Something new, as of
4 Sept 2010
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Gigs at
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video clip: Jim & Warren bash through Wilco's 'Side with the Seeds' at the Mission Viejo Borders, 16 Aug 2008. Borders cafe 'residencies' Our Borders dates are now wired into the following monthly pattern:
Looked for Richard afterwards, but he'd packed it in already... Despite most passers-by doing a very good job of ignoring us, there was $26 in the hat when we knocked off at 8:00 or so. One middle-aged Chinese-American gal did her best to teach us a variety of songs that she knew we should be playing (rather than the ones we were playing), including 'Bye Bye Love' (good idea) and 'Them Old Cottonfields Back Home' (which she identified as a Creedence Clearwater song). Apparently we were supposed to be dancing too. I'm pretty sure that she needs to be our manager. I used the big AT condenser mic for Jim's voice, the smaller AKG mic for Jim's Songwriter gtr, and the little Shure AXS-7 mic for my little Mobile Cube amp. Everything bled into everything else, of course, but the tracks are distinct enough to allow panning, balancing, etc., and I hope to figure out how to apply just a bit of reverb on Jim's very good vocal. Just need some more time... but we're heading Back East for a week. Shall I bring the notebook, and headphones...? That's probably all I'd need... might be a good idea... When Jim and Sarah left to hook up with son / sibling James, I checked into The Alley – next to Bushard's Pharmacy – and found Richard McLeod mid-set. He seemed happy to have me join in, so I did, and afterwards we had an extended conversation (sort of) re what he's hoping to accomplish musically, and how he doesn't ever feel quite prepared / ready to play gigs, as such. After awhile, we noticed some formidable competition across Forest Ave., in front of the Fingerhut Gallery -- a brash 30-ish fellow hitting an acoustic guitar very hard, and belting out his favorite Bob Dylan and Beatles songs, including 'I Am the Walrus'(!). The sheer volumetric intensity of his program,`coupled with the, "I think you guys better turn up a little bit..." comment from a spectator, inspired us to jump straight to 'Locomotive Breath'.... and then to knock off, but not before pulling down some appreciative attention for 'Space Oddity', and 'Starman'. After Jim's departure for points south, this fellow set up on the stone bench opposite our spot, and I joined him for several bashed-out numbers, including a powerhouse 'LA Woman' (which stopped one 40-something guy and his family in their tracks). My guitar seemed to go entirely out of tune toward the end of that song -- every single string -- which was perplexing until I realized that he'd broken a string, causing his guitar to go entirely out of tune... and mine relative to his. I took this as my cue to disengage. He ID'd himself as Thomas, and assured me that he plays around here often... as if that was a good thing. Perhaps it is; it may just depend upon your 'pov'. Jim's daughter Sarah joined us again, for the two songs she did the other night, with me backing her up, and dad videotaping the proceedings. She had some trouble this time, keeping the chords to 'Honey Bee' straight, but her singing is very sweet, and it broke the ice with the crowd, which Jim and I were then able to ride on afterwards... like some kinda sonic slipstream... Song highlight: an unusually strong reading of Bowie's 'Space Oddity'. I braved playing my big blue Ibanez this time out... even though it must be much less discrete than the tiny black Nomad... but it's a much more versatile instrument, and sounds better. I ran it through my Maxon OD808 overdrive pedal this time, then into the Fishman EQ, and on into the Micro Cube. These three items give me 85% of what I'm 'looking for' in my guitar tone, so I'm able to leave all the other big and heavy hardware home. It makes the setup and tear-down very quick too. Song highlight: my 'Southwest Passage' guitar instrumental... sounding much more 'jelled' than heretofore. It has the potential to rock out, in a countrified manner of speaking... First up, my dear guitar student Tina Neukirch, who is having a great time learning just about every song she can think of, and learning them well. The Eagles' 'Already Gone' is a song we only checked into recently, but she managed to make it rock, with a little help from me and Jim -- who also layered some sweet Henley-esque vocal harmonies on top. It's a very straightforward three-chord number, except for the up-a-fourth key change for the final chorus, which makes it unsingable for me, but Tina managed it nicely (though I should query her opinion of that, next we meet...) 
