How Scotty from Star Trek Offers a Brilliant Lesson on Life

I was a huge fan of Scotty on Star Trek while growing up. It wasn't just his cool accent or that fact that I'm Scottish. He was just a cool character and well-deserving of the title "miracle worker".

It was during one of the Star Trek movies that all really came to light. Why was he considered such an incredible engineer? Well, he knew the limits of his ship and his own limits, but he didn't share that info Kirk. No, for all practical purposes the Enterprise was not nearly as awesome as it was in its time.

When I first started thinking about this concept a few months ago, the first area I thought of was sales. Every online marketer preaches that you want exceed your customer's expectations. Give them more than they expect, and you'll develop an incredible reputation that will be viral in its influence. That's a philosophy that I try to live online, but too often forget. But it's not just in sales that you want to be considered a "miracle worker". Personally, I like it as piece of my everyday life.

I have a friend who just doesn't get it. She is perpetually late for everything. If she visits me and says she'll be there in ten minutes, it will take her twenty. She just hasn't learned to overestimate... esp with me. I cherish and respect people MUCH more who go above and beyond the call of duty.

I've mentioned it before, but I'm a big fan of New York Irish rock band, Black 47, because the band's singer, Larry Kirwan, personally responded to a casual email I sent him. Sure they're not as big as U2, but I really can't imagine Bono doing that. This wasn't no form letter, it was a sincere thank you.

That IMO is above and beyond the call of duty. It's also one of the reasons I try my best to respond to every email I get personally or for the Bards.

It doesn't do anyone any good to be like my friend, the Queen of Excuses. It's actually a lot like crying wolf. I have virtually no respect for her ability to follow through with what she says she'll do. She'll promise to save the world in thirty days and not even bother doing it. A lack of respect in a friendship is a very bad sign for any friendship.

So learn a lesson from Scotty. Make promises. Then exceed the expectations of those promises, and you'll develop friendship and adoration beyond what you could have ever dreamed, because you will then find the miracle working with your dreams.

More Austin Music Awards stuff

Oh, while I mentioned that the Brobdingnagian Bards came in second place for Best Folk Band of Austin, I forgot to mention some of the other placings we got:

#7 World Music - Brobdingnagian Bards
#9 Miscellaneous Instrument - Marc Gunn, autoharp
#4 Strings - Marc Gunn, autoharp

See the listing at the Austin Music Awards webpage.

Irish Drinking Songs, Bedlam Bards

Well, Excalibur is going great despite getting sick on Sunday. Some even said our shows went well despite the fact that I was sooo out of it. It's also nice to see that our audiences are growing. Attendance overall at the faire has been relatively dismal, but that hasn't hindered our performances. I think it's helped immensely that we've been creating set lists at long last. Makes our shows flow better and also keeps the shows from falling into a same-ol' repetoire of songs. Actually playing a bunch of different songs that we don't always get to play.

I also talked to Cedric of the Bedlam Bards about my Irish Drinking Songs for Cat Lovers album. I know he's a fantastic filker. And he already has one idea he's started working on. I'd love to get a mix of music on this project.

Though admittedly, the one slightly disturbing turn of events is when someone requested Andrew sing "Nobody's Muggy Now" which is a very sick and depressing song that gets off on cat mutilation. I've refused to perform it, but Andrew does it now and then when he does some solo stuff.

It raised an intriguing question though if we started incorporating cat songs into our set whether he'd want to that (or other) cat hater song as well... Definitely not something I'm willing to put up with, so I reckon, this might just turn into a Marc solo project, at least when it comes to live performances... cuz I really despise "Nobody's Muggy Now".

I-Con rapidly approaches. I'm hoping and praying I'll be healthy when it arrives this weekend. Got lots o'packing and preparation to do tonight. Gather up CDs, make sure my instruments are in tip-top shape, etc.

We're Second Best!

Brobdingnagian Bards Voted Second Best Folk Band in Austin

What a pleasant surprise! On St Patrick's Day, we played for a few hundred cheering Celtic music lovers at the Irish Dragoon Pub in Killeen. The next day, we learned we were voted the second best folk band in the Live Music Capital of the World via the Austin Music Poll.

