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Some of you know that we play weddings and private parties from time to time. We just got some really sweet feedback from one of our brides from Saturday’s event and I wanted to share it with you:

Everyone loved you guys last night! We got so many positive comments and practically everyone was up on the dance floor. I was expecting you to be great, but you surpassed my expectations. Thanks for a memorable evening!

Last week the mighty Tin Pan was asked to perform a set at a wake. I spoke at length to the person who was helping put together the ceremony. It’s a tough, emotionally charged time for certain. I asked him what it was that the family would want exactly as I was having a hard time discerning the proper tone for what we’d be doing. I explained the traditional use of music in New Orleans funerals: on the way to cemetery the band plays mournful dirges and on the way back the music turns towards joyous spirituals. I learned that the departed loves jazz music and was a saxophone player. He said he wasn’t sure what he wanted but he trusted us to find the right music that would suit the event. On top of this, half of the family was Jewish and the idea of us being part of sitting Shiva was strange. Traditionally no music is allowed. I didn’t want to offend.

We arrived at the appointed hour and there were about 100 people gathered around their dear departed who was laying in state at the front of the room. Speeches continued for nearly an hour – everyone taking their turn describing and reminiscing with much love in their voices. This seemed like an honorable, fun-loving, kind, crafty guy. We set ourselves up in a connecting but adjacent room with about 40 chairs in it. It was like the spill-over room for the main event.

Our first number was “The Old Rugged Cross,” but as an instrumental. Serene, sad, uplifting, and played beautifully by Stefan and I on the horns. We had opened the door for music without reproach and with a good feeling in the room. We proceeded to play, “Bie Mir Bist Du Schoën,” again without lyrics. An old timer from the Jewish side of the family recognized the melody and commented about to his friend. “I know that tune. That’s Bie Mir Bist Du Schoen. L. loved that song.” An educated guess. We proceeded like this for a while playing spirituals in major keys in a slow and stately way and playing the minor songs with a perky lift so they wouldn’t feel to heavy.

The room was getting looser and I called, “Down By The Riverside” and introduced the voice into the mix. From the moment I started singing the majority of people in the room started to clap along on the back beat. Gospel feeling of rejoicing and reverence and smiling ensued. About 30 minutes later we closed with a song I wrote about my own dear departed great-aunt Alice.

It’s not that the vibe in the room was joyous per se. Or even happy. It was mournful but there was definitely the feeling of comfort and solace that we were allowing everyone to experience. It was a beautiful thing.

I am so proud of my band for helping me to create this tone at this event. We didn’t know what to expect going into it. We had no idea what was really required of us as it was impossible for us to articulate it beforehand. That we all discovered it together and were able to be comforting, provide solace, and to manifest reverence for the departed is definitely playing against type for Tin Pan. We are usually the irreverent, bombastic and rough ones. I am really thrilled that we could be open enough to take the right shape for what was required.

Another dear friend, Ann, who has also passed on, once commented about me that she loved the way, like water, I could pour myself into any situation and take on its shape. I am so happy to find myself able to do that with Tin Pan as well when the situation requires it. I suppose this story is as banal as saying that it was a rough room but we figured out how to make it work. It seems more than that to me though, for the those vibes of solace and comfort that we rarely get called on to provide.

Shena: wij zitten hier dikke garnalen te eten en ze zijn heerlijk lekker.

Clifton: all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration; there is no death; we are all one conciousness experienceing life subjectively; it is but a dream & we are the immagination of ourselves…

Jesse: oysters. A big plate of oysters. A large varried plate of delicious oysters and then a whole ‘nother plate of oysters.

Lydia: pie crust. There’s a lot of water so you use the vodka instead of water cause it’s colder.

Pete: my moms says it’s because of the gluten. It becomes pasty.

Jose: I has the jumbalaya.

Bruce: [wanders away drunkenly]

Minnow: you guys have soul, man.

A few months ago The Mighty Tin Pan sauntered ever so casually through the elegant, hanging curtains of the illusive, secretive, and sexy POETRY BROTHEL.

As The Madame & Tennesse Pink conducted the affairs of the poets & John’s, The Mighty Tin Pan was providing the soundtrack to the verbs, metaphors, personifications, & alliterations spilling from behind the closed doors.

