Dear BROADJAM, 

I’ve been a member of Broadjam since 2008 (I think), and have meant to THANK Broadjam and relay some “success stories”, but for whatever reasons it kept getting put off, until today. First off I want to thank Mr. Elkins and the entire staff of Broadjam for being INSTRUMENTAL in the pursuit of hopes and dreams. Not only mine but those of my partners and the many others who subscribe to the service. In fact, with the collaboration of a few other Broadjam subscribers, we’ve formed a music production company, music & pictures. The company is still young – but in less than three years – by way of contacts we’ve made through listings and the Broadjam online community – we’ve licensed over 250 registered and surveyed titles – all of which “go to work” for us each and every day. In addition to ‘background’ music, we’ve been fortunate to land a couple show themes, as well as promo sets. I could list all the TV shows (and the handful of films) our music has found it’s way into, but instead I’m attaching copies of my two most recent ASCAP distributions (Domestic and International) which lists shows like “The Office”, “Law & Order”, “Pawn Stars”, “Oprah Winfrey Show”, “Bernie Mac Show”, etc., so you can have a look for yourself. Talk can be cheap in this business, so this is about the only way I figure I could back up what I’m saying… NONE of this would have been possible without the platform Broadjam provides, which has helped us focus our energy, learn about and organize our business, and literally serve as one of the mediums through which we make our music available. THANK YOU. We work very very hard at making our music as good as it can be. We KNOW (thanks again, BJ) that the competition is fierce in this field, and that where quality is concerned, there simply is no room for compromise. So we don’t. I could jabber on ad nauseum, but I won’t… Just a sincere THANK YOU for doing what you do, and providing a service which has been central to our music careers. And even with some of the success we’ve had, we feel like we’re just beginning to hit our stride, and have a long ways to go still. We hope Broadjam sticks around for a long, LONG time – we simply couldn’t do this without you! THANKS.

Kind Regards,
Dean H. Anderson
Founder, music & pictures

Check out Music & Pictures’ Broadjam profile right here and take a look below at the statement they sent in. A truly impressive and incredible testimonial.

 

And add us to your circles on Google+ and we’ll invite you to the next one!

“That lick,” written by Ray Manzarek, had so much influence on me and many other organ players…..and once you learned it, you wanted more.  Then we learned the piano “fall” on “Riders On the Storm”, which sounds extremely easy when listening to it, but playing it is a different story. The Harpsichord sounding solo that he played on “Love Me Two Times” was incredibly difficult to learn until you figured out that he played it with his left hand. By the way, the bass player in the Doors was “his left hand” on a Fender Rhodes.

I could go on forever about the innovative playing of Ray Manzarek as he was the first guy to really play rock keyboards. Although Jim Morrison deservedly received much of the credit regarding the success of The Doors, Ray was the guy who wrote the music and created so many great keyboard licks & parts.  Like George Gershwin before him and Jonathan Cain and so many others after, he was well aware that a great keyboard part can really make a song.  In fact, most of the great licks from The Doors were keyboard oriented….and if you layer a good vocal over the top, it’s magic.

Like seeing the Beatles on Sullivan, I didn’t realize then the profound impact learning “that lick” would ever have on me. Ray probably had more influence on me as a keyboard player, and especially as a part writer & arranger, than anyone. Somehow I feel I knew him well, but never met him. Thanks and R.I.P. Ray.

And here’s a playlist of some Broadjam artists playing classic Doors songs.

I wrote this blog a few years ago about a family friend who taught me “that lick.”  

This year we have a new sponsor in the 6-Pack, My Mix. This is a networkable personnel audio monitoring and recording system. Since I haven’t gigged in awhile, I asked the founder of the company, (who is very well known in the music technology business,) if I could “review” one. Knowing that I love gear and promised (with my fingers crossed) that I would return it in a timely manner, he agreed.

The whole concept is to provide every member of the band, whether live or in the studio, control over their own mix. Each person in the band can mix up to 16 channels directly into their phones or monitors using the best interface I have seen since the BRC from Alesis. One big knob seems to control everything. I wish I had more time to dive into this as it was a ball for a gearhead like me. As I was playing with, “I mean reviewing,” the MyMix system, little thought bubbles were popping up; the drummer, can beat the drums as loud as they want, the guitars can shred their headphones, the bass can rumble and the singer will be unable to blame the engineer for not hearing their monitors. And in my phones, I can turn them all down and hear just the brilliance of the keyboards with the band in the background.

