New York Denizen

woot

2007-11-30T16:39:00.001-08:00

Audition was last night, I met the guys, they are all cool dudes.
Just got the thumbs up today and i am in. The band is called "Working man"

They have a singer/keyboardist, drummer and guitarist, the guitarist has a packed large furman pedal board...probably 2x as many as i had back home, which is a lot.
He has a sampler for the nifty sounds in new world man opening, and a few other tunes.

Plus he just bought a really rare moog pedal board for 3k, now that's dedication to sound like rush! pretty cool to watch him play guitar and the pedal board at the same time hehe

I bought a pigtronix distortion/fuzz pedal, gonna try to get the nasty/gnarly ric sound with it for some of the tunes.

Anyway here's our setlist, gig on the 28th of dec

A Passage to Bangkok
Red Sector A
Anthem
Xanadu
Marathon
Show Don't Tell
Freewill
The Trees
The Enemy Within
Natural Science
Digital Man
Vital Signs
Hemispheres: Prelude
Working Man
Limelight
Red Barchetta
Tom Sawyer
Jacob's Ladder
New World Man
Subdivisions
Distant Early Warning
The Spirit of Radio

More auditions!

2007-11-27T17:27:00.000-08:00

Yes more auditions....stumbled upon craigslist ads within the last few weeks that sound promising.
A rush cover band covering my favorite era late 70's-mid 80s rush!! 2112/Hemispheres/p-waves/movepictures/signals/graceunderpressure

They have a pretty long songlist, but i played many of these tunes with Paul/Alex many years ago.

Also got in contact with a guitarist who wants to form a dream theater cover band, so i get the joy of learning hard stuff like this. Dream theater Bassline

My Musical goals for playing out here in NY were twofold:
1) get into a regular gigging band
2) get into a challenging band w/good musicians (even if not to play just to learn more be it jazz/improv/progmetalshiznit etc etc...)

Unfortunately the last band i was in broke up because the Guitarist wanted to play traditional jazz standards. The door is open to do another Jam authority gig though, who knows..

Back from SF

2007-11-20T11:02:00.000-08:00

Headed out to SF over the past 4 days, for my bro Paul's wedding. Congrats again Paul & Jennafer, Very happy for you guys!
It was cool see'ing old friends once again, and new family and friends on Jennafer's side. The trip back from SF to NY only took 4.5 hours it almost felt like i just took a short drive home, very fast and beat the dreaded holliday rush.

Oh yeah forgot to post a video from halloween, i went to see zappa plays zappa at the beacon theater.
Zappa

Went to the village after, lots of freako costumes, but too many people...i think i'll skip that next year

ys on bass

2007-10-28T19:16:00.001-07:00

Here's a lil playing. Spent this month trying to get this tune down, it was fun to transcribe to a tapped bass piece

October stuff

2007-10-28T19:01:00.000-07:00

Long time no post, Well October is coming to a close and the weather is finally cooling down. It was still fairly warm almost the whole month, which was odd.

Eric C and Molly were out for a few days so we hung out a bit, went to some Morrocan food place and smoked hookas

Yesterday was bassplayer live 2007. They had clinics which i got some good info from.
It was pretty surreal walking around with All the bass heroes Steve Bailey, Stu hamm, Jonas hellborg, Gary willis, Matt Garrison, Doug Wimbish etc..
I was walking along the displays and Tony levin walks right by, i was a little startstruck, he was doing personal greetings at the ampeg booth.
A few hrs later They had a concert afterwards and Tony Levin/Lee Sklar got awards for lifetime achievment.
At the end of the night there was a big all star Jam like 10 bass players up there trading solos. Fun fun.

myspace

2007-09-17T19:23:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah forgot to mention we got a myspace up fer like a month now.
Feel free to add us.

Myspace link

Sep/11 Gig results

2007-09-16T15:26:00.001-07:00

Had a good time at 169 bar, it was again a tuesday night but a better crowd way down in Chinatown. We opened for two other bands, even got another band offer from some good players in a cover band lol.

Some audio clips:

Click here to listen 'Gig2-Clip1'
Click here to listen 'Gig2-Clip2'

Boston mini trip

2007-09-16T15:11:00.000-07:00

Just spent last Wed/thurs in Boston, Mostly walking round, checkin out the old stuff.
Pretty easy to walk around most parts of downtown, North end, West end, Back end etc. Went in Berklee music school for a bit(wished i could be 18 again to enroll haha)
Got a few beerz in local bars. I was abit lazy with my camera ;0

Sun box + plans

2007-09-11T08:30:00.001-07:00

I was stuck at home the end of august, threw out my back again Argh! I hate it, your pretty much immobile for a few days and i had to take it easy to let it heal up.