Tina had strategically waited till Tully's was just about empty, at about 7pm, but by the time Jim's daughter Sarah appeared at 7:30 or so, there were quite a few people in the place again. Jim handed off his big Gibson Songwriter to Sarah, who graciously consented that I could play along, and then she launched into what I imagined to be a song of her own invention, but which turned out to be a cover of YouTube phenom Zee Avi's 'Honey Bee'. She made this song sound great, with a warm, full-bodied and pitch-perfect vocal, nicely negotiating the song's bluesy-chromatic turns. She managed the complicated chord progression very well too... never losing her place, wisely eschewing the examples of her dad and his pal... After a rousing hand from the crowd, Sarah did treat us to one of her very own songs, turning in another big and relaxed-sounding vocal performance. There were even more people inside by now, many of them obviously listening, and I'm sure that at least some of them came in because they heard Sarah through the open door, as they were strolling by. Tina, thankfully, recorded both of these songs for posterity, with my little camera. It was a tough act to follow... but Jim and I played a few more songs, including a very strong reading of 'Space Oddity' which seemed to really got people's attention, especially that beautiful dark-haired girl leaning against the condiments counter. We closed out with a rousing 'Starman', even though it had drifted a little past Leah's 8pm closing time (and the place, by now, was packed). Our pretty-good-for-us $10 in tips was surely partly on account of Sarah's contribution, so we cut her in on the take, as Jim instructed her to be sure to declare the entire $2 at her next 1040 opportunity... Tina also captured a pretty good run-through of Jim's hit instrumental 'Summer of Love' ( / 'If and When'), which I chopped down to just the best (final) pass and posted to YouTube... not quite sure why... except that I like this song a lot. Far more people than I'd have guessed were out and about, including a young couple from Europe who applauded loudly for 'Wish You Were Here', making me wish we had another Floyd feather or two in our quiver. Perhaps we should have followed that with 'Space Oddity', or 'Starman'... We did have some musical competition from the loudspeakers arrayed at the perimeter of the ice cream shop itself, but found it quite possible to overwhelm it, without attracting notice of passing police cruisers, and without alarming the ice cream shop proprietors, apparently... Despite neglecting to bring along a tip jar, various people dropped off about $16, mostly on the trash can... surely more than we've ever pulled in playing on the street before, including across the street last year. I went with a minimal setup: Nomad into Fishman EQ, into the Micro Cube. This allowed me to carry everything on my back. I'd like try the Ibanez next time, at the risk of some officer of the law guessing correctly that verboten amplification is involved in my signal chain. One other missing link: an overdrive stompbox for 'Baby Blue', 'Side With the Seeds', 'Gently Weeps'... I'll just borrow the Maxon unit from the gigbag for now... One highlight: After we meandered (but soulfully) through a little two-chord accidental jam incident, friendly barista Monica asked us what that song was and said, "I really liked it...!" I did too, actually, and I'm pretty sure Jim did too... There's a special opp for us in this sort of exploration-and-discovery playing... it certainly takes us places we would otherwise never get to. Gigs like this make me want to get out and play even more, because it makes it so plain how furthering it is... something beyond simple accumulation... more like interest compounding... not that I know anything about that. We kicked it off by not kicking it off at