On Practicing Guitar

Happy Birthday Mozart!

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born two hundred and sixty years ago today. Happy Birthday Wolfgang! On Mozart’s birthday, which is also the birthday of my good friend Yvonne (makes it easy to remember!), I always play a number of his works.

Listening to Mozart is a great way to ease yourself into a hectic day. Today, I was playing a CD of his string quartets, which includes the String Quartet K. 465 in C Major, known as the “Dissonance” because of the unusual way that the piece begins. Towards the end of the disc, I was getting ready to make a video for a blues article I’m working on, and I decided to shoot a quick screen test. I grabbed the guitar and went to play whatever but suddenly, I started playing along to Mozart.

 

You may notice a picture of Howlin’ Wolf in the corner and that’s where I started but I guess Mozart’s spirit was a little bit stronger at that moment. I hope you will join me in digging some Mozart today. He only lived for thirty-five years but boy did he live. He put about three normal lifetimes in there, and composed a ton of great music. One of my favorites is his Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor – it was a favorite of Beethoven, too – can you imagine Beethoven playing Mozart? Well, you can hear it for yourself because old Ludwig wrote the cadenza used in this performance. That's Mitsuko Uchida conducting and playing. Today must be my lucky day because I've never seen this video before. Another favorite of mine is his Piano Trio in Bb Major K. 502, a piece which a music history professor once gifted to me as an analysis assignment.

If you’ve seen the excellent movie Amadeus enough times and you’re looking to try something different, Ingmar Bergman did a delightful job on a film opera version of The Magic Flute, Mozart’s final opera. Hey, if you wanted to be remembered, would you just go out and compose the most performed opera of all time? All in a day’s work, for Mozart. Happy Birthday!

HISTORIC BLIZZARD HALTS SLEEPLESS NIGHTS RECORDING SESSION

News Dispatch

The Gram Parsons-themed band Sleepless Nights was planning to start laying down basic tracks on Saturday January 23^rd for their upcoming release but fate intervened in the form of a historic blizzard. Guitarist Christian Botta was planning to brave the predicted thirty inches of snow and head over to vocalist and pedal steel player Ron Raymond’s home studio in the Lower East Side of Manhattan but he was warned not to go by many concerned parties.

“I thought maybe the worst thing that could happen was I’d be buried alive in a snow drift like Blind Lemon Jefferson,” he said, adding that “cooler heads prevailed.” The recording is scheduled to commence next week. Songs that are on the short list include “Sin City,” a Burritos original written by Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons; “You’re Still On My Mind,” a tune made famous by George Jones that Gram recorded with the Byrds in 1968; “Sweetest Waste of Time,” a duet written by Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson that will feature Ron and vocalist/guitarist Ellen Croteau; and “Dead Flowers,” by the Rolling Stones.

Chris, Ellen and Ron at the HiFi Bar                                                                                                                                       Photo by Edie Nadelhaft

Ellen recently made her debut with Sleepless Nights at the HiFi Bar on Avenue A in the East Village on January 10^th. The set included the songs mentioned above, minus “Dead Flowers” but plus “Wild Horses” and “The Singer Not The Song,” an older Stones tune from the Andrew Loog Oldham days. Chris said, "It was a great experience for me, lots of fun. I don’t get to play acoustic guitar live that much, and sitting there with one and singing three-part harmony made me feel like I was in CSN. Ellen did a great job coming in and learning all that material so fast. She’s our Emmy Lou, even if we don’t have a Gram or Chris Hillman. We do have a King Bee, though."

Colin Poellot and Liam Webster of the Sunday Sessions House Band

It was a happy occasion with the usual suspects that play the HiFi Bar Sunday Sessions showcase, including the house band, with Barbara Lynn Cantone, lead vocals, Liam Webster, guitar, Colin Poellot, accordion, and Daniel Geoghegan, drums, and soul/jazz singer Katie Pipkin featured as the headliner. But there was an element of profound sadness that no one knew about, or perhaps more aptly, a silent tribute in song, if that’s possible, when Barry Komitor performed “Space Odyssey” to the highly appreciative crowd. No one knew at the time that David Bowie had in fact died that very day. It was a little spooky, after the fact, although it’s certain that those in attendance were glad to have had that moment, however unaware they were at the time.  

Ziggy Played Guitar

“Why are you always carrying around a David Bowie album?” A drag queen at a club I was working at circa 1982 asked me this question when I was in the midst of my David Bowie phase. I guess like many kids, I thought that he was super cool. But I loved his music, which spoke to me through its incredibly original lyrics. I was playing “Suffragette City,” “Hang On to Yourself,” and “Rebel Rebel” in a cover band. For me, those songs stood in for punk, which I never fully embraced. The punk movement wasn’t easy for me, being a blues rocker, and Bowie was like a guiding light during this rudderless time when I was studying classical music without really knowing why. Iggy Pop was a more direct recipient of Bowie’s guidance as he describes in the article, “Iggy Pop on David Bowie.” My Iggy phase would come later…

This pic of Bowie, Iggy and Lou is just too hard to resist. You even get Bolan on Iggy's Tee!