Second best might mean nothing to some, but for us, it's the culmination of five years introducing Austinites to fun Celtic folk music. It began with a daily performance on the South Mall of UT Austin--a tradition that lasted two years. Since then, we’ve played at festivals and conventions from coast to coast, including a showcase at SXSW, and most recently, a wild performance at a Lord of the Rings Oscar Party in Hollywood after LOTR swept the Oscars.

While we may be an unsigned band, we've successfully released six studio albums, sold over 5,000 CDs, and had over five million MP3s downloaded. I guess it just goes to show that it doesn't take a big budget, a label, or even having "radio-ready" music to make a difference to people. All it takes is a sincere desire to entertain and make music that your fans will enjoy.

So to our many fans in Austin and around the world who voted for us in the Austin Music Poll, Andrew and I would like to say, "Thank you!"

Buttercup's Lament Hits #5 on the Indie Music Download Charts on Amazon

Thanks to the swamp of Celtic music searches online, the Celtic MP3s Music Magazine had over 1600 unique hits to the homepage yesterday. That sent several bard songs skyrocketing up the charts.

"Buttercup's Lament" hit #5 on the Indie Download charts. The Brobdingnagian Bards' version of "Whiskey in the Jar" hit #8. "Tolkien" climbed to #32 most-popular download position on that website.

Dick Gaughan, A Legend I Better Understand

I've heard many people talk about how incredible, Scottish singer, Dick Gaughan is, but I'd never really heard just how great. Well, thanks to a great sale at Green Linnet, I was able to get a copy of "Handful of Earth" by him, and wow! Not only is it just a great folk album with very simple arrangements, largely just vocals and guitar, combined with Gaughan's fantastic vocals.

You will also learn how inspirational he was to Celtic musicians everywhere, as half the songs have been performed by countless bands from, "Erin-Go-Bragh" to "Song for Ireland", "Both Sides of the Tweed" and "World Turned Upside Down" (last two were popular with Clandestine).

I can't say he was the first to record these songs, but his performance is awesome. If ye're looking to hear some great Scots Celtic folk music, get this album. I'm pretty convinced you'll find Dick Gaughan as inspiring as I find him.

St Patrick's Day and the Austin Music Awards

What a great way to celebrate my birthday! We had one wild exciting evening at the Irish Dragoon Pub in Killeen last night. There were a couple hundred folks packed into the pub singing, clapping, drinking, and having as great a time as we did.

I want to thank everyone who came out. You made it a very special evening that left us wired all the way home.

And to top it off, I learned that we were voted the Second most-popular folk group in Austin in the Austin Music Awards!

A special thanks to everyone who voted in January. Next year, we'll show Austin what we're all about!

St Patrick's Day - Fantasy vs Fact

Find out where the craic is, brush up on your knowledge of Saint Patrick and the Irish, and perhaps you can learn a bit of local slang while you're there. Find out more about St Patrick's Day now.

A St Patrick's Day Poem. Last year, we had a wonderfully busy St Patrick's Day performing throughout Central Texas. It inspired me to write this wee poem about what St Patrick's Day means to others.

Check out our St Patrick's Day music CD, Songs of Ireland

SXSW 2004 -Gogirls Music Showcase

SXSW Music Conference also hits Austin tomorrow. There's gonna be a LOT going on. I haven't had a chance to see who all is playing when and where, but there's one artist I'm hoping to see.

Christene LeDoux is an acoustic contemporary folk songwriter. If you like Nanci Griffith, Susan Vega, Patty Griffin, Tracy Chapman or Dar Williams, you'll like Christene. I first heard her on MP3.com and ended up buying her CD. It's just fantastic!

She's also an inspiring Do-It-Yourself-er, having successfully toured the country playing house concerts. I'd love to break into that market, but as of now, Andrew's booking plans are slightly conflicting, and there's still that day job.

Any case, I'm planning on trying to hit her showcase, unfortunately, her website says one thing and GoGirls Music SXSW Showcase info says something else. Guess I'll have to hit both. Thursday at 7pm or Friday at 8pm. She's well-worth a listen.

Happy with myself - Anne of Green Gables Song

I remember a decade ago. I couldn't stand hearing myself recorded. I just didn't like it. I'm happy things have changed. Now, I find myself, going back to listen to my new song, "Here's to the Dreamers" over and over, because, well... I like it... a lot. I'm happy with the songwriting. I'm happy with the recording in general. Very proud of me. :)

Renaissance Faire Boots Recommendation

Anyone working at Renaissance Festivals knows how important it is to wear comfortable footwear. Thus, the desire for ren faire boots has skyrocketed and created such wonderful companies as RenBoots, Medieval Moccasins, and the granddaddy of them all, Bald Mountain Boots.

