Mack-n-Cheeze Music - Mackncheeze Music Blog

Sean Fairchild

Artist Focus Bass, Producer, Engineer, Recording Artist, Singer/Songwriter Part Three

Endorsed by Genzler Amplification, MTD Basses, GHS Strings, Tsunami Cables, Access Bags and Cases, Bartolini Electronics, Sonic Nuance Electronics

www.seanfairchild.com

Mackncheeze: How do you describe your musical approach?

Sean: My biggest influence aside from a Rock sensibility is Funk. Growing up around Seattle and being a stringed instrumentalist in the early to mid 90s, I was definitely heavily…

Sean Fairchild

Artist Focus Bass, Producer, Engineer, Recording Artist, Singer/Songwriter Part Two

Endorsed by Genzler Amplification, MTD Basses, GHS Strings, Tsunami Cables, Access Bags and Cases, Bartolini Electronics, Sonic Nuance Electronics

www.seanfairchild.com

Sean: As a bassist, I’ve been playing for 25 years.

I fell in love with the instrument. I quit middle school band. There wasn’t a spot in the school band for an electric bass player. The band director was upset with me because he…

Sean Fairchild

Artist Focus Bass, Producer, Engineer, Recording Artist, Singer/Songwriter Part One

Endorsed by Genzler Amplification, MTD Basses, GHS Strings, Tsunami Cables, Access Bags and Cases, Bartolini Electronics, Sonic Nuance Electronics

www.seanfairchild.com

Mackncheeze: Tell me about yourself.

Sean: My parents were in the Foreign Service. I was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. There is an economic and racial disparity there. The good thing about Malaysia is that it is culturally pluralist…

Irony

Besides folks walking down the street having animate conversations on their phones, looking every bit like crazy people did 20 years ago, here are a few ironic circumstances I have encountered:

Being a drummer yet carrying batteries, picks and extra chords for guitar players who forget such.

Lead vocalists who don’t own a microphone, let alone an XLR cable.

Showing up at the gig forgetting my foot pedal and drum sticks.

Guitar players who can’t stay in tune.

Playing in bands with…

Social Capital

What is the price of our relationships? I often joke that I do not have the emotional, intellectual, spiritual and financial capital for another girl friend.

I ask myself: what am I willing to spend to consummate my musical relationships?

The answer is simple yet surprisingly complex.

First: I haven’t got time to work with folks who are unpleasant. A good criteria – is this some one I would break bread with? Do they have a good heart? Is their conversation engaging? Do they like…

Robert Brewer

Artist Focus Singer, DJ, Songwriter, Producer and Guitarist Part Two

https://www.facebook.com/RobertBrewerSeattle/

Mackncheeze: When you were at the Art Institute, did you study vocals? How did you learn to sing the way you do?

Rob: A mixture of church, singing by myself with my quarter inch reel to reel and some vocal training. At the Art Institute there was a lot of recording. At that period of my life I wasn’t really into doing music. I wanted to be a producer and make albums…

Robert Brewer

Artist Focus Singer, DJ, Songwriter, Producer and Guitarist Part One

https://www.facebook.com/RobertBrewerSeattle/

Mackncheeze: Who Are you?

I am Robert Brewer, son of Shirley Brewer, grandson of Lula Bell Brewer, from Seattle.

I come from a family where music was a very important part of our lives. My older sister, Kathy, her father, was a local music icon in radio; his name was Burl Barer. He was on KJR for a long time. He is not my dad.

My life has jumped through a lot of…

I Have No Children

The Gene Pool Stops Here

Times were when I used to envy my married friends. But enough about my thirties. When I hit forty it was like, “What was I thinking?”

I’ve been told I would be a good father. Yeah, maybe when I cared. Now I’m selfish and jealous with my time. Life’s priorities have moved from, “I want to make time for someone,” to, “How much time is left?”

I do not live by a honey do list. It’s the, “If I don’t do it now, it won’t get done,” list.

I’m not…

Impatience

Pardon me, but I sometimes forget an ordinary human being is not interested in sitting down for hour upon hour trying to perfect an imperfection. Basic nature of artistic endeavor of any sort requires lots of time spent by one’s self, working out a path of accomplishment. Social Distancing.

Wood Shedding, the old timers called it, spending hours in the back wood shed, away from the house, practicing. For me, its like, duh.

I had to learn how to conquer impatience. I always wanted to be…

Tom Glase

Artist Focus Part Two Wine Maker, Owner Of Beresan and Balboa Wineries http://www.balboawinery.com

Mackncheeze: Who are you?

