If I only had a Brain

I decided to practice a little last night for the One Man Band Show & I went to turn on my Bass Amp & It made a clicking noise but no sound. It would work for a second right when turned on but then something inside it would click & it would go dead.

I can't afford to worry about things not working so I decided to buy a new amp to replace it. I can still use the Cabinet from my Carvin Amp but will power it with this thing I bought today at Guitar Center. Jeremy over there in Guitars at the Westheimer Location helped me and was real cool about everything.

I took it home and plugged it in and it seems to sound pretty good. It has a button to push for active pickups & I like that & it has more tone controls than I had before. It also has a direct out that I can run to a PA System if I play in in a large venue that has it's own sound.

From what I could tell today, It does sound better than my Carvin. The Carvin was a good amp though. I bought it 3 years ago and it has seen quite a bit of work. Nearly 200 gigs & also used it to practice on also. It was a good value and I am not mad that it wore out. I may send the chassis to them and see if they can repair it.

The new amp is also slightly more powerful & has more effects. I don't know if I will use them but it basically has more features and was a good match to my existing speaker Cab.

Thats all I got for now. I will know more better how it sounds after the gig Saturday but I am pretty optimistic at this point.

2 votes for Kinky

I had the day off today from work so I decided to go ahead and vote early.


I heard the Repulican Radio DJs all talking about John Kerry but for some strange reason I didn't see his name on the ballot.

It felt good to vote so we celebrated by heading over to Katy Mills Mall and buying a couple of slices of Cheese Pizza. I have eaten there a few times before going to the movies & I know the trick is to ask them to stick it in the oven for an extra minute or two and burn the cheese a little.

We went over the the Movie Theater but I didn't see anything that was starting anytime soon that I wanted to see. We walked around the mall & went into the SPCA and looked at some cats & that was about it for our voting celebration festivities.

I also took a few minutes to fill out my KPFT listener ballot to elect board members. That was a little less fun. They had a statement from each canditdate and it didn't sound like any of them are hugely big on music.

All that voting has made me tired.

I guess I better take a nap.

Maybe I will eat a peice of chocolate.

No, I think I will wait til after I wake up.

Maybe I could have one peiece now and one when I get up.

Now you know what it is like to be wired into my brain.

If you gotta know all my business, I am planning to practice a little & then load up the equipment for tomorrow's gig in Conroe.

The Space that Belongs to Me

Hey,

I opened up a MYSPACE Bands Page.

I never thought I was a MYSPACE kind of dude but they allow songs to be posted for free & I thought I would try it out.

If you want to check it out go to www.myspace.com/marctwymanonemanband


I have four songs on there from the CD if you want to hear em.

OK,

Now get back to work!

The Positive Side

"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side." (Dr. Hunter S. Thompson)

I got that quote from the Blog for the Gavleston Music Scene web page. I don't know if it is completely acurate but I like the way it sounds.

This past weekend was a good one on the Strand. First of all, my old artist friend (that I am not really friends with) walked by and stuck his head in the Gravity Bar when I was playing. I spoke to him but he seemed a little shy to say anything back. Still it has been a while since I saw him and it makes me feel good to know he is still out there doing his thing.

Got a chance to chat with some of the other local regulars also & that was cool also.

There were a brother and sister that showed up right when I started playing & they ended up hanging out for about 4 hours. Roger & Lisa. They are from East Texas and Lisa told me that she had just lost her husband a month and a half ago & Roger brought her out to the island to help them relax. Seems like a pretty decent thing for a brother a brother to do but I got the impression that they enjoyed hanging out togeather anyway. They turned out to be "Good People" Roger had a few drinks along the way & was making quite a bit of noise & I think quite a few people actualy came in since it sounded like a real party. After about 4 hours he seemed like he had enjoyed a fair number of beverages and he started getting even rowdier. When ever someone would leave he would yell at them to "Tip the Band" at one point he went out in front of the bar and started hawking or whatever it is they call it when carnival people advertise on the street. He was actually giving people hell if they didn't come in.

