(Photo: rutty, Creative Commons)
Comrades, I will be direct. Secret Society has a lot of exciting projects coming up in the next few months, but we need your help to pull them all off.
These include:
- our first-ever show in the UK (at the London Jazz Festival).
- our first-ever show in Italy (at the Aperitivo in Concerto series in Milan).
- our first-ever show in Washington, DC (venues TBA -- soon!).
- our first-ever show premiering newly-commissioned works by composers who are not me — specifically, new works by Vijay Iyer, David T. Little, and Nicky Lizée. This same show will also feature the premiere of songs from The Sleep Room, the first work of mine to be commissioned by a new music ensemble (namely, Newspeak).
We're obviously very proud to be able present this series of firsts. And we're also very proud of what we've accomplished over the past five years. But we are -- I don't know if you've noticed -- a very large ensemble. That means we simply cannot do the things we do without your generous support. If you value what we contribute to the musical ecosphere, please help sustain Secret Society by making a tax-deductible donation via Fractured Atlas.
We are insanely grateful to everyone who donates at any level -- all donors will receive handwritten thankyou notes from me and be credited on the latest incarnation of our Secret Society Supporters page (except those requesting anonymity, of course). Additionally, those who are able to contribute $75 or more will also be credited in the program for our Ecstatic Music Festival appearance on February 24 at Merkin Hall. (N.B. donors wishing to have their names listed in the program must make their contributions by January 31, 2011.)
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I know some of you will think there's something a little odd about my asking for donations. It's true that this sort of thing isn't generally done in the jazz world. Except, of course, by Jazz at Lincoln Center. And SF Jazz. And the Vision Festival. And Greenleaf Music. And Jazz at Five. And Earshot Jazz. And of course, our friends at Search and Restore (of which more later).
And okay, those are all ambitious, multi-faceted organizations -- individual jazz artists and groups don't usually solicit direct contributions. Except for, you know, all the folks using Kickstarter (or similar services) to raise money for their recording projects -- Melissa Stylianou being the latest success story there. In fact, most of you reading this now probably would never have heard of Secret Society were it not for the generosity of these excellent individuals, who helped finance our own debut album.
That said, direct fundraising appeals by jazz groups probably still feels a bit odd to many. But let's take a look across the aisle at our friends in the classical world, shall we? Because given the harsh economic realities of creative music-making circa 2010 I think you're going to see a lot more artists and bands in all kinds of genres emulating the classical model going forward. The ensembles who operate in that milieu -- including everyone's favorite exciting, vital, genre-defying new music ensembles -- solicit individual contributions all the time as a matter of course. In fact, contributed income (including individual donations) is frequently the primary source of revenue for those groups. Earned income -- ticket sales, artist fees, records sales, etc. -- makes up a much smaller portion of the pie, even for the really big names. That's because rehearsing difficult music, especially newly-composed difficult music, is really time-consuming and will never be cost-effective. If classical ensembles did not rely on contributions from individual supporters, they could sell out every single performance and still go broke in no time flat.
This is basically the situation in which Secret Society currently finds itself. I get multiple emails per day, every day, asking me one of two questions: "When are you going to release a new record?" and "When are you going to bring Secret Society to my city?" And of course I'm honored and humbled by the intense interest in our music -- there is nothing I want more than to be able to give people definitive answers to both questions. But the reality is that despite the tremendous critical success of Infernal Machines, that album was an extremely expensive endeavor, record sales (including digital sales) remain in a seemingly endless downward spiral, and I am a long way from breaking even, let alone being in a position where I can afford to do it all over again.
As for the "when is Secret Society coming to Chicago / San Francisco / Austin / Minneapolis / Oregon / Seattle / [fill in the blank]" question -- I'm afraid the answer is: "just as soon as I can find a way to bring the band there and get them back without my having to head straight for debtor's prison upon my return." Secret Society's US appearances outside of New York have been infrequent because the cost of taking 20 people on the road is very high, even for drive-in-drive-out one-offs in Philadelphia or Boston. It's very frustrating because nothing makes a band sound better than a bit of road-seasoning -- if we could afford to play out more often, we would!
