January 24, 2004 - 4:12 AM

I Just Don't Understand Those Europeans and Their Music

Shoot me now. Shoot me now. Shoot me now. Shoot me now.

Keep things in perspective, Paul. One day down, only 3 to go.

Alas, there's no getting around the fact that this music will be the death of me. Why did they have to come back to our studio? Today, we added some background vocals to two of the songs that we had worked on back in November. Luckily for me, Arno wasn't there, so I didn't have to deal with the frightening yelps of a castrated man; and, the singers doing the backgrounds were actually soul-meltingly good. They were two sisters and their cousin, african-americans, who obviously had decades of experience as singers and arrangers. And when they laid down their parts, goodness, it was like biting into piping-hot chocolate chip cookies. I actually felt gooey inside...I just wish we could've turned off the lead vocals in the mix. Honestly, I got the sense that even the background singers, who had done some backup work on one of the other songs before, were trying to stifle giggles whenever they heard Arno's voice.

The three songs I had to suffer through today were Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (again), Tracy Chapman's "Baby Can I Hold You" (which, apparently, has been covered by Boyzone, Neil Diamond, Luciano Pavarotti, and Billy Bob Thornton ?!), and an 8:30 minute opus called "Love Machine" that might be a cover of a disco era hit by The Miracles. Somehow, someway, I will manage to burn a copy of these songs to CD so that I can torture YOU whenever I want to turn your brain to mush. Because, sometimes, I'm evil that way.

The session started 5 hours later than the start-time that I had been told, which was very nice for the paycheck. I spent part of the afternoon up at the receptionist's desk, and at one point, I paid attention to the radio. It was tuned to KIIS-FM, one of the local top 40 pop stations. They played a succession of songs that included Dirty Vegas' "Days Go By" (from that Mitsubishi-girl-break-dancing-in-car commercial), Hilary Duff's latest fluff, and Eiffel 65's "Blue (da ba dee)". Immediately, I had to take an insulin shot while checking to make sure that I wasn't wearing leather pants and a skin-tight mesh shirt. I mean, that's the kind of music that I associate with getting my hair cut at Supercuts; it's what I term gayboy techno club crap. I've always wondered who listens to that type of music; there must be SOME audience for it, beyond just hairstylists and poofters (no offense to my first-year roommate at Berklee). But I don't get it; it's so weightless. Say what you will about Ace of Base, at least there was a smidge of substance there. Sadly, I had to admit that what was on the radio was ten times better than what I had to work on later in the day.

I so wish that I could skip out today (saturday) around 6 PM to go down to Genghis Cohen in Hollywood and see Anne Heaton at 7:30. I implore all you readers to do so in my stead. This means you especially, Nick. No excuses. You have the day off, you liked her album. Go out, enjoy the show. Support independent music that kicks ass. I'm sure she'd appreciate any of you who show up, since she rarely gets out this way from the East Coast.

Now Listening To : Elastica-Elastica
Random Thought : The resume I gave to the Exec Director of that school had some poetry scribbled on the back of it. Bad poetry. eek.

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