This Week

This week was a bit weird with gigs in the week but none on the weekend (besides Sunday morning for me). Tuesday was Shadowbox Live playing at the Bistro with Shaw Brothers. Great gig, the monthly Tunesday Tuesday thing has only been going for two months so the crowd was not huge. I've been to comedy nights and they have a great crowd it just needs time to build. The audience was so attentive and we sold like 4 cds. Thursday was Franklin Park Conservatory for their Valentine's dinner which was also great. They had like 300 reservations so it was insanely packed. People were just lined up rolling in this place. Normally this thing is like "background music"..at least that's how most musicians play it but not us. We play almost every gig like it's a show so several times through out the night we had an audience crowd around and listen and clap and even take video. It's a great feeling to know people appreciate you and the tips showed it as well. On Friday I played my first solo violin gig in a while at The Capital Club downtown inside the Double Tree hotel. It was super fun and I used a looping pedal out for the first time that a friend let me borrow. I created little symphonies for the people sitting. Been working on different songs I can use for a looping set including Aint No Sunshine When She's Gone, Amazing Grace, Eleanor Rigby, kind of all over the map mixed in with some classical sounding stuff since it was a (rich person's voice here) >>fancy schmancy<< dinner. I love two hour gigs with a break, actually I prefer a little longer..I ended up playing about 20 minutes over. Nice and easy and then I could go do other things. That night I think we ended up going to Barrel 44 to eat and then Brothers Drake for Billy Zehnal's Playhouse which was fun. I walked in and I thought it was a cd playing..which I think is a compliment to a band that plays house *woah...playhouse* and dance type music. Carlos Fisher kills it on drums playing with triggers, loops, and playing keyboard/synth (I think) while playing drums at the same time and never missing a beat. Saturday was Dick's Den for Ooh La La's and Circus of Cool. My lady did really well of course, everyone had great things to say about her performance as always :) Matt Paetsch, Jim Maneri, and Joe Nelson playing some jazz in the breaks and behind spoken word poets. I love when I get to see spoken word poetry even if it is ALL about vaginas....almost all the poets did lady parts poems..I loved watching Michael Cundiff (wearing a giant purple fuzzy jacket on top of a fuzzy leopard shirt) go up to Jim Maneri before he read and said "funny but not TOO funny"..and they improvised it spot on while he did his poem about different kinds of "pussy"...I guess it comes with the territory?? Then Sunday night I decided after church, nap, dinner at moms, to not go home and to venture out. Though I've hung out at Double Happiness and loved it, I had never seen a show there and knew it probably wouldn't be a ton of people I knew there (unlike Hoodoo my normal Sunday spot if I go out). Plus, hanging at a bar by yourself is always kind awkward but fuck it. I saw the Facebook event and saw it was a BenCo show so I assumed there'd be a decent crowd and it was DoneWaiting's 10th anniversary (apparently they're going to print only?) so it was packed. Time and Temperature was first and she was just great. I have a cd of hers but hearing her live is way better in my opinion. She actually had a backing band (which I've heard is really rare for her) including Sharon (aka Counterfeit Madison) of Trains Across The Sea/Apes fame. She is soo nice and a wonderful musician. Val also had upright bass, drums, and violin backing and no one got in the way of her great finger-picking-soft-indie-folk. The Connections were next and to be honest I didn't really care too much for them. I have a feeling they are inspired by bands like The Ramones. They weren't a bad band just not my cup of tea, and I hate to sound like an old man but they were simply too loud for that room. Everybody plays the same rhythm, nothing fancy, no solos (I don't recall), it's definitely raw, but every once in a while I need a little guitar flourish or riff to keep me going. Again, not my cup of tea doesn't mean I think they aren't good. Next was Sinkane whom I've heard about through various sources. He was in Columbus and moved to Brooklyn and it seems his career has taken off. The first song was a pseudo reggae/dub groove that just made the room pulse. Mostly instrumental for the first song the bass just grooved hard over guitar (with heavy reverb and or delay), drums, and keyboard. It was loud but loud where it filled the room not pierced your ears. There were a couple songs I saw that were in odd meter, one in 6 and one in 7 I believe. Very rhythmic, groove oriented stuff with harmonies over top gets me every time. I'd say these guys fit in with a lot that's going on right now with the retro thing popular (I guess it always is yeah..just depends on the decade) Black Keys, Gary Clark Junior, but with a twist of Fela Kuti mixed in. That's what I got from the short time I was there. I really dug what they were doing.  Really trying to go out and see music these days it's good inspiration especially with all the great bands we have in town. Fun week.