I’ve been avoiding dealing with my Twitter account for the past couple of months.  The daily intrusions of life in 2010, coupled with an endless kitchen renovation and having an 18 year old daughter in Rome kept me from giving anything more than a cursory glance to the flood of information streaming down my Tweetdeck .  Well, it’s amazing what a functional refrigerator can do for one’s head (not to mention stomach), and now that the offspring is relatively safely ensconced back in Liberalartsville, I decided to take a peek under the Tweethood and see what was going on in there .  Interestingly enough, I found myself following a lot of people for no apparent reason.  Was I suffering from some kind of follow-mania brought on by an excessive need to click buttons?  Not really sure, but I got out the digital pruning shears and started to cut myself free from about 100 perfectly nice people. To what end? I suppose firstly to try and get some kind of control and clarity over the overwhelming stream of info, and secondly to attempt to find some deeper connection to the people with whom I had connected, whether personal or professional. It occurs to me that there are hundreds of people with whom I could probably develop interesting relationships. But how to find the few that might be TRULY mutually beneficial, for instance a producer of some media property in need of music, a young composer looking for guidance, or prospective fans of my recorded music is not as clear cut as it might seem.  My current takeaway is that there are no easily defined solutions to any of this Social Media Engineering save for trying to not being an online ass. In my own way, I’m trying to reach out across the digital divide and connect with the great unknown.

It’s a New Tribalism out there and I’m looking for my people.

Connect with me here::

http://www.peterprimamore.com

Twitter: http://bit.ly/cQGvFD

Facebook Fan Page: http://bit.ly/RpsA0

Facebook: http://bit.ly/RpsA0 http://bit.ly/9BDfbs

Does the search for quality come with a long line to the men’s room?  I went to see Steely Dan last night at the Beacon theatre in New York, my hometown more or less (I guess a bit less these days as I prefer the peace and quietude of the country) and as one might suspect, the dominant demographic was Males 45 and over; some way over.  It’s great to be able to see Donald and Walter on a fairly regular basis these days for I remember when the mere mention of a live Steely Dan performance was tossed in the drawer along with Marian apparitions and missing aviatrix’s. Walter, who admittedly looks like he should be wearing an orange apron at Home Depot, is playing his middle aged ass off, and Donald lurches and rocks on the Fender Rhodes like Jerry Lewis channeling Ray Charles.  Their song catalog is pretty much untouchable, and it is my considered (and some might say expert), opinion that they will go down in recorded history as one of the greatest songwriting teams humankind (or any other heretofore unknown species) has ever produced.  It would have been nice to see a few more kids there, to possibly open their increasingly narrowing musical perspectives a little, but let’s face it: 175 bucks for a ticket is pretty much the province of the Gold Card user and not little Johnny Ritalin. Well, quality lasts, just ask the Sphinx, so to Donald and Walter: enjoy the revenue-you truly deserve it. Just consider including another intermission for pee pee breaks.

I’ve been what’s considered “successful” for about 15 years, having had the ridiculous privilege of making sizable amounts of money (remember sizes come in large and small) writing and producing all kinds of music for all kinds of applications. Often, I get to work with awe-inspiring players and eat a well-balanced lunch…life is pretty good, no whining allowed. I get it.
(Warning: I’m putting on my imaginary overalls and sitting in my imaginary coffee shop in my imaginary Midwest about to dispense folk wisdom while saying “yep” a lot)
“But when you farm the same field for too many years, the harvest dries up.  You have rotate the crops, son and seek greener pastures”.
(Removing overalls and putting on jeans and Steely Dan T-Shirt)
So we continue to explore the land for inspiration and fruition, but as with all artistic and commercial terrain, there are hills and valleys that can obscure the destination.  These days are very fluxy – things seem to flux a lot; they are flux-like and overly flux-filled.  One might say they are fluxilicious. In fact, I think I may have slipped into another dimension, because in this strange new world people seem to want their music for free and the concept of intellectual property has been deemed heresy by the council of production.

I guess the far right loonies were right. It’s Obama’s fault - we’re living in the days of socialized music.

Sometimes the veil slips for a brief moment and all is well. Thoughts march into an orderly formation and heed the call to arms. Battle plans are drawn, and the campaign begins its procession into inevitable glory. Doubt and disillusion are trampled and vanquished, and the heavens part with a burst of brilliantly orchestrated eight part brass fanfares.

But not too often.

Most of the time our mental barracks is litter-strewn with yesterday’s hung over ideas and amorphous notions desperate to go AWOL or praying for the firing squad.
Even though I think I’m pretty good at keeping the creative troops in line, there is always the threat of mutiny and breaking of ranks. Since I am now tired of beating this metaphor to death, I’ll try and get more specific:  As someone who makes their living through a creative pursuit, I have to keep sharp through work lulls, which are, as anyone who actually does this kind of work knows, becoming more frequent within this economy.  Though I am fortunate enough to have had a certain level of achievement in my career, I’m always looking to do more, so I’ve really been digging the whole social networking thing and trying to understand how it might wind up impacting my career, or provide a base of operations (sorry) for stimulating the artistic side of things. After a couple of months of going at this, Tweeting, Blogging, Facebooking etc, I suspect it comes down to just putting it out there and truly welcoming the unplanned encounter with the unexpected.  Not to get all “The Secret” on you, but if the idea is “ask and ye shall receive”, well, cool, I’m asking the cyber- universe to keep the interesting connections coming and let them manifest into some kind of mutually beneficial reality. Summit meetings at my place kids-all participants welcome.

