Overflow of the Heart

[Marshall]

I've been working on my recording project for, jeeze, about 6 years (more like my whole life). I told Gene to burn me a few master disks. I'm done messing with the tracks. There's always something else to do/improve. But at some point it's just time to get it done.

Anyway, it's time to work up the jacket design. I've got a couple nice photos already of Ernie (the 57 Country Western), but no pictures of me. I've been searching for the right setting.

I think I found a cool rotty old alley with an old brick wall with an old faded painted advertisement near by. The wall in question faces north, so there won't ever be any direct sunlight on it. It'll always have filtered light. There's a loading dock across the alley that'll give some distance to set up a tripod.

I think I'll walk over there this morning and take some prelim photos with the 35mm and the digital camera. The idea is if they turn out OK, then probably on Saturday (the dock won't be in use) I'll come in and set up a tripod and shoot some timer photos of me and Ernie against the wall.

That's the short term plan.

[Cribbs]

That sounds great, Marshall. I like the way that looks in my mind. That's an important part of a CD project that sometimes is overlooked. Show up the pictures, if you don't mind, and we'll get you some feedback, or if you need any cleanup or effects done, holler at me.

[Marshall]

Thanks, Cribbs. The alley looks cool. I just shot some pics. I'll take the film in for processing into negatives and jpgs. I also took some regular digital. I'll scope out what works best and probably will plan the real shoot for Saturday. The backdrop looks cool. It should work well.

[Cribbs]

And as Bill would say, "with such a dreamy guy like you in it, the pic will be even more perfecter!"

[Marshall]

I choose the rough setting on purpose. I've got a well worn look about me. My old guitars suit the image. No Paul McCartney/Mick Jagger hair-dyed airbrushed look me. I've got well earned mileage. And I hope the music proves some of that.

I'm thinking of proudly showing some wringles. We'll see what comes out.

I looked at the preliminary digital alley pictures and they look perfect. Tomorrow I'll get the prelim 35mm pix back in jpg format. I'll see which camera gets the best resolution shots. The 35 mm also has some prelim shots of me up aganst a concrete wall in bad single-source light. That might be the scariest part of all.

Now I have to decide if I get a haircut first, or stay with the scruffy look.

[Marshall]

Shot a roll of 35mm film on Saturday afternoon. When I first got there, there was a van parked in the alley. Bummer. So I circled around some blocks looking for a different place. I found some interesting sites. But I circled back past the original alley (15 minutes later) and the van was gone, so I used the first choice. The problem shooting film is you get no immediate feedback on what you've got. But I shot 24 pix of me and Ernie (guitar) in various places. It was kinda fun. Kinda weird too. I had a tripod set up and shot timer shots. Occasionally people would walk by and look strangely my way. So, we'll see what turns out when I drop the film off on Monday. I'll get negatives and jpg files back.

[Marshall]

Oh well. Even though I shot a practice roll that came out great; the real roll didn't. I musta bumped the autofocus button off. So, all but one photo are less than acceptable. And that one captures a less than flattering expression. That's the problem with film. You don't know what you got until it's too late. And I hardley ever use that camera anymore, so I'm not used to it's nuances. The setting was spectacular. The focus and resolution was not. Another lovely Saturday afternoon shot.

Such are the starts and stops of a self-done project. Now I probably got another week before I can take another try at it.

[Marshall]

Took another trip back to the alley. Things worked out better. It helps to not have a bad hang-over, I guess.

I've messed with the photos in photoshop. The resolution isn't as tight as I wanted. But it covers up my wringles that way. There's a couple cool photos from yesterday and a cool photo from last week. That should be enough.

I don't think I'll type out the lyrics in the jacket. Ideally you can make someone go to your website for that, and then you get them. But I don't know when I'll get around to setting up a web site (if ever). But I do want to say a little something about each song. There's a story to be told. So now i have to write those up and see how I want to format the thing. SHouldn't take but a few days.

Gene dropped off the final prelim disk. He'll get me a few more when I say "go." Then I'll look into disk reporduction. There's a place near work that advertises such. I'll walk in this week and talk to them. Then there's Oasis. I know Flake has used them. They say they can get you some exposure.

[Cornflake]

I think they do get you a little exposure, Marshall. When I did my first CD with them, I know their "sampler" got listened to, because I got inquiries from a number of radio stations wanting to hear the full CD. The song on the sampler got scattered airplay. When I did another CD with them, our song "We Are Musicians" was the lead-off track on the sampler--and I never heard a peep from anyone. That doesn't mean the sampler didn't get heard.

