6/22/2010-RUNNING-Chase Corporate Challenge Race

Posted on June 23, 2010 by Wayne W. Johnson

-Here’s my recap from the Race that happened on 6/22/10-and it almost didn’t happen. I got out of work early and drove right into a traffic jam of cars going to that area. My car’s temp. gauge started heading towards the red so I pulled off into a parking lot 1.2 miles away from the place and walked there-in the rain. It was light rain though-plus I was going to get wet anyways.

-I was told there were around 6,800 people for this. I got there about 10 minutes before the race was suppose to start-6:30 PM. I made my way up to the starting line. Then they announced that there was a 30 min. delay due to possible lightning. So I found where my workplace had set up a tent and hung out there.

-30 minutes later and it’s still raining and there’s another 30 min. delay. Then it starts pouring hard. A number of people left. I have to admit I was tempted to do so as well-but walking back to my car in heavy rain wasn’t high on my “to do” list so I stayed.

-30 minutes later it stopped raining and the sky cleared. I made my way back up to the starting line again and was there when the race started. As tempting as it was to try to blast thru this, I just ran my race. Well, I did step up the pace a little bit-running with people will do that to you.

-I ran the 3.5 miles in 36:44. The guy who won the race came in around 17 minutes. At least I wasn’t last. After I cooled down a little, then I started the walk back to my car. Finally got there and drove off. That was a good workout!

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6/22/2010-RUNNING-Chase Corporate Race

Posted on June 22, 2010 by Wayne W. Johnson

-Here’s the update from the Race that happened on 6/22/10-and it almost didn’t happen. I got out of work early and drove right into a traffic jam of cars going to that area. My car’s temp. gauge started heading towards the red so I pulled off into a parking lot 1.2 miles away from the place and walked there-in the rain. It was light rain though-plus I was going to get wet anyways.

-I was told there were around 6,800 people for this. I got there about 10 minutes before the race was suppose to start-6:30 PM. I made my way up to the starting line. Then they announced that there was a 30 min. delay due to possible lightning. So I found where my workplace had set up a tent and hung out there.

-30 minutes later and it’s still raining and there’s another 30 min. delay. Then it starts pouring hard. A number of people left. I have to admit I was tempted to do so as well-but walking back to my car in heavy rain wasn’t high on my “to do” list so I stayed.

-30 minutes later it stopped raining and the sky cleared. I made my way back up to the starting line again and was there when the race started. As tempting as it was to try to blast thru this, I just ran my race. Well, I did step up the pace a little bit-running with people will do that to you.

-I ran the 3.5 miles in 36:44. The guy who won the race came in around 17 minutes. At east I wasn’t last. After I cooled down a little, then I started the walk back to my car. Finally got there and drove off. That was a good workout! Pics can be seen on the WWJ PAGE ON FACEBOOK

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6/11/2010-BAND PRIMER-How to Leave a Band-The Right Way

Posted on June 11, 2010 by Wayne W. Johnson

BAND PRIMER

JUNE 2010

HOW TO LEAVE A BAND-THE RIGHT WAY

It’s happens to the best of bands. Things seem to be going great when suddenly, someone is out of the band. Sometimes it’s voluntary, sometimes it’s not. There are many reasons why this can happen-although it seems that “musical differences” is the reason that pops up the most. While that may be the case, it can also be used as a cover up for a more intense reason. Certainly-saying that you’re leaving because of “musical differences” is a lot easier for everyone than saying you can’t stand someone in the band & if you’re in it any longer you’re going to kick their head in! 🙂

-This month’s article is about the right way to leave a band. One thing to keep in mind is that, if at all possible, you should conduct yourself in a professional matter. What does that mean? If you’re leaving, get the band together and tell them. The last thing you want is to have them hear it 2nd hand. State your reasons & be prepared to have people try to talk you out of it. If you wish to try again-great. If not, do the right thing and tell them. If the band has shows/promos/videos/interviews lined up, you should be willing to fulfill your obligation to them. You do not, however, have to agree to any new ones. A variation of this is to say that you’ll stay until they find someone to replace you, but if doing that, put a time limit on it. Otherwise, 6 months later they’ll be like “well, we can’t find anyone, but here’s another 10 shows….”

