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It wasn’t till I had successfully created the Flame-O-Phone (thanks to the brilliant expertise of Ben Bartelle) that I started digging into the real history of pyro-instruments. It was in this mysterious and sordid history, buried deep in the annals of the internet, that I discovered Boots Hughston.

A legendary character of the west-coast rock scene, he began his career playing in The Hoodoo Devils. Lo and behold, I found him on Facebook, and sent him a message. I heard back :

“I used to shoot out 2 or 3 feet of flame, set off sprinklers a couple of time, singed the hair on my arms a couple of times. I hope I do not need to tell you this is dangerous – one of my friends stepped on my tube connecting to the propane tanks when I lifted my horn the connector separated while I was pushing the switch – Propane accumulated around my feet, when it ignited I went up in flames. luckily I had enough sense to stop pushing the switch and stepped out off the fire ball. No one got hurt, the hair on my arms was singed and the hair on my head was a little shorter – It made for great PR – Sax player explodes on stage, you should have seen the press.
Good Luck and Be Safe,
Much Respect
Boots”

Boots : We youngsters revere you as a true trail-blazer, and only wish that one day, 30 years from now, someone will ask me, “Hey, I heard you made a flame-o-phone years ago”, and I can refer them back to the legend of Boots.

If you’re a jazz head you’re already thinking about Steve Bernstein. Ok. I hear ya. And good for Steve for taking something unwieldy and obscure and making it synonymous with his name. If you see me playing bass clarinet and name drop Matt Lavelle, I’m gonna just smile and say. “Wild man, heavy.”

If all this just goes right over your head and you’re thinking “What a cute little baby trombone. What is that?” then we’re on the same team. This thing is a mystery to me too. Clifton, a man with quite an instrument collection, lent me his mini-trombone about 5 months ago and I’ve just managed to start using it performance in the last month. It’s an unwieldy and slurpy but a very fun little monster. Of course, when it came time to create the music for The Wonderneath, and I learned that A) I had the option of decking out one of my horns in Swarovski crystals and B) that I would be playing the horn on stage surrounded by trapeze artists, fire dancers and circus performers, I immediately thought of the baby bone.

So now I really have to learn how to play the damn thing. Maybe even in tune. So, I’m taking a break for my lip’s sake right now to write this but then back to shedding. As with many theater pieces with multiple vocalists, the songs wind up being in strange keys and I am learning some old spirituals and dance numbers in the hellish C#. Oh god of the baby bone! Hear my prayer! Give me the strength and silliness to play kinda sorta in tune!

If there is a god of the baby bone he is wearing a diaper.

Been listening to and looking at a lot of Led Zeppelin over the last few days. Clifton lent me the “Led Zeppelin” DVD that came out in 2003 as well as the “How’s The West Was Won” CD’s that came out in the same year. Turns out that over saturation of Zep is a fine cure for the bout of food poisoning that I recently experienced.

Of course, being a diligent and earnest teen, I was very familiar with the catalogue. I remember learning to play the riff from Stairway to Heaven on the guitar as a kid. I remember one time at high school. It was the last day of the year and everyone had left. I had the dorm entirely to myself as I waited for my dad to pick me up. I CRANKED the Zep as loud as I could and positively, unabashedly, danced around my room to the song “Rock and Roll.” Looking back, I’m happy that this was not videoed but also happy to remember letting myself go so completely.

Hearing this music again in a new setting was fresh and fun and I got a chance to re-examine my attraction to this sound. I always knew they RULED! but maybe that’s kind of a juvenile, emotional response. What really makes me like it?

Well first of all. Bonham RULES!! Holy 28inch Ludwig. Fucking Hell! The band is so elastic and solid at the same time. He’s so over the top and stretchy with the time and yet so clear and so connected with Jones and Page that there is never any feel of sloppy.

