CD BOOKLET and DESIGN
This project started out modestly as an idea for a song about my friend and Cleveland sports legend, John Adams (aka "Super Fan" or "Big Chief Boom-Boom," as Herb Score referred to him). Within the span of four short, labor-intensive weeks, the song grew from one improvised verse during a live gig, to a two-song* CD with a four-panel Digipak package design, to a CD housed in a jewel case with a 16-page booklet and double-sided tray card.
*Same song performed with acoustic band and a radio edit utilizing a backing track and live vocals.
I was prepared to bankroll this undertaking with my own American Express credit card to get it recorded and released, as I wanted to get it out as quickly as possible with John's unfortunate passing and Opening Day 2023 at Progressive Field looming around the corner. With that in mind, I slid into what would prove to be many long days and sleepless nights as the project continued to grow and increase in size and scope. As I relayed to Pamela Sandy from Confiance, LLC, the financial firm that is overseeing John's charity, "This project is gaining a lot of momentum very quickly. It is almost out of my hands and my control. I am just hanging on and trying to keep up with it!" It was, as one of my favorite sayings goes, "rolling like a hunchback doing somersaults downhill, on loose soil."
As a result, John's legacy is being honored via our CD and the commemorative 16-page booklet that accompanies it. The project is being sponsored and underwritten by several very generous local Cleveland businesspeople who, like most of us who knew him, respected and admired John Adams and everything he accomplished in his all-too-brief time on this planet and here in Cleveland. These philanthropic-minded Clevelanders shared my enthusiasm and desire to honor the memory of my friend and indeed a friend to all who were fortunate enough to have met him.
The underwriting these businesses provided helped to finance the recording, manufacturing, marketing and promotion of "Left Centerfield—A Tribute to John Adams." Proceeds from the sales of the disc will be donated to johnjadamsscholarship.org, a 501(c)3 charity set up by John to contribute and fund the arts in Northeast Ohio (music, dance, visual and industrial).
THANK YOU for visiting this website and for considering helping us help others and honor John's legacy. I like to think that John's spirit of giving back and his genuine sense of caring for others are being honored and kept alive by each and every one of us!
I think our friend would be proud and happy about this.
Colin Dussault
March 5, 2023
Above: Original idea and design for four-panel Digipak packaging
Below: Upgraded 16-page
commemorative CD booklet
"He was a 20th-century Johnny Appleseed type, folk hero. It's the John Adams of the world that keep it interesting."
PATRICK CARNEY, THE BLACK KEYS
CLEVELAND MAGAZINE
Eroc Sosinski, Colin Dussault, Jimmy Stamper and Jim Tigue recording at Suma Photo by JW Cooper