436pm August 10.
We are working on a song called, (Well, I haven’t decided on the title yet)… I Will Follow Where You Lead, maybe? I guess we’ll all find out once it’s printed on a CD cover.
Thanks for the many prayers and those of you who are partnering with me in this. I feel very honored to labor with others who are laboring with me though you are not here.
The road here has been filled with trials, tribulations, joys, sorrows, times of rest, times of wanting to panic, yet knowing I can’t if I trust the Lord, and times that I know the Lord is allowing me to know that I know I TRUST Him. He is SO trustworthy.
Some of you have communicated that you are moved to partner but haven’t yet done so. WOW! That is amazing. Thank you for responding to the update and request letter. It means so much.
Playing and singing amongst other things until He comes back for us,
e
831pm August 11, 2010
My eyes awakened to a breaking dawn, but the rest of me tried to ignore the fact that morning was upon me as I forced my eyes closed after learning it was early enough to sneak a few more winks. Granted, I spent the whole night hoping in every dream, that I didn’t sleep in so I could take the jog, I was rather relieved that it was only 6amish.
I enjoyed three delicious cups of espresso too many, as they totaled four in all. Unfortunately, I was experiencing what four cups of espresso can do to your nerves in session for a few hours. I won’t be making that mistake again tomorrow. Between my morning routine and Session 2, I had the wonderful opportunity to hang with a dearest friend, Taylre, and her two beauties. It is one of those Anne of Green Gables moments when you reconnect with a kindred friend. I don’t have many, and I can count them on my fingers.
I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying nightly “Tag! You’re It” and “Hide-And-Go-Seek” with “The Barn” children, Ella and Miles, after a scrumptious meal by “The Barn” wife and mother, Rachel. Goodness gracious, we had grilled New York Steak, amazingly cooked peas (more on that in a second), fruits mixed in with green salad and blue cheese vinaigrette and JUST PICKED blackberries in a RIGHT OUT of the oven COBBLER!
After dinner, we continued (OK, I mostly watched/listened) with “I Will Follow Where You Lead” – remember that’s a temporary title. We’re starting on another song tonight, hopefully. That’s the plan…it’s 8:45p right now, SOoooo, we’ll see. The next song is dedicated to a very special family. I’ll share the story about Lexi Bender and the Bender family tomorrow.
Ciao, as they say in Italia,
e
UPDATE on last entry: I’ll update it later.
19 August 2010
We’re in our second week of recording. We’ve been working on the title track, Five O’Clock.
Can I say I am having the TIME OF MY LIFE. Danny is a serious bro who has been gifted with some SCHWEET (that’s “sweet” for those who don’t speak Elva speak) skills.
I really don’t have much to say outside of, “This is AWESOME.” The long hours from mornings till early mornings of the wee hours of the night tracking and recording have been but minutes. Time flies when you’re having fun.
Not to mention the continued awesome meals Danny’s wife, Rachel makes for dinner.
We tracked piano, vocals, backgrounds, and drums today. Goodness gracious, you’ll hear why I am so excited when you hear it. It’ll be awhile though. Good things come to those who have to wait. ☺ I would say “wait”, but you HAVE to wait. Sorry.
Say a little prayer for us: I need the vocals to stay healthy for the duration. Pray for Danny and the fam. Danny sits long hours behind the comp and they’re managing without their dad and husband for many hours a day while we record. The kids and I enjoy play dates every day. And pray for my honey back home, who has to eat dinners without me during the week. ☺
25August10
We are in our third week of recording and we started on Take a Ride on a Plane. I don’t know what I am going to call it yet, “Take a Ride”. It’s a serious song with a bit of whimsy and light-heartedness. God isn’t a killjoy, and therefore, this song is so fitting because we can live without a care in the world when all our cares are cast upon Jesus: so sweet.
Tonight for dinner we enjoyed homemade BLT and avocado sandwiches with “Fruit salad, yummy yummy.” If you have children or nephews or nieces, then you know what I am talking about when I say you might be singing that tune for the next few hours. If you don’t know the song, google it… you tube it, whatever it takes. That’ll be a classic if it isn’t already.
September 7, 2010
Tuesday
Okay. This will complete a full month of recording at The Barn. We’re trying to finish up as much as we can, because this is my last scheduled week here. Yesterday, a new friend, Michele Coomler came to The Barn to shoot some photos for me. I was really super stoked that she came out and later that day, her hubby and photographer assistant shot another series of photos. She is a great photographer. Let’s just hope her subject was cooperative.
Danny and Rachel and fam have been ultra rad, uber cool, and mucho hospitable. I have had the priviledge of enjoying the company of an ultra dear friend (I’ve mentioned her before) and her family, Taylre and the Nelson clan. They took me in these last two weekends and given me a happy home and warm food to retreat to on the weekends –not to mention the softest, most comforting bed sheets to sleep in. On Sunday, we shared a meal with her folks, the Miller Clan and had some good times playing a charade-ish game and Mad Gab.
I’ve been staying with some other rad friends, Perry and MaryAnn during the weekdays. They made their home my home and I have been treated like family and royalty. Mary Ann ROCKS and I hope to scour the world for the little lost sheep with her one of these days and to encourage the found sheep: “GO! Do what God is calling you to do!!! Let’s usher in His Kingdom by responding to His Call to find the lost sheep with WHATEVER GIFT He’s given you to use, and whatever He has told you to do!”
