Usual morning pattern. (Should record that I caught up in the poetry daybook yesterday.) Mitch texted to say he’d be a little late into the studio, so I went down at 11, played a little piano. Thinking about recording a quick piano/vocal song (“Sad and Afraid”) in the last 2 days, if I finish some lyrics. Started around noon, rec’d an acoustic overdub w/ capo on “Boring Postcards,” a “heavy” noise/rock part on the last 2 ch. of “Our Films, Their Films,” and tone-switch feedback on “Any Road Home.” Did vocal takes of “Untimely Beggar” and “Shovel-Ready.” A lot of these songs end big, vocally. Ended early, maybe 5. Called Bree. Put on a CD of Britten’s Illuminations in the rental and drove to Greensboro to meet John Davis, Carl Schlachte, and his wife Jennifer, an American Studies Ph.D. student working on Latinx graphic novels for Chinese food. Stopped by Sheets on the way home b/c I wanted ice cream. Back at cabin around 10. I’ve read maybe another 30 p. of the Ellington bio, but haven’t been keeping a schedule while here. Put on a podcast interview w/ Ray Monk about Wittgenstein and the foundations of mathematics, went to sleep early.
11.18.19
Still getting up too early – about 6. Dithered, read to p. 100 in Ellington book. Went into studio around 11 and started working up “Any Road Home” piano part, playing along w/ rough mix on my phone. Started notating some of it, but quite after I got the feel. Mitch comped vocals until I was ready, around 1. Got the part out of about 4 takes. Then easier stuff: fixed 2 holes in the piano for “Illusions,” redid Hammond on the bridges of “The Old Currencies” (part I did on last visit was way too busy, interfered w/ both the vocal/lyric and the bari guitar line), added a “vibes” sound on the Yamaha combo as a layer in the breakdown to “Faith and Credit,” did the 4 note riff at the end of “A Different City” on Fender + six-string bass for octave/fake 12-string effect). Took break around 6 – thought about going to nearby BBQ, but I’m going out to dinner tomorrow, and I got involved in rating EMP conference proposals, which I have to return a few days after Thanksgiving. Came back, sang about 4 takes each of “Old Currencies” and “Enemies of Song,” + 3 of “Our Films, Their Films.” Quit around 9.
11.17.19
Similar – woke up too early, had to go back to bed. Up for good at 8:30. Wrote to Jenny about Thanksgiving, looked at bridge MS for an hour. Went down to the stuidio as 11 as piano tuner was finishing up. Started off with direct Strat tracks on “Faith and Credit” (2 & 4 chops per the recording’s general Motown styling) and “Shovel-Ready” (a bit in the verses that I’ve had in my head forever). Went to piano for bass throughout “Faith and Credit,” and a major 7ths and quartals part for “Illusions” (I don’t know if this song is jangle pop or just adult contemporary). 2 full passes of electric piano on “Cover Your Tracks!” – sounds great on the basic riff, not as necessary on the rest, but I think it’ll work. Dinner break – spoke to Bree on the phone. but managed about 4 vocal takes each of “Faith & Credit” (w/ several extra passes of a key line at the end of the breakdown) and “Cover Your Tracks!” Pleasantly surprised – they sound pretty good, w/ some personality, and not rhythmically forced. Quit between 9-10. Had a beer back at the cabin, watched John Oliver and some card magic videos. Not sure when I went to sleep.
11.16.17
Woke up around 5:30, fussed around, read 10 p. of Ellington, made myself go back to bed. Up for real around 9. Headed across the yard to the studio at noon. Visited w/ Mitch and his girlfriend Tammy for a bit, then got to work. Started w/ an easy six-string bass overdub on “Still In Error” for the sake of confidence, then set up a combo organ (a non-standard brand/model) w/ tremolo and distortion on the same song, worked out a droney part – but a part. Derivative of Yo La Tengo, which is what I was hoping for. Used the stylophone to supplement (possibly replace) the theremin freakout on “Our Films, Their Films.” Stayed w/ that keyboard for “Believe in Ghosts” – the upper manual replaces the electric harpsichord idea I’d had. Took a dinner break – stayed “on campus.” Came back to do 4-5 vocal takes each of “Still in Error” (I can hear where the biggest trouble spot is – “scanner”) and “Illusions” (sung at lower intensity, which helped keep it together). Knocked off at about 9. Might not sound like a lot, but a good start. Stayed up for a while, had a beer, went to bed around 11.
11.15.17
Up at 7. Spent too long scanning liner notes to Dillanthology and figuring out how to merge them into one pdf. Went to coffee before 8, caught up on daybook (1 day ahead in fact b/c I forgot the date). Dutifully finished The Amateur – ok profile of Thom Gunn. Worked for 2 hrs on intro. Came back, and tried to “write” some of the guitar and keyboard parts I need to overdub on “Untimely Beggar” and “Believe in Ghosts.” Got some ideas, but I’m afraid these will be a phrase-by-phrase slog in the studio. Went back to E77 to write more from about 4-6. Took train w/ Bree to Lincoln Center, saw Thomas Adès’s opera of The Exteriminating Angel at the Met. Balcony seats, not exorbitant for theater, were fine. Excellently performed, visually and dramatically powerful, and probably unwise to encapsulate here: the baseline musical style is fragementary and dissonant, but no more than, I don’t know, Richard Strauss, and not atonal, with a few more “accessible” arias and duets sprinkled throughout. Pop, it ain’t. I have more taste for this than I used to, and the expressionist relationship to the narrative helps (as in the serialist Lulu and that Schoenberg Zietoper that I like. Cool that the composer included an ondes Martenot in the orchestration – the effect wasn’t so different than overdubbing a Theremin on “Our Films, Their Films.” Everyone acts like Bunuel’s film is enigmatic, but if it isn’t about the limits of the bourgeois life and worldview, I don’t know what is. Got home about 11, did a bit of packing, read a chapter or two of the Otis bio (which I’d left behind on the Catskill trip), lights out 1 am.