Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Music for all the Christmases

When people ask me what my favorite kind of music is, I genuinely enjoy answering with, "Christmas music". I get so excited for this time of year every year and the music is a huge part of the reason why. It's a wonder that some of the best music in the world only gets played for a single month: in a society so enamored with overindulgence, we somehow manage to do a good job holding off on some of the most magical, romantic, spiritual, and purely enjoyable music of our culture's history until the time is just right.

Well, the time to indulge has come around again, so I'd love to share with you all some of my favorite Christmas albums in the hopes that you might just discover some new favorites of your own. Unfortunately, Christmas music is like any other kind in that there is just as much garbage out there as there is real treasure worth spending your time and money (and ears) on. And, for some reason, far too many retail outlets, radio stations, and other commercial interests given to playing Christmas music tend to favor playing the cheesy, the annoying, and the obnoxious.

So, in light of all this, I offer you my own list, hoping you might find the time to celebrate the season through listening: Christmas music, with it's unique power to remind us of the wonder of the season - through it's timeless & beautiful melodies, it's relaxed swing, and it's lyrical content - should be something we all cherish. I hope you find something in this list that enriches your Christmas this year and stays with you for all of the Christmases that follow.

Happy listening!

~

Harry Connick, Jr. - When My Heart Finds Christmas
Whenever anyone asks me about Christmas records to buy or what my personal favorites are, this always seems to be the first to pop into my head. Connick's album embodies the very idea of the sounds of the season: his voice, his piano, his arrangements, his performance. The originals are just as good as the classics; this is one of the all-time greats. Also, be sure to check out Connick's other two Christmas records, What A Night!, and Harry For The Holidays. (Highlights: every single song.)


George Winston - December
This is it for Christmas piano. There are some great solo piano records out there for Christmastime, but if you can only have one, this is the one to have. In fact, if you can only have one George Winston record, this is the one to have. It's beautiful and peaceful, and the progression of the album from start to finish, song by song, is a masterstroke. (Highlights: Jesus, Jesus, Rest Your Head; Variation on the Kanon by Pachelbel; The Holly and The Ivy)


Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Thankful.

- For Christmas tunes. It's officially time for the greatest music in the world to ring out, my friends. Let it rip.

- For getting to witness the Kansas City Royals win a World Series.

- For the interesting, talented, and dependable people I have the privilege of calling my friends; for the old ones who stick around when others leave and for the new ones who have brought new color and flavor into my life.

- For a wife who, after 13 years together, still manages to find me funny from time to time.

- For my mother's victory over cancer this year.

- For a glorious and jaw-dropping year of concert going: Chris Botti, Bruce Hornsby, Zac Brown Band, Garth Brooks, Rush, Toto. (Might have been the best year so far, truth be told.)

- I'm thankful for Star Wars, Roald Dahl novels, and Batman: things that were awesome when I was a kid and are still awesome all these years later.

- For gracious musicians who still want me to play drums in their band.

- For living in a country that understands putting lemons in iced tea.

- For hope for the future in the midst of an uncertain & incomprehensible world.

- For great books; vast treasures of paper & ink.

- For great music; what a joy to know that the cacophony of pop culture is not all there is.

- For a God who loved me afar off and continues to give of Himself to make me into something worthwhile.

- For sunsets, the colors of fall, mountains, snow, stars, waterfalls, and all of the other wondrous things that make life in Colorado so enchanting.

- And for so much more I don't have the time to write about now. Thanks for reading, everybody. Thank you for taking the time. If you have ever read this blog, even once, I appreciate it. I hope you can find so many things to be thankful for in your own life that you wouldn't be able to fit it into one blog post, either. Enjoy the season!


Thursday, October 29, 2015

Having It All

Within my faith there is a popular heretical offshoot known to as The Prosperity Gospel. You may have heard it referred to with other terminology, Health/Wealth, Name It/Claim It, The Gospel of Success, what have you. Basically, it is a warped understanding of Christian doctrine that teaches that as long as you do the right things, believe the right things, say the right words, and check the right boxes (which usually involves sending some guy on TV in a suit a check), God will hop to and begin to make you wildly successful in every area of your life. It promises prosperity in finances, good health, and security in all things worldly and temporal. It defines the love of God as wanting only the best for His people in this world (if only they would demonstrate enough faith to lay hold of what He's all-too-ready to give them).

It is a lie. Christianity is about far more than earthly wealth and good fortune. But, the Prosperity Gospel has made a lot of its proponents very rich both because people are gullible and because it's very tempting to believe that God doesn't exist for any higher purpose other than to fulfill one's every wish.

There is a non-religious version of this idea, as well. The only real twist is that the source of the successful, perfect life resides in each one of us and not in God. Just yesterday I was skimming around social media (I don't recommend it) when I happened upon a lady who captioned one of her pictures with something along the lines of, "The one thing I want everyone to know is that they can have it all: the job, the body, the spouse, the life..." Of course, what she means (and what she no doubt spends the majority of her time on social media espousing) is that you can have the best/perfect/greatest version of all of those things.

...as long as you do what she tells you do, stay plugged into her social media networks, buy her products, and listen to her advice, presumably forever.

Now, I'm not calling into question the motivations of people who want to spend their time trying to help others live better lives. There's nothing wrong with that. What I do have a problem with, however, is attempting to sell people - through religion or empowerment or self-esteem or whatever - on the idea that life is completely malleable, within our control, and up to us. That life is what we make it. That we, regardless of circumstances, have the ability to turn each and every one of our dreams into absolute reality.

Now, again, please don't get me wrong: I am definitely not trying to say that we have no responsibility in our lives to work hard, pursue our dreams, and be willing to do what it takes to go after what we believe our purpose to be. I absolutely believe in each and every one of those things (anyone who has spent any amount of time reading this blog already knows this). But, there is a huge difference between encouraging people to follow their dreams and telling them that anything at all that they can imagine can be theirs. Let me first make a few salient points:

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Adventures in iTunes: New Discoveries

One of the massive benefits of going out on the road with a group of really talented people who dig music is that I always seem to come home with some fantastic recommendations for new music to listen to. There are few things I enjoy as much as sharing the stuff I love with other people who will love it, too, so when people return the favor and pass things along my way, I quite naturally get all giddy about it.

Alex G's Share Your Story Tour was no different. So, I'd like to take the next few moments and pass along to all of you some of the great music I've been turned on to by the people who joined me out on the road.