There are two things that I feel affect me directly right now. Robert Plant’s singing. Sure, he can get screechy and annoying. Yes he’s stealing from the masters. All those things. One thing is for sure – he is taking risks in every single moment. He does not care about getting it right. His interest is in generating emotional drama in every second that he sings. If you heard a slight in-tune bend on the studio album, when he does it live he’s gonna take that bend and go as high as he can go regardless of the key just because its startling. If you are expecting a certain phrasing cause that’s what he did on the record, he ain’t gonna do it again. In every live track that I heard he deviates from the recorded version over and over again – sometimes even on the hooks. That’s cool. I respect that. I resonate with that. It’s not safe. Go Robert Plant. Live on the edge. Go with what you don’t know yet.

Second lesson from Zep: On the studio albums there are so many intertwined guitar tracks and overdubs. When they do these songs live they just strip it down to a quartet and do them anyway. The essential part of the tune remains. Everyone recognizes the tune anyway. Because we’ve heard the studio version so many times, our imaginative ear fills in the blank. I see so many bloated concerts these days. Everyone is touring with 12 musicians on stage because it just isn’t the song without that third guitar part or that accordion fill. That’s just poor song writing. The melody, harmony and riffs are so solid in their music that the overdubs are a delightful ornament and awesome on the headphones but they aren’t really needed live. Strip it down. Play with the players that you created the music with and rock out. That’s how you maintain the magical vibe without diluting with session players and “pro’s”

Some of the music is pretentious and no one really needs to hear a 14 minute drum solo or hear Jimmy Page play Bach riffs more than once but none of the music comes of dated. It is rocking so hard and is so unique and just slammin. OK -maybe you could tell where this was going. LED ZEPPELIN RULES! Yeah, I said it.

If only Sergio had had the Flame-o-phone!
Sorry for the hulu ad. I assure you the video is worth it.

Clifton and I went down to Phili on Wednesday to check in with our good friends Wharton and Darren at Plan B studios. It’s always an experience. The goal of the trip was to do some solid work on Wharton’s newest record. It’s an epic saga about a slave ship coming into the West Indies: a heavy story and some dramatic music to boot.

Wharton himself is kind of a bull in a china shop kind of guy. Even though the environment he surrounds himself with seems unbreakable, there are always scuffles with the law, with the city and with certain gun-totin’ “friends” that an air of violence and danger surrounds the long suffering giant known as Wharton Tract. This time was no different. When you are dealing with such a bundle of raw power, conspiracy theory fueled aggression, alcohol inspired madness, kind hearted generosity and burning passion for artistic peaks a very delicate animalistic social dance is required. There is sniffing involved. Like a pack of dogs uncertain of the various levels of Alpha in the room, we all must sniff and re-acquaint and talk and drink to re-establish just the right balance of trust, autonomy, and respect that will allow each of us to help each other.

Hours later, the microphones are set up and yours truly is asked to play some bravura, ultra-high, loud-as-possible, soaring, epic, hair-raising, full-bodied, huge-toned lamentation music over a solid and trashy 6/8 groove. It’s the overture to the whole piece and the voice of the trumpet is the focal point for the lamentations and sufferings held within the cells of a slave ship. Let me go warm up.

The first take was solid but the second take was more broken and plaintive. Eventually a combination of the two will be used with each of them taking turns in the foreground while the other acts as an echo.

The next task was to create a lapping water effect. I wrote out three phrases of varying lengths to be played with three different mutes. The phrases would overlap as they went in and out of phase with each other. Each one had a narrow range of pitches and together the effect was simultaneously tense and soothing. The repetition and the humanness of the sound was soothing but the occasional and arhythmic burn of very close intervals made it tense.

Finally, I recorded three more trumpets and a slide-trumpet track of chortles, wheezes, lamentations, screams, sarcasm, death wishes, fear, pain, and whimpering. The idea was to create a conversation between the slaves at the landing of the ship.

