To bring you up to speed...

Greetings!

Uhhh, okay – so I’ve been THINKING about writing these last few days… Key word: Thinking.

However, I have been keeping a running list of the various highlights and events. Oh, AND a list of the beer that we’ve been sampling… Hmm. Maybe that's why I haven’t written anything. I don’t know what your point is. Well, at any rate – I’m back. And I’ve got the crazy, funky-fresh, crunk-filled breakdown from the studio on the lake!

So yeah, recording has been going very well so far. We’ve gotten basic tracks done for quite a few songs and we recorded two more tunes today. We did, however, have a little hiccup with the song, ‘Hovering.’ For various reasons, we just weren’t getting the take we wanted. And believe me, we spent some serious time trying to GET that special take. Ummm, how about ten HOURS worth of trying… ACK! It was just one of those things – guess it just wasn’t in the cards that day.

On the shiny side of the coin, however, we did end up getting nice takes of ‘Lullaby’ and ‘Saturday Sun’ on that same day. (And very late night…) And ‘Saturday Sun’ we did in just one take! I think we were just so frustrated with our marathon ‘Hovering’ spree there was NO way we were going to mess around with any ‘multiple-take’ hoo-hah. So there.

It’s funny. We recorded ‘Hovering’ on Wednesday. We even eventually got some takes I think were pretty good. I put emphasis on the word ‘think’ as none of us have actually been able to BEAR listening to the track since the day we recorded it. However, Pedal Boy arrived yesterday (Our beloved, Greg) and I think we’re just going to end up re-recording the whole thing. We’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that we were simply missing the vibe he adds to the song. I think things will come off without a hitch the next time we record it. That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.

This past weekend was very enjoyable, indeed. Carrie spent some time getting her piano and guitar tracks recorded for the tunes we did last week. And since, well, I don’t have anything to do with that, I basically had some time off. Heh heh heh… Let the debauchery begin! Okay – yeah, maybe that would’ve been a good time to update the ol’ blog, but what am I gonna entertain you with if I don’t EXPERIENCE anything?! HA! Yeah, try and argue with THAT.

Basically, and not to disappoint you, I pretty much hung out all weekend. What made it so decadent is that I don’t really remember the last time I was able to do that. I hung out, enjoyed the nice weather, did some cooking, drank some beer, read some magazines… Watched CARNIVALE… >:-) Yeah, it was pretty damn enjoyable.

It was just so nice. I had some time to just sit and listen to music, to have some great conversations with Darryl, Tracy and Carrie and to just contemplate the amazing situation we have here. I think the most accurate description of our little set-up would be that of an artist’s commune. Everyone has their particular point of expertise and is very competently demonstrating their skills. In addition, everyone is helping out with the everyday duties that any family would require. We’re all cooking, cleaning, watching CARNIVALE together, etc. Okay – granted, I’ve gotta give it up to Tracy as she’s definitely been heading up the cleaning brigade, but I’d like to think we’ve all been helping out. For instance, not only is Darryl our AMAZING producer, but he’s also been kind enough to wash our bedding and make sure we have clean towels. Umm, when was the last time that you heard of a producer concerned with whether or not you had clean sheets?! I think he deserves an album credit for it, to be sure. :)

After Carrie finished laying down her piano and guitar tracks on the tunes we had recorded, we were able to hang out together and enjoy the area. We went for a really nice walk the other day and explored the area a bit. We even ran across an area close-by named ‘Carrie’s Villa.’ I think it’s important that everyone have their own villa. I’m working on procuring one in the south of France, myself. I’m planning on investing some of my rockstar earnings… :)P

We also got to explore some more of the local stores. We’ve frequented the local gourmet food store a few times, we’ve definitely re-visited the beer store and we even had a girls shopping day on Sunday. Carrie, Tracy and I went out for a while on Sunday and it was really nice. (Another shout-out to Tracy for driving us all over the countryside!) We ate breakfast at a local diner and made some stops in the area. Went to the bank, got some coffee, enjoyed the heat, bought some clothes… TeeHee… It was a very profitable afternoon.

We also had to go back to the 99 cent store to get more stickers. I don’t think I’ve mentioned the importance of the 99 cent store in the grand scheme of our recording. Darryl put together a production chart to track the progress of each song and all of its parts. (And I helped! I got to do all the lettering… YAY!) ANYway – we needed to get some stickers to mark our progress. (Duh.)

The first time we went to the store, we picked up some lovely cherry, unicorn and star stickers. Granted, we went in to get your basic, vanilla ‘star’ stickers, but the 99 cent store had SO much more to offer. However, when we started to sticker-up the chart, we decided we needed just a few more types of stickers. (For instance, I really regretted not picking up the MY LITTLE PONY stickers and Carrie was crying out for Sponge Bob…) So anyway, back to the 99 cent store we went…

The last time we were at the store, I noted a big, obnoxious Bootsy-Collinsish hat with a big, Canadian maple leaf on it. My first thought was that it would be great for a pub crawl hat… However, I opted to not get it at the time. When we returned to the store, Tracy was with us and the first thing she said to me was, “Hey – look at this hat – it’d be great for your pub crawls!”

How do you deny something like that TWICE?! Perhaps you have the will-power to stand in the face of the giant, maple leaf hat and say ‘no,’ but I clearly did not. I bought the hat. And I’d do it again! (Plus, it was only a DOLLAR!)

