Bop Stop Recording Studios

Last night the world lost a Great and Beautiful Soul, Mr. Sheldon Hyatt.  I got a call last night from my best bud, that Sheldon (Shelly) had passed in the hospital in Florida.  Outside of my circle no one would be expected to know his name, but Shelly was a second father to me. I mentioned in a previous post that I had met Craig in a peer group on my first day of Stony Brook Prep and we quickly became close friends.  Within a year, 42 Howe Road, the Hyatt home which was a mile or so from house, become a second home base for me. I would call 516 6*8-42**, go knock on the door and Craig, his mom, Rosemarie, or his sister, Michelle would swing the the door open as if it were my home. I come sit at the kitchen table and pour myself a glass of Diet Pepsi, which they always had in the fridge.  Even if Craig wasn’t there I would sit and chat with his mom or Michelle. Shelly would come home from work at Restaurant Hours about 11PM or so and he would pull up in his fancy car in full suit, slicked back hair, and pour himself a drink.  He would call out to me with his big beautiful smile, “Hey Georgie Boy!” and he would come to the table and sit with us. Never once, never once did he ever say anything like “don’t you have a home” or alike, he rather always made me feel like I was supposed to be there and as if I were an obvious part of the Hyatt family. I was blessed!

From my limited understanding Shelly and Rosemarie met in the air on a plane!  Shelly was a handsome Jewish New York born man and Rosemarie was a spicy blonde Puerto Rican airline attendant, a real NY West Side Story!  This was the second marriage for both and from when I knew them, they had a lovely home in Long Island, a pool and boat, and two beautiful children, Michelle and Craig. I also mentioned in a previous post, that one day Craig invited me to work with him at a new top shelf $30 million wedding catering establishment his father was the head developer/general manager for, as the first bus boys.  We were worked like dogs and in this high end but often Harsh and now Notoriously known to most people in NY, Mafia restaurant environment (The Thatched Cottage) and I wanted to never go back after the 1st night.  I didn’t necessarily need the work, but my mom would not let me quit. I learned more in restaurants working under Craigs Dad and under, next to, and above everyday people from my age to my parents age, about hard work, people, and myself than any university. Shelly was the driving force in developing and managing some of the biggest and finest Wedding Catering Halls in New York, such as the Fox Hollow, Lands End, the Windmill, and the Thatched Cottage. I remember coming back to NY after my Freshman year undergrad in Boston.  I was back working in the restaurant for the Summer. I had spent the year having fun, meeting friends, skiing in Vermont, and finding or maybe Searching for direction in my life, in other words, I was failing out of school! I never went to class, didn’t care about grades, and I was feeling pretty terrible in general about myself. Shelly was the big boss at the Thatched Cottage so he wasn’t involved with our work directly, but ran the whole place, so when I did see him he would of course talk to me.  I would be there in my tuxedo, working hard, but also thinking I was pretty slick/cool. Whenever Shelly would see me he would totally call me out in front of everyone in the restaurant to see, saying things, like “you better straighten up”, “Wake up”, “You are a Smart guy, Smarten up”!  He knew how to humble me and while it was always embarrassing, he knew I needed to be humbled and I always felt like it was out of LOVE!  

Craig and I did a lot of snow skiing together and his family invited me on a trip and pretty much Craig and I had the choice of locations around the world.  We chose Zermatt, Switzerland, to ski at the Matterhorn. Despite the rest of the family not being skiers, they somehow agreed and we had an Epic trip to Belgium, Switzerland, and Northern Italy! Related to Shelly, one of the many vivid memories was the plane trip back, I remember two things. One was Shelly and I played cards (Gin Rummy) for at least 4-5 hours straight. I was 16 yrs old and I remember waiting for him to get tired of playing, but he never did. We were chatting the whole time during playing which is built into the game. I remember his exact Huge smile and while this is one of my best friends father, in those moments I felt like I was his best friend. I feel like if I were of another generation that he and I would have been a best bud!  Second thing I remember about that flight back was I thought I was so devious smoking a couple of cigarettes, which was allowed then on planes!!, and thinking no one knew. But I am pretty sure Shelly knew and said nothing:)     