What I’ve come to realize about a lot of Bowie’s music is that it’s about people, and connecting. An example is his album Aladdin Sane, one of my favorites. It seems to be a kind of concept album about the people who were around him at that moment. A quick rundown of the tracks reveals that they are all about people or connection. Each song has a city or cities next to it on the track listing, and I assume that’s where each relationship was centered. I don’t purport to know who all the people are but if you have any ideas, please let me know!

The album that I’ve been listening to consistently over the past four or five years is Station to Station. It’s also a real guitar album, despite its disco leanings, with Carlos Alomar and Earl Slick’s contrasting styles combining forcefully. Bowie himself was an accomplished guitarist, his specialty the acoustic twelve string, which is all over his early albums. A friend of mine once described Bowie’s acoustic playing as having, “the magic right hand.” I can hear it, and I wonder if he was influenced by the Who’s Tommy, in which Pete Townsend’s acoustic guitar drives many of the songs.  

It’s a little difficult for me to speak about Bowie right now. I’m still processing his death and life and my attachment to him, as we all are. I thought I would share this tab that I did for “Rebel Rebel” as an offering. Music is one of the greatest therapies, especially playing and singing. If you have any questions about the tab, drop me a line. But here are some suggestions, just in case:

Use only the first three fingers of your left hand to play the riff. All the notes can be played with the numbered fingers, 1 = index, 2 = middle, 3 = ring at each fret, ie first fret notes, use index finger, second fret notes, use middle finger, etc., except for the B string note at the second fret in the second measure, use your third finger for that one. During the chorus (or pre-chorus/chorus, if you insist), use a chugging down-stroke strum, or the fast down up motion that begins the section can be used to play each chord as a sustained power chord. A combination of these techniques will work as well. Most importantly, listen to the original version of the song and turn up your guitar!

Countdown To Ecstasy

Cranking it up at the Wild Horse Tavern 

The week leading up to New Year’s saw lots of music being made and I feel that 2016 will bring even more of the same. I always look forward to the upcoming year with great optimism. Now that it’s here, I hope everyone had a great NYE and I wish you all the love, fun and success that’s possible in 2016. And of course, great music!

On Monday night I paid a visit to Big Ed’s Blues Jam at the Red Lion on Bleecker Street. There were a lot of familiar faces except for Ed, who had the flu. I hear he is back in action so that’s great news. I made the hit with my partner in crime Ron Raymond, the King Bee. We got up there and knocked out a couple of speedy songs – him singing a high energy, 12 Bar version of “Tush” by ZZ Top and my usual favorite, “Going Down to Main Street” by Muddy – in retrospect I should have followed with a slow song.

The next night Ron and I rehearsed for our upcoming gig with Sleepless Nights at the HiFi Bar at 169 Avenue A. We go on at around 8pm on Sunday night, January 10^th. We have a great new female singer who is going to be performing with us – Ellen Croteau will take on the role of Emmy Lou Harris in our Gram Parsons-themed band. We are all very excited and we hope you can make it!

 

The second to last night of the year found us at the Wild Horse Tavern Blues Jam, which is led by Jonathan Kalb. I got up for a couple of numbers, including a well-received “Sad To Be Lonesome,” by Sonny Boy Williamson. But the King Bee was a veritable mainstay, playing bass on about six numbers and singing his signature song. Bluesy Dan Berliner, who provided the video, played a tasty solo on that one, as well.

Most of these songs are in the video, although I only make a guest appearance in the beginning as a networking ‘man in the crowd.’ Note the awesome picture of Janis Joplin in the background. And speaking of bottles of bourbon, I finally met Jim Beam, an awesome harp player. He appears in several songs.

First song on the video, which sounds like “Let It Rock,” has an interesting element for a blues jam, clarinetist Ric Frank. Being that it was the holidays, it got a little crowded up there and there were complaints that it was a little too loud. Local favorite vocalist Dave Rudbarg sang a tasty “Kansas City.”

The final number on the video and a highlight of the evening was guitarist Joe Berger’s virtuoso take on Freddy King’s “Going Down,” which was fueled by fine vocals from Meredith Manna. Mr. Berger definitely plays to the back rows. The groove got a kick in the pants from the addition of Michael Fox on drums, who also played a muscular, John Bonham-esque flourish at the end. 

I encourage all of you to come down to these jams, play and have a good time. See you in 2016!