The dev team has submitted WinterSpark to Apple for approval! After approval, which I expect to take 4-7 business days, we’ll be ready for launch.

I won’t give away the surprise, but I’ll say this – WinterSpark is a total re-imagining of my Christmas album. I’ve given some of my friends a sneak peak and the reactions have been great. More than one friend has been upset that they couldn’t buy it right away. I’m really excited for the release.

After having a revelation – which I wrote about in this MusicianWages.com article – I began developing my first iPhone/iPad app. The first prototype came in a few days ago. With a few tweaks it should be ready to release very soon!

See:
WinterSparkApp.com

I promise that this unique little app will brighten your winter and bring some cheer to your holidays. More info soon!

Last year I wrote a few ringtones for my friends. I put them online for anyone to download and a few months later they were on over 300,000 phones worldwide.

So I put together a brand, a website and asked my friend Cam to produce an album’s worth of these short songs. We just finished mastering an album of 22 songs last week and they’ve been submitted for distribution through iTunes, Amazon, and all other online distributors.

If you’re an iPhone user, several are available through the iTunes Store on your phone. Search for “Ringtone a Week”.

The logo (to the left) was created by Rochelle Ask, an LA-based graphic designer. The album artwork, an interpretation of the logo, was created by NYC artist Erika Gergel.

The following video was film in 2009 at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Assembled at the table are 4 of the most successful and influential music directors in the history of musical theatre – Paul Gemignani (Into the Woods, Crazy for You), Donald Pippin (Mame, A Chorus Line), Larry Blank (Drowsy Chaperone, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas), Bruce Pomahac (State Fair, White Christmas). The panel discusses the role of the music director on Broadway and contains a great collection stories about working on some of the most famous Broadway shows ever.

Two years ago, I wrote an article about finding work in the midst of the recession. Part of the advice I gave was to focus on building clients at schools and churches, as they seemed to be the only institutions surviving the financial crisis.

It’s time for some new advice.

Continue Reading on MusicianWages.com…

I received a really lovely email yesterday from someone that was introduced to Straight Ahead through the movie “Takers”. She said she’d bought both of my albums and wished that there were more. It was a very nice thing to hear.

I thought I’d record a new song for her and send it as a gift. So I came home last night and recorded “It Could Happen To You”, one of my favorite standards. I thought I’d also share it here with you as well.