Digitech Drop

At Second Player Score practice this past Sunday, our bass player Dan brought over something that could be a game-changer.

It's a guitar effects pedal called Digitech Drop (or I guess its full name is Digitech Drop Polyphonic Drop-tune Pitch-Shift Pedal, which is quite the mouthful). What it lets you do is lower your guitar or bass tuning by half-steps, all the way down to a full octave, with a simple turn of a dial instead of physically (and painstakingly) retuning the instrument one string at a time.

At first, we were going to apply it to the Joel Suzuki musical stage play, to accommodate different vocal ranges of the yet-to-be-cast actors. But then I had an epiphany and realized that hey, we could use it to make some of our songs easier to sing for ME.

You see, over time I've found some of our own songs harder and harder to sing, mostly because of notes in the upper areas of my vocal register. Why I wrote those songs like that, I am not sure, but I do know that I had an easier time singing them when (1) I was younger, (2) we practiced and performed more frequently and for longer durations. But lately, it had gotten to the point where my voice would give out in the middle of sets, so I started making set lists comprised exclusively of songs that never hit the extremes of my range (which excluded a lot of our better material).

But when we practiced with this pedal, we were able to lower the key that the songs were in, and voila! I was able to hit all the notes easy-peasy without stress or strain. Now, I actually kind of want to play more shows (hassles regarding lugging gear and staying up past my bedtime notwithstanding). And I mean, I know we could have gotten the same effect by using additional guitars that were already detuned, but when you're a poor indie local band like us, who wants to mess around with carrying extra instruments and dealing with truss rod adjustments, etc. (something that probably only guitar and bass nerds will understand)? Instead, with just a tiny effects pedal that costs around $150-200, we have unlocked a whole new level of potential.

Does this mean you'll be seeing more frequent announcements for SPS gigs? We shall see!

Stage Play Status Update

Here's the latest status update on Joel Suzuki and the Wavemakers, the musical stage play adaptation of Volume One.

- Wrote out the arrangements for the stage play versions of the songs so that I'd have something to actually look at during band practice instead of trying to perform them from memory.

- Finished reading Writing Musical Theater (very helpful, highly recommended).

- Watched what seemed like a relatively low-budget production of Rent. At least it seemed relatively low-budget when compared to the other stuff I've seen recently (Frozen, Hamilton). But it was still excellent, as the performances, script, and music really carried it. Makes me hopeful for what we might be able to accomplish with little money (although I think we will have some pretty sweet special effects regardless).

- Speaking of money, I came up with a preliminary budget. I think we can pull this off for around $20-25k, which is about what we spent on Hold My Beer. Fortunately we are saving on things like rights and royalties (since I wrote the script and music), a director (which is me), and the pit band (my band). Still, if we can raise more, that would be great, since I would like to pay our cast and crew--for which my goal is to employ as much autistic and neurodivergent talent as possible--as much as possible.

- Finally worked up the courage to watch the video footage of the table read we did in late August. Everyone did a great job; that's not what I was nervous about. I was wondering how the script, story, and flow would sound. But it was actually quite good! And I know I'm probably biased, but I do tend to be my own worst critic, so.

- Booked a visit to PHAME in Portland, a nonprofit performing arts school that serves the intellectual and developmental disability community. It won't happen until November because part of the I-5 freeway between Vancouver, WA and Portland has been shut down for five weeks, but when I do go, I'm hoping I can find people who are interested in working on the play.

- Set our opening date as January 2028 and emailed a local venue to see if they will rent to us. Fingers crossed!

The Autograph King Premiere

Tonight, The Autograph King makes its theatrical debut!

What is The Autograph King, you ask? It's a documentary film about Shamim Dana (aka the titular "Autograph King"), a young man who was born with multiple intellectual and developmental disabilities but has managed to thrive thanks to his family's love and support along with his special interest (collecting autographs). Loyal readers of this blog may remember when I spent a day hanging out with Shamim last June. I also interviewed him for an article in the Summer 2025 issue of Spectrum Life Magazine.

