Reelin' In The Dan Takes It To The Melting Point

Just a bit of a stretch for the students of UGA lies a premier music venue called The Melting Point.  I played there a while back with Greg Hester, Shannon Pengelly, and Reece Harris in Greg's ultra-fine Van Morrison Tribute show.  The venue was quite memorable, with its semi-circular stage and multi-tiered seating arrangements.  I also vividly recalled the posh "green room" across the parking lot where we rehearsed the multitude of Van tunes.  It all came back to me as I loaded in up the steps and through the door behind the stage.  It looks like an office park from that little corridor, which it is in some parallel universe.  Athens is always a slight mystery to me.

We met at Lefty's, with me being the last to arrive.  I was trailed by a cop who was perhaps checking me out, although he hung a left when I turned right onto Lefty's cul-de-sac.  I was a bit unnerving, as I wasn't speeding.  We rode in Lefty's trusty van, an oversized one that allowed to stretch out and contemplate our destinies.  We listened to The Royal Scam on the way up.  The stage was smaller than I recall, but then we are a large group so it fills up quickly.  I was in the back between Adrian and Tom.  This time out (our 2nd gig, btw), we had Ethan Levitt on tenor sax, Mac Isseks on tenor sax, and Jason Collier on trumpet.  It was a big step forward, as I had unearthed some decent horn charts of tunes we were playing.  Every little bit helps.  Ethan has stepped up to the task of rallying the horn troops into tightening up, for which he should be mightily commended.  All in all, I think we can agree that this 2nd show was a large improvement over the debut show.

As the bassist, I committed a big boo-boo; I brought a 5-string but inadvertently grabbed my Tobias bass instead of the Stingray.  I had to play the gig on a fretless!  The soundman gave me a few pointers, as he is quick to offer his opinions and advice.  I'll take it.  Very few rarely comment in a constructive manner.  The fretless can get a little "clicky", as it has Bartolini pickups, the action is rather low, and it has tapewound strings which have a slightly greater gauge without being heavier.  I listened and brought the top end down a few hairs.

My role has changed a bit since Jeff wasn't with us on this gig.  He covered a lot of vocals, so now I'm attempting to fill in some spots.  It was confusing before (it still is a bit) as the soundman took his mic out of the mix, unbeknownst to the rest of us.  We received some great feedback and the people seemed to enjoy themselves, even dancing near the stage on many of the tunes.  The sons of my buddy David were in attendance but I didn't meet up with them.  They raved to DF about my apparent twin, which was me.  David had seen the postings on facebook, so he was hip the band.  He wants to check us out as well.  I believe we are slated to return before winter has ended.

View from the FOH station, 1 level above the stage

Ethan Levitt

Jason Collier, Mac Isseks, & Ethan Levitt

Tom Olsen

Lefty Williams & Reese Boyd

After the show, we made it over to hendershot's, which has relocated to a much nicer space since I last visited.  What an amazing place!  Seth was there and bought me a brew.  Great to see him, as well as Matthew Williams, both from the old Sweetwater Junction at Montana's on Johnson Ferry days.  Where was my camera with all of these familiar yet seldom seen faces?  Ahh, life...

New Year's Eve - Third Year In a Row Celebrating In Johns Creek with Platinum

To be more clear, it's our third year in a row playing in the same corner of the bar at this well-to-do country club of the South.  Not in the Country Club of the South, mind you.  That's another place.  And also, just so you people from far away are wondering, Johns Creek does not have an apostrophe in it.  For that matter, I don't really know where the creek is...

We rehearsed Landslide, as that was on the list and Dianna doesn't usually sing it.  I had my acoustic and it was good to go over the song with her.  However, we didn't even play it in the show.  I'm a fool to try to Travis pick that song on a 12-string, but that guitar sounds so much better than the black Fender with the passive pickup system.  My problem with the song is that I need to simply relax and be the Travis picking machine that Lindsey Buckingham is, easier said than done.  Also, I'm playing with Derek so we need to hear each other and stay together.  I don't want to be the weak link, so I'll keep working at it.

