[Continued from previous blog]

I have arrived at the final day of this three-day recording project. Yesterday I reworked some of the previously mentioned songs. Recording, as I see it, is an endless quest for perfection that never comes—like writing. It’s a slow tumble into a bottomless creative abyss. I keep tumbling away and hope I land on my feet.   

I worked on a tune called “Perro Caliente.” Before becoming the “Father of the Atom Bomb,” J. Robert Oppenheimer vacationed in New Mexico at a place near Los Alamos and stayed in a cabin called “Perro Caliente” (Hot Dog). This song is about Oppenheimer’s cabin.

I stalled out at some point yesterday. It must have been the helicopter that kept buzzing our neighborhood—the sound of whirring rotors barely noticeable in my headphones. Barely noticeable whirring is NOT acceptable! There was only one way to combat the racket. I went electric and from that point on the Telecaster reigned supreme.

I woke up this morning with the riff to an instrumental playing in my head. I named it “Jabber Jaw” but by the time I pulled myself out of bed the strains were already fading. Let’s see if it comes back to me later today.