Thursday
Jul142005
I'm back!
Thursday, July 14, 2005 at 03:11AM
Our server was down for a couple days there, but many thanks to Geof, who not only grounded a shuttle flight today, but also got this, and many other, delightful cyber-coffeeshops up and running again. The past few days have been fairly interesting, so I'll try and give a brief run-down, and I'm going to throw a heck of a lot of photos of all sorts of things on here, so I hope you're ready.
Let's see, the last time I wrote was right after the 4th of July. This past weekend the band traveled to Wisconsin. We got to see Bebo and Gabe play, which is always fun. I hadn't seen Gabe for more than a brief hello since we finished up Andy P's last Christmas tour, so it was good to see him. Our set was fun. They had a killer old tweed Fender Deluxe from the early 70's that I got to play through. That was a joy. I used my new mando-12string live for the first time as well, which was a blast. I have some pictures of it below. It is such an incredible instrument. My friend Jeff Pardo was there, playing with a band called "Denver and the Mile High Orchestra." He's a member of Taylor Sorensen's band The Trigger Code, and is another old friend I hadn't spent much time with, and it was good to hang out with him for a while.
Sunday night we visited a PCA church plant in East Nashville. It was a good service. A number of our friends are really involved there, so it was good to reconnect a bit. Ella totally freaked in the nursery, though, when she heard another little kid crying, so we had to head out early. Pretty much, she talked or cried whenever anyone was speaking, so I was only in the service when we sang. Alison really enjoyed it, though.
Monday I finished mixing Chris Mason's EP. I'm a very unseasoned mixer, so it takes me a while. But I feel pretty good about these mixes. I'm sure he and Cason will have some tweaks, but we'll get it done sounding all right. Can't wait for you to hear it. Very cool stuff.
Tuesday I worked over at a studio called The Fireside Room. It's a great, older place where they cut a lot of Neil Young's 70's stuff, I think. I was there for an album called "The Message Project", with songs based on excerpts from Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of the Bible. We worked on a tune Jeremy Casella wrote, always a pleasure. He, Sandra McCracken and I all took turns singing lead, with a full-on three-part harmony in the choruses. Really cool. We cut the vocals live, all three of us in a circle, so we had to really nail the parts together. It was a blast. I haven't recorded that old-school in a while. At least not vocally. I also played bass and electric guitar on the song. Ken Lewis played drums, Jeremy played acoustic, and a really great keys player named Jeff Roach added some nice stuff as well. Monroe Jones is producing the record with Philip LaRue, who used to be in a band called Larue. Really nice guy. Anyway, the song turned out beautifully, and it was a really fun day. Ken took some great photos, that I'll post down below as well.
My parents got here today for a quick little visit. It's been fun to have them here. We took them to Vittles for lunch, of course, and yes, it was BBQ day, and then just hung out over the afternoon. They brought my new Rhodes down with them, and I got to fire it up, and let me tell you, it's immaculate and sounds incredible. I'm so excited. Alison's birthday is July 18, and so tonight we went to P.F. Chang's for a little birthday dinner. Very nice.
We're going to North Carolina on Friday for the weekend. Clay and Sarah are having a wedding reception out there, so we'll get to be a part of that. It will be Ella's first plane ride, and her first time out of Nashville at all. How crazy. I was 16 the first time I flew. I was so excited and nervous. Now I just look forward to the hour or two I get to spend with my iPod and my eyes closed. It'll be a fun trip, though, and hopefully a nice, restful getaway.
Other random tidbits for now: I'm looking for another Deluxe Memory Man pedal, if anybody has one they're not using. Mine is getting a little beat up from the road, and I'd like a spare, plus then I could have one on each board. Just thought I'd check here before I go ebaying. Also, Chip gave me a few pictures of the next to last Normals performance, at a festival in Alabama a few years ago. I hadn't seen them, but they're pretty cool. We were opening for Jars, so some of the gear in the background is familiar as well. I'm going to post them, just because I miss my old band and miss the rock and roll days.
I guess that's about it for now. If you're in Nashville, don't forget I'm playing Thursday night at 8PM for 3 bucks at the 12South music venue. I'd love to see you there. My folks will be there, too. I'll play a new song or two, maybe an old Normals tune, and a few album songs as well. Should be fun. I'm always excited to play in town. So yeah, there it is. Now, onto the pictures....
First off, these are the Normals shots Chip gave me. My hair was huge.
Mark and Mike are so cool.
And here are the shots of our session yesterday. Here's Jerry and me.
Me playing bass. Yikes!!
(check out the new pedal board there on the floor...)
and here is how we cut the vocals. Pretty sweet.
Ok, now here are the shots of those new Elloree guitars I've been promising. The little blue one is a 12-string mando-guitar and the big, green one is a baritone, tuned to B instead of E. Both are really amazing. My favorite instruments of his, by far.
and this one just makes me smile...
