Amelia's Mechanics & Cadillac Sky

Wednesday evening Mitchell and I head to Charlotte to see my friends in, Amelia's Mechanics. Only recently formed, AM is a three piece band playing Americana, akin to folk and Bluegrass. An unusual arrangement of instruments, Molly McGinn (Martin D-28), Molly Miller (hollow body Fender Telecaster) and Kasey Horton (Viola). Molly and Molly share the vocals. The are touring in support of their first album, "North, South." I've never seen a new band making such a name for themselves so quickly. On the strength of their songwriting, these musicians are going to be very well known very soon. I only wish they'd get to Charlotte more often!

I first met Molly McGinn when she was fronting for Thacker Dairy Road.





Set List: 7.28.2010

French Press, Moonshine Driving, Tidal Waves, John Cash Jeans, Kill Devil Hills, Cornflower King, Lace Gloves, Nina, Phoenix, Deep Ellum

The headliner that evening was Cadillac Sky. A particularly energetic band of guitar, mando, banjo and fiddle somewhere between Bluegrass and country. They were a fun band to see. I didn't care much for the country based numbers, way too Nashville for my tastes.

back in the saddle again

David Shehi is a new editor at Honest Tune http://www.honesttune.com/.  He contacted me this week looking for reviews and photos. I've shot for Honest Tune several times and have always enjoyed writing for them. He asked what shows I would like to attend.


We came up with this list:


PGroove, Music Farm, Charleston, August 20th

ALO, VerizonWireless Ampitheater, Charlotte, NC August 22nd

Music on the Mountaintop, Boone, NC, August 27-28th

Tea Leaf Green, Neighborhood Theater, Charlotte, NC, August 29th

Maybe the Pixies, Ovens Auditorium, Chrlotte, NC, September 7th.

I'm making a "dry run" tomorrow night at the Visualite, Charlotte, NC  with CADILLAC SKY
AMELIA'S MECHANICS. If HT wants it, then great, if not I could use the practice, lol.

just wanted to share a little humor on a Monday morning

bands seen 2006-10

a

In late 2005 (after my divorce) I started back hitting the music scene after a few years of not making many shows. 1995-2004 I was into Bluegrass and from 1987-95, mostly the Grateful Dead, WSP, REM and the whole Athens scene while a grad student at UGA. Festivals; Echo, Bear Creek, Caribbean Holidaze, Jam Cruise 4, 5, 6, 7, and Langerado and AllGood.

Bands seen in 2006-10

PGroove (87)
The Mantras (35),
Umphrey's McGee (24),
the Disco Biscuits (14),
Benevento, Russo - the Duo (5)
Sound Tribe Sector 9 (4)
Trey, Mike, Duo,
WSP (6),
Trey Anastasio (4),
Phil Lesh and Friends (5),
Furthur
The Dead
Moe (7),
the Flaming Lips (2),
Tea Leaf Green (6)
Beck,
The Funky Meters (5)
Brock Butler (15),
Lotus (2)
Michael Franti (11),
Steve Kimock Band,
Les Claypool (8),
Brain Damaged Eggmen (3),
Bruce Hampton & ARU (2),
North Mississippi All Stars (3),
New Moonson (5),
The Motet (2),
GreyBoy Allstars (2),
ALO (5),
Deep Banana Blackout,
Railroad Earth,
Zero (2),
Galactic (6),
Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band (11),
Dumpstaphunk (7),
New Mastersounds (6),
the Bridge (5),
Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra,
Keller Williams (8),
Warren Haynes (6),
Gov't Mule (12)
Trey, Mike, Bill K.,
Bela Fleck and the Flecktones (5),
Karl Denson (9),
Gomez (2),
Fantastic 4,
Zilla,
Critters Buggin',
Papa Mali,
Everyone Orchestra (5),
New Riders of the Purple Sage (3),
Dark Star Orchestra (4),
George Clinton,
Charlie Hunter,
U-Melt (2),
Sci-Fi (4),
Dead End Parking (7)
Alex Lowry and Heidi Sidelinker of Lowry (5),
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals (12),
Yonder Mountain String Band (2),
Bush, Douglas and Meyer,
G Love and Special Sauce,
311,
the Beaties Boys,
the New Deal (2),
Sam Bush,
the Wailers,
The Heavy Pets,
The Roots,
Arrested Development,
Citizen Cope,
Thievery Corp. (2),
Ben Folds,
Medeski, Martin and Wood (4) w/ John Schofield (2),
REM,
Ani Defranco,
The National,
Garag Mahal,
Laura Reed,
Hope Massive,
Steve Earl,
Lee Boys (2),
Jackie Green (3),
Leftover Salmon,
The Mothers of Invention,
Zappa plays Zappa (3),
Phish (3),
The New Familiars (2),
Jimmy Herring Band (3),
Amelia's Mechanics (3)
!!!,
The Wood Brothers (2),
Buckethead,
Trombone Shorty.

