Musician Jody Whitesides is a busy man.
The Park City High School graduate who lives in Los Angeles, Calif., as a singer and songwriter, is gearing up to play the Utah Musicians’ Radio first anniversary concert at Fats Grill in Sugarhouse tonight.
He’s thinking of creating a local music festival that will be held in Park City and is trying to raise funds for a new CD.
Lastly, he wants his fans to vote on which songs to include on that CD.
Whitesides, who has been back in Utah for a few months, said he became involved with the Utah Musicians Radio, www.utahmusicians.net , an online pirate radio station, after his friend, guitarist Dusty Higley from the Utah band The Book, referred him to a link on Facebook.
“The station was started a year ago as a way for Johnny “Cat” Farmer to promote the Utah music scene,” Whitesides said. “I went to check out the link and sent Johnny a tune. He contacted me back and said he wanted some more music.”
Other Utah artists getting airtime on the station include Ghostowne, Insatiable, Anke Summerhill, Royal Bliss and Marinade.
“After hearing more songs, Johnny asked if I wanted to come in for an interview and it blossomed from there,” Whitesides said.
The station website itself is expanding to include all 50 states, and will feature bands from those areas played on designated pages.
“Johnny plays music that is made 100 percent by Utah musicians on the Utah site,” Whitesides said.
In addition to the music, Farmer conducts interviews during a two-hour show each night.
Whitesides has been the guest three times in the past two months.
“I guess he finds me funny and informative,” Whitesides said with a laugh.
The Utah Musicians Radio first anniversary concert, which will be streamed live on the website, will feature bands and artists Autostigmatic, Withered Soul, Juana Ghani and Perish Lane. The event will begin at 2 p.m. at Fats and Whitesides will perform at 9 p.m.
He’s going to play with a three-piece band and some of the songs he’ll perform are ‘Hero Unexpected,’ which, he said, is a relatively new song, and some songs from his CD “Practical Insanity.'”
He’ll also play a song called “Happy When I’m with You” that he wrote, which is featured in film “Lucky,” starring Colin Hanks, which is on NetFlix.
“I decided to throw it in the set to see how it pans out,” Whitesides said.
The anniversary show may blossom into a music festival next year.
“That sparked my concept for a music festival in Park City,” Whitesides said. “I actually talked to the chamber about doing it, but never got off the ground, and now, it looks things are being put in place that I may be able to do so.”
Before next year, however, Whitesides wants to release a new CD, a follow-up to “Practical Insanity.” To do so, he needs to raise some cash.
“I have talked to a friend who is in the private equity sector about raising $1 million to make a new record, and I’m waiting to hear back,” Whitesides said. “In the meanwhile, I want to put the word out that I am looking for investors.”
Whitesides has designed two web pages to help.
“One is www.jodywhitesides.com/pom ,” he said. “POM stands for Patrons of Music and on that website, I’m going the route similar to www.kickstarter.com , where different levels of investments will bring in different levels of rewards. Levels range from $10 to $100,000.”
The $100,000 donation gets the donor a free trip to the Grammy Awards, he said.
“The other page, www.jodywhitesides.com/bizplan , is for people who are strictly interested in investing at least $100,000 per donation for the project,” Whitesides explained. “The reason why I didn’t go to kickstarter or www.indigogo.com is because of the fees they take. The size of the money that I need is such that those fees would cripple the project. I’m trying to raise $1 million, and people who go to those other sites will think I’m out of my mind to try to raise that much in 30 days.
He’s not out of his mind, Whitesides said. He’s just thinking big.
“I have the music and the connections to make it happen, one being producer Maurice Starr,” he explained. “I just need the capital to do it.”
Before he raises the money, Whitesides wants to be sure he has the songs ready to go. So, he’s asking his fans to visit his website, www.jodywhitesides.com , and choose the songs.
“They can vote by giving a one- to five-star rating on the songs,” he said. “I have the list down to 31 songs. I had it at 30, but I wrote another song and my friends told me it has to be on the list.”
Jody Whitesides will play at the Utah Musicians Radio one-year anniversary party tonight, Saturday, May 12, at Fats Grill, 2185 South Highland Dr., Salt Lake. The event is free and begins at 2 p.m. Whitesides will take the stage at 9 p.m. For more information, visit www.fatsgrillslc.com/?p=1348.