Music is My Boyfriend
I am sipping a thimble-sized glass of Baileys on ice, by myself at 3 in the morning, not at all worried if this makes me an alcoholic or not. It is a little gift to myself, more about the sugar and milk content than the booze; a gift for a job well done this evening. Post-gig, celebratory nightcap, in a very cute antique, cut-crystal liqueur glass, one of a set that I pulled out of the garbage room a few months ago-- but that's another story.
I am not sure what I want to write about tonight...I just got inspired by my friend Cate's blog, which I read from time to time....and felt the need to break the seal, crack the ice, open the door...what have you... on my own blog, which has been wasting away, neglected for the last 6 months.
It's not that I haven't had anything to say... it's just that all my thoughts have been pouring into my music and my design work as of late. Which is a good thing, but I have missed writing these, and I do keep getting nagged about having but not using this blog.
So, last time I wrote, I promised to tell you about an amazing recording experience I had in the summer with a rock legend! It's almost too long ago now to do justice, but, he came back again last week, and we did one more song, so I am re-invigorated by his genius... so I'll see if I can tell the story now.....
The man is Garth Hudson. He is best known for his work with The Band, Ronnie Hawkins and Bob Dylan. He is a virtuosic keyboardist, and basically pioneered the use of the organ in rock and roll. Just google him, if you don't know who I'm talking about.
Garth is a proud Canadian, though he lives in New York State now, he visits Canada frequently. He is well known for being an excellent studio musician, as well as performer. He's done session work with (among many others) Neko Case, The Sadies, Martha Wainwright--some of my favourite musicians. My partner Scott (who's helping me finance and produce my album, as well as co-writing some of the songs) is a HUGE fan, and had this craaaaazy idea that we should email Mr. Hudson and ask him to come play on a few tunes next time he was in Toronto. I humoured him, knowing there was no way Garth freeking HUDSON was going to listen to my tracks, let alone respond or agree to this craziness, and Scott whipped off an email. The VERY NEXT DAY, I got a call from Maud, his wife, saying that she and Garth happened to be in Toronto, and would I like to meet with them, because Garth liked my tunes? I nearly peed myself and/or dropped the phone when she introduced herself (those of you who know me can imagine how much nervous giggling was going on), but her big, warm drawl calmed me down, and we chatted for a while and made plans to meet that night at Fran's Restaurant, an all night diner.
Now, I'm a night owl, but the Hudsons are even more nocturnal than I, so we met at about 4am, after Garth finished a session nearby. He didn't say much at all that first meeting, and neither did I (too friggin nervous). Maud did most of the talking, and Garth quietly ate his lemon meringue pie as I stole glances at him, trying to see under the rim of his big, black hat. He still had the wild, flyaway hair and great bushy beard, though both are silver now, as he must be in his 70s... And I was intimidated as could be, though they were all very sweet, complimentary and easy going.
After a couple of hours of getting to know each other, I left them with a CD of the songs I was hoping Garth would like enough to play, and went home to scream into a pillow for a few hours.
It's not that I was start struck, because I wasn't really. It's more that Garth has an air about him. He's a LEGEND. He's played with BOB DYLAN. He is a GENIUS. He likes MY music???!!! Maud told me he gets requests all the time, that they always listen to, but rarely respond to. That fact alone, makes me feel like I have accomplished something with my music. A compliment, like none other.
Cut to a few weeks later, when Garth came back to Toronto, and squeezed a day in to record 4 of my songs. I picked him up at the hotel, Maud stayed behind to work (I get the sense she is the glue, the salt, the meat-- the one who makes things happen-- thought she herself is also a very talented musician). There was a few moments of silence in the car, nervous small talk on my part. Then Garth took out his corn cob pipe (!) and began to speak-- about what, I can't remember, but listening to him, I felt my hands relaxing a bit, and my shoulders coming down from the painful permahunch... He has this amazing voice, somewhere between farmer/professor/shaman... and it is slow, and steeped with wisdom. There is no sense of an ego, though the man knows more about music than all the musicians I have ever met in my whole life wrapped up in one.
When we got to the studio, he went straight to the beat-up old piano in the corner, ignoring the bazillion dollar grand piano in the main room, and played nothing in particular, except that whatever it was, it had me in tears, weak kneed immediately. Everyone in the room-- myself, Scott, Ben the owner, Watson the engineer-- shared a look of disbelief-- slack-jawed, at the magic sound of Garth's playing, mere feet away. We could have stopped right then and it would have been worth it.
