Door To Door Music

John Lennon Was Right, or How I Got Into The Baseball Hall of Fame

2011-09-23T14:18:00.000-05:00

"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans" sang John Lennon in his song "Beautiful Boy". I could not agree more.

Like all musicians, I'm susceptible to all the usual musician's daydreams. Sold out shows, hit songs, hit albums, Grammy awards, world-wide tours, etc. These sorts of daydreams usually strike when you are younger, when the whole world of possibilities is in front of you. You think "if I do this and this and this, then that will happen", but it usually doesn't. The so-called "experts" tell you to set goals and plan in order to steer your career in the direction you intend it to go.

The reality is practically all of it is beyond your control. My "day job" is in TV sports broadcasting, and one day back in the '90s I had a gig coming up at a local club. A couple nights before the show I was working on the Yankees broadcast of a Twins/Yankees game, and I put a poster advertising my gig up near the production truck. The Yankees TV producer saw the poster, and asked if I could write a song for the show about how host Al Trautwig was off and Mike Crispino was sitting in for him. I had to go home to get my guitar, and I wrote the song as I drove. When I got back we taped the song for the open of the pregame show. I guess it went well, because I did two more songs for them the next time the Yankees were in town. When I started working Twins home shows, the producers said I should do a song for their show, but there was nothing seriously proposed and I didn't have any ideas anyway.

In 2002 Twins TV analyst Bert Blyleven began circling people with the telestrator, which is a device which is used as a "drawing board" so to speak. John Madden first started using it on NFL broadcasts to illustrate the development of a football play. Bert started circling fans at the ballpark, and a craze was born. Soon people started bringing all sorts of "Circle Me Bert" signs to the games. So I wrote a song called "Circle Me Bert" and brought it to the Twins TV producers. They liked it, and we shot a video for the song in front of the Metrodome. The video was of a fictional band (think Spinal Tap or The Rutles), which included me, Fox Sports North sideline reporter Clay Matvick, and Bert Blyleven in a wig playing tambourine. The video aired on the Twins pregame show. The Twins saw it, liked the song, and decided to give away CDs of "Circle Me Bert" to the first 10,000 fans in attendance at a Twins game. I got a little $ for that, and I figured that was pretty much the beginning and end of "Circle Me Bert" for me.

Fast forward to 2011. Bert Blyleven is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. A month or so later, I got an email from the Hall asking for a copy of "Circle Me Bert" for their library. This was a big surprise, certainly nothing I envisioned or planned, and, frankly, kind of cool. I just spoke to Tim Wiles at the Hall today, and he told me that "Circle Me Bert" will be there as long as the Baseball Hall of Fame exists. And I suppose hundreds of years from now, someone may take a listen to it and wonder "who the hell is this?" So if it's 2111 and you are reading this, that's the story.

Life is definitely what happens when you're making other plans.

Rain, Russians and Belly Dancers

2011-07-26T11:39:00.005-05:00

Saturday night I was booked for a private party. I played for this particular client before, and I was happy to find out that they hunted me down for another gig. It shouldn't have been that hard to find me--Google will take you to the website, and on the website is a contact link. And I really should've made it easy for them by sending them a letter with some biz cards after the first time I played for them. That was my aim anyway, but I didn't know how to spell the wife's first name (Terry? Teri? Terri?) and I wound up not sending anything at all.

Luckily they hunted me down through a mutual contact. The client, a well-to-do chiropractor, seemed pretty loose about the start time so I got there around 8 PM and began setting my gear up on the patio. Of course, as soon as I got set up it began to sprinkle, then a downpour, and with the help of a few party attendees I managed to move my PA to a dry overhang under the house. 12 or 15 miles away at TCF Bank Stadium U2 was being rained on as well, but they played in the rain. I could not afford for my gear to get ruined, plus nobody was going to stand out in the rain with me anyway.

So I waited. I joined the party in the house, having a beer or two and marveling at the decor. A driveway full of vintage cars, motorcycles for knickknacks in the basement. So, this is what studying hard and doing well in school can get you, I thought. Maybe I should've tried harder, stopped writing songs durning class, not gotten kicked out of engineering school. Yeah, right!

Besides me, they had hired a psychic (who I never saw) and a couple of belly dancers (who I did see). I downed two or three Stellas and waited for the rain to stop. The belly dancers would do their thing, then take a break. I decided I might as well play acoustically between their sets, so I went outside under the house and got my guitar and did just that. So I would play a set, then the belly dancers would come out and do theirs. I had never worked with belly dancers before, and I have to say I liked it.

