Tuesday 8/23/2005

Said a tearful goodbye to Brian Smith today. My neighbor and good buddy is moving to Dallas. He had been staying with us on and off all month and today he hit the road. Bummer. Jake is trying out for HS football.

Early this spring I finally strung two guitars with “Nashville Tuning”.  The sound is amazing and I came up with two songs from it. One in the Nashville guitar tuning (Martin 00-15 and Harmony by the way) and one in normal tuning, so, here we go. Late summer prods me to plan a year more than late December does. I guess the carryover from a new school year (and soccer season) feelings as a child and parent.

Also, my new 7 string Martin McGuinn HD-7 is waiting for me at Mandolin Brothers. Very Exciting. My third McGuinn signed guitar. I am one lucky bastard.

I have spent some time over the summer preparing the recording equipment and guitars and practicing these songs. I have no lyrics so they may be instrumental. I really like it all so far.

The next 3 weeks are tough, we will take a few days to visit the Macy’s in Pa. and then 9/9-9/12 we go to Ohio for a client wedding and 9/13-9/15 I go to Guatemala on Ameriteak/Interforest business. Then I will go into recording mode full swing, maybe before.

I recently wrote this:

Uncle Joe’s Guitar

-A story about a “found” guitar, and the final, difficult passage of a life on this earth. While sad, it is also true, and in some ways, very happy. A lesson to all who take the time to read, here we go………

My father had but one brother, one of my only two wonderful uncles, Uncle Joe. A civil engineer who built some big buildings in the heyday of New York City construction in the 1950’s and 1960’s, Joe was a charming man who worked very hard and played very little. That was his nature. He was always very good to me and I still miss him a lot. This is the story of his final days, my involvement, and of his guitar.

In late 1979 my new wife Kathy (Taf) and I moved into our first home in Port Washington, on the north shore of Long Island, NY. Joe and my aunt Marie lived in Plandome, a small upscale town next door to “Port”. One winter night, shortly after moving in, we had Joe and Marie and my parents over for dinner; two newlywed 23 year olds and the generation above in their fifties. A nice evening.

All of a sudden, the conversation turned to guitars. I was still a fledgling player, having taken lessons in college after buying my first guitar in high school. The day I bought my first guitar, a mass produced classical nylon thing that I liked, my father came home and seeing it said “What’s this?” “I want to learn guitar” I said after my grandmother, May Gillen having heard of my aspirations and economic shortfall, had given me $100 to go buy it earlier that day. $100, a big tab back then. “You should have told me, I have a guitar” he said and related his attempt to learn as a young man. After he changed, he went up into the attic and returned with some old, somewhat scratched, unlikely thing I thought was very uncool. But hey, it was my first day as a guitar player and I had two guitars. Nice start! (That guitar turned out to be a 1920’s Gibson F-hole steel string that I treasure to this day, what luck! Really!)

So here we were in our place, and little did I know Joe had also become a player. His social world was a slightly snooty moneyed circle, so when he took it up he got a fancy “North Shore” classical teacher and, a fancy classical guitar – unbeknownst to me. That night, in the middle of our evening he unexpectedly drove home, got his guitar, came back and played for us. And then I did. Not bad, the typical exercises of beginning players who really were not very musical on a guitar that did not impress anyone much. Ok though, made the night interesting. End of story, so I thought.

Twenty five years later, after millions of dollars had passed through his hands, in most cases spent frivolously, Joe was sick, very sick. With no relatives other than an estranged son, and us, he needed help. So I, my brother and my sons were ready, to our disappointment and dismay to assist. Seems that after my father had loaned him money to assist with Marie’s terminal illness and demise, Joe went to a neighbor and borrowed so much more money that when he could not pay it back, the neighbor, a lifelong friend, was forced to foreclose on the mortgage that had secured the debt and evicted Uncle Joe from his large, fine home of 40 years. A depressing horror show to see.

With no place to live, this proud man who had just lost his wife and had no one else to turn to, was welcomed into the home of his sons ex-wife and his 11 year old granddaughter. Allie welcomed him, as he had welcomed her as a young woman into his home with Marie as their daughter when she was in trouble and had been at great odds with her own parents. She had married their son, divorced him, but she never forgot their generousness and reciprocated in his last days when Joe was in trouble himself. What goes around sometimes really does come around. Allie was very, very generous.

