I just put up over 25 new photos in the
photos section--shots of the Disciplines' recent shows, the Posies tour in Spain, and some older things I found recently...lookie.
My week continued in the studio with Palace of Sin. I think the stuff has turned out really good, I usually cringe over some details when I finish a project, and I'm filled with all the thoughts of what I wish I'd done better. But other than making the tom fills a little too loud for my tastes in one song, I'm basically 100% happy with the results. One song sounds uncannily like Bill Fay...and the influences of Van Morrison, Grant Lee Buffalo, etc are readily apparent. As usual, the last night in the studio was a marathon, 19 hours of mixing and editing. I was extremely well taken care of during these days--the first days I stayed with the bass player, Eric, and his family; the last few days I stayed with Dominique, the drummer, and his family. Both sets of people were extremely hospitable--every night, after the 40 minute drive back to Toulouse, they made sure I had something to eat--to the extent that Dominique actually cooked for me when we came back at 5 yesterday morning! Incredible people, and I have nothing but gratitude for all their kindness. They wouldn't let me pay for anything--I wasn't allowed to pay for groceries, I had to fight to pay for the morning cafe...and when my USB key died, the Baldinis had one gift wrapped and waiting on the dining room table when I got back from the studio. So, in fact, it was a highly enjoyable experience, even with the hard/long work involved (actually, it's a pleasure for me to spend time making things sound great, attending to hundreds of tiny details--how loud a particular tambourine hit is, doing little vocal edits and smoothing out the attack of individual "t" and "c" sounds...I sort have to be torn away from the computer at the day's end...I only left these nights as the studio was in the owner's house, and I didn't want to to make the guys stay up til 5 am every night to take me back to Toulouse...but, honestly, when I'm working, I could sleep on the couch at the studio and work around the clock--I did this when I was mixing
Minky Starshine and the New Cardinals last summer. And it was great. The studio is dark, quiet (I don't listen very loud when I'm mixing and editing) and warm. And, especially when I am left to work on my own with no one around, I just get deeply into the work and the hours fly by.
And the days...suddenly I was flying back to Paris, to be reunited with Dom; we a enjoyed an evening together, and today went to pick up Aden, who had been visiting with her grandparents in Tours.
Lastly, I send out my Veteran's Day admiration and love to my stepdad, Dewey Huston, who fought in the US Army in France and Germany in WWII, and in doing so contributed to the liberation of my country of residence...imagine the alternative. Dewey enlisted straight upon graduating high school, trained and arrived in time to participate in the Battle of the Bulge. I had a taxi driver in Paris who was from a village called Bonnet, and whose mother and father were moments from being executed for petty material aid to the resistance when the US Forces arrived and disrupted the proceedings. Is there anything to say other than thank you?
Love
KS
Paris
