Spring Moons and Safe Places

Good morning, I suppose a little update is in order.

Life is good in the new tower, work is steady and spring is blooming. I’ve been chasing the moon a little in between finishing up the record. Singing a lot as usual. In my spare time over the years I’ve had a relationship with the moon, and it seems to have awakened again… and so I’ve been with her a lot this month. I will say it’s made me appreciate all the hard work I’ve done on the first Hadder record and it’s left me with a little aching and longing to complete it. Which is a pleasant feeling these long last days of the race.

Music: So where am I exactly. I’m engulfed in the instrument side of things at the moment, doing solos and structuring the remaining tracks to close it all out. “Long is the Road’ and “Dead Rabbit“ are both on the final days of their lives. When I put a 90 day limit on completing the record.. I knew it was a little longer than needed… but I did it purposefully so that I could spend some time with the moon this spring. I’m glad I did. It’s looking like it will all be done as planned. Aside from the Hadder record, other music things that are on my plate like the cover songs for “Rainbow in the Dark” and the 4th ramsay/evermore track called “Kind Winters” all are alive and well… but have taken a back seat to the top priority of completing the Hadder record. I’m assuming I’ll return to them in the coming months as I return to planned rehearsals. They both are about 50% completed on the vocal side of things… music on the cover songs still has a few days at Light Black studios… before they are completed as well. Doug tells me that they are planning a day soon to finish up guitar work and solos, soon I suppose. Perhaps if I finish all the hadder stuff earlier than expected, Ill complete a few of those as well inside the 90 day window and share them. Let me see what the moon does these coming cycles. A little side note.. Each day I sing to scales and patterns and piano phrases and in these vocal routines… things happen and songs are born and melodies created… words crafted and ideas made… I have so much material for the second record, it’s exciting. I can’t wait to get to it all.

The Novel: Well, no hurry here as words they last forever you know. The Diamonds Hadder tale is alive and well. I knew that it might sit a little while I focused more on the new tower move and the 1st Hadder record. I’ve been contemplating Lord Bane and the next chapter in the Diamonds Hadder tale. It’s time to introduce some new kings and queens into the story and to return to Lord Skinner and our fellows past the Gorgon bridges.. but I haven’t had the time to sit and draft the next events. I’m sure when I do dive back in, it will get interesting.

Thank you: For reading my words and for following along on this rather amazing journey. I’m just trying to be honest with myself, creating things that are dear to me for some unknown reason… I wonder sometimes if we are fools in life to think we have control over who we are and what we do… or was it all written in the stars long ago. Unavoidable and part of the fabric of time and space. Or not… maybe we can change the course of our lives… hmmm… like I said, I wonder. What a trick we live in… what a spell. Anyway… good luck to you today. Farewell. I’ll be under the moon working.

-j

"Did you find a place

That you thought was safe

from it all?

Somewhere after the light..

but only to find you were wrong

long is the road."

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/77466a_00d53ac1c19845c6ae7f02f227484ff1/360p/mp4/file.mp4

Video Info: A little clip from a long road. .

The land of good intentions

Image info: A design for some Hadder merch that might show up down the road.

Good afternoon, It’s Wednesday in the land of good intentions.

Record update: Yes it’s now about 75 days or so till I hope to finish this first body of work for my dear friend Mr Hadder and his bizarre symphonic request. For the last two weeks I’ve been revisiting “The Crying Game” and I do believe that that track is 99% completed now. As I suspected, work is slow trudging these foggy months and I spend a lot of time in the hills between mixes and details and African Daisey clippings. Today I return to my “Long is the Road’ track. My goal still is to finish this track up in few weeks and then whatever time I have remaining, I’ll be closing out my good old “Ballad of the Dead Rabbit” song and touching up some mixes. I think I’m on track to complete it all. Of course I have many ideas floating around my head while I work on the details of all this… Music videos for all the tracks, not traditional videos but ones that resemble my website animations. Secretly I’ve been working on such things by accident, learning the ins and outs of beat reactors and automated video FX driven my audio samples.. It’s not rocket science, as others have been using the good old beat reactor for eons already. Later down this symphony road... I can see that I’ll be faced with a dilemma when the record is done… release it myself, which means full release on all platforms, youtube videos for each song, heavy dose of monthly promo add campaigns and press releases… live shows… merch.. (which I’ve already started designing and thinking about) , or… shop it to a nice label that might do everything I could do but perhaps only better. Of course I would rather write music than be a graphic designer sales person with PR skills... but we do what we have to. I have no idea right now what I’m going to do… there is a chance that I’ll complete it and disappear in the black forest as well, a quiet escape with my pen and paper and stories to write..… you just never know. I certainly expect nothing but more work ahead of me. Other things do interest me sometimes and I do get lost in the woods frolicking with Ezra and drinking mushroom potions. I’m trying not to put to much pressure on myself, expectations can really be killers of creation. Reminding myself that I enjoy this process along the way... might seem to be a no brainer... but it is something that all artists and creators face as we all march along. A sculpture can take a while and life does happen as you chip away. To some degree you have to be an emotionless robot at times.. steering the rickety ship ahead.. without a simple spec of land on the horizon, hope can be hard to see through the fog. It isn’t all rainbows and lightning strikes, although they are out there. And so I and we all sail still.... I’m on dicey ground these spring months… clutching for old notes and wet oars. But spirits have their days and I can see an end to this first body of work. Have I mentioned that I so love to sing.

That’s all for now.

Enjoy a little 3rd video sample installment of “The Crying Game”. Beat reacted test footage to the current beach side 99% mix. I haven't decided yet if I'll be posting the final 3 tracks before the 75 day window, we'll see. Not sure it really matters, but time will tell. It always does.

-j

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/77466a_0930380216bc4929a54f3e6d77c4e04c/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Video Info: A 3rd little video montage of anime that I liked to a small audio section of the "Crying Game", beat reacted. Test footage, as I'm designing some animated lyric video techniques for the record. It's a process.

Puzzles and Rulers

Image info: Me.

Good morning, It’s Wednesday in Los Angeles. A little update today on a few things Hadder related things.

New Music: I’m inching closer to the finality of the record. Each day brings me a little closer to it. The Crying Game should be finished this week, leaving me about 8o days or so to tackle “Long is the Road” and the modification of the “Dead Rabbit” track which seems doable. The new spring tower is rather quiet at the fog rolls around the place each day. My mind is quiet too as I simplified life around the tower.

The Stargazer Crew: The 2 cover songs, “headless Cross” and “Rainbow in the dark” are still in process, I’m waiting on finished guitars for “Rainbow in the dark”, but as soon as I receive them I’ll finish up my vocals on it. Headless is just about done. I suppose it would be nice to release these soon considering the new “Dreamers Never Die” documentary is dropping. What a great title.

Little Deeper Thoughts: I should mention that I don’t really connect with a throw away world, but I’m trying. The Hadder record is more a strange dream rather than a quick conquest. At times I create new songs during my vocal routines each day, songs that are more in line with where I am today as a singer and creator, yet I’m working on completing something that feels like an older skeleton to some degree. I think that’s natural and my stubbornness is keeping me honest with this first record. It’s a body of work that is quite personal in a puzzle like kind of way and I will need closure on it before I start the next adventure. I am however very excited about record number two and the novel. The idea of real rehearsals and the business side of releasing a record also is very exciting to me in a creative virgoesc way. To me it’s another puzzle that I hope to solve. Still a part of the original Hadder foundation… hopefully I make it to the act of décor and design for this structure before I start investigating other lands. I do wonder.

The War: I’ve been watching the events unfold across the world a lot lately, feeling a connection to my Ukrainian heritage to some degree… and the people there with much bigger issues and concerns than little ole me and the record I’ve been privileged to even make. I’ve been pretty inspired by a woman there who has been reporting from here bomb shelter each day… an incredibly strong woman that I consider to be an ambassador of hope… a very bright light surrounded by a very dark time and place… in the center of uncertainty and fear. Real fear… on a level that I can’t really pretend to understand. She inspires me and the people of Ukraine inspire me. I’m not much of a political person but I am touched by humans and the lengths they go for simple notions of freedom… freedom to dream… to be themselves… without rule and without entitled dominion. We should all be so privileged to dream and to be free. I think anyway.

That’s all for now… I suppose I’ll be well into “Long is the Road’ by this time next week.

Thank you all for reading. Farewell.

-j

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/77466a_b444c8f046494b428918b79fe0566fa1/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Video Info: A 2nd little video montage of anime that I liked to a small audio section of the "Crying Game" re-design.