So it was bad, really bad,  and he had a rollaway dumpster delivered to his driveway, and for 6 weeks, my crew, (whoever was available on a given day), diligently arrived weekend mornings to empty the contents of Joe’s house into the dumpster, all day long as it was a big house (and a heartbreaking job.) Joe sat on a folding chair, unable to help, watching a lifetime of possessions head for the land fill. Gentleman that he was, he endeavored to leave the house empty to spare his friend the expense of cleaning it as he liquidated the house, and Joe grudgingly enlisted us to do the work. He had no choice of other volunteers. We were it.

The days of labor were emotionally tough, carrying out all the stuff of a lifetime in a continuous parade past poor Joe as he, in pain, watched it all reverberate while dropped in the metal cavern on his driveway. It was heart wrenching, picture it. Three or four times a day he’d say “not that” as an item, particularly precious only to him passed by and we would instead put it in the vehicle of transit. At the end of the day, we’d deliver him to Allie’s house and empty the few things he could not part with into her garage which was brimming with things of no economic value that meant something to him from prior weekends. The garage had become overfilled with stuff, Joe had become overfilled with illness, and we were fortunately near the end of the house cleaning as I wondered how much more could he, or we, could take.

And now also, Joe was financially broke. Totally. Completely.

He lived from US Navy pension check to another and rarely a week went by that he, my father, or Allie did not receive a threatening call from a bill collector. He was at the end of everything. It was really sad for a man whose life had been one of accomplishment and class, who, contributed to – no caused his own financial demise at life’s end, as he had always lived beyond his financial means. Leverage is a killer when the cash flow stops.

Then, on the last day of the project, I got into Joe’s bedroom closet. Marie’s nightgowns and many other of their very personal items were still stored, as if they were still in the prime of their lives. On one of my last trips I discovered a guitar case, way in back, buried deep, and quickly I opened it. The nice, slightly worn classical guitar, last seen by me in 1979 was inside. I carried it down, and, had he not called out a “not that”, this baby was not going in the dumpster no matter what (hey I’d actually become a serious guitar player during the interim.) But he did, and it went in the car for delivery to the Allie garage storage chamber at day’s end.

Upon arrival at Allies, exhausted and sad as usual, we walked Joe to the door. As we carried the few “not that” things to the garage he saw the guitar going in. “Wait,” he said to me. “You take the guitar, you love to play, and I can’t use it. Think of me when you play it, please!” What could I say? I had over the years made playing my passion, my favorite free time thing. He knew it was too. A beautiful guitar is the most wonderful gift, but especially from him, especially like this. So I took it home with my boys. Tearfully. Damn!!

That night I uncased it and played it for the second time. An amazing instrument I thought. But, being a Martin steel string and electric player, I was not versed in the gem I had in my hands. But it was special, at least I thought. I put on new strings, polished it up, and a few days later, I brought it to a guitar lesson and my teacher, a professional guitar guy got real excited, real fast. “This is serious my friend” he said, and told me to get it checked out by an expert. Stan Jay took a look and immediately told me he’d be happy to give me or get $8,000 for it. What? It was a signed Manual Velasquez bearclaw wood beauty, and a prize to those who treasure such works of art. (Since then I’ve learned of the great value, both monetary and more importantly instrumentally of these wonderful musical instruments.)

So I called Uncle Joe right away and told him of his new found luck. The $8,000 to him at that point was like many multiples of that to a younger healthy working person, or anyone not in the grave debt and misfortune that he had arrived at, desperately in need of money. It took him about 3 seconds to acknowledge his great luck, and about ½ a second more to clear his throat and say….

“You keep the guitar, it’s yours, I gave it to you, and I really I want you to keep it.” And he really did mean it, really. We argued a little, and a little more, but beyond my protest he was adamant and lovingly convinced me to keep it, for me, and for him. I had no choice.

And I did exactly as we agreed, and I still do. That guitar, among those others I’ve been so fortunate to enjoy is very special. The most special. As was my Uncle Joe. The guitar will stay with me for the rest of my life, along with the memories, amplified by the guitar, of that amazing guy, my wonderful Uncle Joe.

