Do You Know Gail Rich?

Every year the Santa Cruz  Arts Council Associates puts on the Gail Rich Awards at the Rio Theatre. You've probably never been, but I think yo u should go. Here are my top 10 reasons to go to your first Gail Rich Awards next Wednesday, Jan. 28.

1. It's a awards show that celebrates the spirit of the arts in Santa Cruz by formally recognizing, "our friends and neighbors who are committed to living lives of artistic passion."
2. You will be way more inspired than usual on a Wednesday night.
3. It will give you that feeling of community that you forget you love until you experience it again and then remember it is why you live in an artistic community in the first place.
4. There will be live music.
5. It's free.
6. You will hear stuff like this (quote from honoree Robbie Schoen): "I want to do what art is supposed to do," Schoen said. "I want it to stop people in their tracks and give us pause to reflect on our place in the world as human beings. It's here to remind us of the things that matter and take us away from our day-to-day lives."
7. Excellent networking, especially if you like the artist types.
8. There is often wine.
9. You pay a lot of money to live in a town that has really cool shit like this, but if you don't go out and support it, it goes away.
10. There are always free cookies.

I really hope I see you there.

19^th Annual Gail Rich Awards January 28^th, 2015 at 7:30pm Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave. in Santa Cruz FREE and open to the public

2015 honorees:

Carolyn Hyatt – arts philanthropist

Dale Ockerman – White Album Ensemble, Musicscool

Robbie Schoen – Felix Kulpa Gallery

Johnny Simmons – KUSP radio personality

Cat Willis – Tannery World Dance and Cultural Center

Santa Cruz Public Library SoundSwell Project

Attention all Santa Cruz musicians. Our library system is amazing and is ready to pay you to make your music available via download with an Santa Cruz Public Library card. Read all the details below.

Get your paperwork and CD in ASAP in order to be included!

DETAILS:

The SoundSwell team is looking forward to working with you on our local music database project. The library has always been a place where people can find music, movies and other materials for entertainment and enrichment. Other libraries across the country are starting to incorporate local music into their systems and with our thriving music scene, we thought it would be a great fit in Santa Cruz as well. Our hope is that it will be win/win for you and our library patrons. Ideally in addition to monetary compensation, we would like to help expose more people to your music and convert more fans, while helping our patrons diversify their local music collections.

The SoundSwell project is supported by a Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Eureka! Grant. The grant funding period covers most of the cost for licensing for the initial test database, which should be completed in August 2013. Under the licensing agreement, the library will pay you for a 2 year license as follows: $100 for a full length LP consisting of 9 or more songs, $75 for an EP consisting of 6-8 songs, and $50 for an EP consisting of 4-5 songs. During the term of the license, only those users with a valid library card will be able to download licensed songs. To raise this much revenue from iTunes, you would typically need 100 people to download one of your songs. If 100 people download your song from SoundSwell, you could gain 100 new local fans. That’s 100 people living in Santa Cruz who might tell a friend about your music or attend a show!

Another goal of the SoundSwell project is to establish a historical archive of the local music of Santa Cruz County. Although this aspect of the project will not be implemented until the database has been well established for at least a year, we believe that preserving this aspect of local community identity is important. That is why we ask in the license agreement for your permission to use your album in perpetuity in the archive. This archive will be streaming, but the music will not be available for download. Both the downloadable database and streaming archive will display live links to your band’s website or Facebook Page, making it easy for new fans to connect with your band, your projects, and your performances.

To receive a licensing agreement to review, sign and return email Jennifer at jenn@santacruzrehearsalstudios.com or Diane at cowend@santacruzpl.org . Please let either of us know if you have any questions or concerns or would like to meet in person to go over any aspect of the agreement prior to signing. Once fully executed, we would need you to deliver your CD to the library office downtown no later than one week, at which point the library will mail you your agreement fee.

To return signed license agreement:

Make an appointment with Diane Cowen to deliver the agreement in person or send the agreement with your original signature and W-9 form via US mail. Once the agreement has been received and signed by the library Director, the document will be scanned and emailed back to you with both signatures for your records.

Getting on the Radio

Way back in January SCRS hosted a ‘Getting on the Radio’ panel. It was awesome. It was also winter flu season, so a lot of people emailed and said they were sorry they could not make it. Here are the top things I learned as well as an audio link if you feel like listening.

Audio Link: http://www.scica.org/visual-arts/scica-music-lecture-series-how-to-get-your-music-on-radio/

We *hope* to find someone to help us edit down the video, but don’t hold your breath for that, right now, focus on reading. Featured Guest Panelists:

“Sleepy” John Sandidge [DJ - KPIG & KZSC] Lois Rosson [Program Director - KZSC Santa Cruz] Geo Warner [Volunteer Coordinator for Music Programming KUSP] Sandino Gomez [Free Radio Santa Cruz]

1. Getting your own radio show on Free Radio Santa Cruz is the easist way to get your music heard. They are also the only local station that will take digital files

2. If you send KZSC (and 99% of non-commerical radio) a CD in a paper sleeve, it will not make it on air. It must be a digi or a jewel case. If you have to, hand make a few of your sleeves into this format for radio.

