Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Community => Gigs => Topic started by: edwardofhuncote on January 05, 2025, 06:03:58 AM
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Played the first one of the new year yesterday afternoon with our bluegrass group - a fundraising event for flood/hurricane/disaster relief out in Western North Carolina and Southwestern Virginia, several rural communities down there still reeling from the after-effects of Helene.
So long story short, my buddy Ted (on guitar here) found out about this program where a group of churches were accepting donations of old campers, RV's, in any salvageable condition that could be purposed into shelter. They had people fixing them up and delivering them to another church in the area that had a large tract of land with facilities for electricity and water. They've basically built a giant RV park for folks who haven't even got a place to rebuild yet.
Ted had donated his camper to them already, having decided to downsize this year and truck-camp at fiddler's conventions. We didn't need to discuss it long, playing a concert for this was definitely something we wanted to help out with. They arranged for us to use the Waldron Arena at the Horse Center in Lexington to stage the event. It's a huge structure, and just one part of the campus there. (Lexington Horse Center is really something if you're into that...) It was also our first show without our dear departed banjo-player Lee, who died very suddenly in October. We had only played at his memorial service since then. It's tough moving on without him. Jacob here has moved over to banjo from his role on mandolin, at least temporarily. Going forward, we may rethink whole thing... Ted may go to mandolin, me to guitar, and Deb back to bass. I kinda' liked how this felt. And I like having the percussionist there in lieu of a mandolin.
In other news... I'm still rehearsing sporadically with the Fireweed fellas. That's fun... and my old Series I gets a good workout. The Harwell-Grice Band occasionally asks me to fill-in with them, always fun. And while there is nothing in the books for New River Bound, you just never know when that'll take off again.
Hopefully I'll have more to post this year than the past few. Especially now that the default answer is "Yes" when asked if I can play. :)
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Wow, looks like fun, nice way to start the new year!
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:)
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Had another jam night with the Fireweed fellas yesterday evening... we still haven't had a full band get-together, but we had enough for a guitar/drums/bass/singer for a run-through on "the list". Still waiting on second guitar and keys player, both also singing parts, but the core rhythm section is starting to gel up. I really have a lot of work to do. Most of these songs are just so far outside my usual wheelhouse that they simply are not something I can improvise my way around. The bass parts are somewhat specific. It's not that I'm lazy; it's a lack of experience in this part of the field. It is fun though, demanding, challenging, and I like playing with the fellas.
Nice space to play too... long way down there from my place (25 mi. but takes 45 minutes) but well worth the trip. I don't have to bring anything but my bass and pedalboard. To be fair, I don't really need that, but it has my tuner on it, and an analog chorus, and I like having stuff I'm used to. The Fender Rumble amp in-house sounds great... plenty of volume for this space. My old Series I is right at home here. I keep an earplug in my left ear, as I am situated really close to the kit there. It can get loud at peak moments of fun.
Nothing to post on the Livestream/Video Thread yet, but I hope to have something post-worthy sometime this year.
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Lots of acoustic treatment in that room; how does it sound?
I used to be in the moving & storage business; stairs are a surcharge.
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Lots of acoustic treatment in that room; how does it sound?
I used to be in the moving & storage business; stairs are a surcharge.
It does seem well thought-out.
Funny story; the first time I ever went there, I had made a serious effort to show up prepared... had a full stereo rig in my car, backed up to the garage I thought we were going to be playing in, and then realized the music room was in the finished loft of the garage. Hence, the staircase. Hence, no way my arthritis-riddled spine was humping speaker cabinets and amp rack up and back down afterward. [awkward moment] It was way too far to run home and get my Mesa Scout combo. It was offered that I could just plug-up to a DI and play through the PA, or I was welcome to use their bass amp. ?!?!?! Man, I hate to borrow anybody's stuff, and I hate even more to show up somewhere unprepared too, but here I was in a spot...
It turns out that Fender amp (Rumble 350) sounds just fine. I set everything on the front of it to what it says is 'flat', use no overdrive or any of the other flipswitches that do other functions. (I don't know what half that stuff does...) The drummer whose studio it is, got it for cheap on Craigslist and keeps it there for that reason. I could bring my Mesa combo, but using my Mesa preamp allows me to feel a little more at home, has a mute-to-tune button, and my DS-5 lives right next-door, so just a short patch cable needed. I walk in with my bass and one zipper bag. Very quick setup, very convenient!
