Last night we said goodbye to dear friend and family member. She left us in the early hours of the morning, peacefully in her sleep surrounded by a small group of family members who love her. What a day, explaining this to a seven year and an eight year old.
No flowers. Just call someone you care about today and tell them that.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Cupar blues and beyond...
Played a solo set in front of Wolftrain last night at the Cupar Blues and Beyond club last night. Great to get back across the Tay bridge and see some old friends, and try out some new songs.
Wolftrain was great, as always.
I had my ES-125 plus a lap steel and an acoustic guitar that I never touched. Seemed the music felt right on an electric guitar, rather than that acoustic. And the lap steel always sounds great in that big room.
New songs, from the new CD- "Toss and Turn", "Sackcloth and Ashes", "Ball and Chain", "Nothing out of place", and "Long way to fall". Some Old faves, like "Goodnight Irene". The rest is a blur.
A million thanks to those of you that warned me about the traffic, and to Wolftrain for letting me plug into their gear. And of course to Charlie and the gang at the blues and beyond club. It's a great gig, and I'm already looking forward to the next one.
Wolftrain was great, as always.
I had my ES-125 plus a lap steel and an acoustic guitar that I never touched. Seemed the music felt right on an electric guitar, rather than that acoustic. And the lap steel always sounds great in that big room.
New songs, from the new CD- "Toss and Turn", "Sackcloth and Ashes", "Ball and Chain", "Nothing out of place", and "Long way to fall". Some Old faves, like "Goodnight Irene". The rest is a blur.
A million thanks to those of you that warned me about the traffic, and to Wolftrain for letting me plug into their gear. And of course to Charlie and the gang at the blues and beyond club. It's a great gig, and I'm already looking forward to the next one.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
What is the deal with my schedule?
Yeah, I've been distracted. I'll update my website and my blog schedule this weekend.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
what was that guitar?
I've been asked enough about this lately that I thought I'd just clear it up for y'all. The guitar I've been playing lately is this one in the Tony Whitfield picture below (ok, it's from Orkney last year but it's the only picture I have of the guitar). It's an old Gibson ES-125T. 'T' for the thin body, one very hot P-90 pickup and off you go.
The best part? Outside of the fact that it sounds amazing? It weighs less than 5 pounds.
The best part? Outside of the fact that it sounds amazing? It weighs less than 5 pounds.
Fire on a United flight from Rio
So, I found this on youtube- it's a before and after video of a recent United Airlines flight out of Rio. The plane was stuck on the ground because of air traffic control and in the early part of the video the passengers are a little unruly. Understandable, they spent 3 hours on the ground in the plane and stuck in their seats. The front part of this video is a passenger rebellion that almost ended the flight. The Brazillian police were called and several passengers arrested.
So, the plane takes off, it's a Boeing 777 fully loaded with gas on the way to New York. And at about 3 minutes into the flight the cockpit fills with smoke. The pilots switch over to oxygen masks and turn the plane around, setting it back down on the ground. Because they're so heavy with gas (and have no time to dump it) they land heavy and fast, scrub the fires and burn out the brakes (that's why the fire trucks are hosing down the tires, to keep them from catching fire and the plane exploding.
Everyone walks away, a little scared, but safe and alive to fly another day. How do I know all this? That voice you hear at 3:02 in the video is my baby brother, who landed that plane.
Oh, here's the video.....
CLICK HERE
Way to go Pete! You're a hero in my book...
So, the plane takes off, it's a Boeing 777 fully loaded with gas on the way to New York. And at about 3 minutes into the flight the cockpit fills with smoke. The pilots switch over to oxygen masks and turn the plane around, setting it back down on the ground. Because they're so heavy with gas (and have no time to dump it) they land heavy and fast, scrub the fires and burn out the brakes (that's why the fire trucks are hosing down the tires, to keep them from catching fire and the plane exploding.
Everyone walks away, a little scared, but safe and alive to fly another day. How do I know all this? That voice you hear at 3:02 in the video is my baby brother, who landed that plane.
Oh, here's the video.....
CLICK HERE
Way to go Pete! You're a hero in my book...
Friday, February 22, 2008
Dexters tomorrow
And it's an afternoon gig. We'll start around 3:30, send you on your way for a curry and a pint with friends.
Seriously, these afternoon slots at Dexters are a great time, great place to hang out. Bring some friends! Lots of new music to hear, stories to tell, and a chance to catch up before the blues bonanza this summer.
Seriously, these afternoon slots at Dexters are a great time, great place to hang out. Bring some friends! Lots of new music to hear, stories to tell, and a chance to catch up before the blues bonanza this summer.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Prepping for Germany!
