In the summer of 2005, I hopped an Amtrak north from Richmond to the Big Apple to visit my friend (and former roommate), Brie. I hadn't seen her in 4 years. Anyone who's taken the Amtrak along the eastern seaboard of the U.S. knows that it's not the most reliable form of transportation (a fact that has been baffling to Dave & me after living in Eastern Europe for a few years, where the train travel there is daily, essential, and completely reliable. My friend Betsy used to say you can set your watch to the Hungarian train schedule, it's that solid).
So, I was delayed in my journey by a few hours and finally met up with Brie in crowded Penn Station in the early evening. After hugging and looking at one another for the first time in a long time, she said, "Well, there are a few things we can do now. One of them is, well, I have a friend who has a friend who knows a guy who is recording music in a studio, and he needs a couple of girl backup singers, like right now. Are you interested?" Not exactly what I thought she was going to suggest (like dinner or dropping of my suitcase). :) But I was in New York! An entertainment mecca! Figuring this was the closest I'd ever come to stardom, I said, "Okay, let's do it!" and we were on our way. My memory is hazy, so this is probably wrong, but we walked several blocks from Penn Station to an obscure, below-ground recording studio in midtown Manhattan. It was HOT. It was August, and I was dragging around my luggage, etc. And that studio was without A/C. Not sure how those boys were surviving it.
Anyway, after a quick introduction to a few studio people and the guy in charge (above, who reminded me of Adam Duritz), we were thrown into the small recording area, given headphones, and instructed on what to do. I've got to admit, as cool as this was, I was really nervous. I didn't want to look dumb or sound bad! If Brie wasn't there, I'd have totally chickened out. The song was a catchy little rock riff, a little unlike anything I'd ever heard before, and during the primary chorus, Brie and I were supposed to shout rhythmically, "Be aggressive! Be-be a-GRESS-ive!" over and over. I am not making this up. It was like the cheerleaders' chant, but it fit in with the music perfectly. I didn't even hear the whole song from start to finish, so I had no idea why or how this backup was necessary. We recorded ourselves "chanting" the phrase again and again until the cool guy on the other side of the glass said, "Good! We got it!" We got some bottled water and some cash for our efforts (which was great, because dinner out was our next plan). I snapped this picture quickly of our musical friend before leaving, knowing that if I didn't, I'd think it was some kind of surreal dream. (Incidentally, I never did find out the band's name or their album's drop date or anything of that nature... we gave them our contact info so they could send us a final copy but I never heard anything about it again). This is one of my favorite New York memories, because it was so unexpected.
The coolest thing about this, for me, is that I've always wanted to see the inside of a recording studio. In school, whenever I'd come across the question, 'What is something you would like to do before you die?', I would always answer, "Go to a recording studio and see what it's like." I guess I got my wish - not only that, I got to be recorded. I guess I better find a different answer to that question.
