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Friday, January 23, 2004 6:40:40 PM
Yesterday the band returned to the mezzanine of Ned's Bookstore across from UC Berkeley. We (John, Justin, guest drummer Michael Pinkham, myself) were entertained by the parade of students waiting in line to buy books, as we were entertaining them (we hope -- the applause was a good sign!). This gig is fun and as I said to the crowd yesterday, looking down on them while we play reminded me of the positioning of the band behind The Blue Man Group in Vegas, which is a great mental image to hold while percussing in Echo Beach. In yesterday's gig I played more rototoms than I have in a long while. Some of that playing was trading drum licks with Michael...fun! I also played a lot of shaker / ganza parts and of course, a load of marimba parts (my main thang). No synth playing at Ned's, the space is too small to set up the synth :-). I snuck in vibraslap in "So What" and elsewhere. Justin alternated between standup and electric bass.
Wednesday, January 21, 2004 10:53:50 AM
Yesterday's set at Ned's Bookstore was: "Morning/Midday", "Key West Intermezzo", "Girl From Ipanema", "Sharkbeat/Merengue", "Fall", "Viva Tirado", "Killer Joe", "Delicate Creature", "Jamaican Sun", "Blue Bossa", "Afro Blue", "Tune Up", solo marimba piece, "Place To Be", "Footprints", "Wave", "One Note Samba", "Cal's Pals", "Vagabond Virgin", "So What", and "St. Thomas"
Tuesday, January 20, 2004 9:38:34 AM
Today's the first day of the term for UC Berkeley and we're playing a gig at 4:00 across from the campus at Ned's Bookstore. Percussionist John Ulloa is playing today's gig with us.
Friday, January 09, 2004 5:31:24 PM
I've begun writing (mentally) the set lists for Echo Beach's January gigs, the goal being to play as much new material as possible within the limits of rehearsal time. We'll have some new players sitting in with us this month.
Sunday, January 04, 2004 12:00:49 AM
Over the holidays I began studying William Russo's book Composing For The Jazz Orchestra which I found at Borders, and in my synthesizer I laid down a marcha/frevo rhythm track notated by Airto Moreira in his Listen and Play book, for use in composing a new tune.
Friday, January 30, 2004 10:18:51 AM
One of my favorite bands of '03, Amphibians, has a new track, "Cabone de Dounier" on garageband.com. Foo Fighters meet The Beau Brummels, I'd say. Great chorus, great use of wahwah pedal. Hot stuff once again from these air/water inhabitants; and garageband reviewers have rated the song 5 out of 5 stars so far.
Thursday, January 15, 2004 3:35:08 PM
Tuesday, January 13, 2004 10:19:58 AM
Good internet radio at KEXP from the University of Washington. KEXP is tied somehow to the Experience Music Project (I'll have to read the website to learn more). A nod to Pete Beck's blog which is where I found the link to KEXP. Pete's a musician who's got some commentary goin' on related to his own musical past and the musical world at large. And he's a Bay Area guy.
Thursday, January 08, 2004 5:13:41 PM
I like garageband.com as a place to check out indie music
Friday, January 30, 2004 1:23:12 PM
Wednesday, January 21, 2004 10:56:12 AM
Yesterday: Steps Ahead - Live In Tokyo 1986
Tuesday, January 13, 2004 10:23:23 AM
The Sutherland Brothers and Quiver - Very Best Of on CD
Monday, January 12, 2004 12:36:46 PM
Yesterday: Steps Ahead - Modern Times on CD
Friday, January 09, 2004 5:33:06 PM
Terje Rypdal (gtr, flute, kybd, composer), Palle Mikkelborg (trumpet, flugelhorn, kybd), Jon Christensen (drm, perc) - Descendre side one in vinyl
Tuesday, January 06, 2004 6:10:23 PM
Led Zeppelin - sides 3 and 4 (I think the songs on side 4 make a better side 3 but they didn't ask me) of Physical Graffiti on vinyl. As unoriginal as some of Zep's song concepts were (and in many cases, as blatantly as they ripped off blues artists), the performances and the sound rendered the stealing pretty irrelevant most of the time. This album has a mix that slants toward the truly original with a large "pinch" (pardon the pun) of the heavily borrowed, all of it well orchestrated by John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page. A saving grace: Page and Robert Plant would be the first to tell you from whom they borrowed their ideas. A very entertaining album and I didn't even get to hearing "Kashmir" or "Trampled Underfoot" this time around.
Thursday, January 15, 2004 9:47:28 AM
After last night's 9 - midnight Echo Beach rehearsal at our space in South City: in 25 years of rehearsing where the band I'm in is surrounded by bands rehearsing in a very loud, very aggressive style, I realized last night that I'm able to tune that stuff out and only hear what my band is playing -- a very useful skill. Strange that I never thought about it before.
Wayne Shorter's "Fall" was worked into the setlist last night. This bass-led ballad brings out some new textures in our sound. Also, Justin is playing upright bass a lot these days which personally I'm enjoying hearing a lot. And speaking of Wayne Shorter and Justin, our arrangement of Shorter's "Footprints" now has a radically different bass line than previous, using Justin's invention of a new one. It's angular and tangular. I made up that word.
The band has a busy week ahead: photo shoot and rehearsal Sunday, and gigs in Berkeley on Tuesday and Thursday.
Thursday, January 29, 2004 11:27:30 AM
Here are some great pictures of Airto Moreira and his percussion setup at the drummerworld website.
Tuesday, January 20, 2004 9:39:45 AM
Today's email from the Cheap Trick maillist announces that they've released "My Obsession" as a single. Good move CT!
Sunday, January 04, 2004 12:01:17 AM
All opinions listed here are strictly my own. Live shows listed are ones I was in the audience or on the stage for.
List 1: Best CDs Released in 2003
List 2: Best Tracks Released in 2003
List 3: Best CDs / Tracks Released This Century and Frequently Heard in 2003
List 4: Best Albums and Tracks Discovered or Rediscovered in 2003
List 5: Best Live Performances (Instrumental and Dance)
List 6: Best Live Performances (with Vocals)
List 7: Best Performances by Echo Beach
again, strictly my opinion -- the other guys may have had different favorites
thanks again to Darrell Green, Al Carlson, John Ulloa, Mark Stephenson, Frank Ellis and Scott Mason for sitting in with us in 2003, and to Steve Pompeo for nine years at the drumset and for recording Demo 2003 with us.
List 8: Best Music on TV
(Bonus entry: Wasted opportunity for an in-depth musical interview: Charlie Rose interviewing Lindsey Buckingham)
List 9: Most Overused Video and Music Cliches
List 10: Artists Most Missed
Tuesday, January 13, 2004 10:25:07 AM
Yesterday: Disc 2 of the Springsteen Barcelona DVD. The second time I watched the mini-documentary "Drop The Needle And Pray" (great title), the video broke up several times. Strange. Except for the fact this this DVD player was dropped to the sidewalk several times during a change of dwellings in 2002. Even since then the player has never shown a problem, but perhaps the time has come. On the other hand, disc 2 of this set is the disc with reported problems, so maybe Columbia Home Video is to blame. Time will tell.
Monday, January 12, 2004 12:41:26 PM
I returned the Springsteen Barcelona DVD package to Tower; they exchanged it; in the replacement package, both disc 1 and disc 2 play fine.
Friday, January 09, 2004 5:33:56 PM
On DVD - Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band Live In Barcelona, disc 1. Disc 2 doesn't play and I was warned by the clerk at Tower Records that there have been numerous customer returns because of disc 2 defects.
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