May Performances

Thursday May 3rd, the Loft at the Clarion Hotel in Northampton, MA. Janet Ryan Jazzy Duo. 5:30 start time.

Saturday May 5th at Ghepetto's in Ware, MA. This is the first time here for the Janet Ryan Jazzy Duo.

Saturday May 12th at the Polish American Citizen's Club on Route 202 in South Hadley, MA. This show will feature the full band, and will be our last show here until the fall.

Saturday May 26th at the Loft Lounge at the Clarion Hotel in Northampton, MA. The Jazzy Duo will be augmented by Joe Elliot on drums and piano.

Catch Ray's Blues show every Thursday from noon til 2 P.M. on WTCC, 90.7 FM. Stream the show at http://www.WTCCFM.org

April Performances

Thursday, April 5th. Loft Lounge at The Clarion, Northampton, MA
Saturday, April 14th. Private Party
Thursday, April 19th. Loft Lounge at The Clarion, Northampton, MA. Jazz duo
Friday, April 27th. Private Party
Saturday, April 28th. Monthly showcase at the Polish American Citizen's club on Route 202 in south Hadley, MA

Catch Ray's blues show every Thursday from noon till 2 PM. Listen at 90.7 FM in the Springfield, MA, area. Stream the show at http://www.wtccfm.org/

March Performances

March 1, 2 and 3. MMEA conference, Boston
Friday, March 16, Private Party
Saturday, March 31, Polish American Citizen's Club, Route 202., South Hadley, MA. Janet's monthly residency continues, come out and meet the band!

Catch Ray's blues show every Thursday from noon till 2 PM. Listen at 90.7 FM in the Springfield, MA, area. Stream the show at http://www.wtccfm.org/

57 degrees on February 21!

This winter has pretty much been a non starter.The price of heating oil is closing in on $4 per gallon, so when  the temperature is this warm I am a happy camper.

February Performances

Friday February 3rd, Private Party
Friday February 17th, Pages Loft, Northampton, MA, Janet Ryan Trio, 7 PM Start
Saturday February 25th, Janet Ryan  Straight Up monthly showcase at the Polish American Citizen's Club on Route 202 in South Hadley, MA

Catch Ray's blues show every Thursday from noon till 2 PM. Listen at 90.7 FM in the Springfield, MA, area. Stream the show at http://www.wtccfm.org/

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all. Check back in January for Janet's next performances.

Well, it looks like winter has arrived.

The weather people are predicting -8 degrees tonight. Looks like old man winter finally got home.

Bummer. I was digging the moderate temperature.

Still wondering where the big snow is hiding.



January Performances


Sunday, January 8th, Page's Loft, Northampton, MA
Friday the 20th, Private Party
Saturday, January 28th, Polish American Citizen's Club, Route 202, South Hadley. Come out for the first of our residencies at the PACC. We will be playing there on the last Saturday of the month through June.

Catch Ray's blues show every Thursday from noon till 2 PM. Listen at 90.7 FM in the Springfield, MA, area. Stream the show at http://www.wtccfm.org/

December Performances:

Thursday Dec 1, Private Party
Monday Dec 5, Private Party
Saturday Dec 10, Private Party
Monday Dec 12, Private Party
Friday Dec 16, Private Party
Saturday Dec 17, Private Party
Friday Dec 30, Private Party

Catch Ray's blues show every Thursday from noon till 2 PM. Listen at 90.7 FM in the Springfield, MA, area. Stream the show at http://www.wtccfm.org/

November performances

November 5 - Private Party

November 10 - Private Party

November 12 - Private Party

November 17 - Private Party

November 19 - Private Party

November 26 - Polish American Citizen's Club, 515 Granby Road, Route 202, South Hadley, MA 9 PM Start.

October Snow.
The power has finally returned after almost 24 hours. Tree limbs were down everywhere. It was very cold here last night.

October performances:

Sunday, October 2nd, Festival of the Hills, Conway, MA
Saturday, October 8th, Polish American Citizens Club, Route 202, South Hadley, MA
Sunday, October 9th, Private Party
Friday, October 14th, Private Party
Saturday, October 15th, Private Party
Thursday, October 20th, Private Party
Wednesday, October 26, Private Party
Thursday, October 27th,  Polish American Citizens Club, Route 202, South Hadley, MA

September Performances

Sunday, September 4, Blues Fest at the Three county Fairgrounds, Northampton, MA
Saturday, September 10, Private Party
Saturday, Sept 17, Private Party
Sunday, September 25, Guest Hosting the Blues Jam at Tommy D's in Westfield, MA

Catch Ray's blues show every Thursday from noon till 2 PM every thursday. Listen at 90.7 FM in the Springfield, MA, area. Stream the show at http://www.wtccfm.org/

August performances:

Thursday the 11th, hosting the open mic at the Polish American Citizen's Club in South Hadley, MA.

Tuesday the 16th, Private Party

Friday the 19th, Private Party

Tuesday the 23rd, Private Party

Thursday the 25th, hosting the open mic at the Polish American Citizen's Club in South Hadley, MA.

Satrurday the 27th, Private Party

Verizon is stopping FTP support, so I am looking for a new place to host JanetRyan.com

Anyone have ideas? Hit me up at Ray AT JanetRyan DOT com

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

I am ready for spring.

My oil heating tank is almost empty,

the snows have all melted away,

and my motorcycle battery is on the charger.

This winter was a record breaker in regards to snowfall. It seemed like I was out there shoveling snow much more than during the usual winter. I managed to break a shovel and my back this winter. I'm going to look for a used snowblower this summer because I am getting too old to use the wooden stick with the plastic piece on the end.

I am doing demos for the bands next CD project. I'll keep you in the loop...

Sixteen Inches Of Snow

and my back is hurtin tonight...

First snow of the season on the day after Christmas.
Not much more than 5 inches of the white stuff.

77 degrees outside today. Fired up the bike and went for a ride. The leaves are still on the trees and look great.
Gotta get in a ride while the weather is cooperating.

The fall and the trees.

We played a gig on top of a mountain today. It was a very nice gig, a birthday party for a hard working guy. As we drove to Shelburne, Massachusetts, the roads got skinnier and more tree lined.

When we got to the address where the directions said was our destination, at first I thought they rented out a state park, as we drove up a mountain on a twisting tree lined road.

Being a city boy, I was awestruck with the views. Rolling hills, Bright crimson and orange colored leaves in the trees. Beautiful. Autumn in New England is really beautiful.

Arriving at the top of the mountain, I observed a cool house with a couple of interesting buildings scattered around the property. I parked our tour bus and scouted the area for the best way to load in out equipment.

Unfortunately for me, the roadie on this trip, the only way to the tent we were to perform in was up a hill, across a lawn. There was no paved access to the performance area. I humped the PA and our instruments up the hill and proceeded to set everything up.

Everything went well, and we were ahead of schedule. I fired up the ipod, which Janet had filled with cool tunes that the birthday party hosts had requested.

Every guest to this party brought a platter of food, and there was SO much good food and drink there. I felt like Dom DeLuise in a Mel Brooks movie.

We played all afternoon and had the birthday boy and his buddies singing backup vocals by the end of the show.

Doing these kinds of gigs makes me feel great, as everyone who attended had a lot of fun, and we did, too.

Ray did sound reinforcement for the Festival of the Hills in Conway, MA. It was a beautiful day to be outside, and the music was good. http://www.festivalofthehills.com/

The highlight of the day? Seth Glier & Ryan Hommell.

Heat Wave.

We did two performances today. The first show was in building that wasn't air conditioned. They squeezed a bunch of people into the room, and off we went.

Management did supply a window fan, which was better than nothing until someone fired up a charcoal grill outside the window, and the fan sucked the wonderful smell of the charcoal burning right into the room.

The people there were very appreciative, which made me feel better about the show, although loading in and out in one hundred degree temperature meant that it didn't take very long for me to get soaked.

The second show was held in a brand new space complete with a big ole honking air conditioning unit. I liked that performance lots more, although the load in and out still sucked.

Winter in western Mass

It seems like every place but here got whalloped by the snow.

All we got was a slushy mess...

I'm ready for spring.

I Muse U2

It happened way under the radar.

I read a link on the wires that said a band named "The Muse" was opening up for U2 on their latest tour.

Color me excited.

Then I read a bit deeper and the found out that U2 was schooling this new kid band.

Right.

Calling Mister Google.

He responds thusly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PN6egPgazA&feature=player_profilepage#

OK, these guys get a slot. Damn,

Awakened the other night by a loud crash, I got out of my warm bed and went downstairs where I discovered that the gutter had been ripped from the eave of my house and was laying in my backyard.

