#he only gets to share light exercise with Edwin

[sthilarions]

Asexual Charles Rowland who died a virgin (because he went to an all-boys school, of course that’s the reason - so what if most of his friends got up to things in town or on breaks). He liked looking at fit people, still does, and he liked kissing, but he just never happened to get around to doing anything else. Not for lack of wanting to, of course - of course! Just… never happened.

After his death he did try a few things but it just felt… wrong. Felt sort of like nothing and sort of, if he’s really, really honest with himself, like he remembers nausea feeling. He puts it down to ghost limitations. He can’t feel touch right, probably can’t feel anything like that right.

And then he’s with Edwin. And he can touch Edwin. He can feel Edwin. And every second his skin is against Edwin’s, it sings. So surely it must work, now?

It doesn’t.

Edwin’s hand creeps up his thigh, and it feels the same as it did on his hand (wonderful - but not special, not different, and he knows it’s supposed to feel different somehow). Maybe he just needs to go further? But as he’s moving against Edwin, and feeling sort of like nothing and sort of like everything (skin against skin still sings) and sort of like nausea, he thinks, ah. I guess it still doesn’t work, even ghost to ghost, even with someone I can feel. I guess ghosts just can’t do that.

Until he looks into Edwin’s eyes. And he realizes Edwin isn’t feeling nothing and isn’t feeling nausea. Edwin’s eyes are pupil-full, black and shining, looking up at him with feverish heat and naked pleasure.

Things Charles doesn’t feel.

Can’t feel.

And he’s run out of excuses for why.

[kathryn-claire-oconnor]

For that prompt you just shared, how about T for Edwin Jarvis? :)

T. An obscure AU.

I wasn’t sure how exactly to interpret the word “obscure,” so I took an AU prompt from my Pinterest writing board and decided that it covered “obscure” well enough. Thanks for the prompt! I hope you like this!

I took the coffee that they handedme in coffee shop, and it’s totally not mine, and I am now on a mission to trackdown the owner of my coffee AU

This also became a modern AU, I hope that’s okay.

Also, this became much longer than I was expecting, so most of it is under a read more.

So many people take one look atEdwin Jarvis and assume that he is a high-functioning perfectionist. They’rewrong. He’s not. He’s just a college student who’s figured out how to getthings done well. He’s got a routine these days, a method to his success… orperhaps to his madness. Study hard, party not at all, and always, always have a caramel macchiato with soymilk, extra foam, and two shots of espresso before Dr. Samberly’s triglectures.

Edwin adores science – thus hisworking towards a degree in aerodynamics – and can tolerate the mathematics ofit all, but his trig professor just has a way of sucking the life out of hislessons. It’s not as if Edwin is willing to fail the class over it, though, sothat coffee – his coffee – isabsolutely a must-have every Tuesday and Friday morning.

Except for the fact that on thisparticular Tuesday morning, he only has to take one sip of the coffee thebarista hands him to realize it’s not his.As the unexpectedly frilly taste of a white mocha latte hits his tongue, it’san exercise in self-control not to spit it back out due to surprise alone.Glancing in horror at the barista as he realizes what’s happened, he just asquickly looks towards the closing door of the coffee shop instead.

He catches just a glimpse of a brunettecop – probably just a rookie, if her age is anything to go by – and, seeing asshe was the only person to have just received her coffee, he assumes that she’sthe other party involved in the mix-up. He nearly bolts out of the coffee shop,but, somehow, by the time he’s in the same spot where she had just been she’s disappeared.

Edwin has not had enough caffeineto deal with this yet this morning, but clearlythe only caffeine that he wants is in this woman’s hands instead of hisown, so clearly he’s going to have tospend some time this morning chasing her down.

Damn it.

Friday morning or no, this day isnot shaping up to be a good one.

And that’s before he catches the noise of a scuffle happening in the alleywaybetween the coffee shop and its neighboring building.

Let it never be said that EdwinJarvis doesn’t have his moments of heroism.

Walking nearly to the entry of theally, he peers around the side of the coffee shop in time to see a pair ofred-rimmed sunglasses go flying and land not a foot away from him. There’s obviouslya fight happening, and if the sunglasses are anything to go by, a woman is introuble.

Brilliant. This is all just brilliant, he thinks dryly to himself.Stifling a sigh as he stoops down to pick up and pocket the sunglasses, he setshis shoulders before popping the lid off of the disgusting cup of coffee in hishand and striding into the ally.

