A Day In The Life

Here's a sample of what my music creation work day might entail.

Firstly, I definitely don't want to let any lyric writing chops(?) [ ("What do you mean "?", Steve, give yourself some credit!") << Conversation with self ] slide to the wayside while I find fame and fortune in the TV/Film music writing schtick, so I'll generally try, unless I'm under some sort of self-imposed deadline, to spend a little time each day tweaking a lyric to one of many music/lyric creations I have going on all at the same time.  Here's a sample smattering (or maybe explosion) of writing through the "stuff" to get to the gem of the lyric.  Mind you, this is all for rewriting just one half of one line in the song.  And I must've had a "word limit" set on this little online gizmo.  There's so much more to it than meets the eye.

Couldn't get the picture to display larger, so please click on the "Wordle" to see it in all it's full-size wonderment!

On the flip-side of creative-ness is this needed-by-Wednesday pitch as per Taxi Music that just came in.  Might be fun to play around with it:

TROPICAL/ISLAND POP type INSTRUMENTALS a la "Margaritaville" by Jimmy Buffett needed by a Production Music Library based in Germany with worldwide distribution.  Instrumentals should sound fun, easygoing, and carefree.  They prefer recordings with real acoustic instruments, but will accept instrumentals with high quality samples that sound authentic.  You must own the master rights for work submitted.  Broadcast quality needed [great sounding home recordings are OK].  Please submit one to three instrumentals online or per CD. 

So there ya have it. One day of many. So many choices.  Must go.  Dog's on my lap.  My leg's asleep.  Gotta get busy.

New Track - (Song from) Salem

Happy Thursday everyone!

Yes, indeed it feels better to be just about over the flu!  And it's been a little over a week with the new puppy, Lola.  And since being sick means involuntarily slowing down the creative process due to just feeling totally out-of-it, what better time to house-train a dog!  Well, Lola's new house-appropriate activities are coming along just fine and I'm actually starting to get things done once again.

Case (or song) in point.  This short little instrumental number freshly mixed (recording lingo- track volumes, eq's set, etc) was created in a hotel room in Salem, OR while I was in town for a show at the historic Elsinore Theatre back in November 2009.  It's not one of those tracks that was directed towards any specific pitch, however, as I just plugged in the Stratocaster and started playing away!

I always have the hardest time naming these type of tracks though, so if any of you have any descriptive ideas you'd like to share of what this song conjures in your website-visiting minds (except things like "trash can", "get-a-real-job") please feel free to leave a comment!  (I supposed I could just name it "Salem", but that's no fun!

Gotta run - dog needs out!

Click on music player below:

free music download from Steve Probst

Colossal "Tourist Moment" Meeting A Wall Street Celeb

Finally got the time to edit & post this story from 2009 below:

Talk about timing! We had a show scheduled in Hackensack, NJ on a Tuesday in July 2009, but the weather decided not to cooperate whatsoever. So, being that the New Jersey-ites are the great forecasters of impending outdoor event-failure-due-to-rain, the concert was postponed until the following month. This was some-what great news in disguise for some of us boys in the band (Hotel California-A Salute To The Eagles), being that our base of operations for the week was in the Meadowlands, NJ area, and only a short New Jersey Transit/under-the-Lincoln-Tunnel ride away from the Big Apple. A day off so close to NYC? Are you kidding? So what if It's raining! Forgettabouddit! So, off three of us went into Town. That's, "town" with a capital "T".

After a full afternoon of exploring, my walking compadre, Scotty "V" (see photo), and I had a little time to kill before we caught a cab from the Broadway district of New York City to meet up with our cohorts for dinner down in Little Italy. We decided to find a place to plant it for a beer, and since we were by the Gershwin Theatre, home of the Broadway favorite "Wicked" (which I love and did end up seeing a number of weeks later - but that's another blog), I made the call of portage and we temporarily anchored ourselves just east of there on 50th Ave. at Emmet O'Lunney's (yes, an Irish bar/grill), and got off of our tired feet for a few (that's minute's, not beers!) and a brew.
 

Very shortly after, a guy in a plaid shirt and baseball cap carrying a box of books proceeds to walk in with his devoted woman by his side. He sits next to us at the bar, and starts enthusiastically talking to the barmaid (whom actually DOES have an Irish accent, by the way-gotta love this town!) and hands her a book from his cardboard "carrying case". This was obviously a place he'd been before and at this moment he was obviously very proud. "Wow, we were sitting next to a famous author in the heart of New York City!" thought us "wayward traveling musician/tourists only in need of a place to get off our feet."

