Get my friend Blake's new CD for free right now!

Ok...don't miss out on this. There is a new website called www.noisetrade.com, started by Derek Webb where you can download whole albums, and all you have to do is join their email list and tell 3 friends about it! So go get my friends CD - Blake Aaron Guthrie - for free! You will be glad you did. And there is a lot of other amazing music on there as well!

How you can be a part of the new album

It's probably been done before somewhere...It's probably been mocked as the loopiest idea since Leif Eriksen named an island of ice Greenland and a luscious land mass Iceland...It's probably going to take 3 times as long to complete... but I don't care. I'm excited about it - and it's going to be fun.

Yes indeed, my second album is going to be fun - and you can join me in it. I will be posting up the songs all through the process to www.reverbnation.com/theothermarkmiller - starting with the acoustic guitar/vocals scratch track. Then I will build the songs with new ideas and YOUR suggestions or even using instruments you send to me or let me borrow for a bit. So if you want to me to record myself sawing on a piece of wood in rhythm or using an African thumb piano - I'll try it - and post up that version. If it works out, it will be on the final album. And I think I'll do an accompanying CD with the versions that didn't quite make it too :)

You can email your suggestions to me at theothermarkmiller@gmail.com or comment here or on my reverbnation page. Sign up on the reverbnation page though, as thats where all the songs and new versions will be posted. This could be a total flop or creative genius - but either way - we're going to have the time of our lives making it!



Oh- and a special shout out to all my amazing new friends I met at the Cornerstone Music Festival! I look forward to seeing you again in the coming months!

a normal guy in Normal, IL, listening to the Normals

The first of my house shows this week kicks off in Normal, IL, and it is here at the "Coffeehouse" in Normal where I find myself drinking some looseleaf apricot tea and finally updating my blog.

For those of you who don't know, Normal, IL is the home town of an amazing band known as the Normals. Now their generally fearless leader has joined the band Caedmon's Call. But back to topic, the Normals were way, way ahead of their time in talent and musical ideas, and if you don't own any of their albums, you should buy them right now - all three.

Last night, at 1 AM, right as I pulled off of Business 51 into Normal, what song should randomly come on from my 5000 song itunes library but "We are the Beggars" by the Normals - there is a God. And He has realy good taste in music.

Moral of the story, if you are in Normal, IL - Champaign/Urbana, IL, or Indianapolis, IN, send me an email at theothermarkmiller@gmail.com and we can meet up at one of these house shows - tonight through Saturday!!! I'm stoked.

I declare it to be spring.

Today I boycotted winter. The snow may fall, but to me it is spring, and I will wear my flip-flops. So there.

On a side note, I went to an improv comedy show by my friends, Rachel and Karen Carbajal - and it was nothing short of hilariously entertaining. And speaking of hilariously entertaining, ask my little bro about his dreams sometime...but only if you want to hear about his experiences as high priest of the temple, banishing black blobs of destruction with his harp, summoning the power of massive swirling storms to decipher the lies of his not so loyal subjects, and then blowing helicopters out of the sky with rocket launchers. oh, and there's more...he pretty much remembers them all.

do you only have myspace for the music?

If you are tired of myspace, dating ads, and requests from exploited women, allow me to suggest to you a GREAT alternative - www.reverbnation.com

Create a listener profile and enjoy the amazing benefits of a clean, very well made site for both music creators and music lovers. Some things Reverbnation offers:

-custom playlist that keeps playing the music you que up even when you navigate away from an artist page
-unlimited uploads for the artists
-venue pages, so you can keep tabs on your favorite places to go for shows
-widgets

For musicians:
-great ways to keep up with fans and manage contacts
-they pay you a percentage they make from advertising
-the best free resource for uploading music and building your base that I have seen
-sweet street team options for easily tracking "mission" and even doing rewards
-the shows system is amazing - so easy to add shows and for other bands playing at the same show to join yours
-widgets - just check em out, they are cool
-valuable stats that are far more helpful than just seeing how many profile visits or plays you get

Thats my short little plug...after using it for three months now, I must say that I am a big fan of revernation. You can check out my page at www.reverbnation.com/theothermarkmiller

But don't forget to create your own and start finding new music! (and add me when you do :)) Seriously, its worth it.

2 days in the life of...

Yesterday was far more fun than I had presumed it would be. I was over at my Aunt & Uncle's helping with some remodeling, and I had kind of envisioned working with some boring, stuffy contractor... but not only was the contractor cool, my "working buddy" for most of the the day was my little 10 year old cousin, Erica. While I was pulling down sheet rock, she was sharing with me all of the best jokes she could remember, from the blond who jumped out of the plane and turned herself into a penguin, to the flatulent boy who thought he blew up a house, to the ever popular knock - knock. I love that. And she made me crackers with easy cheese and put on some Odyssey tapes. Yup, good day :)

My friend Matt Jensen is making an instrument from a Nintendo controller...old school, 8 bit one...thats pretty sweet, not gonna lie. We were hanging out tonight, and he was doing all the planning on his circuit breadboard and heating up the soldering iron. I can't wait to see/hear the finished project. You can hear some of his electronic music on his myspace. Just search for 0matt0. AND he just released a CD...only $10, so pick it up so he can make two 8 bit controller instruments so I can have one :D Maybe I'll bring it on tour with me.

I've got some new tour dates up by the way! Check it out at www.reverbnation.com/theothermarkmiller If there's not one close to you, give me a shout out and we'll see what we can do to remedy that :)

the indie contingent

con·tin·gent - [kuhn-tin-juhnt]
–adjective

1.dependent for existence
2.A representative group forming part of an assemblage.

There are several things I've been learning on my journey as an "independent" artist:
1.There is no such thing as an independent artist
2.Artists can not possibly survive independently
3.and for you math people out there I've come up with this little formula A^1=undefined

What am I saying? Am I throwing in the sweaty towel? Chucking my guitar against the wall and walking away? ummmm... here is another equation - NO x INFINITY = ANSWER :)

What the term independent means in music, is that we are free to follow our heart's passion, free to express that passion in our art as we desire, and free to distribute and use our art to benefit others with out being inhibited. But to accomplish this, we are actually very, very dependent - on people like you. A group of people that goes beyond just a "listener" or a "fan", into what I am calling the Indie Contingent.

These are the people who share a common vision with me, a vision of reaching out to the oppressed, seeking healing and justice for the exploited, and loving them with the Love that has been poured into us. Are you willing to merge your time and abilities with me in this?



Morocco Trip:

Many of you have heard me express my vision for loving the oppressed around the world, but only some of you know how we plan to let this vision manifest in the near future.
I want to take a small team of people to different countries where significant exploitation is happening for 2 to 3 months. Our goal is to hear their stories so that we can present them in forms of media - songs and other art - to raise awareness and funds to bring aid, practical help, and loving people to the sides of the hurting.
We are currently in the planning stages of preparing for the first of these trips - to Morocco, in the summer of 2008. There is a lot that has to fall into place, but we are preparing, brain storming ideas, and planning in full expectation of it happening.
ALL of these positions below aid this, either in actually participating directly in Morocco, or preparing our distribution base back in America and around the world where we hope to share the stories.



These are the talents I am specifically looking for to join the Indie Contingent -

The people we are looking to potentially have come with us to Morocco are listed below...we hope that those numbers can be replaced soon with names :)

1-2 song writers
1 photographer/video documenter
1 translator or translators in country

And maybe you aren't into traveling around the world, or simply can't... Here are several talents that we really need tons of here in America, or abroad
Graphic Design:
-Merchandise (designing t-shirts, wrist bands, and whatever your mind come us with)
-Web Work (design, Flash, and programming)
-Promotional Material (merch layout at shows, promo posters/flyers, CD designs)

Tour Management:
-Venue Scouts (finding interesting, artistic venues to play in and promote our vision)
-Booking Agents (booking shows at venues like art spaces, colleges, churches, bars)
-Local Talent Scouts (finding artists to join the show in their area and bring new people to listen who normally wouldn't be there)
-Promoters (people who spread the word about new music/shows through word of mouth, distributing flyers, writing reviews and notices for newspapers, getting announcements through connections to radio stations, etc)

Visual Art:
-Artists of nearly any medium (I love to have artists performing during the shows to turn the musical and lyrical message into a fresh visual connection)

Are you interested in joining the Indie Contingent, or just wanting more information?
email me at theothermarkmiller@gmail.com
We sure hope you are, as we are truly impotent without you. Your ideas, hearts, and abilities only make our visions more viable, and its potential reach far greater!

Timbre + Harp = AMAZING

I just got back from a really unique amazing concert - a singer/songwriter, who sings and plays the harp. Freaking out of this world. Go check out her myspace at http://www.myspace.com/timbre

On a side note, my former boss/mentor in Japan is at the onsen right now with my good friend Stephe and Sufjan Stevens. Yes, I'm jealous.

Transition

I always feel this burden to fill you, my friends, in on what has happened since the last time I made my real world existence known...but the mere thought of it talks me out of even trying (yes, I talk to myself in my thoughts, you do too, you probably just don't realize it, thoughts are tricky like that). Anyways, so here is what's happening now.

For the first time in my life I am trying to survive primarily as a musician. Yes its true. I have officially joined the masses of those doomed to love what we do and suffer the consequences :) Which usually means we don't travel unless its for a gig, spend our days networking with people, and get the social tag of "professional slacker."

But, 'tis not fully true my friends...no, the truth is that we do work hard, its just that our work is what most people enjoy, including me - most of the time. Not going to lie, there are days when I do not want to pick my guitar, but then usually be the next day I can resist no longer.

So here I am, learning, learning, and growing, in what is necessary to maintain this vision in the flesh. One things for sure I could not do it without you. And I wouldn't dream about trying to. You, my friends, make me who I am.