Location: Ring-a-Ding Diner Recording Studio, Tunkhannock, PA.

Personnel: Gary Childress-guitars, bass, keyboards, and vocals. Chris Maruzzelli-drums, vocals. Rick Kakareka-ukelele. Bruce Barre-guitars. Myron Polk-vocals and guitars. Doris Shambora-vocals.

5-27-02 Finally take the initiative to record samples of Chris' drums and store them in the proper file in the computer. Now I can put together realistic sounding drum tracks without the use of a drummer, and proceed to do so on "Song For Us To Dance To." This also makes it possible for Myron to get to work on his project. Faced with the problem of what to call the material I'm working on with Doris' and Chris' vocals.

Week of 5-13-02 Some editing and dabbling, but nothing too extensive.

5-9-02 Double cripes! Nearly 3 months this time. Okay, so I've taken a little vacation from the recording game. Yeah, that's it, I was on tour. Anyway, Doris Shambora stops by for a visit and a session. She lays down her lovely voice on "Song For Us To Dance To," "Live Fast, Die Faster," and "Mainstream America."

2-21-02 Cripes! A whole month since any recording has been done. I record the scratch tracks for a new tune called "My Memories Can Drink Now." It's evident that I've been listening to a lot of old Police discs lately.

1-23-02 Myron Polk stops by to record his version of Lou Reed's "The Kids" (Berlin) for the Lou Reed tribute compilation. He records it in the traditional Myron way, using only acoustic guitar, acoustic guitar transposed bass, and vocal, all in first takes. Turns out pretty good!

1-19-02 Add some Bond-ish guitar, strings, Goldfinger-ish horns and a groove track to the "Live Fast, Die Faster" demo.

1-18-02 Record the vocal and guitar tracks for my Bond-inspired song "Live Fast, Die Faster," an idea I'd started the day before about writing a theme song for a Bond film that was never made.

1-17-02 Chris Maruzzelli comes over to transfer his 4-track recordings of "Thinking It Over," "Dead and Waiting," and "Let You Go," as well as add drums, bass and some vocals. These are songs he plans to spring on the boys from WAX as WAX originals.

1-13-02 Gee, twelve whole days since any recording was done. Umm, it's been twelve days since I had a day off. I record 12 string, vocals, 12 string again, bass, acoustic guitar and a harmony vocal for the Lou Reed/John Cale song "Slip Away" for possible inclusion on an upcoming Lou Reed tribute compilation on Wampus Records. Myron stops by to do his take on Reed's "The Kids," but a severe toothache and lack of sleep prevent him from getting any further than a guitar take. We retire early and take in some Killer Creature Double Feature trailers.

1-1-02 All is not quiet on New Year's Day. I record a scratch track for the new Crap-O-Phonic song "The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Drain" while waiting for Myron to arrive. Myron records scratch tracks for "Song of the Year," "Walk to Crawl" and "Flashlight."

12-15-01 Sessions begin for the next next project, Myron Polk's Polk Salad Surgery. Myron and I lay down scratch tracks for "Trains of London," "The Really Cool Girls" and "My Own FBI."

12-13-01 Sessions begin for the next project, the Chris Maruzzelli/Johnny Action Finger project. We record new scratch tracks for "You're Not Real" and "Summer in Fall," as well as test the bpm's for "Song For Us To Dance To" and "Low Leader."

12-10-01 The LAST recording session for Yes, Mr. Smittercase! At Barre Recording in Dallas, PA, Bruce Barre lays down some very original guitar sounds on "Baby, I'm Too Old For You," "Stephanie's Looking Forward" and "Book Of Cheats." When I get home, I load the wav files for these, plus "Burning the Ballerina" and "The Thing You Love," then stay up until about 2:30 am doing mixes.

12-8-01 I record the scratch tracks for a new Crap-O-Phonic song, "Homeways."

12-5-01 Chris Maruzzelli stops by for what probably is his last Smittercase session. He throws down a mini-lead in the chorus of "I Can See For Miles," and backup vocals on "Baby, I'm Too Old For You" and "Stephanie's Looking Forward."