We most likely played a very similar set or two last year.  I mean, we've learned a few choice ones, but this was the Platinum Five and we are the same five.  This time out we did a few new ones.  One that comes to mind that we should almost always do is that Hall & Oates classic Sara Smile.  Great blue-eyed soul and with a vocal performance like that, Daryl Hall could certainly rest on his laurels.  Glen copped it rather well, in addition to playing the keys and knowing the form perfectly.  I had a fine little chart, cobbled together from a reliable source, namely local saxophone legend Eric Fontaine (he's the real deal, folks).  Nothing I found had it complete (nothing against Eric's outstanding efforts, but as the bass player I need it idiot-proof).  Modifying Eric's chart, I was able to insert the intro chords and the proper bridge chords to make it just right.  I utilized photo repair/clone from ACDSee (similar to Photoshop Elements I suppose) to copy & paste existing chord symbols, mainly in the Intro and Interlude sections - it came out really well, I think.  Check it out:

Transcription of Sara Smile by Eric Fontaine (with as few slight mods)

What else did we do?  Something we haven't played since last New Year's Eve!  James Brown's Sex Machine!  I called it (in my head) but I still wasn't completely ready.  Guess what?  I have a chart for that too.  Have you ever listened to the bass in it?  A young Bootsy Collins letting his fingers do the talkin'.  It's not a clear mix with the bass kind of in the back, most likely an amp signal miked up.  Tough to discern the notes really well, so there's a lot of speculation about what he played.  There is a JB bass book but I haven't seen it.  I found this online one fine day and turned these 2 excerpts into my chart for the tune.  I leaves out the intro, the bridge, and the ending, but these syncopated motifs are the crux of the biscuit:

Bass transcription of Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine

The folks wanted us to rock out from the get go.  I think we have a tendency to want to keep it down.  With this gig, we also can easily shift back into the mellow stuff towards the end of the night if older folks are hanging with us after midnight.  It stayed uptempo just about the whole show.  We ended with a climactic Purple Rain, and then it was time to face the new year.

Absynthe Makes The Art Garfunkel - Third Anniversary Performance: Slip Slidin' Away On A Bridge Over Troubled Water, And Under As Well...

The end of December means a lot of things to people: exchanging unwanted Christmas gifts, travelling home from family visits, prepping for the new year, and for us, the anniversary of our first gig as Absynthe Makes The Art Garfunkel: A Tribute to the Music of Paul Simon.  The band, with it's cyber-home here, has maintained a curiously consistent lineup with Matthew Smith, J.T. Alessi, Jeff Fritz, Adrian Ash, and myself remaining the core band.  The percussion position has rotated through several eager souls; this most recent occupant was Featuring Trenton Sicola.  We've also added woodwinds to the proceedings with Jason Passmore on saxophones & flute plus Shanti Price on flute, piccolo, & penny whistle.  This most recent anniversary was our third year together.  The show in our honor was the final Saturday of the year, December 28.  With Matthew's help, we arranged 3 sets including a cornerstone performance of Simon & Garfunkel's swansong opus Bridge Over Troubled Water.  The first set was built from earlier Simon & Garfunkel favorites we've been covering, while the third was reserved for Paul's solo years with an emphasis on the Graceland album.

The Opening Act

The Show Stealer

Horns and Winds

The Driving Force

The Driving Fritz

Electric Uke

We had the luxury of setting up as early as we could.  For me, it's a lot to bring and almost always a bit difficult to load up and get out of the house.  Rain was here and it only increased as the evening came on.  I brought in my system and instruments to the enclosed patio area.  Soon after, the rest of the group followed suit.  We had a lot to do, but it came together well.  The show was well paced and actually included an opening act with Matthew & J.T. performing some acoustic S&G as a prelude to the full band.  I always strive to have an ebb and flow to a show, if I can inject any input.  I love the concept of building up the band one by one, adding members until the stage is teeming with copious poly-rhythms all interwoven into the musical fabric.  That's just me.  We had it for a spell.  I played my NS, and it seemed to fit the sit-down nature of the faceplace setting.  Everybody played and sang their hearts out.  Some great moments there, including a jaunty take on their feel-good beatnik vibe-induced 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) [it's indeed a tough vibe to cop, as Dave Brubeck's famed rhythm section of Joe Morello and Eugene Wright were on the original session - with those same 4 chords repeating over and over, the challenge becomes keeping it fresh in note choices with a walking lilt and an almost "floating" quality] and our set closer, a particularly powerful Fakin' It, where we really hit every chorus with some real zeal [especially that fake-out one near the end - hey, a fake-out in Fakin' It, did you catch what I just did?]. 

