The Patreon Connection

Patreon 2014

So I am now a Patreon member and supporter.  Why is the most important question you could ask.  What we're going to do always follows the why we do it so here is the answer to why, then I'll cover the what.

Art exists because of a unique ability of artists to create.  A buying public does not like this.  They need boxes to put artists into.  They really want to understand art easily by means of the packaging, and they really don't want to be too surprised by the next box sporting the same label. What this means is the next album by the same musician can't be a different genre.  The next book by the same author can't be theology if the last was a mystery novel. The next painting can't be realism if their last popular work was abstract. I have spent the years of my life doing real art and defying the marketers.

The problem has been that without marketing, there is no way to survive doing this and therefore, while my production has been prodigious, there has always been the need to only allow my reach into the public a level of "hobby" status. I do package my work to make marketing possible and I do have a team to help me.  That is why a portion of what I have done can be accessed... but let me ask you, Does over 2000 songs that I have written, (a platinum award for one of them), 30 album projects of my own and involvement in a dozen others, dozens of paintings and sketches (including work on my own album covers), several books that have been written and published along with a lot of others that have not, sound like the work of a hobbyist?

I create because I am driven to create.  The rest of what I have done with my life in order to survive, pales in significance. Enter Patreon.  This is a model made for the ancients, the timeless, but made possible with modern technology.  No longer does my art have to be boxed to sell to the masses to be acceptable.  You can now buy the package.  You can assess the value of my approach and reward the artist who stretches, who reaches for the creative edge.  You, who had no vote that would count in times past, can now make a difference. Power to the  powerless is now a reality. Unlike the politicians, we artists with patronage have to answer to you directly. Your contribution does not have to reflect any individual work but our individual works must be valuable to retain support.  Since this is not mass market economics, every $5.00 vote counts.

So now we get to what am I about to do and how can you participate.

When I write a song, it's usually on an acoustic guitar or piano and I consider this the pencil sketch that could become a masterpiece.  The studio production is like the oils on canvas that gets all the glorious attention.  The art still begins with the sketch.  This Patreon account is so that I will be able to get youtube video up of the raw material. Anyone desiring to licence the material can contact me from there. I am asking you to contribute a regular amount to this effort so bills can be paid and I can then get a few more masterpieces created. I plan to release approximately one item per week for as long as I am able. Since I work across many genres this may not always be music.  I am not going to try to make you like every posting, in fact I can pretty much guarantee you won't.  There should be things you love and some that will make you scratch your head, but the art will be real. Pledge an amount per month. My output exceeds what most people would be willing to pay per post. This caps your contribution in a month so if I am being exceptionally creative or productive your costs won't run away on you.

You will of course be notified of all posts 2 days before the public will be able to access them. In addition there are other awards for being my subscribers.  I am incredibly excited about all the potential. My work has always been an incubator for other artists that I manage to get involved with as well.  There is a creative world to discover and I look forward to truly adding value to your life, your universe and everything.

Go to http://www.patreon.com/jael and pledge!

A Little Late...

Old habits die hard.  New ones are hard to create.  I am delinquent again.

So what's happening? I'm glad you asked.

Does anybody know the significance of June 3rd this year?  If so, write and let me know what it is. I expect to have a lot to tell you on June 4th. I'm pressing in.

I really need some more team players with special skills.  I have been trying to get a video finished for a crowd funding project that is 2 weeks overdue right now.  It was supposed to be this blog post 2 weeks ago.  Any volunteers?

The Jael Unplugged Deluxe Edition has been readied but is need of cover art and some release it cash. Hence the crowd funding project.  The Acoustic One Shot project has had the glitches fixed and will be available at the same time.  Praise and Worship giving project is in the works.  Ask me about that one.

This is the cover from the last release.

See you soon.  There is a lot of pressure right now so I won't update this again until the 4th.  Love you all.

Jael

Music at the Moment.

First. I am aware that a lot of my sites are down for maintenance as I post this.  We were hacked and I am trying to get this done today but by Monday, latest.  The rest of this post is about the artistic projects, other business is exploding, and has had set backs as is usual when we try new stuff.  But that is the subject for another post.

