3/25/07 Wash Sq Pk and Paddy Reilly's in 1 day!!! Part 2

This is a continuation of the previous post. If you want to start from the begining, click here.

So we went in Pete's car and arrived at Paddy Reilly's where the music was playing. Australian Pete bought us 3 guinesses. I stood at the bar drinking my beer, and chatted for a while with AJ (a singer / guitarist who I met in the park last last fall). He says that a group of old time / bluegrass folks will resume meeting up in the park on Friday afternoons as soon as the weather gets a little warmer, and took my email address. Australian Pete wandered over to the "stage" area, and started playing. Yonkers Pete was parking the car.

Soon I went over to the stage too, and started picking along to the bluegrass music. There were about 12 people playing guitar, fiddle, mandolin and banjo. Mostly familiar faces including Scott, Tony, Tom. There was one older African-American guy. He was playing a banjo most of the time, but at one point he picked up a guitar and led an excellent sweet-sounding version of "Snowbird".

Since we arrived late, there wasn't time for many songs. The regular professional band came in and started setting up, most of the players went home, a few went to the back room. It was no surprise that Pete stayed on the stage for one more (Willie Nelson's "I'm Gonna Get Drunk"). Aussie Pete and I played along. In the middle of the tune, Tony told us that we better move to the back room after the song was over. Pete didn't like it, but we complied.

Aussie Pete struck up a conversation with the Black banjo player, whose name is Norris. It turns out Norris is a member of an all-Black old time string band called The Ebony Hillbillies. The week before, the New York Pinewoods Folk Society had sponsored a concert by this band with tickets at $20 a pop. I haven't heard them play, but I heard they're very good.

Meanwhile, Scott, Aussie Pete, and a great fiddle player named Rick were playing some bluegrass tunes that sounded terrific. All 3 are great players, and this fiddle player always impressed me. I couldn't resist pulling out my guitar, but it's hard to keep up with these guys. I was happy to be in the same room with a guitar in my hand (and a guiness on the counter). Later Pete started trading tunes with Scott. Pete suggested "Girl From Ipanema" which Scott offered up in the key of Eflat. Pete was able to keep up without the aid of a capo, which is pretty impressive.

3/25/07 Wash Sq Pk and Paddy Reilly's in 1 day!!!

Well I had a great day last Sunday. I had a beer, then went to the park with guitar at around 3 pm.

It was a beautiful sunny early Spring day--warm enough in the bright sun. I saw Pete playing with Alan, Dan and others, a big crowd gathered around. A bearded guitar player I've seen a few times, guitar virtuoso Scott, Joe with guitar mostly not playing , also a good harmonica player who I'd played with the night before. Later on a guy who played a conga drum. I was sitting up on top of a little concrete wall, trying to pick along to the songs. If the song is in G or E I can usually do a halfway decent bass-line, and my guitar has a pretty full sound.

I forget all the songs we were doing, but it was the songs those guys always do, like "Hang on Sloopy" and "Love the One You're With" and "Bad Moon Rising". Pete worked in a few of his songs in between. And Scott did a few. The only one I remember was "Jet" by Paul McCartney and Wings.

Finally I asked Pete if he wanted to work on some folk songs. So we went over to the other side of the circle. He tried to show me his arrangement of "Early Morning Rain" which I still can't follow -- something about the phrasing I guess doesn't jibe with my uniquely fucked-up sense of rythm.

But we played some easier songs, and of course a few people stopped to listen, because there were hundreds of people in the park. Soon the harmonica player from the other group came by. He looked like he had somewhere to go, but I asked him if he would do a Dylan song with us (as a rule, people who play harmonica in Washington Square Park are Dylan fans). So we did "Don't Think Twice" and a bunch of others. This harmonica player was awesome.

He turned out to be an Australian, named Pete ("Pete and re-Pete" ha.ha.ha), visiting New York. He was apartment sitting in a high-rise on 5th Ave overlooking the park (tough life). He heard people singing and playing so he came out. He hadn't spoken to anyone in two days.

We did a bunch of country songs, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and anything else we could think of. Of course "Rambling Boy", "My Bucket's Got a Hole in it.", "St Louis Blues". We had a small but very appreciative crowd. One guy said that he used to play in the park in the 50's and early 60's and that he was glad to finally hear some "quality music" again. Last thing I ever thought anyone would call me was quality music. Anyway this guy liked to hear himself talk, and Pete finally told him to shut up (Pete would make a good embassador to North Korea). The woman next to him expressed solidarity with Pete, and told us that she was the guy's ex-wife--they split 10 year's ago. There was also an Israeli woman who tried to sing, a French guy, and a very cute young couple. The guy was enthusiastic about singing along, and had a nice voice.

