Live Music Finder Blog

Ernie doesn’t do many gigs these days, just the odd Saturday outside Waitrose for a more discerning audience. He has inspired other dogs to consider a life in music but without the dedication, the passion to entertain and the show biz mentality they just haven’t cut the mustard.

Why the Blues? Well, I guess castration has that effect on a dog!

Ernie has always insisted on a good harmonica player but he has expressed his dismay at his current, rather poor, mouth organist. In a shock outburst he was heard to say “I am really dismayed at my current, rather poor, mouth organist. Get me someone that knows one end of the instrument from the other, preferably someone that can play a decent 12 bar blues”.

We at livemusicfinder.co.uk are looking for a harmonica player to accompany this very talented canine on his next video. Interested perhaps?

Check out his most recent video to see whether you think you can meet his very high standards.

Ernie signs the Blues

I don’t watch the X factor very often. Well not strictly true. I like the early stages when those poor unsuspecting people turn up to demonstrate that their ability to sing is desperately lacking. I wonder is it better to shatter your friends or relatives dream by telling them that they can’t sing or to let them go on national television to have it revealed to them by a ‘no punches pulled – ratings hungry’ Simon Cowell? I never miss an opportunity to tell my friends that they can’t sing just in case. That is how good a friend I am!

The X Factor is probably the lottery alternative for marginally talented and delusional people. In fact this year there is still at least one still in it. Anyway, what is it about instant fame and fortune that appeals to so many people?  And how long does that fame and fortune last I wonder? On average I mean! Maybe a year or two with even most finalists fading into relative obscurity within a few months.

The real crux of this piece is about the many bands and artists that have honed their craft busking, gigging, practicing, researching, traveling, setting up, packing up and doing it all again and again ad infinitum. These people aren’t all interested in fame, they are not driven by the desire for more money than you can spend. They do it because they love it, they love playing, singing, entertaining! Yeah sure there may once have been a dream of stardom and all that goes with it but it’s not that that keeps them going.

There is a huge pride in doing something well enough that people want to leave their homes to come and watch, and listen to you doing it.

As I often do I went to see a band the other night who were just great entertainment. Yes they did a lot of covers cos that’s what Friday night drinkers want I guess. However, they also did a couple of their own songs and they were very good. Much better than Simon Cowell’s manufactured ‘would be pop idols’ in my view.

So instead of staying in to watch the X Factor this Saturday, go out and watch, and of course listen to, a live band near you. And hey, you might just find something on our gig pages. Click ‘Gig Guide’ above this blog.

Come back and comment on this blog.

I was recently made aware of a site called squidoo.com. It gives you the opportunity to build a ‘lens’, a page really, on anything you want. In fact as many lens as you like on whatever subject you want. Why, you might ask! Well actually you can make money out of it. Squidoo advertise on your lens and if someone clicks from your lens then you get half of the revenue.

Write about something that you are a bit of an expert at and then recommend books from amazon on the page and you get revenue from that too. What a nifty idea.

I decided to create a couple of lenses (I am guessing that they are called lenses because they focus on a subject, rather than because squids have got eyes or something equally obscure). Anyway, I have used it to get my site linked from squidoo not least of all because it has a page rank of 8. I have written about my site, how to get the best from it etc. Probably not a great read; probably not going to sell many books…I’m not revising my retirement plan anyway.

I have just thought of something mildly amusing…This blog appears on my squidoo lens!

See it at www.squidoo.com/livemusicfinder and www.squidoo.com/livemusicfinder-directory

Give it a go.