my apologies for not updating the blog more frequently!
i have been hella wicked busy with bEASTfest, managing some of my new clients, & launching daniland productions as an independent promotion company.
as many of you know, i left as the club booker of The Stork Club in May (shortly after my last blog entry!) & have been experimenting with different venues throughout the East Bay. I had a month of shows at Talk of the Town (July), then have stayed with The Oakland Metro & Starry Plough for the rest of the year. i am happy with these two venues best of all so far.
The Oakland Metro is a wonderful black box-style venue that houses experimental opera & other events. The Starry Plough is a REAL Irish pub in Berkeley. Both have the ability to do all ages shows.
i have taken on a few clients as a talent manager this summer as well. Bitesize, the indie pop trio (who is on this month's cover of The West Coast Performer!) & The Suicide Kings are a couple of my priorities now.
I also am part of The Berkeley Poetry Slam. Our 2002 team placed 5th (out of 58 teams!) in the nation this year at The National Poetry Slam (in Minneapolis). Coaching, publicizing, and taking care of the Team took up much of my summer as well.
bEASTfest is now almost here & i am working 40-60 hours a week on producing all aspects of the festival: artists, performers, venues, sponsors, grants, publicity, volunteers, and more. it's a huge undertaking, & i'm really happy we have more volunteers this year than ever before!
more later! see you at the show! dani
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howdy!
Last nite was the 1st-ever Whole Enchilda benefit & CD Release party! It was a screaming success, and The band of the hour was The Mass!
The Mass was releasing their first CDEP (on Whole Enchilada Records!) & played to an enthusiastic crowd, getting ovations & calls for encores. Also playing were Bitesize (local gender-bending poppy noisy fun band) & Dr. Abacus (cartoon soundtrack jazz noise) with special guests Fou Fou Ha! (are they dancers? are they acrobats? are they clowns? they are Fou Fou Ha!) and Puppets & Pie. (Satan the puppet made Dr. Abacus sell their souls in order to play an Ozzy cover!)
My weekend fun (& work!) doesn't end there! Tonite is the Berkeley Slam Finals, where 4 poets out of 8 will make Team Berkeley & travel to Minneapolis for the National Poetry Slam. This year has been the most competitive year I've ever seen & the surviving 8 poets could easily make two kick-booty teams- yet we only can take 4 with us!!!
I have begun work to start a talent representation agency (both booking and management) & am talking to several acts about contracts. Curretly I have a short term contract with eXtreme Elvis- booking his tour to the Northwest.
Talk of the Town opened to a full house, & is busy making improvements & renovating the upstairs for a full-time venue. I have two shows scheduled there:
Sunday June 2: The Lack (Troubleman Untd Records) with DJs Miso & Megaweapon (I may add a band as well)
and Sunday June 30 (Queer Pride, but come back to the East Bay after the parade for a great show!): Neil Hamburger (Andy Kaufman-esque stand up), Pleaseasaurus, & eXtreme Elvis.
bEASTfest rolls merrily along: we will be taking submissions soon- the website should be updated with submission info within two weeks & you can also check our announcements in The East Bay Express & on KALX.
Gotta go to the slam! See you at the show! -dani
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hello again!
here's an update on Epic Arts, Whole Enchilada, & bEASTfest!
Epic Arts: There are 4 of us who are working on launching Epic Arts in a big way. Ideally, we will acquire a multi-use space that will include a gallery, performance space, space for workshops & meetings, office space for Epic Arts projects & more! we are shopping around for a big enough space that is affordable, & also need regular renters to help us afford the space
(do you have a meeting every week that needs cheap space? do you teach yoga & need a studio once per week? does your band need rehearsal space? does your non-profit group need a cubicle or small office to run operations out of? email me! dani@daniland.com
through Epic Arts, we are working on a joint project called The Catalyst Project that we hope helps people in the arts get what they need to succeed, & people interested in the arts find their passion. It will have an extensive research library for visual artists, writers, musicians, performers, instructors, educators, and more. We are also planning a school to hook up art instructors with prospective students. There will be a low-cost street team, to help people get the grassroots word out about their events, classes, performances. So many things!
There are a few projects that are going under the Epic Arts umbrella. There is Kids Kaliedoscope, an arts education program. Whole Enchilada Records, my little label, is gonna become a project of Epic Arts. Since the label has always been run as a non-profit, why not make it official & be eligible for grants? Our mission is "to document the wealth of talent that exists in the East Bay and to assist worthy East Bay artists in affording the release of their recordings." That means we'll continue to release compilations like Best of the Berkeley Slam & bEASTfest, & continue to sign bands & artists up for release-to-release contracts for their individual projects. It also means we can take donations (tax deductible!) & grants.
bEASTfest has also partnered with Epic Arts this year. They are our "fiscal sponsor" (lending us their non-profit status, so we can apply for grants) & The Catalyst Project of Epic Arts is the festival's beneficiary. Proceeds from bEASTfest 2002 help fund The Catalyst Project.
