IMPORTANT (TWT on leave, "Troubled Smile" update II)

In lieu of "Thursdays With Thurl" today (which as I mentioned is on leave until behind-the-scenes Darko biz gets cleared up), I am posting something very important. The man behind "Troubled Smile" found mention of his song on our blog and very nicely emailed me this morning (again, if you have no idea what I'm talking about click here or here). He also very generously gave me permission to publish the email. This should clear a lot of things up:


Trenton,

I happened upon your freedarko blog discussing the Kobe song "Troubled Smile." I'm surprised you even found the site.

The "kid" you mention is my young nephew in Seattle. I am the "geek wad" in the fuzzy photo. I'm a computer programmer by profession, but I'm dabbling in record producing.

"Mao" is none other than my brother Marius, the tenor who sings the Pagliacci samples. And he was indeed trying to sound a bit like Arnold.

The rock trax were done by my young rocker cousin Nathan David. He surprised me with his rather violent interpretation of a simple MIDI outline I sent him.

So I was just experimenting with blending rock and opera when the Kobe case came along, and I decided to write the song about it. I actually sent a copy of the CD to Kobe c/o Staples Center, but I don't know if he ever got it. He's probably familiar with the opera because he lived in Italy and speaks Italian.

The site has been up since late 2003. In case you were wondering, we have sold exactly Zero CDs. The song is just too wierd for everyone!

Thanks,
-Andre
Cypress, CA