NHT Blog

One of the many terrific scenes in the 1980 movie “Caddyshack” is when Judge Smails (Ted Knight’s character) asks Ty Webb (Chevy Chase’s character) how he shot in his round of golf that day.  When Webb replies, “Oh I don’t keep score, Judge,” the immediate follow-up that he gets asked is, “Then, how do you measure yourself against the other golfers?”  With his dry wit, Webb comes back with, “By height.”

If you can get people to come see you perform live, that’s only half the battle.  Now that you’ve gotten them there, you need to give them a performance that they’ll not only remember and tell others about, but, want to come back and see you again as a result.

As a songwriter you work so hard trying to come up with original ideas for songs.  You sit in songwriting sessions for hours, for days, trying to come up with a hook that will make yours the next big song that hits radio.  You wake up in the middle of the night to jot down something that somehow crept into your mind.  You don’t want to forget it when you wake up because it’s going to be great for that next song you’

Late (late!) tonight will mark exactly one week from when I flew back from Nashville.  Now that NFL training camps are opening, I can say, “After further review” it was a more productive trip than it already seemed on the surface.

Even if you're immensely talented, it can be discouraging to try and acquire a fan base. It feels a bit like you're having to convince people that you're good, whereas it's much more natural and enjoyable when people discover your music and fall in love with it on their own!

For whatever reason I just don’t find myself watching movies a lot, unfortunately.  Although, there must be a full moon lately or something because I’ve had the opportunity to see a few lately – from the comfort of my own home, mind you.

Various unrelated items that have been accumulating in a notebook (in no particular order):

After accompanying a client to two Open Mics in four nights a week ago in Los Angeles, I realized that it might be old hat to me – having done so previously with another client in Tampa – but that there are likely folks out there who’ve never once attended such.

On the heels of the entry I wrote last week, I was asked to do a follow-up. This time I am going to solely be focusing on ways to avoid bad video if you personally decide to shoot in your own home or studio.

The Focus Should Be on You – Don’t Distract Your Audience

So many performers post cover song videos and, similarly, entrepreneurs post talking head-type videos.  Therefore, it’s time for an analysis of this media by someone who works with it regularly.  This week features a guest blog from Dalton Burdette, an award-winning actor and filmmaker who has done short films that have been screened at festivals and has also done corporate videos.  See some of his work on