Take it for what it is...

so we did it. here's mr brownstone performing 'welcome to the jungle' on the late show with david letterman. it was a blast, a totally surreal experience. we were specifically told to, "keep away from mr letterman." the late show got it's highest ratings in a year that night. coincidence? again... we may never know... enjoy.



for any fans, we are headlining irving plaza next friday, 11/28/08.

Mr. Brownstone to perform on The Late Show with David Leterman, Novemember 19th

well friends, as many of you know, for the last 8 years i have moonlighted as slash in a guns n' roses tribute band known around the world as Mr. Brownstone. it started as a dorm room joke, something fun for us to do for ourselves and our friends. we got dressed up like GnR one night, even going to the dining hall at conn college in our cheap and crappy costumes, and rocked the cro's nest at the student center for maybe 100 people.

it was great.

numerous stolen or destroyed top hats later we are somehow going stronger than ever. despite (although some have argued that as a result of) the fact that we have never really taken Mr B that seriously, we've landed some amazing gigs in NYC, boston and even a midnight slot on stage at bonnaroo opposite medeski, martin & wood and the flaming lips. our next adventure brings us to the national stage: an appearance on the late show with david letterman. axl rose's current lineup of what he calls "guns n' roses" is finally releasing the long awaited album chinese democracy the tuesday after our late show appearance. coincidence? hmmm... as luck would have it, Mr B has a big show at irving plaza the night after thanksgiving which mr letterman will plug. be sure to watch as we rock america wednesday, november 19th.
special guest: katie couric.

hey, it's just this thing we do...

Mitch Mitchell 1947-2008

the world lost a great musician yesterday. mitch mitchell (left) passed away in portland, oregon at the age of 62. mitch played drums in the jimi hendrix experience. to support hendrix's freak-out-blues stratocaster sorcery, mitch recorded some incredibly inventive drum parts, culling influences from jazz legends such as elvin jones and buddy rich as well as incorporating modern pop/rock styles of the day. together with other power trio drummers ginger baker of cream and keith moon of the who, mitch's firey and at times manic playing redefined what the drummer's role could be in a rock band. no longer content to simply 'keep the beat,' mitch was forced to temper hendrix's massive musical presence with enough character in his drum parts step out of the background, keeping the band afloat. to keep it all together, noel redding supplied the reliable center line, the steady bass groove that was the glue between hendrix and mitch.
above, a young experience, fall of 1966
mitch was just out of his teens when he was recruited to play drums with hendrix. starting in the fall of 1966, the jimi hendrix experience shook the pop music world to its core with their fusion of blues, feedback, psychedelic sound and song craft, pop hooks, studio wizardry and a live show the likes of which had never been seen. for hendrix, it seemed meant to be. after spending his early twenties touring the US and canada on the chitlin circuit with the likes of ike and tina turner, little richard, curtis knight and king curtis, hendrix was finally noticed by animals bassist and soon-to-be producer, chas chandler. chandler brought hendrix to london and paired him up with mitch and noel. within days of its inception, the trio began performing and recording new material, releasing the classic are you experienced? in may of 1967.
above, roger mayer (guitar effect pedal guru) mitch, hendrix, noel
mitch as the marquee club, london 1967
at the time of their first couple albums, studio recording technology was still fairly primitive by today's standards. are you experienced? and the group's second album axis: bold as love were both recorded on a simple 4 track machine. they stand as monuments to the great musicianship on one side of the control room glass and the inventive engineering and production skills on the other side. at a time when recording engineers were still wearing lab coats and carrying clipboards, mitch along with other pop musicians of the day, began to use the studio as more of a creative tool then simply a way to capture a live performance in hi-fidelity. he was one of the first drummers to become actively involved in the recording process, pushing the boundaries of the studio and attempting to create a more sonically powerful experience for the listener. mitch began to experiment with the use of multiple microphones to capture his drum sounds. by using a variety of mics on his kit, the recording engineers were given more freedom to manipulate his drums and create a much more 3-D sound experience for the listener. this is particularly evident on their 3rd album electric ladyland, which employed a larger 16 track board and allowed for much more creative room in the mix. throw on a good pair of headphones and pay attention to where the instruments are in the mix from left ear to right, how the guitars, vocals and other sonic textures dip and weave around the song. i have to say, one of the amazing things about hendrix is that you can go back and hear something new every time you listen to one of his records. i'm listening to axis as i type this and i'm happy and amazed to say that after a solid 15 years of listening to his records, previously unnoticed sounds and textures are still popping out at me. how many artists can you say that about?!
above, hendrix with mitch in the studio
from what i've read, hendrix and mitch were great friends and very much enjoyed their musical relationship. mitch was there for most of it all (of the four official records hendrix released in his lifetime, he was absent only from band of gypsys, an album which captured hendrix live in NYC on new years eve '69/'70 with buddy miles on drums and billy cox on bass) he was there as hendrix famously smashed and burned his guitar at the monetery pop festivel in 1967 (see previous blog entry) he was hendrix's drummer at woodstock and played drums at hendrix's last ever concert at the isle of fehmarn in september 1970. his contributions to the drumming world and impact on the development of the jimi hendrix experience's 3 studio albums cannot be overstated. he will be missed.