While the dancers danced, I had an interesting conversation with a Russian fellow named Raulf (spelling?, again). Raulf was at the party the last time I had played there, about two years ago, and then, like now, I was not quite sure what his role in everything was. He seemed to be in charge of the caterers, in charge of the household in fact. He is probably mid 50's to early 60s, with a thick Russian accent, and had lived in the US for 16 years. We spoke about our favorite musical artists, and found we both loved the Beatles. It was interesting to hear how risky it was to even own a Beatles album in the Soviet Union when he was young, how his father took great risks in getting it for Raulf, and how he couldn't even take a chance of sharing it with his friends.

The dancers took a break, and I played another set, playing as many Beatles tunes as I could remember. You just can't go wrong with the Beatles.

New Band

2011-02-26T11:55:00.003-06:00

Last September my drumming buddy Mitch Griffin sent me a Facebook message entitled "basement playing" and "you game. what's your sked?" in the text. Mitch and I had played together about 10 years ago in a band with various names--"Tools For Tots" is one that comes to mind--that eventually morphed into "Jim Pellinger and the Folkups". Anyway, it sounded like a good idea and I said yeah let's do it.

So Mitch and I got together in his basement and kicked around a few of my songs with just drums and guitar. It was cool, but I thought it would be really cool with a bass. As luck would have it I had already been jamming with former Folkup bassist Dave Meier, so it wasn't hard to get him involved in the new project.

To date we've managed to have a semi-regular practice schedule, as semi-regular as our schedules will allow anyway. And I have to say it's been sounding pretty good. We started kicking around the old Folkups material, which we fell into pretty easily, and I have a bunch of new songs since then which I feel we have begun to nail.

So far the toughest part has been coming up with a name for this outfit. I won't list the candidates here, because I don't want some other bands to snag them. But I think we're zeroing in on a name. Stay tuned.

Twins Song: The Report

2010-10-21T13:49:00.005-05:00

It's been quite nearly a month since I was hired to write and perform a song for the Minnesota Twins. If you're wondering what that is all about, you can read my last post and catch up. I'll wait.

OK, now that you're up to speed I'll let you know how the whole thing went. The party for the team was thrown at the Chambers Hotel in Minneapolis the evening of Sunday September 19. I got there around 5, but it was way too early as the guests were not to arrive till around 6:30. So I called my buddy Joe, who happened to be nearby at a bar, and stopped by the bar and had a couple of beers. This may or may not have been a good idea.

So after a couple beers it was getting close to 6:30 and I headed back to the Chambers. The first person I ran into was Jim Thome, in the Men's Room no less. "Hey, Jim Thome!" I said, cleverly enough. An awesome homerun hitter--he's number 8 on the MLB all time home run list. Number 5, if you don't count the steroid users, which I don't. In other words, he's a big deal. As we were leaving the men's room I noticed he had a bit of a hitch in his gait, so with that and the fact that he's 40 years old I felt a little twinge of guilt that in the first verse of my song I was making fun of the way he runs.

My instructions were that the song had to be funny, and I think it's kind of funny the way he runs "like a Rock'em Sock'em Robot."

Anyway party guests began trickling in. Members of the team, coaches, front office people, big shots from FSN, FSN talent, and of course the Pohlad family.

The plan was that I would perform the song right before dessert. They were serving a four or five course meal, so I had lots of time to get uncomfortable. Basically I was hanging around--in the lobby, in the courtyard, here and there--just waiting. As I was wandering about I ran into Twins play-by-play announcer Dick Bremer, who was having a conversation with Twins infielder Nick Punto and his (Nick's) wife. Dick introduced me to the Puntos, and explained that I was there to perform a song about the team. I mentioned to Nick that he is in the song, and he got all serious and said "What do you MEAN, I'm in the song?" And Mrs. Punto asked "Am I going to have to throw a shoe at you?" And so now I had that to think about.

Later while wandering about I ran into the Twins CEO Jim Pohlad. Mr. Pohlad explained that his niece, Sarah, has a lovely singing voice and thought I should ask her to join me in singing Happy Birthday to Twins players Danny Valencia and Scott Baker. So Jim took me over to Sarah's table where she was sitting with her husband Joe. (This is where I realized that there are more Pohlads than I even knew. I had seen Joe in the pressbox many times and always thought he was an intern. He's young.) Anyway Jim Pohlad introduced me to Sarah and Joe, and I sat down. I mentioned that her uncle had said she was a very good singer, and would she care to join me later in singing Happy Birthday? Well she was absolutely not interested, and I said of course that's fine, I understand. And Jim Pohlad, who was standing right there, said "No you don't. Keep trying," which I was not comfortable doing, but I made a half-hearted attempt anyway. Joe was not amused with my second attempt and signaled that we were through by saying "Nice talking to you Jim," and turning away from me. Wellll, THAT was kind of awkward.

