General Musings

Signing On With Ludwig – Feeling the Love

It isn’t just about the gear.  It’s about a belief.  A belief you have in yourself and a belief that a business has in you as a person, your abilities on your instrument, and your desire to be a positive ambassador of their brand.  It’s also about a sound you envision.  When you can play the sound you hear in your head, that inspires in so many ways.  That’s why an endorsement can be so affirming.  That’s why my excitement hasn’t abated one bit about the ‘official’ announcement of my relationship with Ludwig Drums.

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The Benefits of Saying ‘Yes’

I have been thinking a lot about the benefits of saying ‘yes’ to various playing opportunities.  In this post I want to look at some of the obvious, and perhaps not so obvious benefits of saying ‘yes’. 

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Red Light Mentality – Being On Your Game

I recently did a session where we were doing minimal mic-ing, single take performances (no overdubs) AND shooting video.  The results came out quite nice and that had no small part to do with the preparation that most all of the folks involved put in ahead of time.  This experience, and many others besides over the last few years have coalesced into a philosophy I try to be mindful of all the time:  “The Red Light is Always On”.  It’s not just an axiom that holds true in the recording studio.  Be it a rehearsal, a gig, etc… you are always being recorded.  Maybe it’s a small recording device.  Maybe it’s an iphone.  Maybe it’s a full blown recording rig.  It could just be the people in the room you’re working with paying especially close attention to what’s going on in a particular moment.  The point is, it’s always happening.  I’m not being paranoid or alarmist.  It is a simple fact of the world we live in now.  It’s posted on Facebook or YouTube.  It’s shared amongst friends and fans of the people you are working with.  It’s heard by colleagues and co-conspirators.  This stuff gets out there in the world.  It sticks around.  This reality has one very important ramification:  being on your game is imperative.  All the time.  You.  Your gear.  Everything. 

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The Healing Power of Music

Greetings all.

I wanted to spend a little time in these pages talking about something I think we often (I know I have in the past) take for granted.  The power of music to heal.

I’m talking more in the framework of emotional catharsis here; but it also extends into some amazing work being done with music for everyone regardless of age:  from infants and children with mental and emotional disorders to elderly with dementia, Alzheimers, and Parkinsons.

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Notes from the road…

I’ve spent a good deal of time over the last 16 months touring with artists like Vox Lumiere and Uncle Daddy, going from one side of Colorado to the other and back, through swaths of the Midwest and down south to Baton Rouge, LA and Austin, TX, east to Wilmington, DE, Providence, RI, Schenectady, NY and Reading, PA and overseas for two weeks in Lisbon, Portugal.

What exactly does the life of an itinerant musician look like?  Here are some of my experiences and perspectives.

Keep in mind, Individual results may vary.

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