My Trip to Sun Studios (or The Tale of Larry's Sleeve)
I was going through some boxes the other night and came across something I had completely forgotten about. It was tucked away neatly amongst comics I don't read anymore and Star Wars Figures that I don't know why I spent so much money on. I figured I had to tell this story since, after some careful consideration, I realized I've never told anybody about this (other than my wife).
So...the year's 1995. December. I had just broken up with my girlfriend of two years and it was ugly. As ugly as it could get at 21. You see, I worked in a mall in Ft. Lauderdale and she worked about four stores down from me, so to see her every day was pretty painful (funny how the world seemed so doomed back then...if I only knew then what I know now) So I made a decision to, at the height of Christmas retail season, take two weeks off from work and go on a road trip. My District manager loved me so much after that.
I packed the car with food, clothes and, most importantly, tunes. My main listenings were the Passengers CD, Oasis (who I was just starting to get in to), and some rough recordings that I had just started working on (I should mention I'm a musician - www.theechomusic.com). So I drove to the the west coast of Florida and planned out the rest of my two weeks there. I went to ClearWater and lived it up in a nice hotel room. It was there that I started picking up books I'd heard Bono mention and bought my first copy of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On?". It was there that I started smoking the small cigars Bono used to smoke. Thankfully the Marvin Gaye stuck, the small cigars did not.
So from there I chose to drive to New orleans. Which would have been great, except just outside of New orleans I got the flu and spent three days in a Motel 6 in Slidell, Louisiana, whacked out on cold medicine and watching endless repeats of Police Academy - Moscow Mission (and no, under the heavy influence of Nyquil, the movie was not funnier) So I said to myself, "Me...let's make it up to me and go to Memphis...Graceland, Sun Studios...we're going!"
When I felt better, I plotted out my journey and off I drove. I made it to Memphis around 5 and called over to Sun studios to find out what times the tours started. hey gave me the time and I made sure that I would be there bright and early so I wouldn't have to deal with the crowds.
Yeah. I was the only one there. Now, if you haven't been fortunate to get to Sun Studios, it's basically this: A corner store/cafe and then a small doorway to the left that leads to the studios. So I get to the cafe, buy my ticket and wait for the "tour".
the "tour" consists of a guy walking you through the lobby of Sun and then into the main (and only) studio room and inching your way to the back of the room, all the while playing clips of songs that were recorded there after every three steps or so.
So my tour guide meets up with me and we go in to the lobby of the studio. And there on the wall is a framed, gold record for Rattle & Hum. Already, I'm excited. This is gonna be great. He tells me about the history of Sun (which I can't quite focus on, cos I'm thinking about how I can steal this gold record on the wall) We then go in to Sun studios.
We enter Sun Studios, and it is exactly like it is in R&H. White, tiled, long. Everything you've seen. Only thing is...I'm feeling something. Call it energy, call it vibes, call it leftover flu from Slidell, but I'm feeling it. That room was put there for a reason and you can feel it when you walk in. So the tour begins and we're walking through the room and he's playing his music clips and I'm staring at the recording booth in the back of the room wondering what it's like in there. It's just amazing.
We get to the end of the tour (room) and the guide says, "Unfortunately, we can't go in to the control booth cos it's still an operational booth. We use it for bands but we also have this thing where you can sing to an actual backing track of a song that was recorded here. We have this contest winner from germany who is going to sing an Elvis tune."
Oh, okay. So the tour's over?
"Yes."
I mosey on into the cafe and look around at all the cool pictures on the wall. Elvis. Jerry Lee. Johnny Cash. Bono. Wait, Bono? A picture I haven't seen? It's Bono sitting in a chair, looking at a page of lyrics. OK, I think I'll sit at this booth and order some food while I figure out how the hell I'm gonna steal this picture off the wall. I will NOT leave here empty handed! So I order a cheese burger (at 9:30 in the morning)
As I'm sitting there, this young guy comes up to me and starts talking to me. urns out he's the head of the new record company that works out of Sun Studios. We talk about what kind of music he listens to and all of that. A second comes up to him and says to him, "We got the Germany guy in there and I just need to get you to OK him to get his picture taken in the studio." So Guy #1 excuses himself and walks off.
