Summer Solstice (and Summer Home)

Greetings and happy Summer Solstice!


This is just a quick near re-post - a couple tracks - and then I'm out.


As the story goes..."Summer Home" is one of those rare tracks that has been recorded twice (I think three times actually). It is one of my favorite Rain Station tracks. In the summer of 1992, Hoagie Malone (Jay Moores) began coaxing musicians for his recording project "Equator". These sessions produced 33 tracks. Originally released as "Khaki Circus" by Equator, Hoagie felt that the recordings between he and mopehead (Mark Harvey) were going particularly well, so when mixing time came, the 33 tracks became two separate releases. Rain Station was born with the release "Criminal Goat" and Hoagie released the rest as "Equator". "Summer Home" was one of the tracks on "Criminal Goat". Jay recorded drum tracks in his large Mission Street house. I'd come over and record guitar tracks to his tracks and then he'd flesh out the rest. On the original "Criminal Goat" version of "Summer Home" the bass track was played by Jay's buddy Dave Mintim.


Here's the "Criminal Goat" version of "Summer Home"...

A year or so later I moved out to the Sunset (from the Peninsula) and after a few roommates came and left I convinced Jay to move out of the Mission and out towards the ocean. The place we lived in was fairly large and allowed for setting up and playing (as a band).

Tony Iuppa (my buddy who played bass in The Screaming Paisleys) joined us as did a friend from work, Brian Peet (on drums). Rain Station (the band) was formed and we recorded a three song demo to shop around for gigs. Jay and I also named our home in the Sunset The Rain Station.
"Summer Home" was one of the tracks we recorded for our three song demo - this time on my 4-track. "Summer Home" was added to "Fancy Fancy" as were the other two songs we recorded - "Widdershins" and "Quiet Morning".
Here's the "Fancy Fancy" version of "Summer Home"...

Jay and I have yet to record a version of "Summer Home" on something better than a 4-track. I'm sure someday we will as we both love the tune.

Remember, all of my CDs are available for purchase at Nobody Records.

Be sure and support independent music and purchasing CDs from us!

Mark Harvey

Beth Eyre and Month of Sundays - Bandcamp

Greetings! I'm back with another music post (after the two "trip" blog entries) and today I'm going to write about Beth Eyre and Month of Sundays. Beth is my sister and she has a beautiful gift - both singing and songwriting. For years she lived in L.A. working primarily in cover bands around Orange County (although they did gig around the Southland). She managed to make a very nice living doing it and she was excellent at it. I recall as a teenager (as I was playing in bands) thinking that it was a shame she was singing other people's music and that true artists only work on their own music. How wrong I was. Playing (or singing) other people's music gives you the opportunity to craft your own skills - your own sound - and in the end makes for a better artist. During her time in L.A. she was working with a guitarist named Vinnie and recorded a large number of tracks (five that can be heard on this CD). We selected our favorites of these sessions to put onto this CD.
After living in Southern California for well over a decade Beth decided to move back to NorCal and soon after she did we started playing music together. Three of the tracks on this CD we wrote together - Beth wrote the lyrics and I wrote the music. The first song we wrote together was "All This Time'. "One Man" and "Let It Go By" followed and we recorded a three song demo to shop our wares and to get gigs with. We wrote many other songs, but they were never recorded. Working with my sister was great and our band was INCREDIBLE. We had studio caliber jazz musicians backing us up and our gigs were nothing short of amazing. One of them (pictured with Beth and I) was Frank Buchanan whose Mother was in a singing group (The Diamond 'Lils) with our Mother - a sort of Andrew's Sisters act. We had (sort of) grown up together watching our Mothers so it was funny that all those years later we were playing music together. Frank brought our songs to a new level as he is an amazing guitar player and songwriter. This act was definitely the best I have ever been in. We opened for a number of national acts. We were becoming a sort of "Brand New Heavies" type of act.
One day I received a cease and desist from a band out of Boston (I think it was Boston - can't find a trace of them now) so we just adjusted our name and added Beth's name. Eventually it became too difficult to corral the drummer and bass player as they had better paying gigs (Beth and I would give 100% of our pay from gigs to the backing band - they deserved it!) and we disbanded. The dream of the sister/brother duo died.

