Monday, March 20, 2006


Saturday Night French Fry

After several years of playing, it’s hard to remember all of the shows clearly. Hell, it’s sometimes hard to remember the last night’s show. For me, the outdoor shows are my favorite, and it’s when we do it for ourselves that it is the most meaningful. I admit, getting on stage in front of a big crowd is cool, but jamming on a patio under the trees and the stars surrounded by friends new and old is the best. No worries about microphones (except for Conor, whose got a great mobile sound rig) or PAs, upstairs neighbors, or how many friends we can invite to see us play.

The music was great, I think, and I had a blast. Any disagreement from the rest of you? Sandy wasn’t in good health and didn’t have much energy, but he still blew fine brass. We stood in a circle like we do when we practice and the sound environment was great for me. Hearing everyone naturally and directly is the best way to craft a whole sound. It was fun singing without microphones. I found it easier to listen to the sound inside my head and modulate it more precisely. True, not everyone there heard our singing as clearly as they would if we were in a pub, but I think the product was quality. Such pride, eh? I’m just trying to work on singing while keeping the rhythm going.

TC’s got a description of the party where we performed, and you should definitely check that out if you haven’t already. I’ll just say that I’m glad he didn’t tell us that Mathew Lien might show up. The tension of waiting for him to arrive would have been too much. I can’t say that I’ve ever met Lien Xiansheng, but I have a copy of the first CD of his that was released here. A Taiwanese friend, who got me back into playing percussion, by the way, gave me a copy of Lien’s album. I can appreciate all music, but I have to say it wasn’t something that grabbed a hold of me. To each his own. What is more interesting about Mathew is how he ended up being a pop star in Taiwan. (Apparently he doesn't like tellin that story all the time. I seem to remember someone at a music industry conference mistook his family name for Chinese, and the rest, as they say, is history.)

I was waiting for Will in the Taipei Main MRT station last week and realized that I was standing next to a giant poster of M. Lien advertising Taiwan Beer. I moved so that I was standing right next to it, and tried to pay attention to see whether any passers-by did a double take – Me and M. Lien do bearing a passing resemblance. He, of course, is known for his wolf chic. I, if I say so myself, and more of a Shar-pei shui ge. Dogs one and all.

Oh yeah. Or P.S. We were not the only act at the party, as TC mentions, Jason, formerly of the Incriminators duo performed as well as our good friends the Saltwater Crocs, or what is left of them. Josh and Brent came down after their time in the studio (a.k.a. Brent’s office/den). They’ve been busy on a project to record some of their original songs from the Salpwalper Crocs (inside joke) era. They graced us all with three numbers from their repertoire. Josh’s Fat Girls testimonial/tribute caught the place on fire, Bob Dylan’s something or another stoked the blaze, and then Brent’s Mesopotamia burned the place to the ground. I heard two girls raving about the beat singer and bitching song. According to one correspondent on the suspension bridge during Mesopotamia, the 30 backup singers on the chorus made one hell of a racket. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that Rodney the baby father, drummer for the Crocs, had enjoyed the show from his balcony just across the river.

It looks like I may be building a new instrument. Someone turned me on to a new instrument – the rhythmstick. It was apparently invented by Dizzy Gillespie. I’ll do some research and see how the fun/work ratio looks.

No information on upcoming shows. There are some dates and venues being talked about, but nothing we can say with any certainty. For the Ramblers, it’s back to the woodshed.

Monday, March 06, 2006

The show at Witches was a whiz-bang.

We started early and finished early. I think the Ramblers had all cleared out by the time the police showed up after 11 sometime. I know most of us were already across the way in the bleachers when the black-and-white finally made an appearance. In my opinion, one of the best things about playing at Witches is that it is just across the street from a great place to hold a discrete after-concert party.

We played to a smaller crowd than we had in a long time. The only audience with fewer members was at the Chung Li-he museum in Meinung last December. One advantage of the smaller turnout was that we had room to move, and the audience had free access to the bar and WCs. Happily, Slim also had lots of floor on which to tippy-tappy. Toward the end of the show, when we unleashed an unholy Work Song, we made good use of the floor by giving in to the energy of the moment and dancing around maniacally.

