Playing Piccolo

I’ve been many times to many different recording studios, but hanging out at Studio Piccolo always seems to stand out. It’s a nice place, with nice people. Thanks to Rene for setting up my latest session there and thanks to audio engineer, Pierre Messier, for making the creative process the very best experience possible.

One of my work buddies was part of this latest session. Alain Marcil is an engineer at Global Montreal, but he’s also an accomplished musician. He played bass, mandolin and ukulele on the tunes I recorded. Also along for the first time was my son, Tristan. It was incredibly special to have him record at Piccolo!

Making music

The cover tune I posted on youtube this summer, “Mad World”, seems to be getting more attention than the two original songs I posted, so I decided to prepare a couple of new cover versions. I had recorded a version of Chantal Kreviazuk’s awesome song, “Invincible”, during my last session, but didn’t make a video. At Piccolo this time around, I decided to do a video of my version of the song and Alain contributes bass and a jovial, grooving ukulele to the track!

I’ve always appreciated Bruce Hornsby’s “Mandolin Rain” and decided to do a version of it at Piccolo. Alain plays bass and mandolin on the song.

I had asked my son if he’d contribute a rap to one of my original songs. He said he would, so I wrote a tune last month called “Cool Beans”and we just recorded it. It’s a lighthearted romp based on a phrase my son has occasionally and mystifyingly dropped on me! I've loaded the track into my ipod, where the listing reads, "Cool Beans (feat. Bobby Button)"!

Including prep and mixing time, we were at Piccolo for twelve hours straight! For musicians like myself and Alain, the time goes by in the blink of an eye! I have a feeling it doesn’t go by at quite the same speed for Pierre and yet, through it all, he was patient, professional and happy to lend his production genius to our project! He has a great sense of humor and witnesses will confirm he’s quite a dancer!

Alain, Tristan and, on my left, Pierre

I always want to do too much when I go in the studio and, typically, due to budget and temporal restrictions, the finished songs are not quite what I had in mind but, thanks to Alain, Tristan and Pierre, an absolute delight to create!

Under Randy's watchful eye

One of Tristan’s buddies, Randy Satandrea, contributed his creative eye for pictures and eventual videos, which I hope to post to youtube in the coming weeks!

If you’ve given my stuff a view on youtube, thanks, it's always gratifying to be able to share the music.

Go Deck Yourself

How many times has she insisted she is not competitive? Too many to enumerate.

How many times have I insisted no one will pull the wool over my eyes? Same answer.

It was a few month ago when Susan announced she had signed us up for the “Santa Shuffle” on Mount-Royal. The event has been happening in Montreal for several years; conclusive proof, yet again, my address remains, “lives under a rock”.

She had also signed us up for the 5K “Color Me Rad” run last June, which turned out to be fun and quite survivable for someone with zero appreciation for running. She explained the “Santa Shuffle” was also a 5K run for which participants dress in festive colors and garb.

To me, it also sounded like harmless fun!

We left the house early December 7th and, without issue, found parking on Mount-Royal. The day was bright and sunny with a slight bite to the air. The wind chill was listed at -10 Celsius.

We found the starting line at the chalet right on top of the mountain. I had done some token training; running on the treadmill at the gym for a few minutes here and there. Stupid, really. It was meaningless training and probably begs the question, “why bother?”

At the starting line

With impressive dispatch, Susan had already completed the popular “Couch To 5K” running program, while I, with equal dispatch, perfected the far less effective “Couch To Kitchen” version of the program.

Surrounded by holiday hats and Christmas tuques and armed with several warnings on the part of organizers about icy running conditions, the run began. I started running, making certain not to set off at too aggressive a pace. Running too quickly at the outset would surely burn out my non-existent energy reserves in no time, plus, after sweetly offering to run with me for the entire distance, I didn’t want Susan to complain I was running faster than she wanted.

Most of the time, I ran behind her, cautiously, quietly muttering and cursing myself. Most of the time, she chatted away, inevitably ending verbal sequences with a question. I was sure she was deliberately torturing me! I could neither find enough air to answer beyond a desperate one-syllable grunt, nor could I find enough air to compose rational thoughts!

In the end, I tended to ignore her questions when they came. It might have been more considerate to have at least spray-painted the letters “SOS” on my forehead. That way, when I didn’t answer, I could, between  deafening heaves, turn my message in the direction of her indignant gaze.

Finally, after three kilometres or so of straight running, I asked if I could walk a bit. She sweetly agreed. People roared past. Santas roared past. Elves roared past. Dogs on leashes roared past. Lopsided squirrels with their cheeks full of nuts roared past. With only the slightest hint of impatience in her voice, she asked when we could start running again.

