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guess i wasn’t as good at updating
during the recording as i wanted to be.

long story short… i’m back home.
got home sunday night.
6 songs are done.
well, 80% done.
the other 20% will happen once we let things settle a bit.
get some distance.
in the meantime, i’ll start writing the next round.

yes, my friends, it’s true.
i’m like a slow food restaurant.
fresh!
write six songs. record six songs.
then go back and write the next batch.
gives me perspective.
plus, if i had to record 12 songs
in one long session, like i used to do,
i would kill puppies.

ok. here are the highlights of the recording session
in bullet points, cause i know some of you get
intimidated by paragraphs:

- ben west doesn’t play keyboards, as much as he
makes love to them.

- during lunch one day, marshall revealed that he thinks
lady gaga’s record is on par with madonna’s ‘like a virgin.’
he was alone in this thinking.

- we all kinda fell in love with the hostess/owner of the hip-ish,
silverlake eatery next to the studio. she was mean, and treated
us all like children. gives you some insight into us, i guess.

- my gibson j-45 is the best guitar ever. ever.

- my friend max can solve a rubik’s cube FAST.
in contest time. like… minutes.
still, he has nothing on the kid who does it with his feet.
well, except self respect.

- ‘kiss quick’ was the 3rd AND 5th song we recorded.
first time didn’t work so well. so a few days later, we changed
the key and the feel… and now it is TITS!

- if making records were ‘lord of the rings,’ our engineer,
ryan williams, would be gandalf.

- james houle, our friend and videographer, was with us
during the session. he has everything on tape. he even
had one sneaky camera going in the control room the whole time.
note to self: always be a friend to james houle.

- what a ninja is to killing, john thomasson is to bass.

- i tried to use the term ‘wheelhouse’ at least 10 times a day.
it rules. and when used incorrectly, it rules even more.

- a fender stratocaster through a roland jazz chorus amp sounds
EXACTLY like the edge, circa 1980-1987.

- buster bluth… or the guy who played him, if you want to get all
technical, was eating at the same breakfast place we were on
the first day of recording. i saw this as a much better omen than
our tim allen encounter earlier in the week during rehearsals.

- watching the trailer for steve vai’s new DVD, without the sound on,
is unintentionally funnier than the last 10 seasons of SNL combined.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSOVTJvoQbE

and now… some photos from the camera of
steve vai disciple aaron tap:

ben west is in the background. trying not to check out my ass.

this is what aaron's pedal board sees.

my world.

first day studio recap.
using sweet bullet points
for all you A.D.D. MFs.

- silverlake felt like fall
in new england. cold,
sunny. perfect mass-hole
weather. made me wicked
homesick, guy.

- we tracked a song mark
& i have been calling the
‘whoo hoo song’.

- jason mcgerr, who’s on
loan to us from death cab
for cutie, played the drums
like a sexy, graceful
barbarian… channeling
tony thompson.

- my old friend greg kurstin stopped
by. he’s one of the worlds great humans.
his studio’s in the same complex where
we are recording. one of his many projects,
the bird & the bee, have a new record
coming out in a week or two. it’s a tribute
to hall & oats. oh yeah!

- i ate BBQ chicken for dinner.

- the 12 string made it’s first appearance,
of what will be many, on the ‘whoo hoo’ song.
it sounded tits.

ok. that’s it for me.
more later.

i am sick. in bed.
i do not do sick well.
nope.
H.A.T.E. it.
ugh.
but, i do buy records well.
very well, in fact.
this week’s loot:

-st. vincent- actor
i like her first record. like, not lurrrve.
BUT saw her play a new song, ‘marrow,’
on letterman & she crushed that shit like
prog-rock godzilla…. glorious!

-tom petty & the heartbreakers- live anthology
life without a four cd live TP anthology really
isn’t any life at all.

-living colour- vivid
this record blew my 10th grade mind
out of my 10th grade face.
i’m only about 20 years late
“upgrading” from cassette.
and ps-
i’m totally bringing back the wet
suit/multi-colored braids look.

-cinderella- live/tokyo dome
i think certain chromosomal groupings
pre-dispose certain people
(re: ME) to NEED hair metal.
that is my only logical explanation.

-the soft boys- underwater moonlight
when i did that ‘bring the rock’ show, eugene
mirman talked about his love for robyn hitchcock.
having never really listened to the soft boys,
thought i’d start here.

-anya marina- slow & steady seduction
LOVE the production on this record…
ugh. killing.
it sounds like it was beamed in from mars.
or some planet where everyone is sexy.

-them crooked vultures- them crooked vultures
i’m drawn to any supergroup who’s first single
COMPLETELY rips off 80s Kiss.

-sly + the family stone- dance to the music (VINYL)
this record makes me want to have a love-in.

-james brown- live at the apollo (VINYL)
if you turn this up loud enough, you can actually
hear him sweat.

-steve perry- street talk (VINYL)
if you turn THIS one up loud enough… you can
actually see sheri’s nipples in the video.
(they were very ‘on,’ if you know what i’m sayin’…)

-the alarm- declaration (VINYL)
a soundtrack for the days when i just want
to wrap a bandana around my neck, fluff my
mullet and carry on about welsh labor disputes.

-george thorogood- move it on over (VINYL)
a total bad ass.

-lone justice- lone justice (VINYL)
“well you know so many ways to be wicked
but you don’t know one little thing about love”
tom petty’s song + maria mckee’s voice = greatness.

-thompson twins- here’s to future days (VINYL)
am i the only one who thinks there
was kinky shit going on in this band?

-sting- dream of the blue turtles (VINYL)
pre-lute sting = a tolerable sting.

-jim steinman- bad for good. (VINYL)
this album is GOLD.
awful, 70s, rock opera, angry at meatloaf,
painted barbarian album cover’d gold!

-night ranger- 7 wishes (VINYL)
i think everyone has a soft spot in their heart for
night ranger. go on, look for it… it’s right there,
next to your clogged artery.

-heart- heart (VINYL)
love you, nancy wilson. LOVE YOU!!!

-suzanne vega- suzanne vega (VINYL)
perfect record.

-aretha franklin- i never loved a man the way i loved you. (VINYL)
jim (from MMJ) wrote an amazing piece about aretha in
rolling stone. he said her music, especially on vinyl, was
like listening to ‘the sound of god’…

i’ve now had 2 days to digest the glory
& crushing majesty (is that the right word?)
that was saturday nights “bring the rock”
show here in san francisco…

for those of you who have no idea what i’m
talking about, here’s the scoop:

comedians get on stage & each tell a story
about their relationship to music.
there are no real parameters for the stories.
they can be sweet, funny, ranting, whatever…
then the house band, which features:
nina gordon (veruca salt) &
dave gibbs (gigolo aunts)
cover a song related to the story.
and the comedian sings along, if they choose.

the folks on saturday nights show:

-greg behrendt - comedian/musician/writer/badass
creator of “bring the rock”.
-oscar nunez - actor/comedian from ‘the office’.
-maria bamford - comedian/actress.
-eugene mirman - comedian
-jason segel - actor from “how i met ur mother,”
“forgetting sarah marshall,”"i love you man”
-me.

in lieu of writing a book about this, i will give
the night to you in tasty bullet point form. go ADD!

-I MET LORRAINE NEWMAN BACKSTAGE BEFORE THE SHOW!!!
holiest. of. craps. i’m such a huge fan of the first few seasons of SNL
that when we were introduced, i almost threw up. on her.

-eugene mirman is from my hometown of lexington, MA.
mass-holes unite!

-during rehearsal in their hotel room, nina & dave both
claimed to have no real love for 80s hair metal…
which struck me funny only because nina’s husband is in tonic,
who are essentially the 90’s equivalent of bang tango.
(i mean this in only the most loving way.)

-oscar & jason both tore through their songs during soundcheck.
’sheena is a punk rocker’ & ‘ain’t too proud to beg’ respectively.

-despite their lack of love for hair metal, nina, dave, (w/maria) & i
busted into a kick ass pre-show, dressing room sing-along medley
of ‘’seventeen,’ ’round and round,& ‘photograph.’

-greg went on first & threw down the gauntlet.
he told a HILARIOUS story basically about van halen/music
played from the crotch vs. vampire weekend/music that has
never seen a crotch in it’s life. it ruled.
p.s.- any story referencing actual words spoken by david
lee roth is the funniest story anyway. hands down.

-oscar topped his great soundcheck by kicking the holy crap out
of the ramones. prancing and preening like a total rock star!
he looked like the illegitimate, cuban love child of debbie harry & iggy pop..