It was a long, arduous day in the studio. Garth was very tired as he'd gotten next to no sleep the night before, recording til the wee hours of dawn. But as Neil Young says (an old buddy of Garth's!) that's his style, man. He thrives on sleep deprivation, and he played beautifully. We did 10 times more talking, eating, joking and listening to Garth's stories than we did actual recording, but it was a perfect day.
Garth played accordian on two songs, and organ on two others. He has a unique way of working. Once he's heard the song a few times, he does a take. Then he comes in to the booth to listen, stopping to have the engineer erase a bum note here or there (the very few that there may be). Then, he goes back in and records a second take, without listening to the first, comes back out and repeats the "wiping" process. It is a fairly tedious way to work, but he knows exactly what he is looking for, and what his overall vision is. Because, suddenly, he asks the engineer to play all the edited takes back together, and you have pure musical genius. I don't know how he does that-- without listening to them together. He reminds me a bit of a modern Beethoven, writing music from memory...
The most memorable part of the whole experience for me, (and this happened again, last week when he came back) was the first few moments, when he sat down to record each song. I cannot express what an honour it was (IS) to have Garth Hudson play my music. I am always appreciative, and thankful of any musician who will learn my songs, and come out and play them with me. But Garth is sooooo unbelieveably talented, and busy, and legendary, and soulful, and I could go on and on. It was overwhelming, and by FAR the best musical experience I've ever had.
This time, when he came out to record, I was much more comfortable and relaxed with Garth, and had a chance to get to know him a bit. He is Rainman knowledgeable about music, and we got on a lot of off-topic threads, stemming from licks that he liked to play, or tunes he thought I should listen to. I made a long list, and have some serious homework to do, because most of them are fairly obscure. Every now and then, he'd tell little anecdotes, casually mentioning people I've read about, listened to, loved, for years ("Well, Levon has these parties at his barn...") It was kind of surreal. But the best part was how kind Garth was. He treated me like a musical equal, (which is ridiculous!) and shared his stories and melodies with all of us. He hung out and ate the homemade pastries I brought into the studio. He spent time teaching Ben and I how to learn scales, and gave me a pamphlet he'd photocopied at the library on proper musical notation and just really seemed to enjoy, and be, himself.
I imagine he is more at home in the studio than anywhere else. But I confess, I would love to see him puttering around the kitchen, or garage of his own home. Smoking his pipe on the porch, watching the sunset, drinking tea with Maud, telling stories about the road, and hearing endless melodies run through his head.
I am not sure what I want to write about tonight...I just got inspired by my friend Cate's blog, which I read from time to time....and felt the need to break the seal, crack the ice, open the door...what have you... on my own blog, which has been wasting away, neglected for the last 6 months.
It's not that I haven't had anything to say... it's just that all my thoughts have been pouring into my music and my design work as of late. Which is a good thing, but I have missed writing these, and I do keep getting nagged about having but not using this blog.
So, last time I wrote, I promised to tell you about an amazing recording experience I had in the summer with a rock legend! It's almost too long ago now to do justice, but, he came back again last week, and we did one more song, so I am re-invigorated by his genius... so I'll see if I can tell the story now.....
The man is Garth Hudson. He is best known for his work with The Band, Ronnie Hawkins and Bob Dylan. He is a virtuosic keyboardist, and basically pioneered the use of the organ in rock and roll. Just google him, if you don't know who I'm talking about.
Garth is a proud Canadian, though he lives in New York State now, he visits Canada frequently. He is well known for being an excellent studio musician, as well as performer. He's done session work with (among many others) Neko Case, The Sadies, Martha Wainwright--some of my favourite musicians. My partner Scott (who's helping me finance and produce my album, as well as co-writing some of the songs) is a HUGE fan, and had this craaaaazy idea that we should email Mr. Hudson and ask him to come play on a few tunes next time he was in Toronto. I humoured him, knowing there was no way Garth freeking HUDSON was going to listen to my tracks, let alone respond or agree to this craziness, and Scott whipped off an email. The VERY NEXT DAY, I got a call from Maud, his wife, saying that she and Garth happened to be in Toronto, and would I like to meet with them, because Garth liked my tunes? I nearly peed myself and/or dropped the phone when she introduced herself (those of you who know me can imagine how much nervous giggling was going on), but her big, warm drawl calmed me down, and we chatted for a while and made plans to meet that night at Fran's Restaurant, an all night diner.
