Oops! - Lost Email!!!

I am in the process of changing Internet services and yesterday I inadvertantly deleted all the messages in my "in" box and my "sent" box.

This means that if I had a recent email conversation with you I have lost it. If you were waiting for a response it will not come.

Sorry!

If you happen to see this and you were waiting to hear from me please let me know!

Country Lane Elementary in Broken Arrow

I just got home from Country Lane Elementary in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. (Driving very slowly through snow! The highway was pretty clear, though - no great danger.)

I was there this morning to help kick off their reading challenge. If the students read enough books, the principal has agreed to dress like a chicken and roller skate through the halls doing the chicken dance! How fun is that?

I had two groups this morning, K-2nd first, then 3rd-5th. Both were exemplary groups. They came into the room and waited quietly for the program to start. They participated with enthusiasm but I never had to ask either group to settle down. I was very impressed.

It's been a while since I've had a chance to use my concertina. What's a concertina you ask? It's like a miniature accordion, with no keyboard - just buttons for the notes. Otherwise known as a "squeeze box." I do one song with it - "Library Bookaneers" and since this was a reading challenge kickoff, I brought it along to do the song. It seemed to work well for both groups. The kids seem to be fascinated by an instrument they don't see too often.

Other songs I did include "Diving in the Deep Blue Sea," "Take Me to Your Library," "The Great Green Squishy Mean Bibliovore," "Hanging Out With Heroes at the Library," "Grandma's House Tonight," "The Frog Song," and "Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet." Yes, I threw that last one in just for fun.

I've been promised some digital photos that were taken, so when those arrive I will post 'em here.

Me on XMKids!

Yeah, we were just having lunch with XMKids on in the background and I heard my name, which just about startled me to death. They played "Take Me to Your Library!" That's the first I've heard me on XM since we got it, so we were all very excited around here. It's humbling to hear all the great kids music out there, much of which I've never had the opportunity to hear before, and it's inspiring. I have a new goal now: to land a song on the XMKids top 13 chart.

I'd better get back to work! I'm editing and mixing the "Frog Song" today, so I'd better hop to it. :-) Sorry about that. Really, I won't do it again.

Super Saturday

Yesterday I performed for a Super Saturday event at the Oklahoma City Art Museum. This was my first appearance since before Christmas, so I was glad to be out performing again, even if my fingers did get sore! From 1:00 to 4:00 folks drifted in and out of the lobby area and I regaled them with songs from my "best of" list. There was a natural reverb to the room that sounded pretty good on my voice, so I was enjoying that. I sang for anywhere from one family to 50 people or so at a time, plus one birthday party. We did "Happy Birthday" and "Birthday Boogaloo" for Emma, who was turning five! We also got some fun participation going for the "Frog Song," "Tropeo the Pirate," and "You're a Dinosaur" at various times during the afternoon.

Lisa and Evalyn were with me, though I hardly saw them. They had a great time with the day's other attractions, including a movie and a 3-D art project. They made a mobile together with lots of colorful shapes and stickers and feathers. Evalyn calls it her dream catcher and says it keeps bad dreams away - it's hanging near her bed. As I type she's creating something new out of the leftover supplies she brought home.

If you haven't been to the art museum yet, check it out in downtown OKC. It's worth the trip just to gaze up at the gigantic colorful glass sculpture towering over the entrance!

XM Kids

We got XM radio for Christmas this year. I finally got the antenna installed in the car and turned on the service. We've been listening to XM Kids everywhere we drive for the past week or two.

If you don't know what XM radio is, it's that satalite radio thing. It's cool because unlike FM stations, there are no commercials, and you never lose the signal no matter where you are.

We're jazzed about it for many reasons, but XM Kids is definitely one of the big ones. Being here in the middle of Oklahoma, where there is no children's radio to be heard at all, and having a slow dial-up Internet connection, I have not heard very much actual radio for kids!!! Which is ironic considering that I publish the children's radio list online.

So I'm enjoying this.