Striking up a real, neighborly NYC conversation in a real NYC kinda good-natured way, we learned that a very good friend of his, Lawrence McDonald was actually the author of the book and, smiling, he removes one of is treasures from his box of A Colossal Failure Of Common Sense - The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers, opens to a page, and has us read one of his adventures in the book with one sentence catching my attention which read, "...later in fall 2005 we decided to go up to the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut for a couple of days." (You'll have to get the book and read the rest for yourself. This is a long blog already)

Okay, so we learn we are sitting next to and conversing with a major player in the book, Larry McCarthy, which we later ascertained after taking in the story in full, that we were actually in the presence of a Wall Street celebrity! But wait, need I say...."there's more!" ?

What immediately caught my attention right at the start (and I told Larry so) was the particular location of the narrative he was now having us read. My eyes flew open (cliche', but true), because coincidentally we had just performed at that same Mohegan Sun Casino of Larry's described adventures only 2 DAYS BEFORE! Holy Serendipity, Batman!

After further conversation, and one including talk of a possible performance opportunity in the future for Hotel California at one of the parties he hosts, he signs a copy for us, and give's it to us along with his card.

His brief visit coincided with our need to hit the streets once again and wave ourselves down a cab for our rendevous with all good and tasty things Italian-NYC style, so we all sauntered out together on that late Tuesday afternoon, eastward along the sidewalk of 50th Ave., with Larry eventually pointing out what once use to be the actual Lehman Bros. Building where he worked. (Making millions at a time makes "worked" seem like an understatement!) I took this photo on a street corner and we parted ways.

Scott and I talked about this chance encounter for weeks (and still do), reading the book and making comments about it as we went on down the road to wonderous adventures. What will top this?

Just a highlight of that trip for me, and I'm sure for Scott as well. Yes, we met a financial celebrity indeed, but more notable than that, is the priviledge, Lord willing, of just living life in all it's unexpectedness and to experience some warm generousity from a local (well, sort of - he told us he commutes from Florida) boy who didn't know us from Adam! That's the stuff that life is made of. I love New York!

Mini-book review: I find I'm fascinated with the world of finance. Maybe it's because I try to stay so in-step with my right-brain awareness of the world, always on the hunt, my "songwriter radar" being tuned into sights, sounds, words, conversations, emotions, etc. It was a fun, imaginative escape to envision myself a part of the fast-paced, high-pressure atmosphere of Wall Street. And this book really gives you an excellent feel for that (not to mention the incredible inside-story of the Lehman Brothers debacle).

And by the way, you can find the Lawrence McDonald, the author, on Twitter at: @Convertbond.

Okay, "Bring It"!

Love getting these smile-inducing emails, especially when far away from home.  I was informed of my latest forward of a new track through Taxi Music.

Was going for a Classic Rock, AC/DC feel & sound. Dialed up my Dean Evo Special in Apple Logic and away we go!

Click on music player below to hear "Bring It":

free music download from Steve Probst

Standin' On The Corner in....Where Else?

I had a little bus-travel-time fun editing some flip-cam video shot and narrated by our (Hotel California-A Salute To The Eagles) front-of-house sound engineer, Kevin Lovelady, while we were in Winslow, AZ for our annual performance at the Standing On The Corner Festival in September of 2009.
 
WARNING! This is actual footage of actual standing on the actual corner! Also featuring Scott Fronsoe & myself, Steve Probst. (Also produced by a very amateur film crew at work-I'll stick to my "day job")
 
And make sure you visit the fine folks and our good friends at: Standin' On The Corner Festival for all the history and facts about the famous "Corner"!
 
See you 2010!

Backstage On Broadway NYC - Wicked * Part 2

Watched Part 2 tonight of the video I posted earlier care of BroadwayWorld.com.  I love behind the scenes stuff (especially after seeing Wicked this past August)!

Behind the scenes at Wickedwith Stage Manager Marybeth Abel. (Much thanks again to Isaac at http://innuendoandoutuendo.blogspot.com for bringing this to my attention)

Happy 2010!

Here's where I spent my New Year, under the monster flower arrangement in the OC Pavilion dressing room. Well, okay....they let me out to sing a few a songs!