-dave & nina did a BEAUTIFUL version of ‘i wanna destroy you’
by the soft boys. after eugene told a rad story about discovering
the greatness of robyn hitchcock when he was a kid.

-maria bamford sang a tongue&cheek version of ‘the last song’ by rihanna.
but it totally broke my heart.

-jason might have gotten a LITTLE drunk between soundcheck & show.
and by a little i mean, like… WICKED drunk…. he actually smelled like
my high school senior party. anyway, even completely in the bag, he told
a great story about being dumped & how he speak/sung ‘ain’t too proud
to beg’ to try and win his lady back.

-i told a story about the time I, assisted by the dodgy plumbing at the
bowery ballroom in NYC, rained karmic payback down on a douche-y
monitor guy. then, naturally, i played ‘you’ve got another thing coming’
by judas priest.

-all in all, it was a totally rad way to spend a saturday night w/ famous people.

had my first record shopping trip of 2010 last thursday.
i had to restrain myself from not gutting the store.
there is so much great music in the world.
it’s daunting.
for now, my cup runneth over.

here’s the list:

-vampire weekend- contra
love this band… even if they do dress like the kids
that used to beat me up in boarding school.

-cold war kids- behave yourselves EP
bought this on iTunes a month ago, thinking it wasn’t
coming out on CD… that’s always fun.

-latin playboys- dose
bought this when it first came out, then either sold it back or lost it.
felt ready to take it on again. plus, it was used for $1.99.

-florence and the machine- lungs
toppled. by. the. HYPE!

-jawbox- for your own special sweetheart
their jimmy fallon reunion performance of ’savory’
fucking crushed me to bits. just total power &
glorious commitment to the rock. plus, i denied
myself this record the first time around.

-nick cave and the bad seeds- the boatman’s call
nick cave dated PJ harvey.
they broke up.
he wrote the songs on this record.
with lyrics like:
“To our love send a dozen white lilies
To our love send a coffin of wood
To our love let all the pink-eyed pigeons coo
That people they just ain’t no good”
ouch!

-ok go- of the blue colour of the sky
i love me some dave fridmann.
he is one of the last great sonic artists in popular music.
he’s made records w/ MGMT, flaming lips, mercury rev…
he recorded/produced/mixed this.
and it sounds AMAZING!

-spoon- transference
spoon seems to be running in place on the last couple records.
good news is, it’s a pretty kick ass place.

-it might get loud- DVD
if you have not seen this movie, you are dead on the inside.
the scene where jimmy page plays ‘whole lotta love’ for
jack white & edge… holy tits amazing!
worship! this! movie!

-pete townshend- empty glass (VINYL)
‘rough boys’ and ‘let my love open the door’… i mean COME ON!

the velvet underground- the velvet underground (VINYL)
for when i’m breezin’ my way through a sweet heroin jag.

howard jones- dream into action (VINYL)
i can’t believe how good the first 3 songs on this record are:
‘things can only get better,”life in one day,’no one is to blame.’
howard, you little british elf man, how did you do it so good?!

the j.geils band- bloodshot (VINYL)
j. geils band was my first concert. in 3rd grade.
it was their i determined that bad pot smells like burning toast.
and that j.geils were my heroes.
my first copy of this disappeared into the ether.

madness- one step beyond (VINYL)
SKANKIN’!

bryan adams- cuts like a knife (VINYL)
denim on denim ALWAYS delivers.

hooters- nervous night (VINYL)
i own this record on tape and CD.
next stop, 8 track.

frankie goes to hollywood- welcome to the pleasure dome (VINYL)
2 records. 4 sides. barely hidden sexual innuendos. AND a cover of ‘born to run.’
plus, B loves this record. raves about it from her teenage-hood. how could i say no

general public- …all the rage (VINYL)
another B pick… and ‘tenderness’ crushes!

the beach boys- pet sounds (VINYL)
this is the re-mastered, special, capitol takes your money version.
and worth every penny.

so i was at a friends post wedding shin dig yesterday.
and this was on display in the living room of the people throwing the party.
right next to the t.v.

and yeah.
it was life size.

then we might have spent an hour playing star wars
trivia out of a book written in 1982, by a 12 year old kid who is,
apparently, M.I.A. (no, not HER)

http://tinyurl.com/2kehrb

long story short, my sunday ruled.

here’s a little treat for
those of you who’ve always
wanted to hear me say ‘balls’ on VH1.

commercial first… then me being classy!

play.jhtml?id=1628314&vid=465156

i bought my first vic chesnutt record in college.
on cassette.
it was called “drunk”

i bought it because his name kept popping up
on the tongues of all the people i wanted to be.
and his name was so cool… VIC CHESNUTT.
sprinkle in a little myth- he was in a wheelchair,
he was friends with michael stipe, he put out records
on a hip indie label, texas hotel- and i was sold.

