We want to thank Matt and Leslie, and the RXP morning crew, for having us on air to support tonight’s show at The Bitter End for Michael’s Fund. By the time RXP had finished playing Standing Still, our site had crashed from the overwhelming number of visitors….
Can you be at Electric Ladyland at 2pm? James is doing a few songs for RXP
That one line from Jim had me canceling most of my Tuesday afternoon and running down 6th avenue towards 8th.
“Hi, I’m here for the James Taylor thing,” I said to the receptionist five minutes after two o’clock.
“That is on Thursday. Today is Tuesday,” she replied.
In my excitement to meet James Taylor I hadn’t paused enough to notice that I was two days too early. So, two days later I made my way back down to 8th street, I walked past the line of ticket winners, down the stairs to the reception area and waited for James to arrive. Five minutes later he walked down the stairs with Jim by his side.
“Hey James, this is Raman Kia, he is a big fan, and his band Buddahead is one of my clients”
“Hey Raman, it is very nice to meet you”. Sweet baby James looked older in person, and thinner, and taller.
Jim then led us to the studio where James began setting up and sound checking. I then walked into the control room where I found myself interrupting a conversation between two strangers to tell them that Paul McCartney recorded McCartney on a 4 track at home.
“That is right, and you know he didn’t even have limiters,” responded the first stranger who later turned out to be Paul one of the RXP DJs.
“So what you are telling me is that Maybe I’m amazed was done at home?” Asked the other stranger, another Paul, who is the program director at RXP.
“Hey guys, stop talking, listen,” said the first paul as he pointed to the speakers, “that is James Taylor, voice and guitar, without anything done to it - how perfect”.
He was right, James was perfect. I remained in a state of awe for the next hour while James played some new and old songs as I sat about 6 feet away from him and used words like “Swell” to describe how he was feeling. It was amazing just to realize that I will most probably never be as good as he is.
Later he signed my copy of Sweet Baby Jameswhile I interrupted with useless facts such buddahead opening up for James Taylor at the Tweeter Center or me knowing his long time producer and manager Peter Asher. James didn’t care. Why should he? I ama bozo and he is a legend. Still, I was on top of the world.
On my way out I got to thank Matt Pinefield for laying Ruin on his morning show. He sounded less gruffy than he does on his morning show but then again, he does wake up at 4AM. That sucks.
We would like to take this opportunity to invite you to the Second Annual Michael’s Fund Benefit Concert, which will take place at the amous Bitter End rock club on Saturday, November 22nd from 7-12PM.
The Michael Clapcich Fund for Retinal Research (http://www.michaelsfund.org) was created by Bob and Josephine Clapcich for their son, Michael, who was diagnosed at birth with Cobalamin Cellular Metabolism Defect Type-C. Children with cblC suffer from a number of serious health problems including a characteristic pigmentary retinopathy with perimacular degeneration that can lead to blindness. The Michael Clapcich Fund for Retinal Research is dedicated to promoting research, developing treatments, and providing support for people diagnosed with rare inherited disorders of cobalamin (vitamin B12) transport and metabolism.
The NIH’s Office of Rare Diseases states that, “an orphan or rare disease is generally considered to have a prevalence of fewer than 200,000 affected individuals in the United States”. Research on these “orphan” diseases is often very limited secondary to lack of proper funding. There are fewer than 1000 cases of cblC worldwide— one can easily understand the obstacles that stand in the way of progress.
This is where you can help. All gifts donated to Michael’s Fund, a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, are used exclusively for research involving cobalamin metabolism and its associated defects. At this time, we are very fortunate to be working with Dr. Charles Venditti of the NIH in launching a number of exciting cblC directed projects.
Starts of strong-ish: “this fourpiece plays radio-friendly, mainstream-ish alternative pop/rock with a strong melodic quality” but ends poorly with Ashes described as “pleasant”. Still Mr Shimmer believes that Ashes “speaks volumes about Buddahead’s potential as a band… I get the sense that, in time, he [Raman] could become a really great pop songwriter.”
