Recording with EOL

May 28th

Yesterday’s Session with EOL was kinda…

AMAZING!

Some of you who follow me know I’ve been working with Louie Vega on several projects. I’m a producer, musician, writer, singer-songwriter, engineer, and co-owner of Honeycomb Music. So when Louie calls, there’s no telling what I will be doing. I like that he has a very good understanding of what I do musically. Most people know me for one thing: singing. Ha!!! 

It feels good to be seen. 

It’s also feeling good to be working, and working with people I enjoyed coming up listening to. I’ll explain what I mean in a bit. 

I enjoyed yesterday’s session so much that I wanted to share my thoughts on the whole experience with you….

Louie likes to book really cool studios when we do vocals and band members perform their parts. It makes for great content and footage. 

The studio is in New York City. I have to take a one and a half hour bus ride there. 

As soon as I stepped foot off the bus, the New York energy hit my nervous system. It's immediate—the pace, the vibe, the feeling. It’s electric. Anything can happen in NYC—ANYTHING! 

When I watch the news from home, it’s always ABCNY. I think it’s best to watch your local news stations, however, I grew up watching ABCNY and still do. Don’t judge me.

Every day, something crazy happens in NYC. Anything from the super-talented train performers, to the lady that was set on fire and died, the dude that randomly pushed a guy in the train, the young man who took a selfie while hanging on the very tip of the spire atop the Empire State Building, everyday something absolutely unimaginable happens in NY. 

The thing is, I was born here. Brooklyn to be precise. 

I feel the NYC ground when I step on it. Feels like home to me. I get the energy of the people and the many different cultures. 

There are smells here. Everything from pig feet to piss. Egyptian Musk to Egyptian Must. It’s all here. The homelessness has increased big time. That part is always sad to me. There’s so many good people out there. Anyways, I’m feeling amped. 

In the Studio: (L to R) Ramona Dunlap, Lisa Fischer, Lea Lórien, Rahsaan Patterson, & I

Louie asked a few singers to come and do some background and group vocals on a couple of songs we did for EOL (Elements Of Life). He told me Rahsaan Patterson, Ramona Dunlap, Cindy Mizelle, and Lea Lórien would be there. Lisa Fischer is coming in later to do a vocal on a jam. Dawn Tallman is in Germany working as one-half of “The Weather Girls.” 

I’ve met and worked with all of the above, yet, as super chill as I was acting, I was skipping like a little girl in my heart. 

Everybody in the room has a career to be reckoned with. I mean, Lisa is a Grammy-award-winning artist. I sang “How Can I Ease the Pain” years before earning my first music business dollar!

I was browsing through Tower Records when I first heard Rahsaan’s music. I bought the CD and knew every song on the entire album, and here I am, doing vocals with the man. 

Lea Lórien recently joined EOL, and together with Ramona Dunlap, they have been making my heart happy. Ramona sings most of the high notes with ease. She can also do riffs up there. I see her as a closeted jazzer with an R&B influence. LOL. Think, if Phyllis Hyman were a soprano. 

Lea’s voice has the perfect blend of warmth that the group needed. I like it when vocalists can hear themselves and match the others in a group. It shows vocal maturity, experience, and professionalism. In fairness, she’s been around the business of music since birth. Her parents are legends in the industry, so she can’t help but know how to do it. 

Cindy Mizelle’s career is legendary. Most “cats” in the business know Cindy Mizelle. She travels in circles most vocalists dream of traveling around in. You can catch Cindy singing on the stages of musical icons. Not just stars. Respectfully, Louie Vega is a star. I’m talking about ICONS like Bruce Springsteen, Whitney Houston, Luther Vandross, The Rolling Stones, Barbra Streisand! Cindy knows these people on a first-name basis, and then there’s me. LOL!!!!!!

So you all can see, I’m feeling kinda excited and super grateful in my heart to be a part of this. 

Louie is a smart guy. He’s always thinking beyond the moment, thinking about the next thing before we’ve finished the first thing with this guy. 

This time, he did something super brilliant: He invited the next generation of DJs/producers to the session. 

DJ Ameer is a 20-year-old DJ who loves soulful house as well as other styles of music. 

I’m 55 years old and would absolutely love to know that my music stands a chance with younger people who will carry the vibes forward and take the music higher than we did. That’s a beautiful thought. Ameer is a young guy doing it in a way that people respect. Not a trend. The guy is about this music. Louie must have seen something in him to invite him over. I’m glad he came. He represents hope for the music. 