Wednesday  8/24/2005

Guitar lesson covering Nashville East, Gene Clark and other stuff. Jake survived the first football cuts.

Sunday  8/28/2005

Monday  8/29/2005

Spent 5 hours yesterday and 1.5 today laying down the intial tracks of Nashville East. Martin six string Nashville stringing and Strat/ Guitar Synth combo. Oh baby, Hurricane Katrina hammered New Orleans today. Nicole, Mike’s girlfriend escaped to Boulder to ride out the storm. Good for them!!!! Jake is still trying out 8 days later. Final cut tomorrow, he is not optimistic!!!! Taf is having back pain big time bummer.

Tuesday 8/30/2005

Internet chat:

Justin says:

so?

Mr. Chris  (NY) says:

I came home today after a stressful day of doing the same thing for 30 years. During the day, I said to several people, kidding around – “Rule one, do not live where your house is below a levee”!!!  I think that is a basic rule, obviously right? Only a moron would do it right? So tonight, watching the coverage of the catastrophe in New Orleans, I realized another thing I have long said but it hit

Mr. Chris  (NY) says:

home – “Don’t live within striking distance of an atomic bomb”. Duh? I do. Like they are not gonna blow up NYC in my lifetime? Practice what you preach I always say. We have some big decisions to make over here.

Mr. Chris  (NY) says:

I’m not gonna be a refugee in my own yard. Jesus.

Justin says:

yea you have always said all that

Mr. Chris  (NY) says:

Yeah I know, but this is a wake up call.

Justin says:

9/11 wasn’t??

Mr. Chris  (NY) says:

Look at the video. And a storm is party compared to doomsday.

Justin says:

oh yea, complete devestation

Mr. Chris  (NY) says:

9/11 was too, i’ve been giving this a lot of thought since that. But that was local.This shows how the whole nyc/ LI area would be a wasteland, if we lived, You can hide from a hurricane, but not a hydrogen bomb.

Justin says:

yea

Justin says:

the whole tri-state area would feel that…for hundreds of miles

Mr. Chris  (NY) says:

Our house is worth 1 million dollars. It would be worth 0 if we lived.

Justin says:

right

Mr. Chris  (NY) says:

We’ll see. i do not like to overreact to things.

Justin says:

no of course not

Mr. Chris  (NY) says:

I’ll talk to mom and we’ll think about it.

Mr. Chris  (NY) says:

But my gut says get the hell out of here. The Giffuni’s have had 4 generations around here. It may be time to hit the road.

Saturday  9/3/2005

Busy week. Tuesday Jake made the football team and then quit. #@!%@%#@%@#@ Wednesday we went to Cooperstown NY to see Bill and Lynn Macy and family who’s son Mike was playing in a baseball deal. We stayed in a house on Goodyear Lake in Oneonta, great time. Came back late Thursday and worked Friday. I got up today and went to Staten Island to Mandolin Bros and picked up my McGuinn Martin 7- String. Amazing Instrument. New Orleans is still out on control. Still. Jesus, how lucky am I? Justin is home for the weekend, new Martin, and the extended family is coming tomorrow for a skirt steak, wine, pool BBQ. I have no complaints.

Played my new guitar and watched:

                                              

USA Qualified for Germany World Cup Baby!!!!!!!!!!!! Kicked Mexico’s ass!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday  9/5/2005 (Labor Day)

Yesterday the extended families came (except those personas at school). We grilled steaks, drank wine, tossed Frisbees, swam in the pool and enjoyed amazing weather. It gets no better. Today I laid at the pool and then took Jake to get new ski’s for our anticipated blow away ski season. When I returned, I took two guitars outside and wrote down the tablature for Nashville East and Nashville Central. What an amazingly great weekend. We are here and people are dying in New Orleans. Jesus.

Tuesday 9/6/2005

Back to harsh reality. But, I received the new Rolling Stones album by Fedex today. Sounds great!!

Thursday 9/8/2005

Mike got his Grand Cherokee Laredo delivered in Boulder yesterday!!! Justin doing great in Albany and Jake had a nice start to school. And Taf and I worked our asses off the last couple of days. Whew. I took a guitar lesson yesterday and worked on the fingerpicking of Fire and Rain. Tough but fun stuff. Using my Elizabeth Cotton Martin and still getting to know my new HD-7 McGuinn 7 string. NFL started tonight.

