4th of July at the San Diego County Fair

Well, it's been almost a year since I last updated the blog. Since then, I've finalized my CD (including a professional remix), released it (if you can call a home-made job an official "release"), fought through a bout of carpal tunnel syndrome (and kicked it's ass with acupuncture), got back in touch with a few old friends, dabbled into (and fell in love with) the Ukulele, and played at The Big One, the SAN DIEGO COUNTY FAIR. Yes, I scored a gig on the busiest night of the year, the 4th of July. I played on the Flower Show Stage, and it was a rousing success.

I played for about an hour and I was totally relaxed and prepared with my setlist. I even wrote 5 new songs and I ended up playing 4 of them during the gig. My whole family attended and danced up front through the whole gig. Took a bunch of pictures and even got some songs recorded on video. They can all be checked out here:

http://mikelewismusic.us/sdcf070406.html

I played on my beloved Hummingbird (aka The Bird) and I really felt I came into my own. I knew that I would be alright. A few months ago I played at an open mic at Lestat's Coffee House in Normal Heights, and I got a lot of positive feedback from that short set. I knew it was time. This gig really showed me that I can do this and be somewhat successful, at least be able to hang in there and perform as a singer-songwriter. This has always been my dream as long as I can remember, to be able to write and perform my own songs. It's been a long road to get here, but I feel that the long road was the logical one for me given my past and just the way my life has gone. I feel like I'm just starting to hit my prime and the best is yet to come. Thanks to The Lord for watching over me and giving me these gifts. I hope I can act responsibly with them.

ezFolk Artist of the Week

Wow. I spent the past week as ezFolk.com's "Featured Artist of the Week". ezFolk.com is the website that I house my music, and is hosted by Richard Hefner, a fine gentleman and a champion of acoustic music. ezFolk is all acoustic, and features some of the best independent acoustic artists who play banjo, mandolin, fiddle, ukelele, and acoustic guitar. There are many genres of acoustic music represented on this site, and everyone is very talented.

This honor bestowed upon me was very flattering as I respect everyone that puts music up on ezFolk. There are a lot of very, very talented artists on ezFolk, and quite honestly, I just look at myself as a face in the crowd. Nonetheless, it was nice to be recognized for my efforts. I never deluded myself with any thoughts that I was a good singer or a good guitar player, but I have absoulte, 100% faith in the songs that I write, always have and always will. I stand behind my songs and I know that I am a good songwriter. I'm really happy that this recognition served to get my music out there for people to listen. ezFolk Featured Artists tend to get a lot of listens during their featured week, and it was no different for me - this past week I have received almost 1200 listens between the 12 songs I have posted, so I'm averaging about 100 listens per song this week as the Featured Artist.

My week will end tomorrow at 5pm PDT, but it was a great ride. I was on Cloud 9 all week, and it's an honor I'll never forget. I feel that this has been a big milestone in my musical life, and a big corner has been turned. It's been a good year so far. A real good year.

My ezFolk site can be viewed here

Halfway Home - new recording posted

Well, I've been busy recording. This week, I decided to record my favorite personal tune, "Halfway Home", a song I wrote about my oldest daughter Mackenzie. When she was 1 year old, I wrote this introspective tune about reaching middle-age. My perspective was that before Mackenzie, I had always viewed myself as the indestructible-perpetual-youngster. After Mackenzie was born, suddenly I was concerned about the rest of my life and whether or not I'd always be there for her. I also noticed that time seemed to just be speeding by the older I got, but even moreso after Mackey was born.

So I crystallized that notion and basically wrote the lyrics to "Halfway Home" in under an hour. The music, however, has been a work-in-progress pretty much since it's birth in late 2001. When I gave up the band life and became a solo artist, I reworked the music into what I feel it's best incarnation.

I recorded it this week, and I am very proud of it. George Martin I'm not, but for a guy who's just learning to use a home-recorder, I feel I'm doing ok, especially with the version of "Halfway Home".

