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JUNE 9
Disaster strikes... At the end of May, Brighton and Commerce city were hammered by hail, and wind pounded other areas of the city. Fortunately I'd just met several music goals and finished preparing for storm-work, so it was good timing aside from scrambling for gig replacements -- thanks Jim!. After a quick 10 day work run, I'm back on the music.
Gig News... As claims slowed down, I snuck away and had a great gig performing for the Mile High Meet and Greet Wakeboarding event at Horsetooth Reservoir west of Fort Collins. Advice -- if you're going to camp & party with young wakeboarders, don't bother pitching your tent...you won't be sleeping.
I'm back at Red Rocks Country Club this week. They've had so many personnel changes the last few years, I didn't bother to call. But Poolside at the Cabana was definitely worth going for this year.
A few new rooms are on the drawing board, and I've had a great string of succesful gigs in other new rooms the past couple months.
Music News... I'm trying something new with the request list called "song-poll". I put a song onto the list and if enough people request it at gigs, I learn it. If not, it goes bye bye. This month's song-poll is "paparazzi" by Lady Gaga. So far there's been one real request, and one as a practical joke. Nobody going ga-ga for Gaga yet.
MAY 7
April got away from me, but at least I've shown up for a May update with plenty of news to cover.
Gig News... After an extended spree of sales calls and sales meetings, the summer has filled in nicely with gigs. On top of regular gigs, I performed and was rebooked in four new rooms that really liked what I do. In the words of the GM at Cherry Creek Country Club, I "hit it out of the park" at a recent performance there, so all is well in the gig realm.
Music News... After some practice, I got the compositional looping project up and running but I had to set it aside to make more sales and do another gear upgrade.
After nearly 14 years, the electronics in the acoustic guitar are finally upgraded. The acoustic is now running a dual sound system inside of it that incororates a rare hand made microphone the creator of which passed away. It's hard to find but it is considered the best internal acoustic microphone, and as luck would have it, I stumbled across one at just the right time/price.
Thanks to the new system and microphone, not only does the acoustic sound better, but it has become an excellent percussion instrument as well which is working fabulously for playing drum and percussion parts in live looping which I'm beginning to incorporate into the show. Three brand new songs feature this: Jason Mraz "I'm Yours", Weezer "Say it ain't so", and Oasis "Wonderwall".
During all of this I've somehow managed to accidentally upgrade my singing. In the last ten days I've established a new vocal placement that runs my entire range. Everything is easier, sounds better, and the voice is much happier at the end of long gigs.
Misc News... As you can see it's been a busy two months. On top of all the music and sales activity, preparation for disaster work swung into full gear. I gained another certification at the beginning of April and spread the word to employers about my storm scores from the hail storm here last summer with a new carrier I certified with.
On the gig/storm wagon, aging parts have been replaced, maintenance done, and old issues fixed. The car is ready for a busy storm/gig season, and I've been steadily chipping away at the storm to-do list.
All this activity has forced The Big Project onto the back burner. But if storm season is weak this year, I'll be working The Big Project back into the routine very soon because it is an incredible endeavor worth completing.
As if this pile of news weren't enough, a major "life event" took place in mid April -- but more on that later :-)
MAR 8
A very busy Feb has slipped by. Lots of news to cover:
Gig News... Several rooms have booked, more have rebooked, and a few are in the works. Patio season is starting to book as well so keep checking your weekly email for updates.
Music news... I finally upgraded my recording software for producing music, which means the capability is finally here to re-master the backing tracks and have them in stereo (thanks to upgrades done in Jan).
The high-tech footswitch underwent a hardware card-swap upgrade, and the recording computer was reconfigured and is rocking at nearly 3 terebytes of disc space. On top of those upgrades, I'm planning on adding complex live performance looping on a compositional scale (not the boring loop-one-pattern approach everyone is doing) and I'm configuring that now. It'll add interest to the show and provide a much-needed creative outlet at gigs.
Added a new song by Jason Mraz, another by Flogging Molly, and a couple more acoustic songs are in the works.
The Big Project... Thanks to the help of close friends, I'm approaching a hard-earned milestone on the superstructure of The Big Project. When complete, it will guide and drive the next phase of the project. I'm hoping to save up enough to get the software I need to start a project blog -- gotta sell more gigs!
FEB 3
Hey, it's 2010. This website is so 2001 (the year I built it...LOL) Welcome to a new year for ericlane.com.
Click here to visit the 2009 review.
Gig News... Took a little time recently to rebalance my life after putting everything into The Big Project. I started booking gigs again, and to help venues spot the difference between a "pro" and a "joe", I've hit a few open stages and have booked good work at those venues. A couple new rooms are on the map as well, and three other rooms have rebooked.
The Big Project... The most recent focus on TBP has been creating a conceptual superstructure for the project. More to come on that if I ever get around to starting a blog on it.
Music news... A complete conversion of the show to digital happened over late Dec and January -- another high tech black box, another (backup) laptop, and lots of fiddling, and I now have a rig that can go anywhere in the world. It fits in an airline overhead bin no problemo, and can interface with any PA system, anywhere in the world, at any output/signal configuration needed. A career-long fantasty comes true -- exciting stuff!
