Short Notice: DBi3 this Saturday in Denver

Just got added to an all ages show in Denver this Saturday, October 4, in Centennial at a place called LIFEspot. The show is a kick off for the tour of Jonathan Stark (Denver-pictured left) and The Jox (Kansas). Check out their music, I think you'll dig it.

Hope to see some of you out at the show!

I'm Playing a Show In Indy On My Birthday!

Well what do you know? Birdy's in Broadripple (Indianapolis) has been kind enough to host a Birthday Extravaganza Show on my birthday, October 21!

I can't wait to play for the home town crowd! Come on out and wish me a happy birthday (doors open at 8pm, but the place has food, so you can show up and grab a bite to eat with me before that).

I've put some calls out to old buddies in the area, so we'll see who joins the bill in the next few weeks.

Hope to see you there!

Donate to Planned Parenthood in Sarah Palin's Name!

I just received an e-mail with this brilliant plan to show Sarah Palin how the majority feels about her stance on sex ed, etc...

Basically, go to http://www.plannedparenthood.org, mouse-over "donate" and select "honorary or memorial donations," fill in Sarah Palin for the name, then fill in the McCain headquarters address (shown in the e-mail quoted below) so the thank you card is sent there.

The minimum donation is $5, which I think is WELL worth the message (and laugh). You can spend $5 on a drink at a bar tonight, or you can join hopefully thousands of others who receive this message and send a very poignant message to Sarah Palin and the rest of the backward thinking fools at McCain headquarters (not to mention supporting a good cause)!

And on top of that, the joke is tax deductible!!

Awesome.

Below is the e-mail I received.

Dear Friends,

Many of us have wanted a woman on a national political ticket for
years, but the joke now seems to be on us. Sarah Palin not only
opposes reproductive rights, but is also against sex education in
schools and cut financial support for single mothers in Alaska.

Some of you may already be supporting the Obama campaign financially,
but if you are furious (and terrified) by the Republican party's
selection of Sarah Palin as the VP on McCain's ticket and want to do
more, may I pass along the following fiendishly brilliant idea?

Make a donation to Planned Parenthood. In Sarah Palin's name.
Regardless of the amount you give, when you make a donation to PP in
her name, they'll send her a card telling her that a donation has
been made in her honor.  It might not change the election, but it will
support an important organization, as well as help make our voices
heard. (And even if this idea was cooked up by a PP person -- I don't
care!)

If you want to help, go to the Planned Parenthood website:

http://www.plannedparenthood.org.


During the process be sure to check "make honorary or memorial gift,"
and then fill in the name of the person you want to "honor." (Might I
suggest Sarah Palin?)  Then fill in the address to let Planned
Parenthood know where to send the Thank You card. If you use the
address for the McCain campaign headquarters, I think they'll get the
message.

McCain's headquarters address:

 McCain for President
 1235 S. Clark Street
 1st Floor
 Arlington, VA 22202

Please send this along to all your friends and urge them to do the same.

If you're not convinced this is a good idea, maybe follow this link and read the article there. It seems while Palin was mayor, "the city of Wasilla had the most egregious policy against victims of rape in the state of Alaska, possibly the entire country. The rape kit, a set of items used by medical personnel for gathering and preserving physical evidence following a sexual assault, was charged to the victim. (note: step 6)"

(http://alaskareport.com/news98/x61620_rape_palin.htm)

Are you freaking kidding me?!

[update from Steve, Sept. 29, 2008]

Hey! A friend of mine works at Planned Parenthood and I was talking
to her about the Palin donation plan that you'd forwarded to me.
Apparently it is working.

"So far, the scheme seems to be getting a strong response. As of
Friday, Planned Parenthood had taken in $802,678 in donations from
31,313 people, said a spokesman for the organization, Tait Sye. More
than two-thirds of the individuals are first-time donors to Planned
Parenthood, Mr. Sye said, and money came in from all 50 states."