Beth can be heard on some Rain Station tracks as well as some of my solo work. I imagine at some point I'll ask her to come back into the studio with me and lay down more vocal tracks. Pay special attention to the tracks we recorded together...and I hope you enjoy them.

Thanks for listening,

Mark Harvey

(the pic to the left was taken prior to one of Beth's SoCal gigs)

Stonedozer - Dr. Dre has it, do you?

Since I don't have a "good" version of "The Living Room Sessions" that I can put up on Bandcamp (yet) I figured I'd fast forward chronologically and talk a little about "Stonedozer". As I mentioned during my "Fancy Fancy" post Jay had moved to New York and Brian Peet and I were recording together. With Brian's help I upgraded my studio set up to an E-MU Darwin (a digital 8-track) and a PC that allowed me to use virtual MIDI tracks which expanded the possibilities of over 8 tracks. I recorded mopehead tracks and my first Pumpkinland hauntscape during that time.
In 1999 Jay returned with his wife to the Bay Area. I had recently become a stay-at-home Dad and since Jay moved nearby we decided it was time to start a new Rain Station project. My folks would watch my daughter at least once a week (sometimes more) and Jay would come over to record. With the new gear it was evident that we were going to end up with a pretty good recording. In some cases I recorded after hours - drum programming, bass, guitar and keyboard tracks. In the case of "It Doesn't Show" Jay laid down a guitar track and I recorded instruments around it. Jay and I also talked a lot about keyboard sounds and many of the keyboard tracks were done when we were together. I wrote lyrics for some of the songs and others Jay would come over and write lyrics to. Vocally we'd record once songs got closer to being completed. On some of the tracks we brought in other vocalists - his wife, my sister and a friend of mine named Idia Huntley who worked with me at the good guys. We also brought in Jay's friend Joe to play the guitar solo for "City Girl". We mixed the project down and scheduled a date to master it.
We mastered "Stonedozer" at Fantasy Studios with George Horn. George mastered The Screaming Paisleys "EXIT" LP so it had been some time since I had seen him. His ears are incredible and mastering with him is a joy. What was nice was that he kept asking about my equipment and process. He was amazed that we had done the whole project on a digital 8-track. We talked mics and such and he was generally impressed. It made me feel like the years of recording college (and recording) had paid off. We sent the master of for replication and waited.
On 4/20/2000 Rain Station released "Stonedozer". We sent out tons of press kits to radio (college, mainstream and alternative), websites (for review) and to print publications. The CD was received well and gained some airplay, but failed to conquer the world as we had intended it to.
A couple months later I heard a story from Jay about his brother and our CD. Jay's brother worked for a high end pro audio company in Indianapolis. During the Up In Smoke Tour (formerly called the Chronic 2000 Tour) Jay's brother was working on the stereo system on Dr. Dre's tour bus. To "test" the system his brother dropped "Stonedozer" into the CD player. As Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Warren G, Ice Cube, Nate Dogg, Eminem, Xzibit and more (possibly) listened on, his brother continued to tweak the system. Dr. Dre asked him, "Who is this" and his brother answered, "My brother's band, Rain Station". Dr. Dre said he wanted the CD and said, "If this is your brother you can get another copy of it". So, on June 30th, 2000 Rain Station's "Stonedozer" became a part of the CD collection on Dr. Dre's tour bus.
Here's a chance to listen to the disc in its entirety via Bandcamp.

Jay likes to listen to the CD starting at track #3. "Rise" and "Stonedozer" are a bit of an abrupt way to start a CD so perhaps heed Jay's advice, start at track 3 and then come back for tracks 1 and 2.

I hope you enjoy the disc...as Charlie Harrelson from EvO:R says..."I have always been a big fan of Rain Station and their lo-fi recording roots but the recording of Stonedozer has elevated them to near major label sound quality"......"This is the BEST Rain Station CD to date"...

Mark Harvey

Turning 40

Hey there! I'll try and get back to blogging about music...giving away MP3s and such, but for posterity I'm going to document my 40th birthday since you never know when the details will slip and in my old age I may need to read this over to recall the weekend that was. I can say that I had a very happy 40th birthday thanks to my wife. Disneyland and Napa were the destinations and without further delay...here goes...

