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Sports Music...
Great music at professional sports events is a real bonus, isn't it? Unfortunately, for too many teams this is an afterthought and you hear the same old crummy songs game after game after game after... you get the idea.
Well, recently I and my partner King Raffi have been trying to do something about that, and here are some highlights:
- Sound In Motion, is contracted as the "Official Music Suppliers to the San Jose Sharks" of the National Hockey League. Besides helping them with new music every month and picking out a wide assortment of cool music to keep it fun at The Tank, we also have produced a number of custom mixes and remixed "instrumental interpretations" of some great songs. Be sure to look on the JumboTron duing the first period break and listen when they announce "Tonight's music brought to you by Sound In Motion DJ's!" We get a charge out of that every time : )
- My "Rated G Remix" of Nelly's "Hot In Herre" ended up being played at PacBell Park during the 2002 World Series! Many thanks to Brian and the Giants organization, and though the series could've had a better result, the ride sure was fun, wasn't it?
- In March of '03 the Colorado Avalanche (National Hockey League franchise & winners of the 2000-01 Stanley Cup) commissioned us to put together a piece of music that would be ultra-intense and inspire the team during its playoff run to win the Cup and bring it back to Colorado. We decided to have Raffi do a voice intro and for me to mix something explosive in the background. In the end, we used the voice track with a mix based on "All My Life" by the Foo Fighters and infused with Rage Against The Machine's "Take The Power Back" and Pantera's "A New Level"...
Suffice to say that they are still seismically retrofitting Colorado's arena after they unleashed that monster on almost 20,000 unsuspecting fans!
The Red Cross and a tribute to 9/11...
In the summer of 2002, I was asked to join the Board Of Directors for the Santa Cruz County chapter of the American Red Cross . It has been a good fit for my company in terms of our commitment to helping in our community, as well as a great opportunity to be involved in one of the world's most recognized charitable organizations.
My first task was to produce Santa Cruz County's anniversary tribute to the heroes of 9/11. I did this with two other capable and hard-working people, Joyce Anderson and Patricia Morales, and the project basically took over our lives for almost two months. The evening featured children's choirs, a video tribute to our approximately 40 local volunteers who went to Ground Zero to assist in relief efforts, and a terrific set from award-winning songwriter Jude Johnstone .
Keynote addresses were given by State Senator Bruce McPherson (currently running for Lieutenant Governor of California) and Santa Cruz Mayor Christopher Krohn , who gave what many feel was the best speech of his political career that night. Here's a photo of the three of us about 30 seconds before they were to begin our opening ceremonies... do I look stressed? ; )
Produced in conjunction with the City Of Santa Cruz and held at the beautiful Civic Auditorium, the event was roundly praised as a poignant and appropriate tribute that focused not so much on the tragedy of times past, but hope for our future.
On January 27,2002, Positive Spin and Survivor 3-Africa Contestants Lex van den Berghe, Ethan Zohn and Kelly Goldsmith raised over $10,000 for the Santa Cruz AIDS Project!
January 27,2002 will be remembered by many as a great day in the history of Santa Cruz. On that day, I had the priviledge of organizing the official "welcome home" party for Survivor 3-Africa contestant Lex van den Berghe, an enthusiastic resident of Santa Cruz and a close friend of mine for nearly 20 years.
The Monterey Jazz Festival...
I have had the priviledge of MCing at the last 3 Monterey Jazz Festivals, which have featured performances by Dave Brubeck, Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, Etta James, Pat Metheny, Michael Brecker, Wayne Shorter, Roy Hargrove, Les McCann & Lou Rawls and many, many others. It is an absolute thrill to be associated with this jazz festival, which, along with Montreaux and Newport, is one of the best in the world. I am there representing my radio station, KUSP 88.9 FM , and have been able to add color commentary and a couple of really fun interviews to our live coverage.
Here are a couple of photos:
Meeting Branford Marsalis backstage... does it get any cooler than this?
MCing the Garden Stage my first year -
Photo: Walter Wagner
Here's a cool piece that recently came out in Metro magazine:
Speaking of KUSP 88.9 FM , guess who just came by and visited us LIVE in the broadcast studios? Yep - the legendary Tom Tom Club - straight from the '80s (Genius Of Love, Wordy Rappinghood), yet as groundbreaking and relevant as ever on today's dancefloors - in fact, even more so than their original band, the Talking Heads.
Being called "cool" by Tina Weymouth had to be one of the highlights of 2000 for me : )
Here's a shot w/ the whole gang: Photo: Ray Price
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