They’re DANCING!

So Luke tracked me down, said he was cutting basics all week out in the Valley, did I want to DROP BY?

Used to be the studio was a privilege.  Back before everybody had a Pro Tools rig in their basement.  But those of us who remember, reading the credits, with mentions of all the legendary rooms, we’re still DYING to drop by.  To hang, to soak it up.

So I’m out here in the middle of fucking nowhere.  Funny that some of the greatest music ever cut was recorded in industrial buildings in locations akin to Oklahoma.  Really, looking for a parking spot in this neighborhood I saw pickup trucks, with cowboy hats in the rear window, I expected a tumbleweed to roll by.

And after parking on a main street, that required no cash, where I could park forever, except for the two hours a week within which they clean it, I entered the building.  I couldn’t hear a fucking thing.  The sound insulation is just THAT good.  But after asking for Luke, I opened the appropriate door, and then I could not only hear it, I could FEEL IT!

And I’m in the control room.  With all that GEAR!  Not only the old limiters, and the zillion channel board, but the six OWC Mercury Elite Pro hard drives, connected to the Mac tower, recording all this.

And when I peer out into the room, it’s unmistakable.  That’s LEE SKLAR!  And over in the corner, isn’t that Abe Laboriel, Jr?  They’re working out, they’re all in front of music stands, the notes having been written out, they’re playing their hearts out, even though there’s no audience, they’re doing it for themselves.

And when they’re done, the engineer suggests another take.  And when that concludes, they all come into the control room, where I am.  And they’re laughing, they’re slapping each other’s backs, it’s like they’re HIGH SCHOOL BUDDIES!  It’s not about rock stardom, it’s about PLAYING!

And then the playback begins.  And that’s when they start to dance.

Leland, the bass player on seemingly every L.A. record, is SLITHERING, motivated from somewhere inside.  Abe, he’s moving like a drummer, you can feel the power.  And then Lee picks up his Nokia cell phone with camera and starts SHOOTING!

Turns out the song is by their old friend Pino Palladino, an old unreleased track.

And now Lee’s telling studio stories.  About cutting with an eighty piece orchestra, needing to deliver at 8:02.  And Luke is talking about amplifiers.  And Abe’s got a shiteating grin, and me, I’m just sitting here, on Luke’s MacBook, taking it all in, telling you all about it.

Val Garay, James Taylor cutting vocals on "Flag", Lee Ritenour doing a direct to disc album which is interrupted in process by Jaco Pastorius, Tommy Tedesco transposing keys, playing on "Rockford Files", I live for this shit.