| "Talk to Me" is the title piece of the project, which features 7 short songs, spoken word pieces and instrumentals on the theme of talk. Much thanks to Doug Haire, the lead engineer at Jack Straw. Studios, whose expertise and insights were much appreciated during two weekends of sessions. |
| "That's what you get, what did you expect, when you give a phone to a human animal?" You get improvised phone conversations by Rani, Kate, and Rich layered into my guitar part. And you get Rich singing along with me on the chorus. |
| I originally planned to add a wall of voices to this piece, but after trying a few things and listening to it again and again, I took Doug's excellent advice, letting the cigar box guitar do the talking by itself. |
| "In that place, in that space, you could hear poetry of human talk". I thought it might be a spoken word piece over my homemade cigar box guitar part, but when Rani sang it, we were in business. |
| "People talk, but does anyone listen? Everyone has something to say, but does anyone understand? Words come falling out of the black sky, like freezing rain. Thunder hums a billion names." Spoken word and 5 String Thing. |
| I can't do a project or performance now without playing at least one piece on my custom made, one of a kind miniature guitar, in this case imagining an interplanetary musical discussion. |
| "In the morning when you're still sleeping, when you have those crazy nightmares, I swear I hear, within the bird song, human voices joining along in a laughing song". I resurrected this song (which I originally did with my Tree People ensemble in 1984) as an acoustic guitar and voice piece with a touch of pan flute and laughter. |
 Why am I smiling? Because I am at Jack Straw Studio in Seattle where I just completed my recording project at my residency there, and I am very happy with the result. Above is a short clip of me playing a homemade cigar box guitar part on "of Human Talk". Rani Weatherby then added a beautifully strong vocal to the piece, and I put 3 slide notes in at the end.  My original homemade 5 String Thing instrument used in "Words Come Falling". It is in a random tuning.  |  Rani Weatherby is one of the voices in "Talk to Me" and "Human Animal" and the vocalist in "of Human Talk". She also has a laughter cameo in "Human Voices".  Rich Hinrichsen, a long time musical colleague of mine, is the back-up vocalist in "Human Animal" and one of the voices in "Talk to Me" and "Human Animal".  Kate Cohen, aka Kate Davis (and my talented wife!), added her voice parts to "Talk to Me" and "Human Animal" at John Malloy's home studio in Portland. She couldn't make it to Jack Straw Studio in Seattle with me because she was doing a presentation about humans and animals in Medford, Oregon on the same weekend. Stage left is my custom, one of kind miniature guitar made by Jay Dickinson of Portland Guitar. I play it in "Interplanetary Chatter". What now? I am planning to release "Talk to Me" as a limited edition EP vinyl record as soon as I can get it pressed at Cravedog in Portland. I am now planning the art work for the album. |
