a free form jazz odyssey in front of a festival crowd

OK Dudes,  lots to talk about.  I’m not going to even apologize for being inconsistent with this here blog, just deal with it, love me for who I am, ok?  Ok.

Its been a busy few weeks, which I enjoy after the fact, during it can be mildly stressful.  I think it took it’s toll unconsciously last night.  I’ve been working on a new musical project with my now Massachusetts based musical partner in crime Blasco , called Modern Solutions  (www.myspace.com/modernsolutionsmusic)  in a fashion Eric Tarn calls “The Internet Service.” Ideas are sent from one party to another via email, then compiled and mixed here in the NJ.  The first batch of 3 songs was completed from 8am to 4pm, the next batch will take even longer!

It was my first time recording drums at 8am, but I feel it helped me focus, and not try any silliness.  I had to be done by 9:30 when work at the studio begins, so I kept it minimal.  Giant ass kick drum, snare drum…that’s it.  No hi hats, no cymbals, you bet your ass there were no toms involved.
After the acoustic drums were recorded, I began working on some “beats” or “Beatz” to send up to MA, and start the process backwards perhaps.    So I went through the archives, and found a session done 2 years ago at my original rehearsal space.  I had set up some mics, and recorded to a click track…perhaps forseeing this very process happening in the future!  So…I’m kicking some beat making ass, editing, mixing, effecting….and 2 are completed.  I go to back up my session, as any good technology using musician should…and notice there is an older version of this same session on the drive I am backing up to.   “do you want to replace the older folder with the new one?”  yes, yes I do.

Until the next day.

Then I didn’t anymore.

For some reason It was pulling audio from the other drive…and now that audio has been lost to the technological ether.  I’m not gonna go any further with this, All I have left is 2 Wav files of the rough mixes.  Ouch.

On We Go.

Last week I got a call from the BBC,  for an interview with Keith Jarrett.  This is pretty special apparently, he doesn’t give too many interviews, and only does them from his house.  I do appreciate some Keith, but for me the coolest part was that the interview was being conducted by Ethan Iverson from The Bad Plus, a band we here at Stevenaustinweiss.com love dearly.  And by we, I mean I.   The only possible danger of this, was that I had scheduled an on location multitrack session for 9pm that night.  I wanted to get there a bit in advance for a soundcheck, relax a bit, make sure everything was working.  But one does not really ask Keith Jarrett to “move the schedule around”  (I mean, even though I tried, it just wasn’t gonna happen on that end) So we would have to have a little bit of faith that the day would just work out.  I wasn’t going to turn down the opportunity to hang with 2 very serious musicians who I greatly admire.  The interview was scheduled to begin at 4…a 2 hr drive from Manhattan where the later gig was…and they warned me that if Keith felt like taking…it could go on for hours.  Well…The load in was moved to 11am with the help of the badass David B, old school NJ Crew, and we were ready to go.

The Jarrett Compound, as I affectionately refer to it, is hidden waaaaaay west in NJ.  Its basically in that area just after the map ends.  In fact, we were given fantastic hand drawn maps on how to get there.  Once off the highway, it gets pretty rural up there.  We passed through some serious rain, emerging into wonderful sunlight, hoping it was a good omen.

It was the most intimidating interview I had done of this type.  Most of the more famous musicians are very laid back, friendly people.  Eddie Palmieri bought me a grilled cheese sandwich, Pat Metheney was a totally kick ass dude.  Not many have a reputation like the KJ (as I will now call him.)  But right from the start, it seemed to be going well.  KJ sat down and said “I haven’t seen this type of microphone before”  so I was all  like  “it’s a peluso, kind of like a Schoeps, a guy in North Carolina makes them”  so he was all  “its gonna be good, I can tell”  I didn’t totally know what he meant by that, but I was all for it, that’s just the way me and KJ converse, homes.  After some detailed adjustments with the room lighting, it was on.
Well, the Iverson hit it out of the park, they talked for about 2 hours.  Barely any dull points, the conversation moved along at a comfortable pace, much like the Ferrari in the garage below the studio we were sitting it.

By far the most surprising part for me, came near the end.  Jarrett was searching for the name of a drummer, he was all “It was that guy from The Band, who was he?”  and I thought to myself…he can’t mean THE BAND The Band…not Levon, this is Keith Jarrett, Musical Astronaut, Pioneer of Sounds, Expanding beyond things mere humans have played in the past…..but I went out on a limb and said “levon helm?”  in a very quiet voice…and he goes “Yes, Levon!  Jack Dejohnette and I have such great afftection for Levon’s playing”  That was pretty much the most unexpected thing that could have happened.  I mean, aside from “yeah, you know, in the 80’s I was really influenced by Slayer.  Particularly Reign In Blood, I mean, it just changed the entire way I viewed harmonic structure”  But alas, we would have to settle for the Levon reference.

