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Words for songs of tomorrow

Published on 03/15/2013 in Coffee Shop Confessions, Fate, Lyrics, Music and Writing. 0 Comments Tags: battle, confession, fighting, song lyrics, suppression, war within, writing.

Tell me if I fight for you
Will we win the war?
Because I don’t know
If I can fight anymore.

Tell me if there is anyone
Who will go and go.
For the distance is long
And we have nothing to show.

For this war.
This war.
This war.
Kills all that was before.

Sometimes we fight for too long. Sometimes we grasp onto the things that we think are of value, only to find that in the end the inflation was too high. The end price more than we could really afford to give, we forfeit the prize we thought was worth the struggle.

The hardest thing to do is step back from the front lines. The step back allowing an observation of the battle, of the wages as they are spent, the third party assessment that we all at times need. That is the fatal flaw to most efforts.

When we fight for too long on that losing front we tax ourselves beyond comprehension. We drain all the resources of our mind, our body, our soul. Tax till nothing is left.

I have fought this fight, and to some degree I still struggle within one. I know you do as well.

Things of “Circumstance”…a scratch track

Published on 01/04/2013 in Deaf, Hearing Impaired, History for Sale, Local Music, Lyrics, Mastering, Mixing, Music, OCD, Old Age, Recording and Writing. 0 Comments Tags: deaf singer, fear of growing old, hearing impaired, history for sale, mastering, mixing, music, recording, recording studio, Singer, Social Security Tax, time, vocalist, writing.

This is a track that I have started working on. It is something that has been stuck in my head for a very, very long time now. The melody is one that I feel sucks me in and just won’t let go.

I finally got some help from my friend John Gutierrez in Florida who helped me map out what chords I should have been using for the melody. It turns out that my deaf ass was playing/singing the totally wrong chords for what I really wanted to sing. My friend and guitar player in HISTORY for SALE the incredible Keefe O’Neill is going to be helping me with some of his electric guitar wizardry and Doug Warren is going to lay some tasty bass down. This track is one that just might be the foundation for my next Mark Young solo record. Or it could end up being a HISTORY for SALE track. 2013 is kind of open right now…

The whole idea behind this song and the structure is “less is more”. I have been really trying to study the idea that simpler parts when combined with other simpler parts…create an amazing whole. The last HISTORY for SALE record had been slightly criticized for being too busy. I have been told that the combination of all the melodies being played occupies too much brainspace for the “non-musician” and it makes it hard to listen to. After listening with open mind and fresh ears…those people were and are 100% correct. The parts (drums, bass, guitar, vocals) are all stupid good…like some of the best nobody music I have heard, but when combined or stacked up into a song…there is just too much going on.

Simple parts let the melody breathe. Simple parts help create a foundation for the vocals. Simple parts help carry the story, not pound it into the ground.

I will be recording, mixing, and possibly mastering my next record in my little home studio. I will be doing all the production work as well. I just can’t afford to record anything out of house right now but don’t want to wait around to make noise. I can’t wait around to make noise any longer. The 2% Social Security tax increase pretty much has erased my budgeted music money for the year. Thanks .GOV for the love…

Let me know what you think of the track by emailing me HERE:

New song added to list for The Voice Audition – Season 5

Published on 12/14/2012 in Deaf, Fate, Hearing Impaired, History for Sale, iPad, Music, NBC, OCD, Old Age, The Voice and Writing. 0 Comments Tags: Adam Levine, Auditions, Blake Shelton, Carson Daly, Carvin, Cee-Lo, Correct, Create, David Barnes, Doubler, Industry Referral, Karaoke, NBC, Pandora, Season 5, Seattle, Shakira, Singer, TC Helicon, The Voice, Usher.

Hello World…here is where I am at today this 14th day of December…

Wellllll I wasn’t feeling my order of songs, nor was I 100% sure that I would be “allowed” to sing an original song during the audition for Season 4 of “The Voice”. So like any other over thinker I started to flounder a bit on Tuesday about what to do.

