Jason & Ginger: News

 

We are so excited to be selected to showcase at the FARMette conference on April 28th in Fayette, Ohio.

Here's the full line-up for the evening:

Bill Bynum & Company, Trenton, MI; Chad Elliot, Coon Rapids, IA; Emily White, Chicago, IL; Heather Styka, Chicago, IL; Jason & Ginger, Bloomington, IN; Jen Cass, Saginaw, MI; Jim Bizer, Franklin, MI; Jon Brooks, Toronto, Ontario

For more info, see: farmfolk.org!

 

We had a great time performing at a house concert this winter and wanted to give y'all a feel for the show, so we have uploaded a 2-song clip to You Tube.  Here's the link to our video page: http://jasonandginger.com/?section=videos

 

 Let us know if you want us to play a house concert for you and yours!!

Greetings!!
This morning I decided to attend a Performance Workshop (Performing Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry: Seducing the Audience) and a workshop called The Frugal Folkie. Jason attended Rolling Out Your New CD and Facebook and Social Networking for Dummies.

Tonight we had our second private showcase. We played a 15 minute set at the Pump House Concerts Showcase in Room 119 at 12:30am. I have to tell you that this was a great room to play. I arrived early to the room and ending up leaving well after our set. I was entertained and inspired by all the great and diverse performers I heard.

So 15 minutes is around 3 songs and we decided to perform: “You Get What You Pay For”, “Beautiful Lithuanian Wife”, and “Monon Train”. What I like about this set is that all the songs are so different from each other. One thing you cannot say about us is that all the songs sound the same…

This conference has been so Affirming, Inspiring and Informative for us. Not only were we exposed to music, music and more music, but we were able to meet and talk to Experienced Performers, DJ’s, Venue Operators and Booking Agents. We would like to thank FARM for putting on this conference and All the volunteers that allow an event like this to happen.
Peace...Ginger

Greetings everyone!!
Today has been pleasingly full. We have made some new friends, been exposed to some great information and have heard many new songs. During the morning and afternoon, the conference offers workshops. There were some great workshop offerings and Jason and I found that we were interested in workshops that were happening at the same time. So, we choose to divide and conquer. I went to the small venue and creative touring workshops. Jason went to a Marketing workshop and a DJ panel workshop.

There are four hour long performance opportunities throughout the conference. They are Friday and Saturday from 3-4 and 11-12. Jason and I were scheduled today at 3:30. We had a 10 minute slot, so we choose to introduce “Can’t Live No Place” and “Come Find Me Sleeping”. Both songs were well received. We were told the hallway noise got a little quieter during “Come Find Me Sleeping”. Everyone has been very gracious and supportive of our musical offerings.

So tonight we had our first private Showcase performance and boy did things get a little exciting during our set. First I will share the details. We were fortunate to play at the Batkat’s Whodat? Showcase run by Mary Ray. Tonight we had a 20 minute set, so we got to share 4 songs. We did “You Get What You Pay for”, “Beautiful Lithuanian Wife”, “Monon Train” and “All Your Bad Habits”. So…. During “BLW”, a women came out of the room across the Hall and began yelling at every one. I am not sure what all was said because I was concentrating on singing…but I could understand enough to know that she was not happy that the hotel had allowed 8 or 9 rooms (which happen to be surrounding her room) have all this music to be happening…remember not only are there performances going on in each room…but the hallway is pretty much full of people traveling from room to room. Anyway…it was unfortunate that civilians were booked into rooms smack dab in the middle of a folk music conference performance area. As I think back on it, I am almost certain that haunting and melodic tune of “BLW” soothed her angry heart and eased her trouble mind…at least that is what I am affirming…J…because before the last strains of the song ended she had returned to her room.

Well….Tomorrow there will be more people to meet, more information to receive and more songs to be learned and shared. I better get some sleep.

Greetings from the FARM…actually Bolingbrook, IL,
We have just completed our first evening at FARM. We have had a busy day full of travel and music. We made very good time in our travel up north, only experiencing a few slow downs…no stopped traffic! After checking in and getting settled we meet with Mike and Linda and had some dinner before all the festivities began.
Jason and I were one of 13 acts given a 10 minute slot at this showcase. Each Midwest DJ sponsored one or two acts they wanted to introduce to the conference. 10 minutes is about enough time to do two songs. We choose “All your Bad Habits” and “Jokerville”. “All your Bad Habits” or AYBH as we call it, worked well as an ice breaker. It was playful and tonight we did it in a different Key and Tuning so that Jason could play some slide in one of our selections. “Jokerville” is based on the Colorado mining disaster that happened in the town of Jokerville in the late 1800’s. I find it interesting that a song about a coal mining disaster is still very relevant in the 21st century
For the next three days, between midnight and 2am, there are private showcases. We were not scheduled to play tonight, so we took advantage of the opportunity to hear other musicians. I think there are 8 rooms hosting these private showcases. They have mostly been scheduled in advance (the schedule is even in the program)…so you can either wander from room to room and go where you ear takes you or you can plan out your evening. (I admit…I had a plan :=) )

So tomorrow hold a full day of meeting new friends, attending workshops and two performances. I better get some sleep!

