Tomorrow night and Saturday I'll be playing with Nathan Fancher for a College Retreat at NC State. On Sunday, I'll be Worship Drumming (or rather I'll be playing drums for worship services) at Summit Church (Brier Creek Campus) here in Durham. Sunday afternoon I'll be playing at Emmaus Way in Downtown Durham and next Tuesday, I'll be playing with my friend Khris Weeks at St. Philips for their Talent Show and Pancake Dinner. Khris and I have been playing together with our laptops, triggering loops and sounds for a sound collage type ensemble. It's given me a chance to figure out how to use Logic Studio in a live setting, and allowed me to get more familiar with that program and other programs as well (such as Plogue Bidule and Augustus Loop).

I played drums on all but 1 of these songs, and of all the photos the record company could have chosen for this album cover, they used the one that was taken after I left the band. Ah man. What a drag!

So in case you were wondering, that is not me in the middle of the picture. That person is Rob Mitchell. He is the drummer who took over drumming duties once I left the band. He plays on Sixpence's version of "Don't Dream it's Over."

I played drums and percussion on all the songs on this ep except for the "Don't Dream it's Over" cover, which was recorded after I left the band.

I'm here in Hendersonville, TN outside of Nashville.  Not as easy to access the internet liked I'd hoped, but still I've been able to get alot done. Life goes on even when I can't connect with my beloved Twitter/Facebook/Orkut/Flickr/Typepad worlds! 

 

Watched part one of the Tom Petty documentary by Peter Bogdanvich...brilliant.  Though Tom seems real cool, I'm thinking he's gotta be pretty ruthless...the way he stood up to those lawyers made me think about my time staring down a lawyer during a negotiation with Sixpence back in the day...

 

The doc makes me want to go out and purchase all of Tom's back catalog.  Really cool stuff and I've got such a better appreciation for Stan Lynch's drumming now.  What a great player.

 

Oh yeah, and we saw that movie "Doubt" with Philip Seymour Hoffman and a bunch of other great actors.  Brilliant stuff.

 

Well, off to eat a burrito and then tomorrow back on the road!

"...Rev. Joseph Emery Pensak, RUF Campus Minister at UConn and Bifrost's executive director, and Mason Neely, producer/engineer extraordinaire, were able to put this record together with the help of over 200 musicians in 17 states who donated time and expertise to the project."

Alright...I'm here in Kansas City typing on my sister's computer when I should be asleep, or trying to get to sleep, but instead I'm compelled to write down my thoughts about today and tonight.  First off, I'm excited to be here.  We drove the course today, and it looks like it's going to be a challenge.  Of particular interest is this spot between mile 12 and 13 where we couldn't figure out the route (we weren't using very detailed directions).  Basically it looks like a straight up climb...almost as steep as the big hill behind the golf course on the Duke Cross Country loop that I've been doing my long runs on, except it's a really big hill - like 10x's as long.  Surely we'll be getting to the top of that hill differently tomorrow, but you never know.  Best to prepare for the worst...I guess, and hopefully there'll be some switch backs involved so we're not going up the hill in a straight line.  Oh, the name of the road is Summit. Fitting don't you think?

I'm also relieved and jazzed to have found a coffee shop around mile 18.  It's a local roasting company, and though the place looks like a small restaurant, my sister was thinking it probably has some sort of counter service where I could pop in and grab my (soon to be a tradition) small, watered down, iced coffee to reward me for getting to 18 miles and to give me a boost of caffeine for the remaining 8.2 miles.

Pre-race drama:  my family came up from Branson and are running the 5K portion of the race, and so there were some logistics to work about when to be at the starting line, where their hotel was and what time to wake up etc...normal stuff I suppose, but when you put us all in a room, we've all got our own answers, and it can get a bit tense to reach consensus.  And then their was the tech support phone call I received about an error message from Apple when downloading a movie from iTunes.  I told the caller to find an answer by Googling the error code (which is how I found the answer when the same problem happened to me) but there was no answer to be found.  Just a bunch of message board posters complaining about how the same thing had happened to them.  Bad form Apple!  Basically what was supposed to be a relaxing movie night, turned into an hour plus of anxiety-ridden trouble shooting.  Not a great way to spend a Friday night. 

