From the exploratory talks, initial data gathering and broad characterization of objectives we prepared preliminary timelines for the primary activities with a view to having production completely finished and the CD available for sale at the Fall gathering of the Society of Stranders in the Ocean Drive section of North Myrtle Beach. This is one of a couple of such events held each year where thousands of people descend on OD for a week and a half to celebrate Carolina Beach Music and the related dance, the Shag. Each one is a giant party and a time favored by local artists to release their music and personally interact with their fans.

Following the preliminary, rough planning, attention was focused on further definition of the tasks to be undertaken which centered around Music Selection and Production, Packaging Choices and Designs, Licensing Considerations, Distribution Channels to be Utilized, Pressing of the CD’s and Packaging of them, and Marketing. This phase of the planning process led directly into more specificity and identification of the few alternatives which would be considered. For example, for the Music Production we were able to establish the principal parameters involving the number of new songs to be produced and the number of previous hits to be included for the new CD, the types of accompaniment potentially needed (horns, strings, vocalists, etc.), studio production considerations, and mastering and production of tracks for subsequent use in unaccompanied live performances (the song with everything present but the lead vocal), among other things.

Now that was a novel idea – having a formal, written, legally binding agreement covering much more than purely financial considerations. The agreement we crafted addressed the fundamental responsibilities of the respective parties (us and JD) including liabilities. In all seriousness, we gather this sort of thing is rarely undertaken for independently produced CD’s, but JD understood and, knowing us, no doubt anticipated we would be insistent on having such in place.

Apart from all else, it served the valuable role of revealing where assumptions were not necessarily in synch and provided the impetus for clarifying them and ensuring everyone was "on the same page". As is often the case, the creation of the contract precluded the need to call upon it or cite it during the project.

JD surely must have been convinced we were attempting to have every "i" dotted and "t" crossed, and to address every contingency when, in actual fact, from our perspective we were aiming for the absolute minimum that needed to be specified to be acceptable. We had to chuckle at times over what the final agreement contained versus what we would normally expect and insist upon being addressed in our usual business dealings. Nevertheless, the time and energy expended by us and JD accomplished an important task that was a part of our overall intention to have a reasonable degree of structure, coherency and process management achieved in the undertaking.

Let there be no doubt JD Cash knows the music genres that best suit his voice and style of delivery. Three key words come to mind with respect to broadly characterizing such music: "smooth, soulful, swinging".

As noted in the Preface, we had heard JD do a number of live performances and his powerful rendition of Learnin’ The Blues was probably a key influence on our willingness to consider the project. But apart from our expectation that it would be included as one of the new songs by JD, as far as we were concerned he had carte blanche to choose whatever he thought would be best. He told us about several candidates he had in mind and we all set about finding authoritative versions of the lyrics. JD discussed with John Barker the possibilities and his valued input was carefully considered as the choices were refined. In addition to Learnin’ The Blues, the final selection of new songs for the CD included I Wish You Were Here and If. Later, it was decided to add Down On The Beach Tonight for which John Barker created an amazing "island sound" improvisation that gave it a distinctively light hearted, party feel. It wasn’t something that was planned – it just came forth late in the production from John’s hugely creative mind.

With those four songs in place, JD set about choosing nine of his chart making songs from previous CD’s to be remastered and incorporated in the new collection.

Although he was constantly sharing with us his thoughts as he deliberated the content of the CD, our role would be best characterized as that of good listeners and in that regard would try to filter through his observations and reflect back to him his own points where his reasoning was especially convincing. Another way of putting this is we had very little to contribute that was of any consequential value and certainly didn’t delude ourselves into thinking we had any worthwhile insight. This was all about JD’s knowledge, experience, creativeness and downright intuitiveness about music augmented with the benefit of John Barker’s insights. And from our viewpoint they couldn’t have done a better job.