“Excuse me, sir,” he says sharply,tapping the clad-in-black man on the shoulder.

“What the he-”

As the other man turns to lookover his shoulder at him, Edwin throws the cup of steaming coffee in his face.

Spluttering and howling as thecoffee hits his eyes, the man stumbles backwards, away from Edwin and towardsthe woman he’s been fighting. Mostly in the shadows as she is, Edwin can’t seeher very well, but it doesn’t take a genius to ascertain that she’s noshrinking violet as she takes the opportunity to grab her assailant by thecollar, twist around with him, and slam his head into the brick of the nearestwall.

He slides to the ground in a heap,and both Edwin and the woman exhale as they follow his decent with their eyes.

As she steps out of the shadows ofthe building, Edwin is pleasantly surprised to realize that he might have justkilled two birds with one stone, so to speak. This woman is the cop that he’salready been willing to hunt down.

She speaks first, her gazesweeping over him – taking in perfectly combed hair, pale skin, andbusiness-casual attire – as she says a little breathlessly, a little warily,“Thanks for the help.”

“Of course,” Edwin nods, trying tomake the gesture seem more effortless than it actually is as his momentaryspike of adrenaline wears off. “Um…” he bends down and picks up the now-emptypaper coffee cup that he had dropped carelessly onto the ground not a momentago. “My apologies about your coffee. I believe our orders were switched in thecoffee shop? I could buy you another, if you’d like?”

“Oh,” her eyes light with mildsurprise. “That was you I got mixed up with, was it? There’s no need for you tobuy me another, thank you, though; it seems to have gone to a good cause, and Ibelieve I’m entitled to making my partner buy me a fresh one after he’s failedto appear in time to be of any use.”

Edwin nods as, at the other end ofthe ally, a squad car squalls to a stop. A blond man rolls down the car window,calling, “Carter, you okay?”

“Perfectly, now, no thanks to you,Jack,” she calls over her shoulder, barely glancing back at the man Edwinassumes is her partner on the force. Despite her biting words, Officer Carteris smiling as she turns her attention back to Edwin.

Suddenly remembering, Edwin dips ahand into his pocket, informing her, “I, uh, believe these are also yours,Officer Carter?”

The bright red sunglasses are anodd addition to her otherwise pristine uniform, but Edwin finds that he likesthe idea that they belong to her. They suit her somehow.

“Ah.” Her eyes light up as sheaccepts the glasses, tucking one of the earpieces into the breast pocket of heruniform. “Thank you.” She points to the opposite end of the ally, where herpartner is waiting impatiently, his head still stuck out the window as he seemsto debate the wisdom of making a fuss to get her to hurry.

Something tells Edwin that mightbe unwise when it comes to this officer.

“I put your coffee cup on theground right by the corner of the building. I only took one drink of it; I hopeyou don’t mind, Mr…”

“Jarvis. Edwin Jarvis.”

She shakes his hand, and her handis warm in his, surprisingly small, but her handshake is unsurprisingly firm. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Jarvis. Now, let’s getyou your coffee so that you can be on your way, shall we?”

Edwin grins, deciding that maybe,maybe the day isn’t going to go to hell in a hand-basket after all. “Splendid.”

[zipgrowth]

Doris Kearns Goodwin’s 10 Leadership Lessons from the White House

Inviting Doris Kearns Goodwin to speak to a gathering of thousands of educators brought together by the annual ASCD Empower19 conference might have seemed like a surprising choice at first. Over the past four decades, Goodwin has earned her moniker, “Historian of the presidents.” She’s written a half-dozen best-selling books, including ones on Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson.

But when ASCD board member Ben Shuldiner introduced Goodwin, he underscored that choosing her was no happy accident. Goodwin studies presidents as leaders, and today, those are needed more than ever in education. “Decisions are being made by people who haven’t been inside of the classroom,” he told the assembly—and those decisions are frequently “not being made in the best interests of our children and our teachers.

“Your voice needs to be heard. In the classroom, but also in the capitol,” he urged.

With that introduction, Goodwin explained how after many decades in what she called an “odd profession—spending time with dead presidents,” she decided to see what traits they had developed in common. Her 2018 book, “Leadership in Turbulent Times,” has “no master key for leadership,” she said. But it does identify a collection of strengths, habits and behaviors that presidents cultivated to become authentic leaders during some of America’s toughest periods—including the Civil War, which literally tore the country apart, to the Depression and through the turmoil of Vietnam.

