TONY BLACK

il bastardo

if you're a songwriter, artist or music person of that nature and you want to get sneak preview, early blasts from a forthcoming book by yours truly, go to the contact page and send me your email address. i won't sell it..promise. thanks

this is the latest trailer for "santorini blue"...i composed, performed and produced the opening theme "d's bolero" which accompanies this trailer too.

but i'll try to get back to regular updates here at tbp.

been really busy launching www.mycoffeeface.com ..if you get a chance to, pop over to the site, and even better, send in a pic.

wrapping up a couple of music projects in march, and starting a couple more. keeping busy until i try to make it out to france for Le Tour...gotta make it happen.

today my new sony mdr-v6 headphones arrived via amazon.com. i've been without since a trip to london several years ago. i've had their alter ego 7506's since then, and while they're good,i'm realizing they're not the same. oops.

so to start the burn-in, i dialed up an old favorite- sheryl crow "tuesday night music club". instantly i was transported back to one of the commuter train rides on nj transit that i used to take to and fro nyc circa 1994. it was a time of change, new beginnings, lots of challenges and mystery. i had know idea what i was getting into or out of, but i was going somewhere, and i had no idea what that meant.

come to think of it, i was listening to a walkman back then...cassette bliss.

and now i've got my trusty pair of v6's, and my trusty favorite recordings, all digital now of course, and all is right in my audio world.

someone told me a while back that "time is the masterpiece". i thought she was a nut, but i'm starting to believe her.  i'm going to add music to that mantra, for me. it's my barometer, if that makes sense. when i'm listening to music or making some, or recording or mixing some, "music is the masterpiece". it makes everything right. even when it isn't.

next track.

not really otm drummer jonathan

Photos from the OTM sessions @ shelter island nyc and @ the melody club hq 2009

otm, m.swersky,t.black,t.stacks @shelter island 2009

t.black workstation @shelter island,nyc

jonathan's view otm @shelter island

vox sessions at tmc hq

started the morning waiting in washington square park...i could live in this neighborhood.

continued on to the producer panel at cmj...

and then after cuban lunch @little havana, and a don pepin garcia @cigarinn

took things uptown to the fall soiree' @borbay's

 Life As A Modern Day Professional (Really Professional) Producer   
The roll of "The Producer" has changed greatly.  More records are being made with less budgets.  Grammy winning producers are staying busy but in different ways.  This top-tier panel will discuss the current state of affairs concerning modern music production.

· This hour and fifteen minute discussion will take place in Room 905 / 907 at NYU’s Kimmel Center (located at 60 Washington Square S.) on Thursday, October 22nd at 12:30pm.

a musician chooses from a palette of tones, sounds and textures to compose or perform....a chord here, a riff there, a guitar, piano, etc....all at once it's a composition(hopefully).

a painter chooses from a palette of colors, and textures to to work from...sometimes an accidental combination results in a color never planned...maybe a masterpiece is born?

people choose from a palette of friends, lovers, partners and family to create their world,their picture, the soundtrack they move to and really, their lives...ok, you can't choose your family, but you can choose how you interract with them, or mix with them.

are you on someone else's palette? do you want to be on that palette?...you can choose to be, or not.

pay attention to who is painting you in their picture, or who is including you in their song(and dance)...you may want to be a little more aware of who's palette you're a part of...

committed

it all starts that way. whether it's a painting, a recording or a journal/blog entry. at first it can be intimidating. where to begin? what instrument, tempo, key, motif? what topic? personal, industry related, world events? it all begins with a stare at the blank canvas, blank paper, new recording session in protools,etc... nothing but blank tracks, blank paper, the blank canvas....

so you start...and it's always the new beginning, the new quest, the next song, the next painting, which draws the artist or creative to this place. probably the same reason why creatives are so unpredictable. they're always drawn to the new...the new and exciting...

and then comes the time when the creative must let go, or finish...oh, that's the tough part, seeing things through to the end...the commitment...

an artist i know once said, "you never really finish a song, you just abandon it"...i've never heard a better way to describe it yet.

with so many places and opportunities to share your thoughts these days it gets to be a tough decision when it comes just where you post those thoughts...

you have some genius thoughts running through your mind..and then the panic kicks in...

is this personal, handwritten in the moleskine stuff? 

is this a 'what am i doing right now?' facebook thought?

is this a 'microblog' twitterworthy blip?

or does this make it's way to the personal blog where i am right now?

who cares? no one. do what you want, say what you want, wherever it feels alright. if you offend, so be it. if you make someone, or yourself, laugh, perfect. and where you do it doesn't matter. it's just expression, just being yourself, letting off some steam or gas or garbage in your mind...so do it. and use spell check if you want. use all small case if you want. use bad punctuation. whatever.

now, far be it from me to blog, microblog, rant or essay about some ex-girlfriend, neighbor, sports team, artist or business associate. that's for the crazy people out there on the interweb thing. me? i'm just writing this while i wait for the coffee to be done. the really juicy stuff goes in the moleskine...

this is a new way of looking at things in retrospect as i try to learn some new things. i've been reading a ton of material over the past couple of months, talking to friends, colleagues, family, mentors, peers and the occasional therapist/counselor.

the usual thought or question that people seem to ask themselves is "what was i thinking?" with regards to a situation they were in, or found themselves in....

i'm going to look at things another way, so that in the future, or more importantly, in the present, i'll ask myself "what am i NOT thinking?"...it touches a little on 'the black swan' concept(a tedious book i've been trying to force myself through).

let's face it, we know what we WERE thinking(even though it's tough to admit sometimes) when we look back on an event or a part of our lives...but now try to see what you WEREN'T....i need more coffee...i think

og mandino...i read this book yesterday, it's really a short book, but wow, powerful stuff. i'm going to use this book, and the scrolls...

it's been a strange weekend, for many reasons. a change of seasons, a change of scenery, a change in directions and pursuits. it will be good. or should i say they will be good.

ever look back 10 years, to the day, and realize that everything you thought was 'end of the world' or 'life changing' really was?? then you look back 10 days and see the same thing? perspective is a crazy thing.

good book. the guy drank so much coffee that i found myself only able to read it while drinking some myself. my impression is that it is very much part of the  culture in sweden.

i had a girlfriend with a dragonfly tattoo, not a dragon...i prefer the dragonfly concept although i'm not a tattoo guy myself.

had a great weekend, caught some sand sharks while surf fishing in nj...where there's little sharks there's big sharks right? hmmmm....

i threw back the sharks, unharmed...same with the girlfriend.

of course the obligatory ... after the title. so very blog 2.0

hey, you can change your own tire on your bicycle. just get the tube, get the tire, get the tire levers and pump. then go to the net if you're a newbie and google the methods...youtube, pictures, whatever works for you. i waited to get new tires from my favorite online dealer...why not the local shop? because he tried to charge me 30 bucks for an 8 dollar tire i could get at walmart. so, just like the music shop that tries to charge $18.99 for a cd, he's getting eliminated by the net...yeah it's not an intimate relationship, but i'll get that from somewhere else.

the roubaix is back on the road, and this blog is gettin back to it too.

tony black start of the 5 boro bike tour

so this is tonyblackprod 2.1 i guess...i tried to organize things a bit, trim some fat, add some new fat.

hope it works out for you, and for me. there's always 2.2 thanks to squarespace.com