Happy Birthday Kevin, it's been 40 years!

It was 40 years ago that Kevin Mannarino and I first met.  Kevin turns 52 today, December 19, 2010 and we've been through a lot together over the years.

Kevin's dad Joe Mann

Kevin's dad owned and operated "Joe Mann Dance Studio" in the 1950's

Kevin's Mom

Joe Mann and two students

Kevin's father and mother on stage

Yep, in the picture below, that's the one and only Uncle Milton and to Kevin he really was Uncle Milton.  From what I've been told Kevin's dad and Milton Berle were very good friends and played a lot of golf together.

Kevin has told me that he can remember sitting on the bottom steps of stairs that led to the practice room when his father had a class going.  As young as he was he didn't know who the Stars were that his father was teaching to dance.  I would love to drop a name or two but I don't quite remember who Kevin has told me some of them were.  However, the fact that Kevin's father was a good friend of Milton Berle should tell you that there were probably more than just a few famous people in Joe Mann's classes.

Keith, Mom & Kevin

After Kevin's father passed away when he was young his mother moved the family to Denver, Co. where Kevin and I would met when we were 12 years old.  My birthday is Nov 19th and Kevin's is Dec 19th and both of us born in the same year, when there were only 48 states in the Union.

I would have to write a book about all the funny times Kevin and I have had.  I'm sure it's like that for so many people in the world.  But, to me Kevin is special.  Kevin was the kid in school who was teased by the kids with low self esteem.  But he seemed to always overcome that.  His mother would later refer to Kevin as my shadow.  Partly because I walked at a strong pace and Kevin would at times lag behind, but more because Kevin was tall and thin so he looked like my shadow, to her.

What first started our friendship was our humor.  There has never been anyone one who has made me laugh so hard I couldn't breath.  Over the years we developed a routine, so to speak, of how we looked at things and commented on them.  He would say one thing and I'd bounce something back.  I'd say something and he'd bounce it back to me.

One of the funniest moments we had as children, and keep in mind this is just one of them, was when I stayed over at Kevin's one weekend.  I needed a bowl for something and I grabbed one.  Kevin replied, "No, that's a salad bowl."  So I grabbed another bowl and he said, "No, that's a soup bowl."  I put that back and grabbed another bowl and that did it.  Kevin hit the floor laughing like he was going to die because I'd grabbed a mixing bowl.  I had no idea there were so many different bowls for so many different uses.  I can't recall what kind of bowl I needed but we could take something like that and fly with it until our stomachs hurt from laughing to much.

Kevin around 15 years old

Kevin started out as a drummer but wanted to play the guitar so I think, I'm not sure, I taught him a few chords.  From there he taught himself scales and eventually did the lead guitar for our first band.

I know you can barely see us in the picture but that's Kevin on the left, me in the middle and Mark Saltus on the right.  We rode out bikes to Kiawa, Co and back to get ready for a 750 mile bike trip at my church.

Kevin was there when I wrote my first song and he was in my first band "The Living Letters".

That's Kevin in the middle next to me over his shoulder.  I always envied his hair because it seemed to do what he wanted to it.  My hair was so curly that it never really looked right long, in the 70's.

The girl next to Kevin, on his right, is Misty his girl friend at the time.  Tragically, it was her daughter Cassie Bernall that stood up and proclaimed she was a Christian during the Columbine shootings and was killed for it. Michael W. Smith released This Is Your Time as a tribute to Cassie.  I remember talking to Kevin on the phone after it happened and he said, "She could have been my daughter."

Kevin was there when we started our next band Omega III in 1976.

Kevin was there when I got out of the Navy and later joined me, my wife and our new son Jerry Jr. in Tuscon, Az.  We tried to work out putting music together but Tuscon wasn't the place to do it.

He's been there when we've played Coffee houses that had no one there except the staff.

And he was there when we recorded our first album together.  You can't see me very well on the right side of the picture but that's us mixing the first album.

Kevin took pictures of me for promotion and after word I got one of him trying to wear my hat.