I finally decided that I needed to pick another mid tempo song that I could sing in place of the HISTORY for SALE (original) tune. I will move that one into a back up or on-deck 4 slot and only sing it if they allow me to do so. Sooooo I started thrashing through my Karaoke discs for songs that I wanted to sing that I enjoy and that I thought I could just put right into the 3 song list. Unfortunately NOTHING was coming out as workable…NOTHING. Then it hit me that I had picked up a set of 4 discs at Costco over the weekend:

What to sing…What to sing…

Looking over the discs I couldn’t find anything that I WANTED to try and sing. But then I thought…”Hey I actually like that one song…” I had first heard it on Pandora from the original artist. I listen to some secular music and am a pretty big Jeremy Camp fan. So David Barnes had come across my play list many times:

The new lead off track for my audition for “The Voice”

The song is “God Gave Me You” as performed by Blake Shelton. The great thing about the song is that vocally it is right in my power zone. It lets me stay pretty during the verse and then charge hard on the chorus. It is similar in style to some of the music I am currently writing. Am I worried about singing a Blake Shelton song for an audition for “The Voice”…not at all. The producers will either like or not like my voice. I doubt that they will hear very many Blake Shelton songs during these “Industry Referral” auditions. Mainly because everybody is going to be incredible…

Soooo….I have been in learn/practice/memorize mode for the past 3 days. I am at about 95% today on the song. The last 5% is locking down swagger and delivery or phrasing. I will be singing it in more of a rock style like it was originally written for. I will be singing it like I sing… Wednesday was my last “full volume” practice…I want to keep the pipes fresh:

I have also decided to sing the song first since it is so comfortable to sing. So the new order is going to be this:

1. God Gave Me You

2. Lips Of An Angel

3. Shake You Down

4. The Future (alternate)

Now all that is left is to nail down the last 5% of “God Gave Me You…

Song selection for season 5 of The Voice

Published on 12/08/2012 in Deaf, Fate, Hearing Impaired, History for Sale, iPad, Music, NBC, OCD, Old Age, The Voice and Writing. 0 Comments Tags: Adam Levine, Auditions, Blake Shelton, Carson Daly, Cee-Lo, Industry Referral, NBC, Season 5, Seattle, Shakira, Singer, The Voice, Usher.

I am good today.

I have had a great headspace as of the past week regarding the upcoming festivities auditioning for The Voice. I am really looking forward to the time in the studio, singing for a shot at the title.

The only thing that I do have control over is what I sing. They will know whether or not if they like my voice, my package, my mustard within the first few bars and measures of song number one. It is human nature, animalistic even, that the law of attraction works that way. You know…right away. That is the main thing that I have no control over.

Song selection. It is what can make or break these kinds of things. What is the first thing you usually hear from the judges…”well that was great song selection” or even “unfortunately I am not sure if that song selection works…” and thus it goes. This is the one thing that can drive an OCD person like myself crazy. The what-ifs surrounding song selection and their poison of doubt.

I have been chatting with my local hero Mycle Wastman who you might recall was just on this current season 3 version of The Voice on NBC. I have also been chatting with current season 3 top four finalist Terry McDermott. Terry and I swim in the same circle of musicians and amazing artists. Both Mycle and Terry told me to go into this audition singing what I enjoy to sing. To own songs that I have fun on and that sound good on my voice. So I have been heralding their advice and experience…and I think I have a list:

1. Shake You Down – Gregory Abbott
2. Lips Of An Angel – Hinder
3. The Future – HISTORY for SALE

They allow one original tune in the audition so I thought…shit if I even make it to the third song i would sing “The Future”. I wrote the song about father’s/son’s and the lessons that are and can be passed between the generations, and it is fitting that my father passed away this summer and now I get this shot at the title.

I have so much fun singing “Shake You Down” and it shows everything from falsetto to bass. Plus it reflects the lover of R&B in me.

Lips Of An Angel is a song that I can crush and bring mass power to. I also enjoy the shit out of singing it. I love singing the verses in a pretty higher register…then bringing the pain on the chorus’.

