My good friend Sal Indigo just lent me a lovely set of old Ludwig drums, which has the distinction of reportedly being owned by one of the first if not the original drummer for the Downchild Blues Band, whose bassist, Gary Kendall, was mentioned in a previous blog. These now sit in ManCave Studio, waiting to be mic’d up for recording.

This of course got me to thinking about the Cats. These days, performances have been mostly at open mics, where I sit in with the house band, at the Songwriters’ Circle, at solo performances, or duo shows with NeMo. Partly, this is because smaller clubs don’t always pay enough to have the full FatC band out, so I haven’t pursued gigs vigorously. I’ve had the great pleasure and honour to work with top-notch, pro drummers with FatC. But pros are often busy and, small clubs being what they are, time has come to turn the page.

Now I’m looking for a permanently partnered drummer for the group. I’m hoping to find one who understands the financial limitations of small club gigs, has the technical chops to quickly learn and play my stuff, and wants to contribute creatively. That’s a tall order, but I’m happy to wait to find the right fit. Maybe it’s you. Let me know.

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Out and About

Other than the Tuesday Songcircle, I only went out once this past week – on Friday, but made it a combo night. Sam Taylor and the EEL were performing to a full house at Relish and rocking out the place, as they consistently do. Jace Traz was particularly sharp on drums that evening. Must be the shirt and tie.

That was followed by a late jaunt to the Salty Dog for the second week in a row Friday Night Blues Jam with Mike Sedgewick, and playing some of my bluesier/rock ‘n’ rollier tunes with Sean Macauley on harmonica, special guest Jonny Wong on sax, Guenther Kapelle on bass and the legendary Kid Carson on drums. The Dano Pro I used last week got a bit fussy on me this time, but I muddled through, thanks to extraordinary playing by the rest of the group.

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ABC Songcircle #7

Number 7 at the Amsterdam did not honestly have a huge turnout, but again came through on the originality of the songs and the great discussion on the writing craft that ensued. There was a section of the show that focused on when and how we have “jazzier” chords in our songs (these guys do it far better than me), and another insightful chat about writing about real people without hurting or alienating them. Thanks to John Mahler, Arch Rockefeller and Michael Cuddy—finally got to play along with Sink or Swim, yay!—for being such great guests, and to the ever neatly organized Eileen Boxall for the photo because I forgot to take the usual group shot, doh!

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ABC Songcircle #8

This Tuesday, I have the great pleasure of having Linda Lavender, Jordan Paul and Mark Martyre as my guests. Wow! For their full bios, click here!

Until Tuesday or the next time you read this blog, be well!