I looooove the studio. I don’t know what it is but being in a recording studio feels really good to me. It’s very quiet and formal and professional but at the same time you know that all kinds of amazing rocking goes on there. At CRC where we went last weekend, the guys working there were telling stories about recording Rod Stewart and Axl Rose and it made the place seem just a little bit touched with the magic of rock and roll. My purpose for being there was to participate in part of a group singing backup vocals for a cover of the song “I Like Beer” for Keith’s friend Trey Green. I chilled out on the couch behind the soundboard and ate chocolate chip cookies while they went over the song and Keith recorded the guitar. When the rest of the vocal group arrived, we all stood together in a half-circle in front of the microphones with our headphones on and sang our lines over a few times until we got it sounding right (i.e. drunk). Because the only females were myself and another woman, Nancy, our voices were not particularly audible on the recording so we had to go record harmonies alone together. Nancy and I went off into the little separate room--I don’t know the name for it--and butchered our tone-deaf harmonies over and over while everyone stood around the console in the other room listening to us struggle. Voices came over the speakers to give us instruction, but ultimately we couldn’t carry a tune. In retrospect I see the humor in it, though at the time I wondered why my brain was having such a hard time grasping the simple concept of singing. I’ve come to the conclusion that I really like being the listener. I’m not a musician and I never will be. That’s not a skill that I have. But I’m good at appreciating music, and I think that there are plenty of other ways I can contribute without being a musician myself. In fact, I don’t need to be a musician. There’s no reason for it. As long as I can be a part of it, that’s all I want.