BCM Blog

In case you missed it...

Audio is here!

I finally have the tracks from last month's Lyceum gig ready to share.  I had hoped to improve the sound quality but my equipment is a little lacking right now.  The tracks are noisy and because I couldn't find a decent spot for the mic, they are unbalanced, rhythm section heavy.  But hopefully these tracks will give you a little taste of the band and encourage you to come check out our next show!

Set 1

1-01 The Injustice League (live)

solos by Joseph Perez (t. sax), Mike Fahie (tbn)

1-02 Elegy (for Ted Kord) (live)

solos by Brad Whiteley (pno), Jay Lepley (drms), Evan Schwam (a. sax)

1-03 Serenade (for Donna Troy) (live)

ft. Miki Hirose (flugel), additional solo by Joseph Perez (t. sax)

1-04 Love Song (live) (take 1) (live)

ft. Mel Flannery (vox), solos by Dustin Cicero (sop. sax), Joseph Perez (t. sax)

1-05 3 Hunter Street (live)

solos by Matt McDonald (tbn), Miki Hirose (flugel)

Download BCJO Live at the Brooklyn Lyceum Sep 23, 2009 (set 1)

Set 2

2-01 Love Song (live) (take 2)

ft. Mel Flannery (vox), solos by Dustin Cicero (sop. sax), Janelle Reichman (t. sax)

2-02 Secret Six Suite (live) (Mvt. I: Villains United, II: Catman, III: Cheshire)

solos by Andrew Hadro (bari sax), Dustin Cicero (a. sax)

2-03 Lament (for Sasha Bordeaux) (Full ensemble)

solos by Janelle Reichman (t. sax), Evan Schwam (a. sax)

2-04 Infinite Crisis (live)

solos by Josh Paris (bs), Mike Fahie (tbn), Evan Schwam (asx), Saturo Ohashi (tpt)

Download BCJO Live at the Brooklyn Lyceum Sep 23, 2009 (set 2)

Fortune Cookies & Mission Statements

... Bottomless Cup Music can help you with that. 

A couple weeks ago friend, guitarist, mathematician, and former fellow band member (that was a long time ago!) Ed Prokop left the following comments on the BCM Facebook Page:

I tried substituting the word "coffee" for "music" in an attempt to create a new mission statement for BCM, but I just got dizzy at the thought of creating an Ark to save the world from a sea of music.   I've certainly had my days of musical dregs but try to have good full cups of strong energizing music (or coffee? I'm confused).  Then the idea of my cup of music being empty to begin with just saddened me.   A sea of music vs. an empty cup.  You either have too much work or no work at all.   Let's not let the latter be BCM's fortune. 

Spread the word- music is bottomless, let me prepare yours.  Or something like that.

Bottomless Cup goes Viral

My two favorite weeks of the year are the week after winter break and the week after Labor Day weekend.  Both signify the return to work and the transition to my two favorite seasons, spring and fall. 

Usually the week after Labor Day brings the start of school, but I am now going on my second year of not teaching in the public schools.  Last year I was happy to not be in school, but this year I was hoping to return to the classroom; the economic crisis put a dent in my plans as the NYC Board of Ed put a freeze on all new hires.  So in addition to a few nights a week of private students, I turn to Bottomless Cup Music, my music prep biz to bring in a few extra dollars. 

BCM launched this past spring and so far has brought in a quite a variety of jobs.  In addition to straight up copy work, BCM has taken on some interesting  projects including library clean-ups and transcriptions of original music.  Now that I will be absent from school, I've decided to take on more music prep work.  As much as I'd love to launch a big and beautiful ad campaign, the funds just aren't there yet. So, I turn to the intraweb and utilize that thing called "viral marketing."

Bottomless Cup Music now has a Facebook page and a Twitter account.  My hope is that word will spread and those that need help with their music will find us.  Granted, the majority of the people BCM will connect may not necessarily need our help, as so many musicians out there are up to date with notation programs and don't need any transcriptions, arrangements, printing, or any of the other things BCM offers.  But I have big plans for BCM that may eventually involve my extremely talented peers... (intrigued yet?)

Follow BCM for info on music notation, notation software, and trending topics in today's music scene and education.  We'll probably promote our clients from time to time and put out coupons and discounts for our services.  BCM will continue to sync with this blog and work to support the BCJO. 

... I think of it as the back room of my virtual coffee-house, where the Creation, Preparation, and Education of music percolate into a fine blend of artistry.  Won't you join me for a cup?

Welcome!

The new site is finally up! Welcome to my virtual coffee, er, I mean music-house!

