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I just noticed that Mike Stern is going to be at Blues Alley in early February with Richard Bona, Dave Weckl and some poor guy on sax that most people aren't really going to care all that much about.
I have really been thrilled with Bona's albums (and am looking forwards to when I can pick up his most recent one). Weckl has been a long standing drum great, so I might just drag myself down to Blues Alley again to catch Stern play with two of the greats in contemporary jazz.
I caught Stern play at Blues Alley back in May, with Victor Wooten and Dennis Chambers on drums. Chambers is an absolute monster to see play -- if you ever get the chance, it's worth your time. I went mostly for Vic (and he was his usual greatness), and it was interesting to see him perform in an almost completely supporting role instead his normal supporting/melody/lead style of playing he does with the Flecktones.
But Chambers was just a revelation. I had heard of him, but only in passing. He did some of the most amazing things with time and meter that I have ever seen all while maintaining rock solid groove -- one of the things he did during one of his solos (while the other members of the band were hanging back, holding down the groove) was to keep his right hand in time and then alter the tempo of his other limbs back and forth, faster, then slower. And he did changed the tempo of each foot, each hand independently of the other limbs without losing the time on his right hand -- and looking completely bored in the process (literally chewing gum). I was completely floored.
It's a good idea to have backups, just in case things don't go as planned (and, in other news from the Obvious Department, chocolate tastes really good, but if that's all you eat, you'll probably not be all that healthy). I take the position that every band member should have at least one backup musician that can step in and fake their way through a set or two if needed. Not because the guitarist just doesn't want to show up that night, but because bad things just happen.
Take JoS's most recent show at Firehouse Grill. I was sick as a dog, both from the flu and from strep. A band can get away with canceling a show when they have enough of a draw that lots of people will still come to the next show. When they don't have that kind of draw, canceling shows quickly gets around to other bar owners, and a bad reputation is established (actually, even when they do have that kind of a draw, too many cancellations makes the band too much trouble to deal with, no matter how many people you bring in to the bar).
So earlier that week, I rang up a good friend of mine (Rob) and he came out and sat in with us for about half of the night. That gave me enough rest that I wasn't completely ragged out by the end of the show, and JoS (hopefully) kept the reputation intact. Back in the summer, a good friend of mine (B-Nice) sat in with us for a few shows while Matt was away on his vacation.
All in all, having backups gives more flexibility to a band. It's not always possible, though. If there is a person in the group that is the clear crowd draw (local band Quazi comes to mind) and they can't come, then you're probably better off canceling than trying to muddle through. Lead vocalists tend to fall in this camp, unless there is enough vocal talent in the band to eek by.
It should go without saying that if the group situation is a single person and their backing band, things are different. Take Shania Twain as an example. Her backing musicians are pretty darn good, but most people really wouldn't notice if the drummer was a different guy than the show before (which would be too bad -- her main drummer's really tight), but there would be mass unhappiness if she couldn't set foot on stage and they tried to have the show anyway.
Two new dates for JoS on the books.
Today is going to be a long day. I had to be in at work at 6am this morning, and I will sitting in with some friends tonight. It's going to be a private party, and two people that I used to play with in college rang me about sitting in with them for a few songs. I haven't played with these guys in over ten years, so this should be an interesting experience.
And everyone out there have a safe and enjoyable holiday.
-- Update --
Well, things didn't work out quite the way I'd hoped. I spent about thirty, fourty minutes driving over hill and dale in the middle of Maryland and never found the place where this party was being hosted. Then I just pulled the plug on it. It's too bad; I would have liked to have sat in with these guys, but it seems that wasn't meant to be.
Today, we gave the same guy his final shot. He had said that he would work on learning a few originals and covers, and we would have another go at it. He and I had talked after our last go round, and I pointed out to him that there were already enough meter problems in the band -- We really don't need to add another one. Working against him is that he doesn't have a kit on which to practice.
I can understand and be sympathetic towards that kind of predicament; it's not the easiest thing for me to learn a bass line just by listening. Still, if I listen to a piece of music enough times, I should be able to internalize the construction of the song, so I know where all the transitions are, how many bars long the bridge is, etc.
So I picked him up on the way to practice. We weren't going to have much time today (about an hour before I would have to go up to Montgomery Village to rehearse with A&S). On the way down, he told me that he had learned about ten songs. Well, two of them were iffy. Maybe four weren't quite solid yet.
Rich and I set up, and then the three of us started to play. Initially, things went well. The first two or three songs, he was clearly more familiar with the tunes and his meter was in check -- maybe even a little slow. But then we got to the more upbeat kinds of songs and the style of music that he favors, the meter got away from him.
