October 13, 2005

"Rockin' the Day Away" Nationally Released May 10, 2005

Color me floored! This is a tale of miracles and hope for all independent artists out there.

In 1998 I began writing children's music, because my first granddaughter liked me to sing her to sleep. After a while, I started writing them down, because I thought they had some merit, and my kids might like to have the music someday.

I had collaborated with two other people on a musical, and while they were in other states, a tape of one of the songs needed to be recorded for a person in the industry who indicated his interest.

That's when I found 25th Track Recording Studio and Walt Bowers - great guy and wonderful engineer and keyboardist. We recorded the song from the musical, and afterwards my husband asked Walt if he could buy 30 hours of studio time.

I thought Ed had lost his mind. I couldn't figure out what the 30 hours were for. It turned out, he wanted to record the baby songs I'd written.

In the interim, I had worked on four songs with my collaborators, and I asked them if they wanted in or not. They did.

Walt came over and heard all 10 songs, and said, "You don't have a demo; you have a CD."

And that's how it started. I already had a company, but ASCAP said I had to have another name for the label, and we were already at crunch time, so that's why the label is Pamela Kay Hawkins Publishing - not because I'm really vain.

I ran into a jeweler friend of mine who knew an artist, who was just getting started, and Kristen did the illustrations for the cover, and I came up with the idea of a coloring book with lyrics inside, so she did the line drawings for the children to color. Another friend of mine owned a performing arts school and complained of never having anything for her children to use for auditions, and that gave me the idea for the instrumental track for kids to use for auditions. (I've since been told that English as a Second Language - ESL - Teachers find it helpful for teaching purposes.)

Then I thought I had a deal with Barnes and Noble, and Ed informed me that the first run of 1,000 had been sold to a convenience store chain. (It turned out that neither deal was what I thought it was.) The female singer on the album, Meredith Easley, and I appeared on Tulsa's TV show "Six in the Morning." Barnes and Noble's store on 71st Street in Tulsa had a "CD Release Party" at which about 100 people showed up to hear Meredith, John Weller (you've probably seen John on "Boston Public"), and Tommy Crook - the only guitarist Chet Atkins bowed to -whose name is unfortunately misspelled on sites and the album credits - perform. We were on our way!

So I thought....

It turned out that Barnes and Noble meant I had a deal with one of their stores - not all of their stores. The deal Ed made turned out to be a PR disaster, through no fault of his. The convenience store chain has since filed for bankruptcy :-). But after trying to buy the album at all these mirage venues, people just gave up. Who could blame them?

Oh, and I had another run done, because I didn't want to let B & N down.

But then Peter Chipman of CapCan.com in Canada and Derek Silver of CDBaby.com came to my rescue, but of course there was no interest, because no one knew the album existed. Then CDBaby.com sold out and needed more stock, but had emailed the wrong person. So for six months they had no stock. I found out because I was going to cancel my account. Imagine my surprise, and theirs!

The great buying group Alliant had been excited about my album when it came out and was going to red-line it for the stores they represented, but then they went bankrupt. So...nothing. I was one person trying to sell one independent album to the world one store at a time. Very hard.

But you don't want to hear about the six years from then to now, do you? I didn't think so....

Cut to chase:

Last Thursday, that would be Oct. 6, 2005, I walked into Barnes & Noble to pick up a book I'd ordered and a DVD in the music department. The head of the music department, Chris, had been keeping my album alive for all these years. He had told his new head of "local artists" about the album and I'd met Seth, also a budding musician along with Chris, and he hadn't heard one of the songs from my CD. So we went to find the demo CD so he could listen. Nowhere. He was puzzled, because there was always a copy of my CD on top of the children's section for display purposes. There were no CDs. So he checked the backstock. Nada. Neither of us could believe we'd sold out, so I asked if the computer said anything.

Seth said: "You're a local artist. Local artists aren't in the computer." He went back to the search.

Finally he gave up and checked the computer: I was there! The album was there! I'd been red-lined!
He ran over to the kiosk where you can listen to the music? It was there! He liked it -really liked it! And then he said, "Look at this!" We looked: A note on the album said "Released May 10, 2005!"

I was so excited! I told some friends on www.Soflow.com, and in seconds the album, which was online on B & N was sold out and the picture went with it.

I called my distributor, Hapi Skratch Entertainment's Morris Beegle, and he said I'd been red-lined since May. (No one had said a word to me.) And that my album was now in Border's, Best Buy, Circuit City, Sam Goodys, and Amazon.com, besides Barnes & Noble. Shock is not the work for the state I was in.

