Deep Ellum tagged posts

I have not done a “gig recap” in a while because they are pretty much all the same at this point
Not that they aren’t different in their own way, it’s just that I have gotten to the point where there enough gigs for things to settle into a pattern
This was a night that was very good for me because it threw some curve balls at me

I took a last minute gig this past Saturday
It was a battle of the bands to determine who plays the Remember the Punks festival in San Antonio
I was told I was going on first (which is where I always am) but that gives me plenty of time to set things up perfectly
After getting half set up, I was told that a band was added and that they were going on before me
This made me reconsider my live setup and how complicated I have made it

I have a headphone mic cable, a gu...

I have worked at the various mechanics of this performance for quite a while, so I didn’t have a lot of anxiety over execution
This seemed like a good opportunity for me to start working at separating the The Ramone live performance form Live karaoke
I want the stage performance to become a review of the cultural impact of The Ramones
The word “Review” having two different connotations

The traditional definition for review is “A type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932.”

In my case, “music” is Ramones and the “sketches” are the snippets of video that I use in the tra...

My next show will be in a few days at 3 Links in Deep Ellum (I go on first!) and I plan to present a new stage show
Up until this point, I have pretty much played it straight and crammed as many songs as I could into my set
That worked when I was always going to play a quick set but I am planning for slots that are going to be 45 minutes to 3 hours so I need to learn how to inject some variety into the show
Not only that but I also need to use my video editing ideas to create a hybrid that is part Rock Band and part Musical Theater
I was trying to figure out the word that describes my concept and my friend Laura said “Revue” and that’s exactly what kind of show I want to build
There are plenty of strict interpretation tribute bands out there and I do realize that being solo is a novelty fo...

I have not lugged my drums down to Deep Ellum to play on the sidewalk in a while
There was a lot of construction and they tore up my corner
It was one of the few places where you could fit a drum set without obstructing the sidewalk and it was right in the middle of everything
The corner is back and the weather is getting warmer so I thought I’d take the new drumkit configuration out on the street and spend a couple of hours playing.
My biggest source of anxiety when heading out to Ellum is parking close enough to My spot
Then, there’s a chance that someone else has staked out MY spot
The keyboard guy was there for a while in my absence

The city has removed the parking meters from Elm street and I drove a lap around the area to check out parking
On my second go-round, a single spot opened...

There were two reasons why I became interested in independent film and video in the mid 90’s
The first was a Dallas Tx cable access show produced by Joe Riley called “The Hypnotic Eye” in which he showed clips from all kinds of weird and obscure sources
He did a feature on a video store called “Forbidden Books” run by Jason Cohen
Go to the 48:00 mark to see the Forbidden Books segment
It was one of his main sources of material so I went down to Expo Park and checked it out
This second discovery opened up a new world of films that I would never have been exposed to in the pre-youtube world of the mid 90’s
Of all the films The Hypnotic Eye featured, one caught my attention in particular
It was a film that Joe had personally worked on as effects supervisor called “The Sore Losers”
This traile...

1993 was a great time in Deep Ellum because you could walk into a club and see a band like UFOFU
This was a time when alternative music was about to be splintered into a million sub fragments
The largest fragment being grunge
But for a while, there were bands like UFOFU who were exploring different types of alternative music
Most importantly, they were exploring progressive angles without sounding like pretentious Math Rock
I bought their tape and was started playing along with it on the drums
I went to lots of shows and became very familiar with the band
Joe Butcher was a smart ass that I could count on for some good verbal sparring (my favorite moment was the look on his face when I suggested he start a side project called “The Joe Butcher Axis”
Brandon and i talked alot about music in g...

The prospect of The Necro Tonz getting back together gave me mixed feelings
When Colleen first broached the subject, it was that I would sit in on a few songs but I felt like I wanted more involement
I set about looking for ways to use my skills to do a variety of things
The first thing that came to mind was that I could provide backup vocals and harmonies
This was soon followed with the idea that I would use my Roland SPDS as a percussion pad (bongos, timbales, triangle etc…)
The ideas that I have been brewing for Tiki Torture would also come into play with video
This would give me a real world application for my ideas concerning backgrounds
In addition, I also recognized the chance to handle compromise more effectively
After all, these were all musicians with egos and quirks equal to my ...

The Necro Tonz have been asked to do a reunion show which will also serve as a KNON benefit
The venue will be LaGrange in Deep Ellum and the night will be Halloween!
We all met together at Colleen’s to discuss the plan
Firstly, the lineup will be exactly the same as when they stopped with one addition, and that’s me
Right off the bat, I decided that it wouldn’t be very fun to just sit in on a couple of songs on the drums
Robin Graves is without a doubt the most qualified of all the Tonz drummers in that he has such a rich jazz background so I had to justify my place on the stage
Nekkie had already asked me if I would compose video for the stage so I had the idea to utilize my musical multi-media skills during the entire evening
The Roland SPDS sampler pad will make a perfect array of bongo...

Street performance has become more and more of a priority
Up until last weekend, I had just played my drums on the street but last weekend, I got to bring a full elelctronic configuration
I got permission from July Alley to use their electricity
I was expecting to set up over at Kettle Art (run by the eternally cool Frank Campagna) which had a different set of parameters to consider so I didn’t plan on getting electricity to MY SPOT
I had to locate some tape at the last minute to tape down the electrical cord
Saturday I brought some rubber slip mats

This was the first time I have ever gotten to put my electronic ideas to the test and I think I did fairly well
The setup consisted of the SPDS looping pad, a Kaoss pad and the BR864 multi-track as well as the Brock Spock electric Harp guitar (...