It was very windy that night.

After a few failures, I gave up on the idea of replacing it, and I will wait until spring for my next attempt. My center of gravity has shifted over the years, and climbing up 2 stories doesn't really appeal to me...

Happy New Year!

Here's wishing you the best new year possible, filled with lots of great music, interesting people, and cool gigs.

And boom, there goes the dynamite.


We got our first taste of snow on December 5th this year.
It wasn't much more than a dusting, and I still saw cars that had skidded off the highway.

December 3, 2009

I was 62 degrees out today, so I fired up the old motorcycle and drove it to Springfield where I do my radio show.

I never thought I would be riding the bike in December! It was a great day to feel the wind in my face as I cruised southward on the highway. I saw a few other bikers out today, too. Gotta get in every day that I can, because this year was not the best for riding. It was monsoon season this year, and I prefer not riding a bike in the rain.

There is something special about jumping on a motorcycle and just going. It really helps me recharge my internal battery.

Now that I wrote this, expect the foot of snow to fall anyday now...

Raindrops are falling on my head.

Woke up to the sound of water in the bathroom. The roof had started to leak. Fortunately it was leaking right into the bathtub! Time to re-roof the old homestead.

My roof seems to have gotten steeper in the years since I last repaired the roof.

Set up the ladder and started removing the roofing shingles. I used to be comfortable on the roof, not any more. My center of gravity has changed over the years.

Ripped off all the old shingles, installed plywood and new shingles, and hopefully I am good for another twenty years.

Those dumpster guys are greedy bastards. Dumping the old roofing materials has become a very expensive operation.

I liked the view of my neighborhood from my roof. It was pleasing to me to look out over the neighbor's houses and soak in my little place in the city.

It looks like a few other homeowners are working on their houses, too.

Spring 2009

Spring is finally attempting to break through the bindings of winter. I can tell, because I have new neighbors next door, and they are in lawn maintenance mode.

Some backstory is needed. The house next to mine has been sort of a transient space for the last few years as the owners, a couple in their fifties, both died unexpectedly in a close span of time. Their son took over the house. He's a young man in his early twenties, and he preferred to focus his energies in other areas rather than in the mundane chores of home ownership. He really wasn't too interested in things like lawn mowing and painting.

He's since moved on, and the new owners are pretty much absentee landlords. They did, however, make an attempt at fixing up the ole place; the fixed the roof and painted the outside. I have no complaints about them. They are ok, and the house looks one hundred percent better than it did.

We have come full circle; the house is rented, and the renters have a couple of small kids who run around in the yard. It's a good thing.

The renters have taken rakes and clippers and saws to the jungle that was the backyard. For a very long time the backyard was in a bad state of disrepair, and the new renters have basically cleared away all the debris. The yard is looking good now, and I am sure it is a much safer place for their kids to play in.

There are a lot of renovations going on in my neighborhood lately. A new roof on a house the next street over, new sheetrock going in across the street. The sounds of hammering and sawing. Spring seems like a good time for this. While people might not be buying houses, I am glad that others are repairing their places; it's good for the neighborhood.

Soon: it will be time to start up the motorcycle and prepare for riding season.

I can't wait.

It's a new day today!
It was quite the election last night. Let the healing begin.

Happy New Year.

Waking up to a new white blanket of snow today was just perfect for my 2008 attitude. The white stuff covered everything here, and made things look nice and new.

As I look back at the past year, the first thing that grabs me is that time is flying by.

I spent a lot of time in the studio, recording all kinds of music from bands to singer songwriters. I scored some drum hardware on Ebay and fixed up my recording kit. Purchased a Line 6 modeling guitar and have been having fun playing in alternate tunings, switching them on the fly. Picked up a firewire Mackie mixer and have been experimenting with it. The firewire stuff works nicely. Got a Mac and have been learning to record with it.

I will work on more recordings and plan on expanding the full band's performances after I record our next CD.

Have a great New Year!


and now I shovel my driveway.

Thursday, July 12
Checking in once again. I was watching a documentary about the great Les Paul tonight.

Any musician that uses electricity or records their music owes that man a huge debt of gratitude. Check him out here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Paul

Winter finally kicks in, or here comes Punxsutawney Phil 2007

I was so enjoying the warm weather that we here on the east coast had up until this point. I hadn't used much heating oil this winter heating season, which is a good thing.

Now, however, the old boiler is running a lot more often as I crank up the thermostat to stay warm.
This Friday is Groundhog Day, and I am hoping that Phil doesn't see his shadow.

With a little luck, we might get out of this winter with minimal snow coverage, which I would appreciate as I am a motorcycle rider and not a skier.

More later...

Reflections

Many years ago I was what might be qualified as a frequent flier
I flew so often that I got so tired of the whole concept
re fly, so you can be there much quicker than you would be if you drove.
I got to SO want to drive
because it meant more quiet time for me

In the pre 911 days flying was much more enjoyable
security was basically non existant
you could carry your stuff without scrutiny
no one cared, nor did they pretend to

I always stressed over the connecting flights,
many were the times that I was reduced to an OJ Simpson parody,
madly dashing between terminals
almost always missing the connecting flight
only to be told that, hey,
too bad, kid.

I found that if I pounded the countertop with my fist
and raised my voice
I would get comp tickets
and sometimes the ticket person would actually call a competing airline and get me a seat!
Back then, they would also comp me a room
now they let you swing
no more rooms, it got too expensive for them
and I got too tired of having to amp up to get anyone to deal with me.
They usually wore me down
and I would walk away


Other times I remember layovers of many hours
walking from one terminal to another.
At least the large cities had a lot of diversions in their airports
I can remember doing things like going into the stores
reading books and magazines,
going into the arcades and playing video games
always losing, BTW
Tasting the extremely overpriced foods.
Finding my way to the bar and sampling the horribly overpriced drinks
Watching local crap on the little TV set.

Walking around
looking at the people
and the ATM machines
and the stores
and the insurance machines.
I never bought any insurance from them, though.

One thing that I thought was kinda cool was a massage table set up in Ohio.
One could get rubbed down for $25
I was always too cheap to spring for it
I knew, in the back of my mind,
that I was a better masseuse than the people manning the table
Sometimes it is easy to feel things about people by looking in their eyes
and those people had dead eyes
So I never went in for it.
I did think that ,
Hey, I could do this someday,
if I ever needed $$ bad enough

Security was composed of fools back then
in those innocent days
Which makes me wonder just how much better (or worse) security could actually become.
I think a subversive could always find ways to beat the system,
which is a scary thought.

I always had trouble breathing
when I returned home
and took the bus to the long term parking lot
wondering if my ride was still there

it always felt good to see it sitting there
waiting for me
yet I had to walk around it
and look for new dents, or flat tires
Rarely was I disappointed

And as I drove north
seeing the "Entering Massachusetts" sign always felt pretty good
as did driving down familiarly named streets
Returning home always felt good

Being away stirs strange emotions
I was always the oldest one in the classes
and the kids always went out to party after classes

Dinner
then many drinks
and always felt like crap in class the next day


The older I got, the less I was interested in joining in the festivities
I got to the point where I would
hit the restaurant closest to the hotel
and then head to my room
leaving the party people to revel without me

I always took note of the house bands
Holiday Inn bands are composed of the same people
They are low rent wannabe's
Over the course of 15 years
I watched the SAME BAND
at the same hotel in Ohio
they kept buying more equipment over the years
yet
their talent was marginal at best
and they had worked the same place for more than a decade and a half
Can you say Twilight Zone?


I would watch their shows and ask to sit in
after a few years they knew me
and would make a big deal out of inviting the bluesguy from the northeast up to their stage
and I would drag their terrible rhythm section through a shuffle or two

There ain't enough $$ for me to do that for so long
they looked so worn down
yet that was all they knew
if they stopped doing that
they woulda had to wait tables or wash dishes
and They thought they were SO special
so they were trapped in the prison of their own making

When I travelled
I spent most of my time as an observer
I watched the kids from the sticks
get loaded and get into trouble
I watched the foreigners from overseas
get sidetracked by drunken hillbillies
All I ever wanted was to just get the hell outta there

Sitting in the room
watching TV
in another tonezone
is very strange

locals are settled in
yet it's so early
I could never sleep enough
when I was on the road
I sat up alone
wondering what was I doing there

Watching the weather on the local TV channel always made me sad
the weatherperson would point to some unfamiliar area of the map
while giving out the forcast
sigh
I just wanted out

At the end of the seminars
I would always try to finagle an early exit
back in those days you could call the airport and reschedule your flight out for free
so I would

They started charging $50 to reschedule flights
towards the end of my working career
which kinda killed the whole "get out of class early" thing for me
I got to the point where I never had the desire to fly again.