-In addition, offering to help out the person who replaced you not only makes you look good-but it’s a really nice thing to do.

-Be as helpful as you can. You want to make sure that you leave on good terms. Do your best not to burn bridges. Sometimes you have to, but if it’s not necessary-don’t. A major part of the music business is networking and you don’t want to be on the bad side of someone very influential (potentially or otherwise) if you can help it.

-If you’re still doing shows or appearances, don’t go blabbing to everyone in ear shot on how you’re leaving-especially if the band hasn’t officially announced the news. No one wants to hear it (well, maybe the people who don’t like the band…). You & the band will be cast in a much better light when the news does come out cause it’s like you guys were still solid through out all of this. It’s much better than being seen as drama queens.

-The times when you do get together after the announcement will be hard. I’ve had to go thru this many times w/ my band CAROLINE BLUE. Sometimes it’s OK, but sometimes its like a fog of tension has entered the room & you can’t wait till the time is up & everyone goes home. Being a pro and being helpful makes this less uncomfortable.

-On top of that, people will view you as being more pro which can lead to more opportunities for you. In addition, if you’re known for bad mouthing, complaining, making scenes and/or being a jerk when you leave…let’s put this way-would you want someone like that to join your band?

-Looks like I ran out of space-right when I was getting into the wrong way to leave a band. Next month for that one!

FOURTH COAST ENTERTAINMENT MAGAZINE WEBSITE
FOURTH COAST ENTERTAINMENT MAGAZINE ON FACEBOOK

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6/6/2010-ACTING-Filming Another Scene in “Rise Up & Fall”

Posted on June 6, 2010 by Wayne W. Johnson

SUNDAY 6/6/2010

-I was involved in another scene for the upcoming movie “Rise Up & Fall” by Hewitt Films. This took place near a warehouse and was a meeting with me & my “Boss” and a lesser gang . The cast for this shot were

-Doobie – “Sammy Villa”

-Mike Widger “DooWittle” -“Nick Scarfano”

-Joel-Nick’s bodyguard

Matt-one of Nick’s gang

-WWJ-Sammy’s bodyguard/killer

-and Brian Hewitt doing the filming of course 🙂

-This only took a few hours to do. You’ll see in some of the pics me goofing off-but that’s just me! When the camera was rolling I was just playing the heavy-Brian said the character just lives to kill and basically is cold w/ no personality. having said that, I was surprised Brian gave me a line to say! 2 words-but a line nevertheless. Course, I don’t know if the camera was running when I broke out in my helium voice-HA!

-I have to say we probably got just as much stuff for a blooper reel as we did actual shooting. The one w/ Matt was just priceless-and Brian did catch the whole thing.

-Had a great time and again it was a pleasure and privilege to work with Brian and the others.

Brian Hewitt on Facebook

Hewitt Films on Facebook

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5/27/2010-VIDEO-Pelosi to Musicians:Quit Your Day Jobs

Posted on May 27, 2010 by Wayne W. Johnson

From SF Weekly Blogs

Interesting…

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5/15/2010-CHARITY-Running For Race For The Cure

Posted on May 15, 2010 by Wayne W. Johnson

-I was part of my team from work for this year’s Race for the Cure. I did this last year and walked the 5K. As the date approached I was wondering if I should walk again or attempt to run the 5 K? I’ve been running for about a month so I ‘m in better shape than last year-but I’ve never run a 5K (3.1 miles) before so I was a little indecisive. In addition, on Friday it was warm out-most of the time when I run it’s the time of day when it’s cool out-so I had to factor that in. I finally decided to give running the 5 K a try.

