I posted a ton of new photos to the
photos sectionI continued my week, recording with
Hanggai in Beijing. We spent most of the week tracking the band live (sometimes with live vocal), and then the last couple of days doing overdubs--although I have to say, the basic tracks (hardly basic, really, when you consider there are 6 musicians playing at once) turned out wonderfully. They sound already mixed, just the perfect dynamics, interaction and diverse tonalities of the players and their unique blend of instrumentation. I've been getting to know them better, and building a great relationship with Travis, the engineer of the studio. So far, it's been a drama free session (touch wood). I get up in the morning--I've been waking up early--have a great breakfast at the hotel (steamed buns with green vegetable), go BACK to bed for an hour or so, get up/ready, bike the 7 minutes to the studio (most of Beijing seems to be quite flat, so it's a great biking city--oh, they have bike lanes too), dismount and immediately search out some midday vittles, usually a tiny sandwich of chopped up lamb guts in some kind of chewy, herbed bread; stroll into the studio and make music all day, with a break around 6 or 7 for a HUGE meal from the restaurant on the alley that the studio is on--there's quite a few little eateries there to choose from but generally our evening meal comes from the place that does a great crispy duck...there's a dish of meat, and for the truly indulgent experience, a dish that's just the duck's oily skin. Yummmm. Sea cucumber, spicy noodles, chicken feet soaked in white pepper oil. It goes on and on.
Last Sunday I woke up early, my body finally not feeling like I'd been on the Long March, and biked at 8.30 over to the Forbidden City, and was amongst the first people there, beating the rush for the most part. It's there that I detected the first hint of spring, tho it's still a bit brisk in general...and the winter was so hard this year that the trees seem scared shitless, there's not even a *hint* of green buds on the branches. But the former Emperor's Garden had cultivated cherry blossoms, and the scent of the junipers reminded me of the approach to certain Spanish beaches I love.
I did a little shopping for Aden's birthday, did lots of interviews--the Seattle Weekly is doing a feature on the Posies the week we're in town...and China Daily and other papers here are talking to me this week. And now...bed time.
Love
KS
Beijing
