silly me

I forgot to cite the frank zappa tribute show at the empty glass among highlights of 2006 live music shows- THAT was a memorable show. Silly me.

2006 concert highlights

john prine in Prestonburg Kentucky
lucinda williams at Stuarts
Todd Snider as part of nelsonville's summer festival
greg brown and fred eaglesmith at hocking folk festival
arlo guthrie in tiffin ohio
adrienne young in marietta
mountain stages such as todd snider in october, abigal washburn in November
lots of good Greens shows, Todd Burge's shows and songwriter events, etc.

Mountain stages in early 2007

Greg Brown will be at mountain stage Jan. 28- arlo guthrie and uncle earl will be on the mountain stage at the clay center Feb. 18th. Greg Brown was scheduled for one in the fall but couldn't make it due to his daughter having a baby (first grandchild!)- so re-scheduled this quickly.

adding film series to 2007 Anericana Music tribute series

It looks like I'll be able to add a film series to the 2007 Americana Music tribute series; starting out modestly, showing some movies off DVD's at my work place- able to seat 40 folks or so- no cost to me, so we'll see how it works out. I am planning to show: a Greg Brown video, a steve goodman video, the townes van zandt movie, gram parsons movie, and the harry smith tribute show. I'll take more suggestions. I'll kick it off in January, and at least have every other month when there isn't a live music tribute show. Probably a friday night, unless I run into too many conflicts with other good live music going on. It would be nice to have a little live music set at the end of the night's theme- a few tribute songs to that artist. This will be a coffee house type atmosphere instead of a bar scene.

James Brown

It was weird that I referenced James Brown on the 24th; in regard to andy's performance at the wheel house; when he was relieved of his guitar duties. Then James Brown died on Christmas. See andy's tribute on the greens myspace website / blog on 12/27.

the anticipation is mounting- Greens bring in the new year

The anticipation is gaining an almost palpable sensation for the Greens show new years eve. We aren't sure of the sequence of performances with Brett Cain and the Greens; but it will all fit together I am sure. Sending Andy back to Morgantown the other night with the new Tom Waits triple CD set, was bound to create some creative energy on Rt. 50 / I-79. One mid week performance at the Black Bear in Morgantown, and then the oddly situation new years eve on a Sunday night. It comes around so infrequent you can't remember one, and don't know how that will seem- to be gearing up for a celebration on a sunday night. I purchased a "back up" Green top hat/ new years shiny emerald green hat- aka st. patricks day looking hat for 99 cents at CVS- because the original may not stand up to too much passing around and signing autographs- we'll work the new one in to the mix. Labels for this post could include: greens, new years eve events, parkersburg live music scene.

Greens show last night at the Wheel House

Nathan and Holly's wedding was a great event, and they were some happy folks throughout the festivities. The event brought together a good group of people to help them celebrate. The wedding and reception was in Vienna.
And then as far as the music aspect goes, a few hours later things re-convened at the Wheel HOuse; it segue-d nicely into just a good old Greens show; with many of the most loyal local fans coming out, a decent amount of the "wedding party" folks, and then an added bonus of many people in for the holidays, wanting to get out and catch up with friends. All in all, it made what likely was the biggest night ever at the wheel house; crowd wise. The hard working crew must have been totally exhausted by the 3 am time; but it had to be a good night sales-wise.
On to the music: with aaron phillips back for work on the saxophone and flute, and tony castillo and dan sitting in on extra guitar work; and adam phillips spelling Nathan on the drums early on and then finishing up the sets so Nathan could have an easy early night, and then steve mcginnis helping andy with some vocals throughout, it was a very exciting, diverse and high energy greens show. Early on, it was many "early" greens songs that used to feature aaron's saxophone so well; later it was a lot of covers so the various additional musicians could be featured and jam together with a good sound- especially as the dancers started accumulating and appreciating the non-stop dance numbers in the later sets. Tony stepped in for some bass playing; recreating an earlier incarnation of the Greens, as well as some antics with Aaron that were reminscent of early shows. Andy seemed to enjoy the variety; including a middle of the show stretch where he didn't even have to play guitar; he could strut around like James Brown, or Mick Jagger for some of the covers- mo-town and others. Lots of familiar faces; folks that have moved away, but are in for the holidays. Lots of clusters of folks coming there together. It is really something to see the crowd get into El Dinero as one body for the shout-outs.
Andy definitely built people up for the new years eve show next sunday night- It would be hard to believe that the core group of enthusiasts would not turn around and show up for that one, even with other events competing.
Unfortunately, Aaron will be heading back to California on the 28th, so it will be back to the regular Greens by then. They are sharing the bill with Brett Cain that night, so they won't have to run themselves ragged.
It was good having (brief) conversations with: aaron, tony, dan, steve burke, etc. all people with key connections to phases of the greens past and present. And it was great to see the clearly devoted following the band has that culminates in these types of holiday shows.

