Scenes From The Scene

The Most Wonderful Time?

By Matt Jasper

Original music ends after Thanksgiving. Malls play the standards blaring over the PA systems while shoppers scurry around for the latest gifts. Radio stations switch formats all across the dial, supposedly to bring peace and joy to all the girls and boys. At work, I recently had to put an irate customer on hold, because a barbershop quartet singing carols had somehow gotten loose in our office, and was harmonizing uncontrollably. It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas, which meant that music would come to a stand still until January.

One night, I ran into Scott, who was going to help with my radio promotion for my forthcoming record, ?As A Matter Of Fact?. He let me know, ?Don?t plan on doing anything with your record until January. The radio industry goes on vacation from November to January 1st, leaving the Christmas music on repeat.? He was on to something, so it didn?t make sense to push for a 2006 release.

A few winters ago, I decided to jump on the holiday bandwagon. Two years ago, I had formed a side project with Rorie Kelly and Andrew Jimenez called Others In Sweaters, and we soon got sidetracked into playing holiday events. There was a tree lighting in Locust Valley, a December Stony Brook University set, and a few others, which ended up leaving us in a holiday funk. Our first intentions were to put together new original songs, back each other up on our other songs and see where it took us. The most wonderful time of the year got us derailed, and we?d just about had it with the holidays. We barely made it through December before deciding to refocus on our solo careers.

It seems as if you don?t go the holiday route, the music work you get drops off considerably. Try to book gigs during the December month and many people will not have the time or energy to come to it, since they are often double booked with holiday parties or last minute binge gifting. Even if your fans don?t have a prior obligation, you are combating the fact that they have to go out in the cold, which can cause them to get colds. Chances are, they may have already braved the weather beforehand, and have fallen under the weather. You can forget about them deciding to spend extra dough for your CD or merchandise, since if it?s not for someone else?s gift, they probably don?t have the money.

Musicians don?t fret! There is another aspect to these winter music months. The winter is the perfect time to hole up in the studio and get your songs onto tape. You can dust off the old four-track, and spend the cold days making demos. If you don?t have a home recorder, ask for one as your gift of choice. You can even give yourself the present of studio time, if you don?t know the first thing about recording. Winter is also the perfect time to plan your warmer weather tours. Everything in the music business runs about 3-6 months ahead of schedule, so planning a tour is best done while everyone else is holiday shopping.

The flip side of the holiday season is that once it is over, the Christmas music will stop. Plus, we?ll have new toys to play with, be it guitars, four-tracks, drums, or even the ukulele from that well meaning but odd Aunt of yours. By the time you are reading this, the worst will be over. You can go on in this New Year, knowing that radio stations have returned to playing music made A.B.C. (After Bing Crosby), and that life as we know it will return to its somewhat normal self.

Back