SOLO CDS ALMOST DONE

I haven't been blogging lately- too many other things going on. I've been transferring/saving a lot of my old VHS movies to DVD, creating youtube videos from them, and transferring a LOT of original songs from my old writers tapes and 4 track cassettes, which desperately need to be preserved. The 4 track recordings began around 1985- and went until 1998 or so. there's a lot of material. It's a major work... there are at least 10 original songs per 4 track cassette- and I have over 100 of these 4-track writers tapes.

I also have maybe 100 or more 'normal' writers cassettes, with sometimes 15 songs on each side! so, it's really mega [instead of major] work. The 2 tracks go back to the early 70s- my Hollywood years and before. Unfortunately the sound quality [me w/an electric piano & old cassette recorder with a built-in mic] are not so good. Some of the songs are good...some very good... but would have to be re-cut from scratch.

A lot of the 4 track stuff is amazing [to me] and more relevant than I'd imagined. Some of the songs written in 1985/1986 are socio-politically "right on time" now. Luckily, i bought a Cubase/Steinberg unit which has 4 inputs, and records the 4 tracks at once into my PC, saves them as individual tracks, and files them. It also has a 16 track 'studio' so i can edit the tracks, add to them, etc. A lot of the songs have been professionally cut and gone onto my various cds- but a lot never did- due to genre issues. But, i am seriously thinking of editing and cleaning up the tracks and releasing them as cds soon. i don't really want to mess with them too much; i really like the sound and feel of them just the way they are: lots of old analog drum machines and synths. However, with modern technology, i can sample the best parts/sections and make them a bit more consistent.

[c]2007 doug duffey

TECHNO DISCO CABARET

this song- "disarmed" -eventually went on my 1st cd ["danger, sex & sound fx" rabadash records/new orleans] - as did a few more from this show. although this is on my youtube site i'm posting it here, too. it's a real "flash from the past"!

it's from my 80s period, where i was pretty much writing/recording songs on my old 4-track cassette recorder [i still have and use it!] daily. i didn't use midi- i didn't want the music to be "perfect" or too mechanical- i wanted some 'real' life to it. these were basically writer's tapes. BUT, i mixed the instrument tracks down to 2 track cassette- 4 sets [45 minutes each] of original songs- then we [moi, linda bailey, bill dunn & tim blunk] sang all the vocals over them LIVE.

we pretty much tried to recreate the vocals/backing vocals from the original tapes- which was not so easy, because tim and i would lower the speed on the machine and do crazy backing vocal parts... which when put back to normal speed threw our voices up much higher-or lower! linda managed to wail the high parts! her voice could peel paint off the walls! we had a crew [dr. pete harris & woody]; had great sound & lights/ black backdrops- and we blasted the music LOUD!

there is only this one video of one set of this show, to my knowledge, and it is in BAD shape... but i am saving it as best i can. there are song parts that are too garbled... i tried syncing the original backing track to it- but they're [for some weird reason] in different keys- and the beats wont match up. so much for that... it is what it is... and it was FUN!

[c]2007 doug duffey

LOUISIANA- LIVE THEATER VERSION

i think this is a beautiful 'production' of the song. many thanks to the dancers, who did an incredible job... and to my very talented cousin, Donna Ward, who choreographed it.

[c]2007 doug duffey

VOODOO-ING THE WORLD

I've begun going through the archive [old vhs tapes, and dvds] -now that i finally got a video capture device and have begun yet another insanity: putting videos online... [as if recording and editing new music and older recordings wasn't enough!] but it's fun. check out some live performances: http://www.youtube.com/DougDuffey

the clip below was taken @ the Tricou House [711 Bourbon Street] where i worked for years. they had a closed-circuit video camera on the piano area so they could show the 'entertainment' on BIG tv upstairs- so, i'd often get the upstairs bartender to video my sets for me- for posterity [the eventual invention of youtube etc.] i told him to turn off the color, and shoot me in black and white... yet another good move. i have tons of these tapes.... maybe i should do a dvd?

