SAXBOY Saxophone Player Greg Vail - sax

Greg and Michele Vail February 11, 2012

Greg Vail — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:36:38 GMT

I am MARRIED! Michele and I got hitched on the 11th of February, 2012! I am very excited about all the positive changes going on right now and love my wife! She is soooooooo awesome!!

I have been buried with my sons wedding February 4th, our wedding the 11th, moving Michele into the house February 1st, and now, moving my condo and business into the house before months end! So much going on but all for amazing reasons! I am so blessed! We had a perfect and blessed wedding and the honeymoon was amazing!

Ceremony was in Mission Viejo at an amazing location - Arroyo Trabucco Golf Club - THANKS to Alyson Gabaldon for making it so perfect in every way and to Meghan for all the help!
Flowers were organized and arranged by Cindy Mayo Floral and Event Designs - AMAZING! Photography was done by Ryan Garvin - So beautiful! Even with me in the pics!!!
My cousin Jeanette at Heidelberg Pastry Shop made the most beautiful wedding cakes!! Love my Jeanette!!
Our Pastors ROCKED - Thanks to Cindy and Ellis Brust at Epiphany Church in Mission Viejo, CA.
Mary Opperman and Jamie Findlay sounded great at the Ceremony - awesome classical music guys!
OUR Band was amazing! The house guys - Dean Grech guitar vocals and leader -- Hal Ratliff keys -- Alec Milstein bass and vocals -- Nat Scott drums. ALL 4 guys are leaders in their own right!!
Thanks sooooo much for rockin' the party so hard and the many guest musicians that participated - Tony Guerrero trumpet -- Mark Divers trombone -- Jeff and Vangie Gunn vocals (Jeff killed on the father daughter dance) -- Bobby Cruz keys and vocals -- Suzanne Cruz drums -- Martin Gerschwitz keys and vocals -- Blake Arron guitar -- and of course Michele Knight Vail, the BRIDE on DRUMS --
Yes - I did get to play some sax too!!

THEN - we headed off to Laguna Beach and spent the night at an amazing hotel on the water - then flew to Las Vegas and stayed at the Monte Carlo (had an amazing dinner with the Gunn's who came out to treat us to some fine dinning!) Then we drove to ZION in Utah - the most beautiful place I have ever visited! We had a perfect wedding!! We had a perfect Honeymoon! God is sooooooo good!! From the beach to the big city to a snowy wonderland hiking, sight seeing and even went repelling down the side of slot canyon cliffs! UNBELIEVABLE!

Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club
Address: 26772 Avery Parkway
Mission Viejo, CA 92692

Alyson Gabaldon Banquet Director

Phone: (949) 305-5100

Cindy L. Mayo - Floral & Event Designs

Phone	1 949.599.6590
Email	CindyLMayo@yahoo.com

Location	Irvine, CA
About	Ryan Garvin Photography

Description	Wedding & Lifestyle Photographer

Phone	1 719.237.0424
Email	contact@ryangarvin.com
Website	http://www.ryangarvin.com

Heidelberg Pastry Shop
25260 La Paz Rd Suite B
Laguna Hills, CA 92653
Phone: 949-581-7060 Fax: 949-581-7126
Email: Heidelbergpastry@aol.com
Jeanette Takacs

Ryan Garvin Photography

Location
Irvine, CA

About
Ryan Garvin Photography

Description
Wedding & Lifestyle Photographer

Phone
1 719.237.0424

Email
contact@ryangarvin.com

Website
http://www.ryangarvin.com

Epiphany Church - So Cal - Mission Viejo
Ellis and Cindy Brust - Pastors

Weekly Worship Gatherings:
Schedule:
Sunday at 5pm
Childcare Provided

Norman Murray Community Center
24932 Veterans Way, Mission Viejo, CA 92992

Mary Lazarian Oppermann

Classical Flute and Wedding Music Coordinator

Email	maryflute@aol.com

Facebook	http://facebook.com/maryflute

Jamie Findlay- Acoustic Guitar - wedding Ceremony

Address:
	USA

Website: www.jamiefindlay.com

E-mail:	jamie@jamiefindlay.com
Telephone:	818-321-0586

Dean Grech - www.deangrech.com
Hal Ratliff - www.facebook.com/people/Hal-Ratliff/100001844521364
Alec Milstein - www.milsteinmusic.com
Nat Scott - www.natscott.com
Tony Guerrero - tonyguerrero.com
Mark Divers - www.diverstudio.com/
Jeff and Vangie Gunn - www.jeffandvangiegunn.com
Bobby Cruz - www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=573490434
Suzanne Cruz - www.suzannemorissette.com
Martin Gerschwitz - martingerschwitz.com
Blake Aaron - www.blakeaaron.com

THANKS TO THE MANY MANY PEOPLE THAT GAVE TO MAKE THIS DAY A FOREVER TO REMEMBER KINDA DAY!!

Greg and Michele love you all!!