~

Brandon Flowers - The Desired Effect
Perhaps more well-known as the lead singer of The Killers, Brandon Flowers put out a record just this year that fits really, really nicely into that revival of '80s synth-pop I wrote about a few months ago. To simply describe it as such is probably too much of an over-simplification, though. On this record, Flowers is, more than anything else, a great songwriter. But, he did manage to get the word "gravitron" into a song, so I guess the '80s thing fits pretty nicely, too:

  


The Gaslight Anthem - Handwritten
This record's a few years old now and The Gaslight Anthem has been around for longer than that, but someone finally had the wherewithal to suggest that I listen to them. What a record Handwritten is. This band just drips east coast rock 'n' roll - you won't have to listen too closely to hear the Springsteen influence - and in this day & age, that is a wonderful thing. It might seem like solid, dependable, well-written rock records are a thing of the past, but these guys prove that notion dead wrong. I can't wait to dig into some more from these cats.




LANY - I Loved You.
LANY's a new-ish band, once again hearkening back to that '80s thing everybody knows they love. This stuff is just so good & easy to listen to: singable, dance-y, memorable. It sticks in your head in the best way. LANY (along with the other artists mentioned here, really) is showing people what pop music could be again. Maybe it's even better to say they're showing people what music can be. There is great new music happening out there, folks. It's just waiting for you to get your ears on it. 


Monday, August 31, 2015

Rest.

We've all heard something like it before:

"I'll sleep when I'm dead."

"Rest is for the week."

"It's all about the hustle."

Our modern culture isn't big on rest. And that shouldn't come as a surprise given our proclivities-bordering-on-obsession in regards to distraction, over-indulgence, materialism, and commerce. If we do anything at all as a people, we go. We associate stopping with weakness, we are addicted to an ideal of constant achievement, and we are uncomfortable with stillness & quiet. We define a successful life in terms of measurable quantities (read: "bank account") and relegate any and all attention that could be paid to the inner life to a back burner that never gets lit.

Rest is not our thing.

This thought has been bouncing around in my own head for at least a year now. I discovered awhile back that I more-or-less sucked at rest. For the life of me, I could not take a solid day off without feeling like I was missing out on an opportunity to do something. For that reason, I found myself massively frustrated every time I wound up moderately sick - which is to say, sick enough to make being around people in a social context completely inappropriate but not sick enough that I would feel justified in just letting myself recover. I would find myself asking questions like, "Am I really so sick that I can't workout a little?" and "I can still practice, right?"

For whatever reason, the sense of need I felt to do would make me feel like a slacker if I didn't power through in some way and accomplish something. 

I think I had bought into the lie that enough hard work, enough effort, and enough achievement in some way magically guaranteed the realization of my dreams. If I could just continue to keep chipping away at the stone, eventually God would have to move me right where I'd always wanted to be.

But then I began thinking about all of the things that go unheeded when the idea of rest (not to mention the necessity of it) is viewed as a universal pejorative. Did I really want to be the guy who couldn't slow down, who couldn't relax, and who couldn't find it within himself to appreciate where he was at any given moment if that place didn't happen to be THE PLACE he hoped & prayed he would one day end up?

Thursday, August 13, 2015

Success & its Anticedents OR Why "Successful People" Don't Post Inspirational Memes

Last night, the boys of Modern Suspects and myself had a quick laugh over this meme:


This morning, I woke up thinking about it. Not just laughing about it anymore, but thinking about it. So, here we are.

Now, on the most basic level, I get it. This is supposed to be funny in a cynical, "I'm cooler than inspirational memes" kind of way. It's supposed to imply a wink and a smile at the notion of being tapped into what's really going on: namely, that successful people don't post inspirational memes because they don't need them, and that the people who do actually take the time to share these kinds of ideas are those with some sort of desperate need to believe that they're not missing the boat or that life isn't passing them by.

But here's the deal.

I couldn't help but think this morning that if the idea that "successful people" have no time for inspiration or encouragement or philosophy happens to be true, then that fact says a lot more about "successful people" than it does about anyone else.

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

The Summer of Sound (Part I)

Summer 2015: the season that is.

In between the sometimes-gratifying, too-often-frustrating DIY home projects my wife and I have been getting ourselves into, the family wedding that now stands at less than a week away, and the numerable one-off gigs I've been able to be a part of, I've found myself neck deep in work with both Modern Suspects and Hillary Hand. As I've written about already, the Suspects have been crushing the summer festival scene here in Colorado, and we're not even close to finished with it yet. Hillary has put together a new band since releasing the EP we've been working on for the past few months, and I'm thrilled to report that our sound going forward - like the record itself - is definitely something of which people are going to want to take note. The work this season has been great. Busy and hectic, yes, but great. I am fortunate beyond words to get to work with the musicians I do.

But in addition to all of that stuff I've been doing myself, there's another aspect to this summer that can't go unmentioned (read: 'unblogged'). Summer is concert season, after all. And, given the number of performances I've been able to absorb lately, 2015 might just take its place as the single best year of live performances I've ever experienced.

Zac Brown Band @ Coors Field
My wife and I began our summer hijinks by attending the first-ever live music performance in the history of Denver's Coors Field (recognized more widely, of course, for being the home field of the Colorado Rockies). Now, granted, my wife didn't exactly know we were going to this show: I used it as an opportunity to surprise her for her birthday (which was a few days afterward). The Zac Brown Band brought its own unique and spectacular brand of country music to town that night, and given both the event's historical significance as well as it's taking place during Independence Day Weekend, the band delivered...

...and delivered seriously.

To put it mildly, these cats can play, and they've used the past few years to carve out an altogether unique identity for themselves in the midst of a genre that continues to grow ever more rote & generic. ZBB shows are packed with musicality, genuine patriotism, and an ever-so-unexpected set of cover tunes that all meet up to create a fast-paced and energetic roller coaster of a performance. It's hard to imagine that many other contemporary bands come close to this level of showmanship.

Rush lights up the audience @ Pepsi Center
A handful of days later saw Rush's R40 tour grace the Pepsi Center. In what is probably going to be the trio's final performance in Denver (as Neil Peart is starting to show symptoms of arthritis in his hands and elbows), the band delivered a true retrospective: beginning their show with selections from their most recent Clockwork Angels release and proceeding systematically backwards through their 40-year career, all the way to a final encore featuring the song Working Man, the band's first-ever single. As the show progressed backwards in time, the music, the stage setup, the instruments, and even the lights progressed with them: the songs from the '80s featured laser lighting, those from the '70s dry ice snaking across the stage. Even Peart's drum kit got a facelift during the intermission, and the second half showcased the legend on a set built to look like the one he played on records like Moving Pictures and Permanent Waves.