I was sick the whole week - stayed home from work on Monday (the 4th), went to Sacramento to lobby on Tuesday, worked a short day on Wednesday and took Thursday off. Thursday was a nice day, slept in, ran some errands and at 3:00 I picked my wife up at her job in San Francisco. We darted over to SFO and hopped a plane to Orange County. I had never flown Virgin America, but I'll tell you, I'll be choosing them whenever possible...GREAT experience. Love the mood lighting!

We arrived on Thursday evening and shuttled over to our hotel which was right across from Disneyland. After unpacking we walked over to Downtown Disney for dinner. My wife wanted to check out The House of Blues (here) and we decided to stay for dinner. We had great food, great service (thanks Mary!) and stayed to check out the band that was setting up in the Voodoo Lounge. The band was great (Brophy Dale here) and we stayed for quite a while to check out their set.

The next morning we headed over to Disneyland (for my free admission to one park extravaganza). We had a great time running around Disneyland riding all of our favorite rides and the lines were short, weather was great and we had an excellent time. For lunch we headed back over to Downtown Disney and at the Brennan's Jazz Kitchen. Lunch was good...we had a little problem and the manager took VERY good care of us. Since it was my birthday they served us beignets for dessert. It was my wife's first beignet experience...it is high time I take her to New Orleans to Cafe du Monde! After lunch it was back to Disneyland for more rides before we did some shopping (for the kids and my mother-in-law). We had a 5:00 pm shuttle back to the airport for another great flight via Virgin America.

Once we landed and grabbed our luggage we decided to have sushi for my "late night" birthday dinner and we got to one of our favorite places just in time to order. Tomodachi (here) is a great place for sushi (located in Hayward) and when they saw my Disneyland birthday button they came over to sing happy birthday to me as well as honor me with some ice cream (and a candle) plus they took a photo of my wife and I and minutes later came back with a Tomodachi picture frame (stands and has a magnet for fridge use) with our photo in it. Very cool!

The next morning we got up, tooled around a little and then headed up to Napa. Once we got there we visited the Napa Outlets where we did a little shopping for ourselves (and the kids) then over to the resort we were staying at. We picked up some birthday cupcakes (my wife got their Snikerdoodle and I got an Irish Car Bomb - cupcake mind you) at Sift (here) and wandered around for awhile as we just weren't sure where to have dinner.

We ended up at the old staple, Downtown Joe's (here) for a killer dinner (and beer). There was a band setting up there as well so we stayed to watch (and the locals) for a little while. The band name was Xtatic (here)...and we got a kick out of their lead singer Herb Burns. They played classic rock hits from the 60ties thru 2000's. It was fun seeing everyone having so much fun listening to the band.

The next morning we slept in and once we got up and packed we made our way into Sonoma. We again wandered in search of food and had a great lunch at the Basque Boulangerie Café (here). In the neighborhood was Mission San Francisco Solano. We decided to tour it and really enjoyed ourselves. Reading the history of the 21st, last and northernmost California mission was excellent. Mission San Francisco Solano was the only mission founded after Mexico's independence from Spain. It was also the only mission founded without the prior approval of the Church. We enjoyed the Mission very much. You can Google it for more information or visit here.

We also visited the Sonoma Barracks a two-story, wide-balconied, adobe barracks facing Sonoma's central plaza. It was built to house Mexican army troops under the command of General Vallejo. The troops first arrived in Sonoma in 1834 when Vallejo, then the Commandant of the Presidio at San Francisco, was instructed to move his garrison to Sonoma. From then until 1846, Sonoma was the headquarters of the commandant of the Frontera del Norte - the Mexican provincial frontier of the North. It was also very educational and an enjoyable visit.

Our final stop on our way home was one of our favorite wineries, Valley of the Moon (here). We tasted quite a few wines and bought a few wines and enjoyed our stay there. Great place!

We were kidless on Sunday night so we enjoyed a nice dinner together and relaxed. The weekend was complete and completely perfect.

This week my staff took me out for lunch...here are some pics of that adventure. They gave me a birthday car(d) - meaning, they painted birthday greetings on my car windows. They also gave me a case of beer and we had CAKE!

