Moving from organ to electric piano this week, here’s me doubling the Richard Davies electric piano solo of Bloody Well Right from Supertramp’s Crime of the Century.

(Purchase the original: Amazon, iTunes)

Yay! Another song about destruction! I seriously need to write a happy song. It’s getting ridiculous. I mean, the subjects for the songs this week have been: being lied to and getting pissed, kidnapping, environmental disaster and now: the destruction of a village by a wandering hoard of people with ‘mighty weapons’. Geez! I need to lighten up. I’ll pick something light for tomorrow’s cover.

OMGROFLMAOBBQ:

When you're listening to this song, imagine these guys burning your house down with you inside of it. They're so hunky!

Cover number 3

So I started thinking about songs that have chords similar to Pachelbel’s Canon in D and then I looked at the calender and I just had to record this song. I tried singing it really, really seriously at first…but the lyrics are so trite, so cliche that I couldn’t do it. I don’t mean to be offensive, just obnoxious. This song’s just SO stupid.

These colors don’t run:

Love it or leave it. GBA! For the unpatriotic, that stands for 'God Bless America'.

Hiya. This song’s another quiet one. It’s about being stuck in the mundane, I guess. These lyrics are just what came to me as I sat down to write the song. Which is funny, because I don’t feel all that ’stuck in the mundane’ at all. Well, I guess I get bored sometimes. Hmmm. Anyway, the chords in the chorus, I just realized, sound suspiciously similar to those of Pachelbel’s Canon in D. But don’t most songs?

Shalom:

This drawing is titled 'Run Like Hell II: A Million Shades of Grey'. How awesome. I wuv you Google image search.

I know this song is being posted a little later than usual…but it is still Tuesday. The long weekend screwed my timing up a little. Over the weekend, I acquired a large bass drum which is featured on this song. Expect to hear more of it (less reverbed-out in the future, after I figure out how best to record it with my limited means). This song is based around Adam’s suggestion from the comments. It’s about an escapologist who decides to off himself mid-escape because he can’t live with the guilt of having murdered his brother, Jacob. So, yeah, real upbeat. This song is a lot more stripped down than usual. I recorded the vocals pretty late at night so I’m basically whisper-singing into the microphone on my laptop.

Here it is:

I've seen this very contraption at one of the less savory stores on High St.

Cover number 2

This song was written by Mr. Jonathan Richman. It is a lovely little pop tune that I essentially turned into a dirge. Hope you like it!

He was dancin' in a lesbian bar..in the industrial zone

Considering how many things COULD have gone wrong on August 22nd, up to and including gale force winds, collapsing gazebos, flood, storm and mosquito attack – it actually all went extraodinarily smoothly.

In fact, our only major glitch was the ice cream – and even that was only a near-glitch.  True, it did result in the silencing of poor Fiona, who was supposed to be playing the electric piano for us in the morning … and the after-service speakers had to rely on lung-power alone … but hell, it was a sacrifice for the greater good that is Ice Cream.

You see, the generator packed up.  So there we were, in the middle of the Thanksgiving Service on what was promising to turn into the hottest day of the year, with an in situ ice cream van and no refrigeration.

Now I ask you … given the choice between amplifying the voice of the former Bishop of Penrith and keeping the ice cream frozen – which would you have chosen?  I mean, it’s a no-brainer really, innit?

So as soon as the service finished, we whipped the heavy-duty power cable from the marquee and ran it across the drive to the ice cream kiosk.  Problem solved.

Except.

Somewhere along the line we managed NOT to put Part B of the plan into action, which was to run another cable out to poor Fiona and her piano.

However – she’s promised to come back and play at our Christmas Fair (mark it in your diaries folk – November 14th) so she plainly doesn’t hold a grudge.

Which is pretty much a prerequisite for anyone who hangs around with us too much.

I guess the title sort of says it all. I dropped these beats so hard. HARD. SICKLY HARD!

Ok, actually this is my first instrumental post and the title is a little trick to throw you off the scent. Why am I telling you this?!?

The whistling in the song is a little off because I recorded it after M went to sleep.  i had to whistle very quietly.

Listen to the song. It’s about Dog the bounty hunter’s wife. (Prove that this song isn’t about Beth the bounty hunter. Go on, prove it, wise guy)

Beth, this one's for you! I wuv wou!

