I'm not amazingly nervous, quite excited actually. I don't know what the vibe will be like with me shredding in a church, but hopefully God is smiling on me tomorrow, or something like that. Theological speculation aside, tomorrow, as aforementioned, is a massive day, and I hope I can run across the finish line rather than falling over it. Sonically, there's a few concerns of mine for tomorrow, balance is one, tone (perhaps a perennial concern) is another, as I don't know if the cathedral's reverb might be a bit much after a slap on a bit of vibe-dial (as JB calls it) from the amp/pedal. Regardless, I hope it's a lot of fun, and I hope the next time I write inside this little box it's with happiness under my fingers.
I've had many thoughts swimming around my head in regards to next term's program, I'd really like to do an accompanied rendition of 'Round Midnight, a la Wes Montgomery, and maybe even some Joe Pass inspired unaccompanied jazz if I'm up to it. Dream Theater's In the Presence of Enemies Pt.1 is also on the cards, even though it's a bit of a logistical nightmare in terms of who would play with me. It's probable that I'll do the piece I don't count tomorrow again in term 3, and I've got L'absente still also. That's probably about 20 minutes as it is, and there's a few other things I'm thinking about as well, but I suppose they can most certainly wait until this term is put to bed.
In other music news, I've secured a gig for myself at the Tanks Art Centre on July 25 as part of Youth Unplugged, which is a feature of most Tanks Market Days, which happen monthly. I've got fifteen minutes, all of which will probably be me performing on acoustic guitar and voice, doing some of my own songs and maybe a cover or two. I was lucky enough to be at the Tanks on Saturday to see Katie Noonan and the Captains on the first date of their tour. It was a fantastic show in my opinion, with Katie using her amazing voice to deliver the interesting sound of her new band very well. I'd bought previously the record, Emperor's Box, and I'm glad I did this, as being familiar with 95% of the material really enhanced my enjoyment of the set. I think the live translation of a lot of the studio stuff was fairly slick, with a lot of integrated sampling and the like working to their favour rather than being tacky. I met Katie and the Captains after the show to sign some things (including the first ever Captains setlist!) and had a good chat with her about Kind of Blue and Elton John, and had a few words to Cameron Deyell, guitarist, who did a few things timbrally with his ES-335 throughout the show that made my ears prick up. Katie liked my shirt too, it was a good moment.
What I'm listening to as I write this: Jeff Buckley's Live at Sin-é. There's not many songwriters that I hold in as high esteem as Jeff, and since I heard his only legitimate studio album Grace probably a few years ago now, I've been in love with his music. Grace still comes through the rotation, in fact it might just be my highest played album on last.fm, and it occasionally creeps subtly into my car stereo. There's some playing on there, guitar-wise, that I think is compositional genius, and the absurdities of his vocal range are still astounding. Live at Sin-é is relatively new to my Buckley collection, it's a collection recorded over two nights at a little Irish café in Manhattan where Jeff essentially made his playing home. It's a gem of a record, with Jeff just accompanying himself on an electric guitar (with enough reverb to feed a starving nation I might add). I get the feeling he's very at home there, and the bits of banter we get in between songs are definitely the real Jeff. I was saying to someone very recently that it's a bit sad every time you pick up a new Jeff Buckley release, because it brings you one closer to having none left.
Just on the mention of last.fm, Maestro Cole said I should link it to this blog, so here it is: http://www.last.fm/user/shredex
Until next time,
Ben.
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