Telluride, Pt. 2

...imagine you're having a really bad day at work, one of those days when everything takes twice as long to do as it normally does, one of those days when everything you touch turns to shit, sort of a King Midas in reverse...now imagine doing this amplified by thousands of watts, illuminated by thousands of watts more and all this in front of ten thousand people...
...such was the case for Glen Hansard, when his band The Frames closed the show saturday at the festival...though i didn't see the show, it was related to me by several trusted sources that he basically had a meltdown and as a result the set was a bit of a downer...
...so, there was a good deal of anticipation preceding the show the next evening by The Swell Season, which is basically The Frames with the addition of Marketa Irglova...as said in a previous post, their show was stunning...still reverberating in my head two weeks later...
...but one of the most gripping parts of the show was when Glen Hansard apologised to the crowd for having had a bad show the night before...it was quite heartfelt and humble and he really endeared himself to the audience in doing so...
...another memorable part of the show was when all of a sudden the sky was filled with marshmallows...definitely a conspiracy afoot to have thousands of marshmallows flung into the cool mountain air at the same moment...in all my days, i've never seen such a thing...
...earlier that day a freakish thunderstorm rolled through, but instead of dropping rain, or even hail, this storm produced mini-snow cones (minus the paper cone) that exploded with a "poof" when they hit the ground...like the marshmallows, never witnessed that before...seems like a beautiful place to spend the summer, but at the drop of the first snowflake, i'd be desert bound...

i am a citizen of planet earth
i refuse to recognize artificial
lines on a map
i refuse to mistrust or hate
based on
location of birth
skin pigmentation
or what name you give to
god

whether we care to admit it or not
we are all the same
we all feel
heat
cold
hunger
pain
joy
disappointment

love...

unfortunately, there are those
who have forgotten how or why
to love
because it is simultaneously the
easiest and hardest thing
for humans to do...
some human beings just seem to have a hard time
being human...

ok...i just looked at my horoscope for today and it said i was going to have an annoying day...i guess i should have read this before i went to the shop and then perhaps i could have avoided super-gluing my fingers together...
...now that's annoying...

"It's called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe it."

~ George Carlin~


...rest well, George...you will be missed...

...just returned from nearly a week in Telluride, Co. representing Zeta Musical Instruments, the company that i work for building electric violins, violas, celli and upright basses...we also dabble in resonator guitars and mandolins, but on a very limited basis...recently built a number of guitars for Bruce Springsteen and Nils Lofgren and even added electronics to a dulcimer for Cyndi Lauper...never a dull moment at the Zeta shop...if it has strings on it, our fearless leader Kozy can figure out a way to build a pickup for it so you can plug it in and turn it up to 11...
...anyway...was at our booth most of the time during the day except to dash off for a piss or grab a bowl of lentils and rice (good veggie Indian food right next door...well, it was a tent and technically didn't have a door, but "right next flap" doesn't sound right)...in the sponsor's tent were a number of other instrument makers and factory reps and such...Martin and Gibson were the two major companies and then there were several other smaller esoteric manufacturers in addition to Zeta...Shanti Guitars built by Michael Hornick from northern California, AMAZING hand-crafted pieces of musical art...and they sound better than they look...San Juan Mandolins made by Bobby Wintringham of Dolores, Co. which rival instruments made by anyone on the planet...and speaking of the planet, all the staff from Planet Bluegrass are the best...Steve,Wendy, Pete, Pat and numerous others put on one of the greatest festivals of any type, anywhere...and hats off to the over three hundred volunteers who keep things running smoothly...the stage and sound crew is also top notch...every band hit the stage right on time and the mix was always tight (though, dare i say it?...it was a bit loud for this reporter on a couple of occasions...and "too loud" are generally not two words that i use together...)
...being in the tent during the day, i missed seeing a number of acts that i would have liked to have seen, but i could hear some of them quite well except when there were novice bluegrassers in the tent, wanking away on banjos, guitars and mandolins...it got to be quite the din sometimes so i just stuffed in my handy earplugs...Arlo Guthrie was one i hoped to check out and unfortunately, nearly half of his set was drowned out by the above-mentioned wankers...
...was able to check out one whole set each night after closing the booth and having supper...it was cool being there on the company dime and having all access passes and all that good shit...
...so we were always able to get seats in the VIP section, though one had to be there and stake out a place in the queue early to assure getting prime viewing and listening location...first night saw Ani DiFranco and her Band...yeah, they have other stuff other than traditional bluegrass, which i'm very glad about...at this moment, i think if i heard another banjo my brain would blow like twin geysers from both ears...Ani was an electric bundle of energy from the second she hit the stage...love her aggressive syncopated guitar style...and the band rocked...
...second night saw newcomer Paolo Nutini, Scottish singer/songwriter...and rocker!...great singer, and a tight little four-piece rock & roll band...two guitars, bass and drums...it's all you really need...after Paolo, we checked out Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby jamming together with Kentucky Thunder...another killer band...violinist Andy Leftwich is from a totally different fuckin' planet or something...they closed their show with a raved-up bluegrass version of Super Freak...very cool...
...day three brought another good bunch of bands to the stage...heard parts of the sets by Tift Merritt and the Jerry Douglas Band...saw Tift on Austin City Limits sometime back...another great singer/songwriter...and Jerry is probabaly the best dobro player working today...and he's a fellow Buckeye!...after supper caught most of the set by another young singer/songwriter from California named Brett Dennen...very captivating vocal style and songs with some serious social/political commentary...this was followed by the Sam Bush Band...Sam has pushed mandolin into genres where it had never before traversed...pick a style of music, Sam and his band visit it during the show at least once...
...on day four, Sunday, the first act in the morning was R&B legend Solomon Burke...funky, funky, funky...like goin' to church without all the pompous preachin'...Canadian band, The Duhks followed with their blend of celtic, cajun and worldbeat music...will definitely add some of their recordings to the library...early evening show was The Swell Season, featuring Glen Hansard (from Irish band 'The Frames') and Marketa Irglova doing music from their Oscar-winning film "Once"...this was the musical highlight of the festival for me...it was one of those shows where time stood still and it was over almost before it began...each of their voices wrapped around the other and created a new vibration that is still reverberating in my head...and Glen Hansard's acoustic guitar playing is amazing to hear and to watch...
...ahh...so many new CDs to buy now...

