SlideMusicGroup.com

To All SLIDE and SP fans -

We apologize that we have not been better at keeping this site up to date. We regret to inform all concerned that no new progress has been made on any of the projects we were working on earlier this year. Unfortunately there have been too many personal issues to deal with this year for the both of us that we could not have possibly seen coming. We sincerely appreciate all of your continued interest and support and will try to keep you all posted on any progress the minute it is made. I think we were both a bit over anxious to make this happen and got the ball rolling before we completely counted the cost. We are hoping that once 2009 rolls around we have a chance to re-evaluate things and see when it is that we can pick up where we left off.

Thanks for your concern and support -
Jim and Mike
SLIDE

Please keep Jim in your thoughts and prayers as his recovery has been slower than expected.  We are still moving forward, but slowly.  We are still aiming to record and release at least one song by summer’s end!  Thank you again for all of your support, prayers and interest.  Please feel free to continue sharing your thoughts with us on the message board - we will respond as quickly as we can.

This will be a short post, but I haven’t slogged for some time—- so here we go. Again, thank you so to those who were kind enough to drop an email to me during my recovery from foot and ankle surgery. Although the process of recovery is slower than what I’d like, I am expected to make a full recovery. Some really interesting song and lyrical ideas have been brewing in my mind since I can’t seem to do much else these days (mobility-wise). And I big thanks to my musical partner and other 1/2 of SLIDE  Mike Baker for being such a support.

Music stuff: As soon as Mike and I are able, we will be re-recoding our first single. We have given some thought on how to title the new album. And I actually have a really interesting name in mind. Although, quite honestly, I am ok with just releasing it as a “self title” without a title. Your thoughts? As always , you can get on the message board and let them be known. BTW, some of you have been responding to our slogs at the bottom of the actual slog posting. Please if you don’t mind, respond to the slogs in the message board forum area. Its easy to do, and were trying to keep all responses in one common area. The very first forum on the message page is where you can respond to all slogs posted by us. Ok, thats all for now. We will be back soon.

Mike and Jim

Now that I am in recovery mode, I just wanted to take the time to thank those of you who sent in encouraging words, thoughts, and prayers. I am safely home, out of the hospital, and learning to take baby steps these days as I am expected to have a cast on my right leg for approx 4 months. This experience really has changed my perspective on “life”. The ability to ambulate (medically speaking- the ability to walk ) is something none of us should take for granted. In general, our health is such an important area in our lives, and sometimes we tend to overlook the importance of it when things are going well for us.

There is a good possibility the members of SLIDE will be interviewed on a popular, yet controversial blog website later this year. Once more details are available, you all will be the first to know about it right here. Despite our temporary setback due to my recent surgery, Mike and I are writing and trying very hard to meet the goals we have set for ourselves earlier this year. As I am using baby-steps to get myself back up and running around, Mike and I are taking larger steps each day to make the upcoming SLIDE debut a very special return to what we love doing most; writing music. Hope to see ya hanging out around the message board-

Jim and Mike

UGH. Surgery. The very thought of it makes me cringe. And yet, thats where I am headed next Tuesday February 12. But as the old saying goes, what has to be done, must be done. So, as they wheel me into the operating room, I keep telling myself I am going to try and  think postive thoughts. Maybe lyrical ideas to a song will come to my mind? Or maybe I can hum some kind of song melody quietly to myself before the “Venti Size” anesthesia cocktail is delivered to me at bedside?

But enough of the surgery talk. Onto the music. Mike and I have finally decided what our first step will be in the recording process as SLIDE. First up,  re-record “The Black and the Blue” for the purpose of bringing the song into 2008. We expect to do that by Spring 2008, with a video  following to support the single. Expect the video to debut sometime this summer. The video will be a first for us because Sincerely Paul never had the opportunity to do one. So thats where we are headed at the moment. If I am able,  I will try and slog from my hospital bedside next week. So be on the look out for that. It should be interesting. Until next time…

jim

The other day, Mike Baker and I got together at his place to discuss the writing of new songs for our debut as SLIDE. It was at this time I got my first look at Mike’s new drum set. Wow–the musician inside me just wanted to yell out at the top of my voice with excitement. It  just really further confirmed that we are on our way to writing new songs. Besides being one incredible drummer, Mike has gotten really good on the guitar. I sang a few melodies to one of the new songs I had been working on, and despite the rawness of the occasion, it just felt good to be doing this again. BTW, Mike will be playing both the drums and doing some of the guitar work for the new CD.

