Nils Lofgren Plays CMAS, December 8th, 2011

I am late in posting this because I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that one of my musical heroes  was willing to try my students, and me for that matter to produce a performance of his.  There needs to be a stronger word than "surreal" for this kind of thing.

First off, if you are reading this and do not yet have a copy of Nil's newest CD "Old SChool" you need to stop reading right now, and go pick up a copy via his website (www.nilslofgren.com) or iTunes or however you purchase new music.  Then come back and finish reading my prattling on here.  I'll wait a few moments for you to get back here...

Interestingly, it is now, a couple of days later, pretty easy for me to give you a sense of what the evening was like for CMAS (www.tinyurl.com/ArcadiaCMAS): imagine the greatest thing ever and then multiply it by about a billion.  No joke.  On every level Nils gave of himself in a manner that I cannot fully express.

The most obvious would be that one of the world's greatest musician played that night.  It was watching a true artist do something amazing.  It was sublime, inspiring, and just beautiful.  Nils plays with a kind of awareness to the larger musical line that most of us can only wish for.  Heck, I'm grateful I am even aware of it, forget that I will likely never attain that kind of musical bliss/wholeness/oneness myself.

But he is, after all, Nils Lofgren, so, to be fair, the notion that he was indescribably good, I know, is hardly a shock.  What ultimately made the entire experience stand out, and granted I have a severe bias here, is that he did something to push music education forward in a manner that I have never seen before.

I have talked in other posts about the project overall, so I will leave those details for you to review if you like, but I feel I must point out the realities of what Thursday night meant in terms of the educational value.

The truth is that I run a program that as great of a concept as it is, until someone like Nils was willing to come in and give my students real control over the end result of his performance, everything we have done has been fantastic, but, in truth, somewhat only theoretical.  Nils made it real.  He made it real like nothing has before.  There cannot be anymore discussions about weather or not the kind of music education CMAS offers is valid.  None. Nils ended that.  He, perhaps without realizing it, took a huge stand regarding music education - and education in general.  By allowing CMAS students to produce his performance he told the world that those students are doing something that really matters.  Matters enough that someone of hist stature wants to be a part of it.  He did not control the night - nor has he controlled any of the other aspects of this bigger project - he genuinely collaborated with CMAS.  To say this was a huge development does not even come close.

I does not matter that I have been pushing CMAS students forward for all these years.  I am quite proud of my role in all this, but as Nils and I have talked, I am a not even a has-been, I am a never-was, so my pushing only goes so far.  But Nils is a master.  A true living legend.  What he did created a true watershed moment.  He was already a musical hero of mine, now he has surpassed that.

I should mention that there will be several videos coming in the next couple of weeks/months stemming from this unprecedented collaboration between Nils and CMAS, but for now here are at least some photos from the night.

I will write more on all this soon.  Frankly, I am still in shock over the entire thing.  THANK YOU, NILS!!  YOU ARE THE BEST!!

The Nils Lofgren Project

Talk about lucky!  About a year and a half ago we were very lucky in CMAS to have Nils Lofgren (the E Street Band, Neil Young) come in and speak to CMAS about his career and his music, the industry - pretty much all the things that he has ever done professionally as a musician. He was scheduled originally to come in for, I think, about an hour and he wound up staying for just shy of three. Needless to say it was pretty amazing. Nils is an incredibly gifted musician - pretty much everyone knows that. It's evident in all the work he does. It's evident in the people he works with. But more than that, he's just a really gracious person. Nils is one of the kindest most gentlest souls I've ever met and very much willing to share anything that he can with others.

Certainly that session with CMAS was extremely successful. It was extremely inspiring - not just for the students, but also for me; as well as any number of other faculty from the school that attended. In the wake of that, I was blessed in that Nils wanted to stay in touch, and about 10 months ago, back in February of this year, kind of out of the blue, I got a phone call and he wanted to know a) if I'm still teaching at the school and had the CMAS program and b) if I would be interested in having CMAS work with him as part of his upcoming album that at the time he was still putting together.

Obviously the answer was yes. It is a rare gift when an artist of his stature and skill offers to work with your students. Something that we simply could not pass up. Basically, the project is rooted in Nils feeling that he's aware of all the new technology and is aware of the need to involve and reach out to a younger generation (more specifically people that are the age of my students) but he's not quite sure how to do it. So his idea was basically to turn my students into a kind of record labels of sorts. Not having the kids on the phones pushing the CD or anything like that, but just having them help him work through what I might or might not work. 

We started this process very recently. He's coming in frequently to CMAS and he's talked with students now quite a bit about what he has in mind.  He's played a good bit for them and has relayed some great stories to them.  He's basically giving them open access to Nils Lofgren the legendary guitarist, songwriter, singer, producer, and it's been just wonderful.

Right now we are focusing on helping him create two videos for two songs that are on his new album "Old School." The album by the way is unbelievable and if you get a chance to pick it up you absolutely should. It's on iTunes and it is also available at his website and any number of other places www.NilsLofgren.com.

Anyway, CMAS is not really a video production program. CMAS is about music. It's about writing it. It's about performing it. It's about producing it. Both live and in the studio. But we are not a video production class. However, several of the my students in CMAS are also very accomplished students in our Media Communications program at the school where they do work very specifically on video production, so we are tapping lots and lots of resources for this. 

