Help Me Release My CD
Donation protected
Hi; my name is Erin McDougald-- I am a critically acclaimed jazz vocalist/composer/bandleader based in Chicago , touring/headlining jazz clubs across the country.
WAY BACK in late 2010 (wow that hurts to type), I recorded the best album of my life on the East Coast, with world famous, iconic jazz masters Dave Liebman and Tom Harrell among six others, including GRAMMY winning studio recording engineer Dae Bennett (aka Tony Bennett's son and producer). The album, titled after my original composition: OUTSIDE THE SOIREE, never released due to a whirlwind of unexpected personal and serious health complications that followed, financially plaguing me over the years that followed.
Every time I was in a position to release the album financially, something catastrophic usurped it. By catastrophic, I mean: having to flee a physically and emotionally abusive fiancee, using the money I saved to release the CD for a deposit and rent and furniture in the height of high-rent-jackings in 2011... As I got back on my feet financially, I soon ended up in the hospital multiple times in late 2011 throughout 2012 from the stress of my abuser resurfacing-- I was in critical care at Northwestern Hospital, on IVs, catheters, and a lung ventilating tube at one point. Some of you may recall the skeletal physical shell I became for several months throughout those hospitalizations. Battling increasing issues with Endometriosis and ovarian complications which source back to a (brain) tumor on my pituitary, (discovered by specialists in December of 2010), creating outrageously high prolactinoma levels (a blood hormone), health issues mounted and my ability to afford the Affordable Health Care Act was diminishing and eventually nill. Add two (dangerous) miscarriages in 2014, the removal of cervical/vaginal cancer cells in 2015 and then 2016, like a final bitch-slap, bankruptcy... All the while, continuing to sing weekly, most weeks and months, yet often either struggling financially or spiritually.
Hence the amazing album was put on a very high and dusty shelf, proverbially speaking.
Not releasing this album has been a detriment to my career in many ways by preventing tours, and, internally, it's been a dark cloud looming as I never could find a responsible way to both cover my bills and adhere to the fees associated with publishing, printing and pressing and of course distribution and promotion. The album is in the can as they say (completed); the liner notes have been written for years (by DownBeat's chief jazz critic and head of the Jazz Journalist Association, Howard Mandel)... the photos are done. The independent label Miles High Records is awaiting the green light for years now. I have not been able to bring myself to share these things in a public manner to ask fans, friends and strangers for money for a CD when I often see on these crowdfunding sites, what I deem, as "worthier causes", such as those with more serious, long-term illness and people undergoing tragedy etc.
But, as we enter the 7th year since the album was recorded, I feel compelled and almost desperate to get this body of work out into the world's cognizance. It is a beautiful CD. And it deserves to be heard, and played, on international radio stations. -The artistic fluidity and the prodigious, amalgamated talent of each discernible musician responding musically and unifyingly is potently audible. There was a naturalness in the way my raw ideas could jump off the page of each arrangement and into a viable conversation amongst a band, whom as a whole, never met each other, let alone played together as a group before. --The listener cannot help but be drawn-into the honesty of expression; be it the haunting balladry of Tom Harrell's trumpeting on "The Man With the Horn", or Liebman's firey commentary in his soloing on "Don't Wait Up for Me" (which is an almost unknown ballad from the 50's that I re-mapped as a modern, heavy-hitting 5/4 arrangement)... Rob Block's gorgeous Chorino arrangement of a musical THEATER tune entitled Unusual Way , that strangers in various towns have brought up their love of, based on a modest low-production youtube montage posting. The album covers songs from Cole Porter to a Celtic traditional funeral hymn (done as an explosive 3-bar phrasing --an improvisational, progressive jazz treatment). This is not a CD of standards. But it is a lyrically, rhythmically and, yes, damnit, vocally gorgeous project! It says something about being on the outside looking in... homosexual oppression, political asides, jilted love, wistful love... a theme in homage to those of us outside the popularity contests --be it in music trends or cliques...
Everyone involved with the album or critics who have heard it have urged me time and time again to appeal to fans for help. I've never shied away from being emotionally open and vulnerable in all walks of my life, but, publicly asking for money is incredibly humbling, especially knowing that "a jazz album" is not high on most people's "charitable priorities". But where would any of us be without music? It is often interwoven into personally monumental eras and events in each of our lives.
So, I would like to put in place a creative reward system for any donors contributing to my endeavor, so that everyone gets something in return -even if it is simply acknowledgment (there is not enough of that given in the velocity of today's self-serving, instant gratification mentalities). I am listing what my costs are and how your money will help get the CD out and circulated... and if miracles exist, additional money exceeding the crucial costs will go into touring expenses to pay for my loyal and wonderful band-members' airfare and housing on the road (as we all know there is still a cluster of clubs that resist in covering such basics). I will also list some thank-you reward items for the gratuity forwarded to this project.