Andrew got some Bald Mountain Boots at the end of 2002. He immediately raved about how comfortable they were. His feet stopped hurting.

Read the whole article about the Renaissance faire boots Jim Cook made for me.

Coventina's Well, Celtic Music CD is back on the block at last!

Well, I stayed up a bit late last night putting the final touches on Coventina's Well. I haven't had a chance to print up copies since I first released it on MP3.com. Time and money were my hinderance. Now at last, I've fixed that.

The CD features twelve tracks by variety of Celtic artists that I've featured in my Celtic MP3s Music Magazine. Most of the music is in the more traditional Celtic vein. It features a few Celtic artists from Texas like Ed Miller, Hugh Morrison, the Brobdingnagian Bards, and one track by me. Plus, there's Celtic music from Australia, Poland, and Switzerland.

I'm very pleased with the mix and excited about helping these artists gain a wee bit more notoriety which is the whole purpose of the album. I plan to sell it at a very low price to encourage people online to explore the great music offered here. A portion of the profits will go to benefit the Austin Celtic Association.

The CD should be available in 3-4 weeks, but in the meantime, I've also updated my Download Guilt Free T-Shirts that feature Jen Clower-Brown's amazing Coventina's Well CD cover.

North Texas Irish Festival 2004 Review

Saturday, I took my sister up to the North Texas Irish Festival for fun, frolic, and Irish merriment. It was an awesome day, despite exhaustion and wee setbacks.

My day began with a setback. Came downstairs to find my car was broken into. And boy was I pissed! Someone stole my trash can. And to add insult to injury, they didn't finish picking up all the empty coke bottles in the back seat! *sigh* How cruel?!

Actually, it looked they thought it was a purse. That's what I'm guessing at least.

I then drove up to my folks house, where we cleaned up the broken glass, duck taped the window, and drove my sister to Dallas.

I was running behind due to the break in, so we made *great* time on the route up there. Glad I didn't get a ticket. :-)

Hannah and I wandered around the festival so she could see all that was happening. Then we stopped off to listen to The Elders out of Kansas City. I remember hearing them on MP3.com way back whenever. Celtic rock. And they put on a great performance.

From there, we stopped off at the Clan Gunn booth to hang with the best clan in the world! :) Socialized a bit and I talked my sister into pulling out her flute and play some. I'm trying hard to get her more into the music. She loves it, but doesn't play it much... that I've heard. She hasn't yet figured out the whole session aspect of tunes. But then neither have I.

Course the theme of this year's NTIF was "Celtic Women". So from there, we watched, Aoife Clancy, daughter of one of the Clancy Brothers. Beautiful voice. That was followed by Brendan Nolan, another fine musician I first heard on MP3.com. I have at least one brilliant performance of a Robert Burns song, "Green Grow the Rushes".

After that, I had to head over to the Austin Celtic Association table for a wee bit. That was a rush. I'm really not as extroverted as I seem, but when it comes to things like this, it's total rush. I was having a blast handing out cards for the Austin Celtic Festival in November, giving away stickers and trying to sell merch. It's exhausting, but a Wonderful change from working in front of a computer.

I was also showing my sis some autoharp strum patterns. Though I took a break to play her "Wild Kitty". But what was really funny was when the song ended and Seamus Stout played "Wild Rover"! T'was too cool.

The table was tremendous fun. Had a couple people come up to us though, see our CDs, and say, "Cool, the Brobdingnagian Bards. I used to listen to them on MP3.com." I mentioned that was me, and one guy was like, "No! Are you serious?!" It was a trip for both of us, I reckon.

When we finished there, we caught a wee bit o'The Willow Band. Been wanting to see E.J.'s new band for a while and they did a fantastic job. Great sound. But the two I was really wanted to see were Ed Miller and Cathie Ryan.

Caught the end of Ed Miller's set. Heard a song I really need to learn. And Royce approached me and said, "You need to learn that song". I don't remember the name, but I'm gonna try and figure it out this week.

