This was a great event on one of our favorite stages, at Coldbrews in Roswell. The stage is actually an enhanced stage by the other-worldly talented Ira Kramer, vocalist/drummer with the Alt-Rock Jangle Heartthrobs who go by the moniker Last Call. The band encourages you to like them on facebook, so why not give it a go? The event was a celebration of life for a young man who left us way to soon: Jesse Morgan Fryer. His family was present to honor his legacy and to accept donations for French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts, a summer camp program located in the Catskill Mountains of New York that Jesse truly enjoyed attending. His mother Rhonda gave a lovely speech and was so gracious to everybody. I found her to be one of the strongest women I've every encountered. My heart goes out to this family.
We performed with the intent on bringing in new tunes, some very appropriate for this occasion and some just recently reworked because we love the music. It was a blast to feature several Beatles tunes in the show. Farrel lent her considerable vocal chops to Hey Jude, Let It Be (both featuring David's previously secretive piano skills), Getting Better (much better with Farrel singing with us and I feel better with that rather odd McCartney bass line that skirts around the chords like no other line), and Nowhere Man (cool backup vocals and ringing, trebly guitar breaks). We also offered up I've Got a Feeling (with yours truly and David swapping the leads that Paul and John did on the rooftop of Apple Records so many years ago) and a freshly honed Junior's Farm (nailed that dramatic coda). Did I leave any out? We know a bunch of 'em! Also fired through some alternative nuggets: (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding featuring Karl on his vocal debut (awesome performance Karl!); Keep Holding On with Farrel keeping it together in this emotional tribute to the Fryer family; There She Goes, which is our take on Sixpence None The Richer's take on The La's classic ode to the Lou Reed/Velvet Underground golden oldie; Because The Night, rightfully belted out by Farrel in another reconstructed number we've been kicking around for a while now - sometimes these classic tunes just need to gestate a bit until they're ripe and ready.
I probably practiced for this gig more than any other time for this band, other than perhaps the first time I got together with them. I worked on several tunes, the Beatles stuff taking a bit of time, of course. I was happy with my part on If It Makes You Happy, in which I utilized my pedalboard's pitch shift capability to mimic a Telecaster-equipped Parsons-style B-bender for those country-fried licks in the 2nd and final verses. I really worked on the cool, delicate picking motif for There She Goes, but in the heat of the moment I couldn't muster up the strength to get it out. Too bad, because that is such a neat hook. I need to employ a capo to cop a g note (on the C string of the NS/Stick). Perhaps next time? I was glad to finally have my solo in No Matter What audible, although I may have greased up the tone a bit too much. I need some gain to generate the slide tone, but perhaps I could come off the distortion a bit. I also had volume issues and it got to be a problem. I think it's a tough balance when we are all monitoring ourselves and need to keep a proper mix just for the sake of hearing everything. We'll keep at it and I do believe it improves each time. We attempted a lot of new music this evening and we succeeded on delivering it in a promising fashion. Everybody worked very hard on this, up until we bid adieu from the gates of Falkenstein Studios. So you in 2014!
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