SongsForGrownups

Well, all right. So I guess it’s time to explain, since this is actually the whole point, or at least the proximate cause, of SongsForGrownups in the first place.

I am in the process of building a (very small) recording studio and record label. It’s called Geezer? Records. I hope to have the studio up and running by springtime, and the website soon after.

In the 40-odd years I’ve been playing and writing music, I’ve never made a business of it.  I’ve toured with Baha’i multimedia and musical groups, been in bands and played pick-up gigs and concerts, made the odd money here and there, recorded in fits and starts with bands and solo, but always let the insecurity of it, and life in general, get in the way of “being a pro”.  So now (see first post) I guess it’s bloody well time to make some sort of a go at it.

I have some rough mixes of old stuff which I’ll be sharing with you, some of which I plan to bring forward and finish, and perhaps as a bonus I’ll post “progress report” mixes of selected songs as they, well, progress.  The idea is to share some of the process, and maybe, if I’m brave enough, some of the mistakes.  I hope to hear from you.  I also hope those of you who know me and have heard my music will get some surprises.

My first offering is called Aurora.  (I’m pretty sure the player works now; we’ll be fine-tuning the user-friendlies.)  It’s one of my favorites, and also one of Leslie’s, written in 1974 and recorded in the mid-’80s at Bennett House Studio in Grass Valley, California, with Paul Emery at the board and Buddy Craig at the helm.  Buddy plays electric guitar; soprano sax by Gary Upton; Marty Holland contributed the  incredible bass line, and Bob-I-forget-his-last-name (help, anyone?) supplied percussion and hammered dulcimer.  Enjoy.