No particular order and I'm sure I missed a few. Maybe shot 250 shows during that time.

Grace Potter "Paris"

Grace and the band playing "Paris" in a hotel room. Too funny.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/164684/grace-potter-and-the-nocturnals-paris-oh-la-la---san-diego-acoustic-performance


 a shot of Grace on Jam Cruise 6

getting over a failed romance

I think this cartoon explains it so well.

"no matter how hard it hurts when we fall, we lean another ladder against the wrong wall."

"Reason's Why" by Nickle Creek.

short vacation in Charleston, SC

I took three days out of my busy schedule to visit a friend who lives in Charleston (sorry no pics).  Charleston is one of my favorite cities anywhere. The ocean, the bay, the seafood, the houses and history everwhere. My friend Marsha and I met in Latin class in high school. We've been friends ever since. She one of those people that I can have a conversation for three days without running out of topics. She just moved to the Old Town in Mount Pleasant, only a block from the bay. Lovely neighborhood where even the weeds flower.

 We walked around the historical part of Charleston on the first day. Hot, hot, hot. Managed about three hours of site seeing. Lunch was she-crab soup. Early dinner at the Shem Creek Bar and Grill where I've had my first dinner in Charleston every visit since my old girlfriend Sloane took me in 1991. Excellent she-crab soup.

Tuesday started with a 6:30 dog walk and a trip to St. John's Island to see a nearly 400 year old live oak called the Angel Tree.  Then it was time to visit the beach and I walked and swam for a couple of hours, then slept until dinner (low country boil and she-crab soup). We headed over to Sullivan's Island and the Windjammer to see Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. We met Erin and Mark, who had driven from Pawley's Island for the show. I hadn't seen Erin in a couple of years. A happy reunion.

Grace was in rare form. She has changed her stage show to more singing and moving about the stage. She played all my favorites. It was very crowded, much more than last summer when Rynne and I drove down to see her at the same place.

Wednesday we had breakfast and I packed up to drive home. As my car was out of commision, I was driving my step-mother Toyota Corolla. No pick up, very painful. Got lost in Columbia, SC and had to be guided out by phone by my friend, Rynne. Decided since my memory is getting so bad (lost in Winston-Salem last week, Charleston Tuesday and Columbia on Wednesday) that I ordered a Garmin 1350T GPS when I got home. As I'd reseached GPS's for my friend, Vicki, a few weeks before, I knew which offered the features I wanted.

Thursday recovery. Friday car back into shop. So far so good.

Tonight Col. (retired) Bruce Hampton at the Salvadore Deli.

Thanks for reading!