There's a lot of really great stuff out there. XM Kids plays a lot of independently produced music meant for kids, with occassional kid appropriate mainstream stuff thrown in (you know, like "Yellow Submarine" or "Particle Man") and some big media stuff like the Spongebob soundtrack. There is sometimes too much talking for my taste - just give me the music!!! And like on any radio station there are some songs that get played to death and drive me nuts. But overall, I've been enjoying hearing some of the great songs other kids' artists are putting out there. I feel plugged in! It's cool!

I have long felt that kids' music ought to be made with the potential in mind that it might "cross over" into the mainstream hit parade. Why not? Kids deserve the greatest of everything. Catchy tunes, skillful lyrics, great arrangements - these things are always in style. It's only in recent times that "children's music" became a separate genre. Why shouldn't children's music compete well in the general music market?

Well, the general trend seems to be toward this level of quality. There has always been great children's music out there of course. Now there seems to be a lot of it. Can it be that it's only a matter of time before some kids' singer breaks into the top 40 pop or rock charts? Established mainstream artists seem to love to do kids songs now and then, with mixed results. I believe it takes someone who performs in front of kids regularly to consistantly make great children's music. So I'd just love to see the tables turned the other way around and have a real kids' artist break in on mainstream territory!

Or maybe with music diversifying as it is, and moving more toward niche markets and independent releases, there will be room for lots of big stars (think Wiggles) within children's music itself.

Exciting times!

But still, out of all the many many categories of music on XM Radio, guess which one has the fewest stations? You got it - kids music! There's XM Kids and Disney. The Disney station seems to be playing top 40 music aimed at "tweens." I don't consider it kids' music really.

So I guess that leaves a lot of room to grow...

If you have XM radio, I hope you're listing to XM Kids and calling in to make requests and show your support. We need more such national outlets for children's music, but they'll have to prove their popularity before the industry takes notice.

Oh, yeah, and you might be wondering if you can hear me on XM. Well, I know that two years ago my song "Roundy Round" was added to the play list. It's probably been dropped since then! They might also have my song "I Go Bananas" on file through the Children's Music Web Awards. But since I've been listening, I haven't heard me at all. You can always call in and make a request!

Has it Been Two More Weeks?

Good grief it really has. We've been sickies around here the past two weeks, passing various cold symptoms around amongst ourselves and my parents. Yesterday we took Evalyn to the doctor for the third time since Christmas, this time with a painful ear infection. Lucky for us, although her latest was the worst, it was also the shortest - today she already seems to be back to her normal self! But Lisa has now lost her voice. My turn for something next.

Anyhow, with all this going on I've been mixing when I can, and I have two songs at the "done for now" stage. I'm just burning them to a CD as I write this so that I can try them out on various players to hear how they sound and determine whether further adjustments are needed. Then they'll go into Steve's studio for some finishing touches and mastering.

Only eleven more songs to go!

Things should move along more quickly from here out, supposing we all feel healthy. Now that I know the software pretty well, having taken many wrong turns, I will get into a work groove with no wrong turns and start cranking them out.

The two songs that are finished: "Horny Toad" and "Silly Song." One reason I started with them was that each presented unique technical challenges to be worked out, i.e. they were two of the tough ones. So like I said, now I've learned a lot and it will go faster.

I'm debating whether to try and post mixes to this site as I finish them so you can hear how it's going. Or maybe I should just wait and let you hear the finished product when it's all ready. What do you think?

Back to Work! + Show This Month in OKC

Well, today it was back to work, sort of, after a two week vacation for the holidays. I say sort of cause it doesn't feel like I got much done, but oh, well. Getting back to the blog was on the to-do list, so...

This month I will be furiously editing and mixing, bringing the best of three shows together to make the new CD. Much more about that to come soon.

I will be performing January 22 from 1-4 at the Oklahoma City Art Museum. I'm part of a larger event for families and kids, including arts and crafts projects and a movie. Hope to see you there!!

My New Year's resolution... Write every day! I'm not sure if this counts, so I'm going to go work on a song or something.

Grandview Elementary in El Dorado, KS

Has it really been two weeks? Yes, it has - two weeks ago today I performed at Grandview Elementary in El Dorado, KS. I didn't write about it right when I got home, and the holidays snatched me away! (Lisa and I spent the week leading up to Christmas editing home video and burning it to DVD as a gift for Evalyn's grandparents. Then it was Christmas, and lots of friends and family to visit with, then New Years... you didn't want to read all that, did you? Back to El Dorado!)

