Updated version of “Jesus, God and King”

I was able to upload the newest recording of “Jesus, God and King”. You’ll find it on this page, under “listen”. I had to get a new online system for running the songs. You’ll find it opens to a new page, and then you can either listen to it from that page, or download it. I would love comments. Thanks for listening.

Jesus, God and King is finished and launching

The song got some fine tuning, but best of all, it got Douged. That is, it got Doug Egling’s horn on it. Very very nice. I will be trying (if I can figure it out) to get it on this blog. I have to relay the story. I knew we were on a time crunch to get the song and related materials to the promoter. I called Kevin from the outdoor deck at Pontillo’s in Batavia (my family waiting for me, while I was on my cell). I said, “I know time and schedules is a killer, but is there any way at all to get Doug onto the song before it gets sent out.” Kevin replies, “Well, I’m leaving for Toronto tomorrow, and we’ll be gone till Tuesday. The only time I could do it is right now, tonight.” So, let me call Doug, I said. Now, Doug is a busy busy busy man. I thought in my head, take a shot, but don’t get your hopes up. I got Doug on the phone (family still waiting for me). “Doug, I know this is nutso, but is there anytime you might be able to do this.” He says, “well, the only time I have is right now, tonight.” I almost fell over the side railing. God is so good. When we drove past Kevin’s house later (much later) on the way home, Doug’s car was still there. God bless’em. So, it is done. Hopefully completely out of my hands in the next day or so, into Samme Palermo’s hands after that. But as always, it’s in you-know-who’s hands completely

Post-talent competition update

So….I thought it was over. Then I get an email from Samme Palermo of HeirChex digital servicing. Basically, Samme is giving us a free promotion of the song we submitted. To quote Samme, “This press release will be transmitted to literally thousands of radio & music industry people around the globe.” There’s more involved, but you get the gist of it. Details are still being worked out, but this was extremely encouraging, and challenging. I especially appreciated Samme’s comment, “You have an extremely genuine sound and expressive talent!”. From someone in the “biz”, that was an uplifter. More details to come. Love to hear your thoughts. Just how much will come as a result is entirely up to you know who.

Talent competition saga concludes

Well, here we are at the end, …and perhaps, at a beginning. In the voting stage, we placed 2nd. Just 13 votes shy of 1st. Not too shabby. Votes cast spoke more of contacts and reach, more than making a statement about the music itself. But, it shows appeal, and to be in 2nd (and if you looked at the votes cast, 3rd place was a very distant 3rd), was a big accomplishment. So, for all who voted, and sent the message on to others, thank you. To those who voted more than once, because it seemed to let you. Your extra votes were not included. Nice try though :)  So, we were in the finals. I made calls to let the band know. And then Kevin posed the ominous question. “Um, Ken, what if we win?” Yikes, I honestly hadn’t thought about that. The winner plays at the festival, in like, 2 weeks. So, we need a PRACTICE. Like NOW. Scramble city. Schedules. Time frames. Song selection. There was missing info (like, what day would be play. We had no idea.) We could of course just wait one day (Monday), when we would be told if we won. But, planning is about excellence. And it’s about confidence. We were one of five. Three of the other five had concerts dates in other cities already. Concert dates….in other cities…..these were the guys we were up against. The finals were decided by a recording company, not votes from friends. The winner got an artist development contract with the recording company, and they I assume, being a business, would select the band that fit what they wanted. All 5 had unique sounds. One was a latin/R&B style. One was hard rock, almost scream-o. One was kind of a techno rock. One was a bit like Jars of Clay. And then there was us, the only one with a sole emphasis on worship music. If we were the flavor of the soup they wanted, we could win. Quality-wise, we had nothing to be ashamed of. The quality was there. Well, Monday came. Late Monday actually. An email from the Kingdom Bound CEO. Congratulations, it began. We placed 3rd. Okay, I thought, that changes things. I read further to see that we had “won” free passes to the festival. I called Kevin first, because I knew he was on the edge, waiting. He answered his phone not with a “hello”, but with “So..?”. Overall, I think everyone has had the same reaction. We did well. We accomplished a lot. And we really have no idea how much fruit we might see  from it. Contacts were made. A recording company actually listened to the music. Many musicians will NEVER have that opportunity. And this recording company rated us third. Better than two others. Bands with actual cities they are playing in right now. I’d say, we did very well. Now, how disappointed am I? Extremely. How discouraged am I? A little bit. But, with that, I know we accomplished a lot. I don’t know how many, if any, opportunities will come again. All I know is, if they come, I’ll take them. My music is Gods. Any talent. Any ability. Any hopes and dreams. They all belong to God. Can you say that for yourself? I hope so. It’s quite freeing to live there. A number of years ago, I took our youth group to the local cemetery. One of the stones was for a pastor’s second wife, who married this pastor when he was quite advanced in years. I would imagine in the 1800’s, this was quite a practical thing to do. Here she was, buried with him and his first wife. And the etching on her stone by her name said, quite simply, “Abigail; She did what she could”. Isn’t that really it. I have done what I could, in this pursuit, and I hope in other areas of my life. A good question for you as well. Have you done what you could? Do you realize, that God is not asking you to do what you cannot do. Only what you can. The rest. The results. Well now, those are left to God. Thanks to all who have been supportive in this adventure. Let’s continue to do what we can, with whatever we are given

