Second Glances on the way
I’m currently working on an instrumental album called “SECOND GLANCES”. As a songwriter for other artists you sometimes never have, or take, the time to develop your own material. After my “wake-up call” (see previous post) I decided to focus on some of the music that I’ve written over the years that has never had a chance to see the light of day. SECOND GLANCES is an album that covers my entire songwriting journey; the earliest song on the album is from 1977 and includes stuff I’ve written from then up to now. It’s been fun to look back on these songs and try to dress them up in a new way. I have always been heavily influenced by Brazilian music so the album will contain some Bossa Novas as well as some jazz. No set release date yet…. still laying down the tracks… but I hope for a release in 2010.
You can hear one song from the album, SPRING SONG, and watch a video I shot near my home in Stockholm.
Wake-up call
Last month I underwent surgery for the first time in my life to remove a tumor, and as it turned out, my entire thyroid. Even though I was assured it was not life-threatening… you can’t stop asking yourself- “is this the end of my run?” I was lucky. It wasn’t. Plus I probably feel better now that I’ve adjusted to the hormone treatment. So now I’m trying to get started on all those projects I had put aside; you know the usual excuses…. the projects I’ll do when I have more money, when I don’t have as much work, once the kids graduate, etc.
But now I’ve decided to go forward and do it. We’ve all been affected by someone dying of cancer or some unexpected accident, and to be honest, there are no guarantees… we’ve been given this life as a gift and we need to do something with it. I hope I can live up to my promise to LIVE not just exist. For me, that means expressing myself musically and in words and by enjoying the gift of life and sharing it with others. I am thankful for all my friends and family… and even though we don’t agree on everything (in some cases, nothing) I still love you all.
So… the rest of this year I’ll be working on trying to fulfil my promise and finish all those projects and also live life in the process. I hope all of you don’t wait until it’s too late to follow your dreams… and they don’t always lead you where you think they will, but if we follow, I think our dreams will eventually lead us to the right place.
Coming soon: An Independent Man- the musical, Second Glances (an instrumental album of songs I’ve written between 1978 and now), a singer-songwriter album and hopefully more short stories and if I can pull it out of me, a novel. OK, now I’ve said it and it’s out there in cyberspace- I have to do it.
2010!
Things are already taking shape for 2010. I’d just like to take this opportunity to say thank you to a few people who have helped me over the past year: I got a lot of help with documentation and copies of newspapers for my musical, The Independent Man. I’d like to give a special thanks to Chris Meekins, Brian Edwards, and Tom & Mary Cherry for their help in this area.
Lots of things to do this year: finish the recording of the musical, script revisions, hopefully an album or two of new material… who knows?
Please keep in touch and if you’re interested in W.O. Saunders please check out the page here about the musical based on his life. My goal for this year is to get interest and funding to give the musical a staged reading or a workshop performance. If you would like to read the script or listen to the rough score please contact me.
Best,
Brian
Candle in the Window on Spotify
My Christmas album, Candle in the Window, is now on Spotify. Take a listen and get in the holiday spirit.
You can also buy the album here:
New edition of Nordic Soundscapes
Hi everyone,
The new edition of my CD feature on Nordic Wellbeing, Nordic Soundscapes, is now posted. This issue has features on
and
Check it out, sign up for the newsletter and you have a chance to win free CDs. Also, all newsletter subscribers will get a link and password for free downloads.
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