Donna

Edit March 23 - Kayla's companion video to her book Mommy's Music + + + Whoa! whoa whoa whoa Things are moving quite fast. I am happy! So MANY new experiences that seem to fit like a glove. --- Another Kayla photography assignment, a bound book (of me). I thought it was just going to her teacher! It's a 68 page pictorial w/ about a 5 page bio. Kayla is also moving soon, we will miss her terribly! This 3rd year for her has been incredibly demanding, she constantly shoots and edits. Look her up on Facebook - Kayla Peterson Photography. Book Preview Link The basic sections are: little me (toddler to about age 15 - including a shot of a friend jumping off my folks' garage); young playing me (couple 8 x 10's age 19-23?); the producing section; Thorny Swale rehearsal; Thorny Swale gig; The Latin Mass Choir (in which I was squinting and looking terribly serious...because I needed reading glasses, but it took awhile to figure that out; and The Children. --- Thorny Swale (the band I'm in) rehearsed our first original (one of mine) and played it live 1st time I haven't heard the tapes, but it felt SO GOOD doing it. We are on FB, and as we record or whatever, the page'll show all that. ---- That's the other thing, I've written 4 songs in less than 3 months and I deem them to be some of the best yet (heh - I think). Tonight I began another... ---- Only on paper so far, but it looks like I have my first drum students, plural! Cannot express what it means, the thought of teaching is...just a total honor and so humbling to be asked. ---- OK - I had my 1st experience as a producer - Kayla was w/ me (that month that she followed me around like a stalker for her book) so there are 2 pages of photo's of that session in her book. ---- I'm hoping to submit one of the new tunes to a MN project called Operation Jamm Fest - they're trying to put together a CD compilation of local artists doing songs "which support our troops". It was very...unusual to be able to contact them and say, "I actually have something that fits your parameters." A few of my tunes have war or soldier reference here and there, but the new one is filled with this. ----I'm prepping to record w/ Dan and Scott. Boy...I think a lot has happened, it's hard for me to know cause I'm always around myself - but I'm playing standing up now, got the peg attached to the guitar (when the venerable repairman got out the drill to install peg for guitar-strap, I said, "this is like watching the baby's circumcision!" And I had to leave the room! Didn't leave during my baby's circumcision, btw, but I did for the axe!). I'm able to get thru singing/playing songs in my catalogue that were simply unthinkable before. Like the one about my 8th baby.... it is complicated w/ various sections. Well, I got a scratch on the 4-track today. I keep finding things...finding little ways to put in picking notes. One of the new songs has a whole section of just picking - unheard before, for me. The metronome and I have regular dates, aye we keep a lot of company. And tho I'm not always doing the grueling hard work of endless practice for recording prep, I find 6 out of 8 times during practice thinking "I'm getting better, this (song) is getting better." Drums too, little metronome. And it's really hard to stp once I start. Dylan was so cute, the other week he comes into the living room: "Mom?! Are you OK?" I shut metronome off. "Yeah, fine -- whatsa matter?" He said, "Mom, you've been playing straight for like 90 minutes! I was kind of afraid..." I just started laughing, because I felt so good and calm and clear and clean. Another time, he comes up: "Aren't you exhausted?!" I look at him. "No!" His eyes get big and he says, "Mom, you've been playing non-stop well over an hour...you're not tired?" I look at him. "No! Hmm...wow! No, I'm not tired, not at all!" ---- The 4-track is back up! I am WAY over the moon again to be recording regularly. Can you believe it? I's thinking about this, it was 2007 since I was recording, but because Dylan was on so ill, then on his death bed for all we knew, and recovering for a year, I think it's been almost 3 solid YEARS since I was really recording w/ any kind of modicom of sanity and peace. It's like no time has been lost - I seem to know more now than before! I recorded the band - which in my previous life, never thought I'd the gumption to set it up. Just went for it, thinking of Prometheus and his mayonnaise substitute for squeaky foot pedal when the bloke had no oil... It was nice for my bandmates, I think, to hear an actual mix -- which I got, my 1st as engineer for others (so to speak even tho I was one of the others). It's just so delightful and huge for me, to have attempted it - and esp. to get a mix where the instruments are separated and there's some kind of clarity - esp. w/ stuff like 3 vocals + drums all sharing one track! We got lucky with THAT! ---- I'm very excited about the band potential...really of all the players as individual musicians. Oh, btw, our drummer (he did 60%, I 40%, it freed me up to front some), Mike had to quit, so we're 5 piece and I'm singing drummer. Anyway: we have 3 lead vocalists - HOW it could get any better, well it couldn't. Everyone plays very well. But the writing...I'm now undistracted enough to really hone in, and I want Buce (keys) and Mark (guitar), I want all their snippets, motif's and songs. I told Mark that I am particularly keen on the uncovering of HIM, because the real him as doing originals is untapped, and I think there's a LOT there. 3 of the 4 bandmates, they were the first pro band I was in (age 17). So...they got my back! I just LOVE them! And Scott, our other bandmate, dude, I'm finding out this guys drums, but above all, as we play out, how com- pletely tasteful his playing is. And he likes the funk (or equivalent). ----We had a very good experience, this last gig. Place had a good vibe and the audience was SO with us. OK but beyond that, 1st set I played almost totally w/ brushes - the BRUSH part, too, not the rubber. That's how quiet we began, and maintained reasonable level. I could hear everyone and everything. And concluded the word to use for this experience is "beautiful". A beautiful experience. I think there's more but really sick of myself now.

