Last night we played to a packed house @ The Carleton. The door had a lineup of people waiting in the fucking snow… just to see us. We are in shock, disbelief, and are flooded with gratitude. This is what we’ve been working for… and damn has it delivered. We are so excited to be moving forward from here with the video content from last night – and you can catch us again next Saturday @ Stayners Wharf on the waterfront!! THANK YOU SO MUCH GUYS WE LOVE YOU.
THIS FRIDAY we are playing a show @ The Carleton & we will be LIVE TAPING IT!!! We Want YOU to be in the footage… so come on out! As well as it’s FREEEEEE!!! So you ain’t got no reason to not come out yall! See you there with yo flashy self!
Doors @ 9
Show starts at 930pm with acoustic set from Lindsay
Lazeez, up-and-coming local Jazz/Neo-Soul/Funk/R&B band will be hightening up the night with some magical grooves at 1015pm
Andddddd.. Lindsay Misiner & The 7th Mystic will be hitting the stage at 11pm! A full Friday’s night full of beauty and soul gripping sounds.
Much Love,
7th Mystic Fam
Hello everyone! Lindsay here! Today I wanted to talk with you about a subject that is very close to my soul, my heart, my everything. This subject is Halifax, my beautiful city, and the music community that lives here. I want to take you through my experiences, thoughts, and my future hopes for our thriving musical scene. I will be addressing some concerns, some more thoughts, and other people’s opinions and questions about what exactly this music community is all about. As a disclaimer, I would like to mention that there is no way to learn unless you have an open heart that is willing to grow and you are willing to ask questions. So here we go.
This morning I was scrolling down my Facebook newsfeed, when I saw a post that said something like this:
“I’m so tired of this City and I’m sick of trying to help it.”
This post was written by a musician in the Halifax community toward the people who are working in the Industry, and I guess.. people who are doing better around the city music-wise when it comes to gigs, money, & connections. I then read through the comments, which consisted of some people saying “Fuck yeah I agree!”, and some saying things like “You’ve got to try harder, you’ve got to keep pushing.” There are always two sides to any argument.. and when it comes to this particular “argument” if I may call it that – we have some very opinionated folk around here. I have been one of these very opinionated folks, and it has gotten me in trouble in the past. I have completely butchered good connections around this city because I felt as if I was being treated unfairly, or as if I was being ignored on purpose. Which let me tell you… ain’t the case. I can’t exactly speak on being treated unfairly – because it has happened and it always will happen. This is how the world has always worked, and it takes people who are educated within their communities (I’m talkin’ obviously basic education, but beyond that – social awareness) to stand up for themselves in the proper way, and then move on to changing things, if need be, from there. Nothing will change with a bunch of hot-headed, ignorant people just blabbing on about bullshit that really doesn’t matter.
So with that – I must bring up the big picture here. In no way am I bashing the person who wrote that post. I’ve been that person, and sometimes I still want to be that person. I want to write a post on social media saying “WHO THE FUCK IS RUNNING THIS SHIT?!?!?” Trust me, it a real thing, these are valid feelings. What the deal is here though, especially in the Halifax Music community (and truly, I’d imagine every arts community around the globe) – They want to work with people who are ready. Being ready doesn’t always mean being a millionaire who has a studio in their basement since they were 5, and have recorded album after album for free because their parents were already accomplished artists (just a random scenario). Although it sometimes feels as if that’s the expectation. Being ready means yes, sometimes having more resources than others (because you have worked for them), and can possibly mean being more financially stable than the average joe at times – but being ready really means that you give a shit. You have educated yourself on your craft, you have made yourself aware and available to and for the people who you know you need to connect with, you are building connections with the venues that will become more and more important as time goes on, as well as learning how to conduct yourself as a business person. They want to work with someone who isn’t a hot-head. They want to work with artists that can come to practices, gigs, shows & meetings on time and not be wacked out of their fucking tree. They want to work with people who seem to somehow already know what they are doing, not with a cocky attitude, but an air of “I have educated myself enough in this business that when you talk to me, I understand what you’re saying, as well as I am open to learning and taking your suggestions… and then moving on with you as a business partner, from there.”
This is where I struggled for such a long time. I even went to music college, was told to not be a hot-headed mess… AND STILL ACTED LIKE A FOOL!! I felt as if the music community owed me something because I was just Oh-so-talented. I still believe strongly in my talent… but ain’t nobody owe me NOTHING!!! I owe it all to myself. I owe myself the respect and dignity of respecting people who have come before me, who have worked harder than I have yet, and who have gone through the kicks and punches and have become successful. These people have worked their asses off to be where they are. They didn’t just get there by looking pretty. These people WANT to help you. But you have to be willing to accept the help, as well as ask for it… in a proper manner. You have to be willing to take that ego and throw it out the damn window! This isn’t easy.. but let me tell ya… it’s worth it 100%.