So I thought
hey,
a cruise would be so cool

Until I read about the people getting sick while on a ship
so that kinda killed the ship thing for me

Now I think quiet nights looking at the full moon are just fine

The Pines Theater

The Pines Theater, located at Look Park in Northampton, MA, is a wonderful outdoor venue for experiencing live music. We were lucky enough to be invited back, (for the 6th year in a row) to be a part of the 23rd annual Picking in the Pines festival, put on by Roger Salloom.

www.Rogersalloom.com

Performing outside is always special to me. Watching all the families out there on their blankets, with their small children running nonstop all over the area, makes me appreciate summer even more.

Next week: Biker party in Monson!

Got Strings?

If it's got strings, I'll try to play it.

Spring.

Turn off the oil burner for the season. Get some propane for the grill. Prepare the bike for riding. Hang the clothes 0utside on the solar clothes dryer (clothesline)
Hang up the heavy coat in the closet. Swap out the snow tires on the bus. Record Janet's solo CD. Write some tunes for my solo CD. Learn new tunes for the live show. Book some festivals.

It's going to be a great summer...

Testing 1,2,3

I like recording. I enjoy the whole process. Moving microphones around, searching for that elusive audio sweet spot, the place where the microphone sounds best. I like the rush when the playback sounds just the way I had envisioned it in my head.

Tweaking settings on microphone preamps, compressors, EQ's, and outboard toys has always enthralled me.

Hooking things up "wrong" while searching for new tones.

Dragging the studio to remote locations to capture the wild musician in his/her native habitat.

It is certainly a great time to record music: technology has driven down the costs to the point where anyone with a few bucks can set themselves up with a very efficient recording rig. The latest rig I built is based on a firewire mixer, and it runs so well, it's hard to remember back 15 or so years ago, when I first got into building computers for the express purpose of recording musicians. No more configuration problems, just plug things together and 9 times out of 10 they work flawlessly.

Yeah, it's a good time to be a recording musician.

Springtime

I cranked up the old Triumph and took her out for a ride in the country. The feel of the wind in my face is very theraputic to me. Riding on a motorcycle is a wonderful way to get around.

Western Mass is a great place to take trips on two wheels, too. Head a little bit west, and the rolling hills of the Berkshires make for an unparalleled biking experience. There are many places to explore, and many side roads to discover.

A day of cycling makes all the pain go away. You really ought to experience it at least once.

Only a few more weeks until spring!

We are in pre production for Janet's solo CD. This time around, she is going to do a recording of all jazz standards, and we are auditioning material for inclusion. We plan on doing a lot of the legwork this month, and hope to have the new Cd ready for a summer release.

I am looking forward to this project, as I can focus on the engineering and production, and not have to worry about playing. This is a very nice feeling, and it allows me to concentrate fully on the recording process. I am shooting for a traditional jazz sound this time, and fromthe sound of the experimental tracks recorded thus far I am very happy with the direction things are going.

and it's a good excuse to update my Not Really a Blog...

Iron Horse.
On Friday, Feb 18th we opened up for Guitar Shorty at the Iron Horse. What a great bunch of people in that band! They had been on the road for a while and were glad to be at the Horse that night. The house was packed, and both bands did a great job!

During load in, Shorty uncrated 5 beautiful G and L strat type guitars, and he was telling me the story behind each one. Shorty knew Leo Fender personally, and Leo made guitars for specially for him. How cool is that?

Shorty looked at one of my strats, said that the pickups were all wrong, whipped out a screwdriver and proceeded to "Shorty-ize" my guitar. He raised the height of my pickups so the guitar got louder! Silly me, I never messed with the pickups, cause I thought the guitar sounded fine already.

It's finer now.

The rhythm section guys hung out with my rhythm section, and the keyboard players were going over the fine details of the keyboard on stage. ( Push THAT button to get a piano sound, and then push THIS button for the organ tone. ROFL)

We made a lot of friends in the audience that night, too, as well as selling a few CDs to boot.

It's nice to play for an appreciative audience...

Sometimes ya just can't win

There seems to be a lot more hacker types out there lately. My firewall is always letting me know it has blocked another attempt at accessing my puter. The last few days I seemed to be suffering a virus, as my machine was getting slower and slower.

So when I went to sign on yesterday, I got error messages about trouble with the modem not being able to connect. I ran my virus software, (found no problem) uninstalled and reinstalled my modem, uninstalled and reinstalled my internet provider software, and was still unable to get online. Grrrr.

Ok, time to reformat the hard drive. first, I dragged all of my email and my ISP files onto a DVD, then I went ahead and did the deed. Reformatted the hard drive, reinstalled windows and my ISP software, and I was able to reconnect. Yay. Another problem taken care of.

I consider myself fairly computer literate, and I wonder what the "average" person does when things go awry. If I couldn't fix the thing, I would have tossed it out the window years ago. I have actually helped many people with their computer issues, and I get great satisfaction out of it.

Maybe someday there will actually be such a thing as a user friendly computer.

NAH.

American Cancer Society

On Friday, June 4th, the band performed for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life, which is a fundraiser designed to heighten awareness about cancer and cancer survivors. This is the ACS's largest event, and has been held for the last fifteen years. More details are here: http://www.cancer.org/docroot/GI/gi_1.asp

The relay was held at the racetrack in Greenfield, MA. We set up in the center of the track, and the relay'ers circled us as we performed. The weather was very nice for this event; it was a little bit cool and perfect for walking.

We brought our own PA, which was a good thing as the modest PA that was provided wasn't really up to par. Our PA has quite a bit more power, and that allowed us to be heard at all points of the racetrack. We rocked em for a couple of hours, made some new friends, and got asked to return for next years event.

It's nice to do these benefit gigs as they offer us the chance to perform for lots of different people who might never get the opportunity to see us perform in the traditional places where bands can get gigs. All of the people we talked to were wonderful towards us, and we made many new friends and fans that night.

American Cancer Society

On Friday, June 4th, the band performed for the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life, which is a fundraiser designed to heighten awareness about cancer and cancer survivors. This is the ACS's largest event, and has been held for the last fifteen years. More details are here: http://www.cancer.org/docroot/GI/gi_1.asp

The relay was held at the racetrack in Greenfield, MA. We set up in the center of the track, and the relay'ers circled us as we performed. The weather was very nice for this event; it was a little bit cool and perfect for walking.

We brought our own PA, which was a good thing as the modest PA that was provided wasn't really up to par. Our PA has quite a bit more power, and that allowed us to be heard at all points of the racetrack. We rocked em for a couple of hours, made some new friends, and got asked to return for next years event.

It's nice to do these benefit gigs as they offer us the chance to perform for lots of different people who might never get the opportunity to see us perform in the traditional places where bands can get gigs. All of the people we talked to were wonderful towards us, and we made many new friends and fans that night.

My trip to the The Academy of Music

The Academy of Music, located in downtown Northampton, MA, is a wonderfully restored movie theater. It has a cool vintage vibe, and the architecture is very eye catching. I really like how the place ids laid out, and there are some very nice private box seats along the walls.

On Thursday night I had to opportunity to see myself playing guitar on that very screen as I had a part in the new movie about Roger Salloom. This was my first time appearing in a movie, well, in a "real" movie, anyway. I don't think my many appearances in home videos qualify. Over the past four years, Roger has hired Janet Ryan and me to augment his band during his annual concert at the Pines theater in Look Park in Northampton. We rehearsed for the shows in an old mill in town where a couple of guys repair pianos. As I walked into the piano factory building, I noticed the film crew setting up extra lighting in preparation for the days film shoot, and I thought to myself, yeah, that is interesting. As we ran through the material that we would perform at the Pines Theater show, I noticed one of the camera operators was swinging a camera in my direction, and as my solo slot in the tune came up, I saw the red light on the camera illuminate. The timing was perfect, and I was pretty animated during my solo. I played well, too. I had wondered if my scene would actually make it into the movie, or end up on the cutting room floor, and to my great amusement, I filled up the screen about one half hour into the movie. Janet Ryan was featured singing one of her great original songs, and then I got to rip a cool guitar solo.

The movie was well done, and paced well. There were many shots of Northampton, MA, and a lot of locals made it onscreen.

All in all it was a great experience to be involved with the movie.

I found this promo piece in the Greenfield Recorder newspaper.
Thanks Sheryl.

ROGER SALLOOM
by Sheryl Hunter

Local singer songwriter Roger Salloom has a long list of
accomplishments to his credit and he's now about to add movie star to
the list.