This list is I think 98.672% firm and might see some additions for emergency purposes. But here on this flight…at about 21,000ft it feels right.

For a douche’y nobody this could be my shot…my shot at out-running reality.

Nerves and season 5 of The Voice

Published on 11/30/2012 in Deaf, Fate, Hearing Impaired, History for Sale, iPad, Music, NBC, Old Age, The Voice and Writing. 0 Comments Tags: Adam Levine, Auditions, Blake Shelton, Carson Daly, Cee-Lo, Industry Referral, NBC, Season 5, Seattle, Shakira, Singer, The Voice, Usher.

Nerves can tire, they can confuse logic, and they can change things from simple to complex. They can do this when nothing of the actual situation has changed.

Nerves and the effect they have on our body prove the point that things in life could possibly be changed with mind over matter. That the mind can alter the matter that makes us.

The thought of auditioning for season 4 of The Voice at first made me a little nervous. I think because it is something that is way, way more than I can imagine. Sure you can dream, sure you can think it would be amazing to do something like the show…but reality tells you that the odds are not in your favor and you will never make it. So you don’t really ever expect to have to go past the dream state.

When I first let the fact set in that I would be auditioning for The Voice it was bit overwhelming. Shivering actually. To think that I would be singing for a couple of people who if they are impressed enough…would be able to send me to LA for the final audition. Well if I then do good enough at the final audition…then I could be on the actual show in the “Blind Audition” phase. What…what…burr it is getting cold in here. Oh, wait…that is just me shivering with nerves. But I don’t get nervous, do I?

I have no issues singing in front of many, many people…that is a fact. I actually enjoy the game of blooming on the stage into something other than boring old Mark Young the Seattle, WA singer/songwriter. I like to know that I can become something other than myself…to move people. But there is a comfort level knowing that the people I normally sing for are there to hear HISTORY for SALE or the other bands that might be playing the same bill…that there is a simple and small purpose in what is happening in the bar, at the fair, or wherever we may be playing.

This difference in possible end results is where my initial nerves have started to be tickled. The Voice and the what-if’s that it represents is something potentially so much bigger than anything I have ever done. Do I see myself on a stage with such outreach…YES! Did I ever think that I would be able to have a shot at it…NO!

So now that I have a shot at something so large…the nerves find their way to the dinner table. They search around till they find what they hunger. And in this instance…they hunger and prey upon my weakness. The weakness of thinking that you are not good enough. Not good enough to be a part of something so grand. So large.

Some who might someday read this blog might see this as fishing for compliments…grasping for affirmation from family or friends. But there are 1001 AH-FUCKING-MAZING singers and storytellers in the world. So why in the matrix of life and happenings do they think that I am good enough to step to the mic? Why do they think that I am worth occupying an audition slot for these “Industry Referral” auditions?

Those nerves and I have been chatting and they keep telling me that I am not good enough to make it. Those nerves are tiring me…wearing me down. Such an epic battle in the mind. I think though that I have them under control.

I have been talking it through in my brain…this crazy little 15 minute audition. While I was up on the roof this past weekend putting up christmas lights…listening to my BLAKE SHELTON station on Pandora…I think I figured out why this isn’t such a bad thing, why I shouldn’t be nervous.

I didn’t seek this out. They contacted me for the audition…based on the fact that they like what they have heard thus far. There is enough interest in my backstory to offer the time to learn more of me. The audition is private, and top tier straight to “GO”. They want me to be there. There are no negatives…

So that is where I am at as of this week…this Thursday night the 29th. I have two weeks till the audition and I am now not nervous about The Voice, this season 4 “Industry Referral” audition, any of it really. I am actually really looking forward to it and doing my best to impress. I will get to go into a recording studio. I will get to sing 3 songs with backing tracks (hopefully 3 unless I bring’eth the suck). It is on a weekend, so I don’t even have to take time off of work. I guess there is nothing to be nervous or worry about. I was invited.

Time to go into BEAST MODE.