In other bEASTfest news, we have confirmed The Stork Club, The Starry Plough, Club Muse, Talk of the Town, 21 Grand, and The Black Box as bEASTfest 2002 venues. We are still talking to a few more places, & still looking for an AFFORDABLE place to have a large, splashy, kick-off party for 600-1000 people (Wednesday December 11th). We need to be allowed to bring in our own food & beverage (including alcohol). Any ideas out there?
the bEASTfest 2002 CD is (hopefully, depends on funding) gonna be an extendo CDROM with not only audio tracks, but selections from our visual art, film/video/animation artists!
more news later! -dani
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hello again blog-o-philes!
more progress in daniland! i have news on bEAStfest, daniland productions, Whole Enchilada Records, Talk of the Town & Epic Arts (& The Catalyst Project)!
bEASTfest: we have secured non-profit status from Epic Arts & will be seeking grants to help us put on the festival this year & in future years.
We have also started an advisory panel of people that are helping with our much anticipated expansion: we are including visual art (all media including comic book artists), film/video/and animation, hip hop, & ethnic dance & percussion. We are expanding our jazz and spoken word offerings as well.
There are quite a few (amazing) people on the panel: Marc Bamuthi Joseph (Second Sundays at the Justice League, Fabric, The Living Word Project, YouthSpeaks) is helping us put together hip hop and ethnic dance & percussion, Burt Hachiguchi (Cast of Thousands, Ground Hog Fest) is not only helping us with development, but he's key in reaching out to indie comic book artists, and Justin Katz (Rosin Coven, Paradox Media) is helping us with "non-traditional" performers such as fire-breathers, cabaret acts, and magicians.
We have secured 5 venues already, and are again working with The East Bay Express as our exclusive print and presenting sponsor. whew!
daniland productions: I'm considering taking on individual clients (bands, performers, etc.) for consulting (such as strategic planning, bio writing, package consultation, etc), booking (locally & tours), and more. I have a lot of contacts & a wealth of experience that could be mutually beneficial for such clients. Stay tuned to see if I launch a business in this direction!
Whole Enchilada Records: has also secured non-profit status (from Epic Arts)! Looking for those grants to help us meet our mission! For those unfamiliar with the label, it's mission is to document the wealth of talent from the East Bay & assist worthy East Bay performers by extending highly favorable recording contracts. The contracts are release-by-release, maintain 100% of the writing & publishing rights to the artist, and has distribution already in place.
Talk of the Town: The club is soooooo close to opening! The first show is scheduled on Saturday, April 27th, & I booked it! The venue will be hosting The Places (from Portland), Film School, & one more TBA. The show is gonna be in their downstairs bar/restaurant space- the upstairs venue will be open a little later in the year. The show will be FREE & the venue is a great bar & restaurant. Come check out the next wave of East Bay venues!
Epic Arts: So what is this Epic Arts business? It's a 3 year non-profit that used to have a gallery & performance space & is now looking to resurrect itself with some amazing projects. Besides bEASTfest & Whole Enchilada Records, the group is seeking a gallery & performance space, runs programs for arts in the schools, and more! The newest project that will be launched is The Catalyst Project- it's gonna be a service aimed at artists & performers. There will be a resource library (markets for writing, the arts, and performance, media directories for self-promotion, etc.), a referral network (studio spaces, booking agents, cheap framing , etc.), and low-cost consulting on the business side of performance. This year's bEASTfest will be a benefit for The Catalyst Project.
more later!
dani
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hello again!
things have been chugging along in daniland: i have news about Whole Enchilada, bEASTfest, BAND workshops, & more!
I have been working on a new project on my little label, Whole Enchilada. It's got the cumbersome name of Whole Enchilada Records Community of Artists Project (or WERCAP for short!). I want the label to be able to assist stellar East Bay Artists in releasing CDs & seven inches. So I am organizing a series of benefits for my cash-poor label (after all, I own it, & I have no $$!) at The Stork Club & elsewhere.
The first artist that WERCAP has signed is the East Bay jazzcore outfit, The Mass. I think these guys rock! Our first benefit is Saturday, May 23rd. This will help us raise funds for the first release & hopefully give us $$ left over to start the next release (TBA!).
How can you help? If you are a band, volunteer to play a benefit! If you are a business owner, give us items to raffle off at the benefit! If you are a writer, help spread the word about this not-for-profit goodness!
