11/8/23

Back at 1919.  It’s been a minute hadn’t been here since that last show with Dave and Skizz. This time I’m up with my buddy Drew Bassin, with Scott and Tim and another dude named Buddy on harp. 

Decent crowd there, since it is one of the really narrow row houses it is a little like bar/music/toilets sectioned off and it’s a hard place to watch without being right on top of the band. But it has this magic little vibe and it’s crazy comfortable. 

Anyway we were backing Drew who is also a dude from the blues jam (Buddy as well) and we ended up doing abut four hours of playing with one break a third of the way in. I’ve been too used to how it worked back in Austin. 45 minutes and you are done. Hickoid headlining sets could go as long as 90. I did three hour shows back in Knoxville but I lived in Austin too long (I know…) and the single short set became normal.

Good time and playing with people I really dig. I’ll eventually catch up with how long the sets are. Got to admit it does feel good going to bed exhausted from playing. 

10/24/23

This time iI was filling in for Tony with The Fleet St Blues Band at the Cats Eye. Baltimore’s premier live music venue!! Scott and Tim from the blues jam are in this along with Tansu on guitar and Elon on harp and vocals. They’ve got the last Tuesday of every month except this one because of Halloween. Hell I don’t know what’s up… I’m just filling in.  

Three pretty decent sets of fairly straight forward blues. That is not a complaint. I love it and it feels good to play and I REALLY dug playing with these folks. 

First off, all of them are solid as hell players and they love this band/show/club. You can tell it’s a total lovefest there. 

Also Tansu is a lefty!! AND WE STOOD RIGHT BESIDE EACH OTHER!!! I bet it looked cool as hell!!  I know it did from where I was standing.  

This wasn’t the first time I played with them any the Cats Eye. Tony had me sub for half the night sixish months ago to test true waters and I guess I passed the audition!

Tony will be back. And I’ll be there to watch them. 

10/18/23

I haven’t written about the Polish Home Club or the Blues Jam yet. It is time. 

I heard about this from a drummer that was playing with Dave and I figured I’d show up and play some bass while a hundred guitar players fought for solos. It’s ended up being a big part of my musical and social life. 

This is a Polish membership club and I had to ask want the hell that meant my first time in. Being from the south I’ve never heard of this type of thing.  They accept all kinds of folks, it’s a real warm community semi-lead by the bartender Teresa. One of the sweetest and shockingly salty lady in her 90’s. That’s right. Over 90 and still kicking ass. Best bartender ever, name who’s done it longer?

Scott is the main guy/guitar player that holds it all together and scans the signup list for temporary groups to put on stage. And then there is Tony, a total bad ass bass player that is a part of the house band and spent a lot of time down in Mississippi playing all around the delta. This man knows his shit and is Bad. As. Hell. 

Tony is in Europe for a month or so on tour with his old band playing gigs and backing up some Mississippi folks over there ,so the house band needs a bass player. Right place right time. That’s why I’m finally writing one of these up because it was an actual gig not just a jam. 

I show up 20 minutes before start time and my buddy Larry is playing with Terelle and another dude I’ve never met before , I hop in to warm up a little before Larry and I got out to smoke. 

Larry Dennis is one hell of a cool dude, 71 years old and has been a part of the scene up here for 50 years. He is a monster guitar player and generally when you see the two of us there is smoking going on! On occasion he and I meet up at this dude Steve’s house for some Sunday afternoon playing. Load of fun and when Larry says “Rice, let’s go play” Rice wants to go play!

There are three drummers at the jam I love playing with. Tim is the main house drummer and hits like he is trying to kill his kit or at least break it  in half and is one of the nicest dudes in town.  Terelle is a maniac that was trained and can hold down a small, quiet groove that is tight as hell when he wants but is generally changing the groove up every time we get back to the top. Usually he is just trying to mess me up or see what I’ll  come up with, keeping my head in the game. Finally (and not last) is Louis, mostly a jazz drummer and I honestly did not think we would mesh musically as well as we do but we ended up in the same “group” so many times that we are right together with no effort. As you might guess he can swing the hell out of a tune.  

This night only two other bass players showed up and one did not have a bass. When I handed him the lefty he looked at me like I was from another planet.  From “Oh Yeah” to “WHAT THE HELL!” In a half second.

The other fella hopped up for three tunes then took off. So I played the rest of the bass for three and a half hours. YES!!

This is exactly what I want. 

It’s pretty much straight blues but we had a little Chuck Berry/James Brown set with a couple of singers somewhere in there.  This fantastic guitar player Kevin, who has this rhythm/lead style where it sounds like he is doing both at the same time in a really magical way. Unreal. When you are up with him you’ve got to be on it. He always makes the room jump. 

I love it there. Not everyone is an amazing player but most everyone there wants to have fun with no bullshit so it’s always a great time. Also these dancers are there!

This group of 10-20 folks show up every jam to just to shake it. Lot of the same folks but new ones every time. As much as I love playing and being a part of this scene I think I have to admit those dancers may be the best part of the night. It would feel off if they weren’t there. 

To wrap it up I am absolutely thrilled to be involved in this thing. 

9/16/23

Another night at 1919 with Dave and Skizz!! Pretty standard at this point except two things. 

One of Skizz’s bands, Zocko played the night before and they were bad as hell!! All instrumentals and totally on top of their game. First time I’d ever heard Herb Alpert and liked it. And I’ve heard that terrible song a thousand times!! Looking forward to seeing them again and again. 