OUR WEDDING DAY VIDEO 8)~

THE FIRST FEW WEDDING PHOTO'S POSTED on FLICKr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gvsaxboy/sets/72157629065140216/

WEDDINGS and Valentine's Day in February

Greg Vail — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:25:46 GMT

So busy with my son, Ben's wedding to Olivia coming in a few days AND my wedding to my bride - Michele Knight a week away! We have Michele in the house (GOT IT- YEAH!) and I will be moving over thru February. Getting her unpacked and getting ready for Ben and Olivia's wedding now! Rehearsal Dinner is tonight!

This is the month of LOVE! So much love and so many awesome celebrations lie ahead. I updated the Sax Video site with Love Songs and have started posting them on Face Book, Orkut and MySpace to share the Love. Please feel free to SHARE a video with a loved one! That's why they are set up to share! Send it to your significant other as a free and cool way to say I Love YOU!! I also have the Saxophone Love Songs site to share all the Love Song Videos from! So many modern ways to SHARE THE LOVE!

Here are a few so you don't have to click off the page at all.......

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

YOU TUBE Not looking so hot....

Greg Vail — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:43:56 GMT

What’s up with You Tube??

Many lame issues have been growing problems for You Tube content providers over the past year. I see this as a direction change and the beginning of the demise of this power house – GOOGLE / You Tube and affiliates. It looks like they have become too big for there own britches. They appear to be working the cash flow and look to be pretty dishonest and evil as of late.

I had a You Tube channel that was doing really well for a few years. Things have changed. There have been many Copyright Infringement claims changed on my account over the past year and the residual fallout is very lame to say the least.

I was doing around 4,000 views a day before things went left. Then some non-existent organization called the Music Publishing Rights Society started flagging videos on my channel as Copyright Infringement matches. The beauty of this is – there is no organization. There is no website, no online presence, no one to contact, dispute claims with, no face at all to this “ORGANIZATION.”

I believe, as to thousands of other users on You Tube, that this is nothing more than a scam. When a content match is served, ads begin to be shown on your page, next to the video. Since these ads are generating income, the person or persons receiving this income are guilty of stolen Copyright. Wouldn’t matter if it is a scam artist or the big owner of You Tube scamming people with false claims, This is a scam.

If you search the term “Music Publishing Rights Society” you will see what I mean. All you will find is thousands of pissed youtube users screaming about there music and there video being falsely charged and advertisements added to create income for someone!

The process is broken and has to be illegal based on the laws of copyright in the USA. You can’t steal other peoples creations! This makes me angry!

Lets look at the ONLY presence of an online identity from Face Books page claiming to be the 'organization'.

Basic Information

Founded	2005
About	You get the pleasure of posting videos We get the pleasure of making money from your videos It's a win-win situation

Company Overview	We are the Music Publishing Rights Collecting Society. In other words, we are a society that collects rights from the publishing of music onto sites like YouTube.
Mission	Our mission is to file copyright claims so that ads will be placed onto certain videos, and we will be able to make money off of them. We do not seek to have anyone's videos blocked in certain countries or disabled altogether, all we are trying to do is make a bit of money. That's not so bad, is it?
Products	A wide variety of people post videos containing content that belongs to our organization. We didn't make the music ourselves, but nonetheless we can still make money from it.

NICE!?!?!!

Lets add insult to injury….

YouTube treats these as valid claims!! In a country where innocent until proven guilty is the claim, you are guilty and have to prove innocence. The process is easy enough but comes with further issues. YouTube has a dispute page that you can dispute these false claims. BUT - The process seems to create a mark against you in the process.

I mentioned earlier that my video views are down from 4000 a day to 1500 a day. It would appear that YouTube begins to cap the view counts. For instance (and the motivation for todays post and rant) I am hovering very close to 1500 views a day right now so I decided to pump a video hard to push past this artificial count.

I was viewing views for 2 days ago and found my views for that clip halted at exactly 1300 views for that day. BUT, a quick look at views for the top 10 clips shows over 1500 views just adding the first 3 clips together. I have over 50 clips and all of them get views everyday! It was so obvious that they are not counting thousands of views in my total count everyday that I checked a few other days – more of the same.

I don’t think there is any explanation other than marks being held against me for these false claims! Let me use the most recent as an example.

I got a Copyright Infringement claim on MY video of Silent Night. Obviously in the public domain forever. Every picture is mine, from my camera, taken by me. The recording is MY CD with MY record label producing the clip and I HAVE FULL OWNERSHIP of EVERYTHING USED IN THIS CLIP.

This being my 10^th Copyright Infringement claim, I was not very friendly on the Dispute form. Of couse the process takes the notice off my account as the check to see if that non-existent ‘organization’ will counter the dispute, but in the meantime I have another mark against me and wait to be vindicated for posting my own music and images – Guilty until reluctantly deemed innocent.

Do the views go back and the counter magically start being more accurate after the claim and dispute process – NO!

Another odd observation was made last year when I saw Copyright Infringement claims being made on videos other people had posted with my music. The claimant in those claims were another Smooth Jazz record label that owns nothing! They were taking down videos that they had NO Right to even make the claim in the first place.

I have no idea why and am not happy when I go to a video I linked to show off another video creators handwork, is gone from false claims. The realities are really sucking at YouTube right now.

