Always on the run, I had just come from a wedding of some friends of mine from highschool. Congratulations Sandy and Robert. It was a nice wedding and it was great seeing all the old friends. It was hard leaving early to go to the show but I was pumped about playing that night and eager to perform.
The more we play the better it gets and coming off of a great show at One Eyed Jacks last week, I was impressed that we were able to kick it up a notch at Circle Bar. There's just something about the intimacy of that club that just really gets it going. It's a special place (as are so many others in New Orleans). John Marcey, on his second show with us, really started showing his chops as a guitar player and let loose on a few amazing solos. It's always fun when you can tell the other band members are having a blast.
I've been getting alot of response from our rendition of House of the Rising Sun. BTW, it was Matthew Sexton's (bassist) idea to play that one. The thing I've been hearing alot is "I like how you mashed up House of the Rising Sun with St. James Infirmary". There's a history lesson here and I was talking to a fan last night about this. Don, I hope you're reading this:
Don was at an Animals show at the House of Blues and overheard Eric Burdon of the Animals taking credit for writing House of the Rising Sun... ehhhhhh... I don't think so!! As with many folk songs, it's often debated where they came from our who penned/contributed what but the original recordings of House of the Rising Sun were done in the 1930s. One of those recordings was done by Alan Lomax. The song was being performed and recorded in the 40's more commercially by legends such as Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie. In 1960 it was recorded by John Baez. Bob Dylan recorded it in 1962 on his first self-titled album. Dylan also apparently thinks he wrote the song and often takes credit for it as well but stopped playing it because when the Animals released it 2 years later it became so popular that fans accused Dylan of doing a lousy Animals cover.
So why does House of the Rising Sun and St. James Infirmary work so well together? THEY EVOLVED FROM THE SAME FOLK SONG!!! Which is most likely an 18th century English ballad known as Unfortunate Rake. Louis Armstrong made St. James Infirmary international in 1928. Billie Holiday performed it as did Joe Cocker and even Van Morrison who recorded it on his 2003 Grammy Nominated album What's Wrong With this Picture?.
Renew, Reuse, Recycle. The battles of yesterday are the battles of today and they all make for great lyrics. It's all been sung before. Evolution is a pretty fascinating thing, especially when we can pinpoint it in music. Where are the origins before the 18th century? What land or civilization will it take us to? We're all connected here. All I know is that some unknowing English family is probably due a gazillion dollars in royalties for their great grandfather's battle with gambling and prostitution.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
One Eyed Jacks - 7/17/09
I had been waiting for this date for awhile. Flowtribe is always a great band to see live and after checking The Gills out on myspace I was an instant fan. It also marked an end of an intensive two week period where I was teaching a music summer camp for young children and still playing gigs till the wee hours in the morning. Summer is always rough for live shows in New Orleans... it's hot, people are on vacation, and all those college kids are back home but everyone did such a great job promoting the show that a few hundred people showed up. It was great. People were dancing and jumping around enjoying those drink specials by superfly vodka and of course I was sporting my "Brad Pitt for Mayor" t-shirt from the guys at Storyville that also helped put the show on.
Getting rid of my pre-show jitters and physical pain (physical exhaustion), I took a healthy shot of Jack before going on stage. Yes! I know, One Eyed Jacks, Happy Jack, Jack Daniels. I hadn't had time to eat dinner and wow did that jack hit the spot. We kicked the set off with Can't Explain by the Who. The great John Marcey who was filling in on guitar had a screaming solo and people were way into it. By the time we played Piece of Mind and Center of the Universe, the crowd (which was steadily growing) was moving toward the dance floor and getting into the music. Our little medley of Monday Morning, House of the Rising Sun, and St. James Infirmary was followed by our version of Sunshine of Your Love. It was great seeing everybody singing along and moving to the music. That's what it's all about. From there we said our fairwells and closed out the show with "Tammy". I think it's one of the best songs I've had a part in making. Me and Q. Corvette put that one together. It's so fun to play, easy to dance to, and a lyrically humourous and playful. This seems to be where my writing is going. Which makes me want to play more of my unreleased material in the live shows. I think next Saturday at the Circle Bar, I'll bring my synth and we'll start playing some of them. By the way, anyone who wants to here the demoed versions of my latest material need only to ask for them.
I stayed around for the rest of the night. The Gills were fantastic. I really want to hear them live again or even share some more dates with them. They make me want to up my game. I love that. By the time Flowtribe hit the stage I was jumping around and dancing myself. It was such a great time.
You're tuned to the Happy Jack Frequency... next show is July 25th at Circle Bar. It will be a benefit for Silent Cinema who recently had ALL of their equipment stolen. Come support your live local music and join the happening.
James
Getting rid of my pre-show jitters and physical pain (physical exhaustion), I took a healthy shot of Jack before going on stage. Yes! I know, One Eyed Jacks, Happy Jack, Jack Daniels. I hadn't had time to eat dinner and wow did that jack hit the spot. We kicked the set off with Can't Explain by the Who. The great John Marcey who was filling in on guitar had a screaming solo and people were way into it. By the time we played Piece of Mind and Center of the Universe, the crowd (which was steadily growing) was moving toward the dance floor and getting into the music. Our little medley of Monday Morning, House of the Rising Sun, and St. James Infirmary was followed by our version of Sunshine of Your Love. It was great seeing everybody singing along and moving to the music. That's what it's all about. From there we said our fairwells and closed out the show with "Tammy". I think it's one of the best songs I've had a part in making. Me and Q. Corvette put that one together. It's so fun to play, easy to dance to, and a lyrically humourous and playful. This seems to be where my writing is going. Which makes me want to play more of my unreleased material in the live shows. I think next Saturday at the Circle Bar, I'll bring my synth and we'll start playing some of them. By the way, anyone who wants to here the demoed versions of my latest material need only to ask for them.
