Music Laughter and Love
As the final mastered tracks for my More Than Shadows release were being approved my brilliant fiance formed the beginnings of a plan that would most assuredly put my music in front of 120 close followers, family and friends. The original idea was to rent out The Lincoln Center for a September 28 release of my debut album. September 28 happened to be the day before our wedding day, which spurred the idea for the CD release into being.
We were soon humbled by the cost to rent The Lincoln Center, and even more humbled at the horrific cost of renting and moving a grand piano to and from The Lincoln Center. It was right about this time that Cassie Cowan & Plus One Music Consulting came into our lives, and we are thankful to this day that she has! After kicking around a good many ideas for the CD release, we ended up holding true to the date of September 28 for a debut release of More Than Shadows at the downtown Artery. In that time Cassie had built us a website, helped us to design the album cover, found a cello player and two opening acts for us, and set us on a clear and focused path for our album release campaign.
Some people think I must be half cracked to plan a CD release and a wedding on the same weekend. As far as I’m concerned, what one man can do another can do, and if a blind man can summit Mount Everest, I sure as hell can have a beautiful evening with my family and friends as I release my first solo project, followed by a notorious ceremony and party as I seal my vows to the love of my life. To me this all sounds like an experience we get to share, rather than an ordeal we have to plan. I can safely say that my life has never been better in so many respects, and I have never been surrounded by such a loving and supportive team and group of friends as I am today with my solo act and The Seers.
We have had our lives blessed, our asses kicked, fortune, sorrow and everything in between. The most important point is that we came through all of our experiences together, and now we are ready to celebrate “music laughter and love,” a four word phrase coined yet again by my brilliant fiance. In fact, the phrase was so moving to me that it made it into a song and eventually became the song title. Music Laughter and Love is not on this year’s release, but it will be heard at the CD release party if you have the chance to pay us a visit at The Downtown Artery on September 28. Without but one of these three beauty’s in life this release and wedding would not be a possibility, and I would still be writing progressive troubled songs meant to celebrate a long, winding, self-torturous bachelorhood. I don’t care who you are, if you are leaving the keg party alone at age 38 at 5 in the morning, you are not fulfilled despite any false claims of happiness. I never knew how bad I needed love until I met my sweet Dane, and had all but committed to being a lifelong jaded relationship cynic. I would like to take this moment to recommend Street Boy by Sixto Rodrigues to the lonely souls of this world. If there is one hint about this song I would like to share, it would be that this song is not about homelessness.
My sweet Dane saved me from myself, a lyric that can be heard on my new title track, More Than Shadows. Please come celebrate September 28 with us at The Artery! The changes Dana has helped to make in me run clearly through the music and myself, and this is something I would love to share with all of you.