Oddly enough, when Hannah and I went to the Hospitality Room for food and drinks, Cathie Ryan was sitting there. But having never seen anything but her picture, I kinda missed the opportunity to chat and try to promote my Celtic MP3s Music Magazine. Ah well...

I did get some promotion done for it. Hope to feature some of the NTIF artists in the upcoming weeks. But then I also need to send out my next issue!

Well, Cathie Ryan is a Very charming person. She has a Great smile and beautiful voice. All the songs were outstandingly arranged. I need to take some lessons from her band on that aspect. Then again, I do enjoy many of the rougher versions that we do too, but I would like to emulate that style on occasion.

When that show ended, we headed over to the host hotel for the sessions. It was ten o'clock though and hadn't started up yet. So we chatted with friends a wee bit. Session finally started up, and I joined in for a few songs before I had to make the three hour drive home... fighting to stay awake.

Yes, overall this weekend helped me a lot to overcome some of my past grievances towards the fest. Definitely a lot o'fun. Hopefully, next year, I'll be able to spend a LOT more time at the festival, cuz it surely was a blast.

The autoharp... an Elven musical instrument?

I was chatting with a fellow musician and autoharper, Alan Horvath, when he made the comment that the autoharp was the most-Elven instrument he could find.

*tick, tick, tick*

Yup! There went the marketing wheels. Zoooom!

So it got me thinking about creating a website to that end. The autoharp is a very unique instrument. It has a sound like nothing else. Add to that that I wanted to compose an instrumental album of elven music, and I thought it was a fantastic idea.

Add a few stories of how it fits in the elven tradition, facts about the autoharp, audio clips. Sorta create a whole world where the autoharp IS elven. Kinda a cool idea... hmm...?

A Lesson from the Chronicle

I was wracking my brain this weekend trying to come up with an angle for the press. It's no easy task to get media attention. And for us small-time folk duos, it's even more difficult.

I mean, I would think that five million downloads would garner some attention, but alas, no. They need something bigger. Chatting with one journalist, though, this trip to Hollywood was just the thing to capture the attention of the Austin Chronicle editor. (oh, and read about the mention from this week)

But it was talking with the aforementioned journalist that our trip wasn't just about meeting celebritities out in Hollywood, which we did not do. It was just about the trip... the journey to the heart of the movie world thanks to the success of the Lord of the Rings.

All of a sudden promotion got a wee bit easier. Just tell 'em about the journey, which was of course awesome! There's a lesson in there if ye dare to look.

Going to Hollywood for the Into the West LOTR Oscar Party!

What an amazing weekend! Now, where do I begin...?

Hollywood was awesome! Ye know, I didn't really expect to enjoy the city as much as I did. I had quite a very negative stereotypes towards the Los Angeles area, but now I see why people flock to that city and California in general. There's definitely something out there that gets under your skin.

We arrived Friday a bit later than I hoped, but we spent some time driving around and familiarizing ourselves with the area. Those famous streets flew by: Hollywood Blvd, Sunset Blvd, Vine... on and on. It was a bit late when we finally arrived at a Motel 6 just four blocks from the Oscar ceremonies. We crashed hard.

Visiting Universal Studios
But we got up fairly early on Saturday. We had big plans. First, we went walking down Hollywood Blvd chatting about all the stars at our feet. We stopped at a wee restaurant and had breakfast with Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge's stars while we sat on the sidewalk in the cool brisk air and watched passerbys.

Fortunately, it had a rained the day before, so the sky looked like the Texas sky had come to L.A.. It was a beautiful baby blue.

Then up we walked up to the Kodak Theatre, took some pictures, and saw a few shops before we made it to a beautiful, scenic view of the big Hollywood letters where Dr. Evil makes his lair.

Then off we went to meet up with my friend Rimbo as the three of us went to Universal Studios for the afternoon.

First BIG suggestion. If you ever go to Universal Studios, remember two things. First, it's a theme park. I was a wee bit disappointed since although there were a lot o'cool shows, what I really wanted was to tour the studios. Think they offered that, but didn't want to shell out the $139 for it.

Second, get the Front of the Line Pass. I hate lines with a passion. This sweet little pass got us in to every show first. We walked by hundreds of folks laughing and smiling as we passed people. It's well-worth the extra thirty dollars! Yeah, the place is expensive as is ($50 tickets), but for $30 more you will be able to see the whole place in a day and NOT have to wait in line!