He was trying to help me do good. I guess it is his nature. I never met him before and I really don't know him but I was touched by what he did. Not because I wanted him to harrass customers but becuase for whatever reason he was trying to do something to help me. It was cool thing to kind of hang out with these folks and it made me feel good that I could make them feel good for a few hours.

I was glad to have a good gig since last week was real Cloyster Fork if you know what I mean. I was playing downtown at a place that I will call the Dancing CockRoach & someone that was sitting at a table with the owner requested that I play a particular song & since I didn't know the song and never want to learn it I responded with some of my well test marketed humor. They didn't get it I guess and by the next song they told me to get the hell out & were extremely rude about it. I was scheduled to start at 10 and by 10:25 the show was over.

Instead of not paying me, They wanted to make the Phuc U official by telling the manager to pay me $5.

The funny thing is that these people loved to do news stories about how they were helping the New Orleans Musicans.

I guess they don't feel the same love to Houston Musicians.

Still they had been drinking & maybe it was just the liquor talking.

I did get to meet a very nice guy named Oscar who works there. He worked in the Kitchen and he gave me a tip and also offered to make me some food. He seemed upset that I didn't take him up on it. I really wasn't hungry at the time but what a hell of a nice gesture.


This my friends is why I lam on this Quest. I don't actually have a destination that I know of but I am loving the journey.

Out here there are no stars.

This is the land where the Pharoh died.

LC & KW

I normally don't watch the smooth jazz show that comes on channel 11 sometimes but I had it on earlier with the sound down & I noticed they were featuring guitar players.

I turned it up and it was Larry Carlton & Kirk Whalum doing a song called "Cold Duck"

I have a couple of Larry Carlton LPs but I would have never recognized him. He used to have long hair & now it is short and gray. I always thought he was a good guitar player but I never realized how he could really rip it up. He was doing some strong shit. It was a funk jazz kind kind of sound coming from the bass & drums. They had a keyboard player also but Larry was playing some serious blues riffs and his technical ability is amazing. Very Clean but still mean.

Kirk Whalum was wailing also but I didn't turn it up in time to hear most of what he did.


Thats all I got right now. Got work to do.

Memorial Drive

I stopped by the Shakespeare Pub Sunday night for a couple of hours. Not a whole lot of customers but there were a few musicians. I played a few tunes with the house band members but it was not the House Band set. Little Screamin Kenny was showing me a guitar that he is thinking about purchasing & he wanted to play it so he sat in. Spare Time Murry is also the host of the jam was playing bass guitar and MC, Matt, was playing drums. A dude named Flash came up after a while and played keyboards.

It was kind of a fun jam. I started out with a Screamin Kenny Standard, "Too Tall to Mambo" I had never played it before in a band setting but I knew the words from hearing him do it quite a few times over the years.

It was louder than what I would normally play & there was no monitor so it was kind of hard to hear the vocals but I am better at dealing with that than I used to be. It is just kind of wierd to have to imagine what something sounds like instead of actually hearing it.

I was playing through my 15 watt Fender Blues Junior & it wasn't really cutting through real well with all the other bigger amps but there was planty of music coming from all the other guys that it wasn't a big deal. It was probably louder than it sounded to me since I was standing in front of the drums.

There was a dude who played before me that just plugged his guitar into the house amp with out turning any dials or tuning it up. It was kind of funny that he almost didn't play becuase he couldn't get his guitar case open. Thats the kind of entertainment you can get at these jam sessions. I find it better than TV.

Even when a jammer is really bad. It can be entertaining. It is more entertainment if the are really bad or Bad enough to be good.

I know when I first started going to the Jam Sessions over 12 years ago, I probably provided some of that type of "good" entertainment.

I have seen some pretty good players show up at Jam Sessions. Over the years at the Shakespeare Pub I have seen Chris Duarte, Michael Williams, Carollyn Wonderland, Joe Guitar Hughes, & quite a few other notables.