A few moments later and against my better judgement, I resumed the run.

Please allow me to go down on record here as saying how much I hate the runners who effortlessly floated past me in those final kilometres, cheerily singing Christmas carols! Go deck yourself.

There might have been less than a kilometre to go when we circled the marker signalling the final stretch of the run. As we circled the marker, we could see the runners who were behind us. Sensing my fragile mental state, as well as my embarassing physical state, Susan exclaimed, in a barely patronizing tone, “Look, you’re beating all these people to the finish line.”

At least it wasn’t a question.

Laboring mightily, I gasped, “There’s only one person I want to beat.” Sweetly, she responded, “Don’t worry, I’ll let you beat me.” At that point in the run, it consoled me to know that if ever I were to write a memoir, I would be able to get some positive-sounding mileage out of this infernal run’s finish. The thought provided my sputtering tank with a meagre spark.

I thought I was falling backwards when, with 100 yards to go until the finish line, she suddenly sprinted ahead. I hoped it was a nightmarish scene from an exhaustion-induced hallucination! It wasn’t. I sprinted after her and I use the word “sprinted” here very loosely, because what I did was more like stumbling, toppling and flailing in a pathetic effort to catch her long, bobbing Christmas hat.

Gleefully, she streaked across the finish line well before my tattered form. I wouldn’t talk to her. In truth, I couldn’t talk to her; my head and eyeballs were spinning in opposite directions!

On so many levels, the outcome served me right. It served me right for believing she wasn’t so competitive that she would trounce her struggling husband. It served me right for failing to put in the adequate training I’d need to defend my pride in the event my true love were to make a sudden and ruthless dash for the finish.

She says she’ll be signing us up for the "Santa Shuffle" next year. Oh, good. Scarred though I may be, with my vision newly-obscured by a wooly substance, I will probably be there for next year’s Santa Shuffle, as unprepared as usual. After all, it’s a time of year for spreading good cheer and if Susan can spread her own at my expense, we seem to be good with that.



Biggest Boss

I’ve had the date on my calendar circled for a long time. It’s the date Chris Hadfield visited our studio for an interview! He arrived Wednesday at least an hour before his scheduled time slot of 8:40AM. He had begun his day’s media rounds long before arriving at Global Montreal.When I heard he had arrived, I dashed down the hall to welcome him and to thank him for coming in to our station!

I introduced myself. He locked his eyes on mine, then slowly and deliberately stood up. I could swear that as he extended his hand, the theme to “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” began playing nearby. He graciously thanked me for the invitation and introduced me to his son, Evan, who, as he put it in his New York Times bestselling book "An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth", helped him “corner the market on wonder”.

I hurried back down the hall to our studio, jumped into my chair beside Camille, turned to her and remarked, “He exudes cool!”

After so enthusiatically commanding the world's attention from space for 144 days, Chris Hadfield, scientist, author, teacher, pioneer, master tweeter, retired astronaut, former ISS commander and planetary inspirer, was right there in our office and I figured it would be much more compelling for viewers to see Chris Hadfield on the television with us, than us alone; besides, he appeared to be chilling. In fact, whatever he does, regardless of its complexity, simplicity, predictability or unpredictability, he always seems to be chilling! In truth, he had phone interviews with other media outlets lined-up, which he did in our edit suites.

Our producer agreed we could get him to do some other stuff on-air, like the weather with Jess! After he’d finished his phone interviews, Jess and I eagerly asked him if he would be willing to do the weather. He agreed. He came into studio as we were starting the last half hour of our show. As I got a 30 second cue in my ear, I grabbed a spare chair, dragged it to the desk, urging Chris to sit between Camille and I and that’s where he was as our last half hour opened!

To her credit, Jess didn’t give him any more information about the morning's weather maps than he needed and, not surprisingly, his performance as guest forecaster was stellar! See for yourself:

http://globalnews.ca/video/994334/out-of-this-world-weather

With massive humility, Chris Hadfield has done and continues to do so much for science, education, music, communication, social media and Canada! I got to ask him many questions and his answers were always sincere, thoughtful and captivating. On and off air, it was a privilege for us to be able to sit with him in our studio and ask questions.

Chris Hadfield admits thinking like an astronaut is counter-intuitive because instead of visualizing success, he says you must sweat the small stuff and visualize defeat. He also says he doesn’t live retrospectively, longing for the past. That’s probably a useful perspective on things, although it’s one I have yet to master!