 

The Rush show served as a celebration of a four-decades-long career that has seen one of the most unique and masterful bands in rock 'n' roll not only survive, but thrive, despite their rejection by popular radio and print media. Rush has proved for more years than I've been alive that great music has staying power because people really do want to hear it. There are those who, despite the entrapment and allurements of mediocre & redundant pop culture, still want to be blown away by the music they choose to listen to.

And, to wrap up the first half of our summer concert series, my wife and I took in another performance by the great Bruce Hornsby at Denver' Botanic Gardens. The setting for shows like this is about as informal as it gets, with concertgoers situated all around the stage on a small amphitheater-style lawn. There are no significant stage elements to speak of (in terms of lights or pyrotechnics or what have you), so the music truly becomes the star of the show. And there are few artists more suited to headline such a show than Bruce Hornsby.

Hornsby's sets are notoriously casual & jazzy, with the man himself calling out tunes to the band as they go, signaling for solos and endings, and doing his best to put on a 100% unique performance each and every night. There are no set lists or predetermined arrangements, so whatever the audience is getting, they can rest assured it's a show like no other. The informal setting of the Botanic Gardens fit Hornsby's performance style perfectly, and, as always, he showcased his magnificent songwriting, virtuosic playing, and almost infinitely broad sense of musical appreciation in a way that leads one to think he might still be in his artistic prime.

Bruce Hornsby's stage @ Denver Botanic Gardens
It's a huge breath of fresh air for me to partake of performances like these. They serve not only as awe-inspiring experiences in and of themselves, but also as reminders that all is not lost when it comes to the condition of music in the 21st century (from either the standpoint of a musician or fan). To try a metaphor: in a world seemingly obsessed with novels written for 15-year-olds, it's good to know that we still have the work of  Neil Gaiman, Dennis Lehane, and Cormac McCarthy to read, appreciate, and celebrate.

It's good to see marvelous music still doing well amidst what seems like an overwhelming onslaught of petty & disingenuous pap. It's good to know that real musicians are still out there getting it done. It's good to know that there are other people still interested in hearing the best they can get their ears on.

So the summer of sound continues. There are more shows to play and more shows to attend coming up next month, and then...

....well, then, I'll be on a tour of my own.

But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves, shall we?

~

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

Hillary Hand - 'In My Head'

The day has finally come.

Hillary Hand's new EP In My Head is available on iTunes.

This has been one of the coolest projects I've ever been a part of, and I couldn't be more excited that it's finally available.



Now, I could write all about how original and unique Hillary is at an artist (because she is), how amazing the studio experience was (Nate Jones is a magnificent producer & guitarist), or how cool it is to be drumming on a record with the incomparable Matt Bissonette on bass (it's pretty cool).

I could write about all of that.

But I would rather that you all just listen to the songs and dig on Hillary's music soul & all of the stuff the rest of us came up with to support it.

I hope you dig it. I hope you enjoy listening to it half as much as we enjoyed making it.

Happy listening!

~


Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Book Reviews on a Music Blog

Creators: From Chaucer and Durer to Picasso and DisneyCreators: From Chaucer and Durer to Picasso and Disney by Paul Johnson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"All the same, creation is a marvelous business, and people who create at the highest level lead a privileged life, however arduous and difficult it may be. An interesting life, too, full of peculiar aspects and strange satisfactions. That is the message of this book."

The abbreviated biographical stories in Johnson's Creators are brush strokes in a much larger painting, individual pieces of a mosaic (pun absolutely intended). Opening the book with the notion that creativity is inherent in all human beings as a result of our own creation in the image of a creative (and yet uncreated) God, Johnson proceeds to take snapshot looks at the lives of some of human history's most well-known & notorious creative personalities (I would have liked to have known what his thought process was for selected those he did). Searching for any semblance of pattern or recurring characteristics, Johnson delves into the world of music, literature, art, and even fashion & decorative glass to see if he can't put his finger on some undeniable creative gene.

What he finds might surprise some readers, but most creative types will probably conjure up an affirmative and familiar smile & nod. Along the way, however, Johnson makes some interesting observations about the nature of creativity: that it's not necessarily tied to intelligence or genius or moral decency, that it can be both largely derivative or highly original, that it can spring of intense education & wealth or relatively little of either. His conclusion is a refreshing and satisfying one:

"The truth is, all creators are highly individual and have different views about what helps or hinders their work. Often their views are confused, or are formed so slowly and tentatively – after setbacks and failures – as to come too late materially to influence their careers, when options have closed and energy flags. It is not easy to be a creator at the higher levels, and at the highest it is often agony. All creators agree that it is a painful and often a terrifying experience, to be endured rather than relished, and preferable only to not being a creator at all."

Basking in the lives of some of humanity's most powerful creatives makes for a fascinating, interesting, and thought-provoking read. My only (small) issue with the book was the very occasional editorializing that occurred without further explanation. (I'd like to know, for instance, why Johnson seems to assume that everyone already knows that Monet and the other Impressionists were so universally "dull".) Other than that, however, I found this to be a marvelous jaunt through artistic history, even during the chapter on Dior & Balenciaga (caring about fashion is simply not my thing). And, believe me, the final chapter juxtaposing Walt Disney & Pablo Picasso serves as a brilliant payoff.

I love Johnson's writing and this book is no exception. Highly recommended, especially for artistically-inclined types.

View all my reviews

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Remembering Mr. Horner

Two nights ago, I was saddened to read the news that legendary film composer James Horner had died in a tragic plane crash. I wrote on my social media feeds that the music world was less for having lost such a masterful talent. I write here to attempt to pay tribute to one of my favorite contemporary composers.

When I was 13, my parents took me to see Braveheart (with a brother who was five years older than me, I grew up pretty fast). Suffice it to say, at 13, I had never before seen a movie like it. I was completely blown away by the size of it, the power of it, the Arthurian-style story and the depth of meaning & philosophy the film conveyed.

And it was just as impossible to be unmoved by the music.

Horner's magnificent score for Braveheart served to lift and further empower an already outstanding movie. He not only bolstered Mel Gibson's grand vision, he encapsulated it within the music. He captured the very heart of Braveheart with his concepts of melody, his instrumentation, and his amazing sense of texture and vibe. He somehow managed to pack Scotland, warfare, romance, heartbreak, heroism, freedom, and sacrifice inside the very notes he wrote and to this day the music stands as some of the most powerful and well-loved Horner ever conceived.

