Saturday February 19th in Amelia Island with Sweetwater Junction

The big news on this gig was the return of Chris Gunther of Quoz fame on lead vocals.  So little was said about it, so I guess it wasn't that big of a deal.  He's back in the fold and sounding great.  Nice to have some occasional acoustic rhythm guitar in the mix for us.  The ceremony was outdoors and it was nice 70 degree beach weather - beautiful day for a wedding.  We had to meet at the unkind hour of 7:30 at the storage space - this after my night before with Martay at Padriac's.  I was toast, but I had some pep later in the day. 

Took these pics before the ceremony with my Sansung Intercept Android phone.  Binnie and I got new phones last October and it's nice to have a half decent camera to grab shots with.  Unfortunately, it has the typcial delay and shakiness associated with any cheap digital camera.  Still, these landscape shots came out nice enough.  I always try to wander down to the shore if I've travelled this far.

Shot of the Ritz from the beach.

The sun has set for the most part.

Another view of the hotel from the beach.

Here is a shot of the bride and groom dancing with their guests while we played.  The crowd was really into it all night long.  It made for an enjoyable gig, naturally.  As usual, we drove back afterwards, which was a horrible experience although we got back safely (Thanks Mark!).  I always swear never again!

Padriac's - back after 2 months

We have gone to an every other month schedule for Padriac's in Vinings.  Not a great omen.  I would have thought that we would have put on more of a show for this grand reunion.  Always a weird start there since people are occupying tables right in front and next to us.  We didn't know where to put the PA cabinets.  Plus, MartaY had a guy shooting video for us.  I could tell he was antsy to get going so he could leave.  Another wrinkle was that the box/bag/case of speaker cables et al was left at home.  We made it work with what I brought.  I inadvertently left with one of Martay's 1/4 inch cables.  However, now I'm missing my mic stand.  I was on fumes to say the least.  Red bull got me there and I played well.  Playing with Martay has become like riding a bike.  I have done my homework for the most part and he doesn't throw out too many surprises anymore.  Not even the Billy Idol stuff, which can wear me out - 6 minutes of non-stop rapid fire plectrum downstrokes!  We started a little late and played a good solid 70 minute set.  Then we took a break and things fell apart as they can during a long break.  The good news was that Cliff was there with his wife!  Yay for Cliff!  Great to see him and they had a date night to come hear us.  The bad news was that even with Bill to sing lead vocals we only played maybe a 35 minute set.  Weird that Martay wanted to end so early.  Good "Whole Lotta Love" and "Every Rose Has It's Thorn".  Ended with "Round and Round" and that was it!  My only good pic was of the fabulous Brent, who sang many a great song that night - "PYT", "Lovin Touchin Squeezin", "Don't Stop Believin'"!

Dig my special effects lighting!

The Adrian Ash Group Presents A Tribute to Monk

Thursday February 17 I was back at Java Monkey with the Adrain Ash Group to celebrate the music of Thelonious Sphere Monk.  We had publicized it faily well and the crowd was there, although they were outside of the plastic since the weather was warmer for a change.  The group featured Taylor Kennedy on tenor sax, as Jason was working through the first set.  The music was very challenging for us.  Hard to conjour up the spirit of Monk on the spot, which is more important than it sounds.  Monk's music is quirky, humorous, syncopated, and bluesy.  There were several blues tunes and we tried to put a few together, grouping more by tempo than by key.  Here is what our set lists looked like:

Set 1

Straight, No Chaser
Ba-lue Bolivar Ba-lues-are
Bemsha Swing
Raise Four
North of the Sunset
Ruby, My Dear
In Walked Bud
Blues Five Spot
Rhythm-a-ning
'Round Midnight

Set 2
Blue Monk
Evidence
Humph
Crepuscule With Nellie
I Mean You
Played Twice
San Francisco Holiday
Shuffle Boil
Think of One
We See

There were many we didn't get to play, and I hadn't worked on Evidence, so I'm still not sure whether the bass walks on the head or catches the hits with the band.  Shuffle Boil was a great tune I had never heard of before.  I bought the mp3 on Amazon so now I am in the know.  We closed the night with 'Round Midnight and all along I had thought that should be the finale.  We did the correct changes and that makes all of the difference.  It would be great to really get this one down, with the intro and coda too.  It's one of those songs that nobody wants to call because everybody ended up playing the wrong changes due to the Real Book.  This band could do it some justice.  Maybe we'll try some of these again at some point.  The next themed night will be Sonny Rollins, so stay tuned.

We had bassist extraordinaire Evan Hodges show up with his beastly upright to sit in on a few.  He really has some wonderful technique and tone!  I have a lot to learn.  It was a treat to sit back and listen to them.  I hope I was swinging half as hard as he was.

Among the jazz fans in the crowd was another tremendous bassist, Billy Burke.  I've known Bill through Randy Chapman's various ensembles and he's always been a strong and solid player who keeps his flashiness in reserve.  I got to see some of his chops as he picked up my bass after our show.  He gave me some good pointers and got me thinking about getting it set up - I can see it needs more than I can do.  It turns out that I have always had it elavated too high for my stature.  I should have it so the nut is at eyebrow level.  Very well.

