What a difference a day makes...

Yesterday I became obsessed with getting radio play for the new Evangenitals album Everlovin. I was totally inspired by the recent success of the breakups on the CMJ charts (yay!) and figured that it's time for me to get crackin' on an idea that I had a long time ago.

When I quit my full-time "regular" job (if working at a sex toy company can be called regular) the plan was to throw myself into the Evangenitals full-time. I was working as a Marketing Director for a big 'ol company and thought that if I directed all that marketing savvy at the band, then maybe, just maybe, I could support myself on Evangenital Joy alone. A lot of good stuff has happened between now and then, but the band hasn't gotten the full force of my attentions that I would like it to. So, now is the time.

In the past 24 hours I have written to a BUNCH of radio stations that play something like "our kind of music" and over 1/3 of them have gotten back to me with a positive reply so far. 1/3!!! That's some good odds!

There was only one "negative" reply, which was:

"I suggest you rename your group if you want airplay on our radio station."

These are some of my very favorite emails to respond to. My reply:

"Thanks for the straight-forward reply! Though I would love to have our music on your station, we already have far too much invested in this name and have broken down too many semantic walls of judgement to abandon it now. :-)

As an ordained minister and student of philosophy, the word "Evangenital" (which I happen to own the trademark for) is not in any way meant to be offensive (playful, yes!), rather it is an incredibly valid linguistic combination that accurately describes the passionate joy that informs our music:

Evangelical: characterized by ardent or crusading enthusiasm; zealous.
Genitals: the organs of creation

Though our band name may not be a match for your station, I hope you give the music a chance. That's where the message is at.

Cheers,
Juli"

Kill 'em with kindness. That's what my momma taught me. :-)

So... let me tell you about today!

Addi (of Balloonhat.com and Unpopable) emailed me this morning to say that he used our song "Hello" in a video that he made of him doing balloon hats at a nursing home. It is a beautiful video and such a great use of the song I was reduced to gooey pudding inside when I watched it.

Then I went for a SUPER FANTASTIC bike ride with Patrick all over South Pasadena and Highland Park.

When I got back, I called Nirvan (of The 1 Second Film and the Collaboration Foundation) and it turns out he had seen the blog I posted on The 1 Second Film site and submitted Addi's video to BoingBoing, who then featured it on the front page!

The video has now gotten over 4000 views so far and "Hello" is showing up as one of the Evangenitals "top songs" on iTunes!

Then Patrick and I went to the LA Opera to see the final dress rehearsal of "The Broken Jug" and "The Dwarf"... which was friggin' awesome! The sets were AMAZING. I loved it... especially "The Dwarf".... and I don't even love Opera that much. And I saw Timothy Sellers from Artichoke there, a few rows in front of me... he didn't see me though. I was in the back a slipped out during the applause! Woo-hoo. Home in 13 minutes flat! I love it.

Upon returning home, I had gotten a couple MORE positive responses from radio stations, one of which even asked for the Evangenitals to do a "station ID" to put in their permanent rotation. Glory be!

Yes, I'm definitely feeling good about making the Evangenitals my full-time job for while. Radio waves, here we come!