Accepting the possibilities…season 5 The Voice

Published on 11/20/2012 in Deaf, Hearing Impaired, iPad, Music, NBC, The Voice, wife and Writing. 0 Comments Tags: Adam Levine, Auditions, Blake Shelton, Carson Daly, Cee-Lo, Industry Referral, NBC, Season 5, Seattle, Shakira, Singer, The Voice, Usher.

After a long weekend I am finding myself with just a bit of time to write before bed. Laying here in bed my lovely wife thinks this blog should be about “Why do men have nipples…?”. While that is a very interesting question that the world probably does hinge upon, sadly this blog is not about men and nipples. Sorry.

NBC’s The Voice and season 4 and “Industry Referrals”. That is what this blog is about.

The happening as it was. I was at lunch on Tuesday Oct. 30th when the call came in. I was at home enjoying a little bit of time with my wife during the lunch hour and catching up on the time that never seems to be present when we need it to be. Calling was Mr. Rob Sharp who helped me record/mix/produce my solo record “Going Somewhere…?” The call went to voicemail and I didn’t even think to check it because I know that Rob wouldn’t call me with anything really pressing.

Returning to the office after lunch I took the laptop out of hibernation and perused my email to see what had happened in my little world during my hour long absence. There it was. An email two or three down from Rob Sharp at The Playroom Studio…

“Heya Mark…Rob here. I hope you don’t mind but I might have given your contact information to a fellow who is a Talent Producer for the show “The Voice”. He said that he really, really likes your voice and backstory.

Let me know if he contacts you, or if anything comes of it. If so then rock on!

Cheers, Rob…”

WOW…Ummm suuurrreeee. I sat there and thought “OK, whatever”. But then it hit me…the voicemail he left! Checking the recently left voicemail repeated exactly what the email had said. That Rob had spoken with a contact of his who was looking for people to audition for the spring edition of The Voice which will technically be season 4.

Sitting there for just a slight moment I thought COOL! Though within moments the harsh facts of reality, or what we spin reality to be, came crashing in and I thought let’s be honest here. This mystery fellow, this Peter Cohen of NBC’s The Voice will listen to the links that Rob gave him and be like…meh…and move along to one of the 1000′s of more talented vocalists in the area. And with that…in less than 2 minutes…I was back to work toiling away under a cloud of self doubt, not pity, just chilly and realistic doubt.

Then it happened…He emailed me. At 4:51pm I got an email from the chance I had so quickly thought would speed past me. Here is a bit of what it said:

“Hi Mark,
Rob from the Playroom suggested I contact you. He speaks very highly of you. He sent me a link to some of your music and you sound great! I work for the show The Voice. We will be in Seattle in December holding private auditions for the next season of the show. I’d like to offer you the opportunity and I’ve scheduled you to audition for The Voice in Seattle on December 16th at 12:45pm. This audition is by invite-only and not open to the general public…”

And there it wass…my new possible reality.

While nothing could come of this chance…I find it an absolute honor that in this world of amazing people, amazing voices, and amazing talent Rob would think enough of me to even speak my name as a suggestion. I find it an even more incredible honor to have been contacted by Peter. So much so that I looked around my office after reading the email for the 5th time and thinking “come awwwwnnnn…am I getting PUNK’ed here…?” Thinking over and over again, did he really listen to my voice, he must not have…? For we are all our own worst critics.

Let the doubt roll in. Let it ebb and flow, acting as an overwhelming tidal wave. Let it drown any chance for joy, darkening what could be a bright moment. That is what I can do best. For all it took was the 6th read of the email for me to clamp down hard…suck in the bitter taste of what ifs, to squeeze hard on the handbrake of life and try to bring the shit show to a stop before it even begins moving. It is just a fucking email…seriously.

But that is what The Grind can do. It can dig you so deep into a trench that you don’t even see the light, the possibility, the maybe. All you can see is the mortgage, the car payment, the “what will my job say”, the will my family support me, and the “what about the trip for work I have planned”. Before you can even consider the theoretical outcomes of the dream, you have convinced yourself that it would actually become a pressure filled nightmare…so why even dream. Get back to work douche…that is what you are destined to do. Work.

