music, kickstarter and me

My wife has been a fan of Kickstarter for a while now. For the uninitiated, Kickstarter is a crowdfunding website. We've supported a variety of projects, including a solar oven, glow in the dark roses, and a 3-D pen. But, of course, what I want to write about is the music projects.

As I've mentioned, I supported the most recent album by Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby.. It was trhough that that I got their recording of "Do You Think of Me (Now and Again)" to use as a demo.They sent mke the recording a month and a half ago, and I still have to post about the finished product.Long story short, I love it.

More recntly, I signed up to support a project in which someone is trying to put together a 6-CD box set of Graham Parker and the Rumour live performances through the year. I was of slightly mixed minds. I like a lot of Graham Parker's music. But he's not quite up there with Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds and Wreckless Eric. But he did a bunch of great albums early in his career -- Squeezing Out Sparks, Heat Treatment, Howlin Wind. Then he got kind of boring, but more recently he seems to have regained that acidic bite that I liked. Songs of No Consequence, which he recorded with The Figgs, was as good as anything from his younger days. Three Chords Good, which was a reunion album with the Rumour, wasn't quite as good, but it still had some serious high points. And a recently released live album of him with the Rumour (see image of the cover) is scorching. The video also gives a good flavor. After due consideration, I decided to go with the $125 funding level, which rewards me with the six-disc box set, two additional live CDs and an 8×10 autographed photo of the band. Oh, yeah -- I also get my name in the liner notes of the box set. Woohoo!

In other Kickstarter music project news, I noticed someone is trying to fund a three--stringed guitar. They call it the Loog Guitar for reasons I don't know. Apparentky they already did an acoustic version, and now they're working on an electric one. Their plea video follows this paragraph. When I first saw it, I was thinking that I really wanted it. It looks simple and interesting. But some thought later I've changed my mind. The sound is a bit tinny and I realize that, while you can make a major chord with only three strings, you can't make a full minor or seventh chord, since those require four notes. And let's not even get started on suspendeds and whatnot. My daughter (who just started guitar lessons) had some interest, and I was thinking that if it helps her learn then it may be worthwhile. But no one whom I skaed seemed to think it was worthwhile. Oh well.

Getting back to Graham Parker, when I did a search on Kickstarter for "Graham Parker," I found two projects that I would have supported had I known about them at the time -- a documentary about Graham Parker -- and an album by Bob Andrews. Oh well. C'est la vie.

One other thing. I think I've found another use for Kickstarter. There are lots of musicians trying to fund albums, and some of them will, for the right support level, record a cover version of your choice. The question is, are they willing to record a demo of an unknown song? I contacted Sonia Leigh about that. One of the songs I am working on writing would be good for her style. There are some other musicians who I gave a look, but I don't think any of them would be right for the songs I'm writing. But there will be others...