"In winter"

      My long anticipated music video is finally finished.  And, it was quite a journey.  I used to feel very uncomfortable in front of a camera and avoided having photos taken, though I enjoyed being the photographer.  Eventually, I became more comfortable with it.  Then it was time to start doing videos.  Standing in front of a green screen being filmed doing what seemed like ridiculous things was excruciating at first.  When I was standing there on a rickety little lazy susan waving my arms around, I thought, "This guy is out of his mind.  What could he possibly use this footage for?"  It was even worse when I actually viewed it by itself.  I even made him promise that I could have final say about what got used.  Then, when I saw it, I was awed.  All of those silly little pieces fit together into a cohesive video.  Now it's out in the world.  Of course, I want as many people to see it as possible, so the fun part is over, and the real work begins.    
​     So, what was the fun part anyway?   Well, writing the song was certainly fun.  I started writing it the first winter I lived up here in the mountains.  I was working a couple of evenings a week and had a 45 minute (or more, depending on the weather) drive home.  Most of my original music comes to me when I'm driving, but thankfully, not all of it.  As I drove down I-787 heading north, I saw the reflection of the moon on the Hudson River.  Then, I started noticing that the constellation Orion was ahead of me the whole way.  That has always been my favorite constellation and has shown up in some of my other songs as well.  When I was traveling back and forth from coast to coast, it was often in the night sky, leading my way.  I'm not very fond of his story, but he's so recognizable, he's usually one of the first constellations identified.  Finally, because I was looking forward to being home with my new honey, it quickly became a love song.
      The next fun part was arranging it and deciding on the musicians.  I went back and forth about the instrumentation and finally decided that oboe and banjo would lend a beautiful ambiance and would blend nicely with mountain dulcimer.  Finally, the song definitely needed electric guitar and a good solid bass.  I was able to convince my friends to help me out, and they came up to the studio a couple at a time to do the recording.  Big thanks go to Bob Donald (guitar), Brenda Fisher (bass guitar), Susan Gierthy (oboe) and Terri Lukačko (banjo).  And, I can't forget Joel Patterson (recording engineer and videographer) who also created and produced the video.
      Most of the filming was fun, too.  We went to many sites including Hogback Mountain in Vermont and an abandoned log cabin in Stephentown.  The log cabin was located on a busy highway with no place to park, so our neighbor dropped us off ready to whisk us away quickly, if necessary.  Hence the "getaway car."  I was amazed at the hours of filming it took to make a 5 minute video.  And the process baffled me.  But, I am so pleased with the outcome.  Now on to the next project.