So It all went off without a hitch.  We booked it out of western Jersey back into the city, and I was able to make the 9pm Multitrack session with time to spare.  I even ate a sandwich back at the venue.  I call that the Sandwich Of Success.

Wilco are the coolest uncles you never had. They strike that perfect balance between a dark secret past, and a wholesome goodness quality that wouldn’t make you uneasy leaving them to babysit your youngins. When you see them at the family bbq, they would give you a slightly outdated and complicated handshake, but its not at all awkward. They’re pretty much Uncle Jesse. To put it lightly, they are the greatest band in the world.

Last night I drove up to New Haven to see the crew, you can’t go wrong with a sunday night road trip. The date was early on their tour, just a few nights after they played their entire catalog during a 5 night run in Chicago. The Theater was a small Broadway type house, our seats were excellent, the sound was perfect. My traveling companion (is nine years ollld….sorry Paul Simon) fell asleep the minute we hit the road, so I took it as an opportunity to catch up on This American Life episodes, taking in the scenery on the Merrit Parkway.

While recent performance have been stellar, the set lists have drawn strongly from the last 3 albums, a fact which bothers some. I don’t mind too much, its just that sometimes you want to hear something off Summerteeth. This problem has been solved. They opened with several Mermaid Avenue Woody Guthrie songs, covered a few selections from each album, even touched on the dreaded AM. The Tweed’s voice seemed shaky at first, but improved as the night went on, I’ve never seen something like that happen, but I guess when you’re superhuman, it’s all kosher.

I would describe playing music with other people like this; The entire group is holding one of those giant beach blankets used to throw someone into the air, a-la a 1960’s era beach party movie. It takes everyone being on the same page but at a different point to fling this swimsuit clad beach goer skyward. It feels awkward, but eventually you get the hang of it. Sometimes musically, its just not working, everyone is slightly off, or not doing their part, you want to throw a snare drum at someone, nothing stays in tune. Watching Wilco, these actions seem effortless. Their control of dynamics seems nearly telepathic. Each band member is operating in their own universe, sometimes playing very far out there, but they clearly recognize everything happening around them.

The finest example of this is Nels Cline. His guitar solos have brought this band to a place no one on earth would have expected even 5 years ago. His melodic sensibility feels like Django Reinhardt, Charlie Parker, and Eddie Van Halen mixed into one. He also looks like the living version of a stick figure- perfect posture, extreme twig, short pants exposing his awesome striped socks with hiking boots. He’s developed this new technique, lets name it “The Flame Thrower” (copyright steve weiss 2008) where he gets some sort of feedback going, then basically lunges toward the amp, turning so the guitar is facing the speaker, causing maximum feedback. Its phenomenal.

I found this on flickr, My pics are at home still in the camera, this is from the evening though:

Doesnt he look like a stick figure? Also check out that Parlor Martin acoustic. YEAH!

By far, the highlight of the evening was “Pot Kettle Black” early on in the set. When you hear it on the Yankee Hotel, its a driving thing, badass vocals, slightly cryptic lyrics, overall a beautiful piece of music. But as the band has evolved, apparently they decided this song needs to make you feel like you’re floating in a giant bathtub filled with happiness, using a loofah made of solid genius. The water is also the temperature of innovation, I thought I’d throw that in. They slowed down the tempo, Nels played most of the marimba parts on an electric 12 string, and instead of getting louder on the pre choruses, they got QUIETER!!!….!!!! Yes, I know, revolutionary. Theres a little section before the last chorus on the recording where a really cool marimba solo happens. This time, they replaced it with a dual guitar solo/melody between Nels and Tweedy. I think my heart stopped beating for the 2 measure duration of this section. I started laughing hysterically and yelled “WHAT??” as soon as it happened. Those around my probably took this as a Lil John imitation, thinking “who brought the asshole?” but I was seriously amazed and bewildered. Really, I have not heard something that beautiful in a very long time.

They also started the encore without their 2nd keyboard player, and didn’t realize until a few verses in. It was a good moment, and i’m sure it was the largest crowd response he ever got when returning to the stage. I guess that happens with 6 people.

I know, I’ve got a problem when it comes to this band. The thing is, they really haven’t let me down yet. The albums have steadily evolved as well as the live show, it keeps your interest. I’ll be the first to say if a performance is sub par, it just hasn’t happened yet.

Several other musical events have occurred, but I felt Jeff and Co deserved their own complete thought.

So this is how my conversation with Ryan Adams went, almost word for word:

Steve: Ryan? (pointing slightly)
Ryan: Yeah?
S: Hey, I saw you at that Dylan tribute a few months back (i’m not going to say the town hall show, see my previous review about that one)
R: Pardon?
S: That Bob Dylan tribute thing?
R: Ooooh, at carnige hall, that symphony place?
S: Yeah, it was a great night (it was avery fisher hall, whatever, its very late at night)
R: Yeah, i think it sounded pretty good for no soundcheck
S: Oh really, you just got up and…
R: I mean, we just sort of blew through it and it sounded good, lots of kick in that place ya know
S: I think i mumbled something about it being a great acoustic place
(the deli guy says his sandwich is ready)
S: Alright, nice meeting you
R: Take Care

And that my friends, is an easily regretable conversation with someone you greatly admire. My friend Marco and I had gone to the Blue Note to see Michel Camilo, who by the way tore it up. Afterwards, we were eating a Grey’s Papaya hot dog, and I noticed this dude walk by, and I’m like “thats Ryan Adams!” marco’s like “wanna chase him down?” I’m all like, “Nah Man, he’s probably drunk and looking to fight someone” it was close to 1am, and you never know with that guy. So, I left to catch the PATH, and I see the dude in a deli, and I’m thinking “Alright steve, don’t be a bitch, this guy has written one of the greatest albums of the last 15 years, you probably wont get another chance to meet him, go fucking say hi!”

So, I wander in, incredibly nervous, because beneath my intimidating biker personality, I’m just a scared small child. I get an apple juice, you cant go wrong with that, and go up to the counter, where the afore mentioned conversation took place. Now, i could have said many things, here are a few:

Hey, I almost bought one of your guitars at Chelsea Guitars…. (this would have led to a guitar discussion, which i could have torn up and maybe learned some interesting facts)

Hey, I really admire your work, especially that stuff with ethan johns (this might have gotten a comment about Johns, who is my hero)

Dude, you fucking rock, I love Hearbreaker more than life itself, do you mind if I give you a hug? (he most certainly would have punched me, but it would have been worth it)

My point is, he was a pretty talkative, coherent, nice dude, who did not appear to be messed up. But Whuteva, i had the balls to say SOMETHING, and I’m happy about it. Deal with that. Now, I can forgive that terrrible… terrrrrrrible town hall show at which he wore moon boots ad had a little ponytail on top of his head.

Thanksgiving, interesting holiday. There is no real purpose to it that i can immediately think of- to give thanks? thats just silly, lets be honest.

One thing I am not thankful for is Best Buy. With the demise of the legendary Tower, consumers are forced to look elsewhere for their music. In suburban locations, such as where i work, there are no Virgin Megastores, so the only options are the Big Box Retailers. I ran into a problem once before when searching for Jeff Tweedys most recent DVD, and ended up nearly hurling bricks throught the windows of WalMart, Target, and Best Buy. The first 2, i dont expect to have any music, they dont pretend to be media outlets. But fucking BB, come on man.

Today Tom Waits released “Orphans” a boxed set of 3 CD’s, which i am incredibly excited for. So, on my lunch break, I go to Best Buy which is close to work. First of all, the people working there are just plain ridiculous. After a painful 7 minutes of watching the person type “Tom Wakes” into the title area of the screen, i say “umm, mabye you should type that under artist?” Apparently, they show that they have it in stock, but have no idea where it is. Nothing is organized there, its just piles of crap.

The main thing we lose with stores like Tower, is the dedication to one specific thing. If i go to a car dealership, i expect them to know about cars. If i go to a butcher, i want to be told wonderful things about specific cuts of meat and poultry. At tower, they would have immediately identified the product i was looking for, and could have told me where to find it. When you go to best buy or wal mart or some shit like that, do you really expect the people there to know everything about washere/dryers, DVD Players, Computers, Digital Cameras, Office Furniture, Children’s apparell, boxed cereal, and CD’s? Of course not. In the opinion of Steven A Weiss, thats why these fuckers will fail eventually.