As soon as the interview was over, his son, Evan, pushed open the door to tell his father they were behind schedule. I had kept him on-air longer than expected. I’ve never seen anyone take pictures so efficiently! In the space of what seemed the next thirty seconds, he posed for four or five pictures with different people, including myself, before being whisked out the door!

For the picture I posted on Instagram, my son commented, “biggest boss”. No argument here. Through his dedication, vision, hard work and willingness to invest in his fellow human, Chris Hadfield has made the world a better place.


The Global Montreal Interview here:

http://globalnews.ca/video/993724/commander-chris-hadfield 

Fun Times Baby

I don’t know what to say. Once again, I’m sorta dumbfounded!

In the space of nine morning shows, I’ve had the crazy pleasure of interviewing Murray Head, Matt Dusk, Jason Derulo, James Blunt and Gino Vannelli! For a musician and music fan, it’s been pinch-myself fun! I know I’ve talked about how cool it is to interview musicians before, but even I've gotta admit, that’s a pretty stupid nine-day stretch!

I grew up listening to Gino Vannelli! I remember the moment my attention first locked onto the sound of the instrumental section in the middle of “Powerful People”. That led me to other great songs on that album, including, of course, “People Gotta Move”! I soon discovered that on top of great music, he was a Montrealer! I’ve always paid attention to his music and own several of his records. The story of how the singer, songwriter, musician, composer got signed to A&M Records is absolute legend! When I met Gino today, I asked him about that original encounter with Herb Alpert!

I remember attending GinoVannelli’s “Inconsolable Man” show at the Spectrum. When I came out of the show, my car had been towed and, suddenly, I was the inconsolable man!

My Top Ten Gino Vannelli songs:

10) Just a Motion Away
9) Hurts To Be In Love
8) Black Cars
7) Powerful People
6) Living Inside Myself
5) I Just Wanna Stop
4) Appaloosa
3) People Gotta Move
2) Wild Horses
1) Brother To Brother

I also grew up listending to Murray Head. Clearly, his song, “Say It Ain’t So, Joe”, is destined to stand the test of time! While researching the interview, I learned the propulsion-packed tune, “One Night in Bangkok”, was from a musical, and I also learned Murray was part of the original soundtrack of “Jesus Christ Superstar”. He visited Global Montreal to promote a big show coming to Montreal in the summer of 2014.

Singer, songwriter James Blunt got the most hits on my Facebook page!

He was on our show to promote his terrific new album, “Moon Landing”. He talked about how incredible it is to be able to sing songs for people who love his music.

As I pointed out on Instagram, R&B artist Jason Derulo is chill. He visited our show to promote his new album, "Tatoos". He’s good-natured, gracious and forthcoming, happy to talk about his life and his music!

I knew Matt Dusk’s name and knew his latest album features Chet Baker songs. Having sang Chet Baker myself, I was interested in meeting him to ask about the challenge of making Baker’s iconic vocal tracks his own. My wife wanted to take her Mom to see Matt’s show at Theatre Symposia. My son offered to go with them and I went along as well, not really sure what to expect. His show absolutely blew us away! He was easygoing and charming as he visited Global Montreal studios for an interview, clowning around with guests and agreeing to help me sing “Happy Birthday” to our fitness columnist, on-air.

He was just as easygoing, charming and funny on-stage.


He had some hilarious bits, and touching ones. He told the story of how he wallowed after a tough break-up. At one point, he met a songwriter who had an unfinished song. Matt and the songwriter eventually finished the tune and then recorded it. He did a first take of the song and then insisted he “could do it better”. The songwriter replied, “Yes, but you’ll never feel it better”. According to the story, that original take is the one that was released. He finished the story and began singing, “Five”. Promptly, tears began streaming from my eyes. Luckily, my wife and son didn’t notice! I’ve written in this blog many times, about how they mercilessly slaughter me when I get overly sentimental! Close call!

We discovered Matt Dusk is a great talent, with great energy, great tunes, a great band, performing in a hall with great sound! The day after the show, I added ten more Matt Dusk songs to my ipod, a fact I tweeted, and a fact he "favorited".

We met him after the show, along with a crowd of people. He generously gave everyone time and attention. Thankfully, we avoided calling security by finally managing to pry my mother-in-law's arm from around his waist! Another close call!

All of these impressive, talented people were so patient and happy to oblige guests, visitors and Global Montreal staff with pictures and autographs!

Also within those same nine days, were live performances in our studio by members of “Eclipse - The Pink Floyd Story”, and the passionate, ethno-classical duo, Beija-Flor.

