Yay! Blog! v2.0
Category: Music - Mine

Twenty-one years ago, I went on tour to Florida with my church's youth choir. We were performing the Christian musical Celebrate Life at a bunch of churches between Houston and Orlando. I was 19 or 20 years old.

Most of us wore colored t-shirts with white overalls. There were 5 male narrators who wore white t-shirts with colored overalls. Here's a picture of our first gig, which I *think* was Moody Memorial First United Methodist Church in Galveston.



I had a solo during the show. It was a song sung from the perspective of that lady who touched Jesus' robe in the crowd and her 12 year bleeding illness was immediately healed. While I sang, another girl, Tina, did an interpretive dance around Jesus (played by Chris). That was cool because all eyes were on her and not me. You can see me singing in the pulpit below. Tina is the blur to the right:



I've never liked performing because I have a hard time remembering lyrics. This wasn't that bad, though, because I only had one song to sing. Even so, after a performance in either Louisiana or Mobile, AL, my friend Mary told me I had flubbed up the lyrics. It was only when she told me that I recalled doing it. My confidence was high during the performance, and I let myself relax and really get into the song rather than concentrating on getting the words right. That's what sucks about performing... it sounds fun, but to do it right, it's work. No thanks.

Here's a closer picture of me and three of the narrators watching Tina dance:

My friend CJ Wray asked me to sing on a song on his upcoming CD, Dreamers Two. It's a touching, sad song called "Bird of Sorrow." The CD will be released on December 1st, and CJ has set up a website with clips: Dreamers Two Mini-Site.

CJ is also going to perform a live concert of the music on the CD online December 1st at Ampcast.com. I'll post a reminder when it gets closer.

One of the first songs I ever recorded, "A Little Bit" was selected for the soundtrack of an independent film called Making The Mob several years ago. Another one of my songs, "Do It For You" was part of the soundtrack, too. I've never seen the movie, so tonight I was searching Google for it to see if maybe I could find a copy to download. I didn't, but I found a less than flattering review of "A Little Bit" at God's of Music. I've never seen that review before. No telling how long it's been there.

The thing is... I agree with it, and am fortunate they didn't rip the song to shreds. Gods of Music is known for scathing reviews. I never ever would have submitted that song for a review myself, but I guess it got submitted as part of the soundtrack. When I saw the entry in Google, I expected the worst. This song was recorded on a four-track cassette recorder at my friend's house when I was first starting out. I wasn't able to sing with any emotion, really, because if I wasn't very careful, the vocal would distort. That's why it sounds like I'm reading notes off a page. Now I have a compressor that can handle the dynamics in my voice, so I'm able to sing with more feeling. But still... I could have enunciated better. The way it is, it sounds like I have a hick accent. I don't think I do, but, of course, I'd be the last to know.

The corporate Disneyland synth strings and drum track are just that... cheesy sounds from midi patches. No argument there.

I'm not sure about the "mediocre songwriting" comment. There are lines in the song that could be mediocre (like the last line... I struggled with that one and finally just gave up), but I think the lyrics as a whole aren't mediocre. And I think the chord progressions are cool. I dunno. I'm proud of my little song. Maybe I'll re-record it one day the way it should be recorded.

As for the last line in the review... "The elements of this song, though not individually BAD, don't create a particularly striking atmosphere of romantic love." Well good... it's not about romantic love. It's a story about talking yourself into loving someone because you're afriad you might never find anyone else. Nothing romantic about that.

A Little Bit

I stumble on the walk
Fight off turning back
To see your crooked smile
Wanting....

You're a little bit scared
I'm a little too shy
But I've found a lover's grace
In your eyes
I'll never change my mind

I'll always be with you
I've hardly the choice of an early day
Dusk is falling
And I'm falling....

I'm a little bit cold
You're a little too high
Turn on the stereo
Come inside
I will be here all night

You're a little bit tired
I'm a little too lost
Call my name
Help me find my way....

