I Suck

At blogging - as it turns out I am VERY inconsistent!  Good news is the date is set for going into the studio, November 2nd!  I haven't checked my horoscope or anything yet to make sure that is an auspicious day...it will probably say some like "do not leave the house on this day"...oh well...  Now all I need to do is choose the songs, practice them till perfect and think about what they need in terms of other instrumentation, production, arrangement...hmm...I better stop blogging and get to work!  Here is where I will be recording!  He is an amazing talent and right here on Bainbridge - I am so lucky!
www.omdubya.com

Tumbling Tumbleweed

Here is a photo of the stage we played on, taken Saturday with The Cutters performing.

Whew, what a whirlwind weekend!  Valerie and I drove to Richland on Saturday, made excellent time and got to enjoy a good portion of the afternoon's offerings at Tumbleweed.  The weather was gorgeous and the music was so very enjoyable.  Tumbleweed hosts four stages (not including the open mic stage) and there are performers on every one of them all day long.  Larry Murante, Cat Loves Crow and Kerry Grombacher were among my favorites.  In the evening the Meteors from Bellingham did a fantastic job (however, they should really change their name, because if you try to find them on google you get a punk band from the UK or a cover band from Chicago...).  These youngsters from WWU are off to a great start in music.  The Festival itself was perfectly run, this is the fourteenth, so they really have it down.  Valerie and I stayed up late drinking red wine and playing music in our hotel room, an awesome way to end the day!  Then, up early and heading over to the park for our 11am set.  Being first on stage for the day has the advantage of extra set-up time, but the disadvantage of a smaller crowd.  That said I wouldn't have traded our slot for anything, our crowd was appreciative and enthusiastic and our soundman, Jim, was excellent.  We performed our set, got off the stage, packed up and hit the road.

It stopped raining!

I think that is important enough to blog about for sure!  I just took my bass into the shop to have a guitar strap button put on so I can play standing up...of course, if I can actually play standing up (like walking and chewing gum...).   Valerie and I have been rehearsing for our performance at the Tumbleweed Folk Music Festival in Richland on Sunday.  We have forty-five minutes and our set, with blah-blah's ran 44:26 - pretty darn close!  As long as we don't tune too much or talk too much or have any technical difficulties we will be right on...we shall see!  Okay, since I don't have anything else musical to talk about I will put up a photo of my pug...pugalicious!

Cafe Luna

Helloooooo!  Valerie and I played Cafe Luna on Vashon Island last night.  First a word about getting to Vashon...unlike Bainbridge, they don't have a bridge (good for them!), so you have to take a ten minute ferry ride from Southworth (if you are coming from the Kitsap area, otherwise it is a twenty minute ferry from West Seattle).  Depending upon when you get there and how many cars there are for Fauntleroy (I am guessing here) you may have to back onto the ferry in your car.  Pretty humorous spectator sport for sure!  Vashon itself is a beautiful island, lots of farm stands, antiques, a lighthouse, country roads...quite lovely.  I got there early and was able to check out some scenery before the show.

It was a small but mighty crowd at the Luna last night and the staff were EXCELLENT.  All in all quite an enjoyable experience.  Valerie sang her butt off (really, I was there) and I think I only screwed up my bass parts once or twice...really!  We debuted our version of "Jolene"..."Jolie" and played a couple other songs we learned just for this show.  Next weekend - TUMBLEWEED!  Can you say "road trip"?

Aloha!

Sorry I haven't written...wait - no I'm not, because I was in Hawaii!  Kauai to be exact, so who would be sorry about that!  I think I only played guitar once while I was there, having lugged my Martin Backpacker the whole way, so that I am sorry about.  There was an interesting duo playing at the Hanalei grill, a guitarist/singer and a violinist.  I spoke with the violinist, he actually had played with the Hawaiian Orchestra and was quite accomplished, cool guy.  Other than that, not much music other than a DJ at the Tahiti Nui that had us dancing like maniacs.

So, back on my own island now and rehearsing with Valerie for our upcoming show at Cafe Luna on Vashon.  They are not licensed with ASCAP or BMI so we will be playing only our originals or songs in the public domain, which is not a bad thing, just means pulling out some oldies but hopefully goodies that I don't usually play anymore, like the "Dead Rabbit Song" and "Baby Blue".  Valerie is playing the Poulsbo Art Fair today, so we are headed that direction to show our support.

Maholo and Aloha!!!

Free Acoustic Concert this Saturday!!!!

Shameless plug - I know - but what else are blogs for?  Valerie Markell, Jim Bybee and I are playing at the Kvelstad Pavilion (say that five times fast) in Pouslbo from 2pm till 5pm.  We will be playing separately and together, or as Valerie so aptly puts it "solo and collaborative performances".  Check it out!!!

Get your local produce - and music!!!

If you are in the neighborhood (or if you feel like going for a drive or ferry ride) come by and see Valerie Markell and I at the Kingston Farmers Market today, July 3rd, from 10am until 2pm.  We would love to see you there!  We will be the ones shivering on the stage!  Where is the sun????  I thought this was summer!!!