cattie's bd party will be this sat, may 21, in fresno ca usa at club fred. (go to www.cattieness.com for a flyer) ... cattie ness & the revenge (i'm a revenger for this show) will play with deadbolt and the graveside rockers. it's a rock- & psychobilly show, except our set also will feature some honky-tonk (i get to be don rich on vocals -- yippee!!), a fats domino new orleans roll, and a bit of jerry lee, if my hand doesn't explode from the keyboard pounding. i play through the pain!! the music overrides the suffering usually, anyhow. :)
fun yesterday going down to smellay to practice with the southland branch of the band (fabi, jose, & their conversations about roosters and chickens) at a lock out in monterey park, right by one of those majestic clay-colored bridges in that part of town. rode down with cattie & john, listening to jimmy & johnny, ernest tubb, warren smith, stuff like that. we didn't get to eat at phillipe's, but to bypass dodger stadium traffic drove by union station , so my memories of lostangeles kicked in anyway and i was ok with plain old whatever-we-could-find road food. (not too hard these days, with the influx of suburbia eliminating the blank spots along I-5 from sta clarita to bkfld!) memories-- sometimes memories (different from fantasies or pipe dreams) are nearly as good as the real thing, i think.
a few weeks back, i got a beringer keyboard amp/PA for what seemed a bargain, so now if i can get my hands on a semi-decent mike (mine was stolen a few years back), i'll be in bizness. hard for me to be portable, and i've been called a "luddite" where gear is concerned, but i sure like this new piece of equipment and the idea that i don't have to rely on others for sound.
but don't ask me about how it works and all that! there seem to be two schools (gearheads and non); i'm just not into 99% of gear and probably never will be. however, i do like the look of the fender rhodes (action's not so good, though, i hear) and i used to have a wurlitzer that i could kick myself for trading... though i hear the blazers are currently using it, which certainly means it's being well used!
for me, too much gear can be a cover-up for lack of ability... i speak from experience here! i've had my own lack of ability disguised plenty of times with effects! really, though it's better to go bare, since you never know what equipment will be available, plus is seems somehow more honest -- also, there's the portability issue! (that said, i have to add that the "slap back" effect is purty cool.)
in an earlier band, i tried playing bass for a while (easier to carry than an electric piano), but the music just wasn't happening for me. it's much better now, playing the music i've always loved. so, all fired up from yesterday, i say if any musicians read this and live in the california latitudes between bakersfield and ventura, email me! let's play some music sometime. it's fun to play with different people and i just love playing, not a lot of talking, just music and energy. it's part of what makes life worth living, in my book.
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