Long Awaited Update?

Hello Kind Reader,

It's been quite a while (again) that I've written anything here. But, here's what's going on lately...

50/90 is currently on-going and I'm having great difficulties getting to the tasks of creating music. I think it's that I feel a little guilty being out of work. You know, "How can you put time into that when you have a job to find?". I'm trying to work out all the demons and get something written though. Check out my latest efforts here.

A couple of non-musical items:

My lovely daughter, Chelsea, flew off to New York City yesterday to pursue a career in stand-up comedy and acting. She had Trader Joe's transfer her to the new Manhattan store and has a temp. place to stay until she finds a room. Watch for her, she will successful!

My friend Grego got a job at Nike up in Oregon and left yesterday to start work and find a home to buy.

Everyone's leaving!

So here's what I'm thinking: I've been toying with the idea of starting voice acting classes and try to get into voice overs. I already have a studio and many connections in the entertainment biz, so this wouldn't be too much of a stretch. There is a ton of competition out there, but you never know. I'll let you know how it goes...

Lucky Man

Every once in a while, I get these really lovely little inspirational stories from Derek Sivers, who is more and more becoming a hero of mine. He is probably best know as the founder of CD Baby. Lately, he just does what he wants in an entrepreneur kind of way. A music business folk hero.

All of his stories and ideas really gets me thinking of all the wonderful things that have happened to me when I decided to put some time into music. I am truly a lucky man.

It started for me way back in 1993. I was on the toilet reading the latest copy of Acoustic Guitar Magazine. There was a small ad near the back of the magazine for Bread and Roses, a small non-profit organization that provides live entertainment to folks in institutions. Up until then, I had just played guitar and sung for myself and family and friends. I felt that I needed to take things to the next level and getting a little gig with B+R might just do it. I answered the ad and got an audition. I couldn't believe it! On the day of the audition, I took the day off work - I wouldn't have been able to think. I was really nervous, but I practiced those cover tunes until my fingers hurt.

When I got to the Bread and Roses offices in Mill Valley, they put me in a conference room at a very large table. The two interviewers sat on one side, and I sat on the other. I played those tunes so well, but my nerves got the best of me and they could see it. So they said, "At this time, I don't think we can use you." My heart sank. Then, they said, "But your enthusiasm makes us want to use you in some way, would you be interested in 'hosting' other musicians at these shows".

So that's what I did for about 3 months - until they had a performer that canceled a show at the last minute. They called and asked if I'd step in, and that's how I started performing at hospital, day care centers, and psych wards around the Bay Area. That was 17 years ago. It was this ongoing gig that inspired me to start writing my own songs.

NOTE: I have been a very lucky man in many other ways as well, all due to my association with Bread and Roses. I have met some pretty amazing folks and been backstage with some notable musical luminaries. Really! Look for those stories next...

Back from Hawaii

Aloha.

I just spent a lovely week on the Big Island in the small rural town of Makapala on the North Kohala Coast. We got a nice Vaction Rental using VRBO and stayed in big house down a hidden little dirt road. It was very quiet and secluded with a view of the ocean. What a drag to come back to reality and have to sit in a cubicle all day... but I digress.

Whilst there, we happened on a little retail shop called Just Ukes. They don't have a website, so here's the info:

79-7412 Mamalahoa Highway
Kealakekua, HI 96750
(808) 322-0808

I bought a nice Lanikai Baritone Uke for $175 ($205 out the door with the soft case)
There's a picture of it up there. I've already recorded a little piece on our camera while we were still in Hawaii. It's got a nice tone and it will be incorporated into my general setup and when I play with the band.

Acoustic Guitar Magazine

I've had a little good fortune here... A couple months ago, Acoustic Guitar Magazine (String Letter Publishing) contacted me through e-mail that they had seen a photo of me that Jane took while I was recording some music. We were staying in a vacation rental in Cambria, CA (down near the Central Coast). It was late in the afternoon and the light was very nice for a photo. Anyway, they asked me for permission to use that photo, my name and a quote for an ad campaign for their 20 years of publishing Acoustic Guitar.

In anticipation of this little bit of free exposure, I changed my website to something a little more streamlined. It was an easy design process through my Reverb Nation account. They are now hosting philbearce.com. Check it out.

Family

I just figured out how to take old VHS tapes and convert the video on there into DV files that I can store on a hard drive. More to the point, that digital video can be used and edited in bits and pieces in Final Cut. But as I sat there in a nerdy haze creating content, I had to watch the tape as it was streaming in. My face hurt from smiling at the stupid antics of 5 siblings with their wives and children hole up in a cabin in 2002. The uncomfortable people dynamics and weird family jokes that aren't funny to anybody else but this group of people linked by genes and living together for a time.

