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If your on the East Coast, be sure to sign up for
MusicRVA Social Network!
And Be sure to sign up for the new Sojournstar Music Network!
and if you want to make money while having fun and promoting your band, music or business, then you must
Join me at Weblo Virtual World for Fun & Profit!
Look at all the people, not to mention fun new features I have not yet had time to mention!
I certainly won't try to describe them all now, but you may have already noticed
fun things like gift apps, and those of you who are visually stimulated,
may have noticed some really subtle feature additions to things like photos, media in
general, as well as, all the new members.
This is a great time to get on the network and make friends and contacts. There is a lot
going on this holiday season, and there are some great things already going on for the
beginning of the year. We have a new upcoming Rockitz Battle of the Bands starting
January 28th, 2010, which is presented by Rockitz, sponsered and supported by MusicRVA,
and a great way for bands to get tons of exposure, make contacts, plus be eligible for the
grand prize as winners of the battle. Past prizes have included recording time, equiptment
certificates, media services and more.
Members in bands or solo artists in the RVA city or region are free to apply. If you know any
bands that are not on the network here, this is the perfect time to invite them. If you are an
artist or would like to direct a band you know to the Battle of the Bands application, please use
this link to send them to the submission form.
Battle of the Bands Submission Form!
Please fill out the form in full, and in as much detail as possible where asked. The form is sent
directly to Renee Morris, booking manager for this years battle. Please allow her a few days to
respond to your contact.
To see what bands are already on next years schedule, refer to our online Battle Calendar, and follow
the simple instructions posted at the very top to view next years schedule.
Battle Calendar!
I can not tell bands and artists enough, just how important it is to get out there and meet new people
and make new contacts.
The dictionary definition of networking:
'Networking': the practice of gathering of contacts:
the process or practice of building up or maintaining informal relationships,
especially with people whose friendship could bring advantages such as job or
business opportunities
There is no better opportunity to network than right here on our own RVA Regional
site. This site was built and designed with You, the members in mind, take full
advantage of everything there is to offer here, and remember!
Promote, Promote, Promote, because everything you post here runs thru MusicRVA's
60 feeds internet wide. Not only will the RVA region see more of you, but the possibility
for producers, agents, and other entities accross the US and Europe is just as good.
So DO IT!! and Rock On!!
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If your on the East Coast, be sure to sign up for
MusicRVA Social Network!
And Be sure to sign up for the new Sojournstar Music Network!
and if you want to make money while having fun and promoting your band, music or business, then you must
Join me at Weblo Virtual World for Fun & Profit!
Contest runs 10 nights between Thursday, Jan 28 and Thursday April 1, 2010, with three bands a night playing on the hour. Finale will be at the Playing Field, Saturday, Jun 12, 2010. Fifteen bands will participate in the contest, and probably four bands will play the finale. Swag and contest prizes to the winners will be annouced at a later date, but will include a substancial gift certificate for recording time, and/or equiptment.
For more info, or to apply for a spot, please contact MusicRVA at webmaster@musicrva.zzn.com but preferrably join our network a http://musicrva.net and contact me there. The MusicRVA Netwrok is where the hub for bookings resides.
To view available dates on our Google calendar, click this link.
MusicRVA BOB Spring 2010 Schedule
and scroll to January.
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If your on the East Coast, be sure to sign up for
MusicRVA Social Network!
And Be sure to sign up for the new Sojournstar Music Network!
and if you want to make money while having fun and promoting your band, music or business, then you must
Join me at Weblo Virtual World for Fun & Profit!
MusicRVA and Rockitz.net are now working in conjunction as a team!
Brooke Saunders is the new administrator for our network and Grand things are in the works!
MusicRVA will begin booking shows asap, in response to many bands and musicians who have asked previously for this service. In addition to booking shows, I will be looking for bands in the RVA region who would like to be a part of some shows designed to fundraise money for a project in the immediate works, which will help put the music of RVA and this general region on the map.
If you are a band and would like to be a part of this roster, please contact me asap. You can reach me here at the network thru messaging, or on FaceBook!
Lets put this town on the map together!
***************************************
If your on the East Coast, be sure to sign up for
MusicRVA Social Network!