 

The 13-year-old me was clued into the music of James Horner that day, and it was a clue I've followed ever since. Aliens. Apollo 13. Glory. Deep Impact. A Beautiful Mind. Titanic. Legends of the Fall. Clear and Present Danger. Quite simply put, Horner wrote some of the greatest soundtrack music in the history of motion pictures. He was a master at using music to make films better (even if, as with Braveheart, the film was already great), and sometimes, as is the case with Titanic, stole the show by writing music that wound up becoming the very best part of the film.

Horner's melodies were beautiful constructs, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes haunting, often epic and most always memorable. His soundtracks were ones you could (and wanted to) sing, and yet he always managed to retain certain elemental characteristics of the films within the music itself. The militaristic drums in Aliens; the Scottish whistles and pipes in Braveheart; the turn-of-the-century frontier at the heart of Legends of the Fall. As Edward Zwick, the director who hired Horner for both Legends of the Fall and Glory put it, the goal of the film composer is to "give voice to [the] inner life [and] soul... of film". And this is exactly what James Horner spent his career doing: uncovering and displaying the soul of the stories the films were made to tell.

I will always appreciate and love the music James Horner brought into my life and I love the movies he worked on that much more for his contributions to them. So, here's to the memory of a man who's work will (and should) always be remembered and emulated by those who come after him: it's been nothing less than a privilege to get to listen to such wondrous and unforgettable music.

~

(photo credit)

Friday, June 19, 2015

Comin' Back Around

Man, I love the music of the '80s.

From the moment I really fell in love with music and wanted to make it a career, I've loved the tunes that came out of that decade. For me, the crescendo of great rock and pop music began somewhere in the late '70s, hit hard in the early and mid '80s, plateaued and diversified for awhile, and then started to fade somewhere around 1995. Two classics from that era - U2's The Joshua Tree & The Police's Every Breath You Take - are the records that most directly compelled me into becoming a musician. And, if pressed, I can make a pretty strong argument for the idea that that particular 15-20 year span marked the brightest shining moment in the history of pop & rock music in terms of consistency, musicality, performance, and artistry. You just got more bang for your buck if you were tuning into radio then.

This is not to say there weren't other timeless & legendary artists, records, and songs released before that time - of course there were. But let's consider just a partial list of the artists around releasing records, writing hits, getting radio play, and touring the world during the period of the 1980's: Van Halen, U2, Rush, Toto, Phil Collins, Aerosmith, Metallica, Guns 'n' Roses, Michael Jackson, Depeche Mode, Peter Gabriel, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, The Police, Sting, Genesis, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Prince, Whitney Houston, Steve Winwood, Huey Lewis & the News, Don Henley, Dire Straits, Marvin Gaye, Queen, Bruce Hornsby... and we're just scratching the surface.

Honestly, even the bad stuff was better back then.

Despite all of this, I grew up in a time when most of this kind of music was considered passé, out-dated, and irrelevant. And, really, I've never stopped hearing about how the music of the '80s was lame, uncool, and a relic of the forgettable past.

Well, readers, I'm glad to report that, apparently, I wasn't the only person in the world growing up with a fondness for truly great pop music. The sounds and vibes of the music of the 1980's are storming back onto the scene and achieving some notable success - and it hasn't been lost on me. What's hilarious about all of this, of course, is that most of the younger kids listening to this stuff probably don't realize where the influences for it are coming from, and that's fine. What's more important is that a lot of the things that made the music of that era so great are beginning to reappear in some really cool modern music.

Dig on this:

The 1975 - The 1975
If you can listen to the huge drum beat of 'The City', the opening synth of 'Heart Out', the dance-y guitar riffs of 'Girls' or the groove of 'Robbers' and not think to yourself, "1980's", then you're definitely hip to something I am as yet unaware of (that, or you're completely unaware of musical history). Matt Healy has been honest about being influenced by cats like Prince, Phil Collins, and Joy Division and has talked about being a big fan of John Hughes movies. The groovy drums, the big electric guitars (Adam Hann is an underrated monster of a player), and the layers of synth unabashedly scream '80s, and, from the looks of things, plenty of people are all about it.



Bleachers - Strange Desire
Jack Antonoff plays guitar in Fun. (a band with its own obviously massive Queen influence). While they were blowing up a few short years ago, Antonoff was secretly constructing a project on the side called Bleachers,
and the first album dropped a little less than a year ago. And basically, it sounds like the soundtrack to a John Cusack movie. It's a great record, with traces of The Hooters, Peter Gabriel, and a bunch of the British new wave bands. If you don't know this record yet, you need to get it and start rocking some air drums and belting out the choruses. There's an epic quality to Strange Desire that makes it unforgettable and you won't regret picking it up if you haven't already.


Walk the Moon - Talking Is Hard
A few years ago when I was touring with Tyler Ward, we ended up playing the same venue on the same night as Walk the Moon. They were in one room, we were in another. They hadn't finished by the time we were done with our set, so I got a chance to catch some of their performance from the balcony. I hadn't heard of them at the time and, to be honest, nothing really grabbed me that night. Fast-forward to a few months ago when I was perusing iTunes and ended up listening to a few clips from their Talking Is Hard record. I downloaded the album right then and there, hearing even in the short previews the kind of sounds this entire blog has been about. And Talking Is Hard did not disappoint. You'll hear Bowie, Talking Heads, and even a smidgen of The Police throughout the songs. Great, great, GREAT hooks on almost every track. Yeah, I know, 'Shut Up & Dance' is everywhere right now, and it's a solid single. But there's depth to this album that the single only begins to hint at. It's a strong offering start to finish and, like the other albums I'm talking about here, loudly, blatantly, flagrantly '80s.


Matt Wertz - Heatwave
This one's a year or so older, but it's a personal favorite of mine so I'm going to include it. Wertz is one of those vastly underrated singer-songwriters that world really needs to get hip to. All he's been doing for the past 8 years or so is writing and releasing great music, but for some reason, he has yet to receive anything even remotely resembling his just due. He put out Heatwave in 2013, deliberately trying to release an '80s album. This record is so genuinely fun that so far, it's been impossible for me to grow tired of it. It's easy to hear the Kenny Loggins & Bryan Adams influences on this one, and believe me, that's a great thing. He gets into more classic Wertz on the back half of the record, which somehow only adds to the timeless feel of the more '80s-saurated tunes. (He also released Old Flames in 2014, which features some B-sides and cuts that didn't make the original release of Heatwave.)