Mark Harvey

The Screaming Paisleys on bandcamp

Well...after a little blog silence I've decided to get with the program again and get something written here. I do plan on writing the account of my 40th birthday weekend (mainly for my own historical record...I'm getting old, ya know), but tonight I decided to announce the digital availability of The Screaming Paisleys "EXIT" LP (found here). It is available to listen to as well as to download. It is a fairly good quality rip, not the best...

For those who have not read the account of the band, keep reading...

The Screaming Paisleys started out as Rhythm and Rhyme - a band thrown together for a Battle of the Bands contest at Sequoia High School in Redwood City, CA. Soon after that "gig" we changed our name to The Screaming Paisleys, played for a little while and then broke up. Some where out there is a demo we recorded at a friend's house, but I've not come across it yet.
At that point I began recording on my Tascam 4-track and I called my solo project mopehead. At a party at my buddy Scott Rehlaender's house, Dave Ayer (The Screaming Paisleys' drummer) heard some of the tracks I had recorded and thought it would be cool to get together. We reenlisted Brent Willson (bass) and began practicing, but soon stopped playing together again. I started looking for a bass player to fill Brent's spot.
One night while working at Gelb Music in Redwood City, CA (click here to visit their website) Tony Iuppa saw the flier pinned to the wall and approached me asking if he could "try out" for the band. So Dave, Tony and I began practicing. The Screaming Paisleys were together again.
Once we had a number of tunes ready we decided to record an LP. EXIT was recorded with Bart Thurber at the original House Of Faith (click here to visit website) recording studio (then in Bart's Palo Alto house). Bart was amazing and taught all of us a lot during the process. I had been going to recording college so working with Bart was great to hone my production skills.

EXIT was released in 1988. The Screaming Paisleys played lots of gigs. Our LP charted on many college radio stations nationwide. It was a good run. We ended up breaking up when Dave decided to go on tour with SAMIAM (one of many bands that Dave was playing in). Tony and I would get together and record strange songs on the 4-track, but the band would never get together again. Tony's friend, Shane created a website (click here to visit) for The Screaming Paisleys (a page for stuff that doesn't have a page).

I've now ripped the entire LP so here is a digital version of EXIT. I hope you enjoy the tracks.

Mark Harvey - Acoustic & Electric Guitars/Vocals
Click here if you can't figure out where you're supposed to click to listen to "EXIT".

Step by Step Criminal Goat- Summer Home - Track 8

This is a repeated blog entry. Since I already wrote about "Summer Home" I figured I'd get lazy and just repost the entry. Plus this being Easter Sunday there are eggs to hunt...
So...here goes...

"Summer Home" is one of those rare tracks that has been recorded twice (I think three times actually). It is one of my favorite Rain Station tracks. As the story goes...In the summer of 1992, Hoagie Malone (Jay Moores) began coaxing musicians for his recording project "Equator". These sessions produced 33 tracks. Originally released as "Khaki Circus" by Equator, Hoagie felt that the recordings between he and mopehead (Mark Harvey) were going particularly well, so when mixing time came, the 33 tracks became two separate releases. Rain Station was born with the release "Criminal Goat" and Hoagie released the rest as "Equator". "Summer Home" was one of the tracks on "Criminal Goat". Jay recorded drum tracks in his large Mission Street house. I'd come over and record guitar tracks to his tracks and then he'd flesh out the rest. On the original "Criminal Goat" version of "Summer Home" the bass track was played by Jay's buddy Dave Mintim.
I moved out to the Sunset (from the Peninsula) and after a few roommates came and left I convinced Jay to move out of the Mission and out towards the ocean. The place we lived in was fairly large and allowed for setting up and playing (as a band).
Tony Iuppa (my buddy who played bass in The Screaming Paisleys) joined us as did a friend from work, Brian Peet (on drums - pictured left). Rain Station (the band) was formed and we recorded a three song demo to shop around for gigs. Jay and I also named our home in the Sunset The Rain Station.

"Summer Home" was one of the tracks we recorded for our three song demo - this time on my 4-track. "Summer Home" was added to "Fancy Fancy" as were the other two songs we recorded - "Widdershins" and "Quiet Morning".