Thought I'd talk about my guitars today. My choices tend to be predicated on what I currently own. I sold my electric bass and big ass amp before started graduate school in Athens in 1987. I figured if I went to school with my electric equipment I'd be tempted to join a band and that would conflict with my horrendous study requirements. So I took the proceeds for the sales and put the cash (plus my last two unemployment checks) into a Alvarez Yairi DY-67. It was the first guitar I played in my search and I played every guitar within 50 miles. Then I went back to the Yairi and bought it. I couldn't even afford a decent case. This guitar has held up really well. I took it to a guitar tech in Gastonia for it's second set up ever. I didn't know how to care for guitars and even after all this time, no cracks, no warping and the neck it still straight.
So my collection consisted of that guitar for the next 22 years. The Yairi Dy-67 is a cedar top Dreadnaught, with Coral Rosewood back and sides. As I've written earlier, the Yairi line are all handmade in a small factory in the mountains of Japan.

My next guitar was bought in December 2009 with "found" money, when I sold my cabin for Jam Cruise 8. Ugly story I shall not relate here. I visited a couple of stores and drove all the way to Greensboro to visit a shop where my friend Marcus worked. They had several Yairi's, even a Koa WY-1, but nothing really spoke to me. Marcus handed me a Yamaha LLX26C (X = electronics and C = cutaway). The MSRP on this guitar is way over $4,000 and the best street price I can find on the Internet is $2,800. As I played it, Marcus kept dropping the price. The more I played it, the more impressed I was with the sound. I plugged into a Roland AC 60 amp and Marcus came to a number I could afford. Solid Engelman Spruce top and Solid Rosewood back and sides, and all handmade in Japan. The LL series are the top of the Yamaha line. These appear to be fairly rare and possibly accounts for the little notice in the guitar world. This guitar sounds like a grand piano. Huge projection and overtones galore. Of course having a pick up meant I'd need an amp.

The next acquisition was a second Yairi DY-67 (built in 1989). I liked the first so much that I thought a back up to it would be a good idea. Found it on Craigslist and got a good deal on it from a fellow who bought it new. The Coral Rosewood figuring was even prettier than my first. Since I have so many other guitars, this one will be sold to pay for the last (or maybe the next, lol). No hurry as I'd like to sell it someone I know.

My fourth was a Hofner Contempory Bass Limited Edition (one of only 300 made). I played a 1967 Hofner (based on the famous 1963 version that was made famous by Paul McCartney) for a couple of years. The Contemporary looks like the 1963 model. The best difference is a sound block placed under the pick ups which gives the notes sustain, the one thing I didn't like about the one I used when I was playing in The Mods.

Now it was time to add a 12 string. I found one on the Acoustic Guitar Forum at a good price. A 1998 "Bob Weir" model Yairi WY-1. Weir and the Yairi factory designed this guitar to his specifications. He still uses the WY-1 model. Sadly the saddle was being pulled up and I had to get it repaired right away. The repair was successful and I use very light strings (.09). Spruce top and rosewood back and sides. This guitar rings out. Also had a Mark II 500 pre amp system.

I found about a great guitar store in Stateville (of all places) and played several of their new guitars. They had only one Yairi, a DYC-40 with a Mark II 600 preamp pick up system. Spruce top and Mahogany back and sides. This guitar had a slightly lower and richer tone. It makes a great back up to the Yamaha.

I thought I was done but one of the guitars I played at the Statesville store (Fine's Musical Instruments) continued to haunt me. I looked at every Craigslist in North and South Carolina without success and one day what I was looking for showed up in Fort Mill, SC. A real "Closet Queen". These closet queens are guitars bought and very rarely played and stuck in a closet only to come out with the owner needs money. So a 2006 Martin D-15 was available, in perfect condition and at half the new price. I bought it on sight and drove all the way to Statesville to Fine's to get it set up. The D-15 has one of the few Martin necks I like and is an all Mahogany guitar. Deeper and darker than any guitar I have.










I find that some songs sound better than others on different guitars. I plan to start recording to test which guitar sounds better with which songs.