In other WER news, we are now being distributed online through Darla Records! Yippee!
bEASTfest 2002 planning has already begun (the festival is scheduled December 11-15), & we have really exiting plans!
We would like to have an invitation only kick-off party for participating performers, sponsors, venues, affiliates & partners, & the media. Last year, we barely got to meet everyone involved, & when we did, we were crazed from 16 hour days & too many tasks. We think that this will allow us to meet everyone in a nice social atmosphere, rather than in the middle of the fest when we are running around like crazy. (That's right, the party is all about us! Hee hee!) Actually, it's gonna be quite nice. We will have it catered (Free food & booze!), have performers at this show as well, & it can be a great way to meet other bEASTfesters!
We're also gonna have 3 days of evening performance, in which we want to include film/video, hip hop, & DJs as well as rock, jazz, & spoken word.
During the days, we want to have visual art in at least one East Bay Gallery by some of the best EB visual artists, & possibly workshops like the BAND series that I have been doing with Jocelyn Kane.
Speaking of BAND, the next one is "The Press & Booking Package" & it's on Sunday March 10th (5 PM, $2) at The Stork. Our press guest is Katy St. Clair, music editor of The East Bay Express. BANDS SHOULD BRING THEIR PACKAGES FOR US TO LOOK OVER & EVALUATE. Don't worry, we're here to help you, & we're pretty gentle!
BAND has been invited to two really cool events: in May, our SF workshop will be at Expo for the Musician at CellSpace. Also in fairer weather times, we'll be heading up to the North Bay to put on a BAND workshop there as well!
So I've been talking about a new EB venue that I hope to book at opening soon for some time. As soon as the building inspector gives her/his OK, it WILL happen! The venue is called Talk of the Town & it's on E.14th at 45th Avenue (Yes, yes, I know "so far out there!" But that means less noise complaints & better prospects for the venue! Remember when BOTH opened? People complained that it was in the middle of nowhere, too!)
The venue has a full bar downstairs, a restaurant, PLUS a venue upstairs with another bar & outdoor smoking deck! The downstairs will also have a smaller stage for quieter things, such as jazz, bluegrass, tejano, & karaoke. The upstairs will be the nicest larger capacity venue in the EB! It has a green room & will have an amazing sound system.
Also in interesting news: There is another venue in Oakland that Misty & I will be talking to! We would like to place one-time shows & series there. It's all in the works, so stay tuned!
Misty & I (Misty is my bEAStfest partner) are talking about starting a non-profit to support artists & performers in the East Bay. The non-profit would then run bEASTfest, the WERCAP program & do so much more! Stay Tuned, indeed!
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howdy again!
it seems like whenever i am busy, this is not updated very well, but it should be! i have lots to report!
jocelyn (of the voodoo lounge in SF, motogirl prductions, popular noise, etc) & i have had our first B.A.N.D. (Booking And other Necessary Details) workshop! It was a rip-roaring success! While I wasn't sure how many people wanted to come out & listen to two bookers rattle on, apparently many of you do! I was expecting 10-20 of you all, but ended up with 60! wow! we were also invited to do a workshop at this year's "expo for the musician" in SF in may. yay!
we are repeating this workshop (working with bookers) in SF in feb for those of you that missed it & starting a new one for march: on press & booking packages. we'll have press folks there, & want people to bring their press kits so we can analyze them. we'll also bring examples of great kits. for more info on the B.A.N.D. workshops, go to http://www.daniland.com/BAND
misty & i are off to a good start with bEASTfest 2002! we have made a plan for the rest of the year & are starting to recruit interns & volunteers interested? email me! dani@daniland.com
The Berkeley Slam should get a bit more attention, as we have been approached by The East Bay Express for sponsorship. Look for our ads in there in the future! in the meantime, you can always check out the slam by going to http://www.daniland.com/slam or by hitting the Starry Plough on a Wednesday nite.
i have a grand vision for my little label, Whole Enchilada. I want to release music by three East Bay bands & pay for them through a series of benefit shows at The Stork Club. Plans are being discussed as we speak!
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sheesh!
well, bEASTfest is over & i am trying to catch up on all my stork & ladyfest projects. while the overwhelming outcome of bEASTfest was positive, there was some griping on the spockmorgue list that really bummed me out. does everyone realize that bookers have feelings, too? sheesh, work your ass off for the love of it AND still people feel that they can bitch.
anyway, i'm now working on a series of workshops called the B.A.N.D. series (Booking And other Necessary Details). It's come to my attention that many bands need help with the business side of things & there are many inadvertent mistakes being made out there that can be avoided. SO! Jocelyn Kane (Voodoo Lounge, Popular Noise) & I have decided to run a monthly series on booking, labels, the media & so forth, bringing in outside "experts" to talk to ands about what they think.
