As I’ve begun to share my blog with my peers, I’ve noticed
that I’ve developed a certain voice, or way of expressing my personality via
word choice and sentence structure, if you will. I like to think that my voice says, “Hey! I’m creative,
intelligent, and a little self-deprecating.” At least, that’s what I think.
If it’s not, feel free to let me know. TELL ME THE HARSH
TRUTH PEOPLE!
But seriously I could use some comments on this thing, so
man up.
Checking out other rock blogs has definitely helped me
examine my own voice a little more closely. For instance, I took a peek at “Danny G.’s Rock Blog,” by
who else than Danny G. himself, the 38-year-old working musician from Austin,
Texas.
This man’s blog sort of depressed me at first, right from
the start he tells you that he is a struggling musician:
“You’ve read the rock bios and seen the movies, but this is
what it’s like for the other 99% of musicians just trying to survive”
I know the guy’s not necessarily making any broader economic
claims here, but all I could think of was the Occupy Movement. I’m not sure which came first, Danny G.
or the movement- but someone is taking somebody else’s slogan here. And both
feel like they are part of the disenfranchised majority, criticizing the
concentration of wealth among the top 1%. (Of rock stars or just top
earners? I think this is probably
where Danny G. and Occupy will differ.)
After this, however, Danny states some of his credentials-
multi-instrumentalist for different bands, has released two instrumental solo
albums and was voted #8 bassist for the 2009 Austin Music Awards.
You go Danny G.
This man obviously knows what he’s talking about in the
realm of struggling musicians. He
has the experience and the talent.
So I read on.
Getting into his blog posts, Danny seemed a lot more
optimistic than his first impression had lead me to believe. From the sound of his reviews on his
latest gigs, this guy is loving the rock and roll lifestyle. His abundance of curse words and
exclamation marks really set the tone:
“Got back up there and threw down even harder… Then a guy
from ‘an oil company’ asked us how much for one more song. Eric asked me, I threw out $100 as a
nice round number, and oil guy gets onto the mic and takes a collection from
the audience for $100 into the tip jar for one more song. Wallets appeared like startled bats.
Amazing!”
“We were totally spent, but still got back up to play
“Little Wing” again. Knocked em
dead. Great night!”
“Crazy! I don’t know how we do it, but it’s amazing that we
can.”
“In other news the weekend was busy as fuck all. Which is good. Really good.”
I especially loved his description of wallets coming out
like startled bats… Not sure if anyone else caught that. I would also like to point out that all
of this is only from the first half of Danny’s blog post.
This guy is voice gold.
He is a rocker, loves his job and his music. He also really
likes putting in single words like “crazy” or “amazing” or “wow” to make his
point about how he feels about certain shows and situations. And it works.
The music man even makes jokes!
“Then the pack-up-as-fast-as-we-can shuffle.”
Post-show pack up and craziness? I can only imagine. This phrasing gives readers a funny
image, versus just supplying us with a typical description of packing up after
a show. Way to be silly.
The last few sentences that Danny put on his most recent
blog post I think best summarize how he’s feeling right now:
“Eric, Rob and I really have something special. We can feel it. The audience can feel it. It’s a really cool thing to be a part
of. And being a variable in the
equation that converts a humble blues-rock band into a force of nature is
really special too.”
Well put Danny G.
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