A turn-of-the-century excerpt from my ancient website, shortly after the release of Pollyanna Loves Cassandra in 2003:

Bringing Pollyanna and Cassandra together has not been easy. As you can imagine, this is not a match made in Heaven. A year in the making, it took over 2000 hours of labor.

Limited time, limited resources, limited equipment, and unlimited naiveté kept this affair in a state of anticipation for over two years. An early aborted attempt back in the summer of Y2K, like a bad blind date, nearly squelched the spark for good. But true love is stubborn, and Pollyanna was once again courting Cassandra by July of 2001. That’s when Bryan Nelson approached John Shipe Band onstage at Eugene’s Art in the Vineyard, and said: "You guys have a great sound! I want to record you."

It was supposed to be a mere demo. Five songs, carefully selected and designed to impress some record label executive who might sneak us onto his roster between Britney Spears and Creed. But on second thought, we had a better idea: "Let’s do seven songs and release an EP!"

On third thought, better yet: "Let’s do twelve songs and release an album!"

Our first sessions drew the raw, skeletal sketch of a live rock-and-roll band: the power trio—Dyson’s drums, Jerry Groove’s bass, and my guitar & voice. (Jessica Kennedy’s keyboard parts were still to come.) We ground out three reels’ worth of basic tracks. Then it was time to break for our September tour.

That tour would be our last. We embarked for Montana on September 11th, the day the Western World was brutally sabotaged. It no longer seemed important to be driving all over the Great Northwest with our gear packed into a Subaru Loyale wagon. After our first show in Missoula was canceled without notification, we just wanted to come home and crawl back into bed with our warm feminine counterparts.

When we finally returned home in late September, we had a new plan: "Let’s record all 31 songs we know, release that double CD we’ve always dreamed about, and never tour again!" It was a unanimous decision.

The touring rhythm section, back in the studio; Jerry-Groove & Dyson

We started delving into things we don’t know much about. Aside from the mystifying technical aspects, we were shamelessly blending up the music. Thirty-one songs can get quite tedious if there isn’t enough variety, so we spiced up the album with a little bit of everything: rock / funk / hip-hop / trip-hop / rave / punk / industrial / gospel / Middle Eastern / blues / poetry / acid jazz / metal / techno / opera / space / 80’s new wave / grunge / trance / surf / R&B / psychedelic / swing / Indian / Latin / Americana / pop / film music / folk / orchestral…

We would throw in everything but the kitchen sink. Our model would be The Beatles’ White Album, as we embedded all these musical elements into a series of distinctive songs, while still leaving some room for all-out experimental madness.

The helpers, like Santa’s elves, would parade through the project, creating just the right ambiance. Ehren Ebbage with his guitar, vocal harmonies, and ingenius arrangement advice. Tim McLaughlin blowing brass. Portland Diva Stephanie Schneiderman crooning the female lead on "When I Am King." And cello-Rocker Nate Hawtin took time out from his band, Another Reason, to beef up the string parts.

Ehren Ebbage doing what he’s best — listening, thinking, feeling.

Tim McLaughlin doing what he does best — making it weird

What we didn’t expect was such a definitive contribution from Jessica Plotkin. (Her viola and impeccable cantor’s voice found comfy spots all over the album.)

And there are surprise snippets from distant past recording sessions. Bryan has sharpened a sense for finding just the right spot to fly something in from any recorded medium—vinyl, cassette, VHS, and even his own answering machine. (I might find myself owing royalties to colleagues from my good ol’ days.)

As the creative boundaries ever-expanded like the Inflating Big Bang Universe, we found ourselves making an "R-rated" album. Yes, there is some "adult content," which is probably Cassandra’s fault. We might have to put a warning label on it. However, unlike the record industry, we intend for actual adults to enjoy this stuff. We aren’t hypocritically marketing this to twelve-year-old MTV-watching children, while slapping a "Parental Advisory" label on it just to make it especially inviting. There’s a well-thought-out reason for every mature theme and every bawdy line. So, if you’re too young to drive, chances are you won’t quite construe Pollyanna Loves Cassandra in the same way it was intended. (But you’ll still love it, because it rocks!)

Courtship of Pollyanna and Cassandra (2003)