Darrell Mansfield & Bryan in Kenny Metcalf's Studio
Nifty Noodles
Nifty Noodles/ Relief
Nifty Noodles/ bgv's R comin back
Nifty Noodles/ Crossin' The Road........................
Nifty Noodles/ Kenny Metcalf's w/ Darrell Mansfield
Front Office, 11/26/07
They say death and disability are highly inconvenient. Well they left one thing out… taxes! Even as I continue to work on the new recording for NehoSoul, One month before Christmas and with no work to speak of in the month of November…I’ve been goin through a tax audit for the year of my divorce. Guess they saw money being transferred and accounts closed and the general upheaval that comes with dissolution.
Stress doesn’t announce itself ever… it’s just this emotional weight that you start to feel.. yer back doesn’t feel right… yer neck is tight… and yer fingers are goin numb for lack of circulation. Yer quiet more often than not and you can’t quite follow the conversations around you. That has been me in recent months. Find myself sitting in a blank stare, followed by guilt for not having any motivation to do the menial tasks around the house.
I miss writing… but it’s hard to start something when everything feels so unfinished and up in the air. God isn’t talking to me much… “avoid posing as a profound person” Oswald Chambers told me this week… well that’s something I can avoid for sure. But I read something everyday looking for insight and in roads to understanding. But there has been this long uninterrupted silence. I feel like a fly in the molasses.
But today anyway even in my lethargy.. I found almost every record the IRS was askin for.. and my paperwork seems to be close to the claims on the form… with a few questions of what will be allowed as deductions and depreciation!. Too bad I can’t take a “depreciation” on the viability of my career. 8). Releasing a record of original recordings has been a long time coming… I’m overdue I suppose…we’re just one song away at this point from having a finished compilation!
The Highlight of this month came today when I actually got someone on the phone who could help me find back bank statements and get em to me same day!. I was almost giddy to hear a real voice on the phone from Bank Of America… actually talked to someone just before that from “customer service” who just said “I don’t wanna work on this” ? …wow I didn’t know they had that choice. 8). I’m not out of the woods here yet… but today… I talked to a real person who, within minutes, found what I was asking for.
Tomorrow Phil Curry and Pastor Charlie Hill (my new favorite vocalist)… will be putting final touches on “don’t leave me in the dark”, Papa ain’t gonna quit”, and “chains”….that will leave us with one song left to record… and then we’ll be looking at mixing and mastering!
I’ve decided on an artist to put together the packaging… and he has started the process of creativity at least.
It would be a great Christmas present to have this project ready for packaging by the end of next month. We’ll see.
O.K. so there’s that… Bryan D
11/18/07 Front Office
Just got the mixed background vocals that Phil Curry recorded three days ago with Charlie Hill.. the song was “You Keep Me Coming Back”…
Man it’s nice!... really smooth vocal stacks… thick Motown flavor.. like molasses… slow flowing and sweet as they can be. The song moves effortlessly through four and a half minutes. You never get tired of the song… which is really important! 8)
I have booked Patrona Studio for Wednesday with Patty Cabrerra to improve the lead vocal now as I have to step up to keep up with the BGV’s!
We are pushing forward more so in the last couple of weeks.
I’ve spent the last week combing the countryside for an artistic compliment to this music… talked to Graphic artist Ron Taft in L.A. who does a lot of corporate work for Guitar Center and Sony Records…he also did the art for Spiderman 3. And I talked to Andrea Mistretta an artist from New Jersey whom you would recognize for her poster art for the Mardi Gras! She also did album covers for Chrysalis Records several years ago… Both are more expensive than I can really afford but I figure maybe I don’t wanna sell this music short with something less than great!....
Right now it looks as though we will probably Go with the artist who did the NehoSoul Christmas project artwork and packaging…Mark Ludena… he’s out of Nashville. He’s a night owl and we’re having trouble hookin up by phone for a concept conversation. I’m askin a lot for this idea… and Mark seems more aware of our budget constraints frankly.
O.k. So there’s that! Bryan D
11/9/07 Crossroads Christian Church in Corona, CA
It was a well advertised benefit for Lighthouse Prison Ministry in conjunction with Crossroads Prison ministry and it included the local church worship team doin some originals as well…also a local artist with his band and long about 8 oclock I came on to sing.
I opened with “you Keep Me Coming Back”…it’s a new song and unfinished…no back ground vocals as of yet… and it was the highlight song of my portion of the evening… along with several other songs from the new project… Still Dancin, Wanna Be Lonely, Chains, and I love you so…. I played only two ‘old songs”…
Strollin on the water and everything in the garden… one unplugged request ..never lied to you… and finally three songs from the Christmas project… Peace, Christmas Comes But Once a Year… and I forgot all the words after the first three lines to “what a wonderful world” but all in all it was a wonderfully fresh set and I felt renewed just a little.
Sold more product than any date all year even though most of the songs were from the unreleased record Still Dancin…it says to me that there is a crowd resonating to the newest music I have!. I’m excited about the possibilities especially in seeing the success of the new Eagles record. Old Guys can still bring it I guess… you just have to wait ten years or so… and I qualify!
The Rest of the month is slow except to focus on finishing the new project… and find the right packaging.. if you have an extra breath… pray for the artwork to be realized… something as fresh as the new music..
O.k. so there’s that… Bryan D
La Mirada, Ca 11/7/07
Building the NehoSoul project “Still Dancin”… is like building the ark it seems… how long did Noah work on that boat?
I had one last opportunity to get Darrell Mansfield in the studio with his Harmonica before he leaves for Hawaii for a six week, twenty date tour.
It was a little rushed but Kenny Metcalf’s was available on short notice this week.
Darrell is a fellow ‘Survivor’ in the music biz (and he and I go back to the early 70’s as friends) his harmonica abilities are world renown. He’s taught Jon Bon Jovi and was doing Blues Traveler’s licks before they were ever travelin... Can’t think of any blues artist living that Mansfield has not played with. And with that the song “Chains” came to mind… with the opening lines “south of a jail cell in Mississippi…” why not bring in the deep “Missippi” Blues sound.
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