Life is AMAZING. First day of Senior year at USC today. So funny looking back to freshmen year when I was sooo terrified and thought that I was completely incompetent and would never succeed in anything! ha. Well now I’m happy, confidant, and doing MUSIC.
I have two shows in the next two weeks, one tomorrow August 25th at Crane’s, 1611 El Centro Hollywood CA 90028 8:20pm, FREE, so come! Next September 3rd at House of Blues upstairs Voodoo Lounge! $10 but there are 8 different songwriters playing and they’re all terrific! Info on myspace.com/amandaholmesband
Here’s me covering Build Me Up Buttercup, hope you enjoy!!
Tonight I got the privilege to play at the House of Blues!! There were some great singer/songwriters there!! Some wonderful people came out to support. And I got to play with Jack Kovacs. My life was complete.
A little lesson about Los Angeles music scene:
Since there are so many bands that play around LA, the venues started this thing called “Pay to Play.” Unlike anywhere else in the world, musicians line up around the block to PAY the VENUE to play. Leave the perimeter of LA, and VENUES pay MUSICIANS to play. This makes the most sense considering musicians are providing a service. Its like if an artist paid you to take one of their paintings…
This is what makes playing around Los Angeles hard because everywhere you go they want you to bring out a “draw” of people. You can only ask your friends to pay $10-15 cover to come see you play at a venue a few times… After a while, its hard to keep fans coming back… Proving to be a very viscous cycle.
For those of you that didn’t know… Welcome to the world of “Pay to Play” where the artists get man handled by the promoters. Granted, I am educated in the numbers behind the shows and I do know that promoters are put in this position because their cut of the deal is VERY SMALL. Even on a large scale, promoters can have a hard time making money. Sooo. Thats the dealio on the Los Angeles music scene for independent artists
NEXT SHOW, Tuesday August 11th at Crane’s on N El Cid, right off of Hollywood Blvd by the Fonda Theater. Info on my myspace. Should be fun! Cool, small dive bar that plays music 5 nights a week! Free! Come party with me!
Wish me luck, tomorrow I audition for a talent show for TV!! ha. How fun is my life!!
In baseball they always say its 10% physical and 90% mental. I feel majority of the time, the equation for success is 10% skill, 90% mental strategy. How many times have you been on a roll and then completely sabotaged yourself!! Choked. Feared failure and given up. Or just never tried at all for fear of being wrong or falling on your face… I feel I’ve started to notice a trend that some of the most influencial, successful people, have their mental game under control. Its not that they necessarily excel at some skills, its their uncanny ability to go for it and not worry about failure.
Today I started thinking about the future, how am I going to succeed as a singer. How am I going to pay my bills? Survive? How can I build a following of fans? How can I tour around the world? As I started to ask these questions I started to feel weight on my words. The more I thought about it, the deeper I dug myself into a hole of worries, fears, and anxiety.
I guess I’ve decided not to over think things. The minute I stop worrying and thinking about all the ways something could go wrong, and just DO IT. I realize that things are a lot easier to obtain than I thought. You just have to act. 75% of success is just showing up. So many people are astonished that Shani and I booked our own tour by ourselves. But really, its just about calling enough places. We called each venue about ten times, over the span of four months, and eventually we got the gigs booked! Its easy to sit and doubt yourself, worry about failure and rejection. But if you can feed off of that challenge and use it as a drive for inspiration and determination-you have won the war.
So whatever it is that you’re wishing you’d done, or want to do… Stop thinking. Stop waiting. Stop day dreaming. Let your body do the actions, your mind will follow. You can be completely self conscious, with no faith in yourself, but you show up and go after what you want…. You’ll make it. If you keep at it for enough time, you’ll make it. Takes rejection, time, and an unwavering concentration on the goal.
