(new) Music Monday and more - 6.18.2012

Last week I started a new weekly post on Facebook, Music Monday, and decided that I should probably incorporate that into my blog. I'll also include a link to the track from last week at the end of the blog.

I've found out about quite a few new placements since my last blog entry that I wanted to update you on. They range in style from pop/rock to metal to tension to delta blues and they were for some old shows that I've had placements in before, like The Dr. Oz Show (29 new episodes) and NY Ink (6 new episodes), as well as a bunch of new shows such as Disappeared, Oprah's Next Chapter (4 episodes), Secret Service Secrets, Ultimate Armored Car, and finally, what has become one of my new favorite shows, Duck Dynasty!

I also had a track get used in a nomination video during last month's Webby Awards Show. I haven't been able to locate the video itself, but it appears that the nominee that my music was used for created a product that turns your iPhone into a stun gun!

A quick update on my RevAbs weight loss journey. I dropped another 3.4lbs this week for an overall total today of 48.1lbs! I've got 6 weeks left and 21.4lbs to lose to reach my goal for this 3.5 month program. It's going to be close but I think the goal is within reach! This week is going to be a challenge for me to eat healthy as I'm going to be at a small music conference from Thu - Sun. But I'm going to be planning things out ahead of time so that it won't be as big of a challenge as it could be otherwise. If you want to succeed in life, you have to plan for it.

And now for the new music. This is a track that I wrote last night for a pitch to a music library looking for hard, aggressive "sports rock" type music. I called it "Headbuster." Enjoy!




And for those of you who didn't see this on my Facebook page last week, here's the track that I posted. It's a co-write with Darin Martin and Juliet Lyons, with Juliet doing an awesome job on the vocals!



Until next time!

May Update

Thought it would be a good time to update the blog with some of the latest news about placements and deals and stuff. This is the time of year that my musical output tends to increase a bit as I find myself having more time to spend composing since the college basketball season is over, the NBA playoffs are nearly finished and most of my favorite TV shows are on summer hiatus (or cancelled!).

I had a chance to write some pop/rock cues in the style of Colbie Callait and Sheryl Crow for a new series that's about to debut on ABC Family called Beverly Hills Nanny. I wrote seven tracks for it and all seven were accepted and sent to the editors of the show. So I'll likely record that show to see if any of my cues get used.

Currently I'm writing some Hip-Hop cues for Fox Sports. It's been a stretch to say the least, but I've watched quite a few mix tapes of Kentucky basketball players to help me get a feel for the genre :-) I'm also co-writing with a couple of other people on these, one in particular who's VERY well versed in Hip-Hop. Thanks to most of their home games against lesser opponents being broadcast on the UK Basketball network via Fox Sports South, my dream of having my music played during a UK game broadcast is one step closer to reality!

On to some placement news... Since my last update, I've had placements show up in Clean House NY (4 episodes), The Rosie Show (14 episodes), NY Ink, It's A Brad, Brad World (8 episodes), and Last Call with Carson Daly (4 episodes). Now here is one of the rare times that I actually know in advance about an episode. The episode of What Not To Wear (episode title - "Desiree") that will be airing on Tuesday night, June 5th at 9pm Eastern / 8pm Central will feature 3 of my tracks in it. And since I know which tracks are being used, I can actually let you know which ones they are as well :-) So here they are, the first two are acoustic guitar based tracks and the third one is a driving pop/rock track:

Making Choices


Tough Decisions


Leave It All Behind


I'm not sure the exact moment when they will be used in the episodes, but it does appear that it will be in the back half of the episode, with the third clip being the next to last piece of music they use, and it gets played for 56 seconds. So it might be used during the final "reveal" scene based on the type of cue and placement in the episode.

And finally, an update on my progress with the RevAbs program that I started over 6 weeks ago. I'm VERY excited to announce that I just completed Phase 1 of the program and so far I've lost 37.1lbs, 4" off of my waist and about 18% of my body fat. I'm feeling great and can't wait to see the results at the end of Phase 2 later next month!

Until next time...

New Placements (video link) and my RevAbs Jump-Start Week 1 Progress Report

One week ago today I started on a new path. There were times that I didn't know if I could make it or not but I'm happy to report that I stuck with the plan, both the diet and exercise, every single day. I'm excited to announce that so far I've lost 16.5 pounds!!!

Now I know there will be some out there who are concerned about the pace at which I've lost this weight. I appreciate your concerns, but let me reassure you that you need not worry. For the past week, I've had around 1200 calories per day by eating 5 meals per day (3 meals and 2 snacks, and that's it) that consisted of all natural and organic foods, nothing processed (except a couple tablespoons of A-1 Sauce!), gave up diet sodas and replaced them with at least 80oz of water a day, and exercised 30-45 minutes a day for 6 days. If I got hungry again later in the evening, instead of grabbing another snack, I drank a 20oz bottle of water.

I can honestly say that I feel great! I have not experienced a single headache during this entire process. And every time I start to feel hungry, it's usually time to eat again anyways. I'm a bit sore from the exercise, but that's because I've done more exercise in the past 6 days than I've probably done in the past 6 years combined! I've also eaten more broccoli and asparagus during the past week than I've eaten in my entire life! 

