Crescent Music Services

Where to host your website

dianat — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 17:51:37 +0000

Even if you use Facebook, you should consider having a website. I use Dreamhost as my hosting server, and WordPress for my website development. Dreamhost has been very reliable, and their tech support very responsive, and they are one of the few WordPress verified hosting servers.

Mozy Online Backup

dianat — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 01:07:22 +0000

When is the last time you backed up your data? If your computer was stolen or dropped or a virus hit it……. Nuf said.

I use Mozy to automatically back up my data to an offsite server. I also back up locally to a hard drive, but that wouldn’t help in case of fire or flood. Even a virus could eat away those files.

Mozy offers a free 2 gb account or 4.95/month for unlimited. It only needs a high speed internet connection.

Mozy Unlimited Backup

Daily Positive Goal Statement Exercise

dianat — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 15:38:41 +0000

The mind that is full of positive emotions creates an incubator for developing belief and faith. In the same way, a mind full of negative emotions and attitudes is a toxic environment that destroys belief and faith.

Create a “goal statement” describing in detail what you want to achieve and what you are going to give in return for it. Read your statement aloud twice daily, once in the morning and once in the evening while you visualize and imagine the goal you want to achieve. This exercise is a very powerful way to build belief and confidence and will help you achieve your most important goals.

Source: Think and Grow Rich / Napoleon Hill

JAZZ for the GULF – July 31

dianat — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:16:30 +0000

Saturday, July 31, 2010, 8-11pm

One Eyed Jack’s (615 Toulouse Street at Chartres)

Admission $25. Doors open at 7pm

All proceeds benefit the Gulf Relief Foundation

“Jazz for the Gulf” will showcase locals Ellis Marsalis, Charmaine Neville, Cindy Scott, Leah Chase, Brian Seeger, and many others. Also on the billing is jazz vocalist and three-time Grammy nominee Karrin Allyson, who has been a staple on Concord Records for years and has released twelve CDs on the label.

All the performers have agreed to forego payment for “Jazz for the Gulf,” which will benefit the Gulf Relief Foundation (www.gulfaid.org). The foundation focuses on two key elements of recovery – the wetlands/coastal environmental issues, and the well-being of the regional seafood and commercial fishing industries.

Please join these performers in making a difference while enjoying a night of great music!

For more information, contact:

Cindy Scott

(504)810-8386

www.cindyscott.us

Google Alerts – what are people saying about you?

dianat — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:16:51 +0000

Do you know what people are saying about you on the internet? Google Alerts will notify you anytime someone posts a blog or review about you so you can keep tabs on what’s being said about you and where your name is being dropped.

Think of Google Alerts as a customized automatic Google Search that delivers the search results to you in your email inbox anytime something new hits the internet.

Google Alerts are also helpful when you’re trying to keep up with certain topics, news, or people.

This is very helpful for musicians to keep track of reviews and places their album is featured.

Free and easy: Just go to http://www.google.com/alerts?hl=en&gl=us&source=alertsmail and create a free account if you don’t already have one. Then you can enter search terms like your name.

Enter your keywords just as if you were running a normal web search. A good basic starting point is to set up Alerts for the name of your organization, for the names of your key spokespeople who are likely to be quoted in the media, and for keywords that are relevant to your cause and/or community.

Tip: To get an idea of what sort of information might be returned for any specific keywords, do an ordinary Google Search and see what turns up. Based on those search results, tweak your keywords to match your needs. You can always change it later, or delete it and set up a different Alert.

Be sure to enclose terms in “quotes” to focus on that term only. You’ll start getting your own personal google search results in your inbox right away

Suggested Alerts:

your name
your band name
your album title (to find reviews or places carrying it for sale)
your company name
your competition
your genre or area of interest
other people you want to keep track of what they’re doing
product names
Anything you are researching or learning about.

