That was fun

[ericcoleman]

I went to the Ritual Cafe open mike tonight. I decided to stick to serious songs. It worked out very nicely. I did

Ghosts - with the very wonderful Kyle Dean Patten on harmonica. More on him in a moment
Color Of Your Eyes - Nice relaxed version
Hides - A little abrupt, but nice.

Later on I had another short turn, at this point there was no one but musicians and employees of the place left. I started playing In Crosby Park and Kyle got an evil smile and pulled out a penny whistle. I gave up singing the song and he and I just played around it for a couple minutes. I asked him what it would take to get him on the CD when I record this. His reply

"a phone call"

cool ...

So how was your saturday ???

Comments

[freeimprov.livejournal.com]

I spent part of the day looking at vintage ukeleles with Tristan. He's actually playing the uke I bought him pretty industriously, so I took him to Willie's Guitar Recycling American Guitars, which has an outstanding (and mostly not for sale) collection of vintage ukeleles. I let him know that if he sticks with the uke and gets decent at it, I'll gladly buy him a nice one, vintage or otherwise.

While I was there, I tried out a couple of amps, since I'm looking for a little five watt Champ type for practice, recording, and playing lap steel. He was grumbling that they were too loud. Meanwhile, the staff was trying to bring a vintage Marshall half-stack to life. When they finally fired it up, I told him, "Now THAT is a loud amp!", and played a few notes to point out that we couldn't even HEAR the little Champ I was playing over the Marshall.

Tonight, I got a song recorded and up on Myspace, but I'm borderline ashamed of my guitar playing on it. :( Next time you talk to me, feel free to ask me if I've re-recorded it yet.

[ericcoleman]

there are some old Gibson replicas that are darn wonderful ... just the one volume nob and everything ... it would seem perfect to me for lap steel

[freeimprov.livejournal.com]

The best small amp in the store by far was a REAL Gibson from the late 1950s. And at $299, it's cheaper than the new ones, and since it's point-to-point wired, it'll probably outlast them too. Unfortunately, with so much equipment coming and going at the moment, I don't have the spare cash lying around to grab it.

I gotta say, though, that the little Gibson TROUNCED every Fender Champ in the store, along with a bunch of others. There were some blackface Fender Princetons I liked even more, but those were a little too loud for my purposes... I want something that can show a little hair even at acoustic-guitar volumes. What I really need is a two or three watt tube amp... or maybe just an EQ pedal in front of the Pignose.

[ericcoleman]

Check out this
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Epiphone-Valve-Junior-Combo-Amp?sku=480260

and this
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Epiphone-Valve-Junior-Tube-Amplifier-Head?sku=482069

[freeimprov.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I almost bought one of those back when Guitar center had them for $99. I'll probably wind up with one for my small amp, because they're cheap, disposable, and sound REALLY good. Not as good as the vintage Gibson I was drooling over, but better than most of its vintage competition.

I need SOMETHING to solve my problems, though. First, I need an amp that I can play with unamplified acoustic guitars and singers. Second, I need a reasonably low-volume recording amp.

[ericcoleman]

I want a recording amp, or a Pod, for the studio. It's not going to happen this year though. (oh yeah, and a bass and a decent electric guitar ... and a good electric keyboard and ... and ...)