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help me come up with gas money?

Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 3:35 pm
by Cleantone
I'm sitting here trying to figure out how I can come up with a little loot between now and my next gig or when I find a real job. I'm trying to think of what gear I could part with etc... One thing that came to mind is the plethora of CD's I don't need. I know "selling" live music is not cool and I would never "open up shop" so to speak. I was wondering if anyone might want to help with some sort of reasonable donation to the cleantone fund? I would be able to part with some of my music collection to even it out. I have like 10,000 CDR's that of course I don't need. Expessially since I moved to iPod, CDR's do not get listened to. I would not be making new ones to "order" of course, rather taking out of binders and mailing them out. I have some places I need/want to go to in the coming weeks and have money for another gas tank or two before I'm flat broke. I also have not been having much luck landing any good money gigs. Lots of people wanting freekin recording charity but nobody with money. I know how weird this sounds but I'm in a tight spot right now. Maybe it's not a good idea but I thought I'd throw it out there. I also have alot of VHS tapes of Phish concerts I don't care too much about anymore. Let me know if you think of anything. I hope this doesn't offend anyone. Please know I wouldn't post this if I wasn't somewhat desperate. I'll probably end up in some bullshit minimum wage position sooner or later. :cry:

Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:13 pm
by tonygaboni
starving sound recording artist fund? :idea: , im going to be making a set of prints for the RAQ show at Rev. Hall. Its actually already done I just need to buy paper and put them through the press. This would be a reasonable donation to the S.S.R.A.F. considering I sell them. However this isnt till the end of october-10/28. While im not on my own yet I can appriciate the starving artist because I will eventually be walking in those exact shoes.

Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 10:29 pm
by Cleantone
I have a good rapport with RAQ if you need any help with that. I'd probably be at the show but too much gas money... :cry: :lol: :wink: :(

hmmm

Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 11:45 pm
by briants
this might be borderline unethical but...

beyond the 300 albums lost at my house via katrina, i also lost the book of my most recent burned shows... which equates to basicly slip, phish and dead family shows i had been too or had to have in the past year. about 100 cds. maybe we could work something out... really im just jonesing to get back some of the slip shows i lost and loved... new years eve run 02, new years even run 03, lazy day 02, lazy day 03... noho 03 (i think it was 03.. its alright ma > times they are a changing.)

email me at bsavoie@tulane.edu, or btsavoie@cox.net if you feel like we wont go to hell for working this out.

i also lost an american fender jbass, may she rest in peace.

oh yeah, im brians from the rhombus and theslip.com, dont let the t throw you off.

Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2005 12:01 am
by tim
i'm queuing up some GD to both cleantoe and "briants"...


::help on the way motherfuckers::

Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2005 8:22 am
by etahn
I saw a guy selling a bunch of Dead tapes on eBay once. I called him on it, and he said he was selling them at basically the cost of the blanks, so he wasn't making any profit on the deal. And if you're not making profit, then where's the beef?

I'll take some.........

Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2005 8:39 am
by Northern Wish
Hey Clean,

If you don't mind sending em up to Canada, I will take up to 50 Slip you've got in that 10,000.

We can work out a reasonable deal. I have no problem with paying you for your efforts, if you'll toss in the music for free!

Sean

Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2005 8:48 am
by diesel
cleantoe, setup a paypal account and list what you got. i personnally dont see it as unethical supporting a pal in need when he has a high quality product for sale.

selling stuff

Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2005 8:52 am
by Phrazz
Hey Cleantone,

I have been in the same boat (tough to find jobs, etc). You have to just try other markets and skill-sets. Even if you have to barback for a little while to get spending money, it might lead to a decent job as a bartender or get you to meet people who might have audio jobs. I would bet you've tried Craig's List and HotJobs, but another trick I learned is to hit up bulletin boards at schools and check out record stores (hey, it's mindless work and you get to improve your knowledge of music) and other meeting spots for ads that don't exist elsewhere. Engineering jobs of all sorts are hard to come by--the job market is only healthy-looking if you already have a job. Those with jobs tell everyone how fucking brilliant and in-demand they are, not knowing they could lose their job at the drop of a hat. You also have to target the market: if you are really set on audio engineering, you have to hang out at Berklee and other audio-oriented schools, maybe just walk into some studios and see if they need a gear-head. They might just start people as assistants, and when they see you know your stuff, the opportunities will come along. Making a living from grass-roots solo efforts is very difficult. How about WERS or something? Just think of as many "angles" as possible and forget about focusing just on live recording. Also work on your plan B (Bar, etc...just a paycheck, but you meet people).

I was in a real bad situation job-wise for about 2.5 years, doing odd websites and other crap that didn't pay 1/4 of my rent. I lost my roommate and came very close to financial collapse. I finally decided that Uncle Sam was hiring, so I went to DC and found a job down here. It's not the best job in the world, but it's a paycheck, I'm learning a few things (like how truly stupid the average government worker is, but I guess we knew that all along ;-})...but it's basically holding me over 'til I can get back into R&D and/or something more "fun" and perhaps globally supportive (until the European Fusion Reactor starts getting built, there's other alternatives, but Greenpeace doesn't pay too well and National Geographic already has a long line of applicants for photo spots ;-}).

The situation is grim, and the longer you're unemployed, the harder it gets. This is why you just have to change your view and get any job for starters--this makes it easier to find the one you want.

Now it's fine if you sell your tunes at cost--I'm sure you're not taking away revenue from the bands (who will still sell commercial releases regardless of whatever live stuff people have). But in the long run, it's just small change and won't help that much even though it's a bit of gas money. You end up spending it because you have it.

You could work the board at a club perhaps, even just do roadie work. Venues are always looking for all kinds of assistant work, and this is another inroad to other opportunities. But I also know the entertainment world is a bad job market in a down economy. Service industries are ideal, as are commodities (food, drink, etc). You just have to do anything and then you can take your time doing what you want.

I'll probably take you up on your offer, do you have any kind of list you can email me? Or surprise me...we can work something out.

-Phrazz

Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2005 8:54 am
by Pstehley
diesel wrote:cleantoe, setup a paypal account and list what you got. i personnally dont see it as unethical supporting a pal in need when he has a high quality product for sale.
I agree completely.. and using Paypal would make it a lot simpler...

(it's really kind of amazing how we all suddenly just jumped in to help clinton! )

{incidently.. diesel.. nice avaitar!}

Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2005 8:55 am
by Cleantone
I'm glad people understand to some extent. I definitly know it is very much borderline. I'll have to figure out what I have to part with for Slip audio CDR's. Again, I think it would be over the top to run off copies for fee. These would be coming right out of my binder and spindles to go in the mail, so there won't be a shit ton of them. I do have a huge collection but alot of it is The Dead and Phish and tons of other crap too. I have a show tonight in Boston (with very little profit) and will try to figure out details this week. I guess I'll have to make some kind of list up... I'll mull it over.

f your in Boston tonight come check out Megan Slankard. Great young talent from San Fran.

http://www.meganslankard.com

Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 5:08 pm
by joe c
i just referred someone who is looking for a taper to you. i didn't know how much you charge, but hopefully he'll get in touch, at least put a couple bucks in your pocket. unfortunately, it's not until november 18, but it's something i guess...

Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 6:27 pm
by Cleantone
Thanks Joe. I think that date is open right now. Hopefully it wont be another person looking for absolute charity from me. I get all too much of that. I'm sure we can work something out. Alot of bands want to have a professional recording with post production done for a show, and ALSO want to walk away with most of the money they made that night. Friggin frustrating.