Trans-Siberian Orchestra from the fourth row

Saw Trans-Siberian Orchestra from the fourth row last night!

Our seats were in the fourth row on the left side of the stage. It was awesome; we could see the band really well, it was like being on stage with them. Great showmanship. They rocked, they were professional, they had a great light show. We could feel the heat from their pyrotechnics. Flame jets! They were classy too, wearing tuxedos with tails.


One of the hallmarks of the approching Christmas season is when I start hearing Trans-Siberian Orchestra music, and I start hearing the song O Holy Night. At the show, it was both in one, since one of the songs they played was an instrumental version of O Holy Night done Trans-Siberian style, on electric guitar.

Mastered Painted Smiles

Painted Smiles is done and mastered. The song is ready for posting to GarageBand.com; I'll take care of that later this week.

I've already put the "finished" version of Heart Like a River to GarageBand.com. I put it in the acoustic genre. Reactions have been slow so far; I've only had one review come in so far. As I recall, the reviews started coming in pretty quickly after I posted The Great Escape earlier this year. I don't know if it's because of the time of year that people just are too busy to be reviewing the music, or if it's because the acoustic genre is a different market from the progressive rock genre and therefore has a different behaviour.

Back to the garage

I haven't been in to my GarageBand.com account for several months, not since the review for The Great Escape started slowing down. I logged into my GB account this weekend, first time in many months, and found that I had a message from a friend with whom I lost contact several years ago, half a dozen unread reviews for The Great Escape, and an invitation from an A&R company in New York to send them my material. Whew.

I'm submitting Heart Like a River to GarageBand.com this week. Next week I'll be getting Painted Smiles mastered and then I'll be submitting that to GB as well.

I like my life today.

Saving the world

Several weeks ago, end of the work day. I pack up my laptop and put on my coat. I have an evening session at the studio, to work on Heart Like a River. "Good night," I say to my co-workers. "I'm off to save the world".

This weekend. Jan's benefit dance. J and I pack up and drive to the hotel where we will stay for the night. I bring a box of Heart Like a River CD's to be sold, proceeds to go to Jan's fund. There is a silent auction. There is goldfish racing. There is dancing, there are speaches. I videotape them. Jan makes a speach. My tape runs out just after she starts. I have another tape, but to unwrap it, replace the tape in the camcorder, will take too long and take me away from from what Jan is saying. I put the camcorder down and give her my full attention instead. She makes a stunning and valiant effort. Her ability to speak is much improved since when I talked to her on the phone about a month ago. She stumbles over her words a few times. She pauses at one point, trying to find the words to express what she wants to say. The audience waits in total silence, gives her the space she needs. Jan finally completes her speach. Everyone applauds.

Near the end of the evening. Jan's sister in-law refers to me as a special friend to the family. Priceless. An honour, a designation I am pleased to hold.

This morning. J and I check out of the hotel. Looking for a place to have breakfast. Decide to stop at the casino. Stuff ourselves at a buffet lunch. Unexpectedly are given two comp tickets for Frankenstein, a rock musical. We eat well and we are entertained well. We came on this weekend to give our generosity at the benefit dance; we receive generosity at the casino.

Almost midnight, we're at home. I am tired and ready to go to bed. J gets a call from her brother. He is in town, for training, he is sick. She boils some water, finds some Neo Citran. "Will you come with me to take the Neo Citran to my brother?" she asks. Is it even an option to say no?

I put on my coat and shoes and find my keys. I guess we're not quite done saving the world yet.

Putting together the Heart Like a River mini-cd

Now that I've completed Heart Like a River, I've been thinking about how I want to present it at the fundraiser. I decided that putting just the one song on a CD won't do it so I've put together a compilation that includes a couple of instrumental mixes I've recorded as well as a worship song that Jan and I recorded a few years ago. When I listened to the compilation, I was totally pleased, if I may say so, I am quite pleased with myself, with the quality of music that is on this compilation. It sounds really damn good, and I'll hold it up to any professionally recorded work.

Legacy Discovery Weekend

It's been a busy several weeks. Heck, it's been a busy several months, and I haven't been keeping up with my blogging.

I was on the training team for a Legacy Discovery Weekend - it's an event put on by the Men's Division. The weekend was great. I did the event last year as a participant, and I can say that doing it as part of the training team was an awesome experience. There were times when I had that feeling of certainty in my gut, that this was exactly where I was supposed to be and it was exactly what I was supposed to be doing.

I also finished Heart Like a River last week. I got a copy of the mastered version but I haven't had a chance yet to listen to it on my car stereo. Jan's fundraiser benefit dance is in a week and a half, and I am looking forward to it. Actually, that's an understatement - I am very excited about it.

The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything

Those who have read the writings of Douglas Adams know the answer to Life, the Universe, and Eveything. They know that the answer is fourty two. But what is the actual question?

Today, the question is what is my age. It's my fourty second birthday.