Forward March.

They (“they” are those who you know who they are) tell us change is good; both needed and desirable, and for the most part I agree: Life is nothing if not dynamic (except in small corners of Iowa where quantum mechanics do not apply) so, I’ll agree to play my role in the Pageant and hope for the best. But when it comes to certain musical constructs, I’m constitutionally incapable of joining the random particle flow.  At times like this - I mean like now - I’m remembering a couple of Foghat Albums that played endlessly in a certain living room outside of Cleveland (I’m Jersey born and bred but was heaved into the milk-fed world of the Midwest for a couple of my formative years-thanks again for that, Dad). Though no one is ever going to mistake Foghat’s Lonesome Dave Peverett, creator of the Rimbaud-like stanza

“I got Drunk last night
and the night before.
you gimme some more wine, yeah
Gonna get drunk some more”

for Marvin Gaye, there was a certain charm there that appealed to plenty of ding dongs like the young me ( ok and the old me- If “Fool for the City” comes on the radio when I’m driving-I turn into Lonesome Peter) . So, as time passes, and minds expand, I consider the ineffable aspect of that goofy band that defies change.  It’s easy to point to masters of the known and unknown Universe like Becker and Fagen, or Miles Davis and rationalize that they’ve created quality works that will probably last as long as playable media.  But there are deep organizing principles and extraordinary artistry behind their output. Foghat and the other utensils in the silly pop drawer (and they are legion) grabbed something base and primal, id driven I suppose, and triggered some junk DNA response that we can’t avoid.

It’s music as force, and it’s never going to change, regardless of who’s conjuring with it .
Something to keep in mind instead of Blaming it on the A-A-A-A-A-A-lcohol .

Today I am cheerleading for musical traditions: melody, harmony, structure, phrasing etc. concepts that seem to be heading for the cultural La Brea Tar Pits. I suspect that I, along with millions of other sentient beings (household pets included), may go insane if I hear one more horrid drum machine loop masquerading as a bit of television underscore or, lord forbid, a theme.  The easy access to supposedly “broadcast-ready” samples and loops has put potentially hazardous material in the hands of those who don’t have high-level clearance, and millions of dollars back in the hands of companies who treat music as an after thought. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to be a snob, but dude… STEP AWAY FROM THE PRO TOOLS AND DROP THE MOUSE.  A good friend of mine says digital audio production rigs should be licensed as potential weapons of mass destruction…. they are certainly responsible for destroying many brain cells of listeners the world over as well as being behind the Walmartization of much of the music we hear on a daily basis.  Another talented guy I know calls it “Music By Numbers”…put the loop here, put the pad here, find the already created bass line and put that there and …Voila ! You have your very own piece of…what’s the word? ….Music? Garbage?  Is it relative or is a qualitative barometer appropriate? Well, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is one of my faves so you know where I’m coming from: I believe in the concept of innate quality.
Technology allows a composer like me with a goofy perspective and an extra hour of time to pretend to be a writer, no one will ever mistake me for Dan Brown, I mean Norman Mailer while I’m telling my little tales…conversely, the technologically driven, parasitic spread of crummy music is an altogether different story.

Defining oneself in short bursts of literary energy is a strange endeavor for a guy who likes to play the piano in the dark while trying to access the secrets of the Multiverse, but I suspect it’s either Blog or perish. Thus, like so many zygotes before me, I choose life.
Here’s the current drill: I’ve been thinking about this whole notion of “Personal Branding” and it’s about as appealing to me as literally putting the iron to my left butt cheek (always the more sensitive of the two).  Who am I? What’s my brand? I always thought it was as simple as letting my music speak for itself, but that does not seem to be enough these days.  So, as a wise man once said “Who am I?” The futurebus is here; I withdraw my media metrocard and board.
To what end I ask? The answer resounds from all corners of the twitterverse and the Linkedination: “You need to separate yourself and stand out within the giant throbbing ooze of mediamites that are taking over the planet…proclaiming loud and clear for all to hear that “I possess the alchemy necessary for you to turn your musically leaden thoughts into sonic gold, that hearing my curiously impenetrable yet at once familiar piano voicings and orchestrations will move you to such degree that you are compelled to buy my recordings or that you will be sufficiently impressed with my mighty curriculum vitae to reach out for some quality underscore.  Or finally, failing all, that I am willing to spec a quality project “(generally the final answer, Meredith).
Well…ok-if this be what it takes- I promise to be relatively honest about things (do you really need to know that I like “Days of Our Lives”?) and do my best to amuse in the brief time allotted us all.
Currently, I am pitching on several potentially major network pieces. I’ve also been working at Dreamland Studios in Woodstock with the amazing Jerry Marotta doing some acoustic piano/Taos drum duets- The stuff is awesome and I am very excited about the potential.  I continue to keep my fingers in the music library world as well… more on that later. We’re also very busy trying to sell our apartment in Manhattan (talk about inertia)-let me know if you need a 2Bed/2Bath in Chelsea.
I sense the iron is getting hotter, back to the ooze .