OK I gotta go.

Carvin Amplifier

My fellow Earthlings.

How do you do?

About 3 years ago in December I sent off for a Carvin Bass Amplifier. It is a relatively small amp. 100 Watts and a 15 inch speaker. It has been a good value and I have gotten good use out of it. I use it to practice and have used it for all fom my live One Man Band Shows & also about a dozen full band gigs also.

The bass guitar that I use has active pick-ups. I didn't plan to have active pick-ups or even think about it. It just happened that the Bass Guitar that I ended up with has em. There are some electronics inside the guitar and it uses one of those square 9 volt batteries. I think it is becuase of the active pick-ups that I get feed back when the bass guitar is close to the amp. It wouldn't be as much of a problem if I played the regular way. At least I don't think it would. To deal with this problem I have to place the amp at a certain distance and it seems to take care of it. The problem with having the amp off at a distance is that I can not reach over and adjust the volume or tone during the song. & even between songs it doesn't really work to have to get up, walk over, and make adjustments.

It is what is called a "Combo" amp. It has the amplifer and the speaker in one unit.

I decided to build a box tha would hold the amplifer part and run a speaker wire to the speaker. It will allow me to place it on the stage and be able to reach over and make adjustments much easier during the gig.

Today I went to Home Depot and bought a board, some wood glue and some screws and made a box and it seems to work like that just fine. I haven't painted it yet. I was thinking of painting it black but I am not sure I want to take it apart and paint it.

It will be a big help at certian times. One exmaple would be when I start playing & the venue doesn't have alot of poeple but then a crowd starts to build up.

People actually have a big effect on the acoustics of a room/venue. They actually absorb some of the sound or deaden it a little & some situations there is a lot of chatter. In a situation like that I would need to turn up the volume on all the instruments.

I guess the other situation is if I run all the customers off and need to turn it down.

Tuesday night Blues Jam

Seems like they should call it Tuesnight.

Something about the Day/Night combonation.

It doesn't seem to work for Sunday. The Sun/Night clash is obvious so the rule of common sense would apply. I like FriNight & WedNight (pronounced WesNight) but Monday is still going to have to be Monday Night.

I willl see if I can organize group of scholars to make it official.


They have had a blues jam on Tuesday nights down the street at the Abbey Pub. It used to be called Jeff's Sports Bar but he sold it and the new owner re-designed it and tore out the bar and a wall and made open all the way accross the bar is on the side instead of the middle.

I got there after 10:30 & I think what was the House band was still playing but a jammer or two sitting in. There was a dude in the middle of the stage playing bongos but I couldn't really hear him. They had him miked but I think the bongos were not close enough. I found myself watching him play and imagining what it would sound like.

I didn't know the drummer but I met him and he was a nice guy. Larry (from all the House Bands) was playing Bass. He is really good. That is about the best way I know how to say it. The young guy they call AppleHead was playing guitar and Orq Hisown Self was also playing Guitar. I don't know Orq but I am a fan of his music.

Barry Felt was there, a drummer dude I have know for maybe 7 or 8 years from the Blues Jams. I think I met him at the Shakespeare Pub but he used to also hang out the Jam Sessions that the 420 Band hosted in NW Houston.

I got to play a few tunes with Barry & Larry. It was great fun. Barry is really getting good at the blues shuffle on drums & Larry is an absolutely fabulous Bass Player. He has played with some of the best acts around town.

There were a couple of other "Jammers" there. They got up and played guitar & Harmonica & sang several tunes & then it was over.

The Flapper

The other day I noticed that our toilet was running after it was supposed to stop. It is the same age as our house and is about 14 years old has been a good toilet. The only mechanical problem I had ever had with was when the arm inside the tank broke a couple of times. It is the one that connected to the flusher handle. I had replaced it a couple of times & finally broke down & bought the metal one instead of the plastic and it has held up great.