12-2-01 A big day for mixing. Produce final mixes for "I'm In Love With A Dead Girl," "History Snack Machine," "Whispering Bagel Girl" and "Remember the Enjoyment," along with finished mp3s of these and the songs I mixed the day before.

12-1-01 Much work accomplished (George would have wanted it that way.) Record 12 string track for "Anna Karenininina," lead vocal on "Deserting My Words," and backup vocal on "I Can See For Miles," as well as doing what could be final mixes on "Anna Karenininina," "Summer's Little Helper," "Deserting My Words," and "Veronica Lake Is Missing." Also do mixes (not final) on "I Can See For Miles" and "Book Of Cheats."

11-29-01 George Harrison transcends beyond waking, sleeping, dreaming. Without him, I would not be a musician. No recording.

11-28-01 Yet another minor recording day, but you put enough of them together and you've got a completed project. Record a much better bass track for "The Thing You Love" and do some much needed tweaking.

11-27-01 Before Myron comes over to hang out, I throw a much needed acoustic guitar on "Summer's Little Helper." That's all.

11-26-01 Just a little farting around with a lead solo for "Anna Karenininina," which turns out to be a recurring guitar bit from "Stephanie's Looking Forward." Lots of editing afterwards though, throwing a whole mess of effects on top of it, and creating a fade out.

11-25-01 After a week and a half of agony getting ready for the Borders gig, it's back to the totally pleasing world of recording. After listening to pre-mixes of all the songs on the disc, I find that certain songs are lacking "power," so I plug into the Marshall and record some heavy guitar on "I Can See For Miles" and "Deserting My Words."

11-14-01 Another nothing day, but suddenly I made it all seem worthwhile. Numerous takes result in what I think is the final vocal track for "I Can See For Miles." Voice shot and Mrs. Biff begging for attention, I stop recording for the day.

11-13-01 A very minor recording day. Record psychedelic tambourine and chanting on "I Can See For Miles."

11-8-01 Lay down Joe Meekish guitar solo, harpish 12 string and a new lead vocal on "I'm In Love With A Dead Girl," as well as the ultra-Meekish backwards toilet lead-in.

11-7-01 Recording moves to Barre Recording in Dallas, PA, where Bruce Barre adds some beefy lead guitar work on "Burning the Ballerina," "Book of Cheats," and "The Thing You Love." It's loads of fun working with Bruce (not that it isn't loads of fun working with everybody else), and Chris Maruzzelli stops by for even more of a laugh-fest. More lead work and mixology expected from Bruce in the coming weeks.

11-6-01 A feverish night of recording! As I am planning to get together with Bruce Barre at his studio the following night, I spend the entire night laying down tracks in preparation. "I'm In Love With A Dead Girl" gets bass, Tesko Vox guitar, bells and a new lead vocal. "Whispering Bagel Girl" gets bass, 12 string and a harmony vocal. "Book of Cheats" gets a new lead vocal. "Deserting My Words" gets bass and some editing. "Remember the Enjoyment" gets bass and a new lead vocal. And I touch up the harmony vocal on "Burning the Ballerina" with a little studio magic. Yikes! All we need now are lead solos, I believe.

11-5-01 A visit from Myron! Myron Polk lays down a backing vocal track on "Burning the Ballerina." I attempt a harmony, but it just doesn't work.

11-4-01 Oh, lots of recording done today. Could have done more, but there was housework to do, and "Burning the Ballerina" turned out so good, I spent half the day listening to it. Recorded acoustic guitar and bass on "Burning the Ballerina," and 12 string and bass on "I Can See For Miles." That one's coming along, too.

11-3-01 With an hour or so before having to go to work, I lay down string and oboe tracks on "Burning the Ballerina."

11-1-01 Chris makes it in just under the wire to record the last of the drum tracks on "Burning the Ballerina," "Whispering Bagel Girl," "Deserting My Words," "I Can See For Miles," and "I'm In Love With A Dead Girl." An excellent session, mostly first takes.

10-24-01 I take back what I said about doing a little at a time. Record 2 acoustic guitars, bass, and 2 vocal tracks for "Anna Karenininina" in a matter of 2 hours. I've always had a problem hitting the notes right in the chorus, and the repetition of the theme on one track pays off when I find one that's right on. I just paste it where all the bad ones are, and we have chorus throughout. I think I've only got one more song to do a final lead vocal on before starting on the final 4 or 5 tracks with Chris.

