The September 11th Fund is no longer accepting contributions.  Thanks to all who helped raise $600 for the fund.  You can still purchase a copy form me as a special order if you wish by visiting the order page.

I have set up a new webcam that gives you a view of Loucks St.  As far as I know, this is the first outdoor webcam in Sheridan.  I have plans to add one to the Sheridan Media site giving a view of the Big Horn mountians.  When that one is operational I will add a link to it on this site.

TheTwins has almost hit the $500 mark.  I've been saying that "100% of the profits" are being donated to the September 11th Fund.  That isn't entirely true.  The truth is that all of the money is going to the fund.  I initially decided that I would donate just the profit since I didn't want to get into a situation where there were so many CDs being ordered that I couldn't afford to make them.  That hasn't been the case though, so for as long as I can continue to do it this way, every penny of the $10 you spend on the CD is going to the September 11th Fund.

Check out Sarah's Homepage!  She has written a poem based on her feelings with my song "Eternal Desire."  She is really good, and you should keep an eye out for her works in book form!

I have been slacking on updating the news page, but that's because I've been working on the rest of the site!  The new CD, Initial Attraction, is in stores now and also available on the website here!  The world has changed since my last update and I have a benefit CD, TheTwins, for the September 11th attacks also in stores and online.  So far both have been selling well.  TheTwins contains one completely new song "TheTwins" along with 7 other tracks. Click Here for a complete listing.

I got the proofs back from DiscMakers today and everything looks GREAT!  I'm giving the reference CD a thorough listen, then approving it!  The CD should be in stores somewhere around the end of the month!

I also received the first samplers from allinstrumental today.  The sampler "Modern Classical" features 16 really great instrumental songs from various independent artists and includes my song Kobi's Heart (from Eternal Desire).  If you would like one of these samplers at an incredibly cheap price, send me an email!

August 29 - 11:49pm - I think it's low 70's in here now... summer is almost over..

Today I sent out the materials for production.  Hopefully all my papers will be in order.... that sounds like that Clint Eastwood movie FireFox...  Man... I gotta watch that again someday.... what a great cold war movie... right up there with The Hunt for Red October.   But I'm only halfway through Goldfinger right now, so my James Bond marathon isn't going very quickly.  I'm ready for TBS to do another 15 days of 007.  They do this super cool thing called "CyberBond" where Bond fans get to chat online and answer questions that come up during the movie.  The sweetest thing is that it's all synch'ed to the movie on at the time, so questions will come up about the scene that is currently playing, and there's cool stuff to do during the commercial breaks.  IT RULES!!!  Did I mention that I won a pair of James Bond sunglasses during their thing last year?  Actually they're Swiss Army sunglasses with a 007 logo on the case, but still damn cool.  It's the first thing I've ever won, and I was so happy that the rediculous amount of Bond trivia taking up space in my brain actually paid off for once!  I don't know when they will do it again.  It was in October last year, so hopefully it's coming up again!

Anyway... where was I?   Oh yeah... If all goes well you will be able to buy the second CD, Initial Attraction, sometime near the middle of September!  It's mostly a matter of me forking over the money to get these things manufactured and waiting the couple of weeks.  I hope that all the artwork and stuff I sent in to DiscMakers is workable.  I've never dealt with this company before, but I've seen several other CDs that they have done, and they look really good!  Because my manufacturing costs on this album will be MUCH higher than on Eternal Desire, the online ordering prices will be different.  I haven't worked out all the costs yet (and the online ordering page isn't up yet anyway) but I imagine that you will eventually be able to buy Eternal Desire online for somewhere around $10 and Initial Attraction for about $15, but don't hold me to that just yet.  The prices may be higher or lower when I get the online ordering working (hopefully within the next couple of weeks).

There's still much work to be done on this site (the Radio and Music sections still don't even exist) and I hope to have it all up before the CD hits stores.  So it looks like I'm in for some extended computer time in the next couple of weeks.

All the vocal tracks are mixed, and I've completed the peak processing on all the tracks!  The CD Initial Attraction is almost ready!  I have decided to swap the order of a couple of songs, so I re-designed the liner notes and back cover to match.  I want to re-work the CD label a little bit to adjust the size of the graphics and text, and I'm still undecided about which printing method to use on the disc itself.  While I ponder that I am in the process of placing all the other artwork into the templates for production.  My goal is to have the package sent out by the end of this week.

