Post by Gene on Oct 22, 2008 13:41:05 GMT -5
For those with a short attention span, better get the big thing mentioned FIRST:
Yep, I'll be hosting an Open Mic at Coffee & Connect in Petoskey, Saturday, November 1, 6pm-9.
In case you don't end up reading the next e-newsletter, I'll also be hosting at this same place and time, except 3 weeks from that, being November 22, if that one works out any better for ya...
The last Open Mic on October 11 I hosted went over surprisingly well. I didn't promote this one as much, it was a beautiful fall day (which usually works against people wanting to be indoors), and it was probably peak color time in the area. But, quite a few came out. Ryan Luce was there, and I always enjoy him, and I'm ENVIOUS of his singing. (And I was so inspired by one of his cover songs he did that I "stole" it from him this week!...) Ellis came out, and added his usual touch of class to the jernt with his jazz/classical finger-style guitar playing. Adolph ("Synergistic Colloquialism"), a fellow Open Mic hoster, swung by too, in a participant capacity this time, though. A good friend now, I showed him how to use my vocal harmonizer pedal, and, once he got the hang of it, I couldn't get him to STOP!... He DID make it sound pretty amazing. I think he's hooked; I feel like a drug pusher!...
I keep saying that I'm going to try to get down to that Open Mic that the Sault's Corner Pub is advertising on Thursdays. I'm proving to not be a person of my word on that, but I have a reason to get there on business lately, so it's looking good for October 30. I'll try for that. Hope to report on it all next time!
Open Mics aside, the only other thing I've got going is a gig at Douglas Lake Bar in Pellston, Saturday, October 25. (And given how seasonal it is in my area, I'm lucky to even have THAT...) Great place; An old loggy lodge with a stone fireplace, which you can't beat for ambience. Lots of rich playboys frolicking and sipping wines; A real class jernt. I got a $100 tip there once; Hopefully history will repeat... Come on down, if it fits into your life's schedule. Bring a guest and give them the impression that you're classier than you actually ARE...
I played the Band Of Brothers End-Of-Summer festival in Pickford, September 27 (as sick as I was...). It was organized by Archie Reno and his new wife. It took place at a park in a huge pavillion that acts as a hockey rink in the winter. I got to see a few acts, one being a Christian band that was very impressive (that I forgot the name of). Some of the Pickford pickers that gather at the ice cream parlor on Saturdays were there, which the crowd loved. I finally got to see Marty Feldhake, a great original singer-songwriter from the area, too. I know guys like this are very unappreciated in this area, so it was a very special treat to see someone like this. He does folky stuff with often very U.P. themes. Check out www.martyfeldhake.com to find out more about him.
I said earlier that I'd know more about "Iggy Jam" (the working title) planned for this summer, but the meeting got cancelled and didn't get rescheduled yet. So I'll have ta keep ya hangin' on that one...
I got a chance to see The Vermeers at the Coffee & Connect, finally (Friday, October 3, I think). They are one of those "mix-and-match-members" kinds of bands, like Cedarville's Bait Shop Boys, except more diverse genre-wise. Matt Rauch, the reluctant but implied leader, compares it to a basketball team where only five play at a time, but there are actually way more than five on the whole "team"... From the Petoskey/Charlevoix area, they do a lot of earthy songs of the "low" common-man genres I personally prefer, like blues, rock, country, bluegrass and folk. Besides the earthy thing, the only other common thread I can pick up on is that they do favor 2/4 time as a rule, and that "boom-chick-boom-chick" is pretty infectious, I'll have to admit! Very cool band! : www.myspace.com/thevermeers .
Went to see Pinky Lee (and friends) at Legs Inn in Cross Village after an early gig one day, too. You're probably tired of me raving about them, though, so I'll give ya a break and refrain this time...
After an early gig one day, I went down to see Michelle Chenard at The Knot, who I always enjoy. By complete happenstance, Pete Kehoe (probably The King of Petoskey's live music scene!) actually did the very same thing, and I finally got to meet with him. I introduced myself and we chewed the fat a bit. Nice guy, and quite the musician, to say the least. (He's a CAREER pro, after all, unlike myself...) I actually had an angle to talk to him, in that I'm thinking of employing him for my second CD project, which is two or three years away, I think. I told him with my first CD, that I did nearly everything myself, and it was an obsessive time-taker, and I would like to involve more people and pairs of ears on my next project. I would like to record raw tracks and provide some other backing stuff, and he would mix, produce and master it, and maybe add a little "frosting" with other tracks he could or saw fit to, too. He seemed receptive to this method of working, which was good news. I'm sure we'll be crossing paths a lot more in the future, and I'm looking forward to it!
