So a solid fact about me is that I am totally in love with music. Totally in love. All sorts. I print to 80's music, I sing along to 90's alternative (the songs of my youth!), I have favorite operas, I'm in love with musicals, I am moved by classical. My 2 year old son listens to hard rock and requests Radiohead. And since I have zero musical talent, I especially love my dear dear friends who can.
My friend Libbie Schrader just released a gorgeous album funded entirely by her fans. She, my friends, is a fellow Claremont alum (Pomona, I went to CMC, but whatever, 5-C solidarity), won a national song competition, went on to tour with Jewel and Poe, has had her music on TV shows, and produced this amazing new album without a label. And that's awesome.
Now my dear friend Mike TV of the band Get Set Go has started a Kickstarter project of his own. Mike TV and I were flatmates for years, and I had the pleasure of being there when he signed onto a label and put out his first CD, which is still my favorite. I was around when he wrote so many of the songs on the band's next couple releases, so many of which he practiced ad nauseum that somedays when I close my eyes I swear I still hear him singing "Suicide" in the background. One of my favorite songs in the early days was "Firetruck," and I was so thrilled for him when the show Jack & Bobby picked it up. Then, after Michael moved out, my new flatmates were watching this new show on TV when suddenly out of nowhere was Michael's voice as some young doctors were in an elevator on Grey's Anatomy. I had never watched the show and was, as you might imagine, weirded out that my friend's song was on network TV. I got the same weird jolt feeling when on Grey's Anatomy's musical episode this past season, one of Michael's songs was sung by someone that wasn't Michael. His song "Wait" was just beautiful sung by Chandra Wilson, and I excitedly called him to see how long he knew that his song was going to be a part of this major music-driven episode.
Despite all the exposure, Get Set Go isn't a commercially successful band with lots of radio play. In fact, quite the opposite. I wager most of you have never heard of them. When the goal is to make music, sometimes the dollars just don't add up. I swear that despite all the exposure his music has received over the years, Mike TV drives this beat up van and lives on peanut butter and puppy kisses and that's it. When the goal is to put as many songs out there as possible, and record labels are stuck in a business model that favors multimedia megastars, well, sometimes you just gotta ask your friends and fans for a little help to put out the music you want to put out. So, if you've never heard of Get Set Go before, check them out on their website, check out their Kickstarter campaign, and kick something down in support of indie rock music.
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