My timing is still not great when I'm estimating transportation time from Jersey to Brooklyn. I arrived about an hour early for a gig I played last night (video to come in a few days). So I took the opportunity to walk the blocks near Fulton Street.  These were the first lilacs of the season that I've seen...and smelled. I'm sure there's a garden back there somewhere. In the meantime, the tulips were lovely. Came across this grand old church. Well, we are in New York City. Gotta love the garbage lined streets.  Its always fun to explore new unfamiliar areas. Hope I'll be back in Brooklyn soon (maybe the same gig will hire me back....here's hoping!).

With the Royal Wedding today (and I don't mean the Fred Astaire version), there has been no escaping the hype. And I don't really mind it either. In fact one of the first things I did this morning was check online to see photos of Princess Katherine's dress. Like many people, I was reminded of Princess Diana and though I wasn't around for that wedding, I do have one memory from my early childhood involving her.  I'm certain that most parents of girls go through the nightmare of brushing their daughter's hair every morning. My mother was no exception and when I was in 3rd grade, she had enough of my unruly tangles and took me for a hair cut. It ended up being very...short. And to reassure me, my mother told me it was a hair cut like Princess Diana. A Princess! Wow, that was really exciting for a little girl. Unfortunately, I don't think I had any real reference as to  who  Princess Diana was, let alone what her hair looked like. Well, short hair looks lovel...

I sang for a room full of people today in a small, dark room. They were people from my past - long, and not so long ago - and one I've never even met. I'm in my final and most challenging phase of recording my album of original songs with Modern Vintage Recordings. Vocal tracking has intimidated me since the beginning of this project. For most of the tracks, we recorded all the music and instruments, and when that was complete, I recorded my vocals inside an intimate booth with a microphone and headphones. When doing this, you may be surprised to learn that we rarely track an entire song from start to finish. Instead, we do the verse a few times, then the chorus, and so on. This way, we can re-do any particular section as many times as necessary to get it  perfect . And there is so much to get perfect when recording vocals; tone, pitch, breath, pronunciation, volume. It's quite exhausting. But on one track, we decided to record a simple piano and vocal, live in the studio...