I mixed it three separate times. When recording it I wanted to have a track that featured Mackenzie and her little brother Adam. When I first wrote "Halfway Home", I recorded a crude demo on a boom-box, and when I finished, little Mackenzie was climbing up my leg going "Daddy, Daddy". It made it onto the recording, and it sounded so cool, as if she knew it was about her; it just seemed so perfect. When CenterAisle (the band I was in at the time) played at the Del Mar Fair in 2003, my family attended. We played "Halfway Home", and as I was finishing the last verse, Mackenzie came up to the stage, looked at me and started saying "Daddy, Daddy", just like that first crude demo. I finished the song in tears.

Anyway, I wanted to attempt to recreate it even though I know it would really be spontaneous, I felt it needed to be part of the recording. So, when I finished laying down the vocal and guitar tracks, I brought Mackey and Adam into the room and had them record "Daddy, Daddy" over and over at the end of track 7. It sounded good, and I proceeded to mixdown. I didn't realize it at the time, but I forgot to disconnect the mic, so it picked up what I like to call "Beautiful Noise".

When I listened to the mixdown, at the end there's a little ruckus going on: Adam walks in with a toy hammer, banging on the wall. He proceeds to try to climb the mic stand, I tell him that it will hurt him, and he says "I'm not" as in "I'm not going to get hurt". Then Mackenzie says "Hey Adam, let's go build it, let's go build a house". It's all caught, and it's like magic. Mackenzie and this song will always be tied to the hip.

The "Beautiful Noise" version, however, was crudely mixed. The vocal was buried and there was too much reverb. I kept it anyway and posted it on my ezFolk site, it's called "Halfway Home - Beautiful Noise version" and you can listen to that version here. Make sure you listen closely at the end. Because all of that "Beautiful Noise" was recorded on the mixdown and not on any individual track, I can't incorporate it into any new mixdowns. So, this "Beautiful Noise" version is a one-off I'm afraid, but it's definitely a keeper for that magic moment at the end.

The official version can be accessed here. The "Daddy, Daddy" portions are featured prominently at the end. Someday, if I can extracate the "come on Adam, let's go build a house" portion out of the first mix, I will definitely use it. I'm sure someday I'll have a tool that will be able to do that. But for now, I'll just enjoy the "Beautiful Noise" version.

I hope you like it. Both versions.

New Recording Posted

I finally bought the 8-track recorder I was looking to buy, the Tascam DP-01FX. Good little unit, has a 40GB hard drive and a USB port so song transport is easy. Over this past weekend I toyed with it and came up with my first home-recording, "Hawks and Doves". You can listen to it here.

I ended up getting a Baggs Element acoustic pickup installed in my Gibson Hummingbird. While I still feel it will be a somewhat useful tool (especially for live performances) I am a bit disappointed in it for recording. The tone was not quite what I was looking for, it almost was electric sounding. If I want to use it as a primary tone for recording, I think I will need some kind of EQ box for it.

I tracked four guitar tracks onto the recording. Three of the tracks were recording direct from the 'Bird using the Baggs. The fourth track I mic'd the 'Bird with my Shure SM-57 mic, and that was the sound I was looking for. The mic'd track is the primary guitar track, and the other three tracks are mixed low - they provide some good backing tracks and give the song some "beef".

Listening to "Hawks and Doves" in my car, the guitar sounds really, really sweet in tone. There's a residual tone that almost sounds like an accordian behind the strumming. I love that Hummingbird, definitely the best instrument I own.

I will post more here as I record new songs. I am hoping my skill improve in recording as I move forward. But for now, I'm doing what I hoped I would do, record my original tunes. Hopefully I can mix in some live dates too.

Planning to Record

I'm sick of being sick. Had to take off work today because my throat hurt so bad. Took a long nap, and that seemed to do the trick. Just getting some rest made me feel better. My kids have been sick all week, and I have been teetering on sickness myself, and it finally got me. Not sure if I'll take work off tomorrow, depends on how I feel.