It's been a slow February

I really need to try to find some other musical friends to keep me busy during these slow periods.  Life is hell when I'm not busy.  This week I'm looking forward to Adrian Ash Group on Thursday, Martay & The Partay on Friday (we only play every other month at Padriac's now, so we haven't been there since December), and then back to Amelia Island with Sweetwater Junction on Saturday.  I am practicing my NS/Stick for Running With Desire.  I want to try to cover some of the "other parts" that Eno or The Edge would typically throw in the mix on these U2 songs we're playing for St. Patty's Day.  I worked on "Get On Your Boots" the other night and there's a cool high bell riff that happens during the pre-chorus, so that's about the speed and difficulty I'm thinking of.  I haven't given my NS/Stick much attention so i'm looking forward to getting better acquainted with it.  I keep it in the straight 4th's tuning, which gives it BEADGCFBb, strange to tune a string to Bb but that seems like the most logical to me.  I'm not going to be playing guitar parts on it - I don't think.  More on this as I learn some other songs on it.

Playing Mingus & Originals in Decatur

I recently got a new pickup for my upright.  Yes, a chance to blog once again about my Fishman Full Circle.  I'm thinking of inverting it to get more bottom and fewer highs.  It seems too bright, but I may wait till I pick up the Pro EQ preamp that seems to go along with this pickup.  Well, I got it after playing my upright over in Decatur at Java Monkey for my every-other-week gig with Adrian Ash Group.  We are still more often than not consisting of Adrian on drums, Guy Fenocchi on guitar, and Jason Passmore on saxophone.  We recently held a Mingus tribute night where we played a few of his tunes for the lucky few who came to listen.  It's tough times out there in the winter on this patio.  If I were management, I would try a bit more to make it a comfortable and fashionable place to hang out there - ie space heaters!  I wish they could improve the decor as well.  The place is not living up to its potential, but then what do I know?  I want them to succeed.  They serve great wine (we play on the wine tasting nights), excellent hoppy beers (yum!), hearty sandwiches, delicious desserts, and bold coffee drinks!!  Well, Mingus night went well and I tried to convey some of his authoritative style, but I'm not half the strong player and leader that Charles Mingus was.  I love Peggy's Blue Skylight and would like to keep that one in a combo.  We also played a great Jump Monk but never got around to Porkpie Hat, which I thought was a bit odd.  The big news on this gig has been that my tune "All Hallows Leave" has been played two times now.  Very cool to have an original of mine getting played in public.  I still need to work on it some more.  I will so it will get a new reading this next time.  Actually, this Thursday we will be paying tribute to Monk, so mine may take a back seat.

These pics were "lifted" from Adrian's facebook site.  I didn't ask to use them but I know he is always up for any extra publicity.  These were actually taken in December when we played an evening of Christmas tunes, featuring Emile Worthy on vocals.  A real treat that I think was the highlight of the year for this group.

Still Catching Up

Now that it's February, I'm still catching up with posts about January gigs.  Had one with Sweetwater Junction that took us all the way to Amelia Island for a coorporate food vendor party.  NFL playoffs were going on, so monitors were set up in the ballroom for the crowd to enjoy while they ate and drank.  They also listened to our instrumental music - no vocals on this gig.  It worked for the most part, although they wanted us so quiet they should've not even had a band.  That's okay, that's the way it is a lot.  We were out of our element somewhat and had to play actually quite a long time since the break was early and we were encouraged to play until the people left.  Well, who wants to leave free food and liquor?  The event went as long as it could have.  Then I made my way over to get some leftovers before everything was thrown out.  Sometimes band leaders don't think of these things like when does the band eat?  We loaded back up, actually I did a lot of the loading, then we headed back to Atlanta.  This was the night that poor Mark found his van with a flat tire.  This would be around 3:30 am.  I stayed with him as we wrestled with Walt's jack and put the spare on.  Always interesting how those spares are secured in the first place.  Well, that one went flat as he drove a few feet!  Uggh!  So he had some competing version of AAA and called them to tow his car up to the Acworth area mechanic who had worked on it last.  I drove him up the road and then back once he got that figured out so that he could meet with the towing company.  Good times indeed.  Finally got the check in the bank, since it was an agency who takes their time to pay us.  Also had a nice wedding reception with Platinum over yonder in Birmingham, AL.  The country club was at the top of a grand hill overlooking the neighboring terrain.  The crowd was nice and the people were there to have fun, but it wasn't exceptional.  It seemed to be a little sparse in numbers and many of the dancers were older, so they left before the end of the night and we played to the mighty core partiers.  My EUB did the trick for the first set.  I got up to sing Honky Tonk Women, leaving Glen to play the bass - go Glen!  He was having fun, I believe.  I did too, but I think I was better on NYE.  It was a tough drive home but I managed to stay awake and before I knew it I was crawling into bed.  Nice of V to call and check up on me as I was in the vicinity of 285.  That's all for now...