all, but rather by wandering into an extended jam based on a simple figure Jim pulled out of a cowboy C major chord... I found this quite absorbing, somehow, and found any number of ways to play lines that sounded peculiar while never (intentionally) stepping out of the C major scale... I can't say how, though it probably has to do with unconsciously emphasizing non-chordal scale tones. This effort was met by silence, understandably, from the our small and bookish scattering of people in the cafe. Still reluctant to break out a 'real song', apparently, Jim got my attention again, by artfully knitting together nothing more than G, D7 and C. We abandoned ourselves to blissful rhythmic and melodic spelunking for another 5 minutes or so, before fading out... but this time to a startling round of applause from the cafe-goers -- now, apparently, our audience, and now slowly increasing in size... From then on we had happy and demonstrative listeners throughout the evening. They also managed to stuff $10 into our tip jar... which is still very good for us. After one song ('Something'?) I suggested that it must have been our best-ever rendition, even though it wasn't necessarily a best-ever performance for me. The song just sounded so well knitted-together -- as if it was just one richly-textured part, rather than four completely distinct parts -- two guitars, and two vocals. Somehow, we've learned how to do that, and without specifically attempting to do so. I should rather say: "we've learned to do that", since we have no idea "how", really. We've just accidentally melded our four parts together into one, as if by simple gravitational attraction -- which I suspect is a fitting analogy... gravitational attraction toward a center which is somewhere 'between us', and which is unknown until we reach it... or rather, until we hear it. And as for "accidentally melded"... even though the end result is a pleasant surprise... we are deliberately attempting something (so to speak)... we are, at the very least, listening to each other, and trying to play cooperatively. That's surely a big part of what makes this project worthwhile, and what most distinguishes it from other projects. [Remarkable pre-gig activity: book-signing event for Nick Schou's Orange Sunshine, at Latitude 33 bookstore in Laguna Beach. Afterwards, surviving (though wheelchair-bound) protagonist Robert 'Stubby' Tierney kindly identified the precise location of the fabled Mystic Arts World head shop on my satellite photo... and assured me that not only John Griggs but also the notorious John Gale "...was good people"... while acknowledging the eventual subversion of the Brotherhood's original benevolent intentions. He also noted that he was personally responsible for arranging with the Weather Underground to smuggle Tim Leary to Algeria in 1970, after Leary managed to slip out of a minimum security prison in 1970...] and the vacuum bell - Tully's Coffee - Woodbridge  This will never happen again, I'm fairly sure, but I'm very glad it happened this one time. Jeremy and Jessi of I Hate You Just Kidding kindly accepted our invitation to join this J&W gig for one song, which we then expanded to several songs. We also drafted in mutual pal Will Morrison of The Vacuum Bell -- who played with J&W at Tully's last month. Just a few alienated space-age cowpokes and a few more spaced-out pokey space-aliens showed up for the show, but it was a big relief to me that it went off without any serious malfunctions. maa managed to catch video all of IHYJK's and Will's two songs. Suzanne, close friend of Will, made us a lovely poster, based a time-lapse photo she shot. I couldn't resist crafting another poster [above], after the fact, based on the space-cowboy image I used for the Facebook event notice. The OC Arts and Culture Weekend Update once again highlighted our show. 
