Thu 29 Jan 2009
A quick post to let you know that Hound’s Tooth is now up on iTunes. You can buy the whole album or just grab your favorite cut. Hound’s tooth on iTunes.
I’m reading a book called “Appetite for Self-Destruction – The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age” by Steve Knopper. I’m just to the part where iTunes came out and Steve Jobs kicks some ass.
Four slides into [Warner Music's VP] Gage’s presentation, Jobs interrupted. “You guys are all nuts,” he said.
Mon 26 Jan 2009
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.
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
Thu 22 Jan 2009
I got a great excuse to meet with my good old friend Ariel Hyatt. I first started working with Ariel when I ran the Williamsburg Jazz Festival. She was such a good resource in that she didn’t really handle us like jazzers. She did her best to plug the WJF into a more of main stream niche. We got great coverage and it the publicity did a huge amount to make the whole event – all five years of it – a tremendous success!
Ariel herself is a dynamite person with a fire-cracker personality. Everything about her and the environment she creates for herself is bright colored, bold and energetic. On top of that she is a very good listener! Here’s what wikipedia had to say about the arch-angel, Ariel:
Generally presented as an authority over the Earth and its elements, Ariel has also been called an angel of healing, wrath & creation.
Ariel’s main focus now is on social networking and web 2.0 publicity. The printed word is dying fast. Her whole push is to position her clients on as many blogs, podcasts, facebook pages, myspace pages, twitter feeds, youtube channels, mobile phone aps, etc… as possible. The goal for us is to include everyone who has ever heard us perform or ever will into a growing, interactive, social, tuned-in community of peers. We still have far to grow along these lines but I can imagine digital tendrils stretching out across our fair land and beyond our borders . . . with regular nourishment and watering these little sprouts will eventually weave a strong lattice that will throb with the blood of the tin pan beat.
Tue 20 Jan 2009
Guarding over the assembled pitch-producing-machine operators with an all-seeing eye, THE MIGHTY WHATZIT blanketed the assembled crew in stability, style, & inspiration. Longing to please this most hallowed of guardians, Stefan summoned the power of his passing wind and heralded its presence with soothing undulations & modulations of the largest of wave-forms inducing the exalted shrieks of Selengut-ery. My what a joyful noise!!!
Upon finding a small tear in the tapestry I made my entrance: Bold & with a bravado never seen from my presence in such assemblies…I had officially joined the ranks brassholes and looked upon the pitiful band of chordophones in both disgust & pity. Long had I toiled in the labyrinths of wire they call home; long had I desired to strike forth without the need of Edison’s power-delivery system; long had I desired to operate the self-propelled audio artillery; long-winded poetesses cowered in the wake of my long-tone.
THE MIGHTY WHATZIT hovered above in silence…
A page has turned and I can not un-see the new chapter.
ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY WHATZIT!!!
-c l i f t o n
Sat 17 Jan 2009
The four of us played at Moto this last Thursday and I learned a few things that I can share here.
#1 – It’s Cold in the Wintertime In my world it’s heard that bands get paid for getting to the gig but they play for free. It’s true the work itself is mostly all kinds of fun but getting around to get to work with your acoustic bass or guitar or whatever is really a drag. At Moto the saying is more like you play for free and they pay you to keep the door shut. At least in the winter time. It is f-uh-r-uh-eezing everytime that door opens and folks, I guess, are accustomed to doors that shut themselves. I think I have to reach outside and close that door at least three times per set.
#2 – The Power of Soft Moto is a very attractive environment and people go to have a good time and chat. Recently the chattiness of the people there has become a slight distraction for the music. In general, I completely understand. Part of our role is to be ambiance and not necessarily captivating entertainment. But, you know, I think all of us would prefer the latter. Two weeks ago we erred on the side of playing too loud. The thought being that playing louder would make the sound penetrate more. A naked horn in that room is a pretty loud affair ultimately. This is why Stefan does not play tenor sax in that room but relegates himself to the clarinet and the bass clarinet.
As a way to get the cats in the band to be more playful I asked us to play St. Louis Blues as soft as possible. Clifton started positively inaudibly! Rob said he couldn’t hear him. He came up a little bit. Still too soft. Rinse and repeat a few times. Finally we were playing as soft as we could so that we could all hear each other. A few magical things happened. It was something different so we were all paying more attention and we had to actively listen to hear each other at all. The conversations were at an equal or even louder volume than the band. The rhythms of the verbal statements started to influence our playing. The room got generally quieter. Clifton could play more intricate finger-pick type stuff.
When it was time for me to take a solo I just hit one fierce blast (actually only ‘mezzo forte’ by my standards) and then left a whole pile of space around it. Another short brutal phrase and then more glorious chatty space. After about three of those I had most of the people in the room looking at the band stand. By the end of the solo I had earned everyone’s attention.
#3 – Soft is Sexy It sounds obvious but in that room, that’s what the girls like. Go figure.