Being an artist is a tough profession. You don’t just wake up one day with a million dollars in your bank account and ready to go on a world tour. It just doesn’t work like that… and if it did, I’m sure we’d all be mentally insane by the time our 2nd world tour rolled around. You NEED to learn, you MUST gain experience to move forward, and you HAVE TO be willing to take advice from the folks who have done exactly what you are trying to do.
With that, I think that this city could take another step in helping people to understand this. I had to learn this yes, from other people who have been there, such as the teachers in my college and other musicians around the city… but I have also learned a lot from trial and error. Like I said, I’ve made a lot of mistakes in this community and have done some pretty dumb things that have ruined connections, or at least skewed them. So really, I am grateful for my mistakes because without them… I’m sure I wouldn’t have smartened up in time. Anyone can give you advice, but until you actually apply it, or in my case – make mistakes and go through the motions… you ain’t gonna get it. What I think the arts community of Halifax could do to help up-and-coming musicians with this is talk about it more. Write more blog posts, news articles, tutorial videos about situations and scenarios such as this and allow for people to have the simple resource of learning to understand that this is the way it is. It is difficult to have these resources sometimes because most things cost money, everything costs a lot of effort… but the main thing here is that there are thousands of people in this community trying to do the exact same thing as you. Which really, is truly wonderful. But with that, we must remember that everyone needs positive attention, love, and appreciation… and it is next to impossible for one person, or a few people running the show to take the time out of their busy lives to cater to one specific person, or a few specific folks. It’s not because you are disliked individually.. it is because we are all only human. To aid someone else in their artistic endeavours, no matter the case, is not a simple task that can be done with the snap of a finger. Investments are made when the drive is shown by the individual(s) who are wanting the assistance and guidance. The definition of Community is:
A group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.
In Our case, we’re all artists in this artistic community, and that we will always have in common. What we must remember is to build on these commonalities and recognize that through community we can create something much bigger than hate, judgement, and negativity, all together.
This is my piece.
Thanks for reading ya’ll.
Much Love,
Lindsay
Lindsay has entered the 2017 CBC SEARCHLIGHT Competition! Click on the image below to vote daily! All you’ve gotta do is create an account, and from there you will be able to vote with no hassle every day! Thanks so much everyone! On the way up!!!!!
Hey everyone! Lindsay here! 2017 is definitely rolling right on by already, and over the last few weeks I’ve been making some big changes in my life, especially when it comes to music. I have decided that it makes way more sense to just do what I love, full time. Take energy wasted on being upset that I’m working a job that has absoloutely nothing to do with music, and use it for booking gigs, finding gigs, practicing & getting better. This month coming I have enough gigs to support myself, as well as some of them are even private events, which I’m new to. I’m starting to realize that the best way to connect with people for booking events is to believe in yourself. The best way to sustain yourself by doing what you love is to LOVE what you do and do it VERY well.
Along with booking some awesome gigs and building my repertoire song-wise… I’ve started something extremely awesome. Originally, I wanted to start an online magazine or blog featuring interviews from local artists. I started building my online platforms and asking people what they thought about it, until an idea clicked in my head. When I’m scrolling through my Facebook, I usually stop at every video that pops up. If it’s a good video – I’ll stick around, if not – I’ll keep scrolling. So if I start making videos of me interviewing local artists, as well as feature them singing in live-action, a song or two – people would really enjoy watching it! I’ve decided to use skype as my main tool. I will video tape the interview on my computer screen and then post the video just like that! I think it’ll be a super cool and interactive way to make things really interesting for the viewers! This show is called Look & Listen with Lindsay Misiner and it will be starting within the next week. My first interview will be with the lovely Ryan Willigar, who I’ve got a show with next week. Click on the image below to be re-directed to the facebook page. Give it a like, and a share if you want… and we can start this journey together! As well as if you’d like to be interviewed, just message the page and we will make it happen.
Check out my intro video below! I am so very excited!
Along with this, I’ve got some great gigs coming up! I will be playing TWO gigs next Thursday, February 9th! First gig is at Dilly Dally Eats on Quinpool road! I will be featured in a songwriters circle with the rest of the artists TBA. Then it’s on to the Carleton for a night of MORE SINGER/SONGWRITERS featuring me, of course, Ryan Willigar, & this awesome guy I met at open mic the other week! His name is James Cutler and he’s coming in all the way from Newfoundland! I am so very excited to see how this show pans out! Click on the poster below to be re-directed to the event page! Hope you can join us!
I spent the day working on this cover by Erykah Badu… my fave tune! If you dig this… you can catch me solo @ The Anchor this coming Saturday! (Click image to be redirected to Facebook Event Page!)
Happy Holidays to all from The 7th Mystic!! Now we’ll see you on New Years right?
