james, wall-e, and check outs.

well... we went to see james taylor.

not much to say there... i think he's the best out there. it's an incredible experience to sit in an amphitheater surrounded by 25,000 people and see this single guy on stage controlling the entire thing with just his voice and his guitar. it was called James Taylor and his Band of Legends tour. his band was just incredible. Steve Gadd on drums, Luis Conte on percussion, Jimmy Johnson on bass, etc. etc.

one of the things i'm really learning to appreciate with some of these guys is what they DON'T play.

you can tell the best guys always seem to have a little bit left in the reserve tape, even when they're going for it. sortof that whole 'early john mayer' vs. 'current john mayer' thing. in the early days, you'd see him dropping solos that were just blazing.. and it was impressive for sure. but these days, you see him up there, and he's throwing it down, but he's only hitting the notes that he has to, and not a single note extra, and there's this incredible space that wasn't there before. you can just tell he's that much more filled out as an artist.

that's the way it was with these guys. james is up there with 10 of the best players in the business, and not one of them will dare show him up unless he gives them the go ahead. but every now and then he looks over at them and smirks, and they just dive into it. but in the end, it's all about James.

I think, with a band like this, you just put the faders up flat and let the band mix themselves.


lots of work going on. man, it's taking off fast right now. getting a bunch of mix opportunities.. it's looking more and more like i'll be working a lot of weekends and weekday doubles, but it's a 'strike while the iron's hot' type of thing, and i love being in anyway.

can't wait to do nothing tomorrow (and then go for dinner with Nik and Kristina. Sunday, i'll be back in the plant to start a Disc HD series, so it's a short weekend.. but the lazy saturday should do the job.

check out:

- John Mayer's cover of free fallin' on youtube, from the 'Where The Light Is' DVD. beautiful.

- The 3 man drum solo by Steve Gadd, Dave Weckl, and Vinnie Colliuta (sp?). Just go to youtube and type in 'Steve Gadd'. It's mind blowing.

- Viva la Vida. I'm still pushing it. it's too good not to.

- Tommy Boy. it's on TV tonight, so we scoped it. i can't believe how many lines from that movie were a huge part of our childhood.

'I was just... checkin' the specs on the... endline.. rotary.. gurder.'
'do you know where the weight room is? ... I'll check it out..'

mmm..

check the links.

oh, and go see wall-e.

at oiart, i distinctly remember ken walking in one day and saying, 'you won't believe it.. i went to a movie last night, and man... 12 bucks! ... 12 BUCKS!!' and i was all lined up ready to hear (and agree with) a gripe on the high cost of movies, and instead, he says, 'can you BELIEVE that we get to spend only 12 BUCKS, and that gets us all that art? and all that creativity?! that's AMAZING!

since then, it's given me a totally different outlook on the beauty of a good movie. so, wall-e is absolutely beautiful. you'll agree.

love,
J