With synergy coupled with arduous effort, it's amazing how much stuff can be accomplished in one week.  Such was the case in the MPK camp, to recap:

The House Party at The Boy and the Knife house went without a hitch and everyone was cool -- wait, that's waaay too much an understatement.  As you know, house parties are egregious for engendering noise complaints and overall indignation due to bad apples and unexpected dissensions.  Considering that none of these have happened, and the fact that a next-door neighbor actually told us ebulliently to TURN THE MUSIC UP during our set, you'd understand why the show went so well.

[Edit:  MPK took some pics during the party and Peter posted them here.  Good times!]

Everyone was genuinely respectful.  After being away from Gainesville for a long while, I've forgotten, among the many countless things, how great this community is.

I can't move on to the next subject until I give props to my homies who played alongside us.  I gotta admit, Select Start stole the show.  As I'm writing this, I'm listening to their CD, and I can't help thinking, when you strip everything down, all you can do is whistle melodies from memory, and I kept jumping back and forth between the past and present during their set.  But simple childhood reminiscence and classical instruments aren't Select Start's only appeal, as potent as those two already are.  When you see an SS show, you see how well-seasoned they are as musicians -- their close attention to detail is apparent and they have the most heartfelt renditions of VG music I've heard in a VG band.  As a spectator, I felt level 99 intrigued.  As a musician, I felt inspired to sharpen my skills.  And as a fellow band on the bill, all of us felt honored.  Thank you guys so much.

Before Pissing on Susie played, I didn't know what to expect other than SiLo's stage prescence.  After his stint with The Monistats, you come to expect that in-your-face attitude in any bands that he's in, and it shows in POS.  Thanks for lending us the PA, even though it kept crapping out but made the set fun anyway.  You my dawg.  Craig and Peter then played a double-set in The Boy and the Knife to close the bill before 1am, and I must say I'm proud of my mates for doing this.  They've come a long way and I'm excited for them.

I suppose I should mention something about our set other than the aforementioned ebullient next-door neighbor.  The dancing and cavorting by everyone was something I dearly, dearly, 3 times dearly missed for the past 8 months.  I also learned a new word which was used to describe MPK:  "genki", which apparently means "happy and energetic" in Japanese.  That makes me smile.  Yay to all!

On Sunday we met Rob McGregor in Golden Tone Studios to start recording our CD.  For three straight days we ran multi-hour marathon sessions on a minimal protein diet.  Working with Rob, the consummate recording professional, was a pleasure and unique learning experience.  I won't get into any details other than my observation that ours and Rob's principles, recording-wise and life in general, are pretty similar.  If you've been checking out Peter's livejournal, then you can see us at work.

[Edit:  Some sample pics:]


After three days, our rough mix is done and we can't wait until you guys hear this.  We're thinking of streaming a couple of songs here so keep an eye out on that.  Details on final mix are still being worked out.  I don't want to say anything more than that.  Quite honestly, I'm still a little fatigued from the flight and the show and the recording and the flight back to Texas.

All in all, this past week's activities put a lot things I've been experiencing for the past several months in Houston in perspective.

-George Ryan