Siete Semanas -7 Weeks

7 weeks before The Mudds' Central American Adventure begins. 5 chances to hear me play in Portland before I leave. Matt Meighan hooked me up with a couple of shows at Albina Green. ~8pm or so 'till whenever.



I also got some more videos cut and on the web, I think I'll be able to get 8 or 9 total. There have been a few audio difficulties so I'm having to re-upload a couple things, but I'm not complaining, this stuff isn't meant for prime time...

New Year's House Concert -Mr. Sun

Here's the first of several tunes from my house concert at Mom's on the 1st. -Mr. Sun.

Click the picture to play it.

The show was great fun, and I thank everyone who made it happen.

I managed to get a descent mix with the audio from my little recorder and the a/v that my step-dad George captured. But I've had to work for about 20 hours to work out all the bugs and actually get it online. What a freakin' pain...

The Dance

Well, it's testament that you can't force the creative impulse. I sat down the other day to write lyrics to 'When' and instead ended up with lyrics to the 'Lament' instead. That's been the biggest development in my song-writing ability over the last several years -learning to let things flow as opposed to an intentional writing. I've definitely sat down to write something specific and written it, but there is a much higher chance for getting stuck.
The Dance

The Wind

Here's a new version of 'The Wind.' It's still a living-room recording, but I added sound effects to get an idea of how it might sound when it's done. It sounds like I'll be able to take some gear to Artichoke and record in the 'Back Gate' which has great acoustics and is further away from traffic than my stupid living room.
The Wind

Dos Meses (Two Months)

Alright, two months left before the trip to Central America. It's coming fast! I can't believe how much there is to do, and almost every minute until we leave is booked at this point. Holiday with family in AZ and a house concert at Mom's on New Year's. It's been several years since I've been back.

I still have a bit of new/revised music to upload:

I'm attempting a Christmas Uke song about the cat ruining Christmas, but it's difficult to write lyrics about a specific subject sometimes so it's only instrumental at this point.
Your Christmas Present

I wrote This Time last year, but I got a pretty decent version the other day when I was running through some tunes.
This Time



Artichoke Music had a party and fundraiser last Saturday, which was very succesful. We sampled some of our brew and it went over well.




I'm pretty well Booked solid on gigs in the meantime as well. In addition to several 'Recycleman' shows, I've got 2 shows at Gotham Tavern, I'm playing a Valentines Day set with Matt Meighan and Artichoke is throwing us a send-off party. Good times...

Even More From the Abyss...

Forgive the lousy performance and intonation of these two, the point was to just capture the general idea of the tunes, not create something CD quality. Another uke tune with no title other than 'E-Minor.' The second tune is called 'When' which will be one of my favorites when I can get the time to write some words for it. The lyrical idea is about what it will be like at some distant point in the future to look back on right now. I get very sentimental about the idea (more than usual), knowing that life is going to change so much down the road. It's just about the most bittersweet thing I can think of.

E-Minor

When

More From the Abyss...

I love the ukulele for so many different reasons. In this tune I made up a couple of weeks ago, I was treating the uke as a sort of soprano classical guitar. I'm glad I could remember it.
Lament in F-Minor

'Open' guitar tunings are really cool for achieving an 'open' sound in a tune. This is something I was playing around with after getting a device called a partial capo which allows me to achieve an open tuning without retuning the strings on the instrument.
Open E

From the Abyss...

I'm always getting behind on music. I've been writing so much that some of it gets lost in the shuffle. I'll have a half hour to play and come up with something that I won't remember later. I'm losing less than I used to though thanks to modern technology.

I'll spend some time posting tunes I managed to rescue from the abyss...

A little uke tune probably influenced by 30s Duke Ellington or Cab Calloway:
Raisin' Cain

A 7 minute guitar composition with 'dropped D' tuning, I've got some words for part of this:
Tin Roof

Recycleman's New Drummer

We've got a kick-butt new drummer for the Recycleman shows -Vince Adame. He stepped right in to the show on Tuesday for the first time, without a group rehearsal, and did phenomenally well. He anticipated the breaks, and had just the right energy for the audience. I am looking so forward to having Vince with us, especially because we've been using a stinking drum machine...

If you're in the Portland area and need to hire a drummer, he's got my wholehearted recommendation. Check out his website
www.vinceadame.com

Folk Music Lives!!!

I can't believe that it's already November 9th!
The 2nd through the 4th were the FAR-West conference. Folk music like crazy... Artichoke took me as an 'ambassador', and I would say that we did a good job representing. We had probably the most traffic at our table and the crowd at the post conference event at Artichoke's Back Gate Stage was great.

I would have to say that as a musician, it was the most rewarding experience of my life. Next year is in Phoenix, and I'm definitely going to be there. I put together an audio 'report' of my experience at the conference.
Artichoke Ambassador Report

I recorded my showcase session also, it's good to have the feedback.
Showcase

Several gigs filled the week since then, ending tonight with my live television debut performance at Ethos Music Center -a very cool non-profit dedicated to teaching kids music.
I was told that the show makes it into 440,000 living rooms. That means my odds are pretty good that at least somebody will see it.

I've got to find someone who can record the show on it's rebroadcast, otherwise I might have to wait months for a copy.