(Update: I got 195 hits today (9/16/09) because the picture at the bottom of this post is the second image retrieved when you search “heaven” at google image search. I had no idea so many people wanted to see what heaven really looks like!?! I’m debating taking this post down just because when I look at my stats, I feel really awesome and then I realize it’s just people looking for images of this place they think they’re going after they croak. Decisions…decisions)

I love this song. Who knows who originally wrote it? Really. I’m asking? Do you know?

(Update: My dad informs me that this song was written by Albert E. Brumley. Apparently, he also wrote “I’ll Fly Away” of O Brother Where Art Thou fame and 800 or so other songs.)

My first cover. (Here’s an amazingly lame cover of the song)

Next week’s key will match this song’s: D major major/minor.

This is EXACTLY what he@ven looks like...all other images of heaven are blasphemous

Recorded this one kind of hastily…

paranoia and justification

here it is:

this song was supposed to be post-apocalyptic...but I didn't work that into it at all...oh well

Alright! I’ve made it to my second song!

This one’s about the impossibility of holding on to a certain place and time. It’s about, you know…truckin’ and how one should ‘keep on’ participating in said activity.

There are a few things I would have liked to re-record (and I probably will) but it’s too late for that now. Here it is for your enjoyment:

Why this picture? Well, I play mandolin in the song. Also, it kind of looks like it says 'Dicker'

Download or Listen to Lonnie Liston Smith with The Cosmic Echoes – Goddess of Love from the Flying Dutchman 45

Here we are midweek, and I have some great news. I’ll be opening up for Joss Stone on August 29th at the Stone Pony here in Asbury Park, NJ. It’s a great event put on by Barefoot Wine, benefiting The Surfrider Foundation. It’s a free show, just click the Barefoot link to sign up. 21+ please. I’ve had kind of a stressful week, so today I bring you some Jazz Fusion, brought to you courtesy of a Jazz legend, Lonnie Liston Smith. Here he is with the Cosmic Echoes and “Goddess of Love” on the Flying Dutchman label from 1976.

Lonnie Liston Smith was born in Richmond, VA in 1940. He was basically born into music, as his father was a member of Gospel Harmonizing Four. There were frequent visitors during his childhood, and not the usual ones. How about Same Cooke and the Soul Stirrers just popping on in? He started to play piano as a teen, but idolized players such as Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and Miles Davis. It was horn players he took his style from, not traditional pianists. He could appreciate the greats of the time (McCoy Tyner, Horace Silver, Thelonious Monk, and others), but wanted to have a style all his own. He started playing gigs while still a teen, and would back up such luminaries such as Betty Carter and Ethyl Ennis. He moved on to college at Morgan State and played with future Jazz stars Mickey Bass, Gary Bartz and Grachan Moncur. Bass was playing with Art Blakey at the time, which led Smith to a gig in NYC with The Jazz Messengers. He would also play with Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Max Roach. This high profile gigging raised his status in the Jazz world. Smith would play in probably the most important sideman time in his entire career when he moved over to gig with Pharoah Sanders. His sessions on Karma released on Impulse! are unbelievable, and if you don’t own that record, I suggest you pick it up. Lonnie Liston Smith’s sideman work also reached another pinnacle with Miles Davis’s On the Corner and Big Fun. His use of the electric piano/ organ (said to be introduced to him by Davis himself), forever changed his sound. This sound captured Bob Theile’s ear and Smith got signed to Flying Dutchman, where he released such classics as Expansions (“like two sealed copies of Expansions” – Mike D, Professor Booty), Astral Traveling, and Cosmic Funk. Smith stayed busy and his association with Theile moved him on to RCA and Columbia up until the late 70’s. He continued to tour with the who’s who of the Jazz world: Gato Barbieri, Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Clarke, Roy Ayers, and more. The 90’s saw Smith collaborate with Hip Hop legend Guru for his Jazzmatazz series, as well as Phyllis Hyman and others. He continues to make music today. His sound may have mellowed a bit, but he is still a legend.

