“When one has finished building one's house, one suddenly realizes that in the process one has learned something that one really needed to know in the worst way - before one began.”
-Friedrich Nietzsche

The album is mixed. This beast that I’ve been working on in one form or another, which I’ve been talking about on this page since December of 1997, is for all intents and purposes, finished. Any Raw Flesh?, my first “solo” album, is finally completed.

Oh, it’s not ready to ship out to the world, to the little band of folks out there that have told me they are interested in it (should you be interested in joining that group, please head over here and let me know). It’s going to be mastered in two weeks, and then I’ll hand it to the manufacturer in January. Mastering, for the non-techies among you, is a process that puts one last “polish” on the overall sound of the album. All commercial releases are mastered before they come out into the world. The final, artwork-bedecked version should be available sometime in February or early March, depending on the workload of the plant that’s going to be printing up the discs. Being that these are technical processes rather than overtly creative ones, I feel I can say that on a purely creative level, the album is done. It’s DONE.

I haven’t processed the idea completely yet. It hasn’t hit me. I don’t know when it will. I don’t want to be driving when it does. The last month and a half has been a blur – I’ve been at the studio almost every night since late October as Darin and I finished the tracking, cleaned up the tracks for mixing, and then mixing (and in some cases, remixing) the songs. My brain is absolutely fried. We’ve had to focus on every minute detail of EVERY track, trying to keep the project in perspective, trying to make sure the songs sound like I imagined they would… it’s maddening. I am SO glad it’s OVER.

Is the CD going to be everything I thought it would be when I started?

Nope, it’s a completely different thing, and that’s the best news I can tell you. Frankly, I can’t even remember what I thought the album was going to be back when I started it, it was so long ago and so many things, including myself, have changed during the process. I can say that I am damned proud of Any Raw Flesh? I think it’s a really good record. I put everything I had into it at every step of its creation, and it’s a nice way for me to begin what I consider is my “official” solo career as a recording artist.

It is the best work I have yet produced as a musician. It’s adventurous, diverse, at times silly, and has lots of twists and turns. I hope that anyone who has a chance to hear it will approach it with an open mind, and be able to appreciate the intent behind all the songs – which was simply to write the best songs I could, and then perform and record them in a way that gets the message across.

I did my best. I learned along the way that I don’t know anything about anything - and that that’s no excuse not to blunder on ahead anyway. I am extremely grateful to all the people who worked with me on the project and helped me over the last three years, and to those that have written to express their support during that time. All of you people are incredible, and I hope you like the album. THANK YOU.

There will be more information to come, and an official release date will be announced, as soon as I know what it is. There’s going to be lots of new content coming, and sound samples, and commentary by the musicians, and stuff like that.

Stay tuned, thank you and good night.

Election Day, 2000

An interesting day to be an American. As I type this, the results of today’s Presidential Election are not yet in. This is obviously the closest race for the White House in my lifetime. Even though I didn’t vote for either Bush or Gore (I voted Libertarian), it’s hard not to get caught up in the punditry on television, as all the various Electoral College scenarios are bantered about. Regardless of outcome, I don’t think it’s likely that the Republic will fall. And I doubt much will change in the next four years, despite the shrilly-voiced fears of both sides. It’s quite a nail-biter though, eh?

But this ain’t no POLITICAL website! If you’re reading this, you wanna know when the new Yogi CD is gonna be done, right? And if you’ve been checking these updates for any amount of time, you’re used to bad news and delay after delay in this regard. Well…

TRACKING IS FINISHED.

Yup, you read right, every song is now on tape. There will be no new notes played by me on the CD. All that remains is a couple of days of track cleanups (to get rid of inadvertent amp buzz, lip-smacking on the backup vocals and the like), and then Darin starts mixing.

This is such a huge milestone for me; I haven’t completely internalized it as yet. As many of you may know, there were many times that I despaired of making it this far along, and now, the final mix is a couple of weeks of studio work away. Amazing. The thing that struck me as I drove home from the studio last night was that the tracks are now in the state where if anything were to happen to me (like being run over by a truck or something), the album could be finished in my absence and sound like I meant it to. Is that morbid or what? The funny thing is, that thought gave me a lot of comfort. I’m a weirdo, I know.

A few tidbits from the recent recording frenzy: Darin and I got going again on Saturday October 28, which was the first session since mid-August. It was also my first session in DiPietro Sound’s new location, in a large converted garage behind Darin’s new house. The place is still very much under construction, but it’s going to be very, very cool once Darin gets it all finished. Darin jury-rigged a vocal booth for me (which also later served as an iso room for the guitar cabinet), and we got going again. On the agenda: lead and backing vocals on “You Fell”, the last song written for the record. I got through the whole song in that first day, which is pretty good for me, as it usually takes one and a half sessions for me to lay down all the vocals on a track. As was typical of the vocal sessions on this record, I came in knowing about 80% of what I wanted to do, and for the rest, I winged it as we went. I had lyrics, mind you; it’s just that I tend to waffle until the last second as to how I plan on delivering them. And actually, for “You Fell”, I re-wrote a good chunk of the second verse the night before the session. I’ve GOT to stop doing that.

Vocals destroy me after four hours or so in the studio, so though we finished all the singing on “You Fell” that first day, four hours was all I could manage. So I returned the next day (the 29th), and we miked up the ‘ol L5 through the Marshall cabinet and went about fixing some rhythm guitars that were bugging me. We re-did the heavy rhythm stuff on “Firefly” (AGAIN), because what we had just wasn’t tight enough for me. I finally nailed it this time. Then, on “Lois”, Darin masterfully re-created the rhythm tone we had gotten for the track in the old studio (something both of us thought would be close to impossible), and saved me from having to re-cut the rhythm tracks in their entirety. We punched in the spots that were less than perfect, and I defy anyone to tell me where the punches are. With “Lois” rhythms finished, we launched right into guitar solos.

Ten years ago, lead guitar was a pretty heavy focus in my life. I had some serious chops back then. Let’s just say that solos and stuff haven’t been my priority lately, and so it was a challenge, to say the least, to attack what lead guitar there is on the record. I’m happy with everything that ended up on the tracks, but let’s just say it was a loooong and sometimes painful process to get it. I had to reach deep and use muscles that have atrophied in recent years, and I also needed a lot of good advice and encouragement from Darin. Note to self: I gotta practice more for the next album.

