I wanted to share with you some of my most popular posts from 2009. My articles were by far the most popular taking up over 40% of my visits. Second to that were my reviews of local talent. This has given me a clear indication of what to write about this year. Thanks to everyone who has passed by my blog in 2009, i hope you will continue to visit and interact more using the new easy commenting system.

Tips for an A+ Singing Audition – May 19th, 2009: Nowadays most of the time you will have to fill in an application for an audition and in today’s world many of them ask you for your online profile links. This can be a make or break for you. If your like me and you have some rather… [READ MORE]

The Art of Self Promotion : Performers Guide – May 21st, 2009: Its true! We all have to start somewhere. Before i begin telling you my advice and lecturing you as some would say, i wanted to start by telling you a success story. About 4 years ago i was… [READ MORE]

HRM Talent is Not too Shabby – April 17th, 2009: Before i begin i would like to thank all those who have submitted a demo track or two over the past few weeks. If you have not already submitted your track then you still have some time. I wanted to take a little bit of time… [READ MORE]

Neptune is similar in composition to Uranus – April 25th, 2009: I meant that title. Literally. It has been an eventful week. The weather has been wonderful so i am starting to meet with some amazing people from the Halifax area. Though every now again something seems… [READ MORE]

Introducing: Brittany Wesley – December 11th, 2009: I have been sitting on this nest-egg for a while now, but i am very pleased to introduce you to Brittany Wesley. 18 year-old Brittany is currently studying Biology at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. She has embraced music from… [READ MORE]

Pre-Mixer hits off the Blue Nose Week! – May 11th, 2009: Since 7am this morning I have been on the road. My day started off with a number of meetings in Dartmouth and Halifax and then myself and Tara headed to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic for the sound… [READ MORE]

RE: Wells Journal – February 25th, 2009: This post is in response to the article printed by the Wells Journal on the 26th February 2009. Last Thursday i presented a proposal to the City Council of Wells. I spoke to them about my plans for the Pride of Wells which… [READ MORE]

Haliwards – Advanced Preview – June 18th, 2009: Today is the day we release to you the Haliwards Advanced Preview. There has been a tremendous buzz about this project since i first mentioned it just over a week ago. Many of you have tweeted… [READ MORE]

I was made aware of your school by one of your students. I was hoping with your permission to come along to some of your spring classes. I assume that the main aim of your students is to build on their skills which will help then unlock doors to a career in the theatre. Well without sounding to metaphorical “I have a lot of keys to these doors”.

I waited.. and i waited and then 8 days later i got a reply.

I am sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you. It has been another crazy week here at the theatre school. Unfortunately, we do not allow people to observe our classes. We even discourage parents from sitting in as it limits the children’s involvement.

I explained again that i am not here to observe i am here to see if you students are any good and if so i could put them in contact with a few people that could further their career. Still it got me nowhere and after going back and fourth i just gave up on it.

We do have a pre-professional training program and those students are here for a total of 16 hours per week, so we don’t always have students in the building. And as I stated previously our classes are not open.

So all in all they offer pre professional classes and they wont allow a professional to come in and help them go from pre professional to professional. That’s a mouthful but i am sure you are getting the idea. Overall in my personal and professional opinion i have found working with the Neptune Theatre very difficult. I have worked with some of the most amazing venues in the past including the Albert Hall in Kensington and Queen Elizabeth Conference Centre, Westminster and never have i seen a venue act in such a way that they have. I just hope for the sake of others that they woke up on the wrong side of bed the day they met me. If not then i would recommend they buck up their ideas.

Well that was enough for me. Apparently its never enough. Many of you will remember the post i wrote just a few weeks ago entitled “HRM Talent is not too Shabby”. I had great feedback from that post and i had already began offering my support to one student even after a rather unneeded out burst to me on twitter. I received an email from Stacie Lynn and her mother asking for my help in making a career for Stacie as so far they had got nowhere. So i offered my thoughts and opinions and said what i thought would be a good starting point. As i advise most performers it is best to begin with your public image.

One thing you have done is you have promoted Stacie on many sites. This is good to a certain degree but most of these sites that offer this kind of service scream out “i am an amateur performer”. There are thousands of people on these sites, so how are you going to stand out from the crowd? So the first step is to set yourself up an official site. A blog would be best.

Funny enough they did so. Even though they had not consulted me for over a week since i sent an email to them explaining that i had a number of contacts that would be able to create what they wanted and that my hosting company was very good and i could probably get them a very reasonable deal. Don’t get me wrong its a free world but when someone says to you in a professional status “i think you should try this..” then you cut them off and go ahead and do as you please is not a good career move. They followed many things that i had stated but in all the wrong way. Lets see how many people find your site with the meta keywords being div and align. (technical joke). Still they must think highly of me as they did follow my advice. Best of luck with it though and thanks for the abusive messages this morning and insulting my age.

