Frank Sinatra: S/D

also yes obviously Frank is the world's first 105-year old American pope

Frank didn't go on any PCP-fueled cross-country car chases

Cannonball Run II, yo.

https://pics.imcdb.org/12851/snap480.5.jpg

"Gas, grass, or ass, baby..."

https://pics.imcdb.org/12851/snap480.5.jpg

lol fair point

Brian Wilson talking about writing "Still I Dream of It" for Frank, how awesome "Only the Lonely" is etc

https://youtu.be/YZAwYF2tLbU?t=462

(thx to Tyler for the link!)

this is so great!

Apparently Capitol Recording Studios (where Frank recorded many of his greatest records, including Only the Lonely) has closed for good - the entire staff was laid off. Would be a shame if they gut it (which I guess will probably happen) - the famous echo chamber alone is irreplaceable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hDFSbsqn5U

Really? That is ... not good. Where did you hear that?

Here's what a freelance cutting engineer in L.A. posted last night:

"Stephen Marsh just told me that Capitol Tower Studios is closed and staff has been let go, Ron McMaster confirmed all mastering engineers, Perry and Dave in Restoration and even Paula Salvatore (!!!)"

McMaster is their longtime mastering engineer - he was supposed to retire like a decade ago, but he wound up staying due to the vinyl boom. (Very few people left have his experience in cutting vinyl.) He finally called it a day in 2018.

Salvatore may be familiar to anyone who's seen Dave Grohl's Sound City documentary - she used to run that studio before Capitol.

Ugh.

I checked back with their website to see if an official announcement had been made. It now says "SERVICES TEMPORARILY UNAVAILABLE." (https://www.capitolstudios.com/)

Actually, what am I talking about? There's a pandemic going on, so maybe it was already up for that.

Now it sounds like the studio won't be closing altogether. The entire staff has been let go, and the mastering department is probably gone for good, but if the pandemic improves and they can start booking regular sessions again, they're hoping to re-open. I hope that's the case. I thought they were doing fine relatively speaking so I'd be stunned if this was truly the end.