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.





~

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.

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.

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.

• John Legend & The Roots - Wake Up!
• Charles Bradley - Victim Of Love
• Toto - 35th Anniversary: Live in Poland
• Matt Wertz - Heatwave
• Huey Lewis & The News - Greatest Hits
• Dave Barnes - What We Want, What We Get
• Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors - Chasing Someday
• Bruce Hornsby - Spirit Trail, Here Come The Noisemakers
• Ben Rector - Something Like This
• Needtobreathe - The Outsiders, The Heat
• St. Paul & The Broken Bones - Half the City
• John Mayer Trio - Try!
• Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits

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.