With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.”

Abraham Lincoln

“They all made themselves leaders through their work ethic,” she said.

Here are 10 lessons Goodwin has gleaned from studying the minds and habits of each of the four presidents—as well as some of the choice examples she shared from their lives:

Doris Kearns Goodwin (Source: ASCD)

Leaders Grow, Through Adversity, Humility and Empathy

Lincoln’s family thought he was lazy because he wanted to read books instead of do physical work. As a politician, he lost more races than he won. (The presidency was the exception, she noted wryly.)

Roosevelt had so much self confidence, Goodwin said, quoting one contemporary, that “he wanted to be the baby at the baptism, the bride in the wedding and the corpse at the funeral.” But when he realized he lacked allies and couldn’t get legislation through Congress, he “moderated his language and became a bipartisan leader,” she recounted. FDR learned humility when he fell victim to polio which paralyzed the lower half of his body. Other polio patients who joined Roosevelt at the mineral springs spa in Warm Springs, Ga., said: “He changed our feelings about ourselves.”

Leaders Have the Self-Confidence to Surround Themselves With Strong-Minded People

LBJ, never one to mince words, said it was “better to have your enemies inside the tent pissing out than outside the tent, pissing in.” Eleanor Roosevelt was a strong leader and frequently held different views than her husband; even so, she was “a welcome thorn” in FDR’s side and so helped advance equality for women by continuing to press their case—including holding regular press conferences in which only women reporters could attend, prompting newspapers to hire their first-ever female reporters.

Leaders Can Inspire and Motivate Others, Creating a Culture of Respect

Lincoln was generous in crediting others with success; his papers are filled with notes complimenting others. FDR’s capacity to inspire and encourage his staff and those around him made it possible for them to carry on when the challenges of the Depression weighed heavily on them. “He didn’t solve their problems,” but cheered up the team so they could continue to forge ahead, Goodwin said.

Leaders Are Ready to Take Full Responsibility and Shoulder the Blame for Their Decisions, Especially When Things Go Wrong

After listening to his advisors argue about whether and when to emancipate the slaves, Lincoln finally announced: “My mind is made up. There will be no more debate.…” He was ready to accept responsibility. But because he had listened deeply enough, no advisor publically disagreed once the decision was made.

Leaders Can Transcend Past Slights and Resentments

As a young lawyer, Lincoln was thrilled to have the chance to work with the famous Edwin Stanton on an important case. Before the case was tried, however, the brief was transferred away from Lincoln without his knowledge. He continued to trail after Stanton, even stopping him on a street corner to discuss the case. Stanton turned to an associate and remarked: “We have to lose this long-armed ape because he will lose the case.” Years later, when President Lincoln needed a Secretary of War, advisors strongly advised Lincoln to hire Stanton. He did. In the end, Stanton said he’d come to love Lincoln more than anyone in his own family.

Leaders Are Approachable and Accessible, and Establish Direct Connections With the People Around Them

In the days before the civil service was established, Lincoln held hours-long daily meetings where anyone could ask him for a job. On the day when he was slated to sign the Emancipation Proclamation, he had shaken the hands of more than 1,000 people—so many that his own arm was shaking and unable to sign the document. (He waited until his signature would look strong and bold for all future generations.)

Teddy Roosevelt spent more time on the road than any other president—six weeks in the spring and in the autumn. LBJ invited every Congressman and his wife to dine at the White House in groups of about 30. He then “never stopped calling them,” to coax support for his plans.

Leaders Communicate Simply and Directly Through Stories—and Through the Media of Their Time

Lincoln could tell entertain an audience with a story—with enough detail and richness that everyone would remember (People remember stories more than they remember facts or figures, he said).

Teddy Roosevelt had the knack of coining soundbites and slogans, such as a “square deal for the rich and the poor.” (He even gave Maxwell-House coffee—“Good to the last drop!”—its slogan.) FDR “had the ideal voice for the radio age,” Goodwin noted, and people listened. Writer Saul Bellow once observed that he could stroll down a street in Chicago during one of the weekly broadcasts and not miss a word as FDR’s words poured out of every window.

