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Okay, so here’s a funny story.  This happened a few years ago when I was living with my older sister and her huband.

Back then, Iwas working 6 days a week at a “will remain anonymous” music store (Hint:  The McDonald’s of music stores.. sounds like “Fit Tar Lender”).  Some days were morning shifts and other days were evening shifts.  This particular day happened to be an evening shift.

So, I slept in, got up and farted around the house for a while.  My sister and her husband had already taken their commuter train to work and I had the house to myself, well.. not really, if you count the two dogs and a cat.

I was in my boxer shorts and I sleepily poured myself a bowl of cereal.  Skimming a newspaper left on the kitchen table, I got a craving for a cigarette (I smoked a pack a day then.. hard to believe!  What can I say.. it was a stressful job, this music store job).  Finished with my breakfast, I headed outside and lit up first thing.  Then, I heard the door click behind me.

“Oh crap…”

Wait, did I have my keys?  I looked down, only to realize that I was in my boxer shorts.  It was about 11:30am, and I had to leave at 1:00pm to make it to work on time.  It suddenly dawned on me that I had completely locked myself out.  Fortunately, this was during the summer in Massachusetts.  Had this been any other time of year, it would have been FREEZING!

“SH*T SH*T SH*T!”

What the hell was I doing to do?  There I was… in my skeevies… in the backyard… alone with the patio furniture.  I decided not to panic, and I finished my smoke while I tried to figure something out.

Maybe one of the first floor windows was open?  There were about 5 of them. I checked the living room and the kitchen, and of course, they’re all locked.  I thought about calling my sister, but she’s an hour away.  Maybe the neighbors?  No, they’re at work, too, from the looks of it.

I started to panic.  I couldn’t even call work to let them know I might be late!  I took a step back in the back yard and try to size up the situation.  Ah yes!  I saw an open window…

…on the 3rd floor.  GREAT.. can’t use that.. looks like I’m goin to have break a window to get in.  I picked up a loose cobble stone and thought about smashing one of my sister’s beautiful historic windows.  As I raise my arm to smash the glass, I began to think of what she would say.  “What the @#$#?!  You locked yourself out to smoke a cigarette and you had to break my effin’ window?!”  I realized that the window breaking would have to be an ABSOLUTE last resort.

Okay, okay.. what would MacGyver do?

I begin to look around the yard to see if I could come up with a plan.  I began to eye the patio furniture..

“Hmmm…. wait a second, if I move the table over here like so.. and stack the chairs on top like so…”

After much arranging, I had done it.  I stacked two planters on top of three lawn chairs on top of the patio table.  That would be enough to get me to in the ballpark, and I’m over 6 feet tall, so hopefully that will be enough!

The voice of reason decided to interrupt.

“Are you really sure you want to do this?  What will the neighbors think if they see you?!  They’ll call the police!  You might fall!”

I decided I have no choice.  I began to climb.

About five wobbly minutes later, I had one foot on the second floor window sill and my finger tips barely clinging to the siding.  I looked up and I could see sill of the third floor open window above me!  I had only one chance to do this.. I was going to have to leap from the second story window to the third story window sill.  If I missed, I was going to fall and wake up in a pile of tossled patio and broken bones… if I woke up at all!

So, I braced myself, silenced the little voice in my head that was screaming at me not to do it and JUMPED!

I just barely made it!  I was hanging from the window sill, half naked and in plain view of the neighborhood (a very rich and HISTORIC neighborhood.. not the kind of people that want to see THAT on the morning walk)!

I heard a loud crash. The force from my leap knocked the planters off the chairs and they smashed on the brick path below.  I also began to hear activity inside the house.  Was brother-in-law home?!  I listened for a second only to realize that the dogs had come up to the third floor to see what all the trouble was about.  A welcoming party… if you will.

Fearing my life, I mustered all of my early morning strength and executed a fingertip pull-up.  I was now eye level with a big stinky German Shepherd that  began to lick my face as I tried to prop myself up with my elbow to open the windows further.

I managed to pull myself in, only to knock over my night stand and collapse on the floor. I was greeted by incessant sniffing and licking from the two dogs!

I stood up and took a moment to assess the damage.  It was now 12:15pm and which only left me 45 minutes to shower, shave, get dress, AND clean up my mess!

So, take it from me.. always get in the habit of checking for your keys before you shut the door.  A simple pocket pat will do, just make sure you do it!

Got any funny lock-out stories to share?  Leave a comment..

Something interesting happened in the studio today. For those who don’t know, I’m currently producing James Houlahan’s debut solo album. He is a very prolific writer, and is teaching me a lot about the craft without even knowing it, perhaps. We had a dilemma. James wanted to record a song that had been written recently. We tried to lay down the track, and Tom, the engineer and co-producer, and I realized that the song didn’t sound as complete as the other tunes. It sounded like two separate ideas glued together. So, I began quieting my mind in hopes of hearing a solution.

It’s tricky. What is a song? How much of can you take away and still keep the essence of the song the same? If someone asks me to arrange a three chord folk tune, there are a million ways I could go about it. I could add this, or that, and change this, or extend the melody here, and add a new section there or rewrite the words here, etc.. I could go nuts! But, if I just let my instincts run wild, at the end of the day, do I still have the same song?

Though I’ve been playing and composing for a long time, I’m new to songwriting. So, I asked James what he thought. He said, to him, the core of the song is the melody. You can strip away the harmony, the arrangement and the production, and if it’s still got the melody, you’ll recognize the tune.

Arranging a song is like re-potting a plant. You have to do it ever so gently and with care, so as not to traumatize it. I added minimal harmony changes to the verses just to add a little momentum going into the chorus. Then, just to give the song some body, I came up with an instrumental bridge. That way, we could throw in some flavor, without compromising any of James’ writing.