This is my horoscope today from yahoo.com:

Think about putting down roots. That doesn't necessarily mean staying in one place. It does mean thinking about an area of your life where you need to make a commitment. Now take one step toward making it real.

Heart Like a River - Day 3

Did a vocal run through from the top. I felt relaxed and natural and thought it was a good performance. I didn't know if Steve was recording since I was doing it as a warm-up but I hoped he was. It turns out that he did catch it.

Worked out where to place the notes for the final verse. I didn't get to record it last session.

The first take was good and usable but we did a second take anyways, and got lots of good bits out of it. I liked how I closed the R's on "river" and "scars" in the refrain - I have had challenges with ending on R's on past projects. We also came up with some different variations on the three repetitions of the "fingerprints of life" line.

Click on the play button below to hear the current mix.


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Heart Like a River - Day 2

Second session - laid down ghost vocals. Got lots of coaching from Steve, feels like a partnership, a collaboration rather than a session artist for hire.

Worked on phrasing.

I had a tight schedule and had to leave the session before I had a chance to do the vocals for the final verse.

Getting things done

Allen, David (2001). Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

So I've read a book called Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, by David Allen. I'm experimenting with getting my own GTD system set up.

The book describes various key disciplines, or best practices for being organized and productive; however, there are a few key disciplines that I've started practicing that are making a difference for me. These are:
- Inventory of all my projects
- Identify at least one next action for each project
- Associate each next action with a context in which the action can be performed

Inventory of Projects:
I find it useful to have a list where I've written down all my projects. It gets them out of my head and into a tangible form, and it's good to have a place to list any project ideas that come up. It's like the adage, a place for everything and everything in its place - well, that applies to ideas too.

Next Action:
The discipline of identifying a next action for each project helps keep my projects moving along. Even if I don't feel like working on a given project right now, as long as I can think of what next action I can take and write it down then even that helps keep the project moving. Often the projects that stall are the ones for which I don't have a next action. I haven't got this done for all my projects yet, maybe about 40%-60% of them but that's enough for me to feel the difference. I feel like I can keep all of those 40%-60% projects moving along rather than feeling like I can only handle three or four at a time.

Context Lists:
The GTD notion of a context is that it is a place or set of resources that I have access to in order to accomplish my tasks. Some examples are @Home, @Office, @Computer, @Errands, @Calls, etc. The idea is to have a separate list for each context; bydoing so, I can look at all the tasks that I can do in a given situation without being distracted by tasks I cannot do right here. For example, if I am at work and something occurs to me that I need to do at home, I put it on the @Home list. While I am at the office I can look at the @Office tasks and not get frustrated because I have an @Home task that I can't do.

Having separate context lists also helps me see where my bottlenecks are. When I see that my @Errands list is growing and giving me anxiety then I know I can run a series of errands say on a Saturday morning and knock a bunch of things off my list. Similarly if my @Home list is getting too large and I know I've been going out a lot then I know it's time to spend some time at home getting stuff done.

I have a challenge making calls while at work, and some calls need to be made during business hours. When my @Calls list starts piling up then I know I need to make a special effort to take a break from work and take care of those calls.

Heart Like a River - Day 1

I've written previously about my friend Jan who is recovering from an aneurysm she had in February (see Soul of a Poet). Her cousins are organizing a fundraiser, to be held in November, to raise funds for her treatments. They have asked for donations of items for an auction.

An awesome idea popped into my head - why not make a studio recording of Heart Like a River, the song I wrote that was inspired by an article on Jan's blog. The recording would be my contribution to the auction. Since I already had a session scheduled to do Painted Smiles, I decided to use that session to start Heart Like a River instead.

The session went really well (as they usually do) and I am pleased with the tracks we've put down so far. All I brought in to the studio with me to start was a copy of the "quick and dirty" arrangement I made in June and a file on my LifeDrive with a "lyrical treatment" that I'd written. That's being a lot less prepared than I usually aim to be before starting a new studio project; however, the experience has changed my idea of what being "prepared for the studio" can mean.

I was singing to give Steve something to play to, and I was still getting a feel for where the melody can go on various lines, and Steve was feeding off that and tuning in to where the guitar could go and where the synth strings could go, and there was a moment of this is life; a recognition that creation was happening, and this was exactly where I was supposed to be and this was exactly what I was supposed to be doing in that moment.

It was interesting that the next morning when I was driving to work, I had this feeling that the time in the studio was my real work, and this job thing was an extracurricular activity; it was a good feeling.

Click on the play button below to hear the current mix.


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Painted Smiles - next steps

No session this week or next week. I'm taking a break this week to create some space for getting some things done at home.

My thoughts on what to do at the next session - I was thinking that we created a precedent when we worked on The Great Escape in January, by creating an alternate mix (see Great Escape - alternate mix). I'm considering doing the same thing. It's not that there's anything wrong with the current approach; it's more about challenging our imagination. Suppose we were to start with the same bed tracks we've already put down, but used it to create an alternate mix, one that emphasizes different song elements. We'd end up with two versions, two different flavours. I think that could be a good thing.

