Ed of H gigs; 2018

[David Houck]

Nice pics!  And yes, that's a big space to fill.

[edwardofhuncote]

Well, things being what they are... I had pretty much written this month's gig schedule off, but since it's another 9-1/2 days until the appointment with the neurosurgeon, I figured it couldn't make things that much worse, so I loaded up the rig and the Persuader 5-string and hit the road.


[cue the "you oughta' go have your head examined again" jokes]   


Harwell-Grice Band played for a private party last night at this fantastic old place in Callaway, Virginia. I learned while there this was an annual event, a wild game cook-off. As a rule, I never eat before or during gigs, but I gotta' say it was tough to pass up last night. I don't hunt anymore, haven't for years, but there is an art to fixing up wild-game, and those folks down in Franklin Co. sure know how. Homemade ice cream followed dinner. And suddenly there appeared some mason jars of drink... no idea what that might have been, but I'm guessing it was also homemade. 


Anyway... it felt weird with part of my hand still asleep, but I could play okay and after a while I kinda' just forgot about it. (so far this morning I feel fine too) So I told the guys to count me in next weekend. That might be it for a while though depending on what the doctor says.

[growlypants]

Glad you went, glad you had fun, and who knows?  Maybe the doc'll say, "You need to PLAY a lot more!"

[David Houck]

 

[hieronymous]

Glad the gig went well! Maybe you need to score some of those mason jars (full of course!)

[edwardofhuncote]

Harwell-Grice Band played to a packed-full house of the howntown crowd, from the cozy little stage at Hammer & Forge Brewing Co. last night... Caleb and his H & F Brew Crew have really gone out of the way to make their place a great venue for local musicians and our fans.  If you're ever headed through Virginia on U.S. 220, just South of Roanoke (where they had a nice long toke...) is the little town of Boones Mill. It's got a reputation for being a speed-trap, so slow down and check it out. https://www.hammerandforgebrewing.com


Anyway, with a little help from some nuclear-powered anti-inflammatory pills, the name of which looks like a word scramble, me and the Persuader 5-string backed the boys up for two long sets last night. No action shots, but here's my little workspace... Oh yeah, I picked up that BagEnd S 15-D for cheap recently, and I have to say - when paired with the smaller S 10-D and driven by the Acoustic Image amp, this is definitely the 'little rig that could'. It sounds fantastic... loud and clear. 


*Later today, we're at Parkway Brewing, for an annual Oyster Roast, so maybe some pics later tonight.


https://parkwaybrewing.com/parkway-oyster-roast-2018/

[dtothec]

Greg
Glad that things went well for you!

[edwardofhuncote]

Greg
Glad that things went well for you!

Hey, Thanks Darrell! 



The guys had a really good day today. I just got home and loaded-in from the Oyster Roast gig.

Wow, that was the biggest crowd we've played for in a while... I'll guesstimate a good 350-400 folks, maybe more. The weather was awesome here today and they really came out. Joshes Mom took a few pictures of us at play, but hasn't sent them yet. I caught one of all the guys in a huddle with our sound-guy... looked like a committee hearing on low-mid feedback to me... I already had "Chain-Links" tuned up and rung-out by that time. They finally got the kinks worked out and we stomped it for a couple hours.


*I had a revelation while we were setting up... it had totally slipped my mind, but the very first gig I ever played with an Alembic over my shoulder was right here at Parkway Brewery in Salem, Virginia... just 5 miles from home. If I had thought about that before loading up, I would have played the old Persuader today too. I wanted to go fretless today though, and this dragon Mica & Co. put together for me just owns the low end.   

[David Houck]

If it was as nice up there as it was down here, it was a beautiful day to be out playin'.

[edwardofhuncote]

If it was as nice up there as it was down here, it was a beautiful day to be out playin'.

Sure was, Dave.   

Parkway Brewery has built this really nice extension onto the building so they can have events all year 'round, rain-or-shine during the warm season with seating both indoors and out, plus they put in a big stone fireplace for wintertime. Of course they had all the bay doors and windows open yesterday. 

A couple action pics... we had our buddy Ethan come up and play a few on the second set. His Dad, Ernie, is a regular sub with HGB anytime Brian, Stewart, or Gabe can't make a show. Sometimes we just have Ernie along for the awesomely fine musician he is. To say Ethan is a chip offa' the ol' block is an understatement... that kid is a monster player!   

Looks like I was pretty well zoned-in with "Chain-Links" here... that's a guy who's very glad to be where he is, doing exactly what he's doing. 

