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The CD Project

12/2003--The beginning

Merry Christmas to All, and Jericho Bridge has decided to record a CD. We're going into Basement Floor Studios in Baltimore after the first of the year. The first of NEXT year, that is. The Holidays are upon us and there is merry-making and all that stuff to undertake, so not much time to plan. We're thinking about 12-14 tunes in all that will show some of the spectrum of the music we play. Gotta go stuff my stockings and wrap the gifts...

- John Alexander

02/2004--We're in the deep end of the pool now

It's February, and Jericho Bridge finds itself in the eerie world of sound recording. All the stuff you see on TV is crap. It's a lot of hard work and nobody is snapping their fingers while holding a set of headphones to one ear. You have to play without any singing, which is extremely tough when you've been using vocal cues for years to know when to come in on a break, throw a little lick in at the end of a line and so on. We're standing in a circle in the studio and playing and mouthing the words and it looks like four guys doing a Red Skelton pantomime skit, except it's not very funny. We're looking forward (yeah, right) to when we get to do the opposite--sing without being able to play. That's probably even more fun...

- John Alexander

05/04/2004--It is May and a young man's fancy turns to...multi-track recording

John Gorozdos and I just finished recording vocals (backups for the most part) for about six of the tunes. At this point, Last Letter Home looks like it's done. Everything else just needs Tom's backup vocals recorded. Brian keeps saying he wants to bow at the end of about four tunes, so we'll see how that goes. It's a funny feeling listening to everybody else recorded on the headphones and singing your part. It's tough to hear yourself in the swirling melee of the recording. You have to keep stopping and asking the engineer to replay something for you, adjust a level and so on. It is SO much easier to just do it (apologies to the folks at Nike)... You'd think performing live would be more difficult, but this is more so.

- John Alexander

10/20/2004--Coming around the bend...finally

In early 2004, Jericho Bridge began the arduous process of recording an album at Basement Floor Studios in Baltimore, MD. Eight looooong months later, on October 19th, the recording work is completed and the mixing of tracks has begun. The remaining processes (mastering and replication) should complete in another four to six weeks, barring anything unusual. We anticipate the final recording will be available on compact disk (CD) sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We'll be sure to have them along at shows and you can also contact us to purchase one...or many! In fact, don't be shy about sending us your name and address now and we'll contact you when the album is ready.

The tracks we expect to include on the CD are Chocolate Jesus, Cindy, Early Morning Rain, He's Helping You a Lot, I'm Only Sleeping, Last Letter Home, Norwegian Wood, There I'll Stay, Unwanted Love, When Mars Flew By, When You Go Walking, Wish You Were Here and The Dance Mill Backstep.

Of these, He's Helping You a Lot, There I'll Stay, When Mars Flew By and The Dance Mill Backstep are all originals composed by the members of Jericho Bridge. The rest is stuff by people like Tom Waits, Gordon Lightfoot, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and other unknowns. What can I say--we like to help these kids--some of them might actually amount to something one day and we'll beam proudly and say, "We knew them when..."

Stay tuned for more news as it happens...

- John Alexander

10/29/2004--It's about time we had a PLEASANT surprise

Just today, I listened to the first few tracks mixed for the Jericho Bridge CD. There were some very nice moments on there that captured the way we sound...the warmth...the intimacy...the tenderness...the huge royalties we will one day be paid!

Anyhow, progress is good and we're at about the half-way point of the mixing process. I have to go back tomorrow to fill in a guitar break we forgot to do earlier. Which is okay because sometimes I forget to do it when we play live, too. I won't tell you where it goes--that way, you have to buy the CD and see if you can guess where I did it. Maybe we'll do a sweepstakes and have people write-in their answers and give away...oh, I don't know...a CD maybe!

We appear to be on track for a release in the latter part of this year--it's getting close, friends!

- John Alexander

11/02/2004--I won't be satisfied that way

I finished recording that guitar break the other day and we completed mixing the last several tracks. For those of you who have been through this whole recording process yourselves, my hat's off to you! Speaking for myself, it's been one of the most grueling, disappointing, delightful and rewarding things I've ever done. I look back over the last ten months and don't know how we did it at all with gigs, personal lives and everything else that has happened.

Listening to each track as we finished mixing brought back a lot of memories...mouthing the words to songs as we recorded instrumental tracks so we could keep our timing straight...of John Gorozdos sitting in the other room eating a granola bar and reading the newspaper while waiting for the rest of us...oh, well. This work will represent a moment in time for Jericho Bridge. It will always define some of our best moments and remind us of our "areas for improvement" as well. There is some fine music here and I think people will enjoy it a lot. It's not all bluegrass but it's not all cross-over type stuff, either. It's a good, eclectic kind of assortment.

