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June 29, 2006
People….People Who Need People
I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth! My apologies for not writing much this past week.
Actually, things have been a little hectic around here lately. I’ll try to sum it up…
1. BurnLounge!
2. New projects in the studio.
3. Meeting new people.
4. Live performing with Sheryl.
5. Life in general!
Let’s see, what shall I concentrate on in the limited amount of time I have today?
New people!
I’ve always been something of an introvert. Wading into a group of strangers, shaking a few hands and introducing myself, has never been high on my list of things I loved to do.
Until recently.
Sheryl and I are constantly meeting new people. Some are musicians; some are newcomers to our church, and others are business owners we meet through our Chamber of Commerce activities. We also meet new people through our work with BurnLounge, my keyboard classes, and our live performances.
What has made this introvert more than happy to met new people?
First of all, many of the folks we’ve met are excited about what they do.
Through the Chamber we meet individuals who are starting new businesses, or have been running their own businesses for years. Either way, you can’t successfully run your own business unless you are excited and enthusiastic about it.
The musicians we are getting to know through our involvement in NSAI, our work in the studio, and the Musical Kottage are also passionate about their art.
Sheryl and I are often in a position to help them realize their dreams through the recording of a CD, songwriting coaching, or private instruction in playing or singing.
The people who are new to our church, Christ Community Church in Titusville, are of course happy to have found a church home, and are eager to be a part of the church’s ministry.
There’s something incredibly invigorating and encouraging about being around positive, exciting people. These are folks who love life and find good in everything. Yes, they have problems just like anyone else, but they don’t stay “down in the dumps.”
There’s nothing like following your passions, realizing your dreams, and experiencing the ups and downs and the excitement of these worthy endeavors as part of a community of like-minded people.
Posted by leon at 10:16 AM | Comments (0)
June 21, 2006
Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
Sometimes it hits me: I’ve been running the project studio since 1990. 16 years!
It makes me think about how much things have changed.
When we first opened our studio, I had one keyboard, a keyboard amp, and an Atari 1040ST computer (with no hard drive, everything was on floppy disks, and I had to load the programs from floppy disks each day when I started work…). Tracks were done entirely in MIDI and were mixed to cassette. I couldn’t record vocals, so all I did were accompaniment tracks.
I had to take everything that came along in those days. I remember one client who had a great idea for a song. At least he thought it was a great idea. He wanted to mix Blues and Polka. Somehow, I managed to do it for him, but I don’t think it ever became a hit, at least not in this country.
Posted by leon at 03:12 PM | Comments (0)
June 20, 2006
Crazy, Man, Crazy!
“Jim’s my best friend
He ran off with my wife
They left nothing behind
But his old bowie knife
So I boxed it up
Mailed it off to them
They say she took it right from the box
And started stabbing him
Oh, ain’t it strange
How life goes?”
- from “Ain’t it Strange”, by “Crazy” Roy Thomas © 2006
I’m working on “Crazy Roy’s” music today. He’s one of the quirkiest and most original songwriters I’ve ever worked with.
His way of recording is also unique. He comes in and performs live, usually doing only one or two takes, and he is either unwilling or unable (I’ve never determined which) to play to a click track. He also never plays a song the same way twice (if he plays it more than once).
When he’s done, it’s up to me to fill everything in around him, including bass, drums, and keyboards.
It’s a challenge, but one I enjoy.
Anyway, I have three songs of his to work on today.
After that, if there is any time left I will work on an album of spoken meditations by Elizabeth Hess Stamper. This project consists of her meditations, with new-age ambient background music composed, performed and arranged by the PSG.
This couldn’t be any more different than Crazy Roy’s music, which is in the folk vein.
And what else will I be working on? An R&B and Gospel CD by Kevin J, MIDI sequences of standards (think Frank Sinatra, or Mel Torme) for Tony Martin, and backing tracks of classical songs for a friend of mind who is studying voice.
Well, It’ll be my own fault if I get bored.
Posted by leon at 10:27 AM | Comments (0)
June 16, 2006
Whirlwind
The past week has been a bit of a blur. Ever since we came home from Nashville, I have been working at a somewhat frantic pace.
On Monday we met with our new financial advisor. Our previous advisor retired from the business, and we’ve been feeling the need to get our financial house in better order. Yes, even artists have to think about such matters, as hard as it might be.
