Carlos Santana and Friends of the Coltrane Home October Benefit

Originally posted by Heidi Bayer for www.thecoltranedhome.org

The October 6, 2013 fundraising benefit will be a wonderful event held at En Brasserie in Manhattan and will feature musical guests, speakers including Dr.Cornel West and delicious food and drink. Please purchase tickets at the following link:  http://coltranehome.eventbrite.com. We look forward to seeing you there and thank you so much for your continued support of our mission.

The mission of the Friends of the Coltrane Home is the preservation of the home and the creation of a museum and cultural center. Planned is an historic restoration of the home including a selection of original furnishings and instruments, an extensive digital archive with listening stations, a meditation garden dedicated to Alice Coltrane and archival materials donated by Coltrane scholars and collectors. Pilot educational programs designed by jazz saxophonist Shenole Latimer begin this fall offsite and will continue at the Home when it opens to the public.

Transition Time

The past few months have been rather eventful for me.  I went on what is very likely the last tour I will ever go on, my wife and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary by taking our first vacation in 10 years, and I turned the big "4" "0".  But the biggest pieces of news are that I am entering a semi retirement from performing, and also stepping in as....drum roll please...the Education Director for the East End Arts Council!

The chain of events that led to this development are most interesting and full of coincidences.  The major backdrop to all of this is that the situation with my hands (I have mentioned previously about having developed Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in both of my hands) have been deteriorating.  Additionally. because I had spent so much time on the road during the first half of this year and didn't have time to book any gigs, the second half of my performance calendar was looking more bare than I would had preferred.  On top of all of this I was concerned with the delays with the "EOS" (Event One Stop) project that I have hinted about in previous posts.  EOS was my primary plan for transitioning beyond my performance career.

These conditions all had me pointing towards a very uncertain future.

About a week before I left for my June tour, I received an email from an acquaintance.  Her name is Pat Snyder and she's the Executive Director of the East End Arts Council.  She basically said that she wanted to meet with me and was interested in finding a way to have me more involved with the organization.  I was more than fine with that and indicated so in my return email. 

Then, three days later I received another email from Pat commenting that she wanted me to interview for the position of Education Director, which had just opened up.  Naturally, I agreed to do the interview but mentioned that it would have to wait until I return from my tour.  Once I did return from the tour, two interviews were scheduled.  About two weeks after my second interview, I received a phone call from Pat Snyder in which she informed me that the position was mine.  Talk about excited...and nervous!  It wasn't until that phone call that I realized that I hadn't had a day job in 15 years.  

I officially started in my new position on July 29th, 2013 and what a ride it has been so far!  I really enjoy my work and feel like it is the right thing for me to be doing at this stage of my life.  My responsibilities include running the organization's school of the arts, designing programs for East End Arts centered around education, and providing career development opportunities for artists of all disciplines.

As for performing, I'm not giving it up entirely, but it will no longer be a major focus for me.  I will not be going out of my way to book any appearances.  I will entertain any calls I get to perform or make an appearance somewhere, but the conditions must be right and it also must not conflict with anything that I may already have going on at East End Arts.

With regards to my hands and the Carpal Tunnel Syndrome I have developed, I have an appointment to see a specialist in October.  From there, I will see what my next move should be.  But for now, if you should find yourself in Riverhead, New York, come down to 141 East Main Street for a visit and I will be happy to give you a tour of the grounds and our facilities!

by Shenole Latimer

Dinner, Comedy and Jazz

As I begin to wind down my performance career, the number of appearances that I will be doing with any of my quartet configurations will become fewer and far between.  However, one performance that I have coming up, that I'm looking forward to, will take place on May 4, 2013 in Amityville, New York.

On that evening, I will be appearing with my "funky" quartet line-up during an evening that will include great food and a comedian named Nigel Fullerton.  This is an event that I participated in last year in 2012, and a wonderful time was had by all.  It was an intimate setting and somewhat in formal, which gave it all the charm of a get-together with friends.  

This year, something new is being thrown into the mix in the before mentioned comic Nigel Fullerton.  Fullerton has an impressive background with appearances in the Jimmy Kimmel Show, Comedy Central, BET, ESPN, NFL commercials, and commercials for Infinity Insurance.  Rounding out the evening will be my funky quartet and, if you're familiar with any of my live performances, then you already know the kind of good time that entails!

Obviously there is a fee for being able to attend this event...$50 per person.  When you consider 5 hours of food, comedy and live music of the caliber that will be presented, it's a price that can't be beat after one considers how much it is possible to spend for almost any outing of this type.

Seating is limited, so I recommend that you purchase your tickets ahead of time by calling either (631) 789-4807, or (516) 769-9006.  The venue, Hollywood Lodge #92, is located at the corner of Coolidge Avenue and Rosewood Avenue (78 Coolidge Avenue), in Amityville, New York, 11701.  Festivities start at 7pm and will go until 11pm.  Here is a link for directions from Google Maps.

East Coast Tour Kick-Off for Kids Program

That's right, it's time to hit the road again!  But, this isn't my usual 2 and a half week tour...try more like a month. And, with every appearance being a high energy kids program, don't be surprised if I return home another 10 or 15 pounds lighter!

Which kids program?  Well, here's the story.

Back in 2002, when I first started to do my program called "What's All That Jazz About?", or WATJA for short, I never imagined that it would become so popular, that I would find myself traveling the country to give it and that I would end up expanding it into both an adult program and a kids program.