[edwardofhuncote]

Harwell-Grice Band played for a wedding yesterday; the ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception afterward. It was a very long day, load-in at 2, and load-out at 10 pm, with a lot of lugging equipment around and threatening weather to contend with in between. Thankfully, we didn't get rained on, but I took along my Tobias Growler 5-string for a backup just in case. Especially when used with the Broughton Audio LPF, it's the most Alembic-like of my non-Alembic basses... something about those mid-range countour switches. (mine is also an early model with stereo output, although that feature is basically useless in a live situation)


One of the guys was absent from the line-up yesterday, so my old buddy Ernie Power joined us on resonator guitar. I love a chance to jam out with Ernie... he's an insanely good player, and a good friend. Me, Ernie, and Stewart go back about twenty-five years now. Stewart is in the queue for a knee replacement later this year. We've got a running joke about which one of us shows up to a gig with a walker first. 


Anyway, not much else to report on the gig... I had a blast playing my Persuader 5-string all night. It's almost been 4 years since the book opened up on us. 

[edwardofhuncote]

Harwell-Grice Band had a nice one yesterday, a bluegrass festival held at Crazy Horse Marina down at Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia. The weather was just about perfect when we got there, but turned kinda' threatening by evening. We got out in time though, before the crazy lightning and thunderstorms got going. Had to be at a soundcheck at 8:30 this morning for a Bluegrass Gospel & Barbeque dinner-on-the-grounds at CrossPointe Baptist Church. Josh goes to church there and is extra nervous about doing a good job. I love playing there too... they have an incredible house PA, and their FOH guy loves hearing my Alembics through those subs.


I caught a picture of the guys warming up their quartet vocals during soundcheck, and had Brian get one of me in my standard pose. (I also realize that khaki/maroon outfit is getting a lot of mileage lately... but then, it does go well with maple/mahogany)


One more gig tonight...

[edwardofhuncote]

That last gig rounding out the weekend...

Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway support a local concert series on each Sunday evening all Summer. I've been playing bass with these two young ladies for about 4 years now, after their mentor Jack, asked me to help out on some Broadway showtunes and Jazz standards they wanted to perform, and it grew from there. (you may recognize the older sis as the fill-in fiddler with New River Bound)

We don't get to play out a lot, but when we do, it's always fun and definitely a challenge, as I'm very rusty on reading charts.   Sometimes I even get a chance to pull the bow.

[edwardofhuncote]

Harwell-Grice Band played an Independence Day gig at another local brewery yesterday... we'd never played at Big Lick Brewing Co. before, but they have a really nice venue there, right in downtown Roanoke near the old railyard.

https://biglickbrewingco.com/

I've lived here almost my whole life and never noticed, but there's the hull of an old steam locomotive behind the parking lot that backs up to the railroad. Probably been there close to 100 years. Given Roanoke's history as a railroad town, it may well have been born and died right here. You can see it in the aerial picture from the fine folks at Google. 

Incidentally, before this little town was called Roanoke, or the railroad came, it was called -wait for it- Big Lick.

Anyway, Josh was on vacation this week, so Gabe stepped up to be frontman, and our old buddy Ernie joined us on resonator guitar again. Gabe (and his custom Dearstone guitar!) did a great job, even scored us a $20 tip covering "Ripple" on the second set. I played Custom fretless "Chain-Links" for the first set, and my old stand-by Persuader 5-string for the second set. We got paid up, loaded out and went to see some fireworks.

*The mural on the building next door kinda' creeped me out...

[edwardofhuncote]

Not really a gig per se... but this buddy of mine runs an advertising agency and dabbles in all kinds of multimedia. http://appalachianmediagroup.com/ It so happens he's also a fantastic drummer. We've talked for years about a gig together but it never happens. I always tease him with "Dude, I love ya' but there ain't no drummers in bluegrass!". Secretly, I wish Harwell-Grice Band would use somebody like him. 

So anyway, he and another guitar player had been kicking around a couple catchy hooks and some lyrics, with sort of an 80's/90's rock feel, and we finally tracked them. Over the last few Thursday nights, I've been going up to his little studio/practice room with my old '81 Distillate, strung up with T-I Jazz Rounds and a heavy flatpick. Finally got something I'm a little bit proud of down. No idea yet what he'll do with them, but if and when they become public I'll post them. Can't say enough good about that old Distillate... golly that old bass is just amazing.

Not sure about the particulars of the interface, but he had me plugged into an Ampeg DI, taking an output signal from it to his computer somehow, and simultaneously sending an output to a speaker cabinet for me to play along with the tracks. The experience was quite different from any I've had yet, but very easy too. I enjoyed not wearing headphones after I got used to it! Did I mention the old Distillate was a snarling, fire-breathing dragon?