It looks initially like we're going to replicate a few hundred of these and see how they go. We can always make more! Once we have a release date, it'll be posted here. That should be in a few more weeks. We might even arrange a CD release party...with beer and gorgeous TV spokesmodels and fire-trucks and BLT sandwiches...and maybe fit a little music in, too.

- John Alexander

11/14/2004--Almost time for the little bird to fly from its nest

The master of the CD is finished. The master is basically all the tracks, in their final sequence, mixed and with all the various frequency ranges optimized and volumes matched so they're consistent when played back. Nothing worse than asking your listener to keep fiddling with their volume and tone controls constantly. That might possibly distract them from listening to the music.

Anyhow, the liner notes are finished, the artwork squared-away and the whole thing is ready to go off to Nashville for replication and packaging. Having this done in Nashville is what makes it authentic. If we'd chosen a place in Pittsburgh, it would not be, because Nashville is known for music and Pittsburgh for its steel. If you try crossing-over that established boundary, the Federal Music Police come to arrest you, take away your banjo and make you play the bongos for ninety days. It's some sort of interstate commerce thing, and therefore involves the Feds. If all goes according to schedule, we should have the finished product back in our hands in about three more weeks.

Remember, holiday gift-giving season is fast approaching. You can always tell this because all the Halloween stuff comes off the shelves at the local drugstore and is replaced by tree ornaments, tinsel and musical electric candles. The snow will begin to fall lightly and softly on your windowpanes and laundry will freeze before it dries on the clothesline. 'Tis the season for frozen plumbing... Some friendly advice: start arranging your finances so that you can buy several copies for your family, friends, co-workers, fellow church members, public safety officials, door-to-door sales reps who may visit, as well as complete strangers you simply want to impress with your graciousness and philanthropy. You can never do too much good in your lifetime!

- John Alexander

11/28/2004--A Jewelcase of The Blues

When are "The Blues" not "The Blues"? Believe it or not, "light blue" covers many dozens of different shades, all of which are closely related. The printer's proofs were received and a color between a baby blue and sky blue came back as turquoise. Not valuable like turquoise stone (not like saying, "we sent out rabbit pellets and they came back as nuggets of GOLD!"), just the same turquoise color.

I have learned as part of this process that the printing and graphics trades have developed a LOT of very specific colorizations, each with a unique number to reduce confusion and ensure consistency. When you specify these on your order, you figure, what can POSSIBLY be misinterpreted? On top of that, some text on the packaging wasn't in place. Well, this, friends, is exactly why proofs exist. And I have learned that musicians and printers do have some things in common in terms of the artistic license applied to work being produced. Some folks, however, should opt for an Artistic Learner's Permit before going for the actual License.

To make a long and fairly boring story shorter, this will delay things another week or so. A week isn't a long time since the time following when the CDs do finally arrive would be considered eternity, and that's a LONG time. In the meantime, I figured I owed another installment in this epic tale to you, our faithful reader. I did hear that the CDs themselves are replicated and are just waiting to be packaged in the not-yet-correctly-printed jewel cases. Hang in there a little longer. Verily, the end of yon tunnel doth approach...

- John Alexander

12/04/2004--The Proof is in the Pudding...er, the CD packaging

The revised proof came back and looks "a-okay" as the Mercury 7 used to say. Speaking of astronauts, here's a riddle for you (it's even Christmassy):

Q: If Athletes get Athlete's Foot, what do Astronauts get?

A: Missile Toe

We expect an estimated shipping date by early next week. Now, that doesn't mean we'll have them in hand by early next week. It just means we think we'll know when the printer thinks he thinks he's going to send them to us. I think...

So, once we know the expected arrival date, we can post when the CDs will be available. Stand by...

- John Alexander

12/14/2004--Our Little Bundle of Joy Has Arrived...er, three bundles, actually

Now I know how Lewis and Clark felt upon reaching the Pacific Ocean...the long-awaited day has come... and the CDs...finished...all of them...are here. Doesn't it irritate you to see excessive use of ellipses? It sure does irritate me...well...I guess there's no use complaining, eh?...

We'll be posting an ordering page on this website very soon. If you simply cannot wait to get your hands on some, CLICK HERE to send us an email and reserve how many thousands of copies you want to buy. We'll be happy to sell you a lesser number, if you like, but are you sure you don't need THOUSANDS? You wouldn't want to be caught unprepared for the upcoming holiday gift-giving season.

So, nestle your children all snug in their beds and a Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night!

- John Alexander

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