Uncommon Ground
Volume 4 Book 3 of
Living in the Bonus Round
(Part 9)

Steve singing "Franco Ate The Paperwork."

[ Book 4-2 ] --  [ Pt 1 ] [ Pt 2 ] [ Pt 3 ] [ Pt 4 ]  [ Pt 5 ] [ Pt 6 ] [ Pt 7 ] [ Pt 8 ]
[ Pt 9 ] [ Pt 10 ] [ Pt 11 ] [ Pt 12 ] [ Pt 13 ] [ Pt 14 ] -- [ Book 4-4 ]

 
April 8-12, 2005.
The Franco Session.

This past weekend I flew up to Oakland to record a new song with a group of eclectic rock musicians who loosely call themselves Preoccupied Pipers. The song we recorded was a bit of supposed nonsense that I wrote on a dare from one of the members, Ned Sykes. It happened like this:

Just before we went on our last cruise, I sent out a call to everyone I knew to give me some good song titles so that I would have things to write while on the ship. Ned went to my discussion board and listed about 10 completely unusable titles (because Ned is a trickster and loves to joke around).

So, responding to the challenge, I wrote a few lyrics -- but then one of them kind of resonated. The title is "Franco Ate The Paperwork," and I began writing verses quickly, off the top of my head -- almost subconsciously. In other words, rather than planning out the song or trying to figure out what the song was about, I just let each line come as it appeared in my head, as if someone else were dictating the content and I was just scribbling it down whether it made sense to me or not.

When I got on the ship, I started working with it on the last week, after having set it aside to write a couple of other things, and it was amazing how it flowed. So I got home, dashed off a demo and sent it to Ned who loved it. He said, "We're making a new Preoccupied Pipers album. Why don't you come here to Oakland and let's record it?"

And so I did. It also gave me a chance to reconnect with my pal, Ken McPherson.

Ken McPherson.

KC plays bass with baby on board.

Ned and Ish.

Dave on sax.

Ish on guitar.

Ken sings back-up.

KC and Ned sing.

KC singing.

Baby on board! Lovin' his time with daddy in the studio.

Ned and Steve pose for the gays.

Here's my brooding artist pose.

It's Cthulhu's Dance Party!!

You might be wondering what "Cthulhu's Dance Party" is. That's the name of the faux band I came up with as the "artist" on this song since it's a dance track and I love the word "Cthulhu."

Well, as you can imagine, we had a great time together -- but even better, we recorded a BURNING track with some hot musicianship.

Can't WAIT for the final mix!

© 1996-2005 by Steve Schalchlin. You have permission to print from this diary and distribute for use in support groups, schools, or to just give to a friend. You do not have permission to sell it.