JFK and Reagan mastered television, Goodwin observed. And Trump, more than any other candidate, dominated Twitter. “But as so many people have learned,” she observed, “spontaneous words can have unintended consequences.” Although Lincoln was a master of debate and speaking extemporaneously, “he knew his words mattered,” she said. Once elected, Lincoln only spoke from prepared scripts.

Leaders Find Ways to Control Negative and Unproductive Emotions

Lincoln would vent rage in a letter—that he would neither sign nor send, including a scathing missive to Civil War General George Meade, which Lincoln shelved because it might damage morale. Roosevelt went through four or five drafts of his weekly fireside chat: The first version would rage at his foes; all the bile was washed out by the last version turning it into “sweetness and light.”

Leaders Take the Time to Think, Relax and Replenish Their Energy

Lincoln went to the theater 100 times during the Civil War. Teddy Roosevelt exercised two hours a day, including taking vigorous hikes through the then wilds of Rock Creek Park. (He even led the ambassador from France wading through a stream naked except for a pair of lavender-colored gloves that the ambassador insisted on wearing for etiquette.) And FDR hosted a cocktail party, which forbid discussion of the war every night, packed with friends who were long-term guests at the White House.

Leaders Transform an Ambition for Self Into Ambition for a Greater Good for All

All the presidents were driven by different ambitions and, in part, by how history would judge them. But they channeled those personal ambition into something bigger. Although LBJ’s advisors whispered that his social campaigns would destroy him, he ignored them with a terse: “What the hell is the Presidency for?” People around the world knew of Lincoln not as a great general but for “his moral fiber and integrity.”

The role of historians is to remind us of how we navigated the past. But even though she has spent her life studying the presidents, Goodwin emphasized that it’s a country’s citizens who matter deeply—and its teachers who will mold the sentiment of each new generation.

“Every important change has begun with citizens,” Goodwin advised. She cited Lincoln, who praised the soldiers, not himself, for emancipation: “With public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing can succeed.”

Doris Kearns Goodwin’s 10 Leadership Lessons from the White House published first on https://medium.com/@GetNewDLBusiness

[annhens93x]

8 Tips for Balancing Bodybuilding and Endurance Training

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Go The Distance

Ryan McVay / Getty Images

At M&F, we advocate for building a symmetrical, aesthetically pleasing physique in the gym. We also champion a healthy lifestyle, and a body that's functional enough to both show and go when called upon. A recent trend has emerged amongst lifters who are already strong and muscular: They want to get faster and tougher, too. The concept of a hybrid athlete is nothing new, and while some CrossFit gyms blend strength and endurance, any weightlifter with a few years' experience can become an endurance athlete under their own power. One of the most notable hybrid athletes is powerlifter/bodybuilder/ultramarathon runner/triathlete Alex Viada, C.S.C.S., A.C.E.-C.P.T. and owner of Complete Human Performance in North Carolina. We reached out to the genetic anomaly to talk all things hybrid training and becoming a better athlete without losing hard-earned gains.

Follow Viada’s eight essential tips to successfully improve endurance, build muscle, and crush your first or next endurance event.

We have your 2017 Perfect Body Game Plan>>

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1. You're in Better Cardio Shape Than You Think

moodboard / Getty Images

Before Viada shared his actionable tips, he shed light on which endurance sports his bodybuilder clients tend to favor.

“A lot of bodybuilders are interested in obstacle course racing because they like the competitive side of things, and it’s a lot more interesting than trotting away on a treadmill,” says Viada. “Bodybuilders also express a good amount of interest in triathlons. There's a certain challenge associated with a triathlon, and many bodybuilders don’t mind the idea of getting on a bike or getting in the water.”

Physique-minded lifters are better than they think when it comes to aerobic endurance. Viada says that he personally knows several physique competitors who go through contest prep, and their cardiovascular conditioning is phenomenal afterwards.

“If you’re doing an hour of steady-state cardio every day, you already have a fantastic aerobic base,” Viada adds. “If I can get them fit with a proper pair of shoes, get them outside to start to build some of that toughness and agility for their legs, and teach them how to ride a bike, they may be surprised at how good they already are.”

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2. For Cardio, Stay in Zone 2 Most of the Time

Cultura RM Exclusive/Edwin Jimenez / Getty Images

Viada’s intensity suggestions for all athletes he trains is based on percentage of maximum heart rate.

