December, 2009

Hi Everyone,

I’ve been happily preoccupied lately writing songs. People sometimes ask me which part of my musical life I enjoy most, writing, recording, or performing. And that’s a difficult question to answer because all of those activities are so interdependent and form such a natural sequence. But I have to admit that the composition part of it is my favorite. It takes awhile to get it started but, once underway, I really get wonderfully lost in the process. (Family and friends can attest).

I remember a story Jobim once told me about a visit he was privileged to have as a young songwriter with the great Brazilian composer, Villa-Lobos. Invited to the Master’s house, Antonio was surprised to find him working at his piano, surrounded by children playing around him loudly and the swirling ambience of unattenuated family life. When Jobim asked him how he could concentrate with all the commotion, Villa-Lobos replied that he listened only to the inner ear, not the outer one.

Since Rendezvous in Rio I’ve been recording my song demos with the Garage Band software on my MacBook. It’s very intuitive and simplistic, I guess, which is ideal for me, because sometimes creative thought seems to travel at the speed of light. In the last century, by the time I followed the analog protocols of selecting a track, choosing a mic and checking the levels, etc., I would sometimes forget what I was trying to record. So my venerably old 2-track Studer is now languishing in a corner of the basement, next to battle-scarred roadcases and Rollaboards with missing wheels.

We’ve been preparing for Winter in the usual ways, but the weather here in the Northeast has been very mild so far. We’re anxious to fill all the birdfeeders, but are compelled, like everyone else here in the mountains, to wait till the bears hibernate.

My thanks to all of you for your enthusiastic responses to my new book Poems From the Road. As I described in the “Author’s Preface,” these verses were written over several years and occasioned by many different experiences. I remember writing one, in particular, almost completely on a tourbus, bouncing around on a state highway in Northern California, as we “took a shortcut” across the state. Our bus was on its maiden voyage, which seemed like a stroke of luck at first, since everything was new and unspoiled. But, as we soon discovered from subsequent emergency visits to sympathetic chiropractors along the way, the factory fresh suspension and shock absorption was as tight as the head of a snare drum. Some of my own handwriting, thanks to the overly percussive ride, was almost unintelligible. So, a fair amount of investigation and revision was required. Two of my editorial assistants are pictured here, taking a ten.

Though dachshunds Nellie and Flora find it incomprehensible, our feline family has expanded once again. Claudia returned one day from the Recycling Center (a.k.a. the dump) with Hope, a pretty little tuxedo who always tries to accompany me on the Road.

She mistakenly assumes this case was designed for her.

As we drove up to the vet’s office one day we noticed someone leaving hurriedly after dropping off a cardboard box at the front door. Since they weren’t driving a UPS truck we could kind of predict what the contents were, a very young calico mother with three kittens. Of course the kittens, once weaned, were adopted fairly quickly, but their mother was still relying on the kindness of strangers (our vet and his equally compassionate staff). And this is how Ella, pictured here in her Halloween costume, joined the family.

Well, back to my studio and the last few compositions for the new record. I plan to start recording after the first of the year. We already have a few dates lined up for 2010, including a possible trip to Europe where I haven’t performed for a few years.

Thanks, as always, for your continued enthusiasm and encouragement. I’m looking forward to seeing you out on the Road.

In the meantime

Wishing all of you Health, Prosperity, Happiness, Peace

Poems from the Road, can be purchased here using major credit cards through PayPal at http://michaelfranks.com/book_order.html.

Thanks for your continuing support.