...more about the festival and pictures to come...

off to Telluride
for four days of
bluegrass
green trees
cool air
good vibes

peace/out...

another arm update...

still battling the pain-
there are good moments
and bad-
ironically, it feels the
best when i'm doing what causes
the problem in the first place,
slappin' my good ol' bass

moderation
rest
attitude...my new mantra...

wow...check out the boobs on that guitar wouldja...

Dennis Kucinich is my hero...hammerin' away for better than three hours on the floor of the House...thirty-five articles of impeachment filed against "The Shrub"...but are any of the major news outlets covering it?

yeah...right...

update...

hand
wrist
arm
shoulder
still problematic
creating static
in my brain

if not a bassist,
what then?

few options come to mind

it's all i've ever done
ever wanted to do

is this how
this forty-two year journey
is to end?
in pain and
darkness
and not really giving a fuck about
anything
anymore

seeking some sort of light
but i can't pull the ink-black membrane
from my eyes
head spins
in a constant state of vertigo
seeking solace at the bottom
of a pint glass
much too much
and it's never there
just a momentary dulling
of this new reality...

Happy National Doughnut Day...

i'm reminded of one of my girlfriends from high school...Annie...she had a job at a doughnut shop and me and my musical mates would go rollin' in there at around closing time and she would allow us to cart off all the leftover pastries...so, here's to Annie, Goddess of Day Old Baked Goods...

Sometimes, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do...

...might not have been the most prudent course of action, but tonight i decided to take the dicey hand out for a test spin, a shakedown cruise as it were, and do a two hour rehearsal with the band...was a bit stiff for the first few songs, but after warming up it was almost normal, except for achy tendons...as i mentioned before, pain is good, numbness is bad...
...think i'm going to have to lay off the gonzo mountain bike adventures for a while and just plant my carcass in the recumbant stationary bike at the gym and give the hands and arms a rest...will miss tearing down the dusty desert trails to be sure, but it's a no-brainer sort of decision...don't make no cash ridin' the bike...

Hey Doc, it hurts when i do that...

it's been interesting
continuing to build instruments
with the left appendage reduced
to a clamping vice flipper sort of thing
holding violins down with a club-like forearm
but the numbness is giving way
to pain
which is the better option
pain means nerves are still functioning
pain means life...

fighting the urge to get a bass out
and play a bit as i entertain myself
by typing with
one
hand...