Been impacting my practicing as it hurts to sing. I started working on fingerstyling. I want to try to practice that in earnest the next few weeks, mixing it in with my current regimen of practicing pieces of my setlist. My short-term goals right now are a) practice and b) record.

I received a recording of my last gig at the Metaphor and I posted them on my site at ezfolk.com. Click here to listen to my tunes from that night.

I plan on purchasing a 8-track Tascam really soon. I have about 16 songs to record and I plan on tracking them all. I'm going to start with recording each tune as a scratch (vocal and guitar). Then I plan to re-do the rhythm guitar track on all tunes. Once that's down, I will decide if there needs to be a second guitar added. Hopefully, that's where the fingerstyle will help out. I don't think I'll be using fingerstyle on all tunes as an embelleshment, but we'll see. It will be a time to experiment. I'll add the vocals last. My vocals are my weak spot, hopefully I can take a measured approach on that and be successful.

Really happy with the guitar. I'm on the fence as to whether I should put some amplification inside the Hummingbird. If I do, it's down to either the K&K Pure Western or the Baggs I-Beam. I'm leaning toward the I-Beam, if I decide to amplify at all. I thought it might be a good tool to have for recording, but I really love the genuine sound of the Hummingbird mic'd, so I'm starting to have my reservations about modifying the 'Bird. If I decide to play out it might be good to have the onboard electronics, but I'm not sure if I can't just go with the mic since I play solo and I don't need to be very loud. For now, I think I'll hold off, but we'll see.

The Debut of MikeLewisMusic

Well, I did it. I had my first gig as a solo artist. Last night I joined my good buddy (and former bandmate) Ed De Caro for a show at our usual haunt, The Metaphor Cafe in Escondido. It had been my first appearance onstage since October of 2004 (playing bass for With Intent) and my first solo guitar appearance since 1988 (I played (horribly) at an open-mic at the old Spirit (now Brick-by-Brick) nightclub).

I had been practicing pretty religiously every night. My guitar playing has improved immensely in the past 5 months or so that I have been focusing strictly on guitar. My voice, though still needing work, is not betraying me too often it seems. Playing solo on acoustic guitar, I feel I become one with the music, thus making it easier for me to sing. Playing the bass and trying to sing along with a loud noisy band was too distracting. Doing the solo-acoustic thing seems much more natural and comfortable for me.

So anyway, I arrived a little late at the Metaphor. We both agreed that we each play two 30 minute sets, for a total of approximately 2 hours or so. Ed started out with the opening set (since I arrived after 7pm due to work logistics). As I came in, I could hear Ed's rich voice and pretty harmonica adorning Neil Young's "Heart of Gold". As I trudged in admiring Ed's work, I wondered how I was going to be able to follow that. Ed played very well.

Ed played until about 7:40 pm or so, then it was my turn. Since I arrived late, I had to set up. I took my trusty Gibson Hummingbird, placed the soundhole pickup in, and plugged into the Metaphor's direct box to the board. I strummed, but the soundman could not get a sound. I examined the direct box, and to my surprise it was a passive box, which means that it was not powered (in other words, plugged into a wall) so it did not have enough juice to push the sound from my passive pickup. I had an active direct box, but time was ticking away, so we just grabbed Ed's vocal mic and mic'd the Hummingbird. Luckily there was no feedback, and off I went.

I had a setlist of my originals, but no real game plan except my opening and closing numbers. I opened with my theme song "MikeLewisMusic", which segued directly into "Hawks and Doves". My closing tune, as planned, was "Headin' North" which segued into the reprise of "MikeLewisMusic" - both opener and closer worked nicely together. I pulled both off with nary a hitch, and I found myself surprisingly relaxed and even comfortable. While preparing for this gig, I found that all of my originals (about 17 of them) put together was about one hour and a few minutes. But, I did not account for the fact that I would be so chatty during the gig. I found myself actually introducing each tune with a story behind it. Wow, I was surprising myself.

I also liked the fact that I could keep my voice relatively low - this helped me with my pitch control and also with dynamics. Singing in a band, I often had to strain and even sometimes scream to be heard, but not last night. It was a pleasure to be able to treat my voice as an instrument and not a horn for once. Now I'm not even close to being a good singer, but I felt I served myself well.