Despite the drama, I feel like I'm doing pretty good.  Holding it together, not letting the drama distract me from being focused and relaxed.  I'm looking forward to a fun race tomorrow, though most of it appears to be uphill.  Still, I'll be running through some beautiful neighborhoods, and seeing some wonderful architecture - that Sprint Center is a site to behold, so if I'm lucky the beauty will distract me from the inclines...we'll see!

Hopefully, I'll be back in a couple of days with a play by play analysis of the race and some pictures.  Wish me luck!

Please be encouraged by this fascinating article in the New Yorker by Malcom Gladwell. 

I believe it's never too late to pursue the things that interest you.  I think we all feel that we have to have our life's plan mapped out before we live it, and yet I think the one of the most exciting things is living a life you never knew existed, one that is free from the constraints and expectations of doing what your parents did, or pursuing a passion you never realized you had until something in your life changed. 

I think there is value in finding something that you enjoy doing and then figuring out a way to do it.  You may never make a living from it, but sometimes the pursuit is more important than the money you'll make (or potentially lose) from doing it. 

Life is too short to be afraid of failure.  We learn from our mistakes, and the sooner we can start making them, the sooner we'll gain wisdom and knowledge in our pursuit.  I feel like I've been a late bloomer in a lot of ways.  And for all I know I may still have a few more blooms in me, but until then I'll continue to look for ways to grow where I'm planted (thanks JimiMac for the imagery), and be hopeful that, yes, I will bloom again...or at least not whither and die.
 

I'm not sure how much I'll be using Facebook, but I've just now edited some settings on my account there.  So for those of you on Facebook...look me up!

Just look for Dale Baker Drummer or check out my page here (hopefully the link will work!)

Tonight I signed up for a Twitter account (dalebakadruma) and read some of the "tweets" (is that what you call 'em?) and there was a link in Able's Tweet to this wonderful article about Caleb Burhans.  As I read the article, I thought "Wow, this guy really has a charmed life...he must be doing pretty good for himself..." but then I read the part in the article where it said that him and his wife lived on credit cards when they first moved to NYC.  And then by the end of the article there is this quote:


Fascinating huh?  I mean on one hand I think it's awesome that he can pursue his passions and eke out a living...but what a precarious living that is.  But of course, he's young, so it may be awhile before he'll need health coverage, and when that time comes I'm sure he'll be able to get a good deal through the church he works at, or through the musicians union.

Oh and another thing...I think it's cool that he gets paid to sing in Church every Sunday.  But I also wonder if the whole choir is paid or if  just particular members (like section leaders, etc.) get paid. 

Occasionally, folks will get in touch with me about helping them with songwriting or production and so as I was putting this list together for a friend I thought I'd just go ahead and post the stuff I found.

These are some resources I already had known about and some I found through a quick Google Search of "online songwriting resources."

American Songwriter Magazine

Taxi (Taxi is basically a song plugging and evaluation service.  I know that they were helpful to Sixpence and our label when we were aiming to get more exposure - look for the interview with Lindsay Fellows - and I personally found their evaluations helpful and encouraging back when I was a member a few years ago. I always thought it'd be fun to attend one of their conventions, but never took advantage of that aspect of being a Taxi member).  Be sure to check out their list of recommended books.  It looks like a pretty good list.

Berklee Online Classes on Songwriting

One of the first books I read on Songwriting (I borrowed it from Lee ? and never returned it.  He had used it in a Songwriting Class at Berklee.  And Lee if you are reading this, drop me a line and I'll send it back to you..)

Nashville Songwriters Association

Search in your area for a Songwriters Association.  I did a few searches and found local groups in Dallas, Atlanta, California, NY, and North Carolina, where I currently live.

A resource for Beginning Songwriters, via MusesMuse.