I looked inside the tank and realized that it was time for an overhaul. It had one of those bulb type floats hooked up to a wire arm & the part that is supposed to close up when it gets full had a worn out rubber washer/gasket. I went to my local Home Depot yesterday and purchased a kit with a new type of flapper and float design.

I started taking it apart and when I took a good look at the new kit, I realized that it didn't have enough parts and the ones it did have were not compatible with my old parts. Still, I went ahead and took the tank off and took it outside and washed it out with the hose.

Today I went back to Home Depot to return the kit I had purchased and get a more complete one that had all the parts. I was waiting to speak to the Home Depot associate and there was a lady who had a clogged toilet and was discussing what type of Drano to buy. The guy was trying to tell her that nothing he had was really good for the type of clog she was talking about but I don't think he wanted to say anything bad about the products they had to offer. She kept asking basically the same question over and over and he wasn't really coming out and telling her what he was trying to say so I spoke up and told the lady that a liquid plumber probably wasn't going to do the job & She could try putting a garden hose down the toilet and then get someone to turn it on while she had it crimped & let the pressure build up in the hose and give a few blasts and see if that worked. The Home Depot dude said that sounded like a good thing to try so she finally left.

I got the complete kit and returned the other one and when I got home from work today I was able to complete the toilet overhaul and am now back in business.

My life may not be completely in order but my toilet sure as hell is.

Saturday Day

I haven't seen "Gus", The old artist dude for several weeks now. I hoping all is going well for him. I don't know if he was an actual rent payer so he may have been run off by the powers that be on the strand. Some of the artists actually pay rent to shopowners and have a spot reserved every week. I will be back out there Saturday October 28th. If he is not out there, I will probably ask around a little & see if anybody has seen him. If I do see him, I probably won't talk to him all that much but since I may not be out there on the Strand until next summer, I may spend a few extra minutes bothering him. He seems to not mind the attention as long as he doesn't have anybody looking at his art.

It was my first time to play on a Saturday. Parking is free on Sundays so I assumed it was on Saturdays also. There were some folks putting money into the parking meter receipt/pass dispensor & I told them it was free on the weekends. The guy pointed to the sign that said "Mon- Sat" & I stood there and looked at it like the Dumber Dude from Dumb and Dumber. Then I went ahead and got me a ticket.

It was a good day for the Blues as far as customers during the day at the Gravity Bar. They had a band called D.R.U.M (Devine Rhythm & I don't remember what the other two letters stand for). They set up while I was breaking down. They were playing on the stage at the other side of the Gravity Bar where the actual stage is located. I was set up in an area closer to the strand sidewalk so there was no problem getting in each others way. I heard them do a sound check & They did Bob Marley's "War" & they sounded very good. I would have stuck around but I was exhausted & Still need to drive home.

Thats all for now. I have to run a few errands & get out and about & enjoy the nice weather.

Howdy

Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Or whatever the case may be.


It is a nice morning here in Katy Texas. The humidity is down a little bit and it feels good outside.


I just got my CD order back from Dallas. It is pretty much the same CD as I had before but I had a little mastering work done by Rock Romano & I also took one of the songs off that didn't really sound that good to me. I had recorded it using just the guitar only & it just didn't flow. Not that it was bad because it didn't have the bass & Drums. I just didn't get into the smooth rhythm. Maybe I wasn't tapping my foot & feeling it or something but I know it will be better when I do it next time. Besides, If a person is going to record a Robert Johnson song or song of his style, It really needs to be right. I th ink it was towards the end of the day when we did that one & It may have been that I was getting a little tired.

Brandon Shannon had really done me a huge favor and spent an entire Sunday setting up and recording back in December of 2005. He has now moved to Hawai and I need to drop him an email to see how he is doing. I met him when he was the sound man for the Armadillo Palace and he really is a good guy to know & hang out with.


