I recently signed on as “Music Director” for director Ward Serrill’s newest project, TreeStory. Serrill’s previous feature, Heart of the Game, premiered at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival, and was released theatrically by Miramax Films.  Richard Roeper called it “an oscar-level piece of work.” TreeStory explores the relationship between humans and trees, told through personal stories, awakening a new way of experiencing trees, and promoting a worldwide movement of tree care. You can become part of that movement now by visiting www.treestorymovie.com. Stay tuned to this space and my on again, off again blog, The Puzzle Tree Junk Drawer, for the play-by-play as the film develops.

Music From the Film A Lot Like You will be available soon on Puzzle Tree Records. We will begin taking pre-orders at The Puzzle Tree Online Store on Tuesday, January 11. Stay tuned for more info on when the album will be available in stores and on iTunes.

There will be a private press screening of A Lot Like You at our wrap party in Seattle on January 13. I have some tickets to give away to lucky ADNC readers. To be entered to win, send an email with the subject line “Seattle Screening” to contact (at) puzzletreemusic [dot] com. Winners will be picked in a random lottery drawing and notified by email.

Speaking of the lottery, I recently completed new original music for a Washington Lottery TV spot. Thanks to everyone at Cole & Weber United, Oh Hello, Pure Audio, and Emoto. I will post a clip once the spot airs.

Airing now is a new Amica TV spot featuring my music.

On the TV: I recently taped an interview for KING-TV’s Evening Magazine. Watch my blog for air dates etc.

In my fall report, I talked about how a couple of Droge and Summers Blend tracks had been pulled out of the freezer to defrost so we could get them onto the front burner. While they have spent some time simmering, things are not cooking as quickly as we hoped. Once the A Lot Like You record is done, we plan on turning our attention to all things Blend.

Elaine Summers and I will be singing our song “Tie The Knot” for “An Evening of TreeStories.” To be extra clear, we are only singing one song.

Below I have copied a blurb about the event from director Ward Serrill :

“An Evening of TreeStories” will be held on Dec 1st, 7pm at Wallingford’s Good Shepherd Center in Seattle. It will be a celebration of our city’s trees. Featuring musical performances from Pete Droge and Lelavision, Hugo House writers Ed Skoog and Judith Skillman, and spoken word from hiphop artist Cham Ba. We’ll also have an introduction from city council member Sally Clark, former TED speaker and tree canopy biologist Nalini Nadkarni, as well as readings of the top “treestories” from Seattle that have been submitted on our website.

We are organizing this event as part of a larger project, a feature documentary film in production called “TreeStory.” TreeStory explores the relationship between humans and trees from every possible angle. Once people see the film they won’t see a tree in the same way again. More info can be found on the movie site, www.treestorymovie.com.

I’d love to say that The Droge & Summers Blend, Volume Two has been on the back burner, but the truth is it’s been dumped in a plastic tub and shoved in the freezer. This chilling fact was made clear as a pair of anniversaries passed: it’s been over a year since Volume One was released, and two years since we cut the first round of basics. At the moment we are defrosting a couple of tracks that we’ll release on 7″ vinyl. No promises on when we’ll get this out. We need to reach the other side of a remodeling project and some travel before turning up the heat.

For those ADNC regulars who have been wondering who the client was that I could not mention as the Summer update went to press, the answer is Les Schwab. Publicis enlisted Puzzle Tree Music to give musical voice to animated characters playing organ, flute, clarinet and fiddle on top of their existing music track. Have a look at the spot HERE on Digital Kitchen’s Vimeo page. Thanks to Hans Teuber and Sara Perlman for their contributions to this project.

In other news, an instrumental version of “Going Whichever Way the Wind Blows” is featured over the end credits of a short film called Network In Progress, by director Eliaichi Kimaro. The film chronicles the achievements of The Northwest Network, whose mission is to provide support and advocacy for LGBT survivors of gender violence.

