Trecking to Tesuque to Teach the Tykes.

One of the most rewarding experiences professionally for this year was my Thursday job at Tesuque Elementary School.  Although Tesuque is truly located only three miles north of Santa Fe proper, it always seems like it is in the middle of nowhere, no matter how many times I go out there.

When I first got the call to hang out with these little troopers on a semi long-term basis I thought. cool, and I immediately began downloading fun music lesson plans from one of my favorite music teaching sites..The Fun Music Company

The first lesson I tried with the 6th graders failed utterly, much to my surprise.  It was an interactive lesson on the history of rock and roll with lots of fun music and handouts and activities and all that drill.  What bewildered me greatly was the sixth graders complete lack of respect for the term "rock and roll."  Whoa, where did that disrespect  for the "holy of holies," come from?

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Cell Phone Photo 12.15.11, Tesuque, NM

5:30 Snowing and they keep coming and coming!  (Parents that is)

Mr. W. does Kinder...

Mr. Chrisman conducts while Mr. W. Conducts.

Turns out, as much as it hurts, Rock and Roll is out and Justin B. is in!  Ack

First the ecstasy then the laundry

For the last couple of years music has been a solitary experience, and largely an academic one.  The joy of playing out just was not there like it had been in "days of old."

Above - The Cameron Weckerley group at the

Kern County Fair c. 2007

Recently I met up with Chris McMahon through an ad on Craigslist and we took the chance to

make our first rehearsal in public at a gig at the Friendship Club.

Cameron and Chris play Georgia

It was truly a joyful experience and over far to soon and then back to reality.

Fortunately we get to do it again at Cowgirl in a couple of weeks.

I have high hopes for this duo....stay tuned for more.

Putting together the pieces of the puzzle

When I compose I tend to take fragment of things and try to put them into some kind of coherent structure.  Sometimes the art itself takes you where you do not expect to go. In the case of the currently unamed tune it seems to be bending to my will pretty much and expressing how I feel. It only comes in certain sections though. I am still working out my language both technically and aurally.

Not only am I puzzling over the pieces of musical compostion but also what life will hold in the very near future.  Dare of follow this path of private teaching?  My good friend Deedra thinks so and she is one of the brave ones who jumped into those waters and survived.

But I digress...

I am working my way through the second tune on the second album and I made the decision to use an unusual chord progression that is hopefully interesting, not jarring.

Don't forget to listen to music http://www.reverbnation.com/artist/artist_songs/599459

I will try to get a rough mix up soon for my fans.

Thanks everybody,

Cameron

Return to adventure

The weather was very odd today.  While I was shoehorning my gear into our little car the blistering cold wind blew flurries of snow around my face.   This did not bode well for a patio gig.  Nevertheless we intrepidly headed south toward Albuquerque.

I started having flashbacks to the old, old days when I was first gigging and traveling long distances in rickety, drafty vehicles that you were never sure were going to get you to the gig.  The early spring wind was continuously blew the car from side to side.   It had been a long time since Patti and I had gone adventuring, but this certainly qualified.

The weather continued to be extremely odd as we continued down the hill.  At the bottom of La Bajada hill the snow got fairly thick and the sky was dark, along with the wind.

Once we got to the bottom of the hill into Albuquerque it was still moderately cloudy but the sun came out warmly for long periods of time.  Even so a considerable amount of snow was blowing horizontally across the road.

Eventually we navigated our way to Il Vicino.  We were over an hour early and got to seat down and have a great meal and check out the preceding act.

Jake Bowles is a very talented young man who plays keys, guitar, throat and writes some of his own material.

If he keeps at it he will go far.  It is good to see a younger generation of musicians stepping up to eventually take the place of us old guys.

I was happy with the way I played as well.  That slow, careful practice routine I have been on is beginning to pay off in my playing a fair amount.   The downside was that the time slot alloted for my set was not particularly advantageous.  Although Jake had played for the lunch crowd, things had cleared out considerably by the time I went on.  This was nobody's fault in particular it just cut into my projected CD sales. I had considered selling four to be an optimistic estimate and I sold exactly zero.  Bummer, I really needed the spending money!  Oh well, next time.

I would highly recommed Il Vicicno in the Heights  . The event was well organized,  the service was friendly and the food was excellent.

Looking at how threatening the sky was looking in the direction of Santa Fe we decided not to stay and see the next act, bummer.

The ride home was indeed an adventure with a high-wind advisory in effect our overloaded carlet got blown all over the road.  But, one more time we made it home in one piece.  Another successful adventure concluded. 

One little victory

This Sunday, May 1st will be my first real live gig in a long time.  I have been practicing my ass off.  But, it is interfering with my writing and thus my online standing.  The internet has an insatiable appetite for fresh content, so if you take a pause in writing people begin to forget about your really fast.

Working on sensual forms on LA time

Some of you who follow my music may wonder why nothing new has come out in the last couple of weeks.  What have I been up to.  For one thing some of my tracks are in LA getting guitar tracks put on.

The other project that has been taking my attention is a long-from composition commissioned by Patti (Dagni Rose) Weckerley. She is looking for a very specific type of sensual music to market at part of her website.

The piece of music presented as is on Reverb Nation is a shortened version of the full 20 minute piece.  The purpose of the piece, as previously stated, is to groove, but be non-obtrusive during sensual activities.  You can stream the piece and others here.  I would be most interested in feedback if anybody tries it out.  Thanks.

Cameron

The finishing of "Rio Grande Cryin"

At long last "Rio Grande Cryin" is packaged and ready to ship.  A couple of copies have already found their way out into the world.  It turned out to be quite a lovely DIY project.   My lovely wife Patti was kind enough to find the perfect image to license and work with me on designing the inner and outer cover.  Her help was invaluable.

Of course I want to give thanks and props to Michael Ferenci and Raul Duarte.  Ferenci contributed a number of great guitar and bass tracks on this collection and also did a fair amount of production work.  Mr. Duarte took a tune "Winter in Santa Fe"  which had a great guitar solo on it, but was otherwise lackluster, and turned it into a gem with a live bass line and some great production techniques.

The purchase of a "light scribe" drive allowed us to finish off the project with some stock lettering burned into the disc which looks pretty cool.

Be sure to visit my website at www.cameronweckerley.com for more info and fun stuff.

Album Cover Cunnundrm

One of the hardest things in the music business, besides choosing a name for a band, is album cover design.

Since the name of the album is "Rio Grand Cryin'" in honor of Paul and the Adams family.  They had great tragedy befall them last year through none of their own doing.  So, the album cover should have something to do with the Rio Grande, or with Paul I guess.  

Here is one possible idea for a background

Off with their heads!

It is a well known fact by now that the traditional music industry has lost its grip, both  literally and figuratively.  Literally, in the sense that no one in the high-rises of power has been able to come up with a viable business model for the 21st century.  Figuratively, in the sense that they are going after the "common man" in a ridiculous manner, suing soccer moms for fabulous sums because they illegally downloaded one to many files off the internet.  Not that I condone this behavior, I do not, but let's get real folks.  Now the preceding statements are nothing new; they have been chewed, re-chewed and spit out like so many chicklets at a smokers anonymous meeting.  What is not so well discussed among average music lovers is the industries' loss of power as gatekeepers and taste makers.

Until the advent of the internet we heard what we were told to by the powers that be, and the only artists to get heard were the ones lucky enough to squeeze through that tiny eye of the needle called a record contract.  The A&R folks, the record company owners and disk jockeys literally held the keys to the kingdom.   These pre-filters did the music lover a dubious service by sifting through a lot of crap and mediocre material to deliver the "good stuff"  to the listeners.   Ahhh, but here in lies the rub-by, by what standard is the "good-stuff" judged and who gets to make those decisions.

In these post-filter days where anyone with a home recording set-up and an internet connection can have instant global distribution the power has been delivered back into the hands of the people.  In my little town of Santa Fe (pop. 70,000) alone there are, by my count, over 400 musical artists with a web presence.  To find new music I like I do have to wade through a lot of stuff I do not like, but I get to make the decision what to listen to. That is a truly beautiful thing.

The traditional music industry has its head on the chopping block and I say, "off with their heads."

Music and the Buddhist Mind

I have, for many weeks now,been following the path to practice outlined in Kenny Werners book,  "Effortless Mastery."  The hardest part for me has been getting into what is basically a Buddhist mind set.  I don not pretend to be an expert on Buddhism - but the basic tenet of emptying ones mind and working on he exercices until mastery is acheived holds.  The stickiest part, at least for me, is not holding expecations and doing he work free of desire.