 

The 2nd set, consisting of the Bridge Over Troubled Water album, was a lot of fun.  We had played most of these tunes before, but learned the deeper cuts to complete the list.  I am really grateful for this schooling of Paul's vast body of work.  Very few weak points along his storied career.  Possibly my favorite of these tunes we learned was an Art vocal feature: So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright.  The arrangement is neo-Latin, with some nifty nylon-strung rhythm guitar in a bossa setting.  Without the I -V standard bossa bass motif, it feels more European.  I chose to attempt it arco, hoping to cover the cello lines and supply some bass of course.  My arco playing needs more practice, and my tone was a bit scratchy.  I had worked on the tune quite a bit, but first night jitters, a lack of a complete transcription, and my challenged legato bow technique made for a scary ride.  Too bad, as that song deserves a more seasoned performance.  Hopefully down the road.  Baby Driver came off well, classic rock 'n roll in a retro vibe.  Shanti and Jason had a nice flute feature on El Condor Pasa, and Jason sounded like a full section on the bluesy Keep the Customer Satisfied.  J.T. always nails the angelically Artfull title track, and this time we all built up that soaring crescendo the way we wanted to all of these times.  My secret was shedding on that oblique contrapuntal lower register exercise that underscores the final 8 bars.  Of course, The Only Living Boy In New York is a great highlight of any performance we've done.  I've come close to nailing that Joe Osborne bass performance (which he attests is a composite made from several passes through and one that he had to simplify to perform live - nice little recollection from Joe here).  A very imaginative performance, yet this time out with our stage as it was and all of that rain, I wasn't able to switch to my Fender so it wasn't exactly as I had practiced it.

 

As the notes from the album closing Song For The Asking drifted away, we were faced with the realization that we would not be able to finish out the night.  Yes, this "indoor" concert had become rained out!  A steadily increasing deluge had overtaken the already tasked drainage system and water had slowly crept into the stage area.  We were one foot away from a health inspector's wet dream!  Alas, a round of cold draughts was the only recourse, that and packing our damp cases with the moist contents.  I set my NS case atop the fireplace space heater in hopes it would dry it out.  The drying continued at home.  We hope to bring this event to a greater public perspective in the near future, but the fates have not yet tempted us with a proper venue and occasion.  Such are the spoils of being the premier Paul Simon tribute in the Southeast.  In looking back, how could we have possibly left out the most pertinent tune of all from the set: Flowers Never Bend With the Rainfall...

Trenton was rightfully voted as MVP for obvious reasons

Many thanks to Bob Watkins for the many pictures he took of our performance!  Great memories!

Break Out the Hats and Hooters: Josie's Come Home to Smith's Olde Bar

Photo by Alma Cabel Dytoc
Reelin' In The Dan - the debut performance at Smith's Olde Bar, December 26, 2013
L-R: Reese Boyd, George Price, Adrian Ash, Lefty Williams, John Hancotte, Featuring Trenton Sicola, Mac Isseks, William Hollifield, Jason Passmore, Jeff Fritz (behind the horns), Tom Olsen (arrived for the 2nd set).

Lo and behold, the Steely Dan jam that took place in late November has morphed into a gigging entity.  After much discussion, the moniker Reelin' In The Dan was born.  The band has a web presence on facebook here: Reelin' In The Dan.  The lineup is loose and the playing is tight, out of necessity.

