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CAROLINE BLUE / Blog

October 12, 2009

1/1/09-2008 in Review....

Hi Everyone!

-It's time for the yearly recap or what happened with CAROLINE BLUE in 2008. The band went through alot of different changes this year-and not just in personnel this time :)

-The year started out with the band playing a show with several other bands at a place called Station 58. The lineup was me, Johnny Sniper on bass, and Monster Mike Merrifield being hired to play drums with us-as had happened a few times in 2007. Back then, we were basically doing all original songs with maybe a cover or 2 thrown in, but we were "sticking to our guns" so to speak. And there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, I would personally like to play only original material all the time. CB originally started out playing in a 60/40 covers/originals format. However, around 2003 or so, we shifted to the format we were currnetly at. And it worked for awhile-especially when we had a stable lineup during late 2004-early 2006. But then the scene around here changed and became very cover oriented. It also didn't help that the lineup of CB was changing every year-sometimes more than once. IMHO, people like to see a band show stability-in fact, if you're trying to impress a label, one of the 1st things they look for is band stability-they don't want to invest money into something that's going to break up within a few months. And that was one of CB's main problems at this time....

-Another problem we had was the lack of shows. Now, anyone who has followed the band since the beginning-or even 2004-knows that-once the lineup stabilizes-we pretty much have no problem getting shows. In that 2004-2006 period I mentioned early, we were playing 3-4 shows a month.. Just go to the main CB site and look at our pictures archive for those years and you'll see. The problem was, a number of those shows were openers (read FREE) shows. Back then it was ok-I had the finances to take care of things.

-Come back to the beginning of 2008. The lineup, in some ways, was similar to the beginnings of CB-where it was just me and hired guns doing shows. I stopped doing that back then, in part, cause I couldn't afford it anymore. And the same thing was happening here. This lineup was great in that we never had to rehearse-Johnny & MIke would come in prepared and we would just do the songs. I remember one show where we did some songs none of us played before-the 1st time was at soundcheck! And we pulled it off no problem. However, in doing that, you don't have any band chemistry happening. So, in addition to having to afford Mikey's fee, we also had Johnny coming all the way from Albany (usually a 3 hour drive just to CNY)-which really shows you how dedicated he was to the band. He told me (and again repeated this to me recently) that one of the main reasons he did this was because he saw that I was so dedicated & focused with CB. Having said that, because of the distance, it was hard to schedual shows-or I should say the shows that we were doing at the time. I mean, driving all that way just to play for free-that's gonna be hard on anyone-if not initially, then over time. You also have to remember that this was a time period where gas prices were rising to eventually reach over $4 a gallon.

-So here we were playing all originals in a multi-level band show where we got to play 45 minutes (tops)-and doing it for free. Well, I didn't play for free-I played for the negative cause I had to pay out expenses. It was also hard at the time for us to get shows for various reasons-I've already stated some here. The show at Station 58 went off good and we got a good reaction & made some new fans/friends-but the expenses were still way too high.

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October 12, 2009

12/15/08-CAROLINE BLUE Show-12/20/08-Legends in Gales Ferry, Connecticut

-CAROLINE BLUE will be performing @ Legends Rock Bar in Gales Ferry,Ct on Saturday 12/20/2008.Other bands include Noahs Reign & Against The Wall. Show starts 9 PM & Admission is $5.00. For more info visit http://carolineblue.com/

-This will be CAROLINE BLUE's 1st out of NY show (weather permitting) and last show for 2008. CB wants to thank all the people who have supported the band & wish everyone a Happy Holiday season! Keep rockin!

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October 12, 2009

12/12/08-CANCELLED-CB Show Saturday @ The Checkpoint Tavern in Cleveland,NY

-Our show w/ Zadoc & The Nightmare on Saturday @ The Checkpoint Tavern in Cleveland,NY has been cancelled! We just got word today from the owner that, due to economic difficulties, they're cancelling the show. After talking with the owner, he told me that business has been bad as of late and he'd be lucky if the bar was open by the end of January. That's too bad- cause it was a nice place to play and we had a good time the last time we were there. The crowd wasn't huge-but they were pretty crazy. Hopefully things will turn around for the bar. We were also looking forward to jamming w/ Zadoc again-our 2 bands have shared many stages in the past and it's always a pleasure to have them with us. If you get the chance, please check them out. (They're in our Top Friends list).

-However, our show tomorrow (Friday night) at Jake's Grub & Grog in Brewerton,NY is still on. (This will be CAROLINE BLUE's last show in CNY in 2008). Strangeland Audio will be running lights/sound and they have a great setup! Remember-we're giving away FREE CD samplers & buttons at the show. Hope to see you all there!

