The Final Push!

Please forgive me if this post goes on a bit, but while most of you had the long weekend off, (including LAST GUY...yes, I'll call him that for a while and see how it works!), I was busy, busy, BUSY!!!

I've never had a baby. Never experienced the 9 months of waiting, dreaming, hoping and praying that everything will come out OK. But I HAVE recorded several albums over the years, and I've got to say that I think that this is about as close as this girl's going to get to childbirth!

We are in the home stretch now. After MONTHS of planning, recording, listening, tweeking, "discussing", (OK, sometimes there are egos flying, We're only human after all!), and then recording some more, it looks like WE'RE READY TO MIX THESE SONGS INTO A FULL LENGTH CD! (Can I hear, "AMEN!")

Yesterday was a full day of star-studded entertainment! I was honored to have several friends of mine come into the studio to lay down some tracks and add their talents to the mix. First we had SEAN ALTMAN. You might know Sean from the group ROCKAPELLA. He wrote the theme song for the TV show, WHERE IN THE WORLD IS CARMEN SANTIAGO. They also did all the music for that show. He's got an amazing voice, and he's also a hoot to hang around with! Go see him perform live if you get a chance!

Then we had a couple of the girls from the band BETTY. (Actually, 2 out of 3 of them!) I can't tell you how cool that is for me! I love being around their amazing energy. Plus, it's a laugh a second! (Alyson used to play in my band) They are just back from their recent appearance on THE L WORD! THEY WROTE THE NEW THEME SONG FOR THE SHOW, and, Elizabeth is now the music coordinator for the program! (I've done some session work for her recently.) BETTY recently collaborated with Michael Greif, director of "Rent", on their very own Off-Broadway musical which I happened to see 3 times it was so good! They are singing on the only cover song on my record. I don't want to tell you what song this is yet, though, until we are ready to release the CD. Sorry. Nothing personal! (It WILL make you grin. I promise!)

From here we headed uptown to work with SAMMY MERENDINO. Sammy plays drums with Cindy Lauper, so I've gotten to know him real well over the past couple of years while playing in her band. He's one of the best drummers I've ever known...and I've known quite a few! What I didn't know was that Sammy actually played and programmed the drums on the ORIGINAL track of the song that we are covering! You know, the one that I won't tell you the name of. He's got his very own gold record of it hanging on his wall. Along with a bunch of others, including Joan Osbourne's big record,(the one with "WHAT IF GOD WERE ONE OF US"), Billy Joel, Foreigner, Sophie B. Hawkins, and about, a zillion other hits you would know. He added all of the percussion that was missing on my CD so far and was spectacular in the studio!

Some of my other "GUESTS" have been JOHN WESLEY HARDING, RICHARD BARONE, (from the Bongos), SARA LEE (from the B-52's and Indigo Girls), & STEVE GABOURY, who I also worked with in Cyndi Lauper's band. (He's just been nominated for a Grammy & I REALLY hope he gets it!) And I can't forget to mention the CHOPS HORNS who I met in China when they were playing with Alicia Keys!

Today, after trekking from NYC up to Woodstock, we worked on putting together as many missing pieces as possible. The only thing left to do is get one more guest, DOC FROM THE BAD BRAINS, to play some guitar on a track, and then MIX!

I'll miss this stage of recording...Just as I'm sure a girl looks back on her pregnancy...morning sickness and all! But, hey...as soon as I'm done recording this one, I get to start writing the next one. And then we get to go out and play! YIPPEE!!!