Recording artist Jack Rank works hard and he’s grinding his way to the top of the hip hop scene. The name Jack Rank is a mindset that won’t allow you to give up. The name motivates and inspires him to keep pushing forward. Of course, there’s a story behind the name Jack Rank. “Back where I come from in Florida, we had a term for when we freestyle with each other: ‘Come jack this beat.’ It stuck with me. Then, I added the military term rank, because throughout life, you have to move from one level to the next. Your whole mentality has to be that you are trying to get to the highest level and reach your ultimate goal. That’s the top rank. With me, I’m jacking rank on anybody that stands in the way of my goal. That’s the mentality anyone should have, if they’re trying to achieve anything.” I love Jack Rank’s self-titled single Jack Rank, because he shares his life story. When we met for our featured artist interview, of course I asked Jack to tell me more about this song: “That song is one of my favorites as well. It’s an introduction track for me, so fans can get an understanding of who I am, what I stand for and where I’m coming from. That’s been my number one hit. It’s been a plus for me and plus for everybody who loves it.” I also like one of Jack Rank’s older tracks All About You, so I asked him about this one too: “The music I make is situational music, about whatever situation I’m going through at the current time when I compose the record. The song is about a female that I was dating at the time. It...

Lee Perreira and I met on Facebook through our mutual friend and fan, Denise Barlow. I was moved by his desire to create an EP that honors his grandmother called Melodies for Marie. To raise the funds to finish the EP, Lee launched a campaign on PIedgeMusic. As I followed his campaign, I became even more excited about his cause and reached out to help. The Amused Now Blog is about artists helping artists, so I’m promoting Lee Perreira as our Featured Artist to give him a boost on this last week of his fundraising campaign. Lee is extremely busy during this final stretch, so we decided to go with a written interview. Cynthia: I watched your RAW video. Nice bio video. You describe your music as bluesy, jazzy and rock. Who are your biggest influencers? Lee: My biggest influences really range. I grew up with hair metal and classical music. Then Nirvana and Grunge hit and that was my music. Then, I started playing guitar and gravitated to Classic Rock and Blues. But now I really love and am influenced by the musicians and bands I’ve been playing with like Decker and Banana Gun, which are bands out here in AZ. Cynthia: You recently started a solo career after fronting the band Isle of Essence, which opened for some well-known bands. What prompted your decision? Lee: Classic response coming… Creative differences. Lol. It is what it is. I love those guys and I loved what we did together. We all still talk and see each other at some level. Nothing but respect for those guys and I wish them the best. Cynthia: Your first solo release is called Melodies for Marie, named for your grandmother. I listened to the single Red Water Calling. I love...

No one can talk with Ms. Nikki Rich, CEO and host of the Nikki Rich Show, and not be inspired to rush out and start achieving their dreams. I know that every time I talk with her, I feel better about myself and my Amused Now project.  When I’m with Nikki, I don’t just think I can, I know I can! Her positive personality, beauty, brains and work ethic combine to launch the Nikki Rich Show to the top of the internet radio charts. Ms. Nikki’s motto is “Put God first.” Well, we at Amused Now feel blessed, because she granted us a Featured Artist video interview. Nikki Rich has been a radio and TV personality for over 20 years. When I commented that the entertainment business must be in her blood, she smiled, because both her parents are radio and TV personalities too. Growing up, Nikki sang Gospel with her brothers. She didn’t realize that early experience was training for the Nikki Rich Show. When she was growing up, she wanted to be a lawyer. Nikki is a huge proponent of education. She studied Criminal Justice in college and later studied Education. She was a teacher for 7 ½ years until she was laid off. At the time, she had already started working on her PHD in Business Administration after receiving her MBA. To set goals for herself while laid off, she decided to go to hair and cosmetology school. Nikki continued to research career options. Then one day, while on lunch break from school, she announced to her girlfriend, “I’m going to try this Blog Talk Radio” and the Nikki Rich Show was born! From Day 1, the show had celebrity guests. Today, the Nikki Rich Show has over 330,000 listeners. How does...

This week marks the end of another school year, which causes me to reflect on how fast my son, Kory, has grown up. Next year, he’ll be a senior in high school, getting ready for college! This also marks the time of year when schools begin talking about budget cuts for next school year. Talks of budget cuts always include talk about cutting parts of the music program, which boggles my mind, because I can’t begin to tell you what an important influence music education has played in my son’s life. I’m lucky to live in a school district that offers music education beginning in middle school. I must admit that I was a bit surprised when my son came home after his first day at middle school and announced he was going to play the enormous bass violin. My husband plays the electric bass, so I guess it’s natural that my son would choose the bass violin. I’m lucky to live in a school district with a strings teacher willing to rush between 2 middle schools and the city high school to keep the strings music program alive. Ms. G is a miracle worker. Over half the children who start taking beginning strings in middle school play their instruments with her through graduation from high school. What an amazing woman! I’m lucky to live near a wonderful summer arts program for Young Musicians and Artists (YMA) at beautiful Willamette University. My son spent 3 summers at their music camp, where teachers play alongside students during performances. The summer between middle school and high school, my son’s YMA bass teacher recommended he audition for the Portland Youth Philharmonic (PYP). I’m lucky to live in the same city as PYP, the oldest youth orchestra in...