music saturday night december 23rd

There will be some configuration of music at the wheel house saturday night, dec. 23rd; due to the celebration of Nathan and Holly's wedding. Come and take your chances on who actually will perform and who will just be celebrating. Also, you will then be able to get first hand information about what the line up is going to be for the new years eve show.

neat blog

in a wandering way, I came upon this blog with some deep music connections:
http://eldiablotuntun.blogspot.com - try to guess how I even stumbled onto it.

todd burge and andy tuck on neil young's songlist

Todd Burge let me know of a list of songs on neil young's website re war protests, etc. go to: www.neilyoung.com/lwwtoday/lwwsongspage.html. Todd's number is (I think I remember) #63 or so; andy's (bushwhacker) is #153!!! cool

Back to the Beat

Sunday night's session was nice with the Here and Now quartet of Andy Hall, Andy McVey, Will Crichton and a saxophone player- this was there first public showing- they did fantastic; really got the crowd excited; lots of good solos and combinations. A definite diamond in the rough performance. Mike Morningstar and Rick Roberts also had a good set; lots of good west virginia songs. Three WVU-P college students read poetry; which was good stuff; interesting to watch how nervous they were reading in front of people.
Mary keeps plugging along - the crowd size rises and falls, but she's getting a momentum building up in her upbeat. enthusiastic, steady way.

book review

The recent book I read on music and the brain was "This is your brain on music" by Daniel J. Levitin (sub-titled The Science of a Human Obsession). I enjoyed it despite worrying that it was going to be too intellectual for me- he had a good way of using down to earth examples of music that I was familiar with, and had a good streak of humor throughout. I would recommend it to people that like the intriguing combination of creativity and science of the mind.

christmas lists; new gig contacts; tribute series musings

I am not at liberty to disclose certain christmas lists, but I have some in my possession. Suffice it to say they are eclectic as befitting the tuck family musical interests. I have been reading an intriguing book about music and the brain - I don't have the author with me at the computer, but I'll put it on later. Andy picked up the book yesterday for a little reading, and got hooked into it a bit.
Stopped in at River City Bar and Grill last evening, Andy left contact info to see if they are interested in the Greens there - not a lot of live music there I don't recall; some comedy, karaoke, DJ, type stuff. But there was some interest. We saw April from the old Wheel House days; she's tending bar there, and we were all glad to see each other! Still not sure of the exact details of the 23rd- nathan's after-reception-reception idea. And there were reminders to bring the Green Top Hat to the new years eve show; which its ready to make its grand appearance.
I am honing in on the line up for the americana music tribute series for 2007; lots of weighing ideas back and forth, but still aiming for an announcement by the first of the year. The women of Americana in april is looking pretty definite, but June's and August's are the un-finalized ones. I am trying to delegate the raffle ticket prize hunts to others, but that will have to fall together around the same time as the announcement of the series.

no greens (or andy solo) at front row this friday

The post the other day was a false start- andy won't be playing at the front row as a fill in- someone else will be there- no greens in Parkersburg this weekend.

traveling music today included: paul simon's You're the one; the grateful dead play dylan; lucinda williams car wheels on a gravel road; and "daddy." Made for a good traveling music trip.

christmas wish lists (CD's, upcoming tickets)

Anybody could send me things (just to create a little exchange) things they are hoping for on their christmas wish list- CD's, DVD's, tickets to upcoming concerts, equipment)- you could even get a little creative and wacky (world peace, reunions of extinct bands, - you know - that sort of thing................)
I'll work a few similar things in over the next weeks-
also I'll have to work up my summary 2006 musical event highlight reel in a few weeks............

Getting out from under this cold is a little bit of a damper to my energy.

possible fill-in gig this friday at the front row

This is not finalized, but there is a chance andy may fill in for a band scheduled at the front row this friday; an illness in the band may prevent the scheduled band from performing. It will be a day to day thing for andy to let me know- unless you see it first on the front row marquee!
Its getting cold and the holiday is approaching; and the long drive from morgantown must get trepidatious.