Michael McDonald Digs Surfing

I was freshly dumped into the the Manhattan recording studio internship scene which for those of you unfamiliar, consists of trips to Dean and Deluca, drug runs and kissing as much vapid ass as possible on your way to emptying cans of trash.  The trade-off was that in the wee hours of the morning after everyone left, I was able to develop my engineering chops on top-end studio equipment.

Aside from learning how to make a mean cup of iced coffee I also was able to see how the professionals could transform acts so musically untalented like Trixter or Janet Jackson from a cacophonous pile of dung into the sound of intentional genius.  Snare drum sounds could be replaced with samples of a 1955 brass Ludwig snare that is so rare that it would cost $5000 if you could actually find one.  Vocals that were out of tune could be easily fixed by re-recording samples of the vocal and reprinting it to tape whilst riding the tuning knob on the machine.  The list goes on but the bottom line is if you can shake your ass and kind of carry a tune, you can be a star.

Anyhow, I was told that Michael McDonald of Doobie Brothers and later solo fame would be coming in to spend a month working on his new album.  He is a real talent but truthfully I wasn’t that impressed as my musical tastes leaned more towards the headier stuff and in the short time I was there I had already met The Ramones, Puff Daddy, and Erik B. and Rakim.  We had candy in jars around the room which we were told to take down as Michael was on a diet.  “Man,” I thought “this guy’s gonna be a barrel of laughs.  So I zipped around the room ridding it of all the sweets whistling “Sweet Freedom” snickering like the little shit that I was.

A day later Michael showed up with legendary producer Russ Titleman at his side and they made a beeline into the control room, with a quick nod of acknowledgment in my direction.  For about five days in a row that was the norm and as boring as I expected it to be; no requests at 2am to find a record store in the city that had the vinyl version of Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters.  Later I went into “the artist’s lounge” to check on things and Michael was just hanging out on the couch reading a magazine.  He acknowledged me when I came in and asked how I was doing and we shared a little nothing chit-chat.  Lesser artists wouldn’t even have looked at me.  The engineer popped his head out to tell Michael he was up.  He told me see-ya and went into the recording booth but left his magazine on the couch.  When I looked over, I was surprised to see a surfing magazine.  When I looked on the other end of the couch I saw an entire box of at least 30 surfing magazines.

Now I’m not slamming Michael here but have you ever seen him.  He has white hair, was at the time slightly paunchy, and looked like the only thing nautical-related he might be interested in is cruising in a yacht.  I would have never known he was a surfing enthusiast otherwise and it made me wonder, what if the public learned that Michael McDonald surfed?  Would it change people’s impression of him?  Would people who have mocked his music, like my snotty ass did, open themselves up to his music once they learned he was actually a laid-back guy who rode the tubes?

I’ve always thought well of Michael Mc Donald’s music but learning about that side of him gave me a new perspective and respect for Michael McDonald the man and his legitimacy as a true rock ‘n’ roller.  While I am well aware there are other people whose personal preferences are better left unknown, this is a case where knowing more about someone’s peripheral experience strengthened my connection with his music.  Is there anything in your background that would give someone else a more-rounded picture of you?  If  not, why not ask someone else who knows you to give their perspective?  You might have some other talents and accomplishments that can help round out your presentation to an employer, possibly making you stand out among other candidates.  Thousands of people can perform mundane job tasks.  Is there something else that makes you special?