Random updates

Whew. It's been a strange week. First, we went to KC.
-to see my mom
-to see my sister
-to see some friends
-to see/hear my sister and a friend of her's put on a house concert
More on that in a little bit...
Recording:
Still trying and getting very close to finishing a project that I've been working on for way too long. I recently found "before" recordings of the songs as the artist originally brought them to me. Comparing these rough demos to the recordings now is nothing short of mind-blowing. For that, I'm very proud of this CD and looking forward to getting it out. I hope that the artist can figure out a way to market it as it deserves. At Eathall (the previously mentioned project is the last of my "home studio" projects), we've been working on a benefit CD for the local Animal Shelter. This has kept us busy for the last few days, working on the songs/bands/artists that are recording their contribution with us. However, everybody has been very efficient in recording. That coupled with the fact that we'd agreed to reduced studio rate (it is for charity), means we're working a lot for not much money. The good news is that it's brought a lot of traffic to the studio and we hope that will help us in terms of local awareness. We'll see.
We've also been working on the debut CD of a great local singer/songwriter by the name of Justin Brasher. He's a great guy and I absolutely love his songs and his voice. I'm so glad to be working on his CD, I'll definately let you know when it's done.
Other work:
Today I spent my first morning moving pianos. I know I know it sounds like a joke, but when I hired an acquaintance to move a 5' baby grand to the studio a couple of weeks ago, I found out he would be needing some help this summer. He's a nice guy and he's got somebody helping him in the afternoons, so he just needs help in the mornings. I'm not sure how much work I can hope for, but this will help with the income a little bit.
Booking:
Ok, this has me so irritated. I've been making lots of phone calls trying to book some more local gigs. I found out that one local place has started having "acoustic nights" on a particular day of the week, so I found out who was doing the booking, and contacted him and took him a CD a couple of weeks ago. Well, it's impossible to get in touch with this guy. I've called regularly and seem to always miss him. Finally, I called last friday and caught him and asked if he'd had a chance to listen. He said yes, and that he liked it. (great!) We looked at a couple of dates on the calendar and it looked like we were both agreed that a day next week would work well for both of us. He asked me if I could give him a chance to double check with his boss and give him a call on monday to confirm. no problem. sounds great. I call back on Monday: "oh, he doesn't come in today." (grrrrr....) I call tuesday and a female answers the phone. When i ask for the booker she puts me on hold for awhile. She comes back: "He's busy and says you should stop calling. He'll call you when he gets a chance." I'm incredulous. I say, "Are you serious?" her: "Yes, he says stop calling." me: "Well, I was calling to confirm a date we'd talked about next week..." her: "Well, he says he'll call you when he gets a chance." yea. right. Thanks a ton.
I'm calling tomorrow. If he's just trying to blow me off, he's going to have to do it for real.

Star Wars-Revenge of the Sith

We went to the theatre about 10:40 last night and there were probably 200 people already standing in line to get seats. We didn't really have to wait outside that long; I think they let us into the theatre about 11pm. Holly and I were with our friend James and Melissa and we got pretty good seats together off to one side. All I know is that I had been getting more and more excited all day, and by the time we were sitting in our seats, I felt pretty giddy on the inside.

What can I say? Star Wars connects me to my childhood like nothing else in my life. Was it perfect? Of course not. Was the dialogue any better? not really. In fact, some of the love story/romantic dialogue was probably the worst yet. But, Holy Shnikies! I LOVED IT!

George Lucas is often villified for everything from crappy dialogue to poor editing. It's not like I'm a student of movie making and know exactly what he's talking about when he says these movies are made in the style of the old saturday afternoon serials. But, I think I can understand it a little bit. And for me, he's come up with a great story. Not just this movie, but the whole Star Wars universe. It's a great, legendary story which is lacking in so many movies that have come out as of late.

Thanks, George. May the Force be with you.

two books and a movie

So, last week I was at the library and found the brand new installment of Orson Scott Card's Ender Saga called Shadow of the Giant.

