nadaladaDOTnet » My Music

Stanton Moore = Unbelievable

Greg — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 18:04:09 +0000

I’ve been a fan of Stanton’s for a while now, his resume to those that know him is well known. Founding member of Galactic, leader of the Stanton Moore Trio, session great and master clinician. Also, he is a favorite son of the great city of New Orleans and is considered one of its finest ambassadors.

His skills are incredible, his funk is dirty and swings hard, and his technique is absolutely flawless. For me (and the true sign of the great ones), he makes what he does look so EASY. Almost, dare I say attainable. Even though I know it isn’t. Not without hours, and hours of dedication and years of study.

This clip illustrates his overall funkiness, taken from a class he led in London, 2007:

And then, there’s his distinctive take on the shuffle as interpreted through his impression of Clyde Stubblefield:

The man is just gifted and astounding. His playing NEVER bores me and does nothing but inspire me. Enjoy.

Tommy Lee, love him or hate him…

Greg — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 20:26:09 +0000

I haven’t talked too much about drummers or music in a while. But I came across this video teaser for Motley Crue’s own Tommy Lee and his crazy new spin (literally) on drum solos.

Seriously, love him or hate him, you cannot deny the man is unique and totally, 100% undeniably INSANE.

Who else would think of creating a mini roller coaster mixed with multi-media mixed with rocking drumming chops to create an experience that I KNOW I haven’t seen and doubtful you have either.

Visual proof:

Too many people focus on his exploits as a “rock star”. And, though the evidence is CERTAINLY out there (the “video” with Pam Anderson, the arrests, the public brawl with Kid Rock, et all), not enough conversation is had or focused on his abilities as a world class rock drummer.

Many of his peers will speak to that effect as well as top line rock producers that have worked with him in studio. He’s got solid chops and most importantly a solid groove. I’ve always liked him more as a player than a character. But this new solo experience? It’s the PERFECT marriage of his skills in both areas.

Passing on the passion

Greg — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 17:13:31 +0000

Remy's first guitar, right after the purchase

This weekend, I took my 9 year-old son Remy to get his first guitar. He started guitar lessons with my boy JT from Dull Boy Jack last week and seemed really pumped to play guitar and learn the instrument. Of course for me, there is something far larger and more satisfying to this new purchase. Passing on the passion.

As is well documented on this website, music is as fundamental to me as drinking, breathing and eating. I can’t survive without it. I can’t even imagine my life without music. It has consumed me from as far back as I can remember and is easily the largest passion in my life outside of being a parent. I was the kid that hid in the den with headphones dissecting “Revolver” by the Beatles or “A Night at the Opera” by Queen instead of playing outside every day (of course I did that too, but a lot of the time I was listening to music). By the time I was 12, I was reading tons of books on rock bands and I knew as much about the history of rock-n-roll as anyone around me including my very well read Uncle Andy who definitely taught me a thing or 12 about great bands. But I’m getting off track.

My boy has been talking about being a rock star since he was around 5. He’s been on stage with me and felt what it’s like to be in front of people with all that volume and power around you. He’s come to rehearsals with my band so he sees that there is a lot of work involved to being a competent player. He’s also been to a couple of concerts (well, if you count The Wiggles) and so he loves the live setting. He also sings and hums all the time no matter what is playing in the background or where he is. Clearly, the DNA did it’s job but he has his own thing going on to with music.

Now, we’ll get to see what it’s about with him. My boy JT has the right approach, and he’s taught a few kids this young. Guitar is a tough instrument to learn at that age but I’m confident that JT will plant the right seeds. We’ll just see how they grow. Even if these lessons don’t stick, I can tell that I’ve effectively passed on the passion to my kid. What he does with it now is on him but it will be exciting for me and his family to watch how it manifests itself in the future.

Tragic Loss, R.I.P. Richie Hayward

Greg — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 22:13:41 +0000

While I was blissfully hiking over this past weekend, the music world and more specifically, the world of drummers lost a truly gifted player named Richie Hayward.

If you’re in the know, then you know he was/is/forevershallbe the indomitable rhythmic spirit of the great Little Feat. If you’re not in the know, I suggest you rush out and get any of the first 6 Little Feat discs and more specifically Waiting for Columbus which is truly one of THE greatest live records EVER recorded. The man was seriously one of the funkiest humans that ever picked up sticks. He WAS the swamp in their swing.

I feel honored to have met him at NAMM in 1994. He was gracious, humble and warm having not known me or having any idea why I was talking with him (I was trying to get an endorsement with Remo heads and he was there at the same time). He will be missed but thankfully we have TONS of his music on disc and on video. To wit, enjoy this killer clip from 1976 doing “Fat Man in the Bathtub”.

R.I.P. you funky motherSHUTYOURMOUTH!