Throughout the process, Clifton is at the helm as producer, giving direction and approving or requesting more. Darren is riding the board, setting up the mics, getting levels, tweaking the pre-amps, re-patching the patches, and generally being efficient, calm and encouraging. Wharton is either hulking in a chair with a glare of severe, glassy rage, his glass of scotch on the rocks tilted downhill, or he is no where to be found, letting the process continue as it might. Whenever he would look at you, you would get a wonderful generosity and caring and appreciation. It always felt like a blessing to have him on your side or for him to think that you are on his side. Did I mention that Wharton is also physically huge: 6′4″ and hulking with hands like shovels.

We spend hours in the basement of the spice factory doing tracking in this and in similar manners before checking with the outside world around 4am. A foot of snow has already fallen and there is no way we are going to be traveling on the morn. Sleep overtakes at 6am and the next day begins and repeats. A banjo player from Rome arrives and records his bit on a dixie-landish number called Chocolate City. I get to play pixie/plunger trumpet trading riffs with him. The electric guitar comes out and is TURNED ALL THE WAY UP TO TEN!! IT IS SO LOUD. But that’s how you get a rock n’ roll sound. Set up the mics and Clifton makes his metal magic. His choice of warm-ups included dazzling and impeccably accurate virtuosic renditions of Jimi Hendrix, Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and David Gilmore from Floyd. Darren Morze kicked the shit out of the Bonham drum parts and the whole thing was an hour of entertainment just getting Clifton to shake off the rock guitar cobwebs via a trip to visit the masters. He slays it. Naturally. We crank up the old Hammond Organ and I get to play a role in the creation of a slave traders desires. Yucky feelings but great dark music and spooky grooves with thick syrup and swirly sweat from the organ. The snow is still sheeting sideways at 4am!

I went to Sweden the first week of January and allthough it was not a Tin Pan trip per se, I would still love to share some of my experiences on these pages.

Some background: I got hired by Gordon Webster to perform one of Sweden’s top swing dance events called Snowball. It turns out that many of the members of this band happened to be very familiar – most of them having played with Tin Pan at one point or another. Gordon himself played with us at Shanghai Mermaid at least once. Cassidy Holden is one of our go to subs on bass and banjo. Rob Adkins, of course, our steady bass player for more than a year and a half. On horns, Adrian Cunningham and Matt Musselman have both filled in on occasion. My point, I was in good company with folks that I respect and trust.

The scene is Sweden was different from American events that I’ve attended so far. For starters, I loved the cultural diversity. There was the expected diversity in language – I heard a lot of French, Swedish, and more Russian than I expected. There was also more diversity in age and also in background and lifestyle. It was a mixed crowd on many levels and that made it feel even more special when the floor would unify in the dance. The level of daning was also very high at this event. You could tell immediately that the large majority of couples on the floor were reacting intimately with each other and the music at the same time. If you held a note people would flow into a graceful fluid sweep and if you hammered out quarter notes they would get deeper and pulsate. It was a thrill to play a room of that caliber. Another important difference: these people could party!! Most of them were away from home – taking classes all day and then boogie-ing all night long! Oh the Russians! The folks we met there are the most generous partiers and most gracious hosts I have had the pleasure to experience in a long while.

After just a day we all kind of settled into the following sleep deprived schedule: The gig would start at around 10:30pm and we’d play three sets often ending, soaking wet with sweat at around 4am. I’d pop up to the room to put on some dry clothes (still in my suit though!) and although tired – still too wired from an exhilarating show to sleep. Up on the eighth floor was Micha’s room – “The Russian Room.” On our first night I had heard a rumor. The second night I just went up there and saw a few people filling up plastic cups with ice in the hallway. Once in the Russian room I was presented with a dazzling array of rums and vodkas. Just the quantity of empties already amassed near the trash can was staggering. I was at one point presented with a horseradish infused vodka with honey. Please comment on this post and tell me the name of this beverage. It was one of the most interesting flavors of all time. The taste of my people. (My dad’s mom is from this region!) Instant chest hair growth ensued from just one sip! Eventually Cassidy would show up with his guitar and we’d start singing slow draggy blues with a good beat and they’d move the beds back and create a little dance floor and folks would start grinding it.