On that Sunday we got a pretty cool wah solo for "Lois", and the end chaotic frenzy solo for “Truth”. Then, we attacked the middle solo on "Truth" (that’s how you can tell old Yogi songs from new ones – more lead guitar per minute), and it was ugly. I got in a rut and dug in, and I could not get out. I worked on it for 90 minutes or so before admitting what Darin already knew, that this one wasn’t going to be happening that day.

So I went home, licked my wounds for a week (wounds is an exaggeration, we got a LOT done that weekend), and arrived on Darin’s doorstep last Saturday afternoon, November 4th. We only had a few hours to work, so we launched into the “surprise hidden” track of the album (I guess I just blew the surprise by telling you about it), which required a slew of guitar overdubs. For each different part, I used a different one of Darin’s many guitars. I think the list of different instruments included a Les Paul, a Danelectro, a Strat, and an Ibanez 7 string (mine). It was fun, fun, fun. After that we recorded some “textural guitar overdubs” on “What Have We Here?” and “Firefly”, and we were done for the day.

But that’s not all! I was back on Sunday, bright and early, and we went balls to the wall: some electric twelve string on "You Fell" (on a Rickenbacker electric, the first time in my life I’ve touched an electric twelve-string), which we also ran through Darin’s real live Leslie cabinet. Also run through the Leslie and put on tape were the lead vocals for “I’ve Got A Bad Feeling About This”. Then it was back to guitar solo land, where we first put a manic, completely tweezed out solo on “You Fell” (run through an MXR phase 90 AND a Big Muff Pi pedal cranked all the way). There’s some feedback right at the beginning that came out PERFECTLY. After that, I pulled out my Strat for some fills over the end vamp of “Throw Me A Bone”. It’s not really a full-on “solo” section, but I wanted some tasty little things in there. I’m pretty satisfied with how it turned out. Next we tackled “No More Evil”, and once again I used the Rickenbacker 12-string, at Darin’s suggestion, this time through the L5. How very “8 Miles High” of me, no? Then it was time to try the middle solo on “Truth” again, and I struggled almost as much as I had the week before. This is where I once again thank the gods for Darin DiPietro. He talked me into trying the thing on his Danelectro baritone guitar, which is something I was not wild about doing. My patience was wearing thin, but Darin doggedly kept at me, and I finally gave in and tried it. And what occurred was his intention all along; it broke me out of the rut I’d been in. When I picked up my regular guitar again after playing the baritone guitar for a few takes, I had a whole new approach, and with a few more tries, AT LAST we got a good take. That’s a lot of soloing for one day, folks. I’d bet even the most inventive guitarist would be sick of hearing him/herself play after that much time. I know I was sick of me, that’s for sure. And so that ended Sunday’s session.

Which brings us to last night, Monday the 6th. I went to Darin’s knowing that all I had to do was get down the crazy weird 12-tone Zappa-like guitar part on "Do Not: Disturbed!" and I was done. We also had to get a few samples into both “Lois” and “You Fell” and we knocked that out first. DND is a computer tune, and so we spent some time syncing the ADAT’s via SMPTE to my PC, and laying down all the keyboard tracks. Then I played two tracks of the guitar part, one clean and one distorted, and we were FINISHED.

The next session (for track cleanup) is scheduled for this Saturday. I’ll let you know when we start mixing. For now, I’m tired of talking about myself, and it’s about time for bed. Can I thank all of you who have been keeping the faith and checking in with good thoughts and encouragement one more time? You people are so cool. I really think you're gonna dig the CD.

Geez, still no president-elect yet! Oh well, we’ll find out tomorrow! You guys slay me! Don't ever change!

Hi, kids!

Is October simply the best month of the year, or what? I am so happy we're in it. I dig the fact that it's a good idea to pull a coat on as I head outside these days. I love the color in the trees. I love all of the Halloween displays in the store. I love, I love, I love. Yay!

I made it back from my trek across the nation and back in one piece and invigorated. Did I tell you about that? My roommate Amanda and I drove across the country with our dog Bojangles belted into the back seat a couple weeks ago. From Kirkland, Washington to Hudson, New Hampshire and BACK, with a few familial visits in between. The trip back from Hudson took us three 16-hour days.

And I LOVED it! If you haven't lately, you really oughta drive across this huge country of ours. There is so much variety, so much that is beautiful and weird and strangely sad and howlingly funny out there. I felt so good when we got home, if a bit exhausted; now I spend a lot of time planning another similar venture. I want to go to the southwest, and up to Alaska, and, and, and...

Since I've returned (on the 24th), I have not yet set foot into the studio to continue working on the CD. I wish I could tell you otherwise. Maybe you'll recall the studio just moved locations. Well, it ain't quite ready for me yet, though Darin DiPietro promises that we can start working again in about a week, and he pretty much wants to work every day until it's done once we get going. That means finishing the tracking that's left (we figure about five days), and then the mixing (about ten to twelve days) and mastering (another day or two). If I'm being honest, it's starting to look as if the disc won't be back from the manufacturer until early 2001. I think the final master will be finished by mid-November, but financial resources will likely be pretty depleted then, too. And if I recall correctly, the pressing plant I want to use takes a two-week holiday at Christmas, so that'll have to be factored in, and...

SIGH. I love having no budget.

Tell you what though... there will be some sample MP3's from the FINAL master available for download in 2000 for sure. So you who are waiting (and waiting, and WAITING) will get a LITTLE something this year.

Oh, and so Mike Keneally's Dancing is OUT! And it is SO GOOD. Please go to keneally.com and buy a copy of it.

Here's a mini-review of the record (mini since I haven't really processed the thing enough to write anything too meaningful): I think it's the best album of Keneally music to date, though I don't think it's the first album someone new to Mike's music should get. For a newbie, I think the best purchase is still 1997's Sluggo!. Dancing is the first Keneally record played by one band all the way through, so there's unprecedented (for MK) thematic unity. Almost the entire record was recorded with the whole band in the studio, playing live. In addition, they recorded the record in sequence. The band is eight pieces, including a second guitarist and horns for the first time, along with tuned percussion. The band sounds wonderfully full and vibrant. Mike has grown a ton as a songwriter and as a composer; this record really highlights his jazzier influences. Dancing isn't quite as goofy and schizophrenic as some of his older releases, but there's a sly wit ever-present throughout. I'm still in total Dancing-immersion mode, meaning I've listened to the thing non-stop and to the exclusion of any other music since it arrived in my mailbox. It is unlike anything you will hear on the radio or other mainstream outlet. There is a track called "Kedgeree" that just flat out... destroys me. "Live In Japan" is the best Keneally pop song ever written, good enough to have made the Beatles drool with envy. Frankly, for the next few years, I can't imagine anyone out there writing better music, 'cept for maybe MK himself. Please go get this record. It WILL change you. For the better. I swear.

