The Music Blog

Living right next to one of the most powerful energy spots I have been to, which is a few hundred yards from the ocean, puts one in a wonderful state of mind. I have been working on several new songs that will go into my next album. I won’t ponder a guess of when it will be completed, as with every album I have done so far I try and approach each new one differently than the last one.

While all the writing and arranging is going on, I am also working on updating all my equipment to start working on more “New Music”, or at least what it was called in the 70’s. (ie: Electronic and organic sounds mixed together in an ambient atmospheric style). Most of these new ambient type albums by others seem to incorporate the sound of the ocean. Since I hear it every day, that is one thing I may try and avoid and to try new things, sounds that most do not hear or pay attention to. (ie: the sound of a hummingbird wing, etc.)

Stay tuned for info as it comes….

It has been wonderful taking a break from performing this past year. In all the years I have played out and performed I never thought I would say this. I was telling this to another musician I had just met a few weeks ago, and his comment was “you got to play out all the time”; but then I could guess with sure accuracy, that he didn’t play out much.

Between 2004-2007 I did an average of 250-300 gigs per year. In many cases, 2 gigs in the same day and some for as long as 7 hours non stop (like the Skokie Art fair) in brutal heat. The things that you discover when you tour and perform that much are things that seem to escape the usual musician you encounter who has a day job and says you should “play out all the time”. Some of the things that I discovered were:

1. How poorly mic stands are made - if it says “heavy duty” it means it will break twice as fast.
2. Never purchase “professional” PA stands, mic stand equipment from Guitar Center as most of their stuff is junk
3. How many dings, nicks and scratches that hit your expensive guitar are finally enough?
4. Always bring extra everything (batteries, cables, etc..)
5. I set the record for breaking clocks/watches (there seems to never be a clock in the stage area even of coffee houses) and the ones I brought with always had strange batteries
6. People who are over 40 years old very rarely ever purchase a CD at a concert
7. Close friends that come to a concert always leave the smallest, (if any) tips, and its the person who doesn’t know you at all that give you the biggest tips
8. Always bring a very long extension cord as even festivals with a fully built stage may not have any electricity wired up anywhere near the stage.
9. The majority of places that pay for you concert, make it almost a mystery as to who you get your paycheck from at the end of the gig.
10. When someone see’s you play a martin guitar and they own a lower end one (like a D35, etc.) they never can identify a top of the line martin.
11. In the midwest, on 75% of the performances (I did), someone will actually try and carry on a conversation with you while you are performing in front of an audience and don’t understand why your not talking back in the middle of your song while an audience is watching
12. 98% of the people who write their email address down on your newsletter list, couldn’t read what they wrote down either
13. Playing for “exposure” really means - “we don’t want to pay you anything, but we want you to feel like we are doing you a favor by “allowing you” to play for free at our place”
14. Most of touring consists of driving and driving and driving and very little playing.
15. When performing live for a TV show, the sound technician usually knows less than you about sound and amplification
16. When performing live for both radio and TV there is no such thing as reverb or EQ.
17. One Art Festival gig is worth 20 cafe gigs

The best concert I played at was “Art in Air” in Webster Groves MO, which was right across the street from my old Jr. High school I attended. I performed in front of thousands of people and the stage manager and the setup was very impressive. The worst gig was at a Pot Belly Sandwich works shop when a bee stung my left thumb during the last song of my gig.

Due to all of the happenings of going thru equipment, cables, etc.. I have decided to refocus everything. The year of 2008 has been one of change, working what most would call a normal job type thing, and living in a really cool place next to the beach. I am writing songs and am working on ideas for another batch of albums, both electronic and acoustic.

Once 2009 gets here I will start focusing on performing live again; but first I am working on some changes on my performing equipment.

What it looks like so far is the following stage setup:

Crate Limo battery operated amp (PA) with a large tripod
Monitor: TC Helicon VSM-300Xt
Pedal Board: Boss AD8 acoustic guitar processor, Boss EQ20 twin pedal, Boss Stereo Chorus
Digitech Vocalist performer
Freehand Musicpad Pro (new item)

I am still sorting thru the guitar portion, I may get a less expensive martin to do gigs with that

For the new Age ambient albums I want to work on I need to get a host of upgrades that I have fallen behind on, so that will take awhile (ie: Digital Performer 6, Reason, MachFive, Autura Moog Modular V, etc..)

