All scratch versions, guitar/vocals are out to the musicians.

We pulled "Everybody Knows" off acoustic, thanks to a dobro borrowed from my good friend Burk:

Amazing instrument, a National, but made by a California company that took the National name and put real work into them. The balance, intonation, and feel is hard to describe. "It suits you," according to Ken. I want one.

We reopened "1000 Miles." Yeah. Like a box of ghosts. We tried shortening it, editing, snipping, starting in different places, and the song simply resisted all attempts. I've never seen a song do that. I wonder if it's because I've heard it so many times. But every moment is something I've loved, over and over. I couldn't part with any of it. If anything, we added a more definitive ending. Perhaps this will be the ending this song has been begging for.

"Til I Get it Right" is just fun, pure. Written as a challenge from a friend, it's now standing on its own.

"Waving Goodbye": I had this whole "hey hey hey" part in it. Ken was like, meh. We sat and toiled, and worked around it. "1000 Miles" couldn't part with a nanosecond of editing, and this one yielded huge chunks of itself, and now? It's better.

"Johnsburg, Illinois": I wonder if Tom Waits will ever hear it. I hope so. I hope I did him justice. We looked up the meaning of the song. Johnsburg is his wife's hometown. So cool.

So-called "Mike/Ari Song": Started with Ari Hest. I worked an arrangement out, but there are no lyrics yet. I've never gone this far on a song without lyrics before. Will be interesting.

I hope my friend doesn't ask for the dobro back too soon. I feel like we could use just one more song...and I think that's the instrument that can do it.

 

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I've done a lot of falling asleep on the notebook. I'm waiting for the time I wake up having drawn on my own face.

Time is ticking, the list of available songs is going to close. I got an arrangement together for the song I'm writing with Ari Hest. I'm eyeing just one more part, but the music is done. We've traded lyric ideas. I think it's a story. About someone. Who does something. Yeah. I think the first line is "...the next morning..." Or something.

I'm reading a lot, in order to write. I have to get into a book. They're on the floor by my bed and I'm reading 10 pages of each to see what hooks me. "Chronic City" by Jonathan Lethem. "Zeitoun" by David Eggers. No dice, though I fell asleep on Eggers (sorry, man). I'm thinking about Philip K. Dick and maybe just taking it outside. DeLillo, Jim Thompson, Richard Brautigan, Cormac McCarthy... something to hook me in, get words flowing. You are what you eat.

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With extra spinach.

"Daylight" Video URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivMX6flUrHE

"Daylight" Free Download: http://www.errico.com/audio/Daylight%20remix.mp3

Recorded at Joe's Pub, NYC Dec.17, 2009 by James Manzi

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I shook Ken's hand and looked around. "OK. Get used to this." He laughed and we talked about direction. Just like that.

The songs are pointing a new direction. I think. It's too fuzzy to know at this point. Left. Right. Left. Right.

Scratch tracks today, so we can commit to the tempos, keys and arrangements I've chosen.



"Everybody Knows" - It will be hypnotic, rolling. Scratch guitar and vocal point the right direction already. That canvas is stretched.


"On the Other Side" - Very slippery song, so intriguing. I'd left it for dead, but it won't go away, and I've grown to respect its persistence. I wrote it to be loud, but the quieter we go with it, the better it gets. Looked to "Eraser"-era Thom Yorke, Guy Garvey, PJ Harvey, Tom Waits. Not pushing. Just singing.

"Wish You Well" - The song fought the constraints of a click track, so we've pulled it off, and put it on nylon. Everything is going to follow the elastic sense of time that that little guitar has established. I've never done that before. This record will be full of that sentence.

The vibe here is good. Cathartic. I go back in Monday. Til then, pushing through some other wordless songs, looking for lyrics, as if the record is setting sail, and I want to get as many people on board as I can.

Reward: Hooked up with friends at a Polynesian bar and sucked down two Planter's Punches, then bought a round of flaming tiki shots. The bartender poured flammable liquor on the steel-topped bar and gave us little marshmallows on a stick. She placed five brown tiki-head shot glasses on the bar and placed lemons on them. Then she lit the lemons and the bar on fire. We toasted the marshmallows until the bar went out. Then: suck on the lemon, throw the rind on the bar, do the shot, eat the toasted marshmallow.

Not bad.

