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Corner Band Comics
Mean Penguins suck!
2005
August 30
Rob is doing a recording project in Ashland for an artist there
and did not make it back for our session so I am thinking this over again.
Jimmy said he has some free time today and tomorrow night so I hope to record
his bass and maybe some of the vocals.
Bill Spies stopped by and played his new tune for me on Sunday. He is playing
it at a memorial in a couple of weeks. It is a nice tune, simple, pretty and
heartfelt. Hopefully we will be recording it at Mike's studio very soon. Erick
Helmersen is going to come over next week and play a few tunes and that is
it at this point. Stay tuned for more. I will be putting up some samples from
our jam with Josh and friends. It is great stuff.
August 27
I am moving the CD onto a hard drive to take to Rob Peebler's
studio to finish there. I will be able to transport it back if necessary but
I really want to move forward and wrap this up and I have some acoustic things
to get done. I will be installing Nuendo on Mike's computer so we can work
in the same frame work between the two studios for this and future projects.
We are getting an ever expanding studio co-op started here in the countryside.
Christmas is racing towards after all, is it not, and I have been tasked with
having at least one CD done by Christmas.
Local artist Serity has launched
two new websites. She dances in many circles from singing and writing songs,
to healing,
Eyes of Visions
Founded in 2002 by Serity, Eyes Of Visions is a website designed to share
the inspirational music of Serity, to aid in raising levels of awareness and
consciousness and and also to help promote other artists.
.The
Isles of Serity
Beyond the water's across the sea...lies the Isle's Of Serity
High end Gifts, Art, Collectible, Native American Art, Women's Apparel, Bath
& Body Potions, Home Furnishings and Accessories, Inspirational
material and Music from Serity and other Local Artists.
August 25
Had a good session with Christopher
last night. It seems like what there is really too little of is time to visit
and just talk. We seem to have so much to say to each other. It is the same
with all your friends I think. Stop and take some time to spend and just share.
We did role through some tracks and got some good guitar on a few tunes. It
is kind of funny how difficult the little riff to You Wear A Mask turns out
to be. I can't really play it right and I wrote it but Christopher did a good
job. We started the session with some of Andie's Blackberry Cobbler and what
a way to begin. It was a good night. We stood outside anxious to retire and
call it a day when we got started talking about relationships and we could
have gone on for hours had it not been for the fact that I was so tired. Thanks
for the time Christopher..
August 24
We dabbled a bit last night although
Mike had an early morning he did a little dialing on the drums on one tune.
We did a lot of listening and Jimmy sang on You Wear A Mask. How many tracks
do you need. No more. It is time for editing with 54 tracks at this point.
There are a multitude of solo's to choice and a lot of improvising to sort
out. Jimmy left a little treasure in the drive way after he left; his bass.
It is safely in our living room. It was fun to listen to him and see him beam
when he talked about his grand sons. I know we are getting old but we all
do. We both are very proud grandpa's and regardless of what else may be happening
in Jimmy's life he lights up like Christmas when he talks about those kids.
It is great to see. We are going to make it through the project because last
night I remembered it is fun, more than anything else, it is fun to make music.
Listening to Kayden coo along with Josh's playing reminded me of that fact.
August 22
Tuesday Mike and I are going to review
the list of songs and make some notes on how to wrap up this CD. Later on
Christopher may stop by for a visit and a poke at a tune or two. I haven't
heard from Jimmy for a while. I think he has been out in the woods camping.
There is a lot going on with Mr. Manolito Fuentes and I certainly hope it
will be possible to get him to come over one day for a visit and some playing.
He is a very busy guy. Rob Peebler is standing by to help with the mixing
when we are done. I think we may start giving him two or three songs at a
time to mix and get us excited about moving forward. I haven't talked to Ronnie
for a few weeks since the Taste. I know he is busy rehearsing the Delivery
Boys and working his business.
Bill Spies is going to start up some more recordings here in
the very near future and it will be a coordinated effort between Mike's Studio
04 and Silent T Studios. That will be fun to get going once again. So I guess
we aren't bored and that is a good thing.
August 20
Here is one for you to show that when it comes to bands,
you never know what is going to happen. Christopher stopped by on his way
home last night from his gig with the Penguins. They were doing a new venue
over by Kingston and the Casino had the brilliant idea of setting them up
in a tent across the parking lot from the Casino. They had a smaller audience
than I usually do. What were they thinking? It reminded me of when Doug Hamilton
and I got asked to open up for Rod Stewart at the Gorge. They decided it would
be clever to put up a small stage in the field about 50 yards from the path
people were walking to get to the amphitheater. Now it is a tough go when
you are ignored by ten thousand people on their way to a concert. They looked
over at us and must have thought, what are they nuts? Let's see, should we
detour out into this field or head down to the beer garden and to pick out
a good seat? It must have been a hard choice for them but one they all agreed
upon: keep walking, keep walking, and they did.