Let's see, the last time I wrote was right after the 4th of July. This past weekend the band traveled to Wisconsin. We got to see Bebo and Gabe play, which is always fun. I hadn't seen Gabe for more than a brief hello since we finished up Andy P's last Christmas tour, so it was good to see him. Our set was fun. They had a killer old tweed Fender Deluxe from the early 70's that I got to play through. That was a joy. I used my new mando-12string live for the first time as well, which was a blast. I have some pictures of it below. It is such an incredible instrument. My friend Jeff Pardo was there, playing with a band called "Denver and the Mile High Orchestra." He's a member of Taylor Sorensen's band The Trigger Code, and is another old friend I hadn't spent much time with, and it was good to hang out with him for a while.
Sunday night we visited a PCA church plant in East Nashville. It was a good service. A number of our friends are really involved there, so it was good to reconnect a bit. Ella totally freaked in the nursery, though, when she heard another little kid crying, so we had to head out early. Pretty much, she talked or cried whenever anyone was speaking, so I was only in the service when we sang. Alison really enjoyed it, though.
Monday I finished mixing Chris Mason's EP. I'm a very unseasoned mixer, so it takes me a while. But I feel pretty good about these mixes. I'm sure he and Cason will have some tweaks, but we'll get it done sounding all right. Can't wait for you to hear it. Very cool stuff.
Tuesday I worked over at a studio called The Fireside Room. It's a great, older place where they cut a lot of Neil Young's 70's stuff, I think. I was there for an album called "The Message Project", with songs based on excerpts from Eugene Peterson's paraphrase of the Bible. We worked on a tune Jeremy Casella wrote, always a pleasure. He, Sandra McCracken and I all took turns singing lead, with a full-on three-part harmony in the choruses. Really cool. We cut the vocals live, all three of us in a circle, so we had to really nail the parts together. It was a blast. I haven't recorded that old-school in a while. At least not vocally. I also played bass and electric guitar on the song. Ken Lewis played drums, Jeremy played acoustic, and a really great keys player named Jeff Roach added some nice stuff as well. Monroe Jones is producing the record with Philip LaRue, who used to be in a band called Larue. Really nice guy. Anyway, the song turned out beautifully, and it was a really fun day. Ken took some great photos, that I'll post down below as well.
My parents got here today for a quick little visit. It's been fun to have them here. We took them to Vittles for lunch, of course, and yes, it was BBQ day, and then just hung out over the afternoon. They brought my new Rhodes down with them, and I got to fire it up, and let me tell you, it's immaculate and sounds incredible. I'm so excited. Alison's birthday is July 18, and so tonight we went to P.F. Chang's for a little birthday dinner. Very nice.
We're going to North Carolina on Friday for the weekend. Clay and Sarah are having a wedding reception out there, so we'll get to be a part of that. It will be Ella's first plane ride, and her first time out of Nashville at all. How crazy. I was 16 the first time I flew. I was so excited and nervous. Now I just look forward to the hour or two I get to spend with my iPod and my eyes closed. It'll be a fun trip, though, and hopefully a nice, restful getaway.
Other random tidbits for now: I'm looking for another Deluxe Memory Man pedal, if anybody has one they're not using. Mine is getting a little beat up from the road, and I'd like a spare, plus then I could have one on each board. Just thought I'd check here before I go ebaying. Also, Chip gave me a few pictures of the next to last Normals performance, at a festival in Alabama a few years ago. I hadn't seen them, but they're pretty cool. We were opening for Jars, so some of the gear in the background is familiar as well. I'm going to post them, just because I miss my old band and miss the rock and roll days.
I guess that's about it for now. If you're in Nashville, don't forget I'm playing Thursday night at 8PM for 3 bucks at the 12South music venue. I'd love to see you there. My folks will be there, too. I'll play a new song or two, maybe an old Normals tune, and a few album songs as well. Should be fun. I'm always excited to play in town. So yeah, there it is. Now, onto the pictures....
First off, these are the Normals shots Chip gave me. My hair was huge.
Mark and Mike are so cool.
And here are the shots of our session yesterday. Here's Jerry and me.
Me playing bass. Yikes!!
(check out the new pedal board there on the floor...)
and here is how we cut the vocals. Pretty sweet.
Ok, now here are the shots of those new Elloree guitars I've been promising. The little blue one is a 12-string mando-guitar and the big, green one is a baritone, tuned to B instead of E. Both are really amazing. My favorite instruments of his, by far.
and this one just makes me smile...
Reader Comments (5)
:chuckle: Nice photos.
All the server trouble is going to keep me at home tonight while I massively backup everything. :sigh:
Dude, you have so much cool gear!!!
Where are you going to be in NC this weekend? Are you seeing Alison's folks? More importantly, are you going to church with them on Sunday?!?!?
Have a safe trip either way.
how is that squier jazz bass treatin ya? Is it worth it or do you wish you had gone for the fender?
Sounds like a busy week. Always a pleasure to hear what's going on.
From a Brother.