Finally it started to get cold and dark, and I my fingers got stiff. It was coming up on 7 pm, and we decided to go to bluegrass jam at Paddy Reilly's, which goes from about 5 to 8 pm.

To be continued on next post...

Drawing: Washington Square Park Oct 2006

Left to right: Pete, Jeff (?), AZ

Drawing by Jon Rettich

Sea Chanty Sing Mar 10, 2007

Last night I went to a sea chanty singing event at the Seaman's Church over by South Street South seaport. I didn't bring my guitar, but my wife came along. We both had a great time singing along to the old songs. There was a nice turn-out, maybe 20 people, about half of them with guitars. I would say about half of the people were folks I recognized from the Brooklyn folk sing, including Brian and his wife, Frank, Al(?) and his wife Barb (who sings beautiful harmony), Alison (one of the leaders of New York Pinewoods Folk Music club, with an excellent strong voice), Ben who did a nice one on the squeeze box.

A guy sang a pretty humorous song about being lost on the Long Island Rail Road, done to the tune of "Gotta Leave the Little Girl in Kingston Town" ("When I reached Jamaica I forgot to change.").

There was a nice trading of songs, about half sung a capella, half accompanied. Some beautiful voices, nice guitar playing, good feeling. The next one is April 14, 8pm.

New Links

Brian, who I met at the Brooklyn sing along, sent me a long list of links, which I am posting here in its entirety. Thank you very much!

http://www.netrhythms.com/reviewsr.html#tomrussell
http://www.chordie.com/song.php/songartist/Tom+Russell/index.html
http://www.davidfrancey.com/
http://timgrimm.com/
http://www.ibiblio.org/jimmy/mcguinn/
http://www.southernmusic.net/
http://www.westernswing.com/
http://billkirchen.com/CrosstownArts/client_music/kirchen/
http://www.davidmallett.com/
http://wswing.home.texas.net/index.html
http://www.texasplayboys.net/
http://www.bobwills.com/
http://www.asleepatthewheel.com/
http://www.irishsongs.com/
http://guitar.about.com/
http://www.allmusic.com/
http://www.warren-wilson.edu/~appmusic/
http://banjoben.com/
http://www.bluegrasslyrics.com/
brooklyncountrymusic.com
http://www.buddyhollycenter.org/
http://shanty.rendance.org/
http://members.shaw.ca/tunebook/
http://www.carvin.com/
http://www.geocities.com/xulfrepus/folder/guitar.html
http://www.contemplator.com/
http://www.countryrootsmusic.com/
http://www.countrystandardtime.com/
http://sniff.numachi.com/~rickheit/dtrad/aidx/aidxA.html
http://www.elderly.com/
http://fqms.com/
http://www.gramparsons.com/
http://hightone.com/
http://www.mudcat.org/
http://www.takecountryback.com/
http://robbiefulks.com/

Brooklyn Open Folk Sing 3/7

Well, I went to the open folk sing in Brooklyn on Wednesday night and had a nice time. It was a bitter cold night, but the 10-minute chilly walk from Grand Army Plaza adds to the charm of arriving at a warm room with people singing. I must say that the main room of the Ethical Culture Society has beautiful accoustics, and even my simple songs sound good there.

There was a small turn-out, which means that I got to do a few songs:
*Frankie and Johnny
*Ballad of Casey Jones
*Fiddlers Green

Some other songs that others done were:
*40 Shades of Green (sounds like a traditional Irish song, but actually written by Johnny Cash)
*Weila Weila (the moral of the song, as revealed in the last verse is "Don't stick knives in babys' heads")
*Gypsy Rover (my mother used to sing this to me when I was a baby)
*Brennan on the Moor
*Haul Away Joe

Brian did Tom Russell's "Blue Wing".

In keeping with approaching St. Patrick's Day, there were a lot of Irish songs.

I'm looking forward to next month's gathering, on April 4.

