200k albums in France ...

I was lucky enough to attend the 'Victoires de la Musique' last night at the Zenith in Paris. Alain Bashung won three honors for 2008 - Male Artist, Album of the Year for Variety Songs, and Tour of the Year, all related to his latest album 'Bleu Petrol' which I was fortunate to contribute to as a producer/mixer/musician along with my friend Gaetan Roussel from Louise Attaque.

I'm in Paris working with Gaetan on some other projects.

It was also great to be backstage again at the Zenith - it reminded me of the DB gigs we played there in 2002, some of the best on that tour.

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Charlie Winston's album 'Hobo' went to number one on iTunes in France on its first day of release. His first single 'Like A Hobo' also went to number one ...

The physical CD release went to #2 on the national chart the first week out, topped only by Seal and Springsteen. Congrats to Charlie, Atmospheriques, Instinct Management, and Real World .

Charlie is a British singer/songwriter with echoes of old-school soul in his voice ... an eclectic artist as comfortable adding human beat box as he is orchestrating a string section on the spot. Making this record was one of those absolute pleasures you don't get very often.

And, he played 'Great Balls Of Fire' on the celeste. Can you ask for more than that?

I mixed this record. Loved it - great writing, performance, etc, etc. Got a lot of comments saying the same. So, posted a bunch of it on my player.

... and I can't complain about any of that ... !

My website is finally back up. My domain had expired late in the summer … I hadn't even realized it was up for renewal. Just got around to setting it right and all. I'm now at a new domain, mark-plati.com. The link is on the front page where it says 'band website' ... or, just copy 'n' paste in the usual fashion.

Basically it's the same website as before, with all the old tour pictures and news and whatnot. I got a few queries about what happened to that stuff, so I put it all back up. Actually, my webmaster (webmistress?) Carla Rhodes did - I just watched. Sort of.

I did a new news piece explaining what had happened to it in a little more detail, as well as my apparently lackadaisical response to sorting it out. A few other new bits and stories as well.

Also, my discography is on there in .pdf format.

Anik Jean's first single 'Oh Mon Cheri' went to Number 1 on the Top 100, as well as Number 1 Pop Rock, in Montreal/Quebec. The song was in the top 5 of the Top 100 for 10 weeks. Congratulations, Anik!

'Oh Mon Cheri' is the lead off single from her album 'Le Ciel Saigne le Martyre,' which we made over the summer. We recorded in Montreal and then mixed at my studio in New York.

Earl Slick and I are going to Montreal to play in the show for the album release. Slicky played guitar and wrote some of the songs with us.

You can find Anik here - http://www.myspace.com/anikjean

That's Claire in my profile picture. She's two months old. The picture was taken by my elder daughter Alice, now 14 - she's getting very handy with a camera. Brother Max was busying himself with the Christmas tree while this was going on - figuring out how to get the water out of the base of the stand, as only a two year old would.

I get questions, so here are answers.

WHAT'S THE DEAL WITH 1966?
It's the first year that I can recall anything meaningful. Lucky for me, my initial musical awareness arrived during one of the most creative years ever for rock, pop, and soul music. Our car radio (and everyone else's) was booming with it, so it's no small wonder to discover years later that a number of my favorite records are from the '66-'68 period.

It wasn't just the music from that time that made an impression. The first televised war was going on, and I knew something was up a couple of years later when MLK and RFK were assassinated ... but frankly, I was more interested in all the space shots, the sports cars of the late '60's, and the fact that my first grade teacher wore miniskirts.


HOW DO YOU RIDE A BIKE IN NEW YORK CITY?
With great care, and a dash of denial.

I've been doing it for almost twenty years ... and though there are many things so deeply embedded I can operate on a great degree of autopilot, one needs to watch out. Watch out for what? Hmmm ... pedestrians, car doors, potholes, taxis, glass, construction, New Jersey drivers, ice, cops, buses, Snapple truck drivers, those massive steel plates in the road they use to cover big holes that turn into death traps once they get slippery with rain. Did I mention pedestrians? They should get mentioned twice since the arrival of the iPod as they pay even less attention than ever. Most of my accidents have involved them walking absentmindedly into the street (The most recent incident? This morning.)

