The Preachers' November and December Gigs

Hey, here's what's happening with the Preachers in November and December:

 

11/29 - Jazzbones in Tacoma, WA.  Showtime is 8:00 PM.  $6.00 cover.  This will be our first time appearing at this venue, so we hope  to see some of our Tacoma peeps at this show.  Tickets are available online from the Jazzbones website. 

 

The owner contacted Stoop Down earlier this week and complained that no one had purchased any tickets to the show yet.  We checked the club's web site, and lo and behold, this gig wasn't even on their calendar, how unusual!  It is now, so please buy a ticket, would ya?  We promise to play good for y'all!

 

11/30 - H2O in Anacortes, WA.  Showtime is 7:30 PM.  Located right next door to the Rockfish Grill (same owners), we hear that this venue gets to rocking!

 

12/1 - The Swiss in Tacoma, WA.  Say what?  TWO Preachers gigs in Tacoma on one weekend?  The band will be playing a short set (6:25 - 7:15 PM) at the Friends of the Holidays benefit.  It's a good cause, so be there!

 

 

 

12/6 - Preachers Mike Lynch and Patty Mey will be performing at the Legends of the Blues Concert at the Byrnes Performing Arts Center in Arlington, WA.  Showtime is 7:00 PM.  $15.00 cover.  You can buy tickets online here:

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/508572

 

 

You can check out the Boneyard Preachers here.  See you at the nightclub!

Some Weber Speakers and a gig at Duff's Garage

I finally pulled the trigger on a quartet of Weber speakers for my reissue Fender Bassman LTD amp.  I chose the 10A100T model speaker, which Weber describes as a clone of the late '50s Jensen P10R.  The main difference between this speaker and the 10A100 Weber speakers that I have bought in the past is that the 10A100T has a ribbed cone whereas the 10A100 has a smooth cone.  Both are 10-inch speakers with one-inch voice coils and are rated at 15 watts of power handling capability.  Alnico magnets, of course.

So what's the difference?  The smooth cone speaker (a clone of the early '50s Jensen speakers) should distort earlier than the speaker with the stiffer ribbed cone.  The ribbed cone speakers should work just fine for me, because I like some speaker distortion, but not tons of it. 

Here's a photo of the Weber speakers installed in the Bassman amp.  Note that, just like the in original Fender Bassman, the magnet covers have to be removed from the upper speakers in order to reinstall the amplifier. 

It is hard to quantify the difference between how speakers sound, but I will try here.  Compared to the reissue Jensen speakers (ribbed cones also, but rated at 25 watts) that this amp was shipped with, I would say that the Weber speakers sound punchier, more articulate, and put out more bass.  From past experience, I am anticipating that the new speakers will develop a nice fat, warm distortion and even more bass output as they break in.

My first gig with these new speakers in the amp was at Duff's Garage in Portland last night.  I found that I had to dial up the Presence and Treble controls and dial back the Bass and Mid controls to get my sound.  I think that this is gonna work out fine.  I sold all four of the reissue Jensens in two days, so it's all good!

Speaking of the Duff's gig, we had fun playing there again, and were glad to see some of our Portland peeps (hi Kristi and Rob!) including Uncle Ray Varner, bassist David Kahl, and harp blowers Arthur Moore and Jim Wallace.  There were some pretty darn good dancers at the gig, including one couple that was doing some great (and unusual, for me to see anyway) Balboa steps.  Here's an example of some freestyle Balboa dancing:

The Preachers at Duff's Garage. Photo created by Lauri Miller.

 

You can check out the Boneyard Preachers here.  See you at the nightclub!

Ships Passing in the Night...

I, and some of my Seattle musician pals, had a brief  but interesting interaction with the excellent keyboard player Alberto Gianquinto in the very early '80s.

I am going to guess that this happened (someone correct me if I'm wrong here) in the winter of 1980.  My excellent girlfriend at the time, Monica, had gone on vacation to Mexico with her friend Patsy. When they returned Monica told me that they had met this great blues piano player by the name of Alberto Gianquinto who was playing for tips on the beach where they were hanging out.  And, Patsy was going to fly Alberto up to Seattle to hang out - would I like to meet him?

The name Alberto Gianquinto rang a bell with me right away, because I knew that someone by that name had played on the first two James Cotton Blues Band albums.  I didn't know it at the time, but Alberto had also recorded with Elvin Bishop, Son Seals, and Santana.  So yeah, I would like to meet him!  But why in earth did they discover him playing on the beach for tips?

I was playing in a band with Seattle bassist John Lee at the time.  The meeting happened at a long-gone joint on the main drag in Anacortes, Washington.  This place had a ridiculous stage located about ten feet in the air where every piece of equipment had to be lugged up a staircase, one at a time.  I recall that it was snowing that day and the windshield wipers on John's truck were only working intermittently.  Occasionally, one of us had to roll down the passenger window to have a look forward and help John stay on the road. 