Sure, i could order it online, but i dont want to wait a few days and pay shipping. But eventually, that will be the only way to do it. damnit man, i’m so fucking defeated. Where will we go once the stupidity of these big box retailers is just too much to stand? (if its not already…)

I have no point to this rant, i understand you cant afford to pay these people an actual salary so they can learn about shit in the store or care, I also understand that its not financally a good move to open a specialty store.

BUT, the record labels and retailers messed it up for themselves. 18.99 is a RIDICULOUS price to have to pay for a single CD album. They should cost 12-13$. Of course no ones buying actual CD’s anymore, thats rape!

In this case, I just want to hear some Tom Waits, in the highest quality possible, without any DRM mojo lurking in my files, and i’d like the special 96 page booklet that comes with it. Is that too much to ask? Apparently, it is. I feel another email coming on….

I’ll tell you this much blogosphere, I miss Phish at times. I have previously written on this here blog-0-thing about my contempt for Trey anastasio’s current work, and I stick by that. But i was just looking at the Phish Live Downloads site, and it brought on a wave of nostalgia.

I miss the music for one, thats a given. I had my moments where i could talk to you for an hour about how great “You Enjoy Myself” was and that a-capella jam at the end? Duuuuude!! YEAH! But that was only one part of it. Above all, I miss the food. There has not, nor will there ever be a better veggie burrito than the ones in the parking lot beforehand. You could get 2 for 5$ and it was delicious. The 1$ grilled cheese could not be topped. There would always be a dude putting garlic on that shit, OOOH. While other were looking for “doses” “Mollies” “Nugs” “Rolls” and other misc controlled substances, i’d be roaming the parking lot isles yelling “Whose got my veggie burrito!” There were also these things called “Goo Balls” which were a mash of usually peanut butter some form of sweet cereal and chocolate chips…Delish. It was very hard to find the ones Without weed in them, but it was worth the search.

In fact, at the first phish show I ever attended, with my dad, his advice to me was “Steve, don’t eat the brownies” One time i did eat a weed brownie several years later, and it just pissed me off that there were these little bits of crap in it, and the dude who made it wwas obviously not a professional baker, because it was about 78% butter. Anyhoo…

What happened to all these people? There were literally thousands of slackers who would follow this band around from city to city selling various food and goods in the parking lots. Do they just dissappear? Did they all get real jobs? My advice? Open up a fucking restaurant! One time, I believe it might have been somewhere in PA, I had some delicious rissoto on the walk back to the car that i have never quite topped. One time a dude cooked french bread pizza in an oven that was built into his truck. You could get a quesadilla with various ingredients for 2$. Man, it was wonderful. One time i bought an excess of burritos after a show, hoping to figure out the secret ingredients and have a supply for the off season, but those things done last more than a day. CRAP.

But in the later years, i must say. the quality of parking lot food definitely declined. I was not in the game for incredibly long, but i did see about 22 shows. My first show was in 97, and by my last in 2004, there was not a single burrito to be found in all of the Coney Island Parking Lot. It was a sad day, which for me, signaled the end even more than the half assed half hour jams coming from an aging band of innovators most likely strung out on coke.

There were about 4 months in 1998-9 though….Oh man did i eat so much wonderful food. At the encore, I would already be thinking- Should i have a grilled cheese? Or go for the standard Veggie? It was always a tough choice, but there was never a wrong answer.

And for that dearest Mike, Trey, Page, and John, I miss you dearly.

PS- also, i gave up an offer for like $2600 for my fucking new years eve comeback show tickets (web master T Bone will attest to this) and you guys fucking sucked. Not like “eh, they were ok” no, it was like “Holy Shit, i wouldnt pay 5$ at a bar to see those guys cover Creed and Whitesnake songs”. Really dudes, what the hell?

Housewide party tonight. Well, me and the T bone listened to part of the new Flaming Lips album, that counts. There is a serious cover of Bohemian Rhapsody on there, and i must say, the Lips have Balls. To do what they did takes serious “chutspah” as my homeboys in the Yiddish community would say. (like CHallah). They took some artistic liberties, but i still give a round of applause to Wayne and the dudes.

Anyway, I am safely back from chicago. I got not nearly enough sleep, but I did eat some steak, slept in a wonderful bed, and got called “homeboy” by a preacher in a gospel church during his sermon. Lets just say i stuck out like a sore thumb. They had a giant green baptism bathtub, kind of freaked me out. Our flight was delayed and I got home at 4am monday, but life does indeed go one, and I ate half the ocean in Hoboken tonight.

