TIME OVERTHROWN AUDIENCE INCLUSION TOUR
Upcoming Private Performances for Residents & Staff
Monday June 9 - Raleigh, NC: Sunrise Senior Living at North Hills
Tuesday June 10 - Raleigh, NC: Brighton Gardens and Tammy Lynn Center for Developmental Disabilities
Wednesday June 11 - Raleigh, NC: Morningside Assisted Living
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Alice and I are leaving Monday morning for two nights in Raleigh, NC. I'm going to play four Community Venue shows and also attend an R.E.M. performance at Walnut Creek Amphitheater - they're supporting the Accelerate record - a great CD! I'm psyched for that. Alice traveled to Athens and Nashville with me two weeks ago and had a blast - she wants to travel more and really get the Audience Inclusion Tour in high gear - she says It's Time...
We'll see about bringing her to each Community Venue - not sure if I'll have a handler for her - she tends to get preoccupied with the shadows and be kind of distractingly silly sometimes, so we'll see... I'll bring her in afterwards maybe to meet the audience.
The whole simple idea is to practice while I share - no preaching - only something to offer to musicians, and anyone that would like to find more Time for the things they love at the deepest level. Alice says many musicians, and folks in general, are caught up in Relative Time - Time that will one day get them to where they want to be. She says Time IS where we want to Be. "Now, what are you Being?", she asks me alot.
The idea of Audience Inclusion seems so basic - to music I mean, and the visionary musicians. As REM says in Man Sized Wreath, "I would've thought by now we would be ready to proceed". I apply that line to the musically propagted ideas of equal;ity, caring, sharing, living a golden rule sort of existence.
The music business model however has little Time for an aging or challenged population that cannot come to traditional venues. They are considered charity audiences. Our parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, brothers, sisters, neighbors. Charity. We are doing them a favor to interrupt our busy scheule to share an hour with them once in awhile, and not think we should be exalted as high-value folk stars. What is a folk star anyway? I don't get fok starness.
"I'll get around to it." "I am too busy trying to be a musician to play music for those audiences." "I do not have Time for that sort of music." "I am trying to become a succesful musician. I'll share later, when I can give your organization a big check." I have heard it all. Not an hour in ten years, some of them. Wow. They really believe they do not have Time.
We suggest that Life is about being what one is and has been all along, and growing into Professional Childhood. That is definitely what folk/rock musicians are aiming for.
We also advocate a focus shift back to Soul Currency, which is truly why we play. It's truly why we Live. Music has become about other forms of reward, ones that define success as a future thing, not a Now thing.
We are about Now. Live the lyrics. We know there are lots of cool musicians waiting to hear that Dolly Parton, REM, and Billy Joel support this behavior and have helped us fundraise with autographed items. This is a market with infinite potential, waiting to be tapped, not stereotyped.
Our book is coming along nicely - trying to keep it short and to the point right now. Something to supplement the shows and share some of Alice's insights. Of course the CD booklet has some of her wisdom and stories. Hopefully we'll finish it up in the next few weeks and get a few self-published online to travel with. People have expressed a great deal of interest in the CD, the lyrics (which will be in the book), and The Now Exspirientuality(tm), and An Absoulute Attitude (tm).
Below is a press release I sent out today - am looking forward to the trip and to meeting some great new audiences.
SongSharing On Tour and Time Overthrown Visit Raleigh, NC
(Ruckersville, VA June 5, 2008) Alice, the canine messiah, and Virginia based singer-songwriter, writer, and “Now Exspirientuality”™ DO-ru (not guru) Greg Allen bring the Time Overthrown Audience Inclusion Tour to Raleigh, NC June 9 – 11 with private performances for residents and staff at the Tammy Lynn Center for Developmental Disabilities, Morningside of Raleigh, Sunrise at North Hills, and Brighton Gardens of Raleigh.
Allen has been personally advocating Audience Inclusion for nearly 14 years and is the founder of SongSharing, a VA based 501c3 non-profit dedicated to Making Music More Accessible™. Allen encourages musicians to go beyond traditional acoustic and light electric music venues and perform at Community Venues such as those he’ll visit in Raleigh. “These are some of the most attentive, enthusiastic and appreciative audiences one can interact with. They continue to be stereotyped. Musicians simply do not know what they are missing,” says Allen. “The traditional model for musicians is overlooking a huge, growing opportunity. The U.S. population is aging, yet musicians and the music business model seem to have precious little Time for them. It’s Time that Time Was Overthrown.”
SongSharing has enjoyed participation from a number of dedicated local musicians in Central VA, and touring musicians including David Wilcox, Slaid Cleaves, Rishell & Raines, and Dana & Susan Robinson among others – each of whom have taken an hour out of their Charlottesville day to share an unplugged set in a nearby Community Venue. Notable artists such as Billy Joel (autographed piano), Dolly Parton (autographed washboard) and R.E.M. (autographed items and CD’s for the Troops contributors) have provided in-kind support for SongSharing in support of Audience Inclusion. SongSharing On Tour began to move beyond the Charlottesville area in 2006.
The Time Overthrown Tour promotes Allen’s new CD “It’s Time That Time Was Overthrown” as well as promoting Audience Inclusion to the musicians in each area he visits. “It’s an incredibly simple idea whose Time has come,” he says. “Audience Inclusion is a basic for so many musicians that sing about a better way to Live; caring and sharing and treating each other as equals. This is about living the lyrics.” Allen is finishing a book with Alice (Dog is my Co-Writer) about his experiences with Audience Inclusion, which he plans to release this summer.
The Time Overthrown visit coincides with R.E.M.’s performance at Raleigh’s Walnut Creek Amphitheater Tuesday June 10th, to show SongSharing’s gratitude for the past support of the R.E.M./Athens organization. The Time overthrown Tour will visit Athens, GA June 22 thru 25, coinciding with R.E.M.’s June 21st Atlanta show. (Please Note: there is no affiliation with R.E.M./Athens – this is an independent effort on SongSharing and Greg Allen’s part.)