Salloom, a resident of Northampton, is the subject of a new
documentary film by award winning filmmaker Chris Sautter of
Washington D.C. The film is titled "So Glad I Made It: The Saga of
Roger Salloom, America's Best Unknown Songwriter." It will make it's
area debut at the Academy of Music in Northampton on Thursday, June
10 at 7 p.m.

The film, which was shot mostly in the Northampton area in 2002,
follows Salloom as he decides to revive his career after giving up on
the music business for some 20 years. The movie also looks back on
his days as a folk singer in Worchester and his life during the
late '60 music scene in San Francisco. Back then, Salloom fronted a
psychedelic band that shared the stage with Santana, Van Morrison and
Love. He later went to Nashville where he worked as a songwriter and
briefly played with the remaining members of Credence Clearwater
Revival, released an acclaimed album, and ultimately ended up in
Western Mass. raising a family.

Local viewers will enjoy the movie not only because Salloom is
well known to music fans here, but the film also includes plenty of
area shots including scenes at the studio of WRSI (93.9 FM) and the
Daily Hampshire Gazette. Local blues singer Janet Ryan also makes an
appearance.

Sautter chose Salloom as subject for this film because he knew
him when they were both students at Indiana University in the
late '60s.

"In those days, Roger Salloom was a charismatic folk singer
turned rock and roller who was hailed as the next Bob Dylan," said
Sautter.

Sautter's first film, "The King of Steeltown," won "Best
Political Documentary" honors at the New York International
Independent Film Festival in 2001.

Salloom said, "America's Best Unknown Songwriter? I am not sure
what to say about that but it makes me feel great. It is an opinion
and if enough people have it then democracy-in-art works its miracle
again. All I know is that I am a very good songwriter, some days it
feels that that is all I know!"

The film will be followed by a question and answer session with
Sautter and Salloom. Tickets are $7 in advance and $10 at the door.
They are available in advance at State Street Fruit Store and the
Academy of Music Theater in downtown Northampton, and Cooper's Corner
in Florence. Presented by Academyarts, the proceeds will be split
between the Northampton Arts Council and the Academy of Music Theater.

Copyright c. 2004 by Sheryl Hunter.

The Movie Theater

In the city I grew up in there were three movie theaters. Every weekend I would gather together a few coins and run downtown and get in line for the matinee. I seem to recall most of the movies were in the cheesy horror movie vein, still the title of the movie mattered not. It was the whole "going to the movies" experience that I enjoyed as much as the actual movies themselves.

I remember that those lines were quite long, and sometimes the person selling tickets would slam the little window shut as they yelled, "ALL SOLD OUT." We would then run to the next theater that was located two blocks away, jump into that queue, and await out turn at the ticket window.

I really enjoyed the movie theater: It was comfortably air conditioned against the summer heat, the lights were always kept mysteriously low, and one could really experience the escape that moviegoing was. We had no video games, computers, VCRs, etc back then, hell, even television was limited to five or six channels, and that was only if you lived in an area that had a decent enough flat space so you could tune in your TV antenna. The movie theater was inexpensive big time fun for me.

After forking over the right amount of coins and getting the ticket, I would proceed into the lobby where the doorman would rip the ticket in half and allow my entry. On the walls, enclosed in huge glass cages, were the promotional posters for the current movie, and more posters of coming attractions. The images on those posters always caught my eye and my attention, and I eagerly awaited the next weeks posters.

Looking around the lobby one would notice the candy stand down at the far end of the room. Back then the popcorn was always popped right on location on the day of the show. Nowadays they pop the popcorn somewhere in middle America and ship it to the theaters in huge plastic garbage bags. Bleaah! Nothing beats the taste of freshly popped popcorn. I still enjoy it to this day.

Let's look in the counter, through the smudged glass, where you can spy Good N Plenty, Junior Mints, jujuB's, and lots more. A few more coins later, and I am armed with ample goodies and head off to the soda machine. The soda machine was very tempramental, and often did its thing out of sequence. Here's how it was supposed to work: you pointed the dial at the flavor of soda you wanted and inserted the appropriate number of coins. A cup would drop down, soda concentrate followed by water came next, and lastly you got a few ice shavings to keep it cool.
Unfortunately the darn thing worked correctly less than fifty percent of the time: usually the cup came out last, after the soda and ice had nicely decorated the front of the machine and the floor in front of it. If you complained to the manager, he usually laughed and said something like"You tried to buy a soda? Bwa Ha Ha, get outta here kid, ya bother me." Important life lessons presented at an early age.

Ok, now well provisioned, I headed into the theater proper. going from the brightly lit lobby to the near total darkness of the theater made me instantly blind. I couldn't see anything for a few moments, so I hung back as my eyes adjust to the low level of light.

Ok, I can see now. Let's try to locate the usher. I have to find out where the usher is hiding, so I can then plot my route to the closed off balcony. The theater manager always kept the balcony closed until the entire lower section of the theater had filled up, because keeping it open all of the time would increase the theater's cleaning bill.

Some kids are yelling at each other in the front row. Off goes our little movie version of the police, Mister Usher. Because I could see where he is headed, I could now sneakily access the balcony. Yeah! Up the stairs to the lobby, and then through more doors to the tippity top of the balcony we go. I have to be careful not to get caught up there, as they would toss me right out on my ear if they catch me in the restricted area.

Once in the balcony, I have to choose my perch properly. The lighting created lots of shadows and bright spots, and it was to your advantage to find a dark section from which to view the feature.

After spending a lot of my formative years in the movie theaters, I thought it would be a great life experience to actually work in the movie house. One spring day I opened up the local newspaper and spied an advertisement for an usher at my movie theater! I hopped on my bicycle and flew down there that day. After fibbing about my age I got the job! I was now a movie theater usher. Little did I know that there were a lot of behind the scenes activities for which I was responsible. In addition to controlling noisy kids in the theater proper, I was also expected to sell candy, change posters weekly, and also to change the marquee before every new show started. It was a lot of fun doing the marquee, as you got a box full of letters and a hand written note from the manager with the correct layout for the new movie. I remember doing things like putting my name on the marquee, putting up my favorite movies instead of the current movie, and generally having fun.

I had keys to the building and pretty much had the run of the place to myself, which I enjoyed immensely. This theater was originally a vaudeville theater, and there was a full compliment of dressing rooms under the main stage. One of the first responsibilities I had was to take a box of lightbulbs and go into every dressing room and see what I could find. I took a three foot length of iron pipe, a big flashlight, and the box of light bulbs, and off I went, exploring old eerie memories of a bygone era. I would kick open the door, shine the flashlight around to locate the light fixture, and change the bulb. I found lots of very old things, like old uniforms. posters and clothing. I gave them all to the manager. I was a good teenager.

I found some great memories in those dressing rooms. I found original King Kong and Fay Wray posters, which I presented to the manager. He looked especially pleased with me, and said that my current job was a lock. Years later I found out that those old posters were extremely valuable! Had I known that THEN, I might have put a few of those posters away for my future. Oh well...

The manager had a buddy who was a contractor, and he was hired to refurbish the aging theater. I got hired as his go-fer, and really enjoyed the work.

The theater had a plaster and wire lath curved ceiling that was surrounded with spotlights. Most of the bulbs had burnt out over time, and we had to replace them one by one. It was a lot more work that I though it would be, as we worked on a forty foot ladder, and we had to move it every few feet to access the next light fixtures. We also got the curtain running again, and we hooked up a stereo system to play music in between movies. We pulled out every other row of seats to allow a lot more legroom. We were building something that was ahead of it's time, and we were proud as we completed each section of the work.

Kids need good honest work. It feels good to have pockets lined with hard earned spending money when you are young.

Frank Zappa interview


Frank Zappa: I tend to view the whole thing as a conspiracy. It is no accident that the public schools in the United States are pure [naughty bits deleted]. It is no accident that masses of drugs are available and openly used at all levels of society. In a way, the real business of government is the business of controlling the labor force.

Social pressure is placed on people to become a certain type of individual, and then rewards are heaped on people who conform to that stereotype. Take the pop music business, for example. Look at the stereotypes held up by the media as great accomplishment. You see guys who are making millions of dollars and selling millions of units. And because they are making and selling millions they are stamped with the seal of approval, and it is the millions which make their work quality. Yet anyone can look at what is being done and say, "Jesus, I can do that!" You celebrate mediocrity, you get mediocrity. People who could have achieved more won't, because they know that all they have to do is be "that" and they too can sell millions and make millions and have people love them because they're merely mediocre. And that is reinforced over and over and over.

