Hello, good people!! It's been a solid month since my last post, but I'm back!!
March was a really active month for me. I performed every weekend of the month, which I didn't see coming. The Catalyst Brunch kicked things off, followed by the 2nd Saturday Art Show. Then the first two weekends that featured live performances at the East Village Farmers' Market found me playing again. It's been great getting back into performance mode. I had been away for far too long!!
I have also been at work recording my CD. I'm working with local producer Ron Faber here in Long Beach. We've cut basic tracks for 7 or 8 of my songs so far. After we have 10 to 12 tunes done, we'll head to Northridge to record vocals. The chemistry between us is good. I come from a strong R&B/gospel/pop background while Ron is from the hip-hop side. I think we challenge each other, which is a plus creatively. To date, all the songs have been my solo compositions, but he brought in an instrumental track that I'll be writing too as well. I'm also looking to re-write lyrics to some tunes written a while back with my songwriting partner back in Gary. Additionally, I am helping Ron with tracks that he's working on for other artists, bringing a more musical feel to some of his hip-hop material. It's been a lot of fun thus far!!
My brother just got married and is having the big reception in late May. I'll be heading back to Chicagoland for that event. I'm writing a song for the bride and groom, which they seem excited about. No pressure....LOL!! The music is done- now to finish the lyrics. That tends to take longer for me than composing the music.
Another project is coming up that I'm pretty excited about as well. Harville Vocal Studio will be in partnership with Catalyst Community to create an urban show choir in Long Beach. We'll be looking for 24 singers of high school age from across the city and will be holding auditions in 6 locations starting in June. Our hope is to have a group that will have all the major sections of town represented. I will be the choir director and Catalyst founder (and my great friend and roomie) Eric Leocadio will be guiding us in putting together the business structure.
So you see, it's a rather interesting time for me. I promise not to be gone so long. Talk to you again soon.
Earl