It was a pleasure to back up Jeremy and Jessi's gentle and sometimes enigmatic songs. I used my Strat for lighter and brighter alt.chords, and lines, with a main objective of not getting in the way of the songs, which sometimes dropped to a near-whisper, with the notable exception of the powerful 'Good Times'.Will's directive, on the other hand, was "Let's rock this joint, guys!", and we proceeded to do very nearly that, with Will bashing out huge chords, and singing even bigger, with Jim smacking the little Laptop snare drum with brushes, and me switched over to the big AFS-75 hollow-body, overdriven and loud. One of Will's strengths, as Jim pointed out, is his sense of rhythm. so we were both able to really lean into his songs without confusion, and without getting in Will's way, by all indications. It seemed almost too much for this soft-spoken little cafe, but after listening to the video, I'm fairly sure that it must have just sounded very appealing to everyone there. In addition to Will's 'I Know Why #2', we played his new 'Adelaida', with its huge outro, for which I'd found something big just earlier in the day, and it seemed to work very well. Will threatened to take us on the road with him afterward... among other things... so I do believe he had a good time of it. We sure did. Jim & Warren then manfully finished out the evening on their own, leaning toward countrified songs like 'The Weight' and 'Hickory Wind' (featuring gorgeous new harmonies from Jim), but closing with long-standing favorite 'Four Seasons in One Day'. So we just did it... even though we'd played the night before at Borders SCP, and even though I had to get up at the unthinkably early hour of 8am, and even though Jim had to drive something like 50 miles from Dana Point, and even though the OC Music Awards were that same evening... and even though it was for three hours... (I was passing out from hunger halfway through). Jim's fingertips were sore. I've been practicing so much that it didn't bother me, but my right-hand fingertips were very tender, from all the hybrid-picking I do these days... so I had a great cross-picking workout. Regional Mgr Charles L. seemed to love us, and lavished us with coffee, muffins, scones and liter bottles of water. We played quite well, I thing... coming off several recent gigs... and we goofed off by extending intros and outros to a few songs into meandering 10 minute jam sessions... and when we took a coffee and muffins break, barista Joon chatted us up, and asked Jim if he could check out his lovely Gibson Songwriter... which he then played to great effect, including a very coherent set of open chords in E that got me very much involved, at the expense of my scone... Even the tip jar was happy, somehow collecting $20, which is still quite a lot for us. We received a very kind thank-you msg from Regional Mgr Charles L. the next day. If he asks again, though... it's going to coast him more than bread and water. It was really just a large handful of people that turned out for us -- Will M., Suzanne W., Lamia L., Allison A., Caleb & Karen C., Keith M., Tommy O. and consort -- but combined with people who just happened to drop in for a caffeine fix, the place stayed jam-packed all evening long. It's certainly the most people we've ever played for there, and it was reflected in an overflowing tip jar... tons of ones... and two solicitations for guitar lessons... It was not exactly an artistic triumph, though Jim actually sounded very good, but everything seemed more difficult than usual to me, and nothing sounded quite right, especially my guitar [do not change the string the night before a 'big' gig], though I felt better after awhile. The hardest part was not being able to sing very well, especially on my own 'Was Not There', thought it wasn't so bad on other songs, and especially on 'Four Seasons', which we closed with. I did have some good gtr playing stretches too, including in 'Gently Weeps' (George's birthday) when I was able to just relax and lean into the song... ...and we even had a special guest. When local singer-songwriter Will Morrison responded Yes to our event notice, I conferred with Jim and then asked Will if he'd care to join us, on my favorite song of his 'I Know Why #2' He said Sure Thing, so I sat down with his track the night before and sorted out a sixths-and-fifths part for it, which I was able to remember because I'm getting so familiar with those patterns (and because the song's in G major). We called Will up once his best friend Suzanne showed up. Jim handed over his big Gibson Songwriter, and shifting to bundle-sticks against pant legs ["Note to self: Playing bundle-sticks on your legs is much more painful than playing then on drums."]. Will blasted off without hesitation and just knocked it out of the park, slamming Jim's guitar much harder than I'd expected, and singing louder than me and Jim put together, and very expressively. I kicked in compression, overdrive, delay, reverb... everything I could find... and had a very musical experience surfing his melodious wave. We should probably do that again, and catch a good lo-fi video... Now if we could just get Luke to join in... and Sarah...! Afterwards, Lamia shocked our monkeys by revealing that she'd placed us in her OC Arts and Culture Weekly Update -- at the very top of the list, ahead of all the actual local indie rock stars playing that night (The New Limb, We Are the Pilots...). She also dropped a little Facebook update for us -- a bit late to boost attendance, but much appreciated nonetheless...  So now what... crawl back in the foxhole to lick wounds... or try to acclimate to the challenge of something approximating public performances...? Let's try doing both, and in that order... Our previous outing at Borders MV seemed just OK to me, so I'm dazed and confused that this gig seemed so very much better. An independent observer might be hard pressed to tell the difference, but it was night and day to my own little perception collection machinery. Mgr Leah was on it for us, relocating furniture, shutting down the UNIX-driven TV, dispensing cups of coffee and mocha, and generally letting us know how very welcome we are to be there. What an incredible contrast to how it used to be to play at this venue. Lot's of people in and out all evening, as many speaking Farsi as English, and many of them quite responsive... $9 in tips -- quite good for us... As we relaxed into the show, we got slightly carried away, and perhaps a little bit loud here and there, especially my guitar... so I asked Leah about that afterward.... and she assured us that it was never a problem... which makes me feel like this is just about the perfect place for us to play. Program highlights for me... 'Baby Blue', 'Heart Full of Soul', 'The Edmund and the Lucy', 'Hey Jude'... and the wacky little jam session we fell into early on... 
