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At a time when I was in the midst of my own music career on the local and regional level, I happened across another working musician/singer in DC area, one of many that I stopped to listen to in passing.
The difference in this shy mellow young lady, was she had it,... the gift, or whatever name you choose to call "it". Her it was the opposite of mine, where me being a rock/metal musician, the it was the roar of emotion & the electricity coming from a crowd giving back what you are making them feel.
Her it was her ability to hush a crowded busy room, not with her stage presense, her looks or moves, but merely the first three angelic notes that eminated from this little body. There was no bustle of convos in the background, no reckless clinking of glassware, even the most blowhard obnoxious drunks were silenced without being confronted, the only intervention being that voice. A Siren if you believe such a thing.
Eva made quite the impression, the one where I immediately recognized that she wasnt where she belonged, and that I would no doubt see her again without having to look for her, because the next time she would be brought to me through her own notoriety.
Such wasnt the case, not because it wasnt recognized, it was inevitable that word would get out, and soon record labels came from near and far sniffing about. It was her diversity, her wide selection of genres that she covered/remade, and her insistance on remaining that way, versus the wooing reps determination to bottleneck her into a one genre single faceted pop music product. Thier idiocy that they would walk away from such a force based on just that, represents everything that I remember despising about the biz.
For that also, Eva remains one of my guilty pleasures to this day, and I am avenged still when I hear of her local CDs moving up thru charts in other countries that are just now discovering her, now 17 yrs after her death in 1996.
Yesterday, was Eva Cassidy's birthday. And with the greatest gift of all being legacy, I wanted to take a moment to pay tribute to her, and everything that would have been, should have been, and with no help inevitably was and still is, and will no doubt continue to be.
Was reading the news of Andy Griffith passing, and kinda reflecting for a moment at another figure from childhood passing on, reminding of how much time has as well.
He was often spotted about the outer banks (coastal carolina islands), and I would see him here n there as a kid. He was pretty much a resident and actually got his start right down there in the continual running play The Lost Colony, depicting the disappearance of the settlement in Manteo if anyone remembers that from history class.
Sidebar..My uncle was VP of one of the iconic boutique shopping meccas there called the Galleon Esplanade, which was booming plaza centered around an actual spanish galleon, so whenever I was with my stepgram down there it was routine to stop in and see him. Alston was very.. I guess what folks call metrosexual now, he was the spitting image of Tony Orlando lmao. He had a killer pad with all the latest of technology, Bang & Olfson audio, nice toys etc, and was involved with beauty pageants and sorts of stuff, so naturally was wowed as a kid at how well to do he was.
He and his boss were personal friends of Mr Griffith, golfing buddies etc, so he often stopped in there as well, and was the first place he ever spoke to me. My gram and I were walking into the plaza and I had already done a doubler take at the tall man walking beside us, and was already turning it over in my head as to whether it was him or not. He had high water dungarees on, barefoot, tattered sunbleached tshirt, hair all windblown...so it seemmed kind of surreal, until my gram spoke right up "Well good morning Mr Griffith!" lol.
Obviously not wanting to draw attention, he offered a deep abrupt "Hi", and returned face forward and hastened his gate a bit on ahead of us. As he strutted on and turned toward the admin office I saw him glance back at us making the same turn, to which he raised his then jet black brow, as if to say in his head "to be sure theyre not following me into the management office". And he disappeared thru the door.
Soon in tow, we came in made our way to the HQ nest where he was standing talking to the receptionist and pointing in the direction of the entrance hall. I never forget his expression when he saw us, part disbelief that we had the nerve to follow him in there, and to this day I wish I could have heard what he was about to say....but as he took a breath to speak, he uttered just a piece of a word, when my uncle walked out of his office, threw his hands up and bellowed welcomingly "Mom!"....heheheh. I never took my eyes off of Griffith, and I watched him deflate and drop his arm and kinda look at the floor to reset himself. And he did that all to familiar sigh that Ive seen him do on TV so many times.
And what was cool after that was the event left a mental tag with him, whereas he didnt know my name but he knew who I was. So in the sporadic chance meetings thereafter, Id get get an acknowledgement, a wave and a hi or hey buddy, which was cool stuff for a little kid.
Anyway, just made me think about it, so I thought Id write it down as my rememberence of him.
Been three yrs since the last festival was washed off by a hurricane, was great see things get back up and running.
Day of debauchery as expected. All the bands were good, some better than expected.
First time hearing Art of Dying, was impressed enough to seek out some listening after the fact.