Live Music at the Reservoir 3/4/07

Monday 3/5 was moving day. My wife and I finished most of the packing on Sunday, so I decided we should celebrate by getting drunk at the local watering hole. Unfortunately, our usual place The Cedar Tavern was closed (temporarily? permanently?) for renovations. So we went down the street to a place called The Reservoir. Years ago this spot was occupied by a club called "Bradley's". Now it's more of an every-day bar where you might go to watch sports.

Anyway, I was surprised to see a couple of musicians setting up at the front end of the bar, near where I was sitting. The main guy's guitar was a Martin which looked very familiar. I asked him, and he said it was a D-28 (same as mine) and that he loved it. A very friendly young man named Tracey. He did a set of all original music, together with a trumpet player. He did a couple of reggae songs, and some jazzy, bluesy songs. The trumpet player was great, very polished and professional. Good original songs. The Martin sounded great (eerily familiar sound) though I'm not sure how well it lends itself to either reggae or jazz.

Aftwards I spoke to Tracey, he told me he is originally a drummer and is just starting out as a guitarist and singer. (He does have a wonderful sense of timing, by the way). Then he introduced the next act. I was pretty drunk by then, but I think his name was Evan Phelps--a 21-year-old kid from Austin Texas. Obviously talented, a beautiful voice, nice guitar playing, pretty songs. He told me that he was having trouble making it in Austin, which is apparently full of talented musicians.

Anyway, it was a nice night out, though I must say I was not feeling 100% on moving day. Suffice it to say that when the bartender offers you a free one, and you make the executive decision to switch to the hard stuff, remember that every action has consequences.

Washington Square Park--Saturday March 3

Another beautiful warm day. Sun shining into my apartment was so strong I had to open the windows to cool the place off. But by the time I made it to the park around 3:30, the sun was behind the clouds and the wind was picking up.

Anyway, I was able to do a few songs with Pete, Dan, and another fellow who sings harmony. A guy named Phil who plays slide guitar was also there, as well as John, who did the drawing at the top of this blog.

Pete had been there for an hour by the time I arrived, and said he was freezing his butt off. My fingers felt cold and stiff nearly from the get-go. But we did a few songs anyway:
*Early Morning Rain -- Pete has his version of this, I have mine. Problem is, I can't quite follow his version yet, so we did mine.
*Margaritaville--Dan does a nice recorder solo. It's an easy song, but I made a hash of it.
*Rambling Boy--Our regular song--nice harmonies all around
*King of the Road--One of Pete's standards
*Honky Tonk Heroes--Pete led it. I'm going to work on my version too.
*You Ain't Goin Nowhere--Our "new" old Bob Dylan song--sounded pretty good to me.
*Buckets of Rain--A Bob Dylan song I've been doing for a while. This time I did it in E, more like a blues.
*Waltzing Matilda--Well, not the whole thing, but Pete showed me how it goes.
*Goodbye Muirsheen Dirken--I tried to to this song that I learned from a Dubliners CD

All in all, I think it was a nice start to the season. Now I am thinking about the Brooklyn open folk sing on Wednesday. Maybe I will do "The Croppy Boy"? Stay tuned.

A Taste of Spring--Back to the Park (Friday, March 2)!

This weekend it was finally warm enough to get to the park. On Friday, I took the day off from work to pack. But with temperatures in the 50's, and the sun shining, I felt a moral obligation to check out Washington Square Park.

On working days, the park belongs to tourists and NYU students. I watched a young man with guitar and harmonica knocking out a nice blues. That was when I decided that I better go home and get my Martin. When I came back he was gone. I sat in a sunny spot and did a couple of songs on my own:
*Stormy Weather
*Saint Louis Blues
*Whiskey in the Jar

A couple of people stopped to listen, including a gentleman who was very interested in talking about his own musical adventures (he claimed to have written a hit song in 1967, to have introduced Janis Joplin to Judy Garlin, etc.) For all I know he was sincere, and I listened for a while. But he was doing an awful lot of name-dropping, which is something I have little patience for. If you want to impress me, sing a song nice and loud and risk making an ass of yourself.

I walked over and found an old-time group (guitar, vocals, kazoo) who sounded good, in an up-tempo Washington Square Park kind of way. They were collecting a lot of dollars from passers by. They were young--probably students. They gave me a flyer which contained the name "Roots & Ruckus" and a myspace address: myspace.com/rootsnruckus

I also heard a guy playing stand up bass and singing his heart out (unamplified). He was standing behind the statue, facing Washington Place. I could hear him singing up on 5th Avenue and between 8th & 9th street--a good 4 blocks away.