Few people who do anything excellent are ever heard of. You know why? Because excellence, pure excellence, terrifies the shit out of Americans because they have been bred to appreciate the success of the mediocre. People don't like to be reminded that lurking somewhere there are people who can do some [naughty bits deleted] that you can't do. They can think a way you can't think, they can dance a way you can't dance. They are excellent. You aren't excellent. Most Americans aren't excellent, they're only OK. And so to keep them happy as a labor force, you say, "OK, let's take this mediocre chump," and we say, "He is terrific!" All the other mediocre chumps say, "Yeah, that's right and that gives me hope, because one day as mediocre and chumpish as I am I can..." It's smart labor relations. An MBA decision. That is the orientation of most entertainment, politics, and religion. So considering how firmly entrenched all that is right now, you think it's going to turn around? Not without a genetic mutation it's not!

Reviewer: If you would focus on the message of pop music for a moment, what do you see as the issues of the 1980's that music can address today?

Frank Zappa: It can address anything it wants to, but it will only address those topics that will sell. Musicians will not address topics that are controversial if they want to have a hit. So music will continue to address those things that really matter to people who buy records: boy-girl relationships, boy-boy relationships, boy-car relationships, girl-car relationships, boy-girl-food relationships, perhaps. But safe. Every once in a while somebody will say "War is Hell" or "Save the Whales" or something bland. But if you talk about pop music as a medium for expressing social attitudes, the medium expresses the social attitude perfectly by avoiding contact with things that are really there. That is the telling point about the society that is consuming the product. If society wanted to hear information of a specific nature in songs, about controversial topics, they would buy them. But they don't. You are talking about a record- buying audience which is interested in their personal health and well-being, their ability to earn a living, their ability to stay young at all costs forever, and not much else.

54 was much to soon for FZ to leave us...

Fall and Ham Sandwiches

Time sure flies by. It's October 1st already, and the nights are getting cooler. Looking back at this past summer, the big thing I remember is that rained a whole bunch of times. Quite a lot of our outdoor gigs this summer got rained on. We actually got very efficient in breaking the stage down when the weather threatened to turn ugly on us.

We played a lot of parties and festivals, and had a lot of fun. Our CD has been sent all over the world through CD Baby and Garageband.com, and we are negotiating with a management company in Sweden for a possible tour next fall.

Janet got herself a nice new job as the Choral Director of EagleBrook Academy in South Deerfield, MA. They actually liked her so much that they created a position for her! All of us in the band wish her all the best.

Janet and I are also in preproduction for our next CD project. We are experimenting with different tones and tunes and plan on doing demo's this fall and winter, with an eye on doing the formal recordings in the spring, and we plan on having a summer 2004 CD release.

I suppose I ought to retitle this column, as the word Blog seems to indicate that daily postings are a prerequisite. I have been writing on line very sporadically since 2000. I have never felt the need nor had the desire to force myself to write something just so I can say that I wrote something every day. I prefer to work on my music at that pace. Writing in this space will continue to happen when the muse strikes me. I can't see the usefulness of writing just for writing's sense. I will write when I have something that I want to rant about.

And yes, I like my ham sandwiches with mustard, thank you.

25th anniversary

We had a gig this past weekend. Outside. The contract called for full PA and soundman. Way out on a farm in the hills of Western Mass. Sounds nice. The prospect of this gig pleased me no end, as it is so nice to get out of the smoky bars and out into the fresh air. After mapquesting the directions from the internet I loaded up the bus and head westward.

Internet maps leave a lot to be desired. The directions I downloaded, while technically accurate, were terrible. Left for 1.2 mi, then slight right for .32 mi, then right for 1.5 mi, etc, etc. It all sounds good until the reality comes up and bites you in the hindquarters. This particular bite in the butt came via a missing road sign: I missed my turn and was off on my merry way, in a completely wrong direction. Eventually, I put things together and arrived at the gig, with plenty of time to set up all of my gear. I am going to grab another regular map for the next trip, though.

Here's the turn, it's marked by a tiny cardboard sign with an arrow pointing into the woods. Cool. I'm on it, and soon I am driving by rows of campers and tents, until I see a bandstand set up by a lake. Yeah, this will do, I'm thinking to myself. I see families, people tossing frisbees. There were kids jumping off the raft in the center of the lake, and other kids were taking turns paddling a rowboat around the lake. Off to one side they had a BBQ pit with three porkers on spits browning up nicely.

They also had built a little tiki bar by the lake , and set up a well stocked bar inside. It was quite the place for a party. It turns out that they have been having a party every summer for the last twenty-five years!

Playing outside can be a lot of fun. Having the big PA system set up with all the instruments mic'ed up just added to the happy factor. I got things set up quickly, and I discovered two bad cables in the process.We had a ball playing for them, and were very happy to be a part of their twenty-fifth bash!
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submitted by ®acy

When Everything falls into place.

As a performing musician, I live for those special moments when everyone in the band is in that special space, a place where the individual band members are feeling the magic, and the band becomes much more than the sum of its parts.

Performing live can be such a magical experience: the rhythm section locks together, and the soloists fly, dragging the perceptive audience members along for a wonderful roller coaster ride. For me, very few things in life can approach the high of those moments, and I live for them.

That magic feeling is an elusive thing, too. It doesn't automatically happen everytime I perform, yet it's always lurking around the next corner, ready to put in an appearance on its own terms. It cares not of the particular venue I happen to be in that night, nor who might be in the audience. It stands defiantly, needing no one. Catch it if you can: there is no map to follow, voodoo doesn't help, and you can't buy it nor bottle it when it finally puts in an appearance. You can only ride it, in a fashion similar to that person with the surf board catching the ultimate wave and riding it all the way home.

The variables of live performance can be daunting: Creating music is a collaborative effort, and every person in the band has a huge influence on the outcome. If a bandmember has had a less than stellar day, that can affect the music in a negative way. On the other hand, if one has a great day, the music can fly high and free. There are, of course, exceptions to every rule, yet I have observed the highest highs when my day has gone well, and vice-versa.

So get out there and support live music. Take a chance on a band that you aren't familiar with. When they ask you for the five dollars or whatever at the door, just pay it and invest some time. Usually the musicians will perform with everything they have, and you will be a happy camper. If they moved you, buy one of their CDs in a show of support. Your efforts will not go unnoticed. If the sun and stars happen to line up on that day you might be a participant on the best roller coaster ride of all time.

And if they didn't move you that night, you will still have the satisfaction of knowing that you did something to support your music scene. If you don't, that "scene" might someday sound like the junk that you hear on your car radio...

Posted by ®acy

A record has an influence in the world way beyond yourself and your realm. As an artist, I think you just put the best work out that you can and it will be meaningful for the people who need to find it. Those people will find it. And it will change people's lives. That's the best thing you could hope for. It's the process, you know? It's the path. I finally realized after trying to push things through for so long, that this is what you get. You get to perform. You get to play music for people. That's what you get. You don't get anything else. If you want to get money, then you have to be a businessperson. If you want to get famous, that's a whole industry networking game. But if you want to be a musician, you get to play music. That's what you get. You get that experience with the audience. That's the deal.

Posted by ®acy

So there I was:
No Vehicle

No vehicle, no transportation, I ain't going nowhere tonight.
My bus is in the shop, awaiting it's turn on the diagnostic computer.

Me? I am waiting for the results of the diagnostic testing, hoping that this is one of the less expensive fixes, knowing full well that I might need an engine for the bus. The thought of having to spring for a new engine sends a shiver up my spine. I am the type of guy who has always had to do his own maintenance on his vehicles, one who has never allowed himself the luxury of having someone else crawl under his transpo, looking up and seeing something that's not quite right.

Unfortunately, this bus is too new. I can't repair it by myself, and that really sucks...I am at the mercy of the mechanic's diagnostic computer...

More about my first legal car...

My first legal car was a 1964 Chevy Biscayne wagon. Scroll down for more another story about it.
My friend's father told me he was selling it, and he offered me a 10% finder's fee if I could move it for him. After giving it the ole once over. I knew it was the car for me.

I took the 10 % discount and applied it to the purchase price. I vividly remember driving it home. It was my buddies family car, and I remember driving in it. Rides to the store, to Mountain Park, to places that my parents wouldn't ever drive me to. I always liked that car, even though, looking back, that it really wasn't anything special. To ME, though, it was the culmination of many months of hard work. When you are sixteen years old, the prospect of having your own ride was an intoxicating proposition. I just knew I had to have that car... I had gotten a job with the express purpose of getting that car for me...

And now it was mine! Yeah! Finally I could escape from the confines of the city. I longed to go to the country, where I had heard that everything was much more relaxed than the city life that I had grown up with. I knew of a few transplanted city dwellers who had moved to the country, and every one of them talked up the niceties of country life.