Guy #2 looks at me. "How ya doing?"
I'm good, thanks. How're you?
"Cool. You were just on the tour, weren't you?"
Yeah, it was...amazing.
"Cool. You a musician?"
Yeah, just getting started really...trying to find my own sound and all that stuff.
This goes on for a couple of minutes. And then he asks me the question....
"Hey, do you wanna see the control booth?"
Um...do I wanna see the control booth? yes, I think I would.
"Cool. Follow me!"
Any thoughts that this might be some kind of White Slavery or Kidney Stealing ploy don't even enter my mind as he takes me through the kitchen, out back (where I can see my car parked) and into a back door that leads up a flight of stairs and in to the control booth. I look down to where Elvis stood, Johnny stood, Bono stood. I am in the control booth.
We talk a bit more and the guy says, "Do you have a copy of any of your stuff?"
I...uh...what? I...have a copy of one of my songs...yeah...
"Well go get it, man, let's give it a listen."
I run to my car at Flash speed and bring in a battered cassette of a song I'd been working on called 'At It Again'. Very Beatlesque, very rough (not only was I still earning how to play instruments, but I was still learning how to record it all...and sing) So he puts the tape in and listens, and is very quiet. I'm cringing, picking out every single mistake on the tape, cringing every time I hit a bum note, everytime it sounds like I was totally copying George Harrison or Edge.
The song ends and he looks at me. "You gonna be around?"
Yeah, why?
"I want my boss to listen to this."
Um...ok.
"Cool. I gotta finish this thing with the guy from germany, stick around, I'll come get you."
So I proceed to buy three T-shirts and a Sweatshirt and a Guitar Pick, all in an effort to kill time. After awhile Guy #2 comes up, "C'mon, man, let's go."
Back in the control booth and now Guy #3 comes in. Super friendly, super nice. Guy #2 hits 'play' and the song starts again. Guy #3 starts asking me questions. "What did yo urecord this on?"
4 track tape deck.
"How'd you get it to split the channels like that?"
(insert lengthy explanation how I fumbled my way into some cool mixing effects)
The song ends and Guy #3 asks, "You have a demo?"
Not really, I'm sorta putting something together.
Guy #2 hands me my tape. "When you get back to wherever you came from, send us a tape and let's see what we can do to get you in here to record."
Could this day get any better? Oh...it does.
Guy #3 shakes my hand and leaves. I'm on Cloud Nine. No, fuck that...I'm Cloud Twelve, surpassing Clouds ten and Eleven. Guy #2 talks me up some more, finding out who my influences are and all that.
Beatles, U2--
"Oh, yo like U2?"
Yeah, huge fan...they're the reasons I wanted to write songs.
Guy #2 starts looking through some boxes and stuff, "You know, when they were here, the drummer, um...."
Larry?
"Yeah, Larry, he got a t-shirt and cut off the sleeves. I was cleaning out stuff...oh here it is..."
He hands me this piece of black cloth. It's a t-shirt sleeve.
"Yeah, we've had this thing lying around here forever."
Very cool, I say, you should put it up somewhere.
"Nah, we've got enough shit up there. You keep it. You're a fan, you'd get a kick out of it more than I would."
So let's recap.
1. Got to be in the control booth of Sun Studios, hear my music being played through Sun Studios
2. Got asked to put together a demo and send it to them to record
3. I got Larry's sleeve.
Now, the thing is...the thing is, he could have tons of t-shirt sleeves lying around that he tells every U2 fan that walks through there that he happens to have Larry's sleeve...or maybe not. Maybe they actually did have Larry's sleeve lying around that someone kept as a memento and thought it would be cool to have lying around...much like the Star Wars figures I have up in the attic.
I drove away in heaven. I went home to Fort Lauderdale a week later, started working on my demo and sent it in. Followed up but never heard anything. Probably just as well, cos now I'm a much better musician than I was then and have an amazing band. So we may be sending a demo their way soon. And if I do go back...I'm stealing that picture of Bono reading his lyrics.