“I recommend that anyone, not just bodybuilders, do 80% of their cardio work at 70-75% of their maximum heart rate, which is zone 2,” Viada says. “If they’re already doing 3-3.5 hours of that per week, they only need to add another 1-2 hours of specific training for their sport to their workout schedule.”

Viada explains that as long as a strength athlete is carefully monitoring how many calories they're burning and replacing, essentially making sure they eat enough, they usually can add on 1-3 hours of zone 2 work per week without dealing with much fatigue. This means that you don’t actually need to change your cardio intensity much if you’re the “morning elliptical/incline treadmill walk/Stairmaster for 40 minutes” type of athlete. What you will need to do is actually take your cardio outdoors to better train for the endurance event of your choosing.

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3. Do Interval Training in the Middle of Bodybuilding Workouts

Adam Weiss / Getty Images

The other 20% of all aerobic training for bodybuilders is high-intensity intervals performed as a couplet, or two exercises back-to-back, within a weightlifting workout.

“I still have a lot of athletes weight training 4-5 days per week, and the most important thing is they learn the value of using weight training days to pre-fatigue for the some of the endurance work,” says Viada. “For example, if they’re training legs, that’s a day to do stationary/spin bike sprints or uphill running sprints in the middle of the workout. That way, you get the dual aerobic and hypertrophy work.”

The exercises done during interval training—the bike sprints, for example—will replace a typical accessory lower-body move, such as a leg press. They both build muscle, but technically one is more high-intensity and specific for triathlon.

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4. Form is Key During Interval Training

David Foster / Getty Images

The thing with bodybuilders and strength athletes is that they already have power, they just need to express it over a longer period of time.

“Many strength athletes love burning themselves out for 20- to 30-second intervals, smashing through five rounds, and feeling like they’ve wrecked themselves,” Viada says. “I tell them ‘OK, we want to do this speed and power work to get you faster, but we’re not going to have you running this race at a full sprint. So, let’s do intervals at 85-90% of maximum speed.’ The purpose of intervals is getting them to move fast but not sprinting.”

Viada’s suggested work-to-rest ratio during interval training is 1:2 or 1:3 when first starting with an athlete, since pacing and movement quality is of the upmost importance at this stage. After a few months of interval training, Viada will increase the intensity to a 2:1 or 3:1 work-to-rest ratio. In general, the work portions during interval training start as a way for you to learn how to use energy quickly, yet still keep some in the tank.

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5. Sports-Specific Training Becomes the New Accessory Work

Per Bernal

Accessory exercises refer to single-joint exercises that are done after a compound, multi-joint exercise during a workout. For bodybuilders, accessory moves are there to maximize blood flow to the muscle and achieve colossal pumps. There’s still room for building muscle during your workout, but this will be at the beginning of the workout.

“I typically have the race-specific stuff replace the accessory work,” Viada says. “You have to economize: You can’t do six accessory bodybuilding exercises when you’re training for an endurance event. Your accessory work will be geared toward making you a better runner or cyclist, but you’re still keeping in your bread-and-butter lifting exercises to maintain size and strength.”

A sample of how this would play out on legs day is starting the workout with the barbell back squat, then, instead of doing a leg press or hamstring curl, do walking lunges. Next, stepups, Bulgarian split squats, and other unilateral exercises done for 15 reps will be the best options for legs day. Viada mentions that low rep ranges are rare in his world.

“If someone has a powerlifting background, I may have them in the 3-5 rep range to start the workout but that’s the only case we’re going to get low with repetitions,” says Viada.

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6. Comfort Comes First for Bikers

Andre Schoenherr / Getty Images

Many bigger athletes are worried that a regular road bike is going to break if they use it often, but Viada says this is not the case.

“I’ve never seen a road bike frame break under a big athlete, and I’ve worked with 300-lb guys,” says Viada. “The most important thing when looking for a bike is to find something that’s comfortable. If you’re a bigger guy, a bad-fitting bike will punish you.”

Viada’s other tip for aspiring cyclists is to make sure the wheels have a high spoke count.

“If you talk to someone at a bike shop, you don’t need the ultralight wheels, you need the sturdy ones.”

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7. Wear Neoprene Pants to Swim Smoothly

ianmcdonnell / Getty Images

For bodybuilders looking to improve their swimming ability, Viada suggests starting the process by swimming while wearing neoprene weightlifting pants.

