Shelter In Place is a concept album by gold, platinum and #1 Producer/Mixer/Guitarist, Michael James (New Radicals, Hole, Edwin McCain, Robben Ford, Kalimba). It explores love, isolation, loss, mortality and ultimately hope—themes that permeated the pandemic lockdown of 2020. A listen from top to bottom begins with an enjoyable night under the stars with an orchestra that is suddenly disrupted by a global catastrophe. Lovers overcome obstacles to be reunited, while other couples are far too close for comfort, far too long. Some serendipitously thrive in the new world, while others contemplate their mortality. Everybody eventually learns they are not alone, that we are all in this thing (life) together. 

• Stylistically diverse, but primarily sophisticated Rock, with a modicum of Americana, Singer-Songwriter, Jazz-Rock Fusion and cinematic orchestral textures to support the focus on intelligent storytelling. While lyrics are front and center, James plays inventive guitar solos and layered parts on every tune. Will appeal to fans high caliber musicianship, advanced harmonic concepts and organic instruments, reminiscent of Kevin Gilbert’s Thud or Sheryl Crow’s Tuesday Night Music Club.

• Sonically breathtaking, the album is mixed in 2.0 stereo, 5.1 surround and immersive Dolby Atmos to position itself on the front line of the spatial audio revolution recently embraced by Apple Music.

• Recorded remotely during 2020, in collaboration with special guests David Kahne (Paul McCartney), Linda Taylor (“Whose Line Is It Anyway?”), Chris Hesse (Hoobastank), Jason Cropper (Weezer) and Kenny Brack (Indianapolis 500 winner).

• Five singles (with music videos) to be released between now and October 2021. All videos will be produced and directed by award winning filmmakers Allen Farst (Chuck Leavell: The Tree Man) and Tim Roth. At least two additional videos releases are planned for 2022.

Track Listing and Production Credits

Produced by Michael James, Urban Olsson, David Kahne, Aaron Durr, Brian Joseph Kenny & Eric Colvin
Mixed by Michael James

01 When The Penny Drops
02 Come Back Lover
03 Nothing Lasts Forever
04 Learning To Live Without You
05 Scraping The Guard Rail (All The Way Down)
06 I Can’t Take It
07 Save Me Tonight
08 I’ll Be Here
09 Push On Through (Marchesano Remix)
10 Something (arranged and reharmonized by Michael James)
11 I Can’t Make You Love Me If You Don’t (I’m Drifting Alone)
12 Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words)
13 Nothing Lasts Forever (Slight Reprise) 
14 Rise Up Into The Light
15 You Think It’s Over But It’s Not
16 Color Of My Skin
17 Let’s Connect Our Minds

15 - You Think It's Over But It's Not

03 - Nothing Lasts Forever

Electropop dance tune with adult themes.

Joe Adverb: music, vocal; drum programming; synths; guitar; samples; recording, engineering, and production

John Adverb: story and lyrics

Oh my soul
Have you ever felt your throat?
Touched the knot and pulled the rope?
 
Staring blindly
To the heavens do we look
Hold a saber waiting for the hook
 
The milk was spilt and dried up
Details thin but tied up
Left behind along the way
 
Never thought of leaving
Never not believing
Always sure that you would pay
 
Your look
My face
Nothing’s old but it’s worn
 
My smile
Your smirk
Nothing’s bred but its born
 
Our star
Our dance
Nothing’s shed but it’s shorn
 
Your cue
My line
Nothing’s true when it’s sworn
 
Oh my darlin’
Have you ever lost your shit
where it never should appear?
 
So my precious
Looking helpless and sincere
always best when shedding tears
 
A slug of liquid lightning
A taste of something frightening
Meet the morning in a haze
 
And in the trunks of Hondas
Cans of Red Bull on ya
As the alpacas come to graze
 
 
Your look
My face
Nothing’s old but it’s worn
 
My smile
Your smirk
Nothing’s bred but its born
 
Our star
Our dance
Nothing’s shed but it’s shorn
 
Your cue
My line
Nothing’s true when it’s sworn

Nothing's Old But It's Worn

After years of playing a circuit of R&B clubs and events and speakeasies in the Pacific Northwest, Don Stevenson trekked down to the Bay Area in the summer of ’65. He’d recently joined The Frantics. The following summer he co-founded the iconic San Francisco band, Moby Grape. Playing ballrooms, like The Fillmore and Avalon, the Grape instantly became the darlings of the Bay Area, and the object of a massive bidding war. In the early weeks of ’67 the fivesome shuffled between San Francisco and Los Angeles with record company executives from Columbia, Atlantic, and Elektra elbowing each other out of the way, with contracts and pens in hand. Signing with Columbia, Moby Grape recorded their debut in a handful of sessions in the spring of ’67. The album came out a few days after Pepper and a couple of weeks later, the Grape played a killer set at the Monterey Pop Festival.  
As a songwriting-singing drummer, Don Stevenson was a trailblazer, opening the door for the likes of Levon Helm and Don Henley. Moby Grape’s self-titled LP isn’t just one of the best debuts in history, it’s one of the best albums ever cut. It’s now over half a century after those heady days and today Stevenson is putting out his third solo album, Limited Engagement—Volume 1. Produced by Jamie Collins- SoundSuiteMusic, and featuring such talent as Tim Bovaconti (Burton Cummings Band), Dane Clark (John Mellencamp Band), and Dale Ockerman (Doobie Brothers), the album includes 11 stellar tracks tapping into all the genres Moby Grape explored so many years ago.  
With another dozen tracks in the can, Stevenson’s next album is right around the corner and he’s looking into the past, present, and future all at once. At 82, Don Stevenson has every bit as much energy as those two generations younger and you’ll witness this when his band hits the stage at Massey Hall. Having shared the bill with the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Steve Miller, The Byrds, BB King, Buddy Guy, Sly Stone, and a host of others, Don Stevenson is no stranger to event concerts, like Chest Fever. Prepare to be bowled over by a seasoned icon.

