Musical Friends

 

Whilst I was living in Long Island. NY, I took time to have my ancient Teac A3400 (affectionately known as "Terry") serviced by a company called "New Jersey Factory Service Inc" based in Emerson, NJ. They describe themselves as "Your Reel to Reel Experts" and they did a great job. The old lady is working better than ever she did!

Not faring so well are all the old reel-to-reel tapes in the basement, that seem to shed ferric particles every time they are played! Some, in fact, are barely playable. So, I've been trying to copy them onto the computer (with Terry's help of course). It's been fun revisiting recordings made in college days... and having the technology on the computer to remix some of them. 

One such song was a little ditty titled "Musical Friend" which I remixed, posted on Facebook and it seemed to be enjoyed by numerous folk. One lady told me she just let the "Adrian Music" keep playing all afternoon, as once the song had finished it moved onto the next in the list. Good to know my dulcet tones can still keep folks engaged! As a result of F.B. folk giving it a listen it rose to the top of Soundclick's acoustic folk charts. (See illustration at end of post lol).

The song is all about the comfort that my musical friends... in particular musical instruments... have given me over the years. Music is a wonderful place to dwell when everything else in your life is chaos.  Playing music with others is preferable... but when that's not an option I'm happy to escape to a land whose only border is my imagination. I highly recommend it. Some folk journal. Others take a walk. Me? I play. It's amazing how a little creative meandering can clear your mind.

I see Teac A3340 vintage machines are selling on E-Bay for up to $700 in good condition. We are currently downsizing... but getting rid of Terry would be like selling a much loved pet purely for monetary gain. I know. It'll happen one day. But for now, I'm very thankful indeed for all my musical friends, both human and mechanical!

Open Mike Nights

That's me in the corner...

So it's been quite a while since I attempted to play music in a public setting. O.K. I've occasionally led music at church and at youth events over... Lord knows how many years... but opportunities to be outside my comfort zone have been few and far between. Which is crazy, because I love to play and perform original songs... or even odd versions of other peoples songs.

I think my last truly public outing was a performance at 'Tamarak' in West Virginia, playing with reggae artist 'Shayer', as warm up to a belly dancing competition. That guy was awesome, having once played with 'Burning Spear' in Jamaica.

More recently I was privileged to have jazz drummer Matt Wilson as a member of my church in Baldwin, NY, and he was gracious enough to allow me to play along at numerous events, including a "Bread for the World" concert that featured other awesome musicians such as sax player Jeff Lederer.

So now I'm living in Ellicott City, MD and have discovered that a local pub, "The Judges Bench" has open mike nights. Truth is, until earlier this month I'd never been to an open mike night, let alone considered performing at one. But I was home alone, decided to check it out, and took my guitar along.

Having only ever performed at concerts or events where people came along specifically to listen to what you had to offer... and sat in rows facing a stage... the whole setting was new and a little intimidating. I guess most folk take friends along with them for support, but being new in the area that was not an option.

Basically, at this particular open mike, you stand and play 3 songs in a corner, in front of a TV showing a local sporting event (thankfully the sound is turned down on the TV).  You put your name on a list and performance is first come, first served. Which means you can get home really late if you arrive really late.! A lovely lady called Kelly operates the sound desk, whilst bar-maid Angela works like a crazy thing keeping up with the drinks order. (They have a darn good selection of ales and malts).

For me it was weird singing to a room full of people who were busy doing other things than listening to whomsoever was singing. Not really a performance as much as providing background ambience. Not used to that sort of setting. While it was not an unfriendly atmosphere to perform original songs in, those performing cover versions seemed to evoke more positive responses. Has it not always been so?

It seems to be one of those places that has regulars. The bar advertises itself in 'Cheers' like fashion as being a place where "Everybody knows your name". It was fun getting to chat and hang out with total strangers. Maybe if I keep going along I'll become one of those whose "name is known!"

A challenging environment... just to perform and wonder if anybody is even listening.... LOL. Yet for me, the HUGE joy in doing it was that I love singing my songs. I'd kind of forgotten how much. Maybe, in time, that joy will infect others. But for now, I'm quite happy to listen in to the other acts (and some were indeed awesome) and when my 10 minutes of fame arrives, stand in the corner and do my thing before the indifference of many a punter who only came for the beer in the first place.

And if in any dark corner of the room I get a hum or raise a smile or even a glance in my general direction... then mission accomplished. So here's to next time. Who knows where, who knows when? Bring it on!

Meanwhile, in other news, out in Internet land, one of my solo concert performances from back in the late 1970's made number 1 on a random chart. Proof below. Comedy indeed....

Moods, Memories and other Manoeuvres

I wouldn't normally do a book review (and this isn't really much of one) but how often do you come across a book which includes a slice of your personal history within its pages? Julia Kneale is the author, a fellow Wirralian who spent part of her teen years hanging around the 70's Merseyside music scene. In particular she sang with a band called 'THE ID', one of Andy McCluskey's pre-' Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark' bands (OMD).

Receiving a mention are previous bands I'd been a part of such as 'Mr. Grumbold', 'Pegasus' and the infamously titled 'Hitlerz Underpantz'. Other folks from those days such as John Bleasdale, Graham Gait, Jimmie Rae and Neill Shenton also get a mention. There's even a few pics. At one point even my old friend (and Underpantz founder) Toad gets a mention.

However, the music memories form just a part of the book. Her younger days, her post ID nursing career and a whole lot more, form the bulk of the narrative. The sad loss of her brother and her ongoing friendship with Andy are reocurring themes. There's even some poetry thrown in at the end, alongside the lyrics to 'Julia's song' an OMD classic track that as recently as 2015 was released as a single on vinyl. (And did pretty darn well in the UK vinyl charts).

A darn good read... and available of course at AMAZON.COM or a host of other grand bookshops.