2003-03-16 1:21 p.m.

This morning I feel great. My body feels fresh and alive, almost as if it is echoing springtime's bright blue skies and the fresh, green farmlands that carpet the landscape here.

I brushed my teeth, drank water, and—for expediency—threw on the same clothes I wore yesterday and plan to wear again tomorrow.

We just finished tracking lead vocals for "(Just Go) Out With Me" and "Blue Eyes". Christoffer talked about getting the guys from the Mopeds to come and play horns on that song. Homer Simpson enjoyment: Mmmm, the Mopeds.

I sang through a dusty, old antique megaphone in order to get that 1920's sound for the vocals on "(Just Go) Out With Me".

"Blue Eyes" was easy to sing to—the tracks are almost inviting. Christoffer wanted me to sing into the Microtech Geffel set up in omni mode, in order to get a lot of the room's ambience. He thought it would match best with the music bed. But, after singing some takes that way, something told me that the Shure SM7 was the way to go—it would surely give that compressed Red Hot Chili Peppers vocal sound that I wanted. So, we set it up and it was perfect.

Between takes I mentioned that I thought it might be nice to have "Blue Eyes" be a duet with a woman—preferably someone with a very distinctive voice. Christoffer mentioned Stina Nordenstam and I nearly peed myself. Although she isn't untouchably famous in any way at all, she is a mega–ultra–superstar in my musical dictionary. To work with her would be like Christmas and my birthday and a big basket of daydreams all rolled in coconut and served warm with ice cream.

Ok, so back to Stina. "Do you know how to get in touch with her?" "No", he replied, "but I'm sure we can figure it out." So, of course I spent the next four vocal takes trying very hard to keep my focus on singing the song and not on the Earth–shaking, suns–crashing–together, universe–implodingly exciting idea that I might get Stina to sing on my record.


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