This is the fourth year in a row that I’ve written an original holiday song. Previously, the songs were funny or cynical, or took a stab at conventional holiday sentiments like peace and love. Immediately after finishing last year’s song (perhaps the most scathing holiday song of the three) I decided to write my next [...]
I was privileged to work with Ashley Braga on her debut album of children's music, Ladder to the Moon. Ashley is a talented singer-songwriter and music educator with an incredible gift for melody and a beautiful voice. Ashley wrote several original songs for the album, and put her own special twists on classic children's song [...]
As a member of indie-rock band Beige Shelter, we shared the stage at Sneaky Dee's in Toronto with very talented acts Claire Hunter, Stephanie Paglia, and Wilson and the Castaways. I took some photos of the other artists too. As usual, I used my 85mm F1.8 prime lens on my Nikon D7000 body, which gave me [...]
I’ve written and recorded a Christmas song for three years in a row – I feel like I’m on a roll. This year, I didn’t have an idea for a new song until I fired up Spotify one day and saw their new Holiday playlists. Front and centre was the 1994 Mariah Carey hit, All [...]
Our band Beige Shelter performs gigs in and around Toronto. Sometimes I take my camera with me to practice live music photography and share my photos with the artists to help with their own promo material. I love supporting local music. Lately, I've been trying to capture more subtle moments in performance. I used to [...]
Following news of sexual misconduct allegations against Hollywood heavyweight Harvey Weinstein, many of my female friends posted “#MeToo” on social media. Some of them even shared their own harrowing stories of sexual assault. Their courage and vulnerability really got to me. It’s one thing to hear about famous people who live a world away, but [...]
This week, I had the privilege of once again being the guest on Song Talk Radio, where I talked about my current songwriting and recording project of progressive electro-pop songs. For this project, I'm abiding by three self-imposed creative parameters: I'm not allowed to use the 4/4 time signature All my lyrics are stream of consciousness, [...]
I attended the Song Studio Student Showcase at Hugh's Room in Toronto this year. Song Studio is a week-long songwriting camp in Toronto, hosted by Blair Packham and others. I know several songwriters who have attended and they all say it's an amazing experience. For the week's grand finale, the students put on a show with [...]
I know many of you don’t care for music theory. It’s clinical, it’s boring, and it sucks the soul out of songwriting. Well, news flash: you’re using music theory whether or not you intend to. For myself, I know my theory pretty well, as I learned it at young age. I couldn’t tell you if [...]
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