Host | Arwen Lewis
Executive Producer | Jeremiah D. Higgins
Producer - Sound Engineer - Richard “Dr. D” Dugan

arwenlewismusic.com/

On Instagram, Follow Arwen Lewis Here:
@thearwenlewisshow
Arwenlewis

www.thejeremiahshow.com
On Instagram @jeremiahdhiggins
linktr.ee/jeremiahdhiggins

SN2 | EP 12 Don Stevenson (Moby Grape) on The Arwen Lewis Show

Second Language is an American alternative rock band formed in 1981 in Los Angeles. The band’s name derived from their view of music as a universal second language. They performed and recorded together from 1981 to 1996 and gained recognition with their debut record in 1984, the Souvenirs EP, which garnered college radio play and even commercial airplay, unusual for an unsigned band.
The band gigged regularly at venues in Los Angeles and opened for notable bands like Love And Rockets. Blancmange, Howard Devoto, Berlin and Oingo Boingo. In 1996 the band independently released their first album WrongSpeak. 
The core of the band since 1984, Jessie Jacobson (lead vocalist, songwriter, guitarist), Jarrett Lesko (bass) & Brian Bielski (drums), along with a host of other talented multi-instrumentalists and vocalists sharing multiple influences, created post-punk, new wave and indie rock music utilizing an improvisational composing style and powerful stage performances. The band went on hiatus in 1996.
In 2001, Jessie, a trans woman, underwent a personal transition in order to manifest her authentic self. She briefly left music behind, went back to school and earned an MA in Psychology and worked as a therapist, but soon found herself drawn back to singing, songwriting, improvising and recording from a whole new more feminine/feminist perspective, literally with a new voice, and back to working with her former bandmates, in particular Brian and Jarrett.
Second Language reformed in 2014 on a part-time basis to improvise together culminating in producing new studio recordings 2022-2024, that are ongoing. 
During 2023-2024, Second Language will release seven albums of back catalog and unreleased material as well as a new album, recorded with a legendary group of producers: Tony Berg, Ron Fair, Michael James, Earle Mankey, Frank Wolf, and Ken Jordan, along with the band itself. The result is the first in a series of Second Language archival and contemporary stereo & Atmos single releases on Alternator Records, mixed by Michael James in 2023-2024. Alternator Records is a modern label founded by legendary producer/mixer Michael James. The label specializes in immersive audio, with every frontline release being conceived from the ground up—and mixed in—Dolby Atmos.

Host | Arwen Lewis
Executive Producer | Jeremiah D. Higgins
Producer - Sound Engineer - Graham Palmer (Surprise Studio)

arwenlewismusic.com/

On Instagram, Follow Arwen Lewis Here:
@thearwenlewisshow
@arwenlewis

www.thejeremiahshow.com
On Instagram @jeremiahdhiggins
linktr.ee/jeremiahdhiggins

SN 3 | EP 7 Jessie Jacobson (Second Language) on The Arwen Lewis Show

A weekly Radio Show DJ'd by Arwen Lewis - The Arwen Lewis Show Favorites Radio Hour will feature 10 songs per show performed by artists who have been featured as guests on The Arwen Lewis Show. 

Episode 1:

1) Peter Lewis - Just Like Sunshine

2) Walk The Whale - Cruising

3) John DeNicola - Hungry Eyes

4) Katie Cole - Crash Landing

5) Lux Lawless - Chalk

6) Kinothek - Displaced

7) Second Language - Rapture, Capture Me

8) The Textones - Early Morning Rain

9) The Maybirds - Sanctuary

10) Larry Weiss - Rhinestone Cowboy

Host | Arwen Lewis
Producer - Sound Engineer - Arwen Lewis

arwenlewismusic.com/

On Instagram, Follow Arwen Lewis Here:
@thearwenlewisshow
@arwenlewis

EP 1 - The Arwen Lewis Show - Favorites Radio Hour

'Souvenirs Revisited' features the 40-year anniversary re-release of Second Language’s 1984 Souvenirs 6-song vinyl EP, produced by Ron Fair (along with Earle Mankey & Second Language on two songs).

Remastered, along with thirteen additional 1981-1984 studio recordings and demos, including three tracks mixed by Michael James in 2024.

Includes the single 'In Absentia', mixed by Michael James in 2024 and released as a single on Alternator Records.

Forbidden Fruit (EP)

18 Madchen Mania The Quick Live

Second Language formed 1981 and recorded and gigged until 1996. They resumed playing together 2014 and recently recorded their first studio album since 1997.

Forbidden Fruit (EP)

Second Language

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