Some of this is really just effecting the view count. As stated above, I know they are capping my views and that is their call. I don’t pay anything for this service and they can be as big a dicks as they want to if it is all there space and servers.

Unfortunately, some of this is costing views in the RELATED video placements. I used to do more views from RELATED VIDEOS on the right side of the page than I did from actual searches on YouTube. The value was amazing since people discovered my music from the RELATED suggestions on the right.

This benefit is all but gone since few of my clips show in prominent space, high on the RELATED list. I know it costs me nothing to be on You Tube but the time and frustration. As the frustration mounts, the decision to leave You Tube becomes more of a reality.

Every major brand seems to forget there are want-to-be’s ready and waiting to take their glory and income base. Look at My Space – a household name that didn’t care about users and thought they owned the word SOCIAL. I have not been to any of my MySpace pages in forever. It is done. The same process is happening on Face Book. What many could not live a day without, many are checking every week or so and I have friends that have closed it down – no value perceived whatsoever.

I have watched this process too many times in every area of the business world. The only place to go from the top is down. You Tube is at a horrible stage of it’s life cycle. If things continue, we will see nothing but paid corporate clips and funny baby and cat videos – nothing in between. Vimeo - http://vimeo.com/ has become the cool, creative host for high quality content by the serious video content providers! There are other options too.

But the reality is this – You Tube is really pissing me off. The day will likely come when the pain of leaving is less than the pain of staying…. This day seems to be getting closer…

Will corporate America ever learn?!?!? They need us to make those billions of dollars! They actually need us…..

SAXBOY ~ Greg Vail

NAMM 2012 wrap-up

Greg Vail — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:51:12 GMT

The NAMM Show is done! This year was a surprise! We all watched the industry shake and struggle when the recession added to the already existing cultural shift away from artist getting paid for anything. The music industry was in trouble long before the recession ever started. The NAMM Show was like the old days this year!

I have been saying it all day now! If you went to the show this year and didn't know better, you would think we were all driving new cars and had houses paid off! It seemed bigger than ever! I am praying that this was not some odd anomaly and it might be a new direction. Only time will tell.

It was pretty awesome!

In sax land - nothing huge to talk about. Last year Yamaha released the new Z Soprano and I saw nothing even close this year from any of the sax makers. Selmer, Yanagisawa and Keilwerth USED TO BE the big 4 with Yamaha. Last year it was obvious things are shifting and this year looked the same. Yamaha has a presence at the show, the other 3 seem like history. The up-starts are showing up pretty big to fill in the gaps and I believe time will be the death of 3 of the big 4 of yesteryear.

The ONE new thing is sax land is an old thing, really! Copies of famous sax players mouthpieces! Les Berkeley started it with a Getz piece last year and this year I saw lots of copy mouthpieces. Do you want to try Sanborn's mouthpiece? You can just by an authorized copy now! I think many new copies will be at the show next year!

Saw tons of cool peeps! Was in the way for Stevie's entourage! So funny when a huge group moves thru with a star! Played a bunch this year - small stuff but really fun! Finally meet and hung with Tim Price! So many awesome players and moments! Tons of video and pictures to sort but not much will be online until I get a wedding and honeymoon all finished up!

Gotta blast for now - still feeling trashed from the 18 hour days at NAMM!!

SEE MORE PICS - CLICK ON PIC - Descriptions and Details coming soon......

Jan 2012 - NAMM Show - Greg's getting married

Greg Vail — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:43:55 GMT

Jan 2012 - NAMM Show - Greg's getting married in 3 weeks!!
The short list is LONG! We are trying to nail down the house, finish wedding plans, find the cash to pay, and dealing with all the last minute stuff for Ben Vail's wedding - in 2 WEEKS!~

SO - I have been hiding at NAMM!

National Association of Music Merchants is the biggest Music Convention in the USA! Every January in Anaheim California, the long hairs, crazy people and industry take over the Disneyland area for a weekend of mayhem.

I will post much more on this in a couple weeks - after the wedding! But for now - a new night time shot of the Convention Center taken last night and the videos from past years below - so you can have a better understanding of the crazy NAMM Show - This years NAMM - January 2012!

Past years clips....

PLEASE Check back soon for the NEW CLIPS!! AND Pics!!!! Gotta run - Playing 3 shows today at the Sonic Core Booth - Hall E - 1167 - AND 2 shows tomorrow with Magnetiq (Sunday)!!!! Awesome fun!!!!

Happy New Years - HELLO 2012!!

Greg Vail — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 23:37:35 GMT

2011 has been an interesting year with many amazing things that occurred!

The biggest is a personal change – I am in love and getting married in February of this new year!! I am sooooo blessed by an amazing woman and new children and grandchildren to love! Michele is my brides name! I can’t imagine doing life without her! She totally rocks my world!

My kids are doing great too. My son Ben, graduated from Northridge earlier this year and began a 2 year internship at USC with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, training to be a campus pastor! I could not be more proud. BenVail.com! My baby Vanessa is doing great! She is an awesome people lover and friend to sooooo many people! I bought her VanessaVail.com for Christmas and we will watch together as her path unfolds.

