Jason Budd: News

Please contact me at Jason@JasonBudd.com to order a CD. They are $10 plus a modest fee for shipping and handling.
I will be adding information on each individual song, so please check back soon.
Also, be on the lookout for my next CD which will be some of my favorite Christmas Carols! It will be ready by November 2007.



All songs on "Broadway, Take: One" are copyrighted material and all rights have been obtained. Certification is on file with Harry Fox Agency.

Chris Carducci and Robert Samels.

Some of you may have heard about a small plane crash that killed 5 IU music students. Two of them were friends of mine that I first met at BGSU.
Robert was an extremely intelligent person and multi talented musician. He was very book smart, and sometimes not to street smart :) which made him the brunt of our jokes sometimes. He laughed right along with us and we knew he could take it. One instance was when he and Chris were picking me up from the Indianapolis Airport and I told Robert to bring his phone so it would be easier for us to meet up. After I called his phone about 10 times the three of us finally met up 30 minutes later. I asked Robert why he didn't bring his phone, he said he did and showed it to me. He had brought it all right, but since I never said to turn it on it remained in his pocket off the whole time :)

Chris Carducci and I became friends when he was a freshman at BGSU and we were in the operas together. Somewhere along the way we both discovered our mutual love of the show Family Guy and started calling each other on the phone quoting the crazy dialogue from the show. This turned into many late night phone calls just talking about sports or any other random thing since we were both night owls. He was a fantastic musician and singer who was just taking his first steps towards a great career. A few things the media has incorrectly said are that he was a graduate student and he was 27. In fact had just received his diploma in the mail after graduating last December and he celebrated his 28th birthday just two days before his untimely death. He had just made the decision to return to IU for one more year to continue his vocal training and get more experience on the opera stage. This summer he was to understudy the role of Don Giovanni at Central City Opera.
I am going to miss them both, but I am going to miss Chris a great deal. I have reached for the phone about 10 times these last few days to call him and talk about the Red Wings or the Pistons or to laugh at the goofy Family Guy preview that I saw a bit ago. I really can't believe he is gone. I will be going to Detroit for his calling hours on Monday and wish I could attend the funeral on Tuesday, but I have a show that night in Orlando.
I am a strong believer that everything happens for a reason, but I know I will be searching a long time to figure out why my friends and the other students were taken.
My deepest sympathies for all the families and friends.

They both have web sites through hostbaby like I do: www.RobertSamels.com and www.ChrisCarducci.com

It's hot here in Ohio and soon I have to get ready to spend my first summer in Orlando.
The best news of the year so far is that my teacher Andreas Poulimenos is in remission from Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma!

May was a good month for me with regard to competitions. May 15 I finished third in The Connecticut Opera Guild competition in Hartford, then a week later took home fourth prize and the Audience Choice Award at the Birmingham Vocal Competition. I have some exciting debuts and opportunities this coming season and I will be sure to keep you all posted here on the site.