It's only right.
I was going through some boxes the other night and came across something I had completely forgotten about. It was tucked away neatly amongst comics I don't read anymore and Star Wars Figures that I don't know why I spent so much money on. I figured I had to tell this story since, after some careful consideration, I realized I've never told anybody about this (other than my wife).
So...the year's 1995. December. I had just broken up with my girlfriend of two years and it was ugly. As ugly as it could get at 21. You see, I worked in a mall in Ft. Lauderdale and she worked about four stores down from me, so to see her every day was pretty painful (funny how the world seemed so doomed back then...if I only knew then what I know now) So I made a decision to, at the height of Christmas retail season, take two weeks off from work and go on a road trip. My District manager loved me so much after that.
I packed the car with food, clothes and, most importantly, tunes. My main listenings were the Passengers CD, Oasis (who I was just starting to get in to), and some rough recordings that I had just started working on (I should mention I'm a musician - www.theechomusic.com). So I drove to the the west coast of Florida and planned out the rest of my two weeks there. I went to ClearWater and lived it up in a nice hotel room. It was there that I started picking up books I'd heard Bono mention and bought my first copy of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On?". It was there that I started smoking the small cigars Bono used to smoke. Thankfully the Marvin Gaye stuck, the small cigars did not.
So from there I chose to drive to New orleans. Which would have been great, except just outside of New orleans I got the flu and spent three days in a Motel 6 in Slidell, Louisiana, whacked out on cold medicine and watching endless repeats of Police Academy - Moscow Mission (and no, under the heavy influence of Nyquil, the movie was not funnier) So I said to myself, "Me...let's make it up to me and go to Memphis...Graceland, Sun Studios...we're going!"
When I felt better, I plotted out my journey and off I drove. I made it to Memphis around 5 and called over to Sun studios to find out what times the tours started. hey gave me the time and I made sure that I would be there bright and early so I wouldn't have to deal with the crowds.
Yeah. I was the only one there. Now, if you haven't been fortunate to get to Sun Studios, it's basically this: A corner store/cafe and then a small doorway to the left that leads to the studios. So I get to the cafe, buy my ticket and wait for the "tour".
the "tour" consists of a guy walking you through the lobby of Sun and then into the main (and only) studio room and inching your way to the back of the room, all the while playing clips of songs that were recorded there after every three steps or so.
So my tour guide meets up with me and we go in to the lobby of the studio. And there on the wall is a framed, gold record for Rattle & Hum. Already, I'm excited. This is gonna be great. He tells me about the history of Sun (which I can't quite focus on, cos I'm thinking about how I can steal this gold record on the wall) We then go in to Sun studios.
We enter Sun Studios, and it is exactly like it is in R&H. White, tiled, long. Everything you've seen. Only thing is...I'm feeling something. Call it energy, call it vibes, call it leftover flu from Slidell, but I'm feeling it. That room was put there for a reason and you can feel it when you walk in. So the tour begins and we're walking through the room and he's playing his music clips and I'm staring at the recording booth in the back of the room wondering what it's like in there. It's just amazing.
We get to the end of the tour (room) and the guide says, "Unfortunately, we can't go in to the control booth cos it's still an operational booth. We use it for bands but we also have this thing where you can sing to an actual backing track of a song that was recorded here. We have this contest winner from germany who is going to sing an Elvis tune."
Oh, okay. So the tour's over?
"Yes."
I mosey on into the cafe and look around at all the cool pictures on the wall. Elvis. Jerry Lee. Johnny Cash. Bono. Wait, Bono? A picture I haven't seen? It's Bono sitting in a chair, looking at a page of lyrics. OK, I think I'll sit at this booth and order some food while I figure out how the hell I'm gonna steal this picture off the wall. I will NOT leave here empty handed! So I order a cheese burger (at 9:30 in the morning)
As I'm sitting there, this young guy comes up to me and starts talking to me. urns out he's the head of the new record company that works out of Sun Studios. We talk about what kind of music he listens to and all of that. A second comes up to him and says to him, "We got the Germany guy in there and I just need to get you to OK him to get his picture taken in the studio." So Guy #1 excuses himself and walks off.