Some have encouraged me to keep my posts short, do I cave to the corporate pressure and sell out to the masses of short attention spans? In this case…yes.

So I have neglected the dear blog for so long, its very difficult to reconcile. I wonder if it will love me as much as it once did? Well, its just a blog, not a living thing, so I might be ok- although we may need couples counceling.

So much has happened once again since we spoke last dear Blog, how have you been? I recently returned from France, and came to realize several important facts:

1. French wine is delicious and cheap over there
2. The Panini sandwiches they sell are also delicious
3. Pastries, same thing
4. Cheese, not that far off.

It was a true food odyssey, although it felt empty lacking web master T Bone. I brought him back some Absynthe to make up for it. I’m sure that will be another entry right there.

My biggest embarassment was Speaking spanish to a french person by mistake. I dont know if you know this about me, but I cannot speak French, and can barely speak Spanish. I felt so ridiculous, I almost ran away in shame, but he was making me a sandwich, and I very well couldnt leave that one alone uneaten.

My Republican friend sent me a comment about stacking the flow. Now, I feel its important that we discuss this at greater length some time, because I dont know if Rumsfeld, or Harriet Meyers would approve of that. Young Jeezey is very stern in his democratic leanings these days, I once heard he briefly became a lobbyist and moved to DC, but got caught in a dreadful scandal when his flow was stacked incorrectly, causing a full scale audit, and rather than make a public statemenr, he resigned, leading to a life of Hip Hop.

In a blog, its most likely read by people you know, so when disclosing facts you have to be careful. Check this shit out:

We’re having a poker game at the apartment this Saturday. And you fuckers better watch out, i’m a card shark, like whoa! yes, like whoa. Ya’ll be leaving without yo pants, bitches. (now if thats because I will win them, or beacause its a no pants poker party and you might misplace them in the ruckus, well, we’ll leave that one to chance)

I havent commented on the now not so recent loss of K Rock on the blog, so here we go. Honestly, I dont care about losing the alternative rock music. I could live without it any day. Stern left on his own, that i will learn to deal with. I also happen to like FM talk, so00 it seems kind of positive, right? WRONG. What I cant deal with, is the loss of a rock and roll legend, who i didnt really admire, but appreciated. Diamond Dave himself. I once heard super drummer Greg Bissonette (does it count as name dropping if no one knows who the hell that is??) tell stories about his tour with Roth in the 80’s- how he made him stand up on his seat for a drum solo, and he fell off and broke all sorts of things, teaching him that showmanship is way more important than technical ability. Thats the rock and roll asshole i want to remember. Not some washed up 50 year old talk show host, so out of touch with reality that all he can reference is American Idol and Paris Hilton?? Come on Dave, you’re better than that. I’m too hurt to continue and fear my falling tears may short out the computer, on we go.

My friend, singer, bandmate and occasional life partner Derrick occasionally reads this blog, but i havent updated in so long, the chances are slim. But here it is: Derrick hates the hipsters. (you do right? if you are reading, you’ll agree with that) But here is the thing- he totally got a hipster haircut. It looks good on him, were i skinny female with dyed black hair and some tattoos, i’d be all over that shit. Now, if you look like a hipster, does that automatically make you one? I think it kind of does. After a long analysis of the hipster culture, i’ve realized its pretty much 85% about looks, and 15% about snobbery. It breaks down like this- if i see some kid dressed like a hipster, I assume he is one, and avoid him so i dont get the 15% attitude. I assume most do the same, so by a general conscensus, most agree. How do you tell a friend he is a hipster without hurting his feelings?

The Siren festival on Coney Island has been renamed “Day of the Sunburnt Hipsters”. I myself am not a hipster, but DAMN am I sunburnt. ouch. There were 2 highlights to speak of:

1. The Dears- A Canadian band, 6 people, lots of keyboards, delicious stuff.
2. The Potato Knish that I ate on the way home- Also Delecious.

Saturday, post Day of the Sunburnt Hipsters, was spent in Little Italy, or as we call it Mulgrew Territory. I must say, it was a beautiful evening. There is so much food on Mulberry Street, it would take a lifetime to eat it all. I am not intimidated by this, in fact, Mulberry street should be intimidated by The Odyssey(tm) and all it represents.