One song in particular that was causing problems was "Plowed" by Sponge. It's a pretty driving song, very straight-ahead harder rock. The tempo is somewhere around 210bpm. Just as with the other two times we played, at each transition point, things jumped 4, 5bpm -- enough so that it was very noticeable. After Rich and I both made a comment about the tempo, the drummer caught wise to something I was doing.
Whenever I play using a delay effect, I use a button on my Lexi footboard to set the rate of delay. Sometimes I want the delay to fall just a bit ahead of the beat (which produces a rushed, almost claustrophobic kind of feel), sometimes I want to set the delay behind the beat (a more open sound) and other times I want it right on the beat. So, about the third time through, the drummer noticed the blinking light on the Lexi unit in my rack that was keeping time. For that song, his tempo never wavered, but he spent the entire tune staring just over my shoulder at my rig. Personally, I found it rather amusing. I left the tempo unset for the rest of the rehearsal (no need in giving out more help than I should. He wouldn't be able to see my rig during a performance anyway).
Anyway, he did an okay job as far as being familiar with the songs. He had about six and a half out of ten. But his tempo was all over the place. And tempo is such a huge issue with drummers.
Just speaking for myself, one of the main things that I want in a drummer is rock solid time. When I have that, then I don't have to worry about holding down the meter, and I focus a bit more just playing, letting the groove breathe and the music flow. I can do both at the same time (I have on many occasions and I'm sure I will again) and I should always be keeping good time, but it's nice when it's not my full time job.
Just finished a six and a half hour drive to spend some time with my folks. Therefore, not much blogging for a while.
Have a happy and safe holiday everyone, and I'll see you in a few days.
If you haven't read any of Clay Shirky's writings, you really should make some time for it. He's a really insightful guy when it comes the impact of technology on society.
One of his latest posts is about how the RIAA is inadvertently spreading the gospel of encryption to the masses through their rather ham-handed legal strategy.
Now, as a musician, I'm all in favor of musicians getting paid royalities for their efforts, but the approach the RIAA is taking is alienating people right and left who would otherwise might be fans. CD sales have been declining for a few years? Just maybe that has a bit more to do with the economic downturn than a bunch of fifteen year old kids trading Lincoln Park mp3's. The RIAA needs to find a way to co-exist with the file trading services before they completely tick off enough people that they stop buying CDs altogether and only trade tunes.
I finished up John McWhorter's new book Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of Language and Music and Why We Should, Like, Care on the Metro this morning. It was decent enough, but not exactly a "I-couldn't-put-it-down" kind of book.
The main thrust of his book is that the English language in America has declined precipitously ever since the mid-60's when rebellion against the Establishment took over the popular culture. He offers a good bit of evidence and arguments to support his position, and does so somewhat compellingly. There's a bit of Boomer navel gazing (particularly in how much impact his generation has had on culture and the usage of English in America), but that is to be expected. I am sympathetic to his point, even if I think he overstates it a bit.
Only after the change in the mid-sixties would this become possible, when the black sound became less a fetish than the cross-racial bedrock of the American musical sensibility.
For most Americans under stixty, one of the hardest things to adjust to in 1936's mainstream America would be that the music would be too sweet, the rhythms too tame, the singers too arch and soppy. Counselors would have to work with applicants for weeks preparing them for "funk cravings" in a mainstream America that didn't know such music yet."
Doing Our Own Thing (pp213-214, 1st edition)
One of the more interesting segments of the book discussed the rise of "keeping it real" to it's present place of prominence. I can easily see the validity of his observation: I know that when I see musicians perform, the passion and emotion they invest in their playing tends to be more important than the mechanics and technique of the performance.
I'm not sure as to what was going on today, but I went through a few sets of strings today. I'll be the first to admit that I have need to change the strings on all my basses for about a month now, but I was hoping to stretch the current set until 2004. This is pretty close, though.
First I snapped my G string on the Fodera while playing Thank U. This makes sense, the song is all slapping and popping (almost all of which occur on the G string). One of the things that I rather like about the Fodera's is the bridge construction. I was able to yank the broken string out of the bridge without missing a beat in the song. I had replaced all the strings on the Fodera during my trip to their shop, so they lasted about three months of pretty heavy playing. I can live with that.
Not too long afterwards, I went through the D string on my Ibanez. I've been playing a lot of pick heavy stuff lately, and I tend to pick just a little up from the bridge (thereby putting lots of strain on the strings). I can't remember when I restrung this bass (which puts the age of those strings somewhere back in March or so). I don't play the 6 string anywhere near as much as I do my Fodera, so that lifespan is not too ridiculous.
For those gearhead bass players out there (a rarity, I know), I use Rotosounds on my six string. I like the really crunchy sound they get after they're a month or two old. It's not a very live sound at all, but it works for me when doing certain rock stuff. On my Fodera, I use Fodera strings. They stay bright and live just about until the point in time when they break.
