MMD--Mental Musical Database

In our "offseason" time of transition, we've been doing what we can to grow both personally and professionally as preparation for ascending into the next phase of Kaleidoscope. Here are some sources we've recently been blessed by, and wholeheartedly recommend for your own body of creative knowledge:

Moving To Higher Ground--a book by Wynton Marsalis
This man's artistry is simply inspirational. From a jazz frame of reference, he makes a compelling case for musical expression as flowing through interconnected veins of character, creativity, and citizenship. When he was in town for a Bucksbaum lecture at Drake a few years ago, it was one of those evenings that I wished every artist I knew could have been present, both for his speaking as well as his band playing. I'm still impacted at the mere remembrance of it.

1000 Songs To Change Your Life/Lost In The Grooves
Another interesting collection of musical perspectives to examine and see what clicks...

Victor Wooten's Groove Workshop DVD
How lovely it is to sit side by side with the spouse in our living room taking notes together on this power-packed video session. Inspirational plus informational--this guy is a really gifted communicator both on and off the bass guitar.

Derek Trucks everything 1
Derek Trucks everything 2
Just saw him at Hoyt-Sherman the other night, and was fed a splendid feast of musical soul food. Derek is still so young, yet has already achieved so much. (And of course, my spouse and I are drawn to him and his wife Susan Tedeschi because of the unique life status we have in common!)

MMD--For your Mental Musical Database

Inspirational, informational, knock yourself out! Glean from our recent research vaults, and respond as you see fit. Or we should say, respond as WE see fit for you, by making fabulous new music!

Wired "Kaleidoscopic" Interview

Annual February Recording Challenge

Under The Dashboard

Once again, here are some sonic musings on three projects lurking in our recent consciousness:

1. Madonna--"Ray of Light": The word to describe this vibe is "twinkly". Electronica whiz William Orbit did a great job establishing a kind of warmth within the sometimes icy setting of the techno world. Madonna's vocals are among her very best, the song selection is solid, and the whole concept has been realized beautifully and fluidly from start to finish.

2. Over The Rhine--"Ohio": The 2-disc tour-de-force of this husband and wife team is filled with the melancholy wisdom for which this group is becoming known. Their projects before and since are fine, but this to me will stand as a charmed musical moment. Always one of my first choices for the moody-broody times, this sounds like dim lights, sad reflection, and a twilight of grace from their living room to ours (they actually did record big parts of this in their very own living room).

3. Bettye Lavette (with the Drive-By Truckers)--"Scene of the Crime": Bettye is our girl, so we are admittedly a bit biased about her--run, don't walk, to get this and her previous project--"I've Got My Own Hell To Raise". She's rootsy, she's bluesy, she's soulful, she's been around the block but still radiates the energy of someone two whole generations younger than her. This project was truly a labor of love, and the seemingly unlikely choice of the DBT as her supporting band (who I just very pleasantly rocked with in the very first row hanging onto the fence at 80/35) turned out to be an inspired choice, aided by an earthy Americana production approach.

Who's been under your dashboard lately?

MMD--Mental Musical Database

Hi FOK (Friends of Kaleidoscope) - not so sure about that acronym...
A reminder to you all that, amidst the backstage transitioning to Phase 2--The Upgrade, our services are still continuing in all other kinds of musical consulting and support. So we want to keep in touch with you, and make sure you are in on the ground floor of all the great things to come. We remain committed to being an equipping and networking source more than ever, right down to these little nuggets for your perusal with all that free time you've got. Seriously, take some time for Research and Development. It always seems to get ruthlessly swept under the rug, but as we can attest over the past year, it has been such a key for our growth in both musical and business savvy. So ward off the "tyranny of the urgent" and give yourself snippets of time here and there to just LEARN. For instance, how about these:

The Phoenix mag--50 states article
Believer mag--annual music issue
Marketing lessons from Guns and Roses

Let us info junkies know what you are learning...

MMD--Mental Musical Database

1. Another Bob Dylan item - an article from Vanity Fair called "Inside Dylan's Brain"

www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2008/04/dylan.html

2. A great new book by bassist extraordinaire Victor Wooten from the Flecktones called "The Music Lesson"

www.vixboox.com

3. A newsflash about the supposed upcoming obsolescence of recording studios (and for the record, I believe in the upcoming obsolescence of the word "obsolescence", but not of recording studios, for many many reasons--see if you react with the same healthy skepticism as I did)

www.mashable.com/2008/06/17/wemix-voodoovox/

Happy reading, thinking, feeling, and learning - let's keep our musical minds in a state of "growing knowing". Comments welcomed...