OK, so that's it for today's non-update. I'll post again as soon as I have some good news of PROGRESS for ya. Enjoy the autumn!

Oh, happy day.

This was Tuesday, though the intervening days since have been just dandy as well. But Tuesday I was a giddy Irish rogue, I was. See, on Tuesday, I received a package artist Paul Tury sent that contained a full-color mockup of the artwork and jacket design for the new CD I'm almost finished making. Really, it's almost done. So anyway, Paul is an old friend and probably my favorite visual artist on the planet. One of the reasons I have to continue to make album after album, forever and ever, is so that Paul can continue to design amazing cover art for each and every one of them. Just because I can't WAIT to see what they'll all look like.

Paul is so amazing that I try to give him as little direction as possible, because the ideas he comes up with are so far and beyond anything I could think of that... well, you can see for yourself, if this here web page has loaded completely; there's a wee image for you to look at of the cover art somewhere, right? Wanna see it a little LARGER? You do? Well, click the image itself, or heck, CLICK HERE.

Isn't it just so cool? And you haven't even seen the REST of the artwork. That'll have to remain a surprise until the release date shows up (looking more and more like November to me, Johnny).

There's something about actually holding the finished cover art for my new record with my own grubby little paws that really makes what I've been doing for the last two-plus years feel... tangible. At least, a little more so than before. It's such a bizarre thing, this business of organizing sound waves "just so" on a piece of tape in a studio; even when a project is all mixed and mastered, to me it just doesn't feel finished until... it's all dressed up in its little package, ready for the world. Maybe I'm a really big dork or something, but I really enjoy ALBUM JACKET ART. When I was a younger Yogi, one of my favorite things about listening to a record was the simultaneous activity of poring over every liner note, every image, and every thank you on the album packaging, which in the days of LP's was substantial. I miss sitting there just HOLDING this big decorated piece of cardboard while hearing wonderful music whiz by my ears at a dizzying speed. At seven years old, I would sit and listen to "Kiss Alive II" while staring in awe at the pictures on the album of Gene spitting blood and breathing fire. I had no idea those guys were musicians; I thought they were "monster-people" that sang songs. I'm not exaggerating.

And I had absolutely no clue whatsoever what a "Love Gun" was.

Even though CD inserts don't quite hold the same romantic appeal for me as their LP jacket cousins, I still look for and appreciate a well-designed and interesting looking package. Is that so wrong? I think not.

As you can see in the image above, Paul Tury has outdone himself with the artwork, and so you might be wondering when the actual album that will be draped within said artwork might get finished. Well, the bad news is that Darin DiPietro's other projects haven't allowed me to get into the studio since late August. Tomorrow I leave for a desperately needed vacation, and I won't be back in town until the 25th. However, the good news is that Darin and I have taken a blood oath that OCTOBER WILL BE THE MONTH THAT THIS SUCKER GETS FINISHED. So it shall be written, so it... well, you know the drill. It looks like it'll be November when it'll be sent off to manufacturing and such, and then a few weeks after THAT... SIGH.

So anyway, I just had to share this cover thing with you before I take off for a couple of weeks. See you guys after the autumn equinox!

Hi guys! Summer’s over!

At least in Seattle, I expect. It’s been far cooler of late than I described in my last uh, heated diatribe (pun absolutely intended), and let me check – yup, it is indeed RAINING outside. This makes me happy. August, overall, has been a happy month. Let’s see what I can quickly mention here:

First: studio stuff. DiPietro Sound is being moved by proprietor Darin DiPietro as I type these words. I squeezed in a couple of sessions earlier in the month, and I am happy to say that I only have one more song with unfinished vocals, which would be “You Fell”. All the others are DONE! And after I get those vocals done, then two or three guitar sessions will be needed to get all the solos and rhythm guitar fixes finished, and then: TRACKING WILL BE FINISHED! Huzzah!

Paul Tury, artist and designer, is currently working on the album artwork and design. He’s amazing, as is his work, and I will post snippets of it here as soon as I am able.

My goodness, the idea of finishing this thing actually occurred to me just now! Holy cow! Who’da thunk it?

I’m going on a much-needed vacation for two weeks in September, and I’m hopeful I can squeeze in the work for the “You Fell” vocals with Darin before I go, and then the remaining guitars when I get back. Mixing should then occur in October or so. And then… golly it’ll be about done, huh? Terrifying to contemplate. YAY!

Other August things:

Wow, Nonkerstock 2000. I’m a very big fan of the music of Mike Keneally, as anyone who reads this page regularly (yes, all four of you) would know by now. Mike Keneally’s Internet fans decided to throw a big party for themselves, and hired Mike and his band Beer For Dolphins to play the party. The name of the event was Nonkerstock 2000, and it was on August 5 in San Diego, which is Mike Keneally’s hometown. I went down there with Chris G and my roomie Amanda, and even apart from the musical event, had a fun ‘ol time in San Diego for a weekend. People from 20 states and at least two European countries flew in, and all I can say is that it was - magical. I simply don’t have the vocabulary to really express what it meant to me, and all the other people who were there (this includes Mike himself, who often seemed emotionally overwhelmed). They played almost all new material from Mike’s new record Dancing, available for pre-order now (at keneally.com), to be released on September 26. Go buy this music. It will change you.

And those of you who are also fans of Mike’s stuff who weren’t there (that means you, Kevin and Mike W.) – start making plans for next year, if they do it again. You WANT to be there.

Oh, and a couple of weekends ago, I went to this year’s Hemp Fest in Seattle, to watch Chris G play drums in studio maestro Darin DiPietro’s band, Uncle Salty’s Cabin. Hemp Fest happens every year, and basically its just an excuse for all the local freaks to get together and get stoned in public, while they pretend to be “really interested” in all the booths that the Green Party set up. It looked a lot like those old films of Woodstock, only minus the social upheaval, and with a healthy dose of late 20th century cynicism thrown in for good measure. I’ve never seen so much pot. There were guys with big bags of joints just throwing HANDFULLS to anyone and everyone. I would’ve really enjoyed that ten years ago or so. But hell, I was there to see Chris and Darin, and they did a great job in their set. The sound for the band was unbelievably bad (I guess that’s to be expected from a baked soundguy who kept wandering away from the board DURING THE PERFORMANCE). The band played well despite the poor mix, so all ended well that ended, I suppose. Darin says that the promoter called him and said Uncle Salty’s was “the talk of Hemp Fest”, and so hopefully there will be more cool shows lining themselves up for those guys.