Like many friends life goes on.  I remarried and Kevin married.  He went his way for a time and I went mine.  By 98' I had put together many of the tracks for my second album and first CD "Standing on the Rock".  But, to put the studio together in the first place required me to constantly call Kevin for advice.

Mann Studios 1993

Kevin, like most musicians, had been banded to the basement by his wife to play his heart out with all of his equipment.  Kevin was the one who knew about all the sound engineering stuff and I called him regularly with frustrating questions about how to record.

By 98' Kevin's studio was complete and I went to Denver to record tracks at Mann Studios.

We not only laid down some great tracks but went right back to our old selves when it came to humor and bouncing things off each other.

I could go on and on and on about Kevin.  There are so many memories after 40 years of friendship.  That's us at my wedding in 2005, he was my Best Man.

Jerry Corelli & Kevin Mannarino.

Kevin has taught me patience and he's taught me tolerance.  He's given me laughter and he's given me his time.  He's recorded on 4 of my albums and never asked for a dime.  We've written music together, written lyrics together and turned them into songs we've recorded together.  He has two sons and I have two sons.  He's Italian and I'm Italian.  He's smart and he's wise and he thinks things through.  He gives and doesn't say what will you give me in return.  We see many things the same and many things differently.  Kevin Mannarino is so much more to me but the best thing I can say about him is, "He's my friend!"  Happy Birthday Kevin!

30th Anniversary of the release of my 1st Album

It's hard to believe it's been 30 years since the release of my first album with a band I had called "Omega III" back in the late 70's & 80's.

The song "King of Kings" written by me and a friend Dale Zwart was the first cut on the album.  The following year Gospel City Records released the song on side "A" of a 45LP.  Since it's the 30th anniversary of the release of the album I thought I'd put a few of the songs on YouTube.

"I'm Not Dead Yet" CD Party Part 1

The party was to start at 7:30 but my wife "Liv" and I got there at 6 to set up for everything.  It was both exciting and sad.  Exciting because that was the day that I would finally be releasing a CD I'd been working on since November 2009 and sad because Jammer's Jammin' Java would be hosting its last event that night.

Jammer & Amy sent out emails a few weeks before the party to let everyone know that Jammer's would be closing its doors.  Through the years I've seen Christian Coffee houses come and go but Jammer's was one I didn't want to ever see close.

Regardless of Jammer's Jammin' Java's fate Amy & Jammer were wonderful hosts and as you can see by the picture Jammer was in a crazed but excited mood about the evening.

Not long after my wife and I arrived Shari Allen from "Creative Cakes by Shari" got there with the cake.  This is one of the first pictures.  Others were taken and I'll post them as they come into us from others at the party.

This CD, "I'm Not Dead Yet", would be my 7th album but with a few firsts.  For example, it's my first album with my picture on the front.  Except for the physical printing of the front and back tray insert this is the first CD manufactured by Corelli Music Group.  Angels Dance Recording Studios has been recording and Mastering for a few years now but we finally took the plunge into CD Manufacturing.

 Front Cover

 Inside sleeve

Tray Insert

"I'm Not Dead Yet" should be available to order on line at CDbaby.com by Friday May 1st and if not by then the following week.  I just checked and the address isn't up yet but it will be www.cdbaby.com/cd/corelli5.  But for now you can also go to www.cdbaby.com/all/jerrycorelli.  To hear tracks from the album you can click on the play button on the ReverbNation player located on the right side of my blog.

more about the CD party later,.....

The Changing Times

From the beginning I only wanted to be a Songwriter. I wasn't interested in performing and never wanted to get involved with technical things like sound engineering, mixing and so on. My dream was to write a song, give it to a performer like Neil Diamond, Barbara Streisand, Bette Midler, etc and of course they'd record it.

Looking back I realize now that what I didn't do was drop everything, grab the guitar and song books and head for L.A. or Nashville. But, after "Marriage Seed" in 1992 the music scene began to change. I was wanting to go back into music and this time give it a real go. But, looking back I knew that if I was to send demos to publishers I'd need good recordings of my songs. So, I called a local studio and booked some time.

