jamesclark.com

It’s been a while since my last update. I really need to get on the ball and post more often, but I’ve reduced much of my blogging to the occasional Twitter twatting. Anyway, here’s what’s up with me.

COMICS UPDATE: Comic Con was last month. Unfortunately, we didn’t win the Eisner award, but it was still really cool being nominated and attending the award ceremony. Dave blogged about it here. I had a lot of fun at the show, hung out with the family, went to Sea World, and just generally enjoyed San Diego.

Oh, and while I was at the show, I discovered a comic called Super Siblings which has a lead character named James Clark who looks just like me circa 2002. The character has a wife and two kids — a boy and a girl — and his dad even looks like mine. And he acts kinda like me, too.

It’s both eerie and cool to see myself in a comic book, especially since the comic’s creator Patrick Scullen and I had never heard of each other before. Weird.

MUSIC UPDATE: I’m about 90% done working on my album of children’s music, and maybe 80% done on my second rock/pop album. I’m hoping to finish up a bunch of those tracks in time to have a demo CD together for when I perform in LA next month. You can read about that here.

OTHER STUFF: My kids turn five this month. FIVE! Where did the time go??

I’ll try to get back in the habit of writing more often, in case anyone actually reads this thing.

(It didn’t work.)

More inspiration from Mindy Gledhill. This time it’s a chance to win $50 and a free CD! Read on.

What I’m trying to do is formulate my “perfect pitch”, a phrase or slogan that describes my music in an appealing way. Below I’ve listed several adjectives in an attempt to reveal all the feelings and vibes that I am trying to create with my music:

* bright
* quirky
* light-hearted
* fun
* jovial
* emotive
* catchy
* uplifting
* nostalgic
* energetic
* hopeful

Now, let’s look at my other lists.

Singers I sound like. You said: Don McLean, Israel Kamakawiwo’ole, Jack Johnson, James Taylor, Tom Waits, Paul Simon, John Denver, Ghostwriter, Buddy Holly, Chris Isaac, Elvis Costello, Brian Wilson.

Here are some of my influences:

* Author and book: Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere.
* Film: A mostly unknown movie Fandango starring Kevin Costner.
* Composers: Vivaldi, Debussy, Mozart.
* Growing up: The Beatles, John Denver, Jim Croce, Fleetwood Mac, Linda Ronstadt.
* As a teen: Led Zeppelin, Paul McCartney, Muddy Waters, Hound Dog Taylor, John Lee Hooker, The Police.
* Currently: Mike Doughty, Jake Shimabukuro, Marcy Playground, The Beatles, Glen Phillips, Cake, Jack Johnson, Colin Hay, Rocky Votolato, Gomez.
* Poets: Charles Bukowski, ee cummings.
* Painters: Mostly contemporaries like Jeffrey Jones, Kent Williams, George Pratt.

Using these lists only as a guide, I am inviting you to have a stab at writing my pitch. If I use yours, I will send you $50 and a free copy of my album, “Ukulele Jim’s Authentic Down Home Marital Aid.” Remember, this is short and sweet. Your pitch must be posted by 10:00 p.m. MST, on Sunday night February 28.

Some examples of artist pitches are:

Mindy Gledhill – “Music that recalls the sweetness of Ingrid Michaelson and the quirk of Regina Spektor, Mindy Gledhill will leave you floating like a scoop of vanilla cream in a strawberry soda.”

John Taglieri – “If Vertical Horizon and Third Eye Blind got hit by Train!”

Devil Doll – “Jessica Rabbit meets Joan Jett.”

My music can be sampled here: http://ukulelejim.bandcamp.com

Don’t hold back. All ideas are welcome! Entries must be posted in the comments section below. Ready, set, GO. And thanks!

I’ve decided to take a cue (and an idea) from Mindy Gledhill by trying to figure out what defines me as an artist in the minds of my fans and potential fans, aka “my brand.” I haven’t done much with branding myself as a musician, aside from using the name “Ukulele Jim” — which, in retrospect, may end up hurting me more than helping. I may have boxed myself into the “novelty” arena rather than trying to appeal to the masses as a “singer songwriter.” But hopefully I can get past that “too late now” hurdle by developing a bit of branding that I can use to market myself better.

As Mindy explains: “so many artists (and people in general for that matter) are not specific enough about who they are and what people can expect from them. When people I meet learn that I am a recording artist, they almost always ask what genre I sing and who I sound like. Many artists (including me, at one time) want to believe that they don’t sound like anyone else out there, but I have learned that potential fans lose interest if they can’t walk away with a firm idea of what you stand for.”

These words are well put, and they have inspired me to try and find my own brand and come up with the perfect pitch. Like Mindy, I’m hoping that having a pitch will help me define myself to fans and important people in the music industry.

This is where I need some objective help from you. The first step is to try to figure out where my music fits.

So I ask you: What artist(s) do I most sound like? And as a bonus question: What genre would you define my music as?

(If you’d be so kind as to leave your opinion in the comments below . . . Thanks!)

This was a gift from the very talented Dave Wachter.

This might be my last post for a while, too. If you want updates on what’s going on with me, you can follow me on Twitter. I tend to update there way more than here.