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.