Vblog #35 - My presentation at Society of Arts in Healthcare

This event meant a lot to me, as these brilliant people attending were from all corners of the globe. They were doers of good, creators of excellence, specializing in the finding and creating ways to implement arts and music in the healthcare field. I tried to edit down to a manageable size, but my editing got sloppy and I was too tired of it to fix it, so I'll hope you don't mind. I was working a slide show from my laptop on the screen, but for this I just inserted the same pictures. At the end of this presentation, there was a standing ovation, my favorite part is the very end after the websites, the moment she says.. "enjoy your lunch".

Lisa Lynne Adoption Story - Part 1

This is a really big for me. I am learning things that have been a mystery for my life. This story is meant for my biological mother or father, or any of their relations I may find.

This account is also for my wonderful family and friends who are so excited about this. They are all so supportive and anxious for updates. This is a way I can tell them all at once. It also helps me to write this as I go. Most importantly, its for my biological mother. If she needs time, or doesn't wish to meet me, maybe she can at least get my message from this.

My primary reason for finding her has been the same all my life. I want her to know that her decision turned out as she would have hoped. I've had a happy life, I became an artist, a music maker.
Most importantly, I have always thought of her with so much love and reverence for the brave decision she made so long ago.

I want her to know if she has ever thought of me, maybe she thinks, today I am 10, or 18, 21, or 30. I was also thinking of her and so grateful for my life that she gave. I have imagined all the possibilities and I know that anything can happen. Or not happen.  I have learned much in the past few weeks, and I'll share that as I go. It seems like its really going to happen. I'm working with an adoption specialist who is wonderful, leading me through all the steps. My heart pounds when he gives me updates on the phone.

So thank you for being with me for this. As soon as I get some of this background written, I will be writing in real time. It’s all happening much faster than I thought it would, so I’m scrambling to catch up. So here goes.

I always knew I was adopted. As long as I can remember my mom would tell me the story like a fairy tale with a happy ending. The year before adopting me, they lost a baby born premature.  As my story was told to me, a mom and dad were sad because they lost their baby boy. They prayed for another baby and God gave them his smallest angel, and that was me, and I made them happy again.

My adoptive father Florencio Ernesto Franco was a sheriff in East LA. My mother Carol Lee Franco was a homemaker. Like many people in that era, they met in high school, were engaged and then married after his time in the service.

This is the only time I will call them “adoptive” because they are my mom and dad,  so I'll refer to them as that. For the woman I hope to find, I will call her “biological” mother. Florencio and Carol Franco took me home just weeks after my birth, and named me Lisa Lynne Franco.

 My mom speaks of they day they brought me home as if it was yesterday. It was a full year after applying to adopt. There were many interviews and a lot of hoping and waiting. They finally got the news that there was a little girl who was here and she would be theirs. My mom said they were taking me home for the first time and she could not believe the length of my eyelashes. My dad had to keep pulling over the car so they could look at me.

We went straight to the home of my dad’s parents. My Nana and Tata, where there was a party for me! I had many aunts and uncles, lots of cousins, I could feel how happy everyone was.

Adelina and Florencio Sr.

This might be hard to believe, but I'm certain I remember that day. Just brief moments, images, and smells. I was wrapped in a blanket and facing the ceiling. I remember the lamps from the ceiling, I remember being passed around from arms to arms, big giant smiley faces peering at me, kisses from sweaty happy kids on my forehead.The smell of home cooking and sound of my Nana’s voice singing my name.. There was mariachi music on the radio.  I know I remember this, and I remember having a very conscious thought.
This is going to be just fine...

I grew up in Southern California around Whittier and Diamond Bar. It was a middle class upbringing and a lot of fun and celebrations.

 

My dog Pokey

I loved sleepovers with my cousins playing endless board games, riding bikes, putting on shows. We dressed up for Sundays with homemade Mexican food, always a birthday or new baby, and music. 

Water sports

 

When I was five my little sister Jenny came along, born in the usual way.

It was a surprise to everyone!

Me on the left, -  hmmm... not so sure about this. 

Well.... I guess its okay.

 Baptisms, first communions..

