Back

You have received the AfterLife; the life of Jason Eller and AfterNine.               http://AfterNineRocks.com

February Dates

If you have friends in these towns, please encourage them to attend. We appreciate everything you are doing to perpetuate this project. And thank you, everyone, for making January the best month yet. Your support at the shows and in your emails lifts us to see when we keep looking down.

"Even just today I had a guy say, ‘You quit teaching to play music?’ as he held his finger to his temple, as if to say, ‘What were you thinking?’ Another gal told me I should get a ‘real’ job. I’m curious as to how much better her quality of life could be if I had a ‘real’ job. You can have a conversation with someone who has the best of intentions, but they just don’t get it. Most of you who receive this, get it; and I appreciate the fact that you do. Every quarter I evaluate the progress of this project, and as long as I see progression I see no need to stop pushing as hard as I possibly can (with your help) to make this happen."

Website Updates

It was posed to us at the site to clean up the Message Board. There is currently, a request in to Ultra Entertainment (who handles the website) to create forums so people know where to post ‘Happy Birthdays’ vs. ‘Thoughts about the music’. Also, WGRD will be playing a song off the CD during the Babes and Bands show on Thursday, so we need all of your input on your favorite song off the disc. Tell us your favorite song in the "Poll" (http://www.afterninerocks.com/MB/MBPosts.aspx?f=1&t=36).

There is also a new LISTEN NOW button under the music page. We are looking to move this to the homepage.

If you have not introduced yourself in the Quick Introductions board, please take a moment to do so, if you feel willed.

If you have not received your username and password, reply to this email and we will send it to you so you can Login, Chat and post to the Message Board.

Agent Report

As of this month, we have three agencies we are working with to help book shows. J&J Entertainment is still working to book shows (http://jjentertainment.biz). Curt Wiser of Wiser Productions (http://wiserproductions.com) is becoming a larger part of our marketing; thank you Curt! And Nick from Mojo Music Management (http://MojoMusicManagement.com) in Tennessee has offered a few leads to help book shows down for the February Trip. We also have had the good fortune of making friends who see and believe in what we are trying to accomplish. Even they help make the phone calls. Still the majority of the shows are being booked by the main Booking Manager, Jason Eller. That’s right. It’s all about networking. Thank you everybody who has helped to book the shows. If you’d like to know what you can do to help, simply ask.

Street Team

The Street Team is in the middle of their first mission. This month Street Team Members are learning how to use their referral link to earn AfterNine merchandise. Thank you so much all Street Team members for choosing to volunteer your time. Even if you are not part of the Street Team, you can earn referral points when you use the Email this Page button on the top right of the webpage. If you’d like to use your referral link, you can find it by choosing Edit Profile, then Edit/View Friend Information. This will lead you to your referral link, and it can be used in your signature file. For more information on the Street Team use the link on the webpage or click here: http://www.afterninerocks.com/FanClubStreetTeam/StreetTeaminfo.aspx.

Street Team Members- Remember to check the website for private posts. Currently there is a new song that we need your input on. You’ll find it in the Downloads section.

Merchandise

Thank you to Steve @ GLS Enterprise for printing the new T-shirts. We have long sleeve and short sleeve T’s, and the favorites, baby dolls and ¾ sleeve jerseys for the girls (Although we are sold out of the Jerseys at the moment). To see the baby doll shirts on our models, click here: http://www.afterninerocks.com/photogallery/PhotoGallery.aspx?gid=15.

One of our Street Team members is adding to the list of merchandise by creating AfterNine jewelry. By the next AfterLife, all jewelry will be available. If you’d like to get a hint of what we are working on, visit http://AnneReedsBeads.com. There will be necklaces, pendants and bracelets for you to show off. We support those who support us (Artists for Artists). And Anne has been a great supporter.

Jason’s first album, recorded in 1997 will also soon be available on the website.

Finally, thank you for your purchases and donations. One gal from Grand Valley donated five dollars, and it is the most appreciated gift because I came to know her, and she gave what she could from what she had. And her belief bought strings this week. Thank you young lady. All donations in any amount are appreciated. But why donate when you could just buy the AfterNine thong!

