Another splendid and different week at Pete’s Candy Store. Each one is just jammed packed with lessons as performers. Here’s the inside scoop of some major points.
1) Microphone placement is hard! We tried to put Stefan in the back so he wouldn’t peak out the microphones and so we could get more bass. Didn’t work. Stefan still has a huge sound in that room and the Mic is just crying with clipping. Boo-hoo. And not enough bass. Rrrrg.
2) Push-up contests are weird but fun. I’ve never been too much into the whole frat boy macho thing. I never really took sports or feats of strength too seriously and as a trumpet player I am certainly not the lead player puffed up mold. And yet, the push-up contest that broke out at our show was kind of delightful and silly good fun. Maybe it was the hipster spirit of irony that made a tribecca native of artistic parents engage in push-up battle with a google savant. (long story . . . Stefan went nuts one night and fell off the bar at Burp Castle to the delight of his new techie friends. (longer story . . . bartender says to Stefan, “Please be careful!.” Stefan responds, “I do this all the time.” which is kinda true. Regardless, he proceeds to slip-flip off the bar in flagrante desaxo (Youtube evidence please!!))) Oh,yeah, google won 25-24.
3) In an intimate room like Pete’s you can undersell it a little more. It’s like the difference between live theater and film. Out in the streets we’re doing a 100 yard show, projecting outwards to hundreds of people at a time. Big gestures, loud volumes and huge dynamic and tempo shifts draw people in. At Pete’s that approach is too big. A wink or a whisper is heard an felt by everyone. We could stand to take it down a notch and be more smoldering and less burning for these kinds of rooms. It’s clear on the recordings to me when we are pushing too hard… maybe most of the time!
4) Put fresh batteries in the frickin’ recorder you dimwit! Cheezus. It ran out half way through.
5) We can put on a real good, fun, sloppy show. Which brings us to the featured of the week. To explain some of the ad libs – I was looking around for our friend Kate who was sadly very late in arriving. A guy in the audience jokingly said that his name was Kate and we dedicated the song to a dude named Kate. Why this tune is featured this week: it’s just a fun time. Check out the break in Stefan’s solo. Awesome rhythmic grunting. On my solo, my mute chose to leap from the bell of my horn which startled the crap out of me. It through me off and sent me into an harmonic and rhythmic tail spin. The whole thing is just wild and makes me smile each time I hear it. Enjoy.
If you are reading this in syndication you can listen here.
Next week’s theme: “Slow and Fast”. Creepers and burners. We’ll play a blues that is so slow you’ll have time to do the dishes between each beat. We’ll play a tune so fast that epileptics would be wise to bring a mouth guard. At the end of the night we will play exactly one song that will be extremely and excessively medium in tempo.
The energy is building over at Pete’s Candy Store. Every week gets a little richer. The crowds keep getting larger and more enthusiastic. This time around they wouldn’t let us leave the stage before an encore.
Our theme this week was Tin Pan Originals so we put together a set of our original songs from our last two records and included some that we haven’t recorded yet. One of them doesn’t even have a title and I was writing the lyrics back stage. I can tell you that it is a love song and it went over real well. More to come on that as it develops.
This week our featured tune is the title track from our second album, Alice McNulty. It’s a real relaxed drinking song and features a little bit of story telling and a special trumpet solo using a very rare trumpet mute called a Buzz-Wow. Clifton bought this about a month ago and we recently took it apart at retooled to give it its intended raspy sound. At one point in the story I’m talking about how Alice used to blow smoke rings. I pantomimed a gesture that everyone at Pete’s could see but it didn’t translate to the recording so I’ll describe it here. Alice would blow smoke rings by taking a drag off of her cigarette (A Pall Mall, Viceroy or similar), make a little “o” shape with her mouth and then tap on her cheeks rapidly and very lightly. It would produce a stream of perfect little o’s floating up and out over the card table. Half way through the trumpet solo you can here my musical interpretation of the same. Enjoy.
If you are reading this in syndication you can listen here.
Next week’s theme: We’ll have special guest bassist Pete Maness with us and we’re going to play rockin’, rock-a-billy, rockers and serious slinky shuffles. Until then…
You can tell there have been some big changes over in Central Park because the natural order of things has changed. In the mornings, the scene is generally calm; the dogs are politely engaging, certain mammals dressed in bright spandex and other colored displays trot pleasantly through. When the heat of the day descends, however, musicians begin to grapple for territory and the law of the jungle exposes certain lives to be nasty, brutish and short. It is in these chaotic conditions that the zombie squirrel terrorized the promenade.
