Hammond Organ Heaven

You could walk into a grandma's house--probably one out of ten in the 1970s--and would see a beautiful wooden console keyboard in the corner next to a couch covered in protective plastic. I'll admit I took those old spinet organs for granted. Sure, its still common to see a rock concert stage fitted with a Hammond B3 or C3, but those smaller-sized organs seemed to be the ones old folks would buy to power up for family gatherings at Christmas. I'll bet many a Hammond spinet organ found its way into a trash heap, the value unbeknownst to those cleaning out grandma's house.

Hold on before you make that mistake! As I have learned from my dear friend Kevin Shaw, those old Hammond keyboards can still, if in solid working order, put out the wonderfully mind-blowing tones that we all cherish.

A Hammond M3, similar to the one Kevin's restoring.

I have an indelible memory of hearing a rock band with a Hammond organ back in the 60s at Disneyland. The swirl and stereo effect of the organ/Leslie combo helped give bands a signature sound. Deep Purple and other groups like Procal Harrum with "A Whiter Shade of Pale," Argent's "Hold Your Head Up," songs by Emerson, Lake and Palmer and late-70s rockers like Foreigner, Styx and Kansas, are all known for using a Hammond. The slightly distorted organ helped glue each band's sound together and paired so well with the dirty dual guitars that filled our stereo speakers.

Arguably, little spinets like grandma's Hammond M3 can sound mighty close to their big brother, the B3, albeit with fewer bells and whistles.

I wrote earlier this spring of a Hammond M3 that my buddy Kevin Shaw masterfully restored for my church. Once we got that thing up and running for our worship band to enjoy, I started to pray for my own Hammond set up--and I don't even play keys!

Leslie 120 cabinet

This past week I visited Kevin and he pointed to a Leslie 120 in the corner of his shop. We hooked it up to one of his fabulous-sounding guitar amps--and there it was: the swirling, room-filling tone that guitarists die for (remember that George Harrison "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"?). Its the real thing!

He then took me out to his fabrication shop and showed me the Hammond M3 he was fixing. Kevin asked me if I was interested in purchasing both the M3 and the Leslie cabinet after he completed the repairs...Is the pope Catholic?!...YES!!

So, this weekend Kevin's bringing the M3 and the Leslie over to my place. I am looking forward to using this rig for organ overdubs but am equally looking forward to using the Leslie for some of that classic guitar swirl that most players can only get from using pedals. Yep! I'll be be in swirl heaven.

Get the Right Person For the Job

An alternate title for this piece could be "careful casting," because it's important to employ the most suitable persons to complete any given project, including movies, music, home fix-it folks, relationships--you name it.

I've watched a boatload of blu ray special features in my time and have heard several directors say that they carefully cast their actors. This means the director and staff carefully look into hundreds of photos, audition tapes and have several meetings to fill a role with the perfect actor, who embodies the specific skills to get the job done. Chemistry is important among the actors in film, too, to project authenticity on the screen. That way when the movie hits theaters, it has the greatest chance of being financially and critically successful.

To illustrate this in my world of music production, I have been putting together some song demos for a client. I arranged one of the songs in the style of one of my favorite country artists, Emmylou Harris. I am well aware that the "Emmylou sound" is very particular in that I was going to require a very specific singer to pull off the lead vocal. I knew who to call. And when I did, she wasn't immediately available to come in and record the part. I could have found someone else, who I would have ended up frustrating and who would have ended up frustrating me. The job would have barely been completed, if even done at all. I would have wasted time, money and energy trying to cram an otherwise wonderful singer into a roll that was unsuitable for them. In this way, nobody is happy when the day is done.

Long story short...Heather came over last night to sing and knocked the ball out of the park! We even had plenty of time to do some killer background vocals.

Like I stated earlier, to get the job done, we must be very careful to use the most suitable person for the job. Sometimes we bring in the wrong person and, when the result is negative, we blame them. Well, the blame should be put on us because we tried to force a proverbial right shoe on a left foot and expected them to dance like a ballerina!

We must take the time to find the right person for the job. It really is more of a reflection on we as team leaders, producers, directors, project managers,  business owners, etc., than on those we choose. "Careful casting" is also imperative when searching for a marriage partner. Sometimes, like actors, our prospective mate may say they can ride horses and shoot guns like John Wayne, only to find that they've never even been three feet from a horse in their lives. Poor decision making creates bad movies and bad marriages. Careful choosing helps avoid painful losing.

