Photo by Michael Rauner - http://www.michaelrauner.com

Its 6:45 in the morning. Oz and I are staying at my dear friend Daidie’s house in the Berkeley Hills. Daidie is a big part of this recording project and my life in general. Besides being one of my closest friends I regard her as a business partner. She is the person I talk to every day. When I get my 501(c3)/non-profit status (more on that later I’m sure) she will be our development director and will be a member of the board. She found a third of the funding we needed to do this album. In fact, the funding she got for us paid for the computer I’m typing this on. Thank you Daidie.

Last night in the studio was magic. After we were done with the cello and bass, Bela (my 12 y.o. daughter), Blue (my 10 y.o. son), Seth (best friend/bass player), and I howled over the end of “Coyote”. It was sweet. As the song faded, Blue made “sad dog” whining sounds. It sounds great.

Then we recorded Bela singing with me in the chorus section of “the gates” last night. She and I were facing each other, each with our own mic. It was so lovely. We were smiling at each other as we sang. Our love was palpable. I held back tears. I’m soooo glad that Bela and Blue are on this album.

After that we overdubbed the vocals on “If the Stars Could Sing”. We are keeping the live vocals on every other song on the album but by the time we got to tracking “If the Stars” I was exhausted and we could hear it in my voice. I was hesitant to do it since all the other songs are live but I’m glad we did it. My voice was nicely warmed but fresh last night. It felt like butter. I also learned a good trick. I had a lover of mine join me in the isolation booth as I sang. It helped me a lot. I’m used to singing in front of people (I regard live performance as my primary medium). Having her there lifted my performance.

On that note, the other day when we were tracking, Tom Sepe was in the studio documenting our process on video. When he came into the isolation booth with a camera pointed at me I noticed that I was more comfortable singing the songs. I realized that I’m accustomed to singing in front of people, singing FOR people. When I didn’t have anyone except a microphone and the band (who was in a separate room) to sing for, I was not as comfortable. The camera felt like an audience and I told the story of the song more clearly and I sang better. Good to know.

I must admit that I’m proud of the fact that out of 13 songs on my album, I only had to redo one vocal. I’ve really grown as a singer. There are places where my voice isn’t “perfect”, but as Tom Waits told Seth while they were touring together, “Perfect is the enemy of good.” Or as I say, “We are perfect in our imperfections.”

Today we begin mixing. So exciting.

I’m going to drink my tea, stretch and go for a walk in these hills.

Jenya’s toms are bleeding into Seth’s bass mics on “The Gates” so he’s going to do his bass part over.

Seth Ford-Young

Oz Fritz at work.

I learned two important things.

1. We’ve outgrown the Climate Theater.  We sold out 3 days before the show.

2. The way I move my body on stage informs the way I sing.  The stage was tight and cramped last night.  I felt restricted.  Like if I stomped my feet or moved them around I’d break something.  If you’ve seen me live before, you know I like to move when I sing.  Having to stand still was a serious challenge and I realize how important it is for me to have space on stage.

The Climate show was the last bit of preparation for recording the new album.  I’ve been workshopping some of this material solo for years.  Getting to know it.  Trying different tempos, keys and feels.  I added Seth Ford-Young, my bassist and best friend back to the mix in October, the first month of our residency at the Dark Room.  In November we brought Myles Boisen on guitar and Chris Grady back into the mix for the second month of Dark Room Shows.  December we brought our percussionist Jenya Chernoff back and began working with our new cellist Alex Kelly in weekly rehearsals.  We played as a sextet every Thursday in January at CSC with rehearsals in between.  Then we took 2 weeks off in February before we went on retreat in Occidental.  Since then we’ve had two sold out shows including last night.  Now we have two days off before we go into the studio.

I’m thrilled with results of the strategy we took in preparing for this album.  The band is tight musically and personally.  There is so much love between us.  I’ve been told that it comes through on stage and I’m hoping it comes through in the recordings.

Now my job is to fulfill my teaching obligations today then to rest up and take really good care of myself.

On the teaching note, I’m happy to announce that I will not be renewing my contract with the middle school I’ve been teaching at.  I’m going to be focused on the music, private lessons and my Embodied Singing courses.  I love teaching kids.  But the combination of performing regularly, running a business and teaching middle school is just too exhausting for me.

We will be moving into larger rooms now. I’m looking for a theater that seats 150-200. I’m also going to look into playing at Yoshi’s. Its a great listening room. I’ll also look into the Swedish American Hall above Cafe duNord.

I just built a fire in the wood stove and brewed some tea. I already brushed my teeth, read a little bit form an inspiring book, and prayed on my knees at the side of my bed. I pray every morning. I pray to life itself. My basic prayer is “Take me and use me as a servant of love, compassion, and transformation. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Sometimes I’ll list all the people, things and situations I’m grateful for. Today I listed each member of my ensemble, Alex Kelly, Seth Ford-Young, Jenya Chernoff, Chris Grady and Myles Boisen. They are such wonderful people and I am so grateful to be working with them. I’m also grateful to our executive producer Murray Jason who put the money up for us to come on this rehearsal intensive/retreat. This has been an incredible experience and I know that our intimacy with the material and each other will come through in the recording.