So now we knew the songs that would be on the CD, but how did we want to position the package? What was the theme of the presentation to be – that unifying concept that would be carried through into the design of the accompanying artwork? It was a matter we didn’t take lightly and there were many hours of individual contemplation and group discussions. It didn’t take long to realize that our collective perceptions embodied common, key elements that should be reflected by the theme. These included a sense of upscale sophistication, romanticism, classic timelessness, an invitation for enjoyment, and the intent to provide a memorable experience. And the presentation should emphatically convey high quality and professionalism. We didn’t have very high expectations, did we?

Moving beyond the thematic conceptualization, we began concentrating on trying to decide possible types of settings for pictures that would best communicate what we wanted to convey. Fairly quickly we all concluded an upscale resort type development could present a number of opportunities that would meet our needs. With that in mind, an obvious candidate was the Grande Dunes area in Myrtle Beach developed by Burroughs & Chapin – most definitely upscale, sophisticated, exuding the promise of creature comfort and enjoyment, and with visually appealing architectural and landscaping themes. Following discussions Ed undertook with Alicia Harper, Marketing Director for the Grande Dunes development, and Jim Powalie, General Manager of the Marina Inn at Grande Dunes, it was decided we definitely would focus on the Marina Inn as being one of the primary settings. Additionally, the use of a seventy some foot Hatteras yacht as another potential setting was arranged and a number of beachside locations were contemplated. JD was adamant he wanted one of the pictures to include our Cadillac XLR-V on which he had ridden in the parade that we mentioned being held a few months before then.

The theme planning phase was officially concluded with the selection of the title for the CD which was not something that proved to be an easy matter. We all thought and thought, and talked and talked, and thought some more until JD with a stroke of creative genius said "Why don’t we play on the name of one of the new songs and make sure all the pictures convey an inviting sense of "Wish You Were Here"? Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Just wish that inspiration had come to him sooner so it would have saved a lot of collective time, energy and general consternation.

The plan was first to visit each of the principal potential locations, select the best specific settings, note the position of the sun for optimum lighting of the scenes and actually do extensive test shots. Once that was accomplished and the results evaluated, a second trip was to be made to do the final photography.

Mark Burlyn, Front Office Manager for the Marina Inn, had made overnight reservations and other arrangements as requested for the test shots to be undertaken there. Mark also beforehand had done a great job of explaining the path of the sun relative to the hotel and time of day which enabled us to plan when we would get the best lighting for various settings. We knew the shots in front of the Marina Inn would have to be done in the morning time and late afternoon would be best for low angle, optimum lighting on the pool and marina side.

Consequently we began the test shots in front and tried several different backgrounds most of which captured the very attractive landscaping in relation to the guest arrival area. Part of the challenge in doing this type photography is envisioning and composing "clear space" for various text to be superimposed without knowing whether the image might eventually find its way to the front or back cover or perhaps another location in the package, all of which have different needs. Obviously that encourages one to make many pictures of the same setting and pose, but composed for different purposes.

Following the initial work in front of the Marina Inn and as the sun positioned itself directly overhead producing harsh shadows, we used the time to investigate a number of beach settings. None of those provided exactly what we had in our minds and therefore we decided to move on to where the yacht was moored. It was a thing of beauty which clearly fit our general theme, assuming of course there were no inebriated party animals in view. The lighting wasn’t the best, but we pressed ahead particularly because we wanted to experiment with finding angles that might produce a desirable background beyond the yacht without the need to have it repositioned for a more favorable setting.

After the yacht shoot we drove over to the Main Street horseshoe adjacent to the beach in Ocean Drive with two thoughts in mind. One was to consume a number of very cold Coors Lights and the second was to consider more beach background possibilities. You’ll notice we had our objectives properly prioritized. No doubt refreshed from the beers which also had us thinking creatively again, we discovered an extremely promising setting with trunks of Palmetto Palms providing framing for the view of sea grasses, the beach with people enjoying themselves and the ocean beyond. After doing dozens and dozens of test shots there from different angles we concluded more refreshments were definitely in order and pursued them accordingly.