Fun times, baby!

An Apple Away

An apple orchard in St-Joseph-du-lac sent us a half-bushel of Cortland apples this morning. I refrained from offering any to our morning crew, wanting to have the bag look as full as possible when we showed it on the air.

Right before 7, we talked about how, at Vergers Lacroix, it's currently prime picking season for Cortland apples. As Camille read the note from the orchard, I clutched two impressive, softball-sized samples of the fruit, holding them up for viewers to see. Inevitably, I took a bite out of one and during Camille's next newscast, hurriedly ate it up! 

After we showed the apples on the air, I went into our control room with the bag and offered apples to our crew. Our producer took one, but our directors were too busy. I brought the bag of apples back into the studio with plans to mention Cortland picking season once again, later in the show.

The next guest to come on the show was David "Avocado" Wolfe, an enthusiastic proponent of super foods. His interview with Camille finished, we shook hands and they left the studio. Camille also stepped out. When she came back in a moment later, she spotted the apples by the door and exclaimed, "I should offer an apple to the guest!" I agreed.

She dashed out with the bag and it never returned.

Apparently, she generously offered the guest some apples and he very gratefully took the bag and left!

I'm confident this particular guest wholeheartedly appreciated the quality and quantity of the apples!

Camille was apologetic. I got a juicy, sweet, crisp apple out of the deal, so it's all good! Not only was it an  honest mistake, it's one that's hilarious to its core!

Envy No More

For the longest time, I’ve marveled at stories about singers and other artists being discovered as a result of their postings on youtube. I envied artists with their stuff drifting out there in cyberspace. It’s all about possibility.

Envy no more. My goal heading into the studio August 3rd was to get some of my own stuff out there in the youtube universe!

I’ve written more than 120 original songs and, over the years, recorded close to half of them. The last time I went into a studio to record music was in 2003. I recorded several jazz standards. Since then, my jazz trio has performed on telethons, at Montreal’s tennis event and in Dominion Square Park.

To help me finally get music on youtube, I enlisted the help of  monster jazz bassist, Dave Watts and videojournalist, Matt Consalvo.

My knee hasn’t been the same since I fell carrying my bass drum up the stairs at home. It happened as I was loading the car with my drums to go to the studio. I still feel it.

My plan heading in, was to record eight songs! Ridiculous. I recorded six, but none of them sound the way I hoped they would. Realistically, I should have planned to record two or, at most, three. Sure, I spent 11 hours in the studio that day but, inevitably, ran out of time and money!

I wrote a country song for the first time in my life and recorded it, along with two covers, including Chantal Kreviazuk’s incredible love song, “Invincible” and the Tears For Fears classic, “Mad World”, which I posted on youtube. I love Dave’s moody playing of the bass with a bow.

Later on Facebook Dave wrote, "I've never seen anybody work so hard in a session, you must be exhausted." For me, it was all play; eleven hours flew past in a blink, with just two bananas and a bag of trail mix for lunch and supper!

I re-recorded a song I had done a few years ago about the arrival of my son and did a song I wrote in 1985, called “Never Turned Out”, which I put on youtube.

Finally, I recorded “A Mere Diamond”, a song I wrote last summer. Matt did a nice job filming and editing it and I was happy to post it on youtube earlier this week. I also posted the lyrics in this blog. I included a rap in the song as a nod to one of my bomb bands, Linkin Park.

I appreciate all the comments I've been seeing and hearing about my stuff. Truth be told, I could live in the studio and I hope to get back there soon.

A Mere Diamond (lyrics)

A MERE DIAMOND



A little girl, in a great big world

lived up the street, seemed so sweet



I knew she was out there

but never knew she could be mine.



She is the sun in my day, nothing gets in her way

her approach to life, is all about today



She’s taken us so far above

already given me – a lifetime of love.



(CHORUS)  All this for a mere diamond.



For love she shares her love, she shares her life

she feeds her body to me, in the night



It’s the one thing that makes me thrill

and I burn - for her still.



I can’t take my eyes off her, I watch her read

does she know that when she looks at me, it’s off what I feed



If I land on unfamiliar ground

her smile tells me - I am found.


(CHORUS)



I’m slowing down, I’m losing hair

she must see it happening, but doesn’t seem to care



She gives me motion

With her devotion, yeah.


(CHORUS)


(RAP)
At times it doesn't seem real, but I believe what I can feel
If love has some grand scheme, then I am living in a dream.


(CHORUS repeat and fade)


Song written - July 2, 2012.

(See it on You Tube - Richard Dagenais - A Mere Diamond)