Coming Home by Carl Durant (Live at San Diego Airport 2013)
Shot in between two airport announcements (great timing!) this is a song I wrote over the Christmas Holidays end of last year. A lot of things going through my head at the time, but while finishing this song it all started to make sense again…
So far 2013 has been a lot better than 2012. Let’s keep it that way !
Carl Durant - Mad World (Acoustic cover Tears for Fears)
Surprise… a video from my home bedroom back in Belgium. Lots of memories and lots of studying happened here. And now some singing&guitar playing too (Or actually: this is were I started playing guitar too). Enjoy !
Next week I’ll release a new song with a video… (Like this one it’s a live, single take recording with a bit of cleanup on video and audio afterwards.)
Jesse Thomas! I’m surprised myself it took so long to post a video of this upcoming artist. I’ve followed her posts ever since she left her hometown in Kentucky in 2007 to become an actress in LA. From blogging on Myspace to hilarious video posts on YouTube, her talent and drive was there from the beginning. But it wasn’t until she discovered the “rasp” in her voice when she went into the studio with successful producer and talent coach Jim Roach (yes, lame rhyming here) from Red Parade Music that it became clear how truly unique of a talent she was. Great songs, great storytelling and stage presence when she’s performing live. This video gives a very good impression of what she stands for as an artist blending studio quality sounds with the live “vibe” that she brings. Oh yeah, she was Starbucks pick of the week in 2011, played at SXSW, last year her song “Fire” was the iTunes indie download of the week generating over 150,000 downloads and she charted on Bilboard (in three categories) with her album debut. And she opened my CD release show at Lestat’s in 2011. But that was clearly an anomaly.
In terms of music, there’s a lot of things to be happy about:
I got 3 articles published about me and my musical endeavors in the San Diego Reader (still the largest weekly magazine in San Diego with a print of 150k+)
Two singles were released: “Secret” debuted on KPRIs Homegrown Hour in March. “(Not Our) Ride Home” was covered by the Reader when I released its photo video on 11/2/12 in honor of the victims of a bus crash that happened in March (with mainly kids on it). Too bad 2012 had another incident where this song applies to, in the US this time, leaving too many families with a lot of questions and a lot more grief to deal with. The song is available in the “Store” tab, and a free download link is available upon request.
A short film with my music score went from the 48H Film Project to the San Diego Film Festival, guaranteeing me an entry as “composer” in the IMDB (Internet Movie Data Base). A dance track I wrote and produced was used in another short film and its trailer won “Best Trailer” award at the 48H Film Project 2012 in San Diego.
To top it all off, I received an award (and a little bit of cash along with it)! Every year, ASCAP gives out ASCAP+ awards to songwriting members whom have not established a significant royalty income yet, but have shown promising results in the past year (2011). I guess my entry in IMDB in the “Soundtrack” category with my song “Losing Time” (in a short film screened at the Temecula Valley International Film Festival) was part of the reason I got this award…
Most of all, I had a lot of fun playing 28 shows, meeting a lot of great people and hearing a good amount of great music last year. More shows are coming up soon…
A lot of things happened on the personal side. Suffice to say that 2013 can be a better year in many ways than 2012 in that respect. Of course, it can always be worse.
