New York, New York!!!

Okay... I have so much to talk about I am not sure where to start... so how about my first day?

I flew into Newark at about lunchtime and headed into Manhattan. My apartment wasn't ready so I left my bags (and my guitar) with the doorman and thought I would drop in on Gary Wassner in his office downtown. Gary works in a skyscraper one block away from the boxing mecca, Madison Square Garden.

I've known Gary for a few years but never met face to face, so it was great meeting him for the first time. For those of you who don't know him, Gary is an author (Gemquest series) and runs a finance company in New York, specializing in fashion, the arts and music... hence his connection with the producer I was working with (Tommy). Gary is a great guy and without his help this week would not have happened. We both moderate a science fiction and fantasy writing messageboard, called SFFWORLD.com and one day we got to talking about music, and Gary offered to send me his books and in return I sent him my CD.

Anyway, Gary is a great guy, friendly, generous and interesting. He always has time for his friends and is a very talented writer. We chatted for a while but my visit was slap bang in the middle of his working day so I headed back to my apartment. Before I left Gary's office, he asked me to call Tommy, as he (Tommy) had mentioned going to see a band play that night. I was tired, but hey this is New York right? and I was keen to meet the guy kind enough to produce my song. So I gave Tommy a call and arranged to meet him at the Cutting Room. Now this place had Josh Rouse a few weeks earlier and has Josh Ritter playing there this week, which is pretty cool. All I knew, was the address, the time to meet and that the band was made up of musicians who all play in other bands and when they all get together it is something pretty special.

So I meet Tommy (who is great!) and sit at a table with a few different people. The band come out and introduce themselves:

Ricky Byrd was on guitar and vocals, he played with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts...
Hugh McDonald was on bass, he plays with Bon Jovi...
The drummer and the sax player both play with Billy Joel...
Joe Lynn Turner was on guitar and vocals, he sang with Rainbow and Deep Purple among others...
And with her platinum beehive and incredible vocals, Christine Ohlman completed the set-up, she is the singer for the Saturday Night Live Band...

I was blown away...

So I'm sitting with these guys and I buy a round of drinks and then Ricky Byrd says over the mic "Is that Andy York sitting there? Get up here Andy... this guy is my favorite guitar player," so I turn to Tommy and say who is he? and Tommy tells me that the guy I just bought a drink for, who gets up and rips the place apart... is John Cougar Mellencamp's guitar player!

It was like being in session musician nirvana!

Anyway, the music was amazing and then Tommy has to shoot off and tells me to be at the studio at noon... awesome.

I will let you know how I got on in my next post. I will also try and post some photos too, including the homeless guy with the sign 'Ninjas killed my family, need money for Kung-Fu lessons', I shit you not!!!

Here are some web photos:

This is Christine Ohlman, singer with the Saturday Night Live Band:




This is Ricky Byrd, who used to play with Joan Jett:





This is Joe Lynn Turner, who now tours with Glen Hughes and used to be in Rainbow and Deep Purple and even sang with Yngwie Malmstein at one point!




And this is Andy York, who I was set next to before he got up and jammed with the band, he is John Cougar Mellencamp's guitar player:




Um, and before I post about the actual recording session with Tommy Allen and Paul Carbonara, this is Paul onstage with Blondie: