Catch up

I’m overdue for a post- if you’re not on my email list, here are some highlights since last time:

While I was visiting AZ in December, my sister Ann and I interviewed Mom about her life. We’re so glad to get some of her stories on the record. e.g. when she was ~10 years old, she decided to get rid of a massive anthill with gasoline and accidentally set part of the house on fire! First she tried putting it out with her Alaskan Malamute’s water bucket. That didn’t work, but bought her enough time to get the garden hose and finish the job.

Speaking of pets, my parents’ dog Ben is still afraid of me for being a tall person. I know it’s hard to believe, but he’s hiding somewhere in the above photo.

Fear.

And as far as work stuff:

Jenn Medvin and Marcus MacDougald’s Little Hero has been making the festival rounds- from Belgrade to Nevada City to DOC NYC to St. Louis where it won a Crystal Gator (the award that deserves an award.)

This article calls my score “quirkily appropriate”. NICE. It’s kazoo on every score from here on out, k?

I’ve also been doing some recording lately, both at my place..

Poet and performer Mayda Del Valle

… and at Narnack Studios with the great engineer Griffin Rodriguez:

Andrew Conrad (bari), Walt Simonsen (trumpet), Ryan Dragon (trombone)

Brandon Dickert (drums), Griffin Rodriguez (hiding in the control room)

There is really nothing quite like recording great musicians live in a great room with a great engineer. I don’t miss my Chicago days of tracking everything in the kitchen!

I’m on a Timeboxing hiatus at the moment while I finish a bigger project, but here are the latest two if you haven’t caught ‘em yet:

• Filmmaker Will Slocombe (Cold Turkey, Reception)
  
• Filmmaker Vincent Peone (Josh + Vince, CollegeHumor)

Will and Vince both had great & insightful stuff to say. As a bonus, Will’s interview is laced with previews of my Little Hero score :)

That’s all for now!

CH's Comedy Music Hall of Fame airs on IFC tomorrow

I produced some ridiculous music involving Russia, Canada, and Elvis for CH's Comedy Music Hall of Fame, which airs tomorrow at 10pm on IFC.

Paul F. Thompkins hosts, and it features comedy music luminaries such as Tenacious D and Weird Al. Here’s a trailer:

CH wrote the lyrics and I made the music. It involved a whirlwind of recording sessions including (Kazakh-American opera singer!) Timur Bekbosunov, vocalists Igor Komar + Mela Lee, comedy rappers Siobhan Thompson + Pat Cassels, and my trusty accordion (in mid-side, audio nerds!)

I also recorded percussionist Tim Carr (in the recording scramble I spaced on taking a photo.. sorry Tim!), guitarists Sasha Birrittella + Max Crowe (recorded remotely), and Klezmer clarinetist Andrew Conrad:

You have now seen “behind the scenes”. Was it enjoyable? Terrible? Both?

BOSS MUSIC bass clarinet recording session

http://vimeo.com/32586333

I recently collaborated with Richard Howarth on music for the game “Critter Chaos”, available soon on the Apple App Store. It was a treat working with creators Ryan Sandberg and Tim Wood on this, and I look forward to writing an in-depth blog post when it’s released!

For now here’s a peak at our BOSS MUSIC recording session with clarinet extraordinaire Eleanor Weigert.

Happy Thanksgiving!