Friday Night’s Gig at PRESIDIO!

Had such a great time on last night’s gig at PRESIDIO Restaurant at The District at Green Valley Ranch! I have to admit, though, I was really nervous going into it.

To begin with, we had a brand new guitarist on the gig (John Falbo), whom I had NEVER played with before, and even though I had my regular keyboardist & drummer (Tony Branco & Gary Olds) with me, 90% of the music we ended up doing was NOT the classic jazz stuff we usually do TOGETHER. Scary! And although I’ve sung Motown, R&B & some Rock in the past with other bands, I’d say close to 50% of what we did last night was completely brand new to me as well. LOTS of new songs! But, guess what? It turned out great! John was flippin’ A-MAZING on the guitar…really, really incredible. And Tony and Gary are such pros..listening to them, you would think they’d been playing that stuff together for years.

So I’d like to send out a HUGE thank you to Perry Bruno (manager of PRESIDIO Restaurant) for having us there…seriously, one of the NICEST guys in Vegas AND a really fantastic musician himself (he sat in on drums during the last set for a totally kick-a$& rendition of  “Teach Me Tonight”….very, very fun!).

Here’s some video from the gig that I posted to YouTube this morning:

Not sure when we’ll be back, but if you get a chance, go check out the restaurant…really great food and the nicest staff ever! PRESIDIO Restaurant (formerly Kennedy Tavern), 2235 Village Walk Drive, Suite 141, Henderson, NV 89052

Have a great weekend everyone!

Suncoast VIP and Press Event!

Lisa Smith, Suncoast Showroom, Sept 16, 2010 (photo by Erwin Flacks)

This past Thursday, my band and I had the immense privilege of being the opening AND closing entertainment for the Suncoast Hotel & Casino’s private media & VIP event, unveiling their newly renovated, GORGEOUS showroom! Accompanying me were incredible musicians Mike Clark (piano), Gary Olds (drums), Geoff Neuman, (bass) and Mikole Kaar (saxophone). We did about 30 minutes of music at the start of the event (mostly jazz & big band stuff) and then I was given the honor of introducing David Nolan, Assistant General Manager of the Suncoast Hotel & Casino, who said a few words. Following that, the Las Vegas Tenors (Bobby Black, Teddy Davey, Bill Fayne), The fabulous Scintas (Chrissi, Joe, & Frankie Scinta, along with Peter O’Donnell), Kelly Clinton-Holmes & Mollie Tennant (singing the famous Garland/Streisand arrangement of “Happy Days Are Here Again”) and the multi-talented Domenick Allen (former lead singer of Foreigner) each did a number…wow, so much GREAT talent on one stage!!! There was even a special toast given by the one-and-only Cloris Leachman (who is appearing THIS weekend in the showroom). Following the toast, my band went back on stage for another 30 minutes to close out the event. OMG, I had so much fun!!!! Seriously, SO MUCH FUN! Fingers-crossed that I get to do more of these kinds of events… (hint, hint…for anyone out there listening?????) :)

“Music Success in Nine Weeks”

Um, okay, so it’s been a while since I’ve posted…like 5 months!!!!!!! OMG, I am so sorry. While part of the reason I have been so horrible about posting is that I’ve been really busy, I realize that’s not a good excuse. Everyone is busy, right? So, no excuses…here we go…again:

I am reading a new book, “Music Success in Nine Weeks” by Ariel Hyatt, and I am getting SO MUCH out of it that I just HAD to take a quick moment to share about it. Here’s a brief description from the website:

Music Success in Nine Weeks is a guide for musicians to define their brand, grow their fan-base, earn more income, and achieve success in the digital environment, whether they are new to the industry or longtime artists. Music Success in Nine Weeks provides the missing manual for musicians trying to make sense of the social media revolution and explains step-by-step how to create a profitable and sustainable business from their music. Just released in its second edition, the book can easily be deemed the “what to do next” bible for both new and established artists. Structured like a workbook, with room for exercises and notes, the book takes all of the guesswork out of where to start and how to achieve success as a musician in today’s world.

The first chapter is all about GOAL SETTING, getting things DONE, and celebrating your SUCCESSES. After writing out all of my goals by hand, I purchased a great little iPhone app (for my iTouch) call 2Do and transferred them all into there. In the two weeks I’ve been using it, it has proven to be an absolute God-send for helping me follow through on the goals and tasks that I set for myself each day (which in turn helps get me that much closer to all of my short-term, 12-month and lifetime goals!). Highly recommend checking it out.

The second chapter is about creating your PERFECT PITCH…the idea being that you need a succinct way to explain to someone who has never heard your music what’s it’s like. Here’s  what I came up with: “Classic Jazz, Contemporary Edge.” Took me a few days to settle on that, but I think it sums up what I do pretty well. Any thoughts???? Then I went through all of my various websites, social networks, and added that “tagline” to the top of every page.

Chapter 3 is about OPTIMIZING YOUR WEBSITES! Making sure they load quickly, giving them a consistent feel (using the same colors/photos on all of your various profile pages across the net, so that you can begin to establish a “branding look” of your own), linking all of your sites together, etc. TONS of great info there! Still working on this chapter, but I’ve gotten quite a bit done. Check out my website, www.lisasmithjazz.com, and my NEW twitter page, www.twitter.com/lovinazz! Let’s just say I’ve been having a lot of FUN in Photoshop this week!!! Let me know what you think???

I still have several chapters to go, but I am absolutely LOVING everything I have gotten out of the book so far…thanks Ariel!!!!!!