I hope that this album touches people in a deep way. I hope it inspires. I think it will. The material certainly moves me. That’s why I feel so called to make it. This work isn’t about my ambitions but about my calling. I have to make this work and get it out to the world. And everything I’ve needed to make it happen has been provided. That’s a good sign. I believe in what we’re doing.

I mentioned transformation early. That’s a word that has been used quite a lot in new age circles so it has some woo woo connotations. But transformation doesn’t look like unicorns and rainbows. Transformation hurts and is deep, dark and dirty. That is one of the primary themes of this work.

The sky is perfectly clear.

I’m going to load the ensemble into Jenya’s van and we’re going to drive over Coleman Valley Road to the Ocean. This road is my favorite. Instead of following a creek or river to the ocean like most roads, it goes right over the hills. The view as you descend on the Western side is incredible. And along the way there are lots of beautiful spots, especially Coleman Valley. When I was focused on cycling I used to ride over Coleman Valley Road to the ocean on a regular basis. I also helped landscape a property out here 2 summers ago. I hope to buy a little piece of land with a cabin on it out here someday.

Today we will be going through all the material again, this time taking in all the notes and working through sections over and over if we need to.

We’ve decided that we don’t want to rehearse some of the material like “Been in the Storm So Long” and “Take Me to the Water” because we want them to be loose and raw.

Other songs like “Delilah” and “The Gates” call for refinement so we’ll spend a lot of time on those today.

We’ll work through the material til dinner with breaks for lunch and the Coleman Valley Rd. field trip. Then after dinner we are going to perform the material for the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center residents and staff. They are great people and I like being able to do this for them and its good for us to see how the music behaves in front of people.

Off to breakfast.

We’ve been running the material, stopping after each song to share and
write down notes and ideas.

So Satisfying.

So far we’ve run Coyote, Saint Judas and Delilah.

I’m accustomed to getting up early in the morning and writing three
pages in a journal. I got the idea from Julia Cameron’s book – The
Artist’s Way.
I figure I’ll get up and blog instead. I don’t intend to get into the
personal details so much though.

I’m currently sitting in a lodge at Occidental Arts and Ecology Center
in Occidental, CA. http://www.oaec.org/
Its an amazing place. I’ve rented the facility for 4 days for me and
my ensemble. We are here to for a rehearsal intensive and retreat.
We’ll be rehearsing about 8 hours each day. The intention is to get
deep into the material and find what it wants, find the nuances. And
also to build the intimacy of the group. Most of us have been
together for over a decade but we’ve added Alex Kelly on cello
recently. We’ll all be closer after these few days.

After this retreat we play two shows in a 5 days span; one in Santa
Rosa at the theater where I had my residency last summer, and on in
San Francisco. Then we go in to the studio to record the album.

I feel good about this strategy and I think the hard work will show on
the new album.

We all slept in 2 giant yurts last night. They are actually quite
nice with floor heaters and bunks. I’m going to suggest that the
early risers sleep in one and the later risers in the other. That way
I won’t be bugging anyone when I get up early.

We are being fed fresh organic food for breakfast and dinner by OAEC’s
kitchen staff. Dinner last night was great.

I have a good relationship with OAEC. When they started a radio
station a little over a year ago I was one of their djs/programmers.
I had to stop last February when I broke my back and separated my
right shoulder in a cycling accident. I also played 3 shows here last
summer in their amphitheater.

That’s where I met Daidie Donnelly who has become a bit of a business
partner with my music. She’s been instrumental in helping me do all
the work I’ve been doing. She’s my #1 cheerleader. She’s the friend
I talk to every day.

The sun is beginning to peek through the trees.

I’ll write more later. I’m going to sit at the piano and do my
warmups and play some Satie.

We ran through all the songs on the album. After each one we all shared ideas and notes then worked on them. We don’t get to do this sort of thing at our regular weekly rehearsals. We put in about 5 1/2 hours today.

Oz Fritz – who has recorded Tom Waits, the Cramps, Elvis Costello, Primus, Iggy Pop, Ornette Coleman, The Ramones, Herbie Hancock, William S. Burroughs and more – and is recording and co-producing this album was here all day giving his input. Very helpful.

He was impressed and is excited about the work.

Now we’re off to dinner. Breakfast and dinner are being prepared for us each day y the OAEC staff.

We’ve been playing weeklies and rehearsing for months to get deep into
the material. Now we take it even deeper as we go on retreat at The
Occidental Arts and Ecology Center from February 25 – March 1. We
will be honing the material for hours each day, finding the nuances
and subtleties.

This album is the culmination of years of work and I’m investing in
the preparation so that when we go into the studio we will be relaxed
and refined.

After the retreat we will be play two special shows before we go into
the studio on March 7 – 12 to record and mix the album.

Saturday, February 28
An Evening with the Mark Growden Sextet
at The Orchard Spotlight
515 Orchard St. in Santa Rosa
8pm
$10-20 sliding scale

and

Wednesday, March 4
An Evening with the Mark Growden Sextet
The Music Box Series at The Climate Theater
285 9th Street @ Folsom, San Francisco, 94109
Advance tickets $12. $15 at the door if not sold out.

tickets: http://climatetheater.com/tickets/index.php?cPath=54

Info: http://www.musicboxseries.com/

Hope to see you there.

I’m planning on blogging a bit each day during the retreat so check back.
xo,
Mark