Author: Zingblog 2

Left Hook Web Update

I made some updates to the Left Hook website at http://lefthooknyc.com.

These include a link to follow us on Facebook, and some photos and video from our last gig. I’m in the process of making some medley montages of the show, but that’s a fussy and time consuming process cuz I’m learning new editing software on this one, so for now I’m just putting up one song, our cover of Can’t You Hear Me Knocking by the Stones. This was a highlight of the show and represents our sound as well as any number we do. I’m not sure if the video streams correctly on all devices, so if you click on the link I’d appreciate it if you drop me a line saying if it works for you, and if you’re on a computer or a phone, and what OS and what browser. Thanks and enjoy!

Meanwhile more video and pics coming soon, and another gig this Saturday.

It’s a Knockout!

The Left Hook debut show was last night, and it went great! I’m happy that all our planning and hard work is paying off. Everyone in the band is psyched too. It’s a great set, a great sound and a great group of musicians. I handpicked the lineup from the best musicians I know, all seasoned pros. It’s great that they all agreed to join, get along well, and are enthusiastic and onboard.

I’ve been with Gus, our drummer the longest. Really solid drummer, and loves old soul music in particular, just great with groves and pockets. It was just about a year ago The Relix broke up, and we’ve been trying to put together a new group ever since. Gus also has been handling the business side of things, for which I’m grateful, cuz I’ve been focusing on the music and sound side.

Meanwhile Ken came in just at the end of February and learned 40 songs in six weeks. Not too shabby. He was the bassist in the Day Trippers as well as 7 Jazz West, so it this point I’ve played quite a few gigs with him. Also known for his collection of vintage bases.

Mike Jefferson is our lead singer. He’s was in a band with Gus once before and joined us right after the Relix, and stayed on as we went thru a few bass and guitar players. A former heavyweight boxer, born and raised (partway) in England, he has a fondness for prog and folk rock, but can sing really well in a lot of styles. Very powerful voice. Just nails it on the Doors and James Brown, and all the soul stuff. He’s also a music journalist and beats us all hands-down in the music trivia walking encyclopedia department. And in true lead singer rockstar style, he was hitting on the ladies before the end of the first set.

Gary Bruce on guitar came in after sitting in with the jazz circle one day and before he got done with his first eight bars I knew he’d be great for this group. The kind of guitar player who loves Steely Dan and Rush! Right on.

Because this gig got rescheduled twice, we didn’t have alot of our own people come out. In fact it was just Jeannie, who was there to shoot video for us, and our friend Gary the trumpeter from the jazz group. But the place was half-full when we got there, and we had them by the time we finished the sound check.

It was a good test for a lot of things, including my new PA. I learned we need a good hour to set it up and soundcheck. I also learned it works really fucking amazingly. After the disaster Day Trippers gig last December I realized having control of the vocal sound is the most important thing for a club date.

The sound system has two 1000-watt main speakers. I optimized for lightness, since you gotta get ‘em in and out of the car and up onto poles. Then there’s a pair of 300 watt stage monitors. I didn’t know if this would provide enough coverage, especially for the drums in the back, but everyone could hear just fine. I was running the mixer from the stage, but once the soundcheck was over I literally didn’t have to do anything and could just relax and focus on performing. The mixer, BTW, I chose for it’s built-in compressors in the channel preamps, it’s onboard reverb/chorus/delay effects that saved us from having to schlep another piece of gear, and it’s separate monitor buss. All in all it worked great, and we got that fat live vocal sound I was really after.

Once we got underway it was pretty clear the people at the bar were really digging it. Must’ve been the right place for this kind of music. We opened with a couple funk numbers – Them Changes by Buddy Miles and I Got You by James Brown. Good horn tunes, right in our zone. Then it was some classic rock to show off our harmony singing – No Matter What by Badfinger and When I Saw Her Standing There. Next was the Blue Öyster Cult classic Burning for You, with yours truly on lead vocals. Then a couple of organ songs – Hush by Deep Purple and Magic Carpet Ride by Steppenwolf, followed by Gary doing a little SRV Pride and Joy. Then it was back to soul music with Knock on Wood and Get Ready. We ended the set with Can You Hear Me Knocking by the Stones, which turned out to be a real highlight.

The second set opened with We’re An American Band, and on to (Ain’t Nothin’ But a) House Party, and switching to sax for Domino. I sang lead on You May Be Right, and then Drift Away with Gary on lead vocals, and some random chick from the bar who looked and sounded a lot like Katy Perry sitting on background vocals. I guess she’d been hitting on Mike or vice versa, but she really could sing. Then it was Love Me Two Times, which was a bit rough for structure, and Pretzel Logic which was a bit rough for tempo and feel. We closed the set strong with a string of soul numbers – Devil With a Blue Dress/Good Golly, Dance to the Music, Hold on I’m Coming and Soul Man.

The first two sets ran an hour each, so the last set was shortened a bit. Songs included Come Together, Long Train Running with me on lead vocals, Rikki Don’t Loose the Number with Gary on lead vocals, Miami 2017 with me on lead vocals again, then In the Midnight Hour, Mustang Sally, and closing with Roadhouse Blues.

They invited us back to play again, and possibly do a regular gig there. So ya, good feelings all around. And we got it on video so we can put together some material for the web site and to try and get new gigs. Meanwhile we have a show in two weeks at Dudley’s in New Rochelle. Gonna spend the next couple rehearsals tweaking and tightening. Come out and see us on May 9!

Rocket Science

The thing about simplicity in art (or anything else I suppose) is that it’s actually harder than complexity. My natural tendency as a folder is toward the complex. It’s effortless in a way to keep on going, adding more detail, until you have what you want. But I’ve learned a lot from doing my first book, and I want to have enough simple to intermediate models to open it up to a wider appeal. To get to simple, you have to remove and remove until you get to what’s truly essential. Sometimes this involves jettisoning things you think are really important only to find they don’t matter at all.

Today I spent my time experimenting with simple rocket designs. The major insight was to make avoid the puffing-out phase, that is to make an X rather than and O when seen from above. It’s funny cuz I was corresponding with a colleague, explaining my goals for the new book, when a new design approach hit me mid-sentance. Came up with two or three good models that can be folded in 10 minutes or less. Also past the halfway point in model count, so that means to me critical mass.

Buzzy Tonic Unplugged

I was going thru my archives and found some video from a gig Erik and I did at a Froyo place a few years back. This was the first live show I did for an audience in over ten years, and it’s the one the made me want to get back into playing live again. It’s not the best sound, or the best venue, or even the best performance, but it’s still interesting, if for nothing else than to see how things have progressed.

We did two set, each consisting of half covers and half originals. I must say I haven’t thought about Erik’s originals (part 2) in a long time but they’re great songs and it’s great to hear them again.

Part 1 . Part 2 . Part 3 . Part 4

Taking the Easy Way Out

A bunch of news on the music front. First, it’s time to say goodbye to the Day Trippers, at least for the time being. Here’s one last video from our inaugural gig last August at Heights Fests in Berkeley Heights, NJ.

http://zingman.com/music/daytrippers/DT_HF_montage01.mov

Second, it looks like originals band, Buzzy Tonic is actually getting off the ground. I jammed last weekend with Charlie Guitar, and brought in young Wolfgang on bass. We got thru four songs together and all agree the songs sound good and the project is worth pursuing. Charlie calls Heat Wave “the crazy one”, but Wolfgang had no trouble keeping up. Now it looks like we may have a drummer to complete the lineup. Charlie reached out to a friend of his who listened to my demos and likes the songs, and agreed to come by next session, which will be next week. Not sure how long it’ll take to get a set together, but it’ll be fun. I suppose to really do justice to the records I’ll need to add a sax player, but that’s still down the line a ways.

Third, with Left Hook now getting our set together and looking for gigs, I put together a web page for the group:

http://zingman.com/music/lefthook.php

This part of a new round of updates to my site. Much more exciting stuff soon!

The Return of the Debut of the Left Hook

The debut show of my rock band, the Left Hook, was scheduled for last month but postponed due to the weather. We now have a new date: Saturday April 11. We also have a new bass player, Ken “Dr. Pluto”, replacing young Wolfgang Skywalker.

Left Hook remains a really smokin’ group, a real knockout. We have a great sound and loads of great material including funk, soul and classic rock, and are even better rehearsed than before. I’m playing sax, piano and singing. We have three strong vocalists and lots of harmonies, plus a slammin’ rhythm section, tasty guitars, everything you need. We have a new poster too. Here’s the info:

…

LEFT HOOK
Music with a punch!

Westchester’s newest classic rock funk & soul party band
appearing live

Saturday April 11, 9:00 PM
at The Fisherman’s Net, 129 6th St. Pelham, New York

New Song: Soul on Fire

I realize that I never shared the rough mix of my last song, To Be a Rock. That’s because I sort of parked it once I got the vocals down. It still needs some synths or guitars or something to really make it work. Still not sure exactly what, so instead I decided to put together the next song and bring it up to rough mix too, and then finish them off together.