There to capture all of the proceedings in the totality of their Pagan Splendor was the gifted eye of Janine Saunders and RADAR…

For this and many more exciting delights of Tin Pan video titillation visit The Tin Pan Video Network…

So much to do and say. I’ll err on the side of Brevity.

Hattiesburg: Played at Bennie’s Boom Boom Room which was a trip. Bennie himself was on hand. What a cool cat. The show was even recorded so hopefully there will be some useable stuff there to listen too later. I will keep you posted. We did a hit up at Southern Miss during the day to try to generate some interest in the evening time hit and around 11pm it started to work. Over 40 Southerns came down to the show. It seemed like the real party was out on the street in front of the club. Everyone could hang out and smoke and the air was perfect. For our second set we started out on the street and then paraded everyone in to the club On our third set, we just stayed out in the street. 1am Downtown Hattiesburg with blaring trumpets and honking saxes out on the street. Grindy dancing, shouting frat boys, beer in a cup. etc… The cops didn’t seem to care – or rather they seemed pre-occupied. A high speed chase went by at some point. It was wild.

New Orleans: Played out at Jackson Square where we made friends with the artists there and the restaurant across from where we were playing. A good sign, when the local business approve. They protect you in a way. When the cops come by and in New Orleans this seems to happen a bit, they look and listen but they also look to the business people around us to see if we have the thumbs up or not. In this case we did. Bourbon street itself was fully spring-breakified and not fertile ground for doing anything constructive. We wound up heading over to Frenchman Street where we would have had luck. Instead, we opted to eat Japanese food and drink beers. Tired. Sousaphones are very prominent in New Orleans These funky, one-chord, drum / tuba driven bands. Honestly, there were only a few that were bringing it. Most were just noisy and weren’t getting much response. A fun town though. I would love to hang out there more and know what it feels like to be a local.

Lafayette, LA: Did a swamp tour during the day. Large carp jumping out of the water and flopping in the air before splashing back down. Beautiful herons with HUGE wingspans covering the silent mirror of the bayou. Later, we drove and picked up some Boudin and Cracklins from a local spot. Dang, that was one good meal. All this courtesy of Drew Landry. A great musician and the guy behind the Bourque Social Club. A hall made of cypress and sweat on the outskirts of Lafayette. This was one of my favorite shows of the whole tour. Drew himself had a gig elsewhere so he just left us the keys to the joint and split. We had about three hours to hang out and get used to the place. Set up the sound, eat more boudin, read, nap etc… Eventually the peoples started to show up and it all turned out more than alright.

At one point I had to go around to local business to get some small bills so folks could get change when they paid the $5 cover. (no bar, no cash register at the bourque) One of my stops was the bar next door. The bartender gave me smalls for forty bucks but she apparently told her boss about it. This guy was a true ragin’ cajun. He was an older dude and after the second song of the night he showed up and just starts getting into the band. First he comes up and just throws a fistful of bills at the band. Stefan was jumping all crazy doing the Stefan thing and he just stuffs more bills down his horn. At one point point he tries to make fun of me and asks if I have enough change now! He asks us what we’re drinking and Clifton yells “gin.” He leaves and comes back with a bottle of Tanqueray and a bottle of tonic, 12 beers and a bucket of ice and some cups and HIS BARTENDER. Apparently everyone from his spot had come over so he figured he’d just shut down for a while and get everyone over to our show. At one point I was singing “Comes Love” and he takes out a twenty and shows it to me and then he folds in half length-wise, comes right over to me and while I’m singing on the mic he UNZIPS MY FLY and sticks Andrew Jackson halfway in there. What could I do but smile and keep singing.

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There’s a lot of things we learned on this trip. Maybe with a little more reflection and some time I’ll write them up here on the blog. And now we’re back. At some point my horn got a little busted up and I went to Josh Landress‘ repair shop over on 48th and had him do some work on it. I’ve said it before but I will say it again: Josh is always ready willing and able to give great advice about technical stuff. A real resource. Thanks Josh!

So yes, back. Back to the lovely Central Park for about 5 more weeks of the season. Back for many weddings and private parties. We have at least 5 this month! Rumors about a trip to Italy in November. Stay tuned.

