Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

East County native

“How do I continue to generate income in a streaming world?”

Gayle Skidmore sells her music coupled with coloring books.
Gayle Skidmore sells her music coupled with coloring books.

Gayle Skidmore may call Amsterdam her home now, but she recently returned to San Diego before embarking on an eight date US tour — a “quick three-week jaunt out to Cleveland and back.” She has toured with a full band on past occasions, but these shows will all be solo. Existing on the road is no issue for her though. She was inadvertently trained at an early age to endure lengthy car rides.

“I didn’t know if I would like that vagabond life,” Skidmore explained. “My family always took long road trips when we were little. We never flew anywhere. I was always mad about that, but I think it really prepared me for driving long distances. I really enjoy being on the road.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

But the life of a travelling musician also presents conundrums, such as, “How do I continue to generate income in a streaming world?” Skidmore came up with a rather ingenious method for selling her music in physical formats — she coupled them with coloring books. Besides helping to sustain her life on the road, the coloring books also provide her fans with an alternative pathway to immerse themselves in the world of her albums.

“There’s been a lot of research on the therapeutic aspects of coloring and how good it is for you. It’s something that I, personally, have always done. I write a lot of my music to get through crazy experiences in my life and just process my life. It’s something that I wanted to give my fans to be able to do the same thing. To have something where they could escape into it — color and listen to music and have it be this whole experience. I come from an age where you would buy an album and listen to the whole thing, so it’s an enticement for people to do that,” she said.

Past Event

Gayle Skidmore

Skidmore’s July 28 show at Lestat’s will be a bit of a homecoming for the veteran of the local music circuit. She has played that room before, and was quite worried when she heard the venue was on the ropes, and happy to hear later that a deal was struck in late-April that brought Lestat’s back from the brink of extinction.

“I really wanted to come home and play there, because that was such a special place for me when I was starting out in San Diego and learning how to perform. I just really wanted to come back and support them,” Skidmore said.

The community aspect of Lestat’s is exactly what Skidmore seems to be missing in Amsterdam. She is looking for her scene, but hasn’t found it just yet.

“There’s some great people I’ve met there so far, and maybe I don’t know the right people yet. But I feel like here even if you meet people that aren’t super-involved in the music scene, they still know where the people are who are running things. I don’t really get that vibe. A lot of the bigger venues only work with certain booking agencies. In San Diego, they’re much more supportive of their local talent,” she said.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

San Diego Dim Sum Tour, Warwick’s Holiday Open House

Events November 24-November 27, 2024
Next Article

Syrian treat maker Hakmi Sweets makes Dubai chocolate bars

Look for the counter shop inside a Mediterranean grill in El Cajon
Gayle Skidmore sells her music coupled with coloring books.
Gayle Skidmore sells her music coupled with coloring books.

Gayle Skidmore may call Amsterdam her home now, but she recently returned to San Diego before embarking on an eight date US tour — a “quick three-week jaunt out to Cleveland and back.” She has toured with a full band on past occasions, but these shows will all be solo. Existing on the road is no issue for her though. She was inadvertently trained at an early age to endure lengthy car rides.

“I didn’t know if I would like that vagabond life,” Skidmore explained. “My family always took long road trips when we were little. We never flew anywhere. I was always mad about that, but I think it really prepared me for driving long distances. I really enjoy being on the road.”

Sponsored
Sponsored

But the life of a travelling musician also presents conundrums, such as, “How do I continue to generate income in a streaming world?” Skidmore came up with a rather ingenious method for selling her music in physical formats — she coupled them with coloring books. Besides helping to sustain her life on the road, the coloring books also provide her fans with an alternative pathway to immerse themselves in the world of her albums.

“There’s been a lot of research on the therapeutic aspects of coloring and how good it is for you. It’s something that I, personally, have always done. I write a lot of my music to get through crazy experiences in my life and just process my life. It’s something that I wanted to give my fans to be able to do the same thing. To have something where they could escape into it — color and listen to music and have it be this whole experience. I come from an age where you would buy an album and listen to the whole thing, so it’s an enticement for people to do that,” she said.

Past Event

Gayle Skidmore

Skidmore’s July 28 show at Lestat’s will be a bit of a homecoming for the veteran of the local music circuit. She has played that room before, and was quite worried when she heard the venue was on the ropes, and happy to hear later that a deal was struck in late-April that brought Lestat’s back from the brink of extinction.

“I really wanted to come home and play there, because that was such a special place for me when I was starting out in San Diego and learning how to perform. I just really wanted to come back and support them,” Skidmore said.

The community aspect of Lestat’s is exactly what Skidmore seems to be missing in Amsterdam. She is looking for her scene, but hasn’t found it just yet.

“There’s some great people I’ve met there so far, and maybe I don’t know the right people yet. But I feel like here even if you meet people that aren’t super-involved in the music scene, they still know where the people are who are running things. I don’t really get that vibe. A lot of the bigger venues only work with certain booking agencies. In San Diego, they’re much more supportive of their local talent,” she said.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Tigers In Cairo owes its existence to Craigslist

But it owes its name to a Cure tune and a tattoo
Next Article

In-n-Out alters iconic symbol to reflect “modern-day California”

Keep Palm and Carry On?
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader