Category: Music

Last night I saw Van Halen at Madison Square Garden, and they were great. Played 20 or 30 Van Halen songs. All their radio hits, a bunch of deep tracks and a bunch of songs off their new record.

Performance-wise they were better than when I saw them in the ’80’s. That time they all looked totally wasted and tired, worn out from the road. This time they were sober and energetic. Plus they had David Lee Roth back in the band!

Eddie and Alex were both in top form, better than ever. Maybe even perfect. After all this time I’m amazed all over again at what an amazing guitarist Eddie is. (On my personal list he’s probably the best guitarist ever in the world, or maybe tied with Jimmy Page). He’s such an icon it’s almost easy to take his genius for granted, but to see him play live really reminds you. Just fantastic. He can sound like the whole album with just one guitar. Great use of space, voicings, and contrast in all his playing. Lots of subtle musicianship in there. And then of course all the over-the-top riffs, speed and seemingly effortless virtuosity. All the solos were spot on, and he put in little improvised embellishments all over the place. Yet somehow it all always supports the song. During his extended solo he did a one-handed tap thing while rocking the volume knob with the other. Great effect and I’ve never seen anyone do that before.

Alex is one of the most awesome and underrated drummers out there. Great sound, great time, great chops, great parts for the songs. He had an extended solo too, and the intro to Hot for Teacher alone was worth it.

David Lee Roth was good but not quite living up to the studio recordings (admittedly a near impossible task). He still has the range but is not screaming high notes all the time, and on some songs he was still finding his way towards perfecting a new delivery. I think this was the 2nd show of the tour. I’d like to see them after a month. He’s still got dancing and karate kicks, although maybe a bit less jumping. He seemed a bit stiff the first part of the show, and he was using a headset mic for some reason. (Jeannie says to me “doesn’t he know Madonna uses on of those because she lip syncs?”) Later on he switched to a handheld mic and the sound was better and he appeared more relaxed. Maybe he had trouble hearing himself. Who knows. Anyway there were definitely some great moments, especially in the second half, and often as not he really nailed it. In any event, he’s Diamond Dave!

Wolfgang held his own just fine, and his presence lent a Hot Tub Time Machine vibe to the whole show. He and Eddie hit most of the vocal harmonies spot on, but Wolfie was off once or twice.

The sound in the hall was great, and the mix was clean and clear. Eddie had ten Marshall stacks behind him, but I think most were props. Three had mics in front of them, and a couple of times he got up there and worked the feedback. Wolfgang had 8 bass cabinets but only 2 were mic’d. The only mics I could see on Alex’s kit were two overheads. If there were close mics they must’ve been underneath, or built into the drums. I’d love to know. The bass drums had closed front heads.

Opening act was Kool and the Gang, which was a pleasant surprise. Looks like they have all the original members. They sounded tight, with a big ol’ horn section, lots of solos, and all their funk-soul hits. They made a nice contrast to VH. I’ve met the trumpet player Michael Ray because back in the 90’s he led a Sun Ra influenced jazz band called the Kosmic Krew that included my friend Adam on keyboards. I’ve even been to his house in New Orleans. He had a most excellent Voodoo shrine. Very nice guy.

My kids’ school put on a musical show this weekend, and I played in the band. It was a lot of fun and another good opportunity to get involved and get to know more of the families as well as to make some music. The show included kids from first to eighth grade, and as the name implies, featured hits from the last decades of pop music. I thought it was a really well put together show, especially given the time constraint. The kids were at a mix of levels but there were quite a number of really good performers featured as soloists and in small groups, and the large group numbers gave everyone a chance to be a part of it.

I played pretty much an equal split of sax and keyboards. I got the set list a couple of weeks ago, but only got the music on Monday and had the first rehearsal Wednesday. So the music came together really fast. The band was led by Joanne B., teacher at the school and a classically trained pianist who also does church organ gigs. The drummer John and guitarist Mike were the same guys from the cabaret show last November.

Here’s a set list with commentary.

