Tokyo, Japan or Domo Arigato Mr Roboto

first, these Japanese keyboards are so hard to type on so i Japanese keyboards are so　hard to type on so i will make this quick.

Our first full day in Tokyo and really took it in. Got up about 4am and headed to the the Tsukiji fish market. Charlie and I had a lot of fun watching the hustle of the worlds largest fish market. Ｔｈｅn got in line for fresh sushi and waited about 2 2 hours to get into the place. Really can't get any fresher than 50 yards from the boat doc.

Had cell phone problems, Japan has the most advanced phone system in the world so of COURSE our blackberries don't work, and we couldn't get money from the ATM, so I called my friend Brian Kemper who lives here in Tokyo.

I`ve known Brian since I was in junior high and have him to thank for convincing me to play the euphonium in high school band. This lead me to getting a scholarship to study music in college. Brian now does web and data base programming and implementation for a project for Tokyo Univ and has lived here for about 6 years. Back in junior high, Brian and I and our back in junior high, Brian and I and our friend Mike started a punk electronic band (ala Ministry meets Dead Milkmen) "The Dead Potato Heads"

Some of my first songwriting collaborations . . will have to dig up those tapes to share.

Ended up having dinner, with Brian and his family and friends. His friend, Japanese Buddhist Monk, was our host and the little bar/restraunt must have been on of his regular hangouts. The food never stopped coming and the Sake flowed freely.

The evening quickly turned to Karaoke and we were singing some of the great song hits of the last 50 years. Between Brian and I belting out Elvis and Axel Rose impersonations the 6 kids (yes I did say families) their chance to sing along to the Pokemon songs. I didn't know there were so many.

The evening ended for me at around 9:30pm with Brian and I doing a duet of Styx classic which I am sure made us look like the silly americans we are.

Fish Market, Sushi, Karaoke good first day in Tokyo

The Package : or : the Bottled Water Montra

A very talented and accomplished composer friend of mine once told me
that "Music is every where, its in cafes, wall to wall on reality
shows, at the grocery - it's like water."

There is so much music being made now and the tools to create a 'quality master' are
inexpensive and available to any 'musician' with a mac or pc. In the
search for making music for a living I have explored the paths of music
libraries and production houses and have seen the vast quantity (and
some great quality) music that is my competition.

So about a year ago, after hearing the "music is like water" comment, I set about
with a new clear yet metaphoric mission statement - "I am selling
BOTTLED water" - my new montra!

This mission has really started
to help me clarify the kind of composer I want to be and the level of
music I want to make. It has also helped me clearly focus on the way in
which I present my goods = The Package.

On a very superficial level the package is print, image and design on paper, web or other material. It is tangible - SO UNLIKE the music that it contains.
Luckily I can fall back on my years of working in marketing and advertising
and focus on communicating with images and design. I have even hired
people far more talented than I am and payed them well over the
material costs of 'CD manufacturing' to get the right packaging for my
projects.

On my last album ( The Radioactive Werewolf ) It was very difficult to come up with concept that would meet my packaging criteria.

1. It needed to show the brand (a photo of ME)
2. It needed to enhance the 'universe' in which the music exists
3. It needed to sit comfortably among the shelves of the products I am looking to score music for

All of these requirements needed to come together to not just look pretty
but sit well with my gut. My 'gut' instincts are all I can usually
count on and are the final litmus test. I write music from the gut, I
need to market from my gut also.

My first concept was quickly mocked up using some stock images. I do this so I can communicate to my photographer (Charlie Grosso) what kind of concept I have. As you can see this mock up did not meet packaging criteria #1 "Show the Brand"

Also, with Charlie's suggestions I was able to more clearly communicate a
mood, rather than be so literal: Hazmat Suit 86ed •add Full Moon night
shot and vast desert land scape.



The final image was completed from original photography and illustration.
It was a collaboration of ideas and reality utilizing my concept and
the photographers expertise.