Hi Thom! Scary, yeah, he was given last rites and everything. But WHO has been the Healthiest of all 346 of us the past year? Dylan! (by far) Yay!!!!!!

PS: On mixdown, during organ solo I ended up (rather severely) cutting the gain on lower tiered frequency, panning center, then quickquickquick! boost the bass-ish gain, return the pan to around 10 0'clock for the verse...it worked pretty well. I need a compressor!!! How do I know that now? I mean, not from you guys telling me, but me KNOWING! It's...the 10 yr drum break all over, applied to recording, maybe? The absence itself... like that absence taught me...or I really am undistracted; these things are strange. I'm happy!

PS: On mixdown, during organ solo I ended up cutting the gain on lower tiered frequency, panning center, then quickquickquick! boost the bass-ish gain, return the pan to around 10 0'clock for the verse...it worked. I need a compressor!!! How do I know that now? I mean, not from you guys telling me, but me KNOWING! It's...the 10 yr drum break all over, applied to recording, maybe? The absence itself... like that absence taught me...or I really am undistracted; these things are strange. I'm happy.

Yay - Here we are again in the recording studio forum ~ I DID get levels on the band - we rehearsed the/my/our first original and they've converted the analogue mix to digital, uploaded it to band private site so the guys can hear/review. Hopefully we'll play it live in 2 days. OK, this is so cool. Instead of ME trying to play a million parts, the band did. Almost as soon as I heard it outside of me, and big, I went nope, this part isn't right, yep, that part is...and hmmm, I think another section should be added after the solo... I don't know if my bandmates know about engineering or mixdown. But I told whoever could to come early, and we set up what mics we had...and I ran the session, except for getting drum levels. There wasn't time to listen between takes - sometimes it's the best one can do - but I forged ahead and got a respectable enough to hear all the instruments separated - YES!! Which wasn't easy, seeing for instance track 2 was organ AND bass guitar. Yes, zee non-logic...o well. I will not repeat THAT Talk about being on the spot setting it all up, no time to re-think things. I thought of all you guys so much while I was doing the session. Never woulda attempted it without y'all tutoring me in the first place. Oh! And don't worry - the Swamp King has a Mission to get me digitally launched. And he'll do it. In the meantime, it looks like I'll be gaining more experience w/ recording gear.

the dat seems ok - and yet no right channel?

Good! Than we don't have to figure out shipping costs for me to send you one on the "forever extended" loan plan Greet him for me! And say I've got Bessie up and running again.

OK, looks like you'll get it squared.

D'ya still need a DAT, man?

Aww, the candor is appreciated, Finn. Yeah, I love that "I'm getting over it", too.

Hi Mon Capitaine! Yes, guitar and vocs, but next rehearsal I intend to get levels on zee band. And sure it'll be natural progression to doing drums et al - I cannot forget that studio w/ Dan and Scott also means doing drums. Just got new heads and etc; and practicing regularly is doing a lot to prepare me for studio. I also continue to LISTEN - every rehearsal and gig are taped pretty much. The guys are starting to review the tapes more, which is working smarter by like 70%! This newest tune, very happy to put down 2nd guitar playing the suspended arpeggios, recorded w/ some chorus and lotsa verb on everything for mixdown (cause it's kinda psychedelic).

Outcome, Mon Capitaine?

Hey Finn - exciting stuff! How are things proceeding?

Yeah...so where was I? In about 2007 - maybe? The elephant never forgets and it seems neither did I! I simply wanted to record some new tunes + finally un-distracted enough to put the tascam 246 up. And I am SO HAPPY about this. Pulled out the eq thread from Songstuff and etc; And quickly realized that the prep work I've been doing to record with Dan and Scott again (at a real studio) - I could not choose a better way to prep than actually recording. Nor could I choose a better companion to rather intense practicing. Lastly and best of all, regular recording is the PERFECT ally to become better at playing live. To really get a performance. It really is amazing that even a rag-tag amount of experience or equipment (lack of!) in one area of tech-headedness/art can so beautifully support the betterment of another. And I'd forgotten about that. I'd forgotten about the beauty, symmetry, honesty, economy and productivity of regular recording. It's good to be back. Yeah, sure to be a-hollering/complaining w/ tech-trials again but right now I am so happy!

Light I received some. Tonight while practicing, I suddenly began playing as if doing a set. I knew the order, the venue, and it was a webcast esp. hooked via FB where it was as if I was seeing Arlo Hennings, (possibly Shawn Phillips), Mon Capitaine and Steve, Michael Mlazger, Jill and Phyllis Johnson + other friends watching via their PC's! It was no daydream, that's all I can say, and it of course was not really happening. Yet I've not had such an experience before, very odd. This came at the end of practicing. Practice, practice, practice. It's working, I'm getting better. I'm writing (2 songs) and just as importantly, discovering old ones. There was no filler in that set. Laundry, working out, Mom-chores-after-the-children's-bedtime wha who? I was gone, man. Many experiences over the years of getting lost in the work...maybe that's our meditation. Which makes me an expert of personal experiences like that - tonight was unique. Thank you, Lord God! Because now I can begin believing in the solo thing. All at once, I knew it is VERY possible. Once is good enough for me now, to know even once! That I can go from being experienced on one axe, not only to 2nd axe, but to a solo artist because believe-you-me, since the Storm video, I had been seriously reflecting upon and acknowledging that of all many musical challenges contemplated or realized, this solo-artist scenario is singular. I can't really imagine a more difficult "hat", except scoring orchestral music, and finally, conducting. Reflecting enabled me to process the bizarre and hyper-detached /necessity the Mother of Invention path which brought me to having this first music vid: I'd become a solo artist by DEFAULT!! (Via having been in baby exile for years, with no one to help me musically). Now...it's not about default, it's about choice. What is mine? ______________________________________ Phyllis She found me via FB. Keyboardist/lead singer in the outfit I was put in charge of running rehearsals for, in the 80's (band's name was initially The True - then became The Untrue). Curiously that band was 4/5's women. Phyllis I don't think recalls me being "(one of the) drummer(s)" - for Holly Chumas was the main drummer. I'd played various stuff, not well, but the others proficient thus they covered me). Holly played wicked bass, too, and Larry Preston played that funk and screaming guitar. Yolanda percussion. Most of us sang lead. V. good band. So she gives me her myspace and the sucka has almost 70 THOUSAND views! Heh. Her demo's have thousands of plays. It's so cool, I'm very proud of her. In the "About" section the band when she was 19, that's The Untrue. Anyway Phyllis since been playing guitar, too and writing a gazillion songs. She was NOT vocal about being into Bowie and all that cool stuff at age 19, but jazz, fusion, gospel, choral, headier stuff w/ a very smooth jazz-ish, powerhouse voice - scales, nuance. A vocal injury cut her career while in her 20's (but like I wrote her, who would KNOW? Only those who'd heard her before the injury). Her husband is Stephen Johnson, also a composer (and works at Willie's American Guitars which brings its own respect and fame). Phyllis Johnson Myspace 2nd link also choice, imo: 7 yr old Winston Johnson (w/ mom Phyllis and dad Stephen) - Little Drummer Boy _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Yes, the studio will be returned to....hence Practice x's 3.

Tom, I'm delighted you found this! "Mr" to me means venerable - not old. Title of respect. I asked Kayla how it was done and she said, "it was multiple photographs layered thru photoshop." One of her instructors took her aside last quarter and said she showed promise re: graphic illustration. It was shortly after I think, that she began in earnest on "Storm". Oh - and yeah, K. I think, intentionally wanted the mixture of photo looking and hand-drawn looking. She spent a lot of time on it.

Awhile back, Mr. Tunesmith had asked me about the phrase 'out to storm' -- he had never heard it, did not know what I meant. It was during this exchange I first became aware "outside of me" that there was inside of me, a very clear image of what the heart of the lyric was about. Ever since, I wanted some way to more clearly communicate the song's imagery... Months after Tunesmith teaching me this, the video was made and Kayla and I began discussing the imagery. I drew (ahem) sketches. She asked increasingly detailed questions; it was apparent her mission was to capture the artist's firm vision. I perceived she regarded my art as "realized" - which acknowledgment kinda mirrored back to me seeing it outside my inner and private self. Which takes a lot of pressure off, btw!! Pressure I'd been unaware of feeling. Second of Kayla as an artist shooting to the moon imo, like some grounded strong root that's grown, growing and still reaching far all at the same time. The attached is supposed to be the first of 3 computer graphic illustrations. I'm not sure at this point if K's massive school load will allow her to complete the series, but I am very content either way. Tow me out to storm, what you gonna do Gonna hack at the line to keep me from you Bring me out to harm, what you gonna go Gonna break my mind Grey immense waves; stone hurling through

Well, at least that 4-note solo link is here.

She's really good.

You have a go from the photographer, Mon Capitaine What's next? Permission form sent to Kayla? PS! found the topic subscription thing ~ BUT remembered to check back anyway

Sending to Kayla... I'll get back to you. ...er but it would be easier & timelier to get back if I could find how to subscribe to topics these days - I keep looking but cannot find, Mon Capitaine!

omg...needed that laugh, today mate!! And John's response made me laugh almost as much. You two...the john and steve show...thank goodness!