The last year on earth

What if it really was the last year of earth as we know it? What if it all was going to end? How would you live your life? Would you make a 'Bucket List' and just go balls out and go for it? Go for anything and everything that you ever wanted to do or create in your life?

I see so many heartbreaking stories of people, children with terminal illnesses that do outstanding things and change the lives of so many around them. They are an inspiration to the lives of the living. But still so many people will walk through their lives in a daze, blaming everything but themselves, that the deck of cards they were dealt are crap and always will be just that- crap. Sadly they will never know, nor even want to change, because it is just too much trouble.

But let's just say, for fun I mean, that this is the last year. What would you do differently?

Now, let's just say, that you actually begin living the life that you always dreamed of, become the person you always thought you would become, and that you enjoy every moment- like it was your very last.

I say let's go out and get that mother fucker. Together. Sound good?

Sent to Print

Well this photo alone should explain my silence. I have been busier than a cat with 9 assholes. But my first novel in the series has been sent to print and I can finally see a bit of light on the horizon for myself to continue with my day to day writing and well, maybe a manicure. So here is to the beginning of a new era of this blog, I will be adding lots of inside scoops about the book and the process of creating it.

As for the music we are getting mixes back from our engineer/producer Paul Frost of the UK band The Zico Chain, and they are turning out amazing!!! The album will be released in March 2012 and we will be getting back to playing live in the new year.

More fun to come...

The Strings have it...

And so we begin- with the violin. Charlene Huang, a longtime friend and fellow underground musician, has stepped in to add her magical instrument to our songs- and they sound so good it is giving me goosebumps.

Tony is behind the desk once again at Hemispheres Studios in North Hollywood, and from where I sit- just a few feet behind him, I can see he is really hitting his engineering stride now. Pressing buttons with a flair, leaning forward to hit the talk-back button, and directing Charlene with a kind ease through each song. I am smiling a lot as I watch this comfortable interaction.


I am not one to sit idle, and I try to express my ideas for Charlene, even though I cannot play, and will never be able to play the violin as beautifully as she- but I do know a good hook when I hear it, and Charlene is such a pro she easily picks up whatever Tony and I are throwing out. I am amazed at what beauty and richness this layer has added to the songs, causing a few of them to haunt me even now as I type this a day later. We finished five of the ten songs that we will add violin to, and that means we will be back in the studio again in a few weeks to finish up.



My son is now becoming a pro in the studio, and he was so comfortable yesterday I was amazed. Not only did he just chill on his own watching his favorite show 'Despicable Me' in the lounge attached to the studio, coming in the control room every now and then to approve the recordings... Then finally when he came to sit with me to listen to the recording process, the violin sounded way too much like a lullaby and he was knocked out for over an hour! Good to know! This kid amazes me every day, he is cooler than I could ever dream to be- I am just so happy to be able to share this amazing journey of music with him.

I can see the end now, and I am so excited to finally get to do what I do best... with every song that we check off with violin- I can finally sing on them! Whew! Good lord I have waited a long time to sing my final takes! Been sitting on my arse, watching everyone else have all the fun for months, just listening to the scratch vocals over and over, and I am soooooooo ready to sing for REALS! That's ok, I have been using this time to practice, practice, practice and fine tune the lyrics so these songs will be the best, most heartfelt, damn music I got's in me! Yipeeee!

The Harvest Moon

It's time to harvest the crops, time to pull those seeds from the earth and expose the ripe fruit.
It's going to be a bountiful Fall.

Let's hear it for Guitars!

Back again we went into the studio, and once again I was seated, oh so comfy in that large overstuffed leather chair in the control room of Hemispheres Studios. This time, it was acoustic guitar that was the star of the show, so up steps Tony Grimes; my sweet husband and awesome other half of our band Wall of Tom.





It is so wonderful to get to this part of our album's recording, because this is how it all started anyways... with just me singing and Tony playing acoustic guitar in our living room. The songs began from those very strings of Tony's Taylor Acoustic guitar, and now they will be set in stone from that same guitar, and those whimsical fingers that pluck them. This time of course it is in the controlled setting of a studio with all the proper baffles and wonderful microphones (Neumann U-87's)and once again the great SSL board at Hemispheres Studio.


Our friend and recording engineer Brian Fowler stepped behind the desk to record Tony, once the owner of Hemispheres James Lugo had set the session up and gotten the right Mic's in place. It is really fun for me to see Tony get to step out of his norm as the engineer, and get to be the artist... even though I know he went back and forth a few times just to make sure everything was lining up as it should.


The evening was once again a family affair, and our little boy was rockin' with his Daddy for hours. Our son is getting very comfortable in the studio, and he is so used to hearing these songs- I'm sure he has memorized every word even though he cannot speak them yet. When the music starts playing he will look at me with a big smile on his face as if to say 'Wow, I know this song!'




The night went quickly and in six hours, with a break for dinner and play time in between, twelve songs were done. Tony played beautifully, and the richness and warmth of the microphones have done their jobs well.



