Re-connecting With The Past

There are times in life when you think,
 "I'm done with that. No one really wants to hear this any more".

Then there are times in life when you say
"Well nearly 16 years have passed and no one's doing what I did.
So what the hey, let's see if we can still fly this plane.

So out of the storage units I pulled all my old stage gear. Anvil cases and wiring and whatever I could find.

I must say that the smell of nearly 16 years of storage and mice droppings and mold and dust were a reminder of how long it had been. There was the CMT and Sons of the Sanjaquin stickers along with a 1987 Excellence in Broadcasting sticker I got from Rush Limbaugh when he first when on the air in California and long before he became king of the airwaves and a controversial right wing character..

Would the batteries in my old controller keyboards still work? Could I figure out how to re-wire everything in the snakes and from the 48pin custom snakes I had built back then to make set up's a breeze? 12 midi cables, 1/4in. mono and st., xlr to 1/4's, splitters and more.. Well 3 days of diagrams and re-wiring and everything is back and working. holy cow.. What have I done:)

All the music from 44.1 dat files are being transferred real time into protools and re-exported as aif's.  I must say that the sound of gear has changed in nearly 20 years but much of what I did on those arrangements is more than good enough today.  

Incorporating MegaSeg as a controller software is a cool new technology and good mic's are good mic's.

My old JBL front loaded cabarets with 18's 10's and 1's with a Wbin 18" sub have been replaced.  I loved the low volume ability of those front loaded cabs for warmth and transparency in rooms under 200.

now it's all powered gear out there. 18" mackie Subs and 3way 1230's that will fill 800 seats but most likely I'll be just putting Mackie 450's ontop of the subs to keep some warmth around at low levels. I do love the smart crossovers by DBX to be able to bypass the normal Mackie sub to mid connections and be able to save them for different set ups on eq. Yea to touring companies who invented that stuff...

So now it's Lyrics... Ha. I never used lyrics for 23 years. 3 to 400 songs in my head with changes and lyrics. I never left a space on my racks for a lyric "cheat" book. Well that ain't happening no more. I forget where my glasses are when they are on my face sometimes.   I'll never forget the first time I saw Billy Joel with a 4 inch ring binder on top his grand for all the lyrics. Nope... no CRT display with scrolling lyrics for Billy. LOVE IT>.

And then choosing 100 tunes to begin with... Big choice.  I've put together about 60 to 80 so far and as I began to play them again I was freaked out at how after all these years, my hands went to the three keyboards on the racks and began playing the arrangements as well as beginning to remember the 100's of sounds and patch changes that happen throughout the songs.  I'll just say I have a lot of work to do to get smooth again working it all and singing without thinking.

And singing?  Our voices change and if we don't use them the same, they thicken. I'm singing one hour sets after a week and pretty tired on the second. Hoping to be up to 4 sets by the end of the month and also hoping i can re-develop some of the vocal whispering techniques I was so adept at doing on the down stuff to save on the voice. Not sure I'll ever sing a high G. soprano again on the Gino Vanelli stuff but Eb is where i'm maxing out today in my exercises.  

This blogging is as much for me a way to remember what I've done the last six or so years as it is for anyone else to follow. Life is such a journey of twists and turns, victories and defeats along the road to forever.  

I have my dreams to be in and old home in the Bozeman Montana area as I slow down someday. A little restaurant and bistro with a piano. Cooking high end cuisine with beautiful wines and love songs flowing every night for 30 to 50 guests. Living upstairs on top of the restaurant and bringing something special to a neighborhood.. Yea... Keep the dream alive my friends...

Where will I be playing?  Well three venues is what I'm looking at.

1. high end dining establishment. (jazz and love songs)

2. bar/restaurant combo (folk, pop, jazz,country and dance)

3. showcase clubs (original music only in an intimate setting)

4 oh yeah... worship... I still will look to take a team and do my worship events.... somewhere...

Ok, I'm back to rehearsing.  

See you soon. You can find my gigs at ctolson.com and at my linked artist "reverb nation site" 

Craigt