Gord’s Gold but part of team John Platt’s On Your Radar. I wear many hats; that way people can’t see that I’m bald.
I took part in large zoom meeting where we recommended artists to each other. I took it as meaning people I discovered at the conference but that’s silly. I should have recommended the people I know well that I might not even watch as I’m there to find new talent. The participants were from all around North America and one from the UK. I learned to not make assumptions about who everybody knows. People suggested musicians I never heard of with the disclaimer that of course everybody already knows them. I was surprised when someone said, Alisa Amador, who is a well-known bright star in my musical sky.
There were scores of people in the meeting and only 55 minutes, so the rule was everyone suggest just two names and move on. As everyone who has ever been to an open meeting or zoom conference knows, somebody couldn’t follow the rule. He spent over 10 minutes explaining how we could all save time, irony unintended, by following his methods for attending the conference and watching the playlist he prepared. After all that he didn’t mention a single artist just directed us to look at his list of 180 acts to check out. How is that in any way useful? I doubt he was paying enough attention to see me roll my eyes. Probably nobody else was either. I always take things like that as an object lesson. I should actively make sure that I am not that guy. In case you didn’t notice it, I like to talk.
I found everyone else’s suggestions useful. I made a list of them all which was then posted online. I’m the worst possible secretary but I was doing it anyway for myself. I don’t trust my memory. I made some great discoveries from that list. That meeting provided exactly what I needed. Next time I’d like to do this but before the conference even starts. I don’t just want to check out other people’s recommendations but it’s still better than a random sample.
I look at musicians’ description and find most of them unhelpful. I know they are by definition PR, but I don’t want them to sound like PR. I want them to reveal what makes the artists different than others, a hint of their artistic vision. “Voted best band in Sheboygan” is not going to get me to watch you. If you tell me that your goal is to create music that would go over well in the Mended Drum on Discworld, you got my attention. One of my least favorite was listing all the ways they check off boxes on diversity identity, even though there was no hint that it influenced the music. You tell me that your music is influenced by the music of Mali, my ears perk up whether or not your heritage is from there. You tell me that your ancestors came from Mali, but your musical has nothing to do with it, does nothing for me. I hope you are googling music of Mali, it’s great.
It’s late, it’s almost time to start over again with more music. The toughest part of the conference is figuring out when to make dinner. Last night it was barbecue chicken quarter and a baked potato. That was great, not much prep time and I could watch music while it was in the oven. It was amazingly good, just like the music.
Wise Madness 