Was cool to here all the ole GNR tunes with the mainstay member Slash, minus fuknut Axel, plus better singer/cooler guy Miles Kennedy.
FFDP was tight. Pretty cool stage set with truck grills all welded together in front of the amps. They stopped in the middle of the show, and dude said "Im having a hard time continuing while seeing these little faces squished between all you grown up fukers...lets fix that right now." So he had the roadies pull all the kids out and bring em onstage. Pretty cool.
Sidebar to that...I watched the guitar player pick out these two chics from the crowd and motion for them to come around side, and the roadies helped them up and led off to backstage. So of course, everyone over this section of the crowd starts chanting "Two chicks, at the same time! Two chicks, at the same time!". But..... after the show, coming in the VIP area I saw them again, but they were with different members of the band, one being the singer. I didnt wanna be a douce and bother him with a photo op as they were obviously trying to chill and blend in. So I just fistbumped him and told him the show was precision, to which he quipped right on brutha, and mentioned i had a fly ass goatee lol.
I didnt realize the irony of fistbumping the singer for Five Finger Death Punch until I was on my way home lol.
Shinedown sounded great, and had forgetten just how many radio hits they have, recognized more than I thought I would. But....they simply used too much backtracking and harmonizers. There was way too much going on soundwise for the instruments they had onstage, and at times I was hearing upwards of 6 voices with only 2, sometimes 3 actually singing. That stuff is okay in moderation to provide a nice backdrop "wall of sound", but they just got carried away with it as the night went on and it started sounding kinda synthetic.
Every show has that one lingering song that hangs with ya afterwards, that you remember best for whatever reason, being how well it was done, or amount of crowd participation, or both.
So I have to say that tip of the hat goes to this chic from Halestorm, and this tune below. Maybe because it was a ballad and you could hear the crowd better, I dunno, but it sounded like a chorus of all 30 thousand doing their part. To me was like she actually held back on the studio version, or she had to kick it up to get up over the crowd, whatever the case, she took that shit to the top of the fukin hill and brought it hard. =)
Was organizing some ole band stuff, and ran across a recording of me playing at a wedding years ago.
It all started with kind of a long running promise. My friends Kim n Dave, had prodded me early on " If we get married, youre gonna play our wedding right? I want a rocknroll ceremony!".
I always kidded around, saying "ahh yea, sure, why not" thinking it would pass as just as kind of a joke. Well, theat time came, and Dave hit me up again. "Are you serious?" I asked. "I cant go blasting out all the grammas and aunts, not everyone is gonna have a taste for that."
"Nah man, you promised! Just do it all Jimi Hendrix style, tear it up brutha!" says Dave, not letting go of the issue, and making feedback sounds whilst playin air guitar..
I finally conceded "Well, tell ya what, lemme work on it. I will try to come up with something that will perhaps appeal to everyone, and still get your rock element that you want."
So I broke out the 4 track and tried to put together an arrangement. I needed to think about timing, so made big intro for when the bridesmiads and fellas would be walking down, and then ran that into my version of Here comes the bride.
I laid down some keys for background fiill, for me to solo "live" over top of at event, and then forthe bridal march I laid down an acoustic track, and then the background harmony lead of the melody, of which I would play the higher harmony part "live" along with it.
So everything that you hear, is me playing. All the guitar solo stuff is live, with the aforementioned stuff running on my 4track in the background. This is the recording of the whole thing at the wedding. I aptly named it The Edge of Forever.
I was approached afterward by several of the elders, sayin they had heard what Dave had planned and wasnt sure what to expect from a heavy metal guy, but that they were pleasantly surprised by how it turned out. It was a proud day for me.
Being as the recording was on tape, I thought I'd better go ahead and transfer it digital before something happens to it, as it is the only copy in existence. So thats what I did today. Now that I have it on the computer, I thought I might share with you all.
I hope ya enjoy. :) (h)
(I'll put in comments too in case the blog editor shreds the code)
Did a few recordings with the phone Sunday night at the Alterbridge show. As phones go, they dont do so well with high decibel input sound as their wittle microphones are limited in bandwidth.
But, they were selling audio of the show recorded straight out the board, and so I stuck around after to purchase one. The audio is clean, but however you cant really hear the crowd because its an internal recording.
Soooo...I tried tonight syncing the audio recording with the video and its existing audio track, and after much nudging and cussing, I finally got it to line up perfect and adjusted the levels.
So now with the 2 overlayed you can can hear the cleanliness of the "out the board" recording and can also hear the crowd from the phone recording.
Thats me "woooooo" right at at 1:20 hahahaa.