Highlights for me: 'Side With the Seeds', 'World Inside the World', 'Into the Mystic', 'Starman', 'Baby Blue'... The staff continues their campaign of kindness... "We love having you here.", said Leah, with a straight face. She must have meant it because she then gave us each a free sandwich! Much improved sound this time out, thanks to slightly reorienting the StageMate speaker (set up on a chair near the door) to face the back wall, which angeled its sonic beam somewhat more than 90 degrees to us, spilling some direct sound in our general vicinity. Last time out, we were hearing only sound reflected off the windows and walls, which just doesn't work well, especially for me. This time I could actually hear myself sing, and my mic wasn't feeding back nearly so badly... though we can hardly guess why that would be. My guitars (I brought the Squire Strat along too) never sounded quite right, but I acclimated, somewhat, after awhile. 
17 Dec 2009: Jim & Warren back where they started out -- Tully's Coffee, Woodbridge. Thanks, Leah! Dr. Shaw recently tipped me off that the nearby Tully's is having an "open mic" night, so I dropped by to ask about that, and met most gracious store manager Leah, who advised that she was really just signing up whoever was interested in playing for Thursday evenings. It turned out that all Thursdays from now through January are wide open, so we jumped right in. It certainly is more cozy in this little cafe than outdoors, as the mercury flirts with the low 50s. Leah and barista Elise made us very much at home, while tending to a nearly full-house, including the tall bearded guy we see frequently at N. Lake. They had cleared the carpeted area away for us, and we set Jim's StageMate near the door, pointing toward the big plate-glass windows -- a very different arrangement to what we're used to at Borders, where I set it (or one of the house spkrs) off to my right shoulder... which allows me to hear my guitar very well, and maybe even my voice. The sound was so different with this setup, that it made it very difficult for me to sing, and my guitar just sounded all wrong. Next time we'll try facing the StageMate straight toward the back of the store (as another msg reveals that we used to do there), and perhaps we'll try using my new Roland Mobile Cube as a monitor, since it has line inputs that should mate well to the StageMate's effects send. J&W have made some progress since 2004, apparently, at least in terms of song accumulation. Here's a proposed Tully's set list from an email msg dated Jan 2004: Jim... Look about right? I'm actually only reasonably confident down to 'Never Ending'. I'll keep working on 'Miss Misery' and 'Angelyne', and if you're comfortable with 'Perfect Day', I'll be able to play something along with it. Love Hurts | Four Seasons | World Inside the World | Peace, Love and Understanding | Cruel to Be Kind | Never Ending Song of Love | Miss Misery | Angelyne | Perfect Day | - WA Most of those songs are very much part of our current sets... but there's quite a stack of others, including newest addition 'Handle with Care' (Traveling Wilburys) The big crowd slowly melted away as the evening progressed, and toward the end of the line we were playing to ourselves, but it was still much more of an audience than we'd have at a typical North Lake outing. When we finally said goodnight to Leah, she said "You guys sounded great... you can play here anytime!"... and then she made us take some sandwiches home with us. OK... we're off to a good start...! Late in the program, Erin appeared and delivered what we took to be a tribute to our musicianship. "I have an announcement: It's almost 10 o'clock and the store is still full of people. ...I think it's you guys." Upon careful reflection... I suppose she may have meant it more as a sad commentary upon our inability to quit on time. In this particular case, however, I'm blaming it upon the Store Hours sign on the front door, stating 11pm as the Friday closing time, rather than the customary 10pm. This sign, Erin assures us, is wrong. One highlight for me: Lou Reed's 'Perfect Day', with its newly-condensed outro -- which still leaves us lots of time to have some kind of a wild