THAT WAS SOMETHING; OTHERWISE…IT WOULDN’T BE CALLED ‘THAT’
This is typical of my post 2 all-nighters in the studio kind of prose. By harnessing Herculean effort, I managed to get Benji’s record finished, and left the studio this morning at about 8.30. Like the previous morning, I was shocked to emerge into the radiance of a nearly cloudless morning; this one was at the delicious tipping point where the heat supplants the leftover evening cool. My eyes were sensitive from staring at the monitor of the studio computer for the previous eleven hours (and that was just AFTER dinner—and includes the extra hour that the revision to standard time gave us—if only I were paid by the hour!) but that made the blazing reds, greens and yellows of the surrounding foliage all the more startling when I encountered them, magnificently backlit by the morning sun. We drove back to Benji’s house and I wrangled an hour and a half of sleep, waking with a panic when my alarm went off at ten, thinking that my flight was leaving in two hours, when in reality I had set noon in my head as the latest time we should start heading to the airport. We had time to get coffee (and a Sunday New York Times, a pleasure that my schedule rarely allows) and then made our way to Tulsa Int’l. It was empty—there was no line, and I managed to check all my crap—a bass, a guitar, a massive suitcase completely full of stuff, and a box containing the microphones that I bought while I was here (well, HALF of the microphones I bought—I bought two EV 664s on EBay and had them shipped to my Washington state mailing address—my son will have the pleasure of bringing them to me when he visits me later this year!) for only eighty five bucks. I arrived at the airport at 12.30 and by one o’clock I was at the gate.
My week was spent solely in the studio, with a nightly break for dinner, and a morning stop for coffee, and if lucky, a few hours of sleep! I averaged, I’m sure, 15 hours a day. I think my longest day was 20-21 hours, long enough to drive from LA to Seattle. But, it was all in the pursuit of making a good record and in reality if it wasn’t for the fact I need to sleep now and then, I find working on music—editing vocal minutiae in Pro Tools, fiddling with reverb settings, trying to get the ultimate kick drum sound—completely enjoyable.
Now I’m on the plane to Paris, and since I’ve boarded the aircraft I’ve turned 38. Traveling thru time.
I am really looking forward both to being reunited with my family in Paris in a few hours, and celebrating another year of life, with them surrounding me; and then my upcoming tour as well. The dates are all final now for the November European tour, and are on myspace and probably by the time you read this on this site as well. See some of you out there soon.
I want to give a very big thank you to Benji and Whitney Latham for being such wonderful hosts and mention that they are among the most decent and kind folks you’ll meet. They will be missed!
Love
KS
United flight 942 between Chicago and Paris
Postscript: I didn’t get to post this until now, the wee hours of Halloween…’ween hours, I guess. Witching hours? Anyway, I wanted to thank the many folks that wrote in with birthday greetings. I arrived, with 2/3 of my luggage (guitars are due in first thing tomorrow) and spent the day with my family, plus getting a haircut. It was simple, wonderful, and exactly what I wanted. Thanks to everyone who contributed! Love, KS, Paris.