Last year, I celebrated the 10th anniversary of the program by expanding it into the west coast of the United States.  This year, I find myself actually filling orders...for the kids version!  

The kids version of WATJA has exploded in popularity and now I'm getting calls from all over the country to  give the program.  Even with turning down offers, I still have enough bookings to warrant me taking to the road for three separate tours for 2013, which brings me to the announcement for the kick-off of my "What's All That Jazz About...for Kids, 2013 Tour".

The "WATJA...for Kids, 2013 Tour" marks the first time that I will be touring exclusively with the kids version of the program.  Usually there is a mix of requests for both the adult and kids version.  The tour opens on February 1, in Maywood, New Jersey and ends on February 23, in St. Louis, Missouri, with multiple stops taking place in Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana along the way.  

Because of the high energy nature of the program and the amount of driving that I will have to do for the tour,  I will be taking 5 days to travel home instead of the 2 and a half that it would normally take, so that I can get some rest and avoid getting too tired behind the wheel.

I'm excited that my programming has become so popular!  Hopefully, some of the educational programs that I'm currently designing may find similar success.

E.O.S.

More and more, it seems that people are looking for solutions on the internet that will allow them to do more of what they want or need to do, from one place, rather than from multiple.  

It's perfectly logical, really.

As our lives are becoming more complicated, and there are more things for us all to have to divert our attention to, it only makes sense that we would try and find efficiency, simplicity, and maybe even a more fun way of doing things.

Hmmm.

Efficiency...

Simplicity...

Fun...

Well, as it turns out, there's a little something that I've been working on that will bring efficiency, simplicity and fun to doing something that previously required visiting multiple sites and doing a bunch of Google searches.

It's something I'm excited about.

It's something that will change how certain things are done.

It's something some really smart folks and I developed that has the initials "E", "O", "S".

What is "EOS"?

Hold that thought!

Jazz on the Vine, 2013

It looks like I will be taking part in the Long Island Winterfest's Jazz on the Vine, which is something I'm really excited about!  My quartet is slated to perform at Raphael Vineyards on Saturday, March 2, 2013 at 4:30pm until 6:30pm.

Jazz on the Vine has grown into a major event on Long Island.  Musicians come from all over the New York, metropolitan area and so do the patrons of the event.  In fact, I have fans that have traveled as far as upstate Connecticut and eastern Pennsylvania to attend Long Island Winterfest and catch me performing in it.  

So, what is Jazz on the Vine?

Well, from February 9 to March 17 you can visit the East End of Long Island to enjoy 6 great weekends of truly exceptional jazz performances in winery tasting rooms. Admission includes a glass of wine and a chance to win a FREE hotel night on the East End with a gift basket of Long Island wines.  Numerous special offers and promotions at tourism-related businesses and cultural venues throughout the region are available, extending your experience to restaurants and award-winning accommodations.

The official website for Long Island Winterfest's Jazz on the Vine is www.liwinterfest.com.  Hope to see you there!

Me and the John Coltrane Home

A few years ago, I was introduced to a gentleman named Steve Fulgoni by my long time saxophone tech Craig Lindsay.  In case you missed out on some of the past media surrounding Steve's name, he is the guy who basically saved the John Coltrane home, located in Dix Hills, New York, from being razed.

It's actually scary to me that the final residence of unquestionably one of the greatest jazz icons of the twentieth century would even be under consideration for demolition.  But, such was the case.

In any event, it was Steve's hope at the time to obtain a historic landmark status for the house and property, and then turn it into a museum (much like what was done to the Louis Armstrong House in Queens, New York) and make it the epicenter for educational jazz programming in the region.  Fulgoni had heard of my jazz programming and wanted to see if I could design something that could be used for the Coltrane Home Foundation to center their educational efforts on.

Though I came up with a draft or two, I was unable to continue my participation at the time, because my performance schedule suddenly became more dense then it had been in years.  Since that time, a board was formed and now efforts have been increased towards adding educational programming to both the Coltrane Home and to regional venues.  

In August of 2012, I was greeted after an appearance that I was doing for my program "What's All That Jazz About?" by Steve Fulgoni, whom I hadn't communicated with in two or three years at that point, and a gentleman who introduced himself as Ron Stein.  Long story short, they were looking to recruit me once again to design a program, or a series of programs, around the Coltrane Home Foundation.  This time, my schedule wasn't as much of a factor.  Not to mention, I had been searching for other projects to be a part of, as developing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in both of my hands had left my performance career in question.

As of right now, we are in the middle of refining a couple of programming ideas that I had submitted for consideration.  Whether or not I am capable of actually performing on the saxophone anymore (I have actually been seriously considering retiring from performing, effective October, 2013), I plan to continue my involvement with the Coltrane Home. 

After all, it isn't everyday that you're asked to  help develop a centerpiece program for a foundation with a mandate to preserve the home of a major icon of American cultural history!

Whaling Museum

Whales are such incredible creatures!  Aside from the enormous size of some species, the fact that they live in an environment so different than ours as humans, and that one species (the Sperm Whale) is thought to be capable of diving nearly 2 miles down into the ocean depths, had led me towards the path of Marine Biology in college.  However, I switched my major during the second semester of my sophomore year. 

Lately, I find that the interest I had in whales earlier in my life has been returning.  Though it's too late for me to study Marine Biology and then specialize in Cetology, I would like to still take some small part in the public education of these amazing animals.