My friend Mitchell (don't call him Mitch) and I drove to Winston-Salem yesterday to see The Mantras. We listened to Tool for the whole drive up. The show was outdoors and hot as all hell. Rynne was there when we arrived and we sat together for a while. I took pictures of the band. It wasn't until about 3am when the thoughts started flowing and I could not stop them until I got up at 5am and wrote about my latest revelation. What I wrote was too personal to post here, I'm afraid. I did come to some rather startling conclusions by starting with different premises. I believe I've identified a flaw in my character. I think I need to rescue these females and only end up both, failing to change them and suffering from attempt. I want to be happier being alone than with women with flawed characters. I used to be a serious judge of character and somehow have let my feelings delude me into falling for fantasy rather than facing reality.

More Photos of the show here:









http://jambandfan.smugmug.com/Music/The-Mantras/The-Mantras-Corporning-Plaza/12958728_QMDH4#937138362_eGaF9


This is reprinted from my blog in 2006.

Two Rules:

1. You cannot wear a band t-shirt to see the band on the shirt. Doesn't everyone know this?

2. You cannot wear a band t-shirt when you've never seen the band live. Especially if it is the Grateful Dead and you were only 5 years old when they played their last show.

Or festival t-shirt if you didn't attend the festival. Unless it is a gift, in which case you will be require to say, "my ________ went to see this festival and all I got was this lousy t-shirt."

I've narrowed it down to three jokes that explain almost all human behavior.
1. A policman finds a drunk on his hands and knees under a streetlight looking for something.

Cop says, "What are you looking for?"
Drunk says, "my keys."
Cop says, "did you lose them here?"
Drunks says, "no. over there by the door.
Cop says, "why are you looking here?"
Drunk says, "the light's better."

2. Q. What does a dog lick his balls?
A. Because he can!

3. Show me the most beautiful woman in the world and I'll show you some guy who's tired of fucking her.

So, we usually don't value what we have, are looking in the wrong places and just doing what is easiest and feels good. Sad isn't it. As you go through your day observing the behavior of those around you, see if one of these jokes doesn't explain their behavior.

First pic of my Martin D-15

My previous blog (on MySpace from Sept. 30, 2005 through September 1st, 2009.)

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.ListAll

update

Brad's tumor was not cancerous, so no radiation or chemo. He'll be fine. This afternoon he was back to his old self. They'll let him out tomorrow.

I've driven almost 400 miles since Monday morning, 4 trips to Charlotte and two to Statesville. The Dynamic Stability Control crapped on the way home just now. Back to the dealership, except they have to order the part so no driving until I head to Charlotte for the repair.

My only goal for this evening is to rest and play the new Martin guitar . Tomorrow night, The Mantras are playing in Winston-Salem. Planning on shooting the show. Gov't Mule on Sunday night. Then off to visit my friend Marsha in Sullivan's Island on Monday (if the car is fixed) and go see Grace Potter and the Nocturnals on Tuesday night. WideSpread Panic at the end of the month.

This economy is bringing out the "Closet Queens." No not that kind of queen, guitars that were purchased but rarely played and have been in the closet for years. Great deals abound.

doing well after the surgery

Went back to the hospital tonight. Brad eventually woke up and was doing well after the surgery. He even seemed more lucid than this morning. Didn't get to see the surgeon as I'd hoped. I'm going back tomorrow afternoon. Maybe the Dr. will have been there to give a preliminary report.

Drove to Statesville this afternoon and picked up the Martin D-15. The guitar tech (James) did a nice job of setting it up. Straightened the neck, shave the bridge and lowered the action. I replaced the strings with D'Addaria light gauge (.12 - .54). I have had little time to play it so far, but I am very pleased with the tone. At the next string change, I'll take it back to Stateville and get a pick up installed.

   This started out as the strangest day possible. Apparently I got a call last night but was asleep and my phone somehow did not record the call. Checking Facebook I saw that my ex- best friend Brad was admitted to the hospital for a brain tumor. Last guy I wanted to see. I got right in the car and drove to the hospital. I didn't want to ask the P.A. anything in front of Brad, so I don't know much of the details. Fortunately his surgery, which is going on now, is being performed by the same neurosurgeon who did mine. Brad seemed a bit "out of it." I'm not sure if was his nervousness or the effects of the tumor.

