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Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Saw Burt Bacharach at the Fox Theatre!

I was very thrilled and blessed to see Burt Bacharach live and in person with the Corona Symphony Pops at the Fox Theatre the other night! (4th row behind the small VIP section!)

I was surprised I guess at how frail he seemed. But after all he's turning 83 in May.  I think his seasoned age made him that much more more endearing to the audience though.  You just wanted to go and gave him a big, but gentle, hug of thanks.  Kind of like your grandpa.

Though well advanced in years, man, he still had "it".  It was very passionate performance.  He was very humble and relational, joking about his Ricola cough drops, forgetting words a little, and losing his voice only to get it back some by the time his singing parts came along.

The Look Of Love: The Burt Bacharach CollectionHe had a very talented trio of pro singers with him, Josie James, Donna Taylor, and John Pagano.  The orchestra did a great job and it was so cool hearing some of those signature string and horn lines live.  The songs never stopped. Medley after medley.  The "first four hits" medley.  The "songs written for film" medley.  On and on it goes!

Thanks, Burt!

Did you know there are a couple of songs I've written in the past that were purposely both a pastiche (a fancy word I learned in a Stephen Schwartz bioraphy!) of those classic Bacharach/David tunes?  Take a listen below!

Window Seat

Yes, Love


The concert looked something like this:




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Monday, February 7, 2011

Tires and Titles

Car repairs, what a pain!

Still, as songwriters, the world is our office.

As I walked from Firestone to the store for eatables for the wait, I was running a title idea around in my head: "The Best First Date Ever." How to sing this as the "hook"?

Seems those two "st's" (best first) don't make for smooth singability. Say it, better yet, sing to yourself. :( Hmmm....
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Friday, February 4, 2011

Update: "I'm Going To Disneyland"

You may remember my past post about a new song, "I'm Going To Disneyland".


Well, I went ahead and pitched it to a country listing, knowing there may be possible challenges with the song.  I recently got some excellent industry feedback that confirmed my misgivings.


Yes, as I suspected, it would definitely have the potential to be a "legal nightmare" for a publisher using a Disney Trademark.


Here's a quote from screener:  "You have two choices, you can recycle the music and write new lyrics or just keep it the same and use it locally and regionally. One way to recycle the music is to pitch the tracks in the instrumental listings (retro pop) for tv, movies, documentaries. Blessings on all you do!"


One reason I made it a free download was for the "locally and regionally" part.  Just leave as it is,  put it out there for others to enjoy, and keep writing other tunes.


Another clarification for me is, well, to this screener's ears, it's not country.  It's retro-pop.  I have to admit, I think my Kenny Loggins roots may have shown through on this one.


It's only one person's (educated) opinion, I know, on this song, but I think I can take some very good things away from it.
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Sunday, January 30, 2011

Video Exclusive! "Post-Christmas Blowout At Grandma's"

Caught on camera during a recent Holiday gathering:


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Friday, January 28, 2011

Did My Best and Forgot The Rest


Now it's time to work the songwriting muscle.
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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Second Chance For Happy Circus Time

As you may have read here, when I'm not out playing shows, I'm writing tracks and songs for commercial placements in all sorts of different apllications through a company called Taxi.  They put out listings for needed music in many genres including the following left-of-center request:

UPBEAT, HAPPY, PEPPY CIRCUS CALLIOPE-STYLE INSTRUMENTALS needed by a global Music Publisher servicing ambient spaces (retail, malls, restaurants, theme parks). Aim for the authentic style of old world circus parades, carnivals and riverboats with playful melodic motifs and an upbeat spirit. Songs must be original or public domain covers. Imagine big pink swirls of cotton candy and carnival barkers on the midway and you're on your way. Broadcast Quality is needed (great sounding home recordings are fine).

I decided to give this one a try and came up this little ditty below.  I did what I usually do by getting on iTunes and listening to a few samples of "circus music". I didn't have a true calliope in my arsenal of sound samples so I took an organ patch and "injected" some airiness into it.  (huh?)  Tweaked it.  This is what happened:

CLICK ON MUSIC PLAYER TO HEAR "HAPPY CIRCUS TIME"


The first time I pitched it, it was returned and the critique I got back was, "This track would have been perfect for this listing.  The melody to Happy Circus Time is too close to You Are My Sunshine which is under copyright since 1938."  Oooops!

The Punch Line
And so the second chance.  The listing has been put up again for more tracks in the same genre so I get to adjust the melody a little bit and resubmit it!  I have high hopes for "Happy" the second time around since it was "perfect for this listing."

Thanks for reading along in my songwriting journey!  I'll keep you posted.
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Thursday, January 20, 2011

Vlog #5 - NEW SONG: Mama Gonna Whoop You!



Here's a rough version of a tune I've been working on.

Where did you ever get this song title, Steve?

Well,....traveling down the road on the bus this past year, our FOH (that's Front of House) sound engineer, Kevin, mentioned a line that became the title of this song.  I believe he said his Mom used to say this, "Mama Gonna Whoop You".  So I took up my personal challenge to come up with something using said childhood warning as a title or "hook" as it's called in the songwriting world.  Lyrics came first, then I added the melody later "whilst" tweaking the lyric as I went.

What's your excuse for such silliness? 

If anything, it's a songwriting exercise.  I have no idea who would sing this besides me.  The idea is to just keep writing!.  Hope you enjoy watching my singing head since when I film this I failed to have my guitar in the shot as well.  But there you have it.  I'm not going to record this againnnn!
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