On Tuesday morning, I had “The Two Tonys” in the studio. That’s not the name of a singing group; it’s just two old friends, Tony Martin and Tony Esposito.
Tony Martin is an entertainer from Vero Beach, for whom I produce MIDI backing tracks. He told his friend about our studio, and brought him in to record.
Mr. Esposito wanted to record some songs, with just piano accompaniment, for the enjoyment of his friends and family. He and his wife recently celebrated their 50th anniversary, and he wanted to give her a professional recording of his singing. (I love these old romantic guys!)
Picture a lean, hale and hearty gentleman with a genuine smile of joy on his face at all times, an obvious love for life and good songs, topped off with a thick and oddly charming New Jersey (think “New Joisey”) accent. He was kind of like Jimmy Durante with a regular nose.
He had a lot of fun recording, with me playing piano for him. I had a lot of fun recording him!
From Tuesday afternoon until late Wednesday night, Sheryl and I worked on her “Movie Song.” (See Nashville – June 2006 – Day 1, 2 and part of 3)
We spent Tuesday afternoon and evening working on the track, and on Wednesday night we brought in Mike Orrison (a great singer who had done much backing vocal work for us) to sing the lead vocal. After he left we continued working on the track (a lot of guitar stuff!) and didn’t stop until after 2AM (I couldn’t go on, I’m not a young man anymore, I can’t pull all-nighters).
Got a late start Thursday, but I managed to add some keyboards, and mix the track in time to overnight it to where it needed to go in order to be considered for inclusion in the movie.
On Thursday night we produced a 30-second radio spot about S.O.L.O. Creative Media for broadcast on WMEL 920 AM.
Sheryl will be appearing for the 3rd time on "At Home With Matthew Bronson” from 9-12am. She’ll be talking about her music and playing some songs throughout the show.
We also recorded a new theme song for the show, written and performed by Sheryl. Instead of paying us for the new theme song, they will air our radio spot. It will be interesting to see what kind of response we get.
So, if you live in the Brevard County area, listen to Sheryl on Saturday morning on WMEL.
If you're anywhere else in the world, you can still hear the show, just go to the WMEL site and click on "Live Web Streaming."
Posted by leon at 11:51 AM | Comments (0)
June 14, 2006
Herman’s Hermits
Saturday, June 10, 2006
After returning from Nashville late Friday night, we were able to rest a little, but we couldn’t sleep all day Saturday, we had a concert to go to!
Spike and Sandy (Sandz of Time) had invited us to go to EPCOT and see Herman’s Hermits (starring the eternally young Peter Noone). How could we say no to that?
They had already taken us to see Paul Revere and the Raiders and the Guess Who, and this was to be the last in a series of “Flower Power” concerts put on by Disney.
Well, to quote the group America in their hit song “Horse With No Name”: “The heat was hot…” it was at least 93 degrees with over 98 percent humidity. We saw a great many over-heated folks. We ducked from air-conditioned building to air-conditioned building, and made sure we drank a lot of water.
It was worth the effort. Peter Noone (a.k.a. “Herman”) and his Hermits did their best to put on a rousing good show.
Noone seemed to be having a grand time singing his old hits to a tremendously appreciative audience. We could see a lot of baby boomers singing along, not missing a single word.
Naturally, they played the hits, including “I’m Into Something Good”, “Dandy”, “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter”, “There’s a Kind of Hush”, and of course, their biggest and wackiest hit, “I’m Henry VIII, I Am.”
We momentarily forgot how hot it was.
We remembered when we had to walk back to the parking lot.
Peter Noone
(He looks quite good for a "not so young" bloke!)
Posted by leon at 12:08 PM | Comments (1)
June 12, 2006
Nashville – June 2006 – Day 7 and 8
Thursday, June 8, 2006
I’m writing this on Monday, June 12, 2006, and already my memories of this day are fading! Now, what did we do?
Ah, yes, we slept in for the first time on this trip, and went to Noshville for breakfast.
Actually, we had most of the day off, so we went and took a walk in Centennial Park, and just relaxed.
That evening we went to another meeting at the NSAI office. This time it was a song critique session with Pete and Pat Luboff.
Afterwards we went to Third and Lindsely to meet up with Jewly Hight and her friend Adrian to see “The Waybacks.”
What a show! And all for only $14 plus the cost of a couple of drinks.
Friday, June 9, 2006
Drove all day. ‘Nuff said.
Posted by leon at 01:47 PM | Comments (0)
June 08, 2006
Nashville – June 2006 – Day 6
Wednesday, June 7, 2006
Sheryl was up until 2AM last night working on songs.
She had a songwriting coaching session today with Rick Beresford, who wrote the hit song "If Drinkin' Don't Kill Me (Her Memory Will)" for George Jones back in 1980.
She had a new song to show Rick, one she had written as a result of our attendance at the Nashville Screenwriters Association Conference panel discussion concerning placement of songs in film and TV.
As I mentioned in that posting the writers there were encouraged to pitch one song for one of the movie projects we were shown.
So Sheryl wrote a “movie song.” She played it for her songwriting coach, who liked it so much that he didn’t change a thing. He made a few suggestions on how we should produce the demo.
So, when we get back late Friday, there will be no rest for the weary: we’ve got a movie song to record!
After Sheryl’s meeting with Rick, we went to see Susan Tucker at her office on Music Row.
She and Kim Copeland will be coming to Florida on Saturday, June 24, to lead a songwriter’s workshop. Here’s the blurb from their “Songwriters Connection" email newsletter:
Mark Saturday, June 24th on your calendar for a songwriting workshop you don't want to miss! The NSAI Orlando chapter is pleased to present two music industry professionals from Nashville, Kim Copeland and Susan Tucker. The workshop will cover songwriting techniques with an emphasis on co- writing. Co-writing is an important part of growth as a songwriter. For those of you who have been to Nashville, you know that co-writing is very important in that market.
The day's events will include a seminar session in the morning where Kim and Susan will cover choosing an appropriate co-writer, techniques for developing ideas, determining if ideas are good for co-writing or solo writing, and other tips for a successful songwriting session. In the afternoon, we will break up into groups of 3-4 people and co-write songs together.
This workshop will add important skills to your songwriting toolbox. Even if you had never intended on co-writing, this session may change your mind!
Kim is a producer and songwriter, Susan is a publisher and songwriter, and we may even have Rachel Williams, a songwriter and artist, join us. We will all benefit from these multiple perspectives of the music industry!
Kim and Susan have presented some wonderful workshops to us in the past, so we look forward to another excellent experience.
This is also your opportunity to network with other songwriters, and maybe find potential co-writers!
The workshop will be held in Orlando, but the exact location is yet to be determined. The cost for the workshop is below. In the next couple of weeks, you will receive another email with location and registration details.
Workshop Cost:
$45 Pre-registration
$55 at the door
(NSAI Members receive a $10 discount.)
Kim and Susan will also be setting up one-on-one session on Sunday, June 25th at Asli's home in Oviedo (East Orlando). A one-on-one session offers you the opportunity to get your songs critiqued, ask advice, or simply ask your specific questions about the industry. The time is yours to use as you wish! One-on-one sessions will be scheduled on a first come first served basis.
I will begin registering people for these sessions in a couple of weeks. One-on-one sessions cost $50 and last for 50 minutes.
Thanks for your time and hope to see you at the workshop!
Walker
NSAI Orlando Co-coordinator
Central Florida Songtree
CFSongTree@aol.com
(407) 359-0506
In the evening we went to see Rachel Williams perform at the Mystic in downtown Nashville.
It was a tough evening for her. The Mystic is a long, long, narrow bar with two rooms for bands. Rachel was originally to be in the front part of the club, but for some unfathomable reason, even though there was no other band playing they had her set up waaaaaaay in the back!
The sound was horrible, the crowd sparse, but Rachel was a trooper, and led her expert band through a high-energy two-hour set that included several of her originals and some cover tunes.
She showed a lot of poise for someone so young. Another, less mature performer might have complained about the sound quality, or the size of the crowd, but Rachel just got up and did her best.
Special thanks to Susan Tucker! The sound was so loud that it actually hurt. We were thinking of a way to leave gracefully, when Susan came to our rescue by giving us each a pair of earplugs. We were then able to stay to the end, and show our support for Rachel.
When we spoke with Rachel after the show, we found out that she had to wear earplugs too!
Ah, showbiz!
