So, dear dreamer, I ask you; Who in this world will serve your dream better than you?  Who will push your dream to have your music heard by those venerated masses and get you where you wish to be?  The answer has presented itself in this post nine times already, and you haven’t seen it.  The answer is: YOU. 

This is the most opportune time for the Indie Musician – I capitalize for a reason.  Being Indie and managing your own career top-to-bottom is key in this evolving industry.  Here is a little known industry secret, the big-labels, the A&R rep’s, those who you wish to please, are lost.  They see an industry being taken out from under them.  They see the dissolution of revenue streams.  They see Indie-Musician’s finally getting it.  They fear the truth of where we are as a community of artists.  They murmur, “Uh-oh, they figured it out.”  And this has all been driven by the listeners – the masses who were the ultimate goal.  Skip the middle.  Serve the servants.  Ask yourself, “why is net neutrality even in issue?”  Because it threatens power structures.  Power structures who never had your (our) best intrest in mind.  You want proof?  Look at history.

Histrionics:

Since the old-timey days of Woody Guthrie, to the recent past of artists like Gram Parsons, to modern who-are-they’s like David Ryan Adams, to me, yes me.  I/You have a better opportunity of “Making it” than any artist in history.  It just requires a dream-shift.  It is easier for you to sell as many records as the Beatles than it was for the Beatles.  You might not have that kind of ‘goods’ and it takes a special connection to move that many units, but, (to a certain extent) it all can be managed by one person, you.  And the best part is, you control the process creatively, in regards to marketing, and any other regards you wish to fathom.  You have the power to vertically integrate yourself and be your own record label.  Trust me, I know, I am.  I am Supernormal Records, it’s me and someone who believes in me, my brother – drawk.  I’d fain trust anyone else, I’ve tried that before – it didn’t work.

Everything I have ever wanted is at my fingertips now – literally.  I am doing it right now – you are reading the fruits of my labor.  I can record records in the echo-laden bathroom of my one bedroom apartment, I can press disks through third-party vendors like, Disc2Day, OasisCD, or Discmakers, I can upload tracks to mp3 hosting sites like: last.fm, iTunes, I can sell them at my very own merch table at shows along with T-shirts I have designed myself from third-party vendors like Acme Prints, Cafepress, Customink, and the like.  I can order stickers, and you can google that on your own.  Basically, I can do what a major label can do with the exception of pay-to-play on a clear channel station – I don’t capitalize for a reason.  Who wants to be among a community of soulless hacks?  If you like the band Nickelback, you can go ahead and f-off.  If you are in the band Nickelback, PLAY FROM YOUR F#@ING HEART!!! If you don’t understand me, click here .  Technology has paved the path for you so why not walk that path with me?

But Don’t Listen to the Liars?:

I never have ‘been’ before in my music career before January of this year (2008).  I have let others usurp my ambition and let them share in the decision process and compromised the notion of where I’d like to be.  I compromised.  I compromised in a world where I never had to.  I gave in, and I was weak, because I was ignorant.  I took the canned answers from Billboard Magazine, Music-Industry related books, and other industry outlets, and so-called sources.  I gave up on myself succeding in an industry that never wanted me to succeed.  In the end/beginning, I wised up, and I woke up to the fact that if I were on the radio (in it’s present form) I would be a soul-less jukebox selling my soul to fit into a little box for which I was intended.  Sit here shut up, play your songs and then pay your label.  I would have been a pan-flash.  I would be cold and old in a matter of minutes, when all I want from this industry is longevity.  

More succinctly, if you like Nickelback you’ve been duped.  You don’t like Nickelback, you just hear it incessantly so you think everyone else likes it; they don’t.  Radio listenership is in the toilet.  Why?  Because program directors are out of sync with their listeners.  Dear dreamer, they don’t give a damn what you want to hear.  They’ve got oiltankers full of liquid sh^t like Nickelback and it foghorns into the port everyday and spills out onto the airwaves and slowly makes us all stupidur. 

I am INDIE – I am FREE -Give Me LONGEVITY  

Hacks lack longevity.  Longevity is acheived through a slow rise.  There are no over-night successes, only bottle rockets, and they burst and cease to be.  If you are an over-night success you are a phony, and your done shortly after you have begun.  If you require proof (read: Britney Spears) popular culture is a misnomer.  It lacks anything resembling culture and it is only popular because someone shoves it down your throat everyday.

Through out history, there were Southern Baptist Negro Bluesmen/women who called Elvis Presley a sell-out, just another foolish man usurping the truth for profit.  His legs were “All Shook Up” when he was young.  And by forty he was “All Washed Up.”  Elvis – A lazy, fat, farting, pill-popper, giving up the dreams of this mortal world for a chance to sing songs by number from a teleprompter – Please don’t forget he died six inches above a turd – there is a divine reason for that.  I have stood in his home, I have seen the lie.  Elvis-Frickin-Nickelback. 