Mon 12 Jan 2009
Clifton, Stefan and I arrived right about the same time and immediately knew that all the furniture on the stage was gonna have to stay. A tiny desk with a cute little lamp. Let’s roll the piano out here and open it up. A table with an upside down stool and a big lamp shade to top it off. Check out that whiskey carafe and those high ball glasses! We are definitely using that American flag. We didn’t use everything. Stefan wanted, somehow to use the 30 bright blue tiny plastic chairs but he let it go! When all was said and done, the stage looked like the set of a high school play, maybe “Our Town” or something by Agatha Christie or Noel Coward. During the show, every time I would turn to my left and Stefan sitting behind his “desk” I would crack up. He’d be sitting cross-legged with his kooky glasses on with his Clarinet matching his frames. I just would loose it. The whole setting was perfect and perfectly atrocious.
Our impresario and hostess tried to manage our expectations telling us that weather was likely to keep people away and that things were looking pretty slow over at the Senior Center. If we didn’t get a full house, we shouldn’t take it personally. Indeed. Turns out we had nearly 90 people in the audience which was far more that she expected. One of the better turnouts even!
When you are in a band playing 1920’s and 1930’s music and the average age in the room is around 70, you have to think that at leas some of the audience certainly knows the music from first hand experience. Clifton said he was sure that several if not many had actually danced to “Sister Kate” in high school. All our recent talks about selecting relevant material that our peers and those younger than us would recognize were made marvelously mute by our audience.
The acoustics were marvelous. We didn’t need any microphones not even for the singing. The room was just great! The first tune was “Millenburg Joys” by Jelly Roll Morten. When the crowd applauded after I sang the first verse, Clifton gave me a look as if to say, “Ok, that was easy.” This was our first experience at playing in a room with rows of chairs with a seated audience who were there to focus all their attention on us and be entertained. It felt very easy, fun and natural. We managed to keep the room fully engaged for the full hour we were on stage. The sensitivity of the acoustics aloud us to really work with the softer, more gentle side of the music so we could contrast it with the brash, knocking stuff.
I am so happy that we are so well oiled as a band. Everything flowed together very smoothly. Of course, when appropriate, as the front man it is my role to address the crowd directly and I did my best. I could use more and more experience doing this. I did get a laugh out of the crowd when it was time to introduce “When I Get Low I Get High.” My mind was blank and Clifton was tuning his guitar so I had to come with something to say. I fell back on the Billy Nemec standard: “This next one is gonna be great. You’re gonna love it.” And then I smile to myself and left a little beat, “… it’s about medication.” Over all, I could have erred on totally hamming it up because we really did have complete command of the crowd. I feel, if anything, I erred on the side of discretion and reserve. Nonetheless, at least two people asked us after the show, “Aren’t you wiped out or tired after a performance like that?” “You kidding, that was a snap.” Try doing three hours in the subway station where you have to pull pull pull just to get someone to listen. This was a dream.
All of us would agree – we’ll take shows like this one over and over again. It was easy, fun, warm, entertaining, and for a quality audience!
Oh, the piano… at the end of our last tune, “Bill Baily” in the key of F, Clifton played a definitive closing, single-note, staccato F. You can’t have a piano on a stage like that and not play at least one note!
Sun 4 Jan 2009
Veronica Varlow as Isis
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!”
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.
The last set of 2008
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!!
Juliette Sings Do Right - The first song of 2009
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!
The Lovely Rachel
Fri 2 Jan 2009
Imagine a world where spectacle and beauty can be found behind even the most banal and well traveled quarters. Anytime I get to be part of enriching the day-to-day experience of my fellow New Yorkers I know I am in the right place. So we do what we do. That the result of our sharing earns us some money from time to time only makes the process more easily maintained and more attractive. But, of course you know, we were doing this long before there was the regular promise of income like there is these days. It’s just a blast to make people smile because you rescued them from the numbing routine of New York life that many experience.
And then George Yi comes to town every once in a while and the whole dish is just sweeter and sweeter. George is one of those people who because of his specific work skills get stationed at different places all over the globe. He was in Australia a few years ago and now he’s in Amsterdam. He’s been there for more than a year I think. Everywhere he goes, he relies on his love of Swing Dancing to make a social, fun happening world around him. In Amsterdam, he’s a swing DJ and he’s doing his best to add vitality to a burgeoning scene.
Last week, George, (also known as “Shorty George”) came by each of our subway hits and, and this is important . . . brought girl with him! To dance with! I love that. We all love that. It makes the music so much more fun. It just makes people stop in their tracks when they see these guys and gals throwing themselves around.
So first, up – some solo George – dancing to “Putting on the Ritz” It looks like we wore him out a bit at the end there but he made it work. Maybe he just got slowed down by the cop. (I like the cop’s smile too!)
Next some partner dancing with the lovely and spirited Vicki… Ice Cream, yum…
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