Don’t Give Away Your Music for Free

dianat — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 20:26:03 +0000

Good article by Jonathan Ostrow on Music Think Tank

“And Up From The Gulf Came a Bubbling Goo…”

dianat — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 20:40:03 +0000

Nobody Knows Nothin’

(A New Song Benefiting Gulf Aid)

Featuring the Preservation Hall Jazz Band with Clint Maedgan plus Threadhead Records artists John Boutté, Paul Sanchez, Susan Cowsill, Craig Klein, Margie Perez and more

Written by: John Boutté, Bill Lynn and Paul Sanchez
Produced by: Ben Jaffe, Bill Lynn and Paul Sanchez

Coming off their successful collaboration with Mos Def and Lenny Kravitz that resulted in the popular Ain’t My Fault recording and video benefiting the organization Gulf Aid , Ben Jaffe, leader of the world famous Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and Bill Lynn, professional fundraiser and master auctioneer, have teamed with singer/songwriters John Boutté and Paul Sanchez to write and produce a fundraising project through Threadhead Records called Nobody Knows Nothin’, also benefiting Gulf Aid.

Along with a plethora of New Orleans talent including the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Susan Cowsill, Craig Klein (Bonerama/New Orleans Nightcrawlers), Margie Perez (Ensemble Fatien), Gregory Menoher, and Mark McGrain, Jaffe, Lynn, Boutté and Sanchez gathered at the iconic Preservation Hall to record this musical response to the Gulf oil disaster. With Boutté (who is currently enjoying success from his wildly popular theme song from HBO’s hit series Treme) handling the lead vocals, the song puts to music the frustration and despair surrounding the worst ecological disaster the country has known.

Making Money with Your Music Webinar

dianat — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:12:57 +0000

Tuesday, July 13th, at 12 noon

Join the New Orleans Arts Council online for our latest webinar, Making Money with Your Music: Songs and Recordings. Presented by ELLA Project supervising attorney Ashlye Keaton, this webinar will cover:

* Maximizing your revenue streams.

* The importance of owning your music.

* Making money from digital downloads.

* Music in film and television.

* Plus your questions via live chat!

Making Money with Your Music: Songs and Recordings An Arts Council webinar presented by Ashlye Keaton Tuesday, July 13th at 12 noon For the link to this webinar, please email: gmeneray@artscouncilofneworleans.org

Join us live on July 13th to participate in the live chat, or watch it on your schedule via on demand free streaming.

Humane Society of Louisiana Gulf Coast Strategic Planning Conference

dianat — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 15:06:14 +0000

GULF COAST OIL SPILL VOLUNTEER CLEANUP – The Humane Society of Louisiana Gulf Coast Strategic Planning Conference/ Assisting More Animals in Need The Humane Society of Louisiana and its oil spill response program, Operation Here to Help, will be hosting a two-day strategic planning conference from Saturday, August 7th through Sunday, August 8th, called the Gulf Coast Strategic Planning Conference – Assisting Animals in Need.

This important event will feature speakers from BP, the Coast Guard, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and animal rehabilitation groups. There will be individual speakers, a panel discussion, and a strategy-building session. On Sunday, the second day of the conference, conference participants will travel by chartered boats to the high-impact areas, such as the barrier islands in Barataria Bay off Grand Isle.

The primary focus of the conference will be to develop new strategies to help more animals in need.

Start Time: Saturday, August 7, 2010 at 9:00am End Time: Sunday, August 8, 2010 at 6:00pm Location: Sheraton Street: 500 Canal St. City/Town: New Orleans, LA

If you cannot attend but would like to help, please consider making a donation to help underwrite this important conference. Sponsorships start at only $25.00 and all sponsors will be listed in our conference program.

To make a donation of any amount, please go to our Cause page on Face Book at this link

or send check or money order to: Humane Society of Louisiana P.O. Box 740321 New Orleans, LA 70174. *In the check or money memo space, please write “conference sponsorship.”

Thank you, The Humane Society of Louisiana

It is not the critic who counts …

dianat — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:40:32 +0000

“It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat.”

Theodore Roosevelt, 1910.