The Weblog of Daniel Tashian

In the studio with Sixpence, putting overdubs on our 2 songs. They are coming out well, and I’m happy about them. Matt is an excellent guitarist and cellist. I found myself quite keyed up after the recording sessions…wondering if everyone was happy and if things were on the right track. I don’t want to disappoint them. They seem to have quite a bit of faith in me, and I want to make them happy. I suppose ultimately, I only have a certain amount of control over the outcome. It would be lovely for them to have something sort of exciting, which I think we have, with a song called “Love I’ve Got”, but does the chorus need work? It’s so hard to tell sometimes. At any rate, we did 2 days on 2 songs, and that should definitely be enough time to do everything we want to them. Somewhat exhausted by Sunday night. More like fatigued. Sleep interrupted by dreams of cats toying with a baby bird.

Walked the long walk with dogs and mom was at breakast club so I had to wait a bit, so I read the piece in the New Yorker about Scientology. It was so objective, it really didn’t make it seem nefarious at all. It basically talked about how the Scientologists are great renovators of old Hollywood buildings, and how they improve the community, and how the celebrity is just another segment of the population that needs help, and they want to help them. I really don’t see any problem with it. They didn’t really get into the controversy about it very much. I wonder if the Scientologists agreed to be interviewed if they could have final approval of the piece. Also read Sasha Frere-Jones piece about Kate Nash. I feel like he sometimes is more fascinated by pop oddities and celebrity nonsense than really great lasting art. Sort of a cultural barometer in a way, which is valuable to a certain degree, but I wonder what it would be like if he turned his considerable skill to writing about great bands, like the Silver Seas for instance, or a comparative piece on Bob Marley and Elvis Presley.  E.L. Doctorow story in the New Yorker as well. He can put a sentence together, that’s for sure. It’s like the English language is a different machine in his hands. Dad said he could tell I had been in the studio, that my energy was different. I was more outspoken, opinionated.

In Sound Emporium with Sixpence, and the engineer is great. Russ Long. I guess he worked with them on their first record. It was Jason Lehning on keys, Justin on Bass and Matt and myself on guitars. Sam Ashworth came by for a bit. We all went to lunch at Athens and I had a lamb salad that was great. We recorded 2 songs, and everybody played great. We were watching some funny stuff on Youtube, like “Old Greg” and “Santana Shreds” and we got quite a bit done. I mean, Sound Emporium is probably my favorite studio. There’s a real old fashioned echo chamber there. It just sounds so good. Home about 10 and took a tub and called KJ.

Well this was sort of the last day of pre-production for the Sixpence stuff. Matt and Leigh came over and that guy Sean who I guess was in Nickel Creek, and we listened to some songs he and Matt had written. Then we worked a bit on some of the other stuff, and I’m starting to feel confident. To lunch at Chinatown, which of course I love, but it made me sleepy so I had to take a nap. Had a Royal Plum meeting with my dad and we’re still trying to get paid from this soap opera that used one of my songs like 10 months ago. My dad is so good at getting money from people because he doesn’t like for anyone to take advantage of me. I thought I would feel funny about working with him, but actually, I like it. To Bosco’s with Freedy Johnston and we had some wine, then we went to his studio and jammed a bit. He has this great YAMAHA keyboard that plays along with you, as you make chords. “Accompaniment” or something like that. Stayed there til about 12 and went to bed.

Well it was a lovely day, bright cold in the morning, but then it got cloudy and a bit colder. All in all, this is quite a mild winter. That would make a cool band name: The Mild Winter. Worked on some Sixpence pre-production in the morning, and went to El Mariachi for lunch at about 2. The football game was on, and we saw some amazing plays, and what’s his name, Patriots QB….Tom Brady. He’s pretty amazing. He throws the ball so fast. Hung out for a bit, and Mark and Jen showed up. Talked to J. Rouse on the phone and he’s coming to town next week. He said he’s pretty busy, but we might have dinner. I told him about New York and KJ and he said he’ll be there for a bit when I’m there, but he’s going on this songwriter cruise thingy that Emmylou will be on. Sounds kind of fun. I would go if KJ wanted to go. She’s got gigs. Home and worked a bit more, then went to Simon and Dylan and Luke’s studio to hear their new song: “Place Where You Live”. It sounded good, but the mix is sort of less than exceptional. That’s the thing with all this music software, you have all these kids making records, but they really don’t know how to use equalization, or most plug-ins for that matter. Something just sounds kind of funny unless somebody really knows what they’re doing, like, Jason Lehning for instance. I think in the old days, tape and what not, would be more forgiving. But the digital realm is so harsh. But the good thing is, if you have a good song, you can figure all that out later. Home at 11, and since I went to Starbucks earlier, I was sort of awake so I read the Vanity Fair article about Indiana Jones and Spielberg and Lucas and I love all those guys. They seems so cool. To sleep at 12

