Further Along

Tyler is asleep on the family room sofa, as he was up late playing DROD, the puzzle game series in which he is heard as the voice of Halph, the precocious nephew of main character Beethro. He was then up early, cooking scrambled eggs for me and a grilled cheese sandwich for his sister. The head of Tyler's intended school should be talking to his counselor at Highline Mental Health, and will hopefully render a decision as to his enrollment this coming week. He has been trying to help out a bit more around the house, as has Kayleigh - I think they feel badly about having run me ragged over the past week.

We had the Bergs over for pizza and movies last night. You may recall my mention of Mike Berg, who played bass on the And Tears Fell Requiem CD. He and his wife have 2 little girls, the eldest of whom is one of Kayleigh's best friends. We watched the remastered Swiss Family Robinson, but were unable to finish Flushed Away before they had to go. Played Mike the rough mix of Devil's Lullaby from Requiem, and he's pleased as punch. If only he was as good-looking as punch... (you know I love ya, Mike!)

As I type this, the soft tones of Kayleigh's clarinet practice wafts through my office door from the living room. She has a great command of her practic music, with only the rarest squawk to be heard. I even walked in on her in mid-practice yesterday, lecturing Tyler about quarter notes and eighth notes as he looked on in awe.

She got full marks from the music teacher for last semester too. Meanwhile, she plays Samantha's old recorder (which is much like the clarinet in terms of technique), acoustic guitar, bass, and sings aloud to her i-river whenever she can. Not only do I see the natural music talent coming through, but I also see a real commitment to musical study. While I have a modicum of natural musical ability, I never had the patience or perseverance to study it properly - thus everything I have done has been without benefit of reading sheet music; it has all been by ear and memory.

Which brings us back to the Requiem CD. I just got back from Brian's studio, where we spent about an hour and a half going through each song and making a grid of what still needed to be done. I am pleased to report that most songs are actually good to go - all the elements are there. There are two tracks that require a vocal redo by Muriel, one that requires a short acoustic guitar riff, and one where we are going to strip out the drums altogether and just to a shaker & tambourine to make it more smooth and intimate (sorry Steven, but you knew that was probably gonna happen). So the project as a whole is a lot more "done" than I had thought!

Meanwhile, I showed Brian the CD package design I'd done for his band, Full Life Crisis. They are about to release their debut CD, and I offered my services in exchange for Brian's production on my project - I only hope it ends up a fair trade on Brian's part, because I have the feeling I'm getting the better deal.