Once we got started, everything fell into place. No egos, just a bunch of musicians putting the puzzle pieces together. 

Louie knows who to put together. He has foresight. This group nailed their parts today. 

We did this 5-part harmony section in real time. I would have certainly recorded each note one at a time. Louie wanted us to nail the harmony like the groups Take 6 and The Manhattan Transfer, and we did it!!!! Who knew?!?!? Don’t get me wrong, these people are the real deal, but when was the last time anybody sang 5-part harmony???? 

Well, maybe they do all the time. I work alone or with Louie. I sing alone or with Dawn. Even when Dawn is at the studio, I mostly engineer. 

We were nailing the parts and nearly done when in walked LISA FISCHER. DUNT DUNT DUNT DAAAAAHHHHH. 

We’re already super excited because we're doing vocals on Lisa’s song. We’re listening to her do her thing on the recording. Once she settled in and we were all still singing together with the harmony, Lisa was feeling it! She even started to give us vocal ideas and suggestions. 

Now. These “ideas” she was coming up with were feeling very Lutheresque [Luther Vandross]. Very colorful with lots of parts. She has that thing so naturally, it wasn’t even funny. There’s a stank there that one doesn’t learn easily. An artist takes years to develop that certain talent. Some artists start to develop it, but then they lose focus, and it doesn’t fully develop. They can still wow a crowd, but the all-the-wayness ain’t there. Lisa is all the way talented. She can sing any genre and really well! She is at this moment teaching us an idea of hers. 

Y’all know I’m about to faint, right?

With Rahsaan Patterson

There was this one moment when Rahsaan and I were doing a part together. Louie said, “Can you both give me a different tone?” That’s when it happened. Rahsaan sang something that sounded JUST LIKE THE RAHSAAN on his albums. Right in front of me!! I’m literally standing next to the dude. I don’t think I gave myself away, but I’m starting to fan out with everyone here. 

Louie has JR, who tends to our every need. At any time, JR is there to lend a hand, whether it's coffee, a quick store run, or whatever. JR is super sweet, too. He tends to ask before I can think of it, “Hey man, do you need some tea?”  

Yas is the engineer. He’s been engineering Louie’s sessions for many, many years. Longer than I’ve been collaborating with Louie. Yas is like a young Japanese sage. When it comes to engineering a recording session, Yas is super scientific. His brain works like a computer. He does all these complex setups. No easy recording sessions for this guy; Yas likes to do it the most complex way on earth. LOL. Louie uses the best in his scope. I love that part. When I work with Louie, I feel spoiled because of that. 

That said, the studio where we recorded yesterday has a guy named Rich who runs the place on site. 

When I record at a professional studio away from home, somewhere that has to get paid by the hour, it has to have a killer vibe. Rich is going to make sure we have that vibe. Not to mention, he’s super knowledgeable of the equipment. That alone, money can’t buy. 

One thing I can say about doing music full-time is that I have some awesome coworkers. 

This album is really something.

We’re performing songs from it on June 7th at Sony Music Hall. I’m pretty sure rehearsal will start soon, so it’s back to NYC every day. 

Hope you can join us on June 7th!

LOVE Y’ALL.

GREECE: Burger Disco Club

May 17th 1:24 a.m.

I truly believe that life has made me old, cranky, and with short patience. 

Everything is annoying me. I’m thinking I’m the only one who has a problem with the way things are on this flight. 

The flight attendant is so loud and noisy. He wants to be humorous and familiar with the passengers, which I can appreciate. However, people are sleeping!!

This isn’t a good time to be loud and tell jokes. 

Another attendant was collecting the small bowls from everyone who had finished eating. When she put the bowls in the bin, she didn’t place them in. She dropped them in. Yeah. Literally dropping dishes on top of each other. This made the loudest noise of all. Not to mention I was awakened with a CART THAT WAS RUN INTO MY KNEE!

Anyways. GREECE! Yay!!!

I’ve been invited to spin some records, which will be a delight. The place is called “Burger Disco Club.” I'm not sure what I’m playing, to be honest. I have a bunch of new music that nobody knows. Let’s see how that goes. LOL. 

I make the records and rarely get to play them. I’ve been focused on my singing career with my band, and also been working with Louie and EOL a lot. So there’s little time for anything else. 

The man sitting next to me is Korean. Maybe early 60’s. His son is maybe late 20’s. He’s sitting on the other side of me. 

The problem is the son and I are both big guys. I’m almost 300 pounds and 6’3”. The son is easily bigger than I and just as tall, maybe taller. 