Later I ran into Twins President Dave St. Peter, who had a big smile on his face and asked "how did that go?" Clearly Dave had witnessed the exchange and knew quite well how it went.

Jim Pohlad had said that I should have some food, which I hadn't done up to that point because seeing as that I was the hired help I didn't think I was invited to sit down and eat with all the guests. But by then I was not too hungry, and though it was a very gracious offer I declined and continued to wait to perform.

Ocassionally while I was waiting I went "backstage", behind a little partition in the dining room, to go over the song. I have to confess that since I had just wrote it I was not entirely comfortable with the song. I was, in a sense, learning it myself even though I had written it. So after going over the song again, I came out from behind the partition and ran into William Pohlad, who I regard as the coolest Pohlad.
He said to me "You're that guy!"
And I said, "Yes I am."
He put out his hand and said "Bill Pohlad. They're looking for you."
And so it was showtime.

I was glad it was Danny and Scott's birthday, because at least that gave me an opening song I was familiar with. I noticed Jim Thome out there, and I made a little speech about running into Jim, thinking "wow, that's Jim Thome!", and then apologizing for the first verse. And Nick Punto was right up front, but I didn't notice his wife anywhere. So without further ado I launched into the song. And while I don't remember much about the performance, I can tell you that the Jim Thome verse got a big laugh, as did the verse about Ron Gardenhire. Other than that, it's a blank. I've performed lots of shows at lots of places and I don't get nervous, but I have to say that this night as soon as I started singing my mouth went as dry as a desert. Lips sticking to teeth, cheeks sticking to gums--I had to enunciate with as much precision as I could muster to make sure the song was intelligible. That may have been a good thing. Why the nerves? Maybe it was due to singing a song I wasn't yet comfortable with that is supposed to be funny in front of the people I was singing about? Maybe I was looking for a flying shoe?

But I guess it all went well, at least that's what people have told me. Though Twins bullpen coach Ron Stelmaszek said I was a bit rough on Thome.

A Very Different Writing Assignment

2010-09-15T16:27:00.002-05:00

Just yesterday I got a call from Patrick Klinger, VP of Marketing for the Minnesota Twins. It seems the Pohlad family, owners of the Twins, are throwing a dinner party for the team. As Patrick told me, Donna Pohlad thought it would be nice to have an original song about the team written and performed at the party. So Patrick wondered if I'd be interested.

"Of course", I said. "When is the party?"
"This Sunday," said Patrick.

This was on Tuesday. Four or five days to write a song? No problem! I can do that. I wrote one that afternoon in fact. I'll write another one tomorrow. And a third on Friday. Then I can pick the best one.

Oh, and they want it to be humerous. And I have to say I am struggling a bit with that. Not that I can't do it, but I'm wondering what's funny about this team? The song I wrote has some funny bits in it. But I think it's mostly inspirational, uplifting--with a bit of humor.

Joe Mauer's unoffical nickname, Baby Jesus, is funny. At least I think so. A drummer I know, Connor McRae, calls Target Field "the manger" because of Mauer's nickname. I've been advised that I can make reference to Baby Jesus, but only once. That's OK. I'm not going to write a whole song just about Baby Jesus. It's been done.

I almost wish the party were tomorrow, so I wouldn't have all this time to overthink the song. Then I'd write the best song I could come up with, and go with it.

The real story of this season, in my opinion, is the new stadium. And the 40,000+ fans that are there every night.

Anyway, I got my writing shoes on. I'm going to work.

Free Music

2010-09-06T22:03:00.002-05:00

Hey, step right up--it's free! For a limited time I have decided to give songs away. Yep, that's right, totally free. All you have to do is go here, enter your name and email address, and choose a song. If you'd like you can preview songs here.

And if you know someone who may like my music, you can send them a song as well. There is a space on the form for your friend's email address, and you can either choose a song for them or I will email them with the great news that they have been given a free song and let them know how they can choose one.

So c'mon! Get your free music!

One song per customer please.

A Flurry of Upcoming Gigs

2010-08-14T12:51:00.003-05:00

Just like the headline says, I've got a flurry of upcoming shows at the end of August. August 26 and 27 I'll be at the French Crepes Stage at the Minnesota State Fair. I still don't know what the set times are for those shows, but I'm guessing late afternoon/early evening, happy hourish.

