MJEB's All Colours Blues Blog Part 15 - Providence operates in Kansas
When we last left our heroes, they had bid a fond good bye to Danny & Mona after a pretty awesome day of music.
We were due to record 'Push me away' as a duet between Jo and Danny in two days time and I had hoped to run through the song with him, but he was looking kind of tired. Mona had a serious expression, but Danny played it down.
I had an inkling something was amiss.
Day 19
We spent the next day in R&R and rehearsal and chanced a call to Danny later in the day. Mona answered. Danny was in hospital, he'd had a heart attack.
Holy crap.
With not much to add to that we waited.
D-Dawg texted me me 'providence in KC, KS' which I interpreted as a sign that Danny had survived. Providence indeed.
Of course what was actually meant by the text was 'Providence Hospital, Kansas.' Ah.
We waited some more.
Day 20 - The Show Must Go On
We'd booked a day at a studio run by a mate of Dannys. There's nothing more Aussie than getting Mates Rates :-) Cheers Chuck
We turned up, set up and waited for a more polite hour to ring. I got ahold of Mona and learned to our great relief that Danny was recovering well in hospital and was trying to get out of the ward to come do the recording.
Thankfully wiser heads prevailed and Danny took the rest he needed.
What A Producer Does During Crisis
With Danny unavoidably detained, we moved to plan B.
I had no idea what Plan B actually entailed, so I focused on the more vital tasks that fall under the purview of a Producer.
I went in search of breakfast for the crew.
As I pondered existence, I followed my nose across the road to a bakery.
It was authentic enough a place to require some degree of sign language on my behalf. They looked at me as if I was mad. They weren't open. what was I doing haggling for bread on the sidewalk?
Ah, I said, but I live near Auburn. No stranger to pestering peddlers for pita I.
Eventually they brought forth a gentlemen with stylish cropped salt and pepper hair and a disinctly military bearing. He looked at my wide smile, my hand full of cash and with a curt nod that I think may have previously been used to command a tank battalion in the middle east, accepted my few dollars for some fresh herbed flatbread.
Having reconnoitered the obvious place to return for lunch, my logistical challenges were overcome.
In fact, later, when i returned to get the crew lunch from the attached Middle Eastern restaurant, a softly poken Kansian chap leaned over as we waited for our Kebabs and softly whispered "This place is great' conspiratorially, as if he and I alone shared the secret of this great foreign cuisine.
But i digress.
Now, what to do about the song.
Of course, I could sing it myself. Hmm. I pondered as I returned with baked goods.
We do a bit of Metal Here.
Our Techno soundo Ninja for the day was Mr Rebeck and he has done a bit of metal recording of late. This was gonna be something slightly different.
he'd never had lunch from the middle eastern place. I made him try the Eggplant Dip. You're a brave man Mr Rebeck ;-) Oh well, at least he dug on the hummus.
Lightbulb Moment.
I drank coffee. Whilst the bread eaters masticated, I cogitated.
With Danny out the options were:
A: record Danny's bits myself
B: wait for Danny to get better
C: Other.
Option A was do-able but I realised that the bit I wanted to sing was actually the bit Jo was going to sing. That would have just been too weird. Yes we wrote it for her. That's not the point. You try giving up your new shiny toy.
Option B 'delaying' can mean 'foregoing'. Hmmm..
Option C....option C...who else do we know who could come in at the last minute and sing with Jo?
DC Rides to the Rescue
DC Bellamy had jammed with us at Danny's. I had his number. I had a phone.
Hmmm.
DC has a clever answering machine widget that plays a song to you while it connects you. I thought it was going to voicemail.
Unexpectedly, DC greeted me instead. It took me a moment to realise it wasnt a recording,
Yes he was available,. Sure he'd love to come sing with jo.
DC and his friend James had been cruising around deciding what to do for the afternoon.
They arrived in time for lunch.
You guys are brave
'Hang on a minute whilst i get the Do Wop done' isnt a phrase Mr Rebeck hears very often. he said we were very brave. That is true.
Ah heck. Enough blog. It was a brilliant, sad and wondrous day.
Sad because we missed Danny (and he would have been great in the part) but blessed because DC made Jo's first lead recording a truly special day.
I'll nutshell the rest so you can watch the video (it's long) - we recorded, Robert mixed it, Lynchy mastered it and Jo and DC sound great in it.
First the making then the full song at the end with a videoclip i made for it. or go to the videoclip by itself here: http://youtu.be/bllWcj6ixkE
Oh almost forgot. was meant to be a harp solo but Rosie pinched it cos his stuff was better. That sometimes happens
In the final instalment of our US tour blog to come:
- Final gig
- What will they make of us in Iowa?
- Sweet partings