1940’s:
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy – the show started out strong with three really talented singers from the 8th grade doing an Andrews Sister’s number. They really nailed it, with the harmonies, dancing, U.S.O. costumes and all. This was a fun one for me, since I got to open the show (tenor sax being the closest thing to a bugle available) and take a swing-style solo.

You Are My Sunshine – cute number for the little kids. Very sweet. I laid out.

1950’s:
Que Sera Sera – small group featuring some very good soloists on vocals. I laid out.

Yakety Yak – big group number. Great fun for me doing my King Curtis impression on the sax. Interestingly, this song and Boogie Woogie are both basically blues in C. We did an extended jam after each until the curtain opened again. Important to use genre-appropriate riffs and phrasing so as not to mash the two songs together.

1960’s:
Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head – big group; Michelle was part of this one. Burt Bacharach was indeed a philosopher of song. The band did a curtain jam on the coda, which was great fun. I remember as a kid that ending being the first thing I’d ever heard in an out time signature.

Walk Like a Man – small group number; the kid who sang the high part was really good. I played sax.

1970’s:
Let It Be – Michelle had a featured solo in this. She was very nervous about it ahead of time, but nailed it when the time came. This was my first keyboard song of the set, playing organ to back up the piano. Weird that a Beatles song would be in the 70’s, but there you go.

Thank You for the Music – the ABBA song performed by a group of girls from the middle grades. Nicely done. I laid out.

Dancing Queen – another ABBA number, performed by four girls from seventh grade, including Lizzy as featured soloist. They did quite well, especially the second show after the house adjusted the mics to pickup better. I played piano, basically backing up Joanne, using a Fender Rhodes sound and emphasizing the bass lines. I’d never studied this song before this week, but it’s really a gem of a pop number, with all kinds of great hooks woven in. I’m kind of fascinated by ABBA right now, how they out of nowhere (well, Sweden) and took over the pop music world and became one of the top five selling acts of all time.

Intermission
Pre-show, intermission and exit music included instrumental takes of Lady Madonna, Martha My Dear, Only the Good Die Young, and several other extemporaneous selections performed mainly by me and John. I seem to know lots of dark and down songs and had to scratch my head to recall upbeat and happy songs.

1980’s
Don’t Stop Believing – they did the Glee version which changed the key from E to G, which really confused Mike and me until we got used to it.

Uptown Girl – small group number. The boy who sang lead and the dancer who was the uptown girl were both really good. I played sax.

Footloose – big production number, including Lizzy. I played sax.

1990’s
You’ve Got a Friend In Me – little kids did this one. A great song which I already knew on piano (big Randy Neuman fan) but learned on sax.

MMMBop – Michelle was part of the group that did this one. It’s a simple song, but really at their level and delivered with great enthusiasm.

2000’s
Firework – Lizzy was in this number. Even though I admire Katy Perry’s fashion sense I can’t say I’m a really big fan of her voice or her music. Song-wise, this was just four-bar loop, something anyone could have thrown together in Garage Band in one evening. Still, the kids liked and it came across well.

Graduation (Friends Forever) – performed by the eighth graders. This was another musically simple number. I did the string section part on synthesizer, which rips off Pachabel’s Cannon quite directly. I was able to sneak in a bit of Whiter Shade of Pale.

I Gotta Feeling – everyone in band asked “The Beatles Song?” But that’s I’ve Got a Feeling. This was the Black Eyed Peas, another garage-band-loop kind of thing. And although the above two songs kinda grew on me, this one never did. Like the two previous two songs it has only one musical idea and is about too long by about two minutes. Luckily our arrangements for all of them were shortened. Joanne was a bit nervous for these last few songs because she likes to read the music and the amount of page turning was just ridiculous, not mention skipping over crossed out sections. I gave up and just jammed out. Anyway it was a good closer with all the kids on stage belting it out.

Okay here it is. A rough mix of the new Buzzy track Now and Forever. Enjoy!

