Sundance Day 5

Gotta catch up....

The last few days have put us into a bit of a routine. On Thursday, we got our first cue to score: a scene from Disney's "The Tooth Fairy". A challenge for me as I've not worked on many fully orchestral scores. Turned out to be a lot of fun.

On Friday, we got to see all our our different versions in the screening room. Very cool to see how everyone interpreted even the tiniest details. We also got to see George Clinton's original version as well as the written score. It was interesting how many of us did many of the same things that he did.

We were then given our next cue: a scene from the period film, "The Great Debaters" starring Forrest Whittaker and Denzel Washington. This was scored originally by our program director, Peter Golub. Our guest composer at this same time was Randy Edelman. We watched our scenes together on Sunday morning.

That afternoon we had "off" so most went hiking but I had my family stop by for a quick visit. The night ended with all the composers at the Owl Bar with Peter.

Today, we all worked on our most recent cue: a scene from "The Taking of Pelham 123". For some reason, I got through this one fairly quickly and was able to move on to getting ready fir my 10 minute presentation tomorrow for the directors that are coming out.

Sleepy now...

Sundance Day 1

Great first day. I showed up at about noon and the other "fellows" trickled in shortly thereafter. That interesting few minutes where no one knows one another and the awkward silences. Having a nice  lunch out of a box with my name on it added to that first-day-of-school feeling. Didn't last  long. So interesting to slowly discover each person' background, musical and otherwise and quickly find how much we have in common. Ran back to our 70's era mountain home for a few minutes nap. I was particularly tired, having stayed up past 5 am trying to cram in (out?) just one more project before I left. That, and pack. At 4:00 we met on the benches under the trees for our orientation and to meet with our first teacher, George S. Clinton. A "welcome drink" at 5:30 was truly most welcome and I had the opportunity to sit near George and start the questioning. So much experience and great humor. We then had dinner followed by a screening of our first cue, a scene from "The Tooth Fairy" that was scored by Mr. Clinton. We watched it without music and then went over the spot sheet (?). After that we watched another of the many films he has scored called "The Last Days of  Frankie the Fly". Questions/answers followed. Now sitting here writing this and about to go home for the night. More tomorrow.

Done

Finally turned in the last of the Indie library pieces and the paperwork. Also just finished a track for Wayne Burton. Tonight I'm picking up Jamen and driving down to Orem to see some friend's bands perform. Yes, I said Orem. I haven't been to the mall there for many years. Should bring back some great feelings from my adolescence.

Indie '09 Library

I'm editing vocals now for the last tracks of the "Indie '09" library for Non Stop Music. It's been a big project and I've learned a lot. I had to deliver 15, 2 min long songs, complete with lyrics and vocals. I haven't been writing complete songs (especially lyrics) for a very long time. It took a few tries but it came back and now I want to do more. I also got to work with friends like Jamen and some new friends like Marcus Bently and his band mates Nate and Cameron. Talented guys and fun to work with. I'll hopefully have this wrapped up by tomorrow.

Uhhh...

Ok, kids. I'm gonna try to pick this back up. I was posting for a while on the "family" blog, "Belly to Baby to Family". Kindra came up with that name. I thought she and I would both work on that one but then she started her own, "Babying the Buddah".  Somehow, "Belly to Baby to Family" just didn't feel right as my own personal blog title, so...

I'm back to Spooky Cowboy. Not really sure what the name means but I used it to describe a kind of music I love to make and it just stuck for me. 

I'll use it for work and family writings since the two are pretty much inseparable for me, what with me workin' at home n' all.

I'd write more tonight but since it's 2:15 am, I'll start tomorrow.

Studio Ceiling

So, I've been very happy with the new studio as far as functionality goes. Cosmetically, I've still got a ways to go. I've left the joists above my head open and filled with 2 layers of cotton insulation. It sounds really good bud looks like a construction site. I'm going to cover it with fabric soon but I'm still trying to figure out the best way to deal with the can lights. 

Jamen

This afternoon, I met with my talented friend, Jamen Brooks, to talk about finishing up a second album. We finished his first solo album, Sleepyhead, way back in 2000. One of my all-time favorite projects. It was good to pull up a few unfinished songs and find that we have some strong material to work with. Jamen has a great ability to write sweeping melodies over surprising chord changes. So, we're in the process of assessing where we are with material, then moving on from there. We spent about a year working on Sleepyhead. Since it's been 8 years, I'm thinking we should move this one a long a bit more quickly.