Thank you so much for reading and empathizing and hopefully not losing faith in my ability to preserve in the face adversity... resilience is something I pride myself upon but help is needed, too; it isn't binary. Your money will go directly to this cause, and, yes, it is needed, and, yes, deeply appreciated.
Love,
Erin
Production Cost estimates
for my 14-track, full-length, 70 minute album,
"Outside the Soiree":
Publishing: $1,600.
Printing/Pressing/Cover Design: $3,800.
Distribution & Radio Promotion: $3,500.
Mailing: $1400.
Album Personnell:
Erin McDougald- voice/leader
Rob Block- guitars & piano
Cliff Schmitt- bass
Rodney Green- drums
Dan Block- reeds
Chembo Corniel- percussion
Tom Harrell- trumpet, flugel horn
Dave Liebman- soprano & tenor saxophone
Mixing/Mastering- Dae Bennett
Some Thank-You Rewards I would like to offer any gracious donors:
* $1-$25
Personal thank you
*$50
Signed copy of the album and card and surprise gift
*$75-$100
Thank you video addressed to you/your company on my Periscope/social media, signed CD and surprise gift
*$250
I will sing a song of your request, live, with my band and dedicate it to you online and list/link your business/website on my website for one year... and send you a signed copy of the new CD.
*$500
Item 1:
Red "Marilyn Monroe dress" (size 6) worn in my music video of "I Love Paris" at The Red Canary in 2010, with a signed copy of the CD THE AUBURN COLLECTION
Item 2:
vintage taffeta gown (size 4) from the cover of my first (rarely available) CD BLUE PRELUDE, with a signed copy of the CD
Item 3:
Vintage (plastic not metal) sequin 1940's flare top (size 6) from my 2011 photo shoot with Jose Calvo and a signed copy of the CD
*$600
Couture Custome-made Cal Garcia of J'na Couture (size 6) velvet and "compassion-feather" formal, high-fashion mermaid skirt and a signed copy of the CD
*$700
Signed copy of the CD plus...
Item 1:
Couture Custom-Made size 4 T. Jenese Red & Black beaded and chiffon gown worn on the album photos of my sophomore CD, THE AUBURN COLLECTION
Item 2:
Vintage beaded formal tuxedo-stule women's jacket (size small) worn in photo shoot with Maia Rosenfeld and in concert at The Pump Room in front of Bob Dylan
*$800
a signed copy of the CD plus...
Couture Custom-made size 2 T. Jenese silver silk gown from our OUTSIDE THE SOIREE album photo shoot
*$900
a signed copy of the CD plus...
I will do 40 hours community service for the charity of your choice in your name or loved one's name and document it (sending you updates/footage)
*$1,000
a signed copy of the CD plus...
a limited edition signed coffee table book of my unpublished poetry, song lyrics, journal entries as well as candid/personal photos from childhood through adulthood/gigs etc and unpublished artistic photos shot by an array of respected international professional photographers with your name inscribed in the book credits as a special thanks
*$1,500
a signed copy of the CD plus...
Couture Custom-Made, ONE OF A KIND size 2 (true 2- very small) T. Jenese ostrich feather and silk glam-skirt worn on the cover of this album OUTSIDE THE SOIREE
*$2,000
I will professionally record a 3 song mini-album JUST FOR YOU of unreleased songs by me (or covers of your requests) and give you a copy and post a youtube montage to one of the songs dedicated to you.
OR
include you as a cameo in my next music video
OR
(for people visiting from out of the country/state)
be your personal tour guide (or babysit your young children -must be under the age of 6-) in Chicago for 3-7 days ( 6-8 hours a day)
*$2,500
a signed copy of the CD plus...
a concert with appetizers and alcoholic drinks for you and your friends of legal age (total of twelve guests) in my home (Chicago)
*$5,000
a private concert with my band** in your home or place of work (within 350 miles of Chicago) for up to 30 people (overnight housing expenses not included)
*$7,500
a private concert with my band** in your home or place of work in Floida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Austin, Texas or anywhere on the East or West Coast USA (housing expenses not included)
*$9,000
a vintage white fox fur full-length coat in very good condition
*$10,000
I will compose a special song just for your wedding day and sing with my band at your wedding/reception ** (in the USA or Canada only, overnight housing expenses not included; travel expenses not included to Hawaii, California or Canada).
plus...
75-200 signed copies of my newest CD for your wedding day guests (wrapped in your wedding theme colors)
$20,000
a new full-length professional album dedicated to you
WAY BACK in late 2010 (wow that hurts to type), I recorded the best album of my life on the East Coast, with world famous, iconic jazz masters Dave Liebman and Tom Harrell among six others, including GRAMMY winning studio recording engineer Dae Bennett (aka Tony Bennett's son and producer). The album, titled after my original composition: OUTSIDE THE SOIREE, never released due to a whirlwind of unexpected personal and serious health complications that followed, financially plaguing me over the years that followed.
Every time I was in a position to release the album financially, something catastrophic usurped it. By catastrophic, I mean: having to flee a physically and emotionally abusive fiancee, using the money I saved to release the CD for a deposit and rent and furniture in the height of high-rent-jackings in 2011... As I got back on my feet financially, I soon ended up in the hospital multiple times in late 2011 throughout 2012 from the stress of my abuser resurfacing-- I was in critical care at Northwestern Hospital, on IVs, catheters, and a lung ventilating tube at one point. Some of you may recall the skeletal physical shell I became for several months throughout those hospitalizations. Battling increasing issues with Endometriosis and ovarian complications which source back to a (brain) tumor on my pituitary, (discovered by specialists in December of 2010), creating outrageously high prolactinoma levels (a blood hormone), health issues mounted and my ability to afford the Affordable Health Care Act was diminishing and eventually nill. Add two (dangerous) miscarriages in 2014, the removal of cervical/vaginal cancer cells in 2015 and then 2016, like a final bitch-slap, bankruptcy... All the while, continuing to sing weekly, most weeks and months, yet often either struggling financially or spiritually.
Hence the amazing album was put on a very high and dusty shelf, proverbially speaking.
Not releasing this album has been a detriment to my career in many ways by preventing tours, and, internally, it's been a dark cloud looming as I never could find a responsible way to both cover my bills and adhere to the fees associated with publishing, printing and pressing and of course distribution and promotion. The album is in the can as they say (completed); the liner notes have been written for years (by DownBeat's chief jazz critic and head of the Jazz Journalist Association, Howard Mandel)... the photos are done. The independent label Miles High Records is awaiting the green light for years now. I have not been able to bring myself to share these things in a public manner to ask fans, friends and strangers for money for a CD when I often see on these crowdfunding sites, what I deem, as "worthier causes", such as those with more serious, long-term illness and people undergoing tragedy etc.
But, as we enter the 7th year since the album was recorded, I feel compelled and almost desperate to get this body of work out into the world's cognizance. It is a beautiful CD. And it deserves to be heard, and played, on international radio stations. -The artistic fluidity and the prodigious, amalgamated talent of each discernible musician responding musically and unifyingly is potently audible. There was a naturalness in the way my raw ideas could jump off the page of each arrangement and into a viable conversation amongst a band, whom as a whole, never met each other, let alone played together as a group before. --The listener cannot help but be drawn-into the honesty of expression; be it the haunting balladry of Tom Harrell's trumpeting on "The Man With the Horn", or Liebman's firey commentary in his soloing on "Don't Wait Up for Me" (which is an almost unknown ballad from the 50's that I re-mapped as a modern, heavy-hitting 5/4 arrangement)... Rob Block's gorgeous Chorino arrangement of a musical THEATER tune entitled Unusual Way , that strangers in various towns have brought up their love of, based on a modest low-production youtube montage posting. The album covers songs from Cole Porter to a Celtic traditional funeral hymn (done as an explosive 3-bar phrasing --an improvisational, progressive jazz treatment). This is not a CD of standards. But it is a lyrically, rhythmically and, yes, damnit, vocally gorgeous project! It says something about being on the outside looking in... homosexual oppression, political asides, jilted love, wistful love... a theme in homage to those of us outside the popularity contests --be it in music trends or cliques...
Everyone involved with the album or critics who have heard it have urged me time and time again to appeal to fans for help. I've never shied away from being emotionally open and vulnerable in all walks of my life, but, publicly asking for money is incredibly humbling, especially knowing that "a jazz album" is not high on most people's "charitable priorities". But where would any of us be without music? It is often interwoven into personally monumental eras and events in each of our lives.
So, I would like to put in place a creative reward system for any donors contributing to my endeavor, so that everyone gets something in return -even if it is simply acknowledgment (there is not enough of that given in the velocity of today's self-serving, instant gratification mentalities). I am listing what my costs are and how your money will help get the CD out and circulated... and if miracles exist, additional money exceeding the crucial costs will go into touring expenses to pay for my loyal and wonderful band-members' airfare and housing on the road (as we all know there is still a cluster of clubs that resist in covering such basics). I will also list some thank-you reward items for the gratuity forwarded to this project.