rave-up... After much head-scratching, I reverted to the Forest & PCH intersection, and commandeered a section of concrete bench directly facing the ice cream shop. There's a big trash receptacle at left that sets it back slightly from the intense foot-traffic. Tentative solo Loop Station efforts proceeded unchallenged, so when Jim arrived we stood there, and launched in, at which time I turned up some, and then a fair bit... Miraculously, we remained unmolested -- except at some point the quiet music from inside the ice cream shop got a lot louder -- as if to say "Thank you so much for your music, and here's some of ours for you!" Little do they know, it's actually quite annoying... which might be the point, I suppose, except that their music is often (always?) very loud in the evenings. 
First shakedown of my new Roland Mobile Cube, which is quite a nice little rig, and which looks more like a boombox than a guitar amp (one of the reasons for selecting it), and which even has a separate mic channel... it wasn't obvious how to get it to sound Right this afternoon, though. It seemed to need some encouragement from my overdrive pedal, though part of the reason for buying it was to have a more pristine clean sound than the Pignose could ever serve up...[?] The acoustics at this spot are also very different than in our little alcove across the street.So where to play next time..?! I guess we just don't know. There's always The Alley up by Bouchard's Pharmacy, though it's generally well occupied, and we'd probably be displacing Richard, at least... and it seems too far away from The Center of the Action. There's also the other alley right off PCH, where we used to play... probably worth a shot again. Lots of people do stream by there, and there may be no one to complain, but we did get shut down there by the boys in blue, two years ago, for the same reason... There are two other factors that makes the above moot, as we learned from the Aussie-born police officer who dropped by to let us know that 1. Someone had called in a complaint about us. 2. A city ordinance prohibits the playing of amplified music on the streets -- not loud music, amplified music. He readily agreed that my guitar needs amplification to be audible, and seemed willing to consider that my guitar wasn't necessarily loud, while insisting that it was nonetheless amplified, and noting that best practices require equal enforcement of the law. I took his parting admonition to be constructive, especially considering that the gallery was due to close in a few minutes: "So, figure it out." So... we played on, first with the Pignose off, then on quietly, and then at normal volume. We saw our patrolman three more times as he made his nearby rounds, but he paid no further attention to us. Nonetheless, were we to set up in the same spot again, it seems inevitable that another call would be placed, and a peace officer would be dispatched. At some point, they might just run us out of town on the proverbial rail, or even arrange for to us spend the night in the slammer. Haven't done that in awhile... I also did a little opening show with the Loop Station... just playing along to the E B A B A progression I'd put down on Wednesday. There are any number of ways to play along with that, and a combination of 6ths and 5ths seems especially evocative. It got the attention of a couple of the locals, including mad melodicist Keisha, who pronounced it "hypnotic". It was hard to stop, but eventually I was just hearing too much repetition. 'Cerulean Blue' turns out to be another especially good candidate for looping, and I'm just scratching the well-known surface, obviously... Another visitor: a 40-ish woman pulled in by something that Jim was singing... ('Comes A Time', perhaps?). "You have a beautiful voice!" she exclaimed, to an abashed Jim. She pleaded for some CSN or Fleetwood Mac, but we served up 'Into the Mystic' instead, which she (and George R.) seemed to appreciate very much. She then told a wild story of how airplay was purchased for Guns 'n Roses' first hit 'Sweet Child of Mine' (instead of for a great song from her husband's band). She took our card, so I'm pretty sure that she's going to Put Us On The Map. 
