A Small Dose Of Wake Up Addy

By Fringe Staff

By SuperGina

I can’t help but pick bands that hardly anyone has heard of to write about. I feel like they need the exposure more than other bands who have been out and about longer. Wake Up Addy is another one who’s obscurity has drawn me in. Fringe: You guys as a band are almost brand spankin’ new compared to some the bigger bands in Sac, but the guys in your band have experience in other bands right?

Wake up Addy: Yeah… ranging from christian pop punk bands to jazz bands to Still Life Projector, So Called Tragedy, Madison, and more… we have all been scene underdogs for awhile…

Fringe: I heard that you guys changed your name a few times… what made you finally decide on Wake up Addy?

Wake up Addy: Haha, well that’s kinda a funny story. We were called “lovers and murder” for quite awhile, but we figured that since we had a change of vocalists and overall style, we needed a new name. Something that has more meaning than just a scenester cliche bullshit trend thing…lets just say…. the answer kept me up all night.

Fringe: I know that when your band was forming you went through a lot of changes, how did you settle on the current lineup?

Wake up Addy: Straight up, its because we found the right guys to work through drama with. Every band fights tooth and nail about nearly everything, and the bands that work are the guys that can know from the get go to not let the drama kill the friendships and even more than that, the music. We are all very close friends, and respect each others opinions, even if we don’t agree on everything. Its like being 5 brothers with no parents… haha.

Fringe: You guys have a few songs up on your myspace, but no real CD out yet, are you going to put those songs out as an EP or record more and do a full length?

Wake up Addy: Well we are still in the mixing process, and when its done we are releasing a 7 song ep. we are already working on pre production for our full length… with 12 new songs not on the ep. We should be having a cd release for the ep by the end of this year.

Fringe: I hear that you did a lot of the recording stuff yourselves… how did that come about? Why didn’t you go into a studio and do it?

Wake up Addy: We do pre-production by ourselves, and go to real studios for the recordings we release. Haha I guess that promotes and demotes the rumors huh?

Fringe: Everyone nowadays depends a lot on myspace for promoting and building a fanbase, I notice you guys posting a lot of bulletins about things going on or your music player. What’s your take on the whole using myspace as a tool for bands?

Wake up Addy: If the shoe fits, wear it.

Fringe: Where do you see the band in 5 years?

Wake up Addy: We are entertainers, and we will be doing what we do for our fans until our lives end.

Are You A Loser?

By Fringe Staff

By Brandon Caylor

Over the last few years, we have been force-fed reality TV shows almost to the point that the current Writer’s Guild strike shouldn’t really have too big of an impact on our entertainment habits. Survivor to Fear Factor, American Idol to the Great Race, Big Brother, Flavor of Love, Top Model, and the list goes on. It seems every network must have at least one reality show. There is now even a new network that shows nothing BUT reality shows. What is the attraction to these? Is it because we like to watch common everyday people do things that we would never catch ourselves doing? Is it the drama? Is it an opportunity to just point at the TV and laugh? Many of the shows are mundane, carbon copies of the one that came on before it. There is an exception though. One reality show actually does some good, not only for the people on it, but for a large chunk of our population as well. And I do mean large.

The Biggest Loser is now in its fourth season on TV, and it seems to be drawing more viewers each year. Before the first season, the local NBC channels aired many teasers showing a bunch of large, obese people running. Many would have assumed this was the network’s sick idea of a joke, taking advantage of somebody’s weight problem and trying to make a quick buck by making them do humiliating things on TV. Many were wrong, as this was not the point at all.

Yes, the show does feature large, obese people running, going through extremely strenuous work-out sessions, changing their eating habits, and weighing themselves each week in front of millions. (And I know so many people that won’t even go near a scale if there is somebody else in the room.) Is it amusing? Yes, in a weird kind of way, but there’s something way bigger about this show (pun not intended) that gives its fans a reason to watch each week. I’m talking about confidence, hope, and courage.

Losing weight is one of the most difficult things to do. It takes a tremendous amount of commitment and will-power. When we tune in to The Biggest Loser, we see a group of everyday people going through the struggle of their lives. Most importantly, we see them commit themselves to losing weight, and we see them succeed. And more important than that, we see how it affects not only them, but their families and loved ones as well.

We see these contestants inspire their friends to make similar lifestyle changes, and we see our own friends inspired by them. The show’s popularity shows no signs of waning. More people are watching, and more people are motivated to drop the unwanted pounds and lean toward a healthier lifestyle.

I asked Mark Morgan, a Biggest Loser watcher, what draws him to the show.

“You mean, what do I get out of sitting on my butt, and watching others work their butts off?” he laughs. “It’s just neat to see people really willing to change their lives.”

Matt Meredith, another fan of the show, discussed how a group of people in his office staged their own competition.

“It was a department-wide competition with eight people putting in $20.00. We had weekly weigh-ins, with some people disclosing their weight while others preferred not to. The competition went from March 1 to July 2, with the winner getting $100.00, second place getting $40.00, and third place getting $20.00. It was a real motivator having others you work so closely with weighing in and notching their losses each week. It worked really well in getting us all to eat much better and develop better eating habits.”

Did I mention that Matt won the competition?

“I initially weighed in at nearly 240 pounds and finished at 214. I actually put a few pounds back on, but I know that with the holidays out of the way, I can get back down to where I was before, and even lose more.”

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to quickly get a seat at your favorite restaurant on January 1st? So many people start their diets that day, so the rest of us get first dibs on the goods. Even so, most eating establishments today now offer healthier selections on their menus. And have you been to the frozen dinner section of your local grocery store? Have you ever seen so many Weight Watchers meals, or Lean Cuisine meals?

America is definitely on a path toward becoming a leaner nation. It’s a good decision, too! Did you know that the USA is the most obese country in the world? Hopefully not for long. The contestants on The Biggest Loser are changing that, and inspiring the rest of us to shed a few pounds as well.

The best part of the show is when the contestants return home. Yeah, the winner gets a lot of money, but that is not nearly as nice as what they get when their families see them for the first time, as changed people. We see how proud they are, and we see genuine love in their hearts. That is the greatest payoff of all.

This One’s For The Promoters

By Fringe Staff

By Charlie Hanks

Every kid who picks up a guitar or a microphone dreams of one day fighting off the paparazzi and swimming in dough. But then the harsh reality of life kicks in, probably around their mid-teens, early twenties, and that dream gets shattered when they realize it’s not as easy as playing one show, getting signed, and moving to LA.

Most bands who’ve “made it” earned their dues by playing crappy bars, scraping by for gas to get to one town or another, and playing those shows where only two or three people actually show up. That’s the life of a local band. Hardly ever do we actually make enough money to cover expenses, or profit. Hardly ever do we find a club or a promoter who pays fairly and does their job of really promoting a band or show. Hardly ever does the ride go smoothly. Hardly ever do we give up after a bumpy ride.

In today’s scene there are so many people trying to get a piece of the pie that is live music. The business of being in a band is as difficult as ever, and the business of playing shows is just as daunting.

The bands that are doing it right are paying for a rehearsal studio, gas, gear and the maintenance on said gear, ads in local magazines, flyers, stickers, merch, etc. And then when we play a show for a crooked booker/promoter we get stiffed when pay-out time comes and we get excuses as to why they can’t pay even though we brought over a hundred paying friends and family to the club at $8 a head. Sometimes after driving over 60 miles in four different vehicles.

Granted not all bookers/promoters are crooked. Some understand and pay the bands no matter what, even out of their own pocket at times. Some promote their shows and do their job right. Some promoters love the music so much they take care of the bands and have a real talent for doing all they can to make the scene better (most can be found in these pages). Certainly me ranting about this will ruffle some feathers, but I’ve been in this scene for going on eight years, and have a long list of crooked promoters I just flat out won’t deal with any more, all of them know who they are.

These crooked promoters have to know that in the local band community, you stiff or unfairly treat one band, a lot of other bands will know and not want to deal with you.

I wrote about what the bands can do to better the scene and now I felt the need to write about what the promoters could do.

Quit taking the bands for granted! We put a lot of money, hard work, blood, sweat and tears into all that we do. Do your job of promoter and promote your shows, if you truly want to use that title.

We know you have expenses too, but all of those should be laid out on the table when the show is booked, not any later.

It’s a hard enough life as a local musician already, like we need more snakes in the grass nipping at our heels.

If you’re in it for the money, you’re not a good promoter.

5 Folk Bands To Know… According To Fringe: January 2008

By Fringe Staff

1. Jon Roniger - jonroniger.com/

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