The Night Begins to Shine

Imagine you were told that some day you will be a caricature in a cartoon. You would probably say “Yeah right”! Well, that’s exactly what happened to me…

Besides playing guitar, I am also a music producer. Ten years ago I got an assignment to write an 80’s style pop song for a music library. This sounded like fun! Being a student at Berklee College of Music during that time, I played guitar and bass in numerous cover bands. I also had a gig as a house engineer at Perfect Crime Recording. That’s where ‘Til Tuesday cut their early demos. This whole experience helped me to get into the flow of the 80’s vibe.

I brought two of my friends in on the project, Frank Enea and Billy Regan, and the song “The Night Begins To Shine” was born. It was submitted to Telepictures Music Library in Los Angeles, where it sat dormant for ten years! Chimerically two years ago it was awakened by Warner Bros. Animation’s creative team of the hit series “Teen Titans Go!”. This show takes a comedic look at the teen superheroes Robin, Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy and Cyborg, showing what life is like for them when their capes come off. First “The Night Begins To Shine” was used as the intro for the episode “Slumber Party.” Cyborg lip-syncs and dances to “The Song” before saying “night night” and going to sleep. Already then, with its only 20 second segment, it became a big hit! The fans started to post their own loops and edits on YouTube.

The chimerical path continues! With the overwhelming online response, the “Teen Titans Go!” Creative Team decided to write a new episode for the next season, written around “The Song”. In this new story, “40%40%20%”, my co-writers and I are introduced as a band from the 80’s “B.E.R.” (short for Burnett/Enea/Regan), who wrote “The Song.” In this episode Cyborg gets his strength to rescue his friends from the villain, not from his robot parts, but from his favorite song “The Night Begins To Shine.” The story’s theme that music empowers and transforms you, was picked up once again by the fans who took it to another level of online excitement, outshining the “Slumber Party”! Kids of all ages are posting clips of themselves performing “The Song” and downloading “The Night Begins To Shine” from iTunes.

The chimerical path yet continues! The Creative Team of “Teen Titans Go!” is writing new episodes for the upcoming season as you are reading this. This time B.E.R.’s likeness will be animated caricatures in the show, performing our new songs and joining the Teen Titans’ adventures! As this story is still unfolding, this brings me back to the very beginning. Had I been told, that some day I will be a caricature in a cartoon, I too would have said “Yeah right”…

May this story inspire you, enhance you and make you happy. You never know where your adventures will take you!