Loren's Musical News & Ramblings

The masters for my new CD are done and on their way, to me and to the duplicators.

I've been listening and sending feedback and my producer has been tweaking and sending me MP3s for the better part of a week, as we've been finishing it all up. Today was mastering day for Stephen, and I just got notification that the disks are now in the hands of FedEx.

It's sounding very good. I've been listening and listening and listening, and while only Earthwalker makes things perfect, this album is coming out extremely well, and I'm proud of it.

The album cover is now up on my music page, in miniature, and I'll have the lyrics to my own songs up by tomorrow sometime - I have the lyrics page done; I mostly need to put the links into the album detail page. Once I have the master, I can start creating samples for each song too - expect those up by sometime next week.

Labels: CD, music, new album, trop rock

Sometimes the best way to get something done is to just tell the world when and how you want it.

If you've been following what I'm doing at all, you know that I've been working on an album for most of this year. You've also heard me say "any time now" quite a few times. Well, the end is in sight.

There's a Parrothead "phlocking" coming up in Las Vegas the last weekend in July called Migration. Two days of music, socializing, drinking, and having fun, and a prime place for me to let people know about my music. And I really, really want to have copies of my album there.

Well, last week I got off my fundament and got in touch with the duplicators, and asked them how much lead time they'd need. They told me. I turned around and shared that information with my producer, who told me when he needed the final tracks in order to be able to meet that deadline. And then I checked in with Tom and told him when I needed the rest of his sax stuff.

And presto, the sax is done and in my producer's hands, and I'm starting to see final mix candidates. And the album art is likewise moving forward on a parallel track that will be ready when I need it. Nobody was holding anything back; there just wasn't much urgency until I created and communicated it.

So here's the scoop: Official release date is August 1; unofficially I'll have CDs a week before that and will be taking them to Migration with me.

The "official" album page for Every Day's a Holiday will be up within the next week or so. I'm revising song insights, to give people an idea of what it's all going to be about, and I need to compile and tag the lyrics. Samples will come a bit later, after the final mixes are done.

We're on our way, and it's gonna rock.

Labels: album, Migration, music

I played my second farmers market gig of the season on Saturday. It went well, better than the previous week in Hayward, I think.

I've been having some odd problems with my gear. Last week in Hayward, my PA was putting out distorted sound. I'm guessing that I was getting dirty power from their generator, as everything is clear at home.

And this Saturday my mike was cutting in and out. I think it may be the mike and not the cable, as I swapped out cables. So I'll need to get a new mike. Oh joy, oh rapture. I'm looking at the Audixes, at the recommendation of a friend, though I have other friends who swear by the good old Shure M57 and M58.

Other than that, it was a good day. I'm trying out a new "performance piece" called "Traffic Jam" that relies heavily on my new looper - I set up some background guitar and vocals, and then riff over the top of it. People really liked that. I think it will definitely be in the set more often, and I'll need to keep polishing it and embellishing on it.

And people are really enjoying my new feel-good "Margarita Ya Ya." It's got a singable chorus, and a catchy beat.

Meanwhile, I'm getting some new sax tracks in from former "Coral Reefer" Tom "TC" Mitchell. He is *such* a nice man to work with, a true creative soul. We've got the better part of two songs done, out of four he'll be contributing to for my new album, and I really like what he's been doing with my songs. I've got my fingers crossed for having the finished CDs in my hands by late July now, so I have them for Migration.

I'm getting closer and closer to getting my album done.

I was in the studio today, cleaning up and tweaking several songs. And it's all coming together very nicely. I think this one's going to be a definite step up from my last CD, which was pretty good.

I talked with TC Mitchell earlier this week. He's doing some sax parts for me on several songs. He is one of the sweetest men it's been my pleasure to know, and I am so thrilled to have him working on my songs. It looks like he's about to dive into the material, so I'm hoping to have something to listen to in a week or two.

All of this good work means that the CD is probably going to run a bit late getting done and out, but I feel it's worth taking the time to do it right.

