Recording

For the past few weeks, my writing has been plagued by the fact that my ring finger is bandaged due to the unfortunate Mandoline incident. Up to now, I’ve been typing without using that finger, typing with my right hand in a sort of clumsy peace sign configuration. Today is really the first day, since my fingertip went for a ride, that I’ve been able to put any pressure on it at all. I don’t subscribe to the notion that this will improve my writing any, but it will make the length of this post a little easier to put up on the web.

Last week I went into the studio where the Prairie Dogs mixed down Brand New Heart and recorded a new song I had written. A little over a year ago, I did some electric work for them, running conduit and putting in some outlets. We did it straight as an exchange—five hours of electrical work for five hours of studio time. I went in at twelve thirty and was out and done by five, laying down guitar, bass, vocals, electric, and my Dobro. (Harmonica as well, but in the end, it didn’t make the cut) The song is a new one I wrote about getting into contact again with all of these people from my past and I’m real happy with how it turned out. I was thinking of putting it up, but on the off chance that any of those people are visiting I don’t want to spoil the gift.

It was a nice feeling, going into a studio and not worrying about the technical aspects of everything. It had been more than ten years since I did any recording like that—the kind where I don’t have to worry about what track I’m on, or if the levels are good or where is that distortion coming from—just plug in and go. When I arrived Tony had already set everything up, even putting out a selection of their acoustics for me to try out. I picked a Tacoma guitar, made with Koa back and sides and a spruce top, since just about any of them sounded nicer that my Yamaha. The recording came out all warm and bright and the finished product left me feeling like maybe I have some talent for this kind of thing after all.

It also stressed to me how much I want to get a new acoustic guitar and this leads me to why I’m doing my update today instead of my usual Wednesday afternoons at the Wi-Fi Café. My brother and I will be in Seattle that day for another excursion into the mystifying world of trying to find that elusive guitar. There are still one or two shops that I haven’t gone too yet, and so, I’m trying one more time, with the high hopes of finding the right one.

Old friends have been asking if I’ll be bringing one to Vegas, as a number of those people play. I think if I can, I’ll try to bring both of them. Maybe we can get a little drunken jam going, sitting by the pool, pulling old Sorcerer songs out of faded memories.

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