As Jim pointed out, this was our first gig with a PA, (and our first Borders gig) in three months. In other words, we've been playing the Laguna Beats sidewalk gigs almost exclusively. So... it's very good to have a PA... as it sure helps with the singing... I'm essentially inaudible without one, and Jim finds it all-but essential on certain songs, notably 'Space Oddity' and 'Perfect Day'. Still, certain restrictions may apply, and we found ourselves sharing my AKG C-1000 condenser mic, which seems like a big step up from the typical dynamic mic to me, especially for my just-barely-there voice.Special guest: the unsurpassably good-natured Ms. Sarah Rohrer, who shot pics and video. We managed to recover (more or less) several songs that have eluded our attention lately ('Cruel to Be Kind', Side with the Seeds', 'Mary', 'Gently Weeps', and even the all-but lost 'Waiting In Line'...) ...and I think we managed pretty good takes on a few, including 'Let It Be', 'No Matter What', and 'Into the Mystic'. A highlight for me: a relatively tight reading of 'Space Oddity', with especially strong vocals from Jim. I dropped in early, thinking it might be righteous to run through a few tunes solo on tinwhistle before launching into the J&W program. It was a bit more challenging than I'd hoped to actually play the tunes correctly... the likes of 'Banish Misfortune' (asking for trouble), 'Blue Skies' (got it down). 'Red Red Robin', 'Greensleeves', 'The Wm. Tell Overture' (frightening), and a couple of other Irish tunes... but at least I don't have any special mechanical difficulty -- as I did before having my finger partly straightened-out. But then the gallery gal-manager appeared, clomping down the little stairwell to announce that the gallery had expanded on the 2nd floor, and that sound was really "echoing" in the rooms, and "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to relocate." This seemed like an all-but tragic development to me, coming on the heels of a similar suggestion at North Lake, of all venues. Perhaps because she seemed almost reluctant to completely ruin our career, I suggested, "Perhaps it would help if we made a point of not playing this particular instrument...!", thinking how silly that must sound, considering that one of our other instruments is an amplified electric guitar.... as she once pointed out to me... Against all odds, she replied, "Well... maybe that would do the trick...". Very shortly Jim appeared, and before long we were making a considerable racket, surely beyond any reasonable art gallery standards, and yet, she did not re-appear. Perhaps she could be my new girlfriend. ...and let's hope she never reads this. There certainly were fewer people pounding the pavements, despite how warm it was (I could not stand to keep my shoes on), which must have everything to with the cessation of both the Festival of Art / Pageant of the Masters and the Sawdust Festival (which spun off from the former in 1963 or so) -- which coincided with Labor Day Wknd. Richard MadLeod stopped to say hello, on his way to set up somewhere. I thought I might seek him out later, but didn't... A little family trouped by soon afterward, with musical instrument cases strapped to their backs... Now song: 'The Weight' - with us singing alternating verses -- inspired by the very good performance of this song by The Edge, Jack White, and Jimmy Page at the end of the movie 'It Might Get Loud' (it did). This song also reminds me of the Imaginary Sidewalk Band, which failed to launch a decade ago. It was to have been Keith, Dave and Jon Perry, and myself. ISB is just my pet name for this doomed project. Most memorably for me, Jim launched into a compelling riff from out of nowhere, which kicked off one of our best-ever jams, this time full of wonderfully off-kilter intervals and quirky rhythms... running on for 10 minutes, probably. When we finally wrapped it, we suddenly heard else was going on -- a chimey bluegrass tune from the musical family that was now comfortably set up on the corner, with an open mandolin case collecting money as if by some kind of magical theft. We'd been playing for more than two hours, so we closed out with 'Space Oddity', which seemed even more unreal than usual against the backdrop of 'Old Joe Clark' rolling out of the (loud) banjo. I felt like we were really putting the song over, though, and it reminds me of how much I love playing this song (and how hard it is to remember its not-exactly-simple chord progression). And then I sat down near -- but not quite right next to -- the family bluegrass band, and essentially had a little workshop in playing tinwhistle in the key of A major, not something I'm otherwise inclined to do. It was quite disorienting at first, but I just kept after it (quietly, so that the band didn't need to make a place for it), and I could feel the patterns starting to get 'printed', which is, in part, a series of images of what the notes 'look like' on the whistle... along with their numerical values, and what critical intervals 'look like'. Anyhow, it was a breakthrough, though I'd have to spend a lot more time there to really feel at ease in this key. Playing whistle is about as different from playing guitar as can be, which must be part of why I'm so attracted to it. More! Blawg of previous gigs: as far back as Aug 2004 
Gig pics:
Costa Mesa, 23 Feb 07
OurSpace is YourSpace... Be our friend on MySpace |
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A few LO-Medium-FI recordings... mostly live at Borders...