   It was totally weird for me to suddenly let go of all that resentment and rush to his side. I guess we never know what we are capable of until the situation arises. I'll go back tonight to see him.

I won't detail the recent events in our relationship. If you know me well enough to be reading this, you probably already know.

Sunday evening, very late:

I think about life and meaning too much. I thought I'd have figured some of this out, having started this train of thought nearly 40 years ago. Alas no. Once I began to study existentialism, I found only more questions and few answers. By my early 20's I discovered I just couldn't take anything on faith but the only answers that worked were those I could experience directly. When I was a doctoral student in a clinical program (psychotherapy), at the end of my training program, we had the "roast" of the students in the program. When it became my turn another student observed that while I pretend to learn everything from books, that I actually put myself into situations to find out I truly think and feel about things. I have to experience anything in order to understand it. Which means I then must deconstruct and analyze every experience. Searching for meaning between the lines. I once thought, if there is no objective meaning in life then feeling good was the only reasonable thing to do. Unfortunately making a life of only feeling good, did not work for me. Next came my "living for others" phase, 15 years of looking for fulfillment through service to others. One day that failed to work and I needed to find something else. I went into Information Technology and just worked at something I liked and made money. At this same time I met a college student and my life began to revolve around her and my feelings for her. After that ended I began to look into art as a way to find meaning or at least purpose. I have been taking pictures for the past five years and more recently have returned to playing music. I have begun to think about writing fiction or humor.

Well I have to be up in 3 hours so maybe I can sleep now. Just have too much history running in my head these days.

Monday evening:

Home and exhausted. Up at 5:30 this morning and out the door by 6:30. Off to the BMW dealership to finish the repairs started on Friday. They pulled the codes and saw only one fault and suggested I save the $780 and see if the problem returns. Off to look the Martin D-15 across the SC state line in Fort Mill. Inspected it as well as my skills allow and played it for a while. The guitar has the type of neck I like. I paid the seller and started driving north. I decided to go ahead and take the D-15 straight onto up to Fine's Musical Instruments to get James to lower the action. He needed to keep the guitar overnight to make the adjustments. James said he'd try to get it done by tomorrow. Got home right before the storm. Looking forward to replacing the strings and playing her.
Drove nearly 200 miles today with no problems.

weekend and optimism

Good day to you all.

Decided to try Craigslist again and lo and behold a used Martin D-15 was listed. Way below the price of a new one. Also looks like a real Mahogony one rather than the Sapale tonewood.  The aren't making these any longer so there are fewer and fewer for sale. I searched Craigslist for nearly every city in NC and SC just this week finding only one. There was one for sale in Chapel Hill but the owner admitted there was some truss rod vibration. It might be adjusted but if not, it'd have to be repaired and was listed at nearly the same price as the one closer to me, just in Rock Hill.

Called and set up a time Monday morning to see it, after my trip to the BMW dealership to try again on that repair to the Stability Control. Having played and liked the Martin D-15, I just need to make sure there's nothing wrong with this one.
 
So I may sell one of my Yairi DY-67's. I would have to chose which but I'd probably keep the one I bought in 1987. Sentimental I guess. They are both lovely but I don't really need both as they are nearly identical. This plan would be in keeping with my zeroing out guitar purchases.

So, I'm optimistic about the auto repair and the guitar's condition.

Tonight The Mantas are playing about 5 miles from the house. Woohoo!

Wish me luck on everything! Love.

damn, damn, damn!

Car broke down on the way to the show. My traveling buddy Hal was a very good sport about it. 120 miles into the trip to Raleigh the dynamic stabilty control engaged with a big pop! Pulled off the highway. Tried again and it happened again. Had AAA tow the car and us, back to Charlotte. Today and $1,500 later picked up the car only to have it happen again, they failed to fix it. Back to the dealership on Monday. So there goes the Martin D-15 for now.
on the lighter side:

PGroove tomorrow night

My good friend Hal is driving up to meet me and we are going to make the round trip to Raleigh on Thursday night to see our good friends, PGroove. I haven't posted any new photos on their website in a while. The Lincoln Theater is a great place to shoot, a balcony and a stairwell right in the middle of the room. Driving time about 6 hours. Should be a challenge for anyone, but will be a test of my blossoming health. There will be coffee, lots of coffee. Top down, wind in what's left of my hair, lol. Radar detector on high. Lots of CD's.