Yeah, short German tour coming up real soon, and I'm pretty jazzed. Bunch of new songs to perform and a killer band to play with. If you're in the area be sure and say hi! Details posted over on the right side of the screen here. As I get more venue details I'll post them too.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Aberdeen Homeless Benefit
Phew, I'm wiped out.
Last night was the BBF/Aberdeen/Scots Blues Alliance benefit for the homeless at the Blue Lamp in Aberdeen. Lots of pictures and some video to follow.
It was a 4-band line up, Sandy Mathers band 'the Juke Joint Rollers', PapaMojo, my band and Tim 'dillo' Aves. Doors at 7, and by 7:30 all of the seats were full, by 7:45 it was SRO, and stayed that way for the rest of the night.
The Rollers kicked it off early with a great seat of harmonic-driven blues. Bright Lights, Big City was my personal fave, I'm a sucker for Jimmy Reed. Sandy did a great job throughout leading the band, playing harp and chatting up every woman of legal age in the room. And they all seemed to know him too, there must be a story here.
PapaMojo really fits well in this room, the acoustics are warm and live and at 9 they took over and drove everyone to the dance floor. It's great to hear country blues played well. Stef is a great guitar player with a really dry gravel voice, and Billy and Dave are the most under-rated rhythm section in Scotland. Perfect minimalism, not a not or a hit out of place. And I've got some video to prove it.
Tim and I had the luxury of going next and taking over a room that was red-hot. Having to follow these guys is a great challenge. And the complication was that in the middle of the PapaMojo set I got a call from my drummer who was snowed in and wasn't going to make it. PANIC?. naw, we had a great drumer in the room to sub in! So, with Billy behind the kid we blew through an hour of old raunchy hill country style blues, some old Elmore James and all the raw stuff that seems to connect with the 20-somethings as well as the 40-somethings. Tim is a great harp player who can hold his own on the guitar too, and we traded tunes back and forth. It was a fun set.
From there it was jam time, and the 90 minute jam that mixed up all the bands plus a few ringers from the audience kept the dance floor shakin. Fox stayed in place for most of the jam, he's a great guitar player, and the combination of Fox and Dillo was a good one. I even got a change to play a little harp and remind everyone that, well, as far as harp players go, I'm a pretty good guitar player
Gigs like this are always over too fast. But what I love about them is the chance to hang out with some great people and really good friends. It's too bad we didn't have a chance for a forum photo, but I think the count was (Dillo, Blindman, Barrelhouse, Fox, Dino, OldBones, FishFeathers, me) was 8. Did I miss anyone?
By the time Tim and I had the gear put away and discovered that there wasn't a lick of food in the house it was around 3 am. Long day.
By my count we had around 150 people on the heels of a snow storm. Next stop Dundee for the next UK BBF meet-up and breakfast. Any of y'all that want to crash the party, get in touch with us.....
Oh, yeah, video to follow. Watch this space!
Last night was the BBF/Aberdeen/Scots Blues Alliance benefit for the homeless at the Blue Lamp in Aberdeen. Lots of pictures and some video to follow.
It was a 4-band line up, Sandy Mathers band 'the Juke Joint Rollers', PapaMojo, my band and Tim 'dillo' Aves. Doors at 7, and by 7:30 all of the seats were full, by 7:45 it was SRO, and stayed that way for the rest of the night.
The Rollers kicked it off early with a great seat of harmonic-driven blues. Bright Lights, Big City was my personal fave, I'm a sucker for Jimmy Reed. Sandy did a great job throughout leading the band, playing harp and chatting up every woman of legal age in the room. And they all seemed to know him too, there must be a story here.
PapaMojo really fits well in this room, the acoustics are warm and live and at 9 they took over and drove everyone to the dance floor. It's great to hear country blues played well. Stef is a great guitar player with a really dry gravel voice, and Billy and Dave are the most under-rated rhythm section in Scotland. Perfect minimalism, not a not or a hit out of place. And I've got some video to prove it.
Tim and I had the luxury of going next and taking over a room that was red-hot. Having to follow these guys is a great challenge. And the complication was that in the middle of the PapaMojo set I got a call from my drummer who was snowed in and wasn't going to make it. PANIC?. naw, we had a great drumer in the room to sub in! So, with Billy behind the kid we blew through an hour of old raunchy hill country style blues, some old Elmore James and all the raw stuff that seems to connect with the 20-somethings as well as the 40-somethings. Tim is a great harp player who can hold his own on the guitar too, and we traded tunes back and forth. It was a fun set.