One thing I got out of the gig was affirmation that this was my musical destiny. I always fancied myself as a writer first and foremost, with my main outlet being songwriting. Focusing on the bass all these years seemed to sidetrack this though, as it was my preference to sing my own songs. Feeling inadequate as a guitarist made me suppress my songwriting desires. As I've written in previous blogs, the circumstances that forced me to quit bands turned out to be a huge blessing, and last night reaffirmed this for me.

My guitar playing, though not where I want it to be, was acceptable, and I think I have the potential to put my own stamp on what I do. I have been playing pretty much in Open E tuning, and I've been developing little licks, tricks, and whatnot to enhance my sound. My only bane has been sore fingers. Now that the gig is under my belt, I'm going to take a few days off from playing just to heal (really, I am!).

The Gibson Hummingbird sounded and played beautifully. It looked good too. I love that guitar.

Thanks to Ed for letting me play last night. Our plan to do two 30-minute sets each kind of got thrown out, I think we both kind of got caught up in the moment and played a little longer on each set then anticipated. We ended the show after my set. Ed is a great guy and a great friend, and although I can't play in a band with him, this is the next best thing, which is continuing to share a musical experience with him.

Gigging Again - and catching up

Well, it's been awhile. Let's get caught up.

First thing's first - my mother, Sachiko Lewis, died on January 30, 2005. She was 75 years young. She suffered a massive stroke which pretty much destroyed all motor activity. She lasted two days before she passed away peacefully in the night. All-in-all, she lived a good life and had two sons whom she loved very much, and who loved her equally back. I will miss her dearly, but she lives on in my heart...

Musically, I am going to be gigging again. My good friend, and former bandmate, Ed De Caro decided to start playing solo as a singer/guitarist and procured a gig on March 8 at our old haunt the Metaphor Cafe. Now my plan all along was to take all of 2005 to "hone my craft" so to speak, but Ed approached me about sharing the bill that night. Ed has a way about him that causes me to be nudged into a certain direction, and that's a positive thing. My creative juices started flowing again, and I agreed to do it.

I have about 16 original songs, with about 1/3 of them I need to memorize. So I have work to do, the gig is a little over two weeks away. No worries, I think I have enough time. My set amounts to about an hour's worth of material, so we think we can pretty much split the load that evening. Format is to be determined, and I will just follow Ed's lead as this is really his gig and I consider myself a guest on the bill. I'll take however much time he gives me.

This will be a good gauge as to where I am at. The pressure will be minimal as a) I will have a friendly face out there in Ed, b) it's a Tuesday night and I don't expect much traffic and c) it's the Metaphor, my favorite place to play. I consider the Met my "home turf", so hopefully I won't be too nervous playing up there all by my lonesome.

I'm hoping this goes well, if it does, I may have the courage to hit up some open mic gigs aroung town. Lestat's, Just Java, and many other coffee houses has an Open Mic. And if I do ok, maybe I'll play the Met again, if they let me. We'll see...

Anyway, I'm stoked about this and I'm praying my voice and playing holds out ok. I'm really a rookie when it comes to singer-songwriting, but I really love writing and performing my own tunes. If I can pull this off it will be a dream come true. I hope that I have enough foundation to build upon for future playing. I do know I am still in need of work, but I'm hoping I can pull it off.

I have been playing exclusively in Open E tuning, and I find my voice is best suited within the key of F-Sharp, which is a capo on the 2nd fret. I love playing the open tuning because it makes it real easy to play licks while resolving the notes against the open chording.

Well, I'll write back with any updates, and for sure after the gig. I hope I have good news to report.

And one last thing, Ed is also playing drums again with a local group called "Arroyo" and I managed to catch them tonight at the Metaphor. Bunch of good guys, they play all original music, and they sound really good. Ed's drumming is top notch, and his style meshes well with this group. I plan on catching them again in the future.