-The day of the race I almost didn’t make it. I race started at 10:15 and I left at around 8:35. I didn’t anticipate how bad traffic would be. By 9:45 I was STILL in a traffic line. Unfortunately, my car started to have problems. It stalled 3 times. One time a puff of white smoke emerged from under the hood & twice it backfired. After the 3rd stall I got out of line and drove past the fairgrounds. I had too-last thing I needed was for the car to stop dead in the middle of that line or worse-miss the race. So I drove past, turned around, ended up having to go towards Camillus till having to turn around AGAIN and then going into Solvay to park. Good thing too-“nature” was shouting at me by the time I parked the car. 🙂

-So I get there and run into long-time friend and former Front Row band mate J. Hatch. Very cool to see him-didn’t have time to talk cause at that moment-the race started! Good thing I don’t normally do any stretching when I run normally-I know a lot of people do, but I don’t seem to need it. Afterwards maybe but not before.

-So there I was running my 1st 5K-and it was great! It’s a lot easier to run with people than solo. My side started to cramp a touch, but I put my mind elsewhere & it disappeared. Nice & cool today so no heating problems.

-I ran non stop till I hit the finish line at around the 30 minute mark. I felt fine-hell, when I turned the last corner I actually increased my pace pretty good & finished strong. No aching-wasn’t really out of breath-just a sense of accomplishment.

-Turns out my pedometer is off-when I crossed the line it read 2.43 miles. So I’ve been running longer distances in training than I thought.

-There were over 10,000 people here for this & it was so great to be a part of this. The guy who placed 1st did so in around 16 minutes. I wonder what my time would have been if I’d been closer to the starting line. Guess I have to wait till next year for that-not to mention heading out to the fairgrounds A LOT earlier 🙂

-BTW-later that night, my car did break down and it had to be towed away. I’m so glad that this didn’t happen that morning!

SUSAN G KOMEN RACE FOR THE CURE
SUSAN G KOMEN FOR THE CURE ON FACEBOOK

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5/9/2010-BAND PRIMER-Video Shoots-Part 2

Posted on May 9, 2010 by Wayne W. Johnson

BTW-this is my 1 year anniversary writing BAND PRIMER for 4th Coast Entertainment Magazine-thank you all so very much!

BAND PRIMER

MAY 2010

VIDEO SHOOTS-PT.2

-In last month’s issue I mentioned why video shooting for bands has become easier & cheaper, a little bit about the digital format & the 2 ways to shoot a music video-either lip sync or live performance. Here’s a few more things to keep in mind. Again, this is for those who are doing more than the lo-fi approach (using a personal camcorder to film some stuff, do some quick editing & then launching it on You Tube).

-So where do you go to get a music video done? You could try searching the Yellow Pages and/or the web, but you may find that some of these businesses can be quite pricey. You could also check out bands in your area that have had them done and see who they worked with. If your scene is lucky enough to have a local music TV show ( For years Syracuse had UVTV.info-now in Chicago), check them out. No matter who it is though, here’s a few things to keep in mind.

-If at all possible, make sure that not only do you own the finished product, but the raw footage as well. This is so you are free to use the footage as you choose. Sometimes you might have to negotiate this for a lower price. An example might be getting a lower price and ownership in exchange for the producer playing the video on their music show royalty free. Make sure that-whatever agreement you have-it is in writing. Also make sure to talk to the person filming & ask to see examples of their work. If it’s bad, chances are your video will be too. Ask what type of camera they use. You want someone who can shoot in the latest format if at all possible. Currently you want someone who can make a HD video, not someone who’s using a VHS-C camcorder.While multiple cameras are preferred, a single camera can work if you have a really good person running it and/or a lot of time to shoot all the different angles. Do you have input on how the finished product turns out or is the producer a control freak? The more info you have before shooting starts the better.

-Another important issue is sync rights and sync licenses-which is part of copyright law. If you wrote the music being used-no problem. There is one if you didn’t write the music. A Sync license is the right to “sync” the music to a type of media output.This also allows you to re-record the song for this purpose. If you want to use the actual master recording, then you also need a Master Recording License This is very important to take care of-last thing you want is to put all the time and money into making a video, and then have it yanked away because of this. For those who use samples-the same rule applies. Contact a good entertainment lawyer for more info on all this. You can also read up on this via books an/or the net. You’ll be glad you did.

FOURTH COAST ENTERTAINMENT MAGAZINE WEBSITE
FOURTH COAST ENTERTAINMENT MAGAZINE ON FACEBOOK

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