Today's obession is an all mahognany Martin D-15. I had planned to go play it again at Fines Musical Instruments in Statesville today. This guitar has a nice woody tone and entirely different than my others. I think it would make a great blues guitar. I am curious to try the neck again. When I was at Fine's last week I played several guitars and remember that one standing out, but need to see if I like the neck well enough. Most Martin's necks I find too large, but has a mod low oval neck profile, but I'm still not sure how I'll like it over the long term. Hence the reason for the visit. However, after breakfast, which didn't end until after 11am, it was just too damn hot. I guess I'll try for a visit on on Saturday or early next week.


Nice to see so many of you following my blog. I intend to cover the use of the Digitech Jamman looper, the TC Helicon Vocal Harmonizer GT-X and the Zoom A2 acoustic guitar pedals in detail. Also how the health insurance game works. I am waiting to hear from BCBS and I'll know more firsthand.

Thanks for reading and showing an interest.

Phish, holy crap!!!

Last night was my second Phish show ever, the first being in 1992. At the 1992 show (@ the Georgia Theater, Athens, Ga.) I thought the band amazingly technical, especially with the trampolines and all, but lacked something I called soul. I've seen Trey with his band and even once saw (@ the Christmas Jam 2007) Trey and Mike with Bill Kreutzmann but not the whole band. It was incredible! I thought I was at a Grateful Dead show. Everyone was smiling and totally engaged with the band. Lots of dancing ensued. I lucked into a Chalkdust Torture and You Enjoy Myself, my two favorite Phish songs ever. I attended the show alone and had one of the best times at any concert. I was so happy.

While waiting to meeet up with my friend Piper Templeton, I spotted Jeff Kravitz, photographer to the stars, heading for the vendors. He'd lost maybe 50 pounds since I last saw in the photo pit at Langerado (2008). We met at Caribbean Holidaze 2005 in Jamaica. The most amazing thing about seeing him again was that he remembered my name, both last night and when we were at Langerado. I get his email newsletter so I know what he's up to every week. But to remember my name is amazing. One photographer in a thousand, me I mean. Jeff is such a great guy.

Oh, but back to Piper. We were very good friends about three years ago, phone buddies. She got off to college (Warren Wilson College) and got busy and we kind of let our friendship slide to a few emails every now and then and a few missed connections. It was so good to see her and be on the receiving end of so many hugs. I'll be heading to Asheville to take her to lunch soon.

I am so excited to find my energy again. I danced like a crazy man.

Oops, I did it again!

Guitar Acquisition Syndrome.

I wonder if there is a 12 step program for it? Like a man walking into a bar with the intent of just looking around, I went to a guitar shop and walked out with a lightened wallet and carrying a guitar case.

My first mistake was buying 6 guitar stands (on sale in packs of 3) and only owning five guitars. The empty one weighed on my mind.

I had been intending to visit a shop in Statesville, NC, I'd only recently discovered. I walk in around 10am to see the most wonderful collection of instruments, covering the walls.

I intended to look at Martins because everyone seems to play a Martin.  I first played a new Alvarez Yairi DY-40 (Spruce top, Mahogany b/s) and electronics, then played 4 Martin(s) D-18 (2) and an all mahogany D-15 (really interesting sound) and a D-16GT. Then, I went back to the Yairi to compare and couldn't let it go after the price came down. I am having to accept that I am not a Martin guy and I have it bad for the handmade Japanese Yairis (now owning 4). My Yamaha LLX26C still rules the roost but the DYC-40 had a better bluesy sound and a bit more of the low end. When I left the store with the guitar, I felt like my search was over ...for a while.