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Tuesday, 20 January 2009
Happy New Year
Hello my friends!   What a year 2008 has been.  It started kind of slow,  but ended up being my most productive year ever, musically speaking.
I found some new places to play,  returned to some old favorite places,  and sadly, saw one or two places for the last time.
I got a chance to play with some great musicians,  and also saw my solo act expand into new directions as I had an opportunity to play on my own more than ever before.  One of the highlights has to be when my friend Deb Herbert came home from Denmark for a visit and we played a gig at The Big Tree Inn in Geneseo.   We had hundreds of people partying on Main Street as we turned the front porch into a stage,  and jammed with a band of local all stars.   What a night.   Speaking of bands,  W.B. Blues went "on hiatus,"  which is to say we didn't officially break up.  Our lives just got suffiently busy that we decided to put the project on the back burner for a while.   We did one last set at the Geneseo Summer Festival in the park,  which seemed a fitting place to go out in front of so many familiar faces.  I am happy to say that although we aren't performing together as a trio,  there isn't any acrimony among the members,  and you can still occasionally see any combination of the members sitting in with each other for a song or two at various jams.  The week before Christmas even saw an impromtu reunion as the three of us played a set of blues Christmas Carols. at the Beale Street Son House night.
In the area of my personal life,  well it has been a tumultuous year.   There has been some romance and some.....non-romance (is that a word?)  I think I'll just leave it at that.
I made some real progress on getting my barn one step closer to being the music studio I envision,  but also had longer periods of inactivity on the property.  
2008 is also the year my mother was diagnosed with cancer.  If you've been through this,  you know that absolutely everything else takes a back seat.  Gigs, property, bands, love life  all go out the window and you just concentrate on your loved one.    You also draw stength from those around you,  and I found out just how many wonderful friends I really have.  That includes many of you who may be reading this.  Your prayers and messages of support during that time helped me, and my mom more than I can ever express.   I'm happy to report that her treatment seemed to be successful and while we can't say the cancer is gone, things are headed in the right direction at this time.   I can't say Thank You enough times to all of you who expressed your support directly,  and to those of you who just quietly remembered my family in your prayers.  
Who knows what 2009 will bring?   As I write this,  I realize that a year never ends the way you think it will based on the beginning.  I'm sure it will be full of surprises,  both good and bad.   Here's hoping that your journey to the end of 2009 is safe,  happy, and bountiful.
Cheers!

Posted by westguitar at 8:34 PM EST
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Wednesday, 31 December 2008
Tis the Season
Every year just about this time I start dusting off the Christmas music.  I like to wait until after Thanksgiving, despite that fact that they've had Christmas decorations out at the stores since early October.
For the last five or six years,  Pete Collin and I have done a Christmas show someplace.   This year,  Pete has a broken finger,  and he's uncertain if he'll be able to play.   Pete and I go through this little ritual every year of getting together to rehearse,  and trying to remember how to play the same songs we always do,  never quite remembering exactly what we did the year before.    I hope he's in shape to join me for at least a song or two sometime between now and Christmas.
I'll keep you posted about any upcoming show,  in the meantime,  I hope you take a moment from the shopping and hustling about to remember why we're all doing it.    Happy Holidays.

Posted by westguitar at 6:52 AM EST
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Thursday, 27 November 2008
Random Thoughts to fill space

 

 

  •  My last entry here was titled "Up Yours, Judge Smails."   Not one person commented on the reference,  or asked what that meant.  I'm a little disappointed in that.
  • Last week, I played at St. Ann's Community,  as I do about once a month.  Just by chance,  Connie Deming and Jed Curran were both there,  and the three of us sang a few songs for the folks who live there.  It was great therapy.......for the three of us.  What a wonderful feeling you get entertaining people who really appreciate it.
  • A friend's brother died suddenly and unexpectedly last week.  It was a reminder that you shouldn't wait to tell the people you love how you feel about them.
  • Gigs have been rather few and far between lately.  If you're reading this and you're in a position to hire me or refer me,  I'd surely appreciate it.
  • I've started to polish up the Christmas songs.  For the last five or six years,  Pete Collin and I have done a Christmas show somewhere.  This year,  Pete has a broken finger,  so I'm not sure he'll be able to play.  I'm still trying to figure what I might do.  It's become a tradition I really look forward to.

