art of the jam 12
not many ppl showed up for the jam at the wreck room this week, in spite of the fweakly having given it a mention in "hearsay." (i'm allergic to newsprint, but jam-meister lee allen read it to me in the bar.) mariani...i mean, _hearsay_ said that jon teague was the regular drummer, even though damien stewart was playing on the cd-r he heard at j&j's hideaway, but i guess jon played the first couple of weeks before i started going, so whatevah. (writers: tits on a bull, y'know whut i mean? ha.)
james hinkle showed up to play again, with a gift of peacock feathers for all the musos, and this time he brought his _pedalboard_, along with his goldtop les paul. he uses devices the same way he does everything onstage: with impeccable taste. he was in a traffic frame of mind, having just copped an anthology cd that andre edmonson spun from the booth during the break, and he wanted to play "dear mr. fantasy," a staple of jammers since time immemorial, but in the event, he wound up "refusing the obstacle" when it came time to sing it. (i suggested playing it in b-flat, since that seems to be his key for a lot of things, but he said no -- you wanna have that open e string for the signature lick at the end of the cycle.) still, my wife said it was the best song we played that night -- proof positive, as if anymore were needed, of the difference between what the muso and the listener experience. maybe her reaction had to do with the two solos james played, in (unconscious?) homage to traffic's two axemen -- one sweet and lyrical like dave mason, one ripping off big hunks of meat like stevie winwood in his pre-beer salesman daze.
steve huber had to split to run home and get _his_ pedalboard, but as it turned out, he mighta been better off leaving it there, since his sound was plagued by squealing (unintentional) feedback all night long. myself, i don't see why a violnist would wanna use f-x at all -- i mean, shee-it, half of those boxes are designed to make gtrs sound like violins anyway, aren't they?!?!? i think one week we should have a jam where all the stringed instrument players run straight-through-the-amp. ultimately, it's all about fingers-on-strings, y'know? all that other stuff is just icing on the cake (although i do love me some icing sometimes).
oh yeah: steve brought his gtr, too. it's a jackson. um, it was his birthday and shit, hokay?
my fave moment: lee _singing_ the george clinton monologue in the middle (_not_ at the beginning) of "maggot brain."
new songs played included "rocky mountain way" (by request, with hinkle slithering around on slide) and "helter skelter" (with me watching lee for the changes), a jazzy hinkle toon called "blues walk," and the usual funky stuff quotient. joe cruz has already said he's taking next week off (rehearsing for his premier gig with villain vanguard, at the black dog on friday, august 19th), but damien says he'll be back, which means we at least have the option of playing "manic depression" again.
earlier that week, on tuesday, august 16th, hinkle's got a gig at club jaguar at 1100 s. riverside. poet/bluesfan supremo wes race is promoting the gig and it looks to be good dirty fun on a par with the swing club at evans and allen back when lady pearl (r.i.p.) used to hold forth there. myself, i'm hoping hinkle can coax his regular keyboard player robert cadwallader out to the wreck one night. just take him to benito's and feed him the cheese chili rellenos, james; that should be the ticket. double beans, no rice.
james hinkle showed up to play again, with a gift of peacock feathers for all the musos, and this time he brought his _pedalboard_, along with his goldtop les paul. he uses devices the same way he does everything onstage: with impeccable taste. he was in a traffic frame of mind, having just copped an anthology cd that andre edmonson spun from the booth during the break, and he wanted to play "dear mr. fantasy," a staple of jammers since time immemorial, but in the event, he wound up "refusing the obstacle" when it came time to sing it. (i suggested playing it in b-flat, since that seems to be his key for a lot of things, but he said no -- you wanna have that open e string for the signature lick at the end of the cycle.) still, my wife said it was the best song we played that night -- proof positive, as if anymore were needed, of the difference between what the muso and the listener experience. maybe her reaction had to do with the two solos james played, in (unconscious?) homage to traffic's two axemen -- one sweet and lyrical like dave mason, one ripping off big hunks of meat like stevie winwood in his pre-beer salesman daze.
steve huber had to split to run home and get _his_ pedalboard, but as it turned out, he mighta been better off leaving it there, since his sound was plagued by squealing (unintentional) feedback all night long. myself, i don't see why a violnist would wanna use f-x at all -- i mean, shee-it, half of those boxes are designed to make gtrs sound like violins anyway, aren't they?!?!? i think one week we should have a jam where all the stringed instrument players run straight-through-the-amp. ultimately, it's all about fingers-on-strings, y'know? all that other stuff is just icing on the cake (although i do love me some icing sometimes).
oh yeah: steve brought his gtr, too. it's a jackson. um, it was his birthday and shit, hokay?
my fave moment: lee _singing_ the george clinton monologue in the middle (_not_ at the beginning) of "maggot brain."
new songs played included "rocky mountain way" (by request, with hinkle slithering around on slide) and "helter skelter" (with me watching lee for the changes), a jazzy hinkle toon called "blues walk," and the usual funky stuff quotient. joe cruz has already said he's taking next week off (rehearsing for his premier gig with villain vanguard, at the black dog on friday, august 19th), but damien says he'll be back, which means we at least have the option of playing "manic depression" again.
earlier that week, on tuesday, august 16th, hinkle's got a gig at club jaguar at 1100 s. riverside. poet/bluesfan supremo wes race is promoting the gig and it looks to be good dirty fun on a par with the swing club at evans and allen back when lady pearl (r.i.p.) used to hold forth there. myself, i'm hoping hinkle can coax his regular keyboard player robert cadwallader out to the wreck one night. just take him to benito's and feed him the cheese chili rellenos, james; that should be the ticket. double beans, no rice.
posted by stashdauber at 6:02 PM
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