Catching Up part 2

Okay, so the girlfriend is threatening to suspend certain rights if I don't write some more brain farts about this summer that I can barely remember, but I do at least owe it to John Allaire to write up something on what we have been up to since June.

John Allaire approached me last spring about a large project he was putting together as a charity effort for the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. Awesome, I'm a charity case usually so it worked out great!

John hosts a weekly Sunday show at the cozy Quinn's pub next to the Mayfair where he invites guest songwriters to share the afternoon with him. Drawing on a wealth of talented people he has played with in these afternoon performances, John collaborated with a dozen or so them to write and record some tunes.

I have a crap memory the best of days so let's see if I get them all.  If I miss anyone I'm sure I'll be told by someone in the know, if they even decide to read this boring shit to start with.

John Carroll
Lynne Hanson
Shannon Rose
Andrea Simms-Karp
Shawn Tavenier
Al G. Wood
Ken Workman
Jill Zmud

uh...  i'll have to check my files. Wow, I thought I'd do a lot better than that. Time to start up a new regiment of gingko biloba.

Basically it worked out to being a crazy revolving door of musicians from a large cross section of talent, many of whom I had never worked with previously.  John would usually have some type of iPhone demo for whatever song I was about to record, which I would get to hear quickly while setting up.  With many of these folks, I would meet them, briefly get acquainted and then I'd be barking orders at them through headphones (very politely of course).  I thrive on that kind of shit so I had a blast.

(A note on shitty demos to those who care to read it:  MAKE THEM.  Don't be a whinny bitch and think assume you know what your song sounds like.  Use your overpriced smart phone and make a demo.  It came in very handy as a reference more than once during this project, even if it was to evaluate the tempo of the song. I can't begin to tell you how many times it has happened where the artist suddenly realizes mid way through a session that the song is too fast or too slow...)

Okay, so long story short, it took a good chunk of the summer to coordinate the bajillion artists who played on this record but I got to meet and work with a lot of really cool and talented people.  The songs run the gamut of styles but hang together nicely as a whole.  Weird, given how diverse the crowd is, but true.

The best part is the whole thing is going to be performed live as part of a big fundraiser this coming November.  Keep your earballs peeled to the ground for it!