Carlson's Corner

Here's some // minor disarray //

premature e-rapture-lation Over excitement concerning the 'rapture' (5/11/2011) that leads to prematurely spewing irrational behavior. John sold his house, cashed in his 401k, left his wife and headed to the mountains because he thought the end was near. Sounds like a case of premature e-rapture-lation.

Gig update: Jim will NOT be performing at Granite Peak Ski Area 2/26....Chad Brecke will take his place. Jim will perform at Granite Peak as scheduled on March 26, 2011.

For years, I received sweaters as gifts. I accepted them, and promptly never wore them. See the problem was that sweaters and I just didn't get along. It wasn't that I didn't like the look of sweaters I had received. They were quite nice. In fact, they weren't gaudy. You'd unlikely wear one to an ugly sweater party. The problem was me. I simply was too hot for sweaters. No, I'm not being conceited here. I have always been warm blooded. Put me in a sweater, and I'd burn up. Too hot. A bucket of sweat. Fast forward to the Winter of 2010. This winter has been cold. For example today was -17F below zero. So anyway, I've raided my (almost vintage) unworn sweaters this year. They are very nice, and I'm thankful that I have them. If you've given me a sweater in the last few years and were upset that I never wore it, I think I might have worn it yesterday. Or the day before. Or it will be worn later this week. Thank you.

Musicians who want to be successful need to be educated. In my two decades of performance, I have seen talented musicians fail because they didn't take the time to understand how this business works. In contrast, I've seen moderately talented musicians (myself included) have pretty successful runs simply because they understood the music business. For the entire article, please check out my latest post at JimCarlson.net: Sharpening Your Music Marketing Skills.

Jim will be performing solo shows @ Granite Peak this winter! All shows are from 2-10pm. November 26th December 30th January 8th January 16th February 26th March 26th For more details, check out www.jimcarlsonm usic.com or www.facebook.com/jimcarlsonmusic

Ok, ok, ok. First off, this is not a political entry . I really don't care if you are for or against the recently passed health care bill. I am hoping that we can move on and US Government will have the time to address another serious issue plaguing this great country: THE WRINKLE FREE SHIRT ISSUE As I have mentioned in a previous post , I've been dressing somewhat better these last few years. With dressing better, comes the responsibility of taking better care of my better clothes. Let me state, for the record, I don't mind ironing. That does not, in any way, indicate that I love the task either. So, enough banter. Here is the issue: I have purchased quite a few dress shirts in the last couple of years. I've been able to purchase some major label, high ticket shirts at amazingly low prices. I've also picked up some generic 'store brand' shirts. As I was doing laundry earlier today, I noticed that the shirts that were originally the highest priced o...

Recently, Wisconsin passed a text message ban while driving . There has been a lot of discussion on the dangers of texting while driving. On the flip side, CNN recently reported that cell phone driving bans don't work . As discussed in the first article above, Wisconsin already has a law that outlaws distracted driving, or “being so engaged or occupied as to interfere with the safe driving of that vehicle.”. A couple of months ago, a friend traveling from Minneapolis said something that made me think. He said that he'd never think of texting while navigating the streets of the Twin Cities, but while driving to Wausau he felt comfortable placing an occasional text. I agree. I've been on the road quite a lot lately. When I'm circling the state Capitol in downtown Madison, I would not think of texting, changing a CD, playing with my iPod or even answering my phone. There is just too much going on. Add snow, bad visibility and rush hour, it is clear: Pay attention and...

Personally, I hate year-end wrap ups. They are self indulgent, self righteous and generally of no interest to the general public (let alone people who know you). That said, here goes: I really have no New Year's Resolutions for 2010. 2009 was a year of continued change and in many ways, a year of refining focus. If anything, it can be said that 2009 was the foundation for 2010, and the important thing is to stay on task. So, what are the highlights ? After years of struggling to find consistency with my workouts, 2009 found remarkable consistency. I (generally) worked out 3 days a week. These workouts were quick, to the point, and proved to help me balance the stress that life can bring. I still need to work on more cardio, but every workout needs to be measured and adjusted on a continual basis. Food. I love food, and my lifestyle lends itself to lots of meals on the run. When I eat out, I like to eat things that most health experts will tell you are not quite up to par. Last year...

A semi with a load of molasses overturned on Washington Street in Wausau. Rush hour traffic was diverted, causing all kinds of havoc.... Pulling the semi back up: Facebook Photo Album of the Great Molasses Incident Wausau Daily Herald Story WSAW TV 7 Footage WAOW TV 9 Footage

This last week found me with the busiest performing schedule in years. Four gigs, four days. The best part, each of the four shows were completely different: Wednesday June 24th, I hosted open mic at Intermission. This was the first time in over a decade I have hosted a formal open mic. Sure, I have 'invited guests, regularly, but this was a bit different. It was a great night with performances by Will Yates, the one and only Jerry Duginski, Rob Piehl, and instrumentalist Tom Cat. Friday June 26th I performed at the CVA for the Wisconsin Visual Atrists' Guilds "Rhythm & Blues 2009" gallery opening. This show found me performing totally acoustic guitar, no singing. It has been quite a while since I performed as an instrumentalist (in fact the last time was at a previous CVA Gallery Opening). Friday June 26th - I sat in with The Townies at Malarkey's on percussion. That's right, percussion. Years ago I used to sit in with Mary and The Mercenaries and jam wit...