It took me a couple of days to really get over the fact that I got that email. I didn’t even mention it to my wife. I actually almost thought of deleting it…for that is what I do. I shut down with denial to the fact that I might possibly be able to do something really cool. I don’t think I am worth it…and I forcibly let it pass me by. By choice. But on Thursday night I decided to share the email with my wife and see what her thoughts were. She thought it best that I give it a shot.

My wife thinks that I am a big dreamer and that the only way to have amazing things happen is to dream amazingly big. Guess I had better start dreaming.

Life unexpected…Auditioning for season 5 of The Voice

Published on 11/15/2012 in Deaf, Fate, Hearing Impaired, iPad, Music, NBC, The Voice and Writing. 0 Comments Tags: Adam Levine, auditioning, Auditions, Blake Shelton, Carson Daly, Cee-Lo, Industry Referral, NBC, Season 5, Seattle, Shakira, Singer, The Voice, Usher.

Things seem to happen for a reason. Not fate, at least to me it isn’t, but more of a directed shift in occurrences. If we resist these shifts and struggle against their current we might find ourselves in a situation that is less desirable than if we just went with the current…if we just accepted our days.

The thought that you have full control over the direction that this life takes us is a fallacy. You DO NOT have full control. What you do have is the chance, like all people do, to be ready for the new opportunities that present themselves when the river of life changes direction.

Skills, hobbies, traits…all proverbial arrows in the quiver. The ammunition that you need to attack the new opportunities. All spears to peg your chance against the wall. But to do this you must be open…practiced…and flexible. Flexible enough to leave your comfort zone that is called daily life…the daily grind.

The grind can sure be sexy can’t it…? In it for too long and you’ll find yourself and ground and polished smooth. So silky in the daily rituals that the thought of leaving them behind, if even for a moment, frightens you like a possum on a southern Georgia highway. The fires of desire become dimmed to just a flame. The flames get pushed aside because the mortgage must get paid, the work email NEEDS to be answered, oh shit the lawn needs to be mowed and fertilized again. Didn’t some one do the dishes…DAMN IT TO HELL!

I know how this feels. I try to resist The Grind and keep the flexibility, I try to keep the edges rough and not smooth…I try to fan my flames. But my oh my how the calendar does not lie. You soon find that it has been 2 days, then 3 weeks, well actually now 2 months since you last worked on that painting, that manuscript, the words of your poem that while jotting them down taking a morning shit seemed like they would move the world. You just haven’t.

Then you feel it set in…this is the worst part…the guilt. The guilt that you let The Grind mind fuck you. You let life in its worst incarnation take over you and squash the very thing that makes us human. The dream…

The dream is the Kryptonite to The Grind. Black and White. Oil and Water. Polar opposite.

Where am I going with all of this…? Well that is an excellent question. I am seriously tired right now as I have only had 3 hours of sleep from going to an Eric Church – Justin Moore – Kip Moore concert at Comcast Arena last night and am now on my way to North Carolina. BUT, it appears that I have had a shift in occurrences. I have had a situation presented to me that I DID NOT know would occur. Something has been spotted downstream in my river of life that I must choose to take head on…or avoid.

I have been asked to audition for season 4 of NBC’s The Voice…

Thanks to Jeremy Camp for the “Bro Talk” in first class…

Published on 05/04/2012 in Going Somewhere, iPad, Music, OCD and Writing. 0 Comments Tags: Christian, Contemporary, Jeremy Camp, Mark Young Rocks, Number Ones, Seattle, Singer, Songwriter.

Mental barriers are at times the hardest ones to break. They represent core issues and situations that are formed of the strongest emotions. Why? Because they come from our brain and from our own belief that they are valid in some strange way. So we let them take root and grow. We watch them slowly overtake the highway of life progress. We let them tell us what NOT to do.