So – getting married and kids are blowing me away!

The business – been another hard year for work, income is lower again and opportunities are less overall – but I am working in what I love and surviving thus far – thank you Jesus!

I did my first big interview this year – the Saxophone Journal Jan/Feb 12 is coming out very soon (since today is New Years Eve!) I am excited about the interview and really blessed to be heading out to NAMM this year with a feature, cover article in a major magazine!

Online things have been busting! Greg Vail dotcom hit all new highs this year! December is always my big month yet I have never really beat the 25,000 page views ceiling – until 2011! The site is at 29,000 pages and I am excited! I know I had some help from Conan O’Brien when he listed my site as dead on his site. Traffic soared and the article served as a nice little review, pretty accurate and very good for visibility! Then there are 7 Christmas Sites online all pointing at the site, so traffic is a big thing every December.

Overall traffic for Greg Vail dotcom is up and I am encouraged. When Socials really started taking off, the old school static sites saw big drops in traffic. Now that Socials have settled down and people are not LIVING on Face Book, we are all seeing a move back to real sites for information and away from “Johnny said….” Internet research and information. There are lame static sites out there too but I do have to say they are a little more reliable than some high school dude mouthing off on a forum or social.

What do search stats say? Saxophone videos, pictures, sound clips (and Christmas music for about 6 weeks a year) are the big draw in my corner of the world.

A quick look thru search stats for my 25 sites online shows areas of interest have not changed much over the past few years. You Tube changed the world! I think Face Book, My Space and ‘fill in the blank’ have disrupted the world with minimal change other than bringing us together and pushing news to real time.

You Tube accounts for more than half of all the traffic on the internet today. The visibility from a viral video will actually change lives. I have spent a bunch of time and developed a site to promote my sax video clips – all of that is going GREAT!

In 2011 I have had over 875,000 video views!! I now have 63 video clips on my main channel – gvsaxboy. Please note that these views involved no naked women, animals or babies doing anything cute and NO ONE was injured in the making of these clips. This number only covers MY CHANNEL views. I have a B Channel and there are 140 videos online, posted by fans and friends that account for many more views!!

Pictures are on my sites all over the web and I have a dedicated picture site on FLICKr. The picture views are many, everyday! I have over 157,000 views to date and counting. I wish I had a glimpse of views for all the sites or for all videos or all pics. The traffic is great to these sites and I am always excited seeing people enjoy music, pics and vids.

2012 is looking very bright! I did receive my copy of Saxophone Journal today and it is awesome seeing my face on the cover. The article is really good but rambles a bit JUST LIKE ME.

I have to play for the Tournament of Roses New Years party tonight and must get running.

Happy New Years and many Blessings in the New Year!!

God bless y’all

gvSAXBOY – Greg Vail and Greg Vail Music

Merry Christmas 2011!!!!!!

Greg Vail — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 18:40:30 GMT

Merry Christmas and virtual hugs are going out to everybody - far and wide.....

I am soooo blessed! This year is almost done and was survived! Every time we face a new set of challenges - we have a new set of choices - to fold the hand or to play and pray! I am so grateful that life continues to work out by God's grace, and there are many exciting things coming in 2012!

I want to share 2 things today - The Saxophone Journal Jan/Feb 2012 features an interview by Greg Vail - hope you check it out!

I posted another NEW Christmas Video - AMAZING!!

4 Days until Christmas and I still want more clips to share.....

We Three Kings - Greg Vail Music - Christmas The Hymns CD 1999
features Greg Vail on Flute, Ben Vail (11 years old) on Saxophone

Merry Christmas 2011 - new YouTube Post!!

Greg Vail — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:22:25 GMT

Merry Christmas y'all!!

Out in South Dakota freezing my butt off and loving it all the way.
NEW CHRISTMAS VIDEO JUST ADDED on You Tube!!

Love CHRISTMAS MUSIC and Christmas Time!! Lovin' this Christmas BIG TIME!

NEW CHRISTMAS CD - Dean Grech, Hal Ratlif, Greg Vail, Reggie and Sherry - I have no idea how to get it other than locals need to come out to Long Beach - Forbidden City - Wednesdays till Christmas...

CHRISTMAS JAM is THIS NEXT SUNDAY - Lake Forest CA - Scarantino's on Bridger and El Toro.
Greg's Christmas Calendar
Greg Vail Web gig post CALENDARS

Got to get to a staff meeting this morning!

Merry Christmas all!!!!

Greg Vail - gvSAXBOY

ICE and South Dakota

Greg Vail — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 17:46:34 GMT

This is a cold place - was just told it made the top 10 COLDEST CITES in America list! Sioux Falls South Dakota!!

I have no idea - I just know I cant feel my feet right now.

Posted a clip to Face Book - good for a laugh - California kids don't know much about cold.....

Church services start in a few hours here - gotta get a HOT SHOWER and back into the thermals....

Greg Vail - Celebrate Church - Sioux Falls South Dakota

CHRISTMAS - a new video posted on YouTube - again....