And Be sure to sign up for the new Sojournstar Music Network!
and if you want to make money while having fun and promoting your band, music or business, then you must
Join me at Weblo Virtual World for Fun & Profit!
by: Christy Sheppard
The Caravan of Thieves are Ashland Coffee & Tea's latest Artists in Residence.
The quartet, led by husband and wife team Fuzz and Carrie Sangiovanni, will be back in Ashland Wednesday, October 21.
I caught up with them on the phone from their hometown, Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Caravan of Thieves, despite being a relatively young band, has gotten off to a very promising start.
"Our very first show with Caravan was the Spring of 2008," says Carrie, who sings and plays guitar. "We've been playing together for about a year and a half."
The couple married in 2005.
"It was an intimate relationship before it became a musical one," says Fuzz, who also sings and plays guitar.
It's likely you've never experienced a show like theirs. Both Fuzz and Carrie say music has been a part of their lives since childhood.
"As a kid I was doing a lot of theater and Broadway," recalls Carrie. "I was classically trained on piano first and then started playing guitar in high school. My dad taught me."
"I started off as a kid playing guitar, Rock-n-Roll," says Fuzz. "I played my first show when I was 14. I just kind of got hooked on performing and playing in bands."
Fuzz went to school for classical music and arrangement and composition, played everything from blues to jazz to R&B to dance-pop, toured with Deep Banana Blackout and joined up with Tom Tom Club, which is the drummer and bass player from Talking Heads.
For the complete article with photos
CLICK HERE
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If your on the East Coast, be sure to sign up for
MusicRVA Social Network!
And Be sure to sign up for the new Sojournstar Music Network!
and if you want to make money while having fun and promoting your band, music or business, then you must
Join me at Weblo Virtual World for Fun & Profit!
I have been moving articles and reviews from the old writers blog, over to the main blog here, to save time, and create less confusion.
All the MusicRVA writers have been transferred here except one. We no longer support that writer or their work for a number of reasons, BUT, we do support the bands that were written about, so you can still find all those articles and any other posts that were not articles on the old blog, and that is where they will stay, as they are already indexed and spidered by the search engines.
Moving the writers articles over to the main blog, not only gives them a boost for the articles they have written, but also enables anyone who did not see them on that blog, a chance to read them on the main blog, so its a double benefit!
Plus, since the MusicRVA Blog has gotton several write ups, and good attention called to it on its own, everybody wins.
Check out the old blog at it's new address Aspiring Writers and if you are looking for the articles about the bands that did not make the move over to here,
Click Here (this link has been updated)
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If your on the East Coast, be sure to sign up for
MusicRVA Social Network!
And Be sure to sign up for the new Sojournstar Music Network!
and if you want to make money while having fun and promoting your band, music or business, then you must
Join me at Weblo Virtual World for Fun & Profit!
Jim has something in his music that everyone can like. Along with great guitar playing like Joe Satriani and up-lifting and inspirational melodic movements like Dream Theater, Jim captures the music lovers heart as well as their mind.
Jim Morris is an articulate singer/songwriter with a devotion to storytelling. Whether it is a thoughtful ballad about doomed love or an anthem to a night of drunken revelry, the listener can always count on well-crafted songs with carefully drawn characters, clever lyrics, and satirical charm.
Although Jim’s musical style is admittedly reminiscent of Jimmy Buffett and Jerry Jeff Walker, he has a knack for defying categorization. He mixes a whimsical island sound with a splash of Texas to produce a sound that is uniquely Gulf and Western.
Jim grew up in Georgia and has a heritage rich in music. His grandfather led a dance band, and everyone in the family either played an instrument or sang. At age 10 Jim taught himself to play the guitar by listening to Hank Williams records. After college (BA in English and graduate studies in English and Human Resources Management) while pursuing a career in human resources management, he continued to write songs and dream of the day when he could do it full-time. "After I graduated, I wanted to be a drifter and a writer; instead, I settled for corporate executive and closet entertainer."
During his 15-year corporate career, his job allowed him to live in several interesting locales, such as Montana, New Orleans, and St. Simons Island, all of which would figure prominently in his writing. Following a business trip during which he renewed his love affair with the southwest coast of Florida, Jim took the leap he had been contemplating for some time and left the corporate world for good.