 


Posted by westguitar at 8:41 AM EST
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Wednesday, 19 November 2008
Up yours, Judge Smails.
 I've been taking advantage of the nice weather and working on my barn.   I've got water, sewer,  electric, and phone all burried underground.  There was a lot of hand digging involved,  and it has inspired to me practice my guitar.   I'm not cut out to be a ditch digger for a living.

Posted by westguitar at 7:01 AM EST
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Friday, 7 November 2008
On Politics, and Elwood P. Dowd
I have a degree in Political Science from the University of Rochester.  I've had more than a passing interest in the political system for quite a while.  While it seems like every election cycle you hear about how negative the campaigning is compared to previous years,  a quick study of history will show you that mudslinging is certainly nothing new,  and is generally no worse in any given year than in another.   What I believe has changed is the frequency with which the messages are disseminated.  With so many more channels on tv and the increased use of websites, emails, and viral videos,  it is almost impossible to find a moment away from the campaigns.  
It's easy for people to become caught up in the rhetoric.  Passions can run high when you are constantly bombarded with messages that say Candidate A will allow space aliens to probe you,  and Candidate B will mutilate a litter of puppies in front of your children.   Here's what I'd recommend.  Decide what's important to you.   Not what anyone else tells you is important to you, but what will really matter to you in the next four years.  Then look up how each candidate has handled that issue in the past,  and how they say they will handle it in the future.   Then make your decision.   Leave the rest of the nonsense alone.
This past weekend,  the 1950 Jimmy Stewart movie, Harvey was on TV.  It's a wonderful movie.  You can't help but feel good when you watch it.   There's a famous line in the movie that has stuck with me for the last few days:
"In this world, you must be oh so smart, or oh so pleasant.  For years I was smart.  I recommend pleasant."

Posted by westguitar at 2:09 PM EST
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Thursday, 30 October 2008
By Request
   I have on more than one occasion made the claim that I can play about thirty seconds of any song.   After that,  it becomes evident that I don't know it.   I try to take requests when I perform, but there are just too many lyrics out there to know everything.   It seems like no matter how many songs I learn,  I always get asked for one that I can't sing.
The music itself on the other hand usually comes pretty easy. 
 I'm going to let you in on a little secret:  There's not a lot of original ideas in popular music.  Most of it follows a pattern,  and if you know what to listen for,  often times you can predict what's coming next with a pretty high level of accuracy.   I'm speaking of plain old pop music here.    Other types of music are a little tougher.   Bluegrass music confounds me because I don't know the songs,  and jazz often has weird chords thrown in just for the sake of being weird,  but pop, rock, and blues make it easy to be able to come up with some reasonable version of the theme song to Lavern and Shirley, like I had to the other night.  Shlemiel,  Shlemozzle!

Posted by westguitar at 8:01 AM EDT
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Monday, 13 October 2008
A thought about self-deprication
Every week I send out an email detailing my upcoming gigs.  You can sign up to be on my mailing list below.   Somewhere in the email,  I usually include a link to this site,  and I say that you can look at pictures, listen to music,  and read "dumb stuff I've written"   or something to that effect.   Last week,  a friend on the mailing list gently took me to task for referring to my writings as "dumb stuff."   I have duly noted my tendecy to be self-depricating, and I genuinely appreciate it that someone thinks enough of me to call me on the habit.    It started me thinking about where the habit comes from.
Freud (or maybe it was Jung)  might say that self-deprication is really a method of pre-emptive self defense whereby a person deflects and softens the sting of any potential real criticism.
I might counter that I am fully aware of my real talent,  and I use self-deprication as a means to attempt to keep my ego in check and remain humble.
On the other hand,  maybe I'm self-depricating because I'm just such a loser.
(Note:  That last sentence is a joke,  and completely cracks me up)

Posted by westguitar at 8:54 AM EDT
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Wednesday, 1 October 2008
Ah Ah AhChoooo!
Some people wax poetic about the virtues of Autumn.   The changing colors,  the crisp air........the new TV shows.
For me,  the Fall has always meant allergies.   From now until we get a good hard frost,  I carry around a box of Kleenex the way a teenage girl carries a cell phone.   Some days are worse than others,  and I seem to do a little better if I get a some distance from home,   but I never know when a run of 8 or 10 sneezes is coming.
Hopefully,  if you see me performing in the next few weeks,  I won't be blowing my nose on stage.   If I am,  I'll try to do it in tune.

