Here I Come Again! September 30th, 2008 On My Way Home. It's Tuesday morning and I'm sitting in Madrid Airport, waiting for Continental Flight 62 to start boarding. It's been a swell 10 day trip and I never get tired of spending time in Puerto De La Santa Maria. Paco and Muni, are wonderful hosts and we spent the last two days knocking back and doing generally fun stuff. We did some bowling and yours truly rolled three of his best games in a row. All averaging around 150, which for me is great. My first 8 days there were spent mixing the new record by my favorite Spanish singer/songwriter, Nacho Vegas. What seems like a funny first name in America, is actually very common here in Spain as it shortened from a more formal first name. And Vegas is the first of his hyphenated last name. But who cares about names. This guy is the shit! He writes songs that are epic in length and scope. He along with Paco produce incredible records with so much to offer. This is why he is currently the coolest indie artist in the country. This is the third record I've worked with him on and it is awesome. This record has more of a classic '70's record vibe in spots. He continues to be one of the best singers in his time and his lyrics are haunting at times. Well, we are gonna try to get Greg Calbi to master it and then it will be out here in November. I'm really excited. The dude is great. Also, I want to thank my friend and Nacho's manager, Juan Santaner for helping to sort out the project. He's one of the good guys. One of the things we did on our downtime is something I've been getting into more and more. Writing. I sat with Paco and interviewed him about his career and his studio. Paco's the king of Spanish indie rock and he's been doing it forever. Once I finish the article, Tape Op will be putting in an upcoming issue. Being the cynic that I am, I'll believe it when I see it in my mailbox. Nonetheless, I'm planning on trying my hand at a little more writing, so if any of you have any ideas about subjects, drop a line and let me know. If your idea is for me to stop writing, very funny!

The Last 8 Years September 30th, 2008 What Happened To US? So I’ve got a few more minutes before my plane boards. And looking at the news from abroad, I’ve been thinking about a few things. Mostly, I’ve been thinking about how this administration and their crony republicans in the Congress have really made their mark on the first 8 years of this century. So without further ado, let’s look at what they’ve accomplished. Upon entering office, he ignored all signs that we should be concerned about terrorists plotting to strike in the country. Why should he worry about that when there was tons of brush to clear on his “pseudo” ranch in Crawford. That ranch is to the president, what Disneyland is to kids, “The land of make believe!” Once we were hit on 9/11, he moved swiftly to retaliate against the constitution. For good measure, he made sure that all of the heroes working on “the pile” were mislead about the health risks. Accomplished with a little help from his then head of E.P.A., Christie Whitman. As those heroes have and will have developed respiratory ailments, we should all demand restitution for those craven actions. I could go on, but I’d rather quote Peter Baker, from his article in the August 31st edition of The New York Times Magazine, entitled “His Final Days.” “He (Bush) is the man who misled the country into a disastrous war, ruined U.S. relations around the world, wrecked the economy, squandered a budget surplus to give tax cuts to fat cat friends, played guitar while New Orleans drowned, politicized the Justice Department, cozied up to oil companies, and betrayed American values by promoting torture, warrantless eavesdropping and a modern-day gulag at Guntanamo Bay, Cuba, for people never even charged with a crime.” Whew, that’s unbelievable. Does anybody besides me think that this president is not only the worst president in history, he should also be made accountable for his misdeeds. I mean, there should be a prison sentence in his future. And then the Fox channel could incorporate that idea with one of their shows. “Prison Break”, starring former president George Bush.