Stefan taking a little snooze. It’s the South. Slow down.

Been having that problem again where I’d rather be living my life than writing about it. As such, I’ve fallen a bit behind in the blogging. So much has happened. I haven’t even posted last week’s Pete’s Candy Store show and here it is Monday already. Here, then, are some highlights of our little world:

Saturday was Stefan’s birthday. He shows up to park wearing a hat shaped like a cake. He says he will wear it only once a year. He seemed genuinely excited and went on to go out to the WFMU radio station in Jersey to record and transmit his very own birthday broadcast with his band Gato Loco de Bajo.

We played an ultra deluxe country club party in the garden of a 150 old building. This was the club where the expression “Get your goat” was coined. I haven’t had lobsters in a really long time. So good. Soft shell crab. Man.

We’ve been having some really amazingly beautiful days in the park performing for literally thousands of people a day. Life is good. This is what I live for. Joyous.

We performed at an underground private club where you need a password to get in and also be on a special guest list. The bartenders name was exotic, Kabahl. That’s got to be made up, right? Anyway it was a smash. We’re gonna do it again next week. Lemme know if you want to get involved.

And here it is Monday again – We’re playing at Pete’s again in a few hours with special guest, “Alabama” Steve Lewis on trombone. (In Alabama, he’s just called Steve, it turns out.) The theme of the night is “smell the brass.” See you soon.

Jesse

On Tuesday of this week we performed at the Guggenheim for the second time. It was a wonderful experience. They were celebrating their 50th anniversary and were hosting the 5th Avenue Museum Mile Festival. They had us set up just outside the museum underneath that big overhang above the gift shop. The acoustics were great. It was our own little amphitheater. I didn’t expect we’d have much of a crowd. They had said that we’d be right in front of the area where people would be exiting the museum and I had expected that it would just be flow through. Regardless, we consistently magnetized about a hundred people at a time right in front of the museum.

Clifton came up for the beginning of the show but then he had to scram to go do his Blue Man Group gig. Rob is away on vacation until our Joe’s Pub show as well so we had two of our favorites fill-ins to help out. “Alabama” Steve Lewis on guitar, harmonica, and back-up vocals and Cassidy Holden on the Bass. We’ve been working with both of these guys for such a long time now and they are really, really solid.

One of my favorite things happened on this show which tells me we are headed in the right direction. A very lovely, upper-east side kind of woman, obviously very cultured, asked one of my favorite questions, “What do you call this kind of music?” Right away I smiled because it means that we are doing something original for her. She was unable to pigeon-hole us into any category she had already established. We are not jazz, folk, dixie-land, trad jazz, country, rock, blues or any other label. I said that we are roots american music and she said something charming like, “Yes, I can definitely hear the roots in it.”

There were plenty of press folks shooting video and photos but so far only one of these people was kind enough to get in touch with us. Olia Saunders took some really bizarre and delicious photos that make our band seem so dreamy and psychedelic – in a very playful colorful way. I think Stefan will be really pleased with these pictures. And Olia, I think you should certainly be in contact with Stefan to work with the Gato Loco Coconino project as I think its a good fit! I like this picture of Steve’s shoes! Good eye!

Through our associations with MUNY and the MTA, we occasionally get asked to do political, and community based New York City themed events. We did a street party to kick off a “go-green” initiative on the lower east side last year and this week we had the honor to perform at Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s kick-off event to his ‘09 campaign here in Manhattan.

Everything about the event was a lot of fun. The event staff made us feel so welcome and they took great care of us. They even had a staffer on hand whose job was solely to make sure everything went smoothly for us. Thanks Max! These kind of events can go so many different ways and I am always abundantly grateful when people greet us with a smile and make us feel welcome and supported so we can focus on giving a great show.

They set us up at the end of hallway so everyone who was coming into the main room would have to file past the band. At first it was just a trickle. We played mostly very upbeat versions of our tunes, sticking mostly to a major-key repertoire at what I jokingly called “a good political tempo.” The result was immediate. We had staffers tapping their feet and dancing in place as they waited for guests to come off the elevators. When the bulk of people were arriving it was a fun little parade of passers-by many of whom would dance a little two-step or do a twirl in front of the band!