In the Business

Hopefully this section won’t sound like general whining.

Phone calls for bookings can end up two ways, talking to a person and leaving a message. Leaving messages obviously leads to less……..leads. Here’s the rub. Understandably people are busy. All we ask for is a simple message to say, "No we’re not interested." Otherwise, 5 phone calls can be made to finally talk to someone who lets us know they’re not interested. We try not to waste one another’s time; well some try.

For example, dates were booked in TN for the 18^{th and 19th of February. Because of this, dates were booked in Indy and KY for the previous week. Upon calling back to TN, we found that management (not ownership) had changed hands. When asked about the shows the reply from the manager was, "Yes, we are booked." Unfortunately, the "we" was not the venue and Jason. So the manager was asked about a secondary date. The reply was, "I’ll get back to you in a couple days." A week later a call was made, and the reply was, "I need to check the schedule, call back in a week." How long does it take to check the calendar? Two more messages were left and still no reply. Again, we are trying to be as professional as possible.}

Again this is not an attempt to complain, but to give the AfterLifers a glimpse of what kind of work goes into making this project successful. (Although, after writing all that, I do feel better.)

Song Spotlight

This Wasn’t the Deal (January 2005)

This tale of a spectacle is all about reality.

No drama to speak of.

No petty fights between the fair-haired realist

Who loved the boy who loved to dream

Loving to live one another,

Never turning those words around

Never taking each other for granted,

Granted I fell in love.

But that wasn’t the deal.

It wasn’t supposed to go down like this.

Is this death for real

And my plight all of the things I’ll miss

You took your business trips

I even ferried to meet you once across the lake

I drive to play a city

And I know you’d feel me.

I could feel you thinking of me.

Never the less we never relented

This is the best that we’d ever have

Baby, never the less I must confess

You’re the best thing I’ve ever had

That wasn’t the deal.

It wasn’t supposed to go down like this.

Is this death for real

And my plight all of the things I’ll miss

------

These are the pages I ripped out.

These are the wages I pay

For all the sh!t that tumbles out of my mouth.

 

It’s been two months now I’m 10 miles out

From the city wrapped in you

My stomach drops from the weight on my heart

And I know you kinda feel it too

That wasn’t the deal.

It wasn’t supposed to go down like this.

Is this death for real

And my pain becomes all of the things I’ll miss

------

These are the pages I ripped out.

These are the wages I pay

For all the sh!t that tumbles out of my mouth.

It wasn’t supposed to go down like this.

This song (unlike last month’s "I Bent the Light") has been arranged and performed. It is available to the Street Team as we get feedback, and to all of you at the live shows.

Excerpts from Jason

"First of all I need to thank my brother Steve (who’s wife is pregnant) for the use of one of his lines, he knows which one. You can listen to his music at http://theESP.com.

We can want so much for something to happen that we dig ourselves into a rut, forgetting to focus on those things which are truly important. This song is about one of my best friends, who, if I choose, I can lose by letting the relationship we built fall under the premise of the fact that at this time we are not meant to be together in a boyfriend/girlfriend manner (I wish I could have worded that better). Breaking up does not dissolve the intimacy which we share; it only changes it. I had to ask myself, with as deeply as I knew this person, am I willing to give away that depth and excitement? Rather, it be more like a sculptor who works 14 months on a piece only to find that he doesn’t recognize it for what he first saw in his mind. Is his labor worth nothing? Will he cast away his time, or allow the sculpture that was inside the block to come out as what it was meant to be; not what he tried to make it? I’m just happy to be able to break the marble to let What-Will-Be make its way into my world.

This song was written as the sculpture began to turn into what it will become, not what I first desired. There is still a point at which I still don’t see the end result, which does add pain to my life, but believing in this person and myself, is enough to excite the soul at what may be. Even more exciting; I am not forced to let this person go."

That’s it.

That’s the AfterLife

AfterNine

 

If you would rather not receive future mailings, please respond to this update with the word ‘Remove’ in the subject.