The players (debut performance):
lead vocals: Featuring Trenton Sicola
guitars: Jason "Lefty" Williams, Reese Boyd, George "Santa" Price
keyboards: Jeff Fritz, Tom Olsen
horns: Jason Passmore, William Hollifield, Mac Isseks
drums: Adrian Ash
bass: Walter Becker (ha, just seeing who's paying attention here)

The post-Thanksgiving jam worked extremely well, as there were a large number of participants and the repertoire was well represented.  Everybody was assigned tunes and many of these players ended up doing their homework to learn a few tunes solely for this gig.  For this band, well, the workload is daunting.  This gig came about with very little heads up, and the day after Christmas to boot.  Not exactly the easiest time of year to set aside hours to prep the material, individually or as a group.  As it stood, we knew what we knew and not a lick extra.  Good and bad in that mindset.  Good to leave the crowd wanting more.  Bad in that the show was (imho) a bit skimpy.  We got through it, but the parts were not exact studio replications.

So yes, it's a lot of work to be done, especially for the horns.  Those parts need to be transcribed.  I made my share of charts, many as simple chord charts, but I do seek out bass transcriptions on occasion.  I have a good one for Kid Charlemagne, which to me is the toughest one on bass.  Chuck Rainey made a beast of a bass groove on that track, full of ghost notes, syncopated 16-note fingerstyle funk plus slapped passages, double-stop neck-length slides, and all over a typical Becker/Fagen chord construction with a zany guitar solo section that is completely left of center.  How Larry Carlton played what he did over those changes makes that solo even more iconic.  I will spend much time with that chart.  It represents a transcendent performance that could be faked with a simple pseudo-funk groove, but digging into a chart like this one can really open up some fresh vistas for future creativity.  Okay, my words may have left you wanting to check it out.  Here it is, with much thanks to the transcribers at www.thebassment.info:

We had a good turnout that was very enthusiastic.  Hey, even if the performance would have ultimately made Mr. Fagen sneer at our vocal harmonies and Mr. Becker listen with disdain to our trashcan endings, it still felt good to get up there and have a whack at the fabled songbook.  Highlights included a great opening of Josie, a fun 'n bluesy romp through Show Biz Kids, the effervescent magic that is Black Cow, and a fine extended coda on FM.  The encores only highlighted the fact that we need to bring more of the goods for next time.  A lot of my personal preferences were not on the list.  Still, nice to be a part of a fun and apparently rather desirable project.  Also a chilled-out chance to play at the storied Smith's Olde Bar in Midtown/Morningside once again.  That area goes back to my salad days of blues at Fat Matt's Rib Shack and hanging with my wife Binnie at the old apartment before dogs, kids, and houses.  We had time to have fun and be a part of the scene.  Smith's still has that youthful vibe about it, after all of these years.  It still has that daunting load-in and out with that equivalent of 2 flights of stairs in 1 pass.  I don't think I'll ever forget Lefty managing to hoist my 410 cabinet (85 or 90 lbs) up the fire escape steps without even wincing.  I feel like I'm in good shape, but I still dread and sweat it more than I should.  He made it look easy, somehow...

So here are some pics,most taken before we started up - there are some green things in the "green room" you just don't wanna touch!  We had a tub of beers on ice, and to Lefty's credit, they were upgraded sometime during the early evening from Miller Lite to the likes of Sweetwater and Amstell.  It should be noted that to Jeff's credit, we see him quaffing a bottled water in the shot below.  He was rumored to be a bit parched prior to the hit.  Now, there were 11 of us up there by the 2nd set on this semi-circular stage.  It's no wonder that one of us was rumored to have fallen off the edge (literally) at one point!  William S. Burroughs and his Naked Lunch just might have approved!

Mac alone together

Staring at the walls

Mr. Passmore wielding the baritone saxophone

Mr. Hollifield is just so darn photogenic, I couldn't leave this one out.

It's not a "selfie" if 2 other nuts are in the shot (or is it?)
Adrian is quickly perfecting his photo-bombing techniques on this evening.

Portrait of 3 gunslingers

Jeff warming up behind the curtain

Tom arrived and set up during our intermission - gave a real nice solo with a nod to Victor Feldman on Black Cow.

