SLEEPYHEAD . . .

Zzzzzzzzzz . . .

Please, don't wake me. 

No, don't shake me. 

Leave me where I am. 

I'm only sleeping . . . 

-John Lennon and Paul McCartney

It’s the lack of sleep that gets to me, more than anything else. I’m talking about my creative pursuits and how they necessitate my staying up into the wee hours of early morning. In the summer of 2016, I spent many continuous hours in the recording studio, co-producing, arranging, and playing bass on Fish With Me,  the Jesse Manibusan / Ken Canedo second album and follow-up to 2003’s Love Never Fails. During the autumn months of 2017, with a December deadline quickly looming, I was up almost every night until 3:00 in the morning, in the final writing and re-writing for From Mountains High, my second book after 2009’s Keep the Fire Burning.  And here I am again, in latter 2019, working with Bob Hurd on We Should Glory,  our second collaboration since Alleluia! Give the Glory  in 1992. 

It’s certainly not unusual for artists to work non-stop while on a creative tear. Stories abound on how the Beatles became oblivious to time while they were in the studio working on their masterpiece albums like Sgt. Pepper  and The White Album.  John Steinbeck was famously an early riser who started each day by writing non-stop well into the afternoon. George Frederic Handel composed his magnum opus, The Messiah,  in a mere 24 days, working furiously after he received the libretto from Charles Jennens. No, I am definitely not Handel, Steinbeck, or the Beatles, but my point is that creative people sometimes drop everything and work non-stop when inspiration strikes. 

I wish I had that luxury, but the truth is I have a day job with OCP as Music Development Specialist and I can’t work on my own music or books during office hours, strange as that sounds. Hence, my need to work late into the night or during vacation for my creative projects. And during breaks in the studio sessions, I try to keep up with emails and tasks from my day job. 

The lack of sleep these past couple of weeks is exacerbated by my amazing trip to the Vatican on November 5-10. The quick time zone adjustments have been jarring to my internal clock, and I immediately went to the OCP studio on Monday morning after returning from Rome late Sunday night. As they say, no rest for the weary!

Over the next several blogs, I will share background and info on this new Hurd-Canedo album of liturgical music. It is shaping up to be something special, beyond what Bob and I originally envisioned. 

More to come!