LIKE BOB DYLAN
I went back to work on the Bud Reichard record on Monday. We were really getting to the part where progress was starting to add up. It was slow going to lay the basic guitar tracks to get them to the level of precision we wanted--some of Bud’s songs are rhythmically quite ambitious, and being a one-man band, he hadn’t really paid much attention to being really consistent rhythm-wise, so we spent a lot of time getting improving that for each song, then zeroing on little things--unintended squeaks, the occasional note that just went plunk instead of ringing fully--when it’s a solo acoustic guitar, there’s no covering up--plus, solo acoustic guitar is pretty hard to edit without sounding weird. Hence, the basic guitar parts were slow going but the results were excellent. By this point, we’re adding electric guitar parts and I even got one of Bud’s lead vocals down this week. These parts, being a bit more free in terms of rhythm, and of course not happening all the way thru a song, were going by much quicker. You could tell that by the end of the week, we’d have vocals on a few songs, and we could start making rough mixes to send to the different people--drummers, percussionists, string arrangers, keyboard players--that were being enlisted to add their parts virtually.
The only problem was, when I woke up on Tuesday, there was no way I could work. I was in a total fog, and completely weak. I headed to the doctor, and it didn’t take her long to to determine the obvious. I was suffering from exhaustion, and nature was taking advantage of the fact. My body had precious little energy to devote to things like maintaining a functioning immune system, and this loophole was quickly exploited by the ambient flora. My blood pressure barely registered. I was pale and weak. Despite all the Disciplines shows and pilates, I was toned, but not really healthy. Despite my high fiber, no sugar, no carb diet (or because of it?) my innards were fucked up too. Her strict orders: no more work. No more pilates. No activity of any kind. To bed, and turn off the computer. No emails. No phone. She put me on heavy antibiotics, and for added fun I have some meds for the other end of the tube as well. And, guess what: no fiber, nothing but pasta and baguette can I eat. Arrgh! Like, all carbs. Asking someone like me to eat an *all* carb diet is like asking Morissey to bite the head off a baby seal.
And so I slept. I canceled all my appointments. I moved into Aden’s bed, which very similar to the bed in a tour bus, except it doesn’t vibrate. As I stepped off the treadmill, I had time to take inventory of how messed up I really was. As the infection in my nose (Dom said I was finally paying the bill for all the fun my nose may have brought me in earlier times...) fought valiantly against the meds, the result was unbelievable, throbbing pain--that woke me up in the night and sent me crawling for painkillers. However, the rest was welcome and I took advantage of it to the fullest. What else could I do?
I read a lot. The full Herald Tribune each day, plus I blazed thru the excellent Neil Young bio ‘Shakey’ by Jimmy McDonough. Let me say, I generally find the rock bio section of the bookstore analogous to the grease trap in your local Burger King, but this was a satisfyingly thorough analysis of a worthy--and playfully elusive--subject. And, sigh, I forked out $300 to advance purchase the Archives box set that’s being released next month--in theory.
Also, being home all the time if not awake all the time, I did have more time with Dom and Aden than I’ve had in one week since forever and a day, which I loved.
And, I haven't had coffee or any caffeine since Monday. And I'm not dead. Still trying to figure that one out.
Today I woke up and went thru my usual routine: crawl out of the cabane, toast some baguette, take some pills that repopulate my devastated intestinal flora; take my antibiotics; take my pain meds (the last of the heavy duty ones this morning); and launch some more cosmonauts into the black galaxy just past the wormhole. And then back to bed. I woke up rather naturally a few hours later, feeling, for the first time in a week, refreshed. I can twitch my nose without extreme pain. I feel like I have some energy. So, the goal of resuscitating me in time for my tour of Israel seems to have been accomplished.
I leave tomorrow.
Love
KS
