Anybody remember Eugene Chadbourne, with his electric rake? Some years back, I cut several tunes for Eugene at my studio. He was fond of using a guy who always showed up for the sessions on his bicycle, and carrying a khaki duffle bag stuffed with a two-octave Casio and an assortment of noise makers and toys.
He was an unassuming kind of guy who would confer quietly with Eugene, then go into the booth and slip on the headphones. As soon as the track rolled, he would go absolutely insane. He would scream, screech, warble and wail through his repertoire of vocal sounds, while his hands tore into the canvas bag for anything that could be coaxed into making a sound -- any sound.
Once he was laying down a Casio track when he discovered it was out of tune with the rest of the umm, instruments. He held a chord, and adjusted the tuning while the track played. I reached for the STOP button, and noticed Eugene was going nuts. "No! Leave it in there...it's GREAT!"
Eugene did so enjoy his music. Haven't seen him in a while, so I guess he still does.
