The Alternative to Corporate Black Friday Shopping Guide (Part 2 - Sounds)

Wondering how to avoid the machine on Black Friday weekend?

Go indie.

SOUNDS

Soundcloud.  Bandcamp.  LastFm.  All of these and, yes, even iTunes, will get you plugged in to distinctly un-corporate music.  It's great to listen to up and coming acts on Spotify or Pandora, but take the extra step and support the artists by putting money in their wallets!  Some of my favorites...

KAL LAVELLE - Fantastic voice and songwriting, the aptly-named Shivers EP gives a hint of things to come from the wonderful Kal.

ELEVATERS - I.  Just.  Love.  This.  Band.  

KEVIN SANDBLOOM - The tireless troubadour has just recreated Joni Mitchell's Blue album - cover to cover - for its 40th anniversary.

ALI WHITTON - Ali's gorgeous new EP Ruapehu is available now.  Here's a sneak peak:

DEF SOUND - Don't sleep on Def Sound.  You may wake up wondering what happened.

KCRW  is just perfect.  LA's local NPR station has an awesome line-up of DJ's, as well as provocative and fun cultural programming.  Membership is inexpensive, comes with a load of levels and benefits, and even if you're not an Angeleno, you can get everything KCRW has to offer live streaming and archived on their website! Not to mention Eclectic 24 a separate 24-hour streaming music channel!  G'won!

Practivist of the Week - Updates on Ongoing Campaigns!

You may remember that Zestyverse has featured several opportunities to help worthwhile artists and organizations.  We decided to check in and see how they're doing.

FOREST CAFE

The Forest Cafe is moving forward with fundraising, despite some glitches in the matrix. Their current building has been sold. So far, they've raised half of their 50,000 GBP goal!

Harry Giles, the Forest’s Fundraising Officer, said:

“This is an opportunity to run an even more amazing free arts space, so there’s no better time for people to get involved with The Forest. The collective welcomes people to help and actively decide Forest’s future by finding a new premises. This is a chance to develop new arts projects."

For more information and TO DONATE - CLICK HERE!

ELLYN MAYBE AND HER BAND

went to Glastonbury!  They raised enough funds to cover flights for everyone!  If you want to donate to help them cover the costs or accommadations, ground transportation, and pints, you can DONATE VIA PAYPAL or you can do it the old fashioned way - mail a check to Ellyn Maybe P.O. Box 10363 Marina del Rey, CA 90295-6363.









SANDBLOOM SINGS JONI

So far Sandbloom has raised over $2,300 in cash donations and $2,000 in in-kind donations for the project.  That puts him about 20% of the way to his original goal.

Says Sandbloom:

"So many people wanted to help in so many ways -- engineers wanting to lend studio time, designers offering artwork, etc. It just raised awareness about the project on the whole. Couldn't be happier."

The online campaign has ended, however, you can still donate - CLICK HERE TO SEND SANDBLOOM AN EMAIL!



BAZ PRODUCTIONS

True to their vision of excellence, persistance and spontaneity, BAZ Productions is changing their approach to fundraising now that their initial approach to the Arts Council was not granted.  With 13,000 GBP left to raise, they are stepping their game up by re-applying for a smaller amount to the Council, looking at corporate funding and continuing their efforts to fund through their network.

You can still DONATE TO THEIR CAMPAIGN VIA PAYPAL, or by check as follows:

Baz Productions LLP,

17 Ferris Road, London, SE22 9ND

LLP no: OC348492

Micro-financing and crowd-funding can work to help artists achieve their dreams of creating worthwhile projects which are meaningful to their communities.  Their have been many successful campaigns.  What's truly empowering about these is not only the financial support, but the acknowledgement by the community, or the audience, while the artist/s are creating the art, that this art already has meaning and should be sustained.  It's very buoying to know that your process itself is appreciated.

It doesn't matter if you can only donate $1 or $100 - it's getting in on the action that counts.  Being there at the inception of something great.  Sharing a vision.  Giving a hand up.  Knowing that these artists won't give up until they have expressed what is inside them and given it to the world.

Practivist of the Week - YOU! Helping Kevin Sandbloom!

So here we go...

I know of some great projects you can get involved in just by clicking and donating.  Easy.  As much or as little as you are moved to give.

Tireless troubadour Kevin Sandbloom has been pounding the pavements of our souls for some time now.  He's more than put in his 10,000 hours and perfected his craft as a singer, songwriter, and interpreter of songs closest to our hearts.  Besides massively moving songs like "Sweetness" off his new album Under Pink and Bourbon Skies, he is known for killer covers of songs from Sade's "Is It A Crime," to Al Green and Marvin Gaye.

When I heard he planned to record Joni Mitchell's album Blue in its entirety, I couldn't have been more thrilled.  The pairing of Sandbloom's vocals and guitars with Joni's lyrics and melodies, the idea of reclaiming this still dangerous and raw material and giving it out to another cultural generation and crossing it over to new audiences captivated me.


Says Sandbloom:

The idea of covering a whole album has been germinating with me for a long time. Joni Mitchell's Blue is one of those special records that hold a lot memories and feelings for so many and it's probably her most soulful work. In the end it seemed like the perfect choice. The fact that it's starting to unfold into reality is really exciting and I think it will be a landmark project for me.

Where do you fit in?

You can check out Sandbloom and Joni, for sure, and you can wait for the album to surface, but you can also help make it a reality.

Sandbloom has started an IndieGoGo campaign to raise money to complete the project.  IndieGoGo specializes in micro-funding of projects - people have a project and they put it out there, and hope that all the $5, $10 and occasional $100 donation will add up to them getting their project out in the world.  Donations go to a non-profit, and the artist or producer receives the money once the project is fully funded.  Based on the microfinancing models so successful in helping families out of poverty with small business loans across the world, it is empowering artists to take their careers in their own hands, and enabling them to bring you their true visions.

I think it does have potential to be his biggest project yet, and is certainly worth doing well.  Click this link to DONATE!

And if you know Joni, I'm thinking she should paint the cover...just saying.  ; )

Monday's Quote - Schopenhauer

"Talent hits a target no one else can hit; genius hits a target no one else can see."

- Arthur Schopenhauer

I've been having trouble getting practivists to profile - not because there aren't enough of them, but because they are so busy!  So this week the practivists are going to be you!  I'm going to profile some great projects you can get involved with just by clicking and donating!  There's a lot of talent and even some genius out there that you can support.  Stay tuned...

Also, I'm doing the 30/30 (30 poems in 30 days for National Poetry Month) - so check out my Facebook Notes.  Or maybe I'll post them here, too.

Now Playing:  Kevin Sandbloom - Under Pink and Bourbon Skies

: )