“Neoprene lifting pants give you just enough buoyancy to help keep you stable in the water when you’re first learning your stroke,” says Viada. “It's a huge help because strength athletes find themselves sinking, and they never get good because it’s too frustrating. The pants limit that learning curve.”

In terms of learning to swim, Viada says the most important thing is exactly that: learning to swim properly, instead of trying to swim a bunch of laps with improper technique. For the first few months of swimming practice, keep the same distance and try to perfect your stroke by reading a swimming guide or book.

“There’s no need to spend two hours in the pool when you first start out because your quality will decrease after 10 minutes,” Viada says. “If you get out of the pool after 10 quality laps and you feel like you got something out the session but still have energy, go on a step climber for another 20 minutes or jog for 20 minutes.”

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8. Replace Calories Burned With Carbohydrates First

Daniel Day / Getty Images

Viada recommends physique athletes keep their core diet the same to train for an endurance sport. With that said, those same athletes will be burning more calories than they’re used to, whether that’s through the added interval training or sports-specific training. Viada suggests tracking how many extra calories you burn during aerobic endurance training than you normally would if just following a bodybuilding program. Then, you’ll need to replace those calories with mostly carbs.

“The key is to make sure those additional calories burned are replaced using a macronutrient ratio of 75% carbohydrates, 20% protein, and 5% fat,” Viada says. “That’s on top of the regular diet. I’m assuming the athlete is already taking in enough protein and fat.”

For example, if someone figures out they burn 450 calories during a three-mile outdoor run that they added to their typical weightlifting and cardio routine, they will be able to take in 450 calories, using the ratio above.

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[workingclassaudio]

WCA #125 with Michael James

Working Class Audio Session #125 with Michael James!!!

Michael James is a  New York-born producer/mixer/engineer and has also been a an A&R rep as well as an solo artist himself. He's worked with  New Radicals, Hole, Far, Robben Ford, L7, Edwin McCain, Chicago, Reverend Horton Heat, A.J. Croce, Butterfly Boucher, Jane's Addiction, Maia Sharp, The Coronas, and Jawbreaker and many more.

At 19 years of age, Michael  met former Blue Cheer member Ethan James (no relation), the owner and creative nucleus of Radio Tokyo. Michael had just recorded a single, which cost him $15 in studio time.  Ethan happened to walk past the control room as the mix was being played, and offered Michael a record deal on the spot. Ethan took the disc to KROQ-FM DJ Rodney Bingenheimer, who debuted it on his legendary show, "Rodney On The ROQ."  It was later added to the station's playlist. From there, Michael joined the band Waves Of Grain, whose indie release "Catch Me I'm Falling" placed Top Ten on several college radio playlists; it was later licensed in the UK, France and Germany.

Radio Tokyo and Sub Pop 

By then however, Michael decided he was to be a producer and engineer, not an artist. He served as a staff producer and chief engineer at Radio Tokyo from 1986-90, where he recorded classic rock giants such as Ray Manzarek (The Doors), John Lang (#1 songwriter of "Broken Wings" and "Kyrie"), Richard Page (Mr. Mister), and L.A. session aces Abe Laboriel (Larry Carlton) and Alex Acuna (Weather Report).  An unsigned band from New York called Too Much Joy came to L.A. to record a demo at Radio Tokyo, which had become a Mecca for credible indie bands.  Michael was given the chance to produce a few tracks for the band. When Too Much Joy was signed by Alias Records, they asked Michael to produce the album Son of Sam I Am.  Rolling Stone, New York Times and Billboard praised the album and Michael went on to produce the band's major label debut for Irving Azoff's Giant Records.

Michael soon encountered a band called L7, who asked him to produce their debut album, Smell The Magic for Sub Pop Records. Sub Pop liked it enough to ask him to produce several other artists on the label, including Reverend Horton Heat, who generously offered to perform at Michael's wedding reception!  And then there was Courtney Love and her band, Hole, whose Sub Pop debut he produced. Michael was taken with Courtney's sense of style, as well as her sense of where she was destined. "My goal was to keep the intensity while highlighting the pop element," he says.   Michael went on to work briefly with Jane's Addiction, Mazzy Star and the critically acclaimed Geraldine Fibbers.

The Major Labels: Find The Good Stuff First!