All kidding aside, there is no doubt I would own one of these systems if I was playing in a live setting. I have been in studios that have had similar systems, but none of the engineers ever seem to use them. They are always pushed into the corner with cables draped over them. I will definitely try this out on the next record as I believe it would really improve the quality of the tracking if each member controlled their own mix. I was also thinking this would probably be very useful in venues with high ceilings (churches, large halls) or outdoors where noise can make it difficult to hear yourself.

I don’t usually review products as I am not much of a writer, however this is one of those cool products that I just had to examine closer. I am really glad that they are part of the 2013 6-Pack Songwriting Challenge this year as I believe the winner of this system will be one happy customer.

I have known Sherman Hemsley for over 20 years. Although most remember him for his role as George Jefferson, I remember him as a friend.

He grew up in Philly and eventually moved on to NYC. Norman Lear saw him in a Broadway play and offered him the role of Archie Bunker’s nemesis on All In The Family. In the spinoff, The Jeffersons, he starred as the very successful neurotic businessman, George Jefferson. Once I got to know him, I realized what an incredible actor he was as he was nothing like the character we all knew. He was as laid back as anyone I have ever met and was all about peace and love.

I don’t remember how we met, but Sherman and I became very close in the 90s. I was working for Ensoniq and was traveling to LA on a regular basis. I would take some sub sandwiches to his house, show him a few things on his Ensoniq gear and then listen to some of the music he wrote using it. (He was so recognized that he couldn’t go anywhere without someone yelling “Weezy,” so it was just easier for him to stay home. One time I asked if these comments ever bothered him and he told me they were fans just showing love in a strange way.) It surprised me how much he talked about his desire to write music and, like most writers, he was always anxious to play his latest creation. He was a master at choosing the right sounds and it was interesting to watch him create in his own unique way. And as I write this, I am listening to some of it now.

He loved listening to Pink Floyd, Yes, King Crimson, Gentle Giant and Jon Anderson. He turned me onto a band called Eloy from Germany and insisted that I pick up a couple of their CDs. So we hopped in the car at about 11PM and drove to a CD shop in Hollywood and bought a couple of their records. In that same time period, we were also supplying gear to the reunited Yes, so we arranged for him to meet Jon Anderson in the Mackie booth at the NAMM show. Sherman and Jon later got together and worked on an album, but I don’t think it ever got released. He was truly honored to collaborate with Jon.

A short while later, we had a product at Ensoniq that wasn’t doing well and needed a jolt in sales. So we took the sales reps to LA to meet a few of the celebs who were using them but Sherman insisted that I bring the reps to his house for a few beers. To this day many of the guys still talk about going to Sherms’ house and just hanging with him.

On one trip, my wife was with me and he invited us over. His house was just off Laurel Canyon up the mountain with a northern view of the valley from his deck. His driveway was the steepest I have ever been on in my life and one slip of the brake and you were over the cliff. My wife mentioned that she was just getting into Yoga and Sherman immediately got up, pulled two Yoga books off his shelf and gave them to her. They talked about Yoga for a while and she was truly touched by his inherent and natural generosity. In every conversation after that, he always asked how she was doing.

He moved to El Paso a few years ago so we didn’t connect as much in person as in the past. Occasionally and usually around the holidays, we would talk by phone. If he called first, I would answer and hear this voice say, “Rooooooooooooy” and I would smile as I immediately knew who it was. And an hour later, the conversation was over. I loved talking with him.

As I was writing this, I was contemplating what stories to share as there are so many. I chose the ones that showed his love for songwriting and hopefully conveyed how different he was than the character we all knew. Although he had much fame and success as an entertainer, he loved to write music. He was deep, sensitive, generous, spiritual, passionate, creative with an incredible taste in music and truly at peace with his life. He was loved by everyone who knew him.

Yesterday, I heard the news Jon Lord passed away. He was a founding member of Deep Purple. Many great players have developed a unique style on the organ, but very few have been “sound” innovators like Jon Lord. He was the first and best heavy metal rock organist ever. In the famous “1 –minor 3^rd- 4” line that defines Deep Purple, he plugged his Hammond into a Marshall amp and created what would become the signature sound of 70’s rock. As a young organist in that era, I was mesmerized by it and wanted it so bad. By the time I could actually afford the gear, it wasn’t cool to play “Smoke On The Water” anymore. But the sound he created is still a standard in every keyboard players’ arsenal.