There has a been a lot going on, so much that I forget to let people who are not in the immediate loop to know about it.  After we put out Great Expectations, we re-issued Acoustic One Shot from 2004 in  a new digipack.  Then we started fixing an expanded version of Jael Unplugged, the live album from the same year.  Between the two records fans will have a good overview of my songwriting in the most pure form I can muster.  Once we started the live album, Iven Kakoz, drummer from Salt of the Chief Cornerstone, suggested that we just go into the studio and jam together, so we rounded up Steve Fox on bass, Brian Danter on lead guitar, Walter Riggi to do keys and try to record it all at the same time, and Iven and me.  So we ended up with Windsors own version of the super session.  Lots of instrumental blues, excerpts of Danter/Jael compositions throughout the years and an unreleased Jael composition called The Band Played On.

"The Band Played On" references lots of classic rock titles, lyrics, and real life behind the scenes situations and was perfectly fitting to the allusion of the super session.  The original Kooper/Bloomfield blues dominated super session had Stephen Stills sit in for a cover of the Donovan song "Season of the Witch" which of course fits into a lyric line from the song.  We are not sure if or when this session will be released.  The song probably will somewhere, maybe on a compilation.

Speaking of compilations, a song from Great Expectations was released on the Walkerville Mix Tape 3, courtesy of Jamie Greer.  Go download a free copy from his facebook link or just download or stream it from the web page. http://betruewindsor.com/

This is not a religious project by any means, so for my Christian readers, this is a part of the local arts initiative, which I support and participate in but don't always agree with.  In my opinion, I value creativity and don't find it necessary to agree to support people who are using God's gifts even if they're unaware of it.  Don't download the album if you don't like local rock music.  The same could be said of the acoustic projects.  They are written from the world view of a Christian but would not qualify as Christian Music.

My live album is about half finished and is expected in a couple of months.

Brian Danter, with cancer surgery behind him, is now finally rehearsing a band (which includes Steve Fox on bass) to perform the Traitors Gate album and we have begun writing on the next 2 parts of that Trilogy, entitled Wicket Gate and Heavens Gate respectively.

In my spare time I have written and released two books, both available free in e-book form on the web and am working on another, while talking idly to Iven about the possibility of a movie.  We'll see where that goes. Salt has their new album about to explode.  Modern rock fans will love this.  What I have heard blows away the first release and it pushes the artistic envelop in a way that totally resonates with me.

I have recently been criticized a little (in a friendly way) for posting scores on facebook games, wondering where I get time.  There are down moments when I take a break for a few minutes and do a few levels, usually at the same time I'm involved with other stuff... but I probably should be doing more constructive things, like write another song.  I've only written 6 this month, mostly praise and worship stuff for church.  I find that the older I get, the less I care for anyone's approval but God's.

What I'm up to at the moment.

I am trying to get into the habit of updating once or twice a week. Apparently if I don't, you will feel left out of my life.  If you do you will fit right in.  I feel left out of my life every so often.  I'll be just on autopilot and suddenly I'm wondering where the time went.

Here is a bit of news.

Our family is hosting a Seder on Passover this year at our church.  This is the real deal and not an explanation of a seder with the fun parts left out.  How do we keep Christians learning without them turning it into a 4 hour service?  We'll see.

Next, I have recently re-released Acoustic One Shot, my internet only album from 1996.  It was updated and released as a CD in 2004 but has been out of print since then.  It's just me and an acoustic guitar with the emphasis on the songs themselves.  A similar re-release is being treated in the studio right now called Jael Unplugged, Live at the Uptown Coffee House.  The guitar sounds were never right on the earlier version and some songs were left off but thanks to the miracle of modern recording techniques we will rescue it and a truly worthy version will be released.

I mention this because Unplugged starts with a song that fits the beginning of this update.  It's called "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?"

A New Beginning

I am grateful to be alive.  Not that I was dying in any more particular way that usual, but I am thanking God for small victories and new potential.  Naomi, my daughter, has agreed to help me with social networking and my life has opened to new excitement.

My head is swimming with strange concepts, old to my kids and incomprehensible to me.  Hashtags, sites I didn't know existed, instagram, tik tok, etc ...

What a great day.  And I am defining my brand.  I am it.  It is me.  I used to promote the projects I was doing.  Apparently my interests are too wide and varied.... but I am the essential common denominator.  I am the artist.  Here I will try to tie it all together for you to read.  My life is now an open book.  I am cleaning up my act and starting again. Welcome to my world.