Traffic related wisdom from George

so it comes to my attention from a source higher than I that there's this little thing called all we know that I have yet to contribute to. as you can tell I don't know much, however this space does give me the space
to rant, and that is something I relish. so here's my rant... I hate to start this way, but, have you ever noticed that some people just can't drive? doesn't matter if they're on a side street or in themiddle of the Jersey Turnpike. they just can't drive. let me share with you some of my favorites:

the cruiser- this guy has laid claim to any one (and usually a half of another) lane that has three on more lanes, while driving between 5 and 15 mph below the speed limit. isn't slower traffic to keep right? please tell your friends if they do this. it will really make the world a better place.

blinkey- this is a pac-man reference for my boy Bendy and you can guess what it is... we all do it, I'm just glad when it's not me...

slant parker- sounds like an alias in a comic book right? nope it's the guy with the overpriced sports-car and not enough hair, telling you just what he thinks about you and and the rest of us. a real "people person".

rushey- this is the nut-job that had to be there an hour ago and will ride your ass so hard you feel like you should charge him to change lanes. what gives with this jerk? it's my road too.

the smoker- this person is usually all over the road in order to find/light a cigarette or, serenity now, a cigar or pipe! this is no b.s. Z and I saw a guy lighting a pipe not that long ago. a pipe! who the hell smokes a pipe anymore? not me. who's got the time?

there are many more but this is all the time I have for now. I promise to continue on this and rant on all kinds of other stuff. soon's I get Josh's brother Benson to frankenstein a couple of computers together for me. next week sometime. then, after that, I'll do more of this. . . or something like it... see U at a show somewhere/sometime soon.

ok people

L&L

G

When you need something done right, do it yourself.

It also helps to have some really good friends.

It helps even more if one of said friends is a super genius.

For the past four weeks, Josh, George and I have been involved in a rather huge construction project. We've spent pretty much every waking moment building a live-in recording studio in Brooklyn. When all is said and done, the place will be U-Melt Central. it will house our office, it will be where our next couple albums will be recorded, and G and I will be living there too. The design (by Josh -- it's all Josh) is amazing. The centerpiece of the place is a large soundproof room which we built (floor, walls, ceiling and all) to rest on two inches of sound-absorbent neoprine rubber on a wooden frame. Once it's sealed up, it will be virtually airtight, and virtually silent. the vast majority of sound that's made in there will stay in there, so we'll be able to play night and day without disturbing our neighbors. Equally important though is that external sound won't be able to get in, so we can have sensitive microphones recording something as quiet as an acoustic guitar without having to worry about capturing any sounds we don't want.

Essentially, what this means is that (once it's done) we'll be able to spend as much time recording and mixing a ton of material for our next couple albums. We have lofty ambitions for this next album (or two) and we realized that the only way we'll be able to make it right is if we can as much time as we need. The music is complex and detailed, and in order to give all those details the attention they deserve, we're gonna require a lot of time. Studio time is very expensive, and there's no way we'd be able to do this the way we want to while worrying about an hourly studio rental rate. We expect that this will afford us a level of creative freedom that should allow some very exciting things to happen.

it's all pretty exciting.

When i was a kid, i always imagined living somewhere in NYC where i could make music. It's pretty great seeing that dream become a reality thanks to some very talented friends and a lot of very hard work on everyone's part.

See ya down the road...
z