Anyway, awesome tune, I just wish i had zoomed in a lil more before I started recording (one of the few gripes Ive had with the EVO).
Enjoy :)
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Not that its interesting at all that I was happy and now happier.....but my new Gomad dock arrived today. And of course like a kid I couldnt wait and check it out tomorrow. I virtually ripped it out the package tonight and hooked it up.
Now my new uber techified phone can dock with the car stereo, and I can listen to all the music collection on there as well free satelite radio. Plus because its reading whatever is coming out of the phone, its auto-fades when a call comes in, and I can take it or hit send to VM, and also listen to messages, etc thru the car.
I haz a technological woody.
For those that missed it in the other blog, my former band had a reunion to headline at festival out in the country yesterday.
The 15 acres or so were littered with tents and campsites of the partygoers, as it is encouraged to stay as opposed to leaving after a whole day of sun, drinking, and exhaustion.
It is an opportunity for me to see a lot of ole familiar faces that I generally dont get a chance to get together with throughout the year. This one was no disappointment in that homecoming effect.
Mid day, things were parlayed by the usual afternoon shower, which blew over and things recommenced.
2 more bands played , then we were up, with the crowd primed in full form Throughout the day, I had talked with strangers in the crowd, to find out it had really been played up about this last band being a literal walk-on, one member flying in from Maine, another from Cali, another from NorthCarolina, and the other from a neighboring county, and were just gonna take the stage with no rehearsal. It was fun to watch their faces when we were about to play and they found out I was one of the members.
The all day multi-band fiesta is motivated by the proprietor's wifes bday. One of my other bandmates had bought a lil Fender Squire, and put our logo on it, and we all signed it and presented it to her about halfway thru the set. Terry got emotional and teared up, indicating that we had done a good thing, and of course got the crowd more infused.
By this time it was dark, and we were able to enjoy the effect of the stage lighting, where the landscape disappeared and we could see nothing but people.
We had opened up with 2 Dio tunes as a tribute to his passing, which pretty much knocked em back on their heels and set the tone for the rest of the night, with them getting more pumped up with every song.
Despite the ordinance curfew we wound up doing one encore and the big finale, ending to that ole familiar roar of an electric crowd.
The rest of the evening was an ocean of adulation, high ^5s, hugs, posing with folks for their phone pics, and even a few autographs lol, which I thought was kinda funny. But it was very redeeming, to have the noddling approval of my musican peers and the "holy shit" of first timers, and would seem that we have renewed our place in local imortality
As many may have heard, after news of his dire condition was misconstrued into several announcements of his passing yesterday, the inevitable did actually happen thereafter and by morning May 16, Ronnie James Dio, had actually passed away from complications resulting from his fight with stomach cancer.
I know how bandwagoning these events can be on the internet, but I do feel compelled as a musician to say a few words, for someone that gave me so so many years of entertainment.
I followed his career all the way back from his gig with Richie Blackmores Rainbow after the Deep Purple split, and subsequently got turned on the Elf LPs aside from that.
By the time I was in high school, Ozzy had left Sabbath, and Dio filled the spot, thereafter launching the Heaven and Hell legacy.
It was here that his presense really took root, and the music and songwriting better exploited his talent in both voice and his zest for theatrics.
It was on this tour where I first got to see him live on stage. I remember being quite taken aback at his projection, this huge voice that emerged from this tiny dwarfish body. And how he was in such command with his stage presense. How he accentuated whatever he was singing with the proper expressiveness, a true theatrical performer as well as a phenominally controlled singer.
This also ties in to what always impressed me the most about his singing. His transition between head voice and chest was miles apart in sound, yet he moved from one to the other so smooth and effortlessly, which is where most singers struggle.
He could produce the sweetest lullaby voice and morph it into the most gutteral snarl accenting his words and cascade off into these soaring long bellowing notes,......notes that could make you feel the whatever expression that was trying to be transposed. And he would accomplish all this, in just a phrase.
His portayals brought jeers from some over the years, as the story that his lyrics often addressed was the ongoing inner and outer struggle between good and evil, often told in a metaphoric and fantasy world setting, but the underlying often hit on real social and political issues in an idealistic way, if you were savvy enuff to see it. Others could only read the surface of things, making the same mistake that many make about musical performers, in not being able to associate them with playing a role. No one ever called Vincent Price a devil worshipper, because they could easily attribute his context as a performance, an act, a role outside the confines of everyday life....musicians arent always granted that same immediate understanding.
His solo career was an explosion of the same, but really took the majikal mystical world aproach to a new level, often reverting to a medieval type theme.
