More and more people have come out to the shows and given me encouragement and kind words. The song that I have been performing is called “You’re the one that I love”. It was written for Mike and Rachel Underwood who were married on 9-10-11. It has given me a bit of a new life songwriting wise and I hope to record it soon. I thank all of those who have commented on the song. It’s going to be a joy to see where it goes. My goal is to have three fully produced songs “Closer”, “Reload,” and “Your the one that I love” ready by Feb 2011 to present at the Durango Songwriters Expo.

I fully intend on making this happen. Things are tough out there and more than ever I am falling back on my main goal which is to be the best songwriter I can possibly be.

™ Mike Moran Music
 

Well good news ahead! I have been doing a lot of private parties lately, and just set my regular gig schedule for the next few months. I am trying to plan out my recording schedule as well. I have three songs ready to go and more on the way. If you don’t read the Bob Lefsetz blog you won’t understand why it has taken me so long to put out a CD. Well consensus in the music industry is that the compact disc is dead. Subscriptions is the way to go, and I am going to give it a try.

Lyrics and liner notes can be accessed by PDF files and hopefully that will be another outlet for the artists who do such a great job designing covers for albums. That was always the icing on the cake after recording the album. Deciding on what artwork represents your album the way you want it too.

I have a lot to talk about that over the next few months. The best part about taking a few months to learn about how to write a blog is that you get plenty of time to think of content for your blog. I did just do that too, I just finished two courses on wordpress and got to learn a little bit about graphics as well. Mikah has finished up some photo’s for me that don’t look like “Senior Pictures” and Ill be able to post those soon as well.

Most of you who stop by this site either check it out for music or the show schedule, but I am hoping to add much more to that over the next few months. I have been weeding through my lyrics, and making cuts. Playing my electric a lot more than the acoustic. I also have some instrumental numbers that I have been working on as well.

As you can see on the show schedule I have added some new venues as well. So I hope to see you out at a show. Keep in touch and let me know how things are going with all of you…

Mike

Public shows as of right now are

June 11 Porter House Porductions Bike Festival with Levi Britton and The Ragbirds

June 17 The Good Works collective

June 18 The Loading Dock

Looking forward to these shows and I will be adding information very shortly.

My start time depends on when I get out of bed, and my end time is when I run out of steam. I have the freedom to just play, which is nice.

This quote kicked me in the face the other day because it’s exactly what I have been wanting to hear over the last year. Honest criticism. As a performer  it’s hard to get it  from those close to you, and you can’t get it from a message board or a comments page. In the music business you have to pay for it, sign up for it, or compete for it.

I started working with a few people who are extremely honest with me, and it has continued to make me a better performing songwriter. They see and hear things that no one else brought up to me before. They question just about everything I do. The criticism is not easy to hear, but it helps when you learn to distinguish the honest criticism from the stupid.

Looking for more honest critique, this past Saturday I competed in the Finals of the SoCalLive Music awards. A competition for independent artists that searches out the best solo male and female acoustic acts in Southern California. This takes place from December through March over a series of judged showcases. Last year I made it to the top five but did not make the nomination for Best Male Solo Artist. That nomination goes to the top three and the winner is announced at an awards show in L.A. Last years “Best Male Acoustic Artist” went to Chuck Roberts and it was well deserved.

Over the last year I searched for how to better my performance and it has paid off.

I am currently nominated along with two other great artists Ben Myers, and Bobbo Byrnes as the top male solo artists after a series of showcases, and the awards show is Monday night April 25th at Molly Malone’s in L.A. You can find out more at www.socalmusiclive.com.

It doesn’t matter if I win, what matters to me is that there has been progress, and I see it and feel it with how much I have been performing over the last year. Thanks to my girl Mikah, my parents Nancy and Bob, my business partner Mark, Charlie, Paul, and all the friends and great fans that have pushed me to get better.

Overall the book just makes sense. It has extensive data to back his arguments up, and dissects what made certain songs a hit. I am hoping to apply a lot of its suggestions to my up coming recordings. I highly recommend it to fellow musicians who have questions about where the industry and song production is headed over the next 10 years.

I am currently the host of Open Mic/Auditions at Maria Maria Restaurants, here in San Diego. I usually get things started my self at around 6:30 and host the rest of the evening until about 9pm. It’s been great meeting all the musicians here in San Diego, and a pleasure listening to them perform every Tuesday night.

I will also be performing and doing the booking for Gordon Biersch Brewery, “All Acoustic Saturadays”.  I will post a schedule of all the musicians who will be slated to perform over the next few months.

I will be writing a lot more here on the website. I know I say that every time, but this time I really mean it.

I came back to San Diego with a lot of reading and a new mind set. I will be posting about those books and about my shows coming up. I’m looking forward to seeing family and friends over the next month for they are my biggest inspiration.  I wish all of you a happy new year and hope your off to a great start.

I’ll also be booking shows up at Mammoth Mountain this winter so that has yet to be updated.

A few of my new tunes “Reload” and “One Life” have been getting good response out at gigs and I’m excited to hear how they will sound out of the studio. I’m very close to finishing up a few more originals, they just need a few words here and they. For now I just mumble the melody.

Check out the new schedule. Very excited to be performing at Gordon Biersch on Saturday nights in Mission Valley San Diego. Those gigs will be running from 9pm to Midnight and will feature lots of guests and original artists.

Cheers

Mike