For rehearsal tonight, a friend of mine came out to play drums with us. Brett and I used to play together a few years in another guy's jazz project. That project went nowhere (long story), but I really enjoyed playing with Brett. He's a nice, tight drummer who has a good feel for the rhythms of world music. He tends to lean more towards Latin style playing (samba, salsa, etc) -- which is neither good nor bad.
And what a difference playing with a drummer makes. Brett held down the meter and pedaled the songs along, which freed me up to do more melodic support and groove maintenance. I didn't have to worry about percussively playing (so as to keep the motion of the song going), which was a rather nice change of pace.
I think the rest of the guys enjoyed playing with Brett, and he seemed to enjoy playing with them. I'm hoping that everyone works things out and he can start to play with us on a more regular basis.
A radio station contacted Rich, looking for unsigned bands to tour Florida the second week on March (basically Spring Break). For many reasons, this sounds far too good to be true, so I'm not exactly waiting with baited breath for this to come through. I suggested that Rich get a contract faxed over, and then we'll take it from there (after having a lawyer check it out, natch).
-- Update --
Well, they didn't quite send a contract. They did send a two page advertisement/blurb. Some of the details:
I have suggested that Rich contact them and get a contract. No contract, then this is the scam is so clearly seems to be. Oh, well.
-- Further Update --
They have thus far (12/23) still refused to send a contract. And I misread what they did send -- it's $200 per band member. The smell of scam is getting stronger and stronger....
Well, I just got back from the three hour and forty-five minute (counting commercials and previews) opus known as Return Of The King. All in all, it was a good film. It definitely did not feel over three hours long and was probably the best of the trilogy. Unlike The Two Towers, the pacing of the film is pretty relentless; this is not a character driven actor's workshop.
For starters, there were ten commercials. And when I say commercials, I mean actual advertisements that I have seen a number of times on TV, blown up on the big screen. It's bad enough to get commercials after paying $8.00 for a ticket, but to get grainy, pixelated, recycled crap is even worse. And, judging from the commercials that ran, the studio believes that the target audience for Return of the King is rather obsessed with video games and Playstation.
Another thing I noticed about this showing -- the audience applauded. A lot. I don't understand people doing that at a movie. It's not theater; the actors can't hear anyone clapping. To me, applauding a movie is much like clapping and whistling should you hear a really good guitar riff when you're at home.
The fight scenes (and there are quite a number of them) are simultaneously chaotic and comprehensible. The special effects were spectacular, and the production values absolutely top notch. The acting was.... secondary. The location of New Zealand was not as featured as it was in the other two films (probably to make more room for the story and the combat scenes). I still want rather badly to go to New Zealand, though.
Watch time 2:12
One of the things that I always find interesting about seeing movies at the theatre is watching the previews. Not to learn about new movies (most of which show the best part of the flick in the teaser), but to find out what type of audience the studio thinks is going to show up on a given night.
After Matt couldn't make it out, we invited the same drummer from last night. Tonight was more of the same; improv-ing our way through some songs and playing by ear, but the same problems were still hanging around. The tempo issue was bad enough that I had to call a few songs off to point out the increases. I'd be willing to play with him again, just to see if the metre issue is ingrained or due to rust.
-- Update --
Rich called me and told me that the drummer had been given a CD of music to learn about a month or so ago. That little bit of info changes my opinion somewhat. I can understand faking your way through a song; I can understand having a tempo issue. But not learning music that you agreed to is just unprofessional. There are enough drummers out there that I don't particularly want to put up with that level of commitment (or lack thereof).
Rich invited a new drummer to sit in with us and noodle around a bit. He told us he hadn't played for awhile, and there was clearly some rust on the hinges. But, he had a nice feel, clearly has passion for his playing, improv-ed his way through a bunch of songs and we even did a bit of writing. That's the good news. Here's the bad news -- the meter was a consistent problem. Things started out at one pace and then almost invariably sped up as we went along.
All in all, it was a okay evening.
"They played on more #1 records than the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones and Elvis Presley combined…”
I watched Standing In The Shadows Of Motown tonight at home. I was familiar with the story, but the documentary was rather good. I would recommend it for anyone who appreciates the work that it takes to create good music, or for anyone who's interested in the Motown sound.
These are guys who really worked hard making the distinctive Motown sound and they were some of the truly original and creative geniuses on their instruments. They didn't get the recognition that they deserve, but just about every musician should be able to tell you who James Jamerson, Benny 'Papa Zita' Benjamin, Earl Van Dyke, Joe Hunter, Eddie Willis and Joe Messina are. But particularly Jamerson.