In contrast to many of our recent shows, this time around Dave had us use the two condensor microphones. Setting up dynamic mics for each of the musicians and their instruments is a headache that does not always result in a better sound. So, like we do when we rehearse at the Sand Castle, we arrayed ourselves around the two microphones and tried to affect the mix of sounds by stepping towards or away from them. I think it worked pretty well, although we don't really have the chance to sample the audience's sound while we're playing. Our soundman for the evening was Wayne, an old friend from a one off show that I collaborated on several years ago. I didn't recognize him at first. I thought it was the haircut, but then he told me that he was married and had a one-year-old son. That can definitely change a man. So can trying to mix the sound for the Ramblers, and he did an excellent job.

Speaking of microphones, here is a link to a site that features an interesting collection of old mics. We've been hearing Dave talk about ribbon mics for some time now, and this site gives some fairly simple yet informative descriptions of some of the older microphone technologies. If you want to know a lot more about mics, check out his link.

Aside from working with Wayne again, another old school feature of this last show was the presence of an old friend currently living in Hong Kong. He was one of our earliest, most vocal fans, and it was great to have him in the audience again. He danced throughout the entire show and made his appreciation heard loud and clear.

As I said, after the show we adjourned to the bleachers for more merriment. Under the crescent moon we continued jamming until quite late, passing around instruments, kicking a soccer ball, and toasting our good fortune to be spending the evening together. We also made the acquaintance of a fan of ours, whom none of us remember ever having seen at an earlier gig. She hung out with TC, me, Slim and another friend until almost 5:30 in the morning.

For me, the evening ended not as I would have chosen. While running an early morning 50-meter dash on the rubber track, I strained/tore a muscle in my calf and effectively hobbled myself for the next week or so. My regret is that I did not have myself timed, because I think I may have set a record for a 40-year-old percussionist running the 50-meter dash barefoot.

Saturday, March 04, 2006


Comings and Goings
of a K-9 Persuasion



Wild Dogs at Hua Shan

Last week the Muddy Basin Ramblers played at a music festival at Hua-shan. If you want to read an interesting account of what went down, check out TC's journal over at Planet Poagao. I'm glad I got around to reading his report before I finished the one I was working on. He always does a great job with concert recaps. I prefer to spend hours looking at dog images on google.


Publicity Hounds

We're in the Post this weekend again thanks to Carmen. He certainly gives us a lot of press, all of it glowing. The Post doesn't post his article on their website, and I can't be bothered to scan it in, but it is worth reading, for the humor. This time we are a ten-piece band, and Zoe plays something between a fiddle and violin. The article he wrote about us two weeks ago included his coincidental meeting with us at Athula's roti stand in Bitan the week before the show.


Bitan Strays

In fact, I was at Athula's this evening and he was complaining about the cold weather. He said he took five days off recently because there were no customers down at the bridge. He reminded me that there is a roof-top party at a friend's house in Bitan next weekend. The last time we partied there, we did a rag-tag MBR mini show. I think a similar show may be planned for next weekend's party. Athula said he probably wouldn't come, especially if the weather is nice; he needs to make some money. I bet that he will come later, if the party is still going on, but he won't bring another 5 liter bottle of Famous Grouse.


Poker Wolf (in sheeps clothing)

Speaking of betting, I talked to Jacques at the Hua-shan show, and he was all about on-line hold'em poker. You must have heard about the poker fad that is sweeping the world. I took a look at one on-line hold'em site and created a free account there to gamble with play money. It takes strategy, luck, unpredicability, and time to win more than a few hands. During play, some of the players type short text messages to the others at the table. "nh" means "nice hand." "wp" is "well-played.

I don't chat to the other players. I don't want them to be able to predict what I will do. In fact, I always choose the old woman character at the table (there are ten different characters to choose from). She looks so sweet, with her hair in a bun, and clutching her purse. She is the perfect counter point to my style of play. Lots of bluff, timely folds, and pretending to have nothing until the others feel safe enough to bet that their weak hands might take the pot, and then getting the pot really high, just in case it's going to me.

I'm reminded of the old Kenny Rogers song. "You've got to know when to hold them, know when to fold'em, know when to walk away, know when to run, you never count your chips, when you're sitting at the table, they'll be time enough for counting, when the dealing's done." It's frightening that I know so much of that song. Even worse is that I know most of the words to Barry Manilow's Copacabana. "His name was Rico..."


Witches Wiener Dog

The Muddy Basin Mind Circus is going to be at Witches Pub tomorrow evening from 9 to 11. Come early to get a good seat. Be ready to have your ID to show to the boys in blue when they show up at 11.