Lefty

Only shot I had with F. Trenton, the voice of RITD

A White Wedding at Cherokee Town Club

"I'm dreaming of a White Wedding, just like when we said START AGAIN!!!"  Hmmm, whaddya think?  A nice Bing Crosby 'n Billy Idol mash-up, with Bing's voice lifted like in Natalie Cole's Unforgettable?  Produced by Steve Stevens.  That would be cool!

Yes, folks do get married this close to Christmas.  I always assume it's going to be a Christmas party on the Saturday before...  don't assume.  A lot of stops were pulled for this one.  The dance floor was covered in a giant white sticker!  All white everywhere.  Everywhere!  It looked really good, actually.  There was a lighting technician, plus Jason's lighting rig as well.  This was a big production.  The in-house power was nasty, with hums being generated from Derek's and my rigs.  Actually, mine was okay.  I think Derek's was sorted out eventually.  It was an entirely new system (!) that hadn't exactly been tested completely just yet.  Nooice!  We had a horn section, which doesn't happen often these days: Anton and tenor sax plus Jordan Shalhoup (one of Gus' former music students!) on tenor sax and Caleb Williams on trumpet.

 The deal for the band was we had to accompany a guest singer/friend of the bride and groom on one of the special dances.  The song was Thank You For The Music by ABBA, or Aᗺᗷᗅ if you're one of the converted fans.  There's no denying this bands long-standing success.  Their music is undeniably infectious, no matter what your disdain for their brand of anglo-pop might be.  The song has a ton of chords and then, as luck would have it, there are other versions and we ended up changing the key.  The guest singer Ben plays guitar and is actually a professional touring singer/songwriter.  He had a bit of an attitude, confident and somehow condescending without insulting us too terribly.  He was wonderfully demanding of Jason as far as the reverb program, amount of decay, the gain, the monitor mix in general.  I haven't witnessed that kind of "Star Power" in, well, forever.  He did play and sing very well, but boy, what a memory he gave us.  He told us we needed to practice the song 3 or 4 more times while he steps out to get some dinner so that he can relax a bit.  Well, we did need to go over it once again.  Derek and I both copied the chord sheet I made, transposing into the new key, G from E.  Better to not take a chance on transposing on the fly with 300 or so people standing around and videographers catching every nuance.  The good news is we nailed it.  I remember Glen telling us that, which made me feel good.  When Glen hands me a compliment, I'll take it.  Also at soundcheck, we went over Son of a Preacher Man, which we had played years ago.  This time, the bride was to sing it with us.  I was hazy on the form and my ears failed me on the bridge section.  Glen gave a quick listen on his phone and set us straight.  The bride absolutely killed it (in a good way!) during the show.  It was a highlight.  We had a great meal of pork and beans, country club style, up in our green room.  The food was gone before Glen could have any;  a server brought him a separate plate to enjoy.

We played a lengthy jazz set, originally a trio of sax, bass and drums.  We ended up adding the other 2 horns and Derek on guitar.  Glen was playing grand piano in the library while we were swinging.  I played my upright, which Anton still seems to really like.  I used my new upright pedalboard to eq the doghouse a bit.  Think I need a more robust eq real soon.  I just thinned out the tone too much.  I was frustrated, but I played fairly well.  I even took a solo on one of the tunes.  We played On Green Dolphin Street and Anton sure likes to stay Latin with the E flat pedal over the solos.  I think it would be better to swing and pedal the E flat to satisfy his craving for the tonic.  It was a long set of jazz, biding for time, then the dances.  Long set indeed.  The dance sets were fun, awesome energy and the horns added more than I can recall.  They were tight and punchy.  Lots of dancers, great fun had by all.  The way all of these gigs should be, except for the special guest star attitude,  Really...

This is great.  Saw that they had 2 artificial snow blowers at the valet station!  Only in Atlanta!  We don't get snow, and if we do, it's a miserable form of sleet and snow that melts and refreezes, making the roads hazardous beyond your normal Northern blizzard.  So the wealthy rent these machines (not to mention the lights) to blow fake snow into your face as you step into your car after the party.  The picture just doesn't do it justice;  all I can do is try to convey while I'm trotting back and forth to get my gear to my car.  With all of these guests, there was no way to move our cars to load up!