Two of Brooklyn's guitar pickers...

i just got home from seeing a double header show at my fave nyc bar/venue: barbes. this place is a total gem in all of nyc and lucky me, i live just a few blocks from this fantastic small bar/live music venue. they have a great selection of beers and spirits and if you ask me... one of the best line ups of live music in town.

telecaster wizard, jim campilongo played the early show tonight. i've never seen a guy control an electric guitar and force it to his will the way he does. effortless behind-the-nut harmonic bends, bizzaro chords and TONE up the wazoo. when you see a guy manipulating an instrument with this kind of effortless control and dexterity, you know why the music press has called him "an american treasure." drawing influences from other telecaster gurus such as jimmy bryant, danny gatton, jimmie rivers and god-knows-where psychedelic influences, he conjures up sounds you might think only possible with a massive effects pedal board. campilongo, however, makes it all look effortless with his vintage tele and matching '60s era princeton amp. he plays every monday night at the living room on the lower east side. you may have seen him backing up norah jones or one of my favorite bands, cake.

from the left: jimmie rivers and jim campilongo:
the late show was western swing whiz, smokey hormel. you may know him from his work with tom waits or beck. he's an incredibly diverse musician. as a young picker, he learned western swing-style guitar from none other than jimmy wyble, one of bob wills famed guitar slingers. folks... bob wills is western swing and through a multi-decade career, he featured a number of ground breaking instrumentalists, most notably his guitar players. we've seen smokey a number of times and he is just a dynamite musician leading a cracker jack outfit: upright bass, drums, clarinet and steel guitar. smokey throws western swing classics into the modern world and the crowd loves it! btw- dig the unusual gretsch he's playing here... momma!
these are just two of the many great musicians playing on a regular basis here in brooklyn. if you live in the area, you owe yourself to check out these increidible guitarists!

10,603 miles

good god almighty i am so happy to be back in BK. as this blog entry's title would lead you to believe, yes we drove 10,603 miles since we left boston on august 23. i set the mini van's odometer to zero at izzy stradlin's house the day after Mr Brownstone rocked the bejesus outta the paradise the night before. amazingly it was exactly 1000 miles from boston to northbrook, illinois, the town where carolyn grew up. i just have to say the trip was an amazing experience. we saw deserts, moose, coyotes, irrelevant theme park motels, wild canadians in their natural habitat and Boss Tweed rocked the great white north.

some pertinent stats:
10,603=miles driven in the Silver Bullet from august 23rd-oct 5th
167.371 kmh=104 mph that we averaged through the middle of nowhere canada
53=cd's we outfitted the van with for our trip
24=towns able to provide for our carnivorous taco/guitar/record store appetite along the way
13=towns rocked by Boss Tweed
4=venues that hooked us up with sweet potato fries vs. standard white starch french fries
2=times i was pulled over and let off with a warning by canadian cops (they're so nice!)
1.6=new drummer(s) able to rock with the Tweed (jeremey was larger than life)
1=human finger we saw chopped off at the biker bar, the happy hog
.8=saskatoon-based tv channel that featured Boss Tweed on their daily culture show (let's up the production values here, eh fellas?)

