Haha, apparently “Trouble” was used in an episode of that E! channel show, “Gastineau Girls” sometime this year! I don’t know how, but I know I saw that show one night and though it was kinda crazy. It’s like a reality show about a rich mom and her hot daughter just, like, trying to be sexy and cool all the time. I can see how that song is perfect for the show though, with that chorus hook “I’m old enough to know better – you’re just trouble!” Kinda makes me want to see it, actually, just thinking about it.

Which reminds me, I noticed that “Popular” DVD is available at Blockbuster so I’m going to check it out.

I guess we were also used on a show called “Taste of America” which sounds like a Travel Channel show. Hopefully they were enjoying a summer wine or eating on a yacht, something sweet like that. Ah well, any publicity is pretty nice. Especially non-gothic publicity. Heh heh!

At long last, we have sent off the CD master and artwork for production! I had a panic attack yesterday when I realized that I did not have color separations for the disc artwork, but then Ryan remembered that his old pal from Mexico, Roberto, was not only proficient in such matters – being a graphic designer – but recently moved nearby. Lucky for us, Roberto was more than willing to drop by and help us get all our unruly files into order. Not only did he create the color separations, but he cleaned up the Chillcuts logo and gave me a pretty thorough crash course in Photoshop pre-press techniques. In turn, I loaded him up with CDs, postcards, photos, and posters, plus we shared a tasty bottle of Rose and some of my home cooking. Always best to mix pleasure with business! It looks like he’ll also be helping us to get together some much needed business cards and new band glossies. It’s so good to have a friend connected to the print business! What a life saver! Muchas gracias, Roberto!

Just thought I’d address the fact that we’re lagging on getting out the new podcast… There’s a few reasons for this. One, I am totally wrapped up in designing the album art, which always takes longer than I think it will because I am such a perfectionist. Two, we’ve had no less than 3 weddings to attend in the last 2 months. Three, it is too fricken hot to go into the studio right now. We’re in the midst of a record high heatwave for this area, and there is no airflow in the studio, so once those monitors and computers come on, it heats up real fast! Maybe I’ll break down and try recording something using my Griffin iTalk peripheral, just to get through this little phase, or maybe I’ll send out this Lovespirals/LSD Chillcuts feature I put together about 2 weeks ago but haven’t had time to convert and upload to Chillcuts yet. I dunno yet. Anyone have a preference?

I’ve always hated working in Quark and view it merely as a necessary evil when going to print. I have been known to throw a cat across the room in frustration when working on a project… I’ve been trying to translate my CD design from Photoshop to Quark and was getting really frustrated yesterday working up the disc art. Anyway to make a long story short, a cool old friend of ours was nice enough to let me check out Adobe’s InDesign and WOW! I love that program! Why have I not used it before? I worked up the disc art in no time and feel much more confident about it than I did my Quark document. The learning curve was really quick and the whole experience was much more intuitive. Hooray for Adobe!

Been meaning to give an update. That very same day I prayed a muse would visit me for the Free & Easy artwork, well, I guess she heard, because I had a breakthrough. Got the cover figured out and Ryan loved it. Also came up with the inside 2 panel concept. I’m just not sure about the back cover now… Sometimes I wish I weren’t such a perfectionist. I think I could get a lot more done if I weren’t so picky.