and then there was management

Currently toasting: to the future with janus and Ariel Artists Management! Raise your glass!

It's been 9+ years of self-management and it feels very momentous for us to be joining forces this season. In actuality and in many ways, we'll continue to do the same (if not more?) amount of work we've been doing this whole time. No doubt this marriage will lead to more performance opportunities and a larger audience base. Yay! We'll be on board with a spectacular roster of ensembles and soloists who you should really know if you don't already. Here's my shout out: Bryant Park String Quartet, Oni Buchanan, Stephen Drury, Duo Orfeo, Rhonda Sider Edgington, and The Guidonian Hand. I'm really stoked to share the stage with these fine musicians. Check them out! www.arielartists.com

I decided to write tonight, though, not about the future - which feels extremely bright considering Ariel is at the helm with us - but about the past 9 years of self-management. I tend to be pretty candid in this format so I hope I'm not too revealing in what I'm about to share.

There's a publication a good friend shared with me recently by Robert Besen via CMA magazine called "The Quest For Management". In it is a wealth of info for a group to consider before signing with a management company. But a few key questions to ask yourselves I'll include here:

"Before contacting a manager, you must ask yourself about your own artistic readiness; e.g., Have you won any significant competitions or awards? Do you have an adequate, diverse, and well-rehearsed repertoire? Have you performed in outreach venues or programs? Do you have a history of commissioning new music? In short, what makes you special, salable?"

I guess I can answer some of these with some kind of validity and feel like we indeed deserve "to be managed". Unfortunately, the answer to the first question is no, no janus has not won any competitions or awards. Wah Wah Wah... Feels a bit like we're starting off on the wrong foot with these questions. We HAVE come close and received some honorable mentions. Each of us individually has received numerous (numerous!) awards. But a flute/viola/harp trio winning "a major award!"* - that's something we are still working towards.
*Nuiko, that quote was for you to figure out... it's from a non-black-and-white movie, so good luck on that one. (We'll reserve a future blog posting to touch on the relevance of Nuiko and her black-and-white-movies-only upbringing)

The next 4 questions are much easier to answer positively. I get why Mr. Besen positions this first question where he does - to determine your validity, as I mentioned. It's not a problem in my mind that janus doesn't have the blue ribbons (yet). And in some ways, press quotes and presenter testimonials more than suffice. He does, after all use "awards" as an "e.g.", and for a group like ours straddling the classical and contemporary sides of the business, press does seem to be the cache he's referring to.

I digress...

2002-2011. These 9 years have consisted of a constant push forward from within. Self-management. I'm telling you, I really believe the most important question Mr. Besen only alludes to in the latter of his article is this question: Have you been self-managed for a number of years? What goes along with this: Do you have significant relations with presenters who would have you on a repeat season? Do you understand and cultivate your audiences? And more than his question of simply "are you commissioning new music?" I would go further to ask (for contemporary groups): Are you curating a vast canon of repertoire to build on for future groups like yours?

As I mentioned, later in his article he does touch on the importance of working together toward a similar goal. He says, "I like working with artists who are effective at pressing the flesh: those who get to know presenters, board members of presenting organizations, important members of their presenters’ communities, and in general the industry’s movers and shakers—and who will make sure I know about these effective avenues." I completely agree! But I have to say that along with everything else mentioned, this last point of his, may indeed be the most important for aspiring groups. The DIY M.O. that has become so ubiquitous in our culture these days seems to be a pre-requisite to success in our side of the business, pre-management.

Though I could wax philosophic further, I'll instead raise a glass now to the past 9 years and how they got us to the previous toast in this blog. Here's to all the ground work we've laid together! Thanks, j-anus (as we like to refer to ourselves) for persevering without the major awards (yet) and being true blue. Baby, I love you*.
*Nuiko, I don't know if you remember this song since you were born after I was...

