The Spirit Foundation Battles Cervical Cancer and Last Call Lends Our Support

Last Call (as in, we hung in there untill...): John, Ira, Karl, and David
Photo by Mrs. Falkenstein

Had my debut performance with local retro-hipsters Last Call last night at Meehan's Public House at Atlantic Station.  The event was a silent auction held in conjunction with Spirit Foundation's "Walk For Hope", benefiting cervical cancer research.  The band is the vision of singer/guitarist David Falkenstein, along with Ira Kramer on e-drums and Karl Rosenblum on e-violin.  They specialize in classic rock from a slightly alternative angle.  Deep cuts that don't get played too often.  It makes for an interesting bar-band show, in my opinion.  I got involved through J.T. and his fine Gong Crazy Productions contacts.  I brought my NS/Stick over to the Tuesday night rehearsal and it seems that it could be a good fit.  In a power-trio format, the NS can help contribute some comping and perhaps even some melodic passages.  I'm going to try to work on it when the next time comes around.  This time around, I was just getting ready for the hit.  I was afforded the luxury of cherry-picking the setlist.  I did, but then realized I really didn't know the tunes as well as I had thought.  Here is the setlist:

We also added Run by Collective Soul.  I used Audacity to transpose the keys of my mp3's so that I could practice the tunes in the altered keys.  That is a revelation for me.  It really makes a difference, as certain fingerings need to be worked out in advance on the bass. I ended up singing lead on Big Me, "Heroes", The Kids Are Alright, & Shambala.  I think that's the most I've sang in a long, long time.  It was a lot of fun.  Meehan's has a decent stage that is raised up and roomy.  It was also the first time I can think of that I didn't play through an amp.  We all went direct into the mixing board.  David used a Vox pedalboard for his tones, along with a crafty "harmonizing" pedal for the vocals.  Gotta love that!  Ira played a set of Alesis electronic drums.  Electric violin added some really nice passages as well.  No stage volume!  We monitored with ear buds.

My 8-string NS/Stick appears to have a custom headstock!

My setup was similar to what I used recently in Savannah with Square One: my bass pedalboard in conjunction with a Boss GT-8 for the "guitar" portion of the NS/Stick.  These two signals were mixed together with the Boss LS-2 pedal that I normally use as a simple A/B switch.  The issue with this setup is that it takes up twice as much floor space.  Perhaps one day I can streamline it.  Had always heard about how the Line 6 Pod XT Live and later models have the capability of processing 2 signals at once.  Perhaps that could be in my future?  The NS sounded great, with a pick, my fingers, and tapping.  Funny how the volume felt consistent.  I compressed it, as I always do.  I had raised the action a bit and I think that helped get a bit more tone from the tapping and less fret buzz with the plucking.  Was it too much?  Perhaps I need to check the neck relief and readjust the string height.  I play it fingerstyle more than tapping, but that's the beauty of this instrument: you can change your technique on the fly and it works for all of them - even slap if you're careful.  I received some nice compliments on my tone from the guys in the headlining band BackFlash.  Lead singer and front-person-extraordinaire Karen Tortoriello and her group put on a great, high energy show after ours, with some choice covers: The James Gang's Walk Away, The Motels' Only The Lonely, and the Clash's Brand New Cadillac.  It was nice to unwind with a few pints of Guiness and savor our triumph.  We made it happen!

I worked on the solo for Baby Blue, using right hand tapping.  In a perfect world I would have gone for it.  Not this time!  Maybe next.  I did get a half decent leslie vibe for some neo-organ tones in No Matter What and the Petty tunes.  Mostly, I just tried to remember everything I had just learned the last couple of nights!  We made it through roughly 20 songs in 90 minutes.  Highlights not already mentioned: a fun romp through the Raspberries' Go All The Way and enough energy left for some vintage Who a la The Kids Are Alright.  I like how that middle section after the bridge has an uncertain feel about it.  I enjoy singing that one - it doesn't get very high and no big Roger Daltrey screams.  If we have fun, the audience will have fun watching us.  All in all, it was a good night of music for a very worthy cause.