Hopefully when I am ready to hit the road again I will have a new perspective and some new creations worthy of this year break I have had….

dt

I had originally thought I would have my next music CD done by January; but I have been side tracked by many things as of late. Many of the new tunes have been written, but it still feels like a few other things need to be let out first before I finish up the recording of it.

I still may have it finished soon, time will tell. My visit to Illinois has been an interesting one, but I am really looking forward to returning home to California. My last concert in Illinois for the foreseeable future, will take place on Saturday March 22, 2008, from 8pm-10pm at the Borders Books in St. Charles, IL. This will be my farewell concert to Illinois and the Midwest, and for the latter part of 2008/2009 I will be focusing on performing on the west coast.

For the friends I have made in Illinois, it would be great to see you for this last midwest concert, before I start my California tour!

Its been a busy fall for me. For the first time in a ton of years I have had a break from the music performance schedule which allowed me to focus on a few other things. Several years ago I had reconnected with some martial art friends that I had been out of contact with for many years, one whom I had first worked with back in the 70’s. I learned several materials from him over the years, but due to the martial arts organization I was with I was not allowed to practice this material as I made the mistake of being an instructor with them for many years, until I left them in 2003. For the last 3 years I have gotten down some old material as well as learned some new material and last month I tested to 7th Black Belt over 20 of the new materials I have learned in the last 3 years. Now I am free to work with anyone which has been wonderful, but it also means I have a lot of material catch up to do in order to get all my older material up to shape, so this time off has been great.

Now that this test is behind me I am now working on my next CD release which will make #10! At this point I have several acoustic guitar pieces written with no lyrics and only 2 songs with lyrics, so I may decide to make this just an instrumental CD. I hope to release this before the end of 2007.

Being a musician full time sure seems to make one think. Lots of driving, almost 90% driving, 10% performance.

After the gig at the Skokie Art Fair in brutal heat and humidity I have decided to be somewhat more selective in performances.

For the first time in 7 years I have nothing scheduled on my performance calendar. As I look back in retrospect of all the gigs/performances I have done in the last 7 years, which total 1382 performances in Colorado, Illinois and California it is time to regroup. In that time I have performed live on a radio station in Davis California, a TV show in Plano Illinois, a TV show in Highland Park as well as radio play on Mystic Soundscapes radio, soem radio station on the east coast and one in europe. During all this I have released 9 music CD’s! So, now I am regrouping, I have written some new material I am very excited about and I feel it is some of the best I have done. I am going back into the studio to work on my next music CD, number 10!!. This one may take a lot longer than all the rest as I want to make sure it feels right. More news to follow…..

This past weekend I did a performance at the Art in Air Art Show in Webster Groves Missouri, which is my old stomping grounds. In fact right accross the street from the fair was where my Jr. High school used to be located (Plymouth Jr. High).

In all the art fairs I have performed yet, this one was the best. All the staff were friendly, (even the people watching the parking and directing cars), the stage was really cool, the best sound system I have seen at ANY art fair, and the sound guy really new what he was doing. All the art fairs should take lessons from the team that runs this one!!!

I had a wonderful time, and really enjoyed the fair…. Thanks Webster Groves and Art in Air!!!!!

It has been a very busy year for David, releasing 4 full length music CD’s in less than one year!!

The Official Release Date for David’s new Acoustic/Music CD “Too Young For This” is Dec 1, 2006…

Copies of this CD will be available at the Moon and Star LTD Art Store in Sandwich where David will be performing on Sat Dec 2, 2006.

Hopefully by January you will be able to purchase this new CD online at iTunes, CD baby and a host of other online music stores…

I have just finished my 8th CD entitled “3rd Life of Mind”, a New Age Ambient Soundscape CD. I am really happy with the way it turned out. For those local folks who will be at The Celebration For Natural Living (http://www.tcnl.org) I will have them on sale there. It will take some time, but its been submitted to all the online retailers as well, so when its available to purchase online I will post a message here on where/when you can purchase it!

Its been a busy year this 2006!! I have now released 3 CD’s in one year; and who knows I may be able to finish up the acoustic CD I have been working on now and then as well!

Stay tuned!

I will be performing today at the Long Grove Fine art fair in Long Grove on the main stage from 2pm-5pm.

Downtown Long Grove

I will be performing at the Pot Belly Sandwich Works in Warrenville every Wed and Fri from 11:30am-1:30pm, and there may be another location on another day.
Stay tuned…