Posted by westguitar at 4:21 AM EDT
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Thursday, 18 September 2008
Small Changes.....Big Results
 When you play every week at the same place,  and there is a somewhat limited narrow focus on one style of music at that venue,  it's easy to get bored.   A few weeks ago at Beale Street,   I declared that I was just sick of everything I play.  I was going to completely change my style.  Maybe take up polka music or learn to play the bassoon.
In the past week, however, I saw a couple of friends of mine give performances that started me thinking about it a little differently.   The first was at Ross's wedding.   He sat Laurie down and played a song for her.  It was a song that W.B. Blues has performed,  and truth be told Ross did it solo for quite a while before there ever was a W.B. Blues.   But Ross plays it differently than I do on guitar,  and the bass player from the jazz trio that was playing the reception joined in,  playing the bass lines just a little differently than Ross usually plays them with W.B. Blues.   I was probably one of the few people in the room that knew it was different,  but the subtle changes that I heard were like a breath of fresh air into a song that I've heard scores of times.
The other performance I saw was by my friend, Lisa Bigwood.   Her band played in Livonia the other night.   I've never heard her with the band before.  Only solo.   Her band consists of her on vocals and guitar, with a mandolin, upright bass,  and a second guitar player taking leads.   The feel of the group reminded me a little of Allison Krause.    The first song I heard was new to me, and I was impressed.  Then they started doing some of the songs that I've heard Lisa perform as a solo act.   I was really impressed by how just a little different instrumentation and some sparse harmonies changed the whole compexion of her songs.  
Both performances left me thinking that perhaps I don't need to completely reinvent what I do,  but just make some subtle changes here and there to some songs.   Maybe change the tempo,  or rearrange the chord changes.  
They say Bob Dylan never plays a song the same way twice.  I don't know if I want to go to that extreme,  but a fresh coat of paint may be in order to brighten some of my repetoir up a bit.

Posted by westguitar at 12:39 PM EDT
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Wednesday, 10 September 2008
Defining Moments in musical Taste
Evolution is usually pretty slow.  Drastic changes aren't all that common.  Such is the way with personal musical tastes.  You don't just decide one day that you're going to like jazz or country or gregorian chants.   Musical styles sneak into your consciousness subtlely and slowly,  and without even realizing it has happened,  you're an ABBA fan.
Still,  there are moments you can point to if you really think about it that drastically change the way you think about things.  You'll often hear musicians of a certain age talk about seeing The Beatles  on TV in the early sixties and having their whole perspective on music change at once.
I just rediscovered one of those moments,  thanks to YouTube.com.   Some time in the 80's,  there was a show on called Night Music.  I don't remember the details of when it was on,  but I think it ran opposite Saturday Night Live during one of their sucky periods.    It was hosted by saxophonist David Sanborne.   The show would pair up musicians who wouldn't normally play together for a set and see what they could do together.    I remember seeing bluesman Robert Cray  play with a singer/songwriter I had never heard of before named John Hiatt.   They did the old Sam and Dave soul classic "When Something is Wrong With My Baby."     I vividly remember at the time feeling goosebumps.   It opened the doors to blues,  soul, and the way a singer/songwriter can interpret someone elses song all at once for me.    John Hiatt is one of my favorite songwriters.  Robert Cray is a staple in my music collection,  and that Memphis horn sound is never far from my mind as I try to interpret songs.     Along with the first time my sister snuck me into a club to see B.B. King when I was underage,   and my trip through rural Mississippi many years later,   I think that four or five minutes of one show really shaped my entire taste in music.    It was nice to run across the clip and find that it lived up to my memories of it.

Posted by westguitar at 8:25 AM EDT
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