Ed of H gigs; 2025

[edwardofhuncote]

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. 

[rv_bass]

Wow, looks like fun, nice way to start the new year!

[David Houck]

 

[edwardofhuncote]

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.

[David Houck]

Lots of acoustic treatment in that room; how does it sound?

I used to be in the moving & storage business; stairs are a surcharge.

[edwardofhuncote]

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.   

[edwardofhuncote]

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.

[edwardofhuncote]

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.

[David Houck]

This place

[pauldo]

Looks like a great gig. Early hours, good coffee, no drunk people asking for Freebird and home before dinner!

[edwardofhuncote]

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! 

[jazzyvee]

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.

[edwardofhuncote]

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.

[David Houck]

What do you think of that Fishman Platinum?

[hieronymous]

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!