Dull Boy Jack @ 1st Thursday

Greg — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 18:16:21 +0000

Full stage view

My view

My band Dull Boy Jack played at our good friends SwellPath’s last big 1st Thursday gathering for Summer 2010. We had the pleasure of playing it last summer and had a great time doing so.

Last year we took a more calculated approach playing specific set lengths and trying to keep it like one of our normal shows but this year was way different and I think that had a lot to do with the crowd. There were SO many people out on the streets it was incredible. We had crowds gather here and there during the first 2 sets but by the time we started the 3rd set…either the booze had set in for the people or they were interested in hearing some music because we had an awesome 3rd set.

Drums and setlist

JT's weapons

We started off with some good blues tunes and by the time we got to “Hoochie Koochie Man” we had quite a crowd lined up. Playing 1st Thursday reminds me of Mardis Gras since there is a constant stream of people walking by and it’s rather festive. This gathering is not too much different except that there’s less drunk people and open displays of skin (which when you’re on stage can be quite interesting, but that’s another post….). We had a big crowd hanging out after that song and also sold some CD’s and even had some gig offers from doing what we do. It was pretty cool. Especially because gigging with the trio is something we haven’t done a lot of in 2010.

JT is ready!

JT's rig

I will say that this gig fired us up and has us re-calibrating what to do in 2011. We have 2 records out for sale and a 3rd that we need to finish. I think now the focus is how many shows do we want to do a year and where do we want to play? These 1st Thursday gigs are awesome though because of the format. We’ll see what this does for our planning.

“Live @ the Cascade Blues Association”….

Greg — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:48:12 +0000

Back in June, Dull Boy Jack competed in the Cascade Blues Association’s “Journey to Memphis” 3 day event.

The competition draws blues bands from all over the western United States and is usually the best time to catch hot West Coast blues bands doing their thing with the winner travelling to Memphis, Tennessee to play one night with other top blues acts from around the country. It’s kind of a grind, 9 bands in a night. Everyone uses the same back line (drums, amps, etc) and each act gets only 10 minutes to set up.

We went on in the early part of the first night and did a yeoman’s job in my humble opinion (I had to deal with a monster 8 piece drum kit, a big deal considering I play a 4 piece kit). We did a 5 song set showcasing some of our more rocking stuff. This clip is our last song from the set, a medley of Stevie Ray Vaughn’s “Pride and Joy” (done DBJ style) and “Love Rocket” from our second record “Sweet Sassy”.

Thanks to Chrissy Van Osdol for capturing it on vid for us.

iPhone’s are fun

Greg — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 18:13:33 +0000

Last week at my weekly Dull Boy Jack rehearsal I thought I’d experiment with my iPhone.

Propped it up behind me (though the angle turned out to be a little odd) and came up with this performance for “Hoochie Koochie Man”.

Sound quality is suspect but it was a fun experiment.

Glad they are back

Greg — Mon, 24 May 2010 22:15:12 +0000

Stone Temple Pilots that is. This week (tomorrow, 5/25/10) sees their first new release in 9 years and a flurry of new dates coming.

Can’t say how thrilled I am to have one of my favorite bands from the 90′s back in action. Watched a concert from March in Chicago last night on Palladia which showed them in fine form too.

The cool thing for me is I have been going back to all the side projects too.

I liked Army of Anyone which came in out in 2007 but today I finally found Talk Show available for download on Amazon. This was the short lived project with Duncan Coutts (from Ten Inch Men, so-so LA alt something band). This was a really cool disc that I regretted losing over the years. The band didn’t sell any records but I just loved this album. Thought Duncan was a cool addition to their thing and he was a nice change of pace considering how f**ked up Weiland was in 96-97.

Anyway, regardless, happy to be listening to Talk Show and happy STP are BACK!
Been too long guys.

Glad to be gigging in the sun again

Greg — Wed, 12 May 2010 05:38:39 +0000

Been a while since I got to play outdoors but this summer is shaping up nicely. Kicked off summer with a Closed Captioned gig this past weekend at Bethany Vineyards in Ridgefield, Washington.

We played 3 long sets to many drinkers of wine and consumers of buffet food. Was perfect weather, 70 degrees and sun. Made me dang happy. More shows coming this summer from Dull Boy Jack too.

@ Bethany Vineyards with CC 05.08.10

Dull Boy Jack, rolling into 2010

Greg — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 21:15:40 +0000

Back in November of 2009, my band Bull Boy Jack came up with a cool idea to help market ourselves. We set up at Quiet Life Productions in Vancouver, Washington (owned by our good friend Keith Laurent) and filmed a live rehearsal. Of course we gussied up the studio a bit and vibed it out but the end results are starting to come together.

I’m pleased to share our first video from this session for “My Dog Spike” from our first record “Buttered on the Right Side”.

This video can also be seen on our Reverb Nation page. Credit is also due to JT for putting this clip together with the footage from the shoot, and also to our 4th member Dave Boyle from Studio 212 here in Portland for the live sound and mixing.