Invisible

"Can you see that I'm invisible, though I'm standing in plain sight.
Like Claude Rains without his clothes on, like a shadow in the night."~Scott Kubala, "Invisible"

    The video production for the song, "Invisible", will be released on Halloween of 2011.  The song was penned by my wife, Sandy, and myself and has been performed during numerous live shows.  The video will be a bit of a tribute to (very old) drive in movies and, of course, the subject matter itself.

Don't Let Your Meat Loaf

"Don't let your meat loaf." -DJ Sitze, Flat River Band
    A friend of mine responded with a little slice of wisdom by text in response to some harrassment I was handing out the other day.  I kind of liked what he said, so it has stuck in my head for the time being.  While taking a break in regard to my pursuit of all things music, I have spent much of my time learning a new craft and forging a road into my latest professional venture.  I like to call myself an Antiquities Reclamation Specialist.
    The search for antiquities is one that appeals to me greatly these days.  Such treasures can take us back to a simpler time, where life's outcomes are calculated and known.  I am convinced it is for this reason that so many pursue this avenue.  Yes, the purchase and sale of antiquities can often be lucrative.  But like listening to an old song that brings back the color and flavor of the time in which it was lived, relics from the past carry life's rememberances with them.  Even Henry Ford, American Industrialist,  could not escape the lure of surrounding himself with such discovered treasures.
    And of course, I cannot leave music completely by the wayside during my busiest times.  I have my completed projects waiting for release to radio.  I also am planning an anthology of rescued treasures from the vaults of my own recording projects, as well as some video projects to accompany them. 
    During the difficult times we seem to live in these days, with a struggling economy and polarized political opinions, I feel that success can be found in the boldness to launch new projects and take risks.  No great achievement is ever made by failure to raise the bar when others say it canoot be done.  Of course, risk taking should be based on some meticulous research.  But simply put, don't let your meat loaf.

A Bit of a Breather, of Sorts...

Just a quick update on how things are going to date.  I have completed the five tracks for "And The Horse You Rode In On" and have released the songs online, which you can now listen to on YouTube.  The tracks will be released to radio internationally later in 2011, perhaps even in early 2012.   They say that folk songs generally do pretty well during the later winter months of the new year, so it's possible we'll find out for sure before long.

Also, while I have been spending time working up new material and declining any opportunities to play live at the moment, I have made a great change in my career path.  After over two decades in the broadcast industry, I have decided to leave radio and pursue opportunities working with my wife as a buyer of precious metals, jewelry, coins, guitars and fine art.  I had achieved many successes and reached countless goals in my broadcast career, and the time seemed right for a new challenge and a new direction.

I will be continuing my work as a performer as I have always done, however, and look forward to continued efforts in striving to refine my artistic productions.  I am excited about sharing that effort in the years to come.

Back To Nashville

    Following up on the previous post regarding the Josh Pruno CD Release Party, it was an unqualified success.  The management of the Hard Rock has stated, "On Saturday, January 29th 2011, Scott Kubala along with several other notable acts from the Nashville area hosted a live music event at The Hard Rock Cafe in Music City. The event recognized 395 guests in attendance and since it’s execution, my team and I have received numerous compliments regarding the performance lineup. Scott along with Josh Pruno & Jessica Roadcap (who joined him on the bill), are welcome for return performances at the Hard Rock Cafe in Nashville anytime they like! We had a blast getting to work with them!"
    While I always look forward to working with Josh and Jessica again soon, I have continued to aggressively book shows in Nashville.  I'm returning to the Commodore Grille on February 17th, and will be a featured perfomers with one of my all time favorites, The Flat River Band, at the Red Rooster and the Hotel Indigo during Country Radio Seminar week in March.
    I continue to get requests to book some shows back home in Southeast Missouri, and we continue to work on that as well.  I hope I have a chance to perform soon for you at an upcoming show.

Josh Pruno CD Release Party

"The thunder rolls in Nashville, it's just another day.
I'm walking up and down these streets, see the stars come out to play.
I've been here once or twice before, I know I'm always welcome back.
It's good to see your friends are doing well, you know,
I love your latest track."~Scott Kubala, "Nashville"

    Nashville has been a great love of mine for awhile now.  But it's not the bricks or the mortar that make up a great city; it's the people.  And in what is rapidly approaching a decade in working with the people who make up this wonderful city, I've made a host of great friends and business acquaintances.  I realize, of course, sometimes that line between friend and business associate can get a little fuzzy in any other town anywhere in the world, but somehow it's all very clear in Nashville.
    On Saturday, January 29th at 7:00 p.m., my friend Josh Pruno will celebrate the culmination of years of hard work in an effort to achieve his dream, with a CD Release Party at the Hard Rock in Nashville.  Josh hails from Crystal City, Missouri.  There will be an enthusiastic crowd from back home supporting him.  Josh has been blessed with a large group of supporters over the years, made up of both family and friends.  Some time ago, he caught the eye and ear of Bob Minner, who grew up in Southern Jefferson County, Missouri, and made a name for himself as a member of Tim McGraw's Dancehall Doctors.  Bob's a guitar and dobro player, and as it turns out, quite a songwriter, producer and perhaps manager in his own right.  They worked together with some other talented professionals to put together the project that we'll be celebrating on Saturday night.
    Being a broadcaster, professional host, and singer-songwriter, I was in a great position to cross paths with Josh the last time he called Missouri his home.  I was impressed with his talent, sincerity and his ability to get a crowd on it's feet in celebration.  Josh always said, "If I make it, we all make it."  It's a pretty wise business model, to say the least.  But it's also evidence of Josh's philosophy of teamwork and loyalty.
    Because Josh doesn't forget his friends and believes the concept of helping others as you've been helped which seems to be a prevalent attitude in Nashville, I've been invited to open his show along with another talented singer-songwriter from town, Jessica Roadcap.  This promises to be a great night of entertainment, and while this is clearly Josh's night, I believe it to be so much more.  It is truly a celebration of all the things that make music one of the best professions ever, in a town that reminds the world of that fact every day.  I hope you can join us.

