Saturday, February 18, 2012

Tuneweek, 02-18-2012 P.S.: Warren Hellman Tribute


Almost missed it: Free tribute concert for Warren Hellman, founder and backer of the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday at the Ocean Beach parking lot on Great Highway in San Francisco. Details here:

Bob Loomis
In Loving Memory of Shannon Christine Loomis, 1967-2010
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Tuneweek, 02-18-2012: Wintergrass Ho! & Other Stuff


FYI: Tomorrow Bev and I head northward to visit friends and attend the Wintergrass Festival in Bellevue WA. We'll be away for almost 3 weeks, but I hope to be able to keep sending Tuneweek each Saturday that we're on the road. 
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One Other Personal Item: Happy 15th Birthday on Sunday to our youngest grandson Norris! Happy Birthday, Norris! Here he is with his band T-Shirt Tuxedo covering Weezer's We Are All On Drugs. And no, they are not! It's just a song, deal with it:
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This week we feature one of those personalities about whom I've idly wondered, where is she now? Well, it seems that Cyndi Lauper (one of my favorite singers) is now a blues star. Here's Part One of the Blues Revue's E-Zine interview. It includes video links:
Cyndi's holding an autoharp or zither in the first vid, but it doesn't appear she's actually playing it, since her left hand seems to be muting the strings.
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The SF Chronicle has a feature on Butt-Ugly Rock Stars:
Remember, beauty is in the eyes of the beholders!
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Here's a track from Charlie McCoy's Tribute to Little Walter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj7vjn8hUDw
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Some astoundingly good non-rack blues playing here by Konstantin Reinfeld at Harmonica Masters 2011 in Trossingen, Germany. He's only been playing for two years!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Io25UPDgvO0
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Martin Zak and mrstnej Janek with rhythm puppet and harp in rack for Starej (Old) Joe Clark:
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The "Playing Harmonica on a Rack" seminar at the 2011 SPAH Convention
was great fun.
 The seven presenters were:
Vern Smith - The inventor of the "Hands Free Chromatic and Ergonomic Neck Rack"
Cynthia Dusel-Bacon - A user of the "Hands Free Chromatic and
Ergonomic Neck Rack"
Enrico Granafei - Another user of the "Hands Free Chromatic and
Ergonomic Neck Rack" and a fabulous finger-style jazz guitarist
Marv Monroe - Who made his own harmonica rack which holds two Hohner
XB-40 harmonicas
Michael Kovick - The inventor of the "HarpHugger" (two different styles)
Jimi Lee - Who is a monster blues guitarist and uses a standard wire
harp rack which he bent to suit his needs
  and
Peter Madcat Ruth - Who built his own microphone-stand-mounted harp rack
To see these racks in action, or learn more about them, check out the
following websites and YouTube videos:
Marv Monroe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFGMlWXlV-s
Vern SmithHands free Chromatic now built by C.A Reynolds
http://www.builderofstuff.com/handsfree.html
Enrico Granafeihttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N702CnHb0Oo
Jimi Leehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzJTvD5QNg8
Michael Kovickhttp://harphugger.com/
Peter Madcat Ruthhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1UyPh3Z3LI
Just a note:  Madcat has upgraded his microphone and harp holder since
this video was made but he still uses the same mic stand... 

Jon Gindick's harp/guitar version of Little Wing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT-JobqQ6Ec
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And there's a new approach to playing harp hands free, Harplock (this is not an 
endorsement, just newsworthy for those who use racks):
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Danny White takes a nice (non-rack) solo on this tune by Brian Walker and the Hopeful Romantics, one of my favorite bands:
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No rack here, but an extremely rare and prized Hohner CBH2016 chromatic harmonica played by Ken Leiboff:
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GONE BUT NOT FORGOT:
Whitney Houston, singer, 48:

Dory Previn, singer/songwriter, 86:

Charles Anthony, Met opera singer, 82:
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That's it for now, keep on musicking!
Bob Loomis
In Loving Memory of Shannon Christine Loomis, 1967-2011
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Saturday, February 11, 2012

