Fifth Avenue! Wow. That was amazing. Lenny called me last night and asked me to come. I am so glad I did.
They do this all again tomorrow night at 7:30. A solid 100 minutes crammed with every vocal melody and harmony I think I've ever heard. Backed by a killer band comprised of some of our best Usual Suspects: John Wedemeyer on guitar, Jozef Bobula on bass, Mike Mechem on drums, Lenny Lopez on percussion and vocals, Jamie Hosmer on keys and vocals, Bill Fayne on piano and musical direction.Tyriq Johnson also featured on two tunes as their "newest member" (something about a TV show vocal competition they're involved with; I will have to follow up).
Pretty much filled the showroom. It was great, great fun. If you can, go see tomorrow night's show. You'll love it.
Couldn't get many good shots of the players. Stayed off the stage tonight.
Below, I don't know who this cat is. He was sittin' with Tyriq. They made him come up and be "Elvis" fronting the Jordanaires. He didn't wanna do it, but he stepped up, and was way funny.
Not kidding. A wonderful show. Please attend tomorrow night if you can.
This is something of a blog timeliness record for me, LOL. I left the Suncoast I guess around 9:25, drove home (about 20 miles), dumped my shots (150 or so; I'm gonna burn all of 'em to CD for Jerry Jones), and now have this up just prior to 11 p.m. Been missing doing this stuff for all of my peeps.
16 days 'til the cats are back on stage! Monday night, July 5th in The Lounge at The Palms. Like I said in a prior post, I'm takin' the 6th off so I can do the entire hang and blog it afterward. Cheryl will be home for the whole week (comin' home on the 2nd), so she'll be there with me too. ___
So, I've long had this idea about us doing winery shows (they're quite common in California and elsewhere), so today I ambled out to Pahrump to check out the Pahrump Valley Winery, just out of general curiosity (Cheryl and I love to visit wineries), and to scope out the property on the off-chance that it might even be a potential venue.
What a cool, elegant place (the only winery in the state). I had a fine lunch in their restaurant, along with a glass of their excellent labeled 2005 Syrah wine (I subsequently bought a bottle and brought it home for Cheryl). While they bring in most of their grape stock from California in refrigerated tanker trucks, they do also have a vineyard. I roamed around, took the tour, and copped some shots.
Above, the restaurant is beautiful, a soothing environment with great food.
Mostly Zinfandel and Syrah grapes. Below, the grounds are quite lush and spacious, very nicely laid out. I gather they do a lot of weddings.
Below, very nice store and wine tasting room.
Below, the winemaking plant.
Below, the stage. Owner Gretchen Loken (very nice lady) told me they'd tried some small scale music events, without any success. As she put it, "the same 50 locals showing up each time."
We could probably put up to 1,000 people in the outdoor area, seated; maybe half that via a picnic basket/blanket wine & cheese show format.
She's open to the idea in principle. We shall see. Lotta due diligence spreadsheet and scut work to do, including sponsorship engagement. Something like this would be months out. ___
MICHAEL GRIMM UPDATE
At this writing, our little bro' and Santa Fe alum Michael Grimm is closin' in on 600,000 views of his America's Got Talent round-one segment.
We're gonna be able to say 'we knew him when...' ___
COOL BOOK FYI
This book is an epistemological kick in the ass and endless whack on the funny bone. A humbling combination of scholarship, erudition, and wit.
In our collective imagination, error is associated not just with shame and stupidity but also with ignorance, indolence, psychopathology, and moral degeneracy. This set of associations was nicely summed up by the Italian cognitive scientist Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini, who noted that we err because of (among other things) “inattention, distraction, lack of interest, poor preparation, genuine stupidity, timidity, braggadocio, emotional imbalance, … ideological, racial, social or chauvinistic prejudices, as well as aggressive or prevaricatory instincts.” In this view – and it is the common one – our errors are evidence of our gravest social, intellectual, and moral failings.
Of all the things we are wrong about, this idea of error might well top the list. It is our meta-mistake: we are wrong about what it means to be wrong. Far from being a sign of intellectual inferiority, the capacity to err is crucial to human cognition. Far from being a moral flaw, it is inextricable from some of our most humane and honorable qualities: empathy, optimism, imagination, conviction, and courage. And far from being a mark of indifference or intolerance, wrongness is a vital part of how we learn and change. Thanks to error, we can revise our understanding of ourselves and amend our ideas about the world...
Highly recommended. I am so lovin' it. A killer addition to my research stash. ___
We return to The Palms Monday night July 5th. Save the date. I'm takin' the 6th off, so I can do the full hang and then stay up late to blog the stew out of it. The camera will be rockin' that night. DayGig-istan will just have to wait.
BTW...
"Now, that's a superstar's voice"
Click the image to go to the YouTube clip. As of this post it's closin' in a a half million views. We could not be more proud of our little bro' Michael Grimm. He deserves international headliner success. Pay it forward. ___
Frustratingly, nothing to report regarding a new gig yet. :(
Lenny called me Friday and asked me to drop by the Dance Fusion studio, which is right down Maryland close to my house, just north of Pebble (get off 215 at Windmill, then south on Maryland past the Chevron station. It's about a half mile down Maryland, on the left).
They are expanding their services. Lenny will be doing voice lessons, and Gabe will be doing drums and percussion instruction. They're also bringing in a cat to do guitar instruction. Lenny asked me if I wanted to do that. I don't have time. Maybe songwriting workshops episodically. Dunno. We shall see.
Huge facility. Four large dance studio rooms and a vocal studio.
Above, Gabe, Lenny, and Dance Fusion LV proprietor Kathy Humphries in the vocal studio.
I wish them all the success.
MAJOR PROPS TO OUR HOMEBOY MICHAEL GRIMM
___
ERRATA
So, I'm seriously gonna start doing street music, for mental health ("BuskerG"). I been shedding' my solo acoustic book assiduously of late. Helps burn off the DayGig-istan stress. Got about 60 tunes or so, perhaps 50 of which are rock-solid at this point. The others need a bit more work to be ready for prime time.
Bought a Roland "Cube Street" amp. Small unit that runs AC or battery power. Sucker rocks!
It's just enough. They claim it'll go 15 hours on 6 AA batteries. Has inputs for both guitar and a mic (I bought a headset mic, so I don't have to mess with mic stands) and built-in EFX. Small enough to put in a carry-on bag. Tilted base, like a monitor wedge.
Below, my tip bucket, LOL!
That's been sittin' out in the garage for years. Gonna turn it into a cash register. Embarcadero, look out...
Pretty much filled the showroom. It was great, great fun. If you can, go see tomorrow night's show. You'll love it.
Couldn't get many good shots of the players. Stayed off the stage tonight.
Below, I don't know who this cat is. He was sittin' with Tyriq. They made him come up and be "Elvis" fronting the Jordanaires. He didn't wanna do it, but he stepped up, and was way funny.
Not kidding. A wonderful show. Please attend tomorrow night if you can.