Curious Sounds

If you're not already listening to RadioLab, get on it. Every once in awhile Jad and Robert take a break from dissecting science and they dissect music. In this show, they feature Glenn Kotche from Wilco performing two through composed percussion solos. Also on the show are Buke & Gass and Reggie Watts who are also the bees knees. If you're itching for something truly original, take a listen.

Latest short: Curious Sounds

And since I'm on the topic, here's a costume to consider next time you perform on your didgeridoo:

REmix of Cenk Ergun's An

Many, many years ago, in a far away land the fabulous composer Cenk Ergun wrote a piece for janus called An. It was unlike anything we had done before and received its premiere in Symphony Space. It's on our docket again in a new form and in Cenk's tinkering with it, he took some time to create an awesome remix. I've put in three listening options since fans have reported that some of the previously posted audio isn't compatible with their browser.  Consider it a Where's Waldo exercise (it's good that with the passage of time, we've lost Waldo, right?). Anyway, hope you like it!!

An

If you're digging this and want to hear and interview with Cenk and an excerpt from the original An, click here.

360 Staff Pick: Janus Trio's Debut - Studio 360

This is kinda blowing us away right now.

360 Staff Pick: Janus Trio's Debut - Studio 360

We're really lucky to have some really awesome friends who sometimes ask us to be a part of their projects. Here's a sampling of some projects past, present and upcoming.....

A video called Paloma and Raul in San Serriffe by our friend J Makary on which janus plays the original music (by Michael McDermott). Side story: On my way down from Connecticut to janus' rehearsal space in Brooklyn, I started to feel really sick. As is usually the case with janus, we had exactly one day in which to get this recording completed so there was really no option of rescheduling. Keep driving, keep driving. Long story short, Nuiko was kind enough to provide a bucket and hold back my hair in between takes. ........ Was that too much? Just keeping it real here.

Here's a video project we've been a part of for several years. It's called Gather/Shed/Lift. The film is created by Alison Crocetta and the music by a longtime friend of janus, Barbara White. We'll be playing the score live at the Columbus Art Museum on April 15. There's a story with this one too: the premiere of G/S/L was in Princeton at Taplin Auditorium. We were janus plus one (Jason Treuting plays percussion with us on this piece). Driving to the soundcheck,we were literally across the street from the hall when we were hit by a Princeton facilities van. Glass was everywhere, Beth crawled through her window to get out, the van was totaled, Beth and Nuiko got a very special ride to the hospital. Again, rescheduling isn't really our thing so post hospital, we showered at Barbara's house and did the premiere.

Finally, we are cooking up a collaborative project with Jason Treuting from So Percussion and Nick Zammuto from The Books. janus and So have a very close relationship - we've known these guys for years.



And we're all over The Books right now. They just came out with a new album The Way Out - it's effin awesome.

Winter's Birds

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about birds. Rather, they’ve been quite forced upon my brain. I don’t mind though – their industrious, ambitious habits are an inspiration. My little hummingbird regulars are wintering in South America! Their tiny little bodies endured thousands of miles of flight, high and low pressure systems, rain, likely snow, wind, limited food supply – their courage and fight for survival is a lesson to behold.

A few nights ago while working in my office, I heard two owls talking to each other. A still, cold, winter’s night, the stars peppered the indigo sky; the only sound was the Whooooo of the owls in the trees. One beckoned to the other several trees away. I wondered what they could be saying to each other. Were they tracking food? Were they claiming squatting rights? Perhaps they were taking advantage of the poetic perfection of the night’s stark beauty, perpetuating the silence between them.

A few days later, this showed up in my inbox:

http://www.starrranch.org/blog/?page_id=2

Thank you Gup.

Sometime last week, I dreamt about peacocks. They belonged to me and I had ten. I felt so lucky to be the caretaker of such opulent, proud creatures. Someone gave them to me and they were in a big, outdoor cage. I couldn’t wait to let them go and admire them as they roamed my woods. I worried that the flocks of wild turkeys would annoy them. I also wondered what to feed them – would they only eat off of china? These are the things of dreams, you know.

