Some of you may know that I have performed
with Life On Mars on and off for the past 7 years
and that I've been friends with the band's leader and musical creator, Linda Marso,
for much much longer...back to the nyc music scene of the late 80's early '90s.

Linda passed away in Feb of this year. She will be missed by all whose hearts and spirits she touched with her music, her kindness and her generous soul.

In Nov of 2008 we did a photo shoot in Central Park for the new Life On Mars record.
Pictured: Alex Alexander (Dido) , Linda & myself.
Photo is by dear friend and photographer, Martyn Gallina-Jones.

By now, you all know about the storm that took down the stage at Rocklahoma
that Reckless was playing on
...
Fortunately, we never made it out of our hotel ... we were supposed to play at 11pm Sat. nite between Lita Ford & Warrant but at about 7pm our crew sent us a photo that showed our stage in shambles! So we just opened a bottle of tequila ...when that was finished we went across the street to Mr Lucky's Bar & Grill.
Joe and Chris got up and sang and once the people new we were supposed to be playing at Rocklahoma but had no stage... everyone started buying us drinks ...
We rocked Mr. Lucky's 'til closing...(with a brief break at midnite for a meeting w. the Retrospect Records promoter) -- the Tulsa folks were the BEST!!
They were so very supportive-- they just kept buying us drinks and having us sign their tees, bras and boobs ;-) -
a good time was had by all- after we closed that place
the partycontinued with Alibi at the hotel 'til 6am or 7am AND then a call at 11am to come and play-- a stage had been set up in the beer tent --Yikes! I can't sit up yet ! Let alone play-- the promoter kindly put us on at 8:40pm and I proceeded to eat Tylonal, Tums, Coffee , Gatorade & Burger King -- a true breakfast of Champions.
Anyway we played a good show - no one fell off the stage ;-) -
and I posted some new photos from the performance--although not from the "big" stage -its still quite a memory--
AND as soon as i get the photos from MR Lucky's I'll def post them -- there's gonna be some fun shots from there!

KUDOS to the crew and the promoters for getting 3 stages set up over nite so that the show could go on!

cheers
ray

It looks like I'll be playing guitar with Reckless, formerly on Atlantic Records
and now on Retrospect Records, at what looks to be the biggest '80's metal festival
in the US and possibly the world - Rocklahoma! July 9 -13 . 5 days with 100 of the biggest bands of the '80's and 250,000 people expected. http://rocklahoma.com

For those of you local to NY - Reckless will be doing a few warmup shows in the area to prepare for the big stage. One already booked is at The Haunt July 5 - 320 Yonkers Ave. Yonkers NY.

I'll keep ya posted as we get closer.

What a thrill it was to hear my composition, "Spanish Gypsy" cranked thru the speakers at Skate America this past weekend. 14 year old, Caroline Zhang, skated her way into 3rd place and 2 standing ovations in her first competition on the World level.
WOW! Never thought I'd enjoy figure skating this much --its a real nail biting event when your rooting for someone.

Some of the other composers I was enthralled to be sharing this event with were Peter Gabriel, Philip Glass & Rochmaninoff...well , I was the only one actually there but it was still very cool to be represented amongst these great composers.

Caroline , next skates at the renowned Cup of China in Nov. and then in Jan '08 at the US Nationals and will be bringing my music to these events also.
WIN a CD
For the true fans .. see if you can spot me in the audience (1st row) in the video now posted on my myspace page. The 1st person to tell me what color jacket I'm wearing will win a CD copy of Guitar Noir!
Hint: there's a beer in front of my face most of the time :-) ...hey! once a rocker always a rocker !

Edit: ok the color of the jacket may be tuff on different displays so if you can tell me what the woman to MY left is wearing ( this is more obvious) I'll accept that too!

Hi Friends - Great News!
My composition, "Spanish Gypsy" from Guitar Noir,
is being used by 2007 World Junior Figure Skating Champion, Caroline Zhang.
Caroline is skating her 2007/2008 short program to it and since NBC will be airing
all of the championship finals for the upcoming figure skating season during prime time, keep your eyes and most importantly your ears peeled for "Spanish Gypsy", which is now posted on my myspace page, http://myspace.com/raydetone

Also, world reknowned bassist, Mark Clarke (Rainbow, Mountain, Uriah Heep, Colosseum)
and I have just started work on his 1st solo record. I'll be playing guitar and
co-producing it, and there may be some very heavyweight guest vocalists coming on board.
Drop by my website's News at http://www.raydetone.com to stay up to date as this project comes together.

I hope you are all having a great Summer!
Cheers
Ray

Two of the greatest lovers and supporters of music here on myspace have joined forces.
Every Thursday Night 7pm Central time you can tune in to hear some killer music and some edgy and intelligent dialogue with Doc & Rev and now the sweetest chick on myspace, Jade, aka Cute Rocker Chick is joining them.
Check it out at:
www. broadcastasylum.com

Four of my comedic instrumental pieces 
are on the Jan. 15 Comedy CD released by the OMNI Music Library. 
One of them, "Buddy the Dog" , earned the revered 1st track placement on the disc.
Go to http://raydetone.com and clik on Soundtrack Music to listen!

I'm also just finished 2 pieces which will appear on Omni's Drama/Mystery CD due out later this year.
Cheers
Ray

As a private guitar instructor I try to encourage my students to explore all the colors of music, not just those of their favorite bands. This implies understanding music theory and how it can aid the artist in creating the appropriate "color" to communicate the desired emotion to the listener. I invented a saying to prod them along when they just want to play the same old tired crap versus actually having to put some work and thought into learning new ideas. It is simply, "Would you rather have the little box or the big box of crayons?"

Well, yesterday I saw one of my students who just had gotten back from Berklee's guitar camp and his guitar case had been adorned with some art. He had proudly placed a sticker of his favorite band, a painting of Hendrix and in crude yet quite artistic, stenciled letters: "the big box of crayons" !
....man, what a GREAT feeling!!!