Studio Blog - March 08, 2010

03/08/10

Yeah, it’s been a while since the last studio blog and a lot has happened since then. And I do mean a lot. On the last entry, my daughter Megan was 3 days overdue and has since, early Thanksgiving morning, given birth to an incredibly beautiful little girl. So a very warm “Welcome to the world” must go out to my new granddaughter, Grace Mackenzie Hannon. The new family is doing VERY well.

Since my last entry I also made the journey to Germany to see my daughter, Samantha, who is there on scholarship until the end of May. I hadn’t seen her since July and the heart strings had been pulled to the point of snapping. Along with Patty and I, Megan and Grace also flew over so it was indeed a family affair. Grace flew incredibly well and didn’t make a peep during the long flights. Germany is full of many sights and so much history. While we stayed pretty much in the northern most part, we did squeeze a lot in the 8 days we were there and the Theiele family, Samantha’s host parents that insisted we stay there with them, were the epitome of gracious. We visited the North Sea, Denmark, a complete tour of Hamburg, and two days in Berlin. The town of Schleswig, which was where Wolfgang, host parent, was from was also loaded with tons of history and has its own castle which we also had a tour of. Perhaps the most enjoyable times was at night when everyone had retired, the Americans all met in Sam’s HUGE room, where we’d sit up and talk and laugh until the wee hours of the morning. So much fun, so many sites, and so wonderful getting to spend time with my daughter that I am so incredibly proud of.

In my last entry, I mentioned the 8^th and 9^th songs. The 8^th song is the one that I wrote for my dad and played at his funeral. I played it dreadfully. So it was very important to do it well on the CD. I had simply a 20 second fix that I needed to do. I also had started Megan’s song. I’m happy to report that I have completed the music to both of them. While my dad’s song is an instrumental, Megan’s song has lyrics. And for whatever reason, I’ve struggled trying to pen the words to her song. Either it didn’t come or it wasn’t right. Apparently I needed Grace to be born in order to finish it as there is a referral to her in it. I’m very pleased with the results of these two songs and can say, they are finished. So while I do still have vocals to do, the music is done on all the songs except for the title track. I’ve began tracking the lead guitar on this song but… I’m just not happy with any results thus far. This one is going to be a bitch. It’s pretty much flying, shredding, wammying, ripping, wailing from start to finish. I’m going to need to be in tip top playing shape for this and it’s probably going to take a few sessions. In the meantime, I am ready to do vocals on the majority of the songs that require them. The lyric writing is done for the most part. There is still one I need to do and one I need to finish up. But as there are 7 songs with vocals and I have more than enough to begin. And this will keep the West Coast Connection busy. Who is the West Coast Connection?

Going back to my Eaton Rapids High School days and the several years that followed… I spent a lot of time following a band called Boy Wonder. I met these guys my senior year, loved the band, and caught them as often as I could. As I got to know them, I hung out with them more. They were a great group to hang out with, talk music, and smoke dope with. The bass player, Ron Gallagher, and I got along especially well. He was n ex-jock like me and we played a lot of basketball together. Mens Rec, pick up games, church parking lot… wherever. Ron has been recording music since back in the 70’s and is now living out in California and doing what he loves. When I ran into him on Facebook we started talking and I sent him some songs from the CD. Before long, we had decided that he and some associates he works with would mix and master my project, with Ron overseeing everthing. The first song has been sent. The second one will be sent this week. And once I do the vocals on several of them I can send those to him as well. I’m very happy to have Ron doing this and look forward to many more projects with him.

With that… this brings us to date. I, yet again, blew another deadline I had made for myself, but I feel good about the progress overall. My life is busy, my family is big, the schedules I juggle with those I work with are many. I can only go as fast as my life will let me. I’m personally very excited that the music to 9 of the 10 songs is done, one song has been mixed and mastered, and more will be heading to California soon.