 

Bubble baths

 Lot of outdoor adventures 

 An avid reader of fine literature

 We went camping often. My dad taught me to fish. 
I loved fishing with him and would sit patient for hours. 
I caught some big fish too and could reel it in myself.

 We went on summer long trips in our trailer. 
We drove and camped our way to Alaska.

Home was fun too.

Me in 2nd grade. 

I was in bluebirds and campfire girls

 My moms mother Margaret married many times and 
was a globe trotting adventurous woman.

 My moms family is also very close. My mom Carol is quite the beauty, 
she is quiet but very funny. She's on the left with the big hair. 
Me, the skinniest legs of all.

My dad worked in the East LA sheriffs station his whole career. He worked undercover for burglary cases, homicide and narcotics. He would sometimes bring me by the station on his day off and we'd have orange soda there.
 When he came home from work my sister and I would run to him knowing he would give us a flip in the air and say "va va voom!!" .. and we would say
"do it again dad!!" over and over.



I started playing guitar when I was eight years old. I got pretty good so I got lessons and learned lots of songs. My dad would always ask me to play my songs at our campfires. My mom had read that if you play music for a baby, they will be musical.
So she put music on for me in my crib in hopes that would happen.

End of Part 1

Here is part two

A flying harp and musical vist to Cedar Key

Since my flute partner George lives in Florida, we get to play in some of the most beautiful places in the country. Cedar Key is no exception, and one of George's favorite places. This past weekend was very cool, and I tried to capture images as they happened. I never seem to be able to get much of us playing though.. because we are always playing at that time! But we stayed in some lovely homes and got to see some of the local community. This video starts on the plane, and ends on the plane too! I do all my editing on the ride home. Hope you enjoy!

The new recording is here...

I know when I was growing up, I loved looking at the liner notes of the albums I owned. 

Back in those days we had vinyl with big covers filled with artwork and words, and I would study it while listening to the music over and over again like we all did.  Those big covers were gold to me.  I'd devour every picture and line of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, YES, Beatles, Carole King, Genesis, to name just a few.. before that it was The Partridge Family, The Osmonds and the Jackson 5. The list goes on and on...

I always wanted to know what was behind the inspiration of the album and every song.. and I have missed that with artists now. Because of the small CD covers, and more so as people are getting their music by download. So here is my attempt to share a bit more about this recording.

This recording is the second full collaboration of Aryeh and myself, and also features another of my favorite musicians in the world George Tortorelli. I have been working with Aryeh for about three years now.  Our first CD is called "Two Worlds One". We've also appeared on each others separate projects as well.  George is my longtime music partner and we have been performing, touring and recording together as a duo and in groups pretty much full time since 1997.  George lives in Florida where we still tour often. (Even as I write this now) For those of you familiar with my previous recordings you have heard him often as he has been featured on just about everything I have done for the past decade. He is a wonderful musician and dear friend/brother as well. Here is George recording his bamboo flute.

Finally this recording puts all my favorite people and sounds together and I'm so happy about that. I was a major fan of Aryeh's music long before we met, (and long before I ended up being his partner/partner) and finally we are able to merge all of our gifts together in one place. Aryeh and I play all the instruments you hear except the flutes played by George. Our combined instrument collection is vast, and we feel so lucky to have so many instruments to make this music. Here are just a few of them.

So what is it like on a typical recording day?  We'll, because of the advances in technology, home recording studios have the capability to record as high quality as professional studios. I have been in many high end studios in my day, and when I compare our current home studio recordings to my expensive pro studio recordings on Windham Hill Records, you cannot tell a difference. I do have some excellent microphones (those were quite expensive) Aryeh has his own recording gear and can run pro recording computer programs.  I wont bore you with those details, my eyes glaze over when the talk turns to gear, but it suffices to say, between my gear and Aryeh's, we have quite a good setup.

Our studio basement is totally sound proof, so we can record anytime of day or night. Aryeh likes to record early. Earlier than me, so a typical morning would be quick toast and tea and at 8:00 AM we get going. Me with my second mug of tea, sitting there blurry eyed and grumpy until the heater kicks in. San Francisco mornings can be quite chilly.