Song U (online songwriting help and courses)

An easy to read and digest resource that provides an overview of how the music business works:
All You Need to Know about the Music Business

And I remember working with a wonderful songwriter in Nashville who it was rumored used an OmniChord as his main songwriting instrument, and so for those of you who don't play an instrument, I suggest you check out one of these:  the newer version of the OmniChord.

I also like to read the following things online, for encouragement, inspiration, and insight into the songwriting process:

Songwriting Zen
Measure for Measure

And now for the shameless plug:  when you're ready to record your song and all that, I'd love to be your drummer.  Feel free to contact me and we can work something out...

My friend Paul just dropped me an email with details about an Over the Rhine show he found that was recorded during the time I was with the band.  You can find it over at the Internet Archive (which is a wonderful resource...have you seen those educational videos?).

I just finished listening to Moth, and some Christmas song that Kim Taylor sings backgrounds on (featuring me playing jingle bells and drumset at the same time...), and now just finished listening to Latter Days, with my hallacious fill near the end of the song where I tried to play the FATTEST flam ever...some nights I was successful, this night...fairly successful.

Here's the line-up:

Karin Bergquist - sings, occasional acoustic guitar, keyboard on Ohio
Linford Detweiler - keyboards, vocals on Jack's Valentine
Jack Henderson - guitar, vocals on Holy Rain
Wade Jaynes - bass
Dale Baker - drums
Kim Taylor - guest on (+)
Mike Sponarski - sound

It's fun to hear Jack again...man his tone and playing is just awesome...I miss playing with him.  This recording is fun to listen to:  all the meta-data is saved with the songs, so when I imported it into iTunes all the track names and information was imported as well.  Anyway...it's a great recording, with some wonderful Christmas tunes we used to do and a wonderful Kim Taylor song tacked on at the end.

I'm going to try and embed the player so you can listen to it hear off of my site, but if you want to download it here's the link again:  Over the Rhine Concert 12/18/2001

An interesting article over at Word Magazine, about the economics of the music business and how the future might look for those of us who make music for a living.

And then later:

The title of the article is "Why should Rock Stars expect to be Rich?" and is written by Tom Whitwell, the guy who does the Music Thing blog (which is one of my favorite reads on the 'net). 

And finally:

Not sure about the hedge fund managers, but I get the point.

Thad is playing at the Chapel Hill Bible Church on Sunday morning, and I'll be playing that morning as well.  So for now, it looks like I'll be playing with Thad on two of his songs.  Jeff Crawford is playing Bass as well.  It's been awhile since I've seen Thad and I'm looking forward to seeing him again.  I think the last time I saw him I was outside mowing the lawn at my old house and he drove by in his beat up pickup truck and we chatted for a bit.  There was another time we went out to eat and I think I was just getting over the stomach flu and we ate some Pizza that I think made me sick later...(alright that's probably too much info for you...). 

Anyway, it'll be fun to see Thad again, and I always enjoy playing at the Bible Church.  I'm also looking forward to playing with Jim McConnell again and Nat. 

--
Dale Baker
919-402-8048

In lieu of my "Facebook" profile:
www.dalebakerdrummer.com

The other day I took one of my RIMS mounts and mounted it onto my Remo Ashiko Drum (actually I think it's  a 12" Djembe) anyway, it's one of my hand drums and I don't use it a bunch because I don't have a stand for it, so instead of buying another monstrous Djembe stand that takes up a lot of room, I thought I'd put this RIMS mount on it.  So the actual RIMS doesn't go around the drum, so I just took out my drill and decided I'd drill into my drum.  Now I'm able to mount my Ashiko off of a cymbal stand with a tom mount and I'll be more likely to use it in my drum set configurations, either as part of my constantly morphing Emmaus Way setup or as a percussion element to my recording and live drum setups...