Greg Vail — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 03:42:34 GMT

Hey y'all - out and about again - this time I am back in South Dakota!!
It is 9 degrees right now and that is cold, even if you are from here. (YES I KNOW - 40 below is really cold too...)
There is little snow to be found yet, but the frost seems to add up and look like snow!
I had a fun morning trying to figure out how to see out of the windows on the car to get to work. The windshield wipers just scrapped over the top and the car took FOREVER to warm up enough to make a dent thru that stuff. It kinda looked like little snow flakes - stuck to the windows and not coming off. I put my murse (guy purse) on the back trunk and it rolled to the street - right off the frozen solid car. YES - I shot video as I froze in the car trying to figure it all out.... California kids could never know what my Sioux Falls friends seem to know (and not mention till it is a funny story).

THEY ARE MAKING FUN OF MY FUZZY HAT - They don't have them here - In the really cold place - but sell them in Orange County?? You Know - those Russian Eskimo looking hats. SD mocks me - but one cool guy - Ryan - is going to steal it or have me mail him one back from Orange County. I should have brought a truck load with me....

STORIES - It was Wednesday Night - I was rushing home from a gig to get some sleep before a really early flight! Michele had come with me and we heard an odd sound at one point just after hitting the road, like something hit the bottom of the car. WEIRD - home - move a car out of the street sweep zone and I can't find my phone. We get back together and both realize - THAT SOUND in LONG BEACH was my phone!
YES - we were now in Mission Viejo - more than an hour had past - I had to be at the airport at 630am - I was going to be cut off from the world in a few hours!
WHAT DO YOU DO??
I went all the way back to Long Beach and spent an hour walking around Second Street near PCH looking for a phone! We both remembered the area we heard the sound, but it was still a long road and VERY DARK and COLD! (Well - not as cold as 9 degrees 8)
I found the phone! It had been run over a dozen or more times - was in the gutter - had the mini SD card still but I could not find the chip anywhere. The battery was up the road, folded in half! Oh well.
I bailed - got home really really late - got help packing - had a short nap and left for Sioux Falls - late - but made the flight! Thanks Michele for helping!!

Thursday was fly day right up to an airport pick up and long rehearsal. Friday AM I had a staff meeting and was quick to bail on the office to hit the ATT store! Buying a new phone is as bad as a new car! It took me 2+ hours?? Maybe more time.... Unbelievable!

SO - got a new phone - It's called a big square thing with NO REAL BUTTONS for texting! BUT - the G4 stuff actually makes the data plan count for something! AND - this Androidish thing has a real GPS in it! I LOVE THAT! NO more GOOGLE maps - lost and confused! I love Michele's navigation and now I have one too!!

Side note - Grandpa Rule left me on unlimited Data - even on the G4! That was cool.

LOVE THIS PHONE - has weather - loaded Sioux Falls - IT IS 5 degrees - DRUM ROLL PLEASE
><><<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
BUT IT FEELS LIKE 7!!

Still laughing!!

OK NEW POST - Finished this Christmas Sax Video Wednesday Morning - processed it mid morning - loaded it during work - never really got to tell anyone other than FB - SO HERE IT IS>>>>>

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town - Greg Vail Tenor Saxophone - Is It Christmas Yet? CD - Greg Vail Music 2004

Done with stories - Christmas time - fun and crazy time!

Happy Thanksgiving to all! 2011 Holidays are HERE!!

Greg Vail — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 20:09:54 GMT

A SPECIAL virtual hug goes out today as we start Thanksgiving Day festivities here in the US! We are so blessed to be alive and have some food for the day! God is sooooo good!

I thank God this day for the amazing woman He blessed me with! Michele had a bad fall 2 weeks ago and we have had tests and concerns that felt scarey. Today we have the results back on the MRI, EEG and the others done over the last weeks and she is GREAT! Nothing scarey was found! WHAT AN AMAZING BLESSING to hit Thanksgiving Day with!! I AM SO GRATEFUL THAT MY FUTURE WIFE IS HEALTHY!!

SOOOOO EXCITED!!

My Children are truly amazing! Vanessa is a people person and a love bug - loved by SOOOO MANY people I can't even get started - a truly blessed and awesome little girl!
Ben is getting married the week before Michele and I - is training to be a Campus Pastor with Inter-varsity Christian Fellowship and just got a manager promotion at his day job after just a few weeks of work because he ROCKS!
My soon to be step kids are all amazing and I am still getting to know and realize just how amazing! I am also an instant Grandpa with my Michele's daughter having 2 amazing little guys! Life is amazing and so full of awesome people!
My family is so supportive of a really odd job choice and my many aspirations! Love my Mom and Sisters Wendy and Sharon!
I have literally dozens of real friends that are amazing in every corner of my world! I can't feel anymore blessed if I tried!!! I am serious!

I love my Lord and Savior Jesus sooooo much!! Every good blessing comes from above! Many don't give thanks where thanks is due! Health, and place to sleep, some food coming my way, soooooooo many blessings!!! Thanks you JESUS!

Have an awesome Holiday season!

I finished a new video last night - very late.
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - 4 Jazz and Bossa Nova - featuring Sherry Weismann vocals and Greg Vail Sax!