Last week, I had the opportunity to interview KeV Atomic, the lead for the band Atomic Honey. Here at Amused Now headquarters, we were super excited, because we’ve been following Atomic Honey for the last year and a half. The band has released a wide range of music, which is why they appeal to a wide audience.  With David Bowie is a major influence, how can they go wrong? Always busy producing new songs, Atomic Honey recently released a new album called “Operation: Moondust” and a new EP called “Just Press Play.” KeV is a big literature fan. He describes “Operation: Moondust” as a mellow journey, where they convey stories through songwriting. After the album released, they made “Just Press Play” for their hard rock fans. We asked KeV how he gets his message out to his fans. Twitter is his social media vehicle of choice. He likes that Twitter allows for open dialog. According to KeV, Twitter is “like a never-ending interview.” He does not like Facebook, because he feels it is not setup well for responding to posts. KeV believes the standards for artists have changed. It’s a lot more than just making music. Fans expect to interact with their favorite artists. KeV uses Twitmusic to post songs for his most dedicated fans. These may be concept songs that never make it into an album. He uses Twitmusic to “let people know where we’re at musically at any given time” and to keep people interested between albums. Atomic Honey has albums on iTunes, Amazon, ReverbNation and CD Baby. KeV doesn’t recommend one site over any other. His idea is to “flood the internet, then roll with as much music as you can.” He sees a lot of artists trying to promote the...

“Baby you’re the best.” These lyrics play at the end of my recent interview with Sam Wesst. I know I’ll be singing those words to his song “Six O’Clock in the Morning” when the world discovers, as I already have, that he is a substantial new musical and writing talent. This song could receive a Grammy. That’s all I could think of as I finished watching the edited version of my interview with Sam. Sam is a humble, powerful, talented soul who reminded me of John Denver when he sang “Cotton Jenny” and made me tear up when he told her story on our video interview. This is the type of man the world does not have enough of. Men like my husband, solid, caring and true. If I know anything — and I believe in my instincts — Sam Wesst will soon be very well known. He wants be a part of the Amused Now e-commerce website when it launches and we’re delighted! His album of 9 songs, picked first by him and then approved by Tate Publishing, is being cut in June for a fall release. Members from Reba McIntyre’s band will be accompanying. He’s staying humble about it, but I doubt Tate pulls out the stops for every artist they work with. Sam’s book, Wounded Warriors is in Barnes and Noble, on Amazon.com, on www.tatepublishing.com and is soon to be on www.samwesst.com. It is about a group of covert soldiers in Vietnam, not owned by the army or the country they serve. When they return, one of them comes back with evidence of their secret mission in Nam. They gather in a pack on motorcycles and ride to a remote location called Desert Rose. There they must fight to protect the...

Damien Cripps, Indie musician, has the heart of a poet, the soul of a musician and the mind of a lawyer. He is all three ~ I was delighted to discover in our interview this Saturday. We are social media buddies going way back. We hadn’t Skyped in a long while, neither had I seen him online until lately. So he surprised me with the lawyer part! He took a hiatus from his online time, kept up his music and went to law school. He’s now moonlighting as a lawyer during the day and playing his music in the evenings and on weekends. That sounds like Damien. His passion is and always will be his music. We talked about a conversation we had a few years back about Indie musicians and I asked him how they had changed the face of the music business. He explained that Indie musicians had not changed so very much, but the internet changed everything. Suddenly, the Indie musician’s voice became much louder in the mix. He is”noisier” as Damien put it and not to be ignored. There is more music out there, and the large bands with the big names are forced to go out on tour. The audiences win out all the way. There is more music, but often musicians give their music away for free. We talked about Amused Now and our plans to make it easier for musicians to be paid online for their music and to gain exposure. The power of the business, Damien maintains, is always the music and it will find a way. Even with Social Media and the tremendous tools it gives the musician to get the word out, the music is the ultimate engager, not the friendly persona of the...

Is there anything fun about being a starving artist? Not really. If truth be told, maybe you’re not starving, but I bet entertainment is not your full-time gig. You’ve probably tried lots of ways to get noticed in hopes of being discovered.  Hopefully, you’ve made some money along the way, so you can keep investing in your creative future. Here are some suggestions to help turn free into paid: 1. Tell your fans how they can help A website is the best way to communicate with your fans, and you can customize it with information that jumpstarts your career. If you cannot afford your own website, take advantage of what’s free, build a business Facebook page or Word Press blog. Make sure your website tells your fans how they can pay to support you by including: Schedule of your upcoming gigs and personal appearances. Links to your paid content, where you sell your music, books, films and fan gear. If you are a member of multiple projects, include links to those sites too. The best way to contact you for paying gigs and appearances or to buy more content. At minimum, include an email address. 2. Lead fans to your paid content Turn free into paid. Research popular websites that specialize in selling your type of entertainment, be it music, books or films. Choose a site that you can afford. Keep the content fresh. Now link your free content to your paid content. At minimum, free content should link to your website which links to your paid content. 3. Get  their contact information Never miss an opportunity to get your fan’s contact information. Sign up for an email service like Mail Chimp or Constant Contact. Your website you ask your fans to join your email list. Take...