Monday, June 22, 2015

To Charleston

To Charleston

My first book was published by Book Surge Publishing out of Charleston, SC. The team of both black and white people were wonderful to me especially when everyone knew that a book of poetry from an unknown 30 something writer from Ohio wasn't going to pay their salaries. That didn't matter, they believed in me as a writer. Later I would publish several fictional stories with them as well. My experience with them in the beginning was what led me to have the confidence to write more. They also encouraged me to do readings and performances which led to me touring all over the country. I'm forever grateful for what they did for me. None of which they had to do. My account manager told me of how excited he was to publish my poetry because the world needs more poets. There aren't enough poets, too many gangsters, killers, and haters and not enough creators. Amen to that. In 2012 I visited the city for the first time and caught just a glimpse of how beautiful the city is. Full of art, culture, architecture, and wonderful people. This is the Charleston I know and love. Some horrible things have put Charleston in the news. A cop murdering a guy and trying to cover it up and then the mass shooting at the church. These despicable acts were committed by two individuals. I want you to know the Charleston I know. The one whose citizens helped a nobody become a somebody and treated a stranger like I was family, like I was part of that wonderful artist scene in that beautiful city. I pray for peace and healing for my friends and for God's blessings.

Friday, June 12, 2015

Neon Moonlight Out of this World album drop

Album drop! Out of this World by Neon Moonlight is now available.

 What Out of This World is all about is old and new technology coming together. With the explosion of tablets in the last six years have come a number of apps and many being synthesizers. The cost of owning all these would be thousands of dollars but now just a couple of hundred. The particular ones that got my attention first were the Korg apps, which is what all the songs were produced on. These machines were something I could only dream of back in the 80s and 90s. They were way out of the price range I was able to afford. All of the sudden one of the most iconic Korg keyboards, the iPolysix was available as a $20 app. So I downloaded it and began playing around with it. Then I downloaded the Gadget app which featured drum machines, bass synths and leads all on an iPad. You could take it to the park, or out on the trail and write music. It started out just playing around with these retro sounds, then I began writing with some hip hop and dance artists who wanted to incorporate those retro sounds into their songs. Next I began writing some songs of my own, the first being '84 Time Warping, and I sent it out to friends like I usually do with all the music I write and they loved it. It was a surprise to me since it wasn't really serious work. The more people I shared the song with the more who loved it. A DJ I work with sent it to a label that does exclusive songs for dance clubs around the world and they ate it up! I signed on with them and they picked up a few more songs later on. I also posted the songs on Reverb Nation where I quickly went up to top 10 in the world dance artists. Since, I've fallen but still remain in the top 200.

Here it is folks, a year after I began writing the songs on the iPad I have 13 of them on the album. Looking back I remember how much fun it was to produce these songs. Thanks to all my fans hope you enjoy it, and dance your ass off to it! I remember those days when I was still in High School and I'd go to Akron Music to play the keyboards, then I could only dream, but now... It's here and it's out of this world!

The direction for the next album will change somewhat as I introduce some more chill, deep house and songs with vocals but don't worry, there will be plenty more of these songs like you hear on Out of This World.