Welcome

THE TEAM HARD AT WORK

Welcome to the maiden voyage of my newsletter. I appreciate that you chose to receive it, and I'll do my very best to send out new ones semi-regularly. If you're reading this, you are likely aware that this newsletter is a part of my plan to (hopefully) extract myself from social media. I'll briefly lay out my reasoning for this pivot, then try not to harp on it moving forward.

From a personal standpoint, social media has become increasingly problematic for me, and from a business standpoint, it has lost much of its value. The number of bot followers, spam postings, clone accounts, and scammers (who've grown increasingly sophisticated) continues to increase, and social media companies apparently have no problem with this. Or at least they've abdicated any responsibility for policing their sites. 

Trying to self-police my accounts is like playing whack-a-mole. We file reports but always receive replies stating the offending party is not violating their rules. So, someone cloning my account and posing as me to scam my followers is not violating any Facebook policies. It's unbelievable. You can argue, "buyer beware," but I refuse to see it so simplistically or with so little empathy. I know intelligent people who have fallen prey to internet scams. I know of multiple fans ripped off by fake ticket sellers on my Facebook page and one scammed by someone who posed as me.  

My decision to wean from social media is personal and in no way a judgment against those who use it. Many of my problems are time and scale-related. Having a business account with 15K+ followers makes me a target. The scammers know I'm a musician promoting shows, and the attempts to sell non-existent tickets were going through the roof. The number of tickets offered for sale often exceeded the total capacity of the room I was playing! We had to continually monitor my page, blocking bots and scammers, to keep it from becoming a junk site. We also spent a lot of time reporting these scammers, clone accounts, and imposters. I don't have a manager, and we don't have employees or interns; it's just my wife and I. The day-to-day work required to keep my label, publishing, and live show schedule moving forward is already significant. The constant oversight of my social media accounts put things over the top. 

The power that the owners of social companies have amassed is terrifying. Two individuals almost entirely control my ability to get information to my fans. The old methods of spreading the word are nearly, or entirely, gone, destroyed by this new business model. 

So here we are, trying to devise alternative strategies to adjust. My new website, email list, and newsletter will be the heart of that effort. Still, their effectiveness depends on fans signing up for the email list, opening and reading the newsletters when they appear in their inboxes, and regularly checking out the website. Getting those numbers to a point that makes a difference will be a tough road. If you know of anyone who might be interested or enjoy this newsletter, please let them know, likewise for new shows posted to the calendar. Moving forward, I'll rely heavily on word of mouth. In short, I'll need all the help I can get.

I know that parting ways with social media is likely career suicide, but I'm getting old and angry, and I'm tired of continually accepting things that it feels wrong to surrender to. I will give this new strategy my all,  and if it fails (which is a very real possibility), I can at least end my career knowing I tried.  

Fingers crossed.

ICE RESURFACER CONTEST WINNER & NEW CONTEST ANNOUNCEMENT:

And now, for the reason many of you were suckered into signing up for the email list, the Playmobil Zamboni signed by the Gear Daddies.

First, how we chose the winner:

We entered the numerical range of our email list (i.e., 1-5000) into a random number generator we found online. In this case, it was a spinner. We then matched the randomly chosen number with the same number on our email list (addresses are laid out on a numerical grid), and voilà. Moving forward, we will pick all contest winners using this method.  

The winner (drumroll) was Sarah from Minneapolis, MN. (contest winners will choose how their name will be announced) If Sarah agrees, we’ll post a photo of her with the prize in our next issue.

Congratulations Sarah!

If you didn't get lucky this time, fear not. We have a new contest, and you are automatically entered if you are signed up for the email list.

You and three guests will receive tickets to my show at Parley Lake Vineyard in Waconia, MN, on Friday, June 20. The winners will also be welcome to join the band backstage for a beverage of their choice (alcoholic or non). As the event will be all ages, an I.D. will need to be presented should you select the alcoholic option.

If you are not located near the Twin Cities or cannot attend the event, you can choose to receive a copy of Head West on vinyl and CD and a Head West t-shirt (styles and sizes may be limited). The winner will be announced via email the week prior to the show.

Good luck!

SUMMER CONCERT SCHEDULE

After a long winter hiatus, it’s time to get back to work. The time off has been nice, but I’ve sure missed all of you, and I’ve missed my bandmates. 

Things start moving again in mid-June. Compared to past summers, I’ve pared my schedule down considerably, but there will still be plenty of opportunities to catch an MZ, Neil!, or Gear Daddies show. Details and ticket links for the shows listed below can be found under the SHOWS tab at MartinZellar.com.

