Thursday, September 29, 2005

almost had a show

Well, I almost had a show lined up for October 9th, to fill in for a friend who didn't know he was double-booked, basically. It was not to be. Oh well. I was pretty excited, too, but, oh well. It would have been really close to the Nashville thing, which would have been probably good and bad, but, oh well.

Tuesday, September 27, 2005



Here it is! The cover of my upcoming album! The title has an outside chance of changing, and there will probably be a little alteration here and there to the cover, but, this is it!

It was an interesting experience, but making it didn't take very long at all. The process overall took a little while as I was working on other ideas. but once I got to this concept, it came together really, really fast...so much so it was almost startling.

I assembled, colored, and formatted it myself, utilizing three amazing black and white photographs from Adam Moore, a San Francisco-based photographer I found online. I was worried that he wouldn't let me use them, but he's proven to be very gracious and we've come to a really wonderful agreement. Check out his site: http://www.adammoore.com. AMAZING work!

I was thinking about assembling a look based on how film negatives look, and that's where the film strip thing comes from at the top. I also got a picture of a really old keyboard on a really old piano, a Boardman and Gray piano, a now defunct company that was based in Albany. I like the idea that I have something like that, something more rustic and charming, than the standard, black grand piano, something I don't think I've ever liked on an album cover.

I don't have any training in art design, so I really didn't think I was going to make this on my own. I don't even know how to use the design programs. But, here it is. Chelsea VandeDrink, the audio student who recorded my album [and did an amazing job] was one of the first people to see it. She flipped, and has since said it's the greatest album cover ever. :)

I also got a big thumbs-up on it from Todd, my good friend and design partner. I thought for sure I'd have utilized him more for the cover, but it didn't work out that way. He'll be helping out on the design of the rest of the CD package, though.

But it's important to me to make things that are exciting to my 'associates', because it's a good indication that you're going in the right direction. It seems like everybody is quite pleased with the cover.

There's SO MUCH to do. I have big plans for the production of this thing. But that's only one thing. There's a lot going on, and I have to get focused and organized.

I can get focused rather well, but organized??

Uh-uh.

Oh yeah: A Piano Saga probably won't be available until early 2006...and it's going to be good. I'm trying hard to not let my pride in the project spill onto the keyboard grandiosly. I think I've failed!

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

One, two, THREE!

http://www.worldrps.com/

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

raves

Here are two things I'm excited about.

"Fine Line", from Paul McCartney's new album "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard". I LOVE THIS SONG. It has the first heavily-used augmented chord in a pop song that I can think of [which was a mistake in the studio that producer Nigel Godrich wanted in the song], but that's certainly not why. I don't necessarily tend to get excited about technical stuff like that. It's structured very appealingly. The pre-chorus has something to do with a guy that was hauled off by a police officer after some kind of party foul incident. He is missed by his buddies and they want him back. At least, that's one interpretation. OK, that doesn't make any sense but, well, there's some sage advice in it, all things which contribute to how much I like this song. Watch the video and Paul's description of the song at http://www.paulmccartney.us/

Oatmeal

Yes, I know: SAD, Kenny. SAD.

AS WELL AS PATHETIC.

AND SAD.

But let me explain anyway. I've been eating oatmeal for a long time, and I've been forced to cope with a method that's time-consuming and not automatically adequate. Forever, I've boiled the water and added the water separately.

SEPARATELY.

To get the right, oatmealy texture, I have to add the water in increments over a very long period of time.

What a fool I was.

Turns out a much better way to do it is add the water to the oatmeal and boil the ingredients together.

TOGETHER.

It is not only much faster, it's more effective.

MORE.

EFFECTIVE.

OK, so this one still looks silly, but it's true. Unfortunately.

Help.

Monday, September 19, 2005

Secrets of the stodgy

Last Thursday, I performed "A Scary Thing" for a bunch of students and faculty at Webster, which is quite an animated piece. I could hear people's stunned reactions during the piece as if to say "What's going on here??" That's always a good reaction. No, I'm not kidding.

Which brings me to the issue of taste, particularly in the arts.

You see, while there are a number of professionals and laymen who seem to enjoy and value what I do, there are some that not only don't enjoy it, they'll go out of their way to disparage it.

That's the stuff that's particularly enjoyable for me. 95% of the time, anyway. The other 5% of the time, it bothers me b/c I don't set out to get under people's skin. People like that seem to be manipulative and jerky. I do what I do because I'm very sincere about it. If it gets under your skin in a positive or negative way, that's only a compliment to me.

The professor of piano at Webster is one of those people. He's apparently spent some more-than-negligible amount of time with students and, assumedly, faculty, whining about what I do.

Keep in mind, this is someone who's spent many years and countless hours perfecting his craft of piano performance in the tradition of many before.

On the other hand, while I certainly take some influence from tradition, there's no one that I know of that has the kind of background that I do, or composes and performs in the way I do. No one before now or currently. Therefore, I stand out more.

I've always identified in some way with some of the more rebellious among us, the kind of thing that's summed up very well in Scooby-Doo: "...you meddling kids!!! [shaking his fist bitterly]"

Of course, people like Leonard Slatkin, one the most well-known living classical music figures in the world, and Barbara Liberman, the principal of keyboards for the St. Louis Symphony, connect positively with what I do.

I remember when I met Taki Sugitani from the St. Louis Symphony, and he asked me:

"Is there a professor of piano at Webster?"

"....yeah..."

"Well, what does he think of what you do? Clearly, it's remarkable!"

"I seem to aggravate him."

This was impossible for Taki to understand.