I know Shelly always aspired to own and develop one of his own Catering Halls. Certainly, given that he was well known in NY as a go to guy to develop/manage high end catering halls, it would seem like a likely interest and pursuit. I will say that one of the many lessons I learned in Catering and in Restaurants is that “life is not always fair”. Good hearted people just trying to put food on the tables for their families get treated like crap and nasty eccentric restaurant owners get wealth and notoriety. In instances it was literally life and death. I have come to know a good number of restaurant owners in NY and some in Boston. While they were all relatively wealthy people, they also share the trait of being relatively tough and callous people as well, to put it mildly in some cases.  As you may know there have been more than 15 criminal charges against the owner of the once, Thatched Cottage! Maybe Shelly felt like he never reached his dream, never developed a multi million $ restaurant on his own. I know he was known by some in the business to be a hard A$$ and in general a hyper-practical thinker and while not a perfect person, I do know if it were up to him he would have treated people exponentially better than pretty much all the restaurant owners I know. I did sense his frustration with this seemingly unfair division of power and wealth, but as I mentioned I knew and saw the love in this great man! He loved his family, he loved his friends and I loved him too. He may not have developed the restaurant and the wealth associated with it, but to me he was RICHER than any of them!  He worked hard, kept a loving heart, and of course did his very best! I can only be in awe of the Riches he possessed in the family and in the love he built around himself! Shelly may you rest in PEACE AND LOVE and thank you for always treating me like I was a special young man!  My heart goes out to my second mom, Rosemarie and my friends Michelle and Craig! Be certain, he touched so many lives as this is just a few of my experiences as a Korean American punk friend of his son's!  

It’s funny that my earliest life memory at the age of 3 to 4 yrs old is spending time with my then girlfriend, Choi.  Choi was also 3 to 4 yrs old and considering the environment I grew up in, in Long Island, NY it was quite remarkable that around the corner from my house was this beautiful Japanese family.  For probably two years, Choi would walk down the road with a baby carriage dressed in white linen and glowing in the sun across the warm paved streets.  She would knock on the door and we would walk together holding hands and pushing the doll carriage.  Our parents would take pictures and I still have vivid images of her mother and the fresh lightly floral smells of her home.  I am not sure how the initial meeting happened but it seemed like we were a thing, since before I could remember.  How amazing is it when you don't remember ever having to ask someone out.  When there was no vulnerability, just automatic acceptance and love.  As I became a little boy, I had started playing sports with the boys on her street.  I began becoming shy and self conscious about girls and the older boys in the neighborhood were making fun of us for both being a couple and for being Chinese (even though we were Korean and Japanese).  I remember her coming to my door and knocking with the baby carriage as usual and I stopped answering the door.  I began hiding and eventually she stopped coming.  I would go down her street everyday and play the typical seasonal football, hockey, basketball, and baseball with the guys almost in front of her house.  Until one day I realized she had moved away and I never saw her again………. I know I was just becoming a young boy, but I can still see her walking away disappointed when I wouldn't answer the door and my heart still breaks like it was yesterday when I think about it.  Somehow I still feel guilt about it and I might even be shedding a tear, maybe more now as I write this.  Now in my late 40’s I can say that I have been the person on both sides of the glass maybe not as many times as most others,  but several times now.  My brief but memorable time with Choi was a simple pure and easy love.  I mean she was literally somehow living around the corner from my house and us being asian and cute, somehow just made us a match.  Looking back, I do think it was such a wonderful example of childhood love and I feel blessed to have experienced, despite me being a jerk in the end.