Using the Martin 00-18CTN I was trying fast runs with a 3^rd fret capo for Nashville Central. We’ll see.

Saturday 9/17/2005

Last 10 days all a mess with 6 plane trips to Ohio and Guatemala (see the Guatemala journal). Today Taf had her wisdom teeth out so it has been a little crazy. Starting Tuesday I hope to be back in the studio. This is all why my process down here takes so long all the time.

While I was on the plane to Guatemala, I wrote this:

Toast and Butter Blues

Ah toast and butter, and butter and toast

Hot toast and warm butter, I love it the most

I’m your hot toast my darlin’, warm butter you spread

Warm butter warm butter, done blow up my head

I give you my toast, get your warm lovin’ butter

Oh warm butter warm butter, from my sweet lady lover

My knife takes a spread, of your nice tastin’ butter

You butter my toast, and my heart starts to sputter

I’m toast and you’re butter, you butter my toast

Warm butter warm butter, yo’ sea lick my coast

I taste up some wine, it tastes silky smooth

But it don’t make me fine, like your butter done do

Warm butter warm butter, said it blowed up my head

I’m your hot toast my darlin’, your warm butter’s my spread

I like butter hot, gimme greasy and tasty

An some dirty and earthy, just a little bit nasty

Warm butter warm butter, yes it blows up my head

I’m your hot toast my darlin’, warm butter you spread

I like butter hot, and salty and sweet

An’ some cool and slippery, my baby’s good treat

Butter out of the toast, with a little suck

This story got born, on Mr. Chris Style 0 Deluxe

Oh warm butter warm butter, hot toast and butter

I give you my toast, get your warm lovin’ butter

Oh warm butter warm butter, hot toast and butter

I give you my toast, get your warm lovin’ butter

Ah toast and butter, and butter and toast

Hot toast and warm butter, I love it the most

Keep in mind the plantation slave musicians wrote most of the great blues songs about hatred for the boss and sex, things they could not talk about. I’m just trying to imitate what they did, that is the idea.

Monday 9/19/2005

Giants game. Monday night. Pulled out a 20 year old Hohner Blues Harp. Hot Toast and Butter baby.

Saturday 9/24/2005

Massive work on Nashville East. Taf is away in Virginia with a friend on a nursing mission. I had the day free so I worked in the studio and then at the pool with the Martin Backpacker on Toast and Butter Blues guitar. Hurricane Rita buried Texas. Jesus.

Sunday 9/25/2005

Got up early with Taf away and did more studio work on Nashville East. I tried various guitars and synths as lead instruments and then settled on some Tubular Bells!!!  Later today I’ll watch the Brazilian Grand Prix, go see my parents and then the Giants Sunday night game at 8:30pm!!!!

Wednesday September 28, 2005

Well the Giants sucked Sunday night. So painful. I awoke Monday and worked until  Tuesday night at 5pm non stop with 5 hours sleep and passed out. Big Board of Directors meeting at a client. Tuesday night I received a FedEx delivery of a new Neil Young Album/DVD and watched a documentary on Dylan as we went to sleep for 2 hours. That was my music work over the last two days. But, watching the masters at work is very interesting and helpful. I saw some good lap steel guitar work in the Young DVD so I will try and incorporate mine into Nashville East. Tonight I did some editing work on it in Sonar.

                                                          

Nice Dreadnaught Martin!

Friday September 30, 2005

Spent two hours in the studio tonight trying out bass, bell, and slide guitar parts. None did I like. I then tried to no avail to tune my lap steel guitar. Some days, it just isn’t happening. Tomorrow is a day of work and Jen’s graduation party at her moms house.

Saturday October 1, 2005

Tubular Bell leads to Sonar. Some preliminary mixing without effects and it is starting to take shape. Taf and I went to Jens Graduation from Nursing school party at her Moms house. I felt like I was meeting future  in-laws!!! Holy Shit.

Saturday October 1, 2005

Great Day. Woke up and took Jake and his buddy Matt out to Bfst. Then Jake and I mountain biked to Merrick (in the dirt) to watch big Giant game with Justin and Gog. Came home to work on Nashville East. .

