More of "the best music you've never heard" this week on IndieCan

[indie at indiecan.com]

In this Blog:
The News - IndieCan Radio # 119 - IndieCan Wednesday this week
The Rant - Managing Drama in the Music Biz
Upcoming - Hillside Inside February 7th
Feb 7 alternative in Toronto – Big Rude Jake @ Hugh’s Room

Episode 118 has been getting great feed-back.  IndieCan sings the Winter
Blues as we review Blues Summit IV in T.Dot, The Maple Blues Awards and
their tribute to the life and music of Jeff Healey + put a “Tiger in your
Tank” with Ottawa’s MonkeyJunk.
http://www.indiecan.com/118IndieCanRadio.mp3

119 comes with some spill over as we share a great chat with you that we
had with Danny Marks; A musician, songwriter, broadcaster and most
importantly a devotee to music.  We also serve up some Shrimp Daddy to get
you in the mood.  From our never ending source of the greatest music
you’ve never heard, we look forward to introducing you to The Legions, a
group of great musicians from Mississauga who we recorded at Ruminal Sound
Studio in Port Credit.  We also feature our IndieCan Wednesday PEI night
with Timothy Chasson and John Connolly, we debut The Darling Demes, new
Joys, new Buck Brothers and much more. Come see us Wednesday @
http://www.indiecan.com/radio.htm

INDIECAN WEDNESDAY
Speaking of Wednesday, We are really looking forward a special night this
week.  If you’re in Toronto, we hope you can join us.  Patrizia is like a
female Freddie Mercury with her operatic voice fronting a heavy rock band.
 Paris Black has just been added and this should liven up The WreckRoom –
big time.  I haven’t seen Mr. Black since Kenny MacLean’s memorial at St.
Mike’s and he played a tribute to Kenny at the Mod Club hosted by Steve
Anthony on a Wednesday that I was at the WreckRoom.  So  - what better
solution than to bring him here and share this show with you.  If you can
make it, see you on the 4th.  Visit our Facebook Page, or The Annex
WreckRoom page to RSVP – it’s FREE.

“More Drama than a convention for Bi-Polar Drag Queens”

That’s a quote by Sheena Metal of Music Highway Radio as she describes the
potential counter-productive impact on a music career that can come from
the both Internet and virtual drama.  Her other focal points are “Drama
Doesn’t Belong At Your Gigs,” “Your Manager isn’t Your Therapist” and
“Take The Crazymakers Off your Mailing List” in an article she writes for
The Indie Bible 9th Edition called, “Leave Your Drama at Home – More
Rockin’ Less Squawkin’!”

Ms. Metal is a musician, producer, journalist, consultant, promoter and
hosts a radio show that has 700 affiliates.  What she has learned and what
she talks about can’t be gleaned from an Eckhart Tolle book.  It’s the
voice of experience.

I was re-reading it today. IndieCan has had it’s own bout of team drama
like anyone else.  IndieCan, like a band, we often find ourselves is
closes proximity for extended periods of time, we are all passionate,
driven, creative and we come with our own brand of “issues.”  So it stands
to reason that we will have to manage drama and personality quirks as much
as anyone else in music so today was a good time to consult the book:   In
the article, Metal talks about individual drama, how and why each band
mate might be more predisposed to drama-queen syndrome than people in
other professions and she also explains how, if unchecked, “
before you
know it, your band makes ‘Desperate Housewives’ look like ’60 Minutes.’”

Sheena Metal points out, “As much as the music biz is filled with glitz
and glamour and the stuff that tabloid headlines are made of, it is also a
business. And if there’s one thing you don’t want in the middle of your
business it is drama.  There is a reason why doctors don’t fight with
dying patients about their golf scores, a pilot doesn’t announce to the
passengers that he’s dating the flight-attendant and the chef doesn’t come
to tell you he forgot to wash his hands before he prepared your four-star
meal – drama doesn’t belong in a business.”

She goes on to talk about why and how to leave your drama at home,
navigate gossip and turbulence and live in the music biz without becoming
a slave to drama or worse yet, addicted to it.  Neil Osborne of 54-40 says
of his bands longevity, “I think we argue well and that’s why we’ve been
able to stay with it for so long.”  Each band member has a balancing act
that allows them to stand up for themselves without creating chaos or
abusing each other.

I find in any organization, there are the TMI’s (Too much information)
types the compartmentalizers and the empire builders.  Likely there are
more.  I am not a psychologist – I just play one in real life.  Each comes
with both skill set and damage, that’s just the double edged sword of
personality traits.  Each group has something to say about the other type
and although they have their beefs, the organization needs some of all of
these skill sets.  So I guess the bands and businesses that make it are
the ones that don’t get bogged down with too much drama. All the other
useful stuff in The Indie Bible about “how to
” and making lists, being
motivated, persistent and a better craftsman are well and good but it
stands to reason that if you let drama escalate to the point that as a
band or a business is dysfunctional then no amount of skill, momentum or
good fortune can prevent your demise.

Some non-music organizations like Amnesty International or World Wildlife
Foundation or self-help groups like AA survive on a pittance of a budget,
the generosity of volunteers and sometime desperate odds working against
them, because of two things:  First these organizations are more invested
in what they can do for others than what is in it for them and secondly
they place principals first and foremost ahead of personalities.  It’s
easier for a band with a purpose (greater than being heard) to make it and
not fall prey to their own drama.  The driving force of the greater
purpose keeps them in check.  The principals their band represents are
more important than individual egos.  Every band has room for
individuality, just as any healthy organization does.  But I think that if
the purpose and the principals that guide them are the primary driving
force, then they aren’t as susceptible to letting drama cripple them.

I believe in my heart that we are a turning point in the world of music. 
This is an era that others will look back on, study and judge us for how
we reacted to our volatile environment.  I often say, “We’re all in this
together.”  You’ll also here me say from time to time, “We’re all here
because we’re all not there,” which explains why “getting there” may be a
bumpy ride from time to time.

Finally, IndieCan will be at Hillside Inside at the Sleaman Centre in
Guelph February 7th to take in Bedouin Sound Clash, Sam Roberts, The Great
Lake Swimmers and much more.  Last year this was Winter’s best 12 straight
hours of music and we expect no less this year.  If you are grounded in
Toronto our pick for the day would be Big Rude Jake who plays Hugh’s Room.
 This Swing-Punk Toronto icon is one of the IndieCan “must see” music acts
if you want to understand the Canadian indie scene.