So, for all the people back in the day who tried to tell me that the beanie-wearing, coffee-drinking, soul patch acousti-rock was the wave of the future and better than the stuff I was listening to at the time: this one's for you. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if the Doc Marten & flannel jam bands made a comeback sometime down the line, too. But, at least for now, I'm gonna revel in the fact that the music I've loved my entire life is back in the limelight, makin' noise, reminding people of what the pairing of solid musicianship and great songwriting can do.

It's been too long.

~

Monday, June 15, 2015

The Most Important Thing To Remember About Playing FESTIVALS

....something's gonna go wrong.

Always. Without a doubt. Set your watch by it. Count on it. Take it to the bank.

Something's not going to work. Something's going to break. Something's not going to get checked. Something won't sound right. Somebody won't hear everything. Everybody won't hear something.

Something.

Something's going to go wrong.

Unless you're fortunate enough to be the headliner of the event and you happen to get that nice, cozy sound check 7 hours before you even take the stage to perform, just plan on everything not quite functioning at 100%.

Festivals are cool events. Loads of people come out (potential fans), there are usually a ton of sponsors at the event (people to network with), there are other cool bands playing (more people to network with), and all the extracurricular activities are usually pretty great, too (I just had one of the absolute best Philly cheesesteak sandwiches I've ever had... and if you know me, you know that means something).

Bart gettin' it with Modern Suspects.
But, inevitably, with so many bands, so much gear, a tight schedule, and so many things that could potentially go wrong, something will almost certainly actually go wrong.

Such is the lesson I've been learning recently playing with the guys in Modern Suspects. They've booked their summer solid with awesome festival gigs up and down the front range here in Colorado, but getting to play so many great events carries with it the unenviable price tag of festival participation: having to expect the unexpected and to perform in less-than-optimal conditions, 'cause something's about to go nutty.

Our crowd at the Taste of Ft. Collins festival
Thankfully, the guys in the band know the set well enough that they can still throw down pretty hard in the midst of the distractions and frustrations. This past weekend at the Taste of Ft. Collins festival stands as another example of this timeless lesson. As always, the show must go on, and it did, and it ended up being a pretty great afternoon for us. We only had to cut a song or two from our planned set list (unlike our previous festival experience at the Denver Day of Rock where, due to inclement weather and abnormally hefty traffic density in downtown Denver, we only got to perform 50% of our set), and I'm pretty sure the FOH (front of house) sound tech was able to get everything running through the system that needed to be there. Of course, there was no line check on the drums (which means that I had to play the whole gig without being able to really hear my kick drum... definitely in the top ten of my pet peeves), but I still managed to have a great time with the rest of the guys.

So make sure to get yourself out to one of the festival performances they've got lined up over the course of the next few months.

The Westword Music Showcase is next up (this weekend), and I'm sure something technical will go haywire there, too. (And you know you don't want to miss the opportunity to see what it happens this time.)

~

Friday, June 12, 2015

Stuff Goin' On


So, as should be the case with blogs like this, I feel compelled to inform everyone about what I've got going on these days. Musically, that is. (After all, this is supposed to be a music blog, right?)

Truth be told, I've got several irons in the fire that I am really excited about, so I'm gonna take some time to let you all in on them.

First of all, the incomparable Hillary Hand has an EP coming out in about a week that I can't wait for everyone to hear. We've been working on it for several months now (well, Hillary and her producer have been working on it for months... I basically just jumped in & out whenever I was needed) and the finished product is something truly great. It's definitely one of my favorite projects that I've ever been a part of: the songs are awesome, the arrangements & instrumentation are awesome, and getting the opportunity to form a rhythm section with the legendary Matt Bissonette is all kinds of awesome. I'll definitely be posting all about it both here and on my Fbook when the EP drops, so be ready. There are some other exciting things coming up for Hillary in the near future, as well, so stay tuned-in to everything she's got going on.

I've also been performing along with one of the Colorado music scene's most notable up-and-coming bands, Modern Suspects. They recently released an EP of their own and sought me out to help them perform the songs live. (I know, I know.... what in the world could they have been thinking?) Truthfully, though, this
has been a great experience already in the first couple months that I've been working with the guys and we've got a slew of shows & festivals coming up all across the front range. If you're in the area, be sure to connect with them and come out to a show. The Suspects have been getting some radio play here, too, and are really close to cracking into some of those larger markets, so it probably won't be long before you're hearing their stuff all over the place.

Oh, yeah... there's also this.

The North American dates haven't been posted yet and I haven't gotten the call to go to Europe, but... come September, I will be on the road for at least some of Alex G's first solo tour. So, please, make sure you come and check out a show. Especially if you happen to live in places like Canada or San Diego or anywhere on the east coast. It's been too long since I've gotten to play for all of you.

Anyway... that's what's going on these days and I'm going to try to keep things nice 'n' updated here on the blog. Keep tuning in, my friends. I'm hoping to see every last one of you very, very soon.

~

Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Soundtrackin'


I love to admit it: I am a ginormous Jurassic Park fan. I have been since I first read the novel when I was a kid, and then saw the movie (released the same summer my family moved to Colorado, incidentally), and then purchased a copy of the soundtrack. Almost everything about that movie was perfect as far as I was concerned - including the music. John Williams hit one of his timeless grand slams with that one. People are going to remember and be listening to those themes for decades and decades to come.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/jurassic-world-original-motion/id996702871And so, massive fan (and purist) that I am, it was with a certain amount of hesitation & reticence that I received the news of yet another Jurassic Park sequel. I was let down by the second and third installments, to say the least, and have found myself convinced that the pursuit of the almighty dollar was allowed to outpace the one interested in great art when it came to this franchise. Still, the lesser sequels never ruined the original for me, and I had to admit that over the past couple of months, my excitement to at least give the new film Jurassic World a try has been steadily building.

And then along came the soundtrack, which I pre-ordered this past weekend and eagerly tore into over the past couple of days (I'm even listening to it as I write this). So, let me put it to you this way: listening to the music isn't doing anything to temper my childlike enthusiasm for the upcoming film. It's a marvelous soundtrack and Michael Giacchino - whom I first noticed while playing through a PS2 video game back in the day (Black), and who then went on to construct the signature sounds for the TV show Lost as well as the marvelous soundtrack for Ratatouille - has not only done Williams' original masterpiece justice (he incorporates the legendary themes, I'm happy to report), but has also taken the idea of Jurassic Park music into his own signature realms. I have no idea where any of the songs fit in relation to the plot of the movie, so I'm just listening to it as music-in-the-raw, but I still love it. If the songs are any indication, there's going to be a lot of action in this flick, and if the emotion of the film matches the emotion contained on the soundtrack, it's going to be a movie with some real heart and not just a mindless roller coaster.

