From "Undermain" Arts Magazine

HUGE thanx to David T. Miller for the very flattering interview!

From the piece:

“There’s such a concentration of musical talent here. I honestly think it's comparable to Memphis and Nashville and L.A. and Atlanta. I think there’s a higher concentration of musical talent [here] than in those places, to be honest.” -- David McLean

Skinny Devil Music Labs: 25 Years of Making and Teaching Music

Miller: What’s your earliest musical memory?

McLean: I think it was “Peter and the Wolf”, which I'm guessing was the Leonard Bernstein recording. The first time I think I saw anything like rock music was sitting with my grandparents at five or six years old and David Bowie came on the television doing his song “Space Oddity.” This was, I think, 1969. They were horrified but I was hooked!

Read the entire piece HERE.

OCT 5: International James Bond Day!

In celebration of the very first Bond movie, October 5 (the day "Dr No" was released way back in 1962) has been dubbed "James Bond Day" and is celebrated globally.

Ian Fleming created Bond in 1953 with the release of the first book, "Casino Royale". Fleming went on to write nine short stories and a total of 12 novels before his death in 1964, and the first Bond movie starred Sean Connery and, as stated above, was released in October 5, 1962.

Many more books were written by others following Fleming's death (sadly, he died of a heart attack at only 56 years of age) and 25 films, the last (as of this writing) was "No Time to Die" starring Daniel Craig.

My focus has primarily been on the music of James Bond, which, in fusing big band, surf rock, orchestral, and shots of "world musics", has become almost a genre of its own!

See my lesson article (complete with info and song charts) HERE.

October '25 Lifestyle Challenge

Long time, no see!

Kicking things off on my birthday month with a BANG!

For those new to the challenges, it isn't to compete against others. It's to push yourself to greater heights, have some company & inspiration along the way, and a few ideas the help get us focused. For example, you can use this waving of the analytical knife to help organize your goals:

1) Exercise/Diet - Set a specific plan or goal(s). Keep us posted weekly (or more) on your progress!

2) Creativity - Music, art, writing, acting...set a goal to complete by month's end. Keep us posted!

3) Personal life - Re-affirm your personal relationships, get to that project/chore you've been avoiding, or just read a book you've always wanted to read!

4) Professional life - Set a work goal or change jobs or....just tell us what it is and keep us posted!

My personal goals include: