Are You Dave?

This one is mainly for readers of the Jimmasphere, who are mainly family: We’re here in Boulder Creek this week, visiting my in-laws! Spent most of yesterday (Sunday) on planes but now we’re in the loving embrace (and warm, good-smelling kitchen) of family. It’s going to get up into the 60s and maybe even 70s here this week, but it’s been fairly crisp and cool so far. On the agenda for the week: Santa Cruz, hunting for lizards in the back yard, the Monterey Aquarium, visits with cousins, lunch at Scopazzi’s (which apparently means something naughty in Italian), and wild game at the local German place.

This was our most highly anticipated gig of the year, and the consensus among band members seems to be that it was an awesome show. We would have loved a bigger crowd—279 seats is a lot of seats to fill!—but the folks who came out were very energetic, dancing along with the music. It felt pretty darned good.

Our day started at 7:00 a.m. when Dana made the first run in her truck, first picking up my guitars, then taking Brandon and Justin to load the gear from the rehearsal studio (Brandon’s drum kit takes a lot of hauling). Kipley picked me up at 8:00 and we went to Stef’s to get her and her band’s P.A. Thank you, Stefanie, we could NOT have done well today without you!

Stef and her gear took up all available space in Kipley’s car, so I ended up lounging with Stef’s husband Marco for a bit, waiting for Dana to swing back and pick me up. This turned out to be a good thing, because Stef called not once but twice, asking us to grab bits she’d left behind.

The J.D. Williams theater at Liberty Science Center is pretty roomy; it’s a movie theater but they also have a big stage with several podiums backstage. Obviously they can give many types of presentations there, but this was their first-ever rock concert. The staff, as a result, wasn’t able to provide much assistance but we were able to get our logo projected on the screen behind us, which was very cool. Stef and Justin did a fantastic job setting up the P.A., and we were ready for soundcheck by 10:00 a.m. An entire hour for soundcheck—awesome! We ran through at least four songs, maybe even five, and still had time for a bagel break before showtime.

Just before curtain at 11:00 we congregated backstage (not much more than a staircase). Someone told Justin we had a few minutes before showtime so he went to make a quick pit stop, but the door at the bottom of the stairs was a one-way affair and he ended up having to go all through the building to get back to us. So we started closer to 11:10, which was just about the only glitch in a day that could have been glitch-heavy but wound up going pretty smoothly. (We’ll most likely give Justin a lot of grief about going potty and disappearing right before the show, but so far the e-mails among the band members have been mercifully silent on the subject. Maybe because the concert itself was so fun.)

Comparing this show to where we were even 6 months ago is a revelation (Once again Colleen Castle showed up to videotape us, and I spent part of the afternoon going through the recording; I’ll post clips when I can). We sound pretty tight, with the instruments blending smoothly and no one stepping on anyone else’s parts. Dana, Kipley and I harmonize very well together if I do say so myself. Our audience participation and between-song patter have both improved, as well—I hate that silence between songs when the audience isn’t sure what they should be doing, but today’s crowd clapped and cheered and laughed at our witty banter.

We debuted two new songs: “Yes You Can,” my post-Obama up-with-people anthem; and Kipley’s wry “Fairy Tale Blues.” The two songs are very different and yet they’re both Fuzzy Lemons songs; I am pleased with the range that the band continues to reach.

The show ended around noon and we did the whole load/unload thing in reverse. I was home by two, just in time to deal with my drowsy post-nap 3-year-old. We had a great afternoon in the playground. Now it’s bedtime; we’re off to visit the in-laws on the Other Coast tomorrow. Have a great week!
~Dave

Wow, what a day! I can’t believe how much we got done. After the last post, I did the acoustic guitar for “Skunks in my Shoes,” and doubled the part (meaning I recorded it twice, for a big fat sound on the CD) so you can add Dan’s Martin guitar to the list of instruments I’ve played this week. I also did the vocal and am very happy with the 2nd take. I’ll never be thrilled about my voice, but I think the energy is good and the delivery is strong.

Once again I was very happy with my guitar playing. Dan loves my Fender acoustic almost as much as I do, and I will admit that his Martin sounds pretty schweet. I got to do two guitar solos today; I used the telecaster for both and had a blast. Gotta get me one of those.

Dana and I also had a lot of fun “dirtying up” “Skunks in my Shoes.” The chorus was sounding very slick, very clean, very pretty… too pretty. So Dana and I went back in the booth and shouted the chorus rather than singing it. Then we went out into the halls of Garden Street Music and corralled a couple of six-year-old students to come in and shout the part as well. Now it sounds like a party!

I had to leave before Dana could execute her blazing sax solo for “Sunburn” but I’m sure she nailed it. I can’t wait to hear the final tracks, even a rough mix from Dan would be a treat. There’s no telling how long it’ll be before we can go back and record some more and finish this incipient full-length album we’re dreaming of. It’s a crime to record five hot songs like we just did and then let them gather dust. I’m like a kid before Christmas, just dying to hear the songs!

Here we are again at Garden Street Music. Kipley has already knocked a bunch of stuff out of the park, including a killer vocal for “Baby, Please Don’t Cry” and the rigorous accordion part for “Skunks In My Shoes.”

