Wednesday, December 17th, Specialized Mastering, Framingham, MA

I spent the last day and half mastering the record with Dana White -- 12 hours in all.   Normally it takes 5-6 hours, but this is a very dense production and we took our time with it.  I need to spend some time reviewing it, but it's looking like the record is done.  Yippie, skippie!!   I'll make it available on the website after the New Year.  Monday night I ran into Mike Ferreira who recorded most of the record.  He and his girlfriend Alyssa are moving to Boulder, CO.  Happy trails my Pearl Street friends.

Thursday, October 16th, Moontower Studios, Cambridge, MA

Brian finished re-mixing 'Beautiful Shadow' and 'Your Old Guitar'.   They are both sounding really good to me now.  Brian also created a test master of the disc which will help for review purposes before the actual mastering session.  The mixing session ran late into the night because we took a break to which the ALCS where NY beat Boston.  What a bummer!  At least Brian was happy since he is a Yankees fan.

Monday, September 29th, San Francisco, CA

I reviewed the final mixes Brian sent me on CD over the weekend.  Things are sounding really great.  However, there were some problems with a couple of the mixes.  This is the part of the process I hate -- trying to get it perfect.   It feels very close, but a violin part got left out of one of the songs.  There are some things you can let go and some you can't.  Oh well, we'll just keep working until we get it right -- it will just a take a little more time and money.

Tuesday, September 16th, San Francisco, CA

After getting some sleep Brian went back into the studio to continue mixing late yesterday.  Pete went by for moral support and to make coffee runs.   After I got back to San Francisco I tried to go to work but my car battery was dead.   I ended up falling asleep at 4pm and waking up at 8pm.    When I called the studio Brian was getting ready to finish mixing 'Your Old Guitar.'

We are in the home stretch today.   Brian finished 'Silver' and is now working on 'In the City' with Mike who came by to help out.   They are going to do another mix of 'Stars' later today and then that will be it. 

It's also my mom's birthday today.  Happy Birthday Mom!

Sunday/Monday , September 14/15th,  Cambridge, MA to San Francisco, CA

We continued mixing the record all day Sunday and into Monday morning.  I left for the airport to head back to San Francisco around 6:30am while Brian finished mixing 'Beautiful Shadow'.   There were still a few songs left to do so the mixing will probably run into Tuesday.  Things are going really well, but it's just taking longer than we originally planned.   It's certainly not for lack of trying -- Brian has been working until 3am or later (earlier?) nearly every day since we started on Thursday.  'Empty' took 9 hours to mix, but it was worth it listening to the final mix.    Thanks to Aaron for dropping by Sunday evening and giving us a fresh perspective.

Saturday , September 13th, The Kendall Cafe, Cambridge, MA

We were at the studio during the day before heading over to The Kendall Cafe for our show.   It was a really good show.  We saw a bunch of folks we hadn't seen in a while which was really nice.   It was also great to play with our friends from Blue Horizon.   This was our last show at The Kendall since it will no longer be a music venue after next month.  We are pretty sad about it since this has been a great room for us to play. Click here to view the set list.

Friday, September 12th, Moontower Studios, Cambridge, MA

We started mixing the record yesterday with Brian Brown.  Brian spent most of the day getting things setup.  He had problems getting the 1/4" tape machine working which delayed things a bit.    Also, the master tapes we ordered didn't show up.  We were able to get them locally so that didn't hold things up.  I was there during the afternoon and Pete hung out in the evening.  Brian finished mixing 'Almost Real' pretty late/early.

Friday, August 15th, Portland ME

Yesterday was our last day in the studio this week.  It was mostly Brian doing some final engineering work to make sure all the tracks are ready for mixing (which should happen in the next month or so).   I drove up to Portland to see one of my favorite bands The Flaming Lips.   They put on a great show -- very fun and upbeat.  I met a couple of the guys in the band afterwords -- turned out I was staying at the same hotel.

Wednesday, August 13th, Pearl Street, Somerville, MA

We finished recording today!   Brian and I along with Dave and Pete have been in the studio for the last few days finishing up the work we started earlier this year.    We now have 10 songs that are ready to mix.  I'm off to see Radiohead tonight to celebrate.   

Monday, June 16th, Pearl Street, Somerville, MA

Pete and Dave are in the studio with Brian Brown doing overdubs on some of the new tunes.  Dave's friend Becka is going to be adding some cello parts.   This will mark the first time a Blue Tree recording session has happened without me.   I'm in San Francisco soaking up some sun and working so we will actually have some dough to put out a new record.   It's good to be working with Brian again.

Saturday, May 17th, Nashville, TN

I hung out with my friend and fellow singer/songwriter Shawn Byrne who recently moved to Nashville.   He showed me around and we went downtown to catch a couple alt.country bands at a club called "Windows on the Cumberland."  Later that night Shawn played me a couple of his new tunes and I played him a couple of the songs I've been recording.

Wednesday-Thursday, May 14th-15th, Florida

I was in Florida for a few days and met up with some of my old friends and collaborators Armond Blackwater and Steve Smith.  Armond has been adding a lot to the cafebeat.com site including some interesting literary works.   Steve continues to work on his fine art when he gets time away from Studio22's design business.  I would love to get Steve to work on the design for the next record.

Friday, May 2nd:  Vipor Bar,  Canton, MA

I did a 30minute solo set at the Viper Bar which is a private club in Canton.   Christie Leigh was the host (or should I say hostess) and a number of people played including my friends Danielle Miraglia and Tom Bianchi.   I especially liked the black light in the backstage area which made locating my tuning pedal a challenge since I couldn't find it by color.

Monday, April 28th:  The Skellig,  Waltham, MA

I went to the Skellig open mic with my friend Christie Leigh who I'll be playing with in Canton on Friday.   Hugh McGowan host's the open mic and he played with me on the Radiohead cover 'High and Dry.'   He also sang backup as well -- he is a great player and has an incredible voice.  

Sunday, April 27th: Pearl Street, Somerville, MA

Dave, Pete and I spent the weekend recording 4 new songs at Pearl Street with Mike Ferreira.  The songs we recorded included 3 new ones ('Almost Real', 'Empty' and 'Silver') along with the Radiohead cover 'Palo Alto.'  Our good friend Aaron Goff came in on Sunday and put down a few madolin parts on a couple of the new tunes.  These are in addition to the 6 songs we finished recording in March.   There is still more work to do, but things are really starting to take shape.  

We also listened to some of the rough mixes of the first batch of new tunes.   We all especially liked how the song 'Beautiful Shadow' sounds.   That one might make a good title track for a new record.  We'll see.