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll know that Michelle has taken in interest in my home studio recordings and been working on ways to get into the act. She wrote a song a while back called Now and Forever for her mother. Very sweet. She came up with the lyric and melody and I liked it well enough to record, and helped her by adding chords and a piano part. Together we came up with an arrangement. It was Michelle’s idea to have a tambourine and have Lizzy play a flute solo, and to do the last chorus uptempo with a beat. We started recording it last fall before the Cabaret show and finished over Xmas vacation. I’ve been doing mixes the last couple of weeks and it’s nearly done. The only thing that’s been holding me up is blending the flute FX, but I think it’s pretty much there now. It’ll be ready in time for Jeannie’s birthday. So look for a posting of the audio file here soon.

This is the third song on my next album, whose working title is “Buzzy Third”. Michelle has another song in the works called “Now”. I have three more songs in the works, including a longish, prog-ish number that’s next. But with getting my new band off the ground I’m looking toward changing my approach to recording to be more live-in-the-studio. At the very least I’m working up the songs to play on piano and sing before I start in on recording them.

…

Now and Forever
Lyrics by Michelle Szinger
Music by Michelle Szinger and John Szinger

I’ve always loved you
And in my dreams
And forever and ever
I’ve always wanted your attention, yeah yeah yeah

Now, now and forever
I’ll be there for you if you need me
Now, now and forever
Now, now and forever
Now, now and forever

The wind blows one way
The earth turns one way
And forever and ever
I’ve always wanted to know why, yeah yeah yeah

Now, now and forever
I’ll be there for you if you need me
Now, now and forever
Now, now and forever
Now, now and forever
Yeah!

I just got back from playing at an open mic at a performance space called The Purple Crayon. It was my first time at the place, and they seem to go out of their way to provide a nice environment for artists. They had a nice PA and a helpful sound man, plus a drum set and grand piano.

When I arrived the crowd and performers were mostly kids. Made me feel really old. They all seem to write in this jingle-jangle post-alternative style, and none of them know many chords or much about melody, but they write these really down and angsty songs. Some of them could sing pretty well at least, and it went over with their friends. Later on there was a better balance of performers. One of the highlights for me was Erik’s daughter Ella, who’s exactly Lizzy’s age, sang a couple songs with Erik backing her up on guitar. She can really sing. We’ve decided that we’re gonna have Lizzy and Ella do the “las wages” part in Show Biz Kids when we do that song.

This was sort of a milestone in the development of my new band. Erik had said he’d made it a goal for the new year for us to do a gig playing three of each of our originals before the end of January. Well we came close. He played two of his songs and I played two of my songs, but each solo.

It was the live debut of a few of the Buzzy Tonic originals I’ve been working up. And it’s also my first ever solo gig as lead singer (while playing piano). And in this case, it was a completely solo performance. I played two songs: Ghost in the Machine, and Get On Back 2 U. It went well, and I feel like I passed a test and am ready to take to the next level.

The songs I played were written with a band in mind, and so the arrangements were very stripped down. Even playing as duo with Erik, I had him doing leads and providing some level of fullness and failsafe on the time, but all that was gone. Further, I usually play on a Fender Rhodes and use its sustain as part of my sound.

But tonite I was on a regular piano. Every single other person there played the guitar. The good news it that it was a grand, and it’s been a long time since I played on a grand, and never before in concert. The bad news is it felt kind of dead and needed a tune-up. The good news is it sounded good from the hall anyway. The other bad news is that the piano was set up so my back was to the audience, which was kind of weird and made it hard to interact with the crowd at the eye contact level. And the mic was set up on the treble side not the bass side, which is the wrong side, because one tends to lean and look down to the left as one is playing to keep an eye on the bass hand.

Ah well, for all that it was a good performance. The whole internet gadget age really paid off because Lizzy captured my songs on her phone and I’ve been able to study them already. When I’ve been practicing I’ve really just been concentrating on the not messing up the piano. So that paid off and my playing was relaxed and fluid and grooving, and any clams were minor and smoothly covered. Now I can take it to the next level and concentrate on putting more into the vocal performance and embellishing the right hand with riffs and all that jazz.