Posted by leon at 01:57 PM | Comments (0)
June 07, 2006
Nashville – June 2006 – Day 5
Tuesday, June 6, 2006
Today was 6/6/06. 666! Kind of spooky and satanic, isn’t it?
Actually, it was a beautiful early summer day in Nashville, and as I sit here in our freshly cleaned room writing this, not one satanic thing has happened to us.
This morning we met with Matt Lindsey, a publisher in Nashville, with an office on “Music Row.”
Sheryl met Matt at an NSAI function a while back and has an open door with Matt to submit any songs she thinks may be suitable. He has been a great encouragement to Sheryl in her songwriting.
We weren’t there to pitch any songs, just to have a short visit, and talk about the music business in general. Just for fun, we gave him a copy of Sheryl’s new children’s album, “I Feel a Song Coming On.”
After our meeting with Matt, we had lunch with Mike Ward, and discussed our strategy for building our BurnLounge business.
Digital downloads are going to replace CDs as the way most people purchase music, and those involved in BurnLounge are in a position to sell that music (millions of songs, and eventually ringtones, audio books, movies and TV shows, etc.).
We want to help our friends, our musical family, and our business associates prosper in this new “digital world.”
Tuesday evening we attended the NSAI Christian Pitch to Label Night, with John Mays, Vice President of A&R for Centricity Records. The meeting was held at the NSAI building.
Basically, those in attendance had the chance to “pitch” one song to Mr. Mays. Their CDs (Or in a few cases, cassettes) were played to the group, usually just the first verse and the chorus. John would then make a few comments about the song, and if he wanted to pursue it further, or consider the song for possible future use, he would take the CD with him.
The submissions ranged from excellent to “interesting.” Out of the 25 or so songs played, he took 2 for further consideration.
Of course, that’s no guarantee that anything will happen for the writer. John may listen to the songs again, and later decide not to use them. But you never know!
We had a chance to meet John after the meeting. He was a presenter at the Xpress Him! Creative Arts Festival, which was held April 20-22 at the Marlton Assembly of God Church in New Jersey. Sheryl and I were presenters at the same festival, but we never got to officially meet him there.
He was very encouraging to the writers present at the NSAI meeting, and advised them to keep creating new songs.
After such a full day, we had to go to Maggie Moo’s for some ice cream, and call our friends back in Florida and find out how their NSAI meeting went.
Hi, Asli!
Posted by leon at 04:56 PM | Comments (0)
June 06, 2006
Nashville – June 2006 – Day 4
Monday, June 5
We spent the morning making phone calls and answering email. We basically had a little office set up in our room here at the Extended Stay America.
After being cooped up all day, we ventured out to a BurnLounge meeting at the Alabama Grill in the Opry Mills Mall.
If you’re reading this blog and don’t know what BurnLounge is, go immediately to this link and watch the video:
http://digitalburnteam.com/faq/burn_lounge_video4.htm
In addition, take a look at www.burnlounge.com/solo
We feel absolutely compelled to tell our friends about BurnLounge. If we don’t at least introduce the concept, many of them may come back in year and ask us, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
I’ll be writing more about it, both here and in the Newsletter.
So day 4 in Nashville was uneventful, except for the meeting, where we met some great people, and saw a presentation on BurnLounge.
Posted by leon at 10:18 PM | Comments (0)
Nashville – June 2006 - Day 3 Continued
Sunday Evening, June 4 - On Sunday evenings the Bluebird Café hosts the “Sunday Spotlight” featuring up and coming artists and songwriters, followed by the “Writers Night” which has been hosted for the past 17 years by Jeff Pearson.
The Writers Night consists of 10 songwriters invited by the Bluebird to perform three songs each. This is followed by a 30 minute set with the featured writer, who on this night was Gerald Smith, of “Hee Haw” fame (I knew I should have watched that show!).
Rachel Williams was the featured Sunday Spotlight artist.
This was my first opportunity I had the chance to hear her perform.
She’s only 20, but she has the stage presence and moves of a seasoned performer, (she started young!) and is developing into a fine songwriter.
After her set came the weekly writers’ night. Sheryl was performer number 8.
She sang “Love Shows Up”, “Red Hat”, and “Who Could Ask for More Than This.”