What i say to everyone who turns round and says these things is that you find me another 20 year old who within 5 years has had his own national organisation and sat on the board as a director for several projects then you can insult me. It seems its becoming very clear why Stacie has been turned down time after time from radio stations etc and with deals being signed to play her music in China and Austrailia its not seems likely this would be a likely candidate for any upcoming events. I hope that, not only is the “Age of majority” an official step its also a literal step.

Its a shame that things ended up like this because we are at the early stages of confirming the Pride of Central Somerset 2010 and i was considering looking for a performer to take from Canada to the United Kingdom to perform. It looks like my search will have to continue.

Firstly i am going to start with Stacie Lynn Hatt. Stacie is 18 years old and lives in HRM she is a singer/songwriter who is been making progress in country music. Stacie began writing her own songs when she was 14 and since then her parents have supported her financially and emotionally. On Stacie’s SonicBid’s profile it states that from her bad experiences at school she found a way to take the unfortunate experiences and turn it into a strength by putting into words and music. Its clear that Stacie has taken negative things in life and tried to make something good come of them.

Stacie’s music screams potential. Her music is brightening and bouncy some would say uplifting. Her singing ability is not something that can easily be argued, though her music at times lacks individuality. I think that for an outsider of Canada it is easy to distinguish tracks in the country genre and i find it hard to single her out from the rest. I think that if i could offer Stacie a few words of wisdom it would be do try and single yourself out from the crowd. Consider reading up a little about wordplay in lyrics. Sometimes i feel her songs are too easy to follow and they need to have deeper meaning. Overall she has potential that most singers in this world don’t have so don’t let go of it. I think that with a little tweaking there could be no boundaries on where she could go. My only other advice would be not to let it go to her head. Success comes with a price and egotism comes with a large debt. I think that in the near future if myself and Stacie work close together we could really see things kicking off for her in 2010. Read this update

http://alexmaine.net/media1/stacie01.mp3
The track above is a 30 second sample of  ”I’ve Got Something to Say” by Stacie Lynn Hatt

Now i move onto Joe Buck. Joe is a 23 year old HipHop/Rap artist once again from HRM. Joe is also the owner of his own record label B.A.L.L.H.A.R.D Entertainment. According to Joe’s Bio he has played countless shows and has been chosen to open for stars such as T-Pain, Necro and Joe Budden, as well performing with hip hop legends including Special Ed, Raekwon and Gza of The Wu-Tang Clan and KRS-One.

Now i have to admit that rap is not really my area but what i must admit out of all the auditions and tracks i have heard over the past few years this is one of my favourites. The tracks that were sent to me were fresh and i like them a lot. It is obvious that Joe and his backing singers like Nicole featured in this track have serious potential. One point i would make is that most of this kind of music is what i like to call “phase music” its something that you grow into and most people grow out of, but by keeping your tracks new and introducing different types of genres into the sequences you open you music up to a larger spectrum or audiences. Like i said this is not really my area but still the music business is the music business and any support i could offer to these artists i would. One note i would make is that when owning your own record label its good, but can be confusing for the hirer. I found myself getting confused at first. Keep things simple. If things get complicated and people don’t know if they are talking to the company or the artist you will find that someone else will come in & take your spot and next thing you know the hirer went with another contract.

http://alexmaine.net/media1/ball.mp3
The track above is a 30 second sample track of  ”The Exit (Where Do We Go)” by Joe Buck

The last artist i am going to talk about today is Adam Sterling. Adam is a 19 year old from Halifax. He is studying psychology at Dalhousie University while doing some prep work for law school admission. Adam presented me with practically a complete album of tracks. I picked one of his latest tracks that he presented to me. Adam’s style of music is very different to the two that i have reviewed so far but he is lucky enough to have a fantastic voice for this kind of music.  As far as i am aware this has not been performed in a studio and the static does spoil the track a little but i think with a bit of time and a great mixer this track and others like it would come out on top. One thing that this track does do for you is it shows that you have the ability to do live acoustic sets because this track is what you would call ‘as is‘ no editing or fancy stuff just basic sampling.

My only tip would be to try and add a little edge to your tracks as they tend to get tedious as the level does not change much but obviously this will differ from song to song. Like i say to most people you need to make yourself stand out. Hopefully if i get the chance i will be able to help Adam work on these things. I think that its probably wise for the time being to keep music as a side line but don’t loose faith there is talent there and you are doing great so far. You just need to find your ‘edge’ .

http://alexmaine.net/media1/adam.mp3
The track above is a 30 second sample track of  ”Shoot Out the Stars” by Adam Sterling

So now you have heard the tracks, take a second and share your thoughts on my review and what you think. I am sure they will all appreciate your feedback. If you have not sent me your tracks.. Well what are you waiting for!