"I could tell that my parents hated
me. My bath toys were a toaster and a radio."
--Rodney Dangerfield--
April and May '07
Older posts have been archived
Old Shit
5/27/07 12:58am
Yes, it's my birthday. Today I am going to take my nephew Nick to Skatelab skate park for a beginner session. I went last weekend with my Canadian pal Dennis Bannock and his wife Libby. Here's a couple shots of Den busting a crailslide in the kidney bowl.
After skateboarding I'm gonna hightail it over to Dave's house for a BBQ... I'm marinating some Hawaiian style shortribs to grill up. Then after Dave's house I'm gonna go over to my nephews house and receive a birthday cake from Nicholas, and his younger sister Hannah, and younger brother Mathew. Should be pretty cute. Then maybe hook up with my old Pal Erik to shoot the shit. All in all I don't see how a guy's birthday could be any better.
All you Foo fans will be happy to know it's getting closer... actual tracking is slowing down and focus is on mixing... however I think there's still a few songs left to record. Stuff is sounding really really good.
Nate and I have been golfing about once a week... super fun... his game is getting better while mine is getting worse... better hit the driving range.
OH yeah.... Last week I finished with court. Charges Dismissed!!!! I thought I was going to be completely ecstatic and pumped leaving court with my walking papers... but I'll be damned if it wasn't just the opposite. I don't know... it was weird. A year and a half of blood sweat and tears... working toward this one day when it's done and when it finally comes... I don't know... it was inconsequential. A let down. No gold at the end of the rainbow.
When court starts, the graduates sit in the jury box. While the regular docket sits in the gallery along with friends and family of the graduates if they brought any. There were 12 of us graduates... and I swear a couple of them were stoned already. They call roll for the regular docket... I chuckled when they called the perfect stoner name... Dusty Baker... hehe. Then The regular Docket is forced to sit through graduation ceremony before they start calling names... it takes two or three hours. I'm sure they are miserable. First the judge speaks and praises graduates and explains the way things are going to go. Then all the court personnel each give a short speech about their role in the program. Then each of the graduates drug and alcohol counselors speaks... then friends and family speaks... Then finally each of the graduates speaks. It's a requirement to graduate. I hate to be negative about the whole thing... but it was demeaning. One counselor lady got up in front of us with a Dr. Seuss book... Oh the places you'll go... and read it to us. Holding the book in front of her and flipping the pages slowly so we could all see the pictures like a bunch of pre-schoolers. A couple people said nice and meaningful things... myself not included... but for the most part it was like the academy awards for drug addicts. When the judge handed me the dismissal papers and I walked out of court... I just felt used. I know it was my own choices and actions that got me there but I really felt like a chump that just got conned, swindled, and ripped off. Completely anti-climactic and empty. Like I said... it was weird. I was depressed for a few days afterwards. I feel better now... It's sinking in slowly that I don't have to ask permission to travel and no one tell me when to pee. I know it's lame that I felt that way... but it's the truth. I am happy it's done and a lot of good really did come out of it for me. I had a realization... it's one of the only things I've ever completed in it's entirety. I didn't finish high school... I didn't finish my army term... I haven't really finished much of anything. Except this fucking court program.... Hopefully, this is a good sign.
I'm going to Vegas on Thursday to celebrate getting done and also my birthday. I'm gonna play a lot of golf and do a lot of vegging out. Staying a couple days at the Wynn... and a couple days out at Lake Las Vegas.
Speaking of vegging out... I'm hooked on a stupid video game... World of Warcraft... if there are any other gamer nerds out there that play this game and want to help me complete some group quests... please email me. bbandhisfob@yahoo.com. I'm a level 32 horde blood elf priest in moon guard named poofboy... oh god... I can't believe I just wrote that. I suck.
I always wanted to be somebody, but now I
realize I should have been more specific.
Lily Tomlin
5/7/07
Us touring guys... roadies and band guys... get lots and lots of free t-shirts. Band shirts, Equipment manufacturer shirts, whatever... Unless it's black I don't wear 'em. Speaking for just myself... I probably end up with about 50 shirts per year that I never wear... sometimes more. I have boxes and boxes of t-shirts at home. Dave's mom kicks Martha Stewarts ass. She had the genius idea to take old unwanted T-shirts and turn them into pillows... pretty fuckin' awesome. I'm a lazy butt... I'm just gonna give mine to goodwill.
Here are some more current shots of the studio... this is where I work...
This is where we pong...
This is where we watch the De La Hoya fight...
This is the Hallway of Rock... (too much rock to completely document)
These are some goofy ass surfboards that got given to the band for something or other... I'm really not sure why we put them up on the wall... they kinda creep me out.
And this... is a present from the crew to Dave. Sean put it all together and we all pitched in. Dave mentioned as a joke early on how he thought it would be funny to have one of these kind of portraits hanging in the studio. Geoff hung it up all stealth like... and then waited for the boss to come in eventually and just happen upon it. Needless to say... be careful what you ask for.
And lastly... just some more control room workins'...
Good buddy Lou came up with some very creative new guitar tunings yesterday that will probably make the record... ( Top Secret )
I took what I hope to be my very last piss test today...
... Heroes on tonight... sweet.