August 19
What will happen with the band? I
wish I knew the phone call to make and the action to take to put us working
steadily together playing music and sharing the gift that is the catalogue
of songs I have been given. Information please?
August 16
We had an impromptu
gathering tonight with Christopher, Mike and Jimmy. Mike got tired early and
went home. Christopher and Jimmy sang some lines to Boody Wah Scoody. Jimmy's
son Jamie played the piano, the guitar, the mandolin, and just was busy being
a part of the evening. I have some snip and tuck editing to do on that tune
and I should be ready for mixing.
I will be flying solo at Provinces this weekend. Jimmy
is camping, Christopher is gigging and I may bring the Guild and a stool and
do the J.T. Meets Greg Murat kind of evening. It will be a good change for
a minute. I think I will even plan out some songs that I haven't done for
quite a while. That is my story and I am sticking to it.
August 11
The band
is busy with life and so music is treading water waiting for a turn. Mike
is the most consistent of us in pursuing completion of the recordings. He
is also the one with the most time on his hands. Still, he works harder at
everything he does than anyone else I know. Jimmy is riding the waves of life
again. You know the ones that batter you around and seek to sink you. He is
doing all right and I hope there is some resolve at the end of this storm.
Ron is playing at the Taste this week end on Saturday evening with the Delivery
Boys. Christopher is playing the Taste with
the Penguins. John is shooting video some where and I am working at this and
that and the other. I will be at Cafe de Paris, I think. That is my story
and I am sticking to it.
August 5
It looks like this week is going to be a wash for the band.
Mike is starting a new recording project on Wednesday with his friend Dean.
Ronnie is rehearsing the Delivery Boys. I am visiting Freedom tonight and
I think I will just work solo for a few days redoing vocals and guitar. I
need a wireless keyboard so I can engineer for myself. Hopefully next week
we can get back on track after I catch up on my work.
August 4
Mike is coming over today to work
on his vocals for Boody Wah Scoody. It is hard to do much in that small space
and last week we had Ron, Christopher, Jimmy, Mike and I all at Silent T at
one time. I lost five pounds in sweat. This being my Fat Elvis period, that
is a good thing. Time is flying and we will be lucky to get this project finished
by the end of the year at this rate. I still have yet to work on the Bosa
Nova CD Sarah tasked me. Get going Papa Murat! I need a task master and it
is going to have to come from inside myself. I am definitely getting motivated
to work on my reading so I could just chart this stuff. That would make it
easy to track vocals individually. If this were the Matrix I would ask for
a floppy of Scott MacGougan's brain and upload it right now. I would follow
that with a harmony floppy of Jamie Phalen, Deirdre Lord and Bob Marcure.
Christopher and I are trying to get together to exchange
ideas on sequencing music. There seems to be a lot of writing opportunities
coming up on TV lately. I don't know if they are legitimate but they would
be good practice anyway. Christopher is doing some writing of poetry and music
and I look forward to hearing some of what he has going. I feel a song burst
coming my way. I also would like to get together as a band a create some music.
I would like to start with a tune that has been incubating for ten years:
All The Time No More. It is a saying that Garey Shelton used when we were
recording A Room With A View. I have written piles of verses but they leaned
towards serious and I want fun, so help me out guys. Help me out!
August 3
I lent Ron Llinas my POD XT-live
effects box. So I have had that thing for several months now and I have yet
had the opportunity to use it. Josh took over and really got a great deal
of wonderful sounds out of it. Combined with the Loop Pedal he was able to
play and record some incredible music. I am anxious to get it back and try
it out for myself. I have been thinking more and more about getting an electric
guitar. It would be fun and a good addition for tracking in the studio. I
am in no big hurry though. Some of the boys in the band may come out to North
Bend and play at 1000 Trails on Saturday night. First I have to reach the
person in charge out there and make sure it is happening. I have to cancel
the whole weekend at Cafe de Paris to do one night any where else. That is
a blessing and a drag at the same time. It is nice to have the option of taking
a weekend off for other things.
Bill Spies is gearing up to record
one or two new songs and we are going to work with Mike Daily at Studio 04.
Mike's facility is beautiful and roomy and comfortable so I am looking forward
to that time. Also Erik Helmersen is going to be coming by to work on a few
new songs and spend some time at Silent T. I want to take him over and show
him Mike's space so in the future he can record there. I think he will find
it quite comfortable and conducive to relaxing and recording. Erik is steadily
improving his skills. You can find him at honeststudios.com,
please note that the site loads very slowly.
August is open wide. Due to some oversight somewhere somehow we are not playing The Taste of Edmonds. I will probably be at home that weekend helping Patrick clean up around the house and getting ready to build our new studio and home. The focus for the month will be recording and from there we will just keep you posted.