The flight attendant saw us together and decided to help. The son was asked to move to a more comfy seat, which he appreciated. The father, on the other hand, kind of panicked when he saw his son leaving for another seat. He seemed scared or uncomfortable without his son there. The man got up and said something to his son in their language. His voice rose in a panicky tone. At this point he’s talking to his son but screaming in my ear. 

I finally gestured to him with my hand to bring his voice down. 

At that moment, he looks at me with that New York-style look. Almost as if to say “what you say?” in a threatening tone. 

Now we have a situation. At least I thought. I said, “Sir. You’re speaking very loudly.” Surprisingly, he said, “Oh. Sorry.” 

I thought we were going to start this trip on a high, Brooklyn note for a second. 

Unfortunately, I have a stop in Zurich. It was the only flight that would get me there, so I had no choice, but I highly dislike connecting flights. Landing from a long flight, then running through the airport to catch another flight because you’re delayed. All of that is behind me. I won’t do a connecting flight if I can avoid it. I thought about connecting with Dawn. She’s here but four hours away. So that’s out of the question. 

Dawn is doing a gig in Germany as one half of “The Weather Girls.” I’m so proud of her. 

May 17th 9:23 a.m.

I forget how racist the rest of the world is. America is the home and mother of racism as far as I’m concerned. However, that same, ignorant energy is everywhere. I went through customs, and the woman was very kind and sweet to the man in front of me. When I got to her, she completely changed into a monster. She was looking for a reason not to let me through. She was being really short and nasty with me. 

I felt sorry for her. It’s sad because she’s doing what she was taught, probably from childhood. 

Most people are the same. We’re born into the world with standards and morals that were instilled in us by our parents, whom we love. We don’t choose what we believe in until we’re adults. Some people stay believing in what their parents taught them without ever questioning it. So they exist with that one perspective. Not their own. Are you like that? Are you doing what you were taught, rather than what you truly believe? 

The very dope Burger Disco Club. Athens, Greece

9:55 a.m.

I’m on my connecting flight to Greece. The attendant informed us that there is a delay due to air traffic controllers on strike and a lack of workers. WHAT?!?!?

May 18th, 12:41 a.m.

Anna took me to see my good friend and little brother, DJ Harry V. He’s rocking at this bar/restaurant in town. Sweet vibe. He was playing obscure soul records. The drinks were fresh-tasting. The fruit was squeezed. I had an outstanding chicken salad with bacon and mozzarella cheese. There were these sweet cherry tomatoes in it also. The flavors made it clear that someone in the kitchen really cared. 

Well, I guess I’ll sleep. My clock is off. I feel kinda awake. Let’s see what happens... 

Behind the decks at Burger Disco Club

May 19th, 9:25 p.m.

Chillin with Pedro and Anna. Pedro is one of the owners, and Anna is sort of an assistant manager. They have a system that works well. 

So now we are sitting on the steps of the joint. As though we’re on the stoop at a Brownstone in Brooklyn. 

Pedro is going to feed us. His place is also a restaurant. I don’t think I mentioned that. 

I no longer drink alcohol, but if I did, because they have a mixologist here, I would have enjoyed that. Whew. It’s nice. 

I knew they’d be playing music. I thought a DJ would be rocking some soft dinner music.

There is a Jazz quartet jamming some standards. A female on the jazz box!! Killing scales and modal jazz, turnarounds, the whole bit. Improvising over complex chords seemed to be easy for the sax guy. I didn’t get his name. 

All of the musicians — drummer, upright bass player, guitarist and featured sax player — were students of Jazz. You can hear their love in their playing. It was very clear that these were cats. Wow!!!!!! They’re really good too. 

Live Jazz in Athens

This trip has inspired me to play more. 

When I play music, I hear music. 

When I hear music, I do music. 

LOVE Y’ALL.

DJOON

This is going to be a long one.

I’ve been invited to DJ at the legendary Djoon club in Paris. It’s exciting to be invited to play at a club that DJ’s respect.

This business for me has a lot of lanes. I’m a singer, songwriter, producer. I’m the many musicians, manager, event promoter, and label partner. That’s the part that, sometimes, kinda sucks in my opinion. I think that people feel comfortable giving a person one title musically. Anymore than one title can be confusing to people, I think.

I’m blessed to hear beautiful comments on my posts all of the time. People send me great notes like, ”I love your song” or “I love your voice.”

That always feels good, but it’s always one thing or the other. LOL. The comments are never for two things. For example, “I enjoyed your voice, and the album mixes sounded great.” Or, “The chord changes are dope, and the bass is dope.”  

