Damn! I had just written a whole post, and then forgot to save it, and lost the whole thing. I'll start all over; but now it's gonna be different, 'cause I don't know how to repeat my stream of consciousness…….

Saturday afternoon was a lot of fun. The room was full, and the crowd really seemed to be into what we were doing. Apparently, the owners were too -they want us back a.s.a.p.

What I really enjoyed, was realizing just how full of shit I can be from time to time. (hits 'save' button)

You know, I'm wondering what I'm gonna say if/when we have a shitty gig. Am I gonna say so? OF COURSE! (hits 'save' button)

It's not that I'm getting bored with how well things are going, -I'm proud of what we've accomplished thus far- but if I was to gush on about how wonderful things were all the time I'd be bullshitting you. And you'd know it. (hits 'save' button)

There used to be a time when I'd gleefully fuck everything up, not just to piss everyone off, but more like a kind of experiment. Those days are long gone. Now, I just try to enjoy myself, and the way things are going. I'm doing just that. (hits 'save' button)

In the words of Buck from the movie 'Runaway Train' "Let's ride this thing till the wheels fall off"  (hits 'save' button)

 Well…… I've got nothing to say, so I guess I had better say nothing. I could tell you that I'm reading Jack London's 'The Sea Wolf' again….. I could tell you that I just bought the new Tom Waits record Bastards, Bawlers, and Brawlers (did I get the title right?) I could tell you that I stayed up last night after our gig at the Rex watching 'Bullitt' with Steve McQueen (btw -last time I got my hair cut, I told the barber to cut it like his) I could tell you that I just left work early tonight 'cause it was dead,   I could tell you that I've got mice living in my stove (not for long! -heh)

I could go on and on like this -yammering about the consequences of being me- but what's the point?

Then again…. if it ain't porn or research, most of the interMet is rather pointless……….

Folks are always asking me what kind of music I'm playing these days. I spose everybody wants to know what it is that they're about to hear, or what I call it.

I don't know.

I used to say that it was 'old-time' music, but that's not really true. Bluegrass' doesn't really work either -I hate what that term represents. 'Folk'? Same thing. 'Acoustic'? Getting there…….. I like that one better. When pressed, I'll say 'kitchen table music,' and watch to see if anyone gets it.

Truth be told, I have been playing a lot of bluegrass lately on my banjo. I've been putting in some long hours learning that old Scruggs/Stanley style so that I may be able to take little breaks here and there to flesh out our sound.

But I don't like what the term 'bluegrass' represents. More to the point, I don't really care for most modern bluegrass. A lot of it has become 'progressive' (a word that doesn't exist in my lexicon) and by that I mean it's usually about a bunch of guys sitting around playing the melody from time to time, and then seeing what kind of flashy licks they can come up with. Kinda' like an acoustic jazz fusion.

Blech!

The term folk music (which started out well enough- "music of the folks) has been ruined as well. To me it always connotes the image of some whining hippie sitting around bitching about how the world is so beautiful, and that I'm so happily broke, but everything's THE MAN'S fault.

Jesus.   Wake up and smell the Benzedrine! I went thru that shit when I was 17. Goddamned hippies smoking their LSD, and shooting that marijuana into their arms don't have a fucking clue! Sweet Jesus. It's like punk rock never happened!!!

I remember when I was a kid, and the Rolling Stones album 'Some Girls' came out. [aside coming: I sometimes date people by which 'Stones album they bought when it first came out. In other words, how old were you when you bought your first current 'Stones album? What? "Steel Wheels?"…..LIGHTWEIGHT!!!  ……."Sticky Fingers?" ……"O.k………YOU WIN……"] Anyway, When I first heard 'Some Girls', I was impressed by just how diverse it was. Everybody thinks of the Rolling Stones as a rock band, but once you stop and think about it, there's a lot more than meets the eye.

Disco: Miss You, and maybe Some Girls

R&B: Beast of Burden, Just My Imagination (Temptations cover)

Country: Far away Eyes

Punk-y rock: Lies, Respectable, When the Whip Comes Down

Outlaw Country: Before They Make Me Run

I guess you could say that that album influenced me in many more ways than one. I'n not bothered too much by diversity. Just try and make it GOOD diversity 

We'll be playing at the venerable old Rex Hotel (194 Queen st. w. near the 'Osgoode' subway stn.) this Saturday (Nov. 25th) from 3:30 till 6:30 p.m. I'm really excited about this show!

It'll be fun to play in town again after being on the 'road' for so long!

Brantford; South River; Port Credit………. I can't remember……. it's all a blur……..

We had a little rehearsal yesterday at Jeromes house, and after a bit of fooling around we kicked into an old song. Jerome kept playing while getting up to look for something. He grabbed his funny looking little guitar and started playing along.

WOW! It was great!

He just strummed simple little chords while playing his harp. It was perfect. It added a whole new dimension to our sound.

I think the best part of it all is that because he's new to the guitar, he doesn't fool around trying to do anything too fancy. He doesn't know anything fancy. If we played with someone who had been playing for years, they'd probably be trying to stick in 'neat' little licks all over the place.

Shit, if it was me, I'd be overplaying too!