Painted Smiles 2006 remake - Day 2

Steve added some synth tracks and some synth arps and I put down a guide vocal track. I could feel the effect of the harmonic structure we discussed last week; I could hear it pulling the melody in a few places, encouraging me to choose different notes on certain lines.

I felt like I was off in the You can... verse because the chord progression didn't go where I expected and I compensated by adjusting my delivery. When we played it back, it sounded fine; it worked. What was throwing me off was that in my chart I had the You cans placed as coming on the downbeat, but the music we recorded required that I deliver them as pick up notes. In the end, it's good enough for a guide vocal.

Steve searches for something particular in the synth module. "I'll hunt you down," he says, and finally concedes. "It'll probably come to me tomorrow morning."

Next, out comes the red guitar. Some clean guitar playing, adding the textural layers, followed by some "edgy" guitar playing. Steve looks like he is having a religious experiences when he records his guitar tracks.

Drums. Steve gets an aerobic workout on the electronic kit, adding some human performed hits on top of the drum loops from last week. Playing to a click track allows us to use drums as an instruments rather than as the traditional timekeeping function. I consider that to be one of the distinguishing characteristics of my music; don't use drums just for the sake of using drums, use them because the song calls for them.

Click the play button below to hear the partial mix.


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A new dream vacation

J and I took a few extra days off work and gave ourselves an extra long weekend last week, which we used to take a Thousand Islands cruise. We stayed at an Inn in Gananoque, from where we started a five hour cruise that took us on a tour of Boldt Castle.



I now have a new dream vacation, which is to live in Gananoque for three months in the summer and write a book. I was particularly inspired to learn that the son of a local bookstore owner had written and self-published his first book (Aeldenwood, by M.G. Belanger).

My other dream vacation is to rent a boat for two weeks and sail along the Trent-Severn seaway.

Painted Smiles 2006 remake - Day 1

I had the first studio session this week, to start off the Painted Smiles 2006 remake project. We discussed the harmonic structure of the original recording and ways to approach the remake. The original version was centred around the Am chord; the droning or pulsing of the clavi synth anchored the bass line. Steve suggested an approach in which the bass line moves with the chords, creating a different harmonic structure. We still came back to the droning effect in the outro.

The bed tracks are down now. They consist of two acoustic guitar parts, an electronic drum loop and a bass synth track. This partial mix, as it stands now, makes me think of a soundtrack for some movie or TV show but I can't quite place what it is. Some crime drama I think, like Bourne Identity, or CSI.

Click the play button below to hear the partial mix.


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A decade of service

Here's an excerpt from a letter I received from my employer this week.

Congratulations on your upcoming service anniversary. Your hard work, loyalty and dedication have helped make [company] a world leader in productivity software and professional services.

I made it to the ten year mark! When I was just starting my career in IT, I kept my first job for two years. The first year was good and I enjoyed it. After the first year some changes were made and I became progressively dissatisfied over the second year. Finally I left and went to my second job.

The second job proved to be my job from hell experience. I stayed there for two years as well, but it felt like I'd been there four years. I felt like I had gained four years of experience during those two years. Considering how many 10-12 hour days I put in, I probably did gain four years of experience.

My pattern to that date led me to question whether I was even suited for the work environment. Maybe I should go back to school, stay in the academic environment? Well, I decided to try for job number three before making that decision. I started job three and soon found that it was a much more positive and enjoyable work experience than the ones I had previous. Given that my history to date had been of changing jobs every two years, I resolved to stay with this job for at least three to five years.

The three year mark came and went and I had no inclination to leave. However, one day I was approached by some colleagues who had left the company. They wanted to recruit me to the company they had joined. I didn't really want to change jobs at that time, but they courted me for a while and eventually made me an offer I didn't want to refuse. So I took that job and now it's been a decade!

My own place in music

Here is an inspiring quote I read in an article called How to 'Fix' the Music Industry, by Bob Baker.

"You can't control what happens to the overall music business, but there is something you can control directly: How you conduct yourself and your own place in music. Focus on pursuing a career on you your own terms -- not terms imposed by the industry."

Wow - this is pretty inspiring, especially coming several weeks before I go back to the studio to work on the Painted Smiles remake.

So what exactly is my own place in music? I hope that the songs I write and record will add colour to the tapestry of our musical culture. I am not so much trying to put together a band as I am trying to build a team of musicians to express my musical ideas. It's a sort of cross between Alan Parsons Project and Trans Siberian Orchestra, in the sense that they would use a vocalist that best suits a particular song, rather than having a single identifiable lead singer.

Mosquitoes declared an endangered species

Mosquitoes declared an endangered species.

What are the chances that any of us will ever see this headline in our lifetime?

Saving time for daylight

Thought for the day - let's set all the clocks at work ahead by 5 minutes. Do this every day - in two weeks you'll be able to go home an hour early.

High cost of gas

Gas is so expensive these days. I wonder how much it would cost to convert my car engine to run on coke and menthos?