We'll have to wait and see, but if Jurassic World is as entertaining as its music seems to suggest, than I, for one, am finally going to really enjoy a Jurassic Park sequel.

-

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/nightcrawler-original-motion/id924734188When you watch Nightcrawler, you can't help but notice the music. It's mixed loud and is very much in the forefront of the movie, grabbing your attention right at the opening credits and making its presence known through to the end. What I found so interesting about the music to this creepy satire-ish flick is how unexpected it was. It has loads of attitude and coolness to it, and it somehow reinforces the heart of the film (which is quite dark) while not sounding much at all like what you would think music for a thriller like Nightcrawler would sound like. The music rocks. It is melodic and guitar-driven and moody and introspective. It's a soulful sound in the midst of a movie intent on depicting the soullessness of its subjects. I enjoyed Nightcrawler but have found myself enjoying James Newton Howard's soundtrack even more.

-

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/hatfields-mccoys-soundtrack/id530497026The wife and I recently watched the History Channel's three-part dramatization Hatfields & McCoys about one of American history's more Shakespearian moments. The mini-series was well-done and, from what I can tell, pretty true to life in regards to what really went down between the two star-crossed families. John Debney (who also did fantastic work for Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ) crafted some truly heartbreaking & romantic music for the series, which masterfully blends 19th century soundscapes with some more modern and familiar melodies. The music feels familiar and powerful at the same time, and Lisbeth Scott adds some vocalization to the tracks that just takes your breath away. This soundtrack, like Nightcrawler, was an unexpected find: you don't tune into a History Channel mini-series expecting to hear wonderful music. Alas, Hatfields & McCoys brought the soul.

-

I've also recently gotten my hands on Harry Gregson-Williams' soundtrack for Man on Fire, which I've been waiting for iTunes to sell for a long, long time. I haven't gotten around to listening through the entire thing yet, but if you never thought a piece of music could move you in less than a minute, I implore you to check out the cut entitled 'Smiling', which is 51 seconds of sublimity.

Monday, June 8, 2015

"...and back again."

I don't know what's wrong with me, folks.

Instead of eagerly devouring the top songs on iTunes or schlepping out money for some big arena tour I'm supposed to want to attend, there I was: at the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, taking in exhibits about some of the genre's most notable luminaries and the city's indelible effect upon both the artists themselves and the music they created.

Kansas City, a retro take
Truth be told, I've never liked the cool kids' table. I've never felt welcome or comfortable there and it seems that I am still managing to find ways to extricate myself from the transient nuisance that is the majority of popular music by surrounding myself with things that are still beautiful and awe-inspiring half a century (or more) after they've been released.

So, hold on... Let's back up a step.

My wife and I had decided on a quick weekend excursion to the City of Fountains (more than any other in the world with the exception of Rome) for more reasons than just jazz history. We took in a baseball game at the home field of my all-time favorite team, sauntered through a number of museums (not just the one dedicated to American Jazz, but the national World War I and Negro Leagues Baseball Museums, as well), ate some fantastic local cuisine, and spent time with family.

Architecture a la KC

You see, a sort of revelation occurred to us a little while ago when we journeyed up to Seattle to meet Harry Connick, Jr.: namely, that there are a lot of fascinating, beautiful, and memorable experiences waiting to be had within just a short drive of most of us... and yet most of us never take advantage of the fact. Here we are, living in one of the most wondrous times in all of human history, when a simple day-or-two-long drive or the purchase of a train or plane ticket can get you to some of the world's most interesting places and many of us seem all-too-willing to let the opportunities pass us by over and over again. It is easy to open yourself up to the wonders of history and art and music and food and architecture... it remains even easier to close yourself off from them, apparently. So the Family Burns has decided to become a bit more deliberate with its free time. When schedules allow and work doesn't interfere, we've agreed to spend the money and invest the time necessary in order to try and see what we can see, one piece at a time, of this great world we find ourselves in.

Kansas City became one of our first targets, and we were able to get quite a lot accomplished in two unplanned days.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

A Band of Brothers

A little more than a month ago now, renowned bassist Mike Porcaro passed after a years-long fight with ALS. Mike was a personal hero and favorite player of mine whose music will always mean the world to me.

Not long after his death, however, I caught wind of an up-and-coming documentary film about the lives and musical contributions of the whole Porcaro family entitled Band of Brothers. The Porcaros are one of music's most recorded and notable families, and you can currently donate to help cover the costs of production of the film here, via IndieGogo. I myself have already contributed and would encourage any fellow music lovers who happen to be reading this to do so, as well, in order to honor some of the music industry's most unheralded heroes.

From Steve Duddy, the film's director, who married a Porcaro sister:

...when I first married into the Porcaro family in 1980, Toto was already well on their way to great success. What fascinated me the most was not just the sheer number of artists each of my new brothers had worked with, but also how huge those artists were.  They'd played with everyone from Cher to Michael Jackson, Steely Dan to Madonna, Paul McCartney to Ray Charles, Miles Davis to The Bee Gees, Barbara Streisand to Dolly Parton and countless more.

The film pays homage to my amazing in-laws - Joe & Eileen Porcaro, who started it all.. who lovingly supported the careers of not only their children and Toto but so many others that chose an artistic path. It's a nod to all parents who nurture and support their children in the Arts. It's also a tribute to Jeff Porcaro and the  immense void he left, not only in our family's hearts but also in the hearts of music fans all around the globe. I've cherished this fly-on-the-wall privilege and I'm now thrilled to share their incredible story with the world. I would love for you to be a part of it too.

Many of us will miss Mike and his late older brother Jeff, but we will always have the music they created.

And the music they created was nothing sort of legendary.





~

Monday, April 13, 2015

A Spectacular Interview with Chris Botti

The trumpet-based podcast The Other Side of the Bell has a great interview with the incomparable Chris Botti posted at their site. Even if you're like me and not a trumpeter (all I know about the instrument is that my brother played it for a couple of years in high school) or even if you're not a musician at all, I still would like to encourage you to listen to this podcast. Botti's got some great stories and some great insights to music, business, how it all works from a performer-to-audience perspective, and how he approaches his craft. It's a fantastic interview.

