2010 winds down

Another year has almost passed! There have been many transitions in my household and most have been for the better. While Katy’s passing was a bitter loss, she is in a better place. Other than that we have all kept our health, survived this ragged economy (at least so far) and are doing fairly well.

Record sales are creeping up. The Christmas gig drought has passed and I am getting more bookings. Funny thing about getting gigs and Christmas, if you don’t have a Santa suit they just don’t happen. That’s OK though as it is the best time of the year to be spending with friends and family!

Speaking of Family, my Dad celebrated his 90th birthday this month. I started my grand-niece and my younger brother on the pipes and my younger brother retired from the Phoenix Fire Dept after 35 years.

All in all the McGees have had a very good year and hope that you have as well.

Wishing you a merry and Prosperous New Year,

Pops :-)

December?

December already! Where did the year go? Looking back there have been some changes. I’ve analyzed my wed traffic and dropped non-performing sites. This obviously wasn’t one of those :-). CD Baby .com is turning out to be a great experience. Gigsalad.com has provided me with more leads than I can handle. Thumbtack.com has also been a very good source of gigs. Surprisingly (at least to me) so has Google maps. I find I am using my Droid as much as my laptop now, and it looks like that will only increase with time and new apps from Gigsalad.com.




This coming year I want to release more singles, a couple extended plays, and maybe even an album. We’ll see. I’ll have to balance that with gigs, oh, and with busking. A late 2010 development! Busking in the Park is morphing into Busking on the street (mostly at street festivals and markets). What a gas that is! I still plan to pipe each morning at the park though.



So, may you and your’s have a joyous holiday season, and I’ll see you around!



Pops :-)

Catching up

I had a really great weekend!  Saturday afternoon I piped for a wedding.  Always feels good to be involved in "beginnings".  It was a beautiful ceremony.  Lots of smiling faces!

Later that evening I had the pleasure of piping for a fiftieth Wedding Anniversary!  How great is that combination!  Again, it was a lovely, lively party.  It was wonderful to see the honored couple surrounded by family and friends, celebrating their life together.

Lately I've been doing a lot of piping in the park.  I'm there almost every weekday morning and  I really enjoy it.  I am beginning to think about branching out into other locations, down town, light rail platforms, flea markets, etc.

I've also released a Christmas carol (God Rest ye Merry Gentlemen), and am working to get another one out before December (Oh Come All ye Faithful).   It will be close though because I've got an engagement in Las Vegas, followed by Thanksgiving.  Doesn't leave a lot of November!

No excuses!

OK! No excuses. I have really been sluffing off on the blog posts. I have not been idle though. I have had a full plate with weddings, parties, memorials and yes parades. It is very time consuming to orchestrate this and still pipe and rehearse. However, I do love it.


I’ve got five singles on http://cdbaby.com/artist/michaelnealmcgee now, and I am working very hard to get a Christmas selection up as well. I’d like get the tunes up that I go caroling with. Again though, the issue is time.

I think that this increase in activity is directly attributable to the work I do on Myspace.com, Ilike.com, Facebook.com, Thumbtack.com, this blog site, my websites etc. It just seems that I’m so busy promoting me there is almost no time left to perform! A catch 22 I guess. But again, what fun!

In addition to the local engagements I have a Las Vegas engagement coming up toward the end of November. More on this as it gets closer.

So in the short term I promise to try to stay more current with my posts. Note, I said “try” :-)


Slainte,
Pops

Wow!  June 25!  I didn't realize it had been so long.  Well whats been going on this past month?  I've started releasing mp3s through http://cdbaby.com/ .  About one every other week.  These are in turn distributed through Amazon, Itunes, Verizon, Myspace, about 40 e-distributers in total, where they can be downloaded as mp3 singles or even ring tones.  Its a lot of fun!  I'm also working on a Christmas collection to match the tunes I go carrolling with. I hope to realease it by Thanksgiving. 

I've moved at least my Monday and Friday parctice sessions to Road Runner Park.  Usually from 8:30 to 9:30.  It is great fun to watch people trying not to watch you!  And, I've met some interesting individuals.  I'm also going to try going to Squaw Peak Park this weekend, it has sort of a natural ampitheater and I am curious about the acoustic effect with pipes.

That's about it for now, it's time to load up and head for the park!

Have a great day.  :-)  Pops

Here Comes the Bride

Bagpipers are becoming more popular at weddings. Many people are unsure of what the role of the piper at a wedding is, when he should play and what tunes are best.

The Wedding

The bagpiper (at the entrance to the chapel) traditionally pipes guests in and out of the ceremony playing medleys of traditional Scottish marches and aires including Scotland the Brave, etc. It is also traditional but not always requested for the piper to pipe the bride down the aisle, maybe play during the signing of the register and then pipe the newlywed couple out of the ceremony. In my experience the bride has always had a tune in mind for being piped down the aisle and in this part of the world that tune has generally been The Wedding March (“Here comes the Bride”). If asked to play during the signing of the register it is almost always Amazing Grace or occasionally Highland Cathedral.

Afterwards

The next point of call for the piper is to have him play during the taking of the photos (off camera and in the background). Traditionally what the piper plays is at his discretion and will include medleys of marches, jigs and reels to entertain guests. It is often required of the piper to pose in several photos, usually just with the bride and groom and any photos of just men wearing kilts.

At the Reception

The piper is not always required to play at the wedding reception but if he does it is traditional for him to pipe in the guests and then pipe the bride and groom to the top table (and be presented with a whiskey for doing so.) The tune he will pipe the bride and groom in with is usually one that will get guests clapping. Scotland the Brave never fails or Gerry Owen and neither do numbers such as The Minstrel Boy or The Rising of the Moon (AKA The Wearing of the Green).

More is less

As with all piping you must remember the pipes have a loud and commanding presence. Used even slightly to excess they will detract from any service. Therefore this is the most I would consider using a piper at a wedding. Many opt for much less, using the Piper to punctuate the event at one or two key points.

Piper's Field of Dreams

“Build it and they will come.” Great premise for a movie, but a little out of touch with the real world. If you’re looking to turn a buck with your music you need a strategic approach that will expose the maximum number of people possible to all aspects of your performance, clubs, parties, events, and yes recordings. Each is a facet of your profession that must not only shine, but must seamlessly interlink to every other facet.

Your pub performances should be a platform for promoting your party gigs and recordings, etc. just as your recording should promote your pub gigs and parties and your party gigs should promote everything as well.

Do this on the Web with your various sites and you will go “viral”. That is what you want to do with your music. Use the web as a tool or tactic to help link yourself together into a package that everyone wants a piece of.

Then, play your a$$ off! It’s what you love doing anyway, and that is contagious. Your linked out persona will result in as many opportunities as you need to be in front of your market. Give your performances away if you must in order to be out there. If you build the following, the following will in time take care of you.

That is what must be built and if it is then the dollars will come.

2010 1000 Stand

2010-1000 Stand is a charitable initiative which provides developing nations access to fresh water via Play Pumps (manually operated water well pumps). Please read more about their efforts at http://1000stand.com/.


To support these efforts I have released a single of Amazing Grace (Amazing Grace / Michael Neal McGee) that will be available through CDBaby, Amazon.com, Itunes, and almost every other source of digitally deliverable tunes. It will cost $0.99, of which $0.70 will go to me. The direct website is: http://cdbaby.com/cd/MichaelNealMcGee

I in turn will donate 100% of all monies received between now and July 16th (my Birthday) to 2010-1000 on July 16th, 2010.

It doesn’t take a government to help your fellow man, just a heart.

Pops