The other reason this was a little different is Dave moved back to Texas! So that is it for this little combo. At least for now. Dave will be back occasionally and hopefully he doesn’t forget about us. Gonna miss doing these. Every time was a load of fun with like minded people. You don’t get that everyday and I’ll miss it. 

8/8/23

 Dave called me up and asked “do you want to play at a pie place?” One of the easiest “yes’s” ever. Without gear I can walk there!

I made it down just as Rodney was going up. Damn good songwriter! Really enjoyed the 6-8 tunes he threw down at the top of the night. 

Then we went up. Tiny stage between the business and the garage. Pretty cozy and it felt real good. I stood on the floor because there was no space on the stage.  Loved it!

Skizz was with us on a little cocktail kit. He pointed out that you are pretty much on one foot when you play one of those. Got to be some kind of freak of balance to pull that off. 

Pretty cool night! I’ve got to start going there more. It’s so close to the house and I really dug Rodney and Breezy(!) the bartender. It’s good up here!

7/7/23

This might have seemed like a regular night at 1919 with Skizz and Dave but there was more!

Shaun Young, a dude that lived in Austin but is now up in Boston came to town and we were backing him up. Pretty cool stuff and a really nice dude.

The three of us went up and did what is now the regular thing. Kicked it pretty hard honestly. When it was time for Shaun to join us turns out there was some misunderstanding with what we were playing. 

The dropbox  had a list of a dozen songs and 7 or 8 tunes in a playlist, but not everything on the list. And it turns out the list was the guide, not the playlist of  tunes!! At one point Dave was talking about playing upright on a few so I thought “I’ll learn these 7-8”…  I was wrong as hell!!

It all worked out. We played real well and the small crowd liked it. Most of the tunes I didn’t learn were easy enough to play. I just watched hands. After we all laughed at the mixup. What else are you gonna do?

6/23/23

Another Friday night at 1919 with Lonesome Dave. Yeah, this feels good and I like settling in to it. Dave would still prefer an upright but I’m still covering the bottom end for him when needed and really digging it. 

We were up with Skizz, the drummer from the Clash night. That dude can throw down! We did two long sets and it was a real treat throughout. Hell of a good feeling learning how another player does it and getting to groove with them. There is a moment when you can feel it drop in to place and that is all there is in the world. 

Dave came up with a new/hybrid set of tunes. Some of his and a few new covers we worked up ,just the two of us. And of course we hit a couple that were not on the  list because live music works that way. 

5/26/23

I’ve had a couple of shows with my buddy Lonesome Dave since the Clash show. The first one was a total pick up gig the next week at 1919. Me, Dave and a drummer the bartender set up. But the drummer never showed! Dave and I played as a duo for a couple of hours and packed it in early. So I didn’t wright that one up.  

But! We played again at 1919 WITH a drummer so here goes!

We went up 8sh and tore it up, it’s all three set nights up here. Or play all the way through. It’s like it was back when I was in Knoxville. That austin 40 minute show thing got me lazy… No sharing gear, no gettin drunk and watching the rest of the night. Just GO!

Dave and I got together a few days earlier so I had some notes but I’d never played with the drummer Mike before. SEEN him play but…

Anyway it all worked out and by the end we were really tight and pushing each other. My eyes would be closed and I’d drift out of reality and live in the song right in that moment. Holy shit!! That feels right!

At some point I opened my eyes and my buddy Larry Dennis was standing next to me!! He even got up and played a few with  me and Mike while Dave took a break. 

Hell of a lot of fun. 

4/8/23

Here it is. The first Baltimore gig!

My buddy Lonesome Dave Fisher called me up asking if I was free to play bass with him on a Clash hoot night at a place called 1919. It’s this cool bar down in Fells Point that is crazy supportive of live music and it has all of the feels. 

No chance for a rehearsal with the whole band, Dave and the drummer, Skizz did a run through once though so there was some rehearsing. But no chance for all of us to get together, I was going by the charts I wrote up. 

We were third of three, the perfect spot and we tore it the hell up! On a couple of tunes Dave had a real “oh fuck yeah” look on his face as he jumped in to some lengthy solos. Really stretching the regular Clash format. It was awesome. 

It was short, but what a great first show!

9/24/22

Late is how I do it!! So….

South Filthy! We were back in a way we never were before. This has been the core line up for a long time now. Me, Walter, Jeffry, Mike and Jack, but this was the first time we actually played together as a unit. 

It was Gonerfest in Memphis. Before the pandemic we were scheduled to be a featured act at the official fest and a couple of other unofficial ones, but that was a couple of years ago. And this year we were not “official” so we had a one off at the Lamplighter, Saturday afternoon. 

We were supposed to rehearse before but scheduling is hell sometimes. We decided to just run through some tunes before we played our set. 

Day of we all met at the club and said our hellos and got to it. They doubled the size of the Lamplighter since the last time I was there. Nice big room set up for shows off of the original bar. Still a total mess but kinda perfect. 

We started in on it and on the second tune a couple of people walked in. And they kept coming. Every tune four or five new people would come in till we hit around 30. At some point we all looked at each other and laughed because we all thinking “I guess this is the show?!” We kept playing and even repeated a few of the ones we played early on. 

All in all it was a ton of fun. Would have loved to play ten more shows with them (Europe again?!!) but I’ll take what I can get.