--from today's New York Times

Redefining Measures of Success

I ran across this quote today, and thought it was beautiful:

To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

You're right, Matt Damon, this is INCREDIBLY absurd.

Matt Damon has a few words to say about Sarah Palin. I completely agree.

Obama Apparel

So... it would seem that the easiest way to get people talking about Obama is simply by wearing a t-shirt. We were talking about the best way to get the word out, and the resounding "this works" examples were always apparel. When you wear a t-shirt or button or whatever, people come up to you and ask you about Obama.

It gets conversations started, and it's easy.

So I'm working on some new designs. Here's my first, for my friends in Ohio (there will be many more).

Click here for Fuck Yeah, OH items. (all proceeds go to the Obama/Biden campaign)

New Song: "A Long Way Home"

I recently took a trip waaaaaay up north into Canada with my little brothers. It's been a long, long time since we all went on holiday together.

While I was up there I thought a lot about all the trips we took as kids, loading into the old Cadillac and driving all over the mid west.

When I got back from Canada, I wrote this song, and this video is it's debut:

A Long Way Home
©Renaissance Boy Recordings and Daniel Beahm (ASCAP)

We sailed the gold seas over backroads Indiana
Aboard a shining vessel bound for near South Bend
The roads rolled out like black top carpets carving corridors
Meridians and dirt canals connecting us to friends

One day we’ll see just where the roads all lead us
Too many maps misfolded past their use
Three brothers learn topography by memory
For grand adventures that they’ll speak of after youth is long gone

It’s a long way home
A long, long way home

And what of fireflies in June we would discover
The stars had fallen and they danced upon the lawn
Yes what of the fireflies, the herald of my brother’s birth
They’ve flown to heaven but their mem’ry lingers on

And it’s a long way home
A long, long way home

Just off the starboard you can see the merchant ships awaking
The trolling farmland schooners harvesting the gold
They mark the coming of the winter of the weather
They mark the turning of the leaves and of our souls

So come the winter we would plot a course for grand Ohio
We’d turn the rudder east toward the land of giving thanks
Her shores shown like a light house calling me to come home
A lasting stronghold and the bastion of my youth

Such ecstacy and revelry
I’d know, I’d know
The sweetly singing voices called to me “come away”
Such a fool to follow them
I know, I know
But I was so naïve and thus I strayed

I was the first to sign my name upon the dotted line
I was the first to break my mother’s heart and go
I was the first to walk upon the shores of foreign lands
I was the first to bleed for something I had never known

At night I’d gaze into the sky and search for True North
The Dog Star guiding me upon wayward way
I’d think of Andrew and of Matthew and of Indiana
I’d wonder if the stars were shining for them just the same

It’s a long way home
A long, long way home

DBi3 to Play Sky High Music Festival :: Sept. 28

what's playing: "Groove Me" by Salt-N-Pepa

Sunday, September 28th at 4:45pm Dan Beahm takes the stage as part of the 2nd Annual Sky High Music Festival. Four days, 10 stages, over one hundred bands! One $10 ticket gets you into all venues, all days. What a bargain!

Dan Beahm and The Invisible Three play the Rock & Roll Grill, 1531 Champa Denver, CO 80202. The show is all ages. Doors open at 3:30pm and the venue accomodates 2 stages. Again, one ticket gets you into all the festival venues for FOUR DAYS STRAIGHT (staring Thursday).

Tickets can be purchased at any venue door, at any King Soopers, or online at www.TicketsWest.com.

Blow by blow deconstruction of Palin's speech by Roni Deutch

http://ronideutch.blogspot.com/2008/09/palins-speech-filled-with-inaccuracies.html

The above link is a great fact checking blow-by-blow of Palin's speech at the RNC. Seems much of what she said, though perhaps exciting (for some) and applause garnering, was simply incorrect.

Way to go, Roni.

And thanks, Michael, for the link.

Palin: this is what the Republican Party thinks of women?

Screw the glass ceiling, this woman is going to set women's rights back a hundred years.