here's some photos. entering jasper national park in the canadian rockies:
downtown canmore, our first show in canada:

some shots of our drive up through the national park to jasper:

jeremey scopes the view on one of our many stops along the drive to jasper:

a giant crow on the top of a car where we stopped to check out a waterfall. this thing could have weighed 20lbs:
the waterfall:

main street jasper:

everything is big in canada... we encounter a giant elk on way home after the gig. his giant elk head stood taller than mine:

racking up a game of pool before the gig at the slice in lethbridge:

more pool... jeremey sets up for the break in calgary:

on to exotic moose jaw. this town in saskatchewan is famous for the tunnels beneath the city streets which were once used by al capone and other prohibition-era bootleggers. we stayed at the famous gangster's theme motel. i wonder if his family sees any money from the use of his name and reputation? i doubt it:

at this point in the trip both carolyn and i were getting pretty shaggy and decided it was time to get our hair cut:

the front of our fan collected an impressive collection of bugs. we should have sold these off as lures to fisherman:
in saskatoon we were interviewed on a regional tv station:
the green room... classy:

the venue in saskatoon. we played a killer show for the folks here... lots of students and our first encounter with poutine:
making the long trek to thunder bay right on lake superior, we stopped and played a gig at the apollo. great venue and a great host... thanks, sheila!
checking out an old wurlitzer jukebox in the basement:

taking care of some wifi biz before heading out the next day:

boss tweed rolls into tottenham, about an hour north of toronto, to play our second to last show at the happy hog. our host, a gregarious biker named gar, told us some wild stories of his trips to the big biker rally, sturgis and showed off his harley. it wouldn't translate here but we did witness one of our new fans lose the tip of his finger in a bizarre seating accident. ask us about it sometime. outside the venue:
gar's hog: notice that he installed a sword for the gear shift... whoah:
after our last gig in toronto, we dropped jeremey off at the train station in albany and headed to portland, maine to see our friend sarah stebbins get hitched:

and to round the trip off, we made it down to delaware the following weekend to see our long reigning drummer, eric reed, tie the knot with the lovely amanda. amanda and her father walk up the beach for the ceremony:
the newly weds cut the cake. well done guys:
whew! and that's about it. lots of driving over those six weeks and now we're getting reacquainted with brooklyn. good to be home.

joy!

arg!

yes, yes... i know there are some typo's and misspellings here but blogger.com is fighting me in the editing department. i promise to fix it up asap. just letting you know that i care.

dig...

Finishing up the West Coast and on to Canada...

hey folks! it's been awhile, eh? we're here in saskatoon, canada waiting to load in and soundcheck for tonight's gig. here's a big update:

way, way back on our last day in del mar, carolyn, her brother, father and i went to check out the stone brewery in escondido, ca. makers of the delicious arrogant bastard ale, stone brewery prides itself on crafting world class beer with primo ingredients. very tasty stuff! we toured the factory and grabbed a bite to eat... not to mention enjoying the sample tasting of the brewery's finest.

the sills men enjoying the tour guide's rap:
carolyn and i left san diego later that afternoon en route to santa barbara. we stayed with our friends, billy and nichole. santa barbara seems to be just far enough from LA for it's own good and has a healthy mix of earthy/hippie culture with older fashionista soccer moms driving their monster suv's. we hiked some great trails in the nearby mountains:
we ate some mind bending tacos at la super rica. it's important to note that these tacos officially kicked off our 'Taco Challenge.' basically carolyn and i agreed to only consume tacos until leaving california. we wanted to see what kind of variety exists in the world of the humble mexican staple. we ate tacos for about a week! mmm....
we wandered around town and came across a dynamite organic food market. we picked up some fresh veggies, an apple pie, a couple pounds of salmon and snapper and made off to billy and nichole's to make some fish tacos for dinner. can you really go wrong with fresh fish cooked on a grill and some fresh n' tastsy mexcian spices?

onwards to san luis obispo to see the national resophonic guitar factory and take a tour. the link will take you to a page featuring a similar instrument that i own: a style 1 baritone model that you can see me playing with sophie sills in earlier posts. these guitars are close to my heart and the stuff of delta blues legend. think of these resonator guitars as the bridge between acoustic and electric instruments. designed in the late 1920's by john dopyera, the resonator guitar was created to amplify the guitar above the bombast of the era's big bands. as you can imagine, a simple acoustic guitar would not really be heard over the blast of a huge horn section and pounding drums. these guitars were popular with blues musicians as they could cut across the racket of a noisy bar as well as hawaiian steel players who loved their rich tone and long sustain. progress killed the popularity of these metal bodied beasts though as the electric guitar was introduced by the end of the 1930's and rendered resonator guitars obsolete in terms of comparative volume. click here to read a more thorough description of these fascinating and beautiful instruments. here are some photos of the factory tour:

our tour guide showing us the metal stamping machine:

some necks in various stages of assembly:



a side bending machine copied from taylor guitars. the guys at national watched videos of taylor's online tour about 60 times in order to build a copy of this machine:

cross section of a body prior to the installation of the resonating cone:

the body of a national mandolin. you could easily be the most annoying guy at your local bluegrass jam with one of these... they're loud as heck!