I contributed several existing pieces of score music to serve as the soundtrack for a short film called John Arum: A Life of Purpose. John Jeffcoat shot and cut this moving tribute celebrating the work of environmental attorney, John Arum who tragically lost his life in a mountain climbing accident in September. I was honored to have my music help to memorialize his remarkable life. I also made my editorial debut by cutting a slideshow that screened at his memorial service.

“Tie the Knot,” from The Droge & Summers Blend Volume One, plays over the end credits of a fundraising trailer for an upcoming feature documentary about trees. Tree Story is the newest project from director Ward Serrill. His last feature, The Heart of the Game, was all the buzz at the Toronto Film Festival in 2005. It went on to land distribution from Mirimax.

Earlier this month, I spoke on a panel at Grammy Music Tech Summit 2010 – Year of the Song. I think they may post video on their website at some point. Keep an eye on GRAMMY365.COM if you’d like to see it.

The Hootenanny for a Healthy Gulf show with Mike McCready, Duff McKagen and friends, at The Moore Theater in Seattle, was a gas. For the play by play, visit my new blog, PUZZLE TREE JUNK DRAWER.

Even though I have unofficially retired from playing live, I will make an exception and join a bunch of old friends for Hootenanny for a Healthy Gulf with Duff Mckagen, Mike McCready & Friends. Since I quit performing, I have played out a couple of times with Stone Gossard. So a precedent has been established: if you play guitar in Pearl Jam and ask me to play a few songs, I’ll be there. In this case, ‘there’ is The Moore Theater in Seattle on 9/2. Go HERE for ticket info. CLICK HERE for a bootleg from the last time I sang at The Moore.

I recently completed the score for the film A Lot Like You. Regular readers of The All Droge News Compendium – ADNC for short – know that I have been working on this project (on and off) for two years. Look for a post on why it took so long on my new blog soon. In the meantime, HERE is one of my favorite cues. Stay tuned for details on a soundtrack album.

Since my last post, four new Amica ads are airing with my music. Two are brand spots with a revamped version of the music from last year. I kept the musical themes in place, but picked up the tempo and changed out most of the instrumentation. View one of the new spots on the WORK page.

I knocked out some fun music for the end of :30 second commercial last week. I signed an NDA, so mum’s the word until it airs.

I licensed two tracks to Middlesex Hospital. ADNC junkies will remember that Middlesex used my song “Going Whichever Way the Wind Blows” in three commercials earlier this year. This time they used an instrumental mix of “Never Learned” and a yet to be released track called “Sketch 16.”

Rob Stroup and The Blame released a new record called “Glass Ceilings.” It features two songs that I co-wrote and four that I co-produced. We cut the basic tracks for these songs at The Puzzle Tree, then Rob finished them at his studio in Portland. I am especially fond of ,”Columbus Day.” (Listen HERE.) Rob and his band play a show to celebrate the release on October 22 with The Minus Five at The Secret Society Lounge in Portland, Oregon.

My old friend Mike Morton has been dropping by The Puzzle Tree now and again to record. I got to play drums on one session and banged on my white 1966 Gibson SG Special on another.

Speaking of making music with my friends, Clay Bartlett will be out later this month to cut some overdubs for his album. The plan is to get me to play keyboards.

I recently added a clip from Zombieland to my reel. It features The Droge & Summers Blend song “Two of the Lucky Ones” while Emma Stone dances with Jesse Eisenberg. View it HERE.

I spoke with KUOW’s Jeremy Richards a while back about my songs being used in movies, tv shows and advertising. They have run the story a number of times of the last week and a half. You can find the story HERE anytime.

Three brand new Middlesex Hospital TV spots will be airing soon in the Northeast. They feature an instrumental version of my song “Going Whichever Way the Wind Blows.”

I am currently in the process of evolving last year’s brand music for Amica Insurance. The first in a series of new spots is being shot this week.