It was a fun show as always! If you have my Take Me to Your Library CD, then you may have actually seen me performing at Grandview Elementary. It was two years (and two weeks) ago nearly to the day when I video taped a performance there of "Grandma's House Tonight," which is included in the computer extras on that CD. So it was a lot of fun to come back and perform again. The kids remembered the songs and did a great job singing along.

What made this show especially fun for me was that Evalyn (my daughter, 3 1/2), after a long hiatus, resumed her role as my opening act. She surprised us by agreeing to sing for the kids as they came into the room, each carrying their own chair. She sang her ABC's, Row Your Boat, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. These three songs are "hers" because I used to sing them to her every night at bedtime, and now they always seem to come out together when she sings for the kids. (She can belt out "Oklahoma" too, and I can't wait for the day she does that one for a crowd!) And she finished off with the ABCs again, this time asking the kids to sing along (her idea!), and of course everyone sang along - how could you refuse such a cutie-pie!

Nope, we didn't get it on video. We've really got to get better at remembering the camera!

Checotah - Intermediate School / Stillwater Concert CD

I was back in Checotah this morning, this time to sing for the 4th - 6th grade. That's always a challenging audience. When the older kids are on their own they are less likely to participate. I had to laugh because when I sang "Take Me to Your Library," I asked them to sing along one last time, as I always do, and I could see all the fifth graders looking back up at the 6th graders, and the 6th graders looking at one another as if to say, "Are you going to do this?"

So I did mostly story/library songs, but they did great snapping and popping with "The Brainiacs" and repeating the "Bibliovore"s lines. I also did "Lisa Lee Elizabeth," and "Loose Tooth" and we finished up with "Hanging Out With Heroes" which inspired some spontaneous clapping with the beat.

I've been mixing mixing mixing the Stillwater show during all my work hours at home & got it in the mail to those who ordered one this afternoon! After Christmas, I'll be ready to start the very tedious and thorough work of polishing up all those mixes for the final version of the CD.

Good night!

Checotah - Marshall Elementary School

I was up bright and early this morning driving to Checotah for two shows at Marshall Elementary. It was a bit hectic when I arrived, with the third grade on stage practicing for their Christmas show. But we figured it out - I just set up on the side of the gym instead of in front of the stage, and the kids entertained me for a change while I got ready!

The program was sponsored by the Checotah Public Library, and Beth Sherrill, the children's librarian, was there to give me a very nice introduction. Both groups of PK-3rd graders were very enthusiastic. The second show went especially well. We held a little "Ho Ho Ho" contest with my song "Santa's Laugh." Two teachers and the pricipal took turns "Ho Ho Ho" - ing, and the kids cheered for the best Santa. The principal won hands down!

I will be back in Checotah to sing for 4-6th grade Friday.

Live Concert Mixes

Here's an update on the new CD...

I've been working on the live concert mixes. These are the concert CDs that some folks at the concerts pre-purchased. Each one contains an entire concert with little or no editing. The Oklahoma City and Bartlesville concerts are finished and shipped out. I'm working on the Stillwater mix as I type this.

It has taken longer than I imagined to get up and running - I've been learning new software on a new computer in order to be able to do this. But now that I've got it going, it takes about a day to mix one whole concert (the first one took a lot longer), and another day to make final adjustments, burn cds and address envelopes. I should have the Stillwater show in the mail soon. (I also have two more school shows this week, so I'll be juggling my time back and forth.)

The reason I can do it so quickly (yes, a day to mix 12 songs is very fast) is because these are rough mixes - I'm not doing any editing to fix mixtakes or auto-mixing to fix fluctuations in levels. All that will be done though, for the final CD, once I first decide which version of each song will go on it.

The more I work with these files, the more I like what I'm hearing. Each concert got better than the previous in terms of the performance, and even the first concert sounds pretty darned good! After listening over and over I have a new appreciation for all the work and effort my band members put in - they each did an outstanding job for me! Once I polish it up a bit, I should have a really great CD on my hands!