Then it was time to return to the Marina Inn where the angle of the sun was coming into good alignment for photography purposes around the pool. We must say the pool setting is indeed quite beautiful and the guests, understandably, certainly were enjoying themselves. Later we concentrated on interior shots for which there were many excellent locations in the Marina Inn with attractive features which individually and collectively convey a sense of tastefully subdued elegance. Very, very nice.

As the daylight faded and darkness set in we experimented with more pictures of JD and the XLR-V, but soon concluded that wasn’t going to give us the type images we might want to use because the lighting at the entrance area to the hotel and the adjoining fountains and plantings, though most attractive, is quite restrained and indirect. Indeed it is very pleasing to the eye but just not dramatically impactful in terms of the type background we wanted for the package.

We have to acknowledge JD was a real trooper through this exhausting day and was remarkably patient as the many hundreds of photos were made. Retrospectively, the effort proved to be invaluable in determining what likely would provide the best, most desirable settings and specific poses for what we all termed "the real shoot".

The next few days were spent intensely studying the test shots, identifying the settings and presentations which were most effective, and cropping the pictures in a way that would be used in a final package. In addition to selecting the best of the settings and poses, we also chose a few to share which illustrated why we didn’t want to use them. That made it much easier for JD and others to quickly appreciate our preferred choices. The much pared down collection was sent to JD and John Barker and his wife, Bonnie, to study and give us their feedback. We were so confident we had spotted one setting in particular that looked extremely promising for the front cover that we actually created a very rough mockup that was included. To this day we’re still extremely fond of that picture even though JD’s hair was windblown and he had by that time acquired a noticeable bit of sun on his face.

The final shoot was scheduled to take two days beginning with the Library interior setting at the Marina Inn on the first afternoon. That produced the cover picture selected for the package. JD brought with him several outfits which would allow us to try different colors and looks which proved to be very helpful and worthwhile.

When the Library pictures were finished we bid JD farewell and Ed set about making preparations for the next day which meant getting the XLR-V spotless once again. After concluding only the loading dock area at the Marina Inn would provide enough shade at that time of day he spent the next couple of hours there removing the nice collection of bugs accumulated during the morning drive to Myrtle Beach, waxing and otherwise making it beautiful.

After a wonderful dinner at the Marina Inn’s exceptionally nice WaterScapes restaurant (most definitely one of the very best in Myrtle Beach), we ventured to the bar from which we could see lightening flash in the distance. On the television in the bar there were warnings of the approaching storm including the possibility of hail. The front entrance bell staff were soon encouraging us to pull the XLR-V into the sheltered arrival area which was done and there it remained for the night.

The following morning our hearts sank as we awoke to torrential rain and found the local weather forecast offered no hope of any clearing until the afternoon which meant the lighting needed for key shots at the front of the hotel would be completely missed. Phone calls went back and forth between us and JD as we agonized over the situation and wondered if we could squeeze in another shoot the following morning just before our scheduled departure – we had no flexibility because of other commitments. Then JD called and said he was seeing on a weather radar system an unexpected wedge of clearing skies opening that might give us the opportunity we needed. And sure enough it happened – talk about a stroke of good fortune! The sky cleared and just as the bell staff assured us would be the case the pavement was quickly drying. However, even though the car had been under a roof, the rain had blown in and left it noticeably spotted. So, Ed was at it again polishing away the water marks. JD soon arrived and we proceeded to capture the shots we needed at that location.

From there we journeyed to Kingston Plantation where JD thought there was a beach setting with the Apache Pier in the distance that might be worth considering even though it wasn’t on our planned agenda. It was found to be interesting, but the weather wasn’t being helpful – too many dark clouds obscuring the sun to varying degrees. Finally bright shafts of light broke through and the horizon cleared which was our cue to dash over to the wood steps and walkway crossing the sand dunes. We did get a few decent photos, but subsequently were able to obtain much better ones in the afternoon at the location we previously had planned near the horseshoe in Ocean Drive.

The last bit of photography undertaken for possible use in the package was done weeks later at John Barker’s studio while JD was there for one of the recording sessions. It was more of an afterthought than anything else when Ed decided he wanted to drop in just long enough to capture a few pictures that might prove to be interesting.