they’re reading ULYSSES tonight on my favorite station KPFK from 7pm to midnight
I won’t catch it all, got plans, but probably will hear some of it
woke up this morning to bits of interviews with Jim Morrison’s father and sister
which struck me as fairly beside the point
especially odd as I had no idea who they were talking about at first:
“He used to learn new words all the time, and whenever he learned one he would write a whole story around it! … We always used to worry about him, that he’d always be a beatnik, always be poor, cos we knew he’d never compromise anything … when he said he was going on the road with a, a, a ROCK BAND, I said, Now cut that out! You go and get yourself a job!”
I gathered gradually that the person they were talking about was dead, but I couldn’t think of any recent popular music figure that fit … plus the terminology (beatnik, rock band) and the attitude all seemed a little out-of-time …
turned out to be plugging a new documentary which I think I’ll ignore. I’m starting to like my pop culture unexamined.
Somehow when I wasn’t looking, I got a lot of shows on my calendar … for example:
Saturday March 27 2010 Amanda Jo Williams record release party
featuring Matthew O’Neill, He’s My Brother She’s My Sister, Paul McMahon, others
will be performing at The Echo Country Outpost 1930 Echo Park Ave, Echo Park, Los Angeles, California, 90026
6pm, all ages, $5
followed immediately by
Saturday March 27 2010 (later on that night) Cricket & The 2:19
with special guests Jon Franco, Jef Hogan and Secret Weapon Woody
will be performing at TAIX 1911 Sunset Boulevard, Echo Park, Los Angeles, CA 90026
all ages, 10pm, free
… that should be a full night. In the afternoon I’m driving out to Whittier and Pico Rivera to collect Jon Franco (Cricket drums) and Secret Weapon Woody (guest Cricket guitar) and bringing them to Jef’s house for a quick rehearsal. Jef is playing electric bass that night with Cricket and also playing upright bass with Amanda Jo.
After that rehearsal, I have to split back to Echo Park because I am playing bass with Matthew O’Neill at Amanda’s record release party around 6:15pm. Then I’m playing guitar with Amanda. Then I’m hauling my ass over to TAIX to play guitar with Cricket.
Fortunately both shows are in Echo Park which makes this not just easy but fun. I am especially looking forward to playing again at the Echo Country Outpost … then again, TAIX gives me awesome dinner. It’s a toss-up.
Meanwhile…
Thursday April 1 2010 Amanda Jo Williams and Matthew O’Neill / 6Jaguar
will be performing at Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace 53688 Pioneertown Road, Pioneertown, CA 92268
That one’s out in the desert, folks. Not sure where (or if or how) I’m sleeping that night … but I guarantee the gig will be lovely. I’m playing guitar with Amanda Jo and bass with Matthew, Jef will be out there to play upright bass with Amanda, and Tribe Of Scott Keil will be along to drum with Matthew. Any excuse to go to the desert, and devil take the logistics.
Now, how about this: looks like I booked a show for my own band, for a change! How’d that happen?? We’re gonna have Simon Thomsen (of Cricket & The 2:19) on the drums, something I’ve been wanting to do for months and months; Jef Hogan on the bass; and Secret Weapon Woody on the guitar (gotta get my use out of that boy before he goes back to Seattle!) …
Friday April 9 2010 5-TRACK (glass goblins)
will be performing at Abuelita’s
137 S. Topanga Canyon Blvd. Topanga, CA 90290
10pm, 21+, free
There’s more after that. But I don’t want to think that far ahead. We’re also moving house this week. With luck, all the music I’m playing will give me the strength I need to move all the books and records and CDs and cat and etc
In the last 3 weeks we have enjoyed a potpourri of climatic variation. We had a little bit of rain, but not too much. We had one or two blazingly hot days, but not too many. We’ve had a few days that merited an extra shirt – cool, breezy, bordering on chilly if you’re from here or just done got too used to it – but only a few… Though the evenings have been a little on the “cold” side as standing-around-outside-a-venue temperatures go. In the main it has been pleasantly warm, not too hot, not too cold, and a little more motion in the air than I expect to find here, which is especially nice cos it keeps the breathing a little easier.
Yesterday there was a raven on the next street up (Marathon?) making that sound like an African gourd xylophone that I never heard them make until a few weeks ago … And in a few weeks into the future we are moving into a house which will allow more cool in, keep more hot out, and be surrounded by more in the way of vegetation which means birds, squirrels, and lots of the color green.
EDIT: The mockingbird is DEFINITELY back. I was playing along with him on the guitar yesterday.
For the evening of March 4 we assembled a group including Jef Hogan (electric bass), Jon Franco (drums), Jennifer Ng (percussion), Woody (acoustic guitar) and myself (acoustic wah-wah guitar).
I had one rehearsal with Jef and John (who also play bass and drums for Greg Franco’s Rough Church), one run-through with Woody, and a loose jam with Jennifer, in the few days before the show. Many of the band members had not met each other until they arrived at the venue. This is less unusual for me than might be suspected.
Viento y Agua in Long Beach is a “coffee house” with wonderful energy, constantly changing art on the walls, the occasional model skeleton, many books, and a warm and inviting stage (and sound system) which was conceived and assembled by Angie Evans. I’ve played a few shows there, by myself and also with Cricket and with Amanda, and every time I’ve felt good and played well.
This was the first time I’d played some of this material in a long time, and the first time I’d ever played some of it with a band. The two acoustic guitars kept the energy closer to the ground than usual, and the songs and improvs worked together for a change instead of fighting for space. The existence of dual percussionists also contributed to the effortless momentum of this group’s sound. We had momentum without frightful velocity.
Today is back to the studio with Rough Church. We have four more songs to record, plus a soundscape. It’s raining, so I’m feeling Seattle, which ought to be right for these tunes … one is a punky cover from New Zealand, two are moody electric guitar grooves slid back behind the beat, one is (sort of) in the style of a 1950s-r&b throwback, there’s a little acoustic guitar duo tune (it’s part A of one of the grooves) and then the soundscape, which will be noise and found sound, so all in all a Seattle-y batch of material. I’ve even got plans involving droning open tunings.
Which reminds me, my earlier report that spring had arrived on January 30th has borne fruit … almost a month later we have flowers blooming and birds singing (and it’s raining for the 2nd time this month) … and I ran into a Southern California native who agrees (volunteers, even) that Los Angeles has distinct weather, you just have to know where to look … she hipped me to a day to watch for in the fall, weather-wise, and I will report on that when it comes around.