We made it to the gig somehow, set up, and played the first set.  And sure enough, Monica and Patsy showed up with Alberto in tow.  The club had an upright piano located on the floor below the stage, so we put a mic on it and our new piano player wailed away with us.  It was like suddenly having Lafayette Leake join the band!

Alberto was a great keyboardist and even greater storyteller (he told Monica an Patsy that he had to leave Mexico because of some problems associated with federal piracy charges), but he was on a total losing streak at the time.  He didn't have transportation, a job, money, or a keyboard that he could use to gig with.  He did the sofa circuit thing for a while (Patsy, Seattle guitarist Jack Cook, and John Lee put him up) in Seattle but finally wore out his welcome and headed back to a warmer place, his hometown, the San Francisco Bay area. 

We heard that he died there on the street, homeless, in 1986.

Hugh's Blues at the Salmon Bay Eagles

I dropped by the Salmon Bay Eagles club last night to see a rare performance of the Seattle band Hugh's Blues.  Various versions of this band, always fronted by harp blower and singer Greg "GW" Levell, were a fixture on the Seattle music scene from about the mid-'80s  to (I'm guessing) the late '90s. 

GW quit playing altogether after that and the band members went their separate ways, so it has been a long time since I have seen him.  I have been hearing reports recently that his reanimated band was playing occasionally, and there they were last night at the Eagles, in the flesh!  GW told me that he has retired from the concrete business after 35 years, and is now going to school. He has been married for 13 years and is living with his wife in North Bend.

I got the impression that he is not really interested in "starting the band again," but he will probably do these one-off gigs every now and then for the fun of it.  I saw the band's first set, which consisted mainly of the soul-blues material that GW is known to favor. 

Here are some photos from the gig:

Left to right: Jack Cook, Bert DeCoy (GW's son-in-law), and Greg "GW" Levell.

Left to right: Al Farlow, Steve Branca, and Billy Reed.

 

 

Now here's something you don't see very often.  A harp player blowing through a piggyback 1963 Fender Tremolux!  Ain't she a beauty?  I'll bet this is a killer guitar amp.

You can check out the Boneyard Preachers here.  See you at the nightclub!

The Second Annual Harp Hysteria Show at the Salmon Bay Eagles

We had a great time playing at the second annual Harp Hysteria show at the Salmon Bay Eagles club last Saturday.

The Preachers did a great job of backing up me, Portland's Arthur "Fresh Air" Moore, and our pal Joe T. Cook.  Joe and his family moved to the Seattle area recently from Minneapolis where he was a fixture on the blues scene for 25 years.

Our thanks to Zab and Eagles for hosting this gig, and all the fans for turning out!  The Eagles has been hosting blues music in Ballard for over 20 years now.  They provide a stage, lights, and a PA system - what a concept! 

Here are some photos from the gig for you:

Let the games begin!

The Portland crew. That's Arthur Moore on the right.

Arthur and Steve Yonck.  Some of Arthur's friends from Portland sat in during his set.

Blues fans Isis and Lauri.  Hi guys!

The Boneyard Preachers with some harp player.  That's my lucky "Nekkid Girl" shirt. Photo created by staff photographer Lauri Miller.

Joe T. Cook and Steve.  Joe is a great singer, harp player, and songwriter!

Joe rockin' the chromatic harp.

That's all, folks!  Joe T. Cook and the Boneyard Preachers.  Photo created by Zab.

You can check out the Boneyard Preachers here.  See you at the nightclub!

The Preachers play the Issaquah Salmon Days Festival

The Preachers played our last outdoor gig this year at the Issaquah Salmon Days Festival last Saturday.  We played the last set of the day, and were on our way home by 6:30 PM.  Unlike our last community festival gig, the sun was out and it was reasonably warm.

See? Sunlight!

The PA was sounding good this day and I noticed that the monitors were being mixed by a guy on an iPad - wireless!  First time I've seen that!

Umm...now let's see, where was I?

I noticed an older fellow standing in front of the PA main speakers that was apparently hard of hearing as he kept cupping his ears with his hands towards the speakers.  He seemed to really be enjoying the band.  Later, he gave a tip for the band to someone in the nearby Washington Blues Society booth.  How much of a tip? One dollar!

Tomorrow night is the Preachers second annual harp show at the Salmon Bay Eagles in Ballard, featuring Arthur "Fresh Air" Moore, Joe T. Cook, and yours truly.  We hope to see you there!

The photos in this blog were created by staff photographer Lauri Miller.

You can check out the Boneyard Preachers here.  See you at the nightclub!

Early Warning!! Really Big Harp Show at the Salmon Bay Eagles!

The second annual Harp Hysteria show will occur this coming Saturday, October 12th at Seattle's blues clubhouse, the Salmon Bay Eagles.