This was the perfect project to do as I shift into hyper-songwriting mode. I've straightened the spare room/studio up a bit and started pulling out the microphones and headphones. All that family video got the creative plasma to start coursing through the writing muscles and I'm starting to think like a songwriter. Everything in front of my eyes is fair game as I make up little stories and fantasies using people I know and see as the characters.

Well, that's the plan, anyway, But it never really works that way. It's an organic thing, it is what it is. Watch this space - I'll post some songs here from my output at FAWM.

19 Days from now: FAWM

It is closing in on that time of year when an old man's fancy turns to writing and producing 14 demos in front of an eclectic community of songwriters around the world. It is a phenomenon called FAWM. February (is) Album Writing Month asks us to write and share 14 songs in the 28 days of February, (29 in leapFAWM), a task that gets easier every time that I do it. There is another challenge calle 50/90 that I have done as well (26 and 24 songs respectively), so writing 14 is pretty easy for me.

But it is a challenge, nonetheless, and I am looking forward to the collaborations and listening to the output of all my "watchlisted" friends there. - My FAWM page: phylo

15 Days Into 50/90: 5 Songs

Well, three actual demos with lyrics, and two lyrics with no music yet. Perhaps I can record something this weekend. I haven't been able to record in either GarageBand or Logic Express - for some reason I get the "beachball of death". (Mac version of the blue screen...) I can program loops and playback already recorded files, but it will not let me add a real instrument. I figgered that it's a resource issue and did some long needed administrative computer stuff. But freeing up all that memory didn't really do anything. I may have to re-load the software, butI'll research it a bit more.

My two new sets of lyrics are these: Variety Show and Francois Leared to Chachachá
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There is this web songwriting tool that I "Stumbled Upon" called Lilac Writer. It's an online songwriting tool to help you write lyrics with built-in references, organization & collaboration tools. (That's from their page). I was contacted by someone from that organization to be e-mail interviewed for their blog. I've answered the first set of questions and I'm waiting on the follow ups. Fun, huh? I really do like their site, I using it as a place to write for the 50/90 challenge. Watch this space for further development.

By the way, follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phylobeans not that I keep up with it very much yet, but I'm getting it.

I Plod Along

I seem to be at par or a little ahead of the game on 50/90! This has been rolling around in my little head for a few days. Jane and I went over to JP's for some playin' and grillin' - and he helped me sort it out a little better. This is what I came up with...

Here is my third song:
(click on the title to stream it or "save as" to download the MP3)

"call me phylo" (c) 2009 Phil Bearce

It's amazing what you can see
When you open up your eyes
Do you find that you were wearing
An elaborate disguise?

And all the folks around you
Walk around in such a daze
Assuming that you'd rather
Just have the good ol' days
_______________________________

The name that I was given
An apostle's I did share
Of the Twelve named: Phillip
It was my Mother's prayer

You can call me 'phylo'
There are structures I must draw
So I can make a living
Torn from the corporate claw
______________________________

But I can make some music
I play a mean guitar
Harmonica and mando
Underneath the evening stars

And when you come and listen
With your coffee or your beer
I'll play for you my stories
And share with you my fears

But also all my laughter
And the joys that will surround
And you'd complete the circuit
As the music comes around

No New York, but I have a new song!

Perhaps it wasn't meant to be, but my Mother's health has put the kibosh on our trip to New York. We might revisit the plans again in September, when it was originally planned, assuming she's okay enough to travel. She doesn't feel bad - except she's a bit pissed off that she had to cancel. She apparently asked the doctor if he realized just how important this trip was? Her health is much more important.

As I was growing up and learning the guitar, I started playing Crosby, Stills, Nash (and Young) tunes - after all, it was the 70's and I was rock and roll. But they had a few country-laced hits - and the one she liked was "Teach Your Children", Graham Nash's tune. I, of course, learned to play it and from that point, my Mom always asked me to play it for her. I guess it reminded her of why she had kids.

My idea was (and it still might work), is that I wanted to write a song and have my Mom and me sing it together at a recording studio during our little trip together. I will record this and leave space for her harmonies. I hope she'd be up for this - I haven't told anyone about this plan. She sang in her youth and apparently sang with Peggy Lee in NYC in her early twenties, (that woulda been in the 40's).