Examples of inside packing inspiration






Final inside art design




Final Outside Cover Back Cover art with Text

Above the Line, Below the cut : First Hollywood Premier

Went to the Mexican Gangster movie premier the other night. This was the first film I have scored that had a full blown premier with a red carpet and photographers and everything. I showed up dressed nicely and even walked the red carpet. So this morning I decided to do a quick wireimage (wireimage.com) search and see if I could find a nice picture of me with a celebrity on the red carpet to send to mom and dad. It looks like I didn't make the cut.

Here you can see Director Damian Chapa with Miss Maribel Montalvo (3rd place Miss Universe) Isn't that a nice shot? I was just off to the left out of frame. I even posed with a couple other 'celebrities' and models . but alas no photos of me.

As a composer, we have such a responsibility to the film / project. Composers can really add life and emotion or f&@k the whole thing up and really detract from the film. The composers get above the line billing (under the actors and directors) because it is recognized that we provide another character to the film, and much of the emotion.

After the screening I ran into a few producers who I have meet before. One of them gave a my music such a huge compliment I am embarred to quote it . I take most 'LA' peoples comments with a grain of salt. But he was right, I did a great job delivering 90 minuted of music in the 10days I had to work on the film and I am happy I was able to serve the film and enhance it.

So I am sorry mom and dad, I am afraid you will have to except this bad photoshop job as proof of my first big hollywood premier.

The Pitch - Trying to communicate clearly in a world of shouting nonsense

I have known for years that clarity is king when it comes to communication. Communication is key in personal relationships which I can not begin to cover here as I have not received your release forms for my psychotherapy services. And many agree the main factor in successful business relationships is communication.

Being able to quickly and accurately describe myself as a composer in an interesting way can make all the difference for a first impression. I can either blow an opportunity and be the guy that say, "Hello, you should check out this demo," or I can have invested time in developing a 'Pitch'.

I'm not a used car sales man. I'm not selling snake oil. I am a composer who believes in the music he is making. I want to take the time to prepare so that I can articulate to a stranger what why my music has value.

I was at the Billboard TV and Film Music Conference yesterday and had to get into that 'Pitch' state of mind. I met numerous composers/songwriters. After having a pleasant exchange with several of them I sit here now entering business cards into my data base and realize only one composers I met had a Pitch. And I can tell you exactly what kind of music he specializes in (though I have never heard it) and what kind of commercial spots he works on. Ironically, the composer, Geoff Aymar, works in house at the ad agency The Designory.

I am still getting all my materials together for press/publicity for my new album The Radioactive Werewolf and other Tales from the Southwest. And I realize I should have been preparing my pitch for this album months ago. It is complicated - spanning genres - and has some performances by talented musicians including: Alain Whyte (Morrisey) , Chris Schleyer (Kidney Theives, Zero Mancer) and opratic saprono Elif Savas.

So I talk with my brother (T-bob, a screenwriter who HAS to know how to pitch) and he develops a couple Pitch idea for me in no time. Now this outside perspective was priceless. And coming from someone I trust makes it even easier to openly except his point of view on how to communicate what the album is.

His first attempt sounded like a film:
"Take a dash of classic horror film soundtracks, a generous helping of Aaron Copeland, a batch of roughly chopped Southern rock, and add Angelo Baldamenti sparingly. Process in the blender of Bodin's unique mind. Serve immediately for an inspiring mental road trip."

Funny, interesting but WAY to complicated. So we pass back a few more ideas and come up with:
"Comprised of instrumentals with a western slant and southern style rock songs, The Radioactive Werewolf is strung together like a David Lynch soundtrack."

Now we got somewhere. Now I believe this IS what it sounds like and I can happily convey this with confidence to anyone.

As I have grown as a composer I have also developed my ability to Pitch. As I look at my past 2 years of releases I see a trend. Do you agree?

Greed, Lust And Cloning
"Score for a film that never was. A thrilling tale of espionage and adventure painted through a dynamic score"

Like Rabbits
"Intimate orchestral and acoustic modern minimalist arrangements that tip my hat to Debussy and Satie, with viola solos performed by Leah Nelson."

