Kickstarter

Blues and Muse has, for about five years now, existed as a monthly open mic night at a variety of venues. At least it did until last year, when the host/organizer Chico was diagnosed with cancer. This isn't about that though. This is about bringing Blues and Muse back to Detroit bigger and stronger than ever before. How are we going to do that? With your help, of course. Before you can help, though, we need to explain what bigger and stronger means.

BIGGER - In addition to the open mic night aspect, we want to add an additional talk show segment in which Chico interviews the month's featured performer and gives them an opportunity to talk about their inspirations and plug their product (if they have product to plug). Not only do we want to add a second show to the line up, but we want to stream both shows live in HD so people the world over can share in the metro Detroit poetry and music culture.

At the end of series one, which will stream live twice (one talk show segment and one open mic) every other month for a year, we will take all the talk show segments and the performances of the featured artists and combine them to create a set of DVDs. These will contain six hours of content, plus any additional behind-the-scenes sort of things we come up with to include along the road. We're hoping that DVD and other merchandise sales will be sufficient to allow us to continue producing Blues and Muse well into the future.

STRONGER - We want to put considerably more effort into promotion than we were able to in the past. We used to rely almost entirely on Chico, who spread the word by attending other open mics in the area. While this got the word out to the poet crowd, its success was spotty at best. Our hope is that with additional funding to put into advertising through online and print ads, we can get a more steady crowd in the doors and more people watching the live stream at home. which will get our featured performers in front of more people and get them more exposure.

That's great, but why do you need us?

I'll tell you why. Because we're broke and putting all this together costs money. Streaming video is actually fairly simple if you have the right equipment, the problem is we don't have the right equipment. We're also committed to providing a higher quality streaming experience than just sticking a camera in front of the stage and letting it roll. We want to run multiple cameras and we want the audio to be top notch. Which means we need bodies to operate and monitor all the equipment, and those bodies are going to want some sort of compensation.

In the history of Blues and Muse, we've also noticed we get a better turn out when we're offering free food. This is a tradition we hope to continue by offering some sort of munchies free of charge for our patrons to enjoy during the show. After all, Blues and Muse typically runs for about four hours, and we want people to stick around and enjoy the show. People aren't going to stick around if they get hungry. Sure, we could charge a small fee for the food we serve to offset the cost of offering it, but really we don't want the hassle of having to keep a lot of money on hand to make change and things like that. We're not trying to run a concession stand, we just want to give folks some free eats.

Additionally, there are pesky things like insurance and internet connections to pay for. We're going to have a lot of equipment set up for these shows and that means lots of cords running around and things like that. Last thing any one needs is someone tripping over a cord and getting hurt or breaking a very expensive camera. Something like that would very quickly put an end to all the fun we're having putting on these shows, and no one wants that.

So, let's get on to the good part. What's in it for you?

Rewards

ALL BACKERS will be LISTED AS SPONSORS on BLUESANDMUSE.COM and in the SHOW CREDITS!

I like to think we have a pretty good variety of kick-ass rewards lined up for this project.First of all, Chico, Drake Harlem, and Fyl Frazee will be contributing work to a 30 page chapbook of poetry and flash fiction that will not be available outside of backing this project on Kickstarter. We're letting that little gem go for a mere $3 in PDF form and $30 for a signed physical copy you can enjoy in all your favorite places, such as the park, the coffee shop, and the toilet. We even have the physical chapbook bundled with other stuff at the higher pledge levels as well. Just in case you're feeling spendy, but really, really want that book.

Next we have these lovely pieces of work as 5x7 prints.

The top row are paintings and a drawing by Krystal Frazee, and the bottom row are photos taken by Fyl. For a paltry $15, you can have your very own print of your choosing. Can't choose? Have all six prints, the chapbook, and your very own DVD set of the finished series all for a pledge of $120.

Did I mention there would be a DVD set? No? Then here is as good a place to bring it up as any. Not only will we be streaming the shows live, but we'll be recording them so we can compile the talk show segments with the featured artists performances to create a multi-disc set that you can watch over and over and over again till your DVD player explodes.

