I’ll be the guitar player for the Irwin Blues Jam at The Irwin Eagles Club backing up Gil Snyder and Special Guest Kenny Blake on Sax. Come out and bring your instrument of choice and sit in with us! It’s a jam session. First set is the core band, and after that, we get all the musicians in the house to come up and play a bit! See you next Thursday The 30th of JULY at 8:30PM!
Zack
Monthly Archive for July, 2009
We had a blast up in New York. Thank You to all who came out to see us! Photos and Video Clips coming up soon!
OK, we’re gonna be playing At Moondog’s on Friday the 31st of July at 9:30AM. Sike PM!
Debuting a show at Club Cafe on Carson Street for all you South Siders and local Yinzers on Thirsty Thursday August 6th. (opening band “The Drew Bently Band”). Doors at 7:00PM. We start at 8:30PM.
VENUE INFO:
Venue: Club Cafe
Address: 56-58 South 12th Street
Pittsburgh PA, 15203
Phone: 412.431.4950
Website: www.clubcafelive.com
Capacity: 140 (Let’s sell this puppy out and get rowdy! Tell Everyone! First time here- Don’t want it to be the last- haha!)
**TICKETING / SHOW INFO:
Promoter Ticketing [TicketWeb]:
Web: www.ticketweb.com/clubcafe
Phone: 866-468-3401
Announce Date: Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Onsale Date: Saturday, July 25, 2009
ADV Price: $6.00 DOS Price: $6.00
Doors: 7:00pm Music: 7:30pm Curfew: 11:00pm
Ages: 21+
Then my last show on the East Coast for a while is at Harvey’s in West Mifflin! (My Alma Mater) An Epic Show is Anticipated! A true West Mifflin Reunion of both the Baby Boomer Generation and it’s Offspring Generation in the West Mifflin area! And of course neighboring cities are welcome with open arms! Hope to see all the familiar faces out! No Cover! Bring more people and tell them that little enticing fact!
See you at all of them!
Zack
Finally after all these years of hard work and dedication, one of my CDs ended up in Amoeba Records in Hollywood, CA on the corner of Sunset and Cahuenga for $1.99 in the clearance bin! I can finally go to sleep!
Now I know how Navin Johnson felt when he got published in the Phone Book!
Zack
It’s late, and I was having difficulties working out a tricky riff for a new tune. So, I took a detour into the 30’s with a very short version of Steel Guitar Rag played on my Silver Strat through my Blackface Princeton, a few overdrive pedals, and my beloved Echoplex!
I guess, enjoy?
Zack
It’s Wednesday again, and you people know what that means (YOU PEOPLE?!?!?- Who are you calling “You People?”)… It’s time for the most spun record of the week. And the winner with a close “You Only Live Twice” runner-up is… Alvino Rey and His Orchestra “A Drowsy Old Riff.” I read the back of the album, and learned so many cool things about Alvino. This particular record is a pressing from the 1970’s, but it’s a compilation of recordings from the 1940’s with Alvino Rey at the standard electric guitar as well as his “Console Guitar” (nowadays they are called “pedal steel” guitars). He was one of the first to use an electric guitar prototype pickup that he acquired from The Gibson Company in 1935. I read that he was too humble to make the claim that he played the first electric guitar (everyone thinks it was Les Paul). By 1939, he formed his own big band, and later gained further fame with The Kings Sisters.
What kept me coming back to this record was the best version I have ever heard of “In The Hall of The Mountain King.” (I’ll try to put up an Mp3 to hear later, but I wanted to get this post up today since it is indeed Wednesday). His “console guitar” has such an interesting tone throughout the recordings. At times you think he’s improvising a really odd riff or passage on his standard electric or his console slide guitar, but the horns mimic him verbatim which reveals that it was all brilliantly preconceived. This is highly impressive to me because these call and responses are displayed so naturally that they feel improvised. His orchestra is so tight and well-rehearsed, and another talent to be noted is the piano player who sprinkles the most dexterous little ear candy through the entire album in the most tastefully skilled manner.
I learned about Alvino Rey through hearing a record I obtained a few years ago called “Other Worlds Other Sounds” by Esquivel. 
I did research to find out who the steel guitar player was, and since I latched onto his name, I have been finding Alvino Rey records all across the country as I travel and play shows and visit record shops in between. I only paid 3 bucks for “A Drowsy Riff” of a gem! I hope you find yourself a copy to enjoy over the weekend!
Tell me what you have been into this week! Leave a comment! (it’s free and environmentally friendly- or just mentally friendly!)
-Zack-