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(Post-mortem email to the players)

Matt/Jessie,

Thanks, guys. I hope it's not just me that felt this whole project lurch forward last night. I had a hard time sleeping, thinking through it.

I knew the bones of "Waving Goodbye" were strong, but didn't expect it to take off the way it did. On "Everybody Knows," Iron and Wine popped into my head - always a great sign when something like that happens, and for it to be that band means that we are on a good path with the song. "On the Other Side" is just...I don't know. It rolls, almost as if pop could be 'elegant.'  I think we're going to have to school Ethan on dynamics for that one. It can really set itself apart. I did clam on "Wish You Well" but enough came out clean that I could hear that it belongs. Our standbys, meanwhile, are just tremendous. Ever Since, Count to Ten, 1000 Miles, Underwater... it's a good set.

Jessie, the woman who called you a 'beast' is a serious opera singer, she knows what she's talking about. And Matt, "You Could Be Anywhere" made someone in the audience very, very happy. Thanks for joining in. Your recall is insane. My mom also liked your set.

I meet w/Ken today, doing guit/vocal scratch tracks. Stay tuned. (wow, is that a music pun? sorry.)

M

SET LIST

Ever Since
1000 Miles
Waving Goodbye
Count to Ten
Everybody Knows
Wish You Well (solo)
On the Other Side
Underwater

Encore: You Could Be Anywhere

 

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"Aucune Idee," written by Jonatha Brooke, Mike Errico and Nolwenn Leroy.
Performed by Nolwenn Leroy on her 2009 release,  "Le Cheshire Cat et Moi," (Mercury Records).

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgaYfdmMM_w

I recently wrote the germ of this song with Jonatha Brooke, who then finished it with Nolwenn Leroy, the winner of Star Academy, which, if you don't know, is the French equivalent of American Idol. I haven't mentioned it because Mercury records has so far only released the record in France. In this global, Internetty world, that boundary seems arbitrary to me, but maybe they did it because the song is half in French, or because Nolwenn is a big star over there, but not well known here. I don't really know.

I do know that Jonatha and Nolwenn did a beautiful job on the song, and are just great on this fan-filmed video, taken somewhere in Europe, probably France, on March 18th.

Jonatha was an amazing lesson in songwriting. She has an idiosyncratic approach, with guitar strings detuned every which way, and the ability to pull angular, unsettled harmonies out of the air.

Before the song had lyrics, I took it and set the whole track with a latin feel, thinking of vocalists like Claudia Acuna. We also started a second, upbeat song, which still needs to be finished. Those two tracks still dog me, in the back of my mind. I'll get to them.

That night, we had dinner with her husband, who opened a flatteringly good bottle of wine (or at least it tasted that way). Before I left, she gave me a half-capo as a gift, which I keep nearby, waiting for the perfect moment. Good people.

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Last show before re-entering the studio.
New material, no cover.

Date: Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Time: 7:30pm - 9:00pm
Location: Rockwood Music Hall
Street: 196 Allen st.
City/Town: New York, NY

URL: http://rockwoodmusichall.com/

Featuring: Matt Beck, keys
Jessie Reagen Mann, cello

NEW VIDEO:  "1000 Miles," (Live, Holiday Show 2009)

FREE DOWNLOAD: "1000 Miles"

 

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"1000 Miles" and much more, available at the official Mike Errico store: http://errico.com/store/catalog/

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"1000 Miles" Video URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfSoNEH6e9I

Free Download: http://www.errico.com/audio/1000_Miles.mp3

Recorded at Joe's Pub, NYC Dec.17, 2009 by James Manzi
Featuring Jessie Reagen Mann on cello.
"1000 Miles" written by Mike Errico, Ben Mink

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"1000 Miles" and much more, available at the official Mike Errico store: http://errico.com/store/catalog/

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Apple iTunes Weekly Rewind, Episode 79: This week features "Count to Ten," along with Lady Gaga, the bird and the bee and more: http://bit.ly/byygrg

Full iMix is available here:

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewIMix?id=364919784&s=143441&v0=575

 

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#FreeFridayGiveaway In honor of the weather, FREE Sky Blue Ladies' T's (American Apparel), S, M or L (while they last) e: info@tallboy7.com (NOTE: Twitter followers have the jump on you...)

Technical difficulties are now in the rear view. Sorry for the lapse in service. We always strive to be here when you're in need.

OK, then. Back to work.

M