Music Career talk 18

It's the early to mid 80's in Hollywood. On the weekends the Sunset Strip is packed, hard to walk from club to club. Big hair, spandex, and power ballads was the vibe du jour. My plan was to produce as many artists as I could for low to no doe if that's what it would take to get my name out there. A lot of the bands I worked with had attorneys shopping their music to major labels, I always made sure "produced by Dito Godwin" was on all the work I did so lawyers, managers, and record labels would see my name, and know the level of my work. I spent the remainder of the 80's producing artists in every style of contemporary music. My plan for exposing my name and brand really worked, though it took years. I started great relationships with a number of A&R reps at major labels both in L.A. and Nashville. I remember parking my car on a Sunset strip Saturday night and commenting to a friend that I had produced every headline act at the four largest venues in the area. Bands knew A&R would listen to music I produced so finding work back then was great. My calender was full most months of the year. As my name and reputation grew I started getting offers of production work from labels including Interscope, M.C.A., R.C.A. and the rest of the pack. I did very high quality work, stayed within my budget and artists loved working with me as I did with them. Enter the 90's still doing well, but starting to hear and see a shift in music. By this time I had produced a number of major artists, but felt a void in my professional life. My attorney (one of several) called me and asked if I would go to the Roxy to see a band he was representing. They were a good hard rocking alternative band, with a strong following and in possession of real potential. The band had a development deal with Interscope Records which didn't go anywhere. I met with their manager who hired me to record a few new songs and remix a few others. After a some of rejections from other labels the manager and I decided to put an independent label together and not wait for a record company to come along and offer us a weak deal. We formed the company, and as luck would have it got a three page cover story in a major music magazine. This article would draw the attention of a very famous musician interested in what we were doing as an indie label. As I said I wouldn't mention any names, but this person came from a band known for wearing lots of makeup in the mid 70's to this day. Signing this artist opened the door to world wide distribution. We signed several other artists spent hundreds of thousands dollars and started selling records, it worked. We ran the company for four years, did our own radio promotion which turned out to be more successful then using some of the high priced radio indies that helped us burn through our money. We got to travel all over Europe and met some great people I still work with today. You'll have to read my book (when it comes out) for all the dirt, and I will name names. The company was sold in the late 90's, the timing could have been better!! At this point I leaned into my production career which had been all but abandoned while running the record company. Building that back up would prove to be really tough. Some of my contacts at the majors were gone and the need to cultivate new relationships was looming and so time consuming. In a radical move I relocated my family to Ashland Oregon 700 miles north of L.A. I needed to slow it down, so we moved into a 100 year old Victorian home and I started commuting from Ashland to L.A. for work while my family got to do some well deserved chilling in Oregon. I'm going to cut to the chase (excluding a decade of music production) and let you know that several years ago the urge to have a label kicked up its ugly head again, and with that said got a deal with Universal Music Group, loaded up the truck (No Camero any more) and moved back to L.A. By the way my friend from that snowball fight back in the 60's is about to record an album with me some 40 years later. "Get a real job mom?" I got one.