Here are the lyrics:

She Taught Her Children Well
© 2009 Phil Bearce

She was always there when we needed her most
The five of us are all now grown
Despite sibling jealousy we’re all real close
Prepared us for the unknown

Raised five on her own without much support
Taught us how to run in the races
She kept us safe and showered her love
The provision of her graces

We all stay on the path - no extremes
We never really raised any hell
Learned by example and fed off her dreams
And she taught her children well, lord
She taught her children well

She danced with a sailor one night on the base
He tended the bar there some nights
They dated and wed and crafted a family
And we all out fought the good fight

Time marches forward and comes to pass
Don’t you ever ask them why?
We make a world that they can live in
And watch our children grow by

We all stay on the path - no extremes
We never really raised any hell
Learned by example and fed off her dreams
And she taught her children well, lord
She taught her children well

Lead Verse - Chorus

Return of (the) Spring Jam

photo by JP

The 'Jam' returns just as the spring returns. It occurred to me that the title I gave to this event, "The Return of Spring Jam", can be used in two ways - Since I'm bringing it back, it's the return of the event. Going forward, it's be the Return of Spring' Jam - therefore I can keep it for the annual event. Good, I'm glad you're with me on this.

After all the planning and running around - and mostly getting the house together, it was totally worth it. We had about 30 people, musicians and 'listeners', crammed in our small house and spilling out into the backyard. I stressed a bit over the logistics and how everyone would be situated and whether or not they'd want to plug into something. But after a while, I started to figure that it will be what it is and what's the point of worrying about it. The musicians just started playing music - like we do. The day progressed organically and music was pouring out onto Georgia street and filtering it's way out to the backyard as well. Pictures taken by Grego and Michelle can be found here: SpringJam Pics

I also got to reconnect with a couple musical Davids that I haven't seen in quite a while. David L. and I hitched cross-country in 1975 and I've known him since the early Seventies. We worked together at Pied Piper Pies in San Diego. And David F. and I worked together at Hewlett Packard back in the Eighties, where we had a standing conference room reservation to play music at lunch on Wednesdays. Falcon and I played Fogelberg's The Reach again after a bunch of years. Funny how it comes right back. I won't lose touch my friends again.

My buddy Grego manned the two video cameras, and kept them going through most of the party. So hopefully there'll be some righteous footage of some of the finer moments. I have yet to see the tapes.

Jane and I made two kinds of chili, a vegetarian pot and a meated one as well. The veggie one took the longest - we started that around 6 in the morning. The meat version was a bit overly meated but very tasty. All the fixins' as well, cheese, onions, cornbread Madelines. We'll not use Chinet bowls again though, they got a bit soggy. There is so much of everything left - we had to freeze a bunch. We'll be eating chili for a long time to come. I wish I liked beer more, we have many bottles left.

I have so much fun playing music with my friends, I will have it again next year. It will be better as I learn from my mistakes.

Next stop: the Stinson's SUMMER JAM out in Twain Harte in July. It's a goody!

My Upcoming Trip to New York

In exactly 57 days, I will fly to Salt Lake City to join my mom for a week in New York. The itineraries are finalized and it's a done deal. I have been waiting for this trip for quite a while. A number of years ago, my mother decided that she'd like to travel with each of her children on separate trips before she can't travel anymore. In a wisdom only my mom understands, she chose to start with my baby sister, Janine, now in her late forties. They had an adventure in Costa Rica and then cruised around the Caribbean. Next it was Paul's turn. He and mom took an Alaskan cruise up the inland passage. I saw pictures of my mom standing on a glacier and in the helicopter that took them up there. Then Julie and mom went on yet another cruise. Dave had always wanted to go to Hawaii to surf. So that's where they went.

So finally it's my turn. I just couldn't subject my 83 year old mom to another cruise, so I suggested a trip to Memphis and Nashville, where I could pay my respects to legendary songwriters. But my mom countered with New York City with a side trip upstate where we can visit with her family still living there. It's a still pretty big crew, she was one of nine children. This will probably be the last time I'll see most of those folks. I haven't been there since 1966!

So here's how the trip looks:

6-19 - I fly to SLC
6-20 - Me and Mom fly to Albany. Visit the old folks in Gloversville for a few days.
6-23 - Mom and me take 4 hour train ride from Amsterdam to New York City
Empire Hotel (near Central Park and the Lincoln Center)
(I'm supposed to find a Broadway Show to see - assuming we can get tickets)
6-27 - LaGuardia back to SLC then back home.

That's it - I'm really looking forward to it. The time has been noted and approved on work calendars and I'm ready to travel one on one with my Mom.