I let my barriers grow too freely. I don’t take the time to grab the pruning shears out of the shed and do any trimming. I typically let life go on and don’t mend to my hedges until it is too late and they are waaaayyyy out of control. The end result being a session of depression or angst about why things are the way they are.

Well fast forward to last week and I had what might be considered a slight epiphany. I was forced to look at things from a different perspective. I say forced because the person that was talking to me was one whom I could not doubt. They are living the life that they want to live and they are successful in that direction. The light that they shed on my situation really made me do some hard deep thinking. And I looked at things in a way that like my barriers, I chose to not address in the right way.

Thank you to Mr. Jeremy Camp for the bro talk. You shed a light on my situation that you may not have even known you flicked on, but you did non-the-less. I have started to assess my situation in a new fashion. I have started to re-address my efforts (though small shifts) in a hope to turn my ship in the direction that *I* want to be going in. To express efforts in the projects and things that will serve *ME* and *MY* situation the best.

Thanks again Jeremy. Hope to talk to you, or hang, when I am in Nashville soon.

Hi World…It’s me again.

Published on 05/04/2012 in iPad, Old Age and Writing. 0 Comments Tags: death, iPad, Mana, tired, weary, work travel.

Right now I find myself 3/4 of the way through April 12th and at a cruising altitude of 33,436ft above you. I am on my 3rd or 4th week straight of being in some kind of airplane, on a trip, away from my daily life.

While work travel can have its advantages, they are few and far between. The plus side greatly falls short of the minus side and will never equal out. The only thing that makes it any better is the sweet time of laying in my own bed next to my amazing wife for that first moment in 3 or 4 days.

Luckily for me this is my last trip for a couple of weeks and I can at least have a two week period of normal living. Amazing how our lives can change and we can accept two weeks of being home as a good thing. I would have never thought 10 years ago that I would even be considering this a positive…or writing about it on my trusty Apple mobile device!

I have seen many things these past couple of weeks that have amazed, saddened, and intrigued me. I will be writing about a couple of them here in this fake world…I promise you this. I know what you are thinking…”yeah, you have said that you would write about things and never do…”, but I assure you these things have left me in a deep contemplative state. A state that I must communicate.

Remember to seize your day. Remember that petty, non forward progressing issues can, and will, bring you down. We can’t move forward if we are not willing to rise above and float upon our own current of positive energy.

Talk to you soon…

First Blog from the…IPAD.

Published on 01/21/2012 in Coffee Shop Confessions, iPad, OCD, Old Age and Writing. 0 Comments Tags: Coffee shop posting, iPad, snomageddon seattle, snopocolypse, WINTERBLAST 2012.

It is January 21st in the year 2012. This Saturday following Seattle’s WINTERBLAST 2012 is kind of an odd one. For the past 5 days the temperatures have been in the mid 20′s to the high 20′s. We have had too much snow for the area. NOT too much snow for me…but too much snow for the drooling masses.

Today though…is different. Today is stark in contrast to the days previous. It is partly cloudy…the temperature being 45* instead of 28*. The wind is blowing hard, very hard. The wind blows with such force that it causes wives to wake in the 4 o’clock hour to inform their husband that they are scared. The wind is what I am used to calling a “Chinook Wind”. It brings the warmth from the ocean and the smell of change.

Today is full of change. I am writing this little post in MY world from my IPAD. I am sloooowwwllly starting to embrace this little piece of technology and figure out how to use it in my daily life. I am so used to lugging around my 8.34lb laptop and all of its trappings for these kinds of purposes…but think I might get along well with this smaller, younger cousin. I am hoping that I will be able to bring just this gizmo with me on the road for my business travels. The battery life alone gives me hope that we will have a nice little relationship. Once I figure out the apps that will give me the best business use possible…it is on.

The first thing that I did pick up for this little gizmo though is a bluetooth keyboard/case from Brookstone. Pretty bomb.com little unit. It is allowing me to type much faster than I would ever be able to chicken peck on the flat screen. Though smaller in footprint, it is quite an imrovement.

May this be another part of the things that come…the changes that blow through our life day to day. Not too unlike the winds that blow this fine morning.