We learned that Bathesda Fountain had been made a quiet zone. Indeed this sent certain long time denizens out of their warrens. They were angry, confused, and forced to scrape the earth for another place to dig in. Two colorful creatures, Thoth and Pink Angel, even chose to get arrested in protest of this climactic shift. Then squirrels began dropping out of trees and days later the zombie squirrel reared it’s ugly, over-sized and maggot-ridden head.
I have never seen a squirrel miss a branch and yet high over-head in the middle of a well attended Tin Pan performance, a conspicuously non-flying specimen jumped for a branch and missed. Accelerating rapidly until the very moment of impact, he fell forty feet directly into the middle of the promenade. The kinetic energy was transformed into a painfully high screech of terror. Adrenelized, the failed branch dancer ran in dazzlingly tight circles until he spilled off the main walkway under the benches at peoples feet into the ground covering plants. As startling as this scene presented, it wasn’t even close to the terror and fear caused by the zombie squirrel.
Perhaps it was just a harbinger. Perhaps the zombie squirrel was the very same unbalanced soul to fall so far from his leafy perch. In any case, the zombie squirrel first stalked the promenade under the cloak of pity. It played dead. Cunning zombie. Let them come close to examine you, see your mangy coat, your mal-formed, scabrous, bulbous head, poke at you with tentative sneakers. Caring urban naturalists cooed over you, mourned over you, cupping their hands over their mouths. When you rose in a stupor and plodded forth on your zombie paws you reminded onlookers of the plague. No squirrel should move that slowly. Gradually you regained the very populated promenade where you or your zombie kin had fallen merely days ago. You stumbled deliberately and apparently blindly into a young child’s trike inspiring a different andrellnelized scream. Horror ensued.
Eventually a parks ranger was summoned to dispell you but managed only to chase you up a tree. We were all quite suprised that you had the fortitude or the muscle memory of your previous form to manage such a bold escape. Surely you would fall again. You did – with a thud into the low bushes behind the band. When you climbed up again, you were thwarted by a noble squirrel warrior who fearlessly protected his tree house. Did he touch you? Is he now contaminated? How many more zombie squirrels shall fall?
Nature will assuredly balance itself again. Until then, we must be ever-vigilant, courageous, innoculated against fear and disciplined in our approach to the elements. Regardless how rabid our fans become, despite seismic shifts in the landscape, disproving mockingbirds, fighting off animals, and impervious to our own fears, Tin Pan shall prevail.
These questions answered in our next episode: “Did the zombie squirrel touch Stefan’s Saxophone?” And the ensuing, “Will Stefan’s Saxophone acquire even more undead powers?”
Week number two at Pete’s Candy Store in our nine week bid to record a live record. We all felt more relaxed and a little more comfortable with the sound. There were more people this time as well. Just about full. Hopefully it will continue to grow. That depends on you. Come on down! Here’s a picture of the room. Notice how lonely it looks cause you’re not there yet!
The theme of the week was group vocals and every tune featured everyone singing together at some point. The acoustics there are just great for what we do and I think week three on should show us that we’ve mastered where and how to place the right microphone in there to get a result.
Some other observations on the night. The cornet and the trumpet sound kind of similar in the park when we play out doors but at Pete’s they sounded very, very different. The cornet really sounded darker, and more mellow. Last week I complained of having a hard time making the naked trumpet sound good in there. It was too present. The cornet mitigates the situation nicely. As do the mutes. Clifton brought down two of his new mute purchases. He is amassing quite a collection. The tune available in this post features the Mellow-Wah mute. It’s got a great sound. At one point it reminded my of David Gilmore’s guitar through a vocoder like he uses on the “Animals” album. He also had the Buzz-Wow mute and from the recording of this show I feel that either I don’t know how to get the most out of it yet or it is out of production for a reason. Nonetheless, long live the Mellow-Wah! More research is required. Thirdly, vocals always win. When you get a bunch of people singing in harmony it does something to the brain that equals inclusion, fascination, inspiration and joy. Even when its not perfect it still kinda works. Maybe more-so. It feels like our lives. Fun, but a little chaotic and rough-hewn for all the joy it expresses.
Here’s my pick from last night’s show: Gambler’s Blues. Press the arrow button to listen. (If you are seeing this blog in syndication on facebook or elsewhere – please go to the tinpanband.com website to see the flash player.)
