May 1, 2004

Hey guys, what's up. It's a lovely Saturday evening in Miami. I'm doing very well. The site is also doing very well. When I transferred it, I checked the totals and it’s received over 2.8 million hits since it's been on line. God willing, that number will increase exponentially once I launch the project and everything looks good for this month. I have been working extra hard finishing up everything.

I'm very happy with the results and I'm looking forward to showing you the work. However, it's gonna be weird for me going out there (promoting), as I'm a private person and I really don't like the industry (ironically, this site has spread around the music industry a lot). I just like the work (music, film, ect.). I don't know why some people covet fame and pursue it the way they do. One should not make that their goal.

My mom's friend's son is stationed in Iraq. Our moms have been good friends since before we were born. They live in San Diego and are very nice people. This morning my mom gave me a note with his info  that his mom gave her for me to write him while he is stationed over there and I gladly said yes.

It’s allergy season (well, it has been for a few weeks). My allergies are mild, but I still like to avoid the things I’m allergic to (which is just about everything…kidding, but there are several things). When I was a kid, I used to get colds often and my regular physician would prescribe antibiotics, which really weren’t the right solution. My parents then decided to take me to an ear, nose and throat specialist to see what was wrong. Turns out I wasn’t sickly. I have allergies.

They ran an allergy test and found out I was allergic to several things. These things triggered a cold like reaction, but when I got from around the allergen, it would stop. However, I don’t have the kind of life threatening allergies some people do. 

To this day it is still the same, but I haven’t had a cold in years. I’m mostly allergic to dust, plants and pollen. Like recently, I did a bit of spring cleaning and tiled a spare room I've been using for a few years to store stuff I'd bought. Going through the boxes, I started sneezing and my eyes started watering. Yes, not a cute look.

When I garden I’m supposed to wear gloves as well to avoid contact with plants that I may be allergic to. I can’t stay in the sun for too long either or I’ll break out a bit. I’m also allergic to cats and dogs. I can be around them, but if I pet them, it may aggravate my allergies.

Ironically, when I was a kid I had a pet cat, who looked like Garfield (before we realized I was allergic to them). Speaking of that, here’s a traumatic childhood moment for you…when I was about four, one of my mom’s friends picked up my cat by the tail, swung him around a few times, then threw him in the air. I was in shock. I just stood there staring. However, the cat stuck out its claws as it was about to land and dug into the ground (yea, to my surprise, it was a pretty good landing). So, he was okay...but I wasn’t. The whole thing creeped me out.

Anyway, back to the allergies. Why am I telling you this? Some of your children may get colds often, it is misdiagnosed and your doctor over prescribes antibiotics each time to treat what they think is a cold or the flu, when it’s really allergies. You really should avoid antibiotics if you don’t have to take them. It can create other problems in your system. It’s better to keep the child away from the allergens once you identify them. 

A few days ago, I was flipping channels and landed on a show on VH-1 about feuds in music. As they were going to a break and about to introduce the next segment about a disagreement the band Creed had with five fans that sued for refunds to one of their shows, where they complained the lead singer, Scott, did not put on a good show and was not coherent (they are talented though, maybe he wasn’t feeling well) ...right as they were going to a commercial, they said the next segment was about fans that think Creed “put the con in concert” and I thought, hey, that’s like my lyric (In “Contemporary Girl” I wrote “(you) put the con in contemporary”). I’m not complaining or anything, but it was a weird moment hearing the lyric on TV out of nowhere.

The artist of the week is Bob Carlisle. God gave him such a nice voice. I love the tone, it's so soothing and beautiful, especially on “Butterfly Kisses,” which I heard twice this week, so I decided to make him the artist of the week. I love that song and he’s got a great new song out called “Heaven.” I heard it on TBN a few days ago. His latest album, which that song is featured on, is entitled “Nothing But The Truth.” To visit his web site please click here.  

May 6, 2004

Hi, I'm here doing paperwork. Hopefully, I'll get through this stack of paperwork today. I've done mostly computer and paperwork this week, but I also did video and film work as well. I'm having a pretty good work week and I thank God for it. 

I saw an interview on TBN recently featuring Deion Sanders and his wife Pilar that was hilarious. It was so candid and honest. I think their honesty will help people going through similar situations. I hope they repeat it. I also saw a performance on TBN by Brian Latrell of the Backstreet Boys and he was pretty good. 

The Artist Of The Week

The artist of the week is talented vocalist Byron Cage. His latest album is entitled "Prince Of Praise." To visit his web site please click here.

May 7, 2004

Hey guys, what's up. I've spent most of the day writing. I spoke to my dad on the phone and he's very sad over his friend Clement Dodd, dying. We all are. I'm worried about my dad, though. He was one of his best friends. You know someone for over 40 years and then all of a sudden they're not there anymore. That's tough to deal with. I'm praying for Mr. Dodd's family though and for my parents that God will comfort them in this time.

My mom called his wife this morning to help cheer her up and ended up crying instead. They've all known each other for such a long time. I called her later in the afternoon to express my condolences. She really is such a sweet woman and I'm glad she is my godmother. Imagine, she is going through this time of bereavement and still offered to help me with anything I needed for my album, to which I said I'm okay (I'm finishing up everything now). That was so nice of her. I'm sorry he didn't live to see my debut.       