In addition to the PA system and acoustic treatment, there is single room HVAC, and also sound dampening built into the floor, walls and roof. I reckon so the folks in the house don't have to listen in on our jam night. ;)
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I feel a little silly posting about gigs here... I don't really play gigs anymore. I just play a little music with my friends and occasionally get paid for doing it. It is awfully nice being able to just say yes by default these days. And I guess it's a chance to talk about my musical pals here...
The Luv Buzzards played for a wild game dinner a couple weeks ago. We're still adjusting to the loss of our banjo player Lee last year. Jacob is really growing into the job quickly, having switched over to banjo from mandolin. A former band member, Brian, came back and played mandolin for this show. Going forward, we may reshuffle things again... Ted may move to mandolin and I take over guitar, and we audition a couple bass players. Ted and me have been the core of that thing for years... we'll figure something out. On that subject, he and I have a gig coming up on Thursday evening 3/13 at First XI Coffee in Buchanan, 6-8 pm. Just the two of us, maybe a guest. I turn into a pumpkin about 8:30... we'll see how that goes with a coffeehouse gig.
The Harwell-Grice Band asked me to come fill-in on bass for a St. Patrick's Day party at the Living Proof Beer Co. taproom on 3/15. https://livingproofbeerco.com/ It's always fun to go hang out with the HGB boys and make some racket together, and it's been a minute since the last one. It's also been hinted-at they may need me more often this Summer. That's how it all started with them waaaaay on back.
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Three old guys, makin' music at First XI Coffee last night... and we had a full room for most of the evening, so they want to make it a regular monthly thing, and eventually maybe a weekly feature. Ted and me will help them find some more folks to do that - we'll take one night every so often, but not weekly.
I'm loaded up and headed to jam-night with the Fireweed fellas. Tomorrow night I'm back to guest on bass with Harwell-Grice Band and the Franklin County hometown crowd in Rocky Mount, Virginia.
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This place
(https://static.where-e.com/United_States/Virginia/Bedford_County/First-Xi-Coffee_728fe63d3df6f622bc87bb5ca88aac78.jpg)
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Looks like a great gig. Early hours, good coffee, no drunk people asking for Freebird and home before dinner!
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It's about and hour until we play, already got a pretty full room here at Living Proof Beer Co. Here's what the office looks like tonight. Hopefully someone will get a few pictures of us playing later on. I just found out my old buddy Ernie Power is guesting on resonator guitar tonight. The fun just got doubled! :)
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I remember on my second tour on the USA West Coast in 1992, we played a few breweries. One called the SLP Brewing is a name that came to mind. Will have to look it up.
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It's interesting... breweries, local microbreweries rather, have become the new music venue. They've mostly replaced the bar/pub scene, at least here in this part of the United States. Some of the more successful ones have very nice stages and equipment, and employ staff to book entertainment and run that part of the business. Living Proof doesn't go that far, but has a decent space for it there, right inside the town limits of Rocky Mount. To their benefit, a couple of their competitors closed up shop in the past couple years. The Harwell-Grice Band has a sizeable fan base there at home that turns out anytime the guys are playing locally. I don't think anyone's under any allusions it's anything more than 'famous in a small-town', but it's a good time playing with those guys. Always has been.
Soundcheck is always a calamity. Usually after they get it sorted out, they'll have this little huddle, and hash out a rough sketch of some tunes that might get run together. I think there's some discussion here of what physical limitations each might be having... Stew had a black eye that Josh was curious about but Stew didn't much want to discuss, Josh is still playing with a not quite healed broken collarbone, Gabe had a cold last week, so the voice isn't all there, Brian isn't happy about the monitor mix at all, but is just kinda' done screwin' with it for now... I got it pretty easy by comparison - just set my rig up, and run a XLR from the DI out of my F-1X to Ch 5 on their board... that one is designated for bass. Usually its Andrew of course, but traditionally, bass always goes in 5. I spent the rest of my warm up time with a coffee and banana, and catching up with Ernie. It's a long time I've been playing on stages and running the roads with this cat. He is still a total badass of a dobro player... just plugged-in now!