Guy #2 looks at me. "How ya doing?"
I'm good, thanks. How're you?
"Cool. You were just on the tour, weren't you?"
Yeah, it was...amazing.
"Cool. You a musician?"
Yeah, just getting started really...trying to find my own sound and all that stuff.
This goes on for a couple of minutes. And then he asks me the question....
"Hey, do you wanna see the control booth?"
Um...do I wanna see the control booth? yes, I think I would.
"Cool. Follow me!"
Any thoughts that this might be some kind of White Slavery or Kidney Stealing ploy don't even enter my mind as he takes me through the kitchen, out back (where I can see my car parked) and into a back door that leads up a flight of stairs and in to the control booth. I look down to where Elvis stood, Johnny stood, Bono stood. I am in the control booth.
We talk a bit more and the guy says, "Do you have a copy of any of your stuff?"
I...uh...what? I...have a copy of one of my songs...yeah...
"Well go get it, man, let's give it a listen."
I run to my car at Flash speed and bring in a battered cassette of a song I'd been working on called 'At It Again'. Very Beatlesque, very rough (not only was I still earning how to play instruments, but I was still learning how to record it all...and sing) So he puts the tape in and listens, and is very quiet. I'm cringing, picking out every single mistake on the tape, cringing every time I hit a bum note, everytime it sounds like I was totally copying George Harrison or Edge.
The song ends and he looks at me. "You gonna be around?"
Yeah, why?
"I want my boss to listen to this."
Um...ok.
"Cool. I gotta finish this thing with the guy from germany, stick around, I'll come get you."
So I proceed to buy three T-shirts and a Sweatshirt and a Guitar Pick, all in an effort to kill time. After awhile Guy #2 comes up, "C'mon, man, let's go."
Back in the control booth and now Guy #3 comes in. Super friendly, super nice. Guy #2 hits 'play' and the song starts again. Guy #3 starts asking me questions. "What did yo urecord this on?"
4 track tape deck.
"How'd you get it to split the channels like that?"
(insert lengthy explanation how I fumbled my way into some cool mixing effects)
The song ends and Guy #3 asks, "You have a demo?"
Not really, I'm sorta putting something together.
Guy #2 hands me my tape. "When you get back to wherever you came from, send us a tape and let's see what we can do to get you in here to record."
Could this day get any better? Oh...it does.
Guy #3 shakes my hand and leaves. I'm on Cloud Nine. No, fuck that...I'm Cloud Twelve, surpassing Clouds ten and Eleven. Guy #2 talks me up some more, finding out who my influences are and all that.
Beatles, U2--
"Oh, yo like U2?"
Yeah, huge fan...they're the reasons I wanted to write songs.
Guy #2 starts looking through some boxes and stuff, "You know, when they were here, the drummer, um...."
Larry?
"Yeah, Larry, he got a t-shirt and cut off the sleeves. I was cleaning out stuff...oh here it is..."
He hands me this piece of black cloth. It's a t-shirt sleeve.
"Yeah, we've had this thing lying around here forever."
Very cool, I say, you should put it up somewhere.
"Nah, we've got enough shit up there. You keep it. You're a fan, you'd get a kick out of it more than I would."
So let's recap.
1. Got to be in the control booth of Sun Studios, hear my music being played through Sun Studios
2. Got asked to put together a demo and send it to them to record
3. I got Larry's sleeve.
Now, the thing is...the thing is, he could have tons of t-shirt sleeves lying around that he tells every U2 fan that walks through there that he happens to have Larry's sleeve...or maybe not. Maybe they actually did have Larry's sleeve lying around that someone kept as a memento and thought it would be cool to have lying around...much like the Star Wars figures I have up in the attic.
I drove away in heaven. I went home to Fort Lauderdale a week later, started working on my demo and sent it in. Followed up but never heard anything. Probably just as well, cos now I'm a much better musician than I was then and have an amazing band. So we may be sending a demo their way soon. And if I do go back...I'm stealing that picture of Bono reading his lyrics.
It's only right.