In addition to the hat, Tracy also found two of our future recording mascots: ‘Bucky the Bok Choy’ and ‘Carrie, Corn on the Cob.’ They’re these weird yet strangely appealing glass, vegetable pieces. We can’t decide if they’re supposed to be paper weights or if they’re supposed to go in an ornamental veggie display. (Well, because what ELSE do you do with glass vegetables??!) We’re also thinking about making them into Veggie Bling. I know that I’VE always fancied a bok choy necklace… Just sayin’… Anyway – as the price tag on each piece was a mere $1.47, we scooped ‘em up and the rest is history! Oh, and we also picked up some Sponge Bob, MY LITTLE PONY and cricket stickers. (For the resident cricket that lives outside the recording studio window. Michelle named him ‘Wilson Cricket.’ He rocks…Well, he tries to, anyway…)

Other than all of the hanging out, beer drinking and conversation I experienced over the weekend, we also finished up the first season of Carnivale. Sigh… It’s very safe to say that we were DEVASTATED to come to the end of the show. Crap. NOW what are we gonna do??!! Sure, we have a full season of ‘Six Feet Under’ DVDs to watch, but it’s just not the same. AND – Season 2 of Carnivale isn’t out on DVD yet. AND I just learned that there will be no season 3! A girl can’t take much more!!! I think we’ll just probably end up watching the first season over again… Or maybe some kind soul will have put Season 2 up on the web for us to pirate… But we’d NEVER do anything like that. I’m just messin’ with ya… Seriously… Really… >:-)

Let’s see… What else… Oh yes, yesterday Banjo Boy came to town! (aka Pedal Boy… aka GREG…) We love our Banjo Boy and it was nice to see him walking out of the Customs area at the airport. WOO! We’ve got some more recording to do! And another person to get addicted to Carnivale…

After we picked up Greg, we went into town to hang out for a bit. We dropped off Greg’s equipment at Darryl’s school and set out to get something to eat. We went to a nice pub called ‘Betty’s.’ We got some food and drink into our very tired guitarist and things were feelin’ good. We hung out for a bit at the pub and caught up with Greg and then took off to pick up Darryl. Since he was still in class, we took it upon ourselves to introduce Greg to ‘The Beer Store’ that was around the corner. I think he was impressed. But then, who WOULDN’T be?! He also agrees that we WILL be picking up some ‘beer gear’ while we’re here.

HOWEVER, this particular Beer Store didn’t represent as much as the others had. This one had this big ‘menu’ of beer on the wall and the idea was to place your order at the cash register and they’d send it out on this cool conveyer belt. Well, that’s all well and good if they actually have the beer that you ORDER. I was just picking beers off the menu, but I had to ask for FOUR different beers before they finally had one that I wanted! I mean, if you don’t have it in stock, don’t put it on the menu! Oh well – it’s not like it was a tragedy or anything. I still got some beer and it was good, indeed. However, I would’ve liked to have tried that raspberry mead… heh heh… Next time!

After finishing up at the Beer Store, we realized that Darryl was still in class. What were we gonna do?! Uhhh, well, let’s go to the pub down the block. Hey – nothing better than newly arriving in town and immediately participating in a pub crawl! Greg was still awake, so on to the next pub we went. It was a nice one called, ‘Dominion.’ Too bad we didn’t have the giant Maple Leaf hat to make Greg wear! NEXT TIME. After ordering a drink, Darryl was finished up with class and he walked over to meet us.

Since we were all still drinking our pint, Darryl ordered one, too. The rest of the bunch was sticking to your basic lagers, but I decided to bust out and try the Cranberry Ale. As some of you may know, I have a fondness for the fruity ales… ANYway – Personally, I liked it. So there. I’d order it again. However, the rest of the bunch didn’t seem to agree. The comments ranged anywhere from Carrie’s, “It tastes like nasty Kool-Aid” to Darryl’s classic, “It smells like a 16 year old’s lip gloss.” Hey – when I’m choosing an ale, I’m definitely hoping for a lip-glossy bouquet. Thumbs up!! :)

After finishing up at the pub, we returned home and introduced Greg to the digs. Since we’ve been CONTINUALLY celebrating my birthday, Greg and Carrie gave me the present that Greg had brought over for me from the both of them. A lovely bottle of Knob Creek whiskey… Guess it was time to make a campfire and enjoy some good whiskey! And marshmallows and smores…. And beer… Sigh… It’s just really rough livin’ over here.

So, after having a lovely campfire with all the fixins, one might think it was time to call it a day… Ohhhh noooooo…. Not us! We still had to watch some TV! Ummm, I’m not gonna go into detail about what exactly we watched, but let’s just say that it made all of us VERY happy… And answered many burning questions from the previous week’s television viewing… But that’s all I’m sayin’… I’ll say no more… Zippin’ it…

So yeah, I think this pretty much brings us up to speed. I know that there are details of the last week that will slowly come to mind, but I’ll just include them as they arrive. No hurry here… Nothing pressing here in the perfect land of the studio on the lake… Sigh…

Until later!!! Much love and happiness -

The REAL Jordache (TRJ) ™
Lady D
Dirty D
D-Loh
Daynal (Sigh… My new nickname… As coined by Darryl…)

And last, but not least…

Your Pal,
Dayna

COMING SOON: The new, improved beer list, a play-list from the week and more adventures on the lake! STAY TUNED!