When the room warms up, the tuning begins. That is the most tedious part of recording. All our instruments, all our strings.. temperature changes, the tuning has to be perfect for recording, so often it takes multiple tries. Sometimes you are minutes into a perfect take, and you have to stop for one note being out of tune and start over.  Sometimes digital information gets lost or corrupted for some bizarre technical reason, hence you may hear some rare-but-salty-sailor-talk from Aryeh. Its challenging to say the least, when your all warmed up to play, filled with inspiration and ready to rock, but that one note goes sharp or flat so you have to start all over again, tuning note by note.

Finally the music starts happening and the ideas fly. We get thrilled about some parts, we debate others. I might play a tune three times through and we choose the favorite, sometime we have to make choices between technically perfect takes or imperfection but with more vibe and feel. To find the balance is key, to capture what is real, combine our years of experience and hope that the finished piece conveys what we meant to say.  

The new tracks get listened to upstairs on all different stereo systems. Aryeh likes to go back and work on string parts by himself and play them for me when he's done. Then I say, "its too much, or its beautiful, or its too weird."  Eventually we find the place where we are both happy.

As we go along, when its time to add George's flutes, sometimes we record while on the road, even in hotel rooms! Sometimes the parts are recorded at his place in Florida, and sometimes if he's out west we do it in our place. Here is a movie clip of George doing flutes in our studio.

After a few months of this.. We move on to final mixing in a bigger studio. Most of the mixing is done by Aryeh at our place, but we need more specialized outboard gear, and so several days are spent going back and forth to nearby sound studio in San Francisco fine combing the details, the balances, the levels of solos, go home and listen again, go back and tweak a little more.  We can get quite caught up in the tiniest details. 

Then comes audio mastering, and that is key. That is where we spare no expense to get the highest possible fidelity and clarity that technology has to offer. We send the finished project for post production to Bernie Becker's Mastering studio in Pasadena, (near LA)  Mastering is taking all the elements, boosting them, creating a sparkling sheen on the overall sound, making sure everything is even and clear and bright and warm as can be. Bernie Becker is a legendary guy, and the nicest man ever. He and his son Dale have worked on every recording I've done for years. Here's Bernie.

Meanwhile time to decide on the artwork and do credits (my job, and my longtime awesome graphics and webguy John), and everything to do with the actual manufacturing.. and in about nine months total (same as making a baby) viola.. you have it.

Then comes the promotion (also my job) so a whole new set of tasks around sending it out to radio stations, retail outlets, press releases, concert performances.. the list is long.  At this point in time Aryeh runs away and hides... in the studio, already working on his next music!

n this day and age, the way the music industry has changed, its more often independently done in-house by the artists themselves. I have experienced many different levels of album releases, some were big time with lots of people and help, and money. And some on my own label, humble and modest. This one is somewhere in the middle. But every album might be like having a new child. 

You do the best you can, give it all you've got, and send it out in the world, hoping it does well, and is happy. But in this case we hope it makes people happy. We hope it makes them feel what we feel.. the love and reference for the instruments and sounds, the music that comes into the heart, out of the hands..hopefully into other hearts. 

When we start hearing back the wonderful comments from the listeners, we breathe a collective sigh of relief that all that work and dedication, wisdom, faith and perseverance, debate, devotion, and even a few tears, (or was that beers)... was more than worth it.

And after all that work we have no choice but to go to Mexico and celebrate.

My niece and I making our latest movie masterpiece.

I don't have any kids myself, but have one sister named Jenny, she has two kids that I adore, and we do a lot of crazy fun creative stuff together. Trevor is now a teenager, so he's rather busy with other things, but Annelyse is my buddy, my partner in crafting and crime.. so we make movies. Here is the latest when she got her first pair of skates. I do the filming, directing and editing.. Annelyse provides the the star power, she is also does all her own stunts. With a little help from my Imovie effects.  Hope you enjoy!

A musical visit with patients and nurses!

Here's a short excerpt of bringing all my harps to Marion Cancer clinic in Central California. It's always so amazing to me how quickly people can play. I think it amazes them too. The thing about the harp is, its so much more friendly to the beginner than people realize. I love it so much to see people light up when they hear the music they are able to play. And all the harps playing together in surround sound is quite something to hear.

