Milestones

Last night I had a chance to hang out with some composer friends here in Nashville. We get together every other month or so and chat about what's going on in our lives and with our music, talk a little bit about TAXI (as that is the reason this group began in the first place), listen to some music and just really spend time enjoying each other's company.

After I got home from the hang I noticed that the latest issue of Recording Magazine (Apr 2013) had arrived. As I flipped through the pages a familiar face caught my attention. It was my own... while I knew that eventually that was going to happen, didn't know which month, it was still kind of a shock to see myself in the magazine. And then I saw they also included the first part of the transcript from the Road Rally Panel I was on as well. That I was not expecting, so that was a neat surprise!

I've tried to think of a clever segue into the Milestones topic but I'm not coming up with anything so I'll just make a cold transition... Milestones... :-) As I was updating my web site today with the latest placement news which you can see by clicking here I realized that I have now received over 700 cue sheets and my music has been used in over 100 different productions! And while I'm nowhere near where I want to be with my career, I know I'm heading in the right direction and I'm making forward progress each and every day.

Another milestone that I'm hitting this week is the one year mark of when I made the decision to take control of my personal health. It was March 15, 2012 when I went to go watch Kentucky play basketball in the opening round of the March Madness tournament. I'll never forget that day. I never would have imagined the impact on my life that one decision was going to have. I'm happy to report that after reaching my goals a little over four months ago, I've managed to maintain my goal weight. And while I'm very excited to have passed the 700 cue sheet mark, that pales in comparison to how proud I am about keeping the weight off for the past four months.

It was also eight years ago today that my grandfather passed away. That was a very pivotal moment in my life as it was on my way back home to Nashville after his funeral when I decided to get back into music. I wish he was here to see how things have gone for me.

Time to get back to the studio, I've got some new shows that I'm writing for at the moment and the deadlines are coming up soon!

2012 Year In Review

I did a little bit of reflecting over the past year and thought I'd do a little wrap up of 2012 so I can start moving forward with 2013! Without a doubt, 2012 was one of the most rewarding years I've ever had, both personally and professionally. From signing deals and building new relationships to growing and strengthening existing relationships to even having to say goodbye to others, last year was a very significant year for me.

The year started off with the premiere of It's A Brad, Brad World on Bravo, my second main title theme. I was happy to find out a few weeks ago that the show got renewed for a second season.

The in March I was able to take some time to attend some Kentucky basketball games during the NCAA March Madness tournament. I had no idea that going to see them play in Louisville was going to completely change my life. See, it was the walk from the parking lot to the arena for the first game in which I finally got to the point concerning my health that I knew I had to make a change.

That change began one month later when I started the RevAbs program. My goal was to lose 100lbs in 6.5 months. By the time I stepped on the flight to head to L.A. in November for the TAXI Road Rally I wanted to be 100lbs lighter. That was my goal.

During the next 6.5 months I put most of my focus and attention on losing weight and getting healthy. And while I did some music during that time, it really did take a back seat in my life. But it was worth it as I was able to reach the goals that I set out to achieve with the weight loss. I'll never forget the moment after I boarded the plane and got in my seat of when I put my seat belt on. For the last 4 years that I attended the Rally, it was always a struggle to get it latched together. Not this time. I remember looking at all the slack that was left in the belt and then I became overwhelmed with emotion and tears began to flow. It was at that moment that I finally felt like my goal had been achieved.

The destination for the flight was the TAXI Road Rally. This was my 5th one and 2nd time as a guest panelist. And of all the Rally's I've been to, this was by far my favorite one. I'm sure it had something to do with the "Barry?!?!?!? Is that really you?!?!?!??" type moments, but I think it had just as much to do with me being able to give back to the community that's been so giving towards me over the past 5 years.

I finished out the rest of the year working on an alt rock project in the style of the Black Keys as well as trying to enjoy the holidays while trying to rest up and get recharged for the new year. If 2013 is anything like 2012 was then it's going to be an incredible year.

Until next time...

March Madness!

I don't think I could have come up with a more appropriate title for this entry. As many of you know, I'm a huge Kentucky basketball fan and (most) every year during the month of March they compete in a little basketball tournament affectionately known as March Madness. Well, they're not the only ones dealing with madness this month. I'll get to that in a minute but first I've got a quite a few items to update everyone on.

Let's start with where I left off, and that's with the film score project. In spite of the fact that my main studio computer was down for over half of the project ( It was a power supply issue, and after a poor job by the 2nd service tech that HP sent, I was able to get the machine back up and running by myself later that night), I was able to meet my March 1st deadline.

I can share more about the film now as well. It's a faith-based movie called Decision and it stars Natalie Grant and Billy Dean. I'm not exactly sure when it's going to air but the latest I heard was they expected it to be on TV sometime near the mid/end of April. Once I know more, I'll be sure to let everyone know. It was a great experience working on the film. The production company is planning on shooting more films this year and I've already been told to expect a phone call from them in the upcoming months about scoring those as well. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited about that.

About 15 minutes after I found out that that every cue had been accepted and I was finished with the score, I got a postcard from our water company stating that our usage for the past month was higher than normal. This is where the madness begins...