10/24/07

hey all,

how's it?

i played a showcase last night at the clubhouse @ this old house for the west coast songwriter's association and after i'd finished my set, steve key (the man in charge) asked me if i'd like to be the featured act at a future showcase! i naturally replied in the affirmative and asked what date would work. the end result is that i, loren radis, will be playing a 45 minute set as the featured act of the songwriter's showcase on november 20th at the clubhouse @ this old house out on foothill here in san luis obispo!

it's a really great feeling to be asked to play a featured set, since they only feature top notch acts. it was really encouraging and really exciting. so mark that date, i'll be putting it up in the shows section and on the myspace too.

also, just wanted to remind everyone that one week from today on october 31st, at 6 pm i'm having my next real show! 740 west foothill blvd in san luis obispo at the clubhouse restaurant. i'm playing a three hour set, they sell dinner and drinks, i'll (fingers crossed!) hopefully have new cd's for sale, and it'd be great if you get a chance to stop it and listen for a while :)

thanks again everybody, more updates on recording to follow (here's a hint, it's going really well)

thanks!

-loren

10/17/07

in with the good news, out with the bad

hey everybody, how ya been?

it's been a little while since the last update, but a lot of exciting things have kinda happened all at once.

first off, i got an e-mail today asking me to do a three hour set at the clubhouse in san luis obispo on foothill blvd. if you remember, i played there last month for a songwriter's showcase. while i was there the manager asked me for a business card and apparently he hung onto it because he asked me back! that's really exciting, it's the first time i've been invited somewhere to play, usually i have to twist the arm of the booking agent. so the details concerning that show will be up in the shows section soon, but just so you know it's the clubhouse @ this old house on 740 west foothill blvd. san luis obispo, ca. it's way out in the hills and fields but it's a nice little restaurant that's really trying to push local music. i'm super excited and you should get used to hearing about this show, 'cuz i'm gonna be promoting the hell out of it.

secondly, it looks as though mdl is going to be featured on a radio show! however, it's not a local radio show...so unfortunately most of you will probably never hear it. someone in minnesota found our videos on youtube (where i've uploaded several new videos since the last update, by the way) and liked them. he e-mailed me and said that he does a radio show twice a month and wondered if we'd like to have our music on his show. i said of course and he's going to send a disc of the broadcast our way after it goes live. november 1st and 22nd are the dates, so if any of you for some strange reason happen to be in minnesota for those dates, check the radio and you just might hear us!

lastly, there's just a few little tidbits that may not be as interesting to you as they are to me. i got invited to play at a wedding, which sounds like a really great idea, but i'm not sure yet whether i'll be able to play what they want, still waiting to hear back on that. we're getting closer and closer on the cd, and i'm toying around with the idea of releasing an ep or single or something before the final cd is completed so that i have something of a higher quality to sell at shows. also, i'm planning on adding a 'donations' button to the website. now, the songs are still gonna be online for free, and i'm not expecting anyone to donate money or to be able to make a living off of this, i just think it's a good idea to give people the option. people have tried to pay me for cd's and i didn't feel right accepting their money, people have asked if they can buy our songs online and i gleefully tell them that they're all available for free, that sort of thing. so yeah, no obligation whatsoever, it's really just there so that people can donate if they feel like it. i'm thinking it'll be up at the top in the navigation bar on the far right, but i haven't added it yet.

so that's what's going on, hope you don't mind, and i hope you're all as excited for the show at the clubhouse as i am. i didn't have another full show until december before this came up, and i'm really looking forward to it. mark your calendars, i'd love to see all of you there!
thanks for reading, talk to you later!

-loren

10/9/07

seasons may change: the weekend in brief.

hey there everyone. this past weekend was a pretty eventful one for us musician's that make up the music group currently known as 'mdl'. we got to act as the house band for an open house/open mic for shepherd's table. that was a weird but very cool experience. it was mostly us playing but several other people did a few songs and we played backup for some as well. thanks to everybody who came to support the church and who came to see us, it was great :)

this sunday i (loren) tried something new, i entered a songwriter's competition. i wish i could say that you're reading a post by an award winning musician, but that'd be a lie. i did not win for 'best song' or 'best performance' but apparently i was pretty close to both, and i got some great feedback and had a fun time too. the guy who did win really is better than me (craig dingman, look him up) so i don't begrudge him. but i did have a ton of fun and i'm planning on entering the next one too. it's at linnaea's cafe starting at seven o'clock on the first sunday of every month. i'll remind everyone when the next one rolls around, but everybody is only allowed two songs, so if i'm the only reason you'd go then it might not be worth it. there's plenty of other great local talent that makes appearances there though, so i'd come if i were you!

that's about it, oh wait, except for some minor changes made to the website and a new video on youtube! see, i thought it might be fun to have a video of me recording a song in our 'studio' so i did. the song is 'the trapeze swinger' by iron and wine. hope you enjoy it!

that's about all i've got for now, we've got a handful of songs completed over the weekend and i'm working on getting more shows (frog 'n' peach anyone?) and i'll be sure to keep you up to date as more develops.

thanks so much everybody for reading, listening, coming to shows, it's great and i hope you don't lose interest in us :)

bye!

-loren