The tracking is going well! I got to take the roughs home today. Making an album is such a wonderful process with so many steps. There is something to be excited about at every turn.

James Houlahan and I go way back. Well, we actually met in late 2001, but it feels like we’ve been friends and musical confidantes for much longer.

To make a long story short, we met at Guitar Center. I had just moved to Boston and had been working on the guitar floor for about a month. “James in flames” was a new hire who had just returned home after getting his Masters at the University of Chicago. Having a similar love for the blues and lead guitar, we clicked right away and formed a band.

We quickly realized that two lead guitarists were not enough to put on a proper show, so we began scouring the local blues jams for a rhythm section, and we networked our way into a few gigs.

Having different yet complimentary styles, James and I quickly developed a reputation among our fans (all 3 of them, including our moms and the fat guy at the Blue Plate) for having a great musical chemistry. Among other things, we were often compared to salt and pepper, yin and yang, ketchup and mustard.. you get the idea.

The band began heading in a different musical direction, and I began taking on other projects, so my role in the band became short lived. We parted on good terms, and though we ran into each other occasionally, we didn’t really talk much after that, until last year.

At the time were both going through breakups, and we began to hang out again. James had come a long way in his songwriting, and I was in the middle of cutting my teeth as a producer. We agreed that upon the completion of Kelsey’s album, we would give it another go.

After playing out together for a show or two, we decided to take it into the studio. To view the rest of this show, click here.

After weeks of preproduction meetings, we started the initial tracking today with Tom Eaton, (Tom really knows how to get great sounds coming into the board, and it is an absolute pleasure to work with him again!) who is going to engineer and co-produce! So far (and I say that because ya never really know what you’re going to end up with), the album is a collection of melancholy introspective solo tracks.

The tunes are stripped down, acoustic, organic and breathing. I love James’ writing because it’s so bare bones. I am going have a ton of fun arranging these tunes! I see mandolin, accordian, cello, organ, piano, backup singers and a lot of late nights in my future!

We’re going in again next week. Stay tuned!

I first met Kelsey Quigley in 2004 through a musical associate of mine, Jeff Ginsburg.

Jeff informed me that one of his coworkers at United Way is a band manager, and she needed a band for an upcoming gig. So, I made a few calls and threw a band together for her.

The artists she was managing turned out to be Kelsey Quigley. She was still in high school, I believe, probably 18 or 19 years old. We learned a few sets worth of material and performed at The Governor’s Academy in Byfield, MA.

Kelsey had (and still has) a voice beyond her years! Though somewhat green and a little tentative at times, she had a wonderfully warm tone to her voice and a maturity about her stage performance that was evidence of her vast potential.

At the end of the day, a gig was a gig, and we thanked each other and went our separate ways.

Fall of 2006, Kelsey gave me a call and said she was ready to make an album. She had a vision: An album of old soul and blues tunes. Her goal was to capture that old soulful sound, but give it a modern spin. She wanted to know if I wanted to be involved.

I figured she just wanted me to play guitar, but in fact she wanted me to produce! At first I hesitated due to my lack of experience, but then I realized that I’ve been involved in a few recording sessions from my years playing with Sarah Brindell, and with my Toni Lynn Washington connections, I should have no problem finding great players.

Oh, AND I would be compensated! So, I agreed.

I knew enough to know that if you’re going to pay to go into the studio, you need to have a game plan. We probably spent 6 months in pre-production! Not because the album was a gigantic creative endeavor, but because I was just wanted to make sure every detail was covered and that the time and money spent in the studio was worth every penny. We narrowed 40 or so cover songs down to 9, and went shopping for an engineer.

Kelsey had previously worked with Tom Eaton, and recommended him highly. I only had a few engineers in mind, but upon doing my homework, it appeared Tom’s credentials far outweighed any of my recommendations. After meeting him and taking a tour of his beautiful studio, I knew we were in good hands.

I gathered the players together. We eventually came up with:

• Bruce Bears on piano/organ (Toni Lynn Washington, Duke Robillard)
• Randy Bramwell on electric bass (The Love Dogs)
• Sven Larson on upright bass (Bangalore, Liquid Life, Toni Lynn Washington)
• Justin Berthiaume on drums/percussion (The Chicken Slacks Soul Revue, The Howl)
• John Aruda on saxophone (Superhoney, The Soul Band, Toni Lynn Washington)
• Scott Aruda on trumpet
• Didi Stewart on backup vocal
• Yours truly on electric and acoustic guitar

One hell of a band, if you ask me.

These guys were so professional, they made my job easy. They handled arrangements on the fly, long session hours, and moments of indecision with true professional grace.

I was insecure going into my first session as producer. I was afraid that my inexperience would lead to hangups, bad sounding tracks and a slew of other “rookie” mistakes. But, one thing I took away from those sessions is that if you want to have a professional sounding album, surround yourself with professionals. It was all about the music.. they listened well. They respected my role as producer enough to give me the confidence to follow my instincts even though they all knew it was my first time in that position.
Once the initial tracking was complete, we focused on Kelsey’s vocals and laying down instrumental overdubs. Sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn’t work. All in all, everything went pretty smoothly.

Tom took over the mastering duties, while Kelsey and her manager, Leslie Cargill handled the design and admin side of the album.

Finally, a finished product! I have to say that I am pretty proud of how it turned out, though I believe it wouldn’t have been such a success without combined effort of many talented people. So, without further ado, I would like to present to you..

Kelsey Quigley

crystal and ash

Click the link above to listen to or buy the album!

What do you think? Please leave a comment!