Thursday October 6, 2005

See how fast time goes when you try and do a song? Monday night Holiday Dinner here. Tuesday Holiday in the City at Sams all day and night.

Weds was good, a Mr. Chris day – Gym AM, work, guitar lesson, massage, home and new guitar parts using Neil Young chords learned at the lesson for yet another song. Right now is a very creative time  –

1. Nashville East
2. Nashville Central
3. Toast and Butter Blues.
4. Classical Guitar Fingerpick
5. Classical Guitar Fingerpick II
6. Young Chord thing
7. Martin 7 you got me jam
8. Shit for brains

All I need is time. Huge tax deadline 10/15, closing the big teak Guatemala deal in the next few weeks, and all three boys need help as life is tough for each right now. Thank god I have an amazing partner in Taf and we are healthy.  

Tonight Thurs. I came home and ran, set up dinner and here I am for 10 minutes! Jesus. By the way, big city police action today for potential Subway blow up by rat scum Islamic bombers. Nice fucking world.

Saturday and Sunday October 8^th and 9^th 2005

Huge rain weekend. Spent Saturday morning and Sunday morning doing the bass parts and doing initial mixing. Massive work with compressors and other electronics to try and make it professional. Spent Sat. afternoon at Joe Dwyer’s for the first down and then Sat night at the Smiths for Susan’s 50^th party.

I think it needs some more lead instrument and melody tracks. We’ll see.

Monday October 10, 2005

Columbus Day. Worked a half day and came home to watch the Islander game with Jake. Then spent and hour and a half recording some 12 string electric which was the thing it needed!!! Took Jake, two friends and Taf out to Chinese.

Thursday October 13, 2005

Let me say this. In my whole life on LI, I never saw rain like the last 6days. Jesus. So we came home last night from dinner out on the night before Yom Kippor to find MAJOR water in the basement by the stairs. Pumped it out and went to sleep. Woke up today to a lot more and spent the day pumping. So bad, Taf and Jake had to go to Ct. to see the family and break the fast without me so I could pump. Got some time during it all to initially mix Nashville East, but not exactly a calm studio day. Actually, spent the day making sure no water got in the studio. Juaoooooooooooooo!.!.!.!.

                     

Tuesday October 18, 2005

I spent from Thursday until Sat Night pumping an estimated 750 gallons in the basement here out to the street. My fathers sump pumps failed and I spent Sunday and Monday night pumping there. I am exhausted and have done no work down here. Tomorrow through Saturday night are all booked so it will be about 10 days of no activity here. #@!$#@%$#^#&##@

Friday October 28, 2005

10 days passed (as expected) and no work on the song. During that time I watched or went to 3 Ranger Isle games (we won 2) and went to another Isle game, saw a Broadway play, planted 23 Forsithia in a rush to beat another storm, took delivery of a new Martin Clapton Guitar, finalized an 8 carat ring for Taf for our trip coming in two weeks, did some serious work on learning a fiddle song named Blackberry Blossom and today I went to Wellington Mara’s funeral.

Major NFL star power at Mara funeral

Gifford, Upshaw, Madden, Willie Brown, Tagliabue honor late Giants owner.

                                                                                                                                                                                            

I hope to get back to work tomorrow.

 

Saturday October 29, 2005

Replaced ceiling tiles in the basement and then did work in the yard. Came in and did some mixing, finally.

 

   Tuesday November 1, 2005

Well the Giants kicked some ass on Sunday!! I went to work for the morning and then watched the game in Merrick, came home and ran. Last night worked on Black Mountain Rag in the den and read. Tonight massive mixing work on Nashville East. Compressors and Enhancers and Exciter hardware units. Watched Isles Bruins as I mixed. I am a multi-tasking genius.

Monday November 14^th, 2005

Spent the last two weeks gearing up for and going on vacation to Anguilla. We were there all last week and this week I am off as well to finish the song and relax. Rough life. Yesterday the giants played the worst game I have ever seen!!!! We went to Albany to watch with Justin.

SO TODAY, AFTER BIG DELAYS, I FINALIZED THE MIXING OF NASHVILLE EAST. THANKS. ON TO MORE WORK. THE FALL 2005 PROJECT IS COMPLETE.