Hello August!
Sound of Music Update and what’s next…
Hi friends!
It is August. It’s been quiet here because right after I barreled through the last 5-show weekend of The Sound of Music, I was only able to spend a few days trying to get my “normal” life and work here back on track before, unfortunately, getting sick with Covid and losing that last precious week/weekend of July. I was so unwell that even getting to my computer and going through the process of drafting a post/email here and all the surrounding tasks was just not on the table, so here I am, springing forth mostly better to connect with you!
Because Covid stole some of my first “free” days after the show but before August 1st, I’m pledging to make up for the missed July song by getting one posted here in the coming days, and getting an August song out to you later in the month. So that we won’t miss one!
On to other updates: the audio part of putting together the new Alone EP, “Alone: The Sound of Music Collection” is finally complete and I was at long last able to get digital copies to pre-orderers this week. (Here’s the post where I announced it ICYMI.) If you pre-ordered this collection, you’ve already gotten an email with much of what I’m including in the bottom of this email, so feel free to just read this top blurb and ignore the rest!
In case you missed my Vault update last month, there is something different we’re trying for the rest of the year: there will no longer be “recurring” monthly-Vault-exclusive concerts in order to make room for more regularly-scheduled off-Vault broadcast consistency. There will still be special events throughout the year to which you will have complimentary and sometimes exclusive access, but they will not happen each month (at least for now).
We do, however, have a BIG event coming up in the not too distant future: this year’s Seven Songs in Seven Days! While there is some scheduling stuff that needs to be confirmed before I can commit to the definitive dates, I am currently hoping to run the campaign from Saturday September 17th to Friday September 23 (with our big annual 7s7d-song-debut concert taking place during our “normal” Wednesday night broadcast slot, 7 or 8PM EST on September 28). So that will be our next Vault exclusive broadcast event!
A heads-up: 7s7d coming up means that we are coming up on our One-Year-Vault-iversary! Those of you who joined the Vault during 30 Songs in 30 Days (during the initial from-Patreon migration) last August/September and joined via an annual subscription are about to be re-upped for another year. If you don’t want to renew your annual subscription another year, or want to downgrade or upgrade your plan, you can do that easily from your login window. You will be receiving separate account/receipt-style emails from the Vault when your renewal date is getting close, so you shouldn’t be caught off-guard, but I did want to remind you myself just so it’s on your radar.
Your support is so appreciated and especially this weird past year as I’ve been trying new things. My August and September plans will definitely include updating and adjusting the UI and content here at The Vault so that we can move into year two with a better-organized and streamlined members area that provides a lot of easily accessible value. So I hope you’ll continue to party with us over here at The Vault!
There are a couple IRL events coming up for me as well, so preparing for those will require some prep and attention. Excited to tell you more about them once details are finalized! And, of course, I’m starting to fantasize about finally attempting the house concert tour that I had originally hoped to do back in 2020 for next year (2023)…
Regarding more near-future streams and scheduling: my plans are still a bit squishy. My first order of business post-show and post-Covid was to get the digital copies of A:SoM out, and then to touch base with you here before we got too far into August, but OH BOY do I need a couple days to take a look at all my commitments and figure out how things are going to get done and when. I hope to have some firm details about when things are going to be really rolling again (like I want them to be) on the livestream-front soon though.
One amazing thing about having had to take all this time away from my normal routine in order to do the stage show was that it gave me some much-needed perspective on what I’ve been trying to attempt so far this year (with great intentions, but poor execution).
My intended new strategy looking toward the rest of 2022 is to refocus my deep work time and energy back into one channel at a time (I know, I know, how radical 🙄) until I feel it is presentable and “ready,” then installing its recurring time slot consistently before adding more broadcasts from the other channels to the mix.
I’m not exactly sure what this is going to look like yet as far as time (in weeks) required or in what order I will attempt this (for example: OBDR has been feeling pretty solid, actually, minus a few minor tweaks that need to be made, so I might just install that channel at its weekly slot first, then progress to getting the weekly lexlandmusic events set up and tweaked, for instance).