On the good side i feel better now, Found a good chiro, which my insurance actually covers. Got this week off too

I had some time to start studying for the 2nd test on Sun cert, i need to finish it this year. A co-worker helped me find a Sun Netra, pretty tiny box they got IDE drives, built in Nic, serial port+Lom, and usb connections but that's about it.

Saw Mike Stern last night, Great legendary jazz guitarist, and awesome band. Janek Gwizdala rips it up on bass! Janek Myspace

Tonight we have another gig, in China town w/the jam authority guys.
A progressive metal guitarist contacted me from a old post, might do something with him as well.

Tomorrow I leave for Boston to be a tourist again, yay!

My pad to cental park

2007-08-20T19:03:00.000-07:00

Weather was almost SF like Sunday, 68 degrees so i decided to go for good spin to da park.
I took the route i usually take so far to get to williamsburg bridge. Here is one of my favorite streets to ride down, Usually it's pretty shady with the trees.

Here's the start of the williamsburg bridge, a statue with "Valley forge" written on it.

Ive been accross williamsburg bridge a few times now, but have not ventured into manhattan on bike yet. It's a great bridge to ride accross two seperate 2lane bike /pedestrian lanes, they are suspended high above the bridge so it's a little bit of a hill on single speed getting up there.

Took me a while to find the best streets according to the NYC bike map to ride.
I went up 8th ave mostly, since i dont go to west side that much.
Besides a few aggressive cabbies, it's not bad at all riding, feels very natural if you've done a lot of city riding. Drivers are very aware of bikes since there are quite a few of em in NY.

got to central park it was pretty crowded since it was sunday morning, lots of people doing a bit of everything, horse rides too.

I was surprised how fun it was just to ride the park loop, No need to stop, pretty good pace through the whole park and it even had a hill climb at the north end.
There were some very fast riders as well zoombing by me... I have a exceuse im outta shape and on a single speed!

took me 2 hrs 45 mins roundtrip. This was also me looking at the map, standing around like a goofball in the street etc...

Hmm, I bet i could commute to work in a hour or less

Gig Results

2007-08-15T18:20:00.000-07:00

Our first gig was last night, It was a tuesday night so not much of a crowd. All in all it went pretty well.

45 minutes of improvised music. we played around with "sunshine of your love" by cream
but it went other places from there. Everyone was happy with the end result and we plan to get more gigs in the near future.

Here's a track

Firsttune

a pic of the in house rigs

Jon getting ready to Rock out

Prospect park

2007-08-12T20:31:00.001-07:00

Checked out prospect park today, since it was a most excellent day to go fer a ride.
It's a neat park, Brooklyn's big public park, smaller then central park though. Streets were closed off so the lanes were all bikes or people jogging.

It's a good enough size to do laps around on yer bike, so if i need to get in a quick bike workout this will be the spot. People keep all traffic going in a counter clockwise direction so that's a good thing when you got your pace going

Xtreme weather

2007-08-08T16:00:00.000-07:00

I got woken up twice this morning to really really loud thunder, and the lightning was going off like crazy about 5-6am.

The flooding was pretty bad, it shutdown almost every subway line. The two i take were unusable so it was either wait forever for a crowded bus or just turn around and wait it out a few hrs.
I got remote access to my comp from home so decided to do that.
Trains started running again at 11am, My co-workers say this is not normal for MTA to shutdown so many trains at once like this.

Really humid today too which had me sweating like a pig.

Jazz Teacher

2007-08-06T16:47:00.001-07:00

One of my goals in coming out here was to find a great Jazz bass teacher to continue my studies.
I was going to Michael wilcox in the bay area who was great, but this is NYC home to a large amount of Jazz bass heads.

I found a teacher named Mike Frost who was highly reccomended by quite a few people, and traveled out to Lynbrook long island to meet up with him. Great guy and i am sure i will be picking up a lot from him. He actually studied under Jaco Pastorius at one time.

http://www.mcfrost.com/home.html

Gig

2007-08-04T06:48:00.001-07:00

A gig already that was fast...
clicky

Burritos

2007-08-04T06:43:00.000-07:00

I realized how much i missed mexican food after moving. There is of course lotsa good food in NYC but finally found a decent place called Taco chulo, i make a weekly trip there to stock up on some good eats

Dang Thunderstorms

2007-07-29T10:30:00.000-07:00

Another thunderstorm today, bah. was not raining all morning so I tried to beat it by heading out on my bike but sure enough it started raining 10 minutes later. Why's it gotta rain on weekends :(

I jammed with a guitarist playing for 25 yrs, sounded pretty good just for the 45 minutes we played. He has a gig booked on Aug 14th, and will be looking for a drummer.
It's the type of music i want to play, Rock based improvisation but whatever influences we have
are brought to the table. the search now goes to finding a good drummer to form up the trio.