I've also gotten a lot of positive feedback from people who were at the shows, and even from one CD recipient already. I'll take some time after I mail out the Stillwater CDs to put those comments up on the website. Until then, if you were there, feel free to post a comment here on the blog!!

Eliot Elementary School in Tulsa

This morning I performed at Eliot Elementary School in Tulsa. Lisa and Evalyn came with me. We had to get up at 5:00 am, which was tough for us. (Our schedule's been a bit lax lately.) It looked like I might be heading out alone for a moment. But Lisa made it out of bed, and I'm very glad she did, as you'll see. Evalyn checked out the window and saw that it was still dark. This made her quite grumpy. She doesn't believe she should be awake if the sun isn't up. But we made it out the door!

The librarian at Eliot, Donna Thompson, had done a fantastic job of prepping the kids for the show. They had been listening to all three CDs and knew my music very well. So when I introduced "Take Me to Your Library" I got a big cheer, and the kids sang along right away. It's a bit surreal to hear a crowd of 300 or so people all singing "Ackbo eckto..." etc. in unison!

After that I took audience requests for a while. The kids were great - they began shouting out song titles, but it never got unruly. In fact most times they were all shouting the same title, which again is a bit surreal! So we did "The Kid Who Ate a Bug," "The Brainiacs," "My Toilet and I" and "Lisa Lee Elizabeth."

Then I asserted my right to sing something they hadn't heard yet, from the upcoming CD. We did "You're a Dinosaur" and once they settled back down, we did "Trick or Treat, Smell My Feet."

After the show we headed to the library where a table was set up for me for CD and cassette sales and signing. Again I owe Donna Thompson a debt of gratitude. She had sent order forms home with the kids ahead of time and they all came prepared to purchase! Which is also why it's a good thing Lisa was there to help. We were pretty swamped for a while and Lisa kept things moving smoothly. She also went out to the car for more when we ran out of Jungle Junk CDs.

Of course most of the sales money gets put back into the creation of the next CD - more on how that's going soon!

Before heading home, we met our friend Myky for lunch and then visited Little Bear at her apartment. Little Bear is a dog, and as you might guess he's not so little. He's about Evalyn's size and he knocked her down more than once in his enthusiasm. Evalyn loved it - she laughed and laughed. On the way home, she konked out in the car. And when we got home, mom and dad konked out too!

The Third (and last) Show

I just got in from the last show. It went very well. I was a bit nervous about the time constraint - we had to be in at 5:00, ready to play at 6:30, and out by 9:00. But we were able to get in a bit early and with previous experience we got set up quickly and had plenty of time to run through a few songs before the doors opened at 6:30. We had none of the trouble from the room that we had at the tech rehearsal and I felt more relaxed before this show than the others.

We could hear each other well, and the band played very well together. The audience was great! We had a good sized group - they filled the front middle section of the theater and spilled over into the sides. The band enjoyed watching the kids rocking out in their seats!

One piece of bad news from Steve - apparently the computer he was recording on suffered a glitch and failed to record all of "Horny Toad" which is particularly aggravating, since I felt we did our best job ever performing that song. For those who ordered a CD of the show, I'm not sure what this means - I may be able to edit together a short version of the song. We'll just have to see how big the "hole" is in the recording.

I'll head for Steve's studio in OKC tomorrow evening to pick up all the recordings and load them onto my own hard drive. Then begins the post production process of editing and mixing. I'll keep you "posted!"

Home Again + The Second Show

I didn't get another chance to blog you from Bartlesville, but we're home now and I thought I'd take a moment to catch you up. Sorry if you've tried to visit the website at montyharper.com and run into trouble. I don't know what's going on but I'm trying to get it figured out. You can visit here directly at montyharper.blogspot.com, but then here you are, so maybe you knew that!

The last school show was at Kane elementary yesterday morning, where we packed all the Pre-K through 2nd graders into the library. For a moment it looked like they wouldn't all fit, but we found places for everyone. I don't know if I've ever had a better group. Those kids participated with great enthusiasm, but even more impressively, they quieted themselves between songs. I don't think I had to ask for their attention even once!