Music Career Talk 17

It might help to read the last few lines of last weeks blog, and with that said: so they packed up their Camaro and moved to (not Beverly)but Toronto Ont. Toronto is a beautiful city roasting hot summers and a winter you wouldn't believe. My singer and I had been signed to RCA in New York for a quick one album deal which lasted as long a bad cold. Being fed up with the New York music scene is what prompted us to leave and now it was time to conquer another music scene as well as another country. At this time in the late 70's Toronto had some cool music (maybe a little dated) with great players and lots of venues. First order of business was to put a band together. We had already found an agent who was the top guy in the city. We had a ton of experience having toured all over the country with rock stars and our recording from RCA, so putting a band together should happen pretty fast, and it did. We got a drummer (from Iran) a French keyboard player from Quebec and a Jewish bass player from New York. We rehearsed a full set of original material, called our agent and said we're ready to go, he replied "when I get something in for you guys I'll call you". WHAT!!!!!! We didn't move all the way to freaking Canada to hear that B.S. We had been living on savings which was dwindling away at an alarming rate. My singers wife found a job in the publishing business so they were safe. My wife and I had only been married a few months so this was a great introduction to my ability to supply a stable environment. We left Toronto on a cold autumn morning wondering what's next? We headed back to the U.S., but not New York, this time Virgina where my sister lived. We stayed there for about 6 months until one freaking great call from my singer who had found us a record deal with a small indie label through London Records distributed by Polydor, I think? So they packed up their bags once again and headed back to Toronto. We used some of the tracks from our RCA album and recorded a bunch of new tracks to make the new record. I flew a number of my musician friends up from New York to play on this record. These were the same people who said we would never get signed. The record was completed in the best studio in Toronto. We were the first band to get a major world wide deal in Canada from the states, kind of a reverse situation. We got a ton of press. "Who was this band from New York who came to Toronto and got signed?" It felt good. I remember the day we drove to get our album cover shot, we were on top of the world. I felt miles apart from the doubters and haters I had dealt with my whole life. We put a touring band together, I still keep in touch with some of those members who are still my good friends and read these blogs, thanks guys. We had our same agent and he put us to work in support of our release. We played all over and got really good. We performed at lots of colleges, clubs and did live radio concerts and interviews as well as playing the C.N.E. which is a very big deal in the Toronto summer concert season. This was great and what I wanted, but only lasted so long. No hit off the record and very weak promotion from the label =
the end of that dream and on to the next. My singer and I parted not on the best of terms, he stayed in Toronto (still there) and we headed to L.A. which turned out to be the best location decision we had ever made, and we're still here.
We arrived in Hollywood on a hot June morning in that same Camaro. Finding music industry work here would prove to be near impossible, but because I didn't know that I found work right away playing guitar and bass sessions. One thing lead to another and I helped promote "Motley Crue's" Too Fast For Love CD in the U.S. and Canada. This would be the spring board to my career in L.A. I know in this business who you know can be more important then what you know. You've got to fake it to make it. Next Sunday I'll finish this autobiographical story and you'll see what makes me tick. Thanks for your time.

Music Career Talk Sixteen

I received so many positive comments about my last blog, I will take the next few weeks to finish this autobiographical talk. I ended last weeks blog with my band "The Wishful Thinkers" playing throughout New York. That band evolved into "The Backyard Blues" I wonder, would I ever be in a band that doesn't have the word "The" in it?
Well at this point we were tight to a fault. Well rehearsed and playing out on a regular basis. The road to my future has now been paved, even if I didn't know it at that time. Our lead singer got a very disturbing notice from the government, he got drafted. This seemed to be the beginning of the end. The two guitar players were college bound, the drummer on his way to heavy drugs, and I wondered, what next? Well that band was finished, that dream gone, and my band mates all in different directions. So I dropped the bass, picked up guitar, and put myself out there as a young musician looking for a musical home. One of the first bands I joined was a "Cream" cover band. All the guys were older then me and very seasoned players. I liked that because sometimes it's good to be the weakest player, that's how you learn. Of course I lived in a different part of the city so lugging my gear around in a cab or subway was a major pain. That lasted just so long, and I found my self in another band from Queens N.Y. We had a Chinese bass player, Puerto Rican drummer, female Irish singer and me with too many parts to mention. Lots of fun and good food at the bass player's house (who's parents spoke no English, but not what I was looking for. I thought I would try another whole direction doing club dates. I ran ads and spoke to friends about going out for one nighters just for the money and experience. I found the gigs, but missed the love of the adventure and friendships. Two years had passed since my band had scattered into the who knows where, when one day a got a call from my old singer fresh out of the army and ready to start the process again. Thank GOD my nomad musician days were over!! We met after two years apart, got a slice (New York lingo for pizza) and discussed plans to form a band, write the best music and go conquer the world. First on the list was to write music and pick hard rock and blues songs so we could play originals as well as standards. Next find players, we did. With luck on our side we found an amazing bass player, 6 years older then me, I was 19 or 20 at the time. He was very experienced, a great song writer, and chops forever. Along with him came a drummer, still a little older then all of us. We called him uncle Ernie, short and round, a very good player but didn't fit the image. We found an agent in New York, a real slime bucket who did come up with gigs. One day we got a call to open up for Buddy Miles (former Jimi Hendrix drummer), did we want the gig (300 miles away)? hell ya!! So here's the bad news, Uncle Ernie couldn't make it, "say what"?? Our bass player had been playing with another drummer on side gigs. This guy could play his ass off, had been Neil Diamonds musical director and drummer. My singer and I had seen him perform in a Central Park concert a few months before. He ended up replacing Ernie. We called him "The Bat" because if there was a paying gig he would be there like a bat out of hell!! We became "The Power House" a named I borrowed from an old English band. "The Power House" opened for a number of well known bands including; Paul Butterfield Blues Band, James Cotton Blues Band, Seals & Crofts, The Beach Boys etc. This went on for a few years, maybe some of the best playing years of my life. We were really good, there was no weak link!! The gigs started to dry up as the punk scene came in. The bass player and "The Bat" drifted into other things as they had wifes and lives, we didn't. One day while looking through "Billboard" magazine we noticed an article that mentioned the city of Toronto Ont. having the most rock venues surrounding a major city in North America. Guess what happened next. This was a trip in every sense of the word, fill ya in next Sunday. I would like to dedicate this blog to my friend Jani Lane who passed away a few days a go, enough said.

