New Music By Established Artists

Did you see Bret Michaels on Nashville Star last night? He performed Nothin' But A Good Time to open the show and was joined by the 4 remaining performers. At the end of the show he performed a song off of his forthcoming country CD Freedom Of Sound called Open Road. Good song. His voice was a tad weak, but it was a solid performance.

Bret's a good songwriter. I still play Songs Of Life quite often and I enjoy the songs he performed live, All I Ever Needed and New Breed Of American Cowboy. They are just good songs with some country flavor. I'm not a fan of country, but I like good songs.

I talked to the program director at Lazer 103.3 the other day. I asked him about Waterstock and what they would be playing to promote the show, specifically for Bret Michaels and Skid Row as they have newer CD's out. The director said he hadn't decided on any Skid Row material and would only be playing Poison as the materials he received for Bret were too country for their station. I asked if he had heard Songs Of Life and he hadn't. I also suggested a few Skid tunes that I know they were doing in their set (All New Generation, Thick Skin, and Ghost).

Seeing as Lazer is really going to go about promoting this as a nostalgia show, at least it seems that way, I thought it would be a good idea to e-mail Skid Row and Bret and have them contact the station with some ideas. I suggested Bret get them a copy of Songs Of Life and specifically mentioned Menace To Society and It's My Party. I suggested to Skid Row to encourage their new material as well.

I'm so tired of radio stations and other media outlets treating bands as temporary. Poison still tours and even recorded Hollyweird. LA Guns did one of their best CD's ever with Waking The Dead. Tesla, Skid Row, Jack Russell, Bret Michaels, Jani Lane, Firehouse, Quiet Riot, Enuff Z'Nuff, and tons of others have done CD's in the last couple of years. Why can't radio play new songs by artists that have been around a while? They do it with the mellow guys like Sting and Clapton.

I have found one outlet that does play the new material. XM Satellite Radio. The Boneyard. They were playing new Rough Cutt last time I had mine on. I haven't had XM in over a year, but plan on getting it again this summer.

The other plan is to bombard local radio stations and talk directly to program directors. There needs to be an outlet for this music. I've had young friends really enjoy Bret's music, Jani's song Better Than You, Tesla's Into The Now, and the new Firehouse. I know that this music has an audience and would capture a larger one with promotion. How often have we all grumbled about what radio and MTV play? How many of us are doing something about it? Well, I'm getting my friends hooked and calling radio stations. That has to be a start.

Let me know if you have other ideas. I'm willing to help!