The other cool thing that I had mentioned some time back is that when I contacted a local company here and asked about pricing of Duplicating/printing the physical CD itself, I got an email in response and it turned out to be from an old friend of mine from Dallas. It was complete fluke. I had been in contact with Marvin Shapiro from time to time but probably hadn't talked to him in a couple of years. He was a college friend of mine & we drank alot of beer & also did quite a bit of fishing at the local cow ponds & area lakes in East Texas.

It was great to have Marvin be involved in my CD & he really took care of me this time & I really appreciate his help but mostly it was cool just to have a reason to call him a few times and work on something togeather. If I ever get the money to make a DVD, I am going to ask him to do the camera part of it. It will probably be kind of expensive since I will need a sound recording dude and also the filming part and then have to get the sound part mastered and then edited to get the best parts. I really think that will be the best thing to use to show what I do so people can see the one-man-band aspect but also get to hear studio quality type sound.





Thats all for now.

Politics

I don't really watch that much sports anymore. I was Houston Oilers fan for a long time but when they up and moved it made me realize that it was really a business and the team didn't belong to the city or the fans. It kind of made me think about being a sports fan a little differently.

I was still rooting for the Houston Astros have another miracle comeback this season & I still will watch the rockets from time to time but it just isn't the same.

Yesterday, One of the NFL Players for Tennesse stomped on an oposing players head with his shoe and they had to give the guy 31 stitches. To punish the guy they suspended him for 5 games. http://www.breitbart.com/news/na/cp_f10029A.xml.html


I heard about the story on the news this morning and the newscaster dude said that it was a shame that children had to see stuff like this. I thought it was funny that alot more children were going to see it being re-played on the news in slow motion. It is kind of sickening to me when news people try to talk about caring about children or caring about Texas. They don't give a damn about anyone. If you think they care about you, wait til you are newsworthy & see how much they care. Do you want a news camera there pointed at you when you are being wheeled into an ambulance? Why do poeple need to see that anyway. Isn't it good enough to know someone got smashed up and may die or do you need a picture?

Speaking of caring about children. What about Congressman Mark Foley? He was on a committee to protect expoited children. I am sure he went to church every Sunday. Seems like the people who pretend to be the most moral turn out to be the wierdos.

Thats is another reason to trust Kinky Friedman. With a name like "Kinky" it is almost impossible that he will ever turn out to be a depraved pervert & even if he did he probably wouldn't be breaking a campaign promise.

Henry Ford

After an exhuastive research endeavor at the Entermazement Labratories, I have come up with an inovation to dampen the sound coming out of my Fender Blues Junior Guitar Amplifer.

Don't let the name fool you. It can still get pretty dang loud.

It is a tube amplifer. With tube amps you tend to get a better tone by turning them up at least a little bit.


I am using a dampening device that has polyester fibers tightly meshed into a flexible rubber backing. I place the fiber side towards the speaker & prop it up with the vocal mic stand.

It is hard to tell from the stage but it seems to be doing the job.

Another great thing about this device is that it also works well as the passenger side floor mat on my truck.

Warm WInd

If you hadn't noticed, It is pretty dang windy today. Not the cool breeze you would hope for at this time of year either.

Yesterday, I stopped by Bennos on the Seawall to get a Fish Poboy & the wind was coming in from the water pretty strong. It was sunny and not alot of clouds but all of the sudden it started pouring down rain. I have most of my stuff that really can't get wet in the front of the truck but I do keep the PA speakers and a my bass amp in the back but I put them in 55 Gallon Trash bags. I just slip the bags over the speakers & then I put a plywood sign over that. I specifically made it to use as a cover and a sign both.

I still don't like the thought of anything getting wet so I keep a Tarp in the truck also incase it is really bad. I ran out and started putting the tarp over everything and by the time I was done, It had stopped raining.

It tured out that one of the guys working in the kitchen was one of the dudes that I wrote about in my blog a couple of weeks ago that had come in late to Whiskys Pub. I think his name is Marino. He is a musician also and has a gig at the Balanese Room tonight.

