LA County

Last weekend was a surprise trip to LA - I drove from Phoenix all night, recorded some vocals and drove home. I'm getting to know the city fairly well by driving around everywhere. On the ride there I counted that it would be my tenth trip to Los Angeles.

Times I've been to LA:
1. Weekend layover before going to New Zealand for 6 months (Jan '05). I had a few friends that moved to LA after high school; two were attending music school, one was working as a baker and the other was getting her undergrad and later went into the music business. The guys all shared a condo in Pasadena where I hauled my luggage to and from the airport on a series of trains and buses through downtown. A few memorable firsts - of course my first In n' Out burger experience, the first time I heard Ween's album 'Quebec,' and the first time I got on a plane leaving the country. Those guys were great hosts and will tell you that before I left I cleaned the crap out of their kitchen as a thank you for letting me stay there.

2. Had some time to kill in that timeslip between graduating college and getting a job (June '06). Since I had a blast in LA the first time, I just decided I needed to see the coast and drove from Fort Collins, CO out to Santa Monica. I did not see the beach the first time, and I was moving back home. This would have been the last chance to see LA for a while. I saw one of the guys from Pasadena again, James, but everyone else had moved. I was sitting in James' living room when I got a call to play a show in Colorado, and I realized I'd have to go back to Colorado in the morning. I stopped in Las Vegas for the second of two times in my life.

3. Flew out to attend Tim Sweeney's Music Strategies Seminar (Oct '06). Stayed at a hotel, the only time I've ever done that in LA. I met many musicians from literally all over the country who came to hear Tim speak. I jammed with a ukulele player from Hawai'i in front of about 100 people. I have to say it was one big, fun weekend.

4. ASCAP Songwriter's Workshop at the Hollywood Highlands (April '08). Without a doubt the highlight of this trip was seeing Steve Miller Band perform at the awards show in the Kodak Theatre. That was the first night of the conference then a weekend of furious note taking about the music business ensued. I met songwriters from LA and Nashville mostly, walked back to the Hollywood Hostel to cook my meals and sleep. Hiked up to the Hollywood sign. Ate at Pinks with some songwriters who invited me to Nashville. I met Lilly Carrico, who said her neighbor played with Bruce Springsteen and owned a studio in Santa Monica. I did a double take at that. She said she'd get me his info. That obviously turned out to be the best part of the weekend as it got me in touch with Marty Rifkin, the Producer who spent this entire year working with me on my album. Screw Steve Miller Band.

5. Performed at UnUrban Coffeehouse, a low profile cafe in Santa Monica (June '08). As far as gigging in LA goes, wish me luck. Perhaps I may never move there - I might consider it harder than NYC for playing music as a songwriter. Why? For one, people would have to drive to your show and then drive home, as opposed to walking or taking a subway. It's too much of a commitment. LA does have surfing though. But hold this debate; any city is what you make of it. UnUrban is a no-stress, create good music kind of place - it's a great environment for musicians - and that's why I knew it'd be a good place to start doing some performances in LA.

6. First recording session at Rifkin Productions (Jan '09). I met Marty Rifkin at his studio and ran my eyes over the guitars and other instruments against one wall with another wall covered in CDs bolted down of all the albums he's played pedal steel on. It was a place where I knew I could work. I remember first we recorded the first song, "Fix the Tractor," then the last song, "Taft Hill," then kept building our way inward. After five days we had started an album that I knew I could be proud of making. My sister flew out to visit, and we walked around the Santa Monica Pier and the 3rd St. Promenade; we ate dinner with her friends at Barney's Beanery.

7. Back in the studio for another long weekend (Feb '09). I wanted to knock out the two instrumentals on the album and a song with another long instrumental part. We got it done. I was told to go to Phillipe's French Dip, a restaurant downtown, and spent about as much time in line as I did walking around Chinatown. Great food though. I snuck in a gig at UnUrban that I set up since I knew I'd be in town. I played "Under African Skies," by Paul Simon, and looped the guitars while I danced onstage to the afro-beat rhythms of the song. It was Valentine's Day; I played one of my more profound gigs because of it.

8. Show and a session (Oct '09). I returned to UnUrban to play as the featured open mic performer. The stage was in the back and I had about 20 musicians to play in front of this time - all waiting to play too! I closed the show with the song I had started recording that day, "Maybe Long Beach," but instead of the guitar solo I introduced myself and thanked the audience saying, "We've got a great night ahead of us." Stayed all night to watch everyone perform since they all watched me.

9. Show and a session II (Nov '09). I thought I would have had the album done with two last days recording a final song. I lucked out to schedule Randy Crenshaw for more background vocals. By this time I'm getting LA down - finding parking, avoiding traffic, merging onto freeways ("People are afraid to merge on freeways in Los Angeles." -Bret Easton Ellis). I performed at The Talking Stick in Santa Monica, had some luck promoting and got some people to the show. I was really happy to be performing and it showed - I tore up the stage. The barista said I was "Old School," and told me to come back. I will definitely be taking him up on that.

10. Drank a cup of strait cold brewed coffee and drove from Phoenix at 10pm Friday before last (Dec '09). They add a lot of water to that drink before they serve you a toddy! Because of a mixup (see most recent blog below), I needed to grab some new vocals into the mix of the song I recorded in November. I ate more or less the food I brought with me since this trip almost broke the budget, though as you may have noticed I like to go out to eat in LA when I can. The trip ended up being well worth the effort - "In the Morning of the Earth" is a brand new song that will go on the album before ever being played live, and you have to love songs like that. I do anyway.

What a nice list. It was good to write it out for posterity or something. Actually it elaborates on the inside cover of the album - a list of all the recording dates this year - that needed more detailed chronicling. That's basically what I've sought out to do all this year with the blog here (+/- some). The album is now done with minor layout changes the last thing on my plate before the first pressing.