One of the videos is basically going to be a more standardized kind of storyboarded video for the song "Miss You Ray."  The other one is going to be a kind of "making of" documentary for the song "Dream Big." We're hoping that after those we can move on into more detailed production and songwriting skills with Nils. He and I have even discussed the possibility of doing a live show  - one of our songwriter nights as it were - but featuring him. We're still not quite sure how that will work or if we can even manage to make that happen, but to even be talking about it is pretty amazing.  

Both Nils and I are hopeful that this will be a lasting partnership.  Something that the CMAS program does with him not necessarily every year, but that the students have this resource of an artist such as Nils.  It's a remarkable opportunity and it is a tremendous honor and I cannot ever fully thank or express how grateful I am to Nils for giving my students - and honestly me - the opportunity to work with him like this.

Much more coming soon...

Fine. I'll write the (insert expletive) book!

It's been a good while since I have posted anything here.  Trust me, the irony has not been lost on me.  Given my proclivity (oooh, that's a good word) to ramble on generally, I have clearly been, it would seem, holding back.

In truth lots has been going on and I really cannot account for why I have not taken the time to write more here.  So for some odd reason, late at night, tonight, when I should well be asleep, I have decided that it's time to remedy that.

The family is great and I am as ever the luckiest man in the world.

As for projects, that has been quite a ride lately.  For a good bit now the main thrust of my "free time" has been to deal with the perfecting the EARS™ concept and the unreal amount of work that goes along with the related intellectual property issues.  On the whole it is going very well, but wow, lots of work.  EARS™ has taken on a level of legitimacy that I cannot fully express.  It is a unique feeling to know, with 100% certainty that something works as it should.  Wonderful, but unique.  At least for me.

 I have also, after what seems like far too long, really gotten a sense of my next musical project. It's called "With One Voice" and it will very much feature my lovely Michele.  I don't wanna give too much away just yet, but I have been quite captivated by a band from my past called Jellyfish - you should check them out - and when combined with my love of the Beatles, Queen and a few others, it got me thinking...and then my friends George and Nils (seriously, how lucky am I?) both gave me, without likely realizing it, some great ideas for how to go about creating the music.  Very very VERY excited.  Anyway, more on that later....

Right now my other push is a book about CMAS.  Or maybe more accurately, my sense of what I have learned from creating and facilitating CMAS.  I am not kidding. A book feels like a good idea right now. Even if only as a kind of cathartic exercise, it might prove useful.

I already have some of the chapters/major topics worked out:
(in no particular order at this time)
1.  The Music Eduction World is NOT Changing.  It's Already Changed.
2.  Seriously?  You're saying I should do my job less effectively to keep you from having to do yours as well?
3. Money isn't everything, but you cannot expect to run most music programs on very much these days
4. There are only two kinds of music: good and bad.
5. Arrogance is the enemy.
6. Education decisions should always be made based on what;s best for kids, not adults.
7. Yeah.  You heard me right.  It's not just a music program, it's a legitimate record label.  Get over it.

There are surely to be more, but that's what I have so far.  My real issue is the book's title.  I suppose I will eventually stumble upon it but for some reason I feel like until I have it I cannot truly write. As of now, I am leaning towards:

"I've Come to Kill Your Music Program"

but I am open to other ideas if you have any.

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Pure Musical Joy: Why Nils Lofgren is one of the greatest musicans around and I am not

Thursday was an amazing day.  Nils (http://www.nilslofgren.com) came by and spent several hours playing and talking to CMAS.  It was beyond incredible.  Aside from his obvious talent, he is also one of the most grounded, kind, and generous people I have ever met.

I found myself way too star struck with him.  You'd think being so close to "Uncle George" as Gray calls him that I would act like less of a boob around someone like Nils; but no, I was kinda "Captain Wonderputz."  I hope he doesn't think me too dim after all is said and done.  I don't even wanna think about it.

Ok, now past all that, there were several things that really struck me in the time he was with CMAS.  The most significant was his humility.  Not just the obvious and almost cliche kind of thing that you'd expect from someone who has "made it" and done so much - in truth, he's probably best known for playing in the E Street Band with Springsteen; but even if you take that all away, his resume is staggering - but more about how he kept emphasizing his love of the song as his driving motivation.

With Nils you get the real sense that he loves playing with Bruce and all the work he's also done with Neil Young and so many others; and he's clearly grateful and appreciative for all he's been able to do in music; but he talks of smaller gigs in small clubs with the same kind of affection.  He has a kind of musical Joy about him that I don't see very often. It reminded me of Robert Billups (see an earlier blog about that true genius).  Even in the CMAS main hall, which is pretty cool for a school facility but not really a big deal in the pantheon of places Nils has played, he was just clearly in love with the music.

And I don't mean in an arrogant sort of way 'cuz it was his songs.  I mean he just loves music.  You can see it, palpably, in his face.  The Joy of it seems to take on his entire body and informs all the energy about him - he literally radiates it.  I learned more from Nils in those few hours yesterday than I could possible recount here, but his joyous playing and sense of self within the musical lines was just indescribable.

Full disclosure, I feel I did him a disservice in the sound I provided him - not that he complained.  I'm hoping passing along George's contact info to him, as well as  the mixes I'll create of his performances for the show that was being taped, will at least make up a bit for that and all the rest of my gaffs.

Ok, time to go and find some of my own musical joy.  So this is Captain Wonderputz, signing off...for now...