A time to celebrate...

Right now, right this minute "Trillium" is at DiscMakers. Getting ready to manufacture the album/artwork.. everything. I am proud of the whole album. Everyone that contributed their musical voices, and expertise to help make this album become what it is, thank you!

So much more to come.. keep your eyes here and on my website for forthcoming updates!

Music...

What does it mean to me? Music is my first love. It doesn’t hurt me, it doesn’t talk back to me. It does not tell me lies, it does not judge me, and forgets who I am. It just is. It helps me when I am lost. Music helps me get lost when I need to soar on my own. Music belongs to my soul, belongs to my heart. It does not give me conditions. It is always there, no matter what mood I am in. Music makes me live, breathe and be. I could not live without it. The sounds the moods, the love music gives helps me feel like I belong in this world.

Music has gives me the will to go on when things are not at their best. Music helps me celebrate my life with others, and other musicians celebrate with me. I am nothing without my music....

More to come...

Home...

I am back from Vermont. I left last Sunday and came home last night. I had all day on Monday April 20th to recover from the red eye I flew on. Note to self: Make sure to book a flight on a bigger plane if doing red eye. A 767 or 757 plane is MUCH better for those LONG cross country flights to Boston. Yes.. I flew there.

Anyway... I got to Boston, had a little fun at the Hertz Rental Center. The lady that helped me get my car.. etc, wanted me to play a joke on her Boss. Flo is her name, she was a happy person.. and I must say her Boss was pretty good natured, and had the most outrageous scholarly Boston accent. They treated me quite well. They made sure I had a fast pass for the Massachuesettes Turn PIke. That road is insane. I ended up driving on the 2 West to the 91. The 91 takes you into Vermont.

I stayed at the Four Columns Inn. IF you EVER stay in Southern Vermont, I recommend them highly. The Four Columns Inn They treated me like gold. I had a fabulous time staying there. ONE problem I had tho.. NO cell coverage. Verizon... you need to fix that!

Tues April 21, Wed., April 22 and Thursday Aprill 23rd, I went and worked at Imaginary Road Studios to hopefully finish up the album. On the 21st and the 22nd.. I stayed at Will's place called the Dream Garage. I would have stayed there all week, but another artist came in on Thursday.. they stayed till Saturday. So.. I went back to the Four Columns Inn.

Tuesday I decided to put down some vocal colors on The Long View and Will suggested to put some down on Nez Perce too. Which I did! It all turned out great! Wednesday we worked till 7pm, got the isrc codes from RIAA and also the UPC code for Trillium as well. I did a lot of paper work. I still have LOTS to do. I finally understand the publishing info from BMI... and I need to fill all that out! Doing all of this myself has been a pain in the butt.. however, I am glad I know what I need to do now.



Thursday, Will spent some time going over the songs.. and trying to put the songs in sequence on the album.. was a puzzle. I am just glad we were able to figure it out. You wouldn't think there was a science to sequenced songs on albums.. well, it IS in the New Age genre. The flow of the album depends on it. Especially mine. Its is a VERY dynamic album. Gutsy.. and it does push the envelope on many levels in the New Age Genre.. WHY it is called that?.. ARGH. I am hoping we can change the face/name to ElectrA Coustic Instrumental or ElectrACoustic.. EA pronounced with a long E. We'll see how that goes.

Friday was a day off.. I mostly explored the area.. LOTS of pictures to upload for you to look at. I did go up to Will's.. but decided I better explore around in Newfane. Saturday I spent most of the day with a friend of mine from Connecticut. Went exploring. It was SO hot over the weekend there! lol... All the trees were pushing out their leaves. It was fun!

I will tell you, that the room at the Inn was great. The food was fabulous and the owners are amazing people. Debbie and Bruce Pfander. The restaurant is out of this world. I hope you all get a chance to stay there.

Sunday Morning the 26th.. I woke up to lots of birds chirping. The church bells rang around 9am. That was fun! I am telling you.. that Newfane is the most quiet town I have ever stayed at! lol.. I suppose I am around noise 24/7 that it was just so noticeable to me.