Getting more trivial, here: I continue to dabble with loopers. I got the simple Akai Headrush E2 for $180 some months ago, and it does quite a bit for the money. It takes a knack to hit those splices with your foot with just-right timing, but I got it down (mostly). With chord progressions, it ain't that bad. Using loops in this way, then "weedling" a lead on top of that, is how most acoustic players use live loops.
Where I ran into problems was for when I wanted to apply loops a bit unconventionally, where you record a repeating RIFF you want going on underneath your CHORDS you play, "upside down", per se. (Think of a song like "Don't Fear The Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult, where there's that intro riff going 'round and 'round throughout much of the song, for instance.) Rhythmic chord progressions are one thing, but trying to play a busy little RIFF and trying to time the foot-hit splices just-so, in the right tempo, and on the first try, is a real BEAR!... After lots of earnest practicing, I had to admit that I'm just flat not that good at it, and I suspect many others wouldn't be, either!...
I decided that if I really wanted to do this, that it would be best to pre-can my riff loops, and call them up by number when performing live. (My Akai pedal doesn't do this, but the more expensive Digitech JamMan is ALL ABOUT this...) But, I abhore "Karaoke" players that use pre-recorded stuff in their live act, and I decided long ago that I was never going to be one of those. Yet, getting tricky riffs looped live was proving very difficult. Seems I had a difficult artistic directional choice to make...
After long thought, I decided that I was being pig-headed and old-fashioned. I started checking internet vendors for a scratch-and-dent JamMan for a cut-rate price, daily. One day, what I wanted came up, for $250 instead of the usual $300. I pulled the trigger on it last week.
For fellow musicians, I'll give a more full review of the JamMan when I've had a decent amount of experience with it.
Personal news: I've actually been pretty sick for much of September and some of October, so it's just as well that my gigging schedule has been light. Just as I was healing up from hernia surgery, I got walking pnemonia with a bad cough (which REALLY tested that hernia repair...), then, I put out my back doing yard work. That last thing is still bothering me a bit, but I'm coming back pretty good. I sure am getting tired of all this. It'll be a happy, happy day when I'm all healthy again, let me tell ya...
That's about everything that went down. 'Til next time!
--Gene.
Yep, I'll be hosting an Open Mic at Coffee & Connect in Petoskey, Saturday, November 1, 6pm-9.
In case you don't end up reading the next e-newsletter, I'll also be hosting at this same place and time, except 3 weeks from that, being November 22, if that one works out any better for ya...
The last Open Mic on October 11 I hosted went over surprisingly well. I didn't promote this one as much, it was a beautiful fall day (which usually works against people wanting to be indoors), and it was probably peak color time in the area. But, quite a few came out. Ryan Luce was there, and I always enjoy him, and I'm ENVIOUS of his singing. (And I was so inspired by one of his cover songs he did that I "stole" it from him this week!...) Ellis came out, and added his usual touch of class to the jernt with his jazz/classical finger-style guitar playing. Adolph ("Synergistic Colloquialism"), a fellow Open Mic hoster, swung by too, in a participant capacity this time, though. A good friend now, I showed him how to use my vocal harmonizer pedal, and, once he got the hang of it, I couldn't get him to STOP!... He DID make it sound pretty amazing. I think he's hooked; I feel like a drug pusher!...
I keep saying that I'm going to try to get down to that Open Mic that the Sault's Corner Pub is advertising on Thursdays. I'm proving to not be a person of my word on that, but I have a reason to get there on business lately, so it's looking good for October 30. I'll try for that. Hope to report on it all next time!
Open Mics aside, the only other thing I've got going is a gig at Douglas Lake Bar in Pellston, Saturday, October 25. (And given how seasonal it is in my area, I'm lucky to even have THAT...) Great place; An old loggy lodge with a stone fireplace, which you can't beat for ambience. Lots of rich playboys frolicking and sipping wines; A real class jernt. I got a $100 tip there once; Hopefully history will repeat... Come on down, if it fits into your life's schedule. Bring a guest and give them the impression that you're classier than you actually ARE...
I played the Band Of Brothers End-Of-Summer festival in Pickford, September 27 (as sick as I was...). It was organized by Archie Reno and his new wife. It took place at a park in a huge pavillion that acts as a hockey rink in the winter. I got to see a few acts, one being a Christian band that was very impressive (that I forgot the name of). Some of the Pickford pickers that gather at the ice cream parlor on Saturdays were there, which the crowd loved. I finally got to see Marty Feldhake, a great original singer-songwriter from the area, too. I know guys like this are very unappreciated in this area, so it was a very special treat to see someone like this. He does folky stuff with often very U.P. themes. Check out www.martyfeldhake.com to find out more about him.