Thanks for being an awesome part of my world!!

Christmas 2011 - another new Christmas Video Posted TODAY!!

Greg Vail — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 19:36:54 GMT

So excited that Christmas is just 33 days away! THAT'S RIGHT!! 33 Days until CHRISTMAS 2011!!

I have started adding new Christmas Videos on You Tube for Christmas 2011 and you can see the last clip from my Is It Christmas Yet? CD posted here on the Sax Player's Blog, down a post. I edited my version of Christmas Time Is Here to feature the Soprano Sax and really like the way that video turned out!

The NEW Christmas Sax Video just posted is from my Christmas the Hymns CD - Traditional Christmas Carols - Instrumentals featuring the Sax and Flute! This clip features What Child Is This and Away in the Manger - both Traditional Instrumental Christmas Carols. The video footage is Christmas Pictures of a beautiful manger scene taken by myself. The video was also produced and created by me, just last night.

I hope you enjoy - What Child Is This and Away in the Manger - Greg Vail - Christmas the Hymns CD
A-Vail_Able at -
AMAZON
iTunes
CDBaby

Christmas Video JUST ADDED - Christmas Time Is Here!!!

Greg Vail — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:03:09 GMT

It is that time of year! Getting colder even in Southern California. We even had rain last week and grey skies for a few days. 8)

Leaves are falling, green and brown are on the increase as the cold rolls in and the fall hits the south land. I love this time of year. Thanksgiving is around the corner and then - CHRISTMAS IS HERE!!!

This Christmas I am working earlier than ever on prep for the season. I even finished my first NEW CHRISTMAS VIDEO yesterday! I am amazed! I always seem to post them too late, or really early for next Christmas 8)

So - here is the new Christmas Video on You Tube -
Greg Vail featured on Soprano Saxophone
Is It Christmas Yet? CD on Greg Vail Music
The song - my favorite - Christmas Time Is Here.......
Merry Christmas 2011!!!

NEW SAX VIDEO on You Tube!

Greg Vail — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 08:57:28 GMT

It has been too long! Life has been crazy! Work is slow and more time is spent trying to find work all the time. Life goes on, but many of the simple pleasures have been reduced this past year.

My You Tube videos are always doing great online, yet nothing new has been posted in a long time. I finally got some time set aside and produced a new clip of a favorite track off my Smooth Jazz Classics CD by Grover Washington Jr.

Please enjoy and share if you would like - Make Me a Memory - Just in time for the Holidays!! Life, at least the good parts are the memories we make everyday - and those magic moments weave together to display a tapestry of love, family, friends and special times!

I love the title - Make Me a Memory!!

Greg Vail on Soprano Saxophones - Make Me a Memory

You Tube 2 million follow up

Greg Vail — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 17:10:53 GMT

I get lots of email and questions about getting viewed on You Tube - I have articles, information and helps on my Sax Video Site - Sax Video TV
The site has Video Players with my music set up by instrument and by musical styles. It also has articles I have written about things I have learned studying YOU TUBE!

I mention videos that I have not posted - they have been posted by other people on their channels on You Tube. I wanted to post a player so you can see some - ONLY 11 HOURS of play time if you want to put it on early and let it roll all day!!

There are 130+ clips here - many other clips have been posted and taken down over the past few years. I wish I had kept a list and accounting to give y'all a sense of how big You Tube can make a little sax player!

ENJOY

YOU TUBE LANDMARK - 2 MILLION VIEWS!

Greg Vail — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 20:46:30 GMT

YOU TUBE LANDMARK -

2 MILLION VIEWS!

WOW - I still can't believe - with all the BS from You Tube - we still hit 2 million views on my main channel - gvSAXBOY!

I have over 50 videos up - pretty basic - with my music - featuring the sax - live and CD recordings - over the past few years performances and projects! I am so glad people are watching them and the music is spreading thru the web.

A few of my business friends have asked the uncomfortable question about how much money that means I have made from all those views. The answer is nothing. I don't have a business guys heart I guess. I just get excited knowing the music is getting heard and appreciated! I would love to have a little money coming in but You Tube is complicated when it comes to the business and music - so we do what we can do!

The day came earlier in the week - I announced it on Face Book and never made it over here to shout it out. I have been fighting a flu and have not been able to keep op on much this past few days.... Happy to say I feel a lot better today and totally thank my GF for making healthy food and pampering me into health! God is good - I really hope I am over this and back to my game!

SO - You Tube has been a trip as of late, but the views keep coming and 2 Million is gonna be hard to beat for a while. I have seen weekly new You Tube Videos from fan channels on You Tube and posted a few of those last BLOG post. Here are the latest Fan Clips posted.....

REMINDER - my 2 MILLION VIEWS ONLY accounts for MY Channel - I have 140 clips up from other You Tube fan pages and some have been huge - some small. I would guess at least another million views have come from these clips since a few have gone into deep 100's of thousands - some have been taken down.... It is impossible to really know anymore - just saying....

NEW You Tube CLIPS to listen to Greg -

NEW CLIPS ARE COMING FROM GREG - I just got sick and could not get to them. I also have an entire summer of pictures to address - FLICKr will be jammed for a bit soon!