My parents met one another in Levittown, Long Island, NY, which is known to be the 1st suburb in the U.S.  They met when they were about 14 years old.  My father who was a big strong young man was expelled from his school for fighting and he met my mother after switching schools.  They began dating and my mom really grounded my father and he turned his young life around, eventually becoming a decorated police officer, including being a supervisor of NY S.W.A.T. Team  and Bomb Squad.  When my dad was 21 and mom 20 they married.  So including dating, they were together for almost 50 years, until my mother’s passing at the young age of 63 yrs old in 2007.  My father and mother never dated anyone else ever, so you can imagine when my mother passed away from cancer literally a year away from retirement, my father was totally lost and without perspective in terms of finding a loving and caring companion anywhere near what mother was.  My parents marriage wasn’t always wonderful, but they were my shining example of how marriage was supposed to be in terms of staying together and forming a very loving family around that.  For me it wasn’t necessarily that I picked up on being married at at a young age, but I always thought I was supposed to meet my wife to be at a young age.  It was kind of my vision of what I wanted, I was a romantic or at least chasing a particular girl since I was 5 yrs old in Kindergarten pretty much until this present day.  I think these two factors,  really shaped me into the loving “one woman” mentality that I embodied throughout my young and adult life.  It contributed to my exceedingly hyper sensitive, empathetic, and loyal demeanor as a passionate and classic “empath”!   I am not ashamed to admit that  empath classification and honestly, despite lots of time of frustration and longing, I also wouldn't change the "one woman " mentality.  

Me, 4rd grade 1983 Private school Class Pic ( I am Front Row Center), Emanuel Lutheran School (my sister Liz, also went there 3 yrs ahead of me), Mrs. Flamminn - my warmest and most caring teacher I think. She really was kind to me and everyone.  

That was a good year in my mind. I went to this school from Kindergarten thru 6th grade with almost the same kids throughout the time.  I remember 75% of their full names.  I remember the look and smell of each of the 7 classrooms I was in over those years, my desk position in the class, and my general feelings, emotions, and thoughts during each year.  Dwayne Thompson (3rd from left back row) was my 1st school friend 1st day of school at 5 yrs old.  Of Note in this pic: I was probably pretty thrilled to be seated in front right next to my 1st crush Heather Blum (directly on the left of me), was chasing her the first day of Kindergarten all the way until 6th grade ended.  Of course we dated for a very very short period, but most of the 7 yers was chasing HAHAHAA.  But then that year, there was a new girl (2nd Row far right) forget her name now, Amy Schroeder,…. She was sophisticated and spunky but only was there only that one year which wasn’t long enough for her to fully realize my charms, in other words she wasn't fully feeling the romance with me:).  I had a little hand holding event with Karen Rhodie 5th from left 2nd row, but Heather was the one and unfortunately I wasn't the only one who felt that way.

​I had my 1st and 2nd fight that year against Todd Hughes (1st on left 2nd row), both times he had called my best friend Dwayne the “N” word each time, which I remember being just physically enraged by.  I guess I had determined that I was the race police at my school and I was a red belt in Tae Kwon Do by then, so look out:). 3rd fight was against Frankie (front row to the right of me).  We were all playing in a school team football game, I think in Eisenhower State Park, NY.  Frankie was playing around on the sidelines and started choking Dwayne with his headband.  With full football gear on I charged and tackled my own teammate Frankie, which mind you was GENERALLY DISCOURAGED on your own sidelines during a football game :).  OK, if you know me you will know that I am a very gentle person and caring person (a lover not a fighter), even as a young person.  I was always all about bringing people together.  I remember feeling bad about the idea of using Karate on anyone as I felt like I might hurt someone and my Korean Master Lee would have been upset if I used anything but self-defense.  To this day, I have never used a kick against anyone in a fight and hopefully I have fought my last physical fight in my life by now.  I did have several more physical fights in my teenage years, but what I will say is that besides the football game tackling, ALL of MY FIGHTS (except one attempted mugger fight) were about prejudice and race.  Funny thing is Dwayne didn't need me to defend him or fight for him, as he was bigger and stronger than I was.  I member wondering why Dwayne didn't feel the urge to immediately fight for himself, as I believe he would have won that fight.  But I also remember seeing his crying eyes and I could feel how paralyzing the "N" word was at that moment for him.  It wasn't a fight he wanted to have and I could see the utter shame on his face that he was put into this situation, that he was forced to address racial slurs and discrimination in front of the girls he liked, within our friend circle, and at the school he had gone to all his life like all of us there had.

