Jessica Marciel advises me that she is gigging this Sunday at 6 pm with her Metropolitan Club Orchestra in the Manhattan Ballroom at Bugsy's, 6145 W. Sahara. No cover, and drink sales go to benefit Child Haven (NOTE: homeboy guitarist Matt Baldoni and fine drummer Tony DeAugustine will be in the lineup).
______
SLICK WILLIE ORCHESTRA at THE SQUARE APPLE
Gotta love the array of red/blue/amber 150w outdoor patio floods. Black walls and ceiling, black curtains -- and the dudes are all wearing black (except for Tommy). Photographer's heaven. (Not!)
Had to mostly bail to flash.
I got there just before they started, and stayed for the whole gig. It's a nice book, the charts are very cool, very melodic and non-formulaic. Ronnie Rose (below) sings great.
Tommy Alvarado, man...cat plays and sings so fine. And a total, gracious gentleman.
Below, Nate Kimball on 'bone.
I've posted about Nate before. He was our son Nick's best friend growing up, and like a second son to us. Nate even subbed with Santa Fe one night a while back, and blew it out. Very impressive young man. He'll be releasing his own CD soon.
MySpace Update
This just went out on my MySpace Bulletins:
Black Label Bar in Las Vegas
Last Saturday, my friends in fine The Cordle-Scott Band performed at a place at Decatur & Spring Mt. known as "The Black Label Bar" here in Vegas (see my August 24th Santa Fe blog post)
www.myspace.com/blacklabel702
The owner of the place then refused to pay the band, citing a low turnout. That is unacceptable. If you wanna do a door deal or cash drawer percentage arrangement with a band, do the deal explicitly upfront.
Then this joint cluelessly solicited me to be a "MySpace Friend," LOL.
BOBBYG DON'T THINK SO!
Maybe I'll start a Santa Fe blog column with links regarding "places to avoid," and these cats can be charter members.
Or, they can get right, and pay the band what they'd agreed to.
Brad and Tim's pages are here, btw:
www.myspace.com/bradcordleband
www.myspace.com/timmyscott
Send these Black Label peeps an email letting them know what you think about them ripping off musicians. And spread the word about a place to avoid.
Thanks.
Gonna be a great, fun night. Amanda, her Dad tells me, has been assiduously 'sheddin' her chart. 10:30 pm, no cover, no minimum as always. Be there. BTW- Our homie Jerry Jones of the awesome Fifth Avenue is bringing renowned bassist and Grammy nominee Brian Bromberg to hang.
POST GIG REPORTWow, was that ever off the hook fine. I have 120 shots to sort through and triage, so will again post incrementally. Another late start blogging, 2:18 a.m. First of all, major props to Amanda Corvini for steppin' up and sittin' in on bari.
Above Amanda, throwin' down next to Berklee alum Phil Wigfall. As I'd posted on August 15th:
We will welcome a family of musicians from the Boston area as special audience guests a week from Monday. They are so stoked about coming to see the band. The daughter in this tribe is 21 year old Amanda Corvini, bari sax player in the Berklee School of Music Tower of Power ensemble...
Mom and Dad are both Berklee alum. They've been wanting to come and see Santa Fe for quite some time, so when Dad told me their family story via emails, I told him "have her bring her axe." We emailed her the bari chart to "Ain't That Peculiar?" along with an mp3 cut.
She came all totally ready. Blew the chart flawlessly. Thanks to everyone for making her and her folks so welcome.
That was just too cool. She should be gettin' some "Fat City Practicum" credit back at school for that stint!
UPDATE, lo and behold:
Berklee School Catalog update, Fall 2008 Semester
FAT CITY NASTIOLOGY PRACTICUM 402 (3 credit hours): Student must be accepted to a sit-in appearance with The Fat City Horns in Las Vegas and successfully execute a chart of the band's choosing, with no prior rehearsal with the horn section. Successful practicum completion serves additionally as a 12 week USMC boot camp waiver. PREREQUISITE: Minimum of one semester in the Berklee School of Music Tower of Power ensemble.
_____
Below, Major Bad Boy Bill Zappia subbed for Dave Richardson tonight, and Howard Arthur opened the show on guitar for Jerry.
BRANDON FIELDS IN THE HOUSE!
Oh, yeah! Wow. Talk about lightin' the place up. Jeesh...
Monster player, this cat. Yikes.
CHRISTINE LaFOND IN THE HOUSE!
Lady flat out sings! She did "Use Me" and tore it up.
Christine is now gigging Thursdays - Mondays at Paris, with Howard Arthur, btw. 9 pm. Check 'em out.
OK, time for some random shots from the evening...
Jamie, doin' his awesome original "This Time."
Below, Tony Davich brought the house down with "You Don't Know Me."
Above, Jamie takes time out from playing in the middle of a tune to grab my camera and shoot me, LOL!
Below, a total crush of butt-whupping music at the end, everyone throwin' down "System of Survival."
Above, Jerry and Amanda after the show, with Brian Bromberg (right) and his companion (whose name I unfortunately did not get).
What a night! Thanks to all of you who showed up, both onstage and off. Thanks to the Corvini family for sharing their incredibly talented, smart, and sweet daughter with us.
Tired, man, I'm fixin' to crash. It's almost 4 a.m. Keep checking back for updates. BTW, Tommy Alvarado's Slick Willie Orchestra will be at The Blue Martini tonight (6 pm TUE, Town Square) and then The Square Apple (10 pm TUE, 1000 E. Sahara).
______
UPDATE: Our CEO of Soul and resident Santa Fe Seat of Funkster has an eloquent take on Amanda's appearance last night.
______
Yikes.
Vistors have more than doubled year-over-year (click the Excel graph to enlarge). We continue to grow. August 2008 was a record month, notable in particular given that summer months traffic is usually lower. Please help us continue to grow by spreading the word.
