When It Rains, It Pours…

Welcome to the first edition of Doctor Noize’s Blah Blah Blog, where each week I will tell you straight up what is and is not going as planned in the world of Doctor Noize.

For a good portion of the last few years, I have been pouring my heart, mind and money into the creation of the world populated by Doctor Noize, Phineas McBoof, and The International Band Of Misunderstood Geniuses. It’s a world I truly love, and since becoming a father I have grown a deep affection and respect for both the younger set and their parents, who have the most fatiguing/rewarding job in the world. We could all use something that entertains, educates and inspires our kids to find their genius within, respect each other for what we are, go for it, and do it with real passion and enthusiasm.

So Doctor Noize is a calling I believe in very much. Working in relative obscurity — first creating the recording, then the book, then the website, now the show — it has been a rather insulated calling to this point. The only risk has been financial — a substantial risk, to be sure, but not a public one.

Enter the last three weeks…

Things have not been going as planned — but in a good way. Just three weeks ago, I started making my first sales and marketing calls, and my fantastic and experienced PR agent, Beth Blenz-Clucas, started working the Doctor Noize record. And things have progressed a lot faster than expected. Now, my phone is ringing. We have a bunch of reviews coming quickly. XM Kids Radio is premiering the CD in its entirety and sponsoring the official CD release on the July 4th weekend, interviewing me, and playing “Banana” in heavy rotation already. One of the major grocery store checkout stand magazines is hoping to review the CD for its release weekend. One of Denver’s finest venues is hosting the CD Release Concert — it’s listed in the papers, on the web, in radio ads.

All of this — and more — has occurred in the last three weeks alone. Three weeks ago, I was just hoping to get a gig at the local public library. Now, in a few days there will be radio ads in the Denver metro playing Doctor Noize songs and encouraging people I’ve never met to buy tickets at $10 a head. Crazy. But crazy good. To be stupidly honest, I have never doubted the quality of the Doctor Noize products — nobody has ever accused me of lacking confidence, being lazy, or lacking dedication to perfectionism in my creative work and teaching. But I did not expect this sort of exposure to occur so quickly. I’m excited and more than a bit overwhelmed. I have no staff for administration or hanging up show flyers. The team is me, Beth, and my lifelong friends Weldon Dodd (webmaster) and Christian Lowe (artist). That’s it. My brilliant and talented wife helps, but she also has a full time job and is a mother of two. Not a lotta time there.

The big release show is happening sooner than I anticipated, which means I have a whole lot of preparing and rehearsing to do. I have promised some technological wonders in the show that will be very challenging to pull off in less than four weeks time. Add to that the fact that, suddenly, I am doing interviews and fielding phone calls from a myriad of sources, and I’m supposed to deliver hundreds of people to a show in a state I’ve only lived in for six months, and suddenly my work life is extremely complicated and busy, and less insulated and safe. So the next four weeks will be nuts and sleep will tough to come by on many nights.

But here’s something I know from experience: When the right moment to push your dreams forward presents itself, you’re missing the boat if you don’t greet the chaos with a smile. You never know when the next right moment will come. There will always be imperfections in timing, and there will never be enough time to do everything exactly right. So I don’t know how this is all gonna come together, but I can tell you this: It will come together. At least things aren’t boring.

So, not unlike the great Phineas McBoof, more than ever before I am launching my little boat into the big blue sea to discover what I find there. I truly believe that Doctor Noize will make the lives of families and kids a little bit funnerer — sorry to use such a technical term — and I’ll be able to generate enough of an income to justify a career doing it. Wish me luck and drop me a line anytime at doctornoize@pictoriarecords.com

Your buddy for life,

Doctor Noize