It’s a bitter sweet week as this season (Recording at The Barn) will close. But the sweet thing is: HERE COMES THE MUSIC! I am EXCITED to share what God gave us in the studio and how He used Danny D. to pull it all together. You’ll hear him on the record as he threw down some killer tracks and BGVs, instrumentals, keys, percussion, “gueetar”, and Lord knows all the stuff he’s done – arrangements, reworking music, helping with reworking lyrics and coming up with rad lines. NOTE: Studio linguo: BGV is Background Vocal.
Quotables: Keep the peace, hold your tune. Elva
September 8, 2010
On Sunday, Pastor Cimeno spoke about John 11 where Jesus comforted Martha as she ran to meet Him with the proclamation, “Lord, if only you were here, my brother would have lived.” Jesus encouraged her with, “I am the Resurrection.” What profound words… Jesus IS Life… He is the RESURRECTION AND the Life. We have the promise of Life ever after. We get a Happy ending, so in our grief, in our pain, He says that He is near to us… near to the broken-hearted in the midst of trial and pain. What a reassuring Savior we have. How grateful I am that this song made it to the record. It is special in that I wrote it the week my friends experienced their wee baby going to heaven. We were almost running out of time, that I was concerned for the tenth song, because I didn’t know what it was supposed to be. When Pastor Cimeno was speaking at Metro, I heard him say the very things that were in this song. Granted, many of the lyrics have been since reworked, but it is what he said, that so resonated with this song, that it was like God was saying, “This is the song.”
I shared with Danny the story, and he got right to work with me on it. Boy, am I grateful he was willing to hash it out with me and rework this stuff. May it be a song that brings comfort and the so necessary reminding we need that Jesus is near to us, especially in the darkest trials of life. Oh, he is near with His strength in His Joy, comfort in His Love, and the promise of life everlasting.
September 9, 2010
After today, there is only one more day of being here at the studio. Basically, I am looking at duplication/replication services, taking final notes for the CD on who did what and who played what. There’s a lot of info that goes into the artwork.
As an independent artist, I get the privilege of doing everything an A&R exec would be responsible for. I also get to keep all the rights to my music and get to set an affordable price for my music for all to enjoy.
I am debating on whether I should open up the CD to artists to submit their art ideas. I only have so much time so we can release in time for CHRISTMAS!
So, here comes the fun part! More photo shoots, artist collaborations with graphic artists, finding a distributor, and going through all it takes to pass it on.
We’ve had some fun in The Barn. Lots of laughs and things we found funny that most likely, “You had to be there.” To laugh with us about. But, I started writing some down some of what I like to call, “Quotables.”
Enjoy.
Quotables: There are Tree huggers, and then there are Glockenspiel huggers. Elva (you had to be there. I think there is a photo somewhere).
Quotables: In Jesus, we have all the accoutrements we need for a wonderful, unending existence.
Quotables: Miles Davis is no longer living. Let’s try to get him to play on the record anyway. (Danny D. – partially borrowed from a comedy skit)
Sept 22, 2010
Of course, I have spent very few days at home in SoCal over the last 2 months because of the travel, recording, and photo shoots. And now, with little sleep behind me and the business of travel and recording coming to a halt, my body gave in to a cold, sore throat and laryngitis. Better now, than while I was recording, I say. I am grateful God kept me quite healthy.
August 12
You know, I have a much deeper appreciation for the arts despite the fact that I have been through this process before. However, you think you pay $10-15 for a CD and you wonder “Why are they charging for something that didn’t cost them anything to write?” Oh contrare…
I play and lead worship at churches, meetings, coffee shops, and concerts.
Sometimes I am given a monetary gift, and many other times I am not. However, there are MANY, MANY HOURS put into one single ½ hour time of worship, just to prepare both musically and practically, and then spiritually and prayerfully. I truly believe and trust God for my needs to be provided, so I don’t, much, pay attention to whether or not I receive a monetary gift. However, I don’t refuse it.
Musicians and recording artists have poured over our songs with tears, time, practice, intimate worship, more time, more practice, more tears, money to record, money to travel, time of travel, set up (sound checks, equipment set-up), heavy lifting of instruments and musical equipment, purchase of instruments, lessons, music to practice…. And then there is the cost of recording. Studio time, extra musician pay, meals on the go, costs for artwork for publication of the CD, website costs and printing expenses, photography costs because people want to relate to who is singing a song… Goodness, there is so much that goes into what we do.
It hit me as I watched a PIXAR documentary of all that goes into making “FINDING NEMO” and other such movies.
I will never again complain about the price of a movie, movie ticket, music download, or CD cost. I understand why it is so important to make sure to buy and not steal copies of songs and movies. I watched Danny Donnelly work heart and soul on this project with neck and back pain, hours and hours of listening and playing instruments, listening and replaying. Not to mention the sacrifice his family made to host me daily for over a month. I received the multiple drafts from the artists, my cousin, Melissa Diaz, specifically, spent days and sleepless nights pulling together concepts and ideas from the music and my descriptions of what we hoped to communicate and created a website, download cards, and the CD Artwork that were cohesive and slammin'! My photographer also put heart and soul into editing the photographs after spending multiple days on multiple shoot sites. My husband spent much of the pre-production time as a sounding board and sacrificed time together during production time. The love and spirit of excellence, sacrifice of time, and heart of every individual who poured into this project and into my life poured, additionally, into every listener who will hear these songs.
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