When You Get To Your Goals--What's Next?

After tossing and turning last night, I resorted to perusing my iPad. Waiting in my email box was a weekly installment from "In the Studio with Redbeard," containing an interview with the classic rock band Kansas and their thoughts on the 35th anniversary of their mega-successful record, "Point of Know Return."

Kerry Livgren--co-founder, principle songwriter, lead guitarist and former member of Kansas--remembered the road to fame in an audio portion from the "In the Studio" website. When asked about the rise to success after the band's beginnings in Topeka, Kansas, Livgren said,

"You know, success is harder to live with than the road getting to it, I thought. We lived in some amazing poverty, and we had a really rough road--and people thought we were making all this money…All of a sudden that changed, rather abruptly and dramatically. All of a sudden we had everything we ever wanted just tossed in our lap. You know you've had this pie-in-the-sky dream for like ten years and all of a sudden here you are--you got it! What do you do next? You know, that's a hard thing to deal with in your life--it really is--'cause when you've got a direction, that's great. But when you get to the destination, you no longer have a direction, you're there--and that's real tough."

This past week I had the pleasure of attending the Global Leadership Summit at the Franklin campus of The People's Church, an annual simulcast from the Chicago-area Willow Creek Association. So many excellent speakers took the stage over the two-day conference. My favorite was Patrick Lencioni's session (apparently, he is the favorite of most everyone, according to answers to exit questionnaires). He said that every organization must ask themselves six critical questions--and I believe we as individuals must do the same,

"Why do we exist? How do we behave? What can we actually do? How do we succeed? What is most important in our organization right now? Who must do what?"

If we continually answer these questions as individuals, and live our lives in response, then our goals are always alive. I would restate these questions as a continual goal-setting activity as follows:

1. Why do I exist? (To life for and bring glory to God).
2. How do I behave? (Purpose to live out the life-principles found in the Word of God--the Bible).
3. What can I actually do? (Seek God's purposes for my life in light of my particular gifts, talents and passion).
4. How do I succeed? (Create specific, attainable and measurable goals in light of the preceding three directives).
5, What is most important in my life now? (The ever-present values of God and family first never change, but with life seasons, always adjust to the immanent priorities in life while setting boundaries to protect myself from the "tyranny of the urgent").
6. What must I do? (In the same light of directive number five, I must learn that there is only so much I myself can accomplish; there maybe others more suitable to do certain things. Understanding our limitations may dictate what the "next" will be. I must work alongside others to attain my goals).

I want to continually grow and set new, fresh goals. It's a sad day for some who feel they've already hit their glory days. Not me--I'm still rockin'!

Bacon Rules!

Did you know that there's a bacon-lovers group with a website called the "Royal Bacon Society?" On the site they talk of bacon brownies, bacon beer, bacon Elvis cookies, and a whole slew of bacon-related merchandise. They even have a Facebook page!

I totally get it because I adore bacon. Its my favorite protein for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I make excuses all the time to make breakfast for dinner, just so I can cook me up some bacon!

Last night Brenda suggested we have some BLTs for dinner. I jumped up and started breaking into a fresh package of thick bacon and promptly placed six strips on the microwave plate to start the process (I'm not a fan of frying bacon because of the mess it leaves on the stove afterward--a cover over the microwave plate cleans up nicely!).

Burger King Bacon Sundae

We had lunch yesterday at Burger King, and promptly displayed on the counter was an advertisement for their Bacon Sundae. Yep, I get it: sweet, salty and crunchy, with that smokey bacon goodness--all in one beautiful package!

I'm a sausage guy, too, but bacon takes the top-spot in my breakfast pantheon of food. There's something about the aroma that brings me back to the days when my family went camping, and the smell of frying bacon on the old green Coleman stove in the broad open spaces of the mountains around Big Bear, California, that made an indelible memory that is vivid today. For generations my family saved bacon grease (the stuff never seemed to spoil!) in a jar to later flavor cornbread and green beans.

My family is Southern all the way and bacon sits prominently in the place of honor among foods with us. That's probably because hogs were slaughtered in the fall and bacon was cured--just like all parts of a pig were back in the day--salted or smoked for later consumption. My ancestors might not have been financially rich, but we never went hungry on account of all the wonderful foods that were canned, smoked or pickled.

Bacon rocks--that's something I'm gonna be politically incorrect about, no matter what!