Speaking of writing new music, I have recently had a close friend ask why I was doing music again. My response to her was ”because I can”. Back in the Sincerely Paul days, the worry and focus always seemed to center around getting signed to a record label with the hopes you could somehow still feed yourself and pay the bills. Today, the focus is so much different. While I hope the new SLIDE music will generate interest, Mike and I are focused on writing the best music we can. Period. If we are fortunate enough to have label interest again, great….if not…..still great. We are doing this because we love music and we enjoy the interaction we have with you who care enough to listen. And being away from the music scene for over 14 years was probably the best thing that could have ever happened to us. I know it allowed me to establish my career as a Psychotherapist, and I think the lengthy absence will provide a freshness to our song writing abilities. Hopefully we will be back soon with another slog in about a week or so. Also, I am preparing to have foot and ankle surgery the second week of February. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers. I ain’t too fond of hospitals, but its gotta be done. Until next time,

jim

 The new Sincerely Paul (re-issue) CD cover artwork has been decided as Mike Baker gave me his official thumbs up this past week. We will be posting it here on the site sometime soon. Along side of writing the music, I have always found a band’s artwork to be an important part of a band’s presentation. However, in the age of musical downloads, I wonder if people’s interest in a band’s artwork (ie: CD cover, inserts, etc..)  is waning? I ask this question because over Christmas, I happen to come across some art and photography work by a new student artist that just blew me away. It was one of those moments where I said out loud “that’s it!” when I saw it .  And yes, I am referring to the new CD cover that will grace the front cover of the re-issue of Grieve. While I realize some bands take their art work more seriously than others, I for one will be sad to see the day bands are forced to dismiss any interest in their artwork due to the increasing popularity of downloadable media. As a music lover over the years, I remember how I couldn’t wait to see how one of my favorite bands would package their new album or CD. Hopefully, technology will not lead to a “choking out”of the visual artistic elements that make up for a bands musical release. I, for one, would like to see it stay around as long as possible. Feel free to discuss this and other topics on our message board. Be back with you soon.

Jim and Mike

A big welcome and thank you to all who made this website possible. If it were not for past fans of Sincerely Paul and the advancing technology of the world wide web, I’d doubt Mike Baker and I would be here. But we are, and we can honestly say it is a thrill to be able to re-visit a period of our lives that had such a lasting impact on us. For questions you may have about Sincerely Paul, you might want to check out an interview published almost one year ago. You can find that interview by visiting the history section of the SlideMusicGroup website. Hopefully, it will answer questions and fill in the gaps that have occured over the past years. Moreover, as you can tell by the domain name, this site is also about moving forward musically which we think is both healthy and appropriate for many reasons. Mike and I are in the early stages of writing new material for our “Slide” project that never quite got off the ground back in 1993-1994. We can’t wait to share the new music with you. And because of this website, you will be able to sort of  “tag along with us” through the song writing process of the new SLIDE release via postings, videos, music clips, and downloads etc… Also, if you haven’t already heard, Sincerely Paul’s CD “Grieve” will be re-issued soon as a 2 disc special edition. We were able to obtain the rights for “Grieve” recently from Mike Knott (Blonde Vinyl Records) and we are forever grateful to him for this.

A little information about the site; right here is the place to check back regularly for all the latest news. Mike and I will be “slogging” here on a regular basis. While most of it will be music related news and updates, we may veer off from time to time to discuss other real word topics. To respond to anything we may have “slogged” or blogged, we ask you use the SlideMusicGroup.Com message board. At the message board page, you can choose from various forums to post your responses. We have provided a link at the top of this page to get to the message board quickly, or you can access it by using the navigational tabs on the top of any page on the site. You can contact us via our webmaster who helps manage this site. Feel free to send any questions or inquiries to slide@slidemusicgroup.com . Also, we have provided links to other websites that we felt you might find interesting. You can find these links on the contact page, or just look on this page to the right of this blog under “BlogRoll”. Placing your curser on the website name will give you a brief decription of the site.

Ok, thats all for today. We are now officially launched. Happy 2008. Welcome and stayed tuned.

Cheers, Jim and Mike