My other hack was with this Oriental Tom (the heads are tacked on) that I received from my first drum teacher when he passed away.  This thing has calf heads, and has a real dry sound...not real great with sticks, and marginally okay with brushes or blasticks...I was looking through my stack of drums and saw my never used "Laptop" drum (a single pre-tuned head with a Rhythm Tech "Active" Snare screwed on the bottom.  Yesterday, I took the snare off, and experimented with putting it on my Oriental Tom and ended up using bungee cords to fasten it onto the drum, then I added a part of a broken head that had tambourine jingles affixed to it (wedging it between the bungee cords beneath the drum) and now I have a cool sounding snare drum/ tom type thingy...I still need to tweak the the bungee cord setup, but I think it'll work.  I'll probably try the drum out on Sunday when I play at Emmaus Way (with Jeff Crawford this week!).

And finally my last hack that happened a few months ago...I got my Remo PTS student snare back from Perry (the Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers) when he moved to Raleigh, and frankly that thing just sounds awful.  So, I went to work on it.  Eventually settling on wedging a snare beneath the top head, with a towel deadening the head and helping keep the snare tight against the top head.  Then, to add some extra sonic goodness, I put a cheap 10" plastic tambourine inside the drum, and it just sits loosely inside.  So now the drum has a great "beat box snare" sound, with a little bit of jingle depending on how hard you hit it.  It will make a great side snare, or loop drum.  Plus it sounds good with sticks, so I'll be able to use it on gigs where I hit a little harder than normal.  I doubt it will ever be used as a "main" snare, but as a second snare, it sounds pretty cool.  Just a bit louder than my Remo PTS Toy Drum that got a similar treatment.

I hope to get some pics posted...but don't hold your breath it might be a while...

dale

--
Dale Baker
919-402-8048

In lieu of my "Facebook" profile:
www.dalebakerdrummer.com

I'll be speaking at a Leadership Conference at Crossroads Fellowship church in Raleigh, NC on Saturday Oct. 11.  I'll be part of a group of worship leaders and musicians giving instructional workshops on the art of playing in worship bands.  Though the conference is intended to be a ministry to the attendees and members of Crossroads Fellowship, Crossroads Music Pastor told me I could extend the invitation to others through my website, and so here I am doing exactly that. 

If you play in a worship band or are just interested in worship music, or would just like to attend, get in contact via the conference website.  Or you can register online here.  Be sure to mark the "button" that says "Worship Arts Track".  Here is the conference agenda:

This past summer I felt honored to be chosen to speak at a Youth Arts Camp in southern Kentucky, and had a blast talking about my experiences in the music business and with Sixpence and as an artist who wants to live a life pleasing to God.  I'm honored to get the chance to speak at this conference at Raleigh, and talk about my approach to playing drums for worship services, and my perceptions of the leader and servant roles a drummer provides as part of a worship team.  I enjoy sharing my experience as a drummer, musician and artist and I would love to get the chance to do more conferences of this type. 

For this conference, I'll be teaching a class specifically on drumming for worship, a class with Ken Demery on being a supportive rhythm section player, and then a group session with Adlan Cruz, Ken Demery, Jeremy Porras. I'll also be playing for the Praise and Worship time that will start the day.  It will be a full day of conversation, music and fellowship.  I'm looking forward to it, and I hope to see you there...drop me a note if you plan on coming!

For me, this is the second coming of The Postal Service at least that's what this band sounds like to me.  As with the Postal Service, from what I've heard so far from this band, the perceived simplicity of the songs and programming make it a joy to listen to, and I love the glitchy and stuttering elements as well.  Still, it has a warmth to it that makes it feel more like a band project and less like uh, hmm...a non-band project.  You know, it doesn't SOUND programmed...anyway...what's that quote?  "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture."  Yeah. What he said.

You may of heard one of the guys from this band already...he wrote the music for a Lexus commercial as part of his day job.  Check out the You Tube clip of the commercial.

And for those of you in Japan...

For now, you can get their record through CD Baby...but I want to wait for the version that has the cool artwork on it from Laura Ljungkvist (she's been commissioned by the band's label in Japan to do all the artwork for the CD).

Thanks goes to my friend (and former roomie) Martin, for bringing Faded Paper Figures to my attention...