In a town called Cold Spring Harbor, on Long Island, that's about an hour away from where I live, there is a whaling museum that has been there forever.  I remember my mother taking me there as a young boy, because she was trying to foster the early interest I had in whales.  I was made an honorary tour guide that day by the staff, because I was reciting as many facts as the adult guides themselves.

In any case, I have decided that in Summer of 2013, I would like to volunteer some time at the Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum and see if I can't help bring some interesting information to adult visitors, and the excitement of discovery to some kids.

Hopefully, my schedule will definitely allow for me to volunteer.  And, if everything works out, maybe I'll see you down there for a visit!

5 Survival Tips for Disasters

In the wake of Super Storm Sandy, which swept through the east coast of the United States, I wanted to share 5 survival tips. They are simple, common sense points that I hope may help people stay safe and make it through any future disasters.  The 5 survival tips are mentioned in the video above.

Free Entertainment in a Bad Economy

Wall Street may be saying that the economy is turning around, but something tells me that Main Street may disagree with that assessment to some degree.

I make the previous statement not as an opening to some kind of political rant.  Rather, I'd like to use that as a point where most of us can agree that we can't afford to go out for entertainment the way we could have a few years ago.  Lets face it, going to the movies cost an arm, a nice dinner out costs a leg, attending most concerts cost your first born child, and if you have a family to consider taking out, you might as well prepare the papers for a second mortgage on your house.

What is there to do if you want a little much needed entertainment?

There are a few free options that sometimes people over look, and I'd like to share what some of them are.  Lets go straight to option number one, which happens to be a favorite of mine.  Why?  Because I actually get a good amount of my work from them in recent years...libraries!

Libraries are great venues for family or even adult entertainment.  And, 99% of the time they are absolutely free to attend!  For kids and families there are things like puppet shows, concerts for kids, magic shows, and so on.  For adults, there are performances by musicians in genres like jazz, classical, world beat, folk, bluegrass, blues, and more.  If music isn't your thing (and if not, shame on you!), and you are more into stretching your intellect, there are educational lectures about topics ranging from the rise of Rome, to trying to get those alien life forms known as "teenagers" to listen.  Then there are all of the instructional classes that are often offered for those who may need a little help with learning how to use their computer...you get the picture I think!

Here's another great venue for entertainment...your local public park.  Many towns and counties have departments of recreation and/or councils for the arts.  With either organization, it is common for them to put together events that will take place in parks, that are adequately equipped,  whether it be a beach, an arboretum, or what have you.  These events can run the gamut of programs such as concerts, operas, arts and crafts festivals, or even a small traveling circus.  And, once again, these events are often free to attend...paid for by government grants or obscure things like your local travel and tourism tax.

I'll throw one more place at you to check out.  This is a little unconventional, but sometimes we need to think outside of the box.  How about checking out the concerts or play productions of your local elementary school, middle school, or high school?  

Before you laugh me off of my own blog, think about it!  When it comes to the younger kids, it's often fun and even adorable to watch them perform.  They may not sound like the Boston Symphony, or have a play worthy of Broadway, but you would be surprised at how entertaining they can be!  On the other end of the age spectrum, when you consider that there are a number of high schools across our country with noted music and arts programs, the quality of the shows can be quite impressive.  My two old high schools on Long Island, Walt Whitman and John H Glenn, are excellent examples!

What are your thoughts on the examples I have supplied, and do you have any of your own to share?

by Shenole Latimer

Uh-oh, Your Kid Wants to be a Musician!

The words of dread for almost any parents..."mom, dad, I want to go to college to become a professional musician."

Perhaps even worse..."mom, dad, I'm skipping college because I want to go on tour and try and get signed by a record label."

I don't think I need to utilize too much of my imagination to figure out what the response would be to those statements.  And rightly so!

However...

Before a young person of college age, or their parents, go off of the deep end, I think its important that both parties truly understand what it is to actually be a professional musician.  A lot of misconceptions exist for either argument of "for" or "against".

I have been a full-time professional musician for 15 years now.  I can say that it is indeed possible to make a living as such.  Though I must also say that the obstacles are many, the work is hard, and the notion of being an "artist" absolutely must go out of the window.  The level of dedication and discipline needed also far exceeds any conventional career that I can think of off hand.

There is a checklist of items that I like to make both the young people interested in a career in today's entertainment industry and their parents aware of.  And, if a single one of the points about to be mentioned can't be followed or agreed to, then I personally say don't even bother becoming a professional musician, or a performer of any type for that matter.  The points are as follows:

1. Major in business, minor in music.  A solid foundation in business is crucial because you are instantly self employed as an artist. Also, some background in marketing concepts will prove extremely valuable.
   
   
2. Practice your instrument like a maniac from the time you enter Junior High or High School through your first couple of years in college.  Why?  Because the need to network, establish yourself in the scene, and the time required to research venues and book gigs will eat up almost ALL of your free time.  That's not even considering if you one day get married, buy a home, have kids, etc.  I can promise you that, once those things happen, there will be NO time to do any meaningful practicing.
   
   
3. Even though genres like pop, rock, r&b, etc. require that you are relatively young, and genres like classical, jazz, and folk allow for the performer to be older and still be looked upon as "viable", as a rule of thumb I would say that, if you haven't established yourself in your chosen genre by your late twenties, then cut your losses and pursue another career while you are still young enough to do so.  This is because the older you get the more difficult it becomes to set aside the time needed to do all of the things needed to pursue a musical career.  Life becomes more complicated as you get older, not less (a slight nod to condition number two).
   