I don't mean for this to sound like I am complaining. The truth is, I've been fortunate beyond my wildest dreams. I'm now able to devote much more of my time to my own musical projects -- which is for me (contra Conan) truly what is best in life. But one consequence of this stepped-up schedule is that I've had essentially no time for blogging this year -- to my immense regret. Another consequence is that despite all the new opportunities opening up for us -- or, rather, because of them -- I am actually making much less money (on an hourly basis) now than I did back when I kept up my day job as a freelance music copyist. That is the reality of trying to keep a large ensemble like Secret Society together, and that is why we need your help.
We particularly need your help for the activities we've got planned for the rest of 2010 and early 2011. Next week, Secret Society is going to Europe for only the second time. We've had very generous support from our hosts -- Aperitivo in Concerto and the London Jazz Festival -- and also from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation's USArtists International grant program, without which this tour would not be possible. But I'm sure you can imagine what the trans-Atlantic airfare costs are like for that many musicians and their instruments. Your support means the difference between ending the tour in the red vs. ending it in the black -- and like I said, the less money we lose on the road, the more often we can afford to venture outside of New York City.
Speaking of which, our next stateside road gig will be in Washington DC on January 5, 2011, presented by the most estimable folks at Search and Restore. In fact, your humble co-conspirators are so patriotic that we will be performing in our nation's taxed-yet-unrepresented capital city twice in one day. First will be a free show at 7 PM -- I can't name the venue at this point but let's just say it's named after a certain Brookline lad. The main event, however, happens later that evening: a thoroughly awesome double-bill with Richmond, VA's own Fight The Big Bull. (Full details will be forthcoming very soon, but District residents should save the date. Also, rest assured that we are not leaving New Yorkers out in the cold: we're bringing Fight The Big Bull back with us to Littlefield on Jan. 6.) I've noted before how it's in many ways easier for Secret Society to play in Europe than it is for us to play outside the five boroughs -- your donations can help us expand our Stateside operations.
(I'd be remiss if I didn't also mention that Search and Restore have their own fundraiser currently on the go, and if you are looking to contribute to an organization that is down in the trenches doing the hard work of building the jazz audience of the future, there is no one doing it better than these guys.)
Finally, our most ambitious project is the program we've got planned for the Ecstatic Music Festival at Merkin Hall. It's probably pretty clear to everyone at this point that Secret Society is my baby -- all of the music we've performed over the past five years has been penned by yrs truly. That changes on February 24, when we will premiere commissioned works by three amazing composers: Vijay Iyer, David T. Little, and Nicole Lizée.
Vijay (I hope!) needs no introduction to anyone reading this -- he's been consistently one of the most prolific, inventive, and exciting jazz musicians of the past decade, and it's really cool that people are finally beginning to catch on. David T. Little is the founder, artistic director, and drummer for Newspeak, who are about to unleash their tremendous debut recording, sweet light crude. The album's title track, written by David, is a jaw-dropping tour-de-force, and I can't wait to hear what he has in store for my own stable of co-conspirators. I first met Nicky Lizée as a classical composition major when we were both studying at McGill in the 1990s. Her brilliant record This Will Not Be Televised features fully-notated chamber works written specifically for jazz musicians -- including many of my old Montreal buddies, like Secret Society North co-conspirator Eric Hove.
Here's the thing about premieres. Most of the time, they suck. Not because the music is bad, but because it's horribly under-rehearsed. I do not want these premieres to suck. Suckage is unacceptable. But rehearsing a large ensemble is expensive. Beyond the rehearsal studio rental costs, there are real opportunity costs for the musicians involved -- time spent rehearsing is time not spent freelancing, or teaching, or working a day job, or otherwise hustling to keep the wolf from the door. And just trying to find a time when 18 busy musicians can be in the same room for 3-4 hours is an enormous task in and of itself. Your support is invaluable if we are to properly rehearse the kickass new works Vijay, David, and Nicky are all composing for us to play.
I understand that times remain extremely tough for a lot of people out there. I know there are lots of people who deeply love what we do but can't afford to contribute -- that's why we'll continue to offer free live downloads and other free content as often as we can. But for those of you who believe in what we have been doing and what's coming over the horizon, any contribution you can make is greatly appreciated.
On behalf of all of my co-conspirators, please accept our deepest thanks and most profound gratitude.
Yours most sincerely,
— Darcy James Argue
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Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
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