Mumbo Jumbo | March 2010
MUMBO JUMBO March 2010
NEW WEB SITE ROLLS OUT ON ST. PATRICKS DAY!
We’ve been busy shooting new high def video, sorting through hundreds of photographs, confirming tour dates and all the other design details associated with building and launching a brand spanking new web site. My assistant, Terry Lederer, and I have been working closely with the folks at Conch Republic Media group to meet our self imposed deadline of March 17 for the grand unveiling. One thing I’ve learned about living in Key West, if you don’t set your own deadline, no one else will or probably even care! I think we’ll make this one but it may come down to the wire.
We have been held up a bit by the historically cold and windy winter here in the Keys. For example, we waited for over a month to get a nice sunny day to shoot a greeting video out on the water. And even then we ended up sailing into a rare but bona fide fog bank, something that occurs in Key West every decade or so! It was all for the best, as the video has the feel of the Keys and the coast of Maine mixed together! We could never have planned that.
So remember, on St. Paddy’s day, just before you sneak out of work early for your first cold one, check out the new site!
SUMMER TOUR
Since the last Mumbo Jumbo many of you have written Terry or me with suggestions for shows around the country for upcoming summer and fall tour. We’re working frantically to confirm as many shows as possible by the launch date of the new web site and we will be announcing many confirmed dates on March 17, while continuing to update the schedule as we go. As previously mentioned we will be playing coast to coast this year and consequently visiting lots of new places so please continue to write me at scott@scottkirby.com with suggestions for bookings or house concerts.
ROW ME HOME on the air all over Europe!
Last month I talked a little bit about the reviews and airplay ROW ME HOME has received in Europe. As of this writing, the CD is being played on stations in England, Scotland, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Austria, Hungary and Croatia. It’s also being extensively reviewed in many of the respected music and entertainment magazines in many of these same countries. Many of you have asked how this happened.
Last fall I was contacted by Peter Holmstedt of Hemifran Music in Sweden, a respected music publicist and promoter in Europe of a number of American artists, including Jackson Brown. Mr. Holmstedt had obtained my CD after it was recommended to him by one of his contacts in Los Angeles, and after giving it a listen thought the CD might have potential for some success in the European market. So after some consultation with Russ Kunkel, the producer, and Gavin Smith, my marketing guru, we decided to let Hemifran have a go at it across the pond.
The six month promotional campaign began the first of the year and within a week or two ROW ME HOME was being positively reviewed in several countries and already on the air in several others. By week three, Gavin’s friends from Scotland we’re hearing my songs on the BBC there and after two months the airplay has become pretty widespread in the 14 countries I’ve mentioned above! So you might ask, when are we going to Europe? Well, it’s probably a bit too early in the process to think about that and I certainly don’t want to create the impression that the CD is taking Europe by storm! But it does seem to be getting a fair amount of play, the majority of the reviews have been positive and it is a satisfying experience to have one’s work heard by our friends in these wonderful countries, many of which I have had the pleasure of visiting at one time or another.
One thing I’ve learned through this process is that Russ Kunkel is every bit as respected in Europe as he is here in the USA , and I have no doubt that his role as producer contributed significantly to this development. Peter Mayer once said to me, “If you work with great people things will take care of themselves.” How true.
A special thanks to Russ and Peter Holmstedt and we’ll see what happens down the road!
As always, thanks for listening!
Scott
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