Three questions, answered forthrightly
Aug. 6th, 2015 04:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
slipjig3The magnificent ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bluegargantua recently answered a three-question interview, and offered to ask three questions to anyone who so wished. I took the plunge, and great questions they are! In his own words, "It's murder ballads all the way down":
1) What was your first musical instrument?
My first "real" instrument, i.e. one that wasn't handed out in bulk to the entire grade school music class, was the flute, begun in fifth grade. I'd known that flute would be my band instrument for a few years at that point, although i don't recall the exact reasons why, aside from a single jean-Pierre Rampal LP in my parents' collection. I played on a serious band-and-recital level up through my freshman year of college, when thanks to a horrid audition I dropped from my high school first chair position to next-to-last chair in the lowest of four concert bands, which took the wind out of my sails. I still have my Yamaha open-hole, though, and play it occasionally, although playing with a beard is an interesting challenge. Maybe I should break it out for some Murder Ballads stuff.
2) What did you learn from your crowdfunding endeavors?
The thing I keep trying to learn everywhere else: that it's okay to advocate for myself. The hardest part about the Indiegogo thing, the newer Patreon thing, everything about finding listeners and landing gigs, is that I have to stand up and say, "Hey! I'm pretty good! Come check me out!" And not just once, but over and over again. People will help, yes, but not if I don't believe it myself first. Still working on it.
3) What's the funniest line from a murder ballad?
I have to go with "Matty Groves," when Matty is asked by Lord Darnell what he thinks of the Lord's bed, his linens, and oh yeah, his naked wife in Matty's arms. Matty, a cheeky li'l cuss, replies, "Oh, it's well I like your feather bed and well I like your sheets / But better I like your lady gay who lies in my arms asleep." Oh, SNAP.
BONUS: Since most people come on interview shows to pitch their latest project (book, movie, CD, etc.), pitch your latest project (anything fun you want people to know about).
Murder Ballads, natch. We've started talking about our second album, and we've got so much new material from just the last six months that we're going to have to trim somewhere. Part of that is from project #2: S.J. Tucker got me into hier songwriters' group, which means I get a prompt every Monday and have to write and record a new song by Sunday; it's a snootload of work, but I've been doing some of my best writing to date, so bring it on. One last non-musical thing is that I've begun writing cards again for a peculiar movie trivia game I'm developing (hey,theloriest, it's the one you playtested at the party a year and a half ago). It's tedious work but fun. I want to have at least 250 cards before I do anything resembling beta testing, and I've got a little over 100 now. Onward!
If you'd like some questions of your own, just ask in comments!
bluegargantua recently answered a three-question interview, and offered to ask three questions to anyone who so wished. I took the plunge, and great questions they are! In his own words, "It's murder ballads all the way down":1) What was your first musical instrument?
My first "real" instrument, i.e. one that wasn't handed out in bulk to the entire grade school music class, was the flute, begun in fifth grade. I'd known that flute would be my band instrument for a few years at that point, although i don't recall the exact reasons why, aside from a single jean-Pierre Rampal LP in my parents' collection. I played on a serious band-and-recital level up through my freshman year of college, when thanks to a horrid audition I dropped from my high school first chair position to next-to-last chair in the lowest of four concert bands, which took the wind out of my sails. I still have my Yamaha open-hole, though, and play it occasionally, although playing with a beard is an interesting challenge. Maybe I should break it out for some Murder Ballads stuff.
2) What did you learn from your crowdfunding endeavors?
The thing I keep trying to learn everywhere else: that it's okay to advocate for myself. The hardest part about the Indiegogo thing, the newer Patreon thing, everything about finding listeners and landing gigs, is that I have to stand up and say, "Hey! I'm pretty good! Come check me out!" And not just once, but over and over again. People will help, yes, but not if I don't believe it myself first. Still working on it.
3) What's the funniest line from a murder ballad?
I have to go with "Matty Groves," when Matty is asked by Lord Darnell what he thinks of the Lord's bed, his linens, and oh yeah, his naked wife in Matty's arms. Matty, a cheeky li'l cuss, replies, "Oh, it's well I like your feather bed and well I like your sheets / But better I like your lady gay who lies in my arms asleep." Oh, SNAP.
BONUS: Since most people come on interview shows to pitch their latest project (book, movie, CD, etc.), pitch your latest project (anything fun you want people to know about).
Murder Ballads, natch. We've started talking about our second album, and we've got so much new material from just the last six months that we're going to have to trim somewhere. Part of that is from project #2: S.J. Tucker got me into hier songwriters' group, which means I get a prompt every Monday and have to write and record a new song by Sunday; it's a snootload of work, but I've been doing some of my best writing to date, so bring it on. One last non-musical thing is that I've begun writing cards again for a peculiar movie trivia game I'm developing (hey,
theloriest, it's the one you playtested at the party a year and a half ago). It's tedious work but fun. I want to have at least 250 cards before I do anything resembling beta testing, and I've got a little over 100 now. Onward!If you'd like some questions of your own, just ask in comments!