a single cone body roughly finished. as you can see, the edges of the guitar are still lumpy from the solder. this will all be sanded and polished to reveal the shiny, mirror-like finish of the completed instrument.
the staff kindly let me check out some newly finished instruments:

after san luis, we headed north, sneaking off the highway to see some of the forests and coastline on our way up the PCH:

our next stop was santa cruz to see my man, phil garrison. phil has been a close friend since high school and my first musical partner in the world of RnR. he and his girlfriend, alison, are studying chinese medicine and accupuncture at UCSC. we had a great time catching up and even snuck in a quick needling session... highly recommended! phil and alison:

phil goofin' with some of the crazy herbs he works with:
carolyn showing off her pin ball skills at the boardwalk in santa cruz:

we made it up to san fransisco for a quick visit with our friends, jay and hayden. they live right off golden gate park near haight-ashburry. along the way, we stopped in monterey to check out a classic car show:

we met up with jay and hayden in the park and along the way... behold wayne's world fans: the mirth mobile!!!

jay and his dog, coltrane:

we had to book it 10 hours north to portland, oregon to pick up our new drummer, jeremey. as you may know, eric reed is getting married in early october and as you can imagine, last minute wedding obligations precluded his availability for this canadian tour. jeremey is a friend from kelly kendrick's band; another project carolyn is involved in where she sings and plays upright bass. between our return from the balkans and our week at the jersey shore in august, we only had the opportunity to rehearse with jeremey once before the tour. i'm happy to say that he did his homework learning our set and is doing a bang-up job with Boss Tweed. our first show was in seattle where we played the sunset tavern. the gretsch rests after our first show:

we got a chance to spend a couple days in town and man oh man, what a great city! we lucked out and avoided the rainy weather the city is known for and got to check out some of seattle's restaurants, record and guitar shops... what else? the famous fish market:

continuing on our mexican food odyssey, we stumbled upon some of the best mexican food we've ever had at señor moose:

i had to try their signature margarita complete with jalapeño infused tequila and hot pepper flakes on the rim:

right along a strip of music venues, restaurants and guitar shops was bop street records, complete with a basement labyrinth of old vinyl. jeremey is at a loss:

easily the largest record i've ever seen. what would you even play this on?!

we stopped in at emerald city guitars, a swank guitar shop in town with a couple of nice '59 les pauls for sale... only $500,000. a bargain at twice the price! much more affordable was this super cool kay bass and matching amp set, supposedly recently drooled over by legendary gearhead, billy gibbons of zz top:

friends, many of you know where jimi hendrix stands in my life. well, the man himself as born and raised in seattle and as a tribute to him, mega bucks brainiac paul allen built the experience music project, a frank gehry-designed museum to the history of seattle's rock n' roll:

the museum features an exhibit based on the seattle's rock history, an amazing room showcasing the history of the guitar with iconic instruments owned by people such a kurt cobain, bo diddley, & eric clapton, not to mention ultra rare vintage instruments. the real treasure though: the jimi hendrix room. unfortunately photography is not allowed in the museum but i HAD to be sneaky and take this next photo. grouped together in one showcase are hendrix's woodstock stratocaster and pieces of three strats he famously smashed and burned. the one shown here was handpainted by hendrix, played during "wild thing" and then smashed and burned at the saville theater in 1967. also included in the showcase is a piece of the guitar hendrix burned at the end of his history making set at the monterey pop festival. click here for a youtube video of that. if you've never seen it, shame on you... ;) remember when they look into the ark of the covenant at the end of raiders of the lost ark? being there in person was kinda like that, without all that messy face melting. the saville strat:
oh and by the way- also included in the museum are hendrix's isle of wight 'butterfly' costume, the fender bass noel redding used through his career with the experience, and a variety of hendrix's diarys, hand written lyrics and some early childhood sketches.

wow

after carolyn and jeremey peeled my face off the exhibition glass, we headed east to our next gig in spokane. sunset at our hotel that night:

always on the lookout for friendly animals, we came across a super sweet australian sheep dog mix named 'biji' at the club:

on our way through idaho we stopped at a roadside beef jerky stand. we had to pick up some elk jerky:
alright folks... that about wraps up the west coast part of the adventure. after spokane we headed north in canada. i'll be posting all kinds of photos from our tour here. as a sneak peak, here's a photo i took as we drove through jasper national park: (remember you can click on these to enlarge)