While I’m not directly in the business, after reading this list, I’m pretty much convinced that I don’t want to be! At any rate, here’s some inspiration for you budding musicians out there…
Continue reading Musician Humor: 40 Greatest Lies of the Music Business →

I finally put together the instrumental compilation I’ve been working on for a few months. I think I’ve nailed a decent mix of tracks on it. I have a few choices I might rethink in the near future, or I might save the extras for a second volume. My goal was to use either the original or the most popular version of a song in the compilation. I’m happy to say that many of these songs charted on the Billboard charts. The most successful on the chart is Perez Prado’s hit “Cherry Pink”, which spent about 10 weeks at the top. Interesting, too, is that four of these were TV themes: Peter Gunn and M Squad were two detective shows, and both were taken from their respective soundtrack albums. The “Route 66” theme is from the TV series of the same name, and Bacharach’s “Nikki” was used a few years after its initial release as the Mystery Movie Theme on ABC in the 70s.
Continue reading Instrumental Compilation →

I own way too many Christmas CDs! At last count, I think I had well over 80 Christmas CDs…and this does not even count the albums I have on vinyl, or a growing pile of compilations I’ve made or that I’ve received from others. And yet every year, most of the albums sit gathering dust, since I only choose a select few to play. Am I just burned out on it all?
Continue reading Christmas Music: Enduring Classics Pt. 1 →