I booked about 3 hours and recorded about 4 or 5 songs on an ADAT tape. The engineer rough mixed the songs on to a cassette and when I got home to listen to them I realized it would take a lot more time and money to produce the songs the way they were in my head. Thus began the journey to gather recording equipment.

Corelli & Mannarino

My best friend Kevin Mannarino who I've known since we were 12 years old was into the engineering side of recording, as well as lead guitar, vocal and songwriting. It was through him and his knowledge of recording gear and experience that I began the slow process of putting together my own studio. Back then since I lived in Tacoma, WA and Kevin lived in Denver, Co we would send cassette tapes back and forth to each other instead of letters. I had been working on a title for a song that I wanted to write but only had the title, "Grandfather Moon". I hadn't talked to Kevin about it but when he sent a cassette letter he had included some lyrics too. And there it was! The lyrics to 2 songs "Angels Dance" and "Grandfather Moon".

It was about 1995 or 96' that "Grandfather Moon" was written and it took until 2008 for me to record it. "Angels Dance" was recorded first on my first CD "Standing on the Rock" in 1998. I named my studio "Angels Dance Recording Studio" and Kevin's recording studio was named in memory of his father "Joe Mann", Mann Recording Studios"

Grandfather Moon - Jerry Corel...

I was thrilled when it worked out that Kevin did the Lead Guitar on my 2008 "Grandfather Moon" CD. But that first CD "Standing on the Rock" was something else to record.

First, I had to put together a studio with physical equipment. A Kawai electric piano with midi capabilities, an Alesis 8 Track ADAT, a DAT recorder for mixing it all down, a mixing board, reverb module, compression module and not to mention good recording mics. So here I was doing what I didn't want to do and that was sound engineering. Now around this time my cousin, Brett Helling, introduced me to the world of midi. Back in 1997 it was totally new to me. He gave me a program called "Cakewalk" that took me about 6 months to learn. In addition to the program he also did the guitar work on "The Rock". The Rock was recorded at his place in Spokane Washington. He named his Studio after his father and called it "Mert's Place Studios". The fact was that he had the same ADAT set up Kevin had in Denver and I had in Tacoma. So, when I went to Spokane to record "The Rock" Brett's set up was in his Master bedroom.

The first tracks were done as Brett doubled as sound engineer and Alesis SR16 drum machine operator. Brett found the beat we were looking for in the verses and then one for the Chorus. He started the machine and I played along with my ovation and recorded my vocal at the same time. So we laid down the drum tracks, ovation and lead vocal in about 2 or 3 takes and then he kept the ADAT to lay down the Bass guitar, electrics and Lead electric. The version here is the newer version I re-released on my "Righteous Man" CD. I wanted the strings in the song and back up vocals but couldn't do that in the first version for lack of tracks and digital midi understanding.

The Rock - Jerry Corelli

The Early Years

The first time I went into a studio to record was in 1979. We originally went in to record a demo of 3 or 4 songs but was offered a small indie contract to record a full album. At the time Omega III consisted of Jerry Corelli, Kevin Mannarino and Cherilyn LeCrone my wife at the time. Looking back it was magical. I didn't realize, at the time, what was happening.

To be honest I thought that was simply how it happened. You just walked into a studio to record a demo, they saw your talent and of course offered you a contract because you were the next best thing to sliced bread. Looking back I now realize how rare that was and how, because of my youth, I messed the whole thing up.

After the album was recorded two songs, "King of Kings" and "Through my Eyes" were put on a 45 lp. Here is the "A" side of that 45, King of Kings.

King of Kings - Jerry Corelli

Side two of the 45 was "Through my eyes".

Through my Eyes - Jerry Corelli

Below are the members of that first album. Perry Boyer, Jerry Corelli, Kevin Mannarino and Cherilyn LeCrone.