Offering the trademark wit and imagination familiar to Rowling's legions of readers--as well as Aesop's wisdom and the occasional darkness of the Brothers Grimm--each of these five tales reveals a lesson befitting children and parents alike: the strength gained with a trusted friendship, the redemptive power of love, and the true magic that exists in the hearts of all of us. Rowling's new introduction also comments on the personal lessons she has taken from the Tales, noting that the characters in Beedle's collection "take their fates into their own hands, rather than taking a prolonged nap or waiting for someone to return a lost shoe," and "that magic causes as much trouble as it cures."
But the true jewel of this new edition is the enlightening and comprehensive commentary (including extensive footnotes!) by Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, who brings his unique wizard's-eye perspective to the collection. Discovered "among the many papers which Dumbledore left in his will to the Hogwarts Archives," the venerable wizard's ruminations on the Tales allow today's readers to place them in the context of 16th century Muggle society, even allowing that "Beedle was somewhat out of step with his times in preaching a message of brotherly love for Muggles" during the era of witch hunts that would eventually drive the wizarding community into self-imposed exile. In fact, versions of the same stories told in wizarding households would shock many for their uncharitable treatment of their Muggle characters.
Professor Dumbledore also includes fascinating historical backstory, including tidbits such as the history and pursuit of magic wands, a brief comment on the Dark Arts and its practitioners, and the struggles with censorship that eventually led "a certain Beatrix Bloxam" to cleanse the Tales of "much of the darker themes that she found distasteful," forever altering the meaning of the stories for their Muggle audience. Dumbledore also allows us a glimpse of his personal relationship to the Tales, remarking that it was through "Babbity Rabbity and Her Cackling Stump" that "many of us [wizards] first discovered that magic could not bring back the dead."
Both a wise and delightful addition to the Harry Potter canon, this new translation of The Tales of Beedle the Bard is all that fans could hope for and more--and an essential volume for the libraries of Muggles, wizards, and witches, both young and old.
Since NPR does a lot of repeats over the weekend, Gadget and I have been switching over to Jack FM as we unpack and paint and prepare our new home. Man, Jack FM is entertaining! Their slogan is, "93.1 Jack FM: Playing What We Want", and they're not kidding. With zero respect for "decent" segues, they go from Nena (99 Luftballoons) to Tom Petty to Foo Fighters to Madness (Our House) to Led Zeppelin. It's just plain fun to reminisce about the songs and artists and even sing along from time to time. Since the selection is so random, there's really something for everyone, and every decade of everyone's tastes. If you're in need of some enjoyable radio, which is becoming more and more rare these days, tune in to 93.1 Jack FM.
I'm one of those people who actually likes the way I look when I wake up. No make up, no hair-do, no diva-glasses to hide my googly eye - bring it. 
In the name of relaxation, I'm spending the day in my favorite article of clothing: My Edgar Allan Poe sweatshirt. It's interesting: I have two closets, a six-drawer dresser, and a large chest overflowing with all sorts of clothing (not to mention the seasonal items that I stash under the bed and dresser) and this, this junky $5 thrift shop find is my absolute favorite!
The real fun will start when I hit the stage with this baby. Speaking of which, I am fiending, man! I am ready to get out of the studio and onto the stage. When Dean gets back from Warped Tour we'll continue auditions. I'm looking for the right people to bring this beast to life on stage. 
Got word today from Bob Heil that my custom camouflage Heil PR-22 microphone has been shipped! She should be here in a couple days. The picture on the left is a stock PR-22; Mine will be a badass camo beast. I'd like to add a couple custom PR-35s to my arsenal as well - I'm thinking candy apple red and a Vegas-esque golden glitter. I'll post a pic of the new mic once it arrives.
1) Distributors will usually only work with labels that have been in business for at least 3 years or have at least 3 previous releases that have sold several thousand copies each.
2) Distributors get records into retail stores, and record labels get customers into retail stores through promotion and marketing tactics.
3) Make sure there is a market for your style of music. Prove it to distributors by showing them how many records you have sold through live sales, internet sales, and any other alternative methods.
4) Be prepared to sign a written contract with your distributor because there are no 'handshake deals' anymore.
5) Distributors want 'exclusive' agreements with the labels they choose to work with. They usually want to represent you exclusively.
6) You will sell your product to a distributor for close to 50% of the retail list price.