October 12, 2009

12/8/08-2 CAROLINE BLUE Shows this weekend!

CAROLINE BLUE SHOWS THIS WEEK

(1)-Friday December 12,2008

Jake's Grub & Grog

7 East River Road

Brewerton,NY 13029

CAROLINE BLUE will be performing at Jake's Grub & Grog on Friday December 12,2008. Show starts at 10 PM & Admission is $5.00. For more info visit http://carolineblue.com/

(2)-Saturday December 13,2008

The Checkpoint Tavern

276 State Route 49

Cleveland,NY 13042

CAROLINE BLUE will be performing at The Checkpoint Tavern on Saturday December 13,2008. Opening will be Zadoc...& The Nightmare. Show starts at 10 PM & Admission is Free. For more info visit http://carolineblue.com/

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October 12, 2009

12/5/08-In need of an honest reply to this....

Hi Everyone,

-Hope everyone is doing well & getting ready for Xmas! I have a small request to ask. I need an honest reply to what I'm about to post below. It can be either positive or negative-and if it's negative, that's ok. It's just your opinion-no one's gonna get mad at you or anything.I'd really appreciate it.

-Here's the situation. As you may know, for quite some time now, I've been writing on the CB My Space Blog recaps of what has been happening at CB shows. Now, admittedly, I tend to be long-winded at times and detail oriented-hence why alot of them are quite long. This is who I am though and I don't have a problem with it. In fact, I kinda view it like a tour diary of sorts. As I said, I've been doing this for awhile and-with the increase in our shows-more frequently. Here's where it gets interesting....

-I got into quite an discussion w/ someone I know in regards to what I write in the blogs recently. Now, beofre I continue, let me mention that we currently have over 650 people subscribed to the CB My Space Blog. You can see the stats on the views and such on the blog page. This person tells me that alot of people have told this person that the blogs I write are filled with "non-essential bullcrap" and "who cares about stuff like broken strings, what songs you played,etc." In addition, this person said these people just read it for "comic relief" and that I should change the way I write the blogs. In addition to that, this person has said that-it doesn't matter that you have 500+ people subscribed to your blog-hardly anyone ever posts on them-thus proving the point that the way I write the blogs are a joke and that I should change the way I do so to applease these people.

-Now, you'd think the solution to this dilemma would be simple (so simple that a Caveman could do it-HA!). The obvious reply to this would be "If they don't like what I write on this blog, then tell them to stop reading it & go somewhere else." But that's not good enough I guess. It seems obvious to me that this person does not know what a blog is all about. A blog is like a journal-you can write in it whatever you want to write about. The main difference between a blog & a journal is that a journal is private-with a blog, people can see and/or comment on what's said. This has, in part, lead to another discussion where I'm accused of being blinded cause "all these people" are saying how bad we are and I'm not listening to it. I actually do. The difference between this person & me is this. I know there are bad things said about CB/me-I've seen alot of it-but so what? Any musician-or anyone who goes into the public eye for that matter-will get ragged on at some point. It's just a given. But I also know there are good things said-at the shows, on the comments, on the Guestbook, etc.-and it basically evens things out in my mind. However, this person basically believes that anything good said about CB is just people either feeling compelled to say something to be nice, people who are just giving flattery, or people who want something from me (like sex). My belief is that both opinions are out there-and they are all valid. However, I'm not a preacher. I don't have the time to try to convert people and it's meaningless to try. If people like CB-great. If not-oh well. That's their decision and even if their criticisms were addressed and "fixed", chances are these people would still not like us and just pick on something else to grumble about. If people don't like what they see/hear about CB-I have no problem with that. There are thousands of bands out there-I'm sure there's one out there that will fit your needs. But to sit there and try to change things everytime someone makes a complaint-that's a sure fire way to fail.

-to be continue....

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October 12, 2009

11/24/08-CAROLINE BLUE Show-11/28/08-Schultzies-Phoenix,NY

CAROLINE BLUE SHOW-FRIDAY 11/28/2008

SCHULTZIES

Rt.57, Three Rivers Mall Phoenix,NY 13135

ADMISSION:$5.00

SHOW STARTS @ 10:00 PM

HOPE TO SEE YOU AT THE SHOW!

CAROLINE BLUE plays their own original material as well as songs by KISS, Metallica, Stone Temple Pilots, Black Sabbath, Godsmack, Judas Priest, AC/DC, HIM & many more...

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