Then I did my guitars for “Baby, Please Don’t Cry,” rhythm and then solo. I love being in a well-stocked studio like this because I get to chose my weapons. In addition to my own beloved Epiphone hollowbody and Fender acoustic, I’ve recording bits with Dan’s Strat, his Telecaster, his Les Paul and even a beat-up old Gretsch hollowbody–faded and chipped but still full of life. I used that one on “Sunburn” instead of my own hollowbody because his has a Bigsby tremolo. I gotta get one of those.

Anyway, Dana and I just finished the backing vocals to “Baby, Please Don’t Cry” and now she’s adding her tambourine. Then that song is in the can and we can move on to the final challenges: Dana has to do the sax solo in “Sunburn” and I need to do vocals for “Skunks.”

I just have to say that this is the ideal recording situation. The studio is two blocks from my apartment! I just grab my guitar and go. Hauling the drums back and forth in November was a lot of work, and we’ll have to do it again when we come back to start new songs, but it’s SO worth it!

I also want to take a moment and sing the praises of Dan McLoughlin. He’s so mellow, that at first I worried he wasn’t going to offer any input on the songs at all, just record us and send us on our way. But he’s been making suggestions for tweaks and we’ve agreed with everything he’s said. He’s got a good ear but isn’t pushing us to change anything drastic. He’s just a music lover like us and his input has been wonderful.

Wow, we got a lot done today! We spent three of our five hours on “Jump in a Puddle,” which may seem like a lot but wait until you hear how it sounds! Dan helped us add layer upon layer, fattening the sound but not muddying it, with textured guitars and added vocal bits. I think it’s going to sound great.

Then we spent an hour on “Hey Baby,” and an hour on “Sunburn.” I think my guitar playing on all three songs is as good as any I’ve done… rehearsing and playing weekly as the Lemons’ lead guitarist has pushed me pretty far and it’s exciting to hear the results.

Kipley and Dana both did amazing work, vocally and instrumentally. Wednesday they both have challenges: Dana’s sax on “Sunburn” and Kipley’s accordion on “Skunks in My Shoes.” I think they’re both going to shine! And of course I get to sing on “Skunks,” I hope I sound good.
Dave

I’m excited to announce that the Fuzzy Lemons are back in the studio! We’ve finally returned to Garden Street Music to finish the tracks we started in November. Dana, Kipley and I are here for two afternoons this week to put down our vocals, guitar parts, and various sax and percussion bits. Then, if there’s time, we’ll start mixing and mastering the five new songs.

So far today we’re working on “Jump in a Puddle.” Kipley has done his vocals and rhythm guitar and I’ve done a doubled guitar part. I think it’s all sounding fantastic so far. Dana is in the box now, she just did a percussion track and now she’s doing her harmony vocals. I can hear her through the walls and she sounds awesome. I love this song.

A couple times a year, I donate Birthday Party entertainment to the HFA or other groups in town. In most cases I know the families who “win” my services, but not always.

After our gig at Shades, the family that won the party that I donated to the HFA at Cabin Fever came up to me and asked “Are you Dave?”

The Family Beach Party is back! Today we performed our patented event at Shades, a bar/restaurant in the 720 Monroe building. We’ve been eager to try this place out, since they have been kind enough to let us come in for free (anything that gets people in the door to buy food and beer, I guess; the Goldhawk had the same deal but is a smaller room). If all goes well we could even do a monthly (Kipley is pushing for weekly) gig there and make it a real “destination” for all of Hudson County. Proximity to the Light Rail is another bonus feature.

We did well enough, selling out all 120 tickets in advance. The hometown crowd is always supportive—these are our friends and neighbors, the families who come to class with me or with Dana, and who love Kipley’s puppet shows. So there’s always a lot of chatter with the crowd before and after the show. That can make soundcheck harder, so as a band we’ve agreed to try to get set up and soundchecked earlier—today we were checking after 3:00 for a 3:30 start.

The Beach Party is fun, what can I say? People love beach balls and the limbo and parachute games and surf rock and reggae. The music is fun to play, and I think everyone has a good time. I know I did. I haven’t heard yet whether we’ll be invited back to do it again.

Here’s Peter Clothier blogging about The Mankind Project on the Huffington Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-clothier/mens-work_b_171600.html

(Read my own entry about MKP here)
— Dave

By “scored” I mean I did the music for my friend Guy’s video:

[caution, some language not suitable for minors]

The opening bit is something I did for another of Guy’s movies, ”My Grandma Killed Seven People.” The guitar under the Wes Anderson bit is me picking the chords to “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” a la Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bleecker Street.”

You know those cheesy MIDI files that pop up on websites from time to time? Turns out you can download them and drag ‘em into GarageBand and actually make them sound good. That’s how I got the version of “The Liberty Bell March” (a.k.a. The Monty Python Theme) that you hear here.

Fans of The Fuzzy Lemons may recognize the music during the “Quentin Tarantino” segment. It’s the first demo I did of “Sunburn” in GarageBand, before it even had lyrics. Kimberly Perry, drummer emeritus, helped out with the MIDI drums. Hi Kim!