The Years Flew By

Having discovered that I enjoyed producing, I followed up the Frugal Jazz Project with other recordings of my own as well as producing the Atomic Scissors album "Cover".
What I came to realize was that I have little tolerance for listening to the same track over and over. It took a lot of the joy of music out of me.
Paying for studio time was also something that I could ill afford.
But I loved being a producer.
I had been a volunteer on a live TV show called Homegrown and when the chance arose, I became the producer of that program. Homegrown was not very expensive because we utilized the facilities of the local cable access provider in Greenfield Massachusetts and the crew and guests were volunteers.
Quality was the issue, and in an effort to raise money for better equipment we decided to hold a benefit concert at the Greenfield Energy Park. The Homegrown Music Festival featured many area bands including the Frugal Jazz Project.
After expenses, the benefit raised a little over two hundred dollars. It was enough to buy an analog to digital converter, but did little to improve the quality of the program. Homegrown, now known as Valley Homegrown improved because of the efforts of the crew under the leadership of the new producer Travis Roy. I left because my wife was expecting our first child and I was frankly burnt out on producing a weekly music show.
The rebirth of the Frugal Jazz Project was a direct result of producing Homegrown. I met hundreds of musicians during my involvement with the show and was able to call on many of them to play gigs.
Incidentally, the theme music for Valley Homegrown comes directly from the original recording of the Frugal Jazz Project, and while I never sold more than a hundred copies, thousands of viewers have heard a portion of the project each week without knowing it.