The Boneyard Preachers will be backing up yours truly, plus harp blowers Arthur "Fresh Air" Moore (from Portland, Oregon), and our pal Joe T. Cook, a recent transplant to Seattle from the Minneapolis blues scene.

Showtime will be 8:30 PM, and there will be a $5.00 cover for non-Eagles members.  Sorry, there will be no pest...er, guest list for this event.

So come on down and be somebody!

 

You can check out the Boneyard Preachers here.  See you at the nightclub!

Weird Gig # 9

Sometime back in the mid-'80s I joined the David Brewer Band for a gig at the clubhouse of a well-known one-percenter motorcycle club in Salem, OR.  The band included myself on harp, David on guitar, drummer Kirk "KT" Tuttle, and Abu Nafee on bass.  Abu normally played guitar and slide guitar in David's band, and I don't recall why he was playing bass on this particular gig.

The four of us met at the old Fremont Tavern that afternoon, loaded our gear into a small rented trailer, and split for Salem in KT's suicide door Lincoln Continental.   Things were going fine until the Lincoln's engine started running badly enough for us to have to stop several times by the side of the road.  After cooling off for a while it would start up again, but the problem continued until KT discovered the fuel filter was clogged.  After removing the debris from the filter, we were on our way.

We arrived in Salem many hours late, but set up and played anyway.  We probably would have played the whole night except that Abu, who had not been ingesting any of the abundant party favors, announced that that was it, he wasn't playing any more!  And not another bass note was played. 

The rest of the night is a blur, but at some point, I recall unrolling my sleeping bag on a couch in the clubhouse and making a futile attempt to sleep.  After a few minutes, I heard this faintly familiar (and for some reason, ominous) rattling sound.  I peeked out of the bag and saw a leering club member getting ready to spray paint the sleeping bag.  Okay, I got it - no sleeping during parties at the clubhouse!

Later the next morning we pulled ourselves together and started packing our stuff up for the trip home.  One problem - Abu and his bass guitar had disappeared.  His amp was still there, but he was nowhere to be seen.  We searched the premises and the neighborhood, but no Abu.  Bleary and tired, the remnants of the band headed back to Seattle.

It turned out that Abu, fed up with the shenanigans at the gig and its aftermath, had somehow got himself to the Salem Greyhound bus station in the middle of the night and went home.  He actually arrived in Seattle before the rest of us.

I'm outta here!

I should say that, when I talked to Mr. Brewer about this gig he said that he didn't see anything "weird" about it.  It was just like all of his other gigs, except for, you know, the disappearing bass player part.

You can check out the Boneyard Preachers here.  See you at the nightclub!

Patty Mey Update and the Bite of Broadview Show

Patty Mey attended the Preachers' rehearsal last week and two gigs this weekend.  She did a fine job, and didn't seem to be having any problems associated with her recent stroke difficulties. This is good!

However, notice that she is wearing a medical boot in the photo below, taken at the last rehearsal.  She broke a bone in her foot when she went to the hospital (before the stroke) for severe back pain a few weeks ago.  It should take six to eight weeks for that to heal now.  When it rains, it pours, amiright?

Nurse!  Duct tape please!

Also, today the Preachers played at a small outdoor community festival called the Bite of Broadview in north Seattle.  The weather forecast called for heavy rain and 35+ mph winds today, and that is just what happened.  The band that was scheduled to play before us bailed on the gig, since they apparently weren't getting paid anyway.  Sensible folks!

We were schedule to play a 90 minute set, and made it most of the way through, but we finally quit about 20 minutes early.  At that point, I had covered my amp with my coat to keep water out that was making it through the overhead canopy.  And you know what?  Monitors covered with plastic sheeting don't sound very good.

The view from the Bite of Broadway stage.  I see you, Lauri!

After the gig, Lauri, the Dynamic Duo, and I repaired to Nick's Off Market restaurant (we like this place - try the rosemary lemonade) for a late lunch.  While we were there, the neighborhood was engulfed by a torrential rainstorm accompanied by very high winds.  We felt sorry for any bands that were still attempting to play at the Broadview festival, located not too far away.

You can check out the Boneyard Preachers here.  See you at the nightclub!

Patty Mey Update

I chatted briefly with the Preachers' bassist Patty Mey today, and she gave me this health update:

She still has numbness on her left side, but other than that, doesn't feel too bad.  Her neurologist examined her this week and told her that she is recovering normally, and that it could take a couple of more months before the numbness subsides.

Patty played at a jam session downtown last week and didn't have any physical difficulties, but she was more tired afterwards than usual.  She will be attending the Preachers' rehearsal next weekend, so we will provide another update afterwards.

Patty said to say thanks to everybody for the kind thoughts.  Keep 'em coming!

Patty and KT (RIP) playing at the Corner Inn in West Seattle many moons ago.

You can check out the Boneyard Preachers here.  See you at the nightclub!