Oh, I got to meet, pictured above, the chief of the Yellow Pocahontas.     

No one got in the way. No know-it-all bugged Dave, the engineer, with their personal thoughts on how the EQ should be set  on my vocals. In fact, I  kind of want to record like this all the time.  I'm talking about the session where the fab John Doe and I invited fans to spend the entire day  in the studio to watch us make a record (or two EPs). The energy of having people there was such a revelation, as well as a good antidote from the often times sterility of a recording studio. Some fans came at 10:00 and experienced the annoying "getting of drum sounds" and the unexciting setting up of microphones. But they did get to see us arrange the songs and figure out parts. We put together a damn good band, including the sharply dressed Don Was on upright bass. They, as well as John and I, enjoyed having people there. I think it put us on our best behavior (in a good way) as well as made us want to perform really good. I wonder if it would be wrong to invite people to my kitchen - maybe my cooking would be better?

Anyhoo, I would love to do a fan-funded/participation day in other cities. Your town?

Last month, I was remiss in not writing about my experience in New Orleans at an artist retreat. I was asked to join a group of fellow activist musician types  to come down to the Big Easy, meet folks from the community, and discuss our own concerns and causes. The get away was put together by the wonderful folks at ATP and Future of Music Coalition. It was one of the best weeks of my life. I could tell you more, but  one of my fellow retreat musicians wrote a wonderful blog post about it, so if you're interested here is... Tim Quirk's . Now, I feel like I am a little more prepped than others on Treme. I love that show!  Oh, I got to meet, pictured above, the chief of the Yellow Pocahontas.

I have not been great at updating my blog. I think part of it has to do with the fact that I am not able to have  a place for interaction or comments. I am very active on all my social network sites (except for Myspace which is really... Rupert's Space) in part, because I am able to have that  two way communication. I hope in the next couple of weeks to change that, as well as other improvements on my website. I want it to be a fun place for people to come to. If anyone has any good ideas, let me know