Labels: album, music, saxophone, TC Mitchell, trop rock

In the light of Ashley Dupre's newfound fame, I think we need a new reality show, for all of us other under-publicized aspiring musical artists.

And the show could be called, "Who Wants to Sleep With a Politician?"

It's simple, really. You do an American Idol-style cattle-call to line up a group of promising young wannabe stars, and introduce them to Mr. (or Ms. - no need to be sexist) Politican, who can be sitting in shadow and have their voice electronically disguised. The musicians can compete, elimination-style, for the right to sleep with the Politician. Winner gets their sordid tale broadcast to all news media, recording contract, yadda yadda.

Sex and scandal sells. Hollywood, take note!

Labels: American Idol, Ashley Dupre, Eliot Spitzer, Hollywood, musicians, politicians, reality television, reality TV, sex

I am *not* cut out for this blogging thang. I just don't have the time or attention span.

We've had all of the main recording sessions for the new album, and I've done most of my overdubs. It's all sounding very good, especially with the pan parts from Tom Miller, which are exceedingly tasty.

Now I'm waiting to hear what Coral Reefer Tom "TC" Mitchell does for several of the songs. He's graciously agreed to contribute his magnificent sax playing to our creative efforts.

In the meantime, the mixes are coming in one at a time, and I'm starting to play around with the sequence of songs for the album. I like the one I'm playing today.

And there will be cool-looking Hawaiian shirts too. Soon...

Labels: album, Coral Reefer, Hawaiian shirts, music, songwriting, TC Mitchell

Yes, once again, we've proved that sex sells.

This time it's the one-time erotic services provider for former Governer Spitzer of New York. Nice-looking gal, doing something that I personally don't think should be illegal.

What gets me is that, as a result of having done someone famous and contributed to his fall from power, she's now getting lots of hits on her MySpace, probably selling some music (she's a singer), and has a shot at those fifteen minutes of fame, which I hope she milks for all their worth.

*My* problem is, I can't think of any governors out there I'd be willing to do that with in order to get that type of traffic. And Paris Hilton and Britney are, like, unsanitary.

Oh well...I'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way, whatever that is. :)

Making every day a holiday,

Loren

Labels: Britney, Eliot Spitzer, Governor Spitzer, Paris Hilton, sex, sex scandal

Yesterday was the first tracking session for my upcoming CD, Every Day's a Holiday. After several years of songwriting and planning, it's finally happening! And I think it's going to be pretty good.

We assembled at Laughing Tiger Studio in San Rafael for a day's worth of good music. The crew included: Stephen Hart, my producer, formerly chief engineer at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley; Brad Dollar, his assistant; John Cross, guitarist; Eric McCann, bass player, and Jeff Myer on drums. Each of them has worked with many "name" artists over the years - Jeff was the original drummer for Charlie Daniels, and I'm guessing that Stephen's worked with anyone who ever used Fantasy Studios. And everyone's experience was obvious, and we created some very nice stuff together.

We managed to track eight songs - everything we needed Jeff for. The result so far really feels like what I was hoping to get - somewhat of a mix of my first album, which was almost all me, and my second album, which was all studio players plus my vocals. I haven't listened to all of the rough mixes yet, but what I heard in the studio sounded excellent.

We still have three more songs to track without a drummer, though one or two of those will use congas. We'll also overdub congas on a number of other songs, and add some other instruments - pan (steel drum), piano, and sax from a Special Guest Performer to be named soon. :) Monday, in fact, if you listen to my interview on WBWC-FM Cleveland (www.wbwc.com) starting around 7:30 PM PST.

And, of course, I'll need to overdub more vocals and guitar, to fix the stuff I didn't do right the first time. :) But that's the joy of ProTools.

I'm aiming for a release somewhere around May, and I hope to remember to blog a bit more about how it's going between now and then. Or get onto my mailing list - the form is on my home page - and you'll get regular updates that way.