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SATURDAY August 29, 1998 Recording Session For SONY At 2pm we loaded into the San Diego Recording Studios on Chesapeake Drive in Kearny Mesa. This is a very attractive facility with lots of nice wood paneling and acoustical treatments. It is one large studio with several partitions for dividing up the drums, guitar, bass, vocals and horns. We were recording this jingle for Sony that was going to be shown at the CES trade shows. There would be a video shoot on Tuesday and Wednesday using the recording made today. This was a fairly simple tune to learn and the chart was no problem reading. After recording two takes of the tune, everyone left the room and I did some drum solos on my own. One solo was a Sing, Sing, Sing type solo where I played mainly on the floor tom. The other was a hi-hat thingy that was fairly simple and straight forward. Warren did the vocals singing, "Now, you're talkin'..... Sony's got ya talkin'....." Afterwards, the rest of the band recorded background vocals saying "Hey, hey" and "Uh Huh" in response to Warren's vocals. All 'n all, this is going to be a high profile gig, and the band will be exposed to a lot of people through these CES trade shows. The Amore Ballroom When I got to the Amore Ballroom there was a band already playing. I was not aware of any band playing with us at this dance, so it was a complete surprise to me. The name of the other band was the A Team! Right away I remember the bass player, because I had gigged with him in the past. He's the only guy in town who can play trumpet and bass at the same time. I used to due Elk's Lodge gigs with him. It was a pretty pathetic gig but it was my way of paying my dues so to speak. I hung outside with some of the guys in our band. I again was listening to Chucho Valdes and practicing cascara (a type of afro-cuban pattern) and clave with my sticks on this metal fence. When it was time to start I said hello to the drummer in the other band. Right a way he seemed to cop an attitude with me, because all he said to me was "those are some chewed up sticks, man". I don't know what he really meant by this, or whether he was condescending to me or not, but he wasn't all that friendly toward me. The A Team band was okay. They did a variety of ballroom type music: Cha Cha, Waltz, Swing, Pop, etc. The drummer was pretty sloppy (in my book), and unfortunately he didn't know what was going to hit him in regards to my playing drums with BTO. I kind of felt sorry for him because he really treated me badly and he was the kind of drummer with a lot of experience playing gigs, but he probably hasn't practiced (really practiced) in awhile. I could tell in his playing. That's why I noticed he seemed sloppy on his execution. I'm Just Here Cause I Love The Drums I hated to blow that other drummer away, but he had it coming. I mean, he could've been civil about it, just like all professional musicians and the way they treat each other. He treated me like an inexperienced drummer, and copped the attitude that he was holier-than-thou on those drums. So, when BTO started we pretty much surprised some of those regular dancers and the other band with our energy. That other drummer, I could tell he probably was embarrased by then, because he was hiding behind someone and was afraid to see me drumming. Oh well, I guess it really helps to practice 5 hours a day on the drums.
CDs Played Today:
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