There is a great game being played and we are witness to it every time we turn off our car radios out of frustration.  Please understand, Dear Dreamer, that you possess the secret to seeing all of your dreams through to their fruition.  You are the sovereign master of your own ambitions.  You need nothing but love.  Play from your heart!  You’ll live through your’ own dreams and, in turn, we all will come along.  It isn’t easy work and more often than not it seems like no one is listening.  But such is the great game.  This is your penance, your Indie-penance, your indepen-dance, your dance, your chance.  Won’t you join me?  Be Free.  Be Indie.        �

Science or Saivism, there is value in destruction, and in this case destruction of those walls that keep us from realizing our potential. Sages and such would tell us to surrender our dreams and aspirations and stop fighting for what we want in our lives. If we surrender our will and just let what is going to happen happen, then our dreams will be realized. I don’t know if I agree with that or not. I think, that when we start a new project or chase a new idea, if it weren’t for some resistance wherever we are going wouldn’t be worth it anyway. “Oh that? That was easy.” Booorrrring!

I’ll take the tears, Thank You.
For a few weeks I have been outside my comfort zone. In the process of building this future “empire”. The dream is this: To have a place to catalogue my efforts in the music business. More succinctly, to build an independent record label called Supernormal Records. I have bumped my head on every step of the process and at times I’d like to put my fist through the computer monitor. But, just today I started thinking about this: Tears whether real or theoretical play some role in defining this dream.

Tears Distill the Dream.
The challenges and hardships found along the way in chasing your ambitions mold the ‘dream’ into a more perfect form. Creating is one of the most difficult things to do, but, also, it is one of the most rewarding things we can do. And sometimes that reward is never recognized because we let the ‘walls’ defeat the ‘dream’. In Taoism there is a concept called Wu Wei it is best described as akin to the action of water. Water is all pervasive, it can traverse any obstacle, but it may take more time to seep through a brick wall than a piece of cloth. I guess one could ask themselves: is my dream as big as a brick wall, or, as feeble as a piece of cloth. If you dream big brother it takes time to seep to the other side. I am the water man! I’ll get through these obstacles, and if they slow me down, then, well, that’s the speed of this dream I guess.

Please check back often for new developments on www.SupernormalRecords.com. As the walls fall you’ll get it all. Keep dreaming.

- Tyler Christensen

In sunny Scottsdale, Arizona, city of a trillion palm trees, palatial estates, and manicured boulevards. Based on appearances, I was banking on full signal strength. I cashed in on two bars. Too slow to Google, after all that is the ultimate test of wireLESS. Isn’t it?

I told Ashley that I saw a guy piped into the ether at one of those single-study-desk-bay-jobby-jobs.

“So I’m gonna move over there and try the Ethernet port.”

 

She asked, “Is there a place for me?”

 

I replied, “Not Really.”

The answer was clearly no. Why did I say not really? Weird. Anyway, forgoing our little daydream of a old-timey library study date complete with mounds of output and progress. I climbed into the mute-colored distraction-eliminator capsule and gave the SPL wireless connection another go. After all, I was sitting dead center in the purported mecca of Wi-fi access points. Google a no-go and a rightclick frenzy later brought me to an outright digital denial via the Dewalt yellow ethernet cable.

Defeated and overdue for a cigarette and a change of venue, I returned to our big glossy sweet piece of library real-estate. When I came back to the table I left no more than 20 frustrating minutes ago, my seat was occupied by some DOOD! He’s got some books open, and a blank notebook. I get the feeling I interupted something.

As Ashley and I were smoking outside the library, she recounts her 50% of the whole encounter. This guy decides to have an in-depth conversation with her as soon as he plopped his ass down in the chair that was still warm from my ass. Don’t get me wrong, I have no problem with him talking to Ashley. A part of me has a big problem with him talking to Ashley – in a LIBRARY. I mean, this guy unloaded it all. Here’s the rundown:

• Just got back from Iraq 5 months ago.
• he can’t sleep at night.
• he just signed up to do three more years
• he’s studying for a police examination.

So, now I’m replaying events in my head. When I approached the table, as I already told you, there was an air of discomfort. Then, he gathers up his stuff in a frenzy and says, “Sorry, I took your seat, man.” I tried to tell him that it was ok, we were leaving anyway. But, as I now realize he was fleeing the shame of facing the guy whose girl he was chatting up. I had no problem with the guy until now, as we were walking to Jamaican Blue smoking as we walked and seeking this elusive Wi-fi rumor.

Dear Library Vet,

(insert customary ‘support our troops/thank you for your service’ colloquialism here)

A library may seem like a great place to meet a smart girl, and you did, so, I commend you on your good taste. However, I must assist you in coming to grips with your poor judgment. Remember the ubiquitous librarian from your youth? Ever-present with her index finger traversing her lips and with a silent shrill firing out a Shhhhhh…

The public library is neither a place to do some low-tech tail-trolling, nor, a place to do any high-tech wireless ether surfing. I figured I’d save you some time in both regards.

Ashley and I reached our destination, Jamaican Blue, but they serve killer coffee and lo! BEER. So yesterdays post went all to malted hops, and barley. Blarney!

And that, my friends, is why I did not post yesterday. I’d apologize, but, I think that Scottsdale Public Library should first.