And I guess that’s about it for now. Oh yeah, Bryan Beller has started writing a new online column called "On Second Thought" at None For You Dear, a new E-zine. Bryan’s writing rules, so you should check it out.

Peace out,

Yogi

Hot In The City

It is too hot. I can’t deal. I’m going to say it, and I’m not going to mince words: I hate summer.

I do. I can’t take it. I don’t like sweating; I don’t like squinting into the unrelenting sunshine at rush hour. Give me a cloudy day ANY DAY OF THE WEEK. GIVE ME RAIN, FOR SIX MONTHS STRAIGHT.

Now, before you feel too sorry for me, let me remind you that I live in the Seattle area, where the term “scorching summers” doesn’t exactly apply. It got up to maybe 80 degrees today, OK?

But I grew up hating the heat and humidity in northern Virginia, so I know what hot is. I know what it’s like to lay in your bed in your own sweat in a house with no air conditioning, in 90-degree heat (at midnight!). That’s one of the reasons I got out of there… and now that I’m acclimated to the Northwest, 80 degrees is too freaking hot. Homes don’t have AC here, either (of course, that’s because it isn’t really needed). I cannot WAIT until autumn.

Of course, there are other reasons for wanting summer to end AS SOON AS POSSIBLE: Mike Keneally just announced that his new CD, Dancing, will be out in late September. Now that the title and song list are out of the bag, I don’t mind mentioning that I’ve HEARD THE WHOLE THING and it’s really, really, really amazing. You can pre-order it starting August 4 at keneally.com, so do so, OK?

That Napster Thing

So, I want to talk to you folks about Napster.

I confess that I wasn’t really paying attention as Napster was dominating headlines for the first time earlier this year. I didn’t give it a second thought until an intelligent musical friend of mine asked me point blank what I thought about it. I felt kind of stupid not having an opinion, after all, I’m a musician, or at least I play one on TV; and I should know about something that was threatening to change distribution of musical product as we know it, right?

So, I decided to find out for myself what it was all about. I downloaded and installed the Napster software on my machine. It’s amazing how simple it is to use. You type the name of an artist or song you’re interested in. The software checks its database for every Napster user currently signed on, and delivers a list of all MP3’s that match your search criteria. Double-click a list item, and suddenly you’re downloading a song. All the while, other users who are signed on can download the songs you have in your own personal library. The process is seamless, and if you have a fast connection, pretty darned quick.

I found it unnerving how easily I could download ENTIRE OFFICIAL RELEASES by just about any artist you could name. I could get them all for free. It made me uneasy, it made me start to worry. Suddenly the annoying mutterings of Lars Ulrich on the evening news didn’t seem so baseless.

I started seeing talking head commentators debating the issue on the cable news shows; Chuck D of Public Enemy fame was suddenly everywhere, arguing that Napster was NOT a bad thing in a musical landscape controlled by giant corporations that kept an iron grip on the channels dedicated to music distribution. I became increasingly torn; I myself am an artist that would like the public to hear what I’m doing. I’m almost finished with my latest product, and the music on it sounds completely unlike what is being played on the radio today, which basically means commercial suicide for me, thanks. Of course, I couldn’t give a damn about that. I didn’t make my record to sell a million copies, I made it for myself; but it sure would be nice to know that there was a way for me to reach the people who like the same kinds of music I do but can’t get it from the media machine. Why should I be upset about a software program that offers limitless free exposure?

For one thing, there’s a great big gaping hole in that argument: Napster users aren’t using the software to download the music of unsigned artists; they are using it to get the popular music that’s currently “hip” FREE OF CHARGE. Look, I love to believe that people are basically decent, but it’s no secret to anyone that if you give most people a way to get something they want for free, they will go to great lengths to encourage things to stay that way. If people think they won’t get caught, they will do things that they might otherwise describe as being against their own moral fiber. And I agree that there has been plenty of provocation in this case. Yes, the big labels are price-gouging you and I when we buy CD’s, and only a tiny percent of the money they charge goes to the artist. The little guys in this case, the consumers and the artists, are getting stepped on. But with consumers trying to run an end-around the fat-cat companies, they are also hurting the people who create the music. All the pundits on TV never seemed to want to talk about the rights of the artists. All I hear is Napster this, and RIAA that.

Yesterday, USA Today printed an editorial entitled “The Napster Question” that finally crystallized my view of this issue. After reading it, I was so enraged I fired off a reply via email to the editors. I have this crazy fantasy that they’ll print it (they haven’t as of today). Here’s part of what the editorial said:

"...And that's an important model for the music industry and its electronic antagonist, Napster.

The two are locked in a back-and-forth legal battle over Napster's technology that allows millions of users to share copies of music across the Internet without paying copyright holders for it. Last week, a federal judge ordered Napster shut down, only to see an appeals court revive the popular site hours before the plug was to be pulled. Even if the recording industry ultimately prevails against Napster, a larger problem looms. Not only will the record companies have to stomp out similar sites based in the U.S., but also others overseas, out of easy legal reach. Other sites are springing up using "open-source" technologies such as Gnutella, which means there will be no central source to sue, just millions of people exchanging music and movies without profit. Every day that record companies spend fighting legal battles, Gnutella and similar programs will get ever more efficient.

The record companies are partly right: Copyright should be protected when someone seeks to infringe upon it for profit. But more fundamentally they're wrong: The exchange of music cost-free may cut profits, but it steals nothing. It's also as hard to stop as exchanges of videotapes or books." (USA Today, The Napster Question, July 31, 2000)

And here’s what I wrote in reply:

“I would like to ask the person who wrote today's opinion item, "The Napster Question" a simple question of my own: Do they work for free? Are they compensated for writing for USA Today? My guess is they expect to be paid for the fruits of their labors. Well here's a newsflash for your writer: a ridiculous statement like, "The exchange of music cost-free may cut profits, but it steals nothing," could not be further from the truth, although it is a depressingly widely-held viewpoint. Your writer completely ignores what should be the most important issue at stake in the Napster debate: musicians deserve to be paid for their efforts just like anyone else. Apparently your writer (and much of the public) feels that music and the consumption thereof is a God-Given Entitlement, listed prominently in the Constitution or some other hallowed document. Not so. The "exchange of music cost-free" steals directly from the pockets of the musicians who created the compositions. Not every musician has Lars Ulrich's bankbook; most are toiling away their days in jobs they dislike because America treats its musicians like second-class citizens (except for the hyper-successful ones, a tiny minority). Just because musicians like myself are trying to protect our copyrights and our ability to be paid fairly like any other worker, please do not label us "anti-technology". Many of us look to the new technologies as our only hope to avoid selling our souls to the greedy corporations that control distribution and airplay. We don't give a damn about those companies; it chaps our hide as much as anyone's that they have the gall to charge upwards of $16.98 for a compact disc. And let's not go into the sordid details of a major label recording contract, where the labels take away artist's publishing rights as a condition of getting a deal. Anyone paying attention can see that the Internet offers musicians (and the paying public) an alternative method to experience the music they enjoy, but Internet solutions should not be embraced at the expense of the ability of a musician to make his or her living.”