New Gigs: 05-30-09 - Jim Carlson Solo 06-17-09 - Jim Carlson Solo 07-16-09 - The Jim Carlson Trio Featuring Rober Bardo and Brian Miller 07-16-09 - The Jim Carlson Trio Featuring Rober Bardo and Brian Miller 08-13-09 - Jim Carlson Solo New Posts: Updated Facebook Band and Business Pages on jimcarlson.net - an internet marketing blog   Great Gigs: Thanks to all who came out last Friday and Saturday @ Peking. What a blast. More gigs pending, will update jimcarlsonmusic.com and Jim Carlson on Facebook soon.

A couple of brief announcements. First of all, three shows have been added for April 2009 : 04-04-09 - The Jim Carlson Trio Featuring: John Hocker and Sean McCue - Mickey's Billiards 04-08-09 - Jim Carlson Solo - Malarkey's Pub 04-18-09 - Jim Carlson & Roger Bardo - RedEye Brewing Company New Logos : I've been playing with some new logo ideas, here are the latest: New Music : After listening to the scrapped 'Further Out' sessions, I found a few gems that have triggered new writing, arranging and recording of basic tracks. I'm having fun working with the material, but at this point there is no imminent release date scheduled. The Jim Carlson Trio : After a bit of a break, the Jim Carlson Trio is returning to the stage. Although the Trio had a pretty consistent line up over the last couple of years, I fully expect that this year you will various versions of the Trio. What are the versions? Doc Holiday Era Trio: Jim Carlson, Roger Bardo (bass), Brian Miller (dr...

Jim Carlson will join forces with Amanda Parks at Intermission on December 11, 2009 and January 15, 2009. Amanda has a great voice and song selection, stop on out!

Performing at Granite Peak is one of my most challenging, yet rewarding gigs. The most difficult factor is time: The shows are a whopping eight hours. Most gigs run in the 3-4 hour range, thus the Peak shows are essentially two back-to-back shows...a double header of sorts. Physically, playing and singing for eight hours is exhausting. My fingers ache, my voice is usually shot. It is more of a workout than a performance! I'm not complaining. Performing at the Peak reunites me with old friends and provides me the opportunity to perform for people from the all over the region. Performing for such a long time frame also provides time to revisit music that I have not played in a while. The best part of the gig is that the crowd comes and goes, thus there are certain songs that can be played more than once (kind of like a radio station, repeating 'favorite songs at the top of the hour'). Also, I am thankful when guests like Tyler, Rob and Sam stop by to play guest sets! As diff...

Being a musician presents the opportunity to meet people from many walks of life. I've chatted with millionaires, politicians, people who are penny-less, dreamers, actors, famous people, and people who are looking to escape their reality for an evening. Along the way I've met extraordinary people and extraordinarily average people, but each person has a story that intrigues me. Maybe that is why I perform to begin with: to share stories. Many years ago, I met a girl (who's name I can not recall) who fancied herself a poet, a writer. This is not unusual, in fact, a lot of people come up to me and want me to put music to their words. (I rarely do, as my songs are a byproduct of my own existence.) I remember chatting with her briefly, and sadly, remember very little about her beyond one thing: She gave me a book. The paperback book she gave me was called Einstein's Dreams. (Read the Wiki or buy it for as little as one cent at Amazon dot com . One cent, wow.) The book ...

I seem to have been in flux for some time now. In November 2006, I decided to take a break from regular performances . Although I have returned to performing, I have not even approached the volume of gigs I left behind in 2006. Best yet, I don't care. I like performing, and it is fun again. I simply don't allow my performance schedule to control my life. July 2007, I downsized from a 2000 square foot town house to an almost 800 square foot former suite in an old hotel. I sorted through my life, and walked away from two thirds of my worldly possessions. It is amazing how much of our lives is spent collecting things that are really unessential and unimportant. It is also noteworthy that we spend a lot of time maintaining things we don't need. July 2008, I left my job of 18 years. Think about that for a second. My generation is noted for job hopping and lack of company loyalty. 18 years is a long time in today's era. I didn't leave because I was bitter (sure, there wer...

  I am the proud recipient of an early desktop publishing system, the Barr Special typewriter. Manufactured in the late 20's and early 30's, this piece of history came to me courtesy of FreeCycle.

By Cheryl Mathis, writer..artist