For Your Mental Musical Database--MMD

1. Bob Dylan's Day Job, and Terry Teachout's NYC arts blog
www.artsjournal.com/aboutlastnight/2008/06/tt_bob_dylans_day_job.html

2. The Business of Music
www.huffingtonpost.com/mike_ragogna/the-business-of-music_b_108449.html

Interesting, thought-provoking, eyebrow raising stuff...your turn to comment please:

KALEIDOSCOPE the song--Chorus

Chorus:
And the world needs the passion of our sound
And the world waits for this treasure to be found
When we pour out our souls, we bring the world alive
With all the colors of hope
And together we find inspiration
In the heart of this KALEIDOSCOPE

Wow, that just about sums it up! I am once again humbled by this sentiment. It's a high calling and seems a tad pretentious to attach such a power to your enterprise by saying, "the WORLD needs what I have to offer!" But as the famous Margaret Mead quote says, a small group of people can literally change the world; indeed, that is the only thing that ever really has changed the world.

If you had the cure for cancer, you wouldn't hesitate to share it. If you had the remedy for our overbloated out-of-control national budget deficit, you wouldn't hesitate to share it. If you believe so strongly in the benefits of anything you have to offer, to the point that you view it as one of the main reasons you were put on the planet, and it's one of the things that brings you alive at the very core of your being, you wouldn't hesitate to shout loud and sacrifice long for the sake of this deeply-resonating destiny.

These lyrics, and the rest of the whole song, aren't just about our own business and dreams. They are for you. Whatever it is in your life that you naturally think of when you read words like those above, we hope you are reaching out and taking the steps toward it; so that you can, in the words of Mama Cass, "make your own kind of music, and sing your own special song!" And if you are, then know that you have kindred spirits at a place called KALEIDOSCOPE.

KALEIDOSCOPE the song--Bridge

Bridge:
Can you hear the vision, can you see the song,
Can you walk in faith to the place where we belong
It's a road of sacrifice on an uphill climb
But it'll be so worth it when we get it right this time

Here's where it starts to get hard, and good! No pain, no gain (or as I prefer to say: pain, GAIN!). The turbulence after the takeoff, the home morning after the honeymoon, the reality after the fantasy. In business, pleasure, art, relationships, you name it, the principle applies across the board of gut-wrenching sacrifice preceding the golden pot at the rainbow's end.

In a recent vocal coaching session, one of my students sang the first part of "I Will Always Love You" by Whitney Houston from "The Bodyguard" movie (which by the way, was written by Dolly Parton, whose own version, complete with her famous talking part in the middle, will always be the I Will Always Love You that I will always love the most!). Anyway, we talked about how some non-perceptive people mistake that song as a lovey-dovey gooey love song, when in reality, it is about the angst of making sacrificial choices for the sake of the greater long-term good.

At KALEIDOSCOPE, we regularly face plenty of situations; artistically, managerially, and otherwise, that call upon us to make those extra-tough kinds of decisions. But reminding ourselves of what this lyric represents makes it a little easier, and helps us keep the faith perspective ever-present as we work, play, struggle, and succeed!

If you can relate, tell us all about it now...

Under The Dashboard--an ongoing series

Since the car is such a frequent listening location for tunes, here are some "soundful thoughts about thoughtful sounds" (don't know if that really worked, but even the best wordsmiths have off days). Anyway, since the studio came into our lives, we sometimes listen to music much differently, with our "record producer mojo" working overtime in analytical frenzy. Consider these recent bits of under-the-dashboard ear candy:

David Gilmour, "On An Island"
Recorded in the plushest of studio settings, on Gilmour's luxury boat studio, this project's sonic mood is crystalline in its clarity, yet lush in its atmospheric textures. Simply put, it's just beautiful.

Blue Floyd, "Begins"
This just-released all-star project features 3 of our favorites, Marc Ford/guitar, Matt Abts/drums, and the late great Allen Woody/bass, among other luminaries. The tunes are mostly from several-years-old live performances, and its sonic mood is jammy live experimentation. You can just ease on down the road with this one, bobbing your head and swaying (but keep your eyes on the wheel).

Rolling Stones, "Beggars' Banquet"
From the first strains of track 1, the classic "Sympathy For The Devil", this project has a down-home feel to it, like Mick and the guys were on your back porch doin' it just for you.

