Don’t take that tone with me

I had the pleasure of speaking at Bloomsburg University last week. The students were fantastic and I had a great time there. I’ll post some more info about it soon, but here’s a link to the article:

Dreams In Progress: Indie Producer Shares His Story

I had the pleasure of speaking at Plainview, HS Wednesday. Mr. Nelson, the technology teacher, invited me up. When I arrived, I found out that Will Terrell was also speaking. He’s an incredible cartoonist and just an all-around really nice person. It made the day so much more fun and I learned a ton by listening to him. If you haven’t seen his work, you should. Check it out here:

willterrell.com
superzeroes.net

Oh, and I used to teach his sister Heather guitar… It’s a small world.

Sometimes you see something that defines your thoughts. It clarifies your vision and helps you dig deeper into your dream. It’s even better if it makes you laugh.

I was the stage manager for Lubbock’s Centennial concert Saturday night. It was a pleasure to work with Mac Davis, Joe Ely, David Gashen, Ralna English, Donnie Allison and a ton of other great artists… Not to mention I was super proud to watch my wife Amy play keyboards with them. I even got to play another practical joke on Mac… this time on stage.

It was a really long and grueling day (18 hours non-stop) of behind the scenes work. Once in a while, in the middle of those kinds of events, something happens that just makes everything worthwhile.

One of my jobs is to make sure everyone knows where they need to be and that they have everything they need. I guess Ralna took a liking to me because, as I handed her the microphone for her last song, she said, “You are just wonderful!” And then she planted one on my cheek.

It was a really sweet moment. And I wore that red lipstick on my cheek with pride.

Amy and I took our daughter to Ft. Worth this weekend to acquire point shoes (my daughter is a budding ballerina). We had a grand time, and I came away with a new prized possession: another wedding ring.
A brief history: I handmade Amy’s engagement ring. Then we had her grandfather (quite a hobbyist jeweller in his day) make us matching rings. Mine was, unfortunately, stolen out of a hotel room when we were on the road with 100 Love Sonnets.
Amy bought me a ring soon after that I dearly love. And I still have it. But we went to the Modern Art Museum in Ft. Worth and we found another one. So now I have two!

[caption id="attachment_92" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="My new wedding ring from the Modern Art Museum in Ft. Worth."][/caption]

We’ve been busy in the FarisWheel camp, lately! Here’s a quick run down of what we’ve been working on:

FarisWheel Productions – Graphic Design
I just finished a website for national singing sensation “The Cactus Cuties.” If you haven’t heard these girls’ rendition of The Star Spangled Banner, you are seriously missing out! The’ve gotten over 5 million hits on YouTube in 3 months!

I also just completed an album cover for Texas Country veterans, Honeybrowne. Fred Andrews, the band leader, songwriter, and singer, is a great cat to work with.

At the Amusement Park Studio
I’ve created a new track for Bobby Bookout that is a rendition of an old Frank Sinatra tune. I can’t wait to debut it… we’ve twisted and mutated it like only the Amusement Park can do!

I’m finishing up mixing The Archers. They are a screamo band based in Lubbock. I really dig these cats. Check ‘em out!

We’re also finishing vocals for the up-coming This Soul Divided EP. The tracks sound great and I can’t wait to start mixing them!

And, last but not least, we found a few spare moments to mix a tune by Amy and Scott called “I Forgot.” Those of you who know our past, the song is a continuation of the 100 Love Sonnets spirit. Look for a new musical project soon!

Visual Art

I had the pleasure of being included in a gallery exhibit of musicians who are also visual artists at the Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock, TX. I have two sculptures (Bite and Brian No. 3) and four photographs in the exhibit. Ben Mercado, the Chief Engineer at the Amusement Park Studio, also displayed his photography and painting. The show will be up for a month.

I’m down in Austin this week producing for Bobby Bookout.  I’m having a great time making music (even finger picked on a track called One Drunk Kiss), and Bobby’s record is going to be amazing.  But yesterday I realized on an even deeper level how valuable it is to have a great staff around you.

I had a jingle due this week.  We got the music bed put together before I left and my chief engineer, Ben Mercado, was set up to run the voice-over session.  I had a couple of my best vocal talent set up to handle it for me.  They record it.  I approve it.  And I send it to the client.

I’m sure any of you business owners can relate to the next part of this:  the client hated it.  They liked the track, but we did a 30s gangster treatment on the vocals.  I thought it was great.  But the client didn’t.  Not a problem.  Except that I’m 500 miles away. So I call Ben and the talent.  And it gets remade in 3 hours and is back to the client.  And approved.  Hurray!  I am fortunate to have an exceptional group of people around me who truly care.  And it’s my mission to take care of those people.  After all, they take care of me.

PS-  On the design front, FarisWheel is currently building Noblefence.com,  and I’m doing an album cover for Richard Smith.  Oh, and we’re redesigning our woefully outdated fariswheel site.  More later.