Welcome to Just Plain Notes
Just Plain Notes: Volume 1.177, February 28, 2009
Written by Brian Austin Whitney
Visit the Website:
www.jpfolks.com Mail CD's @ 5327 Kit Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46237
Copyright 2009 Just Plain Folks Productions.
Just Plain Folks Member Population: 52,082
***************************************************
Would you like to join the JPF message boards? It's quick and easy. Just click this link and choose a password and user name and you'll be posting in no time! We'd love to hear from and about you.
To register: (It's a separate registration from JPF membership):
http://www.jpfolks.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?action=agree***************************************************
Just Plain Quotes:
"There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other." -J. K. Rowling
"Beliefs are what divide people. Doubt unites them." -Peter Ustinov
"Many of us are more capable than some of us... but none of us is as capable as all of us!" -Tom Wilson
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." -Abraham Lincoln
"We project ourselves on everyone else. We see hate in others because we ourselves hate. We see love in others because we ourselves love. We see talent and potential in others because we believe those qualities are in ourselves. When we see others as a hopeless case, it's because we feel that way about ourselves." -Brian Austin Whitney
My Take:
I love to watch foreign films. It's not about being "artsy" so much as being curious to see what other cultures, languages, ethnicity's and political vantage points do with universal themes of love and hate, friendship and adversaries, mystery and intrigue, humor and sadness and how those storylines filter through a different point of view. What I find more often than not, that no matter where it comes from, those universal human experiences all look and sound pretty much the same in the end. So why is it that when we extract ourselves from that shared storyline we often have very different feelings about those telling the stories? Why is it that we allow our views of people we think we don't know from other places and cultures to be so corrupted?
This thought process was upon me as I watched a really nice little film called "The Band's Visit." It's an Israeli film that tells the story of an Egyptian Police Ceremonial Band who mistakenly travels to the wrong Israeli town on their way to a performance to open an Arab Cultural Center. Almost the entire movie takes place in less than 24 hours and there's not a great deal that actually happens. In fact, it sort of felt like a typical night I might have out on the road when I travel around to visit musicians in their hometowns. But the tiny little uneventful storyline was a beautiful telling of universal themes and feelings and emotions and even how music from a completely different culture (Chet Baker in this case) could bring 2 people together a world away. I don't want to give anymore of the movie away, but as I sat and watched it, it was very clear to me that these two cultures that often divide people even across the oceans of the world, could be so exactly like our own. After years of traveling and staying with strangers I just met, I have seen this first hand. Human beings are far more alike than different no matter what other circumstances are involved.. We love the same, hurt the same, laugh at the same jokes and have many of the same dreams. So why is it that we so commonly view others around the world or even in our own town or family as "us" and "them," where often many of "them" turn out to be the bad guys in our ego centric world?
I think it's because we project ourselves on everyone else. We see hate in others because we ourselves hate. We see love in others because we ourselves love. We see talent and potential in others because we believe those qualities are in ourselves. When we see others as a hopeless case, it's because we feel that way about ourselves. We use easy to see differences, be it race, nationality, religion, political party or financial status as excuses to project the very best and the very worst about ourselves outward and away from us. If only we could stop it right? If only we could rise above it, or at least give others more of a benefit of the doubt. I feel relatively enlightened on this topic, but I still make those same mistakes every day. Does anyone know how to get around it? If you do, how might you share that with the world?
I have my own idea about how to at least bring the musicians of the world a little closer together. If it works, it might lead to something big. If it doesn't, it will lead to a lot of new and interesting friends. That sure sounds like a win-win to me. Check out "Brian's Big Idea" in the first article below if you're interested. And if you aren't, check out that little movie about 2 cultures that aren't supposed to get long very well running into each other in the most simple and human sort of way. Maybe afterwards you'll consider joining us.
For generations we've had to live with the world that our parents handed us. I'd like to think that with the Internet and other modern resources at our disposal, we could do a lot better than we collectively are right now. I'd like to think that as the world grows smaller and more interdependent, we could finally all start to live like we really are all in this together. If Aliens from Outer Space attacked us, we'd do it. Why wait?
Learn, Succeed, Thrive. We're All In This Together!
