September 22, 2004 - 3:35 PM

No Solace for Fumbling a Shot at Touching Ecstasy

Fate has a sense of humor. And it likes to kick me in the balls when I least expect it.

When I was offered this new job, I was an anxious wreck for 24 hours, trying to decide whether or not I wanted to take it. I called Soph and Tony and Nick and Phil and asked for their advice. The predicament for me was that on the one hand, the recording studio where I've been working as a freelancer had continually offered me opportunities to work on music that I actually like (rock), and they seemed to have a steady stream of clients coming in to use the rooms, so why should I give up the best recording situation I've been in since I started this vocation? On the other hand, the work was not steady nor was it predictable, so I never knew when the next paycheck would come; plus, late fall is always a slow time at studios, and I'd become a bit jaded with the studio business from my years of experience at other places...it seemed that I needed a change of scenery, a breath of fresh air. A reliable paycheck and perhaps a new career path decided things for me, along with the consensus from my advisors. So I came here to work at New TV Show (oh, and apparently, the exec producers of the show heard about what happened with one of the top brass googling the show and finding my site and me having to edit it, and the Exec P's told me to disregard what that guy said and go ahead and write about the show [they're very cool and very laid back...heck, right now, they're playing HALO between their offices during their break]).

I knew that in taking this job, I would be cutting down on opportunities to work on projects at the studio, and I told the studio managers this, and they were ok with it. They said they'd continue to call me for gigs, and I could turn them down or pick them up depending on my availability. I was worried that I'd lose out on some cool sessions, but so far, the few jobs I turned down hadn't been anything to cry about. Then, today, the thing that I feared happening happened. While making some videotape copies of the show, I received a call from the studio.

"Are you available for a four day session starting Thursday? Only if it starts after 7 PM? Ahh, too bad, it's an all-day thing. Who is it? "Canadian Singer" doing a mix. Well, if things change, give us a call." (I've decided to be a little more surreptitious when writing about what I'm working on to avoid any possible unmaskings or whatnot. So from now on, I'll write something like: a few weeks ago, I worked on a session with an R&B singer. I had to call Tony and Phil when I met her husband who was a fairly famous hoops star for the Blue Devils and the Pistons before injuries waylaid him. This guy, let's call him Ulysses Mountain, was a very nice gentleman and talked with me and the main engineer about recording for a little bit. Phil and Tony were flabbergasted.)

Getting back to the main story, I was in a twizzy...you know, in a tizzy and all a twitter (Jen came up with a cool conjoined word when I was in Boston, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was), when I heard the name of the singer, who just so happens to have been my favorite singer for many years until her last couple albums, which were lackluster to my ears. Let's call her Anne. The first time I saw her in concert 10 years and 3 months ago, I was transfixed and transformed. While I hyperbolize a lot in this diary, it would not be hyperbole to say that that concert and this woman are probably the chief reasons why I eventually got into the music business. Seeing her show changed the way I appreciate music, and gave me the initial seed of loving seeing music live that I still carry to this day.

So, this was my ultimate nightmare. "What if," I had thought when I accepted this TV job, "what if I get asked to work on a really cool recording session that conflicts with my work schedule? Would the benefits of this steady job outweigh the awesomeness of working on that session? How could I live with myself if I had to turn it down? Who am I kidding, that'll never happen."

And yet it happpened. I reluctantly said no to the gig whilst inwardly cursing myself, something I seem to do alot. I wondered if I should ask the producers on the show for permission to have Thursday and Friday off to take on the session. I even called Soph and Tony to bitch about my situation. Tony prompted me to ask one of the Exec P's about it, saying I had nothing to lose. I finally mustered up the courage to ask, and he was like "Aw man, that's huge. Of course you can take the two days off to work on that session." Like I said, they're totally cool.

So I called the studio back to tell them that I COULD work on the Anne session. Unfortunately, they had already found another assistant for the job. When I explained what a huge fan I was of Anne's, the manager said he'd see what he could do about moving things around to get me on it. So far, 3 hours later, I haven't received a call back, so it looks like I let it slip through my fingers, the chance to work on the Holy Grail of sessions.

Now Listening To : Emm Gryner- Asianblue
Random Thought : Nick has Wilson Phillips' "Hold On For One More Day" on his IPod, thanks to Harold and Kumar.

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