Tambourines and Elephants: SWJ Perform at The Venue in Asheville

Too many hours in a van.  That's how it feels now that weekends are the true precious entities they once resembled since I began my job 3 weeks ago.  This was an easy job.  No dances to perform.  In fact, we couldn't figure out who the groom was!  We were upstairs, so the load-in and out was a drag since there was no elevator.  It got the blood flowing, that's for sure.  Great balcony area with comfy furniture that made you want to sit a spell and take in the crisp fall air.  I bet there have been some wild parties here.  It was nice to not be rushed on the setup.  Played my 6 and 8 (the NS/Stick), and the results were decent.  Did some nice groovy slapping on the NS, adjusting my heavy-handed thumb-n-pluck attacks to a more precise and ergonomic accurate slap-fest to suit the tighter string spacing.  The NS has a beautiful tone that I'm always surprised to hear.  It has a distinctly crisp bottom end with crystalline highs.  Walt has got me thinking about that top end and the crucial midrange.  Need to make sure the notes are articulate, with a clear fundamental and not so much "horn" treble.

Mark gave a great performance, constructing these 4 segment passages that built up progressively to utter pyrotechnic shenanigans.  He has more technique running through his limbs than most drummers I know.  Scary stuff that keeps me on edge a bit.  His running commentary in the van had us periodically in tears.  His tirade on CCR's Looking Out My Back Door was the work of a clever mind at work.  Brian has the essence of buttery velvet tone.  I never hear him trying to tweak it either.  It's always solid from the moment he plugs in.  We were loud for sound check.  Brought it down a notch, but once we started playing with the folks dancing upfront, all was well.  This band has a lot of promise for the future.

Had a lot of time to kill before the downbeat.  Strolled around the downtown area of Asheville, namely Broadway and Patton Avenue, where the Asheville Music Hall is located.  We ended up there later on after the gig to check out Walt's old Dead cover band from Athens, Cosmic Charlie.  He got to sit in with them for an encore of Shakedown Street.  I took a million pics and enjoyed a Guinness.  They were fun, doing it right with 2 drummers and lots of improv going on.  Couldn't hear Walt well enough, but I know he had fun reliving some glory days.  Anyways, it was a stellar first day of Fall and a great city to take in while we waited for our time to arrive.  The party was so sparsely attended - why did they even have a band?  They were nice enough, but really, get some more friends out on your special day!

Cosmic Charlie at Asheville Music Hall - the encore set with Walt sitting in on Shakedown Street.