March 30, 2006
Hi everybody.  It's been a little while since I've posted anything substantial here, so I think it's high time for an update.

Venice is currently hard at work writing songs for the new album.  In fact, even as you read this, the guys are down in Vista at the family home known as "Hideaway Hill" (which most of you know they sang about on their first album) working on new material.  It's helpful for them to take some time away from the distractions of wife and kids to really concentrate on the work, and the gorgeous environment of the locale always helps to inspire.

The new album will be recorded live-to-tape.  This is significant because it's the first time Venice has ever done this.  What it means, basically, is that as the tape rolls, the band performs the songs together, all at the same time.  They can see each other and play off of each other, and theoretically the recording will capture the energy and chemistry and magic that is present in their concerts.  This is opposed to the way Venice has always recorded albums before, which is one instrument or vocal at a time, with each person alone in a room, listening to their demo through headphones and doing their part over and over again until it's perfect, and then later combining all of the separate elements into one recording.

This is also going to be the first studio CD that Venice records in Holland.  As you'll recall, "Welcome to the Rest of Your Life" was recorded in the Bahamas, and all the others were done close to their homes in Venice Beach.  ("Two Metre Sessies" was partly recorded in Holland, but was not a studio album.)  As it was explained to me, there are engineers in Holland who have won awards for their work doing live-to-tape, and their studio is an old wooden church with great acoustics that will lend itself to the album's vibe.

On May 1st, Venice's Dutch keyboardist Nick Bult will fly to America and head down to Hideaway Hill with the entire band (including Jamie Wollam on drums and Mark Harris on bass), and they'll spend a week rehearsing the new material exactly as if they were rehearsing for a tour.  Then this lineup of the band will all fly to Holland and record from May 13 to May 31.

(So for those of you who have e-mailed to ask whether Venice will participate in Topanga Days or the Venice Carnivale this year, the answer is no, because it conflicts with the recording.)

The album is scheduled for release in Holland in late September, on a major label that we can't announce yet, and will be promoted with a 2-month Dutch theater tour from mid-October to mid-December.  Dates will of course be posted here on Venice Central as soon as they're confirmed.  U.S. release should be in early 2007.

In other news, I know a lot of you are curious about the McCabe's taping.  You saw that I recruited volunteer camera operators here on the news page, and the Venice Talk reviews mentioned cameras all over the room.  Here's what I can tell you.  On the first night of shows (four Lennons only), I directed a four-camera shoot of Venice's two shows.  (Venice provided the blank tapes.)  I and three other volunteers taped all night from various points around the room, and it wound up being kind of a practice run because we had so many technical problems.  I don't think that material will ever be released.  But it taught me a lot, and the following week at the two full band shows, we fixed a lot of the problems and added two more volunteers, and I directed a six-camera shoot that came out much better.  (You can view the show's set list right here.)  I've been working very hard for the last month with the twenty four hours of footage that we shot that night (six cameras times two 2-hour shows), editing it down to one multi-angle 2-hour show.  Most days have involved me working at the office for 8 hours, driving home, and then working until 2am or 3am on this Venice stuff.  And you don't even want to know the kind of hours I've put in during the weekend.  Suffice it to say, my kids miss me.  (And they look bigger than I remember.  How did that happen?)  But it's all been worth it, because I've got a cut now that I'm pretty happy with.  It's the late show in its entirety, and it's a lot of fun to watch.  Though I have to warn you, even with all of the cutting, it's got a real homemade feel.  There are camera bumps and shakes, and the pans and zooms aren't always perfect, nor is the framing.  Some of the angles have kind of a grainy quality to them, and others don't.  Sometimes I didn't have the coverage I needed so I stole parallel moments from the early show, and the sync, if you're watching closely, is just slightly off.  And color correction is a nightmare because quite often you'll be watching one angle and the lights make everyone look red, and then you'll cut to another angle where everyone looks purple, and the change is jarring.  That's an issue that can be fixed, and I'm spending a lot of time with it right now, but there's not much I can do about the rest.  To be quite honest, you're never going to confuse this with a professional release.  It ain't "Live at the Royal Carre Theatre," not even close.  But taken in the right context, it's entirely watchable and a lot of fun.  And I haven't even told you about the best part yet.  Michael Lennon bought himself a new device that allows him to plug his laptop into the soundboard and record audio as sixteen separate tracks.  He taped these McCabe's shows and is giving them a proper mix, so I'll be able to replace all the audio with tracks that sound amazing.  The band just watched my latest work-in-progress cut down in Vista the other night, and I got an e-mail from them saying that they liked it a lot.  So now we just have to figure out what to do with it.  I believe we're leaning towards a DVD release around Christmastime, that we would only sell at shows and on Venice Store.  Possibly with an accompanying double-live CD of the show.  We're not sure yet.  Please share your thoughts with us on Venice Talk.  We read all the fan feedback and take it into consideration.  Is this something you'd want to own, despite all the problems I described?

It seems like now is a proper time to acknowledge and thank our McCabe's camera volunteers:  Susan Brody, John Daly, Jon DeLong, Bob Hernandez and George Rangel.

And hey, since we're on the subject, are there any fans in San Diego who own DV cameras who'd like to volunteer to shoot the Pine Mountain Logs show at the Belly Up Tavern in two weeks?  This one would not be for release, just internal use, but you'd get free admittance into the show and an eventual copy of whatever is cut from it, so that's not a bad deal.  Venice would provide blank tapes.  Please e-mail me at matt@venicecentral.com with "Venice Camcorder Request" as your subject line.  Thanks!

Finally, I'd like to announce the release of the John Vester/Mark Lennon "In Concert" DVD, taped at De Duif in Amsterdam on their "Two Voices, One Guitar" tour, with special guests Kipp, Michael and Pat Lennon, and Nick Bult.  The 35-track DVD also contains a 25-track CD, unique backstage views and four bonus tracks.  Dutch fans can purchase this DVD over here.  For American fans, an NTSC version (playable on U.S. televisions) will soon be available on Mark's website,  over here.  If you have Windows Media Player, you can click here for a video preview.

Okay, that's enough talking for one day.  Back to color correction I go!