After the After-Party: Robb, Brax, Matt (l to r)

I joined Brax here in LA at his cool backyard studio to record the final guitar tracks for the upcoming Salty project. The first night we kicked back and listened to the existing tracks. The next night we recorded all day before heading out to the Viper Room to check out Samantha. Here’s a decent review of the show from Jam Base.

The highlight of the night for me was, at the after-party, meeting Joan Jones (formerly of Sun 60) who sang back-up with Sam on-stage. She was super-cool, down to earth and very friendly.

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Death Cab

While in Charlotte for a “dude’s weekend” I had an extremely original cab riding experience. Chris, Sean and I decided to head downtown for some drinks and dinner and the concierge hailed a taxi for us.

Our cab driver, Sanjay, seemed like a mild, normal guy who we quickly learned was from India. But there was more to him than met the eye. Once we had all piled in Sanjay floored it and we shot out of the hotel parking lot, swerved onto the road, and weaved in and out of traffic on our way to the center of the city. I’m normally not a fan of such NASCAR-style driving, but I had to admire Sannjay’s skills: his movements were surgical and the ride was smooth. I didn’t even have to grab the “oh Sh*t!” handle above the door.

Johnny Cash

But what made Sanjay truly unique was his taste in music. As he tore through downtown Charlotte, he asked us if we wanted to listen to some music. We said sure, expecting whatever the radio had to offer. But Sanjay dialed-up Johnny Cash until the man in black was literally BLASTING through the stereo speakers and he shouted to us “Johnny-F’ing-Cash, man!”

At first I thought it might be a ploy of his to assimilate and appeal to the locals for bigger tips (this is Charlotte, after all), but Sanjay wasn’t a poser. I sat in the front seat (Sean and Chris were in the back seat) and watched Sanjay sing all the words to 3 different Cash tunes (Folsom Prison Blues, Walk the Line, and Ring of Fire). He didn’t miss a word and tapped his fingers in time on the steering wheel all the way toi our destination.

Definitely not what I expected, and a highlight of the trip