I have been holding off writing about our change of identity, but now we have made the name change official. The Magpies are no more – The Big Sky Gliders is now the name of the group. Why not Magpies? I don’t think we were ever comfortable with the name, as it was bestowed in a moment when we needed a name a couple of years ago. There is also a folk group in England named the Magpies and there was a very famous folk ensemble in the 1950’s with the same name. So we have been trying out different names for about the last six months. It was not an easy task – with list after list passing among us. Nothing stood out until Don came up with Big Sky Gliders. For whatever reason, the name resonated with Jim and I and we decided after very little discussion, to go with the Gliders. Something about Big Sky, the prairies and the essence of freedom that a glider represents … it all added up for us.
We debuted the name last Saturday when we played the Pacific Cafe in the McCauley neighbourhood of Edmonton. I think our host called us everything except the Big Sky Gliders in the first part of the show but he got it right in the end. The other reason for holding off on the name is we wanted to finish our recording. Last week we finally got the third song (almost) done and last night, on the recommendation of my second son, I set up a page on bandcamp.com that showcased our first recording effort.
Bandcamp.com has a very interesting business model. They host your site and allow you to set a price (if you care to) for your songs. If someone decides to download, they pay Bandcamp and then the revenue is passed on to us. Every 10th sale, they take the money. I think it is a very reasonable way to do business. Our website is www.bigskygliders.bandcamp.com.
The recordings and the web presence now gives up a chance for people to learn about us without having to be in Edmonton. We are going to apply to play a few festivals in the new year and this is a great promotional vehicle for us. So have a look and listen and watch for more music to be uploaded to the site over the next little while.
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