I went over to Will and Susan's and hung out for the morning until I had to drive myself down to Boston. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them. Susan showed me the gardens.. and all the plants that were coming up. I love to garden.. and it was fun to see all the various spring flowers in bloom. The hyacinths, small pansies, wild violets, all the different daffodils.

I then drove to Boston, got there in time to sit for about 15 minutes until we boarded. Got on a HUGE 767.. and did some work on the laptop, ate, slept, read.. and finally got to LAX. I had someone come pick me up and drive me home. We got home in great time!

Will keep you posted on the release date of the CD.. etc.

More to come...

Tune In

On Saturday April 18, 2009 at 8am Pacific. I will being joining John Luttrell and DJ Thornton on the KSBR Morning Breeze show. It it is early for you... get some coffee.. if its late for you.. drink your favorite beverage and listen. Would love to have you along!

Here is the link for the instructions to tune in:

KSBR 88.5 Jazz FM Radio

More to come..

OC Register Write Up...

I am so excited to share with you, that I have my first news write up in the Entertainment section of the OC Register. So much is going on, that it is getting very difficult to keep up with everything. SO, I hired a publicist. His name is Chris Franz from Razing Kane Entertainment. He was very essential getting this together! Thanks Chris! Luv ya!

Click on the Title to this post and it will take you there!

Thank you all for your support!


More to come...

When?

The big question today from many of you is: WHEN? When is my album "Trillium" going to be done.

Well, I have no idea! LOL... I have jinxed the release date about 3 or 4 times in the past year and so I am VERY reluctant to give you an exact date.

The album was supposed to have been done by November or 2008.. but as you all know, that didn't happen. Well if you are wondering.. I will tell you.

Earlier in 2008, I decided to follow a HUGE dream by working with Will Ackerman at Imaginary Road Studios. They were booked up pretty heavy and so November is when I went to work there. I was VERY lucky to go back in January to finish up several songs, so that is one of the things that set us back. There were other things I didn't think would crop up, but did and so we had to set the release schedule back further. I may need to go back in April.. we shall see.

Right now I am searching for artwork to put in the CD booklet. My "Director of Graphics" is Debra Silverman. So she will be helping to put it all together once I get all the artwork in place and done. I will also have photos put on the front cover and back, as well as a tiny Trillium flower placed somewhere interesting. I have a few people helping me by suggesting people they know, or some even do fabulous work themselves.

I am looking for artwork similar to this style:



I would love to use that picture.. but I don't know the artist who did this. Trying to find the one that did that, is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. So... now you know.

I will guestimate early in the summer. Keep your fingers crossed and come by and visit here, facebook or my website to comment! I always enjoy the emails you send me.

And remember favorite adult beverages are allowed! ; )

More to come...

Musical Stories

I am listening to the Best of 2008 by Mystic Soundscapes. While listening, I felt inspired to write about a song I wrote when I was 14. It is called Nez Perce.

When I was in Junior High just yesterday, I saw a movie called "I Will Fight No More Forever". It is about the Nez Perce Nation in the Wallowa Valley. The US Government in their need for land grabbing, forced the Nation out of their home. Chief Joseph's goal was to go to Canada and continue their long and rich tradition of living their lives. Unfortunately the tribe did not make it to Canada.. except for a few. Their story touched my young heart and I felt I needed to express my feelings about their saga. I wrote the piano part long ago, then 2 years ago, I acquired a Native American flute in Blanding, UT. After a year of learning the flute, I bought another Native Flute from Stephen DeRuby.

To build the song, I put down keyboard tracks, and then I went into Sonikwire Studios to record the flute parts. That was last summer in July. I then sent the song to Jeff Silverman for him to mix and do the sound design for it. It is going through more mixing at Imaginary Road Studios in Vermont.

This song has taken a long journey to get to this point of expression. I hope you enjoy listening to the rough mix of it.. and continue to watch for the final mixes.

More to come...