In my entire life, my kids are the best thing that’s ever happened. My kids are centered and focused and on their way and they are artists. I told them if you’re not ready to go to college, don’t go to college. Their college is paid for, they don’t have to worry about it. My son said he didn’t want to go, he hates school. I said don’t go. Right now he is making…

Tom Glace

Artist Focus Part One Wine Maker, Owner Of Beresan and Balboa Wineries http://www.balboawinery.com

This interview involved sharing a bottle of 1998 St. Innocent Pinot Noir from Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

Mackncheeze: Tell me about the kids and playing music?

Tom: They both grew up playing instruments. My son played trumpet for a year and didn’t really like it. My daughter, Emilia, played Cello. She had her great-grandmother’s Cello. She played cello for a couple of years and is pretty…

Wasting Time

I haven’t really talked about the Corona Virus outbreak. I thought maybe folks might be able to identify with a few of Memes.

For the truly idle, there is danger from from Covid 15; fifteen pounds from a shuttered lifestyle.

One of my friends, in two and a half weeks, has gone from ignoring Facebook to becoming an expert. I still stare vacuously at the Facebook menu.

I have not been paying much attention to media coverage. Thank God my Mom is; she keeps me informed on…

Consummate Optimism

Why not? I believe people on our paths have been put here to help us navigate life.

Aren’t I the driver of this car? I get to drive with who and where I want.

I will put aside envy. My grass is green enough; I will keep fertilizing my own lawn.

I will not internalize someone else’s bad energy. I have enough of my own challenges and haven’t got time for negativity.

Isn’t positive thinking a habit of acknowledging that our circumstance is on course?

Have there ever been any…

Marco Cortes

Artist Focus Marco Cortes – Artisan Luthier

https://marcobassguitars.com/

Mackncheeze: Who is Marco Cortes?

Marco: ( Laughs ) Somebody crazy ( More Laughter ).

Why was Jesus a carpenter? When God had the ark of the covenant built, He made it from wood, covered with gold. I believe wood represents mankind and gold represents God’s purity covering mankind.

Why did He do that; wood covered with gold? Jesus was a carpenter. He is the gold that covers us.

I tell people, misery is a good…

Failure

It’s not A Choice But A Life Style

I remember when I dumped a cup of coffee over a hard drive recorder, AAARG! Thank God it was creamless. One week under a blow dryer cured that potential disaster. Hats off to the manufacturer for apparent musician proof design.

When on stage as a warm up band for national and international acts, my stomach would come up my throat. Problem is, it’s not fair to be comparing yourself with someone else’s success, misunderstanding the travails they are going…

Things We’ve Lost

But Not Forever Guest Blog By Todd Ainsworth

When I first started contributing to the Mackncheeze Music Blog, I thought I’d just give a few stories from the front lines of Seattle’s early 90’s heyday, or give a personal story of how music has affected my life. What I didn’t expect was that our lives would be turned upside-down in a matter of weeks, nor witness a health and economic disaster, a scale not seen in my lifetime of nearly 52 years.

While the health of ourselves, family and those…

Drama, Don’t Leave Home Without It

I’m astounded at what a comfort zone drama can be. Personally, I try to minimize conditions which allow for its growth.

Politics, avoid politics. Some folks crave ongoing bad news and having vitriol for public figures. Yes, it is deserved, but there are more interesting subjects that get my panties tied into a knot. I have no presence of mind for stupid words coming from mouths of politicos who never deserved my energy or attention.

Media is also prone to drama. From both left and right…

John Passarelli

Artist Focus John Passerelli Has Been Local Force In The Seattle Area For Decades

Mackncheeze: My first question-who are you?

John: I have some cute answers. I consider myself to be, how do I put this, a positively charged rhythmic and melodic confluence of heart and mind. That’s my musical self, which is most of it. It’s what I have been doing my whole life. There isn’t much else except motorcycles and dogs and women and alcohol.

I’m very simple, I don’t need a lot to get by.

The…

On Bullshit

Book Review

It might seem odd that I would do a book review on a subject that we all are familiar with. I couldn’t resist. Shopping at the local bookstore, title screaming at me, I had to pick it up.

Turns out Harry G Frankfurt is a Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University. His resume is filled with a Who’s Who list of schools including Rockefeller University and Yale. I had no idea this fellow was such a heavy weight. Imagine my surprise when I discovered On Bullshit had been a…

Revelation

My first real understanding of digital recording actually occurred when I purchased a Roland VS 1680.

I didn’t understand crap; having spent weeks in front of my old PC, scratching my head, staring at a Cakewalk Software program I had down loaded from CD-Rom. I would execute commands and sigh in disbelief as nothing would happen. I could not wrap my head around the technology.

I broke down and visited my good and trusted friends at Seattle’s American Music.

https://americanmusic.com