FOR CARTER

I can’t believe Carter Albrecht is gone. He was one of closest friends from my time at SMU. I did not know how grieve stricken I’ve been since his death. I was too busy working on Eavesdrop since his shooting on September 3rd. It was only when Ralph Farris asked me about my dedication that it hit me. His death was so senseless, so tragic, so strange. Now that Eavesdrop is done and I have some time to feel, the grief has brought me tears many times in the last two days.

A character in Eavesdrop, named Hal, is dying from cancer and contemplating ways to die (including tragic, “operatic” … etc.) He makes a choice then something happens and he makes a different choice. There is a life or death aspect to this part of the film and somehow I channeled all I was feeling about Carter into this “Rose” theme. (Though it’s a related to the Eavesdrop Main theme and Hal’s theme, this 1.45 long piece of music now exists on it’s own and to me, it’s all for Carter.)

Matt and I did not know what piece of music might work for Hal’s last scene and basically end the score. A last minute inspiration kicked in sometime on Saturday the 22nd and instead of editing and cleaning up string parts, I followed the muse. It worked beautifully for this most poignant moment in the film.

But I now know where this piece really came from …

I’ve known Carter since 1993 when we met in Dr. Donna Mayer-Martin’s music history class at SMU. He was the top of that class, I was second. I knew I had to accept I would never best in that class. He just that smart, sharp and musically knowledgeable. One of my ex-girlfriends was in the class and she noticed him immediately, asking me about him all the time. Carter and I jammed often in the practice rooms and I knew him when just getting his guitar playing started. This was only area he seemed to look up to me, inquiring about jazz chords I'd picked up at North Texas. Around the music school, we had another thing in common, we both had hot girlfriends. Other guys seemed to pick up on this, and we were all hanging out - Carter and I would just smile. He’d sometimes sit in on Blue Skye's acoustic shows at the Coffee Haus across from campus. I left Dallas in ’97 just when he was starting to pick up some steam in the Dallas music scene. I wished I stayed more in touch.

I recently reconnected with him at the 2006 Summerstage New Bohemians show. It was so good to catch up. I congratulated him on all his sideman playing / recording and he told me about his solo album. He seemed very interested in my film scores and we discussed the possibility of his playing on my upcoming album when he was in town for NB biz. Several weeks later, while in Dallas, Hilary, my best friend Michael Alves and I went to the Sorta band’s CD release party. We met Carter’s girlfriend Hilary. The thing I found myself most astounded by him was that he made Dallas his home, so warm, comfortable and cool, all the while a world class musician. Sometimes, I wish I had been able to do what he did - make Dallas his musical home and be widely successful and multi-talented musician. I guess I was never that comfortable as a Dallasite. He made me wish I was.

I know I worked even harder on “Eavesdrop” for Carter. He accomplished so much since our days at SMU. I know he would have continued to do so much more. This “Rose” theme is my attempt to put something beautiful in the world because there are no words to say what I feel.

Carter knew so much about music. I recall him playing Elgar Enigma Variations from the score, followed by a discussion about the intervals of the melody in the Nimrod movement - a beautiful piece of music written for the composer's best friend. It’s not an accident that "Rose" theme uses some of the same intervals.

Perhaps, I’ve inadvertently taken to heart my favorite quote - Leonard Bernstein’s “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.”

This music was my attempt anyway.

I want him to know that he is missed dearly.

link to hear "FOR CARTER" forthcoming.