It ain't perfect

Hello In There

A little of the hair of the dog. Allie actually sat in with us in the early Rhubarb days when we were doing open mics. There are videos- mostly bad. She played piano at Boulevard Music for our three song set and came to the Fountain Valley fiasco. (It was a community stage- all you had to was sign up- the stage was a mile away from everything, the sound guy took an hour to set us up and we played to three people and it was lousy sound. My good son came and video taped us- standing with the sun behind us- so you couldn't see us at all. As I'm writing this, the group of them (all 23-24-25 are playing cards in the kitchen, -they don't hang with us if there is a better offer. I left at 21 and called home maybe once a month. When I was around, I was preoccupied- wish I had known.) But that's the way it goes. She likes 40s jazz songs. I'm playing folk and bluegrassy stuff. I wouldn't mind having them in the mix- but it ain't their thing. The tall boy bear is really a good guitarist. 

Two of the three

The McNay in LA / Long Beach




The McNay in Paris

The other one is here, I just got to go get a shot of him taking up the couch.

Thanks for asking

NoHo Done for the Winter

Played from 6 to 9:00 pm tonight at NoHo Dine Out Fridays. Had a nice crowd. Four Trucks. The weather reports say that we would have a low tonight of 46 degrees. To LAers it felt a lot colder than that. At 8:30 pm, my fingers were not playing well. I go now, fully expecting to be there by myself. I set up for the whole group and they show up. It still amazes me some how. Why would these people follow me into a jungle of cold and foggy nights? Betsy reminded us that it was 110 in the shade in West Covina where we played one Saturday. We did good. They like us. I book us every other month. Its a long way to go. This was another of my creating a venue. They weren't having music because they didn't have our music. No covers. We did fine without them. ASCAP has been calling her, the organizer says. I suggested she just buy a entertainment license for a couple of hundred. A weird guy showed up with his recorder to play with us- as if we were going to rearrange our lives to let him play. We were all nice to him, but it was a little annoying. I felt sorry for him, he was obviously a little nuts and lonely. Christmas is next. We play the 30th and have a jam here at my house on New Years Day. Come by if you have an instrument.

I, of course, was not a headliner

Just got in. The Acoustic Lounge at the Viper is about the size of the Cinema Bar. Very close. Had a nice crowd of twenty or so. They just kept me on. Did almost an hour I think. Nerves, but I warmed up. The pretty girls telling me they liked me helped a whole lot. The bartender sang Dirty Old Town with me. The main stage upstairs was a little bigger than the Tripp where we played a week ago. Maybe I could book Rhubarb in the big room. You all would come to Hollywood on a week night, right? One song had me grabbing at my thumb pic slipping off in the middle of it, but other than that...

LINK

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Vnt7euRF5Pg&vq=medium\\\

There is this guy in some city south of me- Hermosa Beach or in Long beach I think. He is the best of guys. He would organize jams at his place because he couldn't get away because he was care giving to his mother's problems. He really loved and still loved the music. Anyway, he just sent this out to all of us.

God, if he does exist, god bless

Three Gig Weekend

We played Westchester First Fridays on Friday night from 6 to 9 pm Wet and foggy and on the wrong end of the street- singing against the recorded music the trucks were playing and their generators. Everything ended up soaked. The play books, the instruments and sound equipment. After it was over, we still stood around and took pictures of each other with our cell phones. Nancy kept coming out on Betsy's phone as a washed out blurry angel.

The next day we played a craft fair in Long Beach from 11:00 to 4:00. Just four of us. They loved us. We got $50.00 in tips and the organizer gave us $100.00. The vendors all were applauding us. Raul sang- the guy in the Santa hat. Craig came late. Two or three friends showed up. 

 

My daughter came and did a mini-set so I could video her for putting up to Youtube so I can get her some gigs. I'll put the videos up here.

Sunday night another 4 person version played at Tripp, a club in Santa Monica. Really nice set. The sound was good, we were good - the very first decent club show we've done.

On ward and on ward