January 18th, 2007 10:47 hours CST
Currently listening to: "Fall and Winter / Necktie Noose" by the Helio Sequence
Feeling: sick, yet again
Sorry for the lack of updates. I got sick with a cold and then Airiel was recording our LP over at Engine. Things went very well.
We got a lot of work done and made a lot of noise. Too many colds being passed around and I think next time we should bar non-band
staff who are ill from entering the studio. I'm now dealing with another sore throat. That's basically three colds in the month
of January. C'mon Airborne, do your stuff.
There are lots of things about the album that I want to share, but we have to keep things
secret. Some things that I can tell you are we had at one point 1) a drum circle 2) a 24 pedal feedback loop 3) me actually playing
a keyboard part (on some groovy, old Yamaha home organ) 4) my fingers nearly breaking while doing take after take on a Rickenbacker
12-string 5) discovered that whiskey, not water, helps with vocals and 6) discovered that re-stringing a Rick 12-string is a
time consuming pain in the ass.
Guitars I played on the album:
- Rickenbacker 360 6-string
- Rickenbacker 370 12-string
- Fender Jaguar
- Fender Jazzmaster
- Gretch Tennesee Rose
- Martin D-1
- Some crazy, old Epiphone hollowbody with 3 pickups and a bigsby that we used for some blistering feedback.
Engine is 1 minute away from Club Lucky, where Yuka and I had our wedding reception. We had dinner there during the week of the
studio and three of the staff recognized us right away, including our waitress. They asked how we were doing and it was all very
sweet. They may have the best fried calamari on the planet.
I'm in the process of completing an application to my alderman, Rey Colon, that will get me a sticker for my truck that should
prevent me from getting any more 9-64-170A parking tickets in my own neighborhood. Seems somebody thought that it should be illegal
to park a light pickup truck anywhere in Ward 35. I'm counting on you, Mr. Colon. Another sticker on my windshield and another $30
in the city clerks pocket? Worse things have happened, I guess.
Despite how incredibly awful I felt yesterday, I couldn't help but smile as Yuka developed her first roll of film. She was so
excited and the look on her face just killed me. We've started watching the extended cuts of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I'm
having to pause every five minutes to fill her in on back-story because 1) there's a ton and 2) she digs it. I love her reaction when
she realizes what actor she's looking at. She didn't recognize Sean Astin at all and Goonies is one of her favorite movies. Well,
the guy wasn't very high profile after that, I guess. She also, bless her heart, thinks that Ian McKellen should be playing Dumbledoor
instead of Michael Gambon. I love this woman.
January 2nd, 2007 10:57 hours CST
Currently listening to: All That We Perceive by Theivery Corporation
Feeling: peaceful
Where to begin? 2006 was one hell of a year.
Got married in JAPAN.
Yuka finally made it to the US.
Airiel did a spur of the
moment tour in New York.
Giant hole in my ceiling.
Discovered that after parking my truck in my neighborhood for over a year, it's actually illegal to do so.
Went to a NYE party driven by a sweet, 77 year old guy with a stoma and an electronic voice box.
Got wickedly addicted to Viva Piñata.
Discovered the cheapest produce in all of Chicago is 3 minutes from my apartment.
Airiel finally played at Metro and we killed.
CTA tried to kill me on July 12th.
Finally rode my Vespa around Bloomington for a weekend.
My grandmother passed away.
Spent my 29th birthday in a hot spring in Hakone, Japan.
I wouldn't change a thing.
