Archive for the 'Places I've Played' Category



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Steve Vai DVD

Published
by
Zack
on August 24, 2009
in Places I've Played
. 3 Comments

Hey Everyone, I am very excited to announce that Steve Vai is releasing his new DVD and CD counterpart of his 2007 String Theories World Tour, Where The Wild Things Are, of which I was included on a few selections playing the Lap Steel! Nearly two years of painstaking video editing and audio mixing and mastering later, Steve Vai will release his DVD and CD on Sept 29. I do mean painstaking. Every time I would stop by The Vai Estate to visit or drop something off, Steve would be diligently working on some aspect of the DVD day in and day out! He’s so particular about every last detail, and there is a lot to be said about all of his hard work and dedication to his craft! He’s probably the hardest working musician in the field, and I respect that and strive to adopt his work ethic in my everyday life.
premiere-cover

Well, all his hard work paid off, because the few clips he showed me here and there, after all the audio and video was completed, look and sound amazing! I can’t wait to sit and watch the entire thing at the premiere in Hollywood’s historic Egyptian Theater on Sept 15th! So, for all of you Vai fans in the Los Angeles and surrounding areas, you are invited to the premier for a full screening of the DVD with red carpet entrance of the band members and silent auction. Tickets are $40 bucks and ALL the proceeds from tickets and auction benefit the Hollywood Arts organization of which Steve has been a board member for the past two years. I’ll be there! Hope to see you too! Click the picture above to get all details of ticket purchase and more info on the releases coming out!



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Back to work-

Published
by
Zack
on April 28, 2009
in Places I've Played
. 3 Comments

I had a tremendous trip to my homeland for Easter! The Daves and I played several fun shows around town, and I had a great time seeing all the Pittsburgh folk! We even played on the radio for WDVE’s Friday Morning Show. I broke a string on the air! It’s every guitar player’s nightmare, but we recovered quite nicely and it afforded Dake Yarkovsky two bass solos instead of his usual one! Here’s some photos from the DVE Morning Show. Keep an eye out for the recording from the DVE studio. As soon as I get a copy from the engineer, I’ll post it in the Bootlegs section.

Also, I was so happy with the way my de-fretted tele turned out! That’s right! A fretless guitar! Jimmy Relja is the best guitar repairman (Jim’s Guitar Works West Elizabeth, PA 412-384-2518)! I was able to extensively try it out at the Blues Jam in Irwin, PA headed by none other than The Duke, Gil Snyder of The Mystic Knights Band! It’s a little tricky playing chords, but I started to get the hang of it throughout the night and at the shows with The Daves!

So, now I’m back out in Los Angeles recording my next release and starting to form a new band out here. Also, I saw Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee Jeff Beck for the first time the other night at The El Rey Theatre! Wow, he truly is a genius, and I don’t throw that word around lightly! It was an honor to witness such greatness in person! And he was very appreciative of his audience. A class act. I wonder how seeing that show will impact the rest of my album. Who knows? img_0532



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Grammys’ Producer and Engineer Wing Event “Rock My Soul”

Published
by
Zack
on February 25, 2009
in Places I've Played
. 2 Comments

A few weeks ago, I attended this great event “Rock My Soul” held at the Village Studios in Santa Monica, CA. It was put on by the Grammys to recognize today’s top engineers and producers. It’s a good time for them to actually hang out with each other and not have to think about mixing or mastering for a change. Several companies had their respective newest gear on display including Shure, Neve, and Fender. The Fender display, which was actually setup in Studio B where many many legends recorded, was where I tested out some new guitars, basses, and amps. The guys at Fender were really nice. They ended up giving me a beautiful book about the history of Fender Amps at the end of the night for demonstrating the new gear for the passersby. Here is a short news segment from CBS.com where I pop up in the middle very briefly playing a Fender Jaguar.