I remember my school principle, Mr. Albert, thought I was a trouble maker as I had been to sent to his office for each of these fights.  Mrs. Flammann went on maternity leave, so we had the Principle Albert as sub teacher for a while and he was very strict.  What was interesting was he quickly realized that I was bright and I became maybe his favorite student.  That would help me later on as I would get in some trouble later in 5th and 6th grade too:) 
   
Do I regret these childhood fights?  I regret having to have them!  I honestly didn't and don't have regret about having those fights, as they weren't really a choice in my mind,  In each instance, I was angry and it wasn't really even a decision about fighting, it was going to happen then and there.  I was called “Chinaman” and “Chink”, my whole life, even by people who later became my close friends.  That was the landscape I was living in in middle class Coram, NY.   The perhaps perplexing and strange thing is looking back now, it was meant to be that way and I was meant to be the only or one of the few asian people everyone I met in my life growing up would have encountered.     ​

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Back row 1st on left Aimee Bianca, who was the smartest I think and she had skipped up a grade too.  Her brother Jeff was a year ahead of us and her great mom was a music teacher there. Aimee and Dwayne both went to the same public school after Emmanuel Lutheran.  She eventually graduated from NYU and I still follow her and her lovely young son Instagram.  Dwayne I am not sure where he went to school after, but I am sure he did, as he was a state champion wrestler and a strong athlete in high school.  I saw Aimee and her brother Jeff in a NY bar during Thanksgiving one college year and she told me She and her family always tell several stories about my childhood days during Holiday diners!   I have no doubt there are several families that still discuss and find universal humor in the follies of my young life.  One other family would be the Castros.  Nancy Castro (2nd row 4th from the left) was in my class for those 7 years and our parents were friends and over the years we would go on vacations together and I even would fill in at their restaurant when they needed help.  I am pretty sure they bring up a story or several of my elementary school life as a family every once and again.  Of course, I am glad I can entertain!  Good times and for sure I was a FREE SPIRIT and a Peace Warrior!  

A lovely card from a songwriter, Veronique, who I have been working with for a couple of years spread out over time with the pandemic and all.  She is a full time artist but also her music has always been a passion.  She went to Berklee College of Music, but graduated from Boston Conservatory and received her Masters in Music Therapy.    
     It’s funny as a couple of weeks ago I was doing Live Sound gig and was feeding audio from a DJ for parts of the event. After chatting he happened to be a Lawyer for the Boston District Attorneys Office but DJs for enjoyment and used to do some live sound work. He mentioned he wanted to work with me, but one thing that struck me was how definitely he stated his dislike of studio audio recording and the reason being that he didn’t have the PATIENCE for it. It has kind of stuck in my mind since.
   Another anecdote, Veronique showed me a small fly on her hand and that this type of fly has a 24hr lifespan. I said I knew that but that I thought that it was very very profound and I likened it to our human lifespan and condition. She responded by saying that I seem to think that I feel old, (she being in her 60’s and I in my later 40’s). I always listen to my elders when they discuss these things and Veronique is a very spiritual person. She said why do you feel old?  I said that I don’t really feel old in most ways and I am not sure you want to hear my current perspective.  She said she did want to hear. I proceeded to tell her that I have been struggling with our finite existence. Given the avg. lifespan of approx 79 yrs of age that at my age, one can actually count the number of days one might on average expect to live!  I mean now at this age I know what 30 more years feels like and it is not as long as It seemed to be when I was younger. I said, this very real perspective is jarring and that it may incite one to either live their best life or it can also cripple the spirit and cause one to become immobile or overwhelmed.  I said almost the only solace is that it is a shared human condition/life model, we all live this. Veronique usually has some perspective to add to a conversation such as this but….she got quiet. In that moment we shared a moment, the perspective of our own mortality…….we basked in the shared reality of our existence and it rendered us silent but very human. The Fly was a fly and we were both humans.  Rather than fall into nihilism, for me the only answer is Love. While romantic love in my life can only be described as tragic and perplexing and while the model of our finite lives sometimes does paralyze me, I can only disseminate that spreading Positivity and Love to everyone I can is the only thing left.  