Ha!!!! Just a funny observation, but anyway, Paris!!!!!!!!!

September 15, 2023

4:56 p.m.

I’ll be completely transparent with you all, this blog you’re reading at this very moment, is me navigating my way through an anxiety attack. I have anxiety disorder. My anxiety has been controlled for the last 2 years. I take meds, pray and I regularly perform breathing exercises to maintain. I was diagnosed with anxiety disorder in June of 2021.

Since then I’ve learned a whole lot about this mental illness. The one thing that I hate more than anything is not being in control of my thoughts. When your thoughts seem to move without you, the feeling is very scary. For example, one thought is, “My back is itching.” Simple thought, right?

Now, here’s that same thought for me when I’m having anxiety. “My back itches, and I can’t get to it because I’m sitting between these two people, but the more I ignore it, the more it itches.” My back seems like it’s itching at its worst ever and in my mind, this is a critical moment. In my mind, this is an EMERGENCY. THAT’S WHAT ANXIETY DOES. It takes regular happenings and turns them into crisis moments.

Now when that happens, my heart begins to speed up. I can feel my heart racing and that’s triggering my thoughts even more. Now my thoughts are “You’re having anxiety!” At this point I’m physically sweating.

Anxiety can take your thoughts and make your body react to them physically. Just like that, I’m now out of control. The lady to my right seems to be annoyed because I keep twitching and moving.

This has happened twice to me today as I travel to Paris. I have a connecting flight to Paris from ATL. When the plane landed in ATL, I had a severe attack before the plane got to the gate. I was feeling like I wanted off of the plane at whatever cost.

What’s worse is that they want everyone seated with seatbelts securely fastened.

To a person going through anxiety disorder, this isn’t an option. I was scared.

I know it seems counterproductive to be scared. However, I was scared because my anxiety usually kicks in around 3 a.m. if it’s going to happen. This is an unusual time.

Now I’m really scared because I have an 8 hour flight to Paris!

How will I make it? Paris? I’m about to be in Paris with this anxiety acting up.

Even worse, an 8 hour flight, stuck in a chair, with an anxiety attack on me. Damn!

I’m now on the Paris flight. Realizing that I’m having issues, I decided to let the stewardess know, and the people that I was sitting next to know as well.

Sometimes, people can help. Human interaction helps big time.

The woman sitting to my left is in her 70s. When I told her about my present condition, her maternal instincts kicked in. She even asked me, “would it help you if I touch your arm?”

In that moment, I almost got emotional. What’s a shame is that kindness is so foreign these days that coming in contact with it feels like a shock. Her name is Ellen, mother of three 40-something year old men. She’s from New Hampshire and now in Tallahassee with her family.

Talking with her helped me a lot. It gave my mind something to busy itself with.

5:41 p.m.

The flight attendant allowed me to walk over to the area between first class and economy. There’s a small space there to stretch and stand. I’ve been in this space since I started this blog, about an hour. I know I can’t stand here for the entire trip. It sure is giving me temporary relief.

The flight attendant whose name is Tira felt like a real angel.

She’s the one that told me I could stand in this area. She later checked on me and shared with me that she can relate. She suffers from anxiety as well. She was super helpful. She said “Let me know if I can help you, ok?”  

I held back tears. When you’re going through this, a kind voice goes a long way.

Trying hard not to bring attention to myself.

6:06 p.m.

Feels like I’ve been in this plane for at least 5 hours. LOL. I had to get back in my seat because there was turbulence and it’s unsafe for me to stand.

At this very moment I feel ok. Remember, as you read this, I’m literally using you to talk to so that I can maintain a peaceful mind. This is a weird version of talk therapy. I talk, you listen. Ha!!

It’s been a very long time since I’ve been to Paris. I don’t know what to expect, but I’m leaning towards playing a lot of exclusives. It’ll be good to see Lady Alma and Kapela.

7:01 p.m.

I’m doing ok. I’m having spurts of worry, but nothing that I can’t handle. Sitting in this chair is not good but I’m doing ok. Feels nice to have this IPad to write down these thoughts.

I should probably tell you about some things that I’ve got happening musically.

Lately, I’ve been doing music with my band in mind. Usually when I’m producing, I’m thinking of sounds that will move people to dance. I’m a DJ and sometimes when I’m producing, my DJ hat will show up and I produce music that I think would be DJ-friendly. Manoo and Kerri Chandler come to mind when I think of DJ-friendly records. That’s one of the many strong aspects of a Kerri or Manoo production, they know how to make a record that DJ’s will certainly love. They do it, seemingly effortlessly.