Listen to "A Little Bit" if ya want.

New Song - Taboo
John Ingram asked the chat room crowd at Ampcast a while back if someone wanted to sing on a song he and Palancar had recorded. There weren't any lyrics yet. So I took a shot. Taboo is the result. Enjoy!

New Song - The Most of Love
Got another new song for ya! My buddy Dennyvan wrote it. It's about love and how it takes a lot of courage to go find it. Adam Kittle produced it, too. Yay!

New Song - Move Along (Vocal Mix)
The latest rockin' blues song from Robby James Rabuck, Jon Solo and me. Robby played a version of this on his Ampcast radio show, mentioned something about me singing it, and I was all over it. This song has a great feel to it. Thanks to Robby for letting me sing and playing such great guitar, and thanks to Jon Solo for working his magic, too!

New Song - I've Loved You All My Life
It's great working with Jon Solo again! He asked me to record vocals for this one especially for our friends Robby and Karen's wedding.

Yesterday, I began recording "Raining in Baltimore" originally done by Counting Crows. There's a line in it that says something like, "I can always hear a freight train \ if I listen real hard." So here's something really cool... after I hit record and just before I did the first strum on the guitar, a train whistle blew in the distance. The recorder caught it, but only faintly. I'm going to do my very best to leave that in.

It's lunch time right now... I'm having a big salad. Same thing I have most days. Blech. They didn't have anything on the cafeteria line that was low carb diet friendly. All I can think about, though, is getting home and recording some more.

I finished the rhythm guitar, vocals and bass. I used my new Tacoma acoustic, too, and I think it sounds really good. Now I need to add a little bit of texture. I might try my hand at a lead guitar part, but I've never been too good at that. I might also try some keyboard stuff, but I used a capo on the guitar, so I made all the chords turn into weird ones where I'd have to hit a lot of black keys. Doesn't matter, though... I'll get something going.

Recording yesterday makes me want to do a whole CD by myself. As much as I love doing collaborations, I've been wanting to do a bunch of songs by myself for ages. I can't afford to do a bunch of cover songs, though. Maybe I can resurrect one or two of my older songs and write a few new ones.

mmKay... better finish up my big salad and get back to work...

New Song - Almost Right (AK Kinda Unplugged Mix)
Adam Kittle produced a new mix of the song I did with Boogaboo. Adam added some strings and created this beautiful soft rock/almost country version of the song. Yay Adam! You rock!

New Song - Swiss Cheese and Chicken Patties
This song is so fun. I got to sing the part of the girl who walks out on her man because of his order at the restaurant. It's fun to be superficial sometimes.... It was written and performed by Andy Van Duyne. Enjoy!.

New Song - Death of a Matador
Bill Farrish is one of the smoothest jazz guitarists I've heard. Sometime last year, he sent me a short melody on guitar, told me the tempo, and asked me to record the melody singing "ah's". It was strange singing with no music in the background, so I was excited to see how things would sound when he put the vocal into the music. It sounds cool! Wanna hear? Death of a Matador.

I submitted my Raspberry Silk CD to iTunes through CDBaby, so I've been searching iTunes periodically to see if it's there. Everytime I search for "Raspberry Silk," it asks me if I really mean "Strawberry Milk." For some odd reason, that makes me giggle out loud.

That is all.

I recorded a Carribbean style version of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" with CM a while back. It's available on his Lucidity CD along with a bunch of other great jazz instrumentals. And now it's available for individual track downloads at iTunes Music Store! Woo-Hoo!!

How cool is that?

New Song - In My Room
Jim Reeder had the urge to record the Beach Boys' "In My Room" and asked if I would do the lead vocal line. Heck yeah! Jim sang the heck out of the high harmonies!! He said it's the first song he's ever done that he sang completely in that dreamy falsetto of his. Well... he didn't call it dreamy, but that's what it is. You can hear it at FreeAudioPlayer.