Yes, I know the photo is Photoshopped, but it's funny (and fairly accurate) nonetheless.

Erika is so furious about this lady, she can barely even speak (and that's saying something). The day McCain announced his running mate, was a dark, dark day for women across the globe.

This lady doesn't "believe" in evolution. While even I have been known to question some of the specifics and gaps of the chain, I'm not pushing to replace it with hocus pocus. Evolution is at least science, based on facts and evidence. She wants creationism taught in schools. What year is this?! Yeah, science is probably a foolish thing to be teaching our nation's children. We're plenty ahead of that whole education game anyway.

This is a woman who in May of this year announced she would sue to block Washington from listing polar bears as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act (NYPost.com). Are you freaking kidding me?! Just so we can ignore the fact that we are screwing the hell out of the flora and fauna on this rock we call home?

Don't even get me started on the whole pregnant daughter and this woman's burning desire to reverse Roe v. Wade. The debate is not about life; the debate is about privilege. The fact of the matter is that privileged white people don't have to worry about Roe v. Wade being over turned because they'll have access to clean and safe procedures whether it's legal or not, because they've got money.

Hilarious that McCain chose Palin to win over Hillary votes. Surely (please, god) Hillary voters can see right through this transparent puppet. Just because she's got boobs and could be VP doesn't mean she's advancing the position of women in the country and the world.

She will, in fact, do the opposite.

And what's up with the Republican party continually touting Palin's ability to kill moose (who in the f*ck cares?! ...other than Bullwinkle fans).

I'll leave you with a list of books Palin wanted banned from the Wasilla city library (the list is from the city board meeting's minutes). Yes, that's a DICTIONARY at the end of the list.

[Sept. 7, 2008] Turns out the list was a fake, but the quote from Mayor John Stein about Palin wanting to ban books from the library is legit; here's the quote:

Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving "full support" to the mayor. (Time)

Girl Talk - Feed the Animals (Gregg Gillis is a hard workin' thief; nothing wrong with that)

what's playing: Feed the Animals by Girl Talk

Me likey the mashup. Whereas medleys used to lift my skirt, technology and the MTV short attention span has paved the way to simply inserting snippets here and there.

Anybody who's seen me live knows I tend to pepper my originals heavily with bits of music and lyrics from other artists (Prince, The Cure, John Denver, Paul Simon, Twisted Sister, Tom Jones, Burt Bacharach, Quiet Riot, etc...).

I even gave the "real deal" a shot last year when Trent Reznor made files from "Only" available for a radio remix contest. I remixed, but also added snippets of "Head Like a Hole," "Closer," "Down In It," and "Hurt." I personally think it's better than the original, but then again I'm kind of a pompous bastard. Have a listen if you'd like. [Only (Used to Be Somebody remix) by Cats or Cars]

However, Gregg Gillis has taken it all the way, by creating an entire album of mash-up, putting things together that you'd never dream of. It's sooo much fun. A couple years ago I was loving Danger Mouse's Grey Album, but Feed the Animals goes the extra mile and sources from literally hundreds of songs spanning the decades in a genre meshing meet-and-greet that would make Dr. King proud.

Rod Stewart just morphed into Flashdance's "Maniac" super-high-speed rim shot and then subtly transformed into Procul Harem's "A Whiter Shade of Pale" ...all while serving as a base for Jay-Z, 50 cent, Ludacris and various other hip-hop/rap artists I should know but don't (white boy living in Colorado needs to expand his horizons).

Listening to this album is one "oh, man! are you freaking kidding me?!" after another (as I type this, Ace of Bass just paved the way for "Footloose").

Every song goes straight to the next, so clear your schedule and get ready to listen to the whole thing straight through (again and again). You'll thank me later.

Click the (rather lame) album cover image in this post to be taken to the Illegal Art (Girl Talk's label) download page where you can name your price. Put in whatever purchase amount you want and you're taken to a page with two links... one is the link to the album's Zip file (320 Kbps mp3's) , the other is a link to send moola via PayPal to Illegal Art.