Studio jammin

2007-07-20T19:51:00.000-07:00

Neighbor called me up today, he set up a jam between him(keyboards) a drummer and guitarist.
It was fun to play again.
My neighbor is a great keyboardist, with a pretty unique style. The drummer and him were in a Acid jazz band in the early 90's around the bay area so had a MMW vibe going on.
I made it a point to play simple grooves, sounds better most of the time.

Tomorrow i meet with a fusion guitarist and drummer, and Sunday with a group of Alternative rock guys. As well as a jam band in two weeks. Hopefully one of these work out and i can get in a regular band again

Stone NYC

2007-07-15T20:41:00.001-07:00

Checked out the stone NYC it's a place run by John Zorn for avante garde bands, It was really tiny and Humid in there.

There was a band called the secret chiefs 3, it's pretty much the project of
Trey spruance. Very wierd mix of music, at times they would
sound like a surf band then bust into a middle eastern tinged riff, with violin screeching melodies
and then end in a haunting passage etc...Unique, odd and cool sounding stuff.

Trey looks a lot like Frank Zappa i realized, surrounded by 6 musicians he was pretty much band leader making lots of hand signals and gestures to all the young musicians in his band.

secret chiefs myspace

The only memory i have of Trey is Mr bungle playing at Tom's house back in the day,
I gotta get more of his stuff.

4th

2007-07-04T20:07:00.000-07:00

Landlord hooked us up in the backyard with a good BBQ and booze, The apartment tenants and about 30 other people showed up. My neighbor across from me is also from SF and producer in the daytime, we had quite a few things to talk about in terms of NYC music scene, recording etc...

Afterwards we got to check out the rooftop fireworks, a really good view of the fireworks from the city and we did not even have to go anywhere!

4th july

Various Bands

2007-06-26T20:43:00.001-07:00

I checked out a few shows last weekend as well. Just looking in the village voice there was a shitload of good music coming up this summer. Have to be careful in my music budget...get's expensive pretty fast!

Allan Holdsworth / Mahavishu project - Great fusion guy rarely ever see him come around the bay area, glad i got to see them.
Here's a bass/drum solo
Jimmy Jhonson bass - Chad Wackerman drums

Mahavishnu project was really cool, they are a tribute band of pro guys, endorsed by Mr Mclaughlin himself.
being that the original Mahavisnu was around way back in the 70's - mid 80s

Saw Magma too, another legendary progressive band originally formed in the 70's.
Really wierd/unique music. 4 choir like singers, guitar, bass, and the drummer is the band leader. He sings too..or speaks gibberish.
they were playing at the Europa cafe 15 minute walk from my place.
it was too dark but the audio came out ok
Magma1
Magma2

Also saw the Alex sckolnick(old thrash guitarist turned jazz head) trio in chinatown, good stuff.

Coney Island

2007-06-24T09:04:00.000-07:00

Went to Coney island yesterday, just to check it out. Just to see the park once before they shutdown the cyclone. I hear they are gonna renovate the place, But other locals have said the city has been saying that for years...
It was really really crowded because of the parade so i skipped waiting in line for the rides.

There was a parade called the "Mermaid parade" It's a Brooklyn annual summer parade.
It's kind of a costume freak show as well.

Biking around Brooklyn

2007-06-17T17:57:00.000-07:00

Work was a pain this weekend, i was up till 5am Saturday, 4am Sunday.
Wont have to do that again for a while, So thought i would have fun today biking around to see how far i could get. It's actually not that bad if you are an experienced bike rider. Cars dont try to run you over they are used to sharing the road since so many people ride out here.
As long as your not a dufus taking up a whole lane and stick to the right your fine...potholes are another story!

I rode about 20 minutes to the far southern part of Williamsburg, Brooklyn found a warehouse area with dilapitated buildings...this must be the old Brooklyn, when it was mostly a "Working city"

Bullet Riddled doorway ala Mad MAX!

The Williamsburg Bridge, I have a feeling ill be riding this one a lot to Manhattan...it's closest to me and has really big bike lines. I did not ride it today...

Random Downtown street.

Brooklyn City Hall:

Court building:

Some park...

FOUND THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE ONRAMP, YAY!!

The Manhattan bridge, it's right next door

View of Downtown Manhattan

And finally what better way to end the day then MR SOFTEE ice cream, These trucks blare their music really loud...it's amusing.