Now, I don't care who you are or if you are a SciFi fan or not, Card's novel, Enders Game, is simply fantastic. I know plenty of people who won't read it simply because it's scifi, in fact, if I hadn't been told that it was good and I'd just seen the cover, I would never have picked it up. I'm telling you, it's incredible. Now, there are 3 sequals to Enders Game, that are not nearly as great. However, Card published another book called, Ender's Shadow, which is set in the same time and place as Enders game, but focusing on a different character. As much as it sounds like he was just trying to make a big hit with the same formula, it's pretty great, too. Unfortunately, its (now 3) sequals don't really stand up either. However, I decided to give the newest one, Shadow of the Giant, a chance and I keep picking it back up so far.

Today, I was at the library returning some DVDs that Holly had checked out and ran across a special table of biographies that they'd set up. On a whim, I checked the computer to see if they had the brand new book that's all interview of Bono. I couldn't believe it, but the computer said they had it and that it was even checked in.

So, I looked and looked. Then I got a helpful library person to help me look and look. She was able to tell me that the book was brand new, had just been processed as of about 30 minutes earlier and that I would be the first to check it out. Unfortunately, nobody could find it. So, when it turns up, I have it on hold.

I'm also hoping to get my hands on Brian McLaren's new book, The Last Word and the Word after That, in the not too distant future.

Of course, reading is kind of secondary to the fact that I'll be watching Revenge of the Sith for the first time in roughly 50 hours...have I mentioned that I already have my ticket?

summer reading...?

Since I was a little kid, when I sense summer coming, I start getting excited about my summer reading list. I know, most kids get excited about being out of school, swimming, and lots of goofing off. I did that too, but it may be the fact that I'm the offspring of two teachers, one even being the school librarian, that influenced this particular summer planning.

Unfortunately, I've been without a novel for way too long right now. I don't even have a single book, let alone a summer list. I've checked a number of things out from the library, and end up just taking them back. A friend just returned my copy of Orson Scott Card's, Enders Game, and I actually re-read it. (I also highly advise reading it-great book!)

So, what's everybody reading these days? Any suggestions on what I should check out? I'm specifically looking for some novels of any sort (as long as it's good) to check out.

shack show as a single

Hey, thanks to everybody who came out to the shack show tonight despite the fact that Holly left me...for the weekend. We'll all continue working under the assumption that she's coming back to me at the end of the weekend.

Seriously, I had a lot of fun tonight. Thank you all for coming and hanging out with me. Thanks also to Travis for coming and sitting in on djembe. Did anybody else notice how Mr. Powers was on fire tonight? scorching!

I don't expect anybody to really notice this or even understand it, but I've been feeling like I've had a breakthrough with my voice in the last couple months. Now, 10 years since I graduated from college and took all those voice lessons to get that music degree, a couple of things that I worked at so hard back then suddenly seem to be connecting. It's weird and I doubt that anybody can actually hear it, it's more just the way it feels to me when I sing. One of my voice professors always told me that the male voice doesn't fully mature until between the age of 30-35 and i never believed her. I don't know if that's what's making this stuff work better, but it could be. I just think that I can sing a lot longer without feeling as tired and without worrying that I'm hurting myself.

I know that probably nobody has any interest in this (other than my old voice professors), but it's interesting and kind of exciting to me.

bright eyes?

Ok. I don't get it. I saw Bright Eyes last night on Jay Leno. I hate the kid's voice and his songs have virtually no melody to speak of in my opinion. Why in the world is this kid from Omaha playing solo on Leno and opening for Bruce Springsteen?

Maybe I have an idea what's going on. The song he "sang" was called When the President talks to God. It was so "controversial" and "edgy" it actually dared to criticize and ridicule the President AND God all at the same time! (gasp!) It even had a naughty word that they had to bleep out!!!!

It was so edgy that he actually had people cheering for him throughout the performance.

You've heard the question: If a tree falls in the forest with nobody around to hear it, does it make a sound?

Here's another: If you play your edgy/controversial/unmelodic/important song for a bunch of people who think the same way you do, is it still edgy/controversial? Is it a song? Is it important?