Then I went to a dinner party and a new friend gave me this:

He has peacocks – they don’t require china. Thank you Wayne.

I suppose it’s only appropriate that a flute player should contemplate birds like this.

In the time since my peacock dream, I’ve dreamt about a beautiful blackbird with a bright yellow beak. When it opened its wings to fly, they were impossibly graceful, forming two wide, deep arcs, tapering off as if they were drawn. I watched that blackbird in my dream – studied its aching beauty. Its shiny black body with a daffodil colored beak resides in my consciousness.

The next day, this showed up in the Times.

Not exactly my blackbird but a close resemblance. I’m resisting the urge to get The Beatles involved here.

Of course, today I’m performing The Aviary from Carnival of the Animals but that’s not an unusual role for a flutist – why, just last week I was flitting about as Peter’s Sasha.

The Birth

From Squirrel:

I'm so excited. I can't hardly wait for next week. There's something incredible about something that's been in the making for over 5 years finally being "made". Done. Officially. Without gushing over the people who made it possible, I'll remain composed for another week and some days and save the emo for Tuesday, November 16 - our OFFICIAL WORLD-WIDE CD RELEASE!

Slight tangent, but still very related...

I was reflecting just the other night with some friends of ours who used to be in a band together (hint: this band included the infamous Lawson White on percussion). This band was short lived but it's legend will live on if only through various basement and coffee house mini-disc recordings (still in the hands of band members and some die-hard fans like myself, shameless), a gem of an EP and of course word of mouth. During their hey day, this group of fine musicians polished a handful of their favorite tunes and took them to "the studio". Without knowing the exact number of hours spent there or over how many years these tunes were in the making, it's safe to say that it was a labor of love in all the best ways. Imagine 5 guys geeking out over real time arranging in the recording studio, adding big percussion to their unassuming combo as well as the occasional "trash" cymbals (does any of this give it away yet?). All of the energy paid off musically, if I do say so myself, to produce a killer record.

But here's where the story takes a nose dive. The record was never able to make it past the mixing phase of post-production. I might even be wrong about that. It was "laid down" but any polishing that's done after recording in the studio costs mucho mula and sadly, there was none left to push it forward. Although the raw version of this album would suffice for a die-hard fan like me, it wouldn't hold the same water out there in the field of glitsy, professionally produced recordings. Some would say "just put it out there" as is - however, these 5 guys were much too proud to release a half-polished record. So... it remains in album limbo, a place that is the home to countless incredible works of art and almost-finished productions. Last time I checked, I'm still logging at least two tracks (that I know of) in this musical purgatory and I'm sure those won't be the last. It's a sad story that so many of us know too well - the need and drive to make a recording of your music only to see it stunted by the expensive steps involved to get it DONE.

I'm definitely not saying that post-production is inflated or that we're being jipped as artists by our engineers and producers. On the contrary, they're not paid enough for what they do! However, as the record-making world has changed drastically (and the world of record stores, companies and buyers-not-burners), it's no secret that the artists themselves are losing in the battle to both produce albums as well as plain old perform as we used to! And, it becomes an upward struggle when one faces the question "should I record an album?" - a question which carries much more weight than simply whether or not to literally record an event.

Luckily for us, there has been a silver lining! Namely, our record label New Amsterdam Records, as well as an extremely supportive group of donors and organizations (including Argosy Foundation) who've all come together to help push this album into the world. Though we haven't fully funded the making of this album and are continuing our fundraising efforts, the birth is t-minus 4 days away! It's happening. It's happened.

Although janus has taken the past 4+ years to create "i am not", this labor of love is about to drop. And, believe it or not, we're already talking about our next baby. I've heard that there's a hormone the body produces after birth that makes the woman forget about all the pain and suffering she went through to get that baby born - specifically to prepare her for birthing the next one. Maybe it's not just true for the creation of humans?