   
4. Build a volunteer team (family, friends, or dedicated fans) around you that can help with the many tasks that must be done.  You will quickly find it nearly impossible to micro-manage EVERYTHING that you must take care of.  Here are a few things:  Research venues or performance leads, build network of musicians to play with or form a band, try to book gigs, come up with promotional material and marketing campaign game plan, come up with and modify career game plan, maintain website, maintain facebook page or other social networks you belong to, come up with repertoire or compose original music to perform, plan and put together your stage show, figure out your finances/investments both short and long term….I think you may get the picture (notice I didn't even mention practice your instrument yet!)
   
   
5. Be willing to put aside having much of a social life in order to get all of the other things done that you need to.
   
   
6. ALWAYS treat what you do as a business...period!  If you don't think of yourself as being a business where you are the president, the worker, AND the product, then don't bother with this because you will join the ranks of "starving artists", who do it for the "love of it".  I'm sorry, but I have yet to see the simple "love of it" pay my cell phone bill...just being honest.

After doing all of that, is success guaranteed?  It depends on what YOUR definition of success is.  If you are looking to make a respectable, sustainable living, then I would say that would be very possible to achieve.  If you are looking to be the next superstar, own a few homes, have a few million dollars in your bank account, then no.

I don't care to be a dream buster, but this is the reality of the situation in today's entertainment industry.  

I personally have had a measure of success.  I would say my peak was somewhere around late 2009.  By then, my income matched or exceeding that of many of my non musician friends.  Then, after about 11 years of a steady increase in my annual income, things went south...and rather quickly. 

This is partially because of the economic down turn that took place in 2008, but also because of factors like the birth of my daughter, which was also in 2008.  At the time, I had to stay home and take care of her because my wife was a "9 to 5ver".  I couldn't take care of my daughter during the day AND do the things I needed to (I hadn't built a team that could help with the work load...a reference to condition number 4).  Since many of my performances are booked 6 - 12 months ahead of time, the effects of staying away from the telephones to book gigs didn't really hit until around the third quarter of 2009.

Also, I began to find it more difficult to find students that could afford my rates.  I went from a roster of about 30 private students up until about 2007, down to about 6 students by 2010.  This was another example of how the economy negatively affected what I do.

Between my inability to make calls to book gigs while taking care of my daughter during the day, and the economic downturn that resulted in less live performance opportunities and students, it was only a matter of time for my income earning ability to falter. If I didn't have to solely rely on myself to take care of every aspect of my business, I may have been able to absorb and adapt to my changing external conditions in a much more efficient manner.

Again, only one of the conditions numbered above were not met and it ended in financial ruin.

This has been a longer post than I originally intended, but I hope what I have shared proves of some value to someone out there.

By Shenole Latimer

Maintaining Weight Loss...1 Year Later

Up until October of 2010 I looked like the image on the left.  I weighed in at 285 lbs during the period that I was at my heaviest.  I then began a gradual modification of my diet, eventually added some exercise, and by October of 2011 I looked like the image on the right, which is me at 205 lbs.

The thing is, the image on the right isn't from 2011, it is from 2012.  In other words, I have beat the odds!

It's widely known that people who lose a great deal of weight often put it, or much more, back on.  I have managed to maintain my weight loss and the secret is encompassed within the first paragraph of this post.  Notice I used the words "gradual modification" and "eventually added".

The simple fact of the matter is, losing weight and keeping it off does indeed require a change in lifestyle.  And, lifestyles can't be changed abruptly and be expected to not revert back to what was previously established.  Changes that are made slowly and over time are far more likely to stay.

With that said, if you are looking to lose weight and maintain that loss, I offer you the blog post I wrote that details what I did to lose my weight.  And, heed my words..."gradually" and "eventually"!

The Challenge of Facing a Career Change

More people than ever are changing their careers.  Though the primary reason may be because of the state of the world economy in the past few years, other reasons could be simply feeling unhappy with one's current career and desiring a change of scenery, or it could even be health related.

In my case, it is the latter that has changed the game for me.

As a musician, my hands mean everything towards what I do and how I earn a living.  But now, I'm faced with having developed Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in both my left and my right hands.

I think for some people, changing their career can be a very difficult challenge.  For me this has not been the situation.  I first began having problems with my hands (it was my left hand first) back in 2008.  With those initial problems I encountered, something snapped instantly in my mind.  I realized that my days as a performer may be numbered, and so I set forth with trying to make peace with this realization.

I was a bit depressed at first.  After all, in my 39 years on this planet, I have been playing instruments since I was about 3 years old, playing the saxophone since I was 8 or 9 years old, performing live music in public since I was 16, and making a living as a full time musician since I was 24.

Sometime around 2009 I realized that, though music has been virtually all I've known my entire life, I have many interests outside of music.  Furthermore, I also realized that there were far more angles to music than just the performance end of it.

With all of that said, I have decided that, if my performance career must end, a pursuit in web design and application programming will be the next interest I follow, but with a concentration on...well...the music industry.  As has been said by many successful entrepreneurs, "to make money in business, stick with what you know."

I am currently working on a joint project, of my conception, with my oldest brother, my father, and a family friend with a very strong background in both business and engineering.  Much has been accomplished, but there is still much left to do.  My hope is that we may have this project up and running by the time my hands and my tired body scream out "I've had enough", with regards to performing live music.  Publicly, I have hinted at a retirement date of sometime around late Fall of 2013.

