Saturday, March 8, 2014

"Groove Thang" and Music in the Circus

"Groove Thang" is something that was recorded while playing for Cat on Thursday and it's available for free now on the Ride the Dragon podcast.  Cat calls it 'ambient' and that works fine for me as I don't have a good name for it.

So that was the first tune and immediately after it I did one with twelve or thirteen chords.  The one with three or four chords is much more 'transcendental' to play as there is freedom to play in more directions.  Maybe in some way there is the thinking that if you find the perfect jam then you don't have to come back.

There was a science fiction story quite some time back and it focused on the 'perfect melody' as this would be music so beautiful that you would not be able to stop listening to it.  I'm sorry I don't recall the title but it was an interesting idea for a story.  Cyril Kornbluth's name jumps into my head as the author but that's a very hazy connection.


Earlier in the week, Untolerable Bohemian had a bit of a plane crash in his show but it turned out not to be such a terrible thing.  He came out of it and started doing Bo grooves which he does very, very well.  This is very thoughtful lead guitar that's not at all played to impress.  He looks for the same type of transcendentalism I want to find and what takes him there is his willingness to take chances as there is no way to get there if you don't.


lefty Unplugged did a set in which he took one of his songs and added a huge bit to it that was highly-introspective and beautifully done.  I've had the feeling lately that his focus has been to perfect the crafting of the songs he has already written but this time he took an existing song and decided to go way off the wall with it.  This kind of risk-taking is why Cat's circus is such a fascination to me.


Laralette Lane played the show before mine on Thursday and her act isn't about risk-taking but rather it's sending a Lara love vibe out to the world.  Her act is similar in that way to that of Joaquin Gustav as neither seeks to change the world but making some part of it a bit nicer would be very good.  She's going to do it by singing or laughing ... or, most likely, both.


Joaquin Gustav played last night but I'm sorry to report I missed the show.  I thought there was a pretty strong chance I would miss Voodoo as well but luckily got back right at the top of the hour.  I can't give you a good report on the show as there was a lot of visiting happening at the Rockhouse but  what I can tell you is that he has a new one called "Kon Tiki" and I'll be listening for that next time.

I said at one point in the show that I thought Voodoo's play was impeccable.  He laughed at the idea of that as he knows as well as anyone that everyone makes mistakes.  If you listen carefully, maybe you will hear a mistake once in a while ... but you'll also hear it followed by some type of recovery and that's the genius.  So I stand with my estimation of impeccable.

One of the reasons I was so enamored of orchid photography was in whether anything is really perfect.  What I learned for sure from that is looking at anything for long enough will reveal an imperfection.  If you keep looking past that, it will fall apart entirely.

So, if you missed the show then you can't buy the recording as Voodoo only sells them to whomever is in the audience.  If you want to hear "Kon Tiki" then you'll have to come to the next show.


Here's a brief gushy plug.  Lately Voodoo has been playing "Elephant Strut" and he segues from that into "The Littlest Elephant."  The Strut is featuring one huge elephant as it's a thunderous bit but the littlest elephant isn't big enough for thunder yet and it's a very delicate piece.  The combination is magical.

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