here, someone is asking me -between songs- about my voodoo doll on the piano... about the writing [mystic symbols] on it. Chicken Man gave it to me- he came by all the time and would give me voodoo dolls and various gris gris and charms for good luck. anyway... now... i find it funny... the way i made that bar like my living room! i could do whatever i wanted... and did...

btw- the anorexic look was not from drugs or starvation, but from being a strict vegan for 7 years! i think it's time to throw out the pork chops!
[c] 2007 doug duffey

VIDEOS ADDED TO YOUTUBE.COM

have begun uploading some live footage from some gigs to youtube - and i'm in the process of adding more... check it out! click here.... voila.
[c]2007 doug duffey

1st day of fall- recordings

now that fall is finally here, I have begun recording; fall always inspires me.

my intention was to do some solo piano and vocal tracks “live” to my laptop; no multi tracking; everything played & sang at once. I like that method. However, I had technical problems.
I was running my piano and mic through my Roland VS1680 [using it as a mixer- since i hate using it- very complicated] into the laptop. 1^st the Roland was picking up some local radio station, then, the piano would come through the headphones, but not the mic. So… I got frustrated and began multi tracking.

wrote/recorded a couple of jam tracks, then did covers of "for what it's worth" [buffalo springfield] and "season of the witch" [donovan/ julie driscoll & brian auger] which i later fused into one very long psychedelic medley... with lots of fx... and a 60s psychedelic organ solo. I did them in honor of the 40-year anniversary of "the summer of love"... I thought about posting those 2 covers in this blog …but what w/copyright laws… thought better of it.

later i tried my original plan again… and variations…and it still didn’t work. so... maybe i'll just play directly into my old Fostex 4 track recorder as a mixer! voila.

[c]2007 doug duffey

writing lyrics/manual typwriters

have been going through [listening to, adding to or subtracting from] tons of tracks on my pc... and writing/ recording some new stuff, lately- and while the spirit is upon me, when i take a break from the music writing, i've been writing some lyrics using my old manual typewriters [better to hammer out the rhythm with, rather like piano keys, than a PC]

i have one on each porch of my house, and on various desks throughout; have collected them for years... the one in the foto below has been used for lyric/poetry/dairies & journals since the early 1970s [pre-computer]! most of my hollywood and new orleans diaries, all letters, poems and lyrics, etc. were written on it up until 1998 [when i got my 1st laptop]- i really prefer typewriters to computers... i like the uber alles feel [like an acoustic piano as opposed to a frigging keyboard] -the paper trail- [no crashes- you don't lose work]- the sound and feel and the beauty of the machinery... same thing with cameras: i prefer old manual ones to new digital ones.
above: a shot done today- on my front porch- with my old 'schreibmachine'- and below: one from a hollywood yard sale- circa 1970s- on the back porch looking out onto my 'outside' porch and my forest in the distance: a great/serene place to have coffee, smoke, THINK and TYPE...

now if only it were possible to easily find ribbons for them... but then, there IS the computer/internet, n'est pas?

[c]2007 doug duffey

summertime blues redux

i'm back in louisiana and it's hotter than hell - w/heat index over 100F daily- bloody brutal! why would anyone think of colonizing this jungle/swamp?

i have this foto [shot it the day after i got home] ALSO on my travel blog... but it fits the "uber alles" situation. the illiterate 'psycho christian sign changer' who did this NEEDS a dictionary... but, there again... this kind of screwed up stuff is part of the charm of the deep south...


i have my 1st stateside gig tonight, and am already drained from going in and out in this heat... on top of having jet lag. oh well, it's only rock and roll... down in the delta!

[c]2007 doug duffey

shots from the last european gig

below are some shots i made at sound check- just before the last gig of the tour- at the blue note in biel-bienne [8.14.07]

kiki [sound] and kelvin

hani... on his throne

sebi tuning and jamming

the piano awaiting me... while i'm snapping pix

kiki at the board

[c]2007 doug duffey

happy birthday, switzerland

foto: jacqueline trachsel

a shot of us playing on swiss "independence day"- august 1st, 2007.

[c]2007 doug duffey