Recording: Days 18-20 (with a new rough mix!)

The hot, humid weather has finally broken, and the last two days have been gorgeous. It's been spring weather: blue skies, puffy white clouds, and mid-70s temperatures. In other words - hammock time! Ben (and his kids, Ali and Cameron, who are staying at the house for the summer) set up this hammock in their yard, and it is soooo comfortable, that I want to get one of my own. First I’ll need to get a yard. ;)

Gordon Lustig flew out from Napa, CA to record in NJ on Sunday. Gordon is a longtime family friend, and also my first (and when, I really think about it, only) guitar teacher. Not to besmirch his skills as an educator, but I still don’t know how to play the first song I asked him to teach me (now, some might claim that The Who's Pinball Wizard wasn’t really an appropriate "first song" choice on my part... but all those folks are wimps). Gordon is an amazing musician and songwriter (check out his song, “I Am Not James Taylor” on YouTube, where its’ already garnered over 2,700 views), and I am so glad that he was willing and able to make the time to fly 3,000 miles to play on my record. The rough mix I'm posting today (the link is at the end of this blog entry) has some of Gordon's work on it, and it's fantastic.

On Monday we worked with Eugene Ruffolo, a well-known singer/songwriter in his own right. Eugene gave us some nice male background vocals on a few tunes.

Now, to go back in time for a quick sec...My childhood friend Juliana came to visit me in the studio in NYC last week, and took some really great pictures. I just got them, and I'm posting a couple here for your enjoyment...one is of Rich playing drums, and that other is Ben in an unscripted moment. Thanks, Juliana!

Today we had a “clean-up” day, recording some more piano (adding a part to “You’re Gonna Find Someone”), synthesizer (on “Sleep of the Dead”, which is really starting to come together), and listening through the rest of the songs to see if any vocal tweaking was required. I'm happy to report that things are sounding pretty clean!

And, as promised, I was able to secure a new rough mix to share with you. This song, called Halls of Your Heart, is one of my favorites…I hope you like it, too. You can listen to it by clicking HERE. Be sure to use headphones to get the best impact - computer speakers won't do this song justice!

Have a great evening…and THANKS for listening.

Steve