Gambler’s Blues Roll me slowly like loaded dice
Spin me round easy and it feels so nice
Lyin’, Cheatin’, Sleepin’ in the bed all day
Hear me talkin’
I gambled my life away
Round and round and round she goes
Where she stops well her man don’t even know
Lyin’, Cheatin’, Stretched out by the pool all day
Hear me talkin’
I gambled my life away
Roll me slowly like those loaded dice
You take your chances when you take a wife
Lyin’, Cheatin’, sleepin’ in the street all day
Hear me talkin’
I gambled my life away
We had our first of nine performances at Pete’s Candy Store. We’ve decided to record the whole series in attempt to cull the best material and create a new live album out of the process. Listening back to the recording I pretended I was listening to this band for the first time. Some initial impressions: They are passionate and raw and yet tight with the arrangements and the ensemble playing. It really sounds like the singer has screamed himself hoarse. (He had… I lost my voice after our Barber Shop show the previous day) The reed player has no fear whatsoever. That resonator has such a strange sound – it’s got an attack like a hammer. I wish I could have heard a little more bass. In the little talky bits between songs I heard a lot of laughter. It seems like these guys like being silly all the time, genuinely enjoy each other’s company and have no problem laughing at the absurdity of their own imaginations.
I imagine we’ll tweak the recoding process a little bit each time to try so settle on the best sound for that room.
Before I forget . . . Ladies and Gentlemen . . . the muthah-effin’ bass sax! Holy Bejeezus. What a huge horn. I’m so glad Stefan is finding a place for that monstrosity inside the music we are doing…
And now without further ado – our featured track from Week One – our version of “I Found a New Baby”. Dig the tin can sound of that resonator guitar. Check out the Bass Sax thumpin’ out behind the vocals right after the trumpet solo. Press the little green button below to commence your listening delight.
July 5th in New York is a little like Christmas day except instead of everyone being at home with their families, they are in bed nursing their hangovers. Christmas cold keeps everyone home to snuggle and yesterdays glaring, beating sunshine kept headaches and fear of sudden death behind shady, air-conditioned curtains. Alas, not Tin Pan.
From our first song we were stopping traffic. Literally: a cabbie had stopped at the red light directly in front of us and was so transfixed that he needed a honking car behind him to nudge him into drive. A crowd gathered across the street within 60 seconds. For our perspective, it was very surreal. We were squinting, lazy, hot, and instantly weary and the music was sloppy, silly, loopy, and loose. But I forget the simple power of performing as much as we do. As soon as we begin, something magnetic is happening regardless of our mood.
In a word, it was a scene.
We hammered through the sun for about two or three hours and then needed much re-hydration. But again, the folks at FSC were so wonderful, encouraging and generous that we will go out of our way to make it back there at some point. I asked Barry what he had hoped for from our appearance and he had a great answer. He said that the barber shop didn’t need the business, they were doing just fine. So it wasn’t a promotional thing for him. It was just that the vibe of the band and the vibe of the barber shop seemed to be a good fit and he thought it would be fun! And there you have it. Mission Accomplished! See you soon, Barry.
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for July, 2009.
Another splendid and different week at Pete’s Candy Store. Each one is just jammed packed with lessons as performers. Here’s the inside scoop of some major points.
The energy is building over at Pete’s Candy Store. Every week gets a little richer. The crowds keep getting larger and more enthusiastic. This time around they wouldn’t let us leave the stage before an encore.
Eventually a parks ranger was summoned to dispell you but managed only to chase you up a tree. We were all quite suprised that you had the fortitude or the muscle memory of your previous form to manage such a bold escape. Surely you would fall again. You did – with a thud into the low bushes behind the band. When you climbed up again, you were thwarted by a noble squirrel warrior who fearlessly protected his tree house. Did he touch you? Is he now contaminated? How many more zombie squirrels shall fall?
Week number two at Pete’s Candy Store in our nine week bid to record a live record. We all felt more relaxed and a little more comfortable with the sound. There were more people this time as well. Just about full. Hopefully it will continue to grow. That depends on you. Come on down! Here’s a picture of the room. Notice how lonely it looks cause you’re not there yet! 
We had our first of nine performances at Pete’s Candy Store. We’ve decided to record the whole series in attempt to cull the best material and create a new live album out of the process. Listening back to the recording I pretended I was listening to this band for the first time. Some initial impressions: They are passionate and raw and yet tight with the arrangements and the ensemble playing. It really sounds like the singer has screamed himself hoarse. (He had… I lost my voice after our Barber Shop show the previous day) The reed player has no fear whatsoever. That resonator has such a strange sound – it’s got an attack like a hammer. I wish I could have heard a little more bass. In the little talky bits between songs I heard a lot of laughter. It seems like these guys like being silly all the time, genuinely enjoy each other’s company and have no problem laughing at the absurdity of their own imaginations.
