Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2005 11:09 am
Post-vacation
Went back to work yesterday after my pseudo-vacation. What a disaster. And I can't blame this on anyone except corporate. Even the Hamster was pissed at corporate for throwing this whole new idea at the stations... wait, no, not an idea, a REQUIREMENT... on the Friday before a three-day holiday weekend! How stupid is that? No notice, no "coming up on the first of the month," just do it NOW. So that's why they were scrambling on Tuesday to get this started and, uhum, they couldn't really do it without me. I spent my Monday evening setting things up so that Wednesday would work out and then I'll move ahead to the other days of the week if it works well.
I also spent some time last night cleaning up my office. Cleaning my office involves a lot of MOVING shit from MY side of the office to HIS side of the office. His side always looks like a bomb has gone off in it. My side often does, but I'll blame most of it on HIS SHIT. It's funny, he had a big box of photographic equipment in there for over a year. Quizzing him on what he was going to do with it, it was always a "oh, I should just throw it away" or "I don't know" kind of comment. I knew Mark would be interested in seeing what was there, so I brought it all home a couple of weeks ago and Cotton has not noticed its abscence. I only wanted Mark to check it out and then I could pay Cotton or bring it back to him, but now I'm amused and I'm going to note how long it takes him to notice.
The big problem with cleaning the office is what to do with the CDs. I know, I know, you think you'd want them. Trust me, you would want about 5 of them. The rest are all crap. Really. Really crap. But, I can't just throw out the crap or give it away. Some of it is crap from people we regularly play, so it must be kept. Some is crap from people that we don't play, but they regularly play in the area and we might need it for a commercial, so I keep it, and lots and lots of the crap is the crap that has heavy representation so lots of independent promoters are calling me to see if I have listened to this crap, so I must keep it on hand to know that I have.
I listened to crap from someone we work with this week and it is just sad how crappy stuff can be. This is a finely produced CD with a good band. And the guy can carry a tune and has a nice-enough voice. That does NOT a hit record make. It makes a nice souvenir of a time and a nice Mother's Day gift. It is not something that should be sent to real radio stations. I listened to it to be polite, because he is a truly nice, if incredibly timid, guy. It is very sloppy in its instrumentation. He and his background vocalists end words at different times. He and his duet partner sing a song that sounds like Girl From Impanema (I'm not kidding, I wish I were) that is unbelievably horrible. His duet partner is his wife and she wrote the song. While I admire couples that are that in-tune with one another that they make records together and he thinks she can sing, and vice versa, a good producer would stop that nonsense or bury it as a hidden track. Sadly, the self-producer doesn't have that guidance. I know he will soon be asking me what I thought of the CD. I am working on saying, with a straight face, "You can be proud of your CD." He can be. He accomplished something. That doesn't mean I am going to play it.