Well, Sary, WTF? How could you leave us long-suffering French TV fans hanging after your triumphant return from the tour in Europe? Don’t you even care?  

Ahem…

Well…

I’ve been avoiding updating the news, because we had a shift in band personnel, from 4 members to uh, 2. That much Jeff and I are sure of. At the moment.

So here’s what happened:

In April 2005, a week or so after Chris & Jeff & I arrived back in the States, our keyboardist/winds player Warren Dale turned in his resignation, effective whenever finishing his tracks for FTV9. The reasons were a combination of family/job; the difficulties of maintaining a long distance musical relationship; but mostly a feeling that he had said everything that could be said in the context of French TV after 3 albums, coupled with a desire to try some new musical projects that didn’t involve me always looking over his shoulder. Warren continues to be a welcome member of the French TV Alumni Society, and is elegible for the many benefits as becoming such.

Unfortunately, Warren’s resignation jeopardizes Chris’s relationship with French TV, and at the moment is unresolved. If Chris lived in Louisville, he’d be in the band without question. But minus Warren, the preference is to have a line-up centered in Louisville, as we’ve had to turn down too many gigs due to Warren and Chris living in California.

Unfortunately, this has been harder than expected.

We’ve run through 3 keyboardists-one of whom basically wasted 6 months of our time working on ONE fucking song and then mysteriously cut off all contact. Keyboardist #2 wisely bowed out after a month, citing conflicts with his other current recording projects-we may continue working again in the future, or we may not. Keyboardist #3 looks good, but still too early to call. He is also the victim of a busy schedule, and can’t commit entirely.

We’ve also been working with a guitarist, but due to his wacky cell phone system and lack of a car or computer, communication is a bit too haphazzard for my taste. Odd, considering he lives about a 20 minute walk from me…

Adam, our sax player, still seemed game when last we spoke, but if he’s fed up, I can understand why!

Concerning the 2005 NEWS, at some point I plan to fill in the gaps as needed. For now, this will bring you up to date:

January has been spent tidying up the graphics for FRENCH TV 9: THIS IS WHAT WE DO [courtesy of the COREL DRAW 30-day trial period], of which the cover is pictured above. We went for a fancier insert than normal; it folds out to a 2 panel x 3 panel poster and depicts the band’s questionable foray into creating “art” by committee.

January also brought a proposal from my friend Vitaly Menshikov in Uzbekistan to license our back catalogue for release in the former USSR territories–sounds interesting, considering Vitaly also mentioned that we are in fact being bootlegged, which is why he wants to do legit releases. GASP!

And, in the final bit of news for January, I received a 5 minute dvd of one of the tunes we performed at the Gouveia Art Rock Festival last year. It looks and sounds STUNNING! Luis and the other organizers have opted not to release a dvd of the festival as they have for the previous 2, and will instead offer the film to the various bands who played. We’ll be partnering with them to have them do all the editing and we will release the concert dvd ourselves after giving them a certain amount to recoup their efforts. The plan for the dvd is to include some animation by our tour keyboardist Paolo Botta, who is a professional animator as well. As you might expect, this is something I’m REALLY looking forward to-this will be quite a treat for FTV fans!

Oh, and Aaron Isaac Ordover Sary turned 6 this month. I hope the NY Yankees have put a little something away for their future center fielder’s signing bonus.

FEBRUARY 2006

FTV9 is now in the hands of the manufacturer. After a revision or 2, all graphic files have been approved, mine eyes have seen the glory of the PDF proofs, which have been approved as well. I expect I’ll be helping the UPS man load them on my porch about Feb 23, give or take a few days.