Live Music in Brooklyn...

Always in search of live music, preferably something never seen before and off the beaten path our recent visit to NYC found us in Brooklyn at the club (pronounced Barbez) Barbes. There should be an accent over that last e but I'm don't know how to do that. 

We rode the subway to Brooklyn. It's more like the neighborhood areas I'm used to in Chicago, a nice relaxed feel of a place where people live than the run and gun of downtown Manhattan. As you can see the club is tiny, two rooms, one a bar and the other for a band. 

The band we saw was Los Mochuelos. Mochuelos means little owl. They play Vellenato music from the Caribbean region of Columbia that mixes African harmony and rhythms with Spanish poetry. It's the most popular folkoric  music in Columbia today. 

Barbes seems to be the place to hear world type music of blended cultures as well as groups doing twisted sense of humor jazz, country and crazy covers of popular tunes. Straight cover bands need not apply. If you look up the club's web site and read band descriptions it will be a nice relief from the weariness of your usual internet searches for cat photos.   

Most of the band room is dance floor and could get crowded with more than 50 people. We grabbed some seats next to the band. A New York band we have a bunch of CDs by, Slavic Soul Party plays here and I would like to see how they operate with a brass band group of horn players on the small stage.  

I picked up a tip from this bass player. He had what looked like a leather shoe string tied and woven through his strings at the bridge. When the band took a break I asked him about it and he said it helped get a string bass sound on the electric instrument. I've experimented with string mutes but never found one satisfactory but I may give this a try. 

Of course Cathy got the t shirt. The bass player sold it to us but when the band came back from break the accordion player called out from the stage "Shout out to Texas, thanks for buying a shirt." 

The bar also had a tasty non alcohol imported beer on hand. That is always a plus for me. Put Brooklyn and Barbes on your list of cool places. 

Play it Loud...

On our trip to NYC last weekend we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There are many ongoing exhibits there and the displays of art and history are staggering to see. Don't think you will make a quick run through. One exhibit there that was of particular interest was Play it Loud, the Instruments of Rock and Roll. Organized with assistance of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame it's the first examination by a major museum of the instruments of rock and roll that so inspire the every day player that he will often try to get one just like his idol played. 

The piano is from the home of Jerry Lee Lewis. I never saw Lynyrd Skynyrd or Molly Hatchet but I have sure seen Jerry Lee. Twice. 

Currently Jerry Lee is in a Memphis nursing home rehabbing after a stroke. My day job is to rehab old wild guys after a stroke. I'm good at it but I'm glad someone else has got this one. 

Buddy Holly's guitar. Supposedly there is a Fender Stratocaster floating around out there that was stolen out of Buddy's car. Those in the know say they can identify it from some kind of mark under the pickguard.  Hey GW, remember when we used to jam on Heartbeat?

The Beatles set up. That's Ringo's drums, George's guitar from the old Cavern days and the Rickenbacker John played on Ticket To Ride

Cathy likes guys that named Jack that play guitar. Following her down front at a Jack Black or Jack White gig and it might get loud and rough. Here she is with one of the Montgomery Wards 1964 Resoglass Jetson plastic guitars made famous by Jack White. These things were worth about $70 before Jack appeared with them. Now they go for $1500-$3000.  

Eric Clapton's Blackie Stratocaster. Clapton played this guitar from 1974-85. Here it here. In 2004 it was sold at auction for $850,000 to benefit Clapton's drug and alcohol rehab center.  

Jeff Beck's Yardbird Telecaster. One of my favorites tunes of his with Rod on vocal.

Cathy with George Harrison's Rickenbacker. She likes George also.  You saw it in the Beatle clip linked above. 

Jimi Hendrix's Gibson Flying V. He painted it himself. 

On the left the Gibson SG belonging to Derek Trucks. On the right is Duane Allman's SG. 

Me and Stevie Ray Vaughan's Number 1 Stratocaster. I saw SRV many times at small Texas road houses in the early mid 1980s before his national fame. Once at the old Crossroads Club in Nacogdoches a roadie sat at a table in the bar next to mine and cut the strings off this guitar right across the pickups with a pair of needle nose plyers. He strung it up, SRV walked by, grabbed it, mounted the low stage, plugged in and began to wail the heck out of it. All that took about as long as it will take you to read this paragraph. Note to self, spend more time playing that futzing with your stuff. 

Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead used this custom made guitar he called Tiger. The maker reportedly took 8 years and 6000 man hours. Things in the Dead world move at a different pace. Also on display was Jerry's Wolf guitar. Hear Tiger to great effect here. 