This new site combines the three pillars of Bottomless Cup Music: Creation. Preparation. Education.  I invite you to take a moment to browse the site.  On the Creation page you'll find info about the BCJO, recordings, program notes, pix, etc.  The Preparation page is a resource for the fine skill of preparing written music and in pure self-promotion includes a link to my music prep company.  You are currently on the Education page, which is simply the blog.   With this new, revised format, I hope to delve deeper into the creative process of writing music.  I'll be talking about how and why reading comic books inspires me as well as commenting on pop culture and the NYC music scene. 

Feel free to leave a few comments and suggestions- I welcome feedback!

Thanks and come again! :)

For Hire!

Grand Opening!

(er, sorta)

This weekend marks the launch of Bottomless Cup Music, home to all your music creation, preparation, and education wants and needs!

Please take a moment to visit the website at http://www.bottomlesscupmusic.com, check it out, and pass the word along! Thanks!

Save the Date!

Exactly two months from today

the Bottomless Cup Jazz Orchestra returns!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

8:00 & 9:30

@ the Brooklyn Lyceum

$10 gets you into both sets

As the date approaches, the finer details of musicians and music will be announced. But I can promise you this, expect some of the best musicians of this generation that NYC can offer, entirely new music based on my recent overseas travels, and and of course, old comic book favorites.

I hope to see you there!

Over-saturation

I've spent this past evening completely tied to the computer sending out thank yous for all those who attended the BCJO gig last week.

This has taken several glasses of wine, and many, many hours. Why you ask? Not because I've been sending out individual thank yous, but because I, like so many of my contemporaries, have fallen into the trap of internet over-saturation.

First it was the thank you blog post, then the thank you website emailer, then the thank you Facebook fan page update, not to mention the uploading of tunes and video to ReverbNation, MySpace and YouTube. I sincerely feel bad for the people that in attempt to show support have signed up as "fans," etc. and have received my "Thank You" on repeat ad nasseum tonight (and to those people I offer my sincerest apologies)!

The problem is, in attempt to self-promote, it is easy to over do it. With all the available tools at hand, and with the trends ever changing (remember when Friendster was cool?), one finds themselves signed up to so many "communities" they begin to cancel each other out. My boyfriend laughs at me when I am online for long periods of time because I invariably keep a million tabs open at one time, each with one of my 3 active email accounts open, as well as Facebook, Sitemeter sometimes, and invariably some other community that I check with an OCD compliance every hour on the hour in addition to the one or two others that I am actually actively using.

One almost starts to equate their self-worth and confidence with the amount of activity generated by this internet socializing, particularly as it relates to one's music. Do I have another fan? Has anyone commented on this new post? Why not? How many plays do I have today? It can really create a false sense of security.

Not to mention confusion for those who truly want to support you as a "fan." Do they really need to be your MySpace friend, sign up to your mailing list, be a Facebook fan, a ReverbNation fan, and follow your every Twitter status update (which I found myself signing up for tonight!) to prove they support your music? Does one really expect these people to follow your every move, download your latest upload, and comment on every wacky status update you post? All in the name of promoting your music? And with so many reminders and updates from so many places, it wouldn't be completely unreasonable for said fan to start to ignore it all. Again with the canceling each other out.

And yet... I don't see myself cancelling any of my accounts. It's like an addiction almost. And a morbid curiosity to see which outlet will actually prove effective.

I suppose if one had the budget, one could do away with the generic Dynamod website and pay to have your music branded into a single website with a built-in blog, mailing list and downloading capabilities complete with trackers and statistics and filters galore.

But I know I am not there yet.

And while I could stand to cool it on the compulsive refreshing, I will continue to streamline as best I can under my given situation. This is the part where I point out the ReverbNation "fan collector" to the right of this post.

Do you want to receive emails with probably the same information you'll read on this blog? Do you want access to "exclusive" fan downloads for tunes you will most likely listen to just once? Then go ahead, enter that email address into the little green box and enable my internet addiction and false sense of popularity (as of the start of this post I had 14 fans on RN, let me check... sweet! I got one more!).

In all seriousness and impending hangover non withstanding, I am attempting to streamline what little fandom I have into ReverbNation. I welcome feedback and advice from those more experienced (and sober) in these matters and hope you will join me on this flighty dot-commy self-promoting ride (so drop that email into that green box)!

I now leave you for my warm bed and a tall glass of water with this last little bit of internet promotion:



That's Mike Fahie soloing on the second take of "The Injustice League" at the Brooklyn Lyceum this past Oct. 15.