Last Call, North Georgia's Jangle-Rock & One-Hit Wonder combo, gave their time and energy to this recent deluxe performance in honor of Lisa Smith, a good friend of the band who had recently lost her life. Really sad to learn of somebody your friend knows who just succumbed like that. We knocked around a few dates and settled on a Sunday afternoon. It turned out to be Cinco de Mayo. It also turned out to be the site of an area bicycle race! Getting there is half the fun, so they say.
Decent weather, but with storms the day before and then threatening later in the evening, we were teased by the sun and banished to the corner stage near the bar inside of Meehan's at Sandy Springs. The band, with David Falkenstein (guitar, vocals, front of house and monitor engineer), Ira Kramer (drums, vocals), and Karl Rosenblum (violin, percussion), along with my usual shenanigans, welcomed a promising, young chanteuse in Farrel Anne. Farrel joined us to sing on a few songs she was familiar with and had worked up. This girl has some amazing pipes and and is very impressive. I'm always impressed with somebody that young who understands what it means to really sing. She is on pitch with great projection, but almost more importantly, she knows how to entertain. Actually, being on pitch is more important! She was spot on! Farrel sang Gimme Shelter, giving us another great rocking Stones number to breeze through, and the Joan Osborne staple One of Us, among others. She was clearly a major highlight of the day, returning to the stage to grant her fans another chance to bask in her triumph. We could all feel the energy lift when she was singing. Quite a marvel. Now here's where I can insert something that I probably shouldn't, but will anyway, for the time being. I knew she was young, but seeing her birthday on facebook took me back; I met my wife Sabina the year Farrel was born - 2 months prior to be more specific! How's that for aging myself? Music has the power to make us all feel young again. Maybe that has a lot to do with its allure. We're all kids up there chanting "It's just a shot away! It's just a shot away!"
Once we had the sound dialed in, via the earbuds and David's magically clean mixing prowess, we were on our way. A bump in level for the violin, perhaps a tad less bass (how could it be?), sounding better already. It must be time time for some more Tom Petty music! This was a chance to once again charge through our extensive repertoire and give the people what they want. I had spent a few nights prior going over some of these songs I hadn't worked up as well already. I made some charts and transposed my keys dutifully. One caveat I have since come to grips with is that a chart isn't really a chart unless it's printed or available to be viewed. That's a roundabout way of saying that I had forgot to print and /or bring said charts. I had my book; it just wasn't as complete as I had hoped. Many of the songs are indeed memorized. Some are not. Many of them use the same chords. Really, if I went through our list and counted up all of the G, D, Bm, Em, C, and A chords - 4 chords per verse, 3 per chorus, 5 per bridge, 1 extra during the solo, it would just make me run! Sure, the songs are easy, but it can all turn into one long series of chord juggling if I don't have a little reference. I think for the most part we really nailed it. David's guitar work was stellar. The combination of his Rickenbacker with his Vox pedalboard gave us an appealing shimmer for my to flank with the deep bass tone of the NS/Stick. That NS is a serious bass instrument. Like the guy who traded it to me explained, it's made me a more careful bassist. It's very responsive and even across the frequency spectrum. I still find myself goosing up the lows on the active eq, only to back them down later in the set.
My pedals always take a long minute to rearrange, as I end up employing a second board dedicated to the guitar-half of the instrument and then consequently mixing in with the Boss LS-2. It's worth the effect to have split tones on the one instrument for this band. One tune I had been looking forward to getting to was Badfinger's No Matter What. I worked up the solo, a fairly easy George Harrison-inspired melodic slide riff. I make use of a large carabiner for the slide, a nifty trick courtesy of the great if not infamous Don Schiff. He explains his technique with the carabiner here, while it's mentioned in everybody's favorite reference wikipedia here. There, credit where credit is due. Don is certainly a guy I'd like to sit down and talk shop with, over a donut or two, naturally! His blog has multiple references to his enjoyment of donuts, a staple of green rooms in the Vegas area for the gigs he commands. I had practiced it at home and the carabiner is really interesting. With the NS/Stick, or perhaps any Stick, the strings are so responsive (even more so with the compression and a bit of tube drive I tend to favor), that all is needed is to lightly touch the string with the metal, not pressing down to the fret wire, and slide away! It's an unusual sensation to be tapping with one hand and sliding with the other; different amounts of pressure, moving in different directions, different tones, straight groove on the left, familiar melodic statement with nuanced vibrato on the right. At any rate, I had forgotten to pack my carabiner as well, so I had to play the solo without. Oh phooey! I still came out rather nice - one painful half-step accident, but saved with grace and a soaring finish to the high A and we were back to the bridge. My first solo in the band! Must make it a regular occurrence! Other noteworthy stuff: I successfully lost my voice during the coarse of being hoarse. My sinus affliction during the week had taken it's toll, with more than one night of waking to coughing spells. I think it was just an unfortunate timing of events. The dreck was going around at work and sooner or later one's luck runs out. It didn't seem to hang around as long but while it was here it sure gave a good effort. So I couldn't speak the following day, or really the next. I started to fret a bit as I was to sing the first dance and a Cheap Trick ditty the following Saturday. I got through it, with a little help from a friend.
Karl's violin filled in so much more this time around. I can tell he's really getting more comfortable (as we all are) with the material. It's really nice to have his sound in the group. Electric violin is a marvelous voice, one that doesn't get mentioned in this city of horns and samples. He gave Run by Atlanta's own Collective Soul a good bit of authenticity. Great to hear him on Bowie's "Heroes" as well, emulating the Frippian infinite sustain. Ira was so solid - we found that inner pocket to fall into. Really, his tempo is unwavering - a real sense of pace that doesn't drag in a long show like this one. As I think back, his playing reminds me a bit of Bill Berry from R.E.M. We played Sitting Still and Radio Free Europe, and yes, he is perfect for that driving back beat. Later we met the guitarist/vocalist from a local area R.E.M. tribute band The REMakes, Geoff Melkonian. Nice chap - if he heard us play either of those, he didn't say. Thought we pulled 'em off rather well. Had some folks dancing, with the beautiful Ruth, Julie, and Rebecca leading the way on the floor (a rather fantabulous visual image, wouldn't you agree?) - well, who wouldn't want to join them? We were fortunate to enjoy a cold beer or two on a sunny Sunday afternoon, although the rain came back strong and the temps fell just in time for our load out. Most importantly, we raised a few thousand dollars for cancer research in honor of Lisa and her family. Thanks to David, Ira, Karl, and Farrel for all of your hard work and your love of the music.
If you read this far, then you deserve to see some more pics. These are courtesy of Farrel's father Chuck Meiers. Thank you Chuck for sharing these shots that provide a favorable glimpse into our mindset as we are up on the sacred stage and becoming one with the music. It is interesting to see how we handle our collective moments in the spotlight. Farrel is just so natural and at ease; uncanny how she never appears to be out of her element. These are revelatory for that point alone.
~ In loving memory of Lisa Smith ~
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