3. When your CD arrives at KZSC it goes to a processing locker, it gets labeled and put into the air room for general staff to play for about 2 months. After that, it gets added to the perminent collection, or it gets purged.

4. For all stations, always list what tracks are not FCC compliant on a sticker on the CD.

5. Forget commercial radio for now, they won’t even look at it. Instead make a connection with a non-commercial DJ in your area.

6. Email is the best first contact. Introduce yourself, let us know to expect your CD.

7. Follow-up to break through the noise. Try not to be annoying but following up shows the station that the musician really cares about being played and that can shift you to the top.

8. If you are producing a CD - remember:

• Make sure the cover doesn’t suck. People DO JUDGE a CD by its cover.
• List times at the end of songs (radio stations do NOT like it when they don’t know the times, makes it hard for them to build thier set, etc.) AND numbers in front of the cuts.

9. If you are sending a CD - remember:

• Include a letter size flyer (ONE SHEET ONLY) with the CD - include name of artist (and how to pronouce if unusual), genre category, contact info, breif quote & descriptoin of music, list any gigs you are promoting or tour you are doing, use easy to read fonts. Make sure there is a picture of your CD on the flyer in case it gets seperated from the CD. Do not go into a narrative history of your band - it does not help and nobody will read it. Save that for your website bio.

• If you are sending a CD to promote a specific show - list that time sensitive show date on the outside of the package when you send to radio. TRY to send at least a few weeks in advance of the date. The earlier the better.

10. College and community based radio is poised to take over. They are the only station around that still have a real local focus and mean something to communities.

DeliRadio on SCRS

Our website now has a new DeliRadio.com music player on our website to promote local shows. Getting your music on our player requires a DeliRadio profile, and if you don’t have one yet, go here -  http://deliradio.com/quickjoin  (takes 1 minute) and they’ll make one for you.  Once your profile is finished, you’ll get the login info and be included on the SCRS page (as long as you list your dates with Songkick – see below for that information). Please note, they can only accept ORIGINAL material (sorry no covers).

Create an account with Songkick and list your Santa Cruz shows  - http://www.songkick.com/home (SIGN IN AS ARTIST). Songkick populates a LOT of different sites with concert dates so I would recommend you put any and all dates on there.

First Friday October 5

First Friday, October 5 Artist Reception 6-9 p.m. Facebook RSVP

ARTIST BIO: RAY HAYES by Darryl Ferrucci

Santa Cruz artist Ray Hayes has spent the last several years engaged in a continuous and prolific exploration of the intersections of disparate phenomena(perceptions).

3rd generation artist on the maternal side, 3rd generation engineer/inventor on the paternal side Ray, 34, synthesizes these two streams of his family history into a unique juxtaposition of the aesthetic and the technical.

Ray's painting process begins with an open-minded approach to visual perception; processing the entopic phenomena of Form Constants into “ghosted-in” inter- dimensional frameworks; in which no form, object, or perception can singularly dominate any part or whole of the construct. Ray takes advantage of the powerful pattern making 'machinery' of the human mind; he allows patterns and visual relationships to reveal themselves , rather than seeking out a subject to focus on. At times using his visual myopia as a tool; allowing that, at a distance, ambiguous details can and must play any number of roles in the big picture.

In the painting practices, back in the warehouse, Ray synthesizes and processes these rich fields of perception in an intensive process of drawing, painting & collage. Juxtaposing and layering his imagery. He deconstructs his vision, mixes it with inspiration and new visual explorations, reconstructing this mix into an ongoing series of vibrant and engaging imagery. In an experimental process of quick free-form design, he fluidly combines a wide range of imagery from both his observation and imagination in a unique and constantly evolving style.

He has a strong interest in the form and design of the simple-practical, the impossible, theoretical, & the intentionally functionless variations that define mechanical objects; stemming from fascinations with Alexander Calder and Franz Reuleaux's work.

Ray freely blends these technologically inspired explorations with other modes of imagery; whether biomorphic, abstract, cartoon-like or straight figurative . In structuring his paintings, he engages in continual deconstruction & re-engineering of perspective, space and experience- to this end, he frequently cuts out, recombines, and layers his images. His paintings may become three dimensional, pointing toward or into the extra- dimensional.

His approach to media and materials used for his work is as fluid as his perceptual practices. He relies wholly upon discarded, recycled, & found materials as his painting surfaces, making a point to never have to purchase the surface.