So I am fiilled with anxiety now. Will the bus survive a nother day? Stay tuned.

Cars and trouble

So I load the bus up after I finish my last performance, and head off down the road towards home. It was during our last spring snowstorm, and I was playing at Mount snow in Vermont.

A few miles down the road I notice something has gone awry: The bus started bucking like a mule, and the service engine light illuminated. Turning up the radio doesn't work this time, either. Uh, oh...

So there I was, at 3 A.M. on the highway in Vermont, snow falling like crazy, it's APRIL, I have a bus full of equipment, and I am hoping that the thing doesn't break down before I get home. Going about thirty-five miles an hour certainly makes the trip home quite longer that the ride up. I had lots of time to think. I wouldn't want to leave the thing on the side of the road because there is a lot of music equipment in it, and I tend to worry about things like losing it. It would be tough to replace it all.

OK, the temperature and oil gauges are in their normal ranges, that's a good sign. When I push hard on the accelerator, as in going up a hill, (Vermont certainly has more than it's share of those,) the engine starts to sputter and shake. Which is not a good sign. I am still making forward progress, which is good, and at this time of the morning there is no traffic to speak of, which is another good thing.

Three hours later I pull into my driveway, shaken and pissed off but very happy to have made it all the way home. Let's see: one and a half hours to get there, and three hours to get home. Oh well...

Later that morning I get out the phonebook and calI my mechanic. Hmmm, I forgot there is a war going on. He's a reservist and was recently activated. Not good news. I get a few more phone numbers to try and I actually do track down my mechanic. While he was indeed activated because of the war, this time he is working at a local Air Force base in a support position. He is very happy because he is married with kids and wasn't especially happy to be trotting off to the desert like the last time they activated him. He says that he'll need to put my vehicle on a diagnostic computer to see what's going on. Fortunately for me he has a space available on Friday, and will look at the bus and determine what I need to get it running properly again.

I do miss the old days when I could repair my own car. Now the repair guy has to have access to a diagnostic computer, and the car tells him what is wrong. Gone are the simple old days of "Do It Yourself."

I dropped off the bus and now I wait for the dreaded phone call. I am reminded of Dirty Harry's little saying, "Do you feel lucky?" I dread car trouble as it's so frustrating to me to not know what's wrong. Is this one going to be an easy fix, or a nightmare? I can only hope for the former.

I'll post the update later this weekend.

posted by ®acy

Piano
A spinster lived in the house next to the house I grew up in. I have memories from many years of my youth wherein I did lots of maintenance around her house: cutting the grass during the warm months, shovelling snow in the cold months, general cleaning up around her place, etc.

The house had been in her family for generations. She was born and raised there, and lived her entire life there. For most of her time here on earth, she lived alone in that large old house.

Eventually she died, and I was the first person to enter the house in many years. It was like walking back into time: the house had gas lights that were functional, toilets with tanks overhead and chains, lots of very cool old furniture, large brown and white photographs of very rugged looking women and children.

My brother bought the place, and we spent a few months cleaning it out. As compensation for helping with the needed work, I was given a turn of the century Weber upright piano. I visited the Weber website and found out via the serial number that the piano is from 1903, and was made in New York. It's quite nice: the piano has hand carvings etched into the front, and very ornate scrollwork on the legs. The tone is dark and marvelous to my ears. I'm a happy camper.

So now I own a piano. Let's see, what comes next? The evil word "Move" comes to mind. This piano is built like a tank and must weigh one thousand pounds. Oh happy day. I pick up the phone and see if I can call in a favor from a pickup truck owning friend that I have helped out previously. After some heming and hawing I reel him in, and together with two other big burly types, we load the piano into his truck and drive off towards my place. It was quite the sight: I was playing the piano as we drove down the street. Seems to me I just saw a video recently on MTV where some young female singer was doing the same thing. When I was doing it the image conveyed was quite different, thank you.

Ah, home. We back the truck up to my door and set up two planks in ramplike fashion and succeed in getting the piano into it's new home. It is looking resplendent in it's featured place against the wall in the den.

Posted by ®acy

Long Island
The band travelled to Long Island on Sunday to play a wedding gig. It was a good day to go, as the traffic was very light, and we arrived with lots of time to set up our gear.
This was my first performance at a Jewish wedding and it was an eye opener. There was lots of ceremony that I, as a Catholic, had never seen before. Lots of dancing and not as much drinking as I have seen in other weddings. The highpoint of the dancing for me was when the crowd surrounded the bride and groom and picked them up in their chairs, and proceeded to toss them into the air, chairs and all. They repeated this for about ten minutes. The groom was digging it, and the bride looked scared to death.
The ceremony after the wedding vows consisted of a medley of songs that the crowd danced to nonstop. We played this medley of tunes for about thirty minutes. the dancers were quite resiliant, and they did their thing at full speed the whole time.
There wasn't any tossing of a bouquet, and no garter ceremony either. It was a quite different experience for me. It was fun, and I look forward to performing at the next one.

Posted by ®acy

Spring
It feels so good to finally turn off the boiler at night. Spring, you gotta love it: all the snow has finally melted and I have started opening my windows to allow the fresh air into my cave.
The old body and mind are getting reenergized!

Posted by ®acy

Love field, the JFK musical
On Friday, November 22, Janet, Ray and Billy appeared in this musical written by Paul Hartshorne, and held in the A.P.E. Gallery in Thorn's Market in Northampton, MA.

This musical was a great time. Many different bands and soloists performed a suite of songs related to President Kennedy. There were many kinds of performers, from rock and roll to broadway, jazz singers, blues singers, a reggae band, and a rap act. it was nice to meet all of the musicians. Everyone was very cordial.

The A.P.E. performance center on the third floor of Thornes Market in Northampton was a nice place. I never knew they had a performance space there. It was suprising to find that out. Joe O'Rourke of WRNX fame produced this event, and drummed on a few of the tunes. The large audience was very attentive. I had a lot of fun doing this. It was great to not have to perform in a nightclub for a change. I also enjoyed the early performance time.

Posted by ®acy
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It was a 1964 Chevy
The little ole lady who lived next door to me when I was growing up owned it. She worked in a library and bought it new. It had very low mileage and looked like it just rolled off of the showroom floor.

I was 14 and just discovered cars. There were lots of hot rod magazines out, and I was into it. I could recognize every model of Chevy from every year of the 1960's just by looking at the front end of the car. I liked cars. I wanted one.

I liked everything about cars. The smells were great: new car smell was the best, even now. I even liked the smell of gasoline. I liked the lines of the cars in the 1960's. Great swoops. Big old boats with tail fins. Those cars had lots of character. I was anxious from a very early age to see the world, and I knew that a car would be just what I needed to do that.

It was a Chevrolet Biscayne. Four doors and a manual transmission, three speed shifter on the column. I used to watch her drive it away in the mornings while I was on my way to school. It was a cool car. I could picture me driving it.

One day she sees me eyeing her car and calls me over. She asks me if I like the car. I say yes! Then she asks me if I would wash it for her. She'll pay me. Heh, I woulda washed it for free.

So I get out the hose and a bucket and sponge, and proceed to clean this car as well as I could. I spent some time doing it up right.

The car gleamed in the afternoon sun when I decided that I had done all that I could. I ran to her front door and rang the bell. I wanted to thank her for letting me wash her car. She thanks me, and hands me five dollars, which seemed like a million to me at that time. Then she TOSSES THE KEYS to me and tells me to drive it around the block to dry it off! Wow. Remember, I'm fourteen years old, and have no idea how to drive a standard transmission car. Does the lack of knowledge stop me? Hell no. I grab the keys and run to the car, a huge grin across my face. How hard could it be, really? I am determined to drive!

So I get into the car and adjust the seat and the rear view mirror. I sit there, looking at the dashboard, letting it all soak in. Man, this is great! I am gonna be cruising in a few minutes.

I twist the key in the ignition lock and the motor roars into life. OK so far, now how do I get this thing to actually move? Trying to remember the things I had read in magazines I push in the clutch and pull the gearshift into low gear. Give her a little gas and let the clutch out. BAM. I stalled it. Restart and try again. Anyway, to make a long story a little shorter, I got a good lesson in humility that day, as it took me 20 minutes to finally get the car going. It was a lot tougher than I thought it would be. I finally got it together, and I rolled off into the sunset, me and my car. This was it! From that moment on, I knew I would have a great car someday. I looked down my nose at my bicycle.

From then on, whenever I saw her taking the car out, I would smile and remember my first experience when it was just me and a car, a kid and his dream.