After six years, as one salewoman at B&N said, "You're legit!"

I Googled "Pamela Kay Hawkins Rockin' the Day Away" and found not only the sites above, but a German site http://www.totalrecal/de/items/338.htm; another Megastore in Germany, England and Sweden who is carrying the album: english.megastore.se/template/next,Index.vm?@atid=10&page=9 (listed under Children/Tales). The megastore link with all the info just covers the German location.

I share this with you, not only to promote the CD which I still believe in, but to say to all of the independent producers and artists out there: "Don't give up! Miracles still happen!"

I also wanted to thank all of the people who believed in me and this album and have made this possible, Richard Bridge of Rainy Day Records, Chris Karasek of Barnes & Noble on 71st, Full Circle Bookstore in Oklahoma City, the other Barnes & Noble stores who took a chance and bought my albums, Peter Chipman of CapCan Distributors in Canada, Derek Sivers of CDBaby.com, Morris Beegle who gave me national distribution, and David Define of Alliance Entertainment, who got me red-lined! To all the companies who've since bought the album, like Best Buy, Borders, Circuit City, Sam Goody's, EBay and Amazon.com - THANK YOU ALL!

Pamela Kay Hawkins

P.S. I'm going to use the money and connections I hope to make (so far it's been a losing proposition) to help others who need a leg up, and to help get a workshopping gig for a musical that's been waiting a year longer than the CD.

PPS If they're out of stock, they can order more. I understand that orders can be filled within a week to 10 days at the outside. So please order from these wonderful people who've taken a chance on an unknown and made a dream possible. - Thank you to all my future customers!

And if you have comments, I'd love to hear from you!View this photo

Oct 13, 2005 4:55:44 PM | Music

2 Comments

tredinertok

Hi all!

Very interesting information! Thanks!


G'night








Posted by: tredinertok | July 10, 2007 at 03:09 PM

panasianbiz

I stumbled across your blog while I was doing some online research.
As a writer who knows the struggle that accompanies trying to get published, I was able to relate to all the highs and lows you went through. I'm so glad you had a "happy ending"!

Posted by: panasianbiz | July 23, 2006 at 05:39 PM

The comments to this entry are closed.

