Happy Birthday Kristopher Curtis.

For the past couple of days I’ve been going through all of my recordings and getting them organized and backed up. It’s been pretty interesting because I found a bunch of stuff that I had totally forgotten about. So if you’re as interested in me as I am, you’ll want to check this stuff out because some of it sounds really bad. Really bad!

These first couple of mp3s are from the George Harrison Tribute the Drew Johnson Band played in. This is NOT the stuff that sounds really bad. Our version of Here Comes the Sun has been on the site for a long time but these you haven’t heard yet. The first one is Savoy Truffle from the White Album. It took the sound man a while to figure out that this wasn’t a trumpet solo with band accompaniment but it’s still pretty cool.

Click here to download 3.38 MB

The next song from that same show is one of Harrison’s solo tunes called All Those Years Ago.

Click here to download 3.26 MB

There are some pictures from that show here if your interested. Yes that is the virtuoso Lliam Christy playing lead guitar for those of you in the know.

Next is a demo of The Beautiful Text. I think we still considered ourselves The Drew Johnson Band at the time. This was before Mike Clement joined and added the Rhodes. This sounds horrible. Enjoy.

Click here to download 3.33 MB

This one is a short demo of Lunar Beams. I don’t know what is up with my southern missouruh accent on this. Obviously this was before I decided not to harmonize the verses…it sounds kinda cool though.

Click here to download 1.29 MB

If you’ve followed this blog for a while you’ll remember that the song Twenty Miles from Waterloo has been a point of soreness for us. I have so many demos of this song it’s ridiculous. Here is one of them. It’s all acoustic and very short.

Click here to download 996 KB

Next is an experiment with the vocals for To Mother from Her Son. In the original demo I didn’t have any lyrics so it’s all just la la nah nah stuff. The vocals work in a sort of faux round. I thought that sounded extremely cool (still do) so once I had lyrics I had to figure out how to make that work. This demo is me trying. You’ll quickly see why the idea of a round was canned after the lyrics were added.

Click here to download 1.4 MB

This next one I had forgotten about even though it’s only a few months old. It’s another nah-nah-hmm-hmm-make-up-the-words-as-you-go thing. At the beginning I’m telling myself the notes of the fancy chord so I can find it later.

Click here to download 1.33 MB

This last one is pretty recent too. I have a feeling that this idea will eventually end up on my solo record.

Click here to download 839 KB

I got a call from Josh Kohn today and it looks like 3/4 of The Formula Kid will be reunited for an encore performance of this show on September 21st. Why only 3/4? you ask. Because apparently Josh hates Dino and believes that Steve Bunck is the better drummer. That’s the only thing I could figure.

The last time was a total blast and I expect nothing less from this show. We’ll be playing a bunch of songs from Josh’s solo record and also filling a big part of the night making stuff up and trying to convince you we know what we’re doing.

Incidentally, the last time we did this was the last time The Formula Kid ever performed on stage together. Of course we didn’t know that at the time. Josh asked us to play a couple of tunes and I believe we played Chumps American Style and Hey Bulldog. I know John Dear had a bunch of pictures from that night but I lost the link he sent me to the page they’re on. Barnacles!

For those of you keeping score at home: since my last post, my intestinal problems managed burn away four more pounds from my now studly physique. That makes 19 total pounds lost.

I went back to the doctor today and here’s what we know so far. It’s not a virus. It’s not a bacteria. And it’s not internal bleeding. The doctor also assured me that I didn’t accidentally swallow a blender attached to a jet engine…which has been my assumption from day one.

On Monday I’m going in to have them run a camera in the out door. Good times. Great oldies. I’ll post the pics as soon as I have them. Stay tuned.

Losing weight has never been easier. I did it. You can too. Here’s how. First you need a really nasty stomach virus. A bacterial infection is also extremely effective. You might even consider picking up a Spastic Colon or the ever enjoyable Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Then you spend at least two hours a day sitting on the toilet or standing with your mouth pointed at it depending on your choice of infection. After thirty days you should visit your doctor to have him or her stick their fingers up your rectum to have a look about. Provide a stool sample if requested. Then joy in the fact that you look great without ever having to deny yourself the calories.

This has been my last four weeks. They still don’t know what’s wrong with me.

Thursday night I went to The Maxtone Four’s studio to hang out a mess around for a few hours. They’re putting the final touches on their album and Brian McClelland asked me to come by and help them brainstorm one last time. We came up with some really cool stuff. Everyone was quite pleased. I did a little keyboard work that Brian wanted and we recorded some very ELO-ish vocals. Brian and I are both suckers for completely over the top vocal arrangements. These definitely did not disappoint.

I’ve been working very hard on mixing Outta Sight Shake lately which means that all other musical endeavors have come to a screeching halt. It always seems like mixing the first song in any project takes the longest. It’s coming along though. Slowly.

I came across something very cool the other day that any fan of cool music would probably be interested in. You can read about it here. Check out the song “Clothes & Food”. Getting to hear Andy Sturmer and Chris Robinson (two of the greatest Rock and Roll singers of all time) sing together on the chorus is pure bliss.

My mom had Riley for most of the day today so that allowed me to indulge in my favorite pastime—blowing my hearing out and punching myself in the face. I quit the band due to total burnout and now I’m going to see how fast I can get there again. Today was a great start.

I did work on three different albums today: Mine, the thing with Brian, and The Formula Kid record. That was thoroughly stupid. If the Cardinals hadn’t won their game tonight I may have completely lost my sense of humor.

I recorded some twangy acoustic guitar for my solo album this morning. The bad thing about recording quiet parts in the house is that I have to turn off the AC because it’s so noisy. Needless to say it gets real miserable in a hurry around here when it’s 100 degrees outside. It took me forever to get the part just right and then when I finally nailed it I sat down to listen to it and realized that I had the mic facing the wrong way. Noob! Lamer! So sorry, you are average player.

After that I recorded the lead vocal and some backing vocals for a song called Falling for Me that will be on the record with Brian McClelland. I’m super proud of this song and can’t wait for y’all to hear it. It’s pure, late 60’s pop and I sing it like a total ladyboy. After I recorded the lead vocal I went upstairs to eat some beef and watch some NASCAR to remind myself that I’m a man.

The remainder of the day was spent mixing Outta Sight Shake for the TFK album. These tracks sound really good but the problem for me is that they sound so drastically different than what I’m used to working with that it’s kinda freaking me out. I’m adjusting but not quickly. We went for a much more lo-fi vibe than the last record so I have to keep reminding myself that the dead sounding snare drum and the honking guitar are supposed to sound like that. I got out my copy of Ian Moore’s album “…and all the colors” as reference material. That’s a great sounding record with very lo-fi drum sounds. So I just kept checking back and forth to make sure I wasn’t totally off the map. This went on for hours…and hours. Once I get acclimatized to the new sound I should be fine. I hope. Nothing sounds worse than lo-fi made hi-fi.