7) When searching for a distributor find out what labels they represent, and talk to some of those labels to find out how well the distributor did getting records into retailers.
8) Investigate the distributor's financial status. Many label have closed down in recent years, and you cannot afford to get attached to a distributor that may not be able to pay its invoices.
9) Find out if the distributor has a sales staff , and how large it is. Then get to know the sales reps.
10) What commitment will the distributor make to help get your records into stores?
11) Is the distributor truly a national distributor, or only a regional distributor with ambitions to be a national distributor. Many large chain stores will only work with national distributors.
12) Expect the distributor to request that you remove any product you have on consignment in stores so that they can be the one to service retailers.
13) Make sure that your distributor has the ability to help you setup various retail promotions such as: coop advertising (where you must be prepared to pay the costs of media ads for select retailers), in-store artist appearances, in-store listening station programs, and furnishing POP's (point of purchase posters and other graphics).
14) Be aware that as a new label you will have to offer a distributor 100% on returns of your product.
15) You must bear all the costs of any distribution and retail promotions.
16) Be able to furnish the distributor with hundreds of 'Distributor One Sheets' (Attractively designed summary sheets describing your promotion and marketing commitments. Include barcodes, list price, picture of the album cover, and catalog numbers of your product too).
17) Distributors may ask for hundreds of free promotional copies of your release to give to the buyers at the retail stores.
18) Make sure all promotional copies have a hole punched in the barcode, and that they are not shrink-wrapped. This will prevent any unnecessary returns of your product.
19) Don't expect a distributor to pay your invoices in full or on time. You will always be owed something by the distributor because of the delay between orders sent, invoices received, time payment schedules (50-120 days per invoice) and whether or not your product has sold through, or returns are pending.
20) Create a relationship that is a true partnership between your label and the distributor.
21) Keep the distributor updated on any and all promotion and marketing plans and results, as they develop.
22) Be well financed. Trying to work with distributors without a realistic budget to participate in promotional opportunities would be a big mistake.
23) Your distributor will only be as good as your marketing plans to sell the record. Don't expect them to do your work for you, remember all they do is get records into the stores.
24) Read the trades, especially Billboard for weekly news on the health of the industry, and/or the status of your distributor.
25) Work your product relentlessly on as many fronts as possible…commercial and non commercial airplay, internet airplay and sales campaigns, on and offline publicity ideas, and touring…eternally touring!
For months on end, my brother, Dan, kept playing this crazy guitar riff that I could barely make sense of. "What the fuck am I supposed to sing over that?" I wondered. The thing was catchy, but damn near impossible for me to create a coherent melody over. Dan and I brought the riff to our producer, Dean, who made a song out of the fantastic noise by carving out wide open spaces for my voice to fill. Add to that assaulting drums (courtesy of Ken Schalk) & a heap of booming bass and I was sold: The thing suddenly made sense to me...and it reminded me of that night sitting in the parking lot of the Forum Diner. I knew my orphaned lyrics had finally found their home in this song.
The day before tracking vocals on "Tenfold True", Dean called me to let me know that Lukas Rossi, formerly of Rockstar Supernova and currently heading up Stars Down, would be stopping by the studio to sit in on my session. "Holy Fuck. What?"
Truthfully, I became suddenly self-conscious and stupid nervous.
It turned out that getting nervous was for nothing. Lukas was a cool cat, and we spent a couple hours killing Coors Lights and talking about all things sacred, namely women and music, before I headed into the tracking room. I cranked out the vocals pretty quickly, and Lukas remained quiet for most of it. Although, after my leads were done, Lukas started suggesting some harmonies (which he is exceedingly talented at writing). Next thing I knew, Lukas was asking if he could have a go at singing 'em: I certainly didn't need to give it a second thought.
Here's the truth: we could have sounded awful together. We could have gone through the motions and created a perfunctory vocal suckfest. What was happening that day was this incredible musical synergy, this brilliant exchange of energies, that created a beautiful rock n' roll masterpiece, and as it turns out: Lukas and I sound amazing together!
It took so many people's contributions to bring "Tenfold True" to life. And as I had mentioned in the previous post: that is what I love about music! I am eager for everyone to hear "Tenfold True" on BREAKER's upcoming debut release. Full lyrics in the next post...In the meantime, check out BREAKER on MySpace to get yer fix.
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