Benjie Messer

A month ago I wrote that I was being cut down to part-time at One Light Music, and hoping to use it as an opportunity to find something new, and to move my career forward. And it worked! I was just hired as an adjunct professor of electronic music at Phoenix College, the downtown campus of the Maricopa Community College System! My first Electronic Music I course will start on June 2 if enough students register- if not, I’ll start teaching in the fall. And work at OLM has been coming back too, so with those two part-time jobs, I should be quite busy enough.

Bad Cactus Brass Band seems to be avoiding Phoenix’s traditional summer slump. We’ve recorded two albums in the last month- a live traditional album, and a studio Christmas album. The live disc should be ready for release by the end of the summer, and the Christmas one will be ready by November. We also have a ton of interesting gigs coming up- see the calendar in the upper right.

I also got to arrange and transcribe horn parts this month for an upcoming Brit-pop album that’s being produced by veteran recording engineer Jack Howell at WilloDisc. That was a lot of fun- I’ll put up some audio demos soon. I haven’t done any composing this month, but I did finally buy all the software I need to produce music at home- Logic, Sibelius, and a bunch of great sample libraries. Hopefully when the next opportunity knocks, I’ll be ready to answer!

Well, the big news is that One Light Music is finally feeling the results of the recession, which means that my full-time professional musician day job as a composer/arranger is being cut to part-time, and I’m in the market for work. I’ve had a great two years at OLM and learned a lot, and I’m happy to stick around for a while, but it’s definitely time to find something new. I’ll let you know what I find- right now, the sky’s the limit!

I finished writing music for episodes 4 and 5 of Stand-Up Guy, which may be the end of my involvement with that series. I’ve put all non-paying projects on hold until my schedule and budget become more predictable. My friend Ryan Pierson (of At Best Derivative) asked me to write music for his upcoming short noir film “Of Blood and Gin”, so hopefully I’ll have time to fit that in.

Bad Cactus Brass Band continues to stay busy. We have lots of exciting shows coming up (see the calendar in the upper right), and are still finalizing plans to record our first album at a live show in the next few months. We’d love to see you at a show sometime!

I did some songs for Spiritrax six months ago that only just got online now. Listening back now, they didn’t sound so great and I had to remix them, which is good- it means I’ve gotten better in the last six months. Anyway, they should sound acceptable now.

Since we finished the Little Mermaid at work, I’ve been working steadily on South Pacific for local theater Desert Stages, and also for Stage Stars. It’s been all my work so far, but since it’s Friday evening now, the show is due on Sunday night, and I still have three main numbers to go plus reprises and stuff, my boss and I will both be at work tomorrow morning, and he’ll do one or two of these last numbers.

I wish I knew how long it took me, but I haven’t been keeping track. I’ve been working on it for either 2 or 3 weeks, but I’m not sure which.

Sorry I can’t post samples of the music, but it’s not really my property- I’m just hired to create it for other people who actually own it. When the CD hits Amazon, I’ll link to samples there.

PS Never mind- Stage Stars doesn’t seem to have samples to listen to on their Amazon page. This is the Amazon page for the Stage Stars album of Damn Yankees that I worked on nine months ago- no samples.

Spent last week at work stocking up Spiritrax for Easter. No vocals yet, but some of you probably know the Ode to Joy and the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Started today on our latest musical for Stage Stars, The Little Mermaid- yes, the Disney one, with music is by Alan Menken. I actually saw this in the movie theater when it came out and loved it- a 12-year-old romantic, and not the only one in the theater, I’m sure.

Vocals have been recorded for two more Spiritrax ditties:

Local video producer Mark Bork called us a few weeks ago to write some music for “A Magical Valley Christmas”, a Christmas special that he produces every December for his old hometown of Twin Falls, Idaho. He asked for original classical Christmas-y music, and my boss was busy with some other things, so I wrote it, Mark said it was perfect, and I’m psyched! My first original music used in multimedia! I can’t wait to see the completed video. I joined ASCAP, and now when that sucker is broadcast, they’ll send me a little check in the mail that they get from the broadcasting TV station- my first residual. Does AOL send them money when people download (or stream) it? This I don’t know.

Anyway, I can’t play that music for you, since it belongs to Mark now, but you can listen to the discarded 60-second sample that he didn’t use. It’s not too bad either, though I think he picked the better one.

A few months ago, we got a visit at the office from a video producer named Mark Bork, who had recently moved to Phoenix from Idaho and found our name in the AZ Production Association book. Mark hired us to write music for a promotional video he was producing for a tape company called Bron Tapes. We wrote a few samples for him in different styles. They ended up picking my boss David’s first inspiration, a techno track which works perfectly. To see the video, just click here, and then on the bottom of the page click on “New Promotional Video”.

Anyway, I finally got around to posting my two unused samples on Productiontrax, so enjoy:

Funk Factory
Mark asked for “industrial” music, which means “slick, motivational, and corporate” to people who do a lot of these. I thought he meant “sounds like a factory”. Oh well, I have to make every mistake once! I kind’ve wonder what’s supposed to happen on the bridge, since I stopped writing just as it got there.

Stadium Rock
This has a fun vibe, but again, wasn’t right for the project. I had fun tweaking the digital guitar amps, getting the distortion just like I wanted it.

See, this is why my job is so great. I can make all the mistakes I need to, and still have a job the next day. That’s a luxury you don’t get freelancing.

A month ago, we got a visit from a wonderful, classically-trained soprano named Melissa Guiley. Guess I forgot to post them here at the time.

Wonderful Peace
I didn’t know this song before I arranged it, but it’s my new favorite. I feel like I managed a nice natural build through the arrangement.

Oh Chanukah
Just in time for the CCCCChhhhhhholiday.

S’vivon
For the klezmer kiddies. Melissa’s Jewish, so we got her to do these Chanukah tunes.

And Mandi Leigh did two more of my Christmas arrangements last week:

O Christmas Tree (O Tannenbaum)
Pretty traditional.

Jingle Bells
When I put this on, Mandi said, “Oh, I’m in Disneyland!” I guess that’s sort’ve what I was going for.

Lots more, but I’ll post them once they have vocals.

So my company, One Light Music, now produces all the music for Stage Stars Records, which puts out karaoke CD’s of musicals. I think we’re listed on their CD’s as “music programmers”. I’ve worked on Godspell, Damn Yankees and Hairspray since joining, but neither of them have been released yet. Anyway, we’re working on West Side Story now- I did “Something’s Coming” yesterday and “Tonight” today.

It’s fun! Wish I could play it for you, but you’ll just have to take my word for it.