It's been a busy few weeks in Chez Morrison. And firstly, I have to say that the whole Hurricane Katrina thing has just left me speechless. I mean, one of my favorite places in the world has just ... gone. Those poor people on the Gulf Coast have been decimated by this and I urge everyone to do what they can to help. You can donate, give blood, send childrens toys and books - anything that you can do needs to be done.

Camp Freddy helped Indie 103.1 FM raise well over $60,000 in a 40-hour radio telethon last week. We auctioned off a bunch of great prizes on the show, including Ozzy Osbourne's glasses, a weekend in Vegas with Matt Sorum (!) and a ton of tickets for the clubs in Los Angeles. And of course, we also have our benefit show at the Key Club on September 29th, and all the proceeds from that will also be donated to the American Red Cross. It makes me feel blessed that I am in a position to help at all. Please, if you can, try and do something to help the relief effort. And if you can't, then put the people of the Gulf Coast in your prayers. They need a lot of both right now.

So - what's been going on? Well, there have been Celebrity Poker Parties, a Sex Pistols 50th birthday party, hours of playing guitar in the studio, and a lot of Pilates! Not to mention computer software problems (which basically consume my life until I get them sorted out!), interviews for VH-1 and a whole host of errand type things that seem to keep me terminally busy, but don't do anything to further my career/financial standing/happiness! Taking care of life just somehow requires so much time and effort that it amazes me how we have time to do anything else.

I have finally had all my guitars set up, intonated, adjusted, tweaked, pulled and polished so that every one of them stays in tune, plays like a dream, and sounds perfect. It took me about a year of backwards and forwards to my guy who never got impatient with me. He just continued to adjust the action, remove flat spots, change pickups and generally do what I was asking - and the end result is a dream! When I was a young kid, I always dreamed of a rack of Les Pauls, all different colors and different tunings, and that is what I look at every morning when I walk into my studio. Careful what you wish for - you just might get it.

I have been working with a couple of people recently on some song ideas that seem to be coming together nicely. And the twist is that I have been singing them! I never thought of myself as the 'lead singer' guy, but I have loved writing lyrics and melody, and we have written more than a few tunes now. So maybe we put a name to the project, complete the line up, and see what happens. Who knows - but it has been a ton of fun, and if it turns into a real thing ... well, watch out for the 'Lead Singer' version of Mr. Morrison!

I choose to use Logic instead of Pro Tools in my studio, as I have been using it for over a decade and am faster in Logic than I ever will be in Pro Tools. I find that the program is far more intuitive for me, and as I am lucky enough to be loaded up with all the plug ins I will ever need, it just works for me. I also feel that any program is as good as the AD/DA converters that you use, so as long as you are working with decent hardware, the quality is the same. BUT - as with all software, when you choose to upgrade to the latest version (or are forced to, as eventually happens with this shit!) - suddenly NOTHING works!!

I experienced this last week, right in the middle of a session. Now granted, it's my fault for choosing to upgrade at that time. But it's like drugs!! Once it's in my head that I need the latest thing, I cannot rest until I have it in my system!!
So I spent days on the phone to all the Plug-In manufacturers, calling helplines, trying to make all the third party stuff work with the new version. Finally I have it all working, but my wife is spot on. She says that when I decide to buy ANYTHING, it usually costs us thousands more, because of all the extra stuff I end up needing to make it all work!! I am so lucky to be married to someone who either understands and accepts, or just doesn't care!! I'm not sure which one it is, but either way ... Jen ... I love you!!!!

OK - so I should get on with my day. Another full day working on the mixes of these new tunes, and no doubt a bunch of emails and calls about the forthcoming Camp Freddy show. I remain eternally surprised that the good people of Modern Guitars continue to let me ramble on here with this journal!! But as long as they do, I shall return ... when I remember!!! Have a great day and please, try and do something today to help the Katrina Disaster Victims. We all share this planet, and some day, it will be you that needs the help. So give freely, and feel the love.

Peace

Billy