It was good Po-boy. I was really just trying to order the sandwich but I guess it normally comes with French Fries, Cole Slaw, & Hush Puppies so I guess I got my carbos for the day in one meal.

On my way out to Galveston yesterday, I stopped by Rock Romano's Red Shack Recording Studio and picked up my CD. He had done kind of a Budget Remaster & eliminated some of the hissing noises, Cleaned up the begining and endings of songs & Did some minor EQ adjustments & took out some of the real low end bass. He also adjusted the levels of all the songs so that they are equally hot. The other thing I wanted to do was change the order of the songs on the CD so that there was a little more variation between tracks. I had all the slow ones togeather last time & I realized it needed to be changed.

It is mostly stuff that most people wont notice but it really does make the CD easier to listen to as a whole & I am really happy with it. There are a couple of songs in particular that it really made a huge improvement. Particularly the cover of "Wi nd Cri es M ary" It had a lot of hissing noise and he took it out using his super computer Pro Tools Skills.

I am not going to put Rock's name on the CD credits when I get more copies made and make a new CD Insert. It would look good to have the name of a known reputable studio on there but it is not really fair to Rock since he was doing just a couple of hours work & not really dong what would be considered "Mastering" the CD & it would not reflect what he could do on a proper budget.

I had given him the Green light to do 2 hours work on it and use his own judgement on what to do instead of me sitting down with him and doing it with him since I figured with the limited time, I would probably end up getting in the way and not much would get done. I am pretty sure he spent alot more time than 2 hours on it since I know just listening to the CD just one time would take up about half an hour alone. He did me a favor and I definitely owe him for that.


Thanks Mr. Romano, You Rock!

Smile

For the past couple of weeks, I have been video taping my shows. I was originally thinking of making a video presentation tape to try to use as promotional propaganda.

I bought the video camera when I fisrt strated the one man band but I didn't like the sound quality of the microphone. It was the cheapest one they had at Wal-Mart. It uses the smaller VCR tapes. The biggest problem is that it didn't seem to pick up the bass guitar sound.

I figured out recently that I could run the sound out wire through my mixer and then into the VCR & that does improve the sound quality a little bit. I can EQ it a little & take out some of the high end sounds & kick up also turn up the bass end a little. I am also placeing the camera closer to the bass amp so that it picks it up better. It would be nice if it had a Microphone input so I could hook up a better mic. One that is designed to capture sounds from the entire room.

It is a little more work to haul one more piece of equipent, set it up, and change the tape but it is very helpful to actually watch the tape & see/hear things from a different perspective.

I just wanted to keep you up to date on the lastest scientific methods here at Enermazement Management, Inc.


Happy Trails (to you)

Week Number 12

Well, Next week will be my 13th week playing the Sunday gig at the Gravity Bar in Galveston. We are kind of taking it week by week to see how it goes but it has lasted longer than I originally expected.

Today was kind of wierd though. I was out in front of the Gravity Bar putting up a "Live Blues" sign and a dude walked up and told me that it was a violation of the Sign Ordinance & I could't put it up. I asked him in what capacity he was telling me that & he said he owned two businesses on the Strand & one of them is a club down the street. He said a group of business owners had complained to the city and I was going to get cited. I told him that since he was the only one talking to me about it that it looked like he was the only one that had complained. He said that the sign didn't fit in and looked bad, etc. I wasn't feeling like really getting into it with him so I didn't confront him with the fact that his bar also features live music at the same time as my gig.


