Very cool and satisfying gig at Dangerous Curve a couple of weeks ago, and deeply relieving on a personal level (after the aforementioned Nova Express ordeal) to find that I’m still capable of playing a good show. A thread with post-gig comments from players and audience folks alike is here.
Two more gigs in the near future: Nova Express on July 18, with friend and fine bassist Daren Burns sharing the bill, and a return to Dangerous Curve on August 12 – more details TBA.
Right now I have the schedule equivalent of about 40 guitar students. The logistics can be a bit of a hassle, but I really love teaching… and it sure beats ringing up CDs behind a cash register.
CDs from Jared Meeker and Paul Simpson very likely waiting for me in the business mailbox; looking forward to those very much! Very much not looking forward to paying traffic tickets, but so it goes (especially when Calabasas cops stake out strip malls on Memorial Day weekend, apparently.)
After hours of struggling to find the right moment, I finally approached the stunning woman with the gorgeous voice who I’d met a week ago, and asked if she thought I could take her out some time. Her instant reply was a polite but very firm “No, I don’t think so.” As I headed to my car with the flush of rejection burning in my chest, I repeated one of Jimi’s most offhand yet sturdy observations to myself: “That’s all right – I’ve still got my guitar.”
1 Comment
Dangerous Curves is a nice venue
I got to see GE Stinson there a couple of months ago, and Kraig Grady is playing there this Friday, but I have to go to a business meeting, so I have to miss that.
I think what is needed is a really open venue that’s focussed on various forms of neo-prog-rock. Even though I use electronic drums with what I do, I try to take an organic approach, and I use the digitech super looper so I can mix my “canned beats” with live improvised acoustic loops with my guitar and through the mic.
But the audience I attract is a totally prog-rock audience. I’m not making gothic music, or hip-hop, or straight ahead or even acoustic free jazz.
I’m really doing a kind of mash-up of prog, “trip-hop,” and Don Cherry style free jazz.
I’m working on some new stuff to get more into really weird time signature changes, but its also useful to be able to drop into a groove, so I’m constantly working on making my music weirder and weirder .
It would be good for a bunch of local prog people to pool our collective audiences and do some prog-only shows, which could be a pretty wide open definition, but would have to focus on some kind of instrumental prowess, where you can say “this guy (or girl) really rips.”