Then August 28 I'm back in the neighborhood for a show at the Riverview Cafe & Wine Bar. This gig starts at 8 PM and finishes promptly at 10 PM, if weather allows me to play outside. In the event of rain I'll be inside and play till around 10:30 PM

Then the 29th and 30th I'm back at the French Crepes Stage for a couple more happy hourish gigs.

Get more info here.

Yeah, I gotta update that url.

Other Blogs

2009-12-19T11:49:00.004-06:00

My friend Rachel has a blog, I just discovered. I don't think she knows I have one, but that's not important. She's very talented, probably more than she realizes. I like the quirky way she looks at simple, everyday things. She definitely approaches subjects from an alternative point of view. Check it out.

Not everything I post here has to be about me and my music, does it?

Sick Again

2009-12-11T11:44:00.004-06:00

I'm canceling the second show in a row, due to whatever bug I have. I hate canceling shows. But the fact is I'm hoarse and raspy and prone to coughing fits when I take a deep breath. And you have to take deep breaths to sing, and hoarse and raspy is not my singing style. If it were, I'd be there tonight.

What I really hate is that this is the second cancelation in a row. The last being two weeks ago, when I had most of the same symptoms plus a fever. I know they say "the show must go on", but who the hell are "they" anyway? And why do they want me to perform when I'm sick?

Halloween Gig

2009-11-01T13:04:00.004-06:00

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

2009-07-24T12:25:00.004-05:00

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...

2009-03-11T22:52:00.004-05:00

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

2009-03-11T22:47:00.002-05:00

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

2009-02-08T21:11:00.002-06:00

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

2008-07-19T13:09:00.003-05:00

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

2008-07-08T12:50:00.002-05:00

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.

Last Night at Father Hennepin

2008-07-08T10:01:00.003-05:00

Father Hennepin Bluff is a strip of park land nestled between Main St. and the Mississippi River, on a bluff on the east bank of the river just north of the Stone Arch Bridge. There's a great view of downtown Minneapolis just across the river, and the park board started having live music there in the last year or two. Last night was my first time playing there--I was booked for a show in August of last year, but as everybody knows now the 35W bridge collapsed on August 1 of 2007 and the site was being used to coordinate recovery efforts so that show was cancelled.

So I was looking forward to finally playing there. It's a new venue for the parks, so it hasn't established a regular clientele of music fans yet, the way Lake Harriet Bandshell has. Still, a few people equipped with lawn chairs gathered before the show, so that was a good sign that people were beginning to expect something happening there.

Dennis had a recording session with one of his other bands, so it was just Bruce Thompson and I for this one. I hadn't done a show alone with Bruce before, and it was good. We missed Denny's horn on some songs, and there were a couple of songs we didn't even bother playing because they feature Dennis. But it went well I think. We had a small but attentive crowd, which I always prefer to a large inattentive crowd.

And man, were we lucky with the weather! Earlier in the day Jessica Berg (who books the venue) contacted me about the possibility of canceling due to the chance of storms. But by show time the sky was blue and clear. About 45 minutes in I noticed a wall of black clouds approaching from behind. We kept playing right up until the black clouds were right overhead, and announced we could do one more. My buddy Kirby Binder (thanks for coming Kirby!) yelled out "Move To Mexico". So we did that song and got out! When I got home everything was wet--apparently there was quite a drenching that managed to miss us at the park.

Next show: The Acadia Cafe July 17.

New CD Progress Report

2008-06-26T11:17:00.003-05:00

The new CD is coming along quite well I think. I have a good 20 songs or so recorded, from which I'll choose the best 10-12. My last CD, Into The Blue, had 14 songs. They're good songs, but I want the next CD to be "tighter", for lack of a better term.

So the new songs are all recorded and mixed, for the most part. As always, I played all the instruments save for saxophone which was played by Dennis Landeen. Next is the mastering phase. Mastering, for those of you who don't know, is the process of adding EQ, compression, and limiting to a track to bring out the best sonically. Yesterday I spent the day in the studio mastering "Vibration", as well as "New Face On The World" and "Son Or Daughter". "Vibration is the only one I finished, as my ears were getting fatigued after a while.

I had hoped to have the CD wrapped up by now, but it hasn't worked out that way. No worries. Better to take the time to do it right.

The next thing I have to do is put a link to this blog on my website, so there might be some chance of someone reading it!