***************************************************
Just Plain Notes Table of Contents:
Note: Congrats to They Might Be Giants, Daniel Ho and Tia Carrere, Bill Harley and all the other JPF members who won Grammy Awards or were nominees earlier this month! Daniel won his 4th consecutive Grammy for Best Hawaiian Album!
01. 2009 JPF Community Partner Sponsors
02. Brian's Big Idea
03. Peer Judge Volunteers Needed
04. 2008/2009 JPF Music Awards Update
05. Want to win $5000? Give it a shot by signing up with Ourstage!.
***************************************************
2009 Just Plain Folks Community Partner Sponsors!
Disc Makers: Nobody makes CD or DVD manufacturing easier and no one delivers faster. When you need CD or DVD replication, short-run duplication, complete printing and packaging options, sturdy duplicators and printers, or affordable blank CDs and DVDs look no further. They've got it. They also now handle licensed merchandise for you (t-shirts, hats etc.). Mention you're a Just Plain Folks Member and get a $50 Discount off your initial CD Orders! Sign up for a free catalog and booklet on Mastering your Music at
www.discmakers.com/jpfolksTAXI: The world's leading independent A&R company, has been successfully helping Songwriters, Artists and Composers get their music heard and signed by top Publishers, Major & Indie Labels, and Film & TV music supervisors since 1992. TAXI, is your best bet! See them at
www.TAXI.com.CDBaby: The best place to sell your CD's or music files on line. They also have the best on-line hosting service called Hostbaby. Nobody else even comes close. See them at
www.CDBaby.com and
www.Hostbaby.com..OurStage: is a purely democratic, game free online competition where the fans decide who's best in emerging music and film and rewards the winners with real opportunities through their partnerships with major music festivals and touring acts. You can post songs immediately and get in the running for monthly cash prizes of $5000 (5 of the last 8 winners have been fellow JPF members!). And it's all free! Visit
www.ourstage.com/go/jpf and sign up.
***************************************************
Brian's Big Idea:
I have always wanted to do more to bring together our grassroots music community. I do my best to travel as much as possible (we'll be visiting the UK and Ireland this fall) and I've actually met over 25,000 JPF members in their own hometowns over the past 11 years in 48 US States and 16 Countries. But I am only one man with limited resources and only so many hours in a day. So my big idea for today is to try and reach out beyond borders, beyond nationalities, beyond belief systems and connect with more of you in places I haven't and may never actually visit in person. I want to find at least 1 musician in every country around the world that I can extend my hand to, if not in person, at least via technology. I want to do away with the biases and the misunderstandings and the prejudices that all of us have built into our psyches and embrace real people living very similar human lives around the globe. And to do this, I need YOUR help.
My concept is this:
1. I want to connect with 1 USA musician/writer from every USA congressional district. I want this person to be someone that is open and willing to have an ongoing dialog with all their counterparts across our country and eventually around the world. This isn't political or musical per se. It's about music makers using that commonality as an excuse to come together.
2. I want to connect with 1 motivated musician/writer from every country on planet Earth. The short term goal is to open an ongoing dialog to learn more about how you are more similar to the rest of us than different, while still celebrating those unique qualities and characteristics gained from your own local culture and belief systems. In other words, I want to get to know you as a fellow human, and then I want to learn about what makes you and your country unique.
The long term goal would be for that person to help find representation across their own country (it could be political districts, states, provinces or anything else that would help represent all the diversity within and across your country). Because I am limited to English as my only functional language, I'll need to connect with someone who can communicate with me in English.
If we achieve these two goals, I want to parlay this larger widespread and all encompassing group of musicians into a communication and cooperation network that can actually do some good, not only for those of us directly involved, but to those of us we each reach in our own lives. Imagine how much we could do together? Since it's clear our politicians have a limited ability to truly come together, perhaps that notion is better left to the creative community to lead the way. Music and Art is at the root of most cultures.
I realize this is an almost impossibly ambitious idea. But so was creating JPF from scratch and seeing it grow to 52K members around the world with very little resources, and no real standing to start with in the music community.
There's no limit to how many people can participate from a given place as long as we find at least 1 in each location. Though we received Awards entries from 160 countries, I don't currently know many of those folks and have only visited 16 countries to date. We want to find real people who are sincerely motivated to make it happen and who will be open to projecting their own positive attributes on their fellow humans around the globe.
So who is with me?
