Next Week Will Be A 2for

I apologize but there will not be a posting this week. I worked six days this week, and each day is twelve hours. That didn't allot enough time to dedicate to music.
Next week you'll get two.

Another Day In Paradise

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Thank G-d that spring is finally here, and we can experience nice days outside. Here's to outdoor concerts, BBQs, mountain hikes, and the such. Now go soak up some vitamin D, and get high off of endorphins. Make memories this spring and summer that'll be talked about for summers to come.

This week's song is dedicated to good times. And I had a mighty good time writing it. I hope you enjoy it. Now I'm going to go get some sleep because it may be 5 o'clock somewhere but it's 4am here.

Peace and love.

Oh,Vulnerable Me!

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"Part of it is about not trying to be professional. A lot of people come into indie games, trying to be like a big company. What those game companies do is create highly polished things that serve as large an audience as possible. The way that you do that is by filing off all the bumps on something. If there's a sharp corner. You make sure that's not going to hurt anybody. That creation of this highly glossy, commercial product is the opposite of making something personal. Things that are personal have flaws. They have vulnerabilities. If you don't see a vulnerability in somebody. You're probably not relating to them on a very personal level. So it's the same with a game design. Making it, was about: let me take my deepest flaws and vulnerabilities, put them into the game, and let's see what happens." -- John Blow, Indie Game: The Movie.

I just finished watching Indie Game: The Movie. This was a greatly inspiring story. Holy cow! If you have dreams of any kind that you wish to share with the world then you should spend an hour and forty five minutes on this documentary. It is a story of four independent game designers, one duo team and two individuals, who set out to create and publish large platform games. It is a story of perseverance and resiliency. The cameras capture their darkest moments during production as well as the glimmer of inexpressible joy that's in their eyes as they achieve the success they fought so hard for. It's a well produced film that is definitely worth your time.

This too is my goal. I want my art to be as a mirror, and reflect my image to you and me. I want to throw all of my imperfections into my recipes of melodies and rhythms. I want my music to be raw, and have the capacity to make someone feel emotionally moved. I want to put you at ease. I want to give you a strong anxiety. I want to inspire you. I want you to cry for both joy and sadness. I want you to relate to me without words.

I was dining with friends in a steak house back when I was in high school, and a jazz trio happened to be playing that night. I can't remember their name to save my life. But they were very good musicians, and set a killer environment to dine in. Then it got that point in the show where they took it to a more intimate level. The guitarist preluded the song by outlining the story of his first daughter's birth. She and her mother had complications throughout the latter part of the pregnancy, and he spoke of his great anxiety and uncertainties during it all. But everything worked out for the good, and you could hear the joy in his voice when he talked about seeing his healthy daughter for the first time. Then they played this song that he wrote during that time of his life. I can't remember how the song sounded at all, but I do remember how it seemed to fill in every crevice of his story...and without words. It was a very empathetic moment that completely redefined how I interpreted music up to that point. With music alone, I felt, to some degree, the weight of his distress, and then joy of his relief from finding out everything was OK. I'll likely never forget this moment.

I hope I can create the same sort of experiences for you. I want you to not just experience my music, but I want you to experience me. That's great if you like me. That's great if you don't. But it will be by the content of the conversation that I define my success.

10,000 hours

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In his book, "Outliers: The Story of Success," Malcolm Gladwell says, "Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness."

"Personally, I enjoy working about 18 hours a day. Besides the short catnaps I take each day, I average about four to five hours of sleep per night." -- Thomas Edison

Romantic composer Franz Schubert composed 322 works of music including two symphonies, an opera, and a mass between the ages of 18 and 19, while working as a teacher at his father's school.

Macklemore raps in his song titled 10,000 Hours, "The greats weren't great because at birth they could paint. The greats were great cause they paint a lot."

My point is that we all have dreams. Why not live them out? I know it's true that only I can keep me from being the greatest "FILL IN THE BLANK" that I can be. I know the same is true for you. Put in the work. Put your full reliance in G-d. Live your dreams.

Go public with whatever it is that you do. People won't come find you; take it to them. The composer I mentioned used to host "Schubertaids," which were house parties at which he'd only play his compositions.

I'm about to go write some music. Y'all be real!

Chasing The Wind

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In life, the chips will fall how they fall. Eat and drink well, enjoy the work you have, and accept your lot in life. Don't focus on the futility of this short life, but enjoy it to the fullest. Grab someone you love, pull them close, and enjoy it with them. Make your life meaningful to yourself and others. May your life be as a song that others would dance to, laugh to, cheer to and love to. Otherwise, it'll feel like you're just chasing the wind.

Enjoy this week's song! Show me some love with your comments. Send me your links as well...I'd like to get to know anyone that is getting to know me.

Vaya con Dios!

Unknown Home

Here is the week 2 two post. I wrote the piano piece to serve as an intro for a hook that I had written at the beginning of last week. Well, the two pieces didn't fit together all that well, but I enjoyed the vibe of the piano piece so I followed through with it.

The feeling I am shooting for is that of a dreamlike scene mixed with homely familiarity and illusive confusion. I've titled the track "Unknown Home." Enjoy and feel free to comment.

I'm off to sleep. Work from last night wore me out :)

My apology for the delay

Friday I saw my new dentist for a consultation, and end up having a root canal performed the same day. And on Saturday, my wife and I spent the day in Atlanta enjoying a live concert featuring Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Ludacris, Flo Rida, and Muse. It was freaking awesome...and free!

Last week's track will be posted tomorrow. This week's is currently in progress, and I'm pretty excited about it.