The first one is about making contact with & maintaining good booker relationships. (Jan 13th, 5 PM, $2 at the Stork) In future ones, we'll evaluate your press packages, talk about festivals, labels, touring and more! We want to give folks handy information at the end of each workshop (contacts, etc) too.
more later! -dani
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howdy- back again!
bEASTfest organizing has been more than a full time comittment these last few weeks, so i didn't have time to update the blog.
it looks like the final details are all getting hashed out: 9 venues, over 85 acts over 5 days. whew! dealing with bands, venues, sponsors, the media, and PR has been amazing for the two of us organizers- & a kick in the head!
for those of you new to the bEAST, check out the site the East Bay Express made us (which has corrections to be made, but will be made in the next few days) www.eastbayexpress.com/beastfest this is our second year, & my, how we've grown!
i have done little else other than doctor visits & beastfest for the last few weeks.
i have been on a deliberate "news fast" because everything is so inflammatory, reactionary, & sensationalized these days. i have been getting my news exclusively through alternative sources since that first day of information overlaod: sept 11th when i sayed in bed all day & watched the news.
see you at the clubs! dani
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howdy! had to switch blogging software (they had publishing problems with EVERY BLASTED POST!), hence the big giant head to the left! i'll think i'll call him "Phil".
i copied all my past blogs this AM over to this server, so that i still have a continuous journal here for you to read. the dates for each original entry are above each entry.
bEASTfest: rolls merrily along! we are still scrounging for some more $$ to pay for all our expenses, but i think we'll just barely make it again this year (last year i went into debt personally, this year breaking even is a triumph)!
we have settled almost all of the bills (night of entertainment, not "please remit promptly"), and an email from the daniland_productions list (yahoogroups) will be coming out soon (join!). the bEASTfest website should be up really soon, and a press release too.
the venues (we have 8 this year- double from last year!) are: The Stork & Starry Plough (of course!), The Minnow, Club Muse, 21 Grand, iMusicast, 924 Gilman, & The Parkway Theater! we have over 75 performing acts in the fest- it's gonna be rad!
the CD is being mastered now at Mr. Toad's. there are 20 tracks, 20 artists, & it's very eclectic (if it's gonna represent what a lot of the East Bay music scene is, how could it not be? it's coming out on my little label, Whole Enchilada (my second release-woo!) just in time for the fest. $5!
overall daniland stuff: i am meeting with the web designer today to get up a basic bEASTfest page (before the Express helps us with our full site), start my artwork pages (yes, i make art!), and get up daniland productions pages & more! a new index page will be coming soon! a collage by me- look for it!
injury: so now in addition to acupuncture, physical therapy, and massage once a week, i now have a 4th appointment a week for my injury: feldencrais. it's a movement therapy that will teach my body not to be so tense (it's trying to guard me from further injury by never relaxing fully. it is painful.). i guess my body's 1st response used to be good, but is now inhibiting my recovery & progress.
we also got the new mattress. (tom & i were sleeping on a crappy piece of shit rescued from the street in 1994 in Lawrence, Kansas. it had srpings falling out, poking up, and it WAS KILLING MY BACK.) this new mattress is sooooo amazing i never want to leave bed (but with so many projects & doctor's appointments that's not possible)!
ladyfest: yup, you read right! ladyfest is coming to the bay area & i'm helping! we are in the very beginning planning stages rigt now, but stay tuned! if you're a gal who wants to help, join the ladyfestbayarea group at the yahoogroups site now to join a committee or two (sorry guys, ladies only for the organizational parts. you can volunteer at the fest if you like...)
more later! bye for now! dani
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daniland home page
[10/8/2001 8:36:41 AM | dani eurynome]
Well, well, well. Organizing in wartime. makes everything feel so unimportant & useless, you know? Here i am, trying to CREATE something, while a government (that claims to represent me) is DESTROYING so much.
Barbara Lee has my vote next year. Why aren't there more people of conscience in politics? Sometimes I feel like that's a lost cause on the national level. The country is too damn big for most people to be represented (I hate the idea of "representation", anyway.). (I get exasperated, but I still think there is a way to make a difference locally- vote for Wilson Riles for mayor of Oakland! (Jerry Brown is the kind of politician I am so angry with- he doesn't represent anyone but his own interests, is using Oakland until the next big thing comes along.)