Kinda annoying when they park a block away though and song repeats for an hour Lol

Buying a bike was probably the best move i made, I feel like i can go anywhere now.
I've only explored probably less then 1/6th of Brooklyn, it's very big...of course Manhattan
will have more to see there as well.

New Bike!!

2007-06-17T17:48:00.001-07:00

Walking's ok but Biking is where it's at!! I could not find a used bike so i caved in and got a new single speed. It's pretty nice...a good mid level bike i can zip around on.

I picked up a Kryptonite chain lock too, I have to be careful to not get it stolen.
Bike Thievery is supposedly bad here, but if you have a chain and can lock your wheels i think your fine. I'll only lock it up when i really got to.

Now i just need my cranium protector

Got my Stuff

2007-06-17T17:31:00.000-07:00

Ventured into Manhattan again today. I found i have two subway options either take the G or "ghetto train" people call it and the E or V, or the faster more up2date AC'd train the L and then the 4,5,6. I think ill go with the L!!

Inside the subway...

Went right near times square, which was crowded as hell. But there are 3 music stores here.
Sam Ash, Rudy's and Manny's. They were ok...Dissapointing for bass selections. Gelb music in redwood city has way more variety!!

Alex i found your new Drumset :)

I bought a music stand, Dont really need much else since i have all the Gear i really need.
Just had to check the stores out to say i did!

My packages all came today, computer, bass, blankets, recording gear, dishes etc...
Also i got my Matress, and after much finageling on the phone and threatening to cancel my order finally got my Chair and computer desk. I feel a lot more comfortable hangin around home now. I need a kitchen table, chairs maybe some other stuff but it's not that important yet.

Landlord went out to Polkanos and was cool enough to pick me up a powerful 12k BTU
AC unit, weehoo..it feels awesome.

Most places in NYC deliver since the vast majority do not have cars. Instead places like bed bath beyond, staples offer home delivery for a fee. Like 45$
So picked up a small dresser(which was a bitch to assemble 5 hrs!!!) stool, various stuff like trash cans, can opener, pasta strainer extra tupperware, you know just all the knick nacks
you dont think about until you need em.

Strollin around neighborhood

2007-06-17T16:42:00.000-07:00

Week1.

I strolled around the neighborhood a lot this week, had to go in half a day to work Monday just to show up and say "I am here" kinda useless but oh well. luckily i had Tues-Thurs off to get stuff done.
The place i am in is a old school polish immigrant neighborhood. It's pretty quiet where i live, lots of families, some schools, there is a small park 1 block away. Monsigner Mcgolrick park. lots of people take there dogs here and relax.

Standing from the park entrance, i live at the end of the block on the right side.

I live in this building

There is also two Churches nearby, one is named after Pope John Paul II. Makes sense since he was polish and it's a polish neighborhood.

One street is called Manhattan Ave. Lots of 99c shops, two really good sushi places(tried both) Thai food, Chinese food, have yet to try the good polish food place called Christina's.

Warsaw pact, Twilight 2000!!

There is also another big park about 4 blocks south of me, called Mclaren park. Lots of free music in the summer and plenty of people hanging out doing whatever.

Also if you go through the park on the other side(15 min walk) there is also a cool neighborhood where the "Hipsters" hang out, i am not sure what that means but its like the young cool kids. It's a neighborhood called Williamsburg, plenty of bars down that area I visited two bars with my friend Eric F. from the old Bechtel tech days and his Girlfriend. So plenty of bar hopping to do in the future. It's also the hotspot for Brooklyn live music..works out nicely.

Weekend 1

2007-06-17T16:17:00.001-07:00

Day1/Day2
I arrived in NY June 2nd late at night, Airport trip was fine. I was worried about my bass amp which i wrapped in sweaters and a padded jacket as my carry on big luggage(To save money shipping it) Luckily it power on ok.
Touched down about 10pm EST time, and got a taxi who swiftly got me to Brooklyn at around 10:45. Sure enough the key was there hidden where the landlord said it would be. In case it wasn't and i was standing in the street with all my luggage, i had Jedd as a backup plan to crash with.

Unfortunately the numbnuts from the bed shipping company shipped a bed frame and no futon matress. Slept on the floor for the first three days, i was so tired Sat it did not bother me much.
The place is small by SF standards but it's comfortable for me, a studio/1BR room.
my place unfurnished

First post

2007-06-12T19:32:00.000-07:00

Just setting up this blog, nothing to post just yet...
Goddamn internet company out here(time warner) is a pain in the ass to
schedule a setup time. Thursday is my third attempt if not i will go with Verizon!