Gulfport, MS

Posted on September 20, 2008 by Zach

I was hoping to spend the next day somewhere in mid-Mississippi, since it would be on the way north. But the only person who contacted me was a fellow from Gulfport, which I guessed from the name is on the gulf coast.

But then I remembered places like Rhode Island (not an island) and Martha’s Vineyard (not Martha’s, also not a vineyard) and checked a map to make sure. But down south, people call things like they see them, and Gulfport is a port on the gulf. Nice.

I had my choice of two highways going back towards Gulfport: 1) the same major interstate I took going to New Orleans from Mobile, or 2) a different highway which runs right along the coast. So guess which one I took.

“Were you disappointed that your only contact was so far south?” asks AG perceptively.

I was, originally. Then I met the dude who had contacted me, a happening peep by the name of Brooks Hubberts, and a whole slew of other fantastic people, including my host Maggie, who had not contacted me. She’s a CS member but had instead passed along my info to Brooks since he is a musician. But I ended up staying at her place anyway. Yeah, details, details. Let’s get to the music.

Brooks knew some people over at a brand new recording studio (as yet unnamed) so we headed over there to record, where I discovered that Brooks is a fantastically talented multi-instrumentalist. He has a very unassuming air about him so I honestly didn’t expect him to be as awesome as he was.

We started with some lins.

That’s a mandolin laying upside-down next to him, which was the first instrument we recorded. Brooks was all over some jazzy gypsy-style stuff I asked him to do for this one song, and then we moved on to violin. He put down some country fiddlin’ on another tune.

Then he mentioned there was a cello around.

You may not be aware of my love affair with cellos. In fact, it is a problem. I could easily be led astray by any cellist. A girl that plays cello is one concerto away from winning my heart. I might even go so far as to say I swoon. (But I won’t. I would, though, if swooning were even a little bit manly.) So, of course, I insisted that we record some cello.

Brooks is probably less familiar with the cello than he is with any of the other instruments we recorded — he’s not the smoothest cellist around. Not to say he’s bad, because it sounded great. His cello playing is just not as polished, certainly not in the way that a classically trained cellist’s would be. But I found that it had a delightful raw sound that was equally emotional, albeit in a different way.

Brooks amazed me with his consummate musicianship, and he was willing to buckle down and get stuff done until the wee hours of the morning. Thanks a lot Brooks!

Another day, another city, another terrific musician, another great host. I left the next day with no disappointment about Mississippi whatsoever.

NEXT: Troubles are afoot! (And I nearly am too.)

New Orleans, LA

Posted on September 17, 2008 by Zach

The next day saw me scenically driving.

To what city was I scenically driving? Why, New Orleans.

New Orleans! A historic city in the development of American music. Also a prominent target for hurricanes. I arrived as they were recovering from Gustav, but things seemed to be pretty well in hand. Some people were still without power, but they had an astronomical number of electrical teams from all over the country working on it, so they would not be powerless for much longer. Most of the neighborhoods had been cleaned up pretty well, and the only evidence I saw of a recent disaster was the broken trees, and piles of tree parts lining the sidewalks.

New Orleans is also the home of Michael Raeder, a zydeco/cajun musician and enthusiast.

Mike plays a wide variety of instruments and has been playing with various cajun bands and musicians since he moved to New Orleans, picking up many of the genre-typical instruments along the way. First we put down some of the accordion (pictured above), then we moved on to some percussion, such as rub board, which is very loud.

He also put down some triangle, which has some other name in the zydeco/cajun circuit, where most everything is still in old French. And after that, some electric guitar. It was a busy evening, and Mike’s family was very helpful in being quiet, like little mice. Except for one very loud incident.

They also graciously treated me to dinner and offered me a place to stay. Furthermore, and I swear this was the real conversation:

Mike, out of the blue: Do you like Mojitos?
Me: … (in shock)
Mike: If not, that’s fine, but we grow our own mint so we could make some up if you like.
Mike’s wife: He makes a great Mojito.
Me: …

I had not told them anything about my hunt for an American-made Mojito that compares to the ones made by Lovo’s in Korea. But here was Mike, picking mint and making me one.

