Although it doesn't sound like it, Acoustic Night at Cat's Art MusikCircus is mostly electric. Last night it got even more electric.
Phoenix J was up first and she mixes it up with guitar, piano, and her singing. Her equipment is electric but she keeps her sound very clean and it makes a very pretty mix. She's very talented on all her instruments so she's not just playing chords on anything. Phoenix is also very good with a looper and this is how she plays multiple instruments at once. Loopers are incredible tools and Phoenix knows very well how to handle one.
Phoenix has quite a long song list so there's no predicting what she will perform in any given set and there's no telling how many of them will be originals. My preference is always for originals and Phoenix writes beautiful ones. For the covers, she sings them the way she thinks they need to be sung and this is a big part of what makes her show as her adaptations make her show exciting. Her voice is pretty anyway but her changes are what makes the set live. Of course it lives but being live is something beyond that and she makes that happen.
You can learn more about Phoenix J on her Artist Profile on the Cat's Art MusikCircus Web site. (There was a problem with some links to her pro site and that has now been corrected)
Joaquin Gustav plays with incredible delicacy and he may well be more focused on the romance of a set than anyone else. He's been doing it for quite a few years and no-one has worked so hard on it as he must have done thousands of shows by now. (When you do multiple shows in a day and work most days or even every day of the week, running up a thousand shows will come very quickly.)
I wrote an article a couple of days ago about Joaquin's guitars as it's interesting to me to learn what other performers have in their kits. You may be interested as he plays quite unusual guitars. Although it sounds like he is playing an acoustic guitar that's a big wooden thing with a hole in it, that's not what he plays at all. NOTE: don't read this as a criticism, it's just interesting to me what people play. The decision on which guitars he plays was huge for him as you don't buy a guitar, you adopt it.
Joaquin plays a subdued set that's very much to bring a sweet romance to people. He's so low-key in how he delivers the set that it's only if you're really paying attention that you realize how fast he plays. However, he doesn't play to impress but rather to create the romantic feeling so people can dance and go with it for an hour. It's a very gentle time.
You can learn more about Joaquin Gustav on his Artist Profile on the Cat's Art MusikCircus Web site.
Voodoo Shilton came up next and here you can see Medora Chevalier in a lovely outfit that matches the MusikCircus bubbles and she's got some magic bubbles of her own happening, all color-coordinated, of course.
The thing last night with Voodoo was his electric guitar. He hasn't featured it in quite a while and I had never heard him play it before so it was sensational to hear it included in last night's set. There was great coolness in this for a number of reasons.
Voodoo wasn't completely happy with the sound of it but what was important was the parts where he was happy with it as he's got an excellent tone. With his touch and single-coil pickups, there's a touch of Hendrix in his sound. In fact, later in the evening he covered "Little Wing" and after you stop groaning at another cover of the song, this isn't a version where he tried to knock it off. He did it Voodoo style and he makes it live in his way.
(Geek note: Single-coil pickups are the type used on a Fender Stratocaster by Jimi Hendrix and many others. Dual-coil, usually Humbuckers, are used in a Gibson Les Paul for maybe a more bluesy sound. The difference between these types of pickups would get into musical religious theory so it's best to leave it at that.)
The electric guitar didn't dominate the set so effectively it becomes yet another instrument in Voodoo's kit. Electric and acoustic guitars are not at all the same instrument as they don't sound the same, you don't play them the same, etc, etc. What that means is that it's not just another sound but rather a whole different liveness.
As to what he will do in his next set, I have no idea. Maybe electric comes back, maybe it doesn't. It's all part of the evolution and it's fascinating to watch / hear.
You can learn more about Voodoo Shilton on his Artist Profile on the Cat's Art MusikCircus Web site.
And Cat and I were dancing ... right about when Kasandra Barony exploded the place.
She blew up most of the MusikCircus with it. Most impressive!
Phoenix J was up first and she mixes it up with guitar, piano, and her singing. Her equipment is electric but she keeps her sound very clean and it makes a very pretty mix. She's very talented on all her instruments so she's not just playing chords on anything. Phoenix is also very good with a looper and this is how she plays multiple instruments at once. Loopers are incredible tools and Phoenix knows very well how to handle one.
Phoenix has quite a long song list so there's no predicting what she will perform in any given set and there's no telling how many of them will be originals. My preference is always for originals and Phoenix writes beautiful ones. For the covers, she sings them the way she thinks they need to be sung and this is a big part of what makes her show as her adaptations make her show exciting. Her voice is pretty anyway but her changes are what makes the set live. Of course it lives but being live is something beyond that and she makes that happen.
You can learn more about Phoenix J on her Artist Profile on the Cat's Art MusikCircus Web site. (There was a problem with some links to her pro site and that has now been corrected)
Joaquin Gustav plays with incredible delicacy and he may well be more focused on the romance of a set than anyone else. He's been doing it for quite a few years and no-one has worked so hard on it as he must have done thousands of shows by now. (When you do multiple shows in a day and work most days or even every day of the week, running up a thousand shows will come very quickly.)
I wrote an article a couple of days ago about Joaquin's guitars as it's interesting to me to learn what other performers have in their kits. You may be interested as he plays quite unusual guitars. Although it sounds like he is playing an acoustic guitar that's a big wooden thing with a hole in it, that's not what he plays at all. NOTE: don't read this as a criticism, it's just interesting to me what people play. The decision on which guitars he plays was huge for him as you don't buy a guitar, you adopt it.
Joaquin plays a subdued set that's very much to bring a sweet romance to people. He's so low-key in how he delivers the set that it's only if you're really paying attention that you realize how fast he plays. However, he doesn't play to impress but rather to create the romantic feeling so people can dance and go with it for an hour. It's a very gentle time.
You can learn more about Joaquin Gustav on his Artist Profile on the Cat's Art MusikCircus Web site.
Voodoo Shilton came up next and here you can see Medora Chevalier in a lovely outfit that matches the MusikCircus bubbles and she's got some magic bubbles of her own happening, all color-coordinated, of course.
The thing last night with Voodoo was his electric guitar. He hasn't featured it in quite a while and I had never heard him play it before so it was sensational to hear it included in last night's set. There was great coolness in this for a number of reasons.
Voodoo wasn't completely happy with the sound of it but what was important was the parts where he was happy with it as he's got an excellent tone. With his touch and single-coil pickups, there's a touch of Hendrix in his sound. In fact, later in the evening he covered "Little Wing" and after you stop groaning at another cover of the song, this isn't a version where he tried to knock it off. He did it Voodoo style and he makes it live in his way.
(Geek note: Single-coil pickups are the type used on a Fender Stratocaster by Jimi Hendrix and many others. Dual-coil, usually Humbuckers, are used in a Gibson Les Paul for maybe a more bluesy sound. The difference between these types of pickups would get into musical religious theory so it's best to leave it at that.)
The electric guitar didn't dominate the set so effectively it becomes yet another instrument in Voodoo's kit. Electric and acoustic guitars are not at all the same instrument as they don't sound the same, you don't play them the same, etc, etc. What that means is that it's not just another sound but rather a whole different liveness.
As to what he will do in his next set, I have no idea. Maybe electric comes back, maybe it doesn't. It's all part of the evolution and it's fascinating to watch / hear.
You can learn more about Voodoo Shilton on his Artist Profile on the Cat's Art MusikCircus Web site.
And Cat and I were dancing ... right about when Kasandra Barony exploded the place.
She blew up most of the MusikCircus with it. Most impressive!
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