Josh Pruno, with special guests
Jessica Roadcap
and Scott Kubala
Live at the Hard Rock in Nashville
Reverb Room
Saturday, January 29th, 2011  7:00 p.m.
Tickets $5.00 

Summer's Gone

"Summer's gone, summer's gone.  We could see fall coming, you couldn't have missed it for a mile.
She turned eighteen, she turned eighteen.  Round her leaves are fallin', but you can't see them for her smile."
-Scott Kubala, "Summer's Gone"

The fall season in poetry has often been associated with melancholy. The possibilities of summer are gone, and the chill of winter is on the horizon. Skies turn grey, and people turn inward with their thoughts, and with their actions.  It was in fact, Irish poet William Butler Yeats' poem The Wild Swans at Coole where the poet observes symbolically the maturing season represents his own aging self. Like his world around, he too has reached his prime and now must look forward to the inevitability of old age and death.

It was with that feeling in mind and that time of season when I began writing "Summer's Gone".  It was a time of transition, not only of seasons, but in my personal life as well.  I recall feeling as grey as the skies, and as reflective as the pool of standing water in the garden in the yard.  I was in need of the warmth of the summer sun once again, at least as best as I could recall how it felt in better days as it made me feel as it heartened my soul.

I had been listening to the music of Brian Wilson, as I recall, getting the therapy I needed and my morale back on track.  I found long ago that music is great for helping out any kind of mood shift.  And there's nothing like the illustrious harmonies of Brian Wilson to bring back memories of summer and sunshine and warm those dark inner sanctums of the heart on a cool fall day.

Of course, I have also always loved a good double entendre and couldn't resist reflecting upon the subjects of my recent deep thought at that time, and making comparisons with the changing seasons (in this case, as I've always stated publicly during shows when playing this song live, this song was written for my daughters).

Now, when I play this song, it always reminds me of the cyclical nature of life, in that the good that we desire will always come back around.  Whether it is children who have left the nest (who seem to surely find their way back at some time or another) or the seasons, I can always bear the melancholy, wear a smile, and wait a little bit longer.

"Summer's gone, summer's gone.  And I can't help but feel some sadness,
that she'll be gone for quite a while.
But she'll come 'round...yeah, she'll come 'round.
Then we'll all be smilin'.  'Cause she'll be dressed up summer style."
-Scott Kubala, "Summer's Gone"

Setting A Course By the Stars

"Staring at the stars at night, isn't it an awesome sight? Heavens lights are looking down, tonight upon this sleepy town."
-Scott Kubala, "Sextant and Soliloquy"

An intimate knowledge of the sky helped maritime navigators throughout history. For example, Polynesian sailors, could accurately determine their position in the ocean using only the stars, allowing them to safely navigate between remote islands without getting lost while traveling across thousands of miles of open ocean in the South Pacific. Western sailors from Europe used the Sun and the Pole Star to estimate their latitude. and make a rough guess at their longitude.

In 1731, the sextant was invented, a device which can accurately measure the angular distance between heavenly bodies. With the sextant, latitude could be determined to within a nautical mile or two. Using this device, explorers could also finally calculate their longitude using the lunar-distance method, which required a book of astronomical tables, though this was a difficult process.

So, the first astronomers were farmers, sailors, and religious leaders. Not much later, astronomy became a pursuit to gather knowledge and understand the Universe, purely to satisfy human curiosity. Greek astronomers started this systematic investigation, which was picked up much later in Europe. 

The quest to quench the thirst of knowledge has proliferated now at such a rate that we've reached the point of technological development where astronomers have discovered a group of at least five planets – with hints of two more – circling around a star in an arrangement similar to our own solar system. Confirmation of the extra planets would make this the highest tally of alien worlds ever spotted around a single star.  The planets and their own sun-like star are about 127 light-years from Earth, astronomers with the European Southern Observatory said. It is one of just 15 planetary systems known to have more than three worlds.

If I ever lose my ability to have some kind of place to get a good view of the stars above, then I shall surely lose my bearings and focus in life.  The universe has proven above all to be a trusted roadmap, a compass true.  When I'm feeling emotionally blocked up, when I can't seem to move forward with my thoughts, a good walk under the night sky is always usually guaranteed to do the trick. 

Somehow, the lights in the night sky have always been a trusted friend and have been an inviting ear to my problems in life.  And by the end of that seemingly one-sided conversation, I feel as though somehow as though I've worked through all of those problems that have perplexed me, as if I've been through some kind of cosmic therapy.

So what is this connection that we have with the universe?  What is this brotherhood that humankind shares with the stars?  What sort of cosmic connection drives us forward to reach out into the vast unknown searching for meaning?  Perhaps it's something as simple as the primal bond that we have with all of creation, in that all of the elements of the universe are essentially the same.  And we look out there, and should, at least in a sense, be able to see inward.  I've always thought it was intruiging that the deep sea currents of the world's oceans seemed to be strangely reflective of the way blood circulates through the human body; as if we were designed from a common cosmic template.

But often, aside from these deep philosophical and scientific queries, it's simply enough to gaze into the vastness of the night sky as you appreciate the beauty of the vastness of the universe, and to stand in awe when it somehow manages to speak back to you.