Let’s go in for a closer look.

After refreshing ourselves properly, we were back to record a bit more before his children were off to bed. After that, we listened to music. Mike played me all kinds of zydeco and cajun music, showed me books on the subject, and talked about it at great length. It was very educational for me and a great look into one of America’s old but persistent musical subcultures. These styles are in some danger of dying out, but as long as people like Mike draw breath, they will live on. Every music style needs its champions — way to go, Mike.

I was listening back to some of the stuff we recorded, and I feel like some of the spirit behind that music was captured on this project. Exciting.

NEXT: Multi-instrumental mathematicians in Mississippi.

Mobile, AL

Posted on September 17, 2008 by Zach

The next day I drove to Mobile. It was a long, epic journey. While I was driving I got a call from a Couchsurfer named Susan McLean, who came across one of my hosting requests and agreed last-minute to host me. Yay, I have a host! It’s always transforms an ordinary hum-drum day into a good one to line up a host. So, I met up with her and her boyfriend Bryan at O’Charley’s, before heading out to play some pool. After the poolage, a goodly number of peeps headed over to their house to hang out and let good times roll.

And, Susan likes fish!! As pets, that is. She is an aquarist. We talked nerdily about fish for at least half an hour, and I enjoyed looking at her tanks.

I had a great time hanging out with Susan and Bryan and all of the other peeps that came over to their house. They are both awesome and sadly I failed to take any pictures, because the next day when I woke up they were gone and I had to be on my way. But I did get a picture of the bed. Why? Because it’s not a couch or air mattress.

When you have been sleeping on as many couches, air mattresses, and car seats as I have, you have a new appreciation for real beds. I certainly appreciated this one.

And that was Mobile.

NEXT: Some Orleans, of the New variety.

Florida!

Posted on September 17, 2008 by Zach

The following three days (Sept 2-4) saw me driving around in the great state of Florida. As it turns out, is it a state, not a nation. Thanks to all the readers who emailed me with that correction.

Day 1

I spent the first day, which was also my last day in Savannah, driving down to Jacksonville and swimming at the beach. No one had contacted me from that area so I spent the day enjoying the sun and surf.

True and interesting story: I got absolutely pwned by a big wave! This one big wave was coming and I was ready so I dove through it. I came out on the other side only to see another huge wave coming in right after that one. I swear that wave was not there before. I was knocked off my feet, my 160-pound body tumbling along like a leaf. It scraped me along the ground, keeping me unable to regain control due to its strong current. Finally I stood, yards away from where I had been, with a bloody scrape on my back and not-bloody-but-still-painful scrapes on my extremities.

Conclusion: big waves are friggin’ sweet.

Yeah, so that one picture shows a dude landsailing, or paradriving, or whatever that’s called. He kept going back and forth up and down the beach, sometimes at incredible speeds. What’s more, sometimes the wind would be so strong it would lift one of his wheels, like it did one second before I took that picture.

Oh, also in Jacksonville I saw this amazing street name:

After swimming at the beach I drove to Orlando and found a nice out-of-the-way dead-end street where I could sleep in my car.

Day 2

The next day I poked around Orlando a bit before heading over to Lakeland to meet my friend from NCU, Josh Nelson a.k.a. Schwa.

“That seems like an unusual nickna- ohhhh wait, it comes from JoSHUA doesn’t it?”

Once again proving that you didn’t need to interrupt me.

“Well, look who woke up on the wrong side of his car.”

Haha. Anyway, instead of meeting Schwa I met his roommates, because Schwa was at work. I hung out with them for a while until he got back, whereupon we ate some tasty Steak ‘n’ Shake.

Day 3

The next day was busy like a schoolboy making an A. First, I popped over to Palmetto to record an old musical cohort, Chad Vice. I knew Chad from church back in the day, where we had played together in the worship band. But well before that, Chad was one of my piano-playing heroes when I was just a lowly middle-schooler. I loved to watch the band play at church, and in particular Chad’s great rock piano playing was something that greatly influenced me as a young musician. I would come home and figure out (or try to figure out) what Chad had been playing.

