Reviews, Conversations, and Deconstructions:
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yu heah wut i sez? keepem way dem green wimmins

i gonna lissum tooya. dassum goob edvise [note: those who would like to become better acquainted with this correspondent will soon be able to do so at www.iknowrussellmast.org . Say hepnow.]

Who was Dion? (mentioned in the song Innocence and Wisdom)

Dion was a friend of mine in first grade (and for a while thereafter; we went through several years of primary school together). We played together a good deal, even though he was never my "best friend" (that label that youngsters like to apply so exclusively). I vaguely recall spending the night at his home during those early years: his family lived in a trailer in a rural area outside of town, and was poor. After he moved off to a different school, I never actively kept in touch w/ him, but used to get snippets of news through a diffuse grapevine (his father attended our church from time to time), such as that his parents had divorced, and that his father had been having employment and health troubles. Some years back, I think after I was in college (and very far removed from the circumstances of my childhood), my mom mentioned that she had heard that Dion had been killed in a motorcycle accident on the outskirts of town.

I just listened to your Volume Two again last night. There are some really excellent tunes, especially from your later period (Throwaway, Untitled, Hold to You, etc.).

I'm gratified that you're enjoying Volume Two, and am especially glad that you're finding something to appreciate in the tunes you mention specifically. Those three (Throwaway, Untitled, Hold to You) happen to be the three of my efforts that are the closest to extemporaneous songwriting. Throwaway and Untitled often run together in my head, largely because they were each thrown together as a near-afterthought, while I had my equipment set up to record more deliberate compositions (e.g., Throwaway is so titled because it was just a throwaway little ditty I recorded late one evening after doing the Wheels remake). At the time, I hardly considered them real songs at all. Untitled, like the song Confession, should perhaps give co-writing credit to A.: In both of those situations, stymied for lyrics, I grabbed one of her old letters. Between her handwritten words and my spur-of-the-moment recollections, I threw those now-familiar lyrics together on the spot.

I, too, remain very happy with the sound quality of Volume Two. One of these days, I'll revisit (and remaster) Volume One...

Is there a real Kathleen? (mentioned in the song of the same title)

Yes, Virginia, there is a Kathleen... The Kathleen of the song is Kathleen D. of Linn House (at the University of Chicago). I found her very fun to talk and flirt with, though I also thought that she often didn't give herself credit for how genuinely thoughtful she could be. I had also heard that she had had a difficult childhood, and thought she was doing pretty well with the raw material of life she had been dealt. She worked at a trendy hair salon on 57th Street during the Summer of 1991 (it was where a record store used to be, on the North side of the street, just east of Salonica). After my dessicating days at the soulless law firm, I used to walk past the window on my way home from the IC station, and hope I'd see her inside, at which point I'd drum up some lame reason to go in and chat. After one of those impromptu conversations, on my walk home, that tune started running through my head. Kathleen was one of those rare songs that I pretty much composed in my head before sitting down with a piano or guitar. As far as I know, Kathleen never knew of the song.

Explain "shirking France" in more detail (as mentioned in Divertiti).

"Shirking France" refers to the time that Sara (a soulful, quiet brown-eyed friend) and I spent whispering and passing notes rather than paying attention during French class in high school (I would draw her goofy cartoons "intended to draw out [her] smile"). We used to get "shoosh"ed by Mme. Gehrels frequently...

I look forward to hearing your new compositions, once they are recorded. I do like many of your songs about A., but I also like things like Another Winter Quarter, Perspective, and that one where you propose to R. (or was it to someone else?...)

Nope, it wasn't a proposal to someone else: I'm batting a thousand on the proposal/marriage front. The proposal mentioned in the song I Do was indeed to R. (my wife).

C. has taken a liking to your song Hold to You, which is on the tape of newer songs I recently gave her.

I'm glad she has grown to like that song, which is one of my favorite cuts on Volume Two, if only because I hadn't really given it much of a hearing before. I recorded it very hurriedly in the space of a short afternoon in Phoenix, while R. was out shopping. Written pretty much on the spot, it's just me and my 12 string multi-tracked. Because it was thrown together, I always felt that the recording left much to be desired. But, upon remastering Volume 2, I was very gratified to find more clarity on the master tape than I remembered; some of the muddiness was the product of my earlier, poor mixing. So, I hope that C. will be pleasantly surprised to hear the newly remastered version.

Thanks for your detailed responses to my queries about the CD and the Beatles -- they were very useful.... I listened to your tape with When You Are Here on it this weekend at top volume. I was impressed by the sound quality and found it to be a more finely constructed tune than I had remembered. It would benefit from a production with drums, bass, etc., I think, even though it is already an excellent tune.

It's funny that you mention When You Are Here and the Beatles in the same message. I don't know whether I had told you before, but that tune was my self-conscious attempt to re-create a "Help"-era Beatles sound: I intentionally limited my usual stereo recording techniques, and confined the drums, bass, etc. strictly to the left or right track, just as they did in those early days of stereo. Also, the "ooh la la la" bit, the vocal harmonies, and my guitar "solo" were deliberate attempts to re-fab the fab four, circa 1965 (though I'm sure that George Harrison would have come up with a better solo in the middle bit).


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