If it's you, then please email me at jpfolkspro@aol.com with your name and contact info including where you live and if you're in the USA, what Congressional District you live in, and what you can bring to the table in terms of time and help on this project. Place "We're All In This Together (insert state/country)" in the subject.
Let's put JK Rowling's words at the top of this newsletter to the test.. Let's all share in something. We're bound to find we like and understand each other more than we might have expected.
Curmudgeons need not apply.
***************************************************
Peer Judge Volunteers Needed for 2009 JPF Music Awards
Thanks to all those who have gotten involved in this year's music awards screening. We have 12 specific genres of music, out of the 100+, which we are still short on peer judges: (The number of albums still in the running in each genre is listed to the right)
Compilation (All Genres): 141 Albums
Death Metal: 91 Albums
Electronic: 642 Albums
Experimental: 175 Albums
Metal: 178 Albums
Modern Rock: 129 Albums
Pop: 217 Albums
Rap: 635 Albums
Reggae: 206 Albums
Rock: 984 Albums
Techno: 92 Albums
Urban Gospel: 212 Albums
If you'd like to help out and you feel you could screen through an entire category of music before the end of March, please email me personally at jpfolkspro@aol.com. Please place "Peer Judge" in the subject along with your contact information and what genre(s) you prefer. Also let us know if you are entered this year so we can avoid conflicts.
What does screening involve/require?
In Round 2 we are simply on a treasure hunt to find all the songs and albums that move you. When you find one, you flag it and move on to the next song or album. That's all there is to it. You need to have a fast internet connection and current versions of your internet browser and flash for the system to work. We do ask you to avoid genres where you have friends and family (or yourself) in the running.
Because we're near the end of Round 2, we most need folks with enough time to focus on 1 of the categories above and finish it by the end of March. If that's not you, then please wait until later in the process to get involved.
Email me at: jpfolkspro@aol.com Please place "Peer Judge" in the subject along with your contact information and what genres you prefer.
***************************************************
2008/2009 JPF Music Awards Update
We're finishing up Round 2 of this years music awards screening. We're hoping to start Round 3 in March and finish that and Round 4 by May. Once those rounds are done, we'll announce our nominations in over 200 categories for both Songs and Albums and we'll set a date and location for the music awards, hopefully in August of this year
Big thanks to our partners at Wilshire Media Group for donating our entire Judging Interface which is working out perfectly for us. It's a lot of work to get through 42K albums and 560K songs, but our volunteer screeners and tech partners are making it happen!
If you have connections to a high profile venue which could donate or give us a discount on the rental fee for our music awards show, here's what we need:
Dinner Seating for 600+
Food & Drink Service Available
Live Stage, Sound and Lights for Show and Performances
Parking and nearby Hotels Available.
Right now we're focused on either Los Angeles (and the surrounding area) or Nashville with a slight openness to Las Vegas. If the venue is extremely high profile, we might be able to do without the food service but it's a 6 hour event so that really helps. If you have ideas with specific contacts/connections, email me at jpfolkspro@aol.com. I most need help with people who have first hand contact/history with the venue.
***************************************************
JPF Members Rake in the Wins and the Bucks for their Music at Ourstage!
Our community partner Ourstage has an amazing program where musicians and songwriters can enter their songs on the site into over 50 different genres and channels to compete for prizes, performance slots, mentoring sessions and all kinds of other really cool stuff. It’s 100% free to enter and the overall monthly grand prize is $5000.00! 6 different JPF members have won this 5K and in this economy it can make a huge difference in your career. We've also been able to submit our members names to some high profile gigs including the Newport Folk Festival. We have quite a few JPF members competing to win February as I type this!
If you'd like to get your songs in front of over 1.2 million unique listeners each month and see if they can compete with your peers to win up to 5K in prize money use the link below to register and then post your songs into the genres that fit what you do best. It's all 100% free and you give away nothing.
You can enter your music for March's contest starting right now!
Here is the official JPF link to join Ourstage!
http://www.ourstage.com/go/jpfIf you have any questions, you can reach our JPF Partner contact Daniel James at daniel@ourstage.com. You can also post questions or let us know what categories you have music entered into via our message board discussion at this link on the JPF Message Boards:
Ourstage:
http://www.jpfolks.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/606628/page/1#Post606628***************************************************
Copyright 2009 Just Plain Folks Productions
