It’s been a busy Spring ‘13 – I’m re-assembling Chateau Daveaux, getting her ready for mixing and a certain amount of tracking. The place has 13-foot ceilings like most of the grand old Louisiana colonial-style homes, and with enough knickknacks on shelves & oriental rugs I should get a decent amount of sound diffusion & reflection control & still take advantage of a good-sized space. I’m still on the fence about ProTools I/O options – since I’m not trying to track more than four people at a time here or get into big drum situations it doesn’t make sense to drop thousands on an HD rig but it would be nice to have a good neutral-sounding “8 in/8 out” box with a/d-d/a conversion. Call it option anxiety, there’s just too much shit from which to choose.
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I finally had my old ’60’s Gretsch (Maxine) re-wired and given a little TLC from Jerome Garbutt here in NOLA. I forgot how much I loved that sound, there’s no guitar that sounds like her. Not a versatile instrument but when you need THAT SOUND, there it is. Here’s the test track:
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Been doing some shows with my friend and fellow Algerian Terry McDermott, which are fun & totally rock, although I suspect some of his core audence was expecting more balladry (he’s a rock artist in sheep’s clothing). This weekend we’ll do an opener for the mighty Terry Reid here in New Orleans, and I believe I’ll be sitting in with Mr. Reid’s band on guitar. A bit intimidating, that man is the master.
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(’To Be Treated Right’, from Terry Reid’s masterpiece Seed Of Memory)
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This week I begin the arduous process of sifting through 10+ years of sketches, themes and sound recordings to culminate in an album (name? open to suggestions). I had NO IDEA I had generated so much stuff, it’s quite a pile.
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Wednesday Rick G. Nelson and I will start the actual recording process. I plan on having some friends help out along the way – anything you’ve heard me do on my own has generally been all me, which can get boring (face it, Todd Rundgren is a genius but you can’t replace the energy of real people reacting to one another).
OK, NFL Ref situation back to normal, Whigs back in the States, bum knee healing nicely, got a shiny haircut, dog behaving temporarily, loving my new Pigtronnix PolySaturator, digging watching my friend Terry McDermott kicking ass on TV, having a good time on tour.
here’s a photo to hold you till i can do a proper post:
The festival shows in Europe (and the UK if you’re picky) are done and I’m home in Louisiana eating red beans & rice and prepping for a possible evacuation, like ya do every year at the end of August. Tropical Storm Isaac is bearing down on the Florida keys right now and most models predict landfall Mon/Tues near here. Ahh, good times. Fortunately Miss Betty & I were driving down the Gulf highway from Florida last night and passed by the Coleman camping supply outlet, so I can damn sure make a fire with twigs if necessary, I got the tools.
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If all hell breaks loose, this is going to put a damper (no pun intended) on finishing the Christmas record I’m about to produce with Twilight Singers/Afghan Whigs family member Rick G. Nelson at Marigny Recording Studios for our dear NOLA friend Amy Trail.
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In New York, my friend Joseph Arthur has this news: “NYC towed my van and sold it with amps and equipment and so much art in it. It’s a white 2003 dodge ram. Sold yesterday. Please help recover. Anyone with any knowledge or help (lawyers) into how to deal with a city taking and selling your stuff would be greatly appreciated. I just found out about this and cant think straight but so much priceless (to me) was inside. Over 40 large scale paintings rolled in canvas. I’m gutted.
The van wasn’t towed and sold the same day. It was towed from a place where it was getting repaired and sold when i was in Mexico under the impression that it was back at the shop.”
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If you want to help out in any way, full details HERE.
OK, I’ve fixed the URL of my Facebook music page -
if you want to keep up with my musical doings, tourdates, tour diary, music insights and gear geekery you can “like” me at www.facebook.com/rossergtr
That’s the “Dave Rosser On Guitar” page. My personal page is pretty much boring stuff about what I cooked for dinner or cloyingly cute photos of my dog. If we aren’t related or hanging out on a regular basis, stick with the Guitar page.
I apologize for my reticence in posting stuff… Here’s a random foto from the tour:
In Bologna there was a carnival (with real gypsy carnies) set up in the parking lot next to the venue.
Ooooh, gypsy carnies, the real deal. So sketchy, yet so intriguing — It was almost like going down da bayou (i mean, EXTREME Down Da Bayou, where the debris meets the sea, like Cocodrie or DuLac). Tattooed necks and décolletage and such. Good times. Kindred Road Souls that want to take all my money.
I took this photo of James, our Lighting Director, which somehow captures his essence to me whether he agrees or not:
So there, James. Tell me I’m wrong. Love you just the same.
As it turns out, the best way to avoid the sweltering hurricane-laden summer in New Orleans is to go on tour with your best friends around the world playing face-melting rock and roll. So, be seeing some of you sooner than anticipated.
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2011 was a bang-up year for all of us (well, me) here at Chateau Daveaux. Touring & recording with dear friends, rock & roll, hiphop, new friends, reunions, disaster, recordings, national TV (a coupla times), new dog, loss, … now time for assessment & resetting the hammer (ok, I should’ve assessed & reset the hammer a few months back, but you know me, slow on the uptake. Measure twice/cut once).
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In 2012 I’d like to do more mixing and remixing – I’ve been making the Chateau more mix-friendly, & hopefully will have a decent place to track drums soon, although not a priority. I’ve been getting into beats & more programming-oriented stuff as of late, and am working on some more electronic textural-oriented stuff, although there’s an instrumental guitar-themed collection in the works.
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I’m assuming that the networks will be rammed and bandwidth used up at midnight, so I’ll wish everyone now a Happy New Year and many happy returns for the upcoming 365. May the universe rise to meet you.
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