In sum, I would say that a career change doesn't have to be a course filled with dread.  It may be an opportunity for you to look upon yourself and say, "this is me 2.0!"

How Much is Left?

They say that boxers have about 100 fights in them before they hit a wall and their bodies basically shut down from being able to take the abuse that comes with the sport,  marathoners have but so many miles that they can run, and so on.

How many performances does a full time musician have in them...particularly the ones with no management or outside help?

I have been thinking, lately to myself, that there seems to be so much happening to my body in the past 6 months or so, which all seems to have something to do with the constant pushing that I've been doing over the past nearly 15 years, that perhaps I may be starting to reach the borders of my own limits. 

First, there is the CONSTANT tiredness I have been feeling for the past 5 or 6 years.  Then, there are the several times I have almost passed out during performances.  Also, there is the hearing loss I have experienced, as well as what seems to be a slight loss in short term memory.  The latter I blame on sleep deprivation (up until recently, I basically averaged 3 to 5 hours of sleep a night for nearly a decade). 

The newest item to add to this list is my development of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in both my right and my left hands, which has been diagnosed as being a side product of the countless hours spent on my computer researching venues, typing emails, designing my website, updating all of my social media, designing all of my graphics and promotional materials, typing press releases, and the list goes on!

When I look at some of the greats of the past, such as Miles Davis, they have all either taken a short break of some kind, an extended hiatus, or have retired from music all together.  As I look at what is happening with the breakdown of my body of late, I'm caught asking myself, "How much do I have left?"

by Shenole Latimer

How I Lost 70 Pounds

Back on Tuesday, April 7, 2009, in a blog post I titled "Crunch Time", I mentioned how my weight had ballooned to 270lbs and that I wanted to do something about that.  Unfortunately, my good intentions were out-weighed (no pun intended) by the rigors of life as a full time musician and of being a home owner.

Time went on and then something happened.

One day in October of 2010 I was putting on a pair of slacks to wear for a gig I had later that day.  They felt sort of tight.  I happened to glance in the mirror (I was in profile) and I truly was appalled at what I saw.  I quickly pulled out the scale and took my slacks off.  I stepped on the scale and saw the needle go all the way to 280lbs!

I realized then that I was closer to being 300 lbs than I was to even being 250lbs (still overweight for my height of 6'3").  I was instantly depressed.  I thought about how athletic I was in high school and college, and also about the nearly 30 medals, 2 MVPs and 1 MIP that I had won as a track star.

My depression lasted all of about 30 seconds, because I realized then that this was it.  The only direction my weight gain would go would be backwards rather than forward.  I'm proud to say that since the first week of October, 2010, and as of the morning of writing this blog post, I have officially lost 70lbs!  I'm only 5lbs heavier than I was when I was a competing athlete in college.

Ok, enough with the background and set up, here is what I did.

STEP ONE:  Figure Out Goals and Game Plan (Time Frame = 2 Days)

I already knew that one of the main reasons that some people fail at weight loss is because they don't have a game plan.  I also knew that another important reason that some people fail at weight loss is because they don't set logical, realistic goals.

I decided that, in order to be successful, I needed some time to figure out a game plan and a goal that was realistic for me.  I took two days from my schedule and cleared them out of as much as I reasonably could so that I would have NO DISTRACTIONS.

After much research and honest consideration, I figured that a realistic goal for me, considering my age, time I had available, current weight class, etc., was to try and get down to somewhere between 215-220lbs.  This is because I didn't think my body, age, and demanding lifestyle as a musician would allow me to get down to my dream weight of 205lbs (my college weight as an athlete).  I also thought that it would be realistic to give myself a year and not fall for the 5 and 6 month plans I was coming across online.  People seeking weight loss often make the mistake of trying to lose too much too fast.  Ultimately, they end up gaining it all back and then some!

My overall strategy was to make small changes over the course of time that would allow me to ease into an eventual and complete change in my eating and rest habits.

STEP TWO:  Set the Plan in Action (Time Frame = 12 Months)

I mentioned 12 months as the time frame for this step, but in reality you can really break it down into "phases".

(PHASE I:  Oct - Dec, 2010) - During the first phase of my weight loss plan I decided to completely cut out drinking soda.  At the time, I was drinking up to 2 or 3 litters of soda a day.  Soda was MY water!  Also, since I had begun to tour a lot (which meant doing a whole lot of driving by myself), I was drinking Coca Cola for the caffeine to help keep me awake on the road.  This is because I don't drink coffee.

The other thing that I did at first was to cut down my portions a bit.  I still would eat ANYTHING I wanted to, just less of it.  Instead of 2 slices of pizza, I would only have 1.  Instead of having 2 plates full of food for dinner, I would only have 1, etc.

One other thing that I did was to stop eating past 7pm in the evening.  Because of late night performances and the general demands of my schedule as a full time musician, I was often eating big meals after midnight and then going to bed about an hour or two after that.  In other words, I never had the chance to burn it off.

By the way, I think it's important to mention that I substituted drinking soda with drinking seltzer water.  I had come to discover that it wasn't necessarily the sweetness of the soda that I was hooked on, but the fizzle of it!

After about 2 months and losing about 25lbs I hit my first plateau or road block.  As hard as I tried I just could not break the 255lb barrier.  This is when I decided that I needed to go into another phase of action...PHASE II!

(PHASE II:  Dec, 2010 - Feb, 2011) - I cut out ALL fast food, with the exception of Subway, Quizno and Chipotle's.  I stayed with these places because they all offered filling meals that contained less fat than comparably priced meals from McDonald's, Burger King, etc.  Also, the former establishments' foods were generally less caloric than the latters'.  To put it succinctly, I started watching both my calorie intake and my fat intake.

