RESTART AND REBOOT YOURSELF-YOU'RE FREE TO GO!!!

While initially I had no intention of keeping a 'studio diary', recording will begin to figure prominently in my future posts, as the studio is where I'll be spending most of my time in the next couple of months.

Yesterday I sat in while producer/engineer Neil Lefaive worked in session with up and coming wunderkind Dylan Locke. I wanted to acquaint myself with the space, the gear and the way Neil works. It was enlightening to say the least! I was pleased to find out that I remembered more than I thought I might, and quickly understood the medium and it's process. I asked the right questions and correctly answered his 'little tests'. While the three of us made and ate lunch, we conversed excitedly about production and recording techniques, and I held my own; accepted and respected.

In two days I go back, to begin my own project. I suggested starting with a cover, being one of the easiest ways to establish a working relationship; musical and technical habits and tastes. I hope to deconstruct the song entirely and re-arrange it into something new and different. While this is a daunting task, it will be easier to get to know each other this way, without the emotional baggage that so often accompanies an artist presenting their own work for the first time. It's a vulnerable moment for any songwriter, and I need to feel the element of trust has been established before I can be truly comfortable. I'm still painfully shy-I am a reluctant diva, after all..!

WHERE ARE WE NOW?

While he begins to bear a striking resemblance to Michael Caine over the years, David Bowie still looks amazing at 66. Being an early riser, today I proudly consider myself among the first 307 elite who have viewed the video for his new single on YouTube.  

It's haunting; beautiful and understated. What a wonderful way to start a day-what a wonderful day to start recording...

DECEMBER 31st, 2012

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PATTI SMITH!

Like some heroine, you remain strong and defiant. You honestly believe that Rock and Roll can change the world for the better; it takes more than flashing peace signs and crowing useless platitudes to achieve unity. Like a nurturing matriarch, you give solace and comfort to the Rock and Roll Niggers of the world. You assure us that we can move forward, but only when we continue to take on an establishment of entertainment corporations and wanna-be impresarios who exploit the vulnerable. Outside of society is where you'll find me, with artists, poets and madmen; the brilliant, broken disenfranchised who shred their souls to bring beauty and substance to the world, yet remain vilified as abnormal, indigent, unpleasant eccentrics...

Patti, you've taught me that if our songs are our children, as so many have said, then I must
defend them with the ferocity of Ursula, the mother bear. You've taught me that art is the truncheon with which we will smash the state. You've taught me that tilting at a few windmills is not as futile as it would seem. Most importantly, you've reminded me that art, music, Rock and Roll is indeed a noble vocation, that suffering for art is not a cliche`, and when music and art can teach true understanding, compassion and acceptance, only then will it change the world.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!