For those of you who may not know Chris Botti, he's the guy who performed the best rendition of America's National Anthem anyone has ever heard at an NFL game this past season:


Monday Night Football 11-03-14 National Anthem with Chris Botti HD from Jeff Bekeris on Vimeo.

In addition to his remarkable solo career, he's also performed alongside musical giants like Paul Simon, Sting, Michael Brecker, and Buddy Rich.

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Interim

To my readers:

I've decided to take a little break from attempting to regularly post here on Electric Medicine in order to focus on finishing my first book. Hopefully, it won't take too long (I'm right around 80% done with my first draft), but I feel as though I need the time to really bare down and finish the final few parts. I'll be back. Sooner, hopefully, rather than later.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Adventures in iTunes: The Nashville Roadtrip Playlist

As I wrote about last time, Sean Waldron and I drove out to Nashville last week to begin tracking his upcoming single. It was an overall fantastic experience, but yes, we drove there. It's about a 16-hour trip straight through, which means that the two guys driving the entire way themselves had to deal with closer to 20 hours of actual travel time (accounting for meals and restroom breaks and throwing a football around in a few parking lots).

The upside of all of this included great conversation, getting to really see the country we call home, and, of course, lots of music. So, I post today to share with you what albums we listened to (most of them all the way through) over the course of our four travel days to and from Nashville. Feel free to check it all out for yourself if you don't already know these records. I promise that you won't be disappointed.

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Adventures in Nashtown

Nashtown.

Because it's not much of a "ville" anymore.

Well, fine. I think it's funny.

Nevertheless, I've been down here for the last handful of days recording "Float Away", the upcoming single by my good friend & musical compadre, Sean Waldron. And, with the singular exception of Sean's voice running far, far away from him on the day we were hoping to record vocals, it's been an  incredible trip.

Featuring a stop along the way in Kansas City (during which I was able for the first time to visit the adjoining fields of the Royals' Kauffman Stadium and the Chiefs' Arrowhead), the chance to partake like kings at several of Nashville's best local eateries, and, most importantly, the opportunity to work with a couple of astounding musicians in the persons of Dwan Hill (our producer) and Garrett Miller (our engineer), this adventure has definitely been one for the books.

In addition to all of that, we got to track at the Sound Emporium, a studio which boasts the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, Robert Plant & Allison Krauss' Raising Sand, REM's Document and projects from the likes of Kenny Chesney, Little Big Town, & Taylor Swift amongst its recorded credits. There's something really invigorating and inspiring about working in such a reputable room, and being directed by cats like Dwan and Garrett only bolsters the experience.

I have often said that, for me, performing for an audience full of family & friends is always more nerve racking then those shows with a more anonymous crowd. Similarly, when I get to work with talented people like I have this week, I always feel a particular marriage of nervous excitement and special blessing. There are few people I long to impress quite like the other musicians with whom I get to work, and the camaraderie the four of us were able to conjure up in just a couple days transformed the process into more fun than work. 

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Buy This Album - 'Grand Ukulele' by Jake Shimabukuro

I first discovered Jake Shimabukuro when I heard his cover of 'Every Breath You Take' by The Police in the midst of a ridiculous Adam Sandler comedy. The film was set in Hawaii, so Shimabukuro's ukulele-driven renditions of pop songs added a distinct regional feel to the familiarity of the melodies. The thing I couldn't help but notice was that while the movie was silly, the music was not. It was really, really, really good.

My next encounter with Jake came during my visit to the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix last month. They had a portion of their artist section devoted to him and took advantage of his recent recordings to help showcase his instrument of choice. Again, I found myself irresistibly drawn to his music - to his ukulele music.

I know what you're thinking: Niche. Gimmick. Contrived.

I'm here to tell you: Jake Shimabukuro is none of those things.

The simple truth is that Shimabukuro manages to transcend musical boundaries with an instrument generally considered to be one-dimensional & narrow. And he does so in a way that refuses to feel forced, fake, or phony. This is not schtick. This is genuine musical mastery. This is real art.

His record comes complete with a myriad of different styles, all convincingly voiced by his uke. Shades of melodic rock, bluegrass, pop, easy listening, and even classical can be found on this album. There are some tracks where Jake fronts a rhythm section of bass & drums, there is some symphonic accompaniment, and there are solo tracks. There is real soul here. There is groove & feel. There is melody you can't help but want to sing. There is romance. There is joy. And all of it coming from a tiny wooden body and four little strings. It really is something that needs to be heard to be believed.

Jake Shimabukuro might be a genius. He is certainly not something you've ever heard before (unless, of course, you've actually heard him before). His music is sublime, pleasant, magnificent. It is music, after all is said and done, that makes you feel glad to be alive.

Monday, January 19, 2015

Music & 'American Sniper'

FIRST THINGS FIRST:
If you haven't seen American Sniper and don't want to know anything about it, don't read this post.
If you've been living under a rock for the past couple of years and don't know anything at all about Chris Kyle and don't want to until you see the movie, don't read this post.
I have no interest in spoiling anything, but if you don't know by now about the life of Chief Petty Officer Kyle, then it's not my fault if you read something on this blog that ruins something for you.

~

American Sniper is a terribly beautiful movie. It is harsh and brutal, touching and heartrending, conveying its message and subject matter through some masterful performances, intense battle sequences, and the reality of its source material. But one thing it is noticeably devoid of is music.

Warner Bros.Pictures
Well, alright. Perhaps "devoid" is too strong a term. Nevertheless, there is precious little music scattered throughout the film. There are a few moments of light piano theme: soft, single notes played to subtly enhance the mood of a scene here or there. There is a Van Morrison song playing during a wedding reception. But, by and large, the movie delivers the lion's share of its emotion without any musical accompaniment.

And it does so brilliantly. Which, when you think about it, is a pretty remarkable accomplishment all on its own. Background music is such a ubiquitous part of modern society - we hear music when we eat, when we shop, when we're waiting on the phone, when we're doing anything, really - that to deliberately remove it from a place where people are so used to hearing a lot of it (like in a movie) certainly stands as a gutsy call.

But.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Getting Out Of The Box - A Few Thoughts On Dropping Out

Somehow, someway, my Fbook feed has become a magnet for people looking to sell t-shirts to drummers. No idea how it happened. No idea why. But, that's the situation, and I as I've been trying to take things in stride, I've taken to posting pictures of some of the funnier shirt designs to my Instagram page. Here's the latest one to make the cut:



I accompanied it with this caption: <from one dropout to all the rest.>

What I didn't expect (but probably should have) was someone about my thoughts as to whether or not they should drop out of college. I gave two replies: first, I said, "Not if you don't mean it," and secondly, "School's not for everyone, but neither is the other thing."