This worked!  I got past the 255lb barrier and proceeded to lose about another 20lbs.

By the time I went on my February 2011 Tour I had managed to get down to about 237lbs, which is when I hit another barrier (plateau).  This was a VERY tough barrier to get through.  It was at this point that I realized I had to adjust and enter...

(PHASE III:  Feb - June, 2011) - I pondered and pondered what my problem could be.  I then realized that it was two fold.  One issue was that I wasn't doing any exercising what so ever up until this point.  Frankly, my schedule in both my business and personal life had become too dense.  My house was in foreclosure, my wife was out of work for a total of 2 years by this point, and I was gigging and touring on the road like a mad man to try and pick up the slack.  I was hoping that yet another dietary change would be enough.

Finally, I figured out that I was taking in too many carbs.  I was still eating a lot of pastas and white bread.  I made the switch to whole wheat and rye breads, and then cut my pasta intake by a good 80%.  That did the trick!  It took longer than it had for the previous phases, but by June, 2011 I had gotten my weight down to the 225lb mark.  And then, you guessed it, I hit another plateau!

(PHASE IV:  June - Sept, 2011) - Progress was slowing way down for me by this point.  I was beginning to think that it was not feasible for me to get any lighter than I already had.  It would take a lifetime search for something completely unrelated to my weight loss, and a medical scare, to get me to the next level.

In July, two things of great significance happened.  The first thing was that I managed to track down my biological father and 7 half siblings that I didn't know I had.  The second thing was that I began encountering spells where I would almost pass out on stage during performances.

How these two completely different things tie in together is that, when I met my second oldest brother (Kenny, who lives in New York City) for the first time, I told him about nearly passing out during several performances and how I thought it may be tied in with either my diet, or that perhaps I was encountering a blood sugar imbalance...maybe even becoming a diabetic.  He then told me (and this would become useful to me again later) that the men on  my father's side needed to eat frequently...five or even six times a day.

I thought about it and realized that I basically needed to speed up my metabolism.  One way to do that is to eat more frequently, and also smaller (fist sized) portions at each meal.  My father further advised me to take my regular 3 meals a day and simply divide them in half.  This was good for another 5lbs of weight loss!

By the way, I hope you are starting to see a few patterns here.  One of the patterns being that, as you get closer to what your target weight is (or perhaps should be), it becomes increasingly difficult to lose any kind of weight...certainly at the amounts that were previously possible.

(PHASE V:  Oct - Dec, 2011) - An interesting thing happened to me exactly one year after I had first started trying to lose weight.  I was packing up my car to go to a gig when I suddenly noticed that the large speakers that I use as part of my sound system seemed unusually heavy to me.  I couldn't understand why this seemed to be the case, as I had actually had plenty of rest the night before, and was not hungry or dehydrated.

It suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks.

All of this time I had been focused on weight loss, but I never considered doing any weight training to minimize the loss of muscle mass I would experience from losing so much weight from dieting alone.


DUUUUUUUuuuuuuuhhhh!

I promptly set about creating a weight training routine for myself.  I realized that by increasing my muscle mass, not only would I not lose anymore of my strength, but the added muscle would also help me to burn fat and keep my metabolism up.  This was good for another 5lbs of weight loss over the course of about a month.  My weight by the week before the Thanksgiving holiday was 215lbs.


(PHASE VI  where I'm at now) - Fortunately, Thanksgiving did not add anything to me that I couldn't get rid of within 3 days of going back to my usual routine.  But by now, I had decided to change my goals.


I realized that I had managed to get to my target weight range, but I felt I could actually make it to my "dream weight".  Not only that, my confidence has allowed me to come up with the goal of reducing my overall body fat to around 8-10% (beach body/underwear model body) by Summer, 2012.  This will take a lot of work!  I think I look good now, but I'm just now curious to see what I'm capable of. 

My oldest brother, Luis (he lives in Port St. Lucie, Florida), has lent me a hand by providing me with a book on weight lifting and nutrition.  What he and I both like about the book is that it is all based off of several studies that have been done in the last decade.  In other words, there is some science to back up what they have to offer you in terms of work outs, nutrition, etc.!  The book is called "The Men's Health Big Book of Exercises".  There is a similar book for women.

So anyway, following the advice in the book, I have managed to lose another 5lbs in about 2 weeks. 

IN CLOSING - I think if anything is to be taken from this marathon of a blog post that I have done, it is:

1 - Set realistic goals

2 - Come up with a sensible game plan to reach those goals

3 - Plateaus will happen.  Use those times to evaluate and adjust your tactics.

4 - Give yourself a realistic time frame to work with. (I first gave myself a year and am adding another 6 months to achieve my new goal).

5- It's cliche but it will take discipline, sacrifice, hard work, and time!


So, I sincerely hope that this post will help someone out there.  Just remember, if a 38 year old, self employed, full time musician (who is constantly gigging and touring on the road), father of an energetic daughter, and former home owner (who had to deal with doing his own house repairs, landscaping, etc.) can lose 70lbs, so can you!   : )

Written by Shenole Latimer

My Theory About How To Achieve a Successful Career in Music

So, here's the big question...is it possible to make a living as a musician?


Without hesitation, my answer is a flat out yes. I have been a full time musician now since 1998 and I have managed to make a middle class living with it. But, this has not come without a price.