And he always delivered. In fact, he still holds one of the top 3 tours sets that I have seen in my repetiore of a close to a thousand concerts.
His Sacred Heart tour, was touted as the million dollar stage set, complete with an actual full stage length castle, 2 rook towers, a working drawbridge, never before networked laser array, and a 2 story mechanical fire breathing dragon.
My freind Jesse and I arrived 3 hrs early, camped out at the door, and were the third and fourth ticket torn out of 14500 ppl entering sold out Hampton Coliseum. Of course we ran as hard as we could to the baracade dead center stage and hung on til everyone settled down into place.
As a young metal head, I have to say, it was one of the most epic shows ever. Im smirk to myself remembering how boyishly stoked I was.
After the opening show with Rough Cutt, and then the intermission earmarked by the same teltale tape that was always played at Hampton (remember it featured Preist-Out in the Cold, Scorps-Big City Nights, and a slew of others), then..... the lights went down, the deafening hiss of the ecstatic crowd took the air, that electricity that makes your arm hair goosebump....and then this huge crystal ball was lowered from the ceiling, and his holograph appeared within. I cant remember what he spoke as dialogue, but that all tranversed into the epic keyboard intro as the draw bridge on this castle set began to lower, and a supernova of every color laser known burst from its corridor, the beams broken only by the all too familiar silloheutte of the elfish one.
He slowly made his entrance, and the cacaphony of arena screams reached its redline peak, to which he put his hands on his hips and smiled and nodded approvingly, and basked in his moment, and shook his head as if to say "damn, these fukers are ripe and ready, this is gonna be fukin great".
Spotlight popped on and Vivian Campbell emerged from nowhere with his axe, already sinking his fingers into the opening bar of Stand Up and Shout, the most suitable of openers.
The wheel of mayhem were rolling, and it was fucking on...
Not one piece of equipment besides instruments was visible anywhere, even the monitors were covered in rock formations to complete the thematics.
I noticed at the edge of the stage and throughout the perimeter in key locations were 6x6" mirrors mounted on gyroscopes, and in the overhead above the lights was a full catwalk with about 6 different technician computer workstations in which the entire pedestal turned to face whichever directions needed, and had a small siren light that they summoned the other techs that they were trying to talk them and answer their headset.
It didnt take long to figure out their purpose as I could see one screen and watched the upcoming laser scene run thru its scheme, then seconds later saw the mirrors turn and align to catch the lasers and reflect them to each other to generate the pattern selected, virtually creating a web of laser beams around the entire stage at times. It was an effort beyond anything I had seen at that time.
Being front center, of course thru the night we shared our eye catching moments where he pointed and ackowledged my enthusiasm as well as others. Again, I was astounded by the projection of his voice, especially being a few feet away and really being able to compare that his tiny stature.
He truly brought the house, or castle if you will, and supported it all the way with every sense of expression to make it truly believable. A real performer, with real pipes.
There were no supporting dancers to distract from an obvious sync track.
It was raw, yet pristine, wicked yet celestial, it was, what a metal show should be in every way for a fan of that time.
I followed his career over the years, even as that type of music faded from the limelight as things turned to the simpler humdrum angst driven seattle sound movement (again operating on a theme) and on to the more angry less melodic themes of present day.
His passing to me, is truly the reflection of an era, and its tremendous impact to those who were not sheltered in with the media handfed pigeons who only knew of low budget production pop artists that were shoved down their throats 5 times a day by MTV. He never needed any of that assitance, only the realm of those who really listened and felt music, for its every part, and for those that felt and enjoyed the magic....felt it dancing in the air.
His passing will no doubt bring a surge of tributes from recognized industry culminations, all citing their influence and acknowledgement. Which in turn, will expose another generation to his music as interpreted by his peers & successors. And hopefully his legacy reach beyond that which even he could not, and thru that, he will live on. And thru that, all of us who were so infused in that era, will be renewed as well.
Thank you for the many many years of great memories my friend. Now you are amongst those of which you have often spoken of, you are the captian at the helm, setting sail across the sea of light. May your journey be as magical as the picture you painted to us all. Rest in Peace Ronnie.
to soothe this sunday evenin...maybeh
When Im on here, and Im not active in mummblogpicoggle mode, then more than half the time, this is what Im doing.
Its my oldest and best friend, it keeps me grounded, its probably most responsible for my laid back demeanor. Otherwise I would prolly be a snide sack of gnashing teeth like seems to be so popular nowadays.
So just another lil peek into my bedroom for my friends. From me to you. :) ;)
For those that cant see in FF, it will be in my stash also
