As I pause to reflect on this Christmas Eve 2015, I am ever so thankful to have been blessed to live this most authentic life in this most authentic city… in the most interesting of times.
While way too many today commute to jobs they really don’t like, working at hours and tasks they really don’t care for, I’ve been fortunate to spend every single day of my life through the past thirty years living between the arts and the sciences. In New Orleans, Louisiana!
Music, Theater, Radio, Television and high-end, state-of-the-art technology all collide at hyper speed in the land of my dreams at Airlift Productions in NOLA.
It’s where the warmth of analogue lives … and the lightning speed of digital delivers. Anywhere in the world!
And I get to create digital magic and give clarion focus to dreams and visions with the most fantastic collection of gifted people anywhere on earth.
Just a few cases in point from just the past month here at the Airlift studios…
Let’s start with music. Jake Landry, front man for the Right Lane Bandits, is one gifted spirit, I’ll tell you. He’s a cross between Jason Mraz and John Mayer, with some crooner Michael Buble’ thrown into the mix.
Together with his running partner Paul Piazza on backup vocals and harp/harmonica, Jake paid a visit to Airlift Productions just this past Saturday to lay-down tracks for one of his originals – “Playing You”.
Oh, these women.
*** Jake Landry & Paul Piazza “PLAYING YOU” December 2015 ***
They want to come back with the rest of the boys to beef it up a bit with bass, drums and keyboards, but even at this level, the musicianship, style, and talent are just off the hook, dontchathink?
Meanwhile, Christmastime trolls the internet.
Tasked by a Chicago-based advertising agency to coordinate sessions and record the audio for a web-based “politically correct Holiday greeting card”, I went to work.
Playing-off the original “Deck the Halls” tune, and inserting a few terrifically fun and funny interruptions accented by sleigh bells, I recorded this new holiday classic with a trio of very talented professors from our Loyola University here in New Orleans. Now playing at an internet near you.
** A “Politically Correct” Deck the Halls from Airlift NOLA **
And as if music weren’t enough, I get to warm-up the mics for myself as well. Gee, you can take the guy out of the radio… but you can’t take the radio out of the guy!
My relationship with the famous (or infamous, depending on how you choose to view him) Mike Church continues. Mike, of course, is known around the planet for having had the longest-running show in the history of Sirius/XM satellite radio, and has just recently launched his own network and channel.
Yours truly has been tagged to set the pace for the Crusade!
As Imaging Voice & Producer for Mike’s VERITAS Network and the Crusade Channel, I get to throw pop culture (?), movies, television and news makers into the audio Cuisinart – and hit the blend button!
** The King Dude’s ‘Blazing Saddles’ homage re-joiner **
Or imagine, if you can, mixing former Ambassador John Bolton with Homer Simpson — and adding Gregorian chants?
** Mike Church Imaging for the Crusade On Veritas **
My, my, my… this “Wonderful Life” of mine is certainly never boring.
And always a challenge. But forever a gift!
To have found this most unique way to take all the skills and talents that I was born with – and then blend them into my own business and have it all play out from this most fascinating city is, to my way of seeing it, the most authentic way to live a life.
And it is my fervent Christmas & New Year’s wish and prayer for the reader of these words that, if you haven’t yet, you somehow find yours!
Merry Christmas! And here’s to Living YOUR Dream in 2016.
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“My experience with Airlift Productions was top notch from the start. My company is based in Los Angeles and I had a client that needed to do a last minute VO session in New Orleans. Micheal was incredibly knowledgeable and accommodating, not to mention a blast to work with! Our session turned out beautifully.” ~ LIZZ RANTZE, Executive Producer, Rantze + Raves Productions, Los Angeles, CA
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To Communicate is the Beginning of Understanding.