Wierd thing #2: There was another bar down the street (going east) that was having some kind of Bike Run. Not Motorcycles but actual bicycles. They got a group of people togeather and rode from bar to bar along the strand and surrounding area and stayed at each place for a little bit and then moved on. They had very loud whistles that they were blowing as they rode down the streeet. The Gravity Bar wias the last stop and when they got there they were pretty well liquored up & were very loud and were also blowing the whistles inside the bar. The whistles were peircingly loud table by table everybody else (all the paying customers) that was there before they came in, basically exited the bar. Several of the people in the bicycle group were wearing T-Shirts from the bar down the street & It almost seemed like a scene from Cheers where the poeple from Garys bar were visiting. There was this one guy in particular that was extremely rude. I remember thinking that he was the single rudest customer I had ever seen at a bar since I started playing live music. He was coming up by the stage and holding his hands over his ears and making a face and saying something about how my harmonica was too loud. The wierd thing about that was that it was about a tenth as loud as the whistles they had. After they cleared out the bar & were leaving, the one rude dude came right up to me and yelled a derogatory comment at me at the top of his lungs. He had been drinking but I had really had enough of his crap & I just looked right at him & I think he picked up that I wasn't going to take any more shit & he turned and walked out the door. I later found out that this dude was the owner of the bar sponsoring the bike run thing. His bar is called Poor Michaels. What an Asshole. I don't know what he was pissed about. Maybe it is becuase I was playing blues music & his club is supposed to be a blues bar. There is no possible way that a guy who owns a blues bar could possibly be a cool guy if he is out harrassing blues musicians just because they are playing at a bar down the street.


I really am amazed that on the same day, the actual owners of the two closest bars on strand street that feature live music both gave me shit & in such a direct way.

I guess it is thier way of letting me know that they have noticed that my gig has gone well. Thanks Guys.



Still, The whole thing seemed very strange. People are funny animals.

Really, Why the hell not?

http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/

I have noticed that Just in time for the November Elections, Gas Prices are Going Down & The Stock Market is at near an all time high.

I have made it a point to stay out of discussing politics lately but I can't see a good reason not to vote for this dude.

What better endorsement could you need than Willie Nelson.

Unless of course you are a terrorist.

Mose Allison

My friend Eddy gave me a CD yesterday when I played a the Gravity Bar. It was an extremely nice gesture.

I got a chance to listen to alot of it on the drive home from Gavleston & it is some pretty cool stuff.

Here is a link where you can hear parts of the songs on that same CD:






http://www.amazon.com/Allison-Wonderland-Anthology-Mose/dp/samples/B0000033AH/ref=dp_tracks_all_1/104-7534978-1738336?ie=UTF8#disc_1


Mose plays piano and does the vocals. It is some good music. Eddy told me he really like the lyrics and I agree.

I had to listen close to tell excatly what it was but he has this thing he does where he kind of scats along with the piano riffs but it is kind of like a growl (sort of) & is not real loud but it sounds cool as hell.

I looked at his discogrophy page and it looks like he has been recording since 1988.
Check him out for your own self.

If you like it, then you might be hip.

Zildjian

Howdy,

I was out last night to put up some flyers at the Vintage Bar for the show there Next Week. I was kind of excited to see that Hamilton Loomis is going to be doing a show there October 19th. I don't know Hamilton but I used to have his first tape which I won by being the right caller during a blues program on KPFT about 10 years ago.

It would be cool to see him in a setting like the Vintage Bar.
After that I had another errand to run and was driving by the Big Easy and saw Jeremiah Johnson's Truck parked out there so I snapped that it his regular night to play ther so I stopped in but they were just going on break. He has a guitar player and a Bass player plus him on acoustic guitar also & they are doing a sort of unplugged thing. I hung around and chatted with the band and waited till they went back on and listened to about 5 songs. It was good music & it always relaxes me to hear good live music. Jeremiah used to host a blues jam out in the Katy area at Einstiens and I went to it almost every Sunday night for about a year. It was good to see what he is up too and as I told him last night, He does good at what ever setting he decides to use. He does alot of good original tunes & he has one in particular that was very good. I don't remember what the tune was called but it was about what someone feels like after they kill someone. It was sort of a country sounding song ala Thunder Road but has a mix of alternative rock with the vocal riffs also. I am going to have to make it over there when I have more time so I can kick back and relax & listen to more of the show.

Today, I stopped by my local Katy area H&H Music store and was very upset to see that it is closing down. They got bought out and they told me that there is a very good chance that it will re-open after the liquidation.

