[5-25-08]

It's not every day that something passes that you've never seen or will probably ever see again; I just got back from Sacramento where I was playing at the annual Jazz Jubilee with two groups, but playing with the Blue Street Jazz Band gave me the altogether new experience of playing with a Nose-Flautist. 

"Huh?"  That's what I would have said.  Long story short, a "guest artist" is called up for a tune, and up walks a frail 80ish year old dutch man with a crutch.  (Old Dutchy with a crutchy.)  We start playing a tune, and taking his crutch off his arm he goes to town playing the thing like a flute with a fitted nose-piece.  You really have to see it to believe it.  It was ridiculous.

I was mainly playing at the Jubilee with Brady McKay's Parlor Jam.  This band is fun.  Good seasoned players in this band, so I'm definitely learning from these guys.  From a listening standpoint, Brady turned me on to a guy named Motoshi Kosako.  He's from Grass Valley via Japan, and he's a jazz harpist.  (The real deal.)  A couple of my bandmates play with him, and the recording blew my mind.  Not much online about him, but check him out in this video.

[5-17-08]

I think somebody's trying to tell me something.  The last couple weeks now I've been having to get up ungodly early to do various things.  (10am is early when you're used to a 5am bed time.)  Tomorrow's another one.  The next day too.  And it's 2:07am right now.  Crap.  It's a nice consolation that I'm gigging and making some dough, but early mornings still piss me off.

In other news Flywright played a gig at a biker bar/Mexican hangout in Fresno last night.  It went well.  The crowd was having an identity crisis since it was packed one moment, deserted the next moment and then packed again.  Flywright had a good crowd.  We drank a few $1.00 Coors, played pool, rocked out and had a good time.  I played a gig before that which paid nice, but it's fun partyin' with Flywright even when we make little or no cheese.  Not something I want to do all the time, but I'll play for a fun time once in while.

[5-11-08]

Oh boy, it's been a busy week.  Four gigs in 5 days.  Not unheard of, but a little strange this time.  For starters, I'm not a morning person.  I usually go to bed in the morning, and when the occasional morning gig comes up I'm not happy.  But when there are two consecutive morning gigs I'm really not happy.  However, it was a good weekend for paying the bills.  And there were some interesting moments.

The first gig was at a fairly new restaurant in town.  "New" meaning not quite getting off the ground yet.  So what else should happen but it turns into a jam session for the owner.  And he's not a bad Bongo player.  The other interesting moment was while playing for 2000 members of the National Association for the Mentally Impaired.  (They hire the right band for this gig.)  After playing a Ray Charles cover a strange looking guy off to the sides shouts "White Boys!"  Now, that's something I never attempted to hide.  I run with being a dorky white kid, so it was a funny "No Shit." moment more than anything.  Later, the same guy gets up and starts dancing towards the stage, laying a dollar down at the foot of it. 

Mr. Obvious it seems is generous in giving tips to the band.

[5-5-08]

Big Band music is fun.  But it sure is a drag getting there when you're the piano player.  Let the bitching begin.

Playing Count Basie charts and such is the easy part considering you've got to drag a 60 pound keyboard to the gig, and more often than not it's in a park, a dirt field or up stairs, so wheels aren't an option.  Then there's the sheet music.  There's anywhere from 12 to 30 charts played on a gig and the piano music is sometimes sketchy and 10 pages long.  And reading it outdoors while it's windy and dark can be troublesome.

But it's a gig.  And this particular big band gig in Kingsburg, CA was decent for a big band gig.  I transcribed one of the charts that the band played.  Always fun and interesting.  Also a well known political dude from the area, Victor Davis Hanson, was there to give a speech.  He gave it and tore outta there.  Can't say I blame him.  The hard part about gigs is dealing with folks that want something from you, even if all you're doing is making up something to talk about to a bunch of people.  All in all it was a good, (although somewhat rugged) gig.

[5-3-08]

A great show happened last night at Fresno's Full Circle Brewery.  It was my first full-production solo show, and it was augmented by great musicians, a great crowd and Cluster Fuggle Pale Ale.  A lot of energy went into putting on this show, including lugging down two keyboards, a huge bass amp, a piece of furniture, sound equipment with about a billion cables, not to mention rehearsing the musicians and whatnot.  It was all worth it to play for 50 or so friends that had never seen what I do before.

But back to the Cluster Fuggle Ale.  Man, this stuff knocks you on your ass.  I had a glass during the show and a glass after the show and I had to wait a good hour and a half before I could even think about driving home.  I recommend it. 

Just be sure you have a ride home.

[4-29-08]

Although neither event had to do with gigs, I've had a couple fun moments in the last day.  The most recent was a Minus The Bear and Portugal, The Man show.  Both bands rocked.  It's interesting to step into another world of music that you're not so familiar with and realize, "Oh, shit.  This is what I've heard people talk about".  Very good experience.

The second event came at a 7-11 while with my buddy Casey from Flywright.  I'm minding my own business in the car when I see Sleaze McGee through the window, peering over the magazine rack with a face only certain monthly publications can produce.

"Smut with a smile"

[4-27-08]

My band is called Flywright.  When we're not sitting on the porch smoking cigarettes and barbecuing tri-tip we're running around the state of California playing for drunk people.  This band can party.

Flywright took a trip to San Luis Obispo, a small beach/college town where the grass is green and the girls are pretty, to play at the esteemed Frog 'n' Peach pub.  The whole band was hacking the entire 2 hour drive whilst getting over a nasty cold.  On the way to the pub we happened upon a random 70's themed party with an abundance of Coors Light, flank steak and drunk girls in roller skates.  It was loads of fun, but we made our exit to go play the show.  Again, we took turns in the car coughing and wheezing.  We got there, the place was packed, and Under-The-Weather Flywright played a helluva show.  We met some cool people, got way overheated onstage and we didn't get stiffed by the bar management.

This trip rocked.

[4-24-08]

I drove to Los Angeles to play a solo set at The Saddle Ranch.  (You know- the place with the mechanical bull which yuppies try and ride to impress their fake breasted girlfriends after eating a steak dinner with all the fixin's.)  Last time I played here a massive brawl broke out involving oak chairs and heat lamps being broken over bodies.  This time was fun too.

The Saddle Ranch rewards the performers with a $100 bar/food tab.  So I ordered a mega steak that was easily a cubic foot of pure meat.  40 bucks of my tab well spent.  "Throw in a large glass of Fat Tire and a Jack and Coke," I say to the bartender.  Hmmm, what's this sampler platter?  Twice baked potatoes, spicy chicken wings, fried chicken strips, mini-hamburgers, fried mushrooms, fried zucchini, five assorted sauces and fresh vegetables, all in generous portions.  I'll take it.  Uh oh.  Better get to work, right?

Long story short, I've still got two grocery bags full of food sitting in my fridge and a tummy ache from this gig.

Visit www.dehamusic.com for more info on David Hull and his musical escapades.

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