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| COMPLETE APPRENTICE AUTOBIOGRAPHIES & PROGRESS |
DANIELLE DILLON
Just for a quick update… I am still working for the Drifter's at Fitzgerald's. We just upgraded our contract to seven days a week now instead of two shows, two nights a week. We now have the 3pm show Thursday thru Monday and Tuesdays and Wednesdays we do 3pm and 7pm. Whew! Lots of shows but, great experiences and great fun!
Hey, this is Danielle checking in from Las Vegas. You asked me to write to you and tell you my progress over the last month and let me tell you, I don't know where to begin!
I flew into Vegas from New York on the 20th of January 2003 and I began the very next night working the Drifter's show with Pieter Holland (the producer I am working with). Pieter is the most amazing person I have ever met. From the very first moment I met him, he has treated me like a daughter, not a niece.
He owns his own studio, has his own band/label, hosts his own web radio show, and does the sound and lighting for the Drifter's at Fitzgerald's Casino every Tuesday and Wednesday nights at 7:00pm and 9:00pm. That is just a small glimpse into Pieter's endless talents. To sum it all up, he is WELL-ROUNDED in his field, which is the music industry.
The following Monday, he had me as a guest on his web radio show, "Sound Advice" on www.lvrocks.com. After the show ended, he asked me to stay on as a co-host. Now, every Monday at 8pm Vegas time I am on the web as a co-host on Sound Advice! He even gave me my own segment called "Ms. D's (that's the radio name he gave me) Tales of the Strange & Stupid", where I get small clips of people doing strange or stupid things. It's great!
Tuesday and Wednesday nights I do sound and lighting with him at the Drifter's show at Fitzgerald's. The Drifter's are the greatest bunch of guys I have ever met. They have been in the music business for over 40 years. I have learned so much from them telling me about their experiences. They have taught me a lot so far about how to approach situations and how to come out the bigger, better person.
Thursdays I am usually in the studio recording with Pieter, whether it's one of the many projects with artists from various genre's of music, or recording Pieter's own album. The rest of the week is usually full of surprises. One Saturday night the Drifter's were asked to perform at a V.I.P party for the owner of Fitzgerald's as well as many celebrities and icon's from the Motown era. I met Martha Reeves, (from Martha Reeves and the Vandella's), Nancy Wilson, the Contours, as well as many television and film stars. The two highlights of the evening were meeting the owner of Fitzgerald's, Don Barden, and the Mayor of Las Vegas, Oscar Goodman.
Now I am closing in decided to follow my dreams. Once you take that first step, it's like a whole new world. Thank you for helping me take that first step.
I never really felt comfortable writing these things, autobiographies. I never know where to begin, especially now. However, I will tell you that I’m 22 years old and tired of wasting time.
How do I begin telling you that all I ever wanted to do was make music? Be surrounded by it all the time, engulfed. Always longing for that perfect beat or guitar riff. How do I begin to describe the feeling I get when I hear Carlos Santana bust out on the guitar after the last lyric is sung in “Black Magic Woman?” Better yet, when Alicia Keys sings anything I get butterflies in my stomach. When I heard John Lennon sing “Instant Karma” for the first time I cried because I felt his sincerity. I felt all the emotion he felt when he was singing that song.
Many professions touch lives, even save them, but music, oh my God I can’t even begin. I often pretended, what if I produced Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumors”. Imagine being a part of creating all those classic songs, not to mention working with Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Christine & John McVie, and Mick Fleetwood (they made a muppet after the man for God's sake!) Every day I wake up and realize that there is nothing in this world, nothing I repeat, that I would rather do than make music.
I’ve played guitar for many years, so you can imagine all the dreams of being a rock star that I’ve had all my life. But, we all know that if AC/DC ever went pop they would never be held in the same light again. So, what does one do when one loves to play guitar but loves twenty different styles of playing guitar? What do you do when you go into Tower records and walk out with “Megadeth’s Greatest Hits” and DMX’s “Dark and Hell is Hot”?
You become a producer, an engineer (in my case both because I want to know as much as humanly possible about both). Then, I would never have to pick a specific genre and stick to it. Honestly, here’s the hook, line, and sinker. I can’t picture myself waking up every morning for the rest of my life and doing ANYTHING else, anything. To me, that would be selling out. I wouldn’t hold myself in the same light if I just stayed in a job I hated, but had to collect a paycheck every other Friday.
This is all I ever wanted to do. The first words out of my mouth were “Moody Blues”! I read somewhere in a previous apprentice’s autobiography, and I quote, “What does it mean when you don’t enjoy what you do everyday? I’ll tell you what it means. It means you’re securely unhappy ,and the money you make will provide you with everything you need to wake up everyday dreading the next eight hours. It’s a fate worse than death.”
Forgive me for being so frank but, I sure as hell don’t want to be part of the living dead. If that doesn’t show you how sincere I am I don’t know what will. I could have written a hundred pages on how music makes me feel and how it affects my life but in all honesty, my tenth grade English teacher always said, quality not quantity. I hope you found enough substance in these words to make your decision.
Sincerely,
Danielle Dillon
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