I went in to get some picks and was planning to get two packages which cost about $4 with the starving musician discount. Most of the inventory is already gone so I had to look around and check the sale prices. I looked for a bass amp & also PA Equipment but most of it was gone. I found the 18" Zildjian symbol that I had been eyeing for the past year. It is a 200 & something dollar item (retail) & they had it for just over a hundred so I had to buy it. I really didn't have the money but I just couldn't pass on it.

I is very excited.

I am now going to go home for lunch and see what it sounds like. I would like to get a chance to practice with it a little before playing at Whiskys Pub in Galveston tomorrow but it really won't matter since I am used to hitting the 14" Zildjian Symbol that I alrleady have. I am sure that it is going to sound great.

The biggest thing I need to figure out is what configuration to use. I may just substitute it for the 14" symbol or if it sounds good enough, I might try using it with my drum stick contraption that I wrote about here a month or so back.

Or just come to a show this month and you can see for yourself. I have been playing alot in Galveston lateley but I do have some September Shows in Houston Also. The Vintage Bar on Thursday the 14th and The Stagshead Pub on Saturday the 23rd. Or come on out to Galveston on Sunday Afternoon and check out the Gravity Bar on the Strand or if you are out on a Thursday, I will be at Whiskys Pub tomorrow & then again in two weeks. Check the schedule on my website. If a gig gets cancelled, I will update it there.

So as Marvin Zindler always says, Good Golf, Good Tennis, or Whatever makes you happy!

Gus the Fireman

After about 10 Sundays in a row at the Gravity Bar, I am starting to get familiar with some of the vendors & artists that work on the Galveston Strand every Sunday afternoon. They probably work out there alot of other days but I am only there on Sundays.

There is one guy who does characatures that always will swing by while I am playing and say hello. The "stage" area where I play is near the entrance and the entryway. There is a metal hand rail type devider. He usually comes up there and leans on the rail and gives a smile and a wave.


There is another guy who lives in an apartment up above the Bar & he sells his art right on the sidewalk. He just leans it on the building near the entrance of his apartment. I don't talk to him that much but he says hello and we have chatted a couple of times. One time his painting fell over and I picked it up & he seemed to appreciate that.


There is another guy who is a bass player that lives up in an apartment. He is usually sitting out on a bench at some point and we chat a little but it is his home so I try not to invade his space too much. He has come in and listend to me play and also come by Whiskys Pub also.

There are also the people that give the horse carriage rides. I have chatted with some of them usually about how business is.

The one guy that I have talked to the most is an old feller & a nice guy. He just sets up on the sidewalk and paints and sells his work. He smokes a pipe and has some pretty thick lenses on his glasses.

Since I had changed the format of my show and been doing the marathon gigs, I have not had a chance to chat with him for several weeks. This past week it was real busy all day but I was able to take a break at about 7pm and walked over and visited with him for a little bit.

It was nice to see him and we talked for a minute and I started to realize that he might have had a drink or two. He was pretty well lit up. He told me that he had played guitar with Willie Nelson & he sang me a couple of old country songs. It was a great time. I really was feeling good about everything and told him I had to get back and play some more.

A few minutes later, He had made his way over to the Gravity bar and I ran into him outside. He had decided that he wanted to play a few tunes and wanted to use my guitar. Not one of my favorite requests to say the least but after 3 years of playing in Bars, Clubs, pubs, taverns, pool halls, Ice Houses, & other premium venues, I have learnt how to deal with these type of situations & handled it about as smoothly as I could.

Overall this past Sunday was a pretty good day for the Blues.

I am thinking next week will be more of a challenge since there will probably not be as many people out on the strand but it is not easy to predict those kinds of things. I am just happy to have the gig. The customers are generally in a good mood and there is a wide cross section of what I like to call Humanity.


I have done extensive market research and figured out that Humanity is my target market.


Oh yeah, I hated to hear that the Croc Dude got killed. I liked that guy.