Confessions of a Studio Rat

    LONDON (May 1979) I was working in the little studio in Worcester with my friend Pete Green (a.k.a. Daniel Boone), and he said to me “You know, I heard Abba are opening up a studio in London and they’re looking for engineers”. I was ready for a change from the present routine, and a big new shiny studio in London had a certain appeal. I somehow made contact with their studio manager Chris who confirmed they were still building the place but definitely interviewing for staff engineers. An appointment was set up, and on the given day I took a very early morning train to London from my in-law’s house in York. The place would be known as Marcus Music UK, and it was a sister studio to a very beautiful facility of the same name operating in Stockholm. The Swedish studio did in fact count ABBA as a client, but the band did not have any part in the ownership of Marcus Studios. The owner was a Swedish bandleader named Marcus (oddly enough) who was very popular in that part of...

  Topanga Canyon, CA (1990) My wife Claire and I were living in the mountain community of Topanga Canyon in southern California. The location was magic: while it was commuting distance to Hollywood and downtown LA, it was still remote enough to retain the trees, creeks, animals such as bobcats and coyotes,   and general woodsy feel. Artists and musicians loved it, and there were parties and crazy scenes going on all over the place. Many famous entertainers lived there, well, the ones who preferred something other than Beverly Hills luxury. A great many of the properties were originally built as vacation homes, cheap and cheerful but don’t look too closely for adherence to building regulations! For example, if we ran a hair dryer in the downstairs bathroom, a circuit breaker would pop in the upstairs apartment, which wasn’t even our accommodation! We once had an entire window fall out-frame and all, because someone foolishly tried to clean it. I guess it was never properly in...