You know goddamn well that you don't

Well, it's exciting times at the House of Peanut lately! Today we are snowed in, with actually a significant amount of snow. My geeky husband reports it at 8 inches on our deck. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you look at it), I can't get to my work email because of the other 30,000 people trying to work from home.

But yesterday? Yesterday was a really fun day. It started out very average. I got up, went to work, did some work things, then went out for a fun lunch with the women on my team.

After lunch, I headed over to a small recording studio in North Seattle, to peek in on Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs record their new album. Typical day, right? Hehe, maybe if I had some glamorous rock'n'roll job, but this geek doesn't usually get to do stuff like that.

I got the invite from Dave, my coworker, who knows them, and introduced me to their music in the first place. As you remember, they came to play at Microsoft and I won the raffle item to have them play at a house party - yippeee! (More on that in the future.) He's been hanging out all week while they record.

So for a few hours yesterday I got to be an observer. Not only did I get to hear awesome music and new songs, but I got to learn about the recording process firsthand. I'm really curious about how other people work, especially in careers they love. So I chatted with the band a bit about how they write their songs, and with the recording engineer about his career path. Fascinating. That'll be a post for my Microsoft blog.

It was unlike anything I've ever seen before. Obviously I've been to tons of live shows, with metal bands and non-metal bands so I've seen live music, up close.

But the whole process, with different musicians in different rooms, all the careful tweaking of settings, mics, and amplifiers, was totally fascinating. I knew, but didn't really understand, all of the work that goes into recording a single song.

I know, I'm bordering on gushing fangirl, and I'll try to hold back. But it was so weird (and cool!) to just sit there with musicians who I've heard a hundred times on my iPod. And be able to ask the occasional question. They were all very nice, and patient with my dumb questions, and fun, and personable, and clearly love what they're doing.

And the talent! Damn. I'm not usually a weepy girl when it comes to songs, but there was one yesterday that just got me. (I'm happy to say I wasn't the only one in the room snuffling.)

Here's a little taste of what I got to see in the studio:



I can't wait to hear the whole album when it's done. Lucky for me, Star Anna is playing live at the High Dive in Fremont this Saturday. If we can dig out of the snow, I'll be there. You can come too! Woot!