Greetings everyone! Jason and I will hit the Road today and head up north to attend the FARM (Folk Alliance Regional Music) Conference. We are very excited because we have 4 performance opportunities scheduled throughout the weekend. The first comes by way of WFHB’s own Michael Kelsey. Mike invited us to perform on the DJ showcase on Thursday Evening. We will also play at the Performance Lane on Friday afternoon at 4:30, the Batkat’s Whodat? Private Showcase on Late Friday night at 1am and the Pump House Concert Showcase on Late Saturday night at 12:30am.
Stay tuned for more updates.

"All Your Bad Habits (Rubbed Off On Me)" was selected as finalist in the 2011 Bloomingtunes Song Contest. The song is the lead-off track on the Jason & Ginger CD, "Jokerville" and was included on the compilation CD.

Ginger and I performed at the Cherry Ghost Coffee House last night in Washington, Indiana, and it was fantastic! It's especially encouraging to play in a venue that has so many generous listeners: people of all kinds who came out on a Saturday night to hear live music. The audience was with us all way, even during my meandering rodeo clown story....

Opening up the show was Joe Dillon, a Washingtonian songwriter whose day job is a tatoo artist. Ginger dedicated "You Get What You Pay For" to him ("...just like that tatoo your friend did for a drink; got a good outline, but then he ran out of ink...") Joe played some great originals and some cool covers, too. I'm glad we could talk a little before he went on; we really enjoyed his set.

Our set was about an hour or so and we left out a couple of our regular tunes ("Monon Train"), which we'll have to do next time. (See below).

We'd like to extend a special thanks to Brian and Vickie for having us and congratulations on the Cherry Ghost!

--Jason

PS: here's the setlist:

All Your Bad Habits
I Want All My Money Back
You Won’t Find Me
Car Off My Lawn
Java Jive
Jokerville
Sad News
Can’t Live No Place
Come Find Me Sleeping
Cloud county
Some Kind of Love
Get What You Pay For
Beautiful Lithuanian Wife
Gamelan Boyfriend

Good Morning Everyone!!!

Wow!! What can I say. We have had a fantastic three nights so far here in Memphis. Not only are we participating in a wonderful opportunity, but the continued support of everyone (here in Memphis, back home in Indiana and our friends and family all across the country) has been very inspiring. Thank you all!!!

So just to recap our adventure so far. When we began our journey on Wednesday Evening, there were 83 Solo/Duo Acts sent by their respective local Blues Society's to represent them at the International Blues Challenge. After two nights of Quarter Finals 32 Acts were selected to advance to the Semi-Finals. In the Solo/Duo category, the semi -finals consisted of 4 venues of 8 acts each, with two acts from each venue to be selected to continue on to the Finals. (The band competition started out with 110 Bands...semi finals narrowed it down to 44...and last night they were split into 8 venues with only one band from each venue to continue into the finals). At the finals, there will be Eight Solo/ duo acts and Eight Bands.

Last evening Jason and I played at the Kings Palace Cafe around 8:40....to be honest I don't really know what time we actually started our set . Mark and Susan Novack (from the Indiana Blues Society) were there to support and cheer us on. They were there early, so we had great seats for the show! In the quarter-finals, each act did a 25 minute set. In the semi-finals, it was extended to 30 minutes, so we got to add another song to our set! So to our original set we added a song that Jason wrote called "You get what you pay for".

So the set was:
All your Bad Habits - Jason Original
Hold me Blues - Memphis Minnie (whose portrait was literally hanging to my right as we performed)
Can't Live no Place - Jason Original
Baby, you got what it takes - Brook Benton
You get what you pay for - Jason Original
Monon Train - Jason Original

The crowd got a kick out of "All Your Bad Habits" and since Memphis Minnie's portrait was right behind me, Jason did a great job of introducing "Hold Me Blues". I am sure that this song is going to become one of my standards. I really Love singing it. Jason brought out the slide and a story for "Can't live no Place" and worked it! After that song we did a little back and forth banter about the choice of our website name, to which the women in the crowd really responded. "You get what you pay for" was a last minute addition to our CD and is becoming one of our favorites to perform (which was one of the reasons we added it to the set...it also contains some of my favorite Jason lyrics) and then last but not lest "Monon Train". Any night that I get to sing "Monon Train" is a great night! And I am convinced that each time we perform it gets better and better.

Our venue, as well as all of the other venues on this semi - final night, was bursting with talent and with a variety of styles! The two acts that received the highest points in our venue were Harrison "Sweet Taste" Kennedy, an engaging and sweet man from Cananda, who was also a member of the Detroit Band 'The Chairman of the Board' in the 70's and Mighty Orq, a young man from Houston TX.