I'm changing my name...

Sort of... I'll get to that in a moment. But first I wanted to share that this particular entry is going to be a bit more on the personal side as I'm going to open up a little bit about a new adventure that I'm about to embark upon. And while I do have some new music news and updates, I'm going to save that for a post later in the week. But for now, let's get to the name change...

I'm going to be changing from Big Blue Barry to "Not Nearly As Big" Blue Barry or "Medium Blue Barry" or something along those lines... Yes, I'm making a lifestyle change to lose weight and drop at least 100 pounds.

The idea for this journey that I'm about to tell you about has been percolating for awhile but my recent trips to Kentucky helped bring the idea from a possibility into actuality. There were a couple of nights while I was there that I couldn't sleep so I had the TV on and caught a couple infomercials, one of which was for P90x. So after seeing a couple of those, and then feeling winded after my walk from the parking lot to the arena in Louisville (it was about 6 or 7 blocks away), the wheels were set in motion.

Then after getting back to Nashville, I spent some time researching some different programs, trying to figure out which one I could commit to and still see some results from. I knew that there was no way I could commit to the P90x program. It was going to take up more time than I could commit to. If I wanted to put music completely on hold for the duration of the program, then I could find time for it, but that's just not realistic.

As fate, luck, or as I like to think, Divine Intervention, would have it... A few months ago, I got back in touch with a dear friend from college that I had not seen in over 15 years. This friend just happened to be a certified trainer and Coach in the BeachBody system (aka P90x). So after a nice chat on the phone, we decided what program would be the best fit for me, not only from the standpoint of the amount of weight I want to lose, but also from the standpoint of how much time I could commit to putting into this. And in my case, that program is known as RevAbs.

The reason I'm posting about this is because I want to take that extra step in being held accountable to sticking with this. I know I've got the support of my coach and my "inner circle" of friends and family, but I wanted to get as much support with this as I could. My long term goal as of now is to lose between 100-120 pounds and I'm expecting it will take three rounds of this program to do so.

In all honesty, I'm actually EXCITED about this. I know there are going to be some drastic changes, in particular with my diet, and especially over the next two weeks as I do the 14-day kick start program. No carbs and no sugars for 2 weeks and a total of about 1200 calories per day... So if I'm a bit grumpy during the next two weeks, you'll know why :-)

By the time this entry posts online, I should have completed my first day's workout. Hopefully I will be alive to talk about it when I'm done :-)

I actually remember how to blog!

Looks like my last entry was nearly six months ago. I knew it had been awhile since my last blog but I hadn't realized it had been THAT long. So much has happened between now and then. Some of it important, some of it, not so much. Let me start out with the least important stuff first... updates on music placements...

I landed my second main title theme for the show It's A Brad, Brad World that is currently airing on Bravo. I've also had numerous placements in a variety of other shows such as Access Hollywood, Auction Kings, and Little Couple. And the movie that I wrote the score for, Decision, made it's television debut back in October. I've also been busy writing cues for a variety of other shows but have yet to find out how many have been used yet.

In November of last year I made my annual trip to L.A. for the TAXI Road Rally. This was my fourth time going and it might have been my favorite one. It was great getting to see friends and "family" while I was there though it's amazing how fast the time flies while you're there. This one seemed to go by really fast.

After the Rally I made a big change in my recording setup. I switched from Pro Tools 9 to Cubase 6. There were lots of reasons for the change and maybe one day I'll do a blog post just about that, but after making the switch to Cubase, I can honestly say I've got no regrets. I'm LOVING Cubase!

Now on to some of the important updates... The last couple of weeks have been a sobering reminder of just how fragile life really is. Almost two weeks ago, my papaw (mom's dad) passed away. Even though he had been in a nursing home for over eight years and had been battling Parkinson's Disease for sometime, his passing was a bit of a shock. While it's never easy to see someone you love pass away, we know he's in a much better place now and we have faith that we'll see him again someday. I was able to spend about a week up in KY to be with my family. I wish I could have stayed longer.

I was just about to get back to a bit of a normal life last week but this past Friday saw an outbreak of tornadoes across the Midwest and the South. We were fortunate here in that we didn't see any damage. But the area that I grew up in, Laurel County, Kentucky, was not as lucky. In East Bernstadt, at least five people lost their life and as many as 40 others were injured. It broke my heart to see the pictures and video footage of some of the damage. While I grew up in London, we went to church for many years in East Bernstadt and I have some friends and family that live there. I basically consider all of Laurel County as "home." And to be away from there right now is definitely tugging on my heart. My body may be in Tennessee, but my head and heart are in Kentucky right now.

I posted this on facebook and will do the same here. I'm trying to find 5 people who are willing to donate $20 to the United Way of Laurel County to help out the tornado victims in East Bernstadt. I will match those donations myself and will also buy you a drink or desert the next time I see you in person. If you're willing to help, here's the link to donate at:

https://volunteer.truist.com/cng-uwa/donate/?fdn=19100&_vm10302425432_=UWW_LUW

Until next time...