I was living in a room on B Street, right next to the Million Dollar Bridge.

The owner of the house built a new bathroom downstairs.

But he forgot; or didn't know that you have to ground the water pipes.

So he transformed the house into a major lighting rod.

The house was therefore soon struck by lighting and I had to find a new place to live.

He had this lady friend who came over; went hysterical, and eventually took me and his two kids to her home for the night.

I smelled like smoke and could not sleep...

Since moving to Portland; South Portland to start, I had been taking my Chevy, 3 of the column pickup all over town.

There was one building that always caught my eye. It had an ivy covered turret with a squiggle on top.

I wanted to live in the turret.

I had to scramble to find a new place since I was now homeless.

Checking the newspaper, I found an affordable apartment in town.

When I went to inquire, lo and behold, it was the building that I loved!

131 State Street.

But the manager lived in the turret and my apartment was in the back of the building.

This beautiful building had been an office building for doctors and all the apartments were former doctor's offices.

You walked in, the tiny kitchen had been the reception area. The small living room had been the waiting room.

And the bedroom had been the doctor's room...

I took it!

The apartment above was empty.

The winos would go up there and get into that apartment.

They drank and crashed for the night.

They never bothered or disturbed me.

Live and let live!

I got my stuff out of storage and moved in. Cozy, but wicked cold!

I brought all my musical instruments with me, including a four track recorder.

I set up everything at the foot of my bed in the tiny bedroom.

I had my mics and everything right in front of me as I sat on the edge of my bed.

It was so cold in there, the manager gave me a space heater. It did next to nothing.

I figured out a way to trick the thermostat in the hall to kick on the heat and warm my studio/home.

It was a very cold winter. One day the actual temperature was -25. My truck wouldn't even crank.

I went out to throw my garbage in the dumpster.

I opened it up and there was a guy inside diving for treasure.

We looked at each other. I said nothing.

Live and let live!

In retrospect, it's really hard to think of what you should say to a guy in a dumpster.

Sitting on the edge of my bed, I wrote and recorded many songs.

I would lay down a basic track, then add additional instruments.

Then I rented a second tape recorder to do the mix down.

I recorded a whole 12 inch vinyl record album at the foot of my bed!

I sent the tapes to a company that produced the records; an edition of 100.

The album was titled "Lost Paradise Shop."

While I was waiting for the records to be manufactured and shipped to me, I started working on the graphics.

I wanted the album to be in a plain paper bag.

So I went to the Old Port. There was a building that had been the Armory at one time.

It was then, a paper company. It was dusty and dirty inside.

I got my 100 paper bags. Today it is a fancy smanchy hotel.

Recording from the Edge of Bed Studios