Category: Field Recordings of the Future

It was very gracious of Bobbie Henrie and the Goners to host a Buddy Holly Birthday Bash at Abilene but as good the guests are in their own rite (the Bradleys are great)they can only diminish the lean, rock ‘n roll of this well-seasoned trio. The Goners are a treasure and in their minimal trio setting their rough edges are a feature. And they only have rough edges because the three great musicians are always reaching. Punk rock didn’t invent anything, it just brought these qualities back. The Goners never left.

We been sifting through Margaret Explosion songs this summer trying to cull a cd’s worth from a batch of starred live songs. There are a hundred songs in the folder, almost too many to listen to but we have been giving it a go.

Even though we’ve put songs online, for free, for years people still want to buy cds. Maybe it’s our demographic, maybe it’s just part of seeing a band, dropping some cash in the tip jar and taking something home. Peggi and I checked the dates on our products and we seem to be putting something out every five years or so, a modest pace. This one’s been on the site for a few months. Do you think anyone would buy it?

The next generation is secured.

An older man who lives about a block away was out near the road when we peddled by on our bikes. He had an armload of sticks that had fallen in the rain. (We had four inches according to Jared’s rainometer.) He asked if we needed any sticks, a question meant to be funny, but one we both considered. We collect our own sticks and keep them in barrels. We use them as kindling to get fires in our wood stove going in the winter months. He asked, “What are your names again?” as if we had been introduced but we have only waved to one another over the years.

He told us his name was John and some people call him “Johnny Harmonica” because he plays the instrument in a band. In fact they had a gig that afternoon at Saint Ann’s Home. He said he doesn’t do his own lawn anymore, hadn’t mowed it himself in five years, and the service he has charges him extra if they have to pick up sticks. Johnny said his lawn is mostly weed grass now and he doesn’t care. He’s ninety-four and says, “I used to fuss with it but it’s green and that’s all that matters now.” He said he is never sure whether he has even eaten breakfast so he checks the sink and if he finds dirty dishes in there he knows he has eaten.

We told him we played instruments too and his eyes lit up when Peggi told him she played the sax. He said he played in a big band, one with a sax and violin player, and he uses a pickup so he can be heard.

Kind of strange cheering for the US as they lost but advanced.

The two tone building here is right next to the former Midtown Plaza. There was a building adjacent to the great wall that is long gone, a nightclub called the Rathskeller, I think. Bands played there and you used to have go down some steps to enter. Long gone like most of the city core, but coming back. Jazz Fest provides some interesting urban vistas.

High Tech Rochester’s plan to put twenty million into a Business Accelerator Cooperative downtown is the best news I’ve read about downtown in bit.

I’m keeping note on the jazz fest over here.

A lot of people are afraid to sit in the front row. If it was a Suicide or a Contortions show I would be afraid too. They used to scare me but I loved it. We took seats in the front row of Xerox Auditorium for the Belgium big band, Flat Earth Society,
and tried to guess how many members would be in the band. The stage was full of equipment and music stands. We guessed ten and it turned out to be 14. The drums and bass were front and center flanked by guitar and keyboards and the horn section ran all across the back. FES is a wackier, more rambunctious Willem Breuker Kollektief. Never mind the movie. This is vivid, action-packed, cinematic, soundtrack music. They introduced a song called, “Broadway Boogie Woogie,” saying (with a Belgium accent) “We play the painting.”

Shai Maestro Trio was highly recommended to us by a couple that we only see at Jazz Fest each year. The band was at the Rochester Club at 10 but we couldn’t hang in there so we came home and listened to Shai Maestro on YouTube. We should have gone. Tonight we have a legit excuse for missing out on the early end of Jazz Fest. USA/Portugal. I’m keeping track of the Jazz Fest over here.

We hadn’t quite finished this morning’s paper when Alice and Julio called from a nearby Best Western hotel. They were back in town from Maine to see a play and visit old friends. Hours flew by as the talk veered back and forth between art and Spain. And then back to the paper.

A review in the Art and Leisure section of the Danny Fox Trio caught my eye, a reference to chamber jazz and Duke Ellington, so I called up a sample on my iPad. The front page of their website said they were playing on the 18th at the Bop Shop so I checked the date. It was today and they were to start in ten minutes. We hopped in the car.

Turns out the drummer is from Brighton so it was one of the best crowds I’d seen at the record shop. I sat up on a counter. The piano player writes beautiful tunes with plenty of room in the arrangements for the bass player and drummer to bring them to life. They were a joy to listen to.

We talked to the piano player after the gig and he told us that for fun he used to write fake reviews of the band in the critic, Ben Ratliff’s, style. And guess who reviewed his band today?

My parent’s realtor recommended the Bethel Church as someone who could take the remainders from last weekends’ garage sale so I called Pastor Jack and arranged to meet him at my parent’s old house this afternoon. He was going to round up a crew but that must not have worked out. The crew consisted of his wife so in three hours we were able to fill his truck and flatbed trailer with remainders. I have no idea what the church does with all this stuff but they will take almost anything. I’m meeting them there tomorrow morning for a second load. Praise the lord.

Stephan Crump, bass player with Rochester native, Vijay Iyer’s Trio, brought his hard-grooving all-string Rosetta Trio to the Bop Shop tonight. Featuring guitarists Liberty Ellman and Jamie Fox the trio leaves plenty of space for the bass maestro while the guitarists work their magic. This was close your eyes and get transported stuff, achingly beautiful, melodic and rhythmic as hell. Crump knocked us out with a pretty number called “He Runs Circles” from his new cd which was inspired by his four year old’s pre verbal method of showing affection.