Sweepless

I mentioned a few weeks ago that, right before rehearsals for Seussical began, I had completed composing the music for a children's musical.

The show is called Sweepless. It's a fairy tale about the town of Spomonia which is overrun by rats so the citizens spend their days sweeping to keep the rats away. One day an evil vampire steals all of the town's brooms, so three friends set off on an adventure to save their home.

It's on tour for the whole month, mostly performing at summer camps and schools for the kids. I finally got to see it the other day and it's really cute. The cast is great and, most importantly to me, did a great job with the songs. They even got the kids singing a long which I thought was awesome!

I posted some songs, so give them a listen. You can find the player to the right just under my blog archive. Please listen and let me know what you think.

How To Be An Elephant In Four Short Weeks!!

Seussical wrapped up yesterday and I already miss it. Yeah, there's always that small sense of sadness whenever a show ends....even bad shows...but this was a good show and I'm really bumming out.

Since I first heard the show a few years ago, I've always wanted to give the role of Horton a shot and I couldn't have asked for a better opportunity to do so. The way that Holy Cross does their Summer Stock shows is four weeks of rehearsal (5-10:30pm every night) and then one weekend of shows...five performances total (if you count the preview). It was a little intense but it was also perfect to not have to commit a lot of time.

The cast was great and crazy talented, the production staff was amazing and the whole experience was huge fun. I hope to have some pics of the show soon!

"I have wings. Yes, I can fly. Around the moon and far beyond the sky. And one day soon, I know there you'll be. One small voice in the universe. One true friend in the universe. Who believes in me."

Hangin' With Victor

It's not everyday that you get to meet one of the world's greatest musicians, but I got to today!

Victor Wooten held a bass clinic in Catonsville this afternoon. It was way cool!

He started off playing some stuff for about ten or fifteen minutes, then took questions for over an hour. He's really into the idea of the bass being a means by which to express yourself rather than an instrument to be labored over. He said, "You don't think of how your mouth works when you speak, you just express yourself. The bass should be no different. Don't worry about playing the wrong note, just worry about expressing what you feel."

He also spoke a lot about how so many players worry about technique and being flashy. When asked to demonstrate a tapping technique, he showed an easy exercise and then asked everyone in the audience who wasn't a bass player to raise their hands.

"When you're looking for a bass player for your band, what do you look for?" he asked.

"Groove!"
"Someone who can play in the pocket."
"Solid tempo."

After a few responses, Victor continued, "Notice how none of them said, a bass player who can tap." The point being that the flashy stuff is cool but not what's gonna get you a job.

Another cool moment was when someone asked if it was really important to be able to read music.

"You don't have to be able to read to be a great player, but imagine if The Rolling Stones rolled into town today and their bass player, Darryl Jones, got sick. So, they come here because they hear I'm doing a clinic so they know there will be tons of bass players here. Since the gig is in three hours they're not gonna hire the best player; they're gonna hire they player who can read music the best, because you won't have time to learn the stuff. Now you may be the best player in the room but the best reader is gonna be gettin' paid!"

After the Q & A, he played one more tune and then hung out to sign autographs and stuff. It really changed my thinking some about how to approach playing. Although I did rush home and start practicing that tapping technique.

O's Commercial

Jason in HD

A couple of the commercials I shot for the Orioles are on the air. If you can stand the sight of my big head in HD, check 'em out. They shot ten all together and I was in five of them. So far, I've seen two of the spots that I was a part of. Y'know I'll be watching for the rest!

Marty

My friend Marty Baum passed away this morning.

Just this month, we had re-connected on Facebook after several years and I was looking forward to hearing all about his recent adventures, including his upcoming wedding. But I procrastinated and the next I heard he was in the hospital battling a mysterious infection, from which he never recovered.

Back in the day, when I was first embarking on my attempts to be a rock star, the band I was in would rent out local places, put a few bands together and put on concerts. We'd usually sell out with 100-150 kids. It was actually kind of a cool scene and as we searched for new ways to make the shows interesting, I came up with the idea of having Marty open one of the shows.

Marty was a poet. This was before Russel Simmons decided to make the slam poetry scene a cool thing and, frankly, Marty's style was a lot better than that.

I had no idea how he would go over, but when he took the stage, the kids were in awe.

We did a couple of more shows before we eventually "aged out" and had to start getting real and start playing the clubs of Baltimore and DC, but when we played in our hometown he tried to have Marty with us. He made us look cooler.

R.I.P. Marty. Your words always inspired me!

A friend sent this letter to The Washington Post.....
Our beloved friend, Marty Baum, died today. He was forty-four years old. He lost his job last Winter: no job, no health insurance. He had an infection in his leg; by the time he got to the hospital, it was too late.

Marty wasn’t a US Representative or a Senator or even a radio talk show host. He was just a great guy who loved life and spread joy and warmth to everyone he met. He couldn’t afford the Best Health Care In The World.

Oklahoma

This weekend I played in the orchestra for Oklahoma down at American University. I really hate all things Rodgers & Hammerstein (Sound of Music, King And I, South Pacific). The shows are all ridiculously long and, in my opinion, really dated, but they are considered classics, so it makes sense to me that schools still do these shows. As for the rest of you, it's time to move on.

Either way, the kids in the show were all very good and it was a drama-free gig.

It also wrapped up a crazy month for me.....five different shows and a commercial....not too bad.