Three best things I learned at the Rally

[aubreyz]

Quote:...(Seeing and meeting and observing Matt and Vikki and Jai Josefs and Pat Pattison and ALL of the dots at the rally, then coming home and running into a brick wall of egos and attitude and cliquishness like I did last night at the CD release party/concert only brought the point home even more clearly.)...Man, can I relate to that! Here I am among little people trying to act like bigshots, after 4 solid days of bigshots just being regular people. The contrast is sobering if not depressing.btw-- I'll pass along the kudos to Ponch from everyone. He says he will stop by the forum soon.Aub

[chrisbee]

Quote:Hi, I'm brand new to the forum! My name is Chris and my husband's name is Gary... hence the name "GnC". We were so thrilled to be at the Road Rally this past weekend. We joined Taxi in August of this year. Even tho I'm not a musician I throughly enjoyed EVERYTHING about this event! My husband, Gary, has been a guitar player for many years and has written lots of songs. But like many musicians, the majority of his songs are only on paper and stashed in file folders, notebooks, etc. So needless to say we love what Taxi is all about!!! We enjoyed meeting so many of you, the Taxi Family, at the Rally. Everyone was so nice, so real, and so helpful... what more could you ask for in an event of this size! We're really looking forward to next year, especially now that we know what to expect. As a newbee to the "forum world"... I thank you ahead of time for your patience during my learning curve! Aloha, ChrisWelcome to the forums and TAXI, Chris n' Gary!! ;D ;D This is a great group of people that I have discovered are truly happy for one another when we succeed and very encouraging along the way. For my first 2 years I really didn't post out here and only occassionaly read other people's posts, but in the last 6 months I've finally "discovered" the group out here and I think it's a great place to "hang" with friends. My favorite part of the rally was meeting everyone. Welcome!cb

[chrisbee]

Quote:Man, can I relate to that! Here I am among little people trying to act like bigshots, after 4 solid days of bigshots just being regular people. The contrast is sobering if not depressing.btw-- I'll pass along the kudos to Ponch from everyone. He says he will stop by the forum soon.AubHey Aub! I don't know if you were at the rally, but I met Ponch - what a great guy! Please do "pass the kudos" - which, btw, would be a great name for a song. And since we haven't met yet -let me say kudos to you too - from an old TAXI/newbie forum guy.cb

[freddy]

1. Always go to the Rally.2. There is no substitute for face-to-face interaction.3. Don't slam tequila shots the night before an early flight.

[squidlips]

Quote:1. Always go to the Rally.2. There is no substitute for face-to-face interaction.3. Don't slam tequila shots the night before an early flight. Oh, ouch. Been there, done that. I can still feel it. Po' Freddy! Glad you made it home in one piece (also glad you aren't a pilot. Are you? )

[liamkelly]

Quote:1. Always go to the Rally.2. There is no substitute for face-to-face interaction.3. Don't slam tequila shots the night before an early flight. Freddy!So glad you came to the Forum. Hope you'll stick around a while As for the 'tequila shots' - have no idea what you're talking about

[gnc]

Thanks for the nice welcome...

[jamesm]

I'm new here, too. I'm James Mitchell, Vikki Flawith's guest (for the third time!) at the Road Rally. After meeting so many great people at the Rally, I really wanted to join in here on the discussion board and get to know you all better.It's actually very hard to pin it down to three things. I learned so much. I guess that in itself should be a big recommendation to anyone considering attending the Rally. After three years I still haven't begun to get to all the sessions that I'd like to, and there's always something new at the Rally.Enough rambling. I guess the three biggest, best things I learned were:1) If I want to play in the real world of music, I need to work on production. After three years of listening panels I'm beginning to cringe on the panel's behalf when a song comes over the speakers with really cheesy production values. Even a good song with no investment in production just isn't in the same league as much of the stuff Taxi listeners are listening to. I now have a standard in my mind when I think about submitting a track: would I be proud to have that track played in front of a thousand hard-working musicians in the Ballroom for a listening panel? To be honest, at this point, none of my tracks are at that level, but that's a great thing to know, and it's amazing how helpful people are in Taxi to get you to the next level in production.2) There's a place for me in all of this. It's not the place I pictured and it's not the way I pictured. I have a piece of the puzzle that can come together to make a great track, but it's only a piece. I need to reach out and hire, beg, borrow or acquire the skill and talent for the pieces I don't have. I need to look at the product as a product - something that a team of talented people have brought to market, not just me because I had an idea. Everything needs to be the best I can make it - the lyrics, the music, the musicians, the mix, the arrangement, the presentation. 3) It's time I joined Taxi. There's no time like the present. I can either sit on the sidelines and wish I was playing in the game or I can jump in with both feet and work my way up to the standard of the submissions I hear at the Road Rally. Next year will be my fourth year at the Rally and my first as a member. I'd bet anything that I'll be hearing everything with new ears after a year of preparing and submitting tracks for listings. It's all a process. In some ways I'm starting late in the game, but just being around people who are working through the process with everything they've got is inspiring. Who wouldn't want to hang out with people like that?

[Casey H]

JamesHi!! Welcome to the forum... It was a pleasure meeting you at the rally! I thought your writing and performances were awesome at the open mic! Warmest, Casey

[jamesm]

Quote:JamesHi!! Welcome to the forum... It was a pleasure meeting you at the rally! I thought your writing and performances were awesome at the open mic! Warmest, CaseyThanks, Casey! It was great to meet you, too. That's another thing I learned: Open Mics won't actually kill me; it just seems that way. I was really overwhelmed by the loving reception at the Open Mic and the incredible variety of songs, from "Porn Queen" to a son going off to Iraq to Markeesha and Sterling playing beautifully together with no rehearsal on one of Markeesha's songs. I wish every Open Mic night was like that.