Learning from more deeply examining "sonic moods" of numerous and diverse recordings brings an even better perspective on the importance of engineering, mixing, and mastering choices made in studio; in other words, the soundness of sound choices (hey, that was a little bit better, wasn't it?) . In future posts, we'll examine even more recordings with more sonic insights.

Feel free to share your own insights on the "sonic moods" of these and other projects...

KALEIDOSCOPE the song--verse 2

Verse 2:
Change is always a wondrous thing
As the faith of old becomes a brand new sight
And life overflows with the music of love
As the color overtakes the black and white

This is of utmost encouragement today. Facing small business challenges, especially financial, as well as just trying to be the juggler you have to be in order to make it all work, and cover all the bases of an entrepreneurial venture, as excruciating as it seems, CHANGE = LIFE. In fact, that's really the medical definition of physical life and death. Death, in doctor's terms, equals "a body that does not change." So no matter what the change, it symbolizes aliveness, growth, a force at work taking the venture (sometimes kicking and screaming) from where you are to where you need to be. In the book "The Dance of Change", author Peter Senge says wisely, "there is no movement without constraint." That's the dance, and as hard as it seems to be thankful for constraints, they inevitably provoke the very best kinds of change. And that's when "the color overtakes the black and white."

Stars In Our Own Backyard--GRINWIRE

I am so-o-o-o not a metal music person. Yes, I gave my husband Brandon the Metallica "Some Kind of Monster" DVD for our 1st Valentine's Day together, but that's about as far as I've gone. Enter an irresistibly lovable, powerful, passionate band of soul bro's called "Grinwire" -- www.myspace.com/grinwire. It's been a pleasure getting to know the men and their music, through their project process here at KALEIDOSCOPE.

One day, Aaron Pelky, the energetically-driven lead singer, came in early for a session to warm-up and work on vocals, with our resident vocal coach (that would be me!). The studio is such a different animal than live onstage singing, so attitude adjustments and paradigm shifts are key to session success. Among the nuggets discussed: ditch the fear--the setting is here to serve you, not vice versa; make friends with that microphone--be in command of it; use your performance physicality, be in control of the room space (in other words, the whole area in the live room, not just your little space standing at the mike). Vocally, it was about the 3 B's: Body Language, Breathing, and Big Notes! When session time came, the hunger Aaron displayed for delivering the goods was akin to a lion aiming to pounce, or a slugger poised for a grand slam.

Combine Aaron's ferocious vocal intensity with the sheer power and vitality of his playing partners-in-crime, Nick, Scott, and Stew, and you've got a heavy-metal magic force to be reckoned with, that knocks over even a non-metal person like me! When asked what he'd like to share with others about their studio experience, he said, "relax, go with the flow, enjoy your time!" Good advice for Aaron's very own upcoming wedding day on 06-07-08! Thanks, Grinwire guys, for encouraging me to expand my musical comfort zone, and for giving us the pleasure of your talented company. We believe in you!

Response welcomed!

KALEIDOSCOPE the song - Verse 1

Let's do a mini-series that takes a closer look at our business through the lyrics of our company song (words and music by THF):

Verse 1:
Change is never an easy thing
As it carries us into a grand design
Farewell to the mysteries that break our hearts
As the morning dawn awakens the divine

Wow, what does this have to do with wheeling and dealing in our local music/audio world? Aside from being the composer of these words, while I read them now as an entrepreneurial businessperson, I see transition, creativity, personal growth. So many times when people come to us with their music and audio needs, their specific situation is somehow related to a life crossroads, a significant special occasion, some catalytic event or phase that has given birth to new music, etc. As we at KALEIDOSCOPE relate to our customers, we are mindful of these personal details, and followthrough with executing the customer's needs accordingly, making strategic use of our technical and artistic expertise in ways that are sensitive to both the person and the product.

Back when I worked in customer service at The Principal Financial Group when my daughter was a toddler, I was trained with a little motto that still serves me well today in this work: person first, problem second; feelings first, facts second. A purely technical approach might work for a plumber coming to fix your sink. But "fixing a song" is different, whether in the studio or on the stage. Those charged with this task must meet the customer where they're at. On some rare occasions I've seen customers come in, usually for some high-speed emergency need, and pass through with a fairly non-relational process. But way more often than not, it's in conjunction with a milestone, an achievement, some personal angle that is pertinent to the product, that we would be foolish not to be aware of and provide support for. Just another example of the many things we're learning as we seek to improve our services and ourselves.

What are YOU learning these days...?