Go North, Young Man

I'm heading to Winterland Studios in Minneapolis the weekend of November 14th and 15th to work on new recordings of "Transition Man" and "One Brother". These tunes have garnered interest by some folks I want interested in my music. I'm working on updating the sound and approach to try and push them from "I love these tunes" to "I must have these tunes". It's like using gloss with your lipstick or riding just right in your jeans. Going in for the kill.

Winterland Studios has recorded an amazing who's who of musicians over the years, including Lenny Kravitz, Alanis Morissette, Elvis Costello, John Hiatt, Daughtry, David Archuleta, and Keane. So, "Yes, I think they can help", with getting this project completed to satisfaction. It's going to be cool spending some time in the area where my father was born and raised. And the Twin Cities has a strong network of people who have done a great deal promoting efforts near and dear to my heart - gay rights and abolishing racism.

It may seem silly, but recording music in a friendly tree house is much better than sitting in a hostile tree house hoping to get your feet back on the ground. It's good to me that this is going to be an opportunity to work with good people in a good studio in the heart of a great city. Good then.

THE STUDIO AWAITS

I've made two CDs as a solo artist over the last several years. One was big sounding and rocked and rolled onto some of the best radio playlists in Indie radio in the Midwest. Alas, it was well recieved by all but booking agents who couldn't figure out how I'd get all that sound out of my piano. Okay, then....along comes CD number two - a stripped down affair that featured a more intimate, frequently solo performing approach. Well, it landed on somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 radio stations. Now, though, I've been asked to get back in the studio and put some production behind some of those songs to give them a chance to get licensed. Okay, then.....

Soon enough, I'll be back in the studio, this time with acclaimed producer Dave Weber at Airtime Studios in Bloomington, Indiana. Dave has done the last several Carrie Newcomer albums as well as producing the music heard by millions on the internet recorded by Straight No Chaser. Dave and I have begun to assemble the various pieces of the project, including the studio hours and top flight musicians used in many of Dave's projects at Airtime.

While I have many new tunes, the songs I'm redoing are: Transition Man (poppier version), and One Brother (bigger and with extended bridge). Others I've already recorded and probably doing new versions of include The Dream (full on production this time) and an old Burdons tune, Somebody Else's Arms (never actually recorded in the studio).

Other suggestions?

STOP THE MEANNESS!

Today was a very good day for Beyonce Knowles. She won a VMA award and saved the day for Taylor Swift with her very classy save of Ms. Swift’s victory, which had been upstaged by an ill-advised and tasteless bit of business by none other than Kanye West, who always seems to dance on the fine line between something great and something confounding. With today’s pop stars owning so much of the business they’re in (as Kanye West does), it took a lot of personal courage for Beyonce to do this, and I’m really impressed by it.

This is also the day I read that oodles of idiots have decided to chide young Rumer Willis on her perceived lack of beauty.

What is this meanness? Where has all of this come from? The answer that I’ve found over and over again with mean people is that they’ve intellectually shut down. They no longer have the capacity or the willingness to look deeper for more answers, resorting instead to the sort of simple logic that would satisfy a 5 year old. I want – I need – give it to me – you’re ugly – I don’t like you because you’re different – I don’t like you because if I do, others won’t like me.

Lazy, lazy, lazy. When our brain food is reality TV and nasty radio, and our discussion is merely others who think just like us muttering, “yup” over and over again, we’ve fallen prey to our tendency toward irrelevance.

I wish John Lennon were here to conjure up another, “Imagine”. But, alas, it is our job to right this misguided and persistent ship. How do we do this? How do we stand up and say, “Stop it!!”, “Stop the meanness”, “Love Again”?

WHO TO ASK TO THE DANCE?

I remember quite vividly asking Kathy L. to my first HS dance. I was mortified. She was kind. She said, “No.” I have never faulted her for that response. I was way off base. Or…maybe I was out of my league? It’s an interesting question because it isn’t that she was better than me, or that she felt that way. It’s more about being prepared. She was more mature and self-assured. I was a wreck and just past the idea that it was cool to wear jeans for as many days in a row as possible (I was 14, remember). I’m not saying I was a pigpen, but I could get there easily from where I was.

So, here I am, perusing websites and musician resources, trying to figure out who I should ask to work with me on my new project. It occurs to me that I need to be honest about where I am and where the prospective partners are in our preparation for this pairing. I’m no novice, having worked with top engineers from San Diego, to Detroit, to Nashville; I’m also not someone who could get very far doing this on my own. It’s a tricky bit of work, this decision. I’m going to have to make my move soon, though, or the opportunity could be lost. With the other promotional avenues being undertaken, time is of the essence.

At least I have the presence of mind to recognize the need to get this resolved. The young me would’ve put my jeans on for a couple weeks straight and complained about how things just never seem to go my way.

I’m cleaned up and ready. Good then.