Related to the above thought I wanted to put he latest recording I posted on Reverb Nation.  I was playing a volunteer piano gig at he retirement home and on a whim I brought my MP3 recorder along.  I was actually rather pleased when I played the tracks back.  Some of my bad playing habits are still apparent, but not nearly as bad as they were before I started down this new path.

Thanks again for listening,

Best,

Cameron

Volunteering

On Thursday I played a volunteer piano gig at Rosemont retirement home I really did not want to do it, but it was contrary action which payed off.  In terms of pure therapy it was almost as good as burning down a set of twisties on the R.  I played standard solo piano jazz for an hour.  The residents seemed most receptive, and it was a good chance to try out in the real world what I had been practicing at home for some time now.

In terms of self analysis I did the best I could to objectively assess what level of progress had been made.  I know I have mentioned it many times in my blog before I am sticking as close as possible to the Kenny Werner method of making progress very slowly but completely.

From a spiritual sense I still have a long way to go to be able to slip into "the zone" under pressure.

After the gig I got the grand tour of the the Rosemont facility and had a very fine lunch with a resident who is a big jazz fan.  Oscar Peterson is his favorite artist - no pressure there.  His story seemed alarmingly sad and had a  certain amount of bizarre randomness to it.  It is so hard to know though because these elderly situations often involve another point of view.  Having an elderly parent myself who is showing signs of dementia I am very interested in these kinds of cases.

Anyway, I will be going back next week to do it again.

Thanks for reading this and I do my best to keep my friends and family informed.

Obsession

I admit it, I am obsessed.  Which, in my case, I think is a good thing.  I am obsessing about this tune I am composing dedicated to my friend Paul who regular readers of this blog will remember has a son who was recently horribly wounded.   With that aside out of the way I need to say that in my case obsession and focus does not come easily.

It takes a long time to for me to really get in the groove of a project.  In this case it has been slightly easier because I really want to present this project to my friend.  Another reason I am so involved in this project is that it expressed something I was unable to express in words.

Hopefully I will be done in the next couple of days and can post the completed tune.

Video Vibes

I always work better and more productively when I have a specifc project and deadlines.   Ever since I made the decision several months ago I gave myself the task of making an album.    Doing a project of this nature not only gives me some direction, but also force me to work on my chops but also write some tunes, etc. 

The strange thing is that during this time I was commissioned four separate times to do videos for Santa Fe BMW motorcycles.

2010 BMW track event remix

BMW S1000RR on the track with GoPro

Jemez Springs shop ride

Shootout in the southwest

As with most "coincidences"  these assignments turned out to be extremely good for me artistically.  You can see and hear the progression of skill level if you check out the videos from last to first.   Thanks BMW    whoooooo hoooo..........................

Balance

Interesting how the pendulum of change is ever swinging. It has been a long time since I have had anything meaningful to do with music. In fact I was sick of it, done. Just as I was sick of teaching. However, a hook always remained in my soul, occasionally tugged on by people have been dear to me for a long, long time.

During our time in Phoenix, a few musical things came out, in slow erratic and tortured, tiny advances.

The video below was one of the better examples...it was actually a complimentary effort with the disciplines I was learning at MMI. It was the first time I had truly embraced the ideas of Kenny Werner and his "Effortless Mastery" techniques. Although simple in technique the piece was worked through slowly and carefully and with something burning to be said. Listening to it a year later is has, for me, power and meaning.

But I digress, as I was saying the last few years I have been obsessed with motorcycles and travel and writing and once again fame. Now, working long hours at Santa Fe BMW Motorcycles I feel my life being absorbed by a life I am finding less and less attractive.

After two years of the agony of cognitive dissonance between exactly what course of action to take, i.e. travel writing or music.  With limited time available it seems like I can pursue only one in addition to my work duties.

It seems, however, that the time has come to pursue music once again after all.   I am guided in in this preliminary assessment by the evidence that a tiny bit of energy put forward in the direction of music recently (See previous post) has brought some more opportunities.  Getting ready for this next opportunity has taken most of my energy for the last few days, including most of my precious weekend and I am already feeling on the edge of burnout.   This new enthusiasm for music is therefore fragile and requires me to proceed with balance.

Not my strongest suit, but I will keep you posted