After that, we start getting into the big money that only the most ardent, generous fans and supporters would be willing to part with for fancy things like dinner with Chico and Fyl and an Associate Producer credit, or a visit to the set and an Executive Producer credit.

Finally, if you're a real big spender you can part with more than I make in a year and in return take a wild trip down to Vegas with Chico and Fyl. Don't worry, folks, we won't do any gambling with pledge money -we need that to make the show happen- but we will enjoy ourselves and post lots of pictures anywhere we can to prove we had a good time. I'll be honest, this reward is a joke more than anything. We don't honestly think anyone is going to part with $10,000 to back our little show. We were going to set this reward at a million dollars, but Kickstarter has a $10k limit on pledge values.

Who the hell are we?

ROGELIO HERNANDEZ - LIFE JOURNALIST

WRITER : ESSAY AND FREE VERSE

ACTIVE IN CULTURAL EVENTS PRODUCTION:

* FILM

* SPOKEN WORD

* VISUAL ARTS

* DANCE

* MUSIC

-BORN IN SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS - RAISED IN SOUTHWEST DETROIT

-CO-FOUNDER, ARTISTS’ COLLECTIVE; A WRITERS’ GROUP FOCUSED ON IMPROVEMENT OF ITS SKILLS AND PRODUCING EVENTS THAT RECOGNIZED LOCAL ARTISTS, FEATURING THEIR WORK WITH OUR MUSIC AND SPOKEN WORD TRIBUTE

-FOUNDER ARTSPEAK; COLLABORATING METRO ARTISTS’ EFFORTS BY SHOWCASING THEIR MUSIC, VISUAL ARTS, PERFORMANCE, ETC., AT MONTHLY EVENTS THROUGHOUT THE METRO AREA.

-CURRENTLY HOSTING “CHICO’S BLUES AND MUSE”. AN ALL-ARTS-GENRE INCLUSIVE EVENT WITH A STRONG BUT NOT EXCLUSIVE, BLUES THEME

-LIFE JOURNALIST: COMMENTING ON OBSERVATIONS OF EVERYDAY LIFE, IN ESSAY AND FREE VERSE FORM

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FYL FRAZEE - CERTIFIED MADMAN

ACTIVE IN DIGITAL MEDIA PRODUCTION AND PUBLISHING

-BORN IN GARDEN CITY, MICHIGAN - RAISED HERE AND THERE AND BACK AGAIN

-FOUNDER AND GRAND WIZARD: ROGUE BARD MEDIA, LLC A DIGITAL MEDIA PRODUCTION AND PUBLISHING COMPANY FIGHTING RAGING DEMONS IN ORDER TO MAKE A MARK ON THE WORLD WITH AN INDELIBLE  ARRAY OF NEON COLORED INKS, DARK COMEDY, AND THE DYSTOPIC VISIONS OF CRAZED BLIND LEPERS.

-CURRENTLY BEGGING FOR YOUR PLEDGES: A PLEA FROM ONE SOUL TO ANOTHER WITH THE SINCEREST OF PROMISES TO PROVIDE HOT LIVE STREAMED ENTERTAINMENT STRAIGHT TO YOUR COMPUTRONOMATIC FROM SOME OF THE METRO DETROIT AREAS GREATEST UP AND COMING PERFORMERS ON A BI-MONTHLY BASIS WHILE DOING MY DAMNEDEST TO COURT SPONSORS SO WE DON'T HAVE TO TAKE UP BEGGING AGAIN NEXT YEAR WHEN WE'RE TRYING TO PRODUCE A SECOND SERIES OF SHOWS.

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We are committed to the Kicking it Forward movement and pledge to contribute 5% of Blues and Muse profits toward backing other peoples projects. Find out more at kickingitforward.org

If there's any other questions, comments, concerns, etc feel free to drop us a line. I'm sure we missed something somewhere.