Halloween Gig

I played a Halloween show at the Riverview last night. In the spirit of the holiday I wore zombie make-up. I wanted to wear a costume that allowed me to sing and play, so a mask or anything that interfered with my guitar playing was out. So I got some liquid latex, nose putty, and some make-up and created my zombie look. It turned out pretty good, and it was easy to perform. And I got used to the tightness of the latex on my face after a while.

The gig itself was pretty good--started slow but the place filled up in time. It was a solo gig--I never got an answer from Conor about playing, and I didn't even bother asking Dennis because I knew he'd be out trick-or-treating with Ruby. I like the freedom of playing a solo gig--I can do whatever I feel like doing. I had some fun with the looping pedal, layering sounds, starting with a bass line using the octave pedal, add an acoustic guitar, then a little shaker, then switch to the strat for another part, then play a little harmonica solo on top of that.

And I debuted a new "tool"--I bought a Shadow stombbox--which is a small wooden box with a pickup in it that you play with your foot. You plug it right into the PA, and it adds a kick drum effect to your sound. I ran it through a gated reverb on some songs--sounded pretty cool. It was a little fatiguing to play though. You always had to be in one place tapping it with your foot. I found it better to turn it around and hit it with my heal, which feels more natural for me. "Wow, that's really boring, Jim" I hear you saying.

But the gig was fun--Kelly kept bringing me beers before I finished the one I was on, so I had two going most of the night. Nothing wrong with that.

By the way, wearing liquid latex, nose putty, and make-up for seven hours is not that great of an idea. This morning my face is all red--looks and feels just like a sunburn.

Private Party

OK, I've been fairly inactive this summer. I'll admit it. The usual summer parks gigs did not materialize, for some reason. I can't help but think that it might be because I'm friends with the booker's ex-boyfriend, but would she really be that way? Nah--I don't think so. But none the less, I sent in my dates available (at her request) and nothing became of it. Oh well. It's not like those gigs pay much, if anything. It was more of an exposure opportunity.

Tomorrow I have a private party to play. I have been playing benefits for Wishes And More the past few years, and someone who saw me at one of those shows contacted me to play their party. So off I go. My first thought was to get Dennis to play sax with me, but he's not available. And I thought about getting Connor to play percussion, but I'm guessing he's booked with his other band. And this would be VERY short notice. So I'll play the show solo, which is what they are expecting anyway.

Four hours solo! Haven't done that in a long time. Not since college anyway.

To Twitter or not to Twitter, that is the question...

Well, it's the latest fad. People are twittering their every action, or inaction as the case may be. And it is highly recommended to musicians by The People Who Know, as a way of connecting with the public. But I can't help but wonder "who the hell cares?" Are there really people who follow this stuff?

Recording Today

I spent the morning recording drum tracks for a couple new songs--"Transmit/Receive" and "Boy Blue". I thought it went well, even though I am the "drummer". Sure, a real drummer could do it in less than 20 takes, but I like to play so what the hell. And I'm trying out a new technique to record the drums, which I think worked pretty well. Tomorrow--guitars, bass, maybe keys even.

Lazy

Lazy, that's what I am. I haven't had a show since the Kelly party, which was when? September? October? Don't remember. Still, I've been sporadically working on the new CD, and I'm closing in on it's completion. Now, how to promote it? Hmm....I know--live shows!

Stay tuned.....

A Tale of Two Shows

There are shows and there are shows. Some gigs just go better than others. I don't know why, it's just the way it is.

For instance, I played a show on July 9 at Bryant Square Park. And I thought the show went well. Part of that might be because we were being paid fairly well for that one. And we had a built-in audience. The park was having an ice cream social (yeah, I know--that doesn't sound very rock'n'roll), and since I was the first person ever to perform there, and they liked me, they called me for the gig. Bruce and Dennis were with me for that one, and we had a pretty good crowd. All in all, it was a blast. Did I mention that we were being paid well? Not that it's about the money or anything.

July 17 I was at the Acadia Cafe in Minneapolis. It was a DEMO benefit showcase. DEMO (Diverse Emerging Music Organization) is headed up by legendary former First Avenue honcho Stephen McClellan and endeavors to give all types of artists a stage to perform on. Dennis and I played a couple of shows for them in the past, one at the old Acadia and one at the Red Room. Both were fun, so I decided to do it again.

Part of the fun of these shows is hearing the other acts. Stephen likes to book five bands for these showcases, and it's usually an interesting mix of talent. I like to be supportive of the other bands, so I was there from the start (8 PM) right to the end. Andy Juhl kicked things off, and everything about him said "Neil Young"--his band, his songs, everything. Which is not a knock on Andy. If I'd said he reminded me of Styx, then I'd be slamming him. But Andy was very good, and I was happy to oblige his request to swap CDs.

Following Andy was Jonathan Dessi-Olive, if my memory serves me correctly. Jonathan played solo on acoustic guitar and vocals. He used a lot of pedals on his guitar to get some different textures going. His songs were fairly high energy and, to me, were screaming for a band. IMO he would do well to add the usual musical accompaniment, i.e. drums, bass, guitar, etc.

Then came the Pistol Whipping Party Penguins, the operative word being "party". These guys played bluegrass like it was party music. Which it is obviously, when they are playing it. They had a ton of energy, and filled the room with their friends/fans, and I wondered what I should do to follow them.

My set was coming up, and Stephen had a plan to get Dennis and I up there ASAP so as to not lose the crowd. It was a nice idea, though difficult to pull off. By the time we got set up and started playing it was quite apparent that most of the people in the audience were the wives-girlfriends-family-friends of the Penguins. Just like Jonathan's crowd was his parents and his sister and his friends. And Andy had the dinner crowd. So...what I'm getting at is the room fairly cleared out before we played a note. A couple of the Penguins stuck around for a while, and my new friend Andy Juhl was still there. I suppose it's not the sort of thing I should shout out to the world in a blog--that nobody showed for the gig. But the fact is I admittedly made a weak effort promoting this show. My last-minute text messaging (it's Thursday night, r u looking for something to do at 11 PM?) was fairly ineffectual.

But we played our asses off, for Ted behind the soundboard, and Stephen and Andy, and the bartender, the waitress, and Atomic Flea--the next band. And while we were playing a couple walked by the big windows, looked at us, and decided to come in. Tory (or did he say Cory?) and Erin were their names. And afterwards I gave them free CDs for stopping by.

Yeah, it was a small crowd. But I'll say this--they were listening. Andy had the dinner crowd, which was chatty. And Jonathan's crowd was chattering away so much that you couldn't hear his lyrics. You couldn't help but listen to the PWPP--they just overwhealmed you. But the chattering room noise marred the sound I thought. But our "crowd" was listening.

So we wrapped up our set and turned it over to Atomic Flea. They didn't have much of a crowd either. In fact I didn't see anyone new walk in. But I stayed and listened. They had a real cool Beatle-y poppy thing going. Two guys with acoustic guitars and some sweet hamonies, occasionally augmented by pedal steel guitar and rhythms coming from a laptop. tasty stuff, I thought. You shoulda been there.

Bryant Square Park Tomorrow

Sometimes it pays to answer the phone. I got a call this morning while at PT for my knee, and long story short, I'm playing at Bryant Square Park tomorrow night. It seems I am the first musician to play there, and they liked me so I was the person they thought of when they needed a band for their party. Cool.

Cooler still is the fact that you never know where a gig is going to lead.