When I was a kid, my father (who had turned pro at the age of four, and literally grew up in show business) used to tell me that the biggest stars (or at least the ones who’d been in the business the longest) were the nicest people. He attributed this to the fact that “you meet the same people on the way down as you do going up,” and therefore the successful artists were the ones who were nice to everybody, and made few enemies on the way up. I’ve seen that hold true in my own experience. I’m not talking about the “overnight success” types – poptarts like Britney Spears. I’m referring to people that start in the business when they’re young, usually with either a parent (or two) in the business, or a mentor that has years of show business experience. These are the people that, regardless of their fame or fortune, remain “real” – genuinely nice people, who treat everyone well, without regard to who they are or how they can benefit from a kindness. I recently had the privilege to exchange a couple of emails with one such person, and I’d like to tell you about it. [Read more…] about Class.
Music
Let me entertain you.
It dawned on me, as I was creating some ‘quickie’ bizcards, that I needed a website specific to the musician-side of my life. I’m a big believer in perception versus reality, and the reality is, people perceive a certain degree of “serious” in regards to an email address. If you want someone to take you seriously, a Gmail, Hotmail, or Yahoo address is not gonna cut the mustard. On the other hand, if you have your own domain name, it’s almost like instant street cred. So I bought bradkozak.com and set it up as a site dedicated to my singer/songwriter/entertainer biz. Of course, since I create websites for a living, it didn’t take but a couple of hours to throw together a website. (It took longer to get Mrs. Digital to help me with the photos, and to do the Photoshopping than it did to write the site code.) [Read more…] about Let me entertain you.
When the moon hits your eye.
Although I won’t be doing a Tribute to Dean Martin anywhere in my two sets (as the post title might imply), I will be playing live at Pizza Hut on I-40 (on the east-bound service road, between Coulter and Bell) in Amarillo (Centrally Located Between Two Oceans!™), on Wednesday, August 27th, from 10 PM to midnight. If you’re in Amarillo, I’d appreciate it if you’d stop by. Hopefully, this will be the first of many bookings in the Panhandle area.
A Musical Question.
As I’ve mentioned here before, I’m working on something that I’m pretty excited about. I still can’t say too much about it (I’m in the midst of submitting patent and trademark applications) but I can tease you a little bit with the name of the company. What I’d like to get is some feedback, particularly if you’re a musician (especially a fretted instrument player). In particular, I’m looking for information from individuals suffering from G.A.S. – Guitar Acquisition Syndrome.
The name of the company is GuitarFurniture, and you can visit our “coming soon” website at guitarfurniture.com. Without giving away too much, we’re going to be building fine furniture for your guitar. Our theory is that if you’re gonna spend $3,000 and up on a guitar, you’d be inclined to spend a little more to get a really great guitar stand for your instrument, instead of one of the typically cheap stands sold at most music stores. [Read more…] about A Musical Question.
I’m working on something cool…
And I thought I’d let you know about it.
Here’s the deal…I’m always thinking about ways to make the things I use better. I’m also good with my hands, and notoriously cheap, when it comes to buying something I could make myself – especially when I can make something that’s better than what I can buy.
The other day, I was looking for a guitar stand, one that would hold several instruments at once. I didn’t like anything I found at GuitarCenter – too expensive, and cheaply made. I figured I could make something that would cost less and work better. And I was right. Turns out, a bunch of people agreed with me, and want to get me to make them a stand like the one I made for myself. What a novel idea. [Read more…] about I’m working on something cool…
My two cents.
I’ve been in the business of using computers, in one way or another, since 1982. I wrote my first college paper on an Apple III. I owned one of the original IBM PCs (Hercules Graphics Card! 512K RAM! Two full-height 5 1/4″ Floppy Drives! Dot Matrix Printer! DOS 2.0! Ashton-Tate Framework! All for the low, low price of $4,000!!!). I’ve worked as a software engineer, product manager, project manager, marketing manager, and user interface evangelist for software publishing companies. I was around for the birth of Windows 1.0, the life and death of COMDEX, the rise of the common user interface, the Year of the LAN, and a slew of other things, long consigned to the dust bin of computer history. I’ve been a user, author, coder, beta-tester, evangelist, designer, and planner. In short, I’ve held just about every job you can hold in the software industry.
Now I’m writing reviews. [Read more…] about My two cents.
The Value of Old.
The older I get, the more I appreciate old stuff. I suppose that makes a certain amount of synergistic sense. When I was a kid, “new” was the thing. If some marketer prefixed their pitch with the magic word “new” – they had my attention. These days, I equate “new” with “not as good as what it replaced.” That’s not always true, of course – a new computer is better/faster/cheaper than an old one. But when it comes to things that require craftsmanship, pride, skill, taste, and durability, “old” beats “new” almost every time. Case in point, musical instruments. [Read more…] about The Value of Old.
The Problem with Miley.
Know what a “Tween” is? Unless you’ve been living under a rock (which might not be such a bad idea, actually), you know a tween is the trendy label for those ages 9 to 12 – not quite a child anymore, but not quite a teenager. A “tweenager,” if you will. I’m the proud father of a tween. She’s obsessed with all the typical things that girls her age are – fashion, Miley Cyrus, High School Musical, Jonas Brothers, and fashion. The problem is, I’m not sold on the idea that all those obsessions are the right ones.
Here’s the deal. I had a great childhood. Idyllic, really. I want the same for my daughter. But we live in a radically different world today, and I’m afraid she’s being exposed to a lot of things that are stealing her childhood right out from under our noses. [Read more…] about The Problem with Miley.
Music that’s eclectic.
As some of you know, I’ve been a musician since an early age. Up here in Amarillo (Centrally Located Between Two Oceans!™), I haven’t had many opportunities to play professionally.
All that has recently begun to change.
Andy (the Brother I Never Had) Chase and I have put together a group, and we’re calling it “eclectic” ek•lek•tik.
Tonight, we’re playing at Randy’s of Wilderado (which is actually not in Wilderado at all – it’s in downtown Amarillo on Polk Street in the Paramount building), from 6 to 9 PM. As the band’s name suggests, our playlist is eclectic. Come on down, and you’ll hear everything from James Taylor and Jim Croce stuff to Nat “King” Cole and Hoagy Carmichael – with everything in between. Tonight, we’ve added a really excellent bassist to the mix, so there’s now four of us. Andy and I share lead vocals duty, and we switch off between guitar, mandolin, percussion, and harmonica. Describing our sound is a little tricky, because there’s nobody else doing what we do here in the Panhandle. I guess it’s kind of like [Insert name of artist here] Unplugged, because everything we’re doing is acoustic. However, that doesn’t mean it’s mellow, nor is it all ballads, all the time. We can rock the joint, too. And do.
So if you’re interested in an evening of live music, come on down to Randy’s tonight and check us out.
A Shameless, Self-promotion plug.
For those of you in the Greater Amarillo/Texas Panhandle area (Centrally Located Between Two Oceans!™), I will be playing at Joe Taco’s restaurant on Friday, from 6:30 to 9 PM, and at Randy’s of Wilderado (on Polk St.) on Saturday, from 6 to 9 PM, and again on Wednesday, as a part of the Noon on the Square series, downtown. I’ll be playing guitar, bass, mandolin, some percussion, and singing. If you’re into acoustic guitars and an eclectic mix of music, we’d love to see you there.