So anyway, now I have an opinion.

Same ‘Ol Song And Dance

So the CD isn’t done yet. You knew that, though.

No great disasters or howlingly funny studio stories to tell this time. I’ve been putting in a lot of work, however the days I get to go to the studio are spaced pretty far apart. Studio man Darin DiPietro is crazy-busy; he’s rehearsing his band to play Hemp Fest in a couple of weeks (Chris G on drums!), he’s trying to finish another CD he’s under contract to produce, he’s been working long hours at his day job, he’s buying a house, he’s MOVING THE STUDIO to his house starting about August 20… and then there’s me. Darin has been unbelievably generous with his time where I’m concerned; I don’t know when the guy sleeps. He calls me when he can squeeze me in (when he could be doing something for himself, like work on HIS new CD), I go there, and we work until I can’t stand up. Six songs are completely finished vocally. We have started vocal work on two others, only one song remains that we haven’t started singing on yet. After the vocals are done, I’ve got gee-tar solos to do (yeah, that’ll take an afternoon), and a couple of rhythm guitar patches to do, then tracking is FINISHED.

Do I sound lackluster about the recent work? I don’t mean to… blame it on my complete exhaustion due to the fact that I moved last weekend. Actually I’ve been amazed with some of the singing I’ve been doing… I thought maybe I’d destroyed my voice after the last brutal Top 40 stint I did, but nope, I’ve still got it goin’ on vocally. There’s just been so much to DO. I’m learning a ton, though, and every minute I spend in the studio is just the greatest time I can have. I LOVE this process I’m involved in. I just want to FINISH this particular one, OK? Please, God? I desperately hope that I can get the vocals tracked before Darin starts dismantling the studio to move it. Once it’s back up in September, I can knock out the last guitar overdubs, and have the thing mixed, mastered, and manufactured before the end of October. That’s the goal. I’ll try to get there. Stay tuned. Thank you, and Good night.

No Excuses That I Know

June 5, 2000 - Greetings, all! Let me begin my very first news update in over two months with an apology for that very giant and inexcusable delay. All right, I definitely have my excuses, and they might even be good ones, but really, it shouldn’t take that much to write a freaking update, right?

It really shouldn’t. But it has, so let’s boogie with Stu, and get a move on, let’s dance madly backwards roundabout, let’s do dish, shall we?

Since last I wrote, I’ve been inundated with familial visits, and that’s a great, if at times exhausting thing. My little sister Heather and her bitchen beau Kevin were in town for a couple of weeks hither and yon, as they passed through the area on a tour of the Northwest and beyond; they were working at putting on children’s theater productions at lots of very lucky schools for lots of very lucky kids, because my sis and Kevin are really very brilliant at what they do (it appears that English folk use the word brilliant as we ‘Mericans use the word awesome, and I kind of like the English version better). Hanging out with them was an absolute joy. They are back in Los Angeles now, and you must go see Kevin in his comedy troupe “Troop!” if you are in any way an Angelino. They’ve got semi-regular gigs at The Comedy Store now, so check in on them, laugh a lot, and say hi for me. Also, sprinkled throughout the end of April and beginning of May were visits from my mother, and my roomie Amanda (AKA Beta Girl)’s mom as well. Lots of visitors, lots of nights sleeping on the sofa for me. That’s all right, though. Now that I’m through my twenties, I find myself returning to the safety and comfort of the family folk; I’m over my stage of needing to remove myself from everything and stake my own claim on the planet. Done that, to some degree anyhow, and now it’s time to reconnect, and I’m not ashamed to admit it feels good to do so.

I’ve been listening to lots of new music lately; some of it is really pretty great, some of it is not what I had hoped for. The not hoped for turns out to be the Mer de Noms record by A Perfect Circle. Aenima was as great a heavy rock album as you can imagine, made by APC singer Maynard James Keenan’s other band, Tool. Since Tool seems to make only a couple of records per decade, I was really looking forward to this - and I have to say it’s only OK. I’ve given it a lot of listens, in hopes that it would really grab me, but it just hesitates to do so. It is interesting to hear Keenan in such a wildly different setting… rather than hearing him do his thing over Tool’s dark and bitter soundscapes, here he’s crooning over some surprisingly Disintegration-like sketches. It’s not that there are no good songs; I like tracks 1, 4, and 6 quite a lot, and there are interesting tidbits throughout. I just really wanted to love this album, and I don’t.

On to the new albums I do like: the first being the new King’s X release, the nattily titled Please Come Home…Mr. Bulbous. It marks a return to a level of musical experimentation not seen by these fellows since, oh, faithhopelove or so, and that album came out ten years ago. If you heard these guys back in the Gretchen Goes To Nebraska days, you might not even recognize them now, which I have finally concluded is a good thing. They’ve dispensed with the elements of their catalog that got them tagged a neo-progressive band o’ chopsters, favoring a bare, stripped back, more direct approach. They’ve also gone back to singing together, something I’ve always loved about them; “Bitter Sweet” has some of their most beautiful harmonies since Gretchen’s “The Difference”. In my estimation, this CD marks a great return to form for the band, especially after their last release, the hit-and-miss Tape Head. I played it for Bryan Beller last weekend, and all through his stay he couldn’t stop singing the very catchy chorus to “Fish Bowl Man”.