The rest of the night was a blur of past and present. After we were done, I took my time breaking down and loading up. Told the fellas I had a good time. They tell me Andrew is getting busy with his work, and traveling a lot, so they may ask me to jump back in for some more shows this year.
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What do you think of that Fishman Platinum?
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Thank you for the report! I have a new, kind of amateur band, which thinks it wants to gig - I try to be realistic but sometimes - often? - it turns to pessimism! But I am trying to veer away from the negative and aspire for the positive. Hearing about your gig experiences is always a chance for enjoyment and reflection!
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What do you think of that Fishman Platinum?
Fishman makes really nice stuff. I noticed Ernie was using this and the Fishman 'Loudbox' amplifier for stage monitor. I'm not sure, but I think both this Platinum stompbox and his amp have DI outputs, so maybe it's just on his pedalboard for when he's not using the amp? It looks like a nice preamp... especially for acoustic instruments. I'm about to go down the rabbit-hole of revamping the pickup system on my upright bass, and eventually the preamp may become part of that adventure , but I kinda' hope what I already have will work with a new pickup without a lot of extra equipment needed. Back in the old days I had a rack-mounted stereo preamp that made it work pretty well. I have observed these days, working bass players travel pretty light, preferably just plug-up and play and let the FOH guys worry about that.
Here's what I'm thinking about... I put exactly this on my Dad's bass. https://gollihurmusic.com/realist-pickup-for-double-bass-original-and-wood-version/ (https://gollihurmusic.com/realist-pickup-for-double-bass-original-and-wood-version/)
https://gollihurmusic.com/realist-super-docking-station-preamp-active-tailpiece-mounted-volume-control-jack-mount/ (https://gollihurmusic.com/realist-super-docking-station-preamp-active-tailpiece-mounted-volume-control-jack-mount/)
Thank you for the report! I have a new, kind of amateur band, which thinks it wants to gig - I try to be realistic but sometimes - often? - it turns to pessimism! But I am trying to veer away from the negative and aspire for the positive. Hearing about your gig experiences is always a chance for enjoyment and reflection!
I'm lucky all around. I was thinking about it while breaking down and loading up the other night. I was broken after having to drop out of this outfit a couple years ago and hand off bass duties to the same guy I had replaced 7 years before. I just couldn't do the job, physically. The guys were setting up and loading my stuff out for me by the end, and even had to help me in the car a couple times. I couldn't stand it anymore. Another surgery happened, another long rehab, another year of hard work training my replacements and finally I got retired and spent some time getting in condition, and I'm finally fit enough to play again... I'm just glad to have several outlets for it, and at last... the time to do it.
The Harwell-Grice Band has been together for 20+ years. Josh and Gabe started playing together in college. There have been two mandolin players, two banjo players, four bass players, (though technically the original guy only played one show) and the two of them at the core of the band on guitars. I hadn't realized until the band reunion, no one had ever been fired. Several members have returned or played other instruments as guests. There are several regular subs that fill-in when someone is absent. It's probably the most stable, healthy, fun band I've ever played in. Like I said, just lucky. I know firsthand, it ain't like this in most bands.
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Congratulations Gregory.
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Here's what I'm thinking about... I put exactly this on my Dad's bass. https://gollihurmusic.com/realist-pickup-for-double-bass-original-and-wood-version/ (https://gollihurmusic.com/realist-pickup-for-double-bass-original-and-wood-version/)
https://gollihurmusic.com/realist-super-docking-station-preamp-active-tailpiece-mounted-volume-control-jack-mount/ (https://gollihurmusic.com/realist-super-docking-station-preamp-active-tailpiece-mounted-volume-control-jack-mount/)
Looks good!
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Awful lotta' dust and cobwebs in my 2025 Gig Thread...
I just got home from Galax, Virginia... home of the the 89th Annual Old Fiddlers Convention https://www.oldfiddlersconvention.com/2025win.htm (https://www.oldfiddlersconvention.com/2025win.htm) where our neo-oldtyme band New River Bound continued its streak of finishing in the top-ten, but never in the top-five. We think the worst we've ever done was 12th some years ago. This year landed us another 7th place ranking in some pretty tough competition. In front of two bands I personally felt were going to beat us. (hey, I'll take it) The main thing is that we played our absolute best both nights... two near-perfect performances. Our fiddler placed 3rd in his individual event and our guitar player won 2nd place in the mandolin contest. Also pretty respectable.