I'd like to take the opportune moment to expand on these thoughts. Get ready for some bullet points.

Monday, January 12, 2015

The Deception of Celebrity

Reality as metaphor:

A young man enters the Navy. He excels at his assignment, whatever it happens to be, and eventually receives an invitation to try out for one of the most elite fighting forces the world has ever known. After an excruciating selection process, he is chosen to join the SEALs and begins years of the most intense training he's ever received. Again, he excels.

Eventually, he deploys and begins the work that he's dreamed of his entire life. Despite his status as one of the world's most elite war fighters and his capacity to perform a job that more than 99% of humanity could never do, he is anonymous: he is not recognized by strangers on the street, he is not paid an exorbitant wage, he will not be offered million dollar endorsement deals. He is the farthest thing from typical, the farthest thing from ordinary, the farthest thing from either boring or uninteresting...

...and the farthest thing from celebrity.

Eventually, he receives a call to perform another mission. As is typical, he and his comrades perform to the fullest extent of their professional excellence and the mission is a resounding success. He does not receive any kind of additional reward or renown for his duty despite the historical importance of the mission: it is his job - one he loves to do, has agreed to do, and has trained his entire life to do.

Meanwhile, however, back at home...

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Book Reviews On A Music Blog

Designing DisneyDesigning Disney by John Hench
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Artists can always profit from lessons delivered by the masters, and, often times, the lessons transcend the different artistic forms. Musicians can learn from writers. Painters can learn from architects. Dancers can learn from sculptors.

As John Hench says in this book, "The rules of art are the rules of life." The things that make art work do so because art - in all its forms - is both a reflection and an expression of human experience.

Given all of that, plenty of books have been written about the Disney empire's business model. This is the first I've had the opportunity to read that has delved into what drives the creative side of one of Disney's greatest artists. It's a peek behind the curtain with one of the men who went back almost to the very beginning. If there was an authority on Disney's artistic design concepts - both for animation and the amusement parks - John Hench was probably it.

The book is not a long read, and it certainly left me wanting to know more about the details of Disney artistic philosophy. I would have welcomed more depth, to be sure. But there are some brilliant and thought-provoking insights provided here that all artistically-inclined people can learn from, such as: genuinely appreciating & liking your audience and doing your best to see things from their perspective (Walt himself used to walk through Disneyland in disguise in order to interact directly with its attendees), the vital importance of paying attention to small details (like proper period doorknobs & cash registers to keep with the theme of attractions, shops & restaurants), and the invaluable nature of trial-and-error experience (like the 26 attempts at finding the right shade of pink for the castle in Disneyland Paris).

Hench is, as many masterful artists tend to be, somewhat enigmatic and ambiguous. But, his insights and stories are well worth reading. I came away with a new found understanding and respect for the attitudes and artistic worldview that created some of the world's most famous cultural icons, and any artist looking to glean a bit of inspiration can definitely find it here.

View all my reviews

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Facebook, Hayley Williams, & Redefining Success

Recently, one thing led to another on Facebook and I found myself looking at a picture someone had posted of Hayley Williams, wishing the singer a happy birthday. The picture and post were completely innocuous and not at all the point of this post, but a comment someone left underneath the photo read like this:

I hate when super amazing successful fantastic people are younger than me. Blergh.

Interesting.

I was struck by the tone of the comment because I couldn't find it within myself to believe that it was at all in jest. I really do believe that this person, while no doubt being a fan of Hayley's and Paramore's, feels an acute stab of failure due to the fact that she is not as successful as Ms. Williams at this point in her life. Allow me to offer a few thoughts on why this kind of thinking is both nonsensical and unnecessary.

Let me first admit at the outset that yes, I understand that YOUTH is the god of all things in our modern society. I understand that there is immense pressure to succeed while you're still young: mediocre artists not yet 25 receive Grammy's while the old masters linger on the margins, Forbes posts articles about the "Top 30 Under 30", and almost all of popular marketing is directed at young people regardless of the product. I get it. I'm with you.

But this pressure is born of commerce and not reason. It's designed to generate money and income, not to help inform human purpose or elevate human creative experience. To summarize, it's a sham.

Monday, January 5, 2015

Buy This Album - Nathan East

For my first post of 2015, I would like to very deliberately direct your attention toward someone else.

Nathan East - the master bassist with more than 2,000 album credits to his name and superstar sideman who has performed alongside artists like Eric Clapton, Michael Jackson, Phil Collins, Toto, Daft Punk, Quincy Jones, Lionel Richie, & Michael McDonald -  has finally released his very first solo project.

And it's amazing.

There is nothing quite like discovering a truly wonderful album you have no idea even existed, and, thanks to the algorithm driving my Facebook feed, soon after Christmas Nathan's record was brought onto my radar. It remained on my radar for only a few moments, however, as I could not open iTunes fast enough in order to purchase it.

It's worth every penny. Actually, it's worth a lot more than all the pennies you're going to pay for it.

What you're going to get when you buy this record is not only a Grammy-nominated masterwork, but a celebration of the music & career of one of the world's greatest living musicians. Nathan East has been one of popular music's most prolific bassist's for 40 years (he toured with Barry White while he was in high school, wrote & sang "Easy Lover" with Phil Collins, played the classic bass line to "Footloose", and, more recently, made the entire world dance on "Get Lucky"). He is one of the quintessential examples of a musician's musician, and when he announced that he was finally going to create his own record, a legion of the world's greatest players & singers came out of the woodwork to make it with him.

 
Nathan with Toto on their 35 Anniversary Tour in 2014. (Check the solo at 5:00)
 
What's more is that Yamaha - the company who's instruments Nathan has endorsed for decades - has produced a documentary film called For The Record chronicling the album making process as well as celebrating the life of one of music's favorite sons. They have released the documentary for free right here on Hulu.com, and I cannot recommend enough that you carve out 90 minutes for yourself and watch it.

(The film also contains a touching memorial to Ricky Lawson, the drumming giant who died last year from a brain aneurysm. Nathan's project was one of the last things Lawson recorded before he passed, and the entire film is dedicated to his memory. I wrote a post about Ricky last year, as well, and it was touching for me to see his musical brothers doing their best to honor him.)

So, if you would like to know what makes a guy like me really geek-out, buy this album and watch this film: wonderful music made by a bunch of true masters in a celebration of one of their own.

(...and the rest of us fangirl all the way home!)

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