Ravi Shankar sitar. I saw Ravi live in 1974. He opened for George Harrison. 

Jimmy Page's Led Zeppelin Concert set up. Lot's of Jimmy page gear on display.  

More of Page's stuff. In the museum gift shop you could buy the Fender made reproduction, I did not see a bow, for $1400.  

Gibson SG and Fender seven string bass used by Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce of Cream. Guitars painted by the Dutch Art Collective the Fool. 

Guitars and drums belonging to the Who. I noted that most of Townsend's Gibson guitars had headstock repairs. The white guitar is and Epi Wilshire, originally owned by Roger Daltry and sold to Pete. come on guys, your have been in a band together for 60 years, just let him borrow it. 

The Hendrix Woodstock Strat. 50 years ago this summer he played this on that guitar

This exhibit gave me mixed feelings. I enjoy seeing history and have seen quite a few of these instruments played by their owners in person. At the same time I am sad that they are hung on a wall to be heard no more. almost seems like some kind of idol worship. After all there were just tools that guys or gals started out making music on and then the music and everything about it became very closely examined and set up as a high ideal for all to admire. 

I've got a few pretty nice guitars, some offbeat instruments and some beat up stuff. I hope, after I'm gone some one keeps letting those voices ring. 

NYC...

If you follow us on Facebook or Instagram you know we have been in New York City for the past few days. It was a great trip and I have about 500 photos. Should jump start the blog posting for the summer if the next greatest thing does not come along bigger and better. 

Cathy in Central Park. You can get really lost there. 

The Flatiron Building. 

The purpose of the trip was to celebrate Cathy and her sister Margaret's birthday. Traveling with the girls were their husbands, me and Kevin. 

The Statue of Liberty is a great tour but if planning on the climb to the crown make sure you are in at least average physical conditioning, are not claustrophobic and do not wear a dress because it's a narrow, steep, straight up spiral stairway to the crown.  

Ellis Island was also a stop. For a few bucks you get 30 minutes on a computer to look up relatives that may have come through. I paid the fee even though I knew most of my folks arrived well before this wave of people looking for a better life and was rewarded by getting a hit on one person from the town in Ireland I have traced some of the Wallace clan back to. 

9/11 Memorial. 

Plenty of subway riding and a Broadway play. 

Our attempt at a selfie with the Brooklyn Bridge in the back ground. In the distance you could see many making the trek across the East River maybe just to say they did it. We had walked a lot taking in the life of the big city and we skipped that one.  

Happy Mother's Day...

We had a little Mom's Day grilled chicken wing supper. Cathy gets some Parker time. 

It rained and Ezra got a little mud time. 

Rose, Tim, and Coraline get Ezra to give them a little umbrella time.  

Ali, Morgan and Miguel look on as Cathy has a little present opening/read the card time. 

Mary, Ezra and Coraline have a little walk in the mud time. In fact there exists a video on a now extinct content storage medium of a Mary still in diapers walking out and taking an abrupt but you know it's coming sit in that very mud puddle. It's kind of a history repeats itself things never change moment. 

Warren plays the tenor horn which he calls, "my tuba." It's always tuba time around here. 

May Fishing Report...

After a week that saw my mom and also Cathy's dad in the hospital with both now home we saw fit to slip off to the lake this morning. Here you see Cathy and brother Matt doing the shallow water bite thing with slip corks at about 7 feet deep. 

Cathy bends the rod. She caught the most. 

I managed a few but most were small. Guess I get paid back for bragging on the 6 pounders. 

Total catch was 49 all channel cats. We ate some of them and took a batch over for my mom to eat. 

looks like it might be several weeks before we get another catfishing trip together. From looking at the fishing log for the past two years they should be in deep water by then. 

AC Jazz Bands Feature The Music of Duke Ellington...

I checked out a very nice concert by the Angelina College Swinging Roadrunner Combo and the AC Big Band last night. The show featured the music of Duke Ellington. The Duke would have been 120 years old on April 29th. 

This group is the AC Swinging Roadrunner Jazz Combo. They are all students {I think} and several also play in the Lufkin Community Band that I am a member of. It was great seeing these young people standing up and taking very nice solos which drew enthusiastic applause from the audience.  

Next group was the AC Big Band. This group is made up of local musicians and faculty members at AC, several that are also members of the Community Band. Again great solos and tight sounds. 

Vocalist for the group was faculty member Nicole Hunt. She also sang at the recent Community Band Concert which featured various soloist. In that show she was accompanied by a sax sextet. 

Both groups are directed by Larry Greer. This was the last event for the semester so you will have to wait till the fall for another concert. The wait will be worth it.