In this Studio Life the task is so involved there is often limited time to share our humanity. My I am an audio renegade with no daily or weekly working colleagues. Everyone else I see on varying intermittent schedules and compared to my work in science which had its solitary moments for sure, the studio can be a reclusive life.  Some make an album a year or less and others I do get to work with regularly and get to know.  For certain I have been blessed with great clients (many of which I consider great friends) and I do my best to embrace our time together driven by the spirit of sharing music!  To all of those young aspiring studio engineers out there, don’t forget to work with love in your heart. These are your working relationships and perhaps your only opportunities to engage and affect people in a positive way in your life. It has become part of the meaning of my life. 
It is in this light that I hope to develop an independent record label and possibly changing my studio name to “Spread Love records/studios”!!!

An absolute pleasure working with John Koh, Bijan Taghavi, and Samuel Le Coquin Buldoc.  The cats ooze with talent, creative energy, and musicianship in everything they play.  They brought a mixture of original compositions and jazz standards and I think you will enjoy the result.  

This group will be going on a Japan Tour this summer to share their interactive and dynamic playing and I am positive there is going to be much much more to come from these fine artists.

Keep an eye out for a promotional video featuring the recorded audio and clips of their studio session done by Matthew Chang!

​Please have a Listen to this beautiful music of Ukrainian lullabies.  I think regardless of the likely language barrier that you can appreciate the emotion and sweetness of the performance, by Lumila Koval (voice) and Igor Golger (guitar).  Despite recording, mixing, and mastering, sadly, a sudden and miraculous comprehension of the language did not take place.  However, I greatly enjoyed every moment of working on it and listening to it.  As an aside, I lived with a Russian-American roommate during college and while he was a great great guy, the Russian language I heard daily was lots of intense yelling.  So, it was really nice to hear the language sound so sweet and elegant.  For sure Ludmila has a beautiful voice and more importantly she carries emotion and context to the music!!  Igor in addition to providing such excellent guitar accompaniment, he also hand built the guitar he played!!
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So, you can get all the tracks for FREE if you go to my Soundcloud page and I hope you listen many times!!

These are demo recordings, but I think Ludmila and Igor sound just Lovely!!!  If you know them or not, please let them know you enjoyed it if you can:) and I hope to work with them in the future!

I have the pleasure of working with vocalist Stephen Smith on a regular basis and as always he brings truly special music typified by his ability to pick out and connect with  just a unique collection of great songs!  This session I had the pleasure of working with Tom LaMark.  Although I have enjoyed working on post production on tracks of Tom's wonderful playing and have recorded live with him, it was great having him in the studio.  Steve and Tom have known one another for quite some time and their connection to the music chosen was highly evident.  If you know Stephen, then you know the warm big voice he has, which happens to pair just perfectly with the RCA44 style mic (AEA R44).  The result are some truly tasteful and moving tracks and looking forward to the music being shared!!

You can check out info about Steve and listen to some tracks, at http://stephensmithvocalist.com  

Of course Tom LaMark can been seen performing around numerous Boston and New England Venues regularly, and you can check out his great orchestra at  http://tomlamarkorchestra.com/about.html

What can I say except its a joy to work with these HEAVY jazz cats!  I have worked with Erik Van Dam on a number of projects now ranging from Jazz standards to pure improvisation free music quartet and this time he came with a group of Top Notch players recording some of their original compositions.  As always, Erik bought his powerful and creative playing, but furthermore the synergy with these fantastic players.  Remarkably Solid Groovy Bass with Greg Toro, tremendous technique and style from drummer Mike Tucker, and if you know Ethan Kaczowka, then you know his gorgeous comping and pretty playing!
Looking forward to more sessions with these guys and keep an eye out for the release of these dynamic and highly musical ORIGINAL Compositions!!!

These guys are all highly active performers in the Boston area and throughout New England, so check out their Various Live Performances!!