After an introduction from Sheryl Crow and Beck bassist Dan Rothchild, venerable WEA and Elektra Records founder Jac Holzman tapped Michael to be Head of A&R and Producer at his Warner/Discovery label. Michael made it a point to listen to the boxes of unsolicited tapes that came in until he found Canadian band, Sal’s Birdland, which he signed.  Later, they changed their name to Artificial Joy Club and Michael brought them to Interscope Records for their second album.  The band's first track wasted no time in ascending to the Top 20 of the alternative airplay charts.  Michael quickly found his next hit, New Radicals.  Working under the radar and without a record deal, he and singer Gregg Alexander slipped into the studio during downtime to work on the album.  Not only did Michael mix, but he also played the guitar solo on "Crying Like A Church On Monday."  When Michael “shopped” the album, it was repeatedly rejected. The major labels claimed “the stigma against male singer/songwriters” was insurmountable.  Ultimately, however, MCA Records saw the light, selling over two million units of Maybe You've Been Brainwashed Too and securing Michael his first Gold and Platinum credits.

Encouraged by Alexander to play and write more, Michael began taking on more work as a session musician.  He wrote several songs with A.J. Croce for Transit, including the hits "Maybe" and "What I Wouldn’t Do," and played lead guitar on the album, which was recorded mostly live in the studio.  “There’s no substitute for having a tight band perform live,” he says, “because that’s how you get the best vibe; that’s how you capture a great moment.”

Giving Back = Staying Relevant

Michael founded IndieProMix, a remote service that provides bona fide professional mixes to independent recording artists, at sliding scale prices.  "I pitched a few of my favorite mixers (David Kahne, Matt Forger, Tony Shepperd and Rob Chiarelli) the idea of giving back to the indie community because we all started as indies," says Michael.  "Many super-talented indies only dream of having their music mixed by pros with hits, so we decided to give them the pro experience while keeping our thumbs on the pulse of fresh new talent.  We thought it would be a 'cool' thing to do, just because we could.  It's been a win-win since we launched in 2010."

Frequently a supporter of good causes for independent recording artists, Michael has been a top tier sponsor of International Songwriting Competition and San Diego Indie Fest.  He has been a featured speaker at seminars, master classes and conventions, including Musician's Institute, Los Angeles College of Music, EAT'M Festival, Taxi Road Rally, Westlake Pro and Vintage King L.A.

Michael recently launched The Platinum Legacy, a series of pro bono seminars in which he and Grammy winning producer Rob Chiarelli (Will Smith, Madonna, Erica Campbell) share their hit-making tips and tricks, and how to deploy them in today's modern analog-digital "hybrid" studios.  When asked how he expected a pro bono venture to be successful, Michael responded, "It's the right thing to do.  Up and coming artists don't have the same mentoring opportunities that I had, so I'm doing my part to keep classic recording and production techniques alive.  Plus, more generosity yields more abundance in my life.  I'm confident that it will work out well, as it always does."

Embracing New Technologies

Michael has become one of the most respected and sought-after sound design consultants to the pro-audio industry as a result of his roles as a preset/algorithm designer and beta-tester for several highly successful, award-winning products from Lexicon, Eventide, Sound Toys and TC Electronics, among others.  He is a long-time endorser of Mesa/Boogie Amplifiers, Tom Anderson Guitarworks, Taylor Guitars, Eventide, Manley Labs, Dangerous Music, Chandler Limited, Avalon Design, Tonelux, Glyph Technology and SIT Strings.  "The endorsements, the product development, even the seminars and master classes I’ve taught," says Michael, "are a logical extension of what I do in my daily activities in the studio. To my clients in those sectors of the music business, my 'real world' experiences are valuable in their laboratory or classroom settings. For me, those relationships are critical for two reasons: I contribute to the development of new products which are both practical and creatively stimulating to my recording colleagues and to me; and exercising the technical side of my brain magically broadens my artistic horizons when I'm making records."

Today Michael is in constant demand as a mix specialist precisely because of his multi-faceted skill set.  As a writer-mixer, he knows when to make the technology get out of the way of the song and the artistry.  As a musician, he can completely rearrange a song when an artist wants to dig deeper—even at the mix stage.  He is frequently hired to do just that, often performing new guitar, bass and keyboard parts at the artists’ request, breathing new life into the song and the mix.

For more info, contact Jan Seedman / Cadium at +1.310.200.4448.

http://michaeljamesproducer.com/

Check out this episode of Working Class Audio