“when I ran off and left her
I didn’t look backwards
till I was halfway to Chattanooga
on the Atlanta connector
that’s when I started flashing
on the little things that she did
all her little sayings.
and i started to wig.”

his songs are snapshots.
little moments extracted from the whole.
like raymond carver’s stories…
packed with NY times crossword puzzle words like:

‘intravenous demerol’
‘louis pasteur’
’skedaddle’
‘parliamentarian’
’symposium’

and the raddest thing about vic chesnutt?
the way he sang these awkward, $10 words with such grace.
they never felt out of place, or over reaching.
they just felt natural. and right.
he could deliver these big words in song,
but in such a way that you never felt their weight.
just their impact.

i have to be in the mood to listen to vic chesnutt.
his songs demand my attention..
it’s not always music.
but every time i do listen, without fail, i am rewarded.
i am inspired to write.
and the words just spill out.
like my cork has been pulled…
it happened this morning, listening to his latest,
and now final record, ‘at the cut.’

it’s so rare in music that hype and myth
are attached to something that actually delivers.
vic chesnutt delivered.
and he will be missed.

i’m a firm believer in the
“one for you, two for me”
holiday gift buying philosophy.
it just makes it more fun…
and aren’t holidays about fun?!

so, i might have bought a few innocent little
things for myself at the record store yesterday.
i feel compelled to share them with you,
probably to assuage my guilt…
i totally just used ‘assuage’ in a sentence. yuck.

so, here they are. dig:

-sea wolf- leaves in the river
which i owned once & sold back.
enjoy the fruits of my stupidity, mr. wolf.

-bad lieutenant- never cry another tear
essentially new order w/out peter hook

-X- beyond and back
which i own, but somehow lost the 2nd disc.
i think one of the cats ate it.
it was worth buying again if only for the best live version of
‘the worlds a mess, it’s in my kiss’ on god’s green earth.

-dirty projectors- bitte orca
ah, the sucker punch of hype.
sells records to folks like me…albeit slowly.
did i just use “albeit” in a sentence too?!
what the fuck is wrong with me…

-the best of sade
at some point, i will buy all the records individually…
but right now, i need my ’smooth operator’ to gyrate
up against some ’sweet taboo’

-nick cave and the bad seeds- let love in
‘a perfect record’, says aaron tap

-passion pit- manners
i fought buying this for A LONG TIME.
but mark played me a song that totally
rips off the chorus of ‘ladyfingers’ by luscious jackson,
and i was hooked.

-black crowes- cabin fever (DVD)
no matter how weak the records get…
and they are getting pretty weak,
i am still the president of the ‘buy all their crap’ fan club.

-madness- 7 (VINYL)
paul doucette claims madness and
their producers in particular, are the shit.
i missed this the first time around. so i’m giving it a shot now.

-dexy’s midnight runners- ‘too-rye-ay (VINYL)
another pd recommends.

-tubes- the completion backward principle (VINYL)
inspired by my KLOS christmas show experience,
where fee waybill played
‘talk to ya later’ w/slash and jason bonham.
i just sat there with jaw on ground.
perfection.

-the clash- give ‘em enough rope (VINYL)
just a kick ass record

couple things i decided yesterday:

-if the future is wifi on airplanes… viva la future!
-johnny depp is too good looking.
it’s not fair to the rest of men.
-apple season is definitely over.
-listening to sea wolf live on KCRW makes
driving in bumper to bumper traffic in los angeles
bearable.
-i want to be slash. i want to be able to
walk into rehearsal in track pants and
a leather jacket/jean vest combo and
make my guitar do what his guitar does.
-”born to run” is deceptively hard to sing.
-radishes and onions together make for an aggressive
salad. i am not into aggressive salads.
-i wish i had written ‘talk to ya later’ by the tubes.