Every year around Christmas time I find myself wondering what new Christmas music is going to come out so I don't have to listen to the same old songs over and over again. Luckily for you and me, my good friend Roger Kuhn has finished his own holiday CD, Every Year Around Xmas Time. Full disclosure, I recorded and/or produced or co-produced four of the 7 cuts on the CD. But setting that aside, Roger has written 7 original Christmas/Holiday songs, and every one of them is an enjoyable listen.
Roger's take on the holidays is at once rooted deeply in tradition of what has come before him (Under the Mistletoe, Xmas Joys), while at the same time pushing the boundaries of what we expect to hear on a holiday album (December, Oh What a World).
My favorite cut on the CD changes as I listen, but my favorite cut right now is the deeply moving Oh What A World, which chronicles the story of a homeless gay boy beaten to death on Christmas Eve (sadly based on true events).
I'm singling out one song in a whole collection of terrific songs. You can download Roger's Holiday album through iTunes by clicking on this link.
Also contributing to the musical and production talent on the CD are James Erickson (December), Robert Urban (Every Year Around Xmas Time, Under the Mistletoe, Xmas Joys), and my good friend and masterful musician Dan Manjovi (I Heard There Was A Star).
On Tuesday, I attended the "Pro Studio World Tour" event that Apple is sponsoring to promote their pro video and audio applications, Final Cut Studio Pro and Logic Studio Pro. Amazing stuff. Well worth checking out. One of the most impressive new features of both applications were the time manipulation tools. The time manipulation tool in FCP (Command + J) has been expanded, with a lot more control on how it behaves in the timeline. And in Logic, you can now quantize audio regions in much the same way you quantize MIDI regions, and the "flextime" feature has to be seen to be believed.
I'm going to keep this short, because I know not everyone who reads this blog does this kind of work, but this round of upgrades is a dramatic step up. Avid/Digidesign have cause to worry.
On Saturday night, Barry and I went out to see my good friend Gordon Smith, and his new 80s Band, the WAVOS. Okay, so an 80s cover band doesn't have too terribly much to do with songwriting, but it's a hellofalotta fun. They do a fantastic job of recreating songs by bands like Fine Young Cannibals
Which brings me, sort of round about, to a point about being a singer/songwriter: you need your covers. No matter how much you love performing your own stuff, people like to hear things that are familiar. Which means for most of us covering other people's tunes. And Gordon and the Wavos do a great job covering these other bands, and even got a couple originals in on the sly at the end of their set. Brilliant self-promotion. And perfect "product placement" in putting them last in the set.
So thanks, Gordon, Anthony, and Joe, for a great set, and a fun evening. And Happy Birthday, Gordon.
Every year ASCAP has this big I Create Music seminar out in LA, and us New Yorkers have to either miss out and look longingly to the west where all the fun is happening without us, or put out major buckage to fly out to sunny California to attend. But not anymore, baby! There's an (albeit) smaller group of sessions happening right here in New York City!
