I looked through my old blogs today and found “The Year End Rush 2011“. I posted it up again so you guys could read it.
It made me very sad to see the picture of my friend Ricky Lawson, who passed away a year ago. And I was in the same situation: The Year End Rush. We had a session booked for Monday to have him record drums for 5 songs. And then on Saturday I get the call, that he was in the hospital. First we thought it was not that bad. I called the other musicians and planned to postpone the session until after the New Year. Then in midweek, I was told Ricky had passed away. You can’t imagine the shock I felt. We just talked a few days before. He was in great spirits, just had gotten an award in Germany. He seemed in good health, and wasn’t complaining about any ailments. But then this happened, a brain enurism!
I’m still speechless and sad because I lost not only the best drummer I’ve know, but also a friend and a wonderful, warm hearted human being. I have a few tracks left that we recorded together, and will be on my next couple of albums. But after that I won;t be able to have him on my productions again. I really miss him.
Last year’s Rush was further extreme, because Kathryn ( Bostic) came in with two movies at the same time. She scored, I played, guitar, mixed and helped produce the score tracks. The movies were “Dear White People” which created quite a buzz, and a documentary about August Wilson.
This year I am again involved with a movie with Kathryn, which has to be done before the 23rd. So I am happy to see her doing so well.
I am also working on productions for 4 clients. Fortunately the deadline is not as brutal and it’s just ongoing work.
But mainly I am pushing myself to get my own project up to the next level, before Christmas. I want my record label to hear it and vibe on it over the holidays. I am working on an acoustic album and I still have two more songs to write, besides recording all my main guitars. I have been contacting different companies and friends, to get my hands on different instruments for a tonal variety. My friend and engineer Wolfgang “Amadeus” Aichholz agreed to help me with some of the engineering. Wolfi has killer mics and preamps, so I am excited to hear what my guitars sound like through some old vintage tube mics.
So why do I always feel a rush this time of the year?
Is it a curse of them self-employed? Do people working a 9-5 job feel the same? Or is it just me?
It seems to be a constant occurrence every year. The frenzy starts the first week of Dec and doesn’t end until Christmas. I think it has to do with the finality of the year coming to an end, and also with the business mostly shutting down over Christmas. So there is a break in my work flow. I want to step aside, concentrate on my family and not care about the music business for a few days. Then when I look back of what I have accomplished this year, it just feels better having all these things done and checked off.
Over the years I learned how to deal with THE YEAR END RUSH a lot better. It doesn’t stress me out anymore. I just plan my days and divide them for different projects.
Mondays I deal with my business affairs, Tuesdays and Wednesdays I record guitars for my CD, Thursdays I work on productions, Fridays and Saturdays I work with Kathryn, Sundays I try to catch up with anything that did not get done during the week. That means no break until Christmas, but I know that all the projects are covered. And this takes the anxiety and panic away.
At least it does for me. I realize everybody is different.
I’d be interested to hear if you, the reader, experience something similar or is it totally different? Feel free to leave comments and let me know.
In the meantime Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and all that Good Stuff
NILS