The other new record that is really kicking me in the buttocks right now is the new XTC record, Wasp Star: Apple Venus Volume 2. Volume 1, which came out last year, would have been the best album of last year if Trent Reznor hadn’t put out his masterpiece, The Fragile. Volume 2 is a return to the guitar driven sound prevalent on Nonesuch and Oranges And Lemons, after the orchestra-filled arrangements of Volume 1. While not the absolute breakthrough I felt Volume 1 is, Volume 2 is still a surprisingly tuneful collection of interesting songs. Those fellows can seemingly do no wrong, can they? And so there you have some capsule reviews, even if you didn’t want them. Hoo-RAY. There really is a lot of great music being made out there; too bad none of it is on the radio or television.

It’s All About The Dots

June 6 - So, back to the Big Daddy Issue that I continually address in this space: How is the work on the CD going?

Well, last time I wrote you all I had just been through my “Firefly” Conundrum; the tracks that I originally recorded for this project back in February 1998 at Cydonia Sound were NOT cutting the mustard compared to the more recent work I’ve been doing at DiPietro Sound. I initially decided to remove “Firefly” from the track list of this project, a prospect which darned near broke my heart, as I consider “Firefly” to be one of my best songs. However, the Cydonia version of it sounded awful, and the other two Cydonia tracks weren’t much better. My first idea was to get Chris G to re-track the drums, and attempt to preserve the bass performances laid down by Tobe Ramsey back in ’98. This idea was problematic, too - because of some strange technical glitches I was having with those master tapes. It seems that when I recorded those tracks at Cydonia, engineer Keith Woodman had set the speed of his Fostex ADAT clones low - so that when the tapes were played back on Darin’s stuff, everything sounded like Spinal Tap meets Alvin and the Chipmunks. Bad, bad, bad. We had to drop the pitch of Darin’s machines to get them to play at the correct speed. THEN, it turns out that each of the three tracks exists at slightly DIFFERENT speeds from each other, even though they were recorded on the same day. THEN, it turns out that the speed fluctuations were causing some problems with the keyboard sequences synching up to the band tracks. Is this getting ugly enough for you yet?

At that point, it seemed the best choice was to scrap everything I had done on those three songs, and start over. The psychological implications of that idea hit me incredibly hard. The idea of going back to the songs that had been recorded two YEARS ago, and to RE-CUT them… I started asking myself whether or not I had it in me to get this project finished. Was this another in a long series of incidences of self-sabotage? And scrapping the tracks completely would mean having to ask Chris to re-learn and re-record his performances, something that would take time. The guy who originally played bass on those songs, Tobe Ramsey, has (for reasons that I still remain uninformed about) completely removed himself from any interaction with me. That’s fine and dandy I suppose, but if I scrapped his tracks (and he played very well), who was going to re-record them?

These and other thoughts swirled around in my head, and at last I buckled down and made some decisions.

The next day, I broached Chris with the idea of re-doing the three Cydonia songs. Chris smiled and said that after hearing the results we’d been getting at DiPietro Sound, he thought I’d eventually want to do this. Chris agreed to do the work, and at lunchtime I came home to tap out two quick emails: one to Darin DiPietro to ask for dates for these drum sessions, and another to Beer For Dolphins bassist Bryan Beller, to see if he’d have any time in the near future to come up from Los Angeles and record three more bass tracks for me.

Good news on all fronts: Darin set me up for a session to record drums in early May, and Bryan was more than happy to work with me again on these songs, and we scheduled a session for him in early June.

(It’s now June 8 as I type this - it takes a while to type these things, and anyway I wanted to interject and mention I just got done watching my new “Fight Club” DVD that arrived in the mail today. Ah! Internet commerce! I never managed to see this flick when it was in the theaters, and I wish I had, because it would have been one hell of a big-screen flick to see. I think that I would have figured out the “big twist” at the end even if I hadn’t accidentally read it in a magazine. Anyhow, it was a real cool flick - though does it seem to anyone else besides me that Fincher tends to let things draw out a bit too long?)

Okay - back to the story. Really it’s the same sort of story I continually write about here: May 6, Chris and I went down to Darin’s and re-recorded the three drum tracks, which with Darin’s magic sprinkled over them like fairy dust, sounded so ridiculously improved compared to what I had before that any hint left in my mind that I had made the wrong decision evaporated after Chris’ first take (that was one hell of a run-on sentence). Another cool thing about that session, and a first: my little sister and her sweet Baboo Kevin were there to observe, since they were in town. They had never been to a studio, much less attended a session of mine, and they actually made it all the way through recording the first song (“Firefly” - which took two hours). I’ve observed here before that recording must be the most boring process in the world for an outsider to observe; but the two of them seemed to have a good time. As always with Darin and Chris, I had a blast. Sessions where I don’t have to play are SO stress-free for me; I hire great musicians and let ‘em go, go, GO, and it’s kickass hella good times in there for ‘ol Yogi, that’s me. The three of us (that would be Darin, Chris and myself) decided that these new tracks had the best drum sound of the project thus far.

So I was able to come back on the 21st and 22nd to get the rhythm guitar tracks done; I really wanted to finish them before Beller’s scheduled session (June 3), so that once that session was over, I’d be right back where I was before I made the decision to re-cut these three songs. I almost got there. Actually, I completely finished all the parts, but I heard some guitar things at Beller’s session that I can’t live without fixing on two of the songs; they were all artifacts of under-rehearsal, so I am going to have to go back and patch them. Those little undetected miscues kind of cast a pall over me during Bryan’s session, and I feel I should apologize to both Bryan and Darin for that. I was bringing us DOWN. It was my own damn fault for trying to compress too much work into too little time. Oh well, oh well, oh well.

So did you notice I mentioned Bryan Beller! World-famous bassist! Coming back! To play on my project! Yay! He sure did! He played great! Again! Yay!

I wrote such an exhaustive account last time Bryan Beller came to town that I am going to absolutely FORCE myself not froth at the keyboard this time. I absolutely swear on a large stack of whatever things one swears on. It WAS great to see Bryan again. He’s absolutely fascinating to talk to, a super-nice fellow, and he does give good bass: he played some really cool stuff on these three songs. We didn’t get as texturally crazy on this batch as we did last time, but he done some wonderful stuff, and I’m just pleased as punch about it. Last time he visited, he turned me on to Self and the Breakfast For Girls CD, for which I was supremely grateful, and after which I went on to purchase the entire Self catalog. This time he turned me on to - oops, sorry, I can’t mention that yet. I never said anything. What was I saying? Did I - did I say something? Nothing about any upcoming - um… hum. I didn’t say anything. Did I? Nah, I couldn’t have. Nope.

But if I HAD said anything, only the word SUBLIME would’ve covered it.

What was I talking about?

Having only three songs to tackle made this visit, in Bryan’s words, “less of a fire drill”. We had a great time again with Darin, as Darin coined the phrase that is this article’s title: would you like to hear the context? Darin was triumphantly cheering one of his own amazing punch-ins, and he erupted: “That’s a BUCKET O’ GOD-DAMN FOR ME, I’m so good!” And he is, too. He also mentioned some other phrases that… well, let’s just say I won’t be naming any news updates after THOSE any time soon.

So Bryan flew home Sunday evening, but before he did, he added THREE DOTS TO THE BIG BOARD.

You see, for me lately, it really has been all about the dots. I stare at them all the time, trying to keep myself sane as I work on this project. I use them to prove to myself that yes, things ARE getting done.

I have a white board in my room. On it, I have drawn a grid. It has eleven rows, one for each of the songs on the CD. There are eight columns for each song. They are: Drums, Bass, RG, LG, LV, BV, Keys, Mix. As I finish tracking a part of each song, I draw a big, blue DOT in its appropriate cell. When I decided to re-track the three Cydonia songs, I had to clear away the dots in the Drums, Bass, and RG (rhythm guitar) columns for all three. It just about freaking killed me when I did it; because it really is all about the dots for me right now. On May 6, I replaced the three drum dots after Chris’ session. And before he left, Bryan replaced the three bass dots himself, adding an inscription at the bottom:

"Bucket o’ DAMN!! -BB"

There are still quite a few dots to draw. When it’s all done, I’ll take a picture of the board before I clear it off and draw a new one for the next project. I’ll post that picture on the site, when I can finally type that headline: it’s DONE.

That’ll be one heck of a bucket o’ goddamn.

They blew up the Kingdome today, and I was close enough to see it happen in person. OK, I wasn’t going to go initially. The local hype had gotten to laughably absurd levels. I had planned to watch it on TV, but I wasn’t going to get sucked into the hype maelstrom. But, my sister and her boyfriend Kevin were in town this week while touring the country with the Hampstead Players, and they wanted to go. And so of course, I went along. Who am I to say no to my baby sister?

I have to say it was an impressive sight. The funny thing about it was that after the initial explosions snaked along the ribs of the dome like fiery spokes on a wheel, the whole building was quickly enveloped in a huge cloud of dust, and frankly, it was difficult to see whether or not the building had in fact come down. Wouldn’t it have been a kicker if the explosives had gone off, and the Kingdome had refused to fall? There’s a press conference I’d love to have seen. But fall the old Dome did, though, and an era has ended. I had some great times in that building; watching game 4 of the ’95 Yankees/Mariners playoff series in particular comes to mind. I can’t wait to watch the Seahawks in the new stadium that’ll open in two years, with open air, and natural grass. So, now onto this studio update:

Talk about throwing a monkey off my back.

Yesterday as I walked into the studio, I knew I was finally going to have to face down my number one fear about the CD that I have been working on now for over twenty-five months: the vocals.

I’m not sure why the vocals scare me as much as they do. It’s not like I don’t have plenty of experience with singing. From late ’97 through ALL of ’98, when I was working in Panhead, a local cover band, I played 340 or so shows. At each of those shows, I sang lead on about twenty songs a night, and sang backups on 25 more. I know how to sing. So why get so worked up about it?

Maybe it’s the seeming permanency of the performances; maybe because I know that what really matters to a huge majority of the people out there when they hear new music is the vocals. Unlike us musician-types, regular people could give a rat’s ass about crafty time-changes, hot unison rhythm section licks, or interesting arrangement doo-dads. They care about the SINGER.

And for some reason, even though I have received numerous compliments over the years for my singing talents from lots of people I respect, I am much more confident in my own abilities to do all those “musician” things I mentioned in the last paragraph.

But anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself here, as there was some studio activity back on March 11 that I haven’t talked about in this space yet. Hey, I’ve been exhaustively detailing every minute facet of the recording process for two years, I ain’t gonna just quit now, OK?

On Saturday the 11th, my plan going in was to re-track rhythm guitars on two of the “Cydonia” tracks, that is, the very first tracks I laid down for this project, at Cydonia Sound in Tacoma, before I knew about DiPietro Sound. Darin and I hadn’t yet done any work on these older tracks, and I have to say that the difference in sound between what I did at Cydonia and what I’ve done since at Darin’s is – pretty wide. My fervent hope had been that Darin could get decent mixes out of the Cydonia songs, and with a good mastering job after the mix down, maybe folks wouldn't notice the difference too much. Like I said, this was my fervent hope.

The first track I was to re-do guitars on: “Firefly”. I love this song. I think it’s among the best I’ve done. It’s got good hooks, great aggression, and even, dare I say, good lyrics.

After working on it with Darin for a while, I realized that I am going to have to make a heartbreaking decision. I am either going to have to have Chris re-track the drums, or I am going to have to pull “Firefly” from the track list.

One of the things that really separates recordings of quality from recordings of, uh, “not-as-much-quality”, is the drum sound. You got good-sounding drums? You likely are going to get a good mix. The drums that Darin has recorded for this project sound unreal. They sound professional. The drums I did at Cydonia: not so much. If you were to re-read my news postings from back in February ’98, when we did those drums, I was frothing at the mouth at how good they sounded to me. And in fact, they sounded better, and DO sound better than any other drums I’d had on my projects up until that time. The thing is, then I found Darin’s studio, and the difference, and the leap forward in quality, was HUGE.

So, what’s so wrong with “Firefly” as it currently exists? “Firefly” is a pretty frenetic track, drum-performance wise. There’s lots of drum/guitar unison licks that have to sound really tight and locked in. That tightness is depressingly absent in the existing drum tracks. What’s really necessary for “Firefly” is real clarity in the drums, so that all of those cool drum fills don’t get lost. Sad to say, as we worked on the track, I got increasingly frustrated with it. Understand, it would KILL me to drop that track, but I also am not interested in putting out a half-assed version of that song. So, if I can get Chris to re-track his parts, I’ll do that, otherwise, it’ll have to be on the list for the next CD (would you believe I already have eight songs on that list?). I was able to re-track the rhythms on “Strange Ways” on the 11th, so the day wasn’t a total waste of time.

OK, so now we move forward in time to yesterday, the 25th, and the session that transpired:

First, I had to lay down the acoustic guitars for "Truth", for which I ended up using two of Darin’s acoustics, a Martin and a Takoma. That Takoma guitar (made right here in the Pacific Northwest) is the nicest smelling acoustic guitar I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing, and it sounds amazing, too. I have an Ovation round-back, and I realize now that one of the reasons I almost never play it is because I can’t stand how it sits against my body: therefore, I need to get a non-round-back acoustic. Maybe a Takoma. Yeah. We ripped right through all the acoustic parts; I felt as if maybe I knew what I was doing, or something.

And then it was time for the vocals. I picked the shortest vocal tune on the album, "I’ve Got A Bad Feeling About This", for the first track to handle. I was plenty nervous. Darin was nice enough to stick me into one of the iso booths, which was helpful with the nerves; I could swing my arms around and do all those embarrassing body movements to help me get into the performances without having to worry about being directly observed. So: how did it go? Very well, thankfully. I got all the lead vocals and harmony vocals done (four vocal tracks total) in just a couple of hours, and I’m pleased with the results. I haven’t really been singing with too much regularity since the cover band, or since the Joey Furlan band has gone on hiatus; I was worried that I wouldn’t have the stamina to get through what I needed to get through. I can happily report that though I was pretty ripped when we were through for the day, I managed just fine.

So onward! Progress! Yes! Huzzah! Woo-hoo!

Oh and hey – new King’s X comes out in May. Don’t forget to buy it.

I decided that I’d better get an entry in today, it being leap year and all that, or else I’d completely miss my chance for a February 29 entry for four more years. I missed my shot last time around, in the first year of the site’s existence (1996, if you’re counting), and I’ve decided that history will not repeat itself for this FABLED OCCURRENCE.

There is some actual news on the recording front: I was back at DiPietro Sound on Saturday the 19th, and on that day I completed rhythm guitars for “Truth”, “I’ve Got A Bad Feeling…”, “You Fell”, and a fourth “mystery track”. All that’s left on the rhythm guitar front is some acoustic on “Truth”, and because I’m just that kind of fellow, I’m going to re-track rhythms on two songs I did at Keith Woodman’s Cydonia Sound, way back in February of 1998, “Firefly” and “Strange Ways”. I wrestled with the decision to do so for a while, but the excellent sonic knob twirlings of Darin DiPietro decided me. We’re getting better guitar tones at DiPietro, and there are some performance issues I had with those two tracks that I can kill by re-doing the two tracks. Anyway, that’s how I’m justifying the added time and expense to re-track those tunes. The session on the 19th was fairly uneventful, except for work getting done, and I’ve no ribald and long-winded tales like I normally do in this regard. Darin of course rocked as he always does, I got some decent performances down, one more rhythm guitar day and I’ll be starting the vocals. The vocals are the part of the project that terrifies me the most of course. Look, I know I can sing, but I’ve been listening to Jeff Buckley’s Grace a lot again lately, and THAT was a man who could SING. I’ll just try to remember all the Bob Dylan’s and Lou Reed’s of the world when I cut my vocal tracks – I definitely got those guys beat. That’s a joke, sort of. Humor me?

Saw a great flick this weekend called “Wonder Boys”. I initially went to see it because my sister, an aspiring actress-type down in Los ANG-ha-lees got to read for a small part in it for the director, Curtis Hanson. She didn’t get the part, but I went to see the flick anyway, more out of a sense of sibling loyalty than anything. By the way, sis: they did use a red-haired girl for the part, and you could have kicked her ass at it. She only has one audible line anyway: “Jesus, what IS it with you Catholics?” Her other line is crowded over by Michael Douglas’ voice-over narration.

The movie turned out to be really very cool, which was a welcome surprise. There’s a great scene in which Douglas’ character, an author with writer’s block, says: “Books don’t matter… not anymore.” He’s become cynical with the place of the artist in the modern world, and he’s having a hard time finding the motivation to continue to create. Boy, can I ever relate. I find myself looking all over hither and yon for the strength to continue in the face of a “music scene” which cares more than ever before about image and sales over quality of content. Sometimes I wonder why I still bother; then I go to work at the jobby-job and I remember. Music is still the one thing that looks bright to me in the world. In a world of flux, magically disappearing friendships, failed relationships, and old dreams, I can still hold onto what Jimi said: “That’s OK baby, I still got my guitar!” Amen, brother.

Greetings, Earth-folk, I come in peace! Just a brief item today (really!), to announce the grand unveiling tonight of Wonky.Net, Version 3.0. It's hard to believe that this site is approaching it's fourth birthday already, and I felt it was high time for a site makeover. Right now, I'd say that about 80% of the work is done, with some slight adjustments yet to come along the way. I was trying very hard to stick to my guns and wait to upload the new stuff until I was completely finished with it. Finally, it got to the point as I worked on the new design where it became painful to see the current "live" version, so I decided to go ahead and upload the new stuff, even as I continue to finish what's left over. I hope you dig it, it's been fun (and a challenge) to work on it. There should be more news to post here soon, as I gear up for the final stretch run of recording for the new CD.

See you all soon!

Greetings all. So it looks like the world isn't ending after all, eh? Guess I'd better keep up those car payments then. Dang!

As the world prepared itself over the last few months to enter THE LAST YEAR OF THE CURRENT MILLENIUM (the new one starts NEXT YEAR, DAMMIT), I've been keeping pretty cool about it. I smiled at all of the earnest reports about the possible onset of The End Of The World As We Know It. I chuckled at the words of the prophets of doom that we'd all be back living in the woods again, that the Arrogance of Man had finally caught up to us, and that a cataclysmic lesson would now be taught. OK, I admit it: I picked up a few extra gallons of drinking water at the grocery store today. It's called hedging your bets, all right? Overall though, I've been aloof, unfazed by the media hoopla. Hey, it's just another day of the year to me, I'd say to myself. And mostly, as I write this on New Year's Eve at about 5:33 PM Pacific time, I do view the new year about to begin as just that: another new year. Another step on the journey, as it were. I view the year just passed as a banner one for myself, and I look forward to the new one with much hope and anticipation.

And I find myself, as I sit here, getting caught up in the celebrations today. I've been catching the TV news shots of the big parties in Australia, Paris, and London. New York gets theirs in just a few hours. Maybe I'm just feeling relief that we're FINALLY here, that all the hype about what living in the year 2000 is or isn't supposed to mean will in a matter of hours be completely moot. Maybe too, I'm realizing what an exciting time it is to be alive right now, and how much promise exists for all of us, if we only can find a way to use our talents for great things.

It is just another new year, but I've got admit: this one is a special one. So I'll drop the curmudgeon bit for the rest of the evening, and just enjoy an historical moment. Happy New Year, to you and yours.