This one is a jazzy, dancy number, sort of hybrid of swing, funk and disco. The main musical ideas I’ve had hanging around for a while; it just had to be hammered into shape. I did teach myself to play a pretty groovin’ walking bass line for the middle section. The lyrics are just something to sing that sounds good over a song that sounds like this. More or less about watching someone in the audience dance to the music while you’re playing sax at a gig. Inspired I suppose by the funk bands I was in in California. Still, I laid down the vocal track the other day and the performance brought the whole thing up a level. I did three takes straight thru with no overdubs, took less than an hour. Now of course this one needs the arrangement fleshed out too before I can share the track.

…

Soul On Fire

She don’t wanna hear no DJ
She wanna come and see the band play
Ah listen what the man on the stand say

She like a dancin’ and a bumpin’
Ah the room is really thumpin’
Listen then man on the stand tell you somethin’

Spirit in the night
Blinded by the light
In the midnight hour
When my soul’s on fire

She dance till dawn and the devil himself may care
Smoke in her eyes and fire in her hair
Spice in her smile and snakes stare in her glare

She got the groove
Yeah she got the moves
She got the legs
She even got the shoes

I got the horn
And I got the news
I got the sound
I even got the blues

She don’t wanna see no DJ
She wanna go and hear the band play
Listen what the man on the stand say

Paper Galore!

Back around Xmastime Brian Webb of OrigamiShop.us gave me a bunch of paper, to fold a bunch of things. Well this project is now complete (or at least the first batch); all that remains for the weather to clear up so I can get out to the post office. I folded some nice models and discovered some interesting papers along the way. Here’s the rundown.

Bear Hide – This was the first paper I tried, and the first thing I folded, naturally enough, was a Bear. Next was a Moose. The Bear was from an 8” square and the Moose from a 16” square. This paper looks and feels a bit like plain brown paper wrapping paper, except it’s thicker and tough, much link Wyndstone. Very foldable, perfect for models like these. An excellent paper, didn’t even need to wetfold. I’ve already used up my stock; must reorder.

Grainy – this came in a packet of 50cm sheets in a variety of colors. It’s another very nice paper. Bright colors, a bit on thick side, but not super-thick, with a bit of shine and texture on the surface, and springiness in the folds. I folded one of my Roses out of a 8” square. It came out very nice, better than the ones I usually fold out of kami. I also folded a Dragon from a 16” square. It also came out really nice. I had to wetfold a couple spots where the layers built up. Another really excellent, foldable paper.

Thai Duo – this paper is on the soft and thick side, and has a fuzzy texture. One side is either brown or blue, and the other is white (or at least a whiter shade of pale). I’ve been looking for a long time for a good paper for two-colored models, and this quickly became my favorite, at least for brown and blue subjects. I only had one 16” square so I divided it into four 8” squares. I made two foxes and two walruses and they all came out great, even at that small size. Again, no need for wetfolding. Imma order some more of this in brown to make a larger fox and some in blue to make a narwhal. Having finally found the right paper I can put those models to rest.

Rhino Hide – I made an Elephant because I don’t have a design for a rhino and didn’t feel like coming up with one. I used a 12” or 14” square. Rhino hide is another really good paper. A lot like Grainy but maybe a bit thinner, shiny one side.

Lokhu – this was paper I didn’t know before. The paper is thin, with a bit of a fibrous sheen to it, a bit soft, very interesting. I folded a Giant Squid out of 19” sheet. The model has a lot of layers which made it appropriate for thin paper. I had to wetfold it at the end so the tentacles would keep their curl, but it turned out great.

Agua – this is another paper I didn’t know before. It’s very beautiful, and thin but strong, with a texture on one side and kinda waxy on the other, and very crisp to fold; it almost resembles origamido paper. Normally I don’t work in style that requires this kind of paper; my preference runs to the ticker side. So I tried a few models to see what would work. I folded one of my roses, which came out nice enough, but perhaps not as soft and sculptural as I’d have liked. I folded one of my Penflower tessellations. That came out quite striking looking. Getting warmer. Then I tried on of my new Butterflies. These came out absolutely fantastic. Just the right kind of model to take advantage of the thinness and crispness of the paper. The winds are nice and sharp and the texture adds a lot to the appearance. The paper was thin enough to the legs and antennae, even working from a 6” square.

There’s lots of other papers still to explore, so I hope to have an update in the springtime. Meanwhile, thanks Brian!