Happy holidays to all.

I wanted to share my friend Stan Somers' genius. Stan and I are working together on an animated musical of a day in the life of Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones (see below)- and you might know that Stan did the animation for "Riding Giants"- the Stacy Peralta big wave riding movie. There was some animation of King Kamehameha (which reminds me of Peter Boyle's roll as Chief Oman in "Honeymoon in Vegas"- we will all miss Peter Boyle)...

anyways, Stan- who also animated Ariel for "The Little Mermaid" has done a marvelous mural in Hawthorne and you can see part of it here:



and here:



and you can see more of Stan's artwork... if you click on this sentence!.

Also, as long as the gifts season is upon us, here is my gift from Rebecca- "Recording The Beatles" by my pal Brian Kehew.

The book is AMAZING- it includes descriptions, interviiews, pictures, drawings... EVERYTHING about how the Beatles made their records and I am very happy for Brian's accomplishment.

Lastly, here's a picture of Chanukah eve from our backyard (that's Steve Frothingham and Yasco) courtesy of the eye of Mike Jerugim. Apropos of nothing- except I like it. Happy happy,

Time flies...
A whole summer has come and gone...
and we almost have two records to show for it.

Al's Records and Tapes is back in bidness after taking the year off to hang with the comedians... and so bring on the really crazy people... the recording artists!

Mike J. and I have been working hard to finish up these two records- and they are almost in focus...

Jonathan Burkes- also known affectionately as Boojie, is giving us the goods.
Boojie, Mike and I are cooking up something we are very proud of... something original and badass and well... hard to describe.
And we are finishing up Antonia Romeo's first all girlie girl girlie super neato bodeato record which is called "Just Fina"- and you can see Antonia and Fina here...
and Antonia and Mike here...

Antonia's music is special... and we are really proud to be a part of it because it is so... very much Antonia. It isn't music where you wonder what she is like- her music is what she's like and Mike and I are convinced you will like it.
In the next couple weeks, we will have her site and some samples up...
I am writing this to catch up- Mike reminds me that I have been behind on the blogging...
so now to the stuff that cracks me up- the newest recording artists...
those in The Recording Club! So you know- these kids are our next top models... oops, I'm watching too much tv. But they are hilarious and this year's version of The Recording Club is a step forward. This year, our kids are more on top of it and more determined to finish songs. The past three years has seen the Jack Elliott Music Project give away over $100,000 worth of technology and training.
This year, through a generous grant from The Johnny Mercer Foundation, more kids will be able to expand their repertoire through digital recording and exposure to computers. And this year, from a musical standpoint, the kids are using the technology AND real instruments like never before to create recordings that will shock and amaze. This is really exciting- it isn't just beats and boasts... this is taking it to another level. Go watch video of last week- think about a young Eddie Hazell on guitar... and soon... the Recording Club will have it's first mix tape up on iTunes... with the benefits going toward buying more computers and getting kids to college.

and here is Alex and his gals... as they start the process of deliberating how to share one set of headphones for four people... while Patrick helps Brit get it right. More soon...

Naked Trucker Session for Bob…

The end of the music for “Let's Go To Prison” was great.

Months ago, Bob, Dave Koechner and I got together to write the main title to be performed by the Naked Trucker and Gerald Tibbins - better known as T-Bones (who looks a great deal like Dave). So then we waited... and waited... and finally we got the ok from hq and we had to really do it.

Then the genius of Dave Allen stepped in to sharpen some stuff. Then the band came in... and shoot, before you know it, it's a hoe-down.

So we assembled at Capitol Studios

(that's Jalinda, who works with Andy Paley with Dave Allen) and we assembled the Trucker, T-Bones...

and along came the Dick-Around Gang, manned by Andy Paley on drums, JP Fitting on bass,
TC Tommy Chan on guitar
and lastly... we had a very special guest to top it off…

The legendary Tommy Morgan on the bass harmonica.

And as always, we had Hank Cicalo manning the board - so we new it was gonna be a stone gas.

And it was. The end of the music for the movie lets me know we are getting a little bit closer to finally getting to let everyone hear and see what it is... all the great people we have gotten to play with... and now... all we have to do is wait until...

THANKSGIVING.

(For those who can't wait, you can always go see "Snakes on a Plane" when it comes out- rumor has it that they will be showing trailers for "Let's Go To Prison" before "Snakes.")

Big thanks to Hank Cicalo- who kept things sounding great- and our music supervisor- G. Marq Roswell- who kept explaining to people with money why we needed all the great musicians we got to play and the contributions that these players would make to make the movie better (which I think we did, immodesty aside).

I am a fortunate guy to have gotten the privilege to work with Bob, Dave Allen, Dave Koechner, The Dick-Around Gang, Tommy Morgan, The Queens of the Stone Age, Rahzel, James Gadson, Ray Parker, Jr., Reggie McBride, King Errisson, Scott Kinsey, Billy Hulting, Gary Gardner, Walter Smith III, the Prison Gang String Quartet, Meg White and Hank Cicalo- and I am as proud of the work Bob and I accompished as I am of anything I have worked on. We are working on getting a soundtrack record together- and I will keep posting when there is news regarding that.