Mostly I see people being empowered by the experience. Most are dealing with very serious health challenges and to accomplish this unique thing that they didn't realize they could, I think that makes them know that other things are very achievable too.  So that's why I do this. I love every minute of the workshops. I have to admit that loading and tuning the harps is more of a task. It takes me about two hours to set up, and with 17 harps its about 600 strings to tune. One by one. But I try to think of that time as a meditation time. I am usually struggling against the clock still tuning as people are coming in, but I think I'm the fastest tuner in the west. I also set up my projector with images, do a little concert, with all the harps in a row behind me, like ships. I tell stories of the harps, and we have questions and answers. After the intermission I select a harp for every person based on their personality, or body size, or medical condition. I see big smiles as each person holds their harp, and we commence making music. Its that rare time, when you know you are in exactly the right place, doing exactly the right thing, and all is well in this place and this moment, and its my favorite feeling in the world.

A musical visit to an elementary school!

As part of a Central California tour we stopped to visit an elementary school in Taft, California. We brought all of our instruments hoping the kids would be interested. They were so many of them and they were so young! So you never know what could happen, but we hoped for the best and sure enough it was a rousing success. We shared all about our instruments and played for over 400 kids.They were totally attentive and interested and with some very, very good questions.. "how old are you?" "are you married?' and so on. It was a true highlight of the trip. Here's a peak of a song we all did together.

Impromtu music making with guests from Finland

Aryeh and I are hosting guest musicians in the group "Parahulta" from Finland this week, and last night we played together some of their beautiful music. This song is called "Waltz for Kuisma" written for their son. Aryeh met them and learned it from them on a trip to Sweden. He loves the song so much we recorded it on our first "Two Worlds One" CD and this is the first time we have all played it together.

Musical Merriment at the Celtic Fair

Hi Friends, Last weekend Aryeh and I played music at the Grass Valley Celtic Fair.  We have done this for the past three years and its always so sweet. I made this video to feature Aryeh's Nyckelharpa and the song being played is from his album "Twisting of the Rope" which I played on too. This time I had a new little camera so I was able to run around and get images faster than with my bigger camera. Whip it out when a parade is going by. But I'm still learning this tiny device and I notice the sound quality is not so good but  I will work on that. But I hope you enjoy it, each video I make is my new favorite.

Vblog #32 - Serenading the folks in the South

George Tortorelli and I have been a music duo since 1997. That's 13 years of full time music making. We have been all over the country, to many states playing at festivals and concerts. Here is just a sample of what it is like when we play. The music you hear was recorded live for our album titled "Love & Peace". There are no overdubs, George works with a looping delay system that allow him to create flute harmonies live on the spot. The harp is also delayed so I can play one passage over another. We have always been so grateful that we have a sound that people of all ages and walks of life enjoy and use for their life.

So here are some images of what its like when we play at a street festival. Its not as mellow or fancy as a concert. But I love this the most because you can really see the people. At a concert, its all dark and you can't see the faces, the front row is set back so far and the lights take away your sight to them.
People have paid $25.00 or more to see you, you hope and worry they are happy but you can't see them so you can't know. You feel pretty alone on the stage.

At a street festival, which is where I started and still enjoy doing, people don't have to be there, but they stay because they want to. From way back when I started on Venice Beach, that's how it was, I loved that they were free to come or go, to listen or not, and they always stay and they always listen, and that means so much. I would trade a fancy concert for a big ol street fair any day.

This slide show took place the recent two weekends where we visited North Carolina, and Georgia. On  Labor day the Henderson Apple Festival has their hometown parade and every darn time it makes me cry. Its silly but it always happens and ...I can't help it. Thousands come out and smile and wave to the happy families riding by in their collector cars, dressed up dogs and clowns, high school bands and fire engines, war Veterans from each war, all the way back to WWII, people stand and cheer and the very old men in their uniforms walking and holding American flags if they can. Police officers and council members, little miss Apple fest, candy throwing cub scouts and miscellaneous farm animals on homemade floats. All those people are truly happy and proud to be in the parade, or smiling and waving from their lawn chairs lined up. One of them was me. There truly is such goodness in the world.