After the move to [[Perkins - MG HQ & Grind Global]], [[Ernest]] outfitted one of the rooms as a small recording studio with a small booth and couch. It was right across the hall from the embroidery room, which wasn't ideal, but as long as the machine wasn't running and the door was closed, it worked just fine. The equipment wasn't the greatest, but it got the job done, mostly because [[Sam]] really know how to squeeze some great sound out of whatever he was producing. He wasn't fast at what he did, but the end result was always solid. Ernest tried to keep the recording studio busy but no one really wanted to book the space unfortunately, so it mainly just became a space for him to record and hang out. Ernest had been working on his project "My Audio Diary" for many years at this point (or so I assume), since some of what he was recording was what he wrote years ago. Either way, this album was always "almost done" but never surfaced. Sam's edits were "almost complete" but nothing was every actually done. There were songs but never a fully finished product. This went on for so long that it made me suspicious of what it was really about, which turned out to be another side hustle for [[The Front]]I assume, as he never got me what I needed to finish the album artwork or any other pieces I needed from him to complete this project. As a part of this project, he had a slower song that he wanted me to record bass on, but the lyrics were so nasty I couldn't even listen to it. It was seriously the worst lyrics on the planet but I recorded anyway since I was gathering all the info I could on his illegal business after he'd trafficked drugs through the shop and talked about getting rid of my wife. I still don't know what ever came of the album or this song, but I pray my name is never attached to anything from him. At this point, he can have what I gave him on that for free. The crazy part is, I'm not a bad bass player. In fact, I'm pretty darn good and he never used me on anything but the world's worst song... Imagine the irony. To top it off, on my birthday in 2022, Ernest invited me to be in a music video that he was shooting. I thought it was going to be a quick thing, but in fact, it ate up almost my entire day. Yet another day gone and wasted to a project that would never surface I thought. What's weird is there was a guy there that I'd never seen before who seemed to be important. Who was this and why did we just have a random person in the video when me, him and Sam were usually the ones up at the shop. Why the random guy? Looking back, and knowing Ernest as the world's greatest liar, I assume he was someone nefarious or dangerous. I hate that my face is associated with anything Ernest made, but such is life.