Voting continues

Well, the votes are continuing for the Kingdom Bound talent search. I have to say, of the 27 “talents” that are competing, some are quite good. I especially like Laura McGreevey, and I hope she does well. There are some, I must admit, that are not my cup of tea, music-style-wise. But hey, it is for some. I like the fact that our submission is pretty unique. Most all of the others are submitting stuff that could never be used in a Sunday worship service. (at least, you could try, but I imagine it would be much more a concert than a worship service, between which is a big big difference). I have no idea how the voting is going. I have had people I hardly know come up to me and say, “Hey, I voted for you.” My reply outwardly is, “Thanks so much.” And inside, I say, “Did you listen to the song, or just vote because someone asked you to?”. It’s funny. Obviously getting to the finals at the very least would be a great accomplishment. But there is a blatant reality that in trying to break into the music arena of the professionals, it is much more about who you know, and much less about how good your music is. Even in this vote, it seems, the ones with the biggest email contact list prevails. Now I know that isn’t necessarily the way it will go, and I’m confident a lot of votes are cast for people who actually have good songs. But the opportunities that come are weighed heavily on connections. I discovered this a number of years ago when I wrote a novel. (yes, I did write one of those). I quickly realized that writing it was the easy part. Getting it published; now that was an adventure. I have basically given up. Is the novel any good? I gave it to several people to read, especially the “target” audience, which was pre-teens;young teens. It was well liked. But, publishing companies, now they are a different animal. The basic question they all ask is, “What else have you done?” In other words, show me proof that you have had success, and we will look at what you have now. So, how do you get that first one. The first book. The first song. Connections. There are exceptions. I think of Mark Schultz. It didn’t take connections for him to break in. It took an amazing song (He’s my son). It was so good, so strong, it could not be ignored. And Mark went on to prove himself a fabulous songwriter, with stuff like You are a child of mine, Remember me, and Walkin’ her home. So do we have a lesson in all of this. A few, that can also be applied to anything we are trying to reach for. Take advantage of the opportunities that come. Do the best you can. Be who you are. Make connections where you can. And then, after you have done everything you can, you say to God, “Well, my life is Yours. My talent is given by You. Any inspiration. Any perseverance. Any wise choices. They all come from You. So, as the song so eloquently says, Have Thine own way.” And if His way happens to be an open door to bust the music out, well then, I’m up for it. And if the tree bears no fruit this time, well then, I remain who I am. A willing vessel. God knows where I am. He’s got my number. If He has work for me somewhere, I’ll hear from Him.

Songs are now posted

Songs are now posted for you to listen to. Click on the links under the title “Listen”. These are 3 previously unrecorded songs. Much thanks to the efforts of Kevin O’Connor for the mix, as well as the drums. Mark Huntington also on bass. The songs are also posted on my facebook page, and I am also working on a myspace. I am NOT a techno geek and this is taking me a huge amount of time. But I am learning. I would love to hear your comments, and please pass this on this to others who may be interested in hearing the songs.

Prep and play

We prep, and then we play. We plan, arrange, practice, correct, coordinate, orchestrate. But then, we play. We do what we do. We play with excellence. And we ought to plan with excellence. We can swing one way too much. Planning and preparing so much, that we lose the moment. We can also do so little preparation, that when the moment comes, we can’t take it. The best balance; to have musicians who have developed to play with great skill, but who also, because of that skill, take those moments when they come. I always have a list. But I have over the years trained myself to not be married to it. I always have a plan. But then, I play. And with all of lifes challenges. We plan. We prepare. But when the time comes, we need to just play, and not let our lives be chiseled in stone. Moments are by definition brief. Let’s not miss them. Be ready. And then, play

Sonicbids.com

Not sure if everyone has heard of this. It’s basically the resource that Kingdom Bound is using for it’s talent search this year. Essentially, you send in your tunes, and if you make the cut, you get a professional evaluation. (I got that last year, or the year before; don’t remember) Anyway, the top ones obviously get to play at Kingdom Bound. But the cool thing about sonicbids, is they are kind of a connection center for musicians/bands, as well as with festival/event organizers. Your tunes will be on their website for organizers to connect with you. They also send email alerts for events, so you can submit for possibly playing the gig. I don’t know if there are other organizations like this, but the concept is awesome. So…you bands/musicians out there. Check it out

Lucifer’s replacement

That title ought to get your attention. I heard a message many years ago, and the point was made that in Ezekiel, there is a description of Lucifer, as one who oversaw the worship in heaven. He was actually made with pipes in his body. Many have made the claim that the devil uses music so effectively because he was made for music. But with the fall of Lucifer, and this was the point of the message, God replaced him with another created being. One who would also oversee worship. One who would also have pipes in his body. Man. Hmmmm. Interesting. If accurate, it would add more cause for the devil to hate us so much. Maybe you have heard this before. Maybe not. I’d be interested in your thoughts.

Bono on worship song writing?

Hey all. This is a excerpt from Matt Redman’s blog. Thought it might tweak some thoughts.

“So, now a quick thought for songwriters. Not from me, but something I came across from Bono of U2. Speaking on songwriting he said “You can have 1000 ideas, but unless you capture an emotion, it’s an essay.” What a great thought. It can be so easy to generate ideas for songs - and put some kind of theme together. But if it’s merely a cerebral exercise it may only take us so far. Truth-based songs will always resonate to some degree, but taking it further, if that truth is delivered with passion, purpose and emotion it will be even more compelling. When writing a worship song we’re not just trying to give people some information. We’re trying to convey the awe-inspiring wonders of Jesus, and describing how our hearts, minds and souls respond when faced with these things. Just take a look at the Psalms - these songs are full of passion and emotion - poured out in the most full-on adoration, intercession and praise you’ll ever come across. They are built on truth, and oozing with emotion. So there you go - a tiny little thought on songwriting, courtesy of Bono.”