The Sounds of Music (Lady Gaga and All That Jazz)

Tuning in a little late last evening to the 2015 Oscar Awards, I was somewhat surprised to hear that Lady Gaga would be performing. And not because she wouldn’t be representative of what’s definitely current in my industry, but not exactly whom I would think Hollywood’s elite would embrace for their most elegant evening.

And there she was in the splendor of that moment, taking on what most singers would shy away from out of the necessity of not being able to remotely hit half the notes, and she sang…her heart out…and did so with excellence. Social Media ran amuck with everything from comments slaying Gaga’s performance and considering it an abomination, to the highest praise of anything a singer has ever attempted since Aretha singing opera on the Grammys when Pavarotti fell ill the day of…

Panning for Gold

One of my earliest childhood memories is of sitting on the living room floor in front of a black and white t.v. set watching the GRAMMY Awards and dreaming that I would one day make my own acceptance speech for that piece of gold. And while my childhood dreams have given way to the real understanding of exactly what winning a GRAMMY means…and what it doesn’t…there’s still something to be said for the influence of the most highly regarded music icon in the world…

Proud to be an American

I remember the flight home from my very first trip to China like it was yesterday. Not because there was any kind of in-air emergency, mechanical failures or terrorist threats. But because I was sitting in the privileged first class cabin with obviously wealthy American businessmen for nearly sixteen hours, forcing plenty of alarms to […]

When Artists Jump

I’m sitting here listening as CNN Live reports on the unfortunate suicide of Robin Williams—a comedian and actor I absolutely loved because of his intelligent wit, infectious energy, and reported huge heart—and I can’t help but think to myself, there goes another one. I grew up being a different kind of kid who never really […]

Is Auto-Tune Really the Devil

Of all the plug-ins and software tools we use to create music these days, none has been more controversial than Auto-Tune. Whether one claims to be a purist or not, the reality is Auto-Tune is here to stay. And for some, it is as much a part of making records as writing a good song. […]

The Music of Business

“Where did we go wrong?” seems to be the proverbial question that record company executives are begging in this day of business recession and that of a bleeding economy. The most hard hit, of course, would be those top heavy labels who continue to lose focus on the very essence of their economics – the […]