Get My Mojo Woikin'

Most instruments have what their players will variously describe as "mojo," "history," "stories to tell," "personality," et cetera.
The older an instrument is the greater its history is assumed to be. Surely a violin that is four hundred years old and worth (this I think is a great part of the catch) millions has to have better tone than a brand new violin produced at the same shop. It just makes sense?
It never has to me. There may, in fact, be building techniques they previously employed or materials used that are the reason for the tone and so we see why some pieces might be sought after.

But to this day, much if not most of it is speculation or the will to believe in something magic.
Why would a guitar once owned by Jimi Hendrix make MY playing any better? It's silly to think that way, no?
Musicians would, for the most part, disagree. They believe in magic when it comes to their instrument and the effect it has on their playing.

It started when collectors in the 1980s began buying old Les Pauls at ridiculous prices. All of a sudden, classic Gibson was worth ten twenty, one hundred times the original price. And at that point, players felt the mojo risin'.

I have six guitars, the oldest is an incredibly cheap and yet wonderful nylon stringed classical guitar. It has no mojo (aside from a sticker that reads, "Are you stoned or stupid?"), it DOES have wonderful tone.
The rest are all 2007 or newer. Would having a 1962 Jag, worth $4,000 make my playing sound better than the $800 Jag that it happens to be? Nah...

Part Duex - Relicing
The act of intentionally aging a guitar to make it appear older than it happens to be.

Rusted screws and hardware - worn paint. I've never had any of my guitar in that conditions and I do not baby them in any way. The gold plating wears off. The knobs show accumulated dirt. but for a guitar to look like this, someone had to employ sandpaper. No arm I've met sweats paint off. Oh, and Fender will charge you a premium for aged guitars. There are many techs out there that for a substantial fee, will soak your knobs in coffee grounds, use the above mentioned sandpaper and drop implements like screwdrivers onto your guitar in an effort to make the guitar appear as though it has stories to tell. We can delve into the world of fakes and counterfeit guitars another time.

There is one other effect aging has on finished wooden instruments that I have seen and witnessed, that I do enjoy.
It's referred to as, "checking."
When Mr. Gibson first began (the end of the 19th century), furniture was coated with nitrocellulose lacquers.
These lacquers do not react well to sudden changes in temperature. If a guitar which has been outside in the cold is then exposed to moderately warm room temperatures, as the wood expands, the finish cracks - checking.
Like the spiderweb cracks in old porcelain, the checking itself can be beautiful.

Part  Trois - Polyurethane/Polyester - Modern Finishes
Poly finishes are not supposed to check. They are plastic. (We can discuss whether a plastic finish strangles the tone another time),  What I would guess is Fender and others use a nitro undercoat - that will yellow with time and then finalize it with a poly overcoat.
The reason I would hazard this guess is I have been temperature cycling my MIM Jaguar. If poly doesn't relic, why am I doing this?

I lay the guitar outside in the hot sun for an hour and then bring the guitar into the cool, shaded house several times a day. The wood expands and then shrinks.
At night I am reversing the extreme, but still cycling. An hour out in the cold night air and then into the warm house.

Most relicing I have seen is produced horizontal to the body.

After just one day of a couple of cycles I began to see very fine cracks in the undercoat.
The guitar is smooth to the touch. And they run almost vertically. Northwest to Southeast if one were to hold the guitar up by the neck. If they get to the point where I can photograph them, I will.
Now, to spot the lines easily I have to look into the reflection of a light source - a line will be evident and the image will be distorted like a broken mirror.
As I am fond of saying - we'll see.

Strange daze, indeed.

Laura Birdsong

A good friend from New Jersey has released a wonderful CD called, 'Crazy Wisdom.'
I'd heard a song from the CD but until it arrived today, I had no idea of the treat waiting for me.

Laura has a voice that was formed by living with the bees and the bears by a lake. I think that she always lived by this lake - even when in suburban N.J. It seems to be an integral part of her since forever.
Because the music and thought flow with a practiced rhythm that seems to have existed since the beginning of time. Her music never feels contrived...the words are not forced to fit. They just work.
She's a poet with a natural soul.

She also gathered together a wonderful group of musicians to help her with the project.
Bru Rossman, Mike Ferrara, Billy Karcher, Gerry Griffen, Dave Moore, Don Sternecker, Delaynie Rudner & Meg Beattie.

The CD release party will be:
"Upstairs" at Tierney's Tavern
136-138 Valley Road
Montclair, NJ
Sunday, November 21 · 2:00pm - 4:00pm

Congratulations Laura!!!

How Much Is A Good Show?

John McLaughlin is one of the musicians that I try to see anytime he is close to my area. I have tickets to see him on December 1st.
$75 - one seat.
The Stones cost more, so does the Who. But why?

Forget overhead, etcetera. Name acts are raking in huge amounts of money touring. Why do you think they continue to endure the road in the first place?
Todays business model means most CD are not sold, but rather stolen via downloading. The band has to release the CD to keep the fan base happy...and to ensure that they attend the concert dates - because that is where the money is being made nowadays.
It used to be the record contracts were based on album sales. Now they are based on attendance figures.
This is the "paradigm shift" the industry has adopted to retain profitability in the face of rampant downloading.

There is another world entirely composed of middle acts - bands costing $5 to $30 per seat. Tremendous entertainment value for the money.
Ari Hest
Amy Kuney
James Maddock
Rosi Golan
Rich Pagano
Beppe Gambetta
Dick Dale
Janiva Magness
Ingrid Michaelson
Holly Cole
Bruce Cockburn
Oli Rockberger
And on and on.

