tag:shakkarsplace.com,2005:/blogs/blogBlog2023-10-16T10:55:23-04:00John Shakkar Settinerifalsetag:shakkarsplace.com,2005:Post/60648672013-06-23T20:00:00-04:002013-06-23T23:44:09-04:00So far...so good
<p>Good Morning,</p>
<p> Just a quick thank you to all who have commented on my CD. Thank you so much!</p>
John Shakkar Settineritag:shakkarsplace.com,2005:Post/60648662013-05-24T20:00:00-04:002013-05-25T17:16:41-04:00NEW CD Release Date Set
<p>Hello Everyone,</p>
<p> I'm very happy to announce that my new should be available on June 18th. It's been a great experience working on this project. I think you all will enjoy hearing what I've created. A majority of the songs deal with my own experiences, the good and the bad. 18 songs that tell my story. I hope will you check back and give it a listen</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Thank you for your support!</p>
<p>Shakkar</p>
John Shakkar Settineritag:shakkarsplace.com,2005:Post/60648652013-04-21T20:00:00-04:002013-04-21T22:39:01-04:00Thank you!
<p>Just a sincere note of gratitude to the Millions who showed great support for my City of Boston during this hectic and tragic week. Again, amaziing work done by the FBI, ATF and all the local police and officials</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Thank you</p>
John Shakkar Settineritag:shakkarsplace.com,2005:Post/60648642013-04-17T20:00:00-04:002021-10-13T13:16:15-04:00Boston Marathon
<p>My heart is saddened by what should have been a great occasion, marred by tragedy and violence as two bombs were detonated in the area of the Finish Line of the Boston Marathon.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>My nephew's new fiance was with her friend near the finish line at the time of the explosions, but luckily escaped without injury. </p>
<p>My thoughts to the families of the 3 people who lost their lives, and to the near 200 that were severely injured by the blasts.</p>
John Shakkar Settineritag:shakkarsplace.com,2005:Post/60648632013-04-06T20:00:00-04:002023-12-10T11:27:28-05:00Q&A
<pre>Grat Massa - Good Morning Shakkar</pre>
<pre>Shakkar - Good Morning, Grat!</pre>
<pre>GM - Before I get to questions about the New CD, let me ask you about your previous CD.</pre>
<pre>Shakkar - FireStorm.. Very memorable project.</pre>
<pre>GM - Well, my first thought is the title, how did you come up with that?</pre>
<pre>Shakkar - It came from the title of a song my nephew and I wrote together.</pre>
<pre>GM - That must have been fun. </pre>
<pre>Shakkar - Indeed. Jared was either 15 or 18, (laughing...). He is a great guitar player. he came up with this Hendrix</pre>
<pre> type riff, complete with drums he arranged on a rhythm machine., and asked me</pre>
<pre> if I could write lyrics to it. I remember I listened to it over and over, then one night I woke at 4 am and wrote all the</pre>
<pre> lyrics. </pre>
<pre>GM - what is the song about?</pre>
<pre>Shakkar - It's my take on musicians and others who fall victim to the limelight.</pre>
<pre>GM - Tell us about your musical background</pre>
<pre>Shakkar - well...I don't have much of one as it relates to formal training. I'm just</pre>
<pre> a huge fan of all music. When I write, it's from the heart, and about</pre>
<pre> my experiences and observations. I'm also tone deaf in my left ear, making </pre>
<pre> me have to work a bit harder.</pre>
<pre>GM - do you play any instruments?</pre>
<pre>Shakkar - No, but if I did...I would have chosen guitar. I may still try and learn bass.</pre>
<pre>GM - how did the music come together for FireStorm?</pre>
<pre>Shakkar - I wrote all the lyrics and presented the musicians a vocal melody of how</pre>
<pre> I would like the song to sound. Luckily for me, I set the songs up well </pre>
<pre> enough that they arranged the music just as I envisioned the song to sound.</pre>
<pre>GM - Following Dreams, great song</pre>
<pre>Shakkar - And deeply personal. I wrote that song starting when I was 18...and while</pre>
<pre> in the studio, I found the cassette I recorded...and finished the song. It has </pre>
<pre> my growing up, and finding myself. I It's a bit of an ode to David Coverdale,</pre>
<pre> as his music was very influential in my adolescent years as well as now.</pre>
<pre>GM - Exlplain Shakkar</pre>