Anyway, on to the nuts & bolts:
bEASTfest: So we signed out contract with the Express: they are giving us a lot of help with promotion this year, which will help grow the festival. In addition, we have 8 or 9 venues participating! Last year, we had only 4, so this is amazing! This means we'll be able to double the number of bands from last year (last year we had 30). We also have some jazz & some spoken word this year. (Last year was all rock-based music.) Misty & I have been spending the last two weeks meeting with venues & sponsors. This week is all about selecting bills that go well together, & notifying bands. After we have our bills confirmed in the venues, we are writing copy about the bands for our program, website, and articles. I am also the one doing the CD project, so I am making sure the CD is ready by the time of the festival.
Stork: because of bEASTfest (and Thanksgiving), there were less days to book in November & so Nov was done long ago. (If you see TBAs, on the calendar, it's just cuz we need to hear back from one out of town act). I have been waiting on booking Dec until after we confirm the acts in the festival, so whoever doesn't play can have gigs.
I also need to start booking the Stork's annual Xmas & New Year's parties. On Xmas (just like Xmas in July), Micki bakes a huge quantity of food. A WHOLE XMAS DINNER! All for the price of admission to see great bands. I want to make it a long show with a bunch o bands on Sat the 22nd. New Year's eve everyone will get party kits: a champagne flute, noisemaker, & hat with the price of admission & free champagne at midnight. Need to figure out who we want for those nites.
My injury was flaring up pretty bad in the last week and a half, so I didn't write. My partner & I ended up buying a new (expensive) mattress in the hopes that it will help my back a bit.
Bitesize (my partner's band, who I help from time to time) had their 2nd CD release party at the Stork on Sat Oct the 6th (the 1st one was Wed Sept 19th at Bottom of the Hill with Deerhoof & the Blast Rocks!!!). This time they played with Fluke Starbucker & Baby Carrot, so it was an indie lovefest! The night went well- the place was packed & as usual, Bitesize fans can't help but dance!
more later, dani
[9/17/2001 7:34:43 PM | dani eurynome]
howdy, folks! today was another crazy day! ran around from appointment to appointment, getting stuff done. today after my doctor's visit, i met with my web designer. she's awesome. if you need a website built & you like mine, let me know. i'll put you in touch with her.
i've given her a lot of work, since i want each project that i work on to have it's own look. if you navigate through my site, you'll see that the stork site is very different from the slam site & so on.
i may need to say goodbye to my coffee gallery gig, we'll see. i'll keep you posted on that development as i know what's happening. don't panic!
[9/13/2001 6:23:09 PM | dani eurynome]
What a day! I met with a rep from the EB Express about sponsoring bEASTfest. There's a lot we can do for each other that I never really thought of. She mentioned the SF Weekly has the Wammies & she wants the EB Express to have a large music event, too. Looks like they want it to be bEASTfest!!!
Also schlepped the Berkeley slam CDs to local book stores. Looks like I'll meet the goal of 15 outlets in the Bay Area by the end of the month, no problemo.
Tomorrow is when I hang out at the Stork with Micki (the owner & head honcha). Every Friday, we swap stories & touch base about how shows are going. She can really dish! Note to bands: she's a sweetie, but don't piss her off! She's been known to hit big, bad punk rockers over the head with her shoe! This week a touring band intentionally broke a mic stand (oooh, so punk rock! whatever). I've already heard about it from the sound guy (a friend of mine), but I'm gonna hear it again. That's not rock-n-roll, it's just stupid. There are so few venues (& they are all getting by, but not raking it in), why make things worse?
This week is mostly going to be sad story swapping with Micki, I'm afraid. How can it not? The news is just so sad & how can it help but be on everyone's mind? --dani
[9/12/2001 4:32:46 PM | dani eurynome]
hey, me again. i just can't seem to stop watching the news. i was on a news fast for a while, & now i'm obsessing over each new detail of this mess as they come out. ugh.
today i had some interesting interactions:
met with a new staffer at the Urban View, who told me about the changes the paper needs to make ends meet. While I am sorry to see some pages get cut, I am glad that there is a plan in place to stick around. If you own a business in the East Bay, think about advertising with the UV. they are great folks putting out a great paper that deserves support. Oakland should have it's own weekly paper!
also got called from the Wilson Riles for mayor campaign. I've heard of Wilson from many activist friends. He's actually someone who walks his talk (unlike Jerry Brown) & I think I'm gonna help. Stay tuned for more info on that!
I'm gonna be at the Starry Plough tonite doing the slam. Feels wierd to go back to business as usual, you know? Maybe people can vent their feelings about this whole mess on the mic. Since Nationals (Slam Nationals, in Seattle last month), I've been giving a lot of thought about publishing a chapbook. Maybe...
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