Not that old......
Jim & Warren's pretty good live cover of The Jayhhawks' Angelyne, 4 Aug 06.
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Free song one
:: Jim & Warren's medium-fi recording of the late Buffalo Springfield classic I Am a Child :: WA: lead vocal, acoustic guitar, tambourine. :: Jim: harmony vocal, acoustic guitar, harmonica. Recorded at JR's Flippen Way studio/den, 31 May 2004. WA's transcription of this song. |
Free song two
New! :: Jim & Warren's medium-fi recording of Rhett Miller's There is a World Inside the World :: Jim: lead vocal, acoustic guitar. :: WA: electric blue guitar, harmony vocal, harmonica. Recorded under a lucky star at the South Coast Plaza Borders cafe, Costa Mesa, CA, 3 Mar 2006. |
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Free song three
:: Jim & Warren's lo-fi live recording of Nick Lowe's classic (What's so Funny About) Peace, Love and Understanding :: Jim: 1st vocal, acoustical guitar. :: WA: 2nd vocal, electrical guitar, harmonica. Recorded dead or alive at the La Habra Borders Cafe, 6 Nov 2004. |
Free song four
:: Jim & Warren's lo-fi live recording of (Buddy and) Julie Miller's lovely Holding Up the Sky :: Jim: lead vocal, acoustical guitar. :: WA: harmony vocal, Ibanez AFS-75 electrical guitar, harmonica. Recorded on the spot at the La Habra Borders Cafe, 6 Nov 2004. |
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Free song five
:: Jim & Warren's lo-fi live recording of the Jim's poststructural space age instrumental Orbit :: Jim: rhythm guitar (Gibson Songwriter). :: WA: melody guitar (Ibanez AFS-75). Recorded while pretending to be a jam band at the La Habra Borders Cafe, 6 Nov 2004. |
Free song six
:: Jim & Warren's lo-fi live recording of Jim's blues-fringed and well-rusticated instrumental Gone :: Jim: rhythm guitar (Gibson Songwriter). :: WA: melody (slide) guitar. Recorded under duress at the La Habra Borders Cafe, 6 Nov 2004. |
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Free song seven
:: Jim & Warren's lo-fi live recording of the Jayhawks' Angelyne :: Jim: lead vocal, acoustical guitar. :: WA: harmony vocal, electrical guitar. Recorded anxiously at the La Habra Borders Cafe, 6 Nov 2004. |
Free song eight
:: Jim & Warren's lo-fi live recording of Lou Reed's scary Perfect Day :: Jim: lead vocal, acoustical guitar. :: WA: harmony vocal, electrical guitar. :: Cathy: additional vocals ("...do do do..."). Recorded deleriously at the La Habra Borders Cafe, 6 Nov 2004. |
A few mildly scandalous J&W Set Lists...
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