I said earlier that I'd know more about "Iggy Jam" (the working title) planned for this summer, but the meeting got cancelled and didn't get rescheduled yet. So I'll have ta keep ya hangin' on that one...
I got a chance to see The Vermeers at the Coffee & Connect, finally (Friday, October 3, I think). They are one of those "mix-and-match-members" kinds of bands, like Cedarville's Bait Shop Boys, except more diverse genre-wise. Matt Rauch, the reluctant but implied leader, compares it to a basketball team where only five play at a time, but there are actually way more than five on the whole "team"... From the Petoskey/Charlevoix area, they do a lot of earthy songs of the "low" common-man genres I personally prefer, like blues, rock, country, bluegrass and folk. Besides the earthy thing, the only other common thread I can pick up on is that they do favor 2/4 time as a rule, and that "boom-chick-boom-chick" is pretty infectious, I'll have to admit! Very cool band! : www.myspace.com/thevermeers .
Went to see Pinky Lee (and friends) at Legs Inn in Cross Village after an early gig one day, too. You're probably tired of me raving about them, though, so I'll give ya a break and refrain this time...
After an early gig one day, I went down to see Michelle Chenard at The Knot, who I always enjoy. By complete happenstance, Pete Kehoe (probably The King of Petoskey's live music scene!) actually did the very same thing, and I finally got to meet with him. I introduced myself and we chewed the fat a bit. Nice guy, and quite the musician, to say the least. (He's a CAREER pro, after all, unlike myself...) I actually had an angle to talk to him, in that I'm thinking of employing him for my second CD project, which is two or three years away, I think. I told him with my first CD, that I did nearly everything myself, and it was an obsessive time-taker, and I would like to involve more people and pairs of ears on my next project. I would like to record raw tracks and provide some other backing stuff, and he would mix, produce and master it, and maybe add a little "frosting" with other tracks he could or saw fit to, too. He seemed receptive to this method of working, which was good news. I'm sure we'll be crossing paths a lot more in the future, and I'm looking forward to it!
Getting more trivial, here: I continue to dabble with loopers. I got the simple Akai Headrush E2 for $180 some months ago, and it does quite a bit for the money. It takes a knack to hit those splices with your foot with just-right timing, but I got it down (mostly). With chord progressions, it ain't that bad. Using loops in this way, then "weedling" a lead on top of that, is how most acoustic players use live loops.
Where I ran into problems was for when I wanted to apply loops a bit unconventionally, where you record a repeating RIFF you want going on underneath your CHORDS you play, "upside down", per se. (Think of a song like "Don't Fear The Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult, where there's that intro riff going 'round and 'round throughout much of the song, for instance.) Rhythmic chord progressions are one thing, but trying to play a busy little RIFF and trying to time the foot-hit splices just-so, in the right tempo, and on the first try, is a real BEAR!... After lots of earnest practicing, I had to admit that I'm just flat not that good at it, and I suspect many others wouldn't be, either!...
I decided that if I really wanted to do this, that it would be best to pre-can my riff loops, and call them up by number when performing live. (My Akai pedal doesn't do this, but the more expensive Digitech JamMan is ALL ABOUT this...) But, I abhore "Karaoke" players that use pre-recorded stuff in their live act, and I decided long ago that I was never going to be one of those. Yet, getting tricky riffs looped live was proving very difficult. Seems I had a difficult artistic directional choice to make...
After long thought, I decided that I was being pig-headed and old-fashioned. I started checking internet vendors for a scratch-and-dent JamMan for a cut-rate price, daily. One day, what I wanted came up, for $250 instead of the usual $300. I pulled the trigger on it last week.
For fellow musicians, I'll give a more full review of the JamMan when I've had a decent amount of experience with it.
Personal news: I've actually been pretty sick for much of September and some of October, so it's just as well that my gigging schedule has been light. Just as I was healing up from hernia surgery, I got walking pnemonia with a bad cough (which REALLY tested that hernia repair...), then, I put out my back doing yard work. That last thing is still bothering me a bit, but I'm coming back pretty good. I sure am getting tired of all this. It'll be a happy, happy day when I'm all healthy again, let me tell ya...
That's about everything that went down. 'Til next time!
--Gene.