First of all, there is the fact that I have next to no social life at all. The reason? I spend so much time either researching opportunities for performances, or actually performing that, when I finally do have some rare free time, all I want to do is either sleep or spend a little time with my family.

Secondly, there are the rigors that my body must constantly go through. There are many late nights and, with a young daughter to raise, very early mornings. This means that I the average amount of nightly sleep I'm able to get is far below what most people experience (I average about 4 hours to 5 hours of sleep a night). I have little down time because I must constantly be doing things to keep the ball rolling. Not to mention, some of the harsh environmental conditions I have been submitted to...ie, doing high energy outdoor shows in blazing 100 degree weather, with little time to hydrate or even eat because of the lack of time available to set up. The list goes on and on.

Before I go any further, I would like to make PERFECTLY CLEAR that I am NOT complaining. I am simply trying to enlighten those who do not understand what it takes to do this for a living. I lovingly call these folks "civilians".


Now, I would like to get to the point of this blog post, which is to share my thoughts as to what I feel it now takes to have a successful career in music, especially in this new millennium and digital age that we are in. I feel that there are several ingredients or "conditions" that must exist. They are as follows:

1. 
   
   
   
   You must start young - This is true for ANY musical genre. And, it is gravely important in regards to achieving a highly proficient level on your instrument of choice. This is because if you want to be purely a performer, you are going to spend so much time looking for opportunities that you will find time for practicing rapidly being eaten away.
   




2. 
   
   
   
   You must be able to put a team of people around you - In other words, you will need to think in terms of being a small business and find a way to acquire someone to eventually take care of the researching of venues and performance opportunities, someone to handle certain aspects of your marketing, someone to do the actual phone calls to get you booked, etc.
   
   I know a ton of musicians who read this will probably roll their eyes, but they CANNOT deny the simple fact that, as long as you must do EVERYTHING yourself, there will always be a ceiling as to how much money you can ever earn. It's simple math...the more time you must use up trying to handle the "back office" end of things, the less time is left for the actual performance end of things. The less you perform, the less money you can earn through performing or selling merchandise during that performance.
   
   By the way, how do you compensate this team of people I'm suggesting you have? Well, that is somewhere where one must use the creativity that we are born with as artists, because that money isn't going to be there in the beginning.
   




3. 
   
   
   
   You must become well established and reach a certain level of success by your late 20's - This is another thing that I think a lot of musicians are going to roll their eyes at me about, but I will hold fast in my opinion. The reason I state this is because, as one gets older, and certainly by their mid to late 20's, one will have more financial responsibilities. That's just a fact of life. There is no one out there that can tell me that their level of expenditures has not changed and gotten to be more expensive between the ages of 16 and 26.
   
   So, when I say you must reach a certain level of success, I mean that you must reach a point in your career where you can pay ALL of your bills and still have something left over after you have done so. If you can't do that, then it is time to look at doing something else with your life before you reach your 30's and start to have to worry about even more complicated things like a significant other, or kids, or a house....you get the point.
   




4. 
   
   
   
   You must master time management - I think this one is obvious! Even if you can find other people to take care of some of the other things that you must do, as I mentioned in #2, there are still so many things left to do that you will still have to take care of yourself.
   




5. 
   
   
   
   You must master technology - If you are a musician (or any type of artist) and you don't have a BETTER than average command/knowledge of the internet, computers, social networking, etc. you might as well pack it all in now.
   




6. 
   
   
   
   You must have some sort of game plan - I don't care how many different ways you can say this, but it is simply a fact that if you don't know where you want your destination to be, you can't possibly find a route there!
   




7. 
   
   
   
   You must have a drive that is so strong that it borderlines on fanaticism - This is such an important ingredient! Music and the arts in general are so challenging to make a living at and be successful that I feel that you actually need to be a little bit "crazy" to do it. There are so many factors that are constantly working against you, and you will face so much rejection, and so many people telling you that this or that can't be done (most notably, even some of your closest relatives), that you honestly must have the absolute strongest of convictions to stay the course.
   

So, certainly I think most of the musicians who read this will think I'm full of it or don't know what I'm talking about. But, as I was careful to mention at the top of all of this, this is MY theory or opinion.


Of course, any of this could be completely offset if one were to get super lucky, be discovered or signed to some sort of big record deal. However, these are simply not likely scenarios. The overwhelming majority of musicians and artists out there are "D.I.Y." (Do It Yourself).


So why am I writing all of this?


I'm not doing this to vent my frustrations...I'm not frustrated! I'm doing this because (A) I think "civilians" need to have a better understanding of those of us out there who are serious about what we are doing as artists and that we are not all flakes, as is commonly perceived, and (B) if a young person should happen to stumble upon this blog, and actually take the time to read all of this, I want them to know the honest truth about what being a musician really means...especially if you want to actually make a living at it.


This is not for everybody and it most certainly is not a game. And even if it were a game, this would be chess, not checkers!

by Shenole Latimer

A Little News Update: Vlog Post 26

Possible Crossroads?

I personally believe that there comes a time, at least once in everyone’s life, when there is a special convergence of forces that can dictate the rest of how that person’s life will progress… a crossroads, if you will. I believe I may have reached such a point in my life.


I’ll start with things concerning music.


To date, I have completed several extremely successful tours with my program “What’s All That Jazz About?”. Without exception, every single venue has asked me to make a return. But, what pleases me the most are the connections I’ve made. One connection I am particularly happy to have made is with a musician that I met in Spartanburg, South Carolina, by the name of Daniel Z, who would very much like to become a partner of mine in expanding my programming.