I totally dug the Shrek attraction and the T2 show as pretty sweet as well. The whole afternoon as a big inspiration for me. It's amazing how these studios have gone about to promote their movies. It's just brilliant.

The Pre-Into the West Oscar Party
After we got back from Universal Studios, I took a brief nap before we headed over to the Hollywood Athletic Club for our show. People were already starting to gather around 7ish when we arrived.

I gave Rimbo my camera to take pictures of this pre-Oscar Party which he did quite well. Unfortunately, totally forgot to bring out the camera on Sunday evening. Ah well...

We were extremely anxious to play, but not supposed to go on until after some Tolkien poetry readings after 10pm. So we chatted with folks, and then as our showtime approached and passed, we decided to just go ahead and play music while we waited in the hall.

Folks were gathered from all around the world: Los Angeles, Utah, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, London, Austria, New Zealand... Met a few people from right here in Dallas, San Antonio, and even Austin too.

I'm glad we put on this mini-show, because around 11:15pm, we found out that there was an error and that the event was supposed to end AT 11pm! They talked the Club into keeping it open till midnight, but that meant our set was to be cut wayyy short.

So we put on a fiery 30-minute show with poor sound, but an excited audience. Everyone seemed to leave on-fire!

The Big Day of the Oscars
We awoke a bit later on Sunday and returned to have breakfast with Bellafonte and Dandridge and started perusing the streets with me dressed in my Clan Gunn finest kilt. The streets were a bit busy. It was amazing to see people packed at the corner of Hollywood and Highland trying to catch a *glimpse* of someone famous. But security was tight, so there was not getting too close.

After a bit o'a walk around, we decided to visit our good friends, Emerald Rose. They were performing for their second year at TheOneRing.Net Oscar Party that evening. I wish I could've seen that even too. They're just an incredibly fun Celtic group. We went out and joined them in the hot tub as we all relished the fact that we were in Hollywood playing for Oscar Parties (c'mon, it's just too cool!), before duty called us back to our respective events.

After getting ready, we headed back to the Hollywood Athletic Club. The place was already full of people waiting for the Oscars to begin. Black ties, beautiful dresses, exquisite costumes. Energy was high.

We hobnobbed with a huge number of folks from various Tolkien groups online, made some great connections for other possible LOTR events in the near future, as we waited for it to begin.

I gotta say that there's nothing like a few hundred people gathered together cheering every time a LOTR category was mentioned... and won! Wow! The celebration was dumbfounding. During commercials, swords, and books, and Tolkien art were given away.

Course my favorite part of the Oscars was when Mickey and Mitch played "Kiss At the End of the Rainbow". I was yelling "autoharps rule!" for my part. ;) We even talked about performing a bit of it during our set later, but slipped my mind when show time arrived.

Finally, the anticipation grew as we racked up more and more awards. Andrew made the comment at one point that the only worry after winning so many awards was that we wouldn't win best picture!

Course by the end, everyone went wild! Cheering, hugs, salutes, and non-stop fun kicked as Kevin Henry started the music part of the evening with a short folk set of music inspired by Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit.

We took the stage and had people rolling laughing and cheering with a wonderful mix of drinking sing-a-longs and some of our best sci-fi, fantasy filks. But for me, the classic point of the evening was while we were playing "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" and Andrew comically dedicated it to all the poor movies that were up against The Lord of the Rings at the Oscars. There was a uproar of laughter that rang loud and had me busting up on stage as well!

With our show finally over, we kicked back and relaxed as Avalon Rising kicked it into full-gear with a powerful mix of Celtic rock music reminiscent of Jethro Tull. That was a blast. I'd heard so much about them since the MP3.com days when they were all over the charts, and chatted with singer and harpist, Margaret Davis, quite a bit. Killer to see them live at last.

The evening flew by way too quickly. Before we knew it, it was almost closing time at 1am. Sadly, none of the LOTR cast made it out to the Party, but that didn't stop it from being one wild, exciting evening!

But ye know the funniest thing of all is that we actually didn't see one celebrity during our visit... until we got off the plane in Austin and saw Jason Lee from Dogma out gathering his bags.

Ah, well, it was an incredible adventure. Now I just need to catch up on my sleep and try see what I forgot to mention. Slainte!