Music Career Talk 15

This being our 15th week together I thought you should know a little more about me.
I'll leave out names to protect the innocent and guilty, but you know who you are.
My father paid his way through school (University of Pennsylvanian) as a concert violinist. He was a musical prodigy (I didn't get that gene)who got me into music at 8 or 9 years of age. I started with violin, maybe the toughest instrument to play. I received lessons from a mean Russian teacher who never once picked up a violin to show me anything, he just gave me commands, that lasted about a year and a half. My father got rid of him and enrolled me in an up scale music school in mid town Manhattan. That lasted another year or so. I loved the violin, but it didn't love me so I thought it was time to move as far away from the violin as possible. Enter the drums. Got me a pair of sticks and played beats all over the house. The walls of our apt. had little dents all over as I honed my skills with every step I took. Once I discovered I had some chops I made a pitch to my parents for a real set of drums which met with a rousing "NO"!!. I guess the thought of me playing night and day in an apt. in New York was too much. I did have friends with drums so I would hang out with them and play every time the opportunity arose. I don't remember how, but I ended up with a snare drum, high hat and ride cymbal. The ride cymbal had removable sizzles, god I loved that feature!! I really wanted a set of black pearl Ludwig drums, Ringo played that same set. Never got them, still want them!!
While in junior high I played trumpet (all the drum positions were taken, damn it!!). Hooked up with two guitar players who I met during a major snow ball fight on 79th street and York Ave. These kind of cold and wet altercations were frequent in my neighborhood and so much fun!! One of the guitar players lived in my building, and the other near by. We started to rehearse a lot. There was no bass player, just two guitars and my snare and cymbal set. We all could play and sing well so in spite of our ages (12 or 13) we sounded really good. Hmmmm who new this would turn into a life long career. That year I did my first paying gig at "Operation Head Start", an after school program for kids that still exists today. The kids loved us and we got paid $5.00 each. Soon after that, one of the guitar players left; his mother thought music was too much of a distraction from school. The remaining guitar player and I decided to move forward and get more serious about making music. I had a friend who played drums, and of course they were black pearl Ludwig so I moved to bass which I learned quickly to secure my place in the band I had started. We became "The Wishful Thinkers". Our focus was strong as was our sound. We took on a singer and rhythm guitar player. By the time we were ages 15 through 17 (singer was a little older) we were playing at top venues in New York, block parties, private parties, any and everywhere we could. Out of the original 5 "Wishful Thinkers" 3 of us became successful in the music industry, one died (still sad about that) and the other none of us can find, still looking. This band was the start for me and I still work frequently with that guitar player from the snow ball fight on East 79th street. We gigged throughout our high school years playing very hot spots in Greenwich Village, mid town clubs, proms, numerous "Battle of the Bands" contests, Church and Temple dances, and sounded great. We developed a name and following. Back in those days not everyone and his brother were in a band so we were part of a very elite and special group. As this story covers many years I will continue in my next blog complete with photos.