I was fortunate enough to view an early cut of the film, which was directed by Scott Zakarin (whose credits include Stan Lee's Mutants, Monsters, & Marvels), and it was terrific. So if you happen to be in the Portland, OR area tonight, head over to Act V Theaters in Cornelius and check it out--that is, if tickets are still available! The premiere is hosted by The Connection Club, a Portland-based nonprofit, and will feature a red carpet entrance, light refreshments, swag bags, and more. Here's the schedule for the evening:

6pm - 7pm: Red carpet reception

7pm - 730pm: Filmmaker Q&A

730pm - 9pm: Film screening

Hope to see you there!

Songwriting Workshop

This Saturday, as an instructor for Autism Empowerment's Neurodivergent Creators Collective, I'll be presenting a workshop on writing your own songs!

I'll be covering subjects like where to find inspiration, whether to start with music or lyrics, why anime theme songs are so good, and however much more I can cram into an hour-long session.

As for my qualifications as a songwriting instructor, regular readers of this blog know that I've been writing songs and playing in bands most of my life. I'm certainly no Rivers Cuomo*, but I've written songs that have been licensed for use by TV shows like The Golf Channel, MLB Network, and Access Hollywood as well as a Muzak-like service waaaay back in the day (it's been so long, I've forgotten their name). So yeah, I collect my $2.10 royalty check every quarter.

The workshop is free and will take place over Zoom from 2pm-3pm Pacific Time. If you're interested in attending, it's not too late to register! Just go to this link. Hope to see you there!

* Although I think I could probably take him in a best two-out-of-three guitar shredding contest

Stage Play Status Update: First Production Meeting

This past Sunday we had our first production meeting for Joel Suzuki and the Wavemakers, the musical stage play!

It was just me and my friend Rachel Dubuc, a fellow musician formerly of the band Ghost Feet. Rachel has a lot of live venue production experience which will be invaluable in helping us bring the play to life. We talked about general aspects of the project as well as specifics like how we're going to create wavebow effects on stage, which will include Star Wars-like blaster shots, Ghostbusters-like light streams, and Doctor Strange-like magic shields (sometimes all at once).

I'm really grateful to have Rachel on the team and am looking forward to our collaboration!

Stage Play Informal Table Read

This past Sunday we held an informal table read for Joel Suzuki and the Wavemakers, the musical stage play!

As I mentioned in last week's post, it was just friends and family members filling in for the actual cast (who I haven't started looking for yet). Also, there was no live singing; I just played a recorded mix of the songs that I pulled off my band's albums and edited (poorly) into the sections that will be in the play.

Still, it was a lot of fun! And I got a sense of the runtime, which I think will come out to be around 1.5 to 2 hours (we finished the read in one hour and ten minutes, but that's not counting the intermission and a lot of stage movement). Everyone did a great job, despite the fact that I failed to provide some of them with the latest version of the script.

Also, I was able to talk my son into reading for the character of Joel, which was a real treat, especially since Joel was kind of based on him in the first place (if you're reading this, thanks again for doing it! Much appreciated). 

Next, I will be working on finding more crew members as well as polishing up the script (my son gave it a 7 or 8 out of 10, which I think is a great starting point). Stay tuned for more updates!

Stage Play Status Update: Bullet Point Edition

Here's the latest status update on Joel Suzuki and the Wavemakers, the musical stage play adaptation of Volume One.

- A friend had recommended a book called Writing Musical Theater, but it was out of my budget - $106 (!) for the hardcover version and $71 (!!) for the e-book. But then, to my surprise, she sent me her copy! So I've been reading it and learning a lot. Super grateful for her generosity.

- I believe we have our first crew members! One is the makeup artist who worked on Hold My Beer, and the other is a fellow musician with venue production experience who will be running sound and/or lighting (to be determined). I met the latter last year after they found my business card on the ground outside their apartment (not kidding). If you folks are reading this, hi! And thank you for your interest in the project!

- I've been watching more musical stage plays and making-of-musical-stage-plays for educational and inspirational purposes, including Hamilton, Frozen, Diana, and Broadway Idiot (the making of Green Day's American Idiot play, since the play itself isn't available). They were all highly impressive productions; you could tell a TON of work, talent and passion went into each of them. Obviously, we will have a mere fraction of their budgets, but I hope to come at least somewhere close to the amount of joy they were able to generate.

- This coming Sunday, we will have an informal table read of the script! Not with anyone who will be in the actual cast, but just friends and family filling in so I can get a sense of what the script sounds like out loud as well as the total run time. Pictures to follow in a future status update post. Stay tuned!