My records, lately, feature sounds that are organic as well as synthetic. I have some synth programs that I use, but mainly, the music is all played manually. The sounds I use are MOSTLY sounds that are not as techy. For instance, I use synth horns and real horns. The synth horns sound like real horns. I like that unprocessed live band feeling a lot. I still listen to mostly old records. Really old records. It’s the sound quality for me. The musicians coupled with the sound engineers, the lyrical content, the singing style, especially the types of instruments used back then, are all my faves. All of the things I love about music is usually present in Rock, Funk, Disco, Gospel, Jazz and even some Classical. I’m big on Bach, but Carl Orff has invaded my Classical space a lot lately. I suppose I’m just a fan of genres happening in the 1970s.

Most times, the music was recorded using a band of many musicians. The natural acoustics of the room were also recorded. It took plenty of people to make one record. The reverbs were all analog.

On the other hand, today in 2023, that whole process is done in my basement using only myself as an engineer, producer, musician. The processors and instruments are mostly from today’s instrument makers which makes the sound and feeling I love difficult to obtain.

I get it done, but you can imagine the amount of missed moments and magic that doesn’t take place with just one musician in the room. It’s kinda like trying to have a very productive and deep conversation alone.

8:27 p.m.

I’m in the back of the plane standing in another area for stretching. The flight attendants are all back here chopping it up about something. Seems like gossip, and it seems juicy.

Tira, the sweet attendant that helped me earlier, was walking down the aisle and apparently bumped into a sitting passenger.

Tira immediately apologized to the woman and it went something like this, “Oh excuse me, I’m so sorry to have bumped you, are you ok?”

The woman responded negatively. She claimed she wasn’t alright and it’s possible that something is broken. She is making a really big stink about this, holding her elbow. She even complained that Tira’s hips are too big! She said that enough to make another person react. The person mentioned to the woman that she is body-shaming Tira.

Tira was very professional and apologetic. I was getting angry. The lady is telling other passengers that the flight attendant’s big hips hurt her. It’s a silly mess that can get ugly because this woman is rude and is seemingly looking for trouble.

I was just sitting in the attendant’s seat. LOL. I know I’m not supposed to sit there, however nobody was there. So I took a chance. LOL. I was just asked to get up. It was worth a try.

9:48 p.m.

I still haven’t slept. The meds I need, I didn’t have. However, I have a doctor that called the prescription in to a pharmacist here in Paris. I was able to get meds! Yay! To a person with really bad anxiety, meds can be the most beautiful thing.

Tonight I’m having dinner with the promoter and Lady Alma. She’s so dope.

11:00 p.m.

Had dinner with the promoter, Lady Alma, Tone (her business partner and cousin) and his lovely wife. Sooooooo good to sit down and talk to her. When I was sick in 2021, Lady Alma checked on me. At that time, we didn’t really know each other. She was simply being kind to a fellow musician. That led me to love her as her newest brother. If you’ve ever been sick, you know how good it feels to be checked on when you’re at your worst. She did it so well. I felt checked on. I’m forever in her debt for that.

September 18, 2023

5:38 a.m.

It’s time to go back home. Would you believe that just now I’m feeling almost normal?

I played music last night. I think other than the meds, the music really played a big part in my healing. I was dancing! That felt nice. I got a chance to see and hear the great Greg Gauthier and Kapela, both very well loved and talented brothers. The jam I did with Terry Hunter and Mike Dunn is coming out soon. I played it and it killed!

8:34 a.m.

I’m on the plane. When I got on board, I saw the flight attendant and the crew that were on the plane coming here. They were genuinely happy to see me. That felt so nice. I can feel the sincerity. Parenthetically, kindness is so very underrated. The amount of good I felt when they all greeted me and asked how I was doing, was almost healing.

I felt very grateful for that.

About last night, the club was nice. It’s also a restaurant. The sound system was clear and easy to play on.

There were people that came from NY, Canada, London!!!!!! I don’t know about anybody else, but I am truly grateful when ANYBODY appreciates my music to the point they wanna see me in person. However, these people traveled from different countries to see me. I’m super grateful.

1:19 p.m.

Halfway to Atlanta. All of the flight attendants have checked on me at least twice. They really made me feel special.

I just realized that I left my computer at TSA. Two people got on my nerves really bad and I was distracted. I suppose I have to fill out the lost and found thingy. Overall I’m glad to be headed home.

Love you all.

Thanks for reading.