$8 shows?! $15 seats? Unheard of? No...just not advertised. None of these offerings (with one or two exceptions) are ClearChannel material, yet.
The new form of word of mouth, social networking, has become their ally.
In my youth word of mouth was how we learned of new bands. A friend would say, "Have you heard these guys called..." and off it went.

The last three shows I've seen were increasingly packed with wide ranging audience demographics.
Innovations such as FaceBook or Twitter aid this incredibly. To be able to instantaneously invite your friends and acquaintances easily adds sales to these events.
An artist has but to click the "Invite" button and he can reach out and touch up to 5,000 people - or as a "Figure" an unlimited number of people that have chosen to "Like" the person or band.

NPR affiliates are the only radio stations I am aware of that will play these types of acts.  The rest of the radio landscape is pretty barren. That limits publicity greatly. Geography too, plays a huge part in the exposure doled out - NY artists get regional airplay on WFUV. It's rare to hear them on stations west of the Mississippi such as KCRW. But through social networking and Internet Radio these limitations are being overcome as well.

My point? Look for the cheap seats.
Find the inexpensive show and experience something possibly new and fresh four times a week, instead of once a month for a big name that you've known for forty years.
Of course that's not to say, don't see Dave Mason when he comes to town, just find time for new things.

Art and Diversity

There are so many forms of music it boggles the imagination. Given that there are only eight notes; every combination has been played, every note sung - and yet.

You can be a virtuoso of your instrument...be it voice, guitar, bass or drums.
You can be a poet...a Dylan or a Mitchell - rare and far in between. She even more rare than Mr. Zimmerman.
She has a huge amount of physical talent in her voice that he sadly lacks. But poets are given that leeway. Look at Tom Waits.
You can be a painter of images on a aural canvas. Very fleeting and yet at the same time indelible.

As a kid I started with the blues. A boyfriend of a cousin of mine stayed at my house one summer for a weekend.
He took my archtop acoustic and played the blues. He showed me yoga and explained the meaning of life. His name was Phil.
So I listened to Clapton and Hendrix and encountered an artform that could set my soul on fire. But the blues lack serious lyrics.They are all incredibly similar - misfortunes seem to follow a pattern. So I began to look for meanings.

This led to things like Poco - uh oh...now I was straying afield. Lyrics mattered more than the music. What was the message? Did it evoke a picture? Was I looking at clouds in the shy...watching the shapes shift with the chords?

In 1972 or 1973, a friend of mine, Mike Buyukis exposed me to John McLaughlin. It was Mike that introduced me to Al DiMeola. And that led to years of love for all things Jazz. I found an entirely new world. And being young enough to be an enormous ass I also had a healthy disdain for anything less than Jazz.
Rock and Roll became...That stuff? My roots became passé. Mind you, no regrets.

So as I have grown and matured I have learned to love all my roots.
And I have seen my playing evolve in ways unimagined when I grabbed my first guitar at age eight.

Todays stage is back to simple. Pop.
I found that I am a literal poet. I compose sonnets, not songs. Or things ee cummings might like, but have no business set to music. And Dylan, I am not - even he understood what I had missed up until this point.
I can carve a wonderful line, but could never connect it in sequence to another that would trip lightly from the lips.

I had been contemplating a singer/songwriter that I enjoy when it struck me. I knew what a hook in Pop really is.
I understood - yeah the light from above, the whole nine yards...Angels may have been singing, too.

I had been trying too hard. Sculpting when whittling would work.
I was headed to a show last night and walking in the wrong direction. When I discovered my error and reversed course I began to hum. Three chords - and I have a wonderful line that has been literally rattling around my head for years. I put the two together and with purpose, told myself to construct a simple second line. No over reaching. I had it. I had it! In thirty seconds I had the companion line. Now, add another.

I watched the show that night, all the while knowing I had unlocked something fundamental to the creative process. The show reinforced that notion, no end.I am no master, but given time and some polish...I can do this.
All night, as I awoke now and again, I heard the lyrics - I think it was maybe 4 am when I added the last line to the verse.

Learning new tricks is life's blood. It's good to feel the beat.

Now What?

Our weekly house band gig at Characters is dwindling as the weather cools. We play on the patio - outside and completely exposed. Indoors there are devoted darts players...I mean devoted. To the point they have affiliation with some national Darts League.
Indoors is reserved for after 8 pm when the playing changes to pool.
Most of those bands are either Rockabilly or really loud Metal.
We've talked to the owner of the tavern about the future and there are a few opportunities to be had...here and there. But for the most part, it will slow until March when the weather warms again.

So I write...and write and write. Compose away...
I audition for other bands. I went to an open house jam.
I cast about in search of the next fix, the next thing musically.

What worries me most is the thought that I'll fill much of my time by attending show after show. I've learned to find very good entertainment for under $20 but the idea that I'll spend that $20 four times a week (not even thinking about parking or drinks) is sobering.
Supporting acts is me. No problem. And I have wasted far more money on less satisfying activities; on things that do not yield anything but a momentary rush. When I go to shows, I am inspired to try new things musically. Or I look at styles with a new eye. I take something real and very special away from most shows.

On that note Ari Hest at Room 5 lounge Tuesday evening at 8 pm.
Join me, won'tcha?

Vote...Vote Often...Vote Correctly

As long as you exercise the responsibility you've done it correctly, no matter which candidate you vote for.

Don't miss an opportunity to vote...or people like me will decide FOR you.

It's not a right...it is a responsibility. You owe me and the other three hundred forty million Americans your attention and participation.


Me?
Brown - Newsom
Boxer
Napolitano
McLeod
Torres
19 - yes
20 - no
21 - no
22 - no
23 - no
24 - yes
25 - no
26 - no
27 - no
SS - yes
SP - yes

Disclaimer - I am a dyed in the wool liberal

Rock The Vote