5/4/07
Ping pong in full effect... getting my chops back up... I no longer am a sure bet... Dave and I have been giving it back and forth for a couple weeks. Gil is pretty good too and holds his own. I'm 7 days in to a juice fast and starting to feel good. I haven't taken very good care of myself over this past year... my mental energies were wrapped up in all the trouble I've been in and didn't have much left over for self discipline or self concern even. But that all changes right now. I'm on a health kick starting immediately. For the past 2 months I've had to fly back to Portland every week to fulfill court obligations... a one hour group meeting that's mandatory for my completion and graduation from this court program I'm in. It's kicking my wallet's ass... I fly to Portland on Thursday night and then fly back to LA on Friday night. I don't even want to start about the hour long groups. Only two more trips back to Portland though... thank god. One more group next Friday... then hopefully I graduate the Tuesday after that... DONE! Charges dismissed on the 16th... My birthday is on the 27th and I can't imagine a better present. If anyone has connections at the Wynn hotel in Vegas... I'm trying to get a suite from the June 1st to the 4th but they're all booked up. A little craps, a little golf, a little pool time... sound like a great way to celebrate to me.
The recording is going great... Mostly vocals now... although Rami will be laying some key stuff down soon and I think we've got a string section coming in next week for some stuff...
The guys in the picture are Gil (producer) and Adrian (engineer)... I don't know who the dweeb in the headband is.
This is Lou... he gets the BB MVP award for this record. He makes it all happen. He knows the studio inside and out... all the routing and patching... he's a hell of a drum tech and is a fucking shedding drummer... he works harder than anyone and never complains about anything. I love this guy. Smart, hard working, funny and talented... sounds like the kind of dude you want to have around. Sorry ladies, he's married.
This is Bo... the best dog in the world. But a completely worthless watch dog. For the third time in 8 months I was ripped off. Back in October my Van was broken in to and the stereo was stolen... then in November... the house was broken into and a few of my guitars were stolen as well as some electronics... then last Saturday my car was hit again and the stereo stolen. Police reports each time... I even installed a video surveillance system and alarm system after the house was ripped off. But it was too dark to catch the thieves last Saturday. So I'm having some floodlights installed over our driveway. The thing that annoyed me the most was the insurance company... taking all my guitars and depreciating them to the point of insignificance. 240 bucks for a '69 Les Paul? Fucked.
I got some emails about how I said that this new record will dethrone TCATS... and how I said that about the last record too... get a life. Just so there is no misunderstanding... this is how I would put my favorite Foo records in order...
1. The Colour and the Shape
2. Nothing Left to Lose
3. In Your Honor
4. Foo Fighters
5. One By One
Now inevitably some dumbass will write me and say "you didn't like one by one"? Wrong. I loved them all. And at this moment... with what I've heard so far... this new record is going to win. I've never seen Dave work so hard... he's is really putting his time in... He's at the studio usually before I get there and stays after I leave... Sometimes till the wee hours of the morning... and you just know his baby daughter is getting him up at 6am every day. So I have mad respect for the boss right now. What my ears are telling me is that all his hard work is paying off.
4/25/07
First post in 11 months...
I spent a lot of the past year on tour with Tenacious D... as Production Manager. Yes, I got the bump up to white collar bitch. Lots of phone and computer time. I was a successful tour but very challenging for me at times... not so much from a production standpoint... but with personnel. I didn't really get to pick my own crew... and the one guy I did pick flaked pretty hard. CRAP. But whatever... From the band standpoint it was good. The tour didn't lose money and after a shaky first couple of shows production ironed out well... very consistent every night. In the states it was 3 semi's and in the UK it was 4. One of the other challenging things for me was having to stay compliant with the Oregon court system and the mess I got myself into. I'd get a phone call at some point during the week at any time of the day or night (time zone differences)... and someone would say "go get a UA"... and I'd have to find somewhere to take a piss test within 12 hours. It usually wasn't that difficult... but a serious pain in the ass if it happened to be a show day... and forget about it overseas... The UK and Australia have socialized medicine. There's no way for me to buy a UA... however, I did manage to pull one off in Sydney. The promoter had a doctor friend that we gave some tickets to and he just kinda forced me through the Australia system.
Here's some shots from the D tour...
But now it's back to the Foo's. I moved down to LA for a few months to work in the studio while they record the next record. I'm staying in this ghetto little apartment about a block away from the studio. But I'm still fucked up in the court system so I continue to take a random weekly UA... Oh yeah... I have to fly back to Portland every week for one day to do a treatment meeting that's mandatory to graduate out of the system. Expensive but worth it. I'm done in 3 weeks though... thank god. I graduate on May 16th, provided nothing goes wrong. My birthday is on May 27th so it'll be a great birthday for me.
All you Foo fans will be happy to know that the record is going really well... they brought back the producer that they worked with on the Colour and the Shape... Gil Norton. Every song that I've heard come out of the control room speakers so far is a damn hit. Just like Colour and Shape. Colour and Shape has always been my favorite Foo record but I have a feeling it's going to be dethroned by this new one. Every song has great hooks and melodies and great sounds... the process down here at the 606 has been smooth and steady. I'll try and snap some shots over the coming weeks.
- "We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."
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- Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962