Fun Stuff

October 16, 2010 hanging out at Dear John's in Culver City. Left to Right: Pat Weaver of LakeHouse Sound, Film Composer Cliff Martinez, Joe Matzzie of Studio Miracles (that's me), and John Rodd, Film Score Mixer.

Dear John's is a really fun place to hang out. Live music 7 nights a week. That night the performers were "Dean and Richard", a multi-instrumentalists duo covering standards from Jazz swing to Country.

It was also a thrill to meet Cliff. I consider him to be one of my favorite composers. Cliff had just come from seeing the film Social Network, and had good things to say about the film, and about Trent Reznor's score. Also we discovered that John has a wealth of good stories of recording studio practical jokes from his years working at various recording studios.

Alan Menken Walk of Fame Star Ceremony

Yesterday I stopped by the El Capitan Theater, where Alan Menken was receiving a star on the Walk of Fame. Alan composed songs and scores for The Little Mermaid, Pocahontas, Beauty and The Beast, all the great songs that are associated with the resurgence of fabulous Disney songs in the past 20 years "A Whole New World", "Under The Sea", "Be our Guest", "The Colors of The Wind".

Presenting the award was Richard Sherman, who wrote all the songs in Mary Poppins.

At the ceremony (the people I recognized) were Richard Kraft of the Film Composer Agency, Kraft-Engel, Dan Foliart & Laura Dunn of the Society of Composers and Lyricists, Ray Costa of the Public Relations firm Costa Communications. Also Actress Mandy Moore, the voice of Rapunzel was there.













11/10/2010 Beverly Hills Courier - Composer Alan Menken Receives Walk of Fame Star

11/11/2010 L.A. Times - Songwriter Alan Menken gets his star on the Walk of Fame

11/10/2010 In Contention.com - Alan Menken gets a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

11/07/2010 Playbill - Alan Menken Honored with Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Nov. 10

Garry Schyman's New Website

Composer Garry Schyman has a brand new website, and it was designed entirely by Joe Matzzie. It is mostly done in html & css, but features a flash player which plays both audio and video. Check out GarrySchyman.com

Studio Miracles Partners with GuitarTricks.com

Joe Matzzie is now working as a Music Transcriber for
GuitarTricks.com, the website that invented online multimedia guitar lessons.

December, 2009, I did a hardware job for Chris Smyk, assembling and wiring his ProTools studio. Chris is a Songwriter/Producer who recently moved from New York City to Santa Monica, and has some exciting things happening with his music on both coasts.

I've also been working part time for Concert Composer
Russell Steinberg, helping him with promotion of his catalog, and his AudioMaps books and lectures. Russell is one of the great authorities on concert music, and it's been inspiring to watch him successfully keep the LA Youth Orchestra funded and active through the economically turbulent times.

I also did a job for songwriter Lisa Donna, troubleshooting her home studio to record midi and audio, and giving her an intro lesson on the software.

And lastly, I transcribed 4 songs for the Bonnie Hunt Show, which Nicholas Pike and his awesome house band performed on air in mid December.

Discovery, Sony, IMAX To Create 3D TV Network

Sony, IMAX, Discovery to Form 3D TV Network