Cerebellum Blues

Members of the band: Mike Northcutt.

Way, way, way back in 1985, I graduated from college with a degree in English, and as I looked out on the big world from under my cap and gown, I had but one question: "What the hell do I do now?" Not having much of answer, I decided to head, you guessed it, back to school. So I packed my bags and drove from Colorado, home of my higher education, to LA, home of Musician's Institute, formerly The Guitar Institute of Technology, aka G.I.T.

I started with a a few summer courses, since the only scale I knew was a pentatonic and my chord voicings were limited to cowboy chords and barre chords. I can't remember when, exactly, but sometime after the real school year began, I moved in with fellow student Mike Northcutt in order to be closer to the school, and he and I have been friends ever since. Mike is a PHENOMENAL guitar player, and someone from whom I have learned a tremendous amount over the years. He's also a gifted songwriter, and one of our seminal moments at G.I.T. was when Kenny Loggins came in to guest lecture for our songwriting class and review student demos. I submitted "The Upside Of Down", Mike submitted "I Can't Stop The Wonderin'. Kenny liked 'em both, as I recall, but neither tune felt like something he could personally get behind.

After finishing G.I.T., I headed back to S.F., but Mike stayed in L.A. and furthered his musical education at Grove School of Music. He then proceeded to make a living as a performing musician for well over the next decade. Impressive, to say the least. Over the years, we've stayed in touch sporadically, but even though we rarely call each other and almost never see each other for eons at a stretch, every time I get back together with Mike, we're right back in it, talking music, politics, life. His recent visit to S.F. to help me with my album was no different. Every night we stayed up past midnight and when the time finally came to turn in, it was always with a bit of reluctance.

I'm deeply honored and pleased that Mike contributed some tracks to my album and that the making of this album has given us reason to see a bit more of each other.

Members of the band: Jeff Tuttle.

On Sunday, the day after I asked Catherine to marry me, Jeff Tuttle, one of my best friends flew into town on a business trip. Jeff and I go way back to college, and even lived together for a spell with another friend, Eric H., just outside of Daily City, during our well-we-graduated-now-what period. The house we all shared was a true s______e: painted dreary white, it abutted the 280 freeway and was carpeted in something shaggy. My "room" was a part of the garage that had been cordoned off with plywood and wall-to-walled in remnants (it's amazing the level of squalor you will call home when you're in your 20s). The idea was that my room would be the rehearsal room for the band we would someday form, but the band never really came to be and in time, Eric moved out to head to medical school, and Jeff and I moved downtown, before Jeff headed back home to Minnesota to start laying tracks for getting an MBA and running the family business. But, despite our failed musical ambitions, Jeff and I did write one tune together back then that to this day remains one I like and will be featured on my album. It's called Indecision. Jeff's going to sing it, I might even play a little guitar on it, and Toby, Sam and Andy will take care of the rest. There are so many aspects of the music project I like, but the very best, by far, has been the strengthening bonds to the musician friends I've made over the years. Glad you're going to be on the album, Jeff, and I'm even more glad that we are still such good friends well over 20 years after we first met.