So it was a great day for me to record with another of my childhood heroes. Chad’s schedule is crazier than a hatter, but we were still able to work some time for me to come over to his place, where he happens to have a piano.

We had a good three hours in which to try to get through a couple songs, which we barely managed to do before swarms of his family descended upon the house, rendering it unfit for recording, but also rendering it fit for good times and tasty dinner.

I enjoyed a splendid dinner with the Vices. Then it was time to head back to Lakeland to record with Schwa and friends, so I started to leave but as Chad was showing me off he pointed out a lizard! Florida has lizards!! They’re all over the place!!

So, after going back by his pool and seeing many more forms of wildlife (including huge spiders, brown anoles, tiny geckos, wasps, dragonflies, damselflies, and children), I was finally off.

Chad recommended I go a wee bit out of my way so as to drive over Tampa Bay. He alleged that there was a very scenic drive which included a huge bridge. It turns out that Chad’s claims were true.

The bridge was also scenic, as Chad had claimed.

Then I was back to Schwa’s place momentarily, where we joined forces with Schwa’s bass-playing roommate Myca and headed over to the campus of Southeastern University (where Schwa is a student) to find us a place to record.

There we met Schwa’s other friend, a guitarist named Rob. We ended up setting up in one of the classrooms, which was quiet. Too quiet.

MPM: But all that was about to change…

Group handclaps! I have mostly been recording people one-on-one and haven’t had a lot of opportunities to record groups, so it was fun to record a group of people clapping for one of my songs.

After the clapping warmup, it was back to the one-on-one recording. We began with Rob, since he had driven separately and had homework to do later that night.

Rob specializes in bizzare noises and wacky sounds. He has a lot of nice effects pedals and knows how to use them to get a wide variety of noises. I had him make awesome spaceship sounds and crazy ambient noises over a couple tunes and then he had to go.

During that session, Myca had been inspired to look for an upright bass in the building. Happily, he found one, so we recorded him playing it.

Just FYI: the part we put down is super simple but it sounds awesome in that song.

Then Schwa got out the fantastic-sounding vintage Martin that he was borrowing for our session and laid down some strumming on that same song.

He is a great rhythm guitarist who uses tasty chord voicings. Naturally, I wanted to record more of that, so we also recorded some strumming goodness on another song, and then it was late.

Lateness, however, is no obstacle when you are cool — which Myca certainly is. We set up the equipment again when we got back to their house and recorded some electric bass. Myca and I put a good bit of effort into coming up with a really great bassline for one of the tunes, and then it was so incredibly time for bed. The next day would see me off on an epic journey to Alabama.

NEXT: An epic journey in a few short paragraphs!

Savannah, GA

Posted on September 15, 2008 by Zach

Savannah! When General James Oglethorpe came to this location in 1733, he had no idea that this city would eventually be the home of KD Blues, Joy Hougnon, and Scooter. But today it is home to those very people.

Also, Savannah is dangerous.

“Why, because of the high crime rate?” you ask, logically, since you are smart.

Nope. Consider this street:

A very nice looking street. Savannah has many of these beautiful, pleasant-looking streets. It appears perfectly safe. But they are videotaping your every move! I got a letter in the mail from them with pictures of me caught in the act of being lost and making a last-minute decision to turn left!

You can see them too because the government of Savannah puts them online. I can’t link you directly, but if you enter in my violation number ( R068374 ) and my licence plate ( PNG685 ) you can see the results of their snooping. I must say, the Lovemobile looks quite nice from above like that.

When I arrived in Savannah, however, I had no idea the town was waiting for me to make a wrong move so they could photograph me and mail me tickets. Quite the contrary — the town seemed pleasant and charming, even welcoming. I met up with KD Blues, a singer and all-around awesome dude.

“Let’s see a picture!” says Attractive Girl, who is always interested in musicians.

Sorry, AG. Not only did I forget to take any pictures, but he is happily married to an awesome girl named Elizabeth, who has a fondness for words, such as ‘petrichor.’ But you can check out his myspace.