We Lost A Good One! September 8th, 2008 Goodbye Aunt Joyce! We're down in Greensboro, NC to say goodbye to Sharon's Aunt Joyce, who succumbed to cancer on Monday evening. She was a great woman and totally took me into the family with open arms when I first met her in 2000. Which is surprising because I'm a damn Yankee. And an "Eye-talian." She was always sweet to her nieces and nephews and their kids. She was always wonderful with Sara and Bella. We're gonna miss her, big time. So with that, we say, "Goodbye, Aunt Joyce. You were loved, you are loved and you will always be loved." On a work note, I am preparing to embark on another trip to my favorite country, Spain. My good friend Paco is now working on a record with Nacho Vegas, a great singer/songwriter who I've worked with before. He is also the boyfriend of Christina The Astonishing, Christina Rosenvinge, who I just worked with in July. The autumn looks like it is heating up. Some of my favorite clients are beginning records and I think I'll have something to do with each of them. There will be more details later on that. Also, on a totally different note, I can't remember in my entire life when a political party just repeated out and out lies like the Republicans are doing. I implore my fellow countrymen to not fall for this current line of bullshit. They've spent the last 8 years giving breaks to the major corps and the uber rich. They've taken away our rights and they've totally spent the military, while treating the wounded and dead with no respect. Except during photo ops. These guys are all scumbags. Don't be fooled. McCain is of the same ilk. From the Keating 5 scandal to hi's most recent flip flopping and embracing the religious right and his staff of ex-lobbyists, he's gonna be Bush, years 9-12. And this country can't handle that. A couple more thoughts on him. Kudos for him supporting our country, but when people call him a warrior, what exactly did he do? He flew a plane that dropped naplam on people. Or bombs. I wonder how many innocent people were his victims. And he was a shitty pilot, to boot. How many planes did he crash before he was captured? Three? The point is, just like our current president, McCain's history is mostly spin. So don't be fooled. And don't believe what the Republicans and the Foxies say. This guy and his running mate are poison.

A Great Week! August 18th, 2008 I love August! Hey kids, August has been a great month. No sooner than I put Miles, from The Shake Up, in a cab to the airport, mixes were soon finished and the record is awesome!!!! He writes some great songs and his energy is incredible. Also, it was time to party! The next night we had a going away dinner for Mary Ellen DeVaux, my favorite booking manager at Sterling Sound. As you all know, I have been using Greg Calbi as my mastering engineer since around 1991(???) and she has been booking him for about 2 years. And she has been the best!!!!! We ended the night at HiFi, my favorite NYC bar. We really ended the night on my front porch with some neighbors. Some beers were injured in the ensuing hang. The next night, Jennifer O'Connor had her record release party at The Mercury Lounge. She and the band were awesome! The new songs sounded amazing. Chris Brokaw added a bunch of depth to the sound. Jennifer sounded wonderful and the next day told me she had a cold? WTF! She sounded great! With a cold??? Also, a certain old guy sang the shit out of his harmony vocal on "Credit In The Cost" I was terrified. While hanging outside with Jennifer after the show, some of The Hold Steady guys walked by, about to enter the venue. It turns out, they were there to see the next band, J Roddy Walston and the Business. And they meant business. We checked out the first three songs and then blew out of there with babysitter issues. My older daughter, Sara had to drive an hour to get home and then had to be at work early the next morning. So we saw 3 great songs and split. Look out for them, though. And now, we are relaxing in Noyac, out in Long Island for my birthday weekend. I heart August. Okay, till next time!

I'm All Shake Up! August 13th, 2008 Aussie Invasion, Redux! With The Living End record just released in Australia, we now welcome another great band from down under. "Ladies and Gentlemen, The Shake Up!" The boys from Sydney are great. Their songs kick ass and every one is a hook fest. I've spent the first three days pumping my fist and singing along with the choruses as I mix. It's actually not a pretty sight. Miles, the singer and guitarist of the band is riding shotgun at the console and he couldn't be a nicer dude. Shooting Red Bulls and chomping on Pringles, he's right there with me, keeping the vibe up!!!! My favorite song is "Kiss The Pavement" and it has my favorite backing vocals of all time. Think Social Distortion meets The Clash. Big time. "For Those About To Rock, We Salute The Shake Up!!!!!!!!"

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