An Introduction Of Sorts
I thought I’d start a music blog; a place where I can write down my thoughts about my music, other people’s music, musicians, and give updates of my musical doings.
I guess a little background information is in order. My name is Rob Christensen. I’m a male singer-songwriter in my late-thirties. I’ve put out four albums of original material dating back to 1994, plus a live album and a rarities collection. These were all released on my own micro-label – that’s what I call it since, at this point, it’s a one-man CD-R operation – Sweet Science. I’ve performed live – solo acoustic – on the west coast and in Pennsylvania, Washington DC, and England. I’ve also performed with my own band, the Orphans, way back in 1992, and songwriters’ collectives Acoustic Gypsies and Joosy Froot in my longtime home of Humboldt County, California. I also wrote a column for Tape Op magazine and have moderated the Home Recording discussion panel at the last few Tape Op Conferences. I’m happy to say that I’ve gotten pretty good feedback about all of this stuff.
The last few years, however, I’ve been laying kind of low. That is, I haven’t played live or really done much to promote - I really hate that term - my music since 2002. That was the year I decided to quit my longtime retail job – a job that wasn’t allowing me much free time nor offering me much in the way of compensation – in order to go back to college to be an elementary school teacher. I chose that profession because I thought that I would be good at it, it was a noble profession that I can be proud of, and (last but not least) because it would give me a fair amount of time off. As I write this, I’m five months away from finishing school and planning to move to the Harrisonburg, Virginia area, or maybe Washington, DC, to teach and to resume my music career.
The thing is, I guess I never really put my music aside. I’ve been doing the Tape Op Conferences and I managed to squeeze out a new CD, “Roses For Sharon”, in 2005. So that’s something. Now I have to put in the work necessary to get the word out and hopefully sell some.
Where do I go from here? Well, as I said, I’m planning a move to DC or Virginia. Once I’m there I plan on resuming my music career. That means I’m going to play live. I’d also like to record other musicians and bands, but that’s another entry. I plan on putting out my next album as a “real” factory-pressed CD around April 2007. Thus far all of my albums have been homemade CD-Rs, but they’re put together with a lot of love – full-sized jewel cases, lyrics and/or photos in the booklets, and sealed in nice plastic sleeves. You should really think about buying one or some. In a couple of years I’m going to have the whole catalog pressed on to ‘real’ CDs, which means the CDs assembled by the artist will no longer be available. I mean, wouldn’t you love to have a CD-R hand-assembled by your favorite artist? I’m not saying that I’ll become your favorite artist; I’m saying that if I had a hand-assembled CD-R by, oh, Iron And Wine, I’d be really happy.
Anyway, I’m totally looking forward to settling in back east and getting out and playing to folks again. And I really appreciate everyone who’s purchased CDs and downloads. There has been a surprisingly high number of you over the last couple of years, considering I haven’t played live or done much to get my name out there. Thank you all.
So now that we’ve been formally introduced, we can sit back, kick off our shoes, and be a little more casual about things. See ya soon! Oh, and please consider taking a look at my website & checking out some of my music. Cheers!
www.robchristensen.com
I guess a little background information is in order. My name is Rob Christensen. I’m a male singer-songwriter in my late-thirties. I’ve put out four albums of original material dating back to 1994, plus a live album and a rarities collection. These were all released on my own micro-label – that’s what I call it since, at this point, it’s a one-man CD-R operation – Sweet Science. I’ve performed live – solo acoustic – on the west coast and in Pennsylvania, Washington DC, and England. I’ve also performed with my own band, the Orphans, way back in 1992, and songwriters’ collectives Acoustic Gypsies and Joosy Froot in my longtime home of Humboldt County, California. I also wrote a column for Tape Op magazine and have moderated the Home Recording discussion panel at the last few Tape Op Conferences. I’m happy to say that I’ve gotten pretty good feedback about all of this stuff.
The last few years, however, I’ve been laying kind of low. That is, I haven’t played live or really done much to promote - I really hate that term - my music since 2002. That was the year I decided to quit my longtime retail job – a job that wasn’t allowing me much free time nor offering me much in the way of compensation – in order to go back to college to be an elementary school teacher. I chose that profession because I thought that I would be good at it, it was a noble profession that I can be proud of, and (last but not least) because it would give me a fair amount of time off. As I write this, I’m five months away from finishing school and planning to move to the Harrisonburg, Virginia area, or maybe Washington, DC, to teach and to resume my music career.
The thing is, I guess I never really put my music aside. I’ve been doing the Tape Op Conferences and I managed to squeeze out a new CD, “Roses For Sharon”, in 2005. So that’s something. Now I have to put in the work necessary to get the word out and hopefully sell some.
Where do I go from here? Well, as I said, I’m planning a move to DC or Virginia. Once I’m there I plan on resuming my music career. That means I’m going to play live. I’d also like to record other musicians and bands, but that’s another entry. I plan on putting out my next album as a “real” factory-pressed CD around April 2007. Thus far all of my albums have been homemade CD-Rs, but they’re put together with a lot of love – full-sized jewel cases, lyrics and/or photos in the booklets, and sealed in nice plastic sleeves. You should really think about buying one or some. In a couple of years I’m going to have the whole catalog pressed on to ‘real’ CDs, which means the CDs assembled by the artist will no longer be available. I mean, wouldn’t you love to have a CD-R hand-assembled by your favorite artist? I’m not saying that I’ll become your favorite artist; I’m saying that if I had a hand-assembled CD-R by, oh, Iron And Wine, I’d be really happy.
Anyway, I’m totally looking forward to settling in back east and getting out and playing to folks again. And I really appreciate everyone who’s purchased CDs and downloads. There has been a surprisingly high number of you over the last couple of years, considering I haven’t played live or done much to get my name out there. Thank you all.
So now that we’ve been formally introduced, we can sit back, kick off our shoes, and be a little more casual about things. See ya soon! Oh, and please consider taking a look at my website & checking out some of my music. Cheers!
www.robchristensen.com
posted by Rob Christensen | 8:23 PM
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