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Showing posts from July 30, 2010

Magical Moment 182, "Pre-Production Meeting Two"

So I’m continuing on with chronicling my quest to record an EP with Modern Vintage Recordings . Today was our second pre-production meeting in which I recording 6 tracks with only piano and vocal as a blue print for the production to come. This stage in the process is the equivalent to a movie pre-production stage in which story boards, drawings and models are made so that when true production takes places, every one knows exactly what to do. One song will still be eliminated within the next few weeks, leaving us with only 5. The production team will add some very basic guitar, bass, and other musical effects to give each song a true musical feel. Our next step will be to add sound effects, mood, style, and color to each song. After we have a basic idea of how each song will sound, we will hire professional musicians to lay down the actual recorded arrangements of each track. The songs we whittled it down to are: 1.      A Builder 2.      I Still Think About You 3.      How I Say

Magical Moment 181, "The Rescue"

Early this morning, I woke up to Eddie asking me where the scissors were kept. I sat up in a confused state, first because Eddie was awake before me (which never happens), and second, shouldn't he know where the scissors are by now? When I asked why he needed them, he explained that he found a baby bird outside that was tangled. Suddenly, I shot straight up, threw on a sweatshirt and flip flops and raced outside to the bird. I've always had a soft spot for animals and couldn't bear the thought of one in danger or pain. Over the years, Eddie and I have rescued countless rabbits and birds that have found themselves in turmoil in our back yard. When we got outside, I saw the little brown bird, maybe a sparrow, caught in a mess of string and twine which was tangled around his leg. I held the small, scared bird in my hand while Eddie gently snipped away the mess around his fragile limb. We set the bird back on the ground where we discovered him and stood back to see what he w

Magical Moment 180, "I Auditioned For American Idol and all I Got was this Beer Coozie"

Yesterday morning as I casually flipped through the TV morning talk shows, I discovered that I must be living under a rock. It turns out that American Idol was holding auditions practically in our back yard in East Rutherford, NJ at the IZOD Center. In a very spur of the moment decision, I decided to drive over and pre-register for the auditions that were held today. Well, first let me put an end to your suspense, no I didn’t pass the audition. Our schedule for today’s exciting events were as follows: Arrive at 5 am. Sit on sidewalk for three hours. Wait in bleachers for ten hours. Audition for 15 seconds. Go home. Oh, there were perks. When Eddie won a free, styrofoam beer coozie for recycling his Sprite can, I thought it was a sign of good things to come. However, after paying $15 for a parking space, and almost $9 for a kids size personal pizza which Eddie and I split (I’m starving right now by the way), I began to have my doubts. Twelve tables were set up in the middle of the h

Magical Moment 179, "Tune Me"

For two hours today I sat in my living room wincing as the piano tuner slowly transformed my sadly out of tune instrument into something playable again. I keep my piano in the spare bedroom where the worst temperature fluctuation in our apartment takes place. The cool air flow of the living room window air conditioner can’t reach the piano in the devastating heat and humidity of summer, and the radiator with no thermostat, blasts warm air directly onto the piano all through the winter. I watched through the doorway as the piano tuner took apart my shiny May Berlin, emptied his case of tools, and began the painstaking process of plunking, tweaking, and adjusting each key, one by one until all 88 of them were in perfect tune. I was suddenly ashamed of how out of tune I let my precious piano get and hoped he wouldn’t scold me for it. I keep the outside clean. I polish, dust, and buff away marks. I keep the area around it clean, tidy, and vacuumed. But I’ve neglected the inner workings fo

Magical moment 178, "Besame Mucho"

Here is a video of "Besame Mucho" with Kevin Marin at Lincoln Center. After one very short rehearsal, we performed the song had a few mishaps throughout. We totally botched the end, but tried our best to recover. I guess that's the thing about live performance. The show must go on. Enjoy.

Magical moment 177, "Take Out Pizza and Joy"

Joy and I walked through the wide, open lawn outside our apartments. With gardens in full bloom and lush trees providing shelter from the summer sun, it was a picturesque scene. On this lazy Saturday afternoon, we walked by 2 older ladies relaxing in the shade, passing time with conversation and take out pizza from the Italian restaurant across the street. They each sported their own shade of white hair and were clearly enthralled in each other’s friendly company. One of the ladies spotted Joy and gasped with pleasure. “Oh! I haven’t seen one of those dogs in ages. ” She exclaimed to her friend. Overhearing her remark, I changed our course from left to right, so they could get a better look at my pride and Joy. I smiled as we approached and it was clear they longed to pet her. I cut through the grass towards their two white lawn chairs and smiled widely as they oozed over Joy. Joy, bursting with excitement, rolled happily onto her back, exposing her tummy for bountiful scratches f

Magical Moment 176, "Sophie's Choice"

Never seen the movie, but I get the distinct feeling that it’s centered around a heart wrenching decision. Like choosing between vision and sight. Curing cancer or Alzheimer’s. Dark chocolate or milk chocolate. Oh the humanity. It’s how I felt today in my very first pre-production meeting with Modern Vintage Recordings when deciding which of my songs to record. I only get 5. Rather than recording an entire album, like I originally hoped, circumstance will only allow me to record an EP (Electronic Package). An EP is a collection of about 5 tracks that are professionally and lovingly recorded with the utmost and esteemed professionalism, then used as a tool to promote the artist’s reputation and popularity in the music community. Hopefully this will allow me to book shows in NYC, radio interviews, and music reviews with local bloggers. As a relatively new artist on the NYC music scene, we decided this would be the smartest way to go, and in the future, the rest of my album will follow.