If you wanted to learn a song back then, you either bought the record and lifted the needle over and over again until you got it right or you attempted on an 8-track player. For those of you who were born A.B. (After Beatles), an 8-track cartridge plugged into the player like a key into a door and usually played one album at a time. The music was broken into 4 different sections playing two or three songs in each section. After each section, you would hear an annoying click and the tape would move on to the next. It was very aggravating trying to learn a song with an 8-track. Trying to learn the organ solo to “Highway Star”, which is the first cut on Deep Purple’s Machine Head, without the ability to rewind or lift the needle is almost impossible. So after it plays once, you have to listen to the next song on the tape and then half of the next, click the selector 3 times and start the tape over as there was no rewind feature on 8-tracks. Those of you who have had this love affair with 8-tracks are cracking up right now and those who haven’t are saying, “What the hell is he talking about?” Eventually, you picked up a few licks, but got frustrated on a song like “Highway Star”. Then you would find someone who has already learned it and ask them to show you. This was one of those solos that was almost impossible to learn on an 8-Track as it was so technical, tasteful and long.  Like most of his work, it was timeless and a classic solo played by a legend.

I’m sure I’m not the only keyboard player in the world who is thinking about the influence of Jon Lord. I have been fortunate in my career to meet many of my heroes and work with some, but I never got to meet him. If I did, I would simply thank him for the influence he had on me. He was the keyboard player that got me thinking about soloing for the first time and more importantly, the sound of my instrument. I am truly thankful for that and send best wishes to all those who were close to him.

A few nights ago, I was sitting on a stage at Summerfest in Milwaukee next to a couple of former roadies and family members of the headliner.  We were looking due east at the faces in the crowd while fireworks were blasting away in the sky over Lake Michigan. The temperature was around 100 degrees and the stage lights made it feel a lot hotter, but it really didn’t bother anyone in the audience as they got more than they could have imagined.

I have seen Joe Walsh many times with his own band, recently saw him on the Grammys with Paul McCartney, have seen him with The Eagles on several occasions, hired him to play a private Sonic Foundry party in Vegas and shot a couple of videos with him when I worked for Ensoniq.  When I lived in Philly, he came out to our house for dinner and I spent a little time at his helping him with Ensoniq gear.  With all those experiences, I have never been so entertained as I was a few nights ago.  Aside from tasteful background videos, this performance didn’t have any crazy hats, balloons, costumes, laser lights, incredible special effects or theatrics.  He just played and blew everyone in the audience away, including the people sitting on cases on the stage. When ex-roadies and relatives, who have heard these songs a gazillion times, are dancing, swaying back and forth, snapping photos and cheering at the conclusion of each song, you know it’s great.

At one point in the set Joe dedicated a song to his friend, Levon Helm, and it was truly a great moment as the back-up singers each took a verse and were spectacular.  At the conclusion of “Rocky Mountain Way”, the fireworks went to a whole new level and finished about the same time the song did.  It was one of those moments that wasn’t planned, but happened perfectly, and will be remembered forever by thousands of people.

One thing the audience didn’t see is that just behind his foot pedals and next to his floor monitor, there were a couple of small rubber duckies looking up at him.  I wasn’t sure of the significance, but my guess it’s meaningful to him.  On the other side of the stage, his awesome guitar rack had a small flag hanging from it and during the set he thanked the service men and women.  It was a nice moment and brought a huge cheer from the crowd.  The band, whose age range spanned four decades, consisted of two drummers, percussionist, bass, guitar, keyboards and three back-up singers.   I remember thinking, “Here is a guy that has paid his dues many times and he is sharing the spotlight with so many young musicians.  He deserves every bit of success that comes his way as he is original and genuine.” There really isn’t anyone like Joe Walsh.

Although I haven’t seen him in the past few years, I had a chance to spend a few minutes with him and his manager (truly one of the most decent people in the business) before the show. Joe has lost weight, looks like he has been working out and is the same “ordinary average guy” that we all know.  He’s extremely focused and his performance certainly showed it.

If you want to see a guy just stand there and play his guitar better than he ever has, want to be motivated to play yours, want to hear and sing along with hit after hit, want to hear some great new tunes that are already classic, want to walk away with chills, want to listen to one of the classic voices in rock history at the top of his game or want to simply be a fan who is entertained, go see this tour of Joe Walsh and you will get what you came for.