I stayed around for the rest of the night. The Gills were fantastic. I really want to hear them live again or even share some more dates with them. They make me want to up my game. I love that. By the time Flowtribe hit the stage I was jumping around and dancing myself. It was such a great time.
You're tuned to the Happy Jack Frequency... next show is July 25th at Circle Bar. It will be a benefit for Silent Cinema who recently had ALL of their equipment stolen. Come support your live local music and join the happening.
James
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Behind the Music #1 - Monday Morning
Out of all the songs I've recorded recently, Monday Morning is by far the oldest. 2005 was a crazy year. I was hired (and fired) from Lenny Kravitz' world tour and then Katrina came along changed everything. It was rough and partly because these things separated me from the band I was in at the time (Trombone Shorty and Orleans Ave.) and public performance (which I'm addicted to). It also brought me closer to what I've always wanted to do, write music.
I started out on guitar and learned saxophone to play guitar in the high school jazz band. I took a liking to the sax and wound up majoring in Jazz Saxophone in college. Being a professional saxophonist and a full-time college student with two majors, guitar found it's temporary place on the back burner. However, with everything that was going on in 2005, I started playing the guitar more. I started writing again.
For the most part, all the songs I wrote in 2005 were horrible. But all horrible songs have minute glimmers of hope and lead to better songs and ideas. This is how Monday Morning came to be. The songs is simple: Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus and it sounds like a Beatles song (I was listening to Beatles at the time).
It's a Katrina/Love song. It's about surviving and yet losing in the process. The first line "Monday Morning has left me dry" is a direct metaphorical reference to Hurricane Katrina which hit New Orleans on a Monday Morning. I had evacuated and escaped the floods but was empty because of it. I was left dry for better or for worse.
The second motif in the song refers to a girl I met in Rome in early January 2006. It was one of those meetings where you feel like you've known a complete stranger all of your life. It was great. It was my first kiss. A beautiful Brazilian in Rome. Completely unreal. Poetically beautiful and tragic at the same time because my stay with her eventually came to an end... when I "whispered softly and got on a train"... a train to Napoli. Man was that ever a painful experience. The train was so crowded I had to sit on the floor and I was exhausted from the lack of sleep, and I was missing her.
"Thinking about you every night and day" are the written lyrics. What actually saying is "Thinking about Ju..." My "friends" nickname. I love sneaking subtle yet direct messages into the lyrics.
Anyway, some time after Rome, we both had a dream that I was singing this song with my band and she was there at the concert. A bit grandoise considering that the songs wasn't quite in style with what the band was playing at the time and I was rarely featured as a vocalist or songwriter in that group. Two years later, the bands sound had changed, they wanted to learn the song, and incredibly she just so happened to be in Miami (she had never been to the US before) when my band was playing there and I got to sing the song to her. It was the most powerful feeling I had ever felt on the stage.
Sweet/Sour...Love/Pain...Winning/Losing... opposites, yes, but they are dependent on eachother.
We are survivors because we have lost.
I started out on guitar and learned saxophone to play guitar in the high school jazz band. I took a liking to the sax and wound up majoring in Jazz Saxophone in college. Being a professional saxophonist and a full-time college student with two majors, guitar found it's temporary place on the back burner. However, with everything that was going on in 2005, I started playing the guitar more. I started writing again.
For the most part, all the songs I wrote in 2005 were horrible. But all horrible songs have minute glimmers of hope and lead to better songs and ideas. This is how Monday Morning came to be. The songs is simple: Verse, Chorus, Verse, Chorus and it sounds like a Beatles song (I was listening to Beatles at the time).
It's a Katrina/Love song. It's about surviving and yet losing in the process. The first line "Monday Morning has left me dry" is a direct metaphorical reference to Hurricane Katrina which hit New Orleans on a Monday Morning. I had evacuated and escaped the floods but was empty because of it. I was left dry for better or for worse.
The second motif in the song refers to a girl I met in Rome in early January 2006. It was one of those meetings where you feel like you've known a complete stranger all of your life. It was great. It was my first kiss. A beautiful Brazilian in Rome. Completely unreal. Poetically beautiful and tragic at the same time because my stay with her eventually came to an end... when I "whispered softly and got on a train"... a train to Napoli. Man was that ever a painful experience. The train was so crowded I had to sit on the floor and I was exhausted from the lack of sleep, and I was missing her.
"Thinking about you every night and day" are the written lyrics. What actually saying is "Thinking about Ju..." My "friends" nickname. I love sneaking subtle yet direct messages into the lyrics.
Anyway, some time after Rome, we both had a dream that I was singing this song with my band and she was there at the concert. A bit grandoise considering that the songs wasn't quite in style with what the band was playing at the time and I was rarely featured as a vocalist or songwriter in that group. Two years later, the bands sound had changed, they wanted to learn the song, and incredibly she just so happened to be in Miami (she had never been to the US before) when my band was playing there and I got to sing the song to her. It was the most powerful feeling I had ever felt on the stage.
Sweet/Sour...Love/Pain...Winning/Losing... opposites, yes, but they are dependent on eachother.
We are survivors because we have lost.
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