Although we did not advance to the Finals, Jason and I had another great time performing together. Three nights in a row of doing what we Love, Pure Bliss. This week has been affirming as well as inspiring. This has been and continues to be a great opportunity for us and we feel Blessed. The band Finals will begin at 2pm and then the Solo/Duo will begin at 7:30. Jason and I are looking forward to hearing some wonderful musicians today at the Finals and enjoying our time here in Memphis.

We will be heading back to Bloomington on Sunday. I would like to invite everyone to come out to Bears on Friday. I have included the pertinent information at the end of the email.

Thank you all again for your loving support and encouragement and for joining us on this week's adventure. To quote Memphis Minnie "I Live the Life I Love and I Love the Life I Live."

Love and Blessings
Ginger



Friday, February 11, 2011
6:30 - 9:00
Blues Happy Hour with Jason Fickel and Ginger Curry

Bears Place
1316 E 3rd St
Bloomington, IN 47401
Cover: $4

Good Morning Everyone!

Thank you again for tuning in to the second episode in our series of Ginger's Blues Challenge Journey.

Last night Jason and I played another show at Lil' Anthony's. This time we played at 6:55 (a little earlier than are start time the night before..). Mark "King Bee" and Nancy were there to offer there support and after a brief consultation with Ed, the sound engineer" (who did a fabulous job for us!), we began our set.

In the Quarter-Final rounds you have a 25 minute set. We began with what is our current signature song a Jason Fickel original "All your Bad Habits (rubbed off on me)". Next we decided to honor the blues legend Memphis Minnie, by doing a cover of her "Hold Me Blues". Jason then had the opportunity to display his skill with the slide with the song he wrote called "Can't Live No Place". We then did Brook Benton's "Baby, You Got What it Takes" and ended with Jason's "Monon Train". It was so much fun, very exciting and at times Transcendent!!!

After we played our set we indulged in some Catfish and then enjoyed the rest of the evening checking out other venues and a few of the bands that we have met while being here.

So, the results to find out who would advance to the Semi-Final rounds were to be announced after all the venues had finished and then posted on the website www.blues.org. But, after a very long night on Wednesday and a full day on Thursday, I was just not able to stay up quite that late to hear the results....So imagine my surprise and delight when I work up this morning to the news that Jason and I would be playing again tonight in the Semi-Final round!! What a wonderful way to start the day!

We will find out our venue and start time a little later today...but if you are interested you can check out the blues.org website and it should be in the news section. Crossover, the Indiana Blues Society Band Challenge winners have also advanced to the Semi-Finals...Send them some Love also!!!

Thank you all so much again for the wonderful emails, texts and Face book wishes. We appreciate all the support you have given us. Check out www.JasonandGinger.com and you can listen to "Monon Train" to get a little taste of what is happening down here.

We are very blessed to be on this Journey and playing tonight in the semi-finals is icing on an already fabulous cake!

Love and Blessings to You All
Ginger

Hello Everyone!!!

So here is the dish on Blues Challenge Journey so far:

Last night Jason and I played at Lil' Anthony's cafe (I recommend the mustard greens...yum!) at around 10:30. Our venue was running a little ahead of schedule (which is very rare for a music event...must have been the possibility of points being deducted from your score that keep everyone under the time limit...having said that I think there might have been one or two that went a little over....but not us baby!).

Each venue has between ten and eleven acts booked to play Wednesday and Thursday Evening. You play the same venue (with different judges) each night and the four acts with the highest score will be selected to play on Friday night. Friday night the two acts with the highest scores from each venue will then have the opportunity to play Saturday evening at the Orpheum Theatre.

Now that all the details are out of the way, Jason and I really enjoyed playing last...we had a great time!! It was one of those moments where the room sounded great, the guitar was clean and clear and we were both in the flow. It was definitely an experience to be treasured and remembered. It was one of those performance opportunities where it was both musically and emotionally satisfying.

We are surrounded by fabulous musicians from all around the country (and world) and feel blessed and honored to be apart of this celebration. I will send another update soon!

Blessings to you all and thank you for sending us your positive energy and support...You are appreciated!
Ginger

Tonight we had so much fun at Lil Anthony’s on Beale. We played earlier than anticipated (a rarity for any musical event) and right before we started our last tune, who walks in? King Bee (Mark Menefee) and Nancy, all the way from Indiana! Our set was just what we hoped for and then we had time for a drink with Mark and Nancy. And a special shout-out our host and hostess with the mostest: Charlie and Lynelle! Tomorrow night: same place, earlier time: 6:55!

The new Jason & Ginger CD, "Jokerville" has arrived at the Lost Canyon Records distribution center! Just in time for the trip to Memphis and Valentine's Day, too!!