Monday, Mar 31, 2003

A-holes: we spent the weekend in the studio recording; we did this for you, so stop complaining about the fact that we stood you up on that lunch date Saturday, or that dinner date Sunday, or that meet-n-greet Sunday afternoon, or that meet-n-greet on Saturday afternoon or evening, or whatever particular appointment/romantic getaway we had scheduled with you and then missed. We did it for you, this recording! You personally! So take a different tack! Take the one known as Gratitude! Run with it! Head straight for the End Zone with Gratitude!

But look, though, it's not like we don't feel a little rotten about standing you up. We're not exactly despondent but we do feel a little rotten, so here're some of what you and your generation love more than drugs and sex with models: web pics. Forthwith:



Chris and Destro were the first to arrive at the studio; they quickly set about laying down the bass tracks for the extremely hip new album.




Twenty minutes later, bass recording for the album completely finished, Chris took a seat, and so did Destro; that's Destro's leg in the bottom of the frame; even Destro wears All-Stars.



Destro went ahead and set up the drums; the ones that would be played on the white-hot new WAS album, as yet untitled. He put that white tape square on the snare drum to act as a landing pad for his small helicopter, but then he dropped the drum-sticks in the landing area and he's too small to move them, too weak. He's like this tall, roughly:

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Michael finally came strolling in engrossed in a conversation with Russel Crowe. This image was captured as MT went over some basic lovemaking tips with Mr. Crowe. Mr. Crowe swears that Michael's tips are the reason he's famous. The reason Mr. Crowe's famous, that is -- Michael's famous primarily because he was the first to prove that dolphins aren't the gentle comrades we'd always taken them for:






His $5000/hr consultation with The Gladiator complete, MT drank a potion to make him drum faster.




This still from Blair Witch reveals why Michael's character was really left on the cutting-room floor: it wasn't politics, as a nation of fans heatedly alleged -- the fact is Michael just didn't look very scared. His character was a beacon of calm in the middle of a movie that demanded its characters to lose their shit from fear.



Keith arrived and set about stringing. Destro forbade him to sit on the couch, but he did anyway. Destro grumbled all day about this. He wondered aloud whether he actually had any authority with us.




Paolo, our italianate production professional, finally dragged his ass in and was ushered immediately to his seat by an impatient and incontinent Destro.




Michael burned through the drum tracks; this expression he wore the whole time, impressing everyone.




The boys warmed up their pipes with several cantos of gregorian chant; these will be available as b-sides.




Keith couldn't believe some of the shit he was hearing; he spent much of Sunday trying to get a Spin correspondent to come over and bear witness. They didn't send anybody, but word somehow got out and a lady from Men's Health showed up and shot Michael for the cover (beach scene, MT emerging from surf).

We've still got 5 or 6 days of recording/mixing ahead of us, but there's a general feeling that things are going well. Destro, as usual, provided the most quotable assay of group sentiment in his gravelly, intelligent baritone: "Everyone has done a goddamn great job thus far, and has cause to be proud. But beware complacency; they brought me in on Mariah Carey's last project and that was looking absolutely great on day two and then, by the end of it, we collectively realized that we had put a real shit-hammer in record stores. And we were ashamed of that."

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