As the time for the mayor’s arrival grew near, the tension in the room mounted. People crowded the hallway to get a chance to see Mayor Mike up close. We decided to play “Tishomingo Blues” at a perky clip to welcome the mayor. These arrivals always take longer than you’d expect so we were well into a 6 minute version of the song (complete with two horn solos apiece, three tempo changes, and a banjo solo!) before we had done everything we felt like doing with that tune. We moved on to “The Millenburg Joys” by the time the mayor arrived. And yes, my dear clever reader, I did not miss an opportunity to bend the lyrics to mention the Bloomberg Joys. Anything to make the guys in the band chuckle. We were having a good time.

The main event started in the next room with a loud, hip-hop sound system and chants of “four more years.” We ambled in to eat some hot-dogs and pretzels and listen to Ed Koch and Mayor Mike. Props to Audrey Smalls who began her speech with something like the following: “I was born, bred, buttered, toasted, jellied, jammed, and honeyed in Harlem!” Awesome!

After the speeches we went back out to the hallway and did the whole parade in reverse. Now, it felt less tense and the music was louder and more lively – everyone had just been exposed to that enormous sound system so we could play with more gusto. It seemed to work – people started gobbling up our business cards and promo-cd’s that we had on display.

When Bloomberg himself came back down the line it was very crowded again. He went past us shaking hands while we were playing “Over in That Glory Land.” Then, just as he had turned the corner he came back towards the band and poked through the crowd towards the band-stand. He made eye-contact with me as I was singing and mouthed a “Thank You.”

Clearly the attitude of gratitude, respect, and appreciation that everyone was displaying had started from the top down.

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For a bonus: here is a picture of three of our id badges featuring awesome bad-ass pictures of our heros in action. The guy who took these pix was a character. Apparently Stefan was smiling that way because the guy was singing “We Will Rock You.” He and I were having a discussion about George Orwell when he snapped most of my head into the frame.

I used to live up in Ithaca where there were many more crunchy hippies than any New Yorker could cast a superior glance at. I remember once being out in the woods around Ithaca at a friend’s house for a party. I’m thinking this was in Spencer, New York. There was a fascinating calendar on the wall in that it listed five distinct seasons! The fifth season lasted from the winter solstice until New Year’s day. I just spent about a half hour surfing this internet of ours to try to find more information about this. Was it the Druids? This Wiccans? The Ancient Greeks?

I still remember this because it seems to match my experience of how time works. This feels particularly true to me this year. All the musicians that I normally play with are leaving to be with their families. There is really no work to speak of and I find myself not wanting to leave the house at all! The fifth season, the inner season, is when one reflects on the year that has passed and begins to fathom what could possibly lay ahead. A season outside of time where one can reflect on our timelines and what transpires.

I feel as though I am still in the reflective mode about 2008 and I wanted to share my year in review with you. Overall I couldn’t be happier. Last night Clifton, Stefan, Rob and I finished a private party here in the neighborhood. It was one of our better gigs – the sweet fruits of an active year. The whole room was dancing, and smiling and each song had so much communication and telepathy, groove, passion, drive and appeal. Afterwards, we all repaired to my apartment to drink the holiday wine, listen to music and celebrate a great year together. Soon it will be time to plan again, but right now is the hour to collect and relish our achievements, gather from our regrets, and share in the warmth of our successes together.

From the most holistic and big-picture perspective I can take, I can report that the source of my happiness comes from living in alignment with a simple philosophy; do what you love. I feel that if you can do what you love and by some miracle of the universe you can make a living at such endeavors than you have won the biggest game that there is to play. For the realization of this truth I am moved to joy, tears, gratitude, levitation, superlatives, giggles, drinking wine, and making more and more music!

Tin Pan the band has exceeded almost every goal we have set for ourselves. If you are interested in the details of this than please read on. Early this year I made a very focussed and detailed business-plan type document just to wrap my brain around my dreams. I have learned that merely the act of creating well formulated goals is a huge step in moving towards what is possible.

WARNING: The following is very detailed and expresses a very left-brained focus that I sometimes surprise myself with. Ultimately I find that it is fun to measure success!!