From there it was jam time, and the 90 minute jam that mixed up all the bands plus a few ringers from the audience kept the dance floor shakin. Fox stayed in place for most of the jam, he's a great guitar player, and the combination of Fox and Dillo was a good one. I even got a change to play a little harp and remind everyone that, well, as far as harp players go, I'm a pretty good guitar player
Gigs like this are always over too fast. But what I love about them is the chance to hang out with some great people and really good friends. It's too bad we didn't have a chance for a forum photo, but I think the count was (Dillo, Blindman, Barrelhouse, Fox, Dino, OldBones, FishFeathers, me) was 8. Did I miss anyone?
By the time Tim and I had the gear put away and discovered that there wasn't a lick of food in the house it was around 3 am. Long day.
By my count we had around 150 people on the heels of a snow storm. Next stop Dundee for the next UK BBF meet-up and breakfast. Any of y'all that want to crash the party, get in touch with us.....
Oh, yeah, video to follow. Watch this space!
Friday, January 18, 2008
Saturday, Jan. 26th- the Tunnels
It's the Creoles at 9, us around 10:30. Great show, Two bands for the price of one, and we're going late.
See you there!
See you there!
Post-Moorrings bar musings
It's good to be back!
I'm loving the new songs, the new vibe, the whole shootin match. And the fat that y'all are connecting with it too really makes it make sense.
If you haven't seen a show this year, the new vibe is a cross between the foot-stomping delta blues I play at a solo gig, and an electric band. It's raw, loud and edgy authentic blues. Works for dancing. And it went down well at the Moorings, which is proof that it's a good thing.
OK, off to the Tunnels next week for our next Aberdeen gig. See you there!
I'm loving the new songs, the new vibe, the whole shootin match. And the fat that y'all are connecting with it too really makes it make sense.
If you haven't seen a show this year, the new vibe is a cross between the foot-stomping delta blues I play at a solo gig, and an electric band. It's raw, loud and edgy authentic blues. Works for dancing. And it went down well at the Moorings, which is proof that it's a good thing.
OK, off to the Tunnels next week for our next Aberdeen gig. See you there!
Saturday, January 05, 2008
Inspiration from strange sources
Sometimes you get clobbered by an inspirational guitarist or songwriter that comes from a direction you don't expect. Imagine that happening in your own house, and that person being one of your kids?
5 years ago my oldest learned how to play the guitar at a summer camp, and kept it secret for a while, eventually getting the nerve to ask for a guitar and lessons. He's been shy about it ever since, playing in his own room, mostly metal and punk. It turns out he's a great songwriter and has been recording songs with an old acoustic guitar and putting them on myspace. He's really good, and sings well. In fact I didn't recognize it was him when I first listened to it.
But the kicker is that he's writing and performing songs in open tunings, and he's a monster in dropped-D. Completely self taught from listening to CDs and downloading tabs off the web.
Out of respect for his privacy I won't publish his myspace address. But, *crap* he's good.
5 years ago my oldest learned how to play the guitar at a summer camp, and kept it secret for a while, eventually getting the nerve to ask for a guitar and lessons. He's been shy about it ever since, playing in his own room, mostly metal and punk. It turns out he's a great songwriter and has been recording songs with an old acoustic guitar and putting them on myspace. He's really good, and sings well. In fact I didn't recognize it was him when I first listened to it.
But the kicker is that he's writing and performing songs in open tunings, and he's a monster in dropped-D. Completely self taught from listening to CDs and downloading tabs off the web.
Out of respect for his privacy I won't publish his myspace address. But, *crap* he's good.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
You stumble across some strange stuff..
But this is kinda cool.
There's a playlist of 'current and timeless masters of the instrument' a steel guitar playlist on FIQL.com, a library of playlists. It's got all the people you'd expect- David Lindley, Speedy West, Black Ace, Santo and Johnny, Jerry Douglas. And 2, count em, two tunes from my first CD! Man, not sure I belong there, but I'm flattered that someone thinks those songs belong on that list.
Click hear to see the play list
Wow....
There's a playlist of 'current and timeless masters of the instrument' a steel guitar playlist on FIQL.com, a library of playlists. It's got all the people you'd expect- David Lindley, Speedy West, Black Ace, Santo and Johnny, Jerry Douglas. And 2, count em, two tunes from my first CD! Man, not sure I belong there, but I'm flattered that someone thinks those songs belong on that list.
Click hear to see the play list
Wow....
Saturday, December 22, 2007
BUT RL IS STILL KING
Yeah, take them all, RL Burnside is still the king. Found this on youtube. Nothing fancy, just an old guitar and a folding chair and music without crap. Simplicity.
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