Hola!
I was looking forward to a fun evening last night. The rest of the last two weeks or so have been pretty blah for me. But last was was going to be fun, dammit!
The day started off well, actually. I got to run. I have been missing the sun and walking around outside so intensely. This is the first winter where I've actually felt captive in the house for the most part. I've been out and about, but I really felt overly locked in. So, to go outside and run! I am definitely a fair-weather runner. It has to be about 60 before I got out to run. And it was so nice. Plus, listening to Matt & Kim makes for an enjoyable exercise routine!
From there I stopped off at Tri C to pick up some more CDs. And we got into a wonderful marketing discussion that lead to them opening up a competition to remix one or two of the Lost + Found tunes! Yes - i may get that street cred afterall! :-) For now, that is going to be only open to the students in their audio program, but enough ideas were passed around, I think I may open up a public forum to do the same for one of the What I Meant to Say tunes, as well! All in the pipeline - I'll keep ya updated.
And then it was time to perform.
TM Gottl asked me to sit in with her as the back-up music during her poetry reading. I had done that once before, and it was a blast! It's fun for me to get to crawl outside of my box and do things. So we worked up a good 6 poems or so. The night was highly energized. More so than other readings I've gone to. And the stuff we did was all upbeat, for the most part. Personal highlights for me were bringing up Cameron to beat box this "rap" that she wrote about Oatmeal (ain't no party like my nana's tea party, hey). And from there we jumped into Chiropractor, which actually, and i think this is a first in the ohio poet scene, had people up and dancing! Yes, dancing at a poetry reading! Ha! And it was fonkay.
After the show, we moved the party to Mama Mia's, but as we pulled up the sign went off and he closed. Noooooooooo! We stood there outside trying to think of another vegan-friendly place that might still be open. Plus, we were all worked up for a nice Vegan Philly Cheezesteak.
And then, John came to the door. We just tried to ask him where else we could go, and he said if we wanted he'd open back up and make us stuff.
!!!!!
Really???
Yes!!!
So, he made us a few Cheezsteaks and a pizza, and then let us eat it there! This man is a saint among men! I tell you! It was my first Cheezsteak experience, and I was thoroughly delighted. Plus, I had a cookie! So, that alone is a good night! He sat and talked to us about his restaurant, vegan food, and the video of the vaulter that launched himself in to the judges table.
Bottom line, John is a good man, and you should all go and support Mama Mia's Pizza at 12906 Madison in Lakewood. They have a lovely vegan selection, and homemade cookies daily! And they have Rice Dream ice cream bars in the little ice cream freezer! And they deliver (216)226-4000! Yes yes yes!
From there, we tried to move the afterparty to the Winchester, but there were closed. And so were about 7 other places around. Bars closing before midnight on St. Patty's day surprised us all. But we ended up at the 5 O'Clock lounge, which actually had some not so annoying music on the jukebox (for a little while anyway) and a few pool tables.
All in all - fun times!
I know you see the title, and think: in the studio? Isn't the new CD not even out yet? And you are right! However we have an opportunity to record, and as you all know, I have a plethora of new and unreleased materials, so back in we went. I won't say yet what tunes we were working on, but they are sounding delicious so far! We still have at least another session to go.
The session was a late one to say the least. When Charlie and I finally left the sun was up, and we were in the midst of rush hour traffic. But they had coffee at the studio (thanks to Michael - though no donuts - thanks Dominic), so it all worked out. We kicked off at 10pm, so yes, it was a very long night. But Michael brought some trail mix, he called GORP, which was peanuts, m&m's, and marshmellows. Apperently it was tastey. For me it was a treasure hunt to get get the peanuts and put the rest back, but still hitting the spot!
My friend and top-notch photographer, Bruce, came out to hang and photograph us in our natural environment. He crammed himself into the vocal booth, where I was situated, to get some great pics. He was moving around, and they have a little window in there, so you can see into the live room. It had a curtain and curtain rod on it, and Bruce knocked it down getting one shot. It may have been this one. (www.brucehicks.com)
Studios tend to get hot. They can't turn the air on because it makes noise that is picked up by the mics. But they did have this awesome green curtain in the main live room. And Bruce got this awesome action shot as Charlie was tearing up a solo. I'm glad Bruce got shots early in the night - at the end, the few shots I got off of my camera show us as sleepy, beat, and kinda hungry. 