10-23-01 I'm finding it's easier to do a little at a time a few days a week than to try to cram a whole lot in at once. Record lead vocal and do close to final mix of "The Thing You Love," after trying the night before and losing everything again. Sounding pretty good, what with the acoustic guitar providing that third dimension.

10-18-01 Record a lead vocal for "Baby, I'm Too Old For You" and do a near final mix.

10-17-01 Keepin' it goin'. Lay down lead and harmony vocals, as well as bass, for "Summer's Little Helper," despite losing it all the first time around due to the computer performing an illegal operation. Whose law is it anyway? Still have time to fit in "Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman" and "Shadow of the Vampire."

10-15-01 I break free from the fetters of a month full of monster movies to lay down a bunch of tracks for "History Snack Machine." Acoustic guitar, bass, lead guitar, and a new but probably not final vocal track are added. Must get cracking to meet my mid-November completion date.

10-8-01 Record bass and lead guitar tracks for "Veronica Lake Is Missing." Track could be complete.

9-29-01 Record bass track for "Baby, I'm Too Old for You."

8-01 thru 10-01 Not much "studio" activity, but a very fertile period in which I write and record scratch tracks for the tunes "I Can See For Miles," "Burning the Ballerina," "Low Leader," "Autumn in Summer," "Whispering Bagel Girl," "You're Not Real," "I'm in Love with a Dead Girl," (the only one of the demos that was pre-written) and the all-too-poppy "Song for Us to Dance to." About half of these tunes will appear on Yes, Mr. Smittercase, and the other half will appear on the upcoming Chris Maruzzelli project.

7-18-01 thru 7-20-01 Rick Kakareka is in town, and lays down ukelele tracks for "Summer's Little Helper," "Veronica Lake is Missing," "Baby, I'm Too Old For You," and "Deserting My Words." We also lay down ukelele, guitar and vocal tracks for the Kakareka penned tune "Then I Fell Apart" and write the very strange "Glandular Bishops."

7-17-01 Chris Maruzzelli lays down drum tracks for "Anna Karenininina," "Baby, I'm Too Old For You," and drum, guitar and vocal tracks for "Mainstream America," which will appear on an upcoming Chris Maruzzelli release.

7-15-01 Mixdown for Myron Polk's Milkbox cd.

7-8-01 The last session for Myron Polk's Milkbox cd.

6-13-01 An unsuccessful attempt to lay down a pizzicato strings track on "Stephanie's Looking Forward" occurs at DJ Mook's.

6-8-01 I took a day off work to relax, make texas tommies, and RECORD. Put down multiple guitar tracks for "history snack machine," "remember the enjoyment," and "summer's little helper," as well as putting down a tremolo guitar track for the brand new tune "deserting my words."

6-6-01 another great session, recording drums for “history snack machine,” “remember the enjoyment,” and “summer’s little helper.” We add bass to “book of cheats” and “the thing you love,” which I recorded a lead guitar track for earlier in the day. Chris lays down some scratch vocals for “the thing you love.”

6-05-01 more tinkering in preparation for the session the next day with Chris. Record distorted guitar for “book of cheats” and rhythm guitar and 12 string for “the thing you love.”

6-02-01 plucked guitar recorded for “book of cheats”

5-26-01 I tinker around with some tracks, adding 12 string and theme guitar on “book of cheats,” rhythm and acoustic guitars on “stephanie’s looking forward,” and rhythm guitar and 12 string on “the thing you love” (later scrapped).

5-24-01 we record the drum tracks for “book of cheats,” “the thing you love” and “stephanie’s looking forward,” which we decide to add some guitar and bass tracks to with Chris’ suggestions.

5-19-01 the new project is set into action with the recording of scratch tracks for “book of cheats,” “stephanie’s looking forward,” “the thing you love,” “anna karenininina,” “remember the enjoyment,” “summer’s little helper,” and “history snack machine.” Guitar on “stephanie’s looking forward” is a keeper.