What would a blog be without a celebrity sighting? While taking a break from work to get a chicken sandwich with turkey bacon (yeeeeeah) at 2am, I had to meander through the sunday night bar crowd. I was playing my favorite game, Spot The Jersey Girl, when I spotted one. My thought process went like this; “look at that blonde ho, definitely from the NJ, she should not be exposing that much stomach, and that dude next to her in the NYPD hat, dude, seriously……thats Christian Slater” and thats how it went. He looked at me as if to say “please don’t recognize me, I’m with a hooker and I’m sooooooo high”.

you know how out of nowhere an opinion can change? it could be eating a type of cuisine you once found horrible to be fantastic, or seeing a person suddenly in a whole new way. Welllllll, in this case I heard the intro to a Rilo Kiley song, and I was like, Whoa. (you thought I would put a serious thought in this blog? apparently, you have not read my blog manifesto)

Elvis Costello was all like “That ‘does he love you’ song is the shit, dude” on his iTune playlist, yes thats the exact quote, word for word. Up until tonight, I disagreed with Sr. Costello. Then, I put on some headphones and listened to the intro. This Mellotron part totally just snuck up on me, which for some reason was washed out in my car speakers- the only way I had previously listened. Wow, intense, seriously. Side tangent, here we go:

I have recently been made fun of for saying ’seriously’ a lot. when I was mocked for this process, this was my comeback; I was once hiking in Maryland, which I was unaware had mountains. Apparently, it does. I was hiking with my cousins and sister, and we were in the middle of a clearing, trees on both sides. Everyone is laughing, joking around, and I see something in a bush. I see a giant head pop out, and begin to walk. Maryland apparently has bears as well. I am the only one to notice, so I say “seriously guys, seriously, look” everyone continues laughing, now at me, and then they see it. SEE THAT BITCHES??? Serious enough for ya?

Back to the song. Only the intro posesses such mellotron-tasticness, but it completely brought up the level of the whole song. deliciousness. Go itunes it now, join the cool kids- Me and Elvis Costello, only he doesnt know we are in a group together. Oh my god, I need a piece of pepperoni pizza right now. I have no idea where that came from. Maybe its the lack of Odyssey activity, but its just got to happen.

Seriously

so, the weekend has ended. Oy Vey.

First off, who is this Andy Melunakis (spelling?) kid who has a show on MTV? It may have been the lack of sleep or large amount of sugar and chili cheese dip in my system, but that kid is freaking hilarious. He even mocked the blog phenom. Pure genius.

The band was in the studio for the past 3 days, and let me just say, the drums sound like a massive freight train/ truck/ large moped, straight out of hell, headed towards your face, and there are no breaks in site, bitch. Lots of instruments, lots of sound. BUT, Perhaps the best studio experience, besides the music, was learning about R Kelly’s “Trapped In The Closet” video.

Now, if you have not heard about this wonderful piece of cinematic, musical, and cultural history, I will enlighten you. This is not your average R&B slow jam. no no no. This is a 10 part saga, nearly an hour in length, all set to music. It begins with our man R, waking up in the bed of a lady friend, realizing he is not with his wife, and attempting to leave. She informs him that her husband is coming up the stairs, so he must hide in the closet instead of exiting through the front door. NOW, all is fine, until a call comes through on his cell phone. Through the lyrical genius of Mr Kelly, we learn that “he tried as quickly as I could to put it on viiiiiiiiiiiibraaaaaate”, but alas, it was too late. The husband of the woman was approaching the closet door, and R is forced to pull out his Baretta. You think this is the end? no no no. thats not even the end of Part 1. I’m not going to give away the ending here, since MTV is only up to part 2, but lets just say it involves themes of homosexuality, infidelity, police brutality, and goddamn sexy R&B slow jams. As someone said while we watched, his lyrics sound like a 4th grader narrating what they did on their summer vacation. I will say though, it is a great musical confidence booster to realize shit like that is being produced by multi platnum artists.

Now, after the R Kelly rant, we must discuss the food. Playing in a band can have several different effects on the way you eat. You could be in a band like Medeski Martin Wood, and travel the world sampling delicious cuisine from Japan to South America- cooking in the kitchen of your tour bus, or you could eat McDonalds 3 times in one day, in 3 different states like I once did. I assure those days are long gone, and my stomach thanks me. In the studio this weekend, much food was ordered. We began with some sushi, which i believe to be the perfect recording food. I was not weighed down, Yet I was sort of full. We followed the next day with the standard Chinese food, kind of eh. Later saturday evening, we had some chili cheese dip, strawberry fluff-cream cheese fruit dip, and some alcohol. Let me tell you, some good stuff. None of the odyssey crew (TM) was in attendace, but I consider it my personal odyssey solo album.