Acknowledgments

Here's where I want to officially thank the people that helped me out with the production of my first record album, "Loitering In The Left Lane".

First off, I want to thank my good friend (and super-talented designer), Jason Gamache for helping me formulate the catchy title "Loitering In The Left Lane".  This was a collaborative effort that started on our carpool commutes to work.  We often encountered many silly people on the road that would deliberately stay in the left lane regardless of whether or not they were passing anyone.  Yes, the left lane in North-American freeways is for passing last time I checked.  We would say, "Look at that guy in the left lane doing nothing - just dragging along and holding up traffic."  And Jason would say, "Yeah, they're just loitering there."  Then he/we said it.  "Loitering In The Left Lane".  After a good laugh, the rest was history...

I must also thank my dear friend, Mike Dearman.  This guy is totally awesome.  If it wasn't for him, I would have never known what a home recording studio is all about.  He not only taught me some very cool guitar licks years ago; but also taught me all about MIDI sequencing, digital recording, DAWs, guitars, basses, music theory and a ton of other stuff.  Mike is nothing short of a musical genius and I owe most of my technical knowledge to him inspiring me to learn everything I could about recording.

Others who have been most helpful to me are Dalibor Dimovski, Arvind Ramkrishna, Peter Saarty, and Peter Clermont. Each of these people have been most encouraging.  Every time I had a demo song, they would offer great feedback.  The two Peters in particular helped plant the seeds for the musicianship for which I strive.

I would like to thank my family, my extended family, my in-laws and my friends for all their encouragement throughout this journey.  Many of you have listened to my works and guided me with your opinions.  My wife and children have remained respectful of my passion for music even though they have had to endure countless hours of my pre-occupation with it.  My wife and kids helped me buy my first electric hollow-body guitar and I have loved it almost as much as I love them.  I thank each of you for this.

It is very important that I thank my uncles, my aunts and my cousins who generously provided me with the best music in the world. From a very young age, my uncles would play music for me and my siblings which had shaped our tastes forever.  From disco to rock to metal to country to dance to bollywood to bhangra to hip-hop to electronica...  I had been exposed to everything and I loved it.

Last, I must thank my parents.  Even though they never wanted me to get side-tracked from my academics and prevented me from joining any bands, they got me my first record-player and allowed me to have any music I ever wanted.  I ruined many a vinyl record by the Ventures, The Rolling Stones, and KC & the Sunshine Band on that record-player; but they would keep giving me more records to enjoy. This album is dedicated to my beloved father, Dr. K. R. Bashir (R.I.P.) who introduced me to my first favorite song, "Theme from Shaft" at the age of 3.  I thank God for giving me all these wonderful people and the gift of music.  Thank you.