The main reason to use them is that they do good work and you can count on the quality of what you get. They're very good to work with. Don't expect too much from their limited marketing assistance, though.

[Marshall]

Narcisim to the max. I got a new camera (hadn't bought a new digital in 6 years. And I use them for work a lot). Went back to the alley and now have way too many photos. Some are actually worth looking at.

I sent the last label revision to Gene. I got a package from Oasis. The game plan is to pound through it all and make some decisions this weekend. maybe I'll post a couple options for cover art and let anyone voice an opinion.

[Marshall]

Saved myself $200 bucks. The Oasis brochure has it $200 cheaper for 4 panel jacket than for 6 panel. I trimmed the song info to fit on two pages inside the jacket. So there's a cover picture, a back of jacket picture and 2 page interior liner notes. I've got a nice picture and text for the traycard back-of-the-jewel case. So I think I'm done.

I'll call my Oasis rep tomorrow and see if how we work this out.

I did something different and wrote a little 2 or 3 line description about the reason behind each song in the liner. I'll attach them below, so anyone who is interested can see what I mean.

OK here's a cut and paste of the descriptions. I haven't told Todd yet that I changed the name of "Heading South" to "Novemeber Wind." There's no reference to heading south in the song. (even though that's what it's about).

1. Headphones
I was walking through the crowded airport one day and noticed how many people were wearing headphones. It seemed that in the midst of that mass of humanity, everyone was really off in a world of their own.

2. November Wind
“Father Nature” is what we call him. He’s a man that is connected to nature in a very spiritual and poetic way These words from Todd describe what he observed on a walk through the woods one early November day.

3. Arizona
It was a cold damp dreary spring in Chicago when Dave went off for his yearly trek to the Arizona desert. The work-a-day world was getting him seriously down. I wasn’t sure he was ever coming back.

4. Ashley
I was riveted by Jim’s telling of real-life tragedy in the Midwest. There were so many facets to the story. A whole town gets thrown into turmoil when tragic death like this happens. But, it was young Ashley’s response that struck me the most. I saw the story as the classic conflict between goodness and evil personified.

5. Microwave
Sometimes, it’s “nonsense” that makes the most sense. This song started with an internet discussion about a musical line. Without sounds to describe the fledgling song, I typed out the counted beats of lines to communicate the meter of the song. From the counting exercise came a joke about a microwave oven. I decided to use that and give the appliance the personality of an underappreciated partner.

6. Overflow of the Heart
This song is inspired by a reading of Luke 6:43-45

7. The One I love
There is nothing more special than the love between two people. This was written in honor of the commitment of two people who met first over the internet. To Rob and Carol

8. The Gathering
This is a song about traveling long distances to spend time with like minded guitar playing music lovers.

9. Time Zone
Beth Anne was just 13 when she brought these lyrics to me. She had already experienced more turmoil than many people find in a life time. I was struck with the maturity of her words.

10. Motherless Child/Wayfaring Stranger
I’ve always loved gospel music. There’s a reverence under fire that portrays strength, no matter what life brings. I've always wanted to make my own interpretation of a song like this. But it wasn’t until I came home from my father’s funeral that I was moved to make it happen.

The back panel will have the song credits.

(Yes, I know it needs spellcheck and punctuation correction.)

[Marshall]

Took me more time than I thought. I needed to get a clean music disk from Gene. I stewed over the notes and photos (and the money).

Signed the release forms and contract and popped a packet in the mail today to Oasis. Ordered a thousand of the buggers. It's only $100 more expensive than 500 and that's pretty much their minimum with graphics packages.

I set up an email address for the liner notes. ([e-mail]) I also registered a similar domain name. Marshallontheweb was already taken so I chose marshallonthenet. I haven't set up a web site. May not do that. But it's parked in reserve.

We'll see when they say they'll be coming. I'll have to check out CD Baby, maybe.

[gbacklin]

Hey Marshall,

Sounds Great !

Look forward to the website. Just wanted to thank you for letting me help you with this project. It really was a lot of fun.

Take Care,
Gene

[Marshall]

Man ! A thousand disks sure is a big pile of . . . , disks !

The UPS man just rolled in with a cart full. I knew a thousand would be a lot. But it was only a hundred bucks or so more than teh cost of 500. So, I did it. I broke the seal on one package. Oasis did a very nice job on the repro. Looks exactly like i wanted them to.

Now I got to figure out what to do with them all. The people who helped write or record material will all get a couple copies. I owe some other friends copies.

I guess it's time to figure out a web site and maybe talk to CD Baby.

I move kinda slow and deliberate. (It took me over 40 years to make my first recording.)

[gbacklin]

Congratulations Marshall !!!