Are We There Yet?

Everyone's had clear blue trickling for a week, soaking it up and making notes about the final adjustments. Jae and I listened to it while on vacation in Key West and while we were down there, solidified our next gig at The Bamboo Room. We love The Bamboo Room; last time we were there, they spoiled us to the point of endangering our appreciation for any other club on Earth. Yep, that good.

Upon arriving back in Orlando, I consulted with everyone and then headed back into the studio with David to massage some of the audio snippets that had been laid into the framework of the album. As we wrapped up the three-hour session, the threat of rumbling thunder began to sound outside the windows and David, burning down a mix of the latest version of our record, said "uh-oh" and urged the burn to move faster. I kept positive thoughts in my head as we watched the fuel gauge go from 40% to 48% to......I couldn't look at it anymore, the suspense was killing me and the thunder began rocking the building as nearby strikes crashed and zapped. When the on-screen indicator got to 99%, the studio power winked out and I just had to laugh.

Sometimes, you just have to.

He tried to get the PC up and running again to check if maybe the burn had indeed finished, but another nearby strike and a succeeding loss of power convinced us that maybe it was just a "sign" to go ahead and leave off for the day. I said a prayer that our data was alright. We have tentative plans to re-enter the studio with full band either tonight or tomorrow to make our final changes. Then, we will be ready to duplicate in force.

After picking Jae up from work, I headed to rehearsal, the first one in almost two weeks. Life's been poking at us all, but we were ecstatic to be together in the same room again, even though the P.A. we'd been using was nowhere to be seen. We jerry-rigged a sound system and proceeded to jam some new music including the tune that I wrote in Key West, "Pool Of Serenity."

For once, I was very happy with my voice - a lot of singing has to do with simply being comfortable, and I've become more and more so around these four people because we're all in the same boat for various reasons. Assured, and more than a little pissed at myself for allowing fear to dictate how I sing, I fearlessly ripped into songs like "April Fools", "The Irish In Me" and "Got Your Back Charlie" with a clear, focused voice presence (not in the back of the throat, but centered around my vocal cords), plenty of air support and an ability to sustain long notes that made even Bunky turn around and go "I've never heard you do that before." It was encouraging - and as John once said to me: the more confident the lead singer is, the more confident the band will be as well. Harmonies with Bunky and Randy were angelic. The mood overall was very light-hearted and there was a hilarious exchange where we all decided to try alternate endings to "April Fools" before deciding that we'd maybe rotate endings at some point in time.

This month's Connections Magazine has a press release and picture about the two albums and an ad that I designed announcing the release of clear blue trickling. The group was much impressed by the coverage, of which this is only the trickling start. The blitz is about to begin in full-force, which makes this time in life "the calm before the storm."