Sunday, September 29, 2002

        If you thought that last update covered a lot of what I've been up to, I have yet another something to mention.  Back in August when Michael and I rehearsed with T, we had intended to get back together in September after everyone was done vacationing.  Well, after nearly two months that day has arrived!  Tomorrow we'll be going holding another jam/practice session at my place.  We're all real excited to finally be doing this.  That first jam we had was a total inspiration!  Remembering back, I believe we captured about 15 songs on tape that just rocked!  Tomorrow shouldn't yield any less productive of a jam.

Monday, September 23, 2002

        Okay!  It's been a while since my last update, so brace yourself, there's been tons happening!  First, in addition to the incredible, on-the-spot ambient track that Michael and I captured earlier this month, we also recorded a hand drums version of Cloud 10.

        Cloud 10 is a song that Michael and I have been working on for the last 2 months.  I really can't explain what inspired it except for the fact that I wanted to write something with a legato bass line.  Voila!  Cloud 10.  Though, you really have to hear it to understand what I'm talking about,  this magnificent piece of music captures some great dynamic playing with an amazing mixture of progressive, folk, and tribal/world influences.

        We will be using these latest two recordings for a demo CD to promote local gigs where Michael and I will perform as a duo.  More information on that will inevitably pop up somewhere on the site.  We are still in the process of putting together a bio/CD package.

        In other music-related news, FLO performed on September 21, 2002 at Sweet Dreams Cafe.  It was our first gig since July amidst all kinds of distractions including John Mazz's getting married, Michael and my respective vacations and a whole lot of down time.  Needless to say, I wasn't as on par with the material as I should have been.  But like I mentioned on the news page, all sour notes aside, we had a nice turnout and good reaction from the crowd.  I even got praise from the neighboring pizza store owner.

        Last, Michael has introduced me to the music of Frank Dalto, a singer/guitarist, that we'll be working with over the next few months.  The catch--Mr. guitarist lives in Florida.  So what we'll be working with is a CD that was recorded by Frank and mailed to us with copies of all his songs.  We'll then arrange for a week of kamikaze rehearsal/recording sessions where we're going to record the best live tracks as possible.

Saturday, September 7, 2002

        Something I neglected to mention during my last update is an incredible ambient track that Michael and I recorded last Thursday.  We had been focusing so much on bands and arranging songs with a drum set that we pretty much forgot about playing with hand drums.  Speaking of which, I purchased my first hand drum!

Tuesday, September 3, 2002

        Okay, make that a MONTHLY update schedule.  When I first began really sinking my teeth into the design of this website, I managed to post almost daily.  Now that work, practice, gigs and life are keeping me so tied up.  I'm lucky if I have enough time to catch a few Z's!  hah!  But I love what I am doing and look forward to each and every action packed rehearsal.

        Speaking of which, how about an update on what I've been doing this past month.  Sometime in early August, Michael invited his friend T over for a little jam.  Well, little turned into an astonishing 15 songs, all original and all caught on digital media!  So we have 2 CD's that are packed with footage from this totally inspiring jam session in my basement.  The greatest thing about the whole jam was the fact that we all complimented each other so well.  T really enjoyed the solo bass and drum songs I have been working on with Michael and I thoroughly enjoyed all of T's songs.  In fact, I enjoyed them so much, I went to great lengths to learn as many as I could before the jam.  But as it turned out, I ended up learning another 5 or 6 tunes on-the-spot anyway.

        After the jam with T, both Michael and I took vacations to Niagara Falls.  That set us back another 2 weeks.  John Mazz got married around that same time of the month, so he was off on his honeymoon.  T went on vacation for the last 2 weeks in August.  So, that left just Michael and myself.  We took advantage of that time and recorded some more material.  Michael's been working with Pro Tools so that he can get his studio up and running.

        August turned out to be a pretty productive month.  Not just because we all took vacations, but because we got a lot of necessary stuff out of the way.  This paves us a nice smooth road to more good times writing new music, great times recording in the studio and awesome times when we're performing for all of you.  I am really looking forward to the next coming months.  It won't be long before we are all gigging on a regular basis.

Oh, and for next time, I promise I'll try and update a little sooner!  Thanks for checking in!

peace,

Jim