Jay and I have yet to record a version of "Summer Home" on something better than a 4-track. I'm sure someday we will as we both love the tune.

So...here you'll find the FREE MP3 downloads of "Summer Home".

"Summer Home" by Rain Station found on "Criminal Goat" (here) (link disabled)

"Summer Home" by Rain Station found on "Fancy Fancy" (here) (link disabled)

So this "Criminal Goat" entry comes with the bonus "Fancy Fancy" version.

Enjoy the FREE tracks and please drop me a comment.
Remember, all of my CDs are available for purchase at Nobody Records.
Be sure and support independent music and purchasing CDs from us!

Mark Harvey

Scalp Massage - a Screaming Paisleys' FREE MP3

Here's another track from The Screaming Paisleys. This free MP3 is called "Scalp Massage" (download here) (link disabled)and is taken from The Screaming Paisleys' EXIT LP (released in 1988). It has some really nice bass work by Tony Iuppa (bass solo included!), some interesting harmonics flowing from my guitar and Dave Ayer grooves pretty tough on this track. All in all I'd say I get a kick listening to this old LP.

For a Screaming Paisley's history lesson click here.

Mark Harvey
Click here if you can't figure out where you're supposed to click to download the song. (link disabled)

Warrior vs. Kings

On Wednesday night a couple of buddies and I attended the Warriors vs. Kings game.

We had a good time ("It's A Great Time Out!" site here). Had a beer. Crowd was into it.

Unfortunately the Warriors lost...IN TRIPLE OVERTIME! The final score was 135-133.

It was the Warriors' first triple-overtime game since a 115-109 victory over New Orleans on Nov. 23, 2004.

Mark Harvey

(A Warrior's fan...regardless)

MacWorld 2009

Greetings and salutations! I'm back, fresh from MacWorld 2009. I always see a bunch of stuff when I'm there, snap a few pictures and talk to lot of folks about stuff I can't afford or in some cases just don't need. I'm not rockin' a Mac yet - plan to - so MacWorld is a bit useless for me - well, except for the iPod part (I own two) and the universal gear items (storage, laptop bags and other accessories that are universal). I'm hoping that in 2009 I will be a Mac user along with getting my ProTools studio set-up so I can maximize my recording potential. The price tag is hefty as the Mac I want to buy is VERY pricey.

This has been an annual trek I make with my father-in-law who is a BIG Apple fan. Strangely enough neither of us made purchases this year. Sure, there were things I wanted to buy, but most of it wasn't in the gotta buy catagory. I do plan on purchasing a few things (from the vendors listed below) at a later date. These vendors I found to be particularly useful and I will give them a little nod here so if you have a chance, check 'em out, give 'em business and you can tell 'em Mark Harvey sent you.

For the second year in a row I spoke to the folks at Advanced Media Solutions (AMS) about CD replication. They were nice last year and equally as nice this year. Their booth (which I have pictured to the left) has all sorts of examples of what they can make for folks. If you need media, such as CD’s, DVD’s, posters and other print materials, even T shirts and apparel, AMS can do it for you. Check them out here. Call (or email) Mike Roderick at AMS and tell him Mark Harvey sent you.

Another cool booth I wanted to mention was GelaSkins (website here). GelaSkins are removable covers for protecting and customizing your portable devices. They feature excellent photo-quality graphics ranging from fine art prints to contemporary urban images designed by their growing family of artists from around the globe. I'm not much a fan of putting this type of thing on my iPod, but I'll tell ya, these look VERY cool and they stick on and peel off very easily (I watched the guy do it - they use a patented 3M adhesive that makes GelaSkins easy to apply with no residue left behind. The adhesive allows you to reposition the skin so you can easily get a perfect fit, plus the advanced 3M adhesive contains patented micro-channels that prevent air bubbles from forming and allow for easy application so they stick well and look good). What caught my attention most of all was that they are going to add a feature that will allow their customers the ability to upload their own artwork. The idea of having a customized iPod (with a Nobody Records/Pumpkinland Studios logo on it) is amazing.