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®acy

My Dad
You were a hero.
You remain a modest soldier, a reluctant, unsung hero.
You were a diplomat, a communicator and a peace maker for all.

You were a builder, an engineer of fine doll houses,
A constructor of intricate machines for the common good
.
You were a teacher when men knew not what to do with them.

You were a humble leader, an example of the ordinary person who does extraordinary things.

You are the climber of buildings, of mountains. The pathfinder; you were a monkey, a stuntman, and most of all, the humorist with the quick smile and quip.

You are the listener. I have seen you give your undivided attention to your mate, and I have learned this is an unequaled gift.

You are a model human, someone no man may ever live up to, in these eyes.

You are the defender, the protector. You rallied for the cause.

You are a farmer, a cultivator, and a wise man beyond words.

You are an enchanting story teller, always humored by your own memories.
You are an entrepreneur.
You chose your own path.
It was most certainly the one far less travelled.

Highland School

I grew up two blocks from an elementary school (grades Kindergarten to grade 6. Kindergarten, hmmm, sounds Germanic to me. I wonder what that means...) I can remember many vivid images from my early school days:

The most profound audio memory was of a very loud buzzer that rang periodically during the day, for the start and end of the school day, and the start and end of the lunch period. I can remember going home to eat lunch and running back to school when that buzzer went off. Life by the bell. Little did I know what was to follow...

The school itself was a very large stone structure that seemed to be very old. The third floor was condemned, and was off limits to the students, so we were always sneaking up there to explore. We would sneak up there, look around, get excited, make noise, and get caught and sent to the principal's office in a pattern that repeated itself many times.

We had a small library at the school, too. That's where I got my first library card, and where I first really got into reading books. I enjoyed the fact that I could pick out whatever book interested me, and not have to settle for reading a book that some adult said was "good for me." That started me on a long happy relationship with books and reading.

Play periods outside the building consisted of many activities involving balls: dodgeball was a perennial favorite. We got into a circle and threw that red spongy ball as hard as we could at the person across the circle. We also played softball, and stickball, and as a consequence, a lot of our balls ended up on the roof of the school, where they stayed until the semi annual cleaning of the roof by the custodian. He would go up to the roof at lunchtime, and toss the accumulation of orphaned balls down on us like rain. The event was always looked forward to by the students. We fought over the choice balls, too. The big kids usually got the best ones.

The playground of the school was a paved blacktop affair, with a dozen large trees providing shade, and also providing a place to play with marbles. When I was a kid, everyone had a bag of marbles of all sizes. The largest ones were the most prized, and every kid had his favorite shooter. We never drew a circle and knocked marbles around within it, instead we used to aim our shooters at the pockets that formed along the base of the tree between the tree's roots. The goal was to sink the marble into the pocket. Sort of like miniature golf in a way.

Baseball cards also figured into the equation, too. Along the foundation of the school building were windows with ledges that would fit a baseball card perfectly. Kids would toss their cards toward the window ledge, and if the card landed on the ledge, he won. Next in value was if you could make your card lean on the window sill, and the last rule was the person who got his card closest to the window would win if no one got a "Sill" or a "Leaner."

The school was set on a sloping piece of property, and as a result, the back of the school was a good four feet lower than the front of the building. This left the rear of the building with a very cool four foot ramp that was used as a bicycle jump. If you drove your bike across the parking lot as fast as you could you could cause both wheels to leave the ground when you hit the ramp. We spent a lot of time airborne.

Back then modified motorcycles called "Choppers" were very popular. We kids used to emulate their look by using a hacksaw to cut off the front forks of a broken bicycle. We would then put the two fork pieces onto the front forks of our bikes to extend them and get that chopper look. The local department store, J.M. Fields, carried chrome sissy bars that you would attach to your extended banana seat, and presto, a nine year old kid had a version of a motorcycle. Baseball cards or balloons clipped onto the frame and making contact with the spokes of the wheels provided the proper audio ambiance. Seeing our homemade "Choppers" flying into the air in the school ground was quite the sight.

In the front of the school was a large field that we used for kite-flying. Our little legs made that field seem very large. Eventually they built a modern addition onto the front of the school to provide a proper gymnasium and cafeteria for the students. It looked totally out of place with the old main building. This building would also house the principal's office and a few classrooms. Compared with the old main building, this new addition was very nice. Everything worked properly and was clean. The cafeteria was combined with an auditorium. I think they had a snappy name for the combination, something like "The Cafetorium." It was sort of a dining room with a stage on one end. It was on that stage that I got my first performing experiences. It instilled in me the seeds of a future performance career.

I had an occasion to return to the school before it was condemned and torn down. The city kept the windows boarded up, and I happened to be driving by when I caught sight of a city pickup truck in the school parking lot. City workers were there doing some repair work. I talked my way into the building and gave myself a tour. The new addition was all beat up, and the roof leaked all over the wooden floor of the gym, ruining it. I worked my way to the old main building and went straight up the the "off limits" third floor. This once magestic building still showed signs of elegance, and I was taken by the sheer size of the building. The ceilings had to be more than twenty feet high. In direct contrast to the huge rooms were the tiny desks and chairs. The drinking fountains in the halls barely reached my knee. I can remember standing on my tippytoes to reach that very same water fountain. The deterioration caused by water damage from the leaking roof was very advanced. There would be no saving of this building. As I walked from room to room I paused and looked into them all, remembering all of my different classrooms over the time I spent there. The memories were quite spectacular to me. I touched on emotions that had been dormant for many years.

When I read in the newspaper that the old school was going to be razed because of safety concerns, I headed there for one last minute of nostalgia. As the bulldozers and cranes knocked the building to the ground, I felt saddened by the finality of the moment.

The original part of the building had a unique off white color to the brickwork, and I was able to take one of those special bricks with me. The emotion caused by looking at that brick runs deep within me. You can never go home.

Racy
###

Heat Wave
So there I was
lying in bed late at night
it's too sticky, so humid I can't sleep
despite the 4 fans that are running full blast.
I'm laying there, looking up at the rickety old ceiling fan hung precariously over my head
watching it wobble like a kid's top that's starting to slow down, spinning in wider and wider arcs on my ceiling
wondering when the thing will finally tumble down and finish me off
Tomorrow's headline
Man dies quietly in his sleep
only the fan will know the truth

Ah, living in the city
I can hear the whirring of one hundred air conditioners
the motor noises penetrating the quiet of the neighborhood
all I can think of is, I bet those lucky people haven't a clue

Blug, blug, blug
my neighbor motors up to his place across the street from me
He's drunk
again

I know he's loaded because after he steps out of his vehicle, he starts to climb his front stairs
he gets to the top stair, then turns around and goes back down
where he lifts a bottle of beer to his lips and drains it
before retracing his steps up to his place

He has a wonderful stereo system
which he cranks up this morning at 2 A.M.
Blasting grunge into the night
Oh, lucky me
Usually he's cool about cranking up the tunes
and turns things down at a reasonable hour
Not tonight, though

So I lay there
and the humidity compounds my frustration with the roar of music from across the street
and I wonder
doesn't ANYONE else hear that racket?
isn't anyone else gonna call in the local cops to restore peace and quiet in my little corner of the world?
I guess no, not tonight

After what seems an eternity
the stereo goes silent
and I respond with a silent hurrah
and right as I start to drift off to sleep I hear
what sounds like a gunshot
oh shit, I suppose I ought to look

It's a kid with a huge rock
and he's tossing it at the side of a van parked on the corner
he must have issues with the van driver

Life in the city. Sigh.

Racy
###

Road Work

The East Coast tour was a good one. It takes a special mindset to pull off a roadtrip, and it can be very taxing if you aren't prepared for it. Here are some highlights:

We headed south out of Massachusetts down the coast to our first gig, which was in North Carolina. We pulled into a crowded nightclub, and the house was full of enthusiastic people. It was a great way to start the tour. We rocked the house and sold some band merchandise. The contracts had riders in them that
provided rooms and meals for the band, and the food was excellent on this trip. After the gig, we were checking the weather for our next nights performance, where we discovered that there was a huge snowstorm headed right at us! The promoter called us and cancelled the show due to an act of God.
There was more snow forecast for the state of North Carolina than there had been in many years, over a foot of the white stuff! I think that North Carolina has only one snowplow for the entire state, and it was broken down. The natives couldn't believe how much snow they received!

From there, we next drove to Florida where the warm weather was greatly appreciated. When you are from cold New England, going to Florida in the dead of winter is a wonderful thing indeed! We played all over the state of Florida, on both coasts, and spent almost two weeks in the Florida Keys.