As I placed my passed out child into his car seat to go home, I smiled to myself. What a fun adventure this album has been so far, and to be able to share it with my family is such a special thing. My husband, my child, all of us have been working so hard on creating this album... it is going to be laced with our love from track to track.



Next stop on this album train is piano next week, and then violin the following week. Until then...

A writers world

Ever since I got the wild idea to write a novel, I have been researching the world of publishing. Since I have been in the music industry for so long, I realize I have no idea about the business side of books. There is so much to learn, and you would think that writing a book is hard, but really once the words have been written, the hard part actually begins.

For me, the telling of the story is enthralling and the words fly off my fingers in record time. My heart beats faster with each paragraph, and when I finally reached the last page I wept with joy. Really.

Even editing is fun, it's just re-working the page... placing a different inflection on a thought, coloring more depth into a character who is too black and white. All this is still very exciting, and while I am still in the middle of this process, I am doing even more research on the ways of the world of publishing. Talking with publishers, literary agents, and published authors alike- I have begun to see a familiar pattern.

Today's publishing, I am learning, is following in the music businesses footsteps. As more bookstores close their doors, so much like the record stores we all loved did, the world of book publishing is depending on it's authors to market their own books. This does not surprise me in one bit since the music industry has collapsed in a heap and all of us musicians had to pick our selves up and learn how to market our bands in the ways of social media. We had to book our own shows, our own tours, do all our own press, package our own albums, call every radio station, design our websites, create a website on every social website that exists and update that website every day. And then we all had to go out and get a day job to pay for all the art we were creating.

Sure it sounds exhausting, but shit, we all had to do it- so it's best not to bitch about it, but learn to enjoy it all... and after finally getting used to doing all of it, it has become the norm and we have much much more control of our art. Sure some of us still have people that work for us, and there are wonderful small labels that work extremely hard for their artists, but even huge artists that have the very top labels working for them- are updating their own Twitter account daily, if not hourly, and I read posts all the time on Facebook from Miss Lady Gaga herself, doing all she can to self promote her art.

This is the new age of music, and now it is becoming the new age of books. I am learning how even if you have a wonderful publishing company, big or small, it is now the norm to market your book, figure out your target market, and publicize it in a fun creative way... I mean, you don't have to do anything sure, But... you want to sell some books right?

Yes I do. And I really believe in my book, and the two books I am going to write as the next installments in the series. So here I go into the writers world of marketing... It is actually fun, and I am of course going to utilize every avenue I can dream up- which for me, is a hell of a lot.

Good things come to those who wait.

As the old saying goes, we have been rewarded for the waiting game. The album has been on hold for awhile now... waiting not so patiently for bass. Our good friend Dave Wadsworth, who has been playing bass with Wall of Tom for the last two years or so, has been on the vacation of a lifetime- Spain, Switzerland, you name it- Dave was going there. He just didn't have the time to put in for us, so sadly we realized we were going to have to use a different bass player for this album.

But who to choose?



We of course automatically thought to use Daniel Seeff, who was a member of Wall of Tom for five years, two albums, two music videos, and countless good times. The only trouble was, Daniel is one of the busiest- most sought after bass players in all of Los Angeles. We gave him a call and he said he would love to be a part of this album but he was booked for weeks and only had a small window of time available.

Well... thankfully we knew that we could fit him in through that small window (he is quite spry) and get our bass done, as long as we had the patience to wait a few weeks. Hmmmmmmm... I think I have said it before, I hate waiting. I have no patience. Especially when I am sitting on the one thing that I am so damn excited about. But, that being said, I realized if I want to release the best album of my career, I would have to sit on my rear for just a bit.



It was worth it. Daniel is a gift, and I am so happy to have this man's talent added to the album. It was a day of laughter, jokes and music as we stepped into ESI Studios in Glendale. Which by all quinkie-dinks was the very studio that we recorded our second album 'Eight' together 5 years ago. It was just like old times as the three of us; myself, Tony and Daniel began to record... all with one exception- there was a little baby running around the studio like a mad-man.



It made for an even more interesting day having a toddler to chase after, but all in all- we made it happen, with Tony behind the engineers desk, and Daniel on the Upright and electric Bass, with a lot of silliness in between. Our drummer on the album Charles, even stopped by the studio to listen in to Daniel's tracking, and was super excited and impressed (the compliments were flowing so graciously back and forth between the two of them, one would think they were in love) but that is the connection that is the most important when laying the foundation of an album, drum and bass go hand in hand.

So all that and a bag of tamales we got it done. The bass is DONE. God it feels good to say that. I was beginning to think I could never say that, and now the songs sound better than I have ever heard them. It is so exciting once again... Now we move to guitar- thankfully Tony is on that already, and once the acoustic guitar is finished we go to piano and violin.

Oh, and on a side note- my son is a drummer. He has always been interested in piano, plucking the guitar and slapping the bass. But when I sat him behind the huge drum kit and placed the sticks in his tiny hands- he went wild! His smile was ear to ear as he banged away at any drum or cymbal his arms could reach. It was the perfect end to a groovy day in the studio... I think we may have to go on the road as the Partridge family instead of Wall of Tom. Of course, there is still a chance our little boy will become a race car driver.