Way Back Like 8-Track

I figure its time to make an official 'hiya'.

I first heard of TGA through this site, and there's an interesting story behind it. I got to know Brian when he was in high school and I was fresh out of college through the Timestill Cafe, which was the short-lived hub for the Singer/Songwriter scene in Northern NJ in the mid-90's. Even then he was arguably the best songwriter of all of us. We became a pretty tight group of friends at the time and I worked with him on his first rough-cut tester demo (see other posts on the history of this)

My career took me out of the area. Years can get away from you fast. After spending the majority of the last 5 years dealing with family illness and loss I'm finally getting back in the sun and catching my breath. I settled down into a great home, got out of the the corporate rat-race, and sought to reconnect with old friends, Brian being one of them.

After poking around the Internet to see if I could find him, I came across a post here regarding Brian's obscure first demo. This lead me to the connection with TGA. I had heard about the band, but hadn't seen them or heard their music.

Needless to say, I'm incredibly proud that he's lived up, not down, to his potential. It was a relief since so many people I've reconnected with let poor choices drag them down into unhealthy holes, or worse.

I'm just p.o.'d I found out a month too late to see him at Asbury.

So my thanks to dimestoresaints.com and everyone involved. Thanks to all TGA's and Brian's fans who saw him through any rough patches and got him where he is. After hearing his stuff I don't know if there's a limit to what he can acheive. I'll be right here with his other fans cheering him on.

I'll give you an official welcome so!

I watched that vid on your website and I gotta say you're not too shabby at the whole singer/songwriter stuff yourself!


Anyway, stick about and have some fun. Hope you get to see the band live sometime soon.

hey! welcome to the board, your story's certainly interesting! great to think this message board has brought you back to an old friend. like Daire said hope you get to see them perform live soon!

Thanks a lot! That was the last gig I played and one of the worst nights of my life. I had just buried my grandfather 2 days earlier. The gig was a 150th issue party for a magazine a friend ran that I was floating money-wise. His street team did zip to promote the gig (not one of the 300 posters I printed could be found within a 3 block radius).

I was on the hook for the bar minimum for the club and knew I was gonna be about $1000 poorer by the end of the night. There were only about 60 people there, but they were all associated with the 6 bands on the bill, and had travelled from as far away as Texas and Cleveland on their own dime. Needless to say, I was working hard to make up the minimum single-handedly so by the time I took the stage I was so hammered I could barely walk.

It was the last time I spoke to the Editor for the mag, and the last time I care to.

I did make sure my last song was a cover of Sinead's "Last Day of Our Acquaintance" ;-)

I'm going to try to get out to their Philly gig at the Troc if all goes well!

hey man, i appreciate you giving all of us the backstory on The Coffeehouse Sessions. that was really unexpected when i saw your post there. i had tried to track you down a couple months ago, but didn't get anywhere. good to see you're getting things together and getting back in touch with old friends

wow, that is quite the cool backstory... I would love to be in the music buisiness myself, infact I often joke that god's joke on me was to make me extremely passionate about music, but have no musical talent... or as the Robot Devil says in an episode of Futurama "I can't play music because I have stupid fingers"

that being said, when I retire from the military (I draw a pension at age 38! rock!) I will try and be a rodie for a year, or apprentice with someone to become a tour manager

Welcome to the forums. It's really cool to see what this space is turning into.

I'm glad to hear that you're moving past a rough point. We all have them. Fall seven times, stand up eight, as I like to say.

Good to meet you man, I look forward to the tapes and seeing you around the board!

-Zack

e7c wrote:

that being said, when I retire from the military (I draw a pension at age 38! rock!) I will try and be a rodie for a year, or apprentice with someone to become a tour manager

Ouch... I'd reccomend staying away from roadie if you can. When I worked in country music I heard a pro roadie remark "being a roadie is like working at the carnival without the glamor."

Another way to get your feet wet is to DJ on a local radio station. The turnover on people doing overnights is rediculous, so there are always openings. The pay is the ass-end of suck, but you get the benefit of being present for the promotional tours that come through... a great way to make contacts and see destination-point marketing. Guys like Eddie Trunk and Opie (of Opie and Anthony) cut their teeth doing that.

Vibes wrote:

I'm glad to hear that you're moving past a rough point. We all have them. Fall seven times, stand up eight, as I like to say.

Okay, D-Wade https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzvFAcbS0RE

Jukebox Romeo wrote:

Vibes wrote:

I'm glad to hear that you're moving past a rough point. We all have them. Fall seven times, stand up eight, as I like to say.

Okay, D-Wade [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzvFAcbS0RE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzvFAcbS0RE[/quote[/url]]

There's a ringing endorsement:

"I fall down repeatedly... buy my shoes"

TheMeanLittleMan wrote:

Another way to get your feet wet is to DJ on a local radio station. The turnover on people doing overnights is rediculous, so there are always openings.

that's not a bad idea... I had never thought of that

No prob... I've worked in media most of my life... I'd be happy to talk at length offline on what you're looking to do. I've done enough to at least be able to share the 14,287 mistakes i made along the way

well, I still have about 9 years left with the military before I start my music career... so by then you should be able to share even more!