Now, I'm a night owl, but the Hudsons are even more nocturnal than I, so we met at about 4am, after Garth finished a session nearby. He didn't say much at all that first meeting, and neither did I (too friggin nervous). Maud did most of the talking, and Garth quietly ate his lemon meringue pie as I stole glances at him, trying to see under the rim of his big, black hat. He still had the wild, flyaway hair and great bushy beard, though both are silver now, as he must be in his 70s... And I was intimidated as could be, though they were all very sweet, complimentary and easy going.
After a couple of hours of getting to know each other, I left them with a CD of the songs I was hoping Garth would like enough to play, and went home to scream into a pillow for a few hours.
It's not that I was start struck, because I wasn't really. It's more that Garth has an air about him. He's a LEGEND. He's played with BOB DYLAN. He is a GENIUS. He likes MY music???!!! Maud told me he gets requests all the time, that they always listen to, but rarely respond to. That fact alone, makes me feel like I have accomplished something with my music. A compliment, like none other.
Cut to a few weeks later, when Garth came back to Toronto, and squeezed a day in to record 4 of my songs. I picked him up at the hotel, Maud stayed behind to work (I get the sense she is the glue, the salt, the meat-- the one who makes things happen-- thought she herself is also a very talented musician). There was a few moments of silence in the car, nervous small talk on my part. Then Garth took out his corn cob pipe (!) and began to speak-- about what, I can't remember, but listening to him, I felt my hands relaxing a bit, and my shoulders coming down from the painful permahunch... He has this amazing voice, somewhere between farmer/professor/shaman... and it is slow, and steeped with wisdom. There is no sense of an ego, though the man knows more about music than all the musicians I have ever met in my whole life wrapped up in one.
When we got to the studio, he went straight to the beat-up old piano in the corner, ignoring the bazillion dollar grand piano in the main room, and played nothing in particular, except that whatever it was, it had me in tears, weak kneed immediately. Everyone in the room-- myself, Scott, Ben the owner, Watson the engineer-- shared a look of disbelief-- slack-jawed, at the magic sound of Garth's playing, mere feet away. We could have stopped right then and it would have been worth it.
It was a long, arduous day in the studio. Garth was very tired as he'd gotten next to no sleep the night before, recording til the wee hours of dawn. But as Neil Young says (an old buddy of Garth's!) that's his style, man. He thrives on sleep deprivation, and he played beautifully. We did 10 times more talking, eating, joking and listening to Garth's stories than we did actual recording, but it was a perfect day.
Garth played accordian on two songs, and organ on two others. He has a unique way of working. Once he's heard the song a few times, he does a take. Then he comes in to the booth to listen, stopping to have the engineer erase a bum note here or there (the very few that there may be). Then, he goes back in and records a second take, without listening to the first, comes back out and repeats the "wiping" process. It is a fairly tedious way to work, but he knows exactly what he is looking for, and what his overall vision is. Because, suddenly, he asks the engineer to play all the edited takes back together, and you have pure musical genius. I don't know how he does that-- without listening to them together. He reminds me a bit of a modern Beethoven, writing music from memory...
The most memorable part of the whole experience for me, (and this happened again, last week when he came back) was the first few moments, when he sat down to record each song. I cannot express what an honour it was (IS) to have Garth Hudson play my music. I am always appreciative, and thankful of any musician who will learn my songs, and come out and play them with me. But Garth is sooooo unbelieveably talented, and busy, and legendary, and soulful, and I could go on and on. It was overwhelming, and by FAR the best musical experience I've ever had.
This time, when he came out to record, I was much more comfortable and relaxed with Garth, and had a chance to get to know him a bit. He is Rainman knowledgeable about music, and we got on a lot of off-topic threads, stemming from licks that he liked to play, or tunes he thought I should listen to. I made a long list, and have some serious homework to do, because most of them are fairly obscure. Every now and then, he'd tell little anecdotes, casually mentioning people I've read about, listened to, loved, for years ("Well, Levon has these parties at his barn...") It was kind of surreal. But the best part was how kind Garth was. He treated me like a musical equal, (which is ridiculous!) and shared his stories and melodies with all of us. He hung out and ate the homemade pastries I brought into the studio. He spent time teaching Ben and I how to learn scales, and gave me a pamphlet he'd photocopied at the library on proper musical notation and just really seemed to enjoy, and be, himself.
I imagine he is more at home in the studio than anywhere else. But I confess, I would love to see him puttering around the kitchen, or garage of his own home. Smoking his pipe on the porch, watching the sunset, drinking tea with Maud, telling stories about the road, and hearing endless melodies run through his head.
posted by katherine at 2:35 AM
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