I see that I finished my last post with the words "Hey, maybe we'll play a little modern jazz!" Famous last words.
As I've been focused entirely on the recording, I haven't been hustling any gigs so I was happy that one trickled down to me in the Downtown Jazz festival. I didn't have a band in place so I put together something "completely different." Caspar Project is Peter Hasek and an arsenal of synths and samplers. We needed a third (the club owner had asked - as I discovered later - for a "jazz trio"). So for a third, we brought in Lowell Lybarger, a world-class tabla player and what a virtuoso he was. He asked if he could bring along his dijeridoo and when he pulled that out, it was amazing - the sound was being sent through Peter's processing gear. It was fucking amazing! ...at least I though so. The club owner thought otherwise and we were fired...I should have known this would not work in a sports bar.
Meanwhile I've still got a record to finish. Now that I've got my Strat set up with a MIDI pickup, I'm going to do a last pass of guitar overdubs. I've got to get a little more energy into it - I know I told everybody I wanted a laid-back record but now I find that it's *too* laid back. We'll punch it up a bit. I know I shouldn't be talking about this in public - I"ve been told I "planted the seeds of doubt". Well, regardless of what everybody else says, I'm not going to put this out until i have no doubts.
SO WHAT ELSE HAVE I BEEN UP TO?
As I write this, the Toronto Rocks concert is taking place in my town. My friend Dan even offered me a ticket but here I am watching the webcast in a little window on my computer. I was almost ready to go for it, but last night I started to write a new tune and I haven't hardly touched my guitar in weeks and I just decided that I was not going to go watch somebody else's music - even the Stones - I'm going to stay and work on my own (this song better be good so I can tell people that I missed the most historic music event of my generation - or is it the next generation?
So what's the update, you ask? (I know you're out there because every once in a while somebody tells me they've been reading my blog)
Listening to Dan Aykroyd saying this is "a piece of History"... ooops the webcast just reached its capacity and I've been knocked off. Oh well, I'm just going to have to go someplace where there's a TV - but not till 9:00 o'clock.
Now I've turned on the radio and they seem to be doing a live broadcast (the webcast was not live but rather assembled highlights...no the announcer just said that was a previously recorded Justin Timberlake ("Can you hear the sound of the projectiles being thrown at the stage" he says)