Some home made blues...

Germanprof

My wife sings with a new local blues band, Audio Blue. They've only been practicing together for a few months, and got their first gig as part of a student-organized benefit concert. This is pretty much for fun - no big ambitions, and they know they're rough around the edges; but my wife loves to sing blues. They will be playing at the Grand Rapids Festival of the Arts next Sunday at noon, for a more public unveiling. There are a couple of youtube videos from their first outing here:

Going Home

Daughter

Plong42

Last time I was in the Calvin College Chapel it was to hear NT Wright speak on Sacraments and Time. Just maybe, this is better.

Germanprof

Wow, as an NT Wright fan that sounds like praise indeed.

Plong42

Yes, Blues, NT Wright....probably Hopcat or Madcap is next....I am liking you more and more, Germanprof.

Germanprof

I don't get downtown nearly enough. My wife's former band played at Hopcat a little while back. And if I remember right my son did some work on the owner's house during a summer job. We keep saying we should go down there.

Dr. Mutex

Very nice, thanks for sharing the vids.

Germanprof

Well, the Audio Blue gig at Grand Rapids Festival went very well. More folk were drawn in as the set proceeded and the tent was full by the end, and a bunch of people afterwards wanted to know where and when future shows are (the answer being that there aren't any booked yet!!). The band sounded good, and the whole thing was a lot of fun.

Germanprof

Pic from festival.

Dr. Mutex

a bunch of people afterwards wanted to know where and when future shows are (the answer being that there aren't any booked yet!!

This must not occur a second time. Throw a page up on Facebook and/or MySpace. Pull up a label template on your Word Processor and put the band name and site on the label. Then print on regular paper and cut them out. Put out a sign-up sheet for email notifications. Put the info slips in a tray next to the sign-up sheet.

Also: The Going Home YouTube Video needs the band name and the word Jazz in the description. In the tags isn't enough. The search engines pay more attention to the description.

For reasons that defy my comprehension, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of the North Carolinas calls its alternative medicine plan Audio Blue.
There is an effects pedal called the MI Audio Blue Boy Deluxe.
Aside from the fact that BCBSNC may take a dim view of the band's name, these other two names produce a lot of hits in a search for "Audio Blue". They may wish to consider a more unique name. Other factors to consider include whether the .com domain for that name is available. If you were to suspect I would advise them to register that name, you'd be right.

Daniel, Esq.

very cool.

Germanprof

@Dr. Mutex, Thanks for the advice. Totally agree. The Myspace page is actually up and running, but it was certainly a stroke of incompetence not to have cards or something to hand out. Mainly a case of under-expectation, I think. The band have only been rehearsing a short while and was kind of nervous about the festival gig/happy just to have a gig; I think they were prepared for the possibility of having five people in the audience, all relatives :-). Then it went really well and created some buzz and they were unprepared. There will be a facebook page and also in due time a website - right now I think it's sort of caught between "this is a fun thing to get together and do every now and then" and "wow, people like us, we could get regular gigs". Since festival they got another invitation to play, at a garden party; that's the fourth in a few months, so there's some grounds for optimism - and for putting more effort into the web stuff. They did take the opportunity at the festival gig to get some better photos taken - I haven't seen the results yet.

And I agree about the name. The guys were already playing together before my wife joined and the name was already in place. It's kind of nondescript. And there's half a dozen with that name on myspace. Of course I'm the back seat driver here.

@Daniel, Esq. - thanks!

greg

I certainly enjoyed the videos - when are they coming up on Bandcamp, GP? Reminded me of Blues gigs I used to go to decades ago - great live sound, really drawing you in. Well done to all....

Germanprof

There's a new Audio Blue video on Youtube - a slide show and live recording from their performance at the Grand Rapids Festival of the arts. There's also a basic website up and running.

Germanprof

Off to an Audio Blue gig this evening. A few weeks back some members of Audio Blue (my wife's current band) and some members of Blue Molly (her former band) got together for a gig at a local winery. There's a pretty good video of one song here.

Germanprof

My wife's band Audio Blue played for an hour at the Grand Rapids Festival of the Arts a couple of weeks ago in baking sunshine, and got a standing ovation at the end. There's some video here. The crowd looks thinner than it was on the video - due to where people were mainly wandering in and out, there were a lot more folk a bit further from the stage (it was actually pretty well attended), so it was hard to get the crowd in the shot.

Germanprof

For those within a day's travel of Grand Rapids, Michigan, the best blues band in the world to have a member living with me is playing at the One Trick Pony on Thursday January 22, 2015. 8pm to 11pm. It's the debut gig for the new line-up (the band is now called Third Time Lucky).

Plong42

One Trick Pony is a nice place, wish I could be there (Thursdays are booked for me....)