We were packed in so tightly I didn't dare try "You're a Dinosaur" but I had heard on the morning announcements that the word of the day was "Voracious" so I couldn't resist doing "The Great Green Squishy Mean Bibliovore" which has the word "Voraciously" prominently featured. The kids and the librarian got a kick out of that.

Well you're probably wondering how the evening show went! We got into the room early and it was set up like a restaurant (which is basically what it is most of the time) with big heavy tables and chairs everywhere. I found the building manager and she was unaware we needed it set up differently. She looked a bit pale when I told her - the tables were rather hard to move and there was nobody around to do it. Anyhow to make a long story short, after a brief period of panic (during which I also found out that Steve, the sound guy, was stuck in traffic) we got the process of re-arranging the room underway. My wife, Lisa, gets credit and thanks for most of the heavy scooching.

Steve arrived and identified another challenge: the room lighting. Basically there was no light on the end where it made the most sense to put the band. Steve helped fix the problem, teetering on a ladder trying to move track lights that seemed unwilling to budge. We also set up a couple of floor lamps, which at least improved the situation.

We managed to get all the equipment in and set up before John and Cody showed up, and were ready for a sound check, but the bass player, Bob was still at large. Just at the moment we were about to run a sound check without him, in he came. It turns out he was also stuck in traffic, and with a cell phone that wasn't working.

My show was hosted by the Tallgrass Tellers, a Bartlesville storytelling group, and was part of Tellebration, an international storytelling event. I thought they were very accommodating to allow me to bring my rock 'n' roll band, after all it doesn't exactly fit the image of a "storyteller." Even though they knew that my songs tell stories, it was going out on a limb a bit for them to try something so different, for which I was very appreciative.

So I began to panic again when we did the sound check and members of the Tellers were making sour faces and putting their hands over their ears, because we were - LOUD! The room was pretty small and responsive, and even when we made sure we were playing as softly as possible, we were still loud.

However, and in spite of a vocal mic that was trying to make me look like an idiot, the show went very well. Once we had people in the seats (about fifty of 'em) the band didn't seem quite so loud, and once the audience began grooving with the music I think all the presenters relaxed a bit. I haven't heard the recording yet, but Steve did a lot of grinning during the show. He says the audience came through beautifully. They were very enthusiastic participators. And that cantankerous vocal mic sounded great on my voice - much better than our previous attempts to record using a wireless mic. Standing in one spot to sing felt a bit weird to me but I got used to it.

The only problems I anticipate with the recording are due to my own mistakes. As Lisa says, I get nervous, wanting it to be perfect, and that causes me to make mistakes. It's a psychological Catch-22. But we set up the sound in a new way and could all hear better, so the band was much tighter than last time. I think at the last show Monday night I'll feel more relaxed. Hopefully between the two we'll have great takes of every song.

After we all signed autographs and ate cookies during the intermission and we made sure John, the guitar player, had a ride home (a whole other story) it was nice to relax and catch at least part of the second half of the show. The Tallgrass Tellers provided three storytellers. I was glad to see that most of the audience stayed on and enjoyed the more traditional storytelling part of the evening as well.

Evalyn did so well! She latched onto a new friend, 6 year old Kiara, and they played together before the show. They sat together during the show, and Evalyn was a great audience member for me! By the end of the show Evalyn had conked out across some chairs and was sound asleep for the entire second half and the tear down afterward.

Bob had to scoot right out to another gig, but the rest of the band capped off the evening with a late night trek to the local pizza joint. It was nice to have a chance to relax, socialize, and eat! (I'd only had a chance to grab a few apple slices and a couple of cookies since lunch!) If you're ever in Bartlesville check out The Pizza Place. That's what it's called, honest. It's a tiny building but the pizza is superb.

This morning we had another show for the public. Attendance was light, but we had fun. I just took requests from the kids. There were about 8-10 kids with their parents I think. I brought five of them to the front to be dinosaurs for "You're a Dinosaur" - that's something I've been wanting to do but hadn't had a chance to yet, so it was good to try it out. I think they had fun.

Evalyn got to play with Kiara again. They invented a game which involved running from the back wall to the chairs and launching each other's stuffed buddies into the chairs. After lunch from - you guessed it, The Pizza Place! - I did a workshop on writing songs with kids while Lisa and Evalyn headed for Wal-Mart. We only had an hour and four participants, so it was more like a good conversation. We covered a lot of ground quickly, and hopefully everyone went home with some helpful information.