NEXT POST
My Take on Katrina The "Wall Street Journal" ran a poll yesterday asking that question: Should New Orleans be rebuilt in its orginal location? The overwhelming answer was no. I've been reluctant to begin a blog on New Orleans, mainly because I've such mixed feelings. I feel for those who have lost their homes and businesses, who are searching for loved ones, who have lost loved ones and everything thing else they held dear. However, as unpopular as it may be to say this, I have heard too much griping, seen too much corruption within New Orleans and Louisianna, and have been appalled at the lack of understanding of what actually happened there. Katrina hit Gulfport, Mississippi, and Biloxi. Orginally everyone thought New Orleans had dodged the bullet. So rescue efforts rightly centered on Biloxi, Pas Christien, and Gulfport. Then Lake Pontchartrain's levees, which should have been fixed 15 years ago, and which could not have been made to withstand Katrina's storm surge and wind in the time so many have touted, broke: "We knew one year ago that the levees wouldn't hold, if this happened." Well, sorry, but you knew 25 years ago and did nothing. The Chief of the Army Corps of Engineers said, "This is a non-partisan problem, covering many presidencies. There was nothing President Bush could have done in the entire time he's been in office to stop this thing from happening." Yet, we hear how the federal government failed us and the people of the Gulf Coast. We hear how Ivan and Dennis and Frances were on the recovery track as soon as the storm moved. Well, people, you could get to those cities. The roads were intact. Not so in New Orleans. It had flooded, as predicted in worse case scenarios. I-10 was gone in some places; bridges were gone. The airport was closed until they opened one runway used for aid coming in. Helicopters and their crews risked their lives, being shot at occasionally, dodging downed electrical wires, polluted water, flying 24/7 to help people. The National Guard was dispatched, and I'm sorry, but it takes a while to train those people to handle this kind of disaster and move them, and they can't be called out and moved into a state without its permission. So it took a few days. New Orleans had buses which could have been used to transport the poor and disabled out before the storm struck. They chose to let them sit in a place which they knew could be compromised by a storm of this magnitude. Buses which are now underwater. So other buses from other states had to be found, and coordinated, and places in other states had to be found to house the refugees. The Red Cross, several private charitable organizations began immediately and were stymied because they could not get to New Orleans. People in New Orleans shot at rescuers in a truck who were trying to help those in hospitals - children. And the doctors inside, whose morgue was in the basement and flooded, wondered where the rescuers were and why people were not helping. Meanwhile, three navy ships were sent to the Gulf to help with rescue efforts, a hospital ship was sent; the Coast Guard was called in, and all I heard was how the federal government was to blame. Really? Did the federal goverment cause Katrina? Did it cause the continuing warnings of 25 years ago to go unheeded just in President's Bush's term? Did the people of New Orleans think they were exempt? To rebuild New Orleans in the same disastrous place is foolhardy. "But we want the 'Big Easy' back!" Well, people, the 'Big Easy' isn't easy anymore. The wetlands which should never have been drained are back. The Mississippi River has been ruined by years of mismanagement. You will never have New Orleans as it was back again. If people are smart, they will try to move the spirit of the place, the salvageable architecture of the place, to somewhere else on higher ground. I have hesitated to give money. I watched what happened to the money sent to the victims of the Tsunami. I'm waiting to see what and where it's needed and who needs it most. People I know; people who need new jobs, a new start. Did we really think that we could stop natural disasters? I live in Oklahoma. Ask anyone here if they could stop tornadoes. Ask the people in the paths of flash floods, mudslides, earthquakes. The best thing you can do, especially when you have as much warning as people in the paths of hurricanes do, instead of the minutes or seconds warning that we have with these other disasters, is to get out of their way, which is sometimes impossible, or hold on in the safest place you can find and hope you live through it. This hubris reminds me of Xerxes, who had his soldiers whip the Hellespont because it broke his bridge to the Greeks. He was insane. And the Hellespont just kept on flowing, just like the Mississippi. Am I angry? You bet I am. Compassion is overflowing in America, and some of the most vocal people are ranting that they haven't gotten enough; they haven't been given enough; everyone's to blame but the people who neglected to protect New Orleans in the first place. You have your lives. Many lost theirs. And you're shooting at, and ranting against the very people who've come to help you, one of whom is my 21-year old niece who just got married two weeks ago.
PREVIOUS POST
Is the World Going to Hell in a Hand-basket? (Sorry to have been absent for so long--selling CDs, we now have US and Canadian national distribution.) Have any of you noticed the difference/similarity in certain aspects of our cultural and societal concerns, say to that of ancient Greece, Rome, and the once great Egyptian and Persian civilizations? I've been struck by the plethora of occult themes, sex--though the subject has always been with us--has never been so prolific in every media outlet, even hard news, a tolerance to the point of apathetic numbness to things which would never have been mentioned a few years ago, to outright celebration of almost every abberation with which I can hope never to hear, see, or come into contact. Nothing is sacred, not even the sacred. Personal hygiene for both men and women is expored so graphically in TV commercials that I doubt anyone could be ignorant of E.D. or anything pertaining to a woman's reproductive cycle. That MAN (or WOMAN) is in practice, if not in fact, his or her own god has been creeping into our collective psyches since Darwinian debates, but even those who profess to believe in God or some "Higher Being" acts as if they are their own HB. I've seen--just on TV--the Nephilim (if you don't know who and what they are, look it up), mediums poke out of every nook and cranny, and reincarnation has taken the place of evolution as the next great theory which has no proof. The End of the World, discussed endlessly, has taken all forms but the right one, but no one really takes the possibility of a Christian Rapture or Christ's return seriously. I've now experienced Wicca as a true religion. Freedom of religion has been taken out of the original context of protecting our citizens from state-imposed religion to an "anything goes" stance. Critics of this slippery slope greased with apostasy and deciet are derided, labeled, and sometimes actually killed. I thought I'd heard of every preposterous religion--I mean there are some out there which are really OUT THERE--but along comes Scientology, invented by L. Ron Hubbard, a former science fiction writer who declared that the way to really become rich was to invent a religion--a feat which he has evidently accomplished beyond even his imagined beyond. (Even the script of "Boston Legal" treated this with derision, and I must say, that's a huge step in the right--no puns intended--direction.) P.T. Barnum said fools are born every minute, and I'd hate to been counted as one when the Lord Jesus Christ comes and says, "I never knew you." Chills overcome me with dread of being deceived by the current theologies buzzing in our atmosphere like so many flies, for I was once exactly in that sinking boat. Look to history and the falls of the great empires. Note the parallels and search your own mind. I wouldn't dream of filling your heads full of evidence, since most are so certain their myths are fact, and they must find out for themselves. I just hope it is not too late.

I'm a freelance consultant, writer, Jill of all trades, master of some, and a rest stop.

Search

My Other Accounts

Recent Comments