Singer/Songwriter/Storyteller Michael Gaither

Blame the old physics rule that says “Opposites attract”. Sometimes like-minded souls just do not get along. Even when they’re a couple of spunky, very cute Labrador/Border Collie mixes.

Three year-old Maggie lives in Sacramento with her “sister by adoption” Bailey and their owner, Sara. Unfortunately, both pups are female, both want to be the alpha in their packette, and neither of them is budging. Sara’s tried her best, but Maggie and Bailey simply won’t gel. (Separately, they’re both wonderful dogs.) Bailey was there first, so Maggie is now at a friend’s house until she can find her new forever home:

Maggie’s in the Sacramento area. She’s a typical Lab/Border Collie mix: She’s affectionate. Loves exercise. Is great with people and is house- and leash-trained. She also prefers a yard with a fair bit of running room. And she really does get along great with all other dogs. Her only caveat is that she probably can’t live with another female.

If you’re interested in learning more about Maggie Mae, contact Sara at 916-213-0951 or by email at saraisbrown@gmail.com.

…and I will be this weekend. Playing at two fun shows with two good pals.

Every time I’ve been in Redding it’s either 45 degrees or 107 and smokey. Apparently there’s a two-day window in the spring when it’s perfect. So it’s spring. I’m headed back. And I couldn’t be happier about it. Redding’s a great music town, plus I have friends and family up that way. I haven’t played there in well over a year.

Tomorrow night (Friday) I’ll be drafting along to play with Jay Howlett and Rolfe Wyer at the Post Office Saloon. This semi-lengendary little music spot is located downtown at 1636 Market Street. (It really is the old post office. The men’s room even has a metal “Mail” sign on the door.) We’ll play from 7:30 pm to 11:00 pm…or until when everyone’s simply had enough. No cover, and I completely expect a few local friends to drop by and join in, as well. (Hint, hint…Jim Dyar, are you reading this?)

On Saturday, Jay, Rolfe, and I take part in Damboree 2012, located in Clair Engle Park. A whole bunch of stuff takes place at this local festival. There’s a pancake breakfast starting at 6:00 am, a parade at 10:00 am, the festival itself – with free admission – beginning at 11:00 am. Jay and Rolfe kick off the music at 11:00 am. I play at 3:00 pm. More info is in the flier below:

Of course, even the casual visitor to this site knows that Redding always immediately brings to mind the late, great (and man, do we miss him) Chuck McCabe. Chuck was very fond of Redding, and chronicled some of that sentiment in the song “I’d Rather Be In Redding,”, which appeared on his final album, “Creatures of Habit”. Chuck also made the run up north many times with Jay and Rolfe. I’m hoping and expecting to hear some great Chuck stories on the way up and back this weekend.

Sounds effects. Do you add them to your record or not? This is a good dilemma. I think when you’re at the point where you’re slightly agonizing over whether or not to add a few sound effects to songs on your new record, the music itself on that project must be in good shape. I keep saying this, but I couldn’t be happier with how this record sounds.

This last little effort has been a fun combination of research and field work. Explains why I was wandering on Buena Vista Road one foggy night capturing the sounds of “acres of frogs” next to the airport. Or trying to record the “sizzling fajita noises” at a noisy local taqueria. Or scouring the interwebs for public domain recordings of coyotes. (Our *own* coyotes are too unpredictable.)

The real nostalgia trip, though, has been digging up public domain drive-in commericials from the 60s and 70s. (We might lift some of the audio for “Starlite Drive-In Saturday Night,” the title track. See if this one takes you back a bit.

In a few hours, we head back to Bear Creek Studios for our next-to-last day of mixing. (We had to add a couple of days after my last post. These things take time, ya know.) I’m really excited about wrapping this up and turning these 11 little songs out into the world. And there are shows at the ready:

• On Sunday June 10th, I’ll be doing a sparse, storyteller-type show at a house concert in Gilroy. Dayan Kai (who produced this CD) will be accompanying me. For details, send an email to starranchmusic@gmail.com.
• And on Saturday, August 11th, it’ll be a full-band show at the Watsonville Fairgrounds. This will be a benefit in conjunction with the Ag History Project. Details to come on that one later this summer.

Sometimes a seemingly innocent research quest can turn into a brief obsession. Before starting the new record, “Starlite Drive-In Saturday Night,” I decided that photographs of our now-defunct little drive-in theater (the subject of the title song), would be great for the CD artwork. Drive-in photographs. How hard could those be to find?

So I asked around. I blogged about it here. I posted a similar blog on our local Patch web site. I tried the local historical societies. I talked to Sandy Lydon. He referred me to some private collectors. Still nothing. I was about to give up and just mock up a drawing from scratch, and then Tarmo Hannula, my new best friend at the Watsonville Register Pajaronian, was able to dig up some prime negatives after I did more research and found the “tear down” date of old Watsonville Starlite Drive-In. The newspaper has their negatives listed chronologically, but they’re not indexed.

If you’re wondering, here’s what what was bestowed upon us to work with. See if scenes like this take you back a bit:

Photographs courtesy of the Watsonville Register Pajaronian

My pal David Hays has worked these photos – or pieces of them – into the layout for the new CD. We’ve also added some of the original ad printing that I was able to dig out at the local library. The theater opened on March 2nd, 1950. And yes, I’ve learned way more about our local drive-in than I originally intended. But if you know me, you know that I secretly love the amount of over-research that goes into a song or a record.

The recording itself is almost done. We do the final mixing next week, and I should have preview tracks and a pre-sale link up here on the web site before the end of the month. Stay tuned.

Everyone has a story. Though sometimes, they can’t tell you their story, so you make one up. And if you make up a really good one, you make it into a song, but that’s a topic for another post.

This is Jax. (Yup, we named after the main character on “Sons of Anarchy”.) Jax is a five-year old Pomeranian. No idea how, but he recently ended up at the Stockton Animal Shelter with no collar or chip, and seriously underweight. He was literally on the list (yes, there’s a list) to be put down. His luck turned when Sue, our local pal from Animal Friends Rescue Project, happened to be on the phone with the shelter, heard about him, and said, “we’ll find him a home”. So he’s now in our care. Our job is to fatten him up a bit, so he can be fixed (yeah, he wasn’t even fixed) and adopt him out. Read the rest of this entry »