*here is the livestream from Saturday night. New River Bound is up at about 40:00 in, and our 'little sister' band the Wayfaring Whistlepigs are at 35:30 right before us.
https://www.youtube.com/live/i6GiY69A4EU?si=93P4yoa28a7KeOnS (https://www.youtube.com/live/i6GiY69A4EU?si=93P4yoa28a7KeOnS)
The biggest obstacle this year was the terrible weather... we got rain almost every day. Which translates to mud, and lots of it in Galax, so the well-advised bring knee-high rubber boots and lotsa' dry socks.
In other music news; the Fireweed fellas have been on hiatus this Summer. The drummer is having a terrible bout with carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands, which is doubly bad for him because he is a surgeon on weekdays and alternate weekends. He's currently waiting for the surgery to fix him up, but holding drumsticks and playing is both painful and discouraging, so we have just called the jam night off until Fall.
Labor Day weekend, I will be filling-in on upright bass with the Wayfaring Whistlepigs for a Country Dance at our traditional end-of-Summer campground event. Always a good time getting waived into Gen-Z.
And finally, I have just been asked to sub-in on bass for a few dates this late-Summer/early-Fall with my old boys the Harwell-Grice Band. Looking forward to playing some music with the guys again.
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Which guitar did you take?
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Which guitar did you take?
😄 It was quite a heavy decision, as the space constraints allowed for only one guitar and one mandolin. After some agonizing I chose the Gibson J-35, as it's really good for that particular setting... I typically don't do a lot of flatpick exercise on that guitar, just big chord rhythm and bass runs for old time music. (which is mostly what happens around our camp, though we are a bit non-binary... we'll just play whatever makes us happy) I brought along the new-to-me 1912 Gibson F-2 mandolin as well. The bass spent the week on the roof of the Outlander when not in use, shielded by its case and an EZ-Up awning with walls. It never even got damp. My original plan was more concerned with keeping it out of the heat, which turned out to be a non-factor last week. It was actully quite chilly at night. (this is our 'family' Kay bass... it belonged to my Dad's cousin Buddy Yearwood who played it semi-professionally since new in 1951, then him, now me... gotta' take care of this one.) For posterity, it's a '51 Kay M-1B sold through Sears-Roebuck. It's my festival bass... it has synthetic gut strings, very thick tubby sound, very loud thump. My gig bass is strung with chromesteel flats and set up a bit different. I much prefer the old Kay at a Fiddlers Convention jam.
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Greg, looks like a fun festival. Seeing your open hatch and sleeping area --sleeping in the wild! Love those Bluegrass festivals; we head up to the Grass Valley Father's Day Festival every year for a week. My bass sounds good but is quiet, compared to some of the Kay's so I usually sit in on what's there and available.
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Digging the bass face on the New River Bound still photo. 😎
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Great chronicle of when a band is straight up fun and not head in your hands frustrating…
I have a group of guys that I like to jam out some tunes. Been fun, not very serious, that is until my friend of 40 years (guitar player) said a given song didn’t fit the persona of the band.
Of course, I started laughing. WHAT?!? Oh right, these discussions…was enjoying the laid back approach to old rock songs, been a long time since the clubbing days and the “what’s the direction of the band discussions”!
Enjoy it Greg. You worked hard to get where you’re at, and seems like you found the proverbial pot of gold at the rainbow.
Some of those photos look like some great venues. The acoustics must be awesome!
Keep em coming. Enjoy the music!
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Last minute call to fill-in with HGB at the Franklin County Agricultural Fair yesterday evening. https://fcagfair.com/ (https://fcagfair.com/)
After an evening thunderstorm rolled through and soaked everything down, our soundcrew pulled all the tarps up, we mopped our gear dry, Miss Franklin County introduced us and the show went on. Nobody even noticed the rainbow over the hill as the storm broke up.
It felt good playing with the fellas again... famous in a small town. Short video clip here somewhere. https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1135288275367461&id=100066588977628 (https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1135288275367461&id=100066588977628)
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That's great Greg! Nice Thursday night gig.