So now its about 5:30 and breakfast is only an hour away. And you don’t want to miss breakfast because a) It’s frickin’ delicious and deep. Sure, they have eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes for the Americans but they also have five different types of muesli, dark bread, finn crisps, cheeses, charcuterie, and lox, and five kinds of herring! Yes! Five Kinds of Herring! Did I forget anything? Killer coffee! b) it’s free! comes with our hotel stay c) everything else is so god crazy expensive that you might as well fill up. If you miss breakfast, you’re looking at a world of bad felafel. One night at about 5:45am, Gordon, Cassidy and I found ourselves outside the main ballroom with about twenty or thirty dancers who were also making the breakfast vigil. We started singing songs to entertain the troops and wound up getting into stupid version of “4 or 5 Times” called “45 Minutes.” This was a form of the classic “100 Bottles of Beer on the Wall” kind of thing where we would just keep making up verses about breakfast and breakfast foods. A couple of the dancers got in on the lyric making part and it was a pretty lengthy collective improvisation. In fact, it became a refrain that punctuated almost every other song that we were doing. Bleary, exhausted musicians and dancers trying to hold on till breakfast. It was worth it.

It’s about 8am before you get to bed and then, if you are a brass player, you must get up to warm up before the 1pm rehearsal – (3hrs sleep). After rehearsal, go to the gym/sauna/pool or sleep some more until the 6pm soundcheck – (2hrs sleep). From 7:30 till the gig at 10pm you have about 2.5 hours to watch a bit of Scarface or The Sound of Music on TV or sleep or get some quick bite to eat. And then it starts all over again.

The music itself was a lot of fun and to Gordon’s credit, he really seems to know the tempo’s and styles that these lindy hoppers are going to dig. Steven and Malcolm (AKA The Rhythm Cats) also selected music that was guaranteed to kill the crowd. A veritable mix of what everyone’s favorite DJ’s would be playing. Much of the music had great vocal harmonies and Steven, Malcolm and I spent many hours getting it as tight as we could. Those guys are so open to fresh ideas and so committed to quality. It was a joy working with them. Overall, I must say that I am quite proud of everyone in the band for performing at such a high level and moreover performing 9 hours of repertoire with only one song that got repeated. Kudos!

If you are reading this blog because we shared that wonderful week together, please comment below and say hi and tell me about your good time! For me, it was a total delight. I met such wonderful people and, in general, felt like a total rock star! I love that.

Ciao for now,

Jesse

If you live in New York you’ll know that we’ve had an astonishing number of days in a row with precipitation. It’s getting like Seattle East over here. For the street musician these are hard times. On Monday we went out to the park even though the weather was truly on the edge. Luckily we were the only band out there that day and did very well. Yesterday, however, there was only a 30% of rain and it seemed like everyone was out and about. And looking desperate!

It seems the Central Park Conservancy has noticed how many more bands there are this year and is attempting to corral us all unto the poet’s walk, fountain, and band shell areas. We’ve been asked twice to leave our Columbus Statue spot and move closer to the Bandshell. Yesterday, I decided to set up on the promenade but there was a chamber orchestra in the band shell. No problem, I moved down to the fountain and set up where the blue vipers were playing a few years back. Over the course of three hours, five different bands asked us to move from our spot even though we were clearly set up and established before anyone else got there. I tried to be as courteous as possible and even moved the band to point in a different direction for a while so as to accommodate more different musicians. Ultimately, there were too many of us to not get in each other’s way.

Cooler heads and compromises did prevail. I also think these things go in waves. Perhaps the economy is so poor that regular gigs are drying up and more are taking to the streets. Eventually, only the most persistent and those that can generate the most income will be left and things will settle down a little bit.

Saturday night was another Shanghai Mermaid extravaganza at Galapagos. This time we shared the stage with the wonderful Gordon Webster on piano.