Let’s start with the bottom line. Compared to the income I wanted the band to earn we overshot our goal by 15%. The average amount that we earned each time we played out in the street would up being a full 20% higher than we had intended. It was even higher than I imagined we would be three years from now! In terms of number of engagements we were slightly less busy than I had figured but because the street income was so much better it did not effect our bottom line.

PRESS: We had hoped for two mentions in major press and we just blew that away: our association with MUNY has been huge in this regard. The New York Times, The New York Post, The Daily News, and New York Newsday all ran photos and content about our successful auditions. We also appeared with a performance clip and an interview on NY1.

CD SALES: were through the roof more than I expected. We sold more than 5500 CD’s this year which puts us in a very select percentile of groups that actually ever need to reorder a CD from a manufacturer no less three times in a six month period! One of my manufactures says that we have ordered more CD’s from him than any other band that he has worked with.

FESTIVAL PERFORMANCES: We hadn’t thought that we would be able to any this year but we did manage to perform in two local festivals: The MUNY Jazz Festival and the HOWL Festival

PRIVATE PARTIES: The one area where we fell a little short was private parties. We had hoped to do a few more. We were 5% shy of the goal I had set but our hourly rate was 13% higher than I expected so it all worked out.

RECORDING: We had hoped to release one CD this year but we actually wound up releasing two. Hound’s Tooth just made it under the wire. Hopefully this will prove to be a seasonally smart thing to do: that is, work up a repertoire over many, many performances in the street and when we truly have a unique way to perform the music we can record it at the end of the fall.

OVERALL: We had 186 different paid engagements in 2008 and really gelled together as a band with a unique, raw sound and a seasoned delivery. (Individually I wound up performing professionally on 370 different occasions thanks to many and various side projects! There were many days in which we all played a show in the park with Tin Pan and then went to a different gig at night! What a year! Wow!!)

THE UNQUANTIFIABLE: Over the time we have also had many soul searching discussions about our individual roles and the role our music has in the culture at large. I’d say that, in general, we are much more interested in “just doing what we do” but there are moments of deep thinking and reflection where we make sure that we’re all in this for reasons that are meaningful and important to us.

Stefan and I have really been able to produce some amazing sectional sounds. We know each other’s bags, tastes, and skill sets so well that we can finish each other’s musical thoughts. For example: we were at Moto last week playing “Putting on the Ritz” Every second we are making choices wether to play the song the way we always play it or take divergences into only imagined territory with varying degree of risk and continuity. Moment after moment passed and we decided the same way on an amazing list of referenda! If there were a running commentary it would sound like this: “Let’s play that note really rough and the next part of the phrase very soft. This next two bars we’ll play in quarter note triplets even though we’ve never done that before. When we get to the second half of the bridge, flip the second part of it so that the line keeps ascending instead of falling back down.” Of course, we are making these decisions spontaneously and in tandem. I have my eyes closed a lot of the time. It just seems that we are that close in taste, humor, and weirdness to come to the same conclusions in the same way. When we got to the last part of the bridge like I described above – we almost couldn’t finish because we had started to laugh and our smiles were effecting our embouchure. It’s a very joyful thing to feel that connected! This is also happening between Clifton and Rob in their own rhythm section way, perhaps even more intimately as they need to connect on every single beat and accent. This is the intangible result of that many performances together – that kind of bond. THIS IS A HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT!

MUSICAL IMPROVEMENT: Another great achievement is the musical growth that has occurred in the space of just one season! Perhaps Clifton and Rob are already more established in what they do so it less noticeable. For Stefan and I, it is very noticeable. We basically learned new instruments this year. Stefan learned how to play the clarinet – before this year he was just a dabbler with a primary focus on the saxophone. For me, I learned how to sing. I have been playing the trumpet since I was a boy and professionally and consistently for at least a decade but the singing thing happened just this year. The improvement between “Alice” and “Hound’s Tooth” from both of us is astonishing.

From the most holistic and big-picture perspective I can take, I can report that the source of my happiness comes from living in alignment with a simple philosophy; do what you love. I feel that if you can do what you love and by some miracle of the universe you can make a living at such endeavors than you have won the biggest game that there is to play. For the realization of this truth I am moved to joy, tears, gratitude, levitation, superlatives, giggles, drinking wine, and making more and more music!

And now . . . on to envision the future. . .