<pre>Shakkar - Are you referring to my name, or the song?</pre>
<pre>GM - Both if you will.</pre>
<pre>Shakkar - Back in 2000, I joined Whitesnake's Bulletin Board, and made a huge amount</pre>
<pre> friends, as well as got to finally chat with David Coverdale, whom I eventually</pre>
<pre> met after a show in Las Vegas! Long story short. my screen name for the.</pre>
<pre> BBS was JShakeMyTree, taken from a Coverdale page tune ( Shake My Tree)</pre>
<pre> David started calling me Shaker for short, so the nickname stuck. Unfortunately</pre>
<pre> when it came time for using that nickname as a professional name...I would find</pre>
<pre> there is a band by the name of Shaker. So...I respelled it. It's actually a Hindu </pre>
<pre> word meaning sugar...or sometimes milk and honey.</pre>
<pre> The song SHAKKAR is a very cool story. I bought a vocal FX Machine and found</pre>
<pre> a setting that made me sound like a guitar. So I setup two different drum patterns</pre>
<pre> and gave it a shot. The engineer and my keyboardist loved the one minute demo I gave </pre>
<pre> them. </pre>
<pre> We bought in a sax player, and Nate Zane, who played keyboard on most of the CD, played </pre>
<pre> trumpet. But the guitar type sound and drums were done by me, so I called it </pre>
<pre> Shakkar.</pre>
<pre>GM - That is a cool story. Considering you don't play drums.</pre>
<pre>GM - OK Let's talk about the new CD</pre>
<pre>Shakkar - Yes.....its a big project. I already have 15 songs mastered and ready to roll. I'm</pre>
<pre> working on two more vocal songs and maybe another instrumental like SHAKKAR.</pre>
<pre>GM - Wow! That's a double CD! What if anything, will the listener find different?</pre>
<pre>Shakkar _ I'm very happy to say, with the exception of 4 songs, I not only wrote the lyrics</pre>
<pre> but I did all the musical arrangements. No musicians were harmed during the </pre>
<pre> making of this CD, LOL!</pre>
<pre>GM - How was that for you?</pre>
<pre>Shakkar - Satisfying and a bit sad at the same time. While I got much satisfaction in</pre>
<pre> arranging and mixing the songs, I certainly missed the interactions with other</pre>
<pre> musicians. I formed really close relationships with Erick my guitarist and Jason</pre>
<pre> the engineer and owner of Project Sound Recording Studio</pre>
<pre>GM - What are some of the highlights to look forward to on the CD?</pre>
<pre>Shakkar - The CD as a whole.....is centered around my life. basically its my life in song, as I</pre>
<pre> grew up, the losses I experienced. I'm especially proud of how a song I wrote for</pre>
<pre> my father turned out. I lost him when I was 16...tough age!</pre>
<pre>GM - and your mom died before you got married. </pre>
<pre>Shakkar - As some people I talk to online may recall, I have mentioned I was adopted. My adoptive </pre>
<pre> mother abused me sexually. I never did get to address this with her, but I wrote a song</pre>
<pre> dealing with this. I hope that others may hear it and they feel empowered to speak up</pre>
<pre> when they feel something is not right.</pre>
<pre>GM - I can't imagine that singing thiat one must have been easy.</pre>
<pre>Shakkar - No, but luckily I recorded my vocals in one take. Honestly, I'm not sure if I'm ready</pre>
<pre> for the response the song may get. But all the same I am glad I wrote it. It was</pre>
<pre> very therapeutic.</pre>
<pre>GM - Good for you., John. When might we expect the CD to drop?</pre>
<pre>Shakkar - I'm hoping late May or early June. All depending on if I finish the songs I'm working on.</pre>
<pre>GM - It certainly sounds like you put a lot of effort into this project. So, its mostly</pre>
<pre> and acoustic project? Any rockers like FireStorm?</pre>
<pre>Shakkar - No screaming guitars, but plenty of up-tempo stuff and some ballads that really hit home</pre>
<pre> for me, hopefully my listeners will feel the same way.</pre>
<pre>GM - Thank you Shakkar</pre>
<pre>Shakkar - My pleasure.</pre>
<pre> </pre>
<pre> </pre>
John Shakkar Settineritag:shakkarsplace.com,2005:Post/60648622013-04-05T20:00:00-04:002021-06-14T19:27:41-04:00Welcome to my Place
<p>Hi Everyone!</p>
<p> Welcome to my new website! Hope you enjoy looking through the different pages. I tried to make it interesting.</p>
<p> </p>
John Shakkar Settineri