As some of you know, Gordon has been taking Rob and I out on the road with his quintet from time to time. It’s a blast for us to play in front of all the swing dancers at these events. It was also a trip to flip it a little and have Gordon working in our band and introduce him to the Tin Pan hang – comes complete with exotic dancers. We did a rehearsal on Thursday and Gordon made a comment that I thought was telling. Essentially he had thought that from hearing us initially that because we were so energetic on stage he could just throw himself in there and play whatever he felt and it would be fine. After about the third song of the rehearsal he realized that we have a really specific structure for each tune and real specific requirements to keep things interesting and spare so that we can be energetic but not have it be just a monster mash. As soon as he realized that his playing immediately followed suit and we all felt that he would really be able to add a lot to our sound.

The piano pictured here is the one at Galapagos. The kind and mellow folks and Galapagos promised that the piano would be tuned. It was tuned. It was also missing about a dozen keys! Even some quite important one’s like the A below middle C and the F just above it. “Hey G., give me an A” “Nope.” At least the piano looked real cool! Gordon was a trooper, though and he made that thing sound great. The Piano was a good choice and we had the idea to add it to the mix to better compliment our host, Juliette Campbell’s voice. Juliette is going for a Peggy Lee sound that is a little more refined than the typical Tin Pan gut-bucket barrage. In the middle of the evening Juliette came up and sang three songs with us. She killed it too: confident, good strong attitude – the crowd ate it up.

Also on the bill with us was Shien Lee and Mamie Minch. Shien did a lovely set of old time Shanghai Jazz tunes with our own Rob Adkins pitching in on the bass. This photo here is of Shien warming up back stage. It was great to hang out a bit with Mamie. MM’s done a few Shanghai Mermaid’s with us and we also had a chance to have her sing with us at Super Fine. She’s got a great voice and a wonderful style. By the middle of her second set, she had everyone in Galapagos enveloped in a real cozy, warm vibe.

The night ended with Gordon, Clifton and I having pizza at Artichoke on 14th street. I got to bed at 6am.

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The ox is alleged to be stubborn, hard working, doesn’t complain, keeps its head down, methodical and serious. I read today that the ox and the monkey do not get along too well. I’m a monkey – agile, quick in the mind, playful, does a lot at once, a schemer, etc… But maybe this is the right time to be ox-like. Winter’s hard and the economy is rough right now. An ox would just plow through the tough times and the good times with equal determination and consistency. Anyway, here’s some David Byrne lyrics from the Talking Head’s tune, “Animals”

I’m mad…And that’s a fact
I found out…Animals don’t help
Animal think…They’re pretty smart
Shit on the ground…See in the dark.

They wander around like a crazy dog
Make a mistake in the parking lot
Always bumping into things
Always let you down down down down.

They’re never there when you need them
They never come when you call them
They’re never there when you need them
The never come when you call them down down down down.

I know the animals…Are laughing at us
They don’t even know…What a joke is
I won’t follow…Animal’s advice
I don’t care…If they’re laughing at us.

They’re never there when you need them
They never come when you call them
They’re never there when you need them
The never come when you call them down down down down.

They say they don’t need money
They’re living on nuts and berries
They say animals don’t worry
You know animals are hairy?
They think they know what’s best
They’re making a fool of us
They ought to be more careful
They’re setting a bad example
They have untroubled lives
They think everything’s nice
They like to laugh at people
They’re setting a bad example
(Go ahead) Laugh at me

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Oh my! That’s some serious business right there. Veronica Varlow!

One time I was out at dinner. This is when my Grandpa was still with us. A tall, Jayne Mansfield looking waitress ambled by with a tray held up over her head. My good old grandpa followed her with his eyes.

My dear grandmother sees this and starts right in on him. “Manny, you like that, huh? What do you like about that?”

He demurred, “Well . . . she has a nice, hmm, posterior. And a fine, rather, uhm, a fine buxom area.”

“Manny, put out your hand.”

And ever-polite, he stretched out his hand, fully expecting to get slapped on his wrist. “Congratulations. You’re still alive!”