Jim spent the subsequent years writing songs and playing gigs around Florida. From the beginning he took a big risk by featuring original music. "I spent about a year writing and developing a catalog of songs. I was unsure of my ability to sing and play the guitar professionally, but I thought my songs might separate me from the other performers."
A fortuitous meeting with recording artist Randy Matthews would result in Matthews producing Morris’ first recording, "Laid Back and Key Wasted," released in 1996 by Fish Head Music. As you would expect, each song tells a story: the title track is about a guy who gives up the corporate world for the beach; one is about the exploits of a pilot who flies contraband; another is about roadkill and the people who collect it; others tell great stories of sailing, fishing, and drinking. "After my first CD was released, I changed my focus. I stopped playing bars so much and I worked coffeehouses and bookstores. I wanted to play before a listening audience who might appreciate what I had to say. I made less money, but I started to develop a fan base."
Jim returned to the studio during the summer of 1997 to work with noted guitarist/producer Chris Hattingh. The result was "Bocanuts" which was released by Fish Head Music the following November. "Bocanuts" shows again that Jim is capable of creating memorable stories in a variety of musical moods. "With 'Bocanuts' I found a formula that I’m comfortable with and that people seem to enjoy: some tropical, some jazz, some country, some acoustic folk, and some humor. It certainly reflects my musical tastes."
With the success of "Bocanuts" and a growing catalog of songs, Jim decided to release a CD every year. In November of 1998 he was back with Hattingh recording "Looking for a Place to Happen" which was released in February 1999. "The CD didn’t turn out exactly as planned," says Morris. "Several songs I was hoping to include were not as good as I wanted them to be. Sensing my frustration, my wife, Sharon, sat me down with a list of my songs and pointed out a lot of songs I had neglected. Consequently, songs like "What Kind of Fool Can I Be," "The Hammock Club," "Gatsby Dreams," and "Sometimes I Wish" were added." "Looking for a Place to Happen" became the most critically acclaimed CD to date. Hattingh had little doubt that the CD would be successful. "As soon as we listened to the final mix, I knew that Jim had topped his other CDs. For a CD with a variety of musical styles, it had such an amazing continuity."
Following the release of "Looking for a Place to Happen," the pressure grew to perform more outside the state of Florida. "I wanted to be a 'lifestyle artist,' fishing by day and playing music by night. But I also wanted to broaden my fan base, so I hit the road a bit." He also formed the Big Bamboo Band in order to capture the full sound of his CDs in live performances. "Playing with the Big Bamboo Band required more discipline and concentration than playing solo. It took a while to get used to it. Playing with a band is like playing team sports, and you get the same feelings after a tight performance that you do when you win the big game."
True to his plan to produce a CD every year, December 1999 found Jim back in the studio working on his fourth CD, "Bar Stools and Beach Chairs." He took a different approach this time, preferring creative spontaneity to careful planning. "I wanted to feel my way through the project and do some tweaking and changing as we went along." As it turns out "Bar Stools" may be his best effort yet. Along with his customary strong lyrics Jim has produced a work with remarkable musical diversity. Chris Hattingh knew that once again Jim had a winner. "I know that Jim felt some pressure to top "Looking for a Place to Happen," but there is something for everyone on this CD."
Jim will direct his efforts to expanding his fan base and touring with the Big Bamboo Band. He will still make time to fish and will always be on the lookout for song material. "I don’t have much to show for my years except some great experiences, and that’s what I write about – the characters I’ve met and the places I’ve been. The thing that is both satisfying and alarming is that most of it is true."
Check out some of Jims Tracks below:
Find more music like this on Sojournstar Music Industry Network
Jim will also be perfoming in Richmond Virginia on August 22, 2009 with Sunny Jim for
Stars On The Water. Time to be announced.
The excerpts here are from Jims website Jim Morris Music! where you will also find full tour schedules and more.
You can also find Jim on the Sojournstar Music Industry Network
Jim Morris Network Profile!
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If your on the East Coast, be sure to sign up for
MusicRVA Social Network!
And Be sure to sign up for the new Sojournstar Music Network!
and if you want to make money while having fun and promoting your band, music or business, then you must
Join me at Weblo Virtual World for Fun & Profit!
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