The next item that got me thinking was the Numark iDJ2 Mobile DJ Workstation. The booth I visited was repping Numark, Alesis and MixMeister. It has been a long time since I DJ'd, but the Numark iDJ2 Mobile DJ Workstation made me want to get back into it (or just buy one to play with). From their site..."The Numark iDJ2 is the only iPod mixing console that provides full control of your music with real–time scratching (via two jog wheels), a stunning color screen and Numark's exclusive crate management. Keylock insures that DJs can easily change tempo without affecting pitch. The iDJ2 features a fresh and innovative new iPod docking system that allows users to play and mix two songs simultaneously from a single iPod without the need of a computer. Users can also hook up multiple mass storage devices including additional iPods, thumb drives, and external USB hard drives through rear panel USB ports. In addition to USB connectivity, the iDJ2 comes complete with line inputs for audio sources including a microphone, CD players and turntables." I want one! Click here to check out more about this amazing tool (toy).

The final booth I'll talk about here was one that sells customized device holders and vehicle mounts made for nearly every make and model vehicle and nearly every device you can imagine. ProClips didn't have an amazing booth (it was a dashboard with a bunch of device holders and mounts on it), but the gentleman there had a crowd around him. The idea that you can have a custom clip for your car that actually is made FOR your vehicle is HUGE. Check them out here. I plan on ordering something (or somethings) from them once I decide on my next vehicle.

Well...that was my MacWorld 2009 experience. I saw a bunch of other things, but those were the standouts for me. I like wandering around and checking out the stuff they have. We didn't even eat lunch we were so busy walking from booth to booth. Even though this year seemed a lot more low key than years past, I am happy I attended since I found some great vendors that I plan on buying stuff from. It is always cool to come home with schwag and I came home with a TON of it.

Mark Harvey

(a man looking forward to owning a Mac someday)

New Year's Day Tradition

Happy day after New Year's Day everyone. This is a non-musical post, but is a photographic journey of what has become a New Year's Day tradition for my wife and I. I'm not quite sure which year it started, but we venture out on NYD and head over to the coast - beginning in Half Moon Bay and making our way down to Santa Cruz. This year we decided to do the same and with the kids in tow we made our way across the Bay and towards the coast. We packed a picnic lunch (which we ended up eating in San Mateo at a park my new Garmin found for us - seriously one of the best Christmas presents I've received ever! It has already come in handy). After eating our lunch and letting the kids play on the swings and slides we got back on the road and headed over the hills to Half Moon Bay. Then down the coast.

We stopped at the Pigeon Point Light Station for some photo ops. I'm a big lighthouse fan...must be the seafaring blood in my veins - descended from Vikings you know. Perched on a cliff on the central California coast, 50 miles south of San Francisco, the 115-foot Pigeon Point Lighthouse, one of the tallest lighthouses in America, has been guiding mariners since 1872. Its five-wick lard oil lamp, and first-order Fresnel lens, comprised of 1,008 prisms, was first lit at sunset, November 15, 1872. The lens stands 16 feet tall, 6 feet in diameter, and weighs 8,000 pounds. It sits in a lantern room that had been constructed at the Lighthouse Service's general depot in New York before being shipped around the Horn. Although the original Fresnel lens is no longer in use, the lighthouse is still an active U.S. Coast Guard aid to navigation using a 24 inch Aero Beacon. To visit the Pigeon Point Light Station or to learn more click here.

We continued to wind our way down the coast to Santa Cruz. The views are breathtaking. The drive relaxing. We ate sourdough bread and Trader Joe's Old Amsterdam Aged Gouda Cheese.

Once we arrived we headed over and parked on the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf (here). It has been a long tradition for my wife's family to go to the Wharf after picking out a Christmas tree in the Santa Cruz mountains for a bowl of clam chowder at the Stagnaro's Bros. (here). Looks like we've added a stop to our New Year's Day trek as everyone enjoyed the clam chowder and the walk along the Wharf.

After our dinner we heard the sea lions barking. We took in a great show as they swam, dove and played in the water below. We caught some great pictures of them as well.

On the way back to the car I snapped some great photographs of the Santa Cruz Lighthouse (also known as the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse) (click here).

We had a great New Year's Day!

Happy New Year to you!

Mark Harvey