 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
|
News |
||
|
Welcome to 2008. Rememember when that date seemed like "The Future" ? Where are our jet packs, hovercrafts, flying cars and paperless societies? I began the year with a number of high points. Kate Kuper, Chad Dunn and I helped inaugurate the opening of the new Champaign Public Library. it was an amazing event and the new building is a marvel. I was on the steering committee for the library and it is interesting and satisfying to see how many great ideas posited there became a reality. It is a modern, spacious "green" building filled with bamboo walls and shelving. It is, as Hemingway once wrote; " a clean well-lighted place". (He was originally describing a bar, but you get the picture). A few days after that I was off to the west coast to work with Nick Milo on some new songs, have the usual brace of meetings and--to take a glorious drive with Jhana Music Group head and uber surround sound czar; John Kellogg. We drove a sumptuous convertible up the Pacific Coast Highway, starting in Malibu. I marvelled at the passing scenery while John kept saying " This is nothing". After happy hours of driving and conversation he said " Now it starts" And of course he was right. We began the hour long climb on the winding two lane road that would take us to Big Sur. This is certainly one of the greatest drives on earth. The scenery is breath taking. There were so many highlights to the trip that I won't bore you with all of them but I would be remiss not to mention our visits to the Esalen Institute. If you've never been there I suggest visiting their website-http://www.esalen.org/ We were the guests of Jake Hesse, one of Esalen's directors. We strolled the grounds and paths, ate a lovely lunch, but by far, the most outstanding part was bathing in the natural hot springs. They are dug into the rocky cliffs overlooking the ocean. The experience of soaking in these healing waters while gazing out on the majestic waves of the Pacific was beyond words. Big Sur seeps into your soul and there will always be part of me waiting until I return. And don't get me started on the french toast at Djeetians Big Sur Inn. We completed the tracking for the new album! Now comes mixing, mastering and artwork. It will be released in 2008 in a variety of audio formats(essentially everything except 8 tracks and Edison Cylinders). The new label based in Los Angeles is called Jhana and will make the music available utilzing ground breaking new software. More about this in the weeks to come. We are currently working on our first podcast which will be an audio tour (with commentary) of the new album. The recording and tracking (for the most part) has been done in Illinois (with guests from around the world). We then send the completed tracks to our great friend , 5.1 mixing artist (and chief musician in the kitchen) John Kellogg(see above). Neal and I have been conceiving this album in surround sound since the beginning, but to hear what John does with this music is just fabulous. For example, we have a song called Back In The Day. John really liked it but felt the track needed something. He emailed a two track mix to master tin whistle player Troy Donockley in England who played the perfect solo in one take! It's interesting how just one musical touch like that can transform a record. This technological, cross cultural process is a kind of dream come true for me and I think our listeners will be knocked out wth the results. Also concerning Back In The Day, upon first listen, Mr. Kellogg said something that I had never heard anyone say in my years in the music business-"The song is too short, do you mind if I lengthen it?" I bet no one said that to Jimmy Webb about MacArthur's Park! I would like to take this opportunity to thank John Kellogg for all the massively cool toys and Matt LaPoint and the great people at MOTU for their terrific recording and musical instrument software. Views 2007 was an exceptionally creative year for me, especially as a writer. I have had the pleasure of collaborating with a variety of songwriters and the results have been fantastic! In addition to my long time work with Neal Robinson I have written an albums worth of material with Delta King's guitarist Cody Sokolski and yet another albums worth of songs with Nick Milo (who is Joe Cocker's keyboard player among other things). It has been so much fun! Los Angeles has become like my second home. Many of these songs were written for other singers in mind. Some we just wrote because that's where the muse took us that day. I am very proud of this prodigious output and look forward to hearing other singers' interpretations as well as releasing some of our own versions. In the coming months I will post some demo downloads from this site.
I read the news today--oh boy. Joe Zawinul died last year in Vienna from cancer. This came as a terrible shock to me. He seemed so physically vital--indestructable really. I assumed we would still have many more years of his wonderful music. His music has had a profound and lasting impact on my own music and my life. I am so grateful to have lived in his time, when musical giants roamed the earth. I will put together a Zawinul playlist in the coming weeks. My condolences to his family. He will be missed and we will not see his likes again. On a much brighter note- My old and dear friend Jim Kishline was in a tragic accident in late spring. He suffered severe head injuries that put him into a coma. The doctors initially gave little hope that he would survive. But Jim is one tough guy and through the great work of his surgeons, the constant love of his family, the prayers of countless friends and his own sheer cussedness he has pulled through! I had one of the greatest surprises of my life when he called me on the phone! Jim is a terrific musician. He has gone through a great deal of rehabilitation and is, amazingly, back to singing and playing the bass. This is as much of a miracle as anything I have experienced and demonstrates that dreams come true and prayers are answered.
ROCKY SUGGESTS- People often ask me what I've been reading or listening to so I thought from time to time I would use my wooly bully pulpit here to share some recommendations. My reading picks can be found on the BOOKS page. LISTENING- Here are some of my favorites from 2007: Everybody Wants to rule The World-The Bad Plus A fantastic cover of the Tears For Fears hit. A new kind of blue. A Case of You-Prince His purple majesty beautifully deconstructs Joni.I have truly heard that song from both sides now-heaven and earth. Also check out James Taylors' version of River. While You Were Gone-Junior Burke A great selection of new songs by one of the finest lyricists around ( to misquote Steve Earle-"And I would stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table with my cowboy boots and say so"). Crazy-Shawn Colvin We saw her at the W2W Guitar festival. She played this Gnarls Barkely hit as her encore. Fantastic. That Was Me-Paul McCartney. A standout, rocking track from his last album. This guy has absolutely nothing in the musical world to prove, and he is still trying---and succeeding. Rhapsody In Blue-Sergio and Odair Assad A jaw dropping version of the Gershwin classic performed on two guitars. We'll Never Turn Back-Mavis Staples The grit and glory of Mavis, produced by Ry Cooder, doing songs of the civil rights era (BTW it's time for a new civil rights era) featuring the incomparable Jim Keltner on drums. All of these can be found on shiny discs in the ever diminishing places that sell cds. And iTunes. Until next time, Rocky
|
 |