But actually, I'm suprised there isn't MORE of a percentage of people like this professor, people who when I look them in the eye, I can see a kind of respect, maybe even admiration, though they'll probably never admit it, and will only reveal their over-the-top consternation, which in turn reveals more about them than they seem to realize.

It seems that people have a very hard time understanding and accepting this. They think that accomplished musicians can't possibly feel threatened or challenged.

If they could see what I see, they'd know.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to continue living my life. Hopefully the next time someone complains about it, I'll be in the right mood to see the absurdity in it like I usually do. Good day.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

Before and after

calling on a friend...well, not really a FRIEND...

It looks like I'll be performing at this NAACP banquet in Nashville next month. It's for the anniversary of the Bill of Rights. There's a bit of nepotism, though: My uncle Michael is organizing it. But he didn't mention it or ask me to do it until he saw a video of me performing.

We're talking about coming up with something interesting to send to the people in Music Square down there, including Ben Folds, who is one of my very favorite artists, but it's a $50 a plate event...but, who knows? Maybe we'll reach some people who are intrigued by both the cause and the...me...to show up.

There's a possible problem: My uncle Michael has asked my uncle Joe to shape the whole evening into something more 'theatrical', and it seems that Joe may have an idea or two that would mess with how I normally approach things.

But I think if I make myself clear enough about how I do things, it'll be fine. I just have to be firm, I guess.

Also, I'm going to have to have a strong sound set-up for the first time ever. That's another possible problem. I may just have to hire somebody who really knows how to mic up a piano. It would suck to do it and not be heard particularly well...but I don't know how probable that really is...

But, you see, this in and of itself is enough reason to get in touch with Ben Folds. Being a pop/rock piano guy, he's played thousands of times all over the world. Granted, most of that time, he's taken his own piano with him, but there have been times where he's had to rent one and get it miked up. I'll be playing the piano that they have in the convention room at the hotel and get it miked up.

We'll see what happens. It would be pretty cool to get some advice from him about it.

So, we made our whirlwind trip through Nashville and visited with family. Always an interesting experience. I'm catching up on sleep and I'll be running around campus today taking care of things.

Friday, September 02, 2005

Sleep, brochures, computers, upcoming albums, album covers, trips

I don't quite know what it is, but I've had this thing for some time now that makes my internal clock want to go crazy all the time. I'll get on a normal schedule for maybe a week at a time, but before long, I'm up all night and asleep much of the day before I start getting back towards some type of a normal schedule.

Well, I do know that part of the reason is that I just get more done at night. Last week I finished a brochure for this school-visiting program I'll be taking a crack at. It came out much better than I would've thought, actually. But, you see, I had to lose the brochure twice before it was really finished.

You see, I was done with it at around 5:30am last Wednesday morning before the computer crashed as I was trying to save it. You see, for whatever silly reasons, you can't save those type of documents to the desktop of the campus computers. So, I was trying to save it elsewhere and it froze and everything was gone.

So, I couldn't go home and sleep for a few hours and maintain a nearly normal schedule. I stayed at Webster, reconstructed it within maybe two and a half hours, and then, guess what?

Yup. Different computer, more or less the same issue. Lost the brochure again.

Fortunately, this time I'd taken extensive notes about how I'd made the brochure before I lost it. So, doing it a third time wasn't such a huge deal, though still a 'deal', I guess.

Had I not gotten help from someone, I may have lost it a third time, but, alas, it's safe.

This brochure is really cool, I must say. I got some help from a Microsoft Publisher template and some really nice photos taken by photographer Lindsey Nichols, a friend of Todd's, at my last concert. I made the cover, the text layout, wrote the copy, and arranged all of the photos. It really is on the level with any other brochure you'll ever see, like those really cool ones you may have gotten from colleges when you were a senior in high school.

A little bit before that, I played my upcoming album and/or parts of the album for a couple of the returning Webster students. I played the whole thing for my friend Michael, who is a very talented sophomore piano performance major. He said "It's really hard for me never to be bored when I'm listening to something, and I wasn't bored for one second." He also said he thinks it's a great album!

That was good to hear, because I do strive to give every moment of every piece great signficance. In other words, very little filler or air in the mix. Very potent music, in essence.

I played the first two tracks for another friend, and he was taken back as well. But I'd like more people to hear it. I just haven't been around campus much during the waking hours for these aforementioned reasons.

So, we've started work on the album cover. I've worked up something that's based on a photo illustration that Lindsey [the concert photographer] made, and I like it. Todd says he doesn't think it's there yet, but that I've done some great things to the image. Keep in mind, I'm not a designer. I've always been fascinated with text layout and things, and I can do a good job with it. But actual art diection is not something I'm supposed to be able to do at all.

So, there's a ways to go before this album is ready for sale. Fortunately, discmakers.com looks like it still is the absolute best place to go if you want to print and release something independantly. There's the 'dualdisc' thing where you can have audio on one side of the disc and DVD video on the other, and discmakers.com does offer than option. I told Todd about that and he was excited. This is something we'll be looking at as well.

I'm typing this on my home computer, which has been offline for months. It's back, thanks to my brother Matt, who is visiting and will be leaving with us in six hours or so for Nashville to see family and etc.

He set up my mother's incredible new computer. I've never been on a better computer! She got a big flatscreen and a color printer/scanner/fax. It's really something! I spent a few hours on it yesterday burning 5 CDs for the trip. Todd's going to give me Photoshop, so it'll be great to be able to work on the album artwork.

I'll be up until we leave. Maybe I'll sleep in the car.