Do it.

Indie Music Promoting (just listen... please?)

The last post was about booking. This one is about promotion.

Both are chores that "back in the day" a label would have taken care of. Nowadays, in the age of indie, the tasks are most often taken up by the musician. Both can be more than full time jobs. So what's a bard to do?

Getting people to listen to the damn music is so much harder than writing good songs! You can have album upon album of great songs, "hits" even, but if nobody's listening it doesn't matter.

The advent of home recording has made it extremely easy to record your own music (though simply having the tools doesn't mean the product will sound good). This age of the musical everyman has its good and bad points. The great part is that people who previously couldn't afford to record albums now can. The awful part is that people who previously couldn't afford to record albums now can. Anybody who's spent any time sifting through myriad unknowns looking for an indie gem knows this is true.

It used to be, you at least had to prove yourself in some way to get to the place where someone was going to pay to cut vinyl. Now literally ANYONE can get their music listed along side Top 40 bands on iTunes. I know Top 40 doesn't mean "good," but it does mean marketed. And people are buying it. And that's what I'm talking about. People are being told to listen to your music (and they do).

How do you get your stuff into the hands of people who will love it?

I think most people think that if a song is good, it will float to the top and people will hear it, but you'd be surprised how many great songs are out there that no one knows about. You'd probably also be surprised by how long it takes some songs (or bands) to see the light of day. It astounds me that so many of the musical friends/acquantainces I've made over the years have never "made it big." see: Earwig, Arthur Yoria, Bel Auburn, The Old Ceremony, among many, many others (like ME!)

My most common complaint these days is that it's so difficult just getting people to listen. You'd think that if someone stumbled upon an old college or high school buddy, that person would at least be curious about what that persons music sounded like, maybe even buy an album or two... drop a line and say, "Hey, I heard your music!" You might be surprised at how little I get that.

I'm not looking for sunshine blown up my ass, I just want to know that some of my efforts are at least being noticed. The "lazy musician" label gets old really fast, especially when you're working sooooo freaking hard.

I'm always baffled when a good friend says, "I've never heard that song [of yours] before." I want to scream: "I SENT IT TO YOU A YEAR AGO!" But that would make me appear psycho, so I rarely do that (well, probably less rarely than I'd like to think).

I know the fact is that people are bombarded with garbage in their inbox (and tv, and radio, and etc., etc.) all the time. I understand it's easy for things to slip by.

So how do you get people to listen?

I'm convinced that somebody else has to tell them to listen to it.

So I spend hours upon hours putting together press packs to send off to radio stations, magazines, blogs, local media outlets, etc... Between writing and recording music, booking shows, playing shows, and promoting, it's a wonder I have time to breathe, let alone hold down another job to try and bring in actual money to pay the bills.

I post photos and music on Facebook, MySpace, LastFM, the "official website," and a million other places. I spend hours contacting people, making friends, asking them to listen to my songs (how humbling), trying to get them to tell other people.

You begin to wonder if anyone is listening. And then somebody does.

Somebody like Bill, who came across my YouTube page the other day looking for a cover of The Ramones, which I just happened to have... "I Wanna Be Sedated." You heard it?

Well he posted a comment, and I wrote him back, and it turned into a multiple day conversation. It was great knowing that someone out there stumbled upon the music, took the time to really listen to Amplifier, and then took the time to let me know he was enjoying it and that my efforts weren't going unnoticed.

Sometimes it's just nice to know that people are listening after all.

Now if only one of those people worked for Geffen and could sign me up.

[smile]


In closing, I don't want this post to upset those people who I know listen all the time. I soooooo appreciate you guys. You rule. Your loyalty (and tenacity) constantly make this all worth it... I just wish you would rub off on the rest of the people I know (and then, in turn, the other 6.8 billion people wandering around this planet).

Rock. And, as always, thank you for your support.

...