02-10-2012: Potpourri of Piquant Piffle


Blatant Commercialism Dept. : Joe Dynan, son of artist Phil Dynan (an old running mate of Dave Monthie and myself) has his first downloadable song available on the Web for $1. I know he'd be thrilled if some of us Tuneweekers bought a copy. Joe first displayed his music talent to us at one of our former annual Geezerpaloozas at least 10 years ago when he was about 11 years old IIRC. He's got a great voice and songwriting talent, and it's a great song. Enjoy!
A rare combo of modern rock band and cartoon character is occurring with Popeye (one of my favorite comic strips) and Wilco (one of my favorite bands):
More on this at Wilco's site:
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Some fine playing in an unusual combo here: resonator guitar and didgeridoo!:
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Denis Franklin wrote to the San Francisco Folk Music Club e-mail list:Heard this guy (Dr. Paul Mealor) on NPR.  He was asked to arrange Ubi Caritas for Kate and William's wedding:  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQE4ryqdvMg
At the same time he was asked to write a song for a chorus composed of British military wives. For the lyrics he used  "letters and poems sent between the men on the front line and their wives / partners."  This one hit the top of the pop charts. Listen to it without shedding a tear if you can.  ( I certainly couldn't.):
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Here's a one-hour video of the great jazz drummer Max Roach with his quartet in Berlin in 1990 (for those who didn't already  watch it when I posted it to Facebook):
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Worthy Flute Thing: This Kickstarter project, a documentary on the beloved Irish flute-maker Patrick Olwell, is worth backing, IMHO. I have no financial interest, just love Irish flute!:
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OK,  autoharp. Lots of new developments in the world of autoharp of late. Here's a small batch of recent stuff:
Hal Weeks with the old Grateful Dead tune Althea:
Cathy Britell and William Limbach, Down In The Valley:
Same duo, Harper's Blessing:
And audio of Cathy on Somewhere Over The Rainbow:
Audio, Don McLean's Vincent:
Darryl Minsky does Hide Your Love Away:
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Good news this week for traveling musos, Congress OKs uniform FAA standard for instruments as carry-ons when flying:
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Gone But Not Forgot:
Snuffy Smith, noted banjoist and banjo repairman, 66:
Boatin' Up Sandy played by Jimmy Triplett on a banjo fitted with one of Smith's  very popular bridges:
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Keep on Musicking!
Bob Loomis
In Loving Memory of Shannon Christine Loomis, 1967-2010
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Saturday, February 04, 2012

Tuneweek, 02-04-2012: Jim Ocean, Space Age Bard/4-String Banjo/RIP Don Cornelius


Shameless Self-Promo: I'll be playing and singing at Pinole Farmers Market this morning (Saturday, Feb. 4) from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Drop by and say hi if you're in the neighborhood!
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Science songs? Yes, Jim Ocean is not only a music promoter par excellence in the East Bay, but a singer/songwriter who's been called a Space Age Bard:
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Let's once again give obscure four-string banjo players their due. Five-string Scruggs-style banjo as heard in bluegrass is now the dominant style, but four-string banjos played (and play) big roles in traditional jazz ... and some are stretching their roles way beyond that. 

First, go here and scroll down the page to Four-string Banjos for definitions and a history:
As for music, let's start with this, and you can check the links to the right for more vids:
Here's Mario De Pietro, a popular mandolinist of note who also solos on tenor banjo in this 1930 clip with Jean Melville on piano:
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/mario-de-pietro/query/banjo

Prof. Douglas Frazer and the Genuine Jug Band:
More here:
A feature on percussionist Tony McBride's washboard setup:
Heavy metal (resophonic) mandolin blues:
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Stolen Stuff Alert from Chris Hirsch: My good friends in the band Trout Fishing In America had their van stolen with all of their instruments and CDs, videos, etc., inside.  This happened in Houston, TX on 1-29-12.  I put together this simple web page showing the instruments so we can all send it out to our friends.  Please do this.  The more that know about this, the better chance of nabbing these damn thieves and maybe getting their stuff back:
http://www.chrishirsch.com/stolen2.htm
Some samples of their quite funny and quite good music:
http://www.troutmusic.com/
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Gone But Not Forgot:
Don Cornelius, Soul Train creator, 75:

Camilla Williams, barrier-breaking opera soprano, 92:

Clare Fischer, arranger and keyboardist, 83:

Paavo Berglund, Finnish conductor, 82:

Patricia Neway, opera soprano and Tony winner, 92:
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Keep on Musicking!
Bob Loomis
In Loving Memory of Shannon Christine Loomis, 1967-2010
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