In other news, check out my listing on the IQS website!  They have a showcase area where other musicians and production people who are regitered SAW users can show off a little.  I submitted a page and it is listed here.

To the right you can see the new version of the booklet page giving credit to the singers on "Nostalgia."  I think these are much better pictures of Liz and Lawdan than I previously had.  You can see the original version by scrolling down the page....  The liner booklet has been revised a little because of the change in song order... to see the rest of the pages and pictures, you'll need to get a copy of the CD!

Hmmm... it's been a while since I've watched any James Bond movies.  I'm feeling a little bit like having a mini-marathon.  I'll start with either Goldfinger or From Russia WIth Love I think.
 

A moment of silence for pop singer and actress Aaliyah, who was killed in a plane crash Saturday.

 

Well, being the complete slap-head that I am, I managed to completely wipe out the existing news page!  Oh well, it was time to update it again anyway, although I had hoped to retain the existing text and images in an archive.  (note to self--- make backups!)  Since the old stuff is gone, some of this will be a bit of a rehash of the previous text.

I have just completed work on a "Vocal Mix" of the song "Nostalgia."  I will be uploading a complete mp3 version of this song to my page at mp3.com.  You can view it by clicking the mp3 link at the left.  The song will probably not be available for several weeks as they tend to take a while to approve the submissions, and I haven't even submitted it yet!
The full mix of "Nostalgia" which will appear on my CD Initial Attraction isn't quite done yet.  The song contains the most complex mixing I have done to date.  This is the first song I have recorded to include "real" sounds (i.e. not synthesized).  I have been fortunate enough to work with four wonderfully talented women, who have shared their beautiful voices with me in the creation of this song.  They are Stephanie Buchanan, Jana Davis, Lawdan Rahimi and Elizabeth Reynolds.

I would not have been able to do it without the magic of digital multitrack editing with SAWPro.  You can download a demo of this amazing software at iqsoft.com.

Using SAWPro I have been able to layer multiple tracks of each vocalist, allowing her to harmonize with herself!  The result is a thick, pure sounding harmony that is unlike anything else!  As of this writing, I have all the lead parts recorded and mixed, and all backing parts done except for Jana's, which I hope to get recorded next week.  Getting studio time with Jana has been a little tough lately because she is busy promoting her band, Simply Jane.  I will do my small part to help out by putting a link to their website right here.  They are a KILLER band, especially live (psst!  Jana --- if you're reading this, I like the FASTER version of "Can't Believe" that you do whenever Neil gets carried away better than the version you gave us at the radio station!).  I compare their sound to a shot of early Melissa Etheridge with an Alana Miles chaser.  Be sure to see them live if you can.  They will be doing the Tuesday Concert in The Park in Sheridan on August 7th, and will be playing Casey's in Billings, MT on the 11th.

Here's a section of the liner notes for my new CD giving credit to the lovely ladies!  This will not be the finished product, as I have since taken different pictures of both Liz and Lawdan which I like better.  And I might try to get a different one of Jana too.  (Steph is just always gorgeous).  The lighting in "The Pit" wasn't the best for photography.  I do like this picture of Jana, however (it's a little hard to see here).  She pumped this song FULL of sensuality, and somehow this unposed-still-frame-captured-from-videotape seems to catch that power that flows through her.  She probably won't like it though since a few frames after this one she exclaims "oh my god" and looks away in disgust.  But I think the camera caught her before she caught herself, so her beauty is real in this picture.

CLICK HERE for a sample of "Nostalgia" in mp3 format.  In this clip you will hear Jana's lead vocal followed by Stephanie.  You will also hear the backing vocals that are completed so far.  The backing vocals are just Stephanie and Lawdan at this point, but you will hear 12 layers of Stephanie and 11 Layers of Lawdan!  (that's fun to say... 11 Layers of Lawdan....).  Thank-you to Amanda Young for allowing me to use this picture in the liner notes.  She took this in a cemetary in California.  The emotions the woman appears to be experiencing seemed to match the mood of this song.

For more mp3 files, including full-length songs and remixes, click the mp3 link!