Giving Thanks for One More Song in KEIT's Repertoire

My weekend so far is going something like this:

1. Sprawl on couch with laptop, play with GarageBand software.
2. Eat excessive quantities of leftover turkey, stuffing, gravy, apple pie.
3. Repeat. Repeat, repeat, repeat.....

Yesterday Brad and Cerin came over to record "Eleanor Rigby." Earlier in the week, some ominous band email traffic had given me low expectations for this rehearsal. The emails contained negativity along the lines of "that's not gonna happen" and "couldn't find anything" (referring to the proper sheet music) and "have we given up hope?"

I sat my string section down with some beer, pie and whipped cream as soon as they arrived, and braced myself for the bad news. Was "Eleanor Rigby" just another pipe dream, destined to be abandoned by KEIT like "Happy Together" (dearth of horn players) and "Happy, The End" (too damn hard)?

No, KEIT rose to the occasion, as we so frequently do -- leaving intact our record of dismissing only songs with "happy" in their title. As a tragic and depressing song, "Eleanor Rigby" sparked our can-do attitudes. In fact, we sailed through the rehearsal with very few problems.

Cerin dragged her parents to this rehearsal, poor dears! They are in town for Thanksgiving. Both are musicians themselves and delightful people. I couldn't convince them to contribute to the album, though. Maybe next year!

One of the fun things about "Eleanor" was that Cerin and Brad recorded two different tracks each on their cello and violin, respectively. This made it sound like they were a quartet. The final version is quite textured in that respect.

I insisted that Cerin record a vocal track, then I also tried one myself after she left, for kicks. My voice is a little deeper than hers, which gives me more of a McCartneyesque sound, but she has the advantage of being on key far more often than me. At the risk of tooting my own horn (band joke! SO funny!!), I really did pretty well with my vocal track, to the point where I can't decide whose version is better. Or less bad, if you prefer. So I kept them both. I will need someone else to decide which version goes on the album. But make no mistake, I will cry myself to sleep for a week if that person chooses Cerin's vocals over mine. Got that, neutral third party? : )

Cerin Dresses The Part

It turns out that Brad was offended that I described his last rehearsal as unnoteworthy, so I hope I have done justice to yesterday's rehearsal.