Progress

Progress? You Betcha!

It’s July 2002 - already - making me realize that it’s been quite a while since you’ve been subjected to the editorial ramblings of myself or my partner Wayne. This giant ride called “Opry North” that we’ve been on for over two and a half years now has been rolling along and there have been lots of things we’ve either established, got an idea for, or have fallen into. Some of you (who check the site regularly and call us when you have questions or just want to gab) may be familiar with some of what will follow. Others may have no idea of what we’ve been up to, or why we’ve been up to it. And there may be a few who have no idea what I’m talking about. If you have to catch up at this point you have a LOT of reading to do...there’s nothing a long winded writer likes better than to write about than what gets their blood pumping - in our case, it’s country music and the fantastic people who perform it.

Starting last September we began to organize ‘Opry North’s Country Music Showcase’ - a series of live performances ‘showcasing’ five artists per month at a regularly scheduled time, at regularly scheduled venues with as much promotional coverage as we could arrange. The first two shows (September 2001 and November 2001) were very successful for our first efforts and in January 2002 the series became a monthly event. We’ve had the pleasure of hosting dozens of artists at this stage and they’ve all been exceptional - the go-getters of the industry, to say the least. Thanks to our sponsors (820 CHAM and Country Music News magazine) we’ve been able to provide promotion via radio ads and print ads, with CMN being distributed across the country. In addition to the promotional ads, Joel Christie (who does his best to make it out each month to host our show and on his day off too) receives a recording of the show, edits clips into his own show “Canadian Country Showcase” airing on CHAM on weekend evenings and gives the artists some extra coverage. We’ve had people who haven’t even released any material yet getting their songs played on CHAM with the likes of Lisa Brokop, Julian Austin and greats like Johnny Burke and Carroll Baker. How cool is that? You can’t say that Joel Christie or 820 CHAM isn’t doing their part to promote local talent or to help make some changes in this industry and I’m the first to criticize lackluster support for Canadian artists. Things have started to change, and it’s about time too.

So far we’ve had little problem with getting artists’ interested and participating but things are starting to slow down a little. We still have (at this writing) spots open in August to December so if you haven’t had your turn yet just give us a call, an email or a letter and we’ll do what we can to place you in a suitable month. To find out all of the particulars log on at http://www.oprynorth.com/ourshow/index.html and spend some time looking over the Showcase website.

In other happenings we’ve been busy with trying to maintain our event coverage. We will admit that the pace has had to slow down a bit due to the time limitations we’ve been working with. We did cover some events this year and plan on covering more before fall - I have the write ups completed for many reviews including the May 30th Brooks & Dunn Neon Circus show, posted with photos on the ‘Northern Scenes’ section. We’d like to send our thanks out to the amazing group at Clear Channel for their help with that one. Keep watching for more exciting shows brought to you by this entertainment powerhouse, I think you’ll be hearing a lot more about them in the next little while. And that’s all I’ll say about that for now!

As for some of our ‘new’ ideas, we’ve reached a point where we’re ready to tackle one big headache for the Canadian Independent artist...the issue of distribution. We’ve had some ideas as to what we’ll try and establish, and with whom. Now we just need to prepare our ‘pitch’ and the game plan before we approach those whom we’d like involved. We will also try to make it easier to market your product through Opry North’s Internet presence too by having a ‘consignment store’ of sorts. We’re still working on that one. After all, what is the good of having visitors from all over the world if you can’t offer them some incredible material by some of the world’s best artists in one place? Here is as good a place as any. From the comfort of your own home, in one easy step, you can peruse and purchase the newest material from your favourite country performer at prices that they are comfortable with, without the huge mark up some chain stores will tack on. One favourite of mine sells his CD for a decent price over his website and in person at shows and when I checked at my local mall I found it marked up at just over $10.00 more...huh?! I wouldn’t mind paying that, IF I felt that the money would go to him to help him out and not to the ‘corporate giant’ that deigns to put his CD in the back sections. Well, we’re working this idea out and we’ll get it going as soon as we can.

We’ve been so pleased to welcome a new ‘Team Member’ to the Opry North group over the last little while too. We had been unable (as I’m sure you’ve noticed) to keep up the ‘Signed Artist’ monthly profile and finally had to decide whether to just discontinue it altogether or try and find someone who would be willing to take it over for us. Luckily we’ve had the chance to ‘meet’ the most amazing young woman over the past few months - Teagan Beedell, of Alberta. Teagan was the subject of one of our ‘Unsigned/Independent Artist’ profiles back in the spring and we’ve kept in touch. She’s a wonder. She not only maintains a busy performance schedule but she’s a full time university student, working toward her degree in Fine Arts Management and Business Administration, learning the other side of the desk (so to speak). She is so focused, so realistic in her career goals and just a delight to work with, plus she sounds pretty darned good too. We’re so proud to have her help us with a little bit of her creativity, I’ve loved what she’s written so far. Thanks Teagan!

Well, that’s all I’ll subject you to for now. Having brought you up to speed with what we’ve been up to with Opry North I’m sure you won’t be interested in our ‘sound equipment purchases’ to make the Showcase recordings more viable for CHAM’s use, though that’s an entire WORLD that we never thought we’d have to learn about - until now. What’s the point in buying all of that equipment if you can’t learn how to use it and what works vs. what won’t, right? For this we have to thank our ‘Live Sound Recording Engineer/Producer’ Ron Chilton. This man is a marvel with an incredible ear, fantastic vision and unending enthusiasm. Plus he’s a great guy and we’re very fond of him and at this point I’ve probably made him blush, which is another of his endearing qualities. Yes Ron, I’ll stop now...

We invite you to keep in touch with us regarding any questions, ideas or suggestions you may have for Opry North. Visit the site when you can, sign up for our newsletters or come out to a Showcase - we’d love to see you. Country talent is second to none and all of the goals we’d stated in our first editorial still stand. We will knock on any door, make any phone calls we have to and we won’t stop promoting the virtues of these amazing, much loved friends of ours. I’ve told many of them before - you won’t know if you don’t ask, so I’m never afraid to do what I can to open some doors if I can. You all are worth it, every time and always. Take care.

Kim Jamieson

Wayne Tozzi

July 12, 2002

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