Seattle based production company Guenther Media is using a piece of existing underscore called “One Child-Part Two” for a TV spot for Utahns for Ethical Government. The spot begins airing tomorrow in, you guessed in, Utah.

I will be joining Stone Gossard and the Hank Khoir at the Showbox in Seattle on April 15. I will sing one song with and maybe play guitar for Stone. The show will feature sets by Brad and loads of other special guests. It promises to be a night packed with Seattle rock luminaries. For info visit PEARLJAM.COM For a look at my last appearance with The Hank Khoir have a look at this live performance of “Under The Waves”on YOU TUBE.

Speaking of Stone, I’ll be doing some studio work for him soon.

Last weekend I attended a rough cut, test screening for the documentary, A Lot Like You. (That’s right superfan, the film is named after one of my songs.) The filmmakers went home with tons of feedback and are nearing locked picture. We have a meeting set up this week to discuss music. I have been working on the score in advance of locked picture on and off for some time. But soon, the real work will begin.

I wrote a guest blog for Outlandos Music. Check it out here: OUTLANDOS MUSIC BLOG LINK.
Elaine and I have been rolling up our sleeves. We’ve been armed with a number two pencil and a good eraser. We are busy with work that we call ‘song’. At this moment, I am in the middle of demoing a brand new one called “Not About You.” Or “It’s Not About You.” (Secretly hoping that the demo will simply bloom into the actual record.)
We recently completed another song called “Unsinkable.” To track this one we are enlisting a guest engineer named Dan Hilley. I am sure Dan would not be offended if I were to call him ‘old school’. He comes from Nashville and has worked on tons of records. When I first met him, I had just been listening to one of my favorite records of all time that he happened to work on, Comes A Time, by Neil Young. I especially love the sound of the acoustic guitars on that record. So, I am going to be watching Dan very carefully as he places microphones and dials in EQs and compressors. And I am not going to lie, I’m out to steal all the tricks I can from him.

Over and out,

Pete

Worked on a :30 Amica tv spot called “Road Trip”. Used music from previous brand spot but remixed and added ukulele and toy bells. Very happy with how this one turned out.

Contributed vocals to a charity record… more details later.

Been writing a lot. Revising some songs for Blend Volume Two. And working on some new ones that may make their way into the fold as well.

And I’ve been finding some time to slow down and chill out.

Happy holidays,

Pete

Evelien Eenhoorn from The Netherlands!!!

Congratulations Evelien!  We will send the record out right away.  And thanks to everyone who entered.  We are currently working on our next release and trying to think of another fun prize for next time.

“Two of the Lucky Ones” from The Droge & Summers Blend, Volume One, is featured in the new Sony Pictures release, Zombieland, starring Woody Harrelson. CNN had this to say about it, “…resembles ‘National Lampoon’s Vacation’ — if written and directed by Quentin Tarantino.” Read about how Bill Murray has turned the cameo into ‘high art’ on the Wall Street Journal Blog HERE. Opens Friday, October 2.

Equal Rights Washington is using an instrumental version of our song “Going Whichever Way the Wind Blows” in their new 60 second television commercial. The heart-wrenching spot features marriage equality advocate, Charlene Strong.

In other television commercial news, there are two new Amica spots airing now with original music I composed for them earlier this year.

At this very moment, Elaine Summers and I are working on demoing vocals for a national campaign for an iconic American brand. Details later if we get the gig.

The Hank Khoir show at Teatro Zinzanni sold out. Thanks to those of you who made it out. Click HERE for more about the line up. I played “Two of the Lucky Ones” & “Under The Waves” with the amazing band that Stone Gossard assembled. And, Elaine Summers and I sang an old Hank Williams song called “Alone and Forsaken” on a small stage that rose in the center of the room. I even got to play lead guitar on Aerosmith’s “Back in the Saddle” with local luminary Shawn Smith singing. I was honored to be a part of such a special night of music. It had been three years since my last show… this should tide me over for at least the next three.

Over and out.