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In a word, new year’s was a total blast. The evening started at home where my darling Rachel was busying herself getting all dolled up and making sure that her and her whole crew would be arriving in time to secure a table. Arriving at Galapagos, we realized she had made the right decision. By the time the doors opened at 8pm there was a line at the door and folks didn’t stop coming until the place was more than full. I believe that Shanghai Mermaid had sold out over 200 tickets in the first few days that they went on sale.

I think the pictures will tell the story of the evening more succinctly and you can see them at the bottom of the post. But I will add a few scenes that helped make the evening a one-of-a-kind memory.

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The Man in The White Fedora
Stefan and I were hanging out people watching between sets and we noticed a cat with a dark pin-stripe suit and a white wide-brimmed fedora cutting a line through the crowd with a petite chocolate curly haired cutie on his arm. “Dang. That guy has got a style.” “Generally, that’s a really wide hat – but that cat pulls it off.” “Yep.”

He get’s closer and it’s Dave Jay! Wow, I played trumpet on his record this fall. Dave had called me about a week before the event asking me if I thought Shanghai Mermaid would be a good place to bring a date. “Well, yeah it is!” About 15 minutes later he calls me up and asks me where he can take some swing dance lessons! “Dave, you’re really going for it” “Well, this girl is really special and you know… I want to impress her.”

So now I’m standing next to Dave and this lovely lady and they are smiling and grinning ear to ear. Dave tells me that he rented a Packard and a chauffeur so he and his girl can travel in style and arrive on the scene with some class! You go Dave Jay!!

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The Hunch
The Blue Vipers of Brooklyn were also on the bill with us. I was really impressed with their trumpet player Sam Hoyt. I have heard him on their albums but I never got a chance to really enjoy hearing live for whole sets at a time. Now, Sam is character. Billy Nemec is character too and the two of them together are just silly mischief waiting to happen.

Back stage, Billy was smiling through his teeth and telling us about, “the next best dance craze. It’s called the Huh-huh-huh. Huh-huh-huh. The Hunch.” Some rockabilly tune he dug up that reminded me of Buddy Holly or Bill Haley and The Comets. Up on stage he introduces the tune and launches into “The Hunch.” Sam starts doing this awesome, stooped-over, storky, hunchy dance. It was great. It was even inspiring. It inspired Stefan and I to run onto the wings and then to do the hunch all the way across the stage behind the band. It was all asses and elbows. Billy was surprised but he couldn’t help laughing at us!

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Counting In The New Year
The highlight for me personally was the fact that I got to be the guy that counted in the New Year for over 300 people! I had a clock on the floor and after Juliette – our gorgeous and wonderful host – thanked and toasted everyone, I counted down the final 10 seconds. We all sang “Auld Lang Syne” together and the whole thing felt so joyous like a blessing. I told this story to Eve Polich the other day and she said, “Jesse, you are the perfect guy for that job.” I think I will agree with her. I am the perfect guy for that job. There are times where it is right and good to reflect and amplify everyone’s hopes, blessings and good wishes. I was a walking, talking, singing smile. I’m kinda still smiling from the experience. Happy New Year everyone! And to the borrow the words of Billy Nemec as he’s counting off another tune: “It’s gonna be great. You’re gonna love it!”

Well, what can I say. I knew that there was no guarantee we’d be on but the fact that they filmed us for 45 minutes made me feel like they would certainly use something. Oh well. A reminder to only talk about things if they are 100% confirmed. Sorry if I got you excited and then let down. That’s how I feel too.

Yesterday we took to the trains again playing at Penn Station over in Long Island Railroad land. Stefan, Rob, and I were joined by Jared Engle from Baby Soda on the banjo. He did a really good job. We actually had a good time and did pretty well with the crowds there. I gave the boys a wierd kind of “pep talk” before we started that actually got our heads on straight for the gig. “OK, let’s not try to hard. Take it easy. No need to push.” People come and go based on when their train is posted so the idea of building a flow or a set or even maintaining people’s attention for a whole tune is out of play. Best for us, psychologically, to just do our thing in an easy relaxed manner. It totally worked to our advantage and we won the day.

Moto tonight… Come on by – I found this post about their date cake.