Thanks for dropping by and celebrating with me!

Greg Vail - Sax - gvSAXBOY

You Tube and NEW VIDEO Posts

Greg Vail — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 04:33:07 GMT

YOU TUBE SAX VIDEOS

The big You Tube News is - WE ARE GOING TO HIT 2 MILLION VIEWS next week!! We are talking 2 MILLION video views on my personal channel - gvSAXBOY - a music channel with no gimmicks - just simple music videos.

If you are a You Tube content provider, you will understand how huge that is. Sure some people get 2 million views of a kid laughing or cat playing piano, but we are talking real basic music clips of just simple, quality saxophone for YouTube! I love that! AND love you people for watching, commenting, subscribing and sharing clips all over the web! THANK YOU!!!!

This 2 MILLION MARK does not include my other channel, the over 140 videos now online and taken down over the years of my music, or the many sites that steal You Tube Content. These views are in the millions also! I have tried to add these up or estimate and it is to dang hard! The main thing I focus on is the clips I have posted to my channel and this is what we celebrate!

Here are a few clips from other channels I really like. A few a little bit racy but really beautiful and better quality than I can produce from my little office. I try hard, but know I am no video expert!

ENJOY - Magnetiq - Greg Vail EWI - Crystal Silence - just posted

Just To See Her - Greg Vail Tenor Sax - From Emotion CD 2001

Another post a week earlier of Just To See Her - Greg Vail Tenor Sax

My most viewed to date video clip from my latest CD - Love's Gift - Greg Vail Tenor Sax

A Favorite Video Clip from my B Channel - Straight Saxes

Greg Vail main channel on You Tube is gvSAXBOY
My second - side channel is SAXBOYvid
Please check out my Video Site - Sax Video TV

Thanks for watching and for stopping in at the blog - so much going on with product videos, reviews, interviews, magazine article for Saxophone Journal, and - YOU TUBE!!

LOTS OF EXCITING GOING ON.........

Greg Vail — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:11:05 GMT

Hey folks - this has gotta be a quickie since I am running like crazy since returning home from South Dakota on Monday. The conference, Worship concert and 5 weekend services were awesome this past week in Sioux Falls! My Celebrate Church family is growing and changing! I LOVE THEM SO!

AWESOME WEEK LAST WEEK!

SO - Home to an opportunity for a cover page article with the Saxophone Journal!! Very excited and so NOT READY for this. Took pictures last night after my gig and posted them on FACE BOOK - all my pages have the link (OR here - http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150333806127633.339512.28666412632&type=3 )

GO LOOK and VOTE - I need to send this package out fast and have a horrible time picking pics of ME!

Thanks!!

YAMAHA DAY TODAY!

Heading off to play thru some new prototypes and necks! I LOVE GEAR!! I LOVE YAMAHA! A Yamaha gear day is soooo fun!!

Then I will be taping for a Yamaha product video for a new keyboard with Tony Windle - a few tracks I am told..... Always fun taping live music....

I am also awaiting a shipment of saxophones from WWBW for video taping reviews - Love LOve LOVE when boxes full of saxophones show up at my doorstep!!!

GOTTA Run now but had to share some of the crazy for this week!!

Love and hugs to all!
See Wedding plan post and Conan o'Brian news below - always more down the page!!

ONE MORE THING!!!

HAHAHAA!

You Tube VIEWS for my main gvSAXBOY channel WILL HIT 2 MILLIONS Next week!!!

2 MILLION VIEWS on MY CHANNEL - This is not to mention my side channel, and the 138 videos with views on OTHER PEOPLES CHANNELS with my music!!

FEELING TRULY BLESSED!!

1 more - My wedding ring arrived Tuesday and it is AMAZING!! So excited to be getting married to this AMAZING WOMAN! February - come quickly!

Gotta run....................

Music Publishing Rights Collecting Society - SCAM?

Greg Vail — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 20:16:34 GMT

Who is the Music Publishing Rights Collecting Society??

Nobody really knows......

The "Society" has been attacking videos on You Tube for months now, claiming Copyright infringement and placing adds on these pages for the profit of someone - but the question is who??

I have been searching this "organizations" name on GOOGLE for a while now. Today's search in quotes gave me 14 pages of returns that ask the question, "Who are they?" or simply vent and call them bad words.

The weirdest thing was finding a page on Face Book that claims to be Music Publishing Rights Collecting Society.

On the INFO page it states the following -

Basic Information
Founded
2005
About
You get the pleasure of posting videos
We get the pleasure of making money from your videos
It's a win-win situation
Company Overview
We are the Music Publishing Rights Collecting Society. In other words, we are a society that collects rights from the publishing of music onto sites like YouTube.
Mission
Our mission is to file copyright claims so that ads will be placed onto certain videos, and we will be able to make money off of them. We do not seek to have anyone's videos blocked in certain countries or disabled altogether, all we are trying to do is make a bit of money. That's not so bad, is it?
Products
A wide variety of people post videos containing content that belongs to our organization. We didn't make the music ourselves, but nonetheless we can still make money from it.