One of the best things about touring in Florida is that most of the people are there on vacation, and they want to party. We played at many different venues this trip, and we revisited some of the clubs we played at during the last tour. Everywhere we went we were treated very graciously, and we really appreciated the kind words and actions from the people.

I liked to call this last tour the Tee Shirt Tour, as we scored Tee shorts from many of the clubs we played at. I got a bunch of cool shirts, souvenirs from our successful roadtrip. When we were in Key West, Florida, I also picked up some nice shirts there, too. Key West has to be the shirt capitol of Florida, there
must be one hundred different stores there.

We played at every imaginable venue possible, from tiny little neighborhood bars to exclusive resort communities. I like to think we gave everyone a great show regardless of the circumstances. We made a lot of connections and we made a lot of people happy, too.

On this trip Sweet Daddy used his regular guitar player, Mark Easton, who is an excellent performer. Mark brought along his brother Barry to fill the drum chair. The Easton Brothers were very entertaining on the road. They provided invaluable comic relief, something greatly appreciated during the long hours on the
road traveling from venue to venue. You get close to your bandmates when you are touring, and a sense of humor goes a long way toward making the time pass.

Sweet Daddy was a great experience for me. I learned a lot about life on the road, and what it takes to pull off a successful tour. Sweet Daddy sold all of his CDs, and most of his tee shirts, too. He is a good entertainer and does well everywhere he goes.

When the tour was over I stepped down from the bass chair in Sweet Daddy's band to return to my first love, playing the guitar. I appreciate Sweet Daddy throwing the road work my way, and I may work with him again someday. For now, I am working with a great female vocalist, Janet Ryan, and we call the band
Straight Up! We are doing rock, blues and Motown things.

Racy
###

Touring

Touring. The word conjures up many different visions to me. Road warriors in a rusty old Ford
van attacking poor unsuspecting nightclubs, unleashing new music on the public. Buddies bonding
together after spending many weeks and miles on the road. All the crapshoots - from crummy meals and
bad hotel rooms to those special clubs where everyone involved is supportive of you and your music,
never not really knowing what lies ahead of you on the road. Finding out what your fellow bandmates are
really like. There is nothing like travelling up and down America to find out what little idiosyncrasies are
harbored by those other guys in the band. When Sweet Daddy Cool Breeze contacted me and asked if I
would join his band for their East Coast Tour, I was ready for the experience as I have been off the road
for a while, and I wanted to see how much things had changed.

When Sweet Daddy first offered the tour to me I was feeling pretty good about it. After all, what poor
bastard stuck in cold New England would be foolish enough to turn down an East Coast Tour, playing
down the East Coast, culminating in an almost two week stay in the Florida Keys? The catch? Well, it
soon became obvious that he needed a Bassist, and first and foremost I happen to be a guitar player.
Hmmmm, is this something I can pull off? Well, the allure of a trip to the Keys was incentive enough for
me to get my hands on a cool old Jazz Bass and start playing Sweet Daddy's CD. Shameless plug
inserted here: Graig Gooley, funky bassist from Holyoke, Massachusetts was gracious enough to lend
me the Bass and an eight hundred watt bass amplifier for the tour. He helped me immensely, and I owe
him one large debt of gratitude. He tossed me a few Bass playing tips, which helped me to overcome the
usual problems that guitar players face when they try to play the box with the four big strings. After
repeated playings of the CD I got a handle on the Bass end of the music, and I was ready for the road.

Sweet Daddy did a great job of booking the tour and we played our way from Massachusetts to
Pennsylvania, Delaware, North and South Carolina, down the Florida Coast into the Keys, where we had
extended stays and only had to move twice during the almost two weeks we spent there. He has talent in
the booking area, and between using his previously established connections and the Internet, he put
together a nice package. If you need some help putting together a tour, you should consider dropping
him a line at:Sweet Daddy

His commission rates are favorable, and he is a seasoned road warrior, having spent the better part of
the last ten years touring America and Europe. Highly recommended.

As the tour progressed, and I spent more time on the stage playing Sweet Daddy's music for the people,
I had time to react to the different ways that people treat others. The bass chair was demanding and
required me to pay attention to the structure of the music. One thing that became quickly apparent to me
was that in order for the music to develop, the band had to put aside any personal differences and work
as one. As we travelled further South, the music got tighter and tighter as our show developed! In every
place we played, we left the crowd satisfied, entertained, and wanting more. Sweet Daddy was offered
return engagements at every venue that we performed in. It's a good feeling to be recognized for your
efforts. I even convinced him to do a trio act, opening for his show. I played guitar and fronted the
band, while Sweet Daddy himself got behind the drum kit and turned in respectable performances.
Sometimes you do crazy things on the road. All in the name of Music.

For the first third of the tour we played one-nighters, and drove long hours in the old Ford Van. Those
things wear you out fast, and it was good that we did most of them early into the tour. Drive and play
and drive some more. The wonderful illusion of life on the road gets tarnished early. By doing most of
the one-nighters early on, we had the strength to pull them off. By the time we arrived in the Florida keys
we were ready for a day off. We only had two moves during our almost two week stay there, and that
allowed us to recharge our batteries. We even had some time off to be tourists, seeing the sights down
there in Florida. I managed to get to the beach and get myself a sunburn - which is really something for
me. I haven't really gotten into the sun very often over the last few years. By playing at night and sleeping
during the day, in the past I seemed to miss a lot of the sunshine. Now that I was here I was determined
to get some kind of a tan and I did. I torched my back pretty badly, and I went through a bottle of
Aloe-Vera gel trying to put out the fire. Now Sweet Daddy, on the other hand, managed to bronze up
quite nicely. He was looking like a native, while I looked more like a terrorist. Oh, well... If we would
have had a little more time there I might have worked up a respectable tan. It was kind of nice for that to
be my biggest problem here in Florida - work hard and then get to ease up for a little while. After a short
time we were raring to go. And off we did. The schedule kept us busy.

Lets sidetrack here for a moment. I would like to throw a mental image your way. Sweet Daddy has a
unique touring vehicle. It's a fifteen year old Ford van with about three hundred thousand miles on it, and
it whistles while it is chugging down the interstate because the wind blows through all the rusty holes in
the body. This thing spewed liquids all over the highway, and there was usually a swimming pool under it
when we parked it for the night. Because it leaked oil and tranny fluid onto the exhaust pipes it would
create clouds of fowl smelling smoke whenever we stopped for a traffic light. People who had the
misfortune to pull up next to us at a traffic light usually rolled their eyes in disgust, or else they tried to
point out the fact that there was a serious problem with our ride. Like we didn't know...Sweet Daddy
kept his eyes on the fluid levels and refilled them almost hourly. If he forgot to top off the fluids the thing
wouldn't move when he shifted it into drive. Believe it or not, the thing really was reliable, although
NEXT time he goes out I hope he has something a little newer... Come to think of it, we did have a little
trouble with it - we were cruising down the highway, maybe in Georgia, when we saw one of the vans
tires roll by the van. The drivers side rear tire came right off the rim and ended up leaning on the side of
the van, almost looking like it was the spare tire ready to be installed. No problem, I figure we'll throw on
the spare and be on our way. Well, we couldn't get the rim off of the axle. We gave it our best shot but
the van won that round. Eventually the Highway Patrol stopped by and we got them to call a tow truck.
We figured that the truck would have a compressor on it, and we could use it to help us change the tire.
Unfortunately for us, they only use flatbed trucks down there. They don't fix cars on the highway, just
tow them off to the local gas station. After an eternity the tow truck arrived, and we watched the van get
dragged onto the flatbed. We struck up a conversation with the driver, who turned out to be in America
to learn how to tow cars correctly. Apparently they damage a lot of cars on the islands by towing them
improperly. When he found out that we were a touring band he let us know that he was a rapper! He
called himself King Budda. We were making plans to do shows with him. Hey, you gotta pursue
opportunities wherever they might arise. Hmmm, I wonder how a rap/blues card might work...Anyway,
back to the story...Sweet Daddys ride was a unique beast, right down to its sneakers. The damn thing
has sixteen and a half inch wheels! Guess what? NOBODY makes tires that size anymore. After a
nationwide search we found a tire, but it took the tire doctors three hours to get the thing onto the rim. I
was laughing as I watched three guys struggle in vain for a long time, unsuccessfully trying to get the tire
mounted. Be wary of those people that work at Firestone...Four hours and a C note later we were at last
back on the road.

Touring. It's the yardstick that your band should be judged by, it will give you lots of ideas for your
song writing, and your website.

So to sum it up, head into the studio and record ten of your best original tunes and burn some CD's.
Tune up the rusty old Ford van, and bring the music to the people. You'll learn very quickly just what
works and what doesn't.

See you on stage...
Racy
###