OCT 1: My friend Jeff Trott is coming to the Puzzle Tree Studio today. We will work on writing songs together. Some of you may remember Jeff as lead guitarist in my touring band in the mid 90’s. Others may know him from Wire Train & World Party. Or for his collaborations with Sheryl Crow. Jeff has co-written and co-produced many of her biggest hits. Sing along: “If It Makes You Happy”, “Everyday is a Winding Road”, “A Change Would Do You Good”, “My Favorite Mistake,” “Soak Up The Sun”, the list goes on. Like I said before, he is a hit machine.

POST SESSION WRAP UP Jeff, Elaine and I had a blast writing. So much so, we have decided, without really thinking it through, that we are now a band. You can call us FOUR HOUR DINNER BREAK. Yeah, that’s right, we took ’em. Sitting around our mid-century Heywood Wakefield table with our bellies filled with fine vegan cuisine reminiscing about our days together on the road. Police escorts, puppet man, random taxi meetings in the Big Easy. You get the picture. We are going to meet back up at Jeff’s studio in Manhattan beach in a few weeks to record a couple of our new songs. Yes, we did stop shooting breeze enough to actually get some work done.

OCT31- POST SMOKEY SESSION WRAP UP: We cut two songs at Jeff’s Ocean View Studio in Manhattan Beach. Drummer Brian McCleod joined us on “Slow Winds” and “One Good Heart”. Much of southern California was on fire and the air was thick with smoke. Added an eerie vibe to the sessions. The sunsets were unreal. We are planning on getting back together sometime next year to continue working. Best case scenario would be releasing an E.P. by summer of 2008. We’ll see.