KD put in some nice vocals for a tune. Then I was off to rendezvous with Joy Hougnon, a happening peep I knew from WU. She is in the Army and is currently stationed in Savannah. Her job is to videotape unsuspecting tourists to make them never want to visit again! Haha, just kidding, she is not that type of person. She is, instead, cool.

Joy and I popped over to a coffee shop, where we imbibed some beverages (I had bubble tea!!1!) and caught up with each other. It was a pleasant time. Also, she is doing language stuff, and is a self-proclaimed lover of language, so I taught her Korean in about 10 minutes. I even gave her some homework and by the end she was getting it right without even looking at the guide. 조이, 잘 했어!

Joy is also very mysterious. I tried to get a picture of her, but this is best I could manage due to her amazing stealth skills, which no doubt she learned in the Army, because I don’t remember her being that stealthy at WU.

Then it was back to KD’s where I spent a lovely evening hanging out with KD and Elizabeth.

The next morning I was off to get a secret moving violation and record a fellow that contacted me by the name of Scooter. Scooter’s super power is the ability to play the guitar so fast that his arm gets blurry.

He also writes and records his own songs in his room there. I had a listen and he has recorded some great stuff.

Scooter put down some guitar for a tune and then he had to be off for work. But we had a very pleasant time chatting about music and recording stuff. What do you think, Scooter?

Yep.

NEXT: The nation of Florida!

South Carolina

Posted on September 15, 2008 by Zach

I spent two days in Greer, SC recording with my friend and musical co-conspirator-in-crime Brad Tretola. You may remember Brad from such posts as: the previous two posts.

I drove with Brad from Atlanta to his parents’ house in SC, where we spent a pleasant if busy two days recording. Brad is a technically brilliant, emotional player and was an absolute pleasure to work with. We spent a good two days laying down parts for probably 10 songs or so, before the time was up.

It’s amazing to me how fast the time went. It felt like we were just getting into it and then the day was over and it was time to sleep, and then it was the same thing the next day. Brad probably felt the opposite since I kept him in the “studio” all day long, violently whipping him if he tried to take a break. (Ask him sometime about those scars on his back.)

“You know,” points out AG, “there may be lawyers reading this.”

Oh, you’re right. For the record, I did not whip, flog, or otherwise cause any physical harm to any people or animals during the duration of this tour. I do not endorse or otherwise condone violence, unless it is in movies and is therefore perfectly OK, even for impressionable children.

“What about that beetle you stepped on accidentally? I remember you felt bad about that.”

Oh, let’s just add “intentionally” in there. Good?

“I think you’re safe from the lawyers now.”

So, Brad’s phenomenal guitar playing is now all over the project! We hadn’t seen each other in years and I really wish we could have had more downtime to just hang out, but I would have felt like I was letting the project down.

Before you say anything about improper personification, I might add that the moment I had this idea, I was its slave. That’s the problem with the creative spirit and incredibly good ideas. They must be brought to fruition, through whatever means necessary. Even if it means going into debt. Even if it means not hanging out with a good friend. Creative people are driven by ideas, by visions of completed projects which only they can see until they make them real in the physical world. But the idea is very much real to the creator. I’m not really making this project happen — the project is using me to make itself happen. I am a creator driven by my creation.

So Brad, next time I hope we can have more time for just chillin’ like the villains we are.

Speaking of chillin’, the Tretolas had the most amazing inflatable bed I have ever seen in my entire life:

Looks like an actual bed, right? Even feels like an actual bed. But it’s really just a glorified air mattress. Remember earlier when I mentioned that amazing air mattress (see Indianapolis, IN)? This is made by the same people. Aero Bed. I support and respect Aero Bed, and would gladly accept a sponsorship from them, in return for regularly using and endorsing their fine products.

NEXT: I get recorded on video by the city of Savannah!

Hit the Road, Zach

Being a recounting of Zach's Recording Tour of Love

Gulfport, MS

New Orleans, LA

Mobile, AL

Florida!

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Savannah, GA

South Carolina