MAY/JUNE '10

My month of May was largely dedicated to travel, family parties and the return of gardening season. A long trip to Cincinnati by car to our friends Jeff and Diane's wedding brought musical encounters with Wild Carrot, a talented duo based there and pleasing sounds from Scott Ainslie as the moon rose above the city skyline.

Back at home, a few other music related things did manage to sprout between flower and vegetable plantings, including Mary McGinniss and Scott Davis here in the studio for some finishing touches on their CD projects. And finally caught up with Sara Grace for a melding of musical minds, jamming out in her art studio with drums and guitars.

Here it is now almost the end of June. Ran up to "Jax" a bar on the Killington access road with Bow Thayer and Patrick Ross 6/7 to punch out some tunes under the greening mountain and make plans for future adventures on the road. The "Jax" decor - arcade games, punching bag and multiple televisions - set an interesting backdrop for our version of old time acoustic mayhem. We'll be returning there 7/25 for another late night show.

Pepperbox Studio ushered in much anticipated singer-songwriter Andre Souligny of Roxbury VT, who has been waiting in the wings for what might well be years for his schedule to lighten up - we launched into recording guitar tracks for what will become a full length project of his original music. More on this as we move deeper into it.

Down to the Tunbridge Town Hall Friday 6/25 to play in a mind-blowing double bill - all friends of Bow Thayer. Set one featured Lisa Parade and her oh-so-interesting trio which turned into a quartet when her husband flew in from L.A.. Their style rides on the strength of Lisa's songwriting and solid presentation on guitar and vocals, with band mates adding penetrating harmonies, cajon, glockenspiel and electric piano. Lisa's rapping is just right. Then second set brought on Bow, Patrick Ross and myself doing our trio thing. The appreciative crowd seemed to be riding high with us on our wild old timey improvs and some courageous solos on guitar, banjo and fiddle. All miked up with no special effects we sound acoustic-y but energetic enough to rock the house thanks to our collective groove quotient. Tim, our sound man, handled it all with stellar mixing and a fastidious but mellow attitude. He didn't have his card with him but I'm chasing him down for future gigs.

Finally booked a weekend of recording Robert Resnik at Pepperbox Studio, to work on his first solo CD. This is something I've been wanting to co-produce for a while as this musician deserves first rate treatment for all his various and sundry talents that sometimes seem under-reported. We will be in pre-production discussing the myriad possibilities towards the beginning of July.

On Saturday I drove south into the Berkshires of Massachusetts (6/26-27) to the Institute for Musical Arts run by June Millington and Ann Hackler to assist in recording a performance of student projects on the last day of their "Explore Rock n' Roll" summer camp for pre-teen girls. Walking into their new studio in Goshen MA to run the board was made easy thanks to the assistance of Lee Madeloni, June's nephew and a fine musician in his own right, who had the ins and outs of the system pinned. I love a situation where I can learn something AND bring my expertise to bear for a good cause. I hope to continue my relationship with this exemplary non-profit that supports young women who are creative and ready to hit the ground running.

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