The Ballad of Big Shot Volume 1
"Sports anthems thats will get them stompin' in the bleachers."

Silentium Est Alurum
"Sounds like Dr. Dre produced the Star Wars cantina band."

The Radioactive Werewolf and othe Tales from the Southwest
"Instrumentals with a western slant and alternative southern rock songs strung together like a David Lynch soundtrack."

Current options for on-demand T-Shirts

As I venture into final planning stages for promoting my new album release "The Radioactive Werewolf and other tales from the Southwest" I seriously look into on demand custom printing. I want to find the one that best meets my needs: a simple black T-shirt, good quality, ability to print multiple colors at an affordable price.


I have been creating T-shirt designs for a couple years, but have been focused on my change in career path (composing for film, tv interactive) and put all my efforts into that rather than distract myself by trying to start a clothing company. When I realized that my budget for promoting my new album was going fast I decided to spend an afternoon and do my own research on on demand product and custom printing.

I signed up for accounts with Zazzle, Cafe Press and Spreadshirt. My first instinct was to go with Zazzle.com becasue of it's website design 'feel'. Since all companies provide what apears to be similar items for my custom printing need (clothing, accessories, coffee mugs) that didn't help me with my desision.

I decided to uploaded a simple one color designs to all three and created the a the least expensive T-shirt I could to understand the proccess. I quickly desiced to focus on Zazzle and Spreadshirts to speed the proccess. I uploaded a simple design on a entry level (Haynes) T-shirt and choose to have the shirt in the color black.

I found that with Zazzle ( becasue I was looking for a black shirt) the was at a minimum whole sale price of $21.95 (about $16 for white). With Spreadshirts I found I could make whole sale price of about $10.

I was most satisfied with the Zazzle tools as they allowing customers to zoom in to the printing and see the design more clearly (first image above), were as the Spreadshirt does not have this functionality (second image -->).

With a $10 whole sale price for an on demand T-shirt I am leaning strongly twords Spreadshirts as my custom printing provider. This gives me the ability to have inexpensive items (after mark up) for fans and doesn't break the bank for me to thank the performers who played on the album by getting them all shirts.

So I order the shirt shown in the second image (Spreadshirt) Not real happy about the $5 shipping for one $10 item when I finsh check out. In about 5 days I get my new Radioactive Werewolf Shirt and it looks pretty good. I still have to wash it and see how the "flock' printing holds up with time but I move forward and open up a store ( http://endocrine.spreadshirt.com ) customize the layout and incorporate sales links into my album web page.

Parachute Pants : or : finding personal voice

I don't want to sound like an old guy, but there is a certain point in your life where something leaves your mouth and you have this vision (complete with a cane, gray hair and osteoporosis) saying something like: "Would you darn kids turn down that noisy rock-n-roll music."

Luckily I still like the noisy rock n roll music (sometime very noisy) but I hear myself saying "these kids and there fashion - those pants where silly in 1987 - why do they think they are cool now?"

While taking classes at UCLA for a semester in 2005 to refresh my skills for film scoring, my then-teacher, now friend and accomplished composer Charles Bernstein taught me how music is fashion. He helped me to embrace my own fashion sense (music wise that is) and develop my sound, my style and find my voice.

This past weekend attending the TAXI music conference I saw skinny leg pants, purple bananas, studded bracelets and even one Michael Jackson 1984 red leather jacket - both material and metaphorical.

Like watching several bad 80's video in a row I heard many demos and wondered, "What style must this artist think they are wearing."

Since uncovering my "voice" I see how easy it is to walk around in a patchwork of others styles. To wear the musical fashion of decades past. To not know when to not wear white. (I rarely wear white as it is so I always forget .. . is it labor day ? groundhogs day? :)

I can now get out my army boots out from time to time and be comfortable. And even recently and found a way to be comfortable in those old particulate pants and my died black denim jacket covered in safety pins.
But now I see that they merely hang on my style, my voice.