6/13 Neil! at the JX Event Center in Stillwater, MN

6/14 MZ & Band Rock the Docks in Prior Lake, MN

6/18 Neil! at Rhythm on the Rails in Shakopee, MN

6/20 MZ & Band at Parley Lake Vineyard in Waconia, MN

7/12 Gear Daddies at Riversong Music Festival in Hutchinson, MN

7/13 MZ & Band at the Hewing Hotel Rooftop Series in Minneapolis

7/23 Gear Daddies at Concerts in the Commons in Excelsior, MN

7/26 Gear Daddies at Codfish Hallow Barn in Maquoketa, IA

8/8  MZ & Band at Music in the Park in Silver Bay, MN

We hope you can make one, some, or all of them. All would be fantastic, but we realize that might not be possible for a few of you.

MEET A FRIEND: PART ONE

If they've ever looked at the credits for Let's Go Scare Al or Billy's Live Bait, you might have noticed one non-member performer who appeared on both albums, Lianne Smith, who sings backing vocals on Don't Forget Me, This Time, Stupid Boy, and No One's Home.

Lianne was the lead singer for the early 80s Twin Cities band Safety Last (which also featured future Jayhawks singer and guitarist Gary Louris) and then, in the later 80s, One of my favorite Twin Cities bands of that era, the Tanglewoods.

In the mid to late 80s, Lianne and I occasionally performed as an acoustic duo around Minneapolis. One of our sets together was opening for Lucinda Williams at the Uptown Bar in Minneapolis for what I believe was her first Minneapolis appearance. 

Lianne moved to New York in the early 90s, and I still lament the loss of her regular presence on Minneapolis stages. But Minnesota's loss was NYC's gain, as she still performs regularly there. 

I remain a huge fan of Lianne's. Her songwriting is world-class, and her voice will always be among my favorites. I also treasure her as a friend. I have my fingers crossed that I can talk her into reprising our duo act for a couple of shows in the future. 

Please do yourself a favor and check out her Bandcamp page. Her 2012 album, Two Sides of a River, and her 2023 digital single, The Gift, are fantastic. https://liannesmith.bandcamp.com/music

READER QUESTION #1:

What is a typical day in the life of Martin Zellar?

My schedule so far today:

9:00 am: woke up. This is pretty early for me

9:00 am: turned off the fan and two noise machines I require to tune out my tinnitus at night (my poor wife) 

9:05 am: washed face and brushed teeth

9:10 am: made a double espresso macchiato (I’ll switch to double espressos for the rest of the day)

9:15 am: drank my coffee while watching hummingbirds

9:30 am: looked at my email. I even returned one of them

9:50 am: put in a load of laundry

9:55 am: ate a bowl of Lucky Charms 

10:05 am: gave our cat, Uncle Jeff, the attention that he frantically demands, like clockwork, around this time every morning (this ritual will be repeated around 9:30 pm)

10:15 am: did the New York Time and LA Times crossword puzzles

11:00 am: started packing for a weekend trip to see my old friends, Soul Asylum, perform in Mexico City

11:30 am: started writing my daily schedule

The rest of my day is TBD. Sadly, it will likely be nowhere near as exciting as this.

THE FANCY NEW MARTINZELLAR.COM

If you haven't yet, please check out the recently revamped MartinZellar.com. It has a new look and nifty features, like a photo album, bio page, press page, videos, and a blog. You'll also find my calendar with details and ticket links for upcoming shows.

Please check out the above-mentioned blog while perusing the website. Hopefully, you'll find something informative or entertaining. My entries are longer-form versions of the sorts of things I used to post on social media. Each post also allows readers to comment, which I'm thrilled about. One of the few things I miss about social media is my ability to communicate back and forth with you. You can count on the fact that I will read the messages and respond to as many as my schedule allows. 

A new post will go live at 10 am every Monday to make things easier. Posting on a schedule is SOP for most blogs (apparently), but I'm new to this. 

A few of the exciting entries you may have already missed: a riveting story about Randy Broughten and Andre the Giant, an introduction to the ZelCo staff, a reminiscence on posters and postering, a search for a Fonzie comb, and more. 

If you have a suggestion for a topic you'd like me to discuss in a future blog post, please leave it in the comments section of any post. I'll do my best to get around to as many as possible.

Unless I can entice at least two people to check this blog out, I might decide it's not worth my time to continue. If that were the case, I would feel terrible for that single person kind enough to have given it a gander. Oh, the joy they would be deprived of. 

*FULL DISCLOSURE*

On rare occasions, If I’m having difficulty coming up with fresh and engaging content, I will post an observation or story from Sammy Davis Jr.’s 1965 autobiography, Yes I Can, and claim it as my own. Otherwise, rest assured that everything in my newsletters and blog posts will come directly from me. 

Thanks for subscribing to the newsletter! See you next time!