Thank you so much for reading and empathizing and hopefully not losing faith in my ability to preserve in the face adversity... resilience is something I pride myself upon but help is needed, too; it isn't binary. Your money will go directly to this cause, and, yes, it is needed, and, yes, deeply appreciated.
Love,
Erin
Production Cost estimates
for my 14-track, full-length, 70 minute album,
"Outside the Soiree":
Publishing: $1,600.
Printing/Pressing/Cover Design: $3,800.
Distribution & Radio Promotion: $3,500.
Mailing: $1400.
Album Personnell:
Erin McDougald- voice/leader
Rob Block- guitars & piano
Cliff Schmitt- bass
Rodney Green- drums
Dan Block- reeds
Chembo Corniel- percussion
Tom Harrell- trumpet, flugel horn
Dave Liebman- soprano & tenor saxophone
Mixing/Mastering- Dae Bennett
Some Thank-You Rewards I would like to offer any gracious donors:
* $1-$25
Personal thank you
*$50
Signed copy of the album and card and surprise gift
*$75-$100
Thank you video addressed to you/your company on my Periscope/social media, signed CD and surprise gift
*$250
I will sing a song of your request, live, with my band and dedicate it to you online and list/link your business/website on my website for one year... and send you a signed copy of the new CD.
*$500
Item 1:
Red "Marilyn Monroe dress" (size 6) worn in my music video of "I Love Paris" at The Red Canary in 2010, with a signed copy of the CD THE AUBURN COLLECTION
Item 2:
vintage taffeta gown (size 4) from the cover of my first (rarely available) CD BLUE PRELUDE, with a signed copy of the CD
Item 3:
Vintage (plastic not metal) sequin 1940's flare top (size 6) from my 2011 photo shoot with Jose Calvo and a signed copy of the CD
*$600
Couture Custome-made Cal Garcia of J'na Couture (size 6) velvet and "compassion-feather" formal, high-fashion mermaid skirt and a signed copy of the CD
*$700
Signed copy of the CD plus...
Item 1:
Couture Custom-Made size 4 T. Jenese Red & Black beaded and chiffon gown worn on the album photos of my sophomore CD, THE AUBURN COLLECTION
Item 2:
Vintage beaded formal tuxedo-stule women's jacket (size small) worn in photo shoot with Maia Rosenfeld and in concert at The Pump Room in front of Bob Dylan
*$800
a signed copy of the CD plus...
Couture Custom-made size 2 T. Jenese silver silk gown from our OUTSIDE THE SOIREE album photo shoot
*$900
a signed copy of the CD plus...
I will do 40 hours community service for the charity of your choice in your name or loved one's name and document it (sending you updates/footage)
*$1,000
a signed copy of the CD plus...
a limited edition signed coffee table book of my unpublished poetry, song lyrics, journal entries as well as candid/personal photos from childhood through adulthood/gigs etc and unpublished artistic photos shot by an array of respected international professional photographers with your name inscribed in the book credits as a special thanks
*$1,500
a signed copy of the CD plus...
Couture Custom-Made, ONE OF A KIND size 2 (true 2- very small) T. Jenese ostrich feather and silk glam-skirt worn on the cover of this album OUTSIDE THE SOIREE
*$2,000
I will professionally record a 3 song mini-album JUST FOR YOU of unreleased songs by me (or covers of your requests) and give you a copy and post a youtube montage to one of the songs dedicated to you.
OR
include you as a cameo in my next music video
OR
(for people visiting from out of the country/state)
be your personal tour guide (or babysit your young children -must be under the age of 6-) in Chicago for 3-7 days ( 6-8 hours a day)
*$2,500
a signed copy of the CD plus...
a concert with appetizers and alcoholic drinks for you and your friends of legal age (total of twelve guests) in my home (Chicago)
*$5,000
a private concert with my band** in your home or place of work (within 350 miles of Chicago) for up to 30 people (overnight housing expenses not included)
*$7,500
a private concert with my band** in your home or place of work in Floida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Austin, Texas or anywhere on the East or West Coast USA (housing expenses not included)
*$9,000
a vintage white fox fur full-length coat in very good condition
*$10,000
I will compose a special song just for your wedding day and sing with my band at your wedding/reception ** (in the USA or Canada only, overnight housing expenses not included; travel expenses not included to Hawaii, California or Canada).
plus...
75-200 signed copies of my newest CD for your wedding day guests (wrapped in your wedding theme colors)
$20,000
a new full-length professional album dedicated to you
Organiser
Erin McDougald
Organiser
Chicago, IL