Otherwise its a cinch. Kind of like a big video game, except you don't get another life when you get nailed.

WHAT'S IT LIKE TO WIN A GRAMMY?
I have no idea, because I didn't win one - Shawn Colvin and her producer, John Leventhal, did. They won two of them that year - Record of the Year, and Song of the Year. Engineer/Mixer dudes dont get Grammies in those categories. Still, it's nice to have worked on a record that's acknowledged, even if I dont have the statuette to collect dust. There seems to be some misunderstanding that I actually took one home (from what I stuck in the 'About' section.) I also didn't receive an award from the Les Victoires competition (Louise Attaque won for Best Rock Album, 2005). In that case, there was only one award for the whole band to share. They gave it to their label.

That particular Grammy ceremony (February 1998, for the 1997 year) was the only one I've ever attended. It was local (Radio City) and Bowie was up for Earthling, so (DB guitarist) Reeves Gabrels and I went just to see if he'd win (he didn't). Once that was apparent (Dylan won in that category) we left Radio City in an attempt to get to one of the Grammy parties early (we didn't). We left before Shawn Colvin won her second award, which was when John Leventhal thanked everyone who worked on the record (including myself) on national TV ... by which point I was in a cab with Gabrels so I missed it. To this day, I've never seen it.

WHAT IS DAVID BOWIE LIKE?
A sweetheart, of course. I certainly wouldn't have stuck with him for seven years if he weren't.

WHY DONT YOU DO REMIXES ANY MORE?
Because I never really did them. I only engineered them.

Well, sort of. Dance music was kind of a happy accident for me, and though I learned the nuts and bolts of what made a decent club remix for a period of time - roughly 1987 to 1991 - it was honestly never that near and dear to me. I appreciated what went into them from a technical and musical standpoint ... and I certainly learned a lot, which I've brought to my other work ever since ... but in the end I wasn't much of a fan. I was just not a club kid in my heyday (see the 1966 bit above). Occasionally I'd get called to do a remix because I'd engineered them for bona fide remix producers (Arthur Baker and Junior Vasquez) and that was enough for certain situations.

Plus, I was trying to exit the dance music world and get back on track in pursuit of my original goal - producing and/or recording albums. I got tagged as a remix guy, and this was hard to shake in the eyes of the industry (Not that I personally wanted or needed to shake it ... that's a whole other rant.)

Still, the finest remix I ever did (and yes, I did it) was a drum and bass version of David Bowie's 'I'm Deranged.' I probably wont ever top it.

HOW DO I BREAK INTO THE MUSIC INDUSTRY?
How should I know - sometimes I barely feel like I'M in the music industry! Perhaps the more appropriate question is WHAT music industry? Buy some gear, start recording people, pick the brains of those who have more experience. Be passionate and relentless and stubborn. Carpe diem and all that.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE GIG?
As a musician: David Bowie, Roseland, June 19, 2000. Stellar for many reasons, among them: the first gig with Earl Slick in the band; the setlist (Wild Is The Wind! Station To Station!); the vibe of the audience (the absolute best ever); and, the fact that I had recovered in the nick of time from a massive bike accident (yes, a pedestrian) where I had fractured both arms.

Honorable Mention - Nimes Amphitheatre in the South of France (DB, Heathen tour 2002) simply because it was in a Roman amphitheatre ... you could envision the gladiators and lions. Also, Net Aid at Wembley Stadium - I popped my cherry on that one.

As a spectator: The Police, Ghost In The Machine tour, 1982. They were my favorite band at the time (I was a rabid fan, I bought everything they put out.) Unreal gig, flawless. Saw the next tour (Synchronicity), hated it - too commercial, sound sucked. Next, saw the first Sting solo tour - he took off his shirt, the girls screamed, I bailed. Besides, by then Joni Mitchell had hooked me.

Posted a bunch of newer songs, all of it mixed at my l'il hole-in-the-wall East Village studio, Alice's Restaurant. Been away for a while this year, but worked on some great stuff - new albums by Les Rita Mitsouko and Brazilian Girls, and more songs with Louise Attaque for their next one. Hoping to spend summer in the city racking up miles (but hopefully not injuries) on the bike and changing a few diapers. Oh, and working ... lots in store.

mp