It’s amazing how quickly 15 minutes goes by when you are on the stage at the Bluebird!
Now I thought she was outstanding, and was really starting to connect with the audience by the time of the third song.
Sheryl did not think she did that well, but I’ve always believed that if you are a musician and performer of quality, you will almost always give a good performance, no matter how you feel.
Of course, coming up and doing three songs, without a sound check, in a potentially stressful situation such as “playing the Bird”, makes it nearly impossible to get comfortable. Indeed, we always see a performer or two who is visibly nervous in this situation, even to the point of observing their hands shaking a bit.
But everyone made it through, without any “train wrecks”.
One thing that’s makes the Bluebird such a coveted venue is the legendary attentiveness of the audience. This is truly a songwriters’ room. No competing with cell-phone yakkers, arguing couples, noisy unsupervised kids, or whirring blenders and hissing cappuccino machines.
The audience is paying attention, and it’s always interesting to see the reactions that the various songwriters receive from the audience members.
I would roughly categorize the various audience member reactions as:
1. Wow! Why isn’t this person a star!?!?
2. I could listen to this person all day. Who is she, and where can I hear her again? I realize that this artist may never become a mainstream star, but I would like to know more about her.
3. Wake me when he’s through. I will clap out of sheer politeness.
4. Uh, OK, of all the songs I’ve heard, that was one of them. How did he ever get in?
5. This person needs professional help, but I liked what he did!
I think the reaction to Sheryl fell firmly into category 2.
There were a couple of writers who fell into category 1 (they were young and female).
There was one fellow who combined comedy and songwriting, was definitely hilarious, and unquestionably a category 5.
There were a few songwriters in category 3 or 4, but unfortunately (fortunately?) I can’t remember their names, or their songs.
There were several category 2’s, and we made sure to get their names and contact information.
Posted by leon at 10:55 AM | Comments (0)
June 05, 2006
Nashville – June 2006 - Day 1, 2, and part of 3
Day 1: Friday, June 2 – Drove all day! We left at around 7:30AM, thinking we would arrive at our hotel around 7:30PM. We even packed a picnic lunch to save a little time (and money!).
We ended up arriving at around 10:30PM. We passed three accidents on the way up, drove through a few storms, and spent more time in stop and go traffic on this one trip than we had spent all year. Of course, we can go weeks without driving in heavy traffic of any kind, so I’m not going to complain too loudly. The main thing is that we arrived safely!
Day 2: Saturday, June 3 – We attended a panel discussion at the Country Music Hall of Fame as part of the Nashville Screenwriters Association conference. This discussion was on the placing of songs in films and television shows.
The panel consisted of four music supervisors from various studios (Warner, Disney, etc.). We were shown clips of movies in progress, and informed of the types of songs they were looking for.
We learned a little bit about how songs get into films (a subject beyond the scope of this blog, but I plan to include this topic in a future email newsletter) and we were encouraged to pitch one song to one of the supervisors. So Sheryl and I will have to get home and work on a song for a movie!
Day 3: Sunday, June 4 – We attended a church called “Mosaic” with some friends of ours, Bob Nickerson and Jewly Hight. This church, which meets in a building dating from the 1850’s, was geared toward 20-somethings, and I ended up being the oldest person there! To me it felt a bit like attending a church youth group meeting, but the pastor was an effective teacher.
After lunch with Bob and Jewly at a local Thai restaurant, we went out to their place in East Nashville to see their project studio.
They bought a duplex, set up house in one half, and have the studio set up in the other.
Their set up is actually very similar to ours in that it’s a computer hard-drive based recording system, with the main difference being that they have a “tracking room” (where the musicians actually perform and are “tracked”, or recorded) set up in the room next to the control room.
Our “tracking room” is actually our bedroom. Sheryl built a very effective portable sound booth that we set up in the bedroom when it’s time to record someone. We then run all the cables out there, and set up whatever mics we are going to use, depending on what is being recorded.
Someday, we hope to add on to our house, and one of the additional rooms will become our tracking room. We’ll be able to keep mics and instruments permanently set up in there, just as Bob and Jewly do in their tracking room.
After our visit with Bob and Jewly, it was back to our hotel to rest up and prepare for playing at the Bluebird.
More on the Bluebird tomorrow!
Posted by leon at 03:30 PM | Comments (0)