The Great Gordino Newsletter – Sep 22nd 2015

Hi,
I hope all is well with you.

I’ve been busy busy busy! As well as sorting out bits for my new coaching programme, I’ve been taking action on another idea of mine, The Rock & Roll Bandits.
"The Rock & Roll Bandits"
It’s one of those ideas that sit on the back burner, with a ‘one day’ timescale, but I decided that if I didn’t get on the sports journalism course, I would get into other projects.

As you know, I *didn’t* get on that course, which would have started at the beginning of September. That was a really big disappointment to me, but if that’s not going to happen, then it’s on to something else!

The idea of the Rock & Roll Bandits is to do rock versions of classic pop sings. I wanted to start with ‘It Started With A Kiss’. I decided I wanted to play drums and have a go at the singing, with future songs I may well use all sorts of hired guns as musicians, changing the line up for different songs – who knows!

So, I got in touch with Matt on bass and Rhys on guitar to see if they fancied doing it with me, sorted out studio booking, and last Tuesday we went in and did the song.

A little rough and ready, and we hadn’t rehearsed so we needed to sort some things in the studio instead of a rehearsal room, but the end product gave a good demo of the idea which is what I wanted.
"Gordon Bryan"
The next plan was to use a crowd funding website to fund future songs, using the demo as an idea for people to get the gist of the project.

I set up an account with one site, pledgemusic.com, and now I’ve hit a new snag in the road – they’ve refused! They have to approve campaigns before allowing them, and in my case they say there aren’t enough fans to fund a project.

While this is true, my thoughts were that it’s a brand new idea, so of course there aren’t fans yet, and the project itself would build fans. However, the pledgemusic decision means I need to build fans before I can launch a project.

So, they have a widget I can share around, which not only allows people to listen to the song, but download it for free in order to build the fan base. If you’d like to hear the song, then here’s the link, and don’t forget you can download it for free, which would help me!

In the sporting world (come on, you knew it was coming!) the rugby World Cup has kicked off. Lots of teams, with only a few that can win it. These early group games can be really one sided affairs as the difference in class is huge, but one of the games produced an upset as Japan beat South Africa.

What struck me the most? The immediate post match interview with the captain and coach, still on the pitch and full of emotion.

They both said ‘credit to them, they were better than us, no excuses, we weren’t good enough.’

Bravo I say! They didn’t say Japan had ‘been lucky’ or try to deflect onto other factors. They took defeat with class and sportsmanship, and long time readers will know how much that appeals to me!

In a different sport, which is known for doing the right thing, golf, a player strayed from that line a bit…

In the Solheim Cup between the USA and Europe, American Alison Lee picked up her ball towards the end of a close match, thinking the putt had been conceded. European player Suzann Pettersen said it hadn’t been conceded, so the USA were docked that hole, and went on to lose the match.

It all kicked off in the media and social networks!
As it happened, the USA won the event in the end, and afterwards Pettersen has apologised, saying she lost the bigger picture in the heat of the moment, and was sorry for letting herself and others down.

Hmm.

Yes, she made a mistake, but on the other hand, golf is a game of strict meticulous rules. I hope her apologising afterwards will put the issue to bed so it doesn’t linger, but I suspect that the apology was too late, that the bad feeling won’t be going away anytime soon!

The comeback by the USA to win the event was fuelled by a feeling of being hard done by, and the incident’s aftermath had a debilitating effect on the European team. It’ll be remembered in the world of golf for many years.

Ok, music and sport, two subjects that push my buttons, combined with taking action and doing the right thing, two more subjects that push my buttons!

I’d love to hear what you think, and don’t forget to download the first Rock & Roll Bandits track for free!

‘Til Next Time,
Health & Happiness,
Gordon
P.S. If you haven’t already, don’t forget to like my Goal Achievement Page on Facebook.

Do leave a comment!

Leave a Reply to gordino X

2 Comments

    • It’s been interesting!
      They say there aren’t enough fans for it to work – I replied that as a new studio project, it *wouldn’t* have any fans yet, which is why I wanted to use a crowdfunding site to build interest and have fans get involved.
      They suggested I use the free download option for the demo to build the fan base, and I now find myself in a dilemma –
      I accept that logic, and also that they have experience of projects like this and I don’t, and I was prepared to go that route – but – it seems to me that the effort to generate interest and get people to download, would be pretty much the *same* effort/results if it were for the actual project of more songs!
      The latest reply was that I could do my project ‘if I really wanted’…