Lake Harriet Bandshell 6/24/08

2008-06-24T23:26:00.009-05:00

Well it was a good show I think. I had a few friends show up, Jeff Pedersen (who took some great photos), John Warner and his wife Patty, Sue Strand and my wife Monica. Some members of the mailing list were there as well. I know this because one person filled out a mailing list request card, requesting to be removed from the list! He said he could follow my shows on my website. That was a first, I must say. But no problem, he's off. I have often wondered about the people I send postcards to, whether or not they read the cards and come to the shows. Every now and then someone will stop by the stage after a show and tell me they are on the mailing list, so that's nice to know. But I'm sure there are lots of people who don't make the shows. Presumably they filled out a card at a show, wanting to be on the mailing list. A few did tonight as well.

But I digress. It was a good sized crowd, enjoying a fine summer evening. I really couldn't have gotten better weather. Bruce and Dennis did a fantastic job, as always.

But there's one thing I'm going to start doing differently. I think I'm going to bag the drum tracks coming from the looping pedal. The justification always was that it is me playing the drums on those loops--they are drum tracks from the recording sessions for the songs. And today plenty of bands use loops onstage. And, lacking a drummer, I thought it lent a good rendition of the recorded version of the songs. But there's just too much chance for error, and no chance at all to stretch out and improvise. Plus, there's a "old skool" streak in me that says it's just a little too close to bogus.

I should have known; last night when Bruce and I were rehearsing I often thought the straight no-loops versions we were practicing sounded pretty good. I should've gone with my instincts. Oh well, you experiment and you learn. No big deal.

Next show--July 7 at Father Hennepin Bluff Park in Minneapolis.

June 24 at Lake Harriet Bandshell

2008-06-13T17:23:00.003-05:00

Tuesday June 24 I'll be at Lake Harriet Bandshell, on the shores of beautiful Lake Harriet in South Minneapolis. Joining me (so far anyway) will be Dennis Landeen on sax and Bruce Thompson on bass. Showtime is 7:30 PM, and I'm hoping for a typical beautiful summer evening weather-wise.

More info here.

Solo Artist vs. Band

2008-06-09T17:35:00.000-05:00

I've been a solo artist for a long time. A long, long time. Sure, I've been in a few bands. The little unnamed sixth grade rock combo that got laughed off the stage at it's first and only gig. Mesa, my CSN-style folky acoustic trio. Innocence (I didn't come up with that name), a band I pulled together in college that I quit before we ever had a gig. Jim Pellinger and the Folkups, which played a few club gigs around Minneapolis/St. Paul before it disintegrated. And one unnamed band that played it's first, last, and only gig at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. But mostly through all that time, I've been a solo act. Why is that?

Well, in some ways it's just easier. This point was driven home today when I got a call from my sax player, explaining that he couldn't make the gig tomorrow because he had a recording session booked. No worries. I can do the gig by myself. I've done it thousands of times. It's no big deal. But now imagine that you've got three or four or more other people to depend on, and their schedules and lives, etc. to take into account. And it's not only the shows, it's the rehearsals too. It can be very difficult to arrange a simple practice. (I really don't like practicing all that much. I can never seem to remember the lyrics to my own songs after I've sung them once. The second time through I get lost.) And I'm not even going to get started on everything else that can complicate a band relationship. I don't have the time to get into all that!

But I am comfortable with the little combo that I've developed. Just me, and Dennis on sax, and now Bruce on bass. I like the flexibility of it. I book a show. I ask the guys if they want to play. If they do, great. If they don't, it's a solo show. Somewhere down the line I'd like to add a drummer to the mix. Will I find one? Who knows? It would be great to find a good drummer who fits what I do. Till then, there's always the looping pedal.

Of course there are advantages to being in a band. Nobody calls you a folksinger when you're in a band. That seems to happen when you show up alone with an acoustic guitar, no matter what kind of music you are playing. Not that there's anything wrong with being a "folksinger". I just don't think it covers what I do.

And you have a wider choice of venues to play at with a band, venues that draw bigger crowds. And there's someone to have a drink with during break. I'm sure there are lots of other advantages I'm not thinking of.

But tomorrow, I'm going out to do a solo show.

Welcome, and why a blog anyway?

2008-06-06T20:30:00.000-05:00

First off, I'd like to say welcome to the Door To Door Music Blog. I'm glad you dropped by. I'm sure right at this moment I am typing this for myself, but maybe it won't always be that way.

Second, a little bit about the title. Door To Door Music is the name of my artist-owned label. And it's a bit of a descriptive title, illustrating the way indy musicians like myself operate--door to door, gig by gig, person by person. Hell, it's the way major label artists operate as well, but they have the advantage of being financed by the label, and the disadvantage of having to pay it all back. But I digress.

And why a blog? Damned if I know.