As usual, once I do get my sh*t together and figure out what the plan is, you will be the first to know! I’m really excited to dig back into the live-streaming because getting to connect with you all on a regular basis is the most fun thing I get to do, doing what I do. But I also want to be sure I’m keeping my stress low while providing you with the absolute best content/value/performances I can provide when we are together. ❤️
I will continue to keep the event calendar here in The Vault and at http://lexlandmusic.com/live current to the best of my ability, and, of course, for up-to-the-minute announcements you can join us at our forum at Discord to get notifications and reminders in real-time.
Our next Vault-exclusive concert will take place in
September 2022
to celebrate the end of this year’s
SEVEN SONGS IN SEVEN DAYS
for a complete listing of scheduled events, check out the calendar.
JULY RECAP:
Everything in my world fell apart with trying to finish the show and then contracting Covid, so an original song for July is forthcoming and will be delivered to you in the coming days.
There was, however, some bonus content in the form of a free download and sneak peek listen to the titular track from my new EP, “Alone: The Sound of Music Collection.”
AUGUST DISCOUNT CODE:
Your Vault exclusive discount code at the Lex Land Store for this month is: UNrUiS
You can visit the store and automatically apply the discount code to your card by clicking here.
More background on what’s been up with me this summer…
As you likely know, I was cast as Mother Abbess in a beautiful theatrical production of The Sound of Music at our regional professional theatre here in Austin, TX. This production was unique in that it was staged as an "Actor-Musician" version of this musical, which means that just about all the cast members had acting roles in addition to comprising the orchestra for the show. We started rehearsals on May 21, and because of my principal-role+orchestra-duties responsibilities, it was a grueling rehearsal schedule followed by a 6 week run of performances (7 shows a week, with both matinee and evening shows Saturdays and Sundays).
In my naiveté and blind optimism, I assumed I could continue doing most of what I typically do on a daily basis despite having to put so much work into these performances. That assumption was disproven quickly and easily during rehearsals (which are very long and intensive days of physical work and focus, plus homework when not at the studio), but, still, I believed, "once performances start I will have more free time" which was somewhat true, but the sleep/physical rest and prep (vocally warming up and workshopping the show material daily, changing guitar strings, revising charts, and all the little un-fun minutiae that I always forget about and which always ends up taking way more time than I think it will once I do remember) required to do good performances and not make myself sick took up just about all the very little free time I did have. My body kinda fell apart 🤣 at first I hurt my foot breaking in the costume shoes (and I'm still not walking normally 😑), and then, making matters worse, I had a bad carpal tunnel flare-up which prevented me from doing even really basic things like making the bed. So I was in a wrist splint when not performing and using pain relievers and icing my hand several times a day throughout the run.
As an entire production team, we were, of course, testing for Covid several times a week and taking careful precautions not to get it or spread it to the rest of the team. There were no understudies in this production and we would have had to cancel performances if any of the principal actors tested positive during the performance run. AMAZINGLY, despite losing a few crew members to substitutes here and there due to positive cases, no one in the cast tested positive for Covid from late May until we ended the show on July 24.
The last week and a half of the show I was so exhausted, just barely hanging on by a thread, really, but knew I was behind on delivering the A:SoM pre-order digital copies and about 10 other work-related things. So my intent was to spend about a week after show closing (7/24) to play catch up and tie up loose ends. Executing this plan started off okay: I put some good work in on Monday (7/25) and Tuesday (7/26), did a live-music broadcast Tuesday evening (OBDR), and then woke up feeling really ill on Wednesday morning (7/27). Thursday morning (7/28) I tested positive for Covid - symptoms got worse and I started feeling more normal only a day or two ago (Aug 1).
So I'm finally back on the case trying to machete my way through a mountain of tasks, getting CDs queued up to be printed and trying to catch up on everything (work, chores, relationships, etc) that had to be put on pause once the show started.
Thank you so much for your support here at The Vault this month and for your direct assistance in the creation of my art. It is appreciated more than I could ever express, but I hope the fun things we’ll do and create together this month will help convey my gratitude.
❤️ Lex
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