Then Lisa, Evalyn and I headed home! It's weird to think this week is over - I've been preparing for it for so long! It'll be even weirder after Monday's show, when I move into a totally new phase of the project: post production! I hope we get to visit Bartlesville again soon. All the kids were wonderful and the trees were outrageous this time of year - bright yellow and red. That was Evalyn's first observation when we arrived. I said, "We're in Bartlesville Evalyn, what do you think?" She said, "I like the trees!" Her other favorite was the hotel swimming pool.

Anyhow, I need to thank Fran Stallings, my main contact who put together the public events, and Mary Birkett who drummed up the funding and arranged for all the school shows, as well as all the librarians who hosted me at each school and all the other Tallgrass Tellers who worked hard to publicize the events - everybody made me feel welcome and appreciated.

On the Road: Bartlesville 4

Here we are in the library at Jane Phillips Elementary. I've done both my shows for the day. Lisa is chatting with the librarians and Evalyn is getting to know Dewey the stuffed panda bear, who just got a set of reindeer antlers to wear on his head.

I added "Big Red Fire Truck" to today's programs, and that went really well. I haven't performed it a whole bunch yet, so I'm still learning how to interact with the kids on it. In both shows they started singing along with the chorus with no prompting. That's always a good sign! Fire Truck is one of the songs that I think sounds especially great with the band - we'll be recording it during the show tomorrow night.

This morning at Hoover, the librarian filmed part of the show with her digital video camera. The footage will be edited and used as part of their in-school morning news show tomorrow morning. How cool is that? If I can get a copy I'll try and post it here later.

The librarian here just took a digital photo - I'll see if I can post that right now.

Last night I spent a couple of hours practicing in the hotel room. "Can It Be Over" is the one song in the program for tomorrow night that is new to this project. It's a fun song and it shows off each band member, giving them a chance to solo. It's also very simple, but frustratingly difficult. I think all the band members feel that way about it. But that's the story of my life - If I can make a simple thing difficult I'll find a way to do it. Anyhow, practice practice practice. I'll try to get some more in tonight, then the big day will be here and it'll go how it goes.

I really hope to see a lot of the folks from the schools out at Tri County Tech for the show. Everyone's been very very friendly and helpful and the kids have been fantastic. If I get half the enthusiasm at the big show we'll end up with a great recording!

Signing off...

On the Road: Bartlesville3

Here we are in the library at Oak Park Elementary. I've just finished my programs. We had a small space to work with so we split the group in two, and I started with PreK and Kindergarten. We did three songs: Silly Song,The Frog Song, You're a Dinosaur. It was a bit of a departure for me to jump right in with the participation songs, but I knew time would be short. The second group was first and second grade. We did Take Me to Your Library, Loose Tooth, You're a Dinosaur, Hanging Out With Heroes at the Library, and Trick or Treat. On that last song, I forgot to teach them the words before hand and they took me by surprise when we came to the chorus; they jumped right in and sang what I call the "Froggy" version at full voice! (I will let you go read the Froggy picture books to figure out what I mean by the Froggy version.)This morning at Wilson we had a short show too because we got started late and had to finish before the next gym class.

Anyhow, this is going to get redundant, because all the groups have been so great. Very spirited and fun.

Now it's back to the hotel room for a good nap! Lisa and I both are feeling sleep deprived. I slept last night, but must not have slept well - I've been yawning all day!

Lisa has worn out her voice reading to Evalyn and they are both anxious to go, so I'll stop for now. Bye bye!

On the Road: Bartlesville2

OK, I'm back. We had a great program! It was a relatively small group - just first and second grade, here in the library, and they set up in a semi-circle around me so it felt very close and friendly. I sang Take Me to Your Library, Loose Tooth, Hanging With Heroes, The Frog Song, Bibliovore, and Trick or Treat. The kids were very spirited - especially during the Frog Song, it sounded like I had a whole gym full in front of me rather than just two grades. I hope a few of these kids will make it to the weekend shows!

