It's Still Great to Do This

Yes, it's still great to be able to do what you love to do and get paid for it. This is probably the greatest racket going. No matter how bad you might feel on any given day, going in and putting on your show always brightens your day and makes you leave feeling so much better. The senior market is not only alive and well, it's growing by leaps and bounds. I've picked up several new clients this year including two worth mentioning. The first is Lorien Mays Chapel. This one is only ten minutes from the house and the enthusiasm there is outstanding. My first date was October the 3rd. Right after that the Activities Director called and said they just had to have me. I gave them December 5th because I had just received a cancelation. December books months ahead of time. And we agreed on the 3rd Monday of every month. So I was there this past Monday and it was awesome. Not only was the room packed, but the outside hallway was packed with staff and family members. This is going to be a great venue. I also just recently picked up Springhouse Assisted Living in Pikesville and it is also going to be a great part of the rotation. I can't believe how much this business keeps getting. It's not only good for me, but these people deserve the best. They have led incredible lives and they should have only the best entertainment in their later years. It is indeed a privilege to be a part of this whole thing. As Jackie Gleeson used to say, How sweet it is!

Time to Get Serious About My Music

How many times have I said that over the years? And yes, if I had had any idea that I would be doing this for the rest of my life, I would have gotten a lot more serious. Well, the idea of serious has taken over in the past few weeks. I have fixed up my studio and I am in the process of employing every piece of gear that I have. Not only here, but in church as well. What's the use in having all this stuff if you're not going to use it? Let me tell you, I have been using it. Just ask anyone around here, although I use my headphones late at night. But many a night I've found myself here in the studio at 1:00 AM saying how the hell am I going to get up in the morning?

I always manage to get up, work hard all day, and still find myself back here in the evening. It's such a great place to create music. The view is awesome and my instruments truly inspire me. Needless to say, I'm getting very serious about my music. I've learned more about my keyboards in the past month that in the past 5 years. I'm doing some amazing things on the job. I'm even using the vocal harmonizer on the Tyros and it is a well known fact that Yamaha has the worst VH's in the world! Great boards, but terrible VH's. Still, I've found a couple of patches that work for me. I'm making my mantra a phrase that Tony Robbins coined many years ago, constant and never ending improvement. In short, CANI. It will keep me up for the next couple of hours and get me up early in the morning. How lucky can one guy be? I'm 60 years old and people still want me. I'm busier than all hell. How bad can that be? I'm sounding better today than I have in my whole life! And I'm having more fun than ever before! Wow! God is good and life is good!

New Album Idea

I think I've come up with a good idea for a new album. I've always wanted to do a good hymn CD first of all because I've been playing and singing hymns all my life and they are part of my fabric. Secondly, I think I already have a good market for sales, and this is important. I've kicked this idea around in the past and always come up empty. It's a great idea because I can record hymns in public domain and not have to pay for the mechanical license. The dilema has always been to play or to sing. Well, how about doing both? How about selecting seven great hymns of the church and playing them and then singing them? I think it's a great idea. The first hymn I've been working with is "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." This is one of the all time great hymns of the church. I'm working on a simple country ballad type of arrangement that I've been doing in my Chapel programs at Augsburg Lutheran. Other hymns that come to mind are "In the Garden," "The Old Rugged Cross," "His Eye Is on the Sparrow," you get the idea. I'm looking forward to completing this project.

I've also been asked to do a piano Christmas CD with arrangements I play around the holidays. This is also a possibilty. If I can get this projects off the ground, I have a great next 10 years ahead of me. I can't help but think of the verse, " I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." For many reasons, health included, this is my new mantra.

Suggestion from Sylvia

This past week slowed me down just a little bit and had me thinking back to December when I was in the hospital. My organist, Sylvia came to visit me and she presented me with a great idea. She's aware of my very hectic, and physically demanding schedule and so she suggested that I stop all of that and stay home and just record CD's. She said if I did nothing else but that, I'd be leaving a great legacy behind. I didn't give it much thought at the time, but after this past week, and listening to Lorie Line's new original CD, I'm revisiting this idea. Doing something like this has always captured my interest, I've just not known how to build a proper fan base. It's fairly expensive and time consuming to create CD's so I've always wanted to be sure I had a market. If I can solve that part of the puzzle, I will begin recording right away. As a matter of fact, I already have a few songs ready to go. I will continue to check into this. Ten years ago I didn't have, nor did I think it was possible to have a full calendar of retirement community shows. Well, this was blown out of the water! So I have nothing to conclude but that the CD business plan is a winner. Let's get going. I'm feeling more creative than ever!!

Tough but Great Weekend

What can I say? It really was a great weekend. We have a Roadtrek camper that we don't use often enough. I suggested that we go to Elk Neck State Park Friday night. Well, I didn't sleep very well. This is not the Roadtrek's fault, I have plenty of room. I'm just not used to doing this sort of thing anymore. And to make matters worse, I insisted on hiking out to the Turkey Point Lighthouse in the early AM on Saturday. I know my body can't do this kind of thing anymore, but I did it anyway. Well, I paid the price. For the next 24 hours I was in pain. I took a nap on Sunday afternoon and finally shook it. BTW, the camping trip was excellent, it was a beautiful couple of days and we had a great camp fire going and I can't wait to do it again.