Motown is pretty much about all about the bass line. Jamerson's groove drives everything about the songs. Take "My Girl" for instance. It's instantly recognizable within three notes. Jamerson’s style is highly distinctive and his influence on other bass players is almost incalculable.
One of the more amazing stories is how he played the bass line to Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin' On" lying down on his back because he was afraid that he might fall off of his usual stool. Toss that on top of Jamerson's playing style (everything was done with a single finger), and you have a feat that most bass players couldn't do today on their best day.
Part of the extras on the DVD tell how the author of the source book was originally writing only about Jamerson. But, as he interviewed the musicians with which Jamerson played, the author realized that there was a bigger story here. Jamerson remains the focus of the film.
I'm sure that most of us have seen the somewhat classic Christmas movie A Christmas Story. For those who haven't, all you really have to do is turn on a cable channel (probably TBS) during the month of December, and it'll probably be playing. Well, here's an update about one of the main characters.
The guys of Last Second Comeback asked me to come out and jam with them. I've caught them playing once or twice before; they have a good acoustic sound. So when they asked me to sit in with them, I agreed. Jeff, Pete and I sat around, going over a few songs, talking about the emotions behind their writing and the technical structure, and then we played through each song once or twice. It was a good time.
"It was a dark and snowy evening." Actually, it was. And cold as all get out, too. Add to that the strep that I am currently trying to get over, and things weren't looking all that good going into this evening.
The last time we played at Firehouse, it was not one of our better shows. Well, actually it sucked. And the owner remembered us and our suckiness from the last time. So when I walked through the door, he asked me how many people I thought were going to be coming out that night. I told him few, if any, given the weather report I heard on the way over (WMAL had basically said "for God's sake, if you love your children, please, please, please don't go outside tonight."), So the owner offered to cancel the night for us, or just pay us some flat rate instead of the door.
Rich had been playing a Toys For Tots gig earlier that night (I didn't particularly want to go, for obvious reasons. After all of us grouped up, we decided to play a short set for the night, to honor our obligation. The bar community isn't all that big, and canceling (even when it would legitimately not be our fault) wouldn't bode well for future bookings.
So we did our show. Rob sat in for me, playing about half of both sets, and that really helped me out. We played pretty well, all things being equal. We only had one vocal (didn't help), and I was sick (also a downside), but we had pretty good energy (a plus) and things gelled nicely (also a bonus).
Rob really came through. He had great time and good feel for the tunes. He didn't quite perfectly fit in, but we pretty much threw him in the deep end without any rehearsals. All in all, he did great.
So I have been diagnosed with a bacterial infection of the throat. Lucky me. I haven't had this since 1987 or so. So now I get to spend the next several days laying around my house, drinking my body weight in fluids and generally trying to rest as much as possible. But that's largely what I have been doing since Monday. I'm getting so bored.
Still tomorrow night's show should be rather interesting. Singing is definitely out. Smarter heads would probably tell me that I shouldn't go at all -- what with being sick and all -- but I haven't missed a show in my life and I'm not about to start now.
I did manage to get a hold of Rob, though. He's agreed to be kind enough to sit in from time to time during the set to give me more breaks than usual. While I could probably pull the whole evening, I'd rather not push myself anymore than I already am.
Rehearsal tonight was an ordeal in pain. The playing was okay, but any sort of talking was moment after moment of unpleasantness. So, for obvious reasons, not much singing happened tonight.
But that wasn't the bad part. It was the load out. Loading and unloading gear is probably the worst part of any gig (I will gladly pay a roadie for his services, just as soon as I'm in a place where I can afford to do it). And loading and unloading when you're not completely healthy is even worse. Add to it walking in and out from a townhouse (a toasty 70 degrees) and the outside (a nippy 30), and whatever sickness you might have been kicking will come roaring back for more.
I can't wait until Friday.
Now this is just a cool way to kill a bit o' time. Try it for yourself.
JoS is on the books for Friday, and I can't speak more than fifteen words without my throat feeling like it's going to bleed; I haven't even thought about trying to sing anything. I'm really hoping that I will feel better before Friday. That would be a good thing.
I finished reading my latest book on the way home this morning from my day job. A friend let me borrow Join Me before I left on holiday.
This was an entertaining and interesting read. It's all about a guy in Britian who gets bored one day, posts a classified saying "Join Me, please send a passport photo to .... ". And people respond. Over the course of the book, he gets 1,000 people to join with him, even though there is no defined purpose for this group/cult/collective.
The book is written with lots of Briticisms. I can see how it might be a bit off putting for some people, particularly if you don't know what "crisps" are (just as an example). While the book is hardly an "I-couldn't-put-it-down" kind of book, it's a nice lightweight read.
For more information on the Join Me group, go here.
I think I have the flu (and, hopefully, not SARS). I feel like complete crap, so there won't be a lot of activity until I can type without shaking.