How weird is that??

The page was created and has never again been commented or posted on by the owner. I first felt like the "Organization" now has proof it is a scam and enlisted friends on Face Book to report the page as a Scam. Face Book never responded to the many reports - like I expected anything more from Face Book, but oddly enough, others continue to post anger with no response.

As I watched NOTHING happen, I began calling it out as a fraud page with no response other than others finding the page because they too had been reported on You Tube. I did finally have discourse with a dude that referred us to a video that GOOGLE mentioned the "Organization" and it looks as if another possible answer is, GOOGLE set it up to cover their butts in case outside policing was deemed necessary, they could say, "WE have already been collecting funds."

Where does this sit today??

I searched all thru GOOGLE again and found NO ORGANIZATION called Music Publishing Rights Collecting Society!

THEY DON'T EXIST

I don't know whether the Face Book page is owned by a teen jokester or kid criminal that masterminded a way to scam copyright claims and generate money from the fear factor surrounding that topic in 2011. It is obvious that Guilty until proven Innocent is the call in this new century. I sure wish the claims process include and validation to claims before money making ads were forced on peoples pages.

Since the majority of people just get scared and mad, the process toward an answer is very slow.

IF Music Publishing Rights Collecting Society is a real entity, you would be able to find them online with contact information. IT DOES NOT EXIST! I have searched many times and found nothing.

IN FACT - there are videos with NO music at all and public domain classical music that have been tagged as well as individuals personal compositions! The question asked by some is if this is a bot driven reporting.....

RECAP
Music Publishing Rights Collecting Society
Nothing online to validate the claim they exist
No answers found at all
1000's of angry people

We need answers guys.....

The Face Book page provides none! There is a link to a WEBSITE but it is a hidden, tinyURL and I would never click that!

IF THEY EXIST - You could see them or any proof they exist.

I hate the fact that the web allows people the ability to be faceless cowards....

Taxes are done - back to work and weddings to plan!

Greg Vail — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 16:40:31 GMT

In my last post I mentioned the tax difficulty I had to endure for 2010 tax filing. I am DONE! So excited to be done. The bill should get covered and I am soooo excited about that too! Thanks to my dear Michele for helping make this the first tax season in decades that went really good - considering!

With taxes done I am back in the groove and running 100 miles an hour. I had a major announcement over the past few days I want to share here. I am getting married!! I am so excited to be able to say those words - words I was convinced I could and would NEVER SAY AGAIN! I think the change in my attitude about relationships over the past few months speaks volumes to the quality of my betrothed.

Michele and I posted it on Face Book and had hundreds of amazing supportive comments, and a few were really surprised! We are having so much fun letting the cat out of the bag! The date is set for February 11th; very close to Valentines Day and a year from our first date so it has already been out anniversary every month since.

The announcement came on the heels of a ring, which had been a major decision since gold prices are screaming and jewelry is at all time highs. We found a great setting that we loved and got it sized down to dinky size and on her finger on Thursday! The fun began and we have been running with it ever since!

SO, we have a ring, have a honeymoon booked in paradise, started pre-marital counseling with the pastors doing the ceremony, and have begun clothing, food, flowers, and room location research to book the event and make it happen.

MY REQUEST - Dear friends - I have worked in the wedding industry for YEARS yet somehow have very little as far as leads in booking great, inexpensive friends for the many parts that make up a wedding. My favorite catering friend just moved out of state, my cousin will hook up an amazing cake, but I need referrals for everything. We have very little money but I want to do a traditional, larger wedding for my baby that has never really had a real one.

I am very excited and will be following up on anything you guys might suggest. We need flowers, video, pictures, music for ceremony and reception, church, hall, suits, food and serving, and anything else I might not be remembering right now.

I thank you all in advance! My email is gvsaxboy@ gmail.com (without the space). We are working leads now but are really trying to watch expenses since she is marrying a musician.

Related and very much the same topic - My son Ben in getting married in January 12. So info will help with January and February plans!!

SO - back to work!! Catching up on articles for WWBW - Woodwind and Brasswind web site. Working hard on booking new gigs since the post summer slow down. AND Saving as much money as I can to cover big life expenses around the corner.
Example article on WWBW

Here is a funny one - Conan O'Brian listed my Greg Vail .com website on one of his posts for ghost towns online. I think my lack of calendar up dates made that happen - it was empty when he was on the site! Although it is a comedy page I thought he did great justice to the site with honesty and I post his comments here for you to see.

From Conan O'Brian's site-

"Saxophonist Greg Vail -
This site may not be pretty, but to Greg's credit, it's still pretty functional. Right when you get to the page, you're greeted by a smooth jazz beat and some sexy, sexy saxophone. Lovers, it could be smart to bookmark this page just in case you and your partner suddenly get in the mood and you need a lovemaking soundtrack at a moment's notice. Things could get awkward when one of Greg's many Christmas songs come up on the playlist, but I say weave it into the rug. The website includes a show calender section. While the calender may not list any shows, it does serve as a functional calender. So touche, Greg! [GregVail.com]"