On Sunday night, I had a Freddie job. Now any Freddie job is usually an adventure unto itself, and this one was no exception. It was supposed to be an easy job, no questions asked. Well, the host had to speak to me on the telephone. He suggested that we meet to discuss the party. I assured him that we could probably solve everything over the phone. This was fine with him and that was that. Then Freddie sent me the directions to the party. Of course, they were wrong, but I had allowed time for that since this is nothing new. I got there in plenty of time and it was a great, and very posh party. I really enjoyed playing for it. So, all in all, it was a very fine weekend. I just have to pace myself.

Living the Life

I'm sitting here in my studio which is located on the third floor of my beautiful home in Phoenix, MD. The house is situated on a two and a half acre wooded lot that is absolutely stunning. It is so peaceful and tranquil here. I have some great equipment. At the heart of everything is a Roland VS 2480 which is a self contained 24 track studio that is completely portable. I can record here in the studio, or pack it up and record anywhere. I have a session on Thursday at CCBC so on the road we'll go. I also have a Roland RD 700 stage piano which has many awesome sounds on it. The newest addition to the studio is a Yamaha PSR S900. This is an incredible unit. It's a lot like my Tyros which is the keyboard I use out on the road. I can record this board through my 2480 or, if I'm song writing, I can record directly onto a thumb drive. This makes it real convenient for jotting down ideas.

This evening, thanks to some inspiration from Lorie Line's new CD of original songs, I wrote two new songs. The first one I'm calling For Cuqui. It's a musical tribute to my dad, Gus Ayala also known as Cuqui. It's a latin piece in the Guajira style featuring a trumpet. He was a great trumpet player. The second song I haven't named yet, but it is a piano piece based on a new age style on the S900. I'm real pleased with the way it turned out.

What's really cool is this studio is across the loft from my bedroom. So I get up in the morning, get a cup of great coffee, and cross the loft and go to work. Now what could be better than that? Later on I get ready and go out to one of my many performances. I am so fortunate. This is a great place to work from. Life is good, especially when you can do what you love and love what you do. How great is that?

The Early Years

I was born in Key West, Florida on April 5, 1950. My childhood started our like any ordinary kid's except for a couple of things. First of all, this was Key West. Need I say anything more? Now, granted, the Key West of those days was nothing like the Key West of today, but it was still very different from most US cities and towns. For one thing, we were an island. An island originally populated with Bahamian Conchs and later Cuban cigar makers. My ancestry is from the latter. My grandfather, Perfecto G. Ayala was a cigar maker, and later a cigar picker. He also played trombone and baritone horn. In the 1890's he played in the band "La Libertad." This was the band that played for all of the Cuban political functions of which there many at this time. He played for the first arrival of Jose Marti to Key West on December 25, 1892. Marti was greeted on the dock by my great great grandfather, Jose Francisco Lamadriz. There was a famous quote made here. Upon seeing Marti, Lamadriz said: "I embrace the new revolution" to which Marti replied, "And I embrace the old revolution." Hence, the torch was passed. Lamadriz the the great patriot of the earlier revolution. And, Perfecto Ayala was playing in the band. My roll was cast three generations ago.

Let's fast forward to my dad, Gus J. Ayala. He grew up in a musical household. His dad taught him trumpet and piano. When my dad reached a certain point in his piano studies, he was sent to the convent to concentrate on piano technique. And my dad had a great technique. It took me many years to get to the point where he was. He matured into a wonderful musician and person.

To be continued

View From Behind the Keyboard

Several years ago I began this blog with the title, "View From Behind the Keyboard." I put it up on my websit and used it primarily as a way to note day to day happenings. There wasn't much interest in it so I stopped posting. It occured to me the other day that most of my life has been lived behind a keyboard somewhere. This has given me a very unique vantage point from which to observe life. And, believe me, lots of life has unfolded in front of me in the past forty five or so years. I thought it would be a good idea to document some of this while I can still remember it. Some of the best times of my life have been spent behind that keyboard.

It's interesting, I don't usually feel comfortable sitting at a table at banquet functions. I feel out of place. My place has always been behind the keyboard. Oh, I've socialized a lot, but I was always in control of when and where that happened. I could always go back to play. I didn't have to hang around people I didn't like. I was always more comfortable providing the atmosphere for a great evening than I was being in the crowd. I guess many entertainers feel that way. Our job is to get it going, to make sure everyone has a great time and a memorable evening. All in all this has been a lot of fun and a great way to go through life.

I will try to keep these posts in some kind of logical order, but I'm sure I'll skip around a lot as I remember things. Even if no one but me reads this, I feel it is still a noble endeavor.