Lovely day, bright and cold. Walked the long dog walk, then had cereal with bananas and soy milk. Home and went back to bed for an hour, then went to lunch with Grimey and Mindy. We went to South Street, and it was pretty good. It wasn’t exceptional. Mindy said one of her co-workers fell down and broke his arm at the Basement last night. And someone stole (?) Leslie’s coat. It sounded like one of those full-moon kind of nights where the cuckoo people come out and sort of cause problems. I was glad I stayed home. Home and watched some Alan Partridge and took another nap, then worked on a little pre-production for the Sixpence, then worked on a Reggae song. I think that might be a good direction for Donovan. Maybe I will play this idea for him next week. But I also want to make my own Reggae album, so I’m torn. To Hopkins for dinner and it was an excellent fish stew. Layng texted, so I met him at PM. I was going to go downtown to see Ryan Pickett, who was working with “Hot Hot Heat”, but I got tired, so I read some “Brooklyn Follies” and talked to KJ a bit and hit the sack.

I know, I know. I’ve been a slacker of gargantuan proportions. I really hope I can maintain this thing now. Well, I guess we’ll see. Lots been happening. Worked yesterday with Troy on the uke record, and it’s coming along. I’m such a crappy piano player, though. I mean, I like my ideas and parts and stuff, but I just wish I could play the damn thing better. One of my New Year’s resolutions was going to be teaching myself Torme and Cole’s “The Christmas Song” on the piano, like, really beautifully and everything, and to take all year to do it! But I don’t know…discipline arrives in certain quantities, I believe. It must be metered out to the most deserving patients; like a triage ward. I have been extremely disciplined re: work, and the diary is, well…let’s face it…a hobby. But here I am. Dinner with Leigh and Kate and Matt of Sixpence, and we all went around and said what we thought our friends wished was different about us. Which is a great ice breaker. I had a new one: I said I thought my friends wished I was hugely successful. Worked on the Sixpence project a bit more after dinner and there are definitely some promising songs now. Talked to KJ a lot, and she’s having fun with the songs for this Mike Viola residency she’s doing in NY. My miles expired on American (grrr…) so now, maybe I will get some kind of mileage credit card. I don’t have any of those, which I suppose is somewhat immature…I should really have one. Read some of Auster’s “Brooklyn Follies”, and was in a deep, cathartic sleep, when a phone call from Gil at 3 am revealed a shortage, (second time since Wednesday), of keys to Clayton, and so it was a nonplussed DT who was scraping ice from the windshield at 3:15 am. Said state was exacerbated by the admission from Gil (upon my arrival) that he had discovered an open window, and that, the general consensus was, my services had not, in the end, actually been required. An affectionate Leslie (coming in for a hug) was repelled with a cry from me something along the lines of: “Don’t touch me. Leave me alone!” then I rolled up and sped away.

Well, Guilty Pleasures performed last night, to a sold out crowd, and it was really a lot of fun. Quite a marathon, though. And K.J. was there, hanging out with me, and it was really fun. Best New Years I can remember! My mom says 2008 is going to be an excellent year for me, one of extreme growth career-wise, and personally quite promising as well. K.J. came from Portland to spend New Years in Nashville, and it was quite a tribute because I know there was a significant amount of pressure from friends back home for her to spend the New Year’s there. She’s not the kind of girl who needs to be constantly entertained, but we went to walk Radnor Lake, which was extremely windy and cold, and then played some guitars and jammed on the Beatles song “Two of Us” and she is a quick study, music wise. I mean, I should have guessed she was, but she’s really talented. I’ll be totally honest, i’m smitten to the point of absurdity. The good news is, all signs seem to indicate she’s similarly besotted. To Hopkins for dinner, and she went over like gangbusters with M. and D. She’s fascinated by the Beatles, and truthfully, so am I! Cold and romantic weather, starting off 2008: High, grey clouds, lines of fronts, moving slowly, monolithic.