My dad and I were reminiscing about him on the phone today. I just read one of the interviews my dad did on the BBC about his passing and he said some very nice things about him (all true of course). I spoke to him on the phone about a year ago and he gave me great advice about the industry. He mostly lived in New York with his family, but spent time in Jamaica as well. My dad saw him the day he passed and he said he looked okay. He passed from a heart attack, but my dad said he was always so cool and calm that you couldn't tell if anything was bothering him.

My dad admired that calmness about him. I said he's a producer, he'd have to be cool and calm to deal with temperamental musicians. I don't say that based on anything I was told, but based on my personal experiences. Singers and musicians can be very temperamental. As a producer, in addition to knowing music, you have to know how to coax the best performances out of people. I remember one singer I read about as a teenager whose label had to set up carriage rides in New York to help make her calm and get her in the right frame of mind to sing in the studio.

Mr. Dodd was a nice, soft spoken man. What he did musically was quite extraordinary. He literally came up with a genre of music. People often like to say they've created a new style of music, but it usually isn't true. There are only a handful of true, distinct styles. Everything else is a variant of something else. Ska and reggae are so different, unique and it has gone on to become a phenomenon. From Bob Marley to Shaggy and Sean Paul to No Doubt and The Bosstones, those artists all embraced a style of music that was birthed in his studio.

He was definitely an innovator. It's a genre that's grossed billions and put Jamaica on the map. To go down in history as having started a style of music that was adopted into society on such a level is quite incredible. But he was this really humble man. You'd have never guessed it. He and his wife are nice, humble people. They gave me my first DAT machine. 

Just last month my dad was telling me how he was petitioning a board in Jamaica to rename the street one of Mr. Dodd's recording studios is on (Studio One) to "Studio One Blvd" and they accepted my dad's proposal. Mr. Dodd was a humble man that didn't do things for credit or attention. He was one of those people who was really in it for the music. My dad knew this, so he decided to petition for this in his honor. To get a street renamed there is difficult, but it happened. The ceremony was just four days ago.

I'm glad Mr. Dodd lived to see it and I'm glad my dad was able to do that for his friend. He was like a brother to him and like family to us. A group of them would get together, have dinner, play records, talk about life, music, cricket and soccer. It's not going to be the same without him. I'm sure my dad is going to miss that. Mr. Dodd died in his recording studio, to which my godbrother's mom Michelle poignantly said, "he died doing what he loved."

May 14, 2004

Hey guys, hope you are doing well. I spent a great Mother's Day with my mom on Sunday. I hope you had a great Mother's Day as well.

I'm busy as usual. So far this week I've done a lot of songwriting, recording and remixing. I recorded beats I wrote as well. I also did more work on the new site in that I added more items to it. I also joined NARAS (National Association for the Recording Arts and Sciences...the Grammys) this week. The only other industry organization I've joined is ASCAP for my music publishing.

Today, I was looking over a few industry events I'm thinking about going to/registering for. My dad and his friends have gone to them occasionally, but I usually don't. However, since I'm launching the project I'm going to go to a few of them, God willing.

I also signed up for broadband this week. You'd think me being the computer nerd I am I'd have gotten it sooner. However, as long as a computer is relatively fast, not so much the internet connection, I have no complaints. Now if I were recording and they were slow, then I wouldn't be amused. I really put my computers through the paces though.

A few years ago I called tech support and when I told the guy the problem he exclaimed, "What did you do to it?!" then there was the ISP rep who looked at my hours on line for the month and exclaimed, "Whoa!" He was exaggerating...ok, maybe not. Don't look at me like that, I paid for unlimited access. They shouldn't have an unlimited plan then!  

I'm working on a little campaign in an effort to get Mr. Dodd some posthumous honors for his work. My dad thinks its a good idea, so he's gonna help me with it. Hopefully it will be a bit of a consolation to his family. A few deadlines for this year had already passed prior to his death, but a few are still open for consideration.

Artists Of The Week

The artists of the week are the Hagee Family Singers. I heard them sing live on TBN a few times and they are excellent. I've heard a few of Matthew's sermons as well and he is quite the preacher. He reminds me of his dad. It's great to see that intelligence and brilliant gift for oration God blessed his dad with in him as well. The Hagee Singers have a new album out entitled "We Believe." To visit their site please click here. 

May 22, 2004

Hi guys, hope you're having a good night. It's been really busy around here. I did more recording this week and worked on a few remixes. The project is progressing very well. I decided to take a bit more time with the editing and authoring (video/DVD), which I'm doing myself, by God's grace.

The Artist Of The Week

The artist of the week is The Elms. I saw these guys on TV last night and they are good. I was impressed. Their current album is titled "Truth, Soul, Rock & Roll." You go boys! To visit their web site please click here.

May 31, 2004

Happy Memorial Day! I'm here editing. In the last diary entry I wrote that I'd be taking a bit more time to finish up the editing. I could rush and finish it up, but I want it to be right. God willing, in the next few days I'll put a preview on line of one of the new mixes of Contemporary Girl, then launch the project a few weeks after. Have a good night guys. God bless.