Tag Archives: Illinois

First Day @ Electrical Audio

I got pulled over on my way to EA this morning. Apparently it’s illegal to turn right on red in this state. According to the police officer that pulled me over, it’s illegal to turn right on red in every city, in every state. It’s obvious that he’s never driven in Indiana, where you can turn right on red in front of police all day and still get no pull-over action. Just to be safe I bit my tongue and avoided arguing with the officer. Although he refrained from giving me a ticket, he informed me that the red lights are equipped with cameras and that I’ll more than likely receive a ticket in the mail in the coming weeks. Great. Thanks for the break, officer!

Despite the eventful drive, my first day was pretty uneventful. The summer months at Electrical Audio are just as dead as they are back at Reber Recording. There aren’t many people wanting to record albums in the warm months. Most bands prefer to tour while the weather is on their side and record when it’s cold and blizzard-like. Can you blame them?

So even though there were no active sessions on the books, I did my best to stay busy tidying up the place. All of the interns are issued a written list of chores that we’re responsible for. You know, intern shit… cleaning, emptying trash cans, making coffee, and the like. I did the dishes and did my best to rid one of the dorms of cat piss stench. Exciting, right!?

Here’s a glimpse at the innards of the EA fridge. I have a habit of checking out refrigerators and EA was no exception. So here it is for all of your viewing pleasure!

For lunch we got carry-out from Hot Doug’s; which has been featured on the tv show, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on Food Network. It was delicious. Muncie-folk claiming that Carter’s World Famous Hotdogs are actually “world famous,” should probably get out more. These delectable wieners were delicious.

 

 

Day 2… Venturing Out.

Today I got my drive on and did a bit of exploring. The first day of my internship is tomorrow morning so I figured it would be a good idea to drive to the studio the day before and see just how long it’s going to take me to get there. It takes about 30 minutes to get there if traffic is only crazy and not bat-shit crazy. I’m not a big fan of driving in big cities. Never have been. Never will be.

On my way back to the apartment, I was also able to find a Target so that I could purchase a pillow to replace the one that I somehow managed to forget to pack one. Epic comfort fail. Whilst at Target I also picked up a few gifts for Erick and Richard for being so kind as to put me up in their living room. I got them a new router to replace the old one that Comcast had provided them. Comcast had given them a shoddy B-band modem that wasn’t quite reaching all of the computers in the apartment which was No Bueno! I replaced it with a dual N-band router solved all of their connection problems. I figure if they’re nice enough to let me crash on their couch for weeks on end, the least I can do is try to improve upon their geek infrastructure.

The day ended with me writing blogs for both ReberRecording.com in addition to this website whilst The Embraceables got their practice on. Not everyone was able to make it to practice (which explains why there are only 3 of them). However, they did play a cover of Double Bath, an original by Everything, NOW! that caught my attention.

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Anyway, I’m going to get back to organizing my pictures into something other than a confusing mess. I’m outtie 5,000.

First “Official” Day in Chicago

Today was my first OFFICIAL DAY in Chicago. The official status is necessary because it means it’s the first day that I actually woke up in Chicago. I consider waking up in a given are to be fare more intimate than simply arriving or passing through. Aw shucks… We done had a moment. Ain’t that cute. Alright, enough with the redneck banter. This isn’t a one night stand… However, I DID eat cold chinese food for breakfast.

So as I had mentioned before (in a previous post), some friends of mine, Erick Sherman (Everything, NOW!, Revel in The Morning, The Embraceables) and Richard Knapp (Everything, NOW! and The Embraceables), were kind enough to offer up their living room and couch for me to crash on for the duration of my internship at Electrical. So basically, they are both prime candidates for the rad dudes of the year award. Maybe I’ll get them matching purple muscle shirts to show my appreciation.

So here’s a glimpse of where I’ll be doing my living for the next couple of months. It’s a cozy little slice of Chicago that welcomes me with open arms and legs.

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The art on the walls was painted by Lisa Berlin (Everthus the Deadbeats, Jookabox). The giant black eye-sore is my mobile studio that I brought so that I could document the music in my head.

Well, Richard and I are about to head over to the grocery so that I can get some essentials. You know… food and stuff.

Later

Hello Chicago

I got a late start on leaving today and didn’t even get out of Muncie until 4:30PM which was 2 whole hours LATER than I had planned to leave. Whoops. The drive up was laid back. All of the stress-caused traffic must have decided to take the day off. The weather was perfect. Literally. The sky was without clouds.

I ended up getting to Chicago around 9:30PM but still managed to find a parking spot right next to the apartment that I’m going to be crashing at for the coming months. Richard met me at the curb like a gentleman and helped me haul my bags inside. What a sweetie.

After I got all of my baggage situated, Richard and I opted to get some food (this is becoming a total man-date). He suggested that we try out the new Chinese Restaurant that opened up in the area. We went. We ordered. We ate. We liked. It wasn’t anything fancy. I mean, it was as good as Chinese could be made using typical SYSCO meats and produce. However, whatever their quality-based handicaps were, they still managed to cook everything from scratch in what appeared to be a spotless kitchen in an incredibly short amount of time. Respect. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the cashier served us DIY lemonades to sip on while we waited… for free. It was a cup of sugar water with two lemon slices at the bottom. The straw was enormous and had a spear-like tip similar to that of a syringe. You use the straw-like weapon (shiv) to stab the bajeezus out of the lemon slices in the bottom of the cup and then stir it up. LEMONADE! Clever, right?!

Anyway, that’s pretty much sums up the night. So there you have it folks… I’m in Chicago all safe and sound.

Farewell Muncie… At least for now.

Tomorrow I will be packing my bags and moving to Chicago, Illinois to stay with my good friends Erick Sherman and Richard Knapp for the duration of my 2-3 month internship at the esteemed Electrical Audio recording studio. I’m psyched about the internship and yet at the same time I’m bummed to be leaving behind my beautiful fiance and two cats for the next couple of months. I’m also going to miss my family, friends, and my recording studio. I’m at the studio on a daily basis so it’s going to be weird to be away from it for weeks at a time. I’m still going to be making the voyage back to Muncie on a somewhat regular basis for work but it’s not the same as being there every day.

Right now I’m making a list of things that I need to take with me. I am going to be staying on a couch in a living room so I want to pack pretty light. I’m going to be taking a portable recording studio with me so that I can continue to work on my own music and do some basic mixing. Well, I’m going to wrap this up because I need to get back to packing… Can’t lose focus!

Take it easy!