Congratulations Jerome! In a few short months of playing, you've become a better guitarist than me, who has been playing my whole adult life!!

Oh yeah….. that funny little guitar that he plays (not the one pictured -the one in the link) is a travel guitar. I'm not sure it was meant to be used in this manner. However, the sound coming out of it is vaguely reminiscent of a mandolin. That's a good thing!

Last cd listened to: Art Pepper "Smack Up" 

I guess I'm going thru a kind of beatnik phase. This is one of my all time favorite jazz albums. Art really knew how to blast it out.  So, so much soul………  Probably my favorite alto player. No, what am I saying……. I've totally forgot johnny Hodges. My favorite musician on ANY INSTRUMENT!!!!

Nevertheless, Smack Up is a beautiful album, coming from an excessively troubled individual.

Here's a great passage from his autobiography that sort of sums up where he was at:

"I was given a gift. I was given a gift in a lot of ways. I was given a gift of being able to endure things, to accept certain things, to be able to accept punishment for the things that I did wrong against society, the things that society feels are wrong. And I was able to go to prison. I never informed on anyone.

As for music, anything that I've done has been something that I've done 'off the top.' I've never studied, never practised. I'm one of those people, I knew it was there. All I had to do was reach for it, just do it.

I remember one time when I was playing at the black Hawk in San Francisco. I forget the date, but Sonny Stitt was touring with Jazz at the Philharmonic. He came in, and he wanted to jam with me. He came in and he says, "Can I blow?" I said, "Yeah great!"

We BOTH play alto, which is….. it really makes it a contest. But Sonny is one of those guys, thats the THING with him. It's a communion. Its a battle, it's an ego trip. It's a testing ground. And that's the beauutiful part of it. It's like two guys that play great pool wanting to play pool together, or two great football teams, or two magnificent basketball teams, and just the joy of playing with someone great, being with someone great…..

I guess it's like James Joyce when he was a kid, you know. He hung out with all the great writers of the day, and he was a little kid, like, with tennis shoes on, and they said, "Look at this lame!" They didn't use those words in those days. they said "God, here comes this nut." And he told them, "I'm great." And he sat with them, and he loved to be with them, and it ended up that he WAS great. That's the way Sonny felt; that's the way I've ALWAYS felt.

I said "What do you want to play?" Sonny says "Let's play 'Cherokee.'"  That's a song jazz musicians used to play. The bridge, which is the middle part, has all kinds of chord changes in it. It's very difficult. If you can't play that…..If some kid came around, and he wanted to play, you'd say "Let's play Cherokee.'" And you'd count it off real fast.

"I said, "Well, beat it off." He went "One-two, one-two;" He was flying. We played the head, the melody, and then he took the first solo. He played, I don't know, about fourty choruses. He played for an hour, maybe, and did everything that could be done on a saxaphone, everything you could play, as much as Charlie Parker could have played if he'd been there. Then he stopped. And he looked at me. Gave me one of those looks, "All right suckah, your turn." And it's my job, it's my gig. I was strung out, I was hooked, Iwas drunk. I was having a hassle with my wife Diane who'd threatened to kill heself in our hotel room next door. I had marks on my arm, I thought there were narcs in the club, and all of a sudden, I realized that it was me. He'd done all those things, and now I had to put up or shut up, or get off, or forget it, or quit, or kill myself, or do something.

I forgot everything, and everything came out. I played way over my head. I played completely different that he did. I searched and found my own way, and what I said reached the people. I played myself, and I knew I was right, and the people loved it, and they felt it. I blew and blew, and when I finally finished I was shaking all over; my heart was pounding; I was soaked in sweat, and the people were screaming; the people were clapping, and I looked at Sonny, but I just kind of nodded, and he went "All right!" and that was it. That's what it's all about.

 ……..WHEW!!

Last book read: The Herbert Huncke Reader. Edited by Benjamin G. Schafer.

Maybe the original beat. Huncke influenced everybody on the New York scene back in the early 40's. You get the feeling that Burroughs, Ginsberg, et al were just slumming. This guy was it. Almost as if he took up writing as an afterthought, cause he knew he could tell a story as well as the others.

This one stayed on my 'keeper list' when I moved. I got rid of hundreds of books recently, but this one made the grade. I've read it a couple of times already, and I know I'll read it again.

"Guilty of Everything" one of my favorite titles…… hmmmmm…..

Went to see Toronto's own Foggy Hogtown Boys at the Brunswick House today. The sound guy was a little late so they started playing without amplification (p.a.). It was fantastic!

They're all great players with fantastic instruments, and today was a unique experience to hear them play without any kind of tone alteration. It was awesome. Hell, they paid good dough for the best instruments they could afford, so why not REALLY hear 'em?

I'm not sure if they enjoyed playing that way, but it sure sounded great from where I was sitting.

Bravo, guys!

Now THIS is cool!

Let's see….. over the last month or so I've gotten a new bike, a new haircut, a new pair of shoes, a cell phone, a new pair of pants, a new wool sweater, new apartment, new browser, among other things.

You'd think that I'd be preoccupied with all this shit, but I'm not. I just sit around all day playing my banjo.