John Recalls visions

When Raymond Dumont at RD Records found us,
Tom asked me to write my recollection of the Prufrock
Visions sessions and that summer of 67.

“Raymond,

Thanks for your interest in what is now an ancient memory . . .
but one that has been indelibly etched in my mind and on my
heart. After all, doesn’t every kid want to make a rock-n-roll
record?

My name is John Capanna, and I have been a close friend of Tom for nearly 50 years. He and I were in a garage band together
while in high school.

After high school, Tom moved from LA to Santa Barbara where he was going to College; about 2 hours north of LA along the
coast. He was also working part time for a local record label and a radio station. One day he called, “Let’s make a record,
Chuck and John Hall are in.”

Every Saturday morning, for several months, I would drive to Hollywood to gather Chuck Giana and John Hall, and then drive
north to Ojai to spend the weekend recording with Tom. Chuck was an old high school chum of ours who had recently
returned from Viet Nam. He had been changed by the war, and often, on the long drive home, he would recount terrible
things he had seen in combat. John Hall was eight years older than us, had played in a local folk quartet with Chuck, and was
also a Viet Nam vet.

Tom was always able to find local musicians to volunteer embellishment to our recordings. Wouldn’t it be nice to have horns
here? Strings there? And they seemed to magically appear. We needed a lead guitar, and there was “Onetake”. That’s the
way it was, week after week for about six months. Three 20 year olds, the other John... Dean, the orange farmer/recording
studio owner, and any number of other interesting and talented individuals who Tom somehow charmed into coming in to
play.

They were 18-hour days. Saturday night we would sleep on the floor of Dean’s mother’s house a mile or so from the grove.
By Sunday night we were exhausted and barely able to stay awake on the drive back to LA. On Monday we would re-assume
our true identities - I, a college student who lived at home with his parents and carried on a mainstream life, Hall worked in
a fast food restaurant, and Giana in a music store giving guitar lessons.

Eventually Prufrock was done, eventually it was over.

After Prufrock, I earned a couple of degrees, raised a family, and made a living as a public school teacher and administrator
for 32 years. Sadly, about a year after Visions with us, John Hall committed suicide. I suspect the Vietnam War weighed
heavily on him. Chuck disappeared for years, on the road with various bands.

During this time, Tom continued to work in the recording and engineering fields as a staff engineer for several well known
studios in different corners of the world.

In 1979, Tom moved back to LA to become Managing Editor of Recording/ Engineer Producer Magazine. In 81 he opened
Creative Space in Hollywood . Chuck appeared, and Tom hired him as an Assistant Manager. C/S was a 22 room private hotel
and was sort of a B&B for songwriters. Each room had some of the first home recording gear I had seen. During that time,
Tom was also teaching, and needed material to record for his student workshops. Why not record a second album? I had been
writing songs over the years, and we just started recording ones we liked. Charles would sing the lead vocals.

For more then a year, again on weekends, Tom, Charles, and I were in the studio, this time with Tom's classes. Chuck played
bass and a few other instruments, and Tom brought in a stream of studio musicians. Chuck's guide lead vocals were weak,
but we kept hoping that when we did final vocals it would be stronger. They never were. It was frustrating.

A pretty amazing album had been recorded, but there was no lead vocalist. Since I was the writer of all the songs, Tom
called me one day and said he couldn't proceed with Charles as lead vocal. He planned to have a few other singers try the
tracks, but I would have to change some of the lyrics, which I did. Nia Peeples was one of the singers and we have six cuts
with the same tracks and entirely different lyrics. Tom also asked if I would like sing lead vocals on what we had so that we
could finish them, and maybe use them for song demos.... a work we eventually entitled Revisions. Needless to say, Chuck
was not happy, and one day he just disappeared.

Naturally, as a nearly-forty year old, tie-wearing, Junior High School Administrator with fond memories of our original
Prufrock project in '67, I jumped at the chance! We completed the Revisions album in late 85. My recording days were done-
again.

Amazingly, Tom had the good foresight to digitally preserve the Revisions album, and you should hear that album as well as
Visions (Tom tells the story of the Revisions album) .

Through most of the 80s Tom was also on the road demonstrating Fostex equipment, and he would occasionally record an
album in a farm house in Indiana, or an old mill in Connecticut, or a log cabin in Illinois. Over those years I wrote a few songs
for bands Tom was working with. I would get a call, “Do you want to write some songs for this or that band, or fix their
lyrics?”

When Tom moved to Australia in 87, where he still lives, my songs getting recorded came to an end. Tom has written books,
taught, made training videos on sound and moved into the screen industry and games. He has been very active in the
creative arts in their many forms, but I think he misses making records. As do I.

We have remained friends for over four decades in spite of the thousands of miles of geography between us.

It’s nice to know you’re interested in releasing Visions, our youthful endeavour in a distant orange grove. We think much of
the album resonates today.

Sincerely, John”