Oh
Godddddddddddddddd does it feel good to have this
story in my head, sit down at a Journey entry ready to
express it, knowing how long it has been since I've
been able to do this. This came together so
organically, so completely BECAUSE of "letting
go" and just creating my heart... you just have
to shake your head and smile.
So after the
success of the Gingrich song, I felt I needed to
show the new viewers that I don't really sing that
low. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever done that type of
voice for a song. So much so, many people that knew me
didn't believe it was me. So with this new influx of
eyes and ears on me I thought I'd just sing a cover
(for whatever reason, that impresses people more than
originals) showing how I actually sing. I picked
the over-covered "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz
because it's a pretty "tenor-ish" type of pop-song
which is the opposite spectrum from The Grinch. Please
enjoy, it was a blast to sing live in my bedroom.
:)
After listening to
that I was again reminded that I really, really
need to make a singing demo-reel. I can sing in so
many genres. I can legitimately rap (everyone
forgets that from the original Trinitrons stage show,
because they forget Gary is even me), and throw in the
cartoon voices I can do... singing? It's just
exponential. There's sooooooo much work for me in the
voice-over arena as well as singing. But as many
people out here know, it's the #1 voice-over market
and it is absolutely something you need an agent,
headshots, and a drive for. All things career related
have been back-burner for me after the hellish
depression of 2010 and only after such an inspiring
and fulfilling 2011 have I been able to entertain
the notion of ever having a career again. 2010
was realllllllllllllllly bad.
So we come to my
friend Gary Helsinger who used to work for Universal
Music that I met in 2005. We've always been
friends and literally 5% of our conversations ever
involved work (I really suck ass at selling myself).
He was a fan of my work on CBS, my music, The
Journey... but there was never a way for us to work
together and I simply wasn't interested in
bringing it up because I just liked talking about
life with him. It was on that note that he gives me a
call saying he got a new job with a production company
that is a 9-5 (or in this case more of a 10-7) and
that when he RSVP'd for my wedding he was unemployed.
Now he's not sure if he can make it 'cause he just
started last month and digs the gig...
...and then it
occurred to him what exactly I do other than talk
about life together.
"You know,
I think my boss would be very interested in
talking to you..."
Why? Because they
produce and pitch TV shows. They produce and pitch
music for commercials, television and movies. And
I don't mean independent stuff, top of the line,
what you'd expect from Hollywood, offices in Studio
City - produces. There are so many levels they would
be interested in when it came to my talents both Gary
and I were kinda laughing that we never really
thought about it until now. I mean, sometimes they
even need people that have great singing voices to
complete some productions. Singing session work... a
plus if I can do different genres or voices.
Hmmm... wonder if I could do that?
So today at 3pm, I
met him and he introduced me to the owner as well as
the heads of the different divisions and I was
absolutely spinning. I didn't need to sell. I actually
can do exactly what they need. They were interested in
everything. The guy that runs the TV side thought the
Comedy Central Pilot sounded great and wanted a copy
of it right away. Something to retool (though
I own every second of that completed pilot), and
re-pitch. I'll be making an entry and finally putting
the entire thing online for the next entry.
Whew.
The craziest
meeting though, was with a guy who puts together and
composes music for tv/commercials/films talking about
needing singing talent. He pulls up an Old Navy
commercial where they needed a group that sounded like
The Beach Boys. Uhm, see where this is going? I direct
him to my Beach Boys parody "Let's Bomb Iran" and tell
him I'm every voice. "Even the falsettos?" Yup. I have
him click the Backstreet Boys parody from Trinitrons
1? "Wow, you really nailed this". (I'm sure it coming
out of Spencer certainly helped sell it). I told
him I'd put together several different music genres
I can sing and he was very interested. Just, wow.
As we walked out of the room, Gary said "I think I
just got you 4 jobs." LOL. All I could say was
"wow". I mean, "Thank you" is such a fucking
given it seems ridiculous to simply say THAT. But what
we both laughed about later? This came so organically.
I wasn't trying to sell him. This was the opposite of
everything that is LA. He was simply explaining why he
might not be able to make it to the wedding next week
and now it's all this.
So I sent on
my "Town of Maybeville" promo for Gary to pass
along to his boss (who I was only able to speak
with for 5 minutes) to let him know that I've actually
legitimately made some noise in this industry and
I wasn't just talking shit. This could be an
unbelieveable 2012. Wait, screw that... could be? It's
working out exactly the way it should, there's no
"could". You "let go" to repair your BEING after 2010,
have such an incredibly happy and loving 2011 that
you're ready to take on the WORLD. And here's the
opening. Right as the year ends. Wow.
So, though
I understand you might miss my wedding next week,
for the love of FUCK don't lose your job Gary.
HAHAHAHA. It's cool, I understand. You're a great
friend for even wanting to take time off a new job to
make it. Maybe your boss will love all my shit so much
he'll DEMAND that you go for the sake of the
business!!!!! But it's totally OK if that doesn't
happen. Thank you so much for helping me. You already
had my friendship, but now you have my loyalty in
helping you any possible way I can. Hopefully
this ends up being a way we can both make some money.
You pitch a few of my songs to a few shows and we all
make some money...
...or we just
continue to be friends, talk about life and know that
there's at least one other person in this city that
isn't trying to "get something" from you. Either way,
just having this hope again is thanks to you. Hope to
see you next week.