Evalyn has zonked out and is sound asleep on a pillow on the floor! We've got the equipment loaded up and ready to go out to the car. I'm ready to get back to the hotel for a nap, too!

On the Road: Bartlesville1

Here I am in Bartlesville at Wayside Elementary, ready for my second show of the day. The librarian, Mrs. Ruddick is reading Henry and Mudge to Evalyn. She's been keeping Evalyn entertained while Lisa and I set up for the show.

This morning we were at Ranch Heights. The show went very well. I had PK-2nd in the audience as well as a nice group of parents. We did Take Me to Your Library, Silly Song, Grandma's House, Frog Song, You're a Dinosaur, and Trick or Treat. We had two interpreters for the deaf translating my lyrics into sign language! We had a fun moment when I got to the "Ackbo Eckto..." part of Take Me to Your Library and looked over to see how they were going to handle it - they were very good and kept their cool the whole time. I can't imagine trying to translate my lyrics on the fly - it's got to be something of a challenge.

I'll be glad to get back to the hotel room and take a nap. I was up late last night with our last band rehearsal. We recorded 12 of the 13 songs we've learned, just for reference. I made a rough mix, but didn't have time to burn it to a CD. But while I listened at home I thought it was sounding really good. Friday's show is not to be missed! Hope to see you there...

The kids are coming into the room now, so I've got to go. "Talk" to you later!

Recording 1 and Rehearsal 11

I drove to OKC Tuesday to meet with Steve and get a rough mix of the first show. Rough is the operative word. The entire recording was an hour and seven minutes long. We only had two hours to mix it. So we didn't try to make any corrections. At home I removed all the unnecessary talking between songs and got it down to fifty minutes. Everything sounded good, but there is a problem with the audience sound, which is that the microphones picked up more band than audience. This introduces phase problems and makes it really echoey if the audience track is brought up too much. So it will be a real challenge to mix.

The performance sounds much better on the recording than I remember it in person, but it still could be much improved. It's frustrating because we sound so tight in rehearsal & I want the recordings to come out as great as I know we can play. We are hoping it's a matter of spending a bit more time and focus setting up so that we can hear and see one another better during the shows.

We had a rehearsal Wednesday night and worked hard on a few trouble spots. We also wrote down the optimal tempos for several songs. Trick or Treat was a challenge to nail down - too fast and the verses sound rushed; too slow and the chorus plods. I was under the impression that as a solo act I sing the verses slower than the chorus, but Cody measured it with the metronome and if anything the opposite is true!

At one point while I was singing with the band it hit me that even if I spend all this money and don't get a stellar recording, at least I got to play with a band and hear my songs the way I imagine them - some of them really rock! It's fun. And I'm glad I took the risk. Better to try and fail than not to have tried at all. Plus, Lisa reassures me that the recording I already have will make a good live album, so I've really already succeeded. Now I just hope to make it even better.

One more rehearsal before I head out to Bartlesville. We're hoping to have a really great crowd there on Friday the 19th since I'll be visiting all the elementary schools that week. Then the following Monday the 22nd is our final show in Stillwater. After that, a short break, then I start editing and mixing! It's hard to believe we are so close to being "over the hump" and ready for post-production.

Wish me luck!

First Show

Boy am I worn out!

Our first show for the new CD was this afternoon in OKC. We had about 45 people in the audience, including three who came all the way from Plano, TX! Hi, Keith and Sarah and Chad! - It was great to see you there today!

Evalyn made a new friend - she can't stop talking about Rachel, who came early with her mom to help us out with programs and the sales table. Thanks Monica and Rachel and Evan!

Folks purchased CDs of the show afterward (they'll be in the mail soon) so it couldn't have gone too badly! I was just glad to survive it. I will get to hear the recording Tuesday, and I will reserve judgement until then.

Even though we had a small audience, they were great with the participation parts, and I'll be excited to hear how that turned out on tape. (Well, on disc I guess I should say - it's all digital!)

Most of the folks there were fans, so it was a good chance to find out how the show with the band compares to just me. Most of those I had a chance to talk to said they liked the band - it does give the songs some extra kick! One dad said that something is lost performing with the group, but something also gained, so it's just different. If you were there, please post your impressions!