The timing of meeting Daniel is interesting, as I had just been complaining about my lack of help in my endeavors. I had also begun to think about expanding my programming to encompass more venues along the east coast. Plans have also begun towards my first sortie into the west coast.


Then there are some physical matters that have been of recent concern.


My hands are starting to show the signs of too many hours on the computer in an unnatural position. I have continued numbness in the last three digits of each hand, making it more difficult to type and, most unnervingly, making it more difficult to play my saxophone. But this isn’t where my physical concerns end. I have also been experiencing light-headedness, shortness of breath, and some weakness on a few of my recent performances when it has been the hottest and I have had to perform outdoors. Interestingly enough, I usually feel better after eating some food.


Could this be a sign of diabetes, high blood pressure, or even heart disease? One thing I know is that my body is clearly trying to tell me that it is nearing its limits pertaining to the type of daily abuse it must endure in order to maintain self-employment as a fulltime musician.


Now I shall move into an occurrence that is more of a personal nature.


When I was about two months old, my mother and father decided to separate from each other. Absolutely all contact was lost with my father and I was subsequently raised by my mother and grandmother. Later, my stepfather George Clark stepped into the picture. Unfortunately, my stepfather passed away on August 6, 2010. In any case, growing up, I had always had a curiosity about my biological father. I wanted to know who he was, how I may be similar or dissimilar to him, and whether or not I may have any half-brothers and sisters.


Just recently, in what seemingly would only be nearly impossible feat, I managed to find my biological father! Not only that, but I have also found out that I have seven half-brothers and sisters. I have met all of my siblings except my youngest brother, who was on a trip to Bolivia with his mother, and two of my sisters who live in Canada and that the rest of my family had lost touch with within the past few years. And, of course, I have had the opportunity to meet my father face to face.


One of the things that I find so striking is that none of the males on my father’s side of the family, not counting my youngest brother because he is only 6 years old, are shorter than six feet, three inches tall. Another thing that I find interesting is how similar my father, my two oldest brothers, and I are to each other. That is to say, that all four of us have the spirit of an entrepreneur, are intelligent, are very computer and internet savvy, and are readily comfortable talking to and approaching people.


So what is the point of all of this?


All of these things have occurred within an incredibly short amount of time, making me feel like there is both a convergence of forces taking place in my life, and that I am at an important crossroads of sorts. I have this strong sensation that the decisions I make at this juncture can have a massive impact on the rest of my life. There are other factors and occurrences that I have omitted for the sake of saving time and space within this blog entry, but suffice it to say that there are too many things, that potentially carry great significance to me, that are happening all at once or in near synchronicity.


My situation reminds me of the “choose your own adventure” books that were popular when I was a young teenager. Do I step into one doorway of the unknown or the other? The thing is, this time I can’t cheat and look ahead at what awaits me.





By Shenole Latimer

New Life for "Shenole Latimer.Com"!

Since October of 2010, I've been saying that I was working on an updated version of my website and that it would be launched "soon".

Well, 8 months later I'm finally on the threshold of the relaunch of www.shenolelatimer.com . To find out more, check out the video for some details and I'll see you at the relaunch!

By Shenole Latimer

Back on Track!

Two weeks ago marks FIVE YEARS since I had completed recording my last album and this coming October will mark FIVE YEARS since my last album was commercially released! Last year I had geared up to do my sophomore album as a band leader, only to have to put the project on hold.

What has been the hold up?

Life!

My original intent with this upcoming album was to call it "A Day in the Life of...", but with all of these delays, I feel like calling it "A Decade in the Life of..."! So anyway, at long last things are back on track, Tierra Records is happy, I'm happy, and the guys in my quartet are all ready to get going.

The music for this project will once again be a little more ecclectic than most jazz recordings. This time, it isn't because I'm trying to show off my versatility as a musician. Actually, the ecclectic collection of selections comes from the fact that (A) this album will be comprised by all original compositions of mine and (B) I did not try to force any of the songwriting to make it all sound like the same style of jazz or what have you. I simply wrote each song the way I heard it inside my head.

I don't know what that says about what's going on inside my head!

The actual recording date has not quite been set yet, but I can say that the recording will take place in October, 2011. In fact, I can narrow things down a little more for you and say that there is a 99% probability that the recording will take place sometime during the week of October 23rd. I just haven't decided on which day yet (we will be tracking the album all in one marathon recording session over the course of a 12 hour day).

Once the tracking is done, it will probably take anywhere between 2 and 4 months to mix the album, about another 2 or 3 weeks for it to be mastered and shipped to manufacturing, and finally about another 2 or 3 weeks for it to be available for ordering and download. So, with all of that said, the actual release will most likely be sometime within the first half of 2012. Who knows, maybe the release date will end up being on the anniversary of the recording date of my previous album...making it SIX YEARS since I recorded "Front and Center". There are a lot of variables in play, but the main thing is to get the tracking done.

By the way, the line up will be Art Hirahara on piano, Thomson Kneeland on bass, Kyle Struve holding down the drums, and of course me on saxophones. There might be a track with some guitar on it, and possibly one with mandolin, but I haven't made a final decision on those tracks yet.

In any case, all I can say is that I'm just real happy that things are back on track and that it looks like I will finally have a chance to follow through with this project!

Stay tuned for more news about "A Day in the Life of..."!

by Shenole Latimer