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Tremendous Week: The Grammys, My Birthday, Harvey’s and Valentine’s Day

Published
by
Zack
on February 17, 2009
in Places I've Played
. 2 Comments

I had one of the best weeks ever. Starting with being invited to the 51st Grammy Awards on Sunday the 8th of Feb. I really enjoyed most of the performances that the various groups put on, but I must say that the most memorable two and a half minutes of my life was the privilege of seeing one of my biggest heros of all time Sir Paul McCartney playing his Hofner bass and singing “I saw her Standing There.” 
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He took his bow just like he did at Shea Stadium in 1965! I felt a tear coming on. I also was invited to the big after party with magnificent food provided by Wolfgang Puck. Mmm. Then on Tuesday I flew into Pittsburgh for the rest of the week. Thursday the 12th was my birthday, and I enjoyed a lovely dinner with my family, grandparents, and girlfriend. On Friday I played a really fun gig at Harvey’s in my hometown, West Mifflin, PA, with THE DAVES consisting of Dave Yarkovski on the Bass and Dave Katonik on the Drums.
(below is a pic shot by my buddy Buzzy)cool-haveys-picJamie Bernard sat-in on bass, and Lee Caruso sat-in on guitar. I jumped back on the drums and the bass towards the end of the show as well as Dave Yarkovski tastefully plucking on the guitar and Dave Katonik on the bass at one point. A big jumbled mess, but pleasant to the ears. Then I held a rather large after party at the Wiesinger Estate in West Mifflin with all my buddies, girlfriend, family and their friends. Oh– and the Cupcakes with pink icing and sprinkles… Ammmmazing! –wow– Saturday, Valentine’s Day, was a blast! My gal and I had a wonderful dinner and dessert. This all equated to a really tremendous week.

Now I’m back in LA doing my music thing finishing up recording my newest album to be released later this year on Favored Nations’ digital label.



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Deke Dickerson’s 6th annual “Guitar Geek Festival”

Published
by
Zack
on January 21, 2009
in Places I've Played
. 3 Comments

I was invited to perform at this thing called the “Guitar Geek Festival” by its host Deke Dickerson a few months ago. Of course hearing the title alone peaked my interest, so I quickly agreed to play.

I must say this past Saturday was definitely one of the neatest festivals I’ve ever attended. And it was certainly an honor to be asked to perform as well. I would still have loved to be there even if I wasn’t on the bill. They set up a ton of rare, vintage museum-quality guitars and gear all along the walls of the Anaheim Plaza Hotel’s Ballroom walls. There were old Rickenbackers from the 1930’s, a slew of extremely rare amplifiers from Sho-buds to Standells to Magnatones, several Mosrite guitars (one of which even had the original shipping box), a heap of Ecco-phonic tape echo machines, awesome double-neck guitars with their respective artists holding the actual guitars pictured on album covers, and so much more. But one of my personal favorites was seeing what is believed to be the late great Link Wray’s actual Danelectro Longhorn guitar! It was so much to take in at once, so I came back to it after our set to really get a chance to read the placards and take a few pictures.

I brought my three-piece band out which ended up being Andy Alt on the bass and Jon Wouters on the drums. I had a great time playing for people who are all genuinely excited about guitars and guitar players! The overall vibe is more geared toward the vintage guitar sounds of the 1950’s instrumental country picking and 1960’s reverbed-out surf! So, our set was mostly instrumental originals with lots of reverb, and the two covers we did were “Red House” and “Caravan”. Some awesome performances throughout the day included Dave Wronski’s “Slacktone” band, the original Crickets who backed up Buddy Holly over 50 years ago, a guest appearance by Larry Collins (who played on the last double neck Mosrite that Mr. Mosrite ever built before he passed away), and the man of the hour and host of the event Deke Dickerson ripped it up throughout the day with several of the groups. Also, the guy who built the Batmobile and the Munster Coach was there, and they gave him a shout. I hope to play it next year, but even if I don’t, I’ll probably still go, cause it’s an awesome time! 

I also got to meet John Bryant, son of the late Jimmy Bryant. He’s such a nice guy and is so interested to hear any stories about his dad. Here’s a link to the website where you can join a forum discussing Jimmy Bryant: Click Here.

And I wanna give a special thanks to Bruce Zinky for providing us with 2 hand-wired tubed Supro amps to add an extra sparkle of tone to the show! I played through my Fender “Bassman 50″ with its two 15inch cab along with the Supro 15inch combo amp! I was pushing 45 inches of air (but probably more if i did some math). Check out Supro Amps.

So if you enjoy old guitars, good old-fashioned live music, and reverb and tape-echos check out the 7th Annual “Guitar Geek Festival” next year! And here’s Deke Dickerson’s site to follow the man behind this event at Deke’s Site.