the krass brothers, bar noir philadelphia

last nights show at bar noir re-set the bad vibe
there from a week ago. i played with mark boyce's
new band the krass brothers, along with chuck d
on percussion, ted johnson on kit, and b meehan on da bass...this show rocked! and the chemistry
is def happening in this band..lotsa great music:
some gene ammons, curtis mayfield reworkings,
some ole sly stoneflower tracks, some latin vibes, and many funk
improvs::crowd was hollerin for more...a great night..alot of energy...mark killed the rhodes and organ...and i had to pull out all the stops on the guitar too...made me work hard and dig deeep. the rhythm section is so funky...pocket all night. look for
more shows from this soulrockfunk discharge unit.

UR - MACLA, San Jose,CA

United Airlines 8am (est)
flying to chicago then on to San Jose.
not much sleep last night so pretty exhausted
already.

1am(pst) 7 hours later:
arrived to San Jose airport greeted by K.
both Urse + I are kinda ill and i'm fatigued
from lack of sleep. dropped gear at the macla
venue and on to have lunch with Flo Brown, Urse,
and Macla crew at a thai spot. soundcheck is scheduled at 4pm so gonna go try to sleep for
an hour.

4pm
ramada room 214
one hour of deep delirious sleep.
arrive at soundcheck but no sound here yet,
so back to hotel. they will call when ready for us.



6pm
two hours of unconsciousness. then
a call for us to come down. when we get there
sound is still not ready...so we drove to a cafe for
some expresso to try to wake up...i'm really spaced.
cafe server talking about books by hermann hesse
and frank herbert. back to venue. so set up gear
and finished while doors are opening...no sound check for us...just line check...

8pm
really great west coast poets here tonite...i haven't
heard much originality lately in this area...our show
was on at midnight...it was really good to play after
waiting around all day...set: inspiration, get ready,
philly child, four minutes of fun, keep falling, song for billy, what a woman must do...
macla is an amazing organization of creative individuals; the gallery was incredible. if you are
in san jose be sure to look up this place...lots of
live performances and fantastic message laden local art...
i will try to post some in the galleries soon.

2:30am
back to hotel ramada for a few hours sleep before
7 hour flight back to philly at 7:54am...gonna be burnt tomorrow but that's rock n roll 4 ya.

base3 @barnoir, philadelphia

3:35am
from a highpoint performance w/ global illage on saturday in lancaster where all the magic that is music was present to the lowest of all points as artists at barnoir tonight and all in the presence of an attentive audience. not a happy feeling, let me tell you. i must say one of the saddest gigs of my professional career tonite...everything sagged badly.. we struggled poorly...makes you wonder what happened? we attribute it to chemistry...
chemistry cannot be created or formulated.
it's an enigma. it's important to recognize when
chemistry is present...and give it full attention and
respect. but not tonight. B3v1 R.I.P. and...
it's amazing how much insanity, thoughtlessness, and rude interuptions frustrated our playing. they
were all hanging out with us this strange
evening.

thanks to everyone that came out and showed
support and enthusiasm...unfortunately, this was not the desired result. numbed by bass ale and lorenzos pie(s).

global illage @ f+m college, lancaster

a beautiful drive into the land of farms and amish
folk...and the usual ecstatic f+m crowd and vibe that always makes these shows phenomenal
experiences. what can i say...this band can go
anywhere musically and does often. tonite from my
position...this was one of our best nites ever.
some highlights: chris cuzme double sax debut;
a lanquid romp in middle eastern overtones with
phil, dan, and chris landing somewhere between
klezmer and ancient arab melodies; heavy metal
blietzkrieg with radiohead horns, and dare i say
the drumming of jim hamilton was enthralling as ever...and a sample + hold mistake that became
a full out drum and bass electronic trigger fest...
some video and audio recordings tonite...some
excerpts sure to pop out some where soon.

UR and friends @ tritone, philadelphia

tonite our last philadelphia performance for
awhile...it was a special pairing of ursula, vicki miles, myself, and cellist helena (from sweden)..we played an acoustic set of mostly
new ursula poems (25000, 4 minutes of fun,
inspiration, secrets, plus some favorites) and
the captivating vicki miles (sylk130) sang gorgeous (from 'when the funk hits the fan'), and letter to a sister friend...a rare treat to have vicki perform with us. the addition of cello and especially helenas beautiful interpretations, shadings and etchings over this music really added some new dynamic terrain to explore... so we hope to do this lineup again in the future.

global illage @ tritone, philadelphia

weather is still cold and rainy...seems like the last
four shows at tritone have been this way...tonite,
started late 11:15...played two sets ending at
1:40am...nice audience here as well...we travelled
to some interesting musical territories ala - sonic youth, billfrisell, africa, reggae, metal, free jazz,
asia, out swing...kind of free associations happening...another enjoyable global illage session....really great playing with chris, dan, phil,and jim...what a band...we've got quite a special chemistry...i've come to really look forward to our
performances...and don't take them for granted.
this is as real as music can get, when it decides
to show up...hopefully, we'll be getting some more music out on CD soon for some of our listeners
out there................of course, hopdevils fueled the evening.

freedom theatre, philadelphia

if you live in philly and haven't been yet to the
freedom theatre you must go! tonite's show
with ursula was part of poetry month and featured
many incredible philadelphia poets like
mama with da drama, aisha, and many other original talents...russel simmons take note...!!
we did a quite a few new pieces live tonite and
walter bell joined us on flute...a nice intimate evening here...meanwhile down the hallway from us
was a special dress rehearsal gig from the funk brothers (ie: the motown session musicians) who
star in the film: standing in the shadows of motown.
i only saw the beginning and end, but i must say from
'aint no mountain high enough', maxi priest covering the marvin gaye classics from 'what's goin on', a little bit of stevie wonder, and joan osbourne! made me
feel alright...an added suprise bonus for
comin out tonite...catch these guys on tour in a city near you in the next two weeks...peace until next time.

kyber pass, philadelphia

mark boyce invited me to play with a one-off band
tonite at kyber that also included brendan and art
from the photonband, and jamie (bassist from marah)...first show i've played at kyber since firecode violations made them cut the stage to
2/3rds of it's original size...crazy. show was real!
my first marshall 4x12 experience...i didn't know
what i was missin!!!! quite a rock band...we need
to do this again...the crowd was blown.
hop devils provided flavour tonite.