The original line up of the Cosmic Echoes included Smith on keyboards, George Barron, soprano and tenor sax, Joe Beck guitar, Cecil McBee bass, David Lee Jr. drums, James Mtume percussion, Sonny Morgan percussion, Badal Roy tabla drums, and Geeta Vashi, tamboura. However they definitely had personnel changes throughout their career. On Cosmic Echoes, Donald Smith was added as a vocalist. Later Echoes included Dave Hubbard on tenor and soprano sax, Ronald Miller on electric guitar, Hollywood Barker on drums, and Al Anderson on electric bass. On this particular track, Smith gets kind of spacey ( the beginning sounds a bit like a track off the new Lee Fields record “Ladies” ) , and just kinds of rolls along throughout. It’s got a solid groove, with Smith’s keyboard work dominating throughout, and a myriad of percussion adding some flavor to a sick little drum beat and bass line. Like I said, this a great track to unwind to, and if you’re having a stressful week like me, open a bottle of wine, bring out a book, and just chill. I’ll see you Friday. If you’re in the Asbury Park, NJ area, stop by the World Famous Asbury Lanes for another installment of the Asbury Park 45 Sessions. Special Guest Primitive Sound System Pat James Longo. Keep Diggin’!

After the dancing we have earned  ourselves a little relaxation. Let´s go to the bar and listen to the sounds of the Mag´net Quartet featuring Michael Ramos playing the CEMBALET.

The rarely heard instrument, where the player could control the volume with the knees (!), was developed by the genius inventor Ernst Zacharias for HOHNER in the late 50´s. His biggest success though, was the Clavinet , a instrument that became essential in 70´s Funk music.

Again these are lost sounds: only a few recordings remain by Manfred Mann, John Cale  and The Stranglers.

Note: I found somebody who is still playing some nice tunes ( among them a piece by Michael Ramos)  on the Cembalet today

MAGNET QUARTET, Cembalet 1, 1961

MAGNET QUARTET, Cembalet 2, 1961

(Nach dem Tanzen haben wir uns etwas Entspannung verdient. Begeben wir uns an die Bar anno 1961 und lauschen den Klängen des Magnet Quartet mit Michel Ramos am CEMBALET.

Ein selten zu hörendes Tasteninstrument, dessen Lautstärke mit dem Knie (!) verändert werden konnte. Entwickelt vom genialen Erfinder Ernst Zacharias für HOHNER Ende der 50er Jahre. Richtig berühmt wurde dann sein Clavinet, aus der Funk-Musik der angehenden 70er nicht wegzudenken !
Also auch hier: fast verschwunden, es bleiben wenige Aufnahmen von Manfred Mann, John Cale (Velvet Underground) und den Stranglers.

Anmerkung: Ich habe noch einen einsamen Cembalet-Besitzer und seine Sounds gefunden, auch er hat ein Stück von Michel Ramos mit drin)

So…some detractors of the Pianet cite the design change from the C and N models to the T model as one of the main reasons the T isn’t as good an Electric Piano as the Rhodes or Wurli.

I can see that.  The change from foam to rubber pads used to pluck the reeds definitely makes a difference in how the instrument sounds.  However, that’s somewhat moot, as rubber pads just last longer—they seem a lot more robust.  Plus, you can visit clavinet.com and get a new set for cheap, essentially giving a nearly instant face-lift to an otherwise ailing T.

Plus, I don’t think the pad change makes *that* much of a difference.  I think the larger difference is the transition from active to passive pickups, and the complete removal of on-board electronics that accompanied it.  Frankly, I don’t consider that difference to be bad, really.  Just different.  I like that the later Pianet’s sound a little mellower, a little more bell-like…closer to a Rhodes sound in some ways than the earlier models, which to my ears sound closer to a Wurli.

Yet it’s those earlier models that are played on those hits we love so much.  And that was a very, very cool sound.  Maybe there’d be a way to customize the Pianet T with some mod that would make that sound attainable, yet still leave the mellower T sound intact?

I contacted several folks: a local tech guy friend of mine, Mad Scientist in ATL, Vintage Vibe, and Speakeasy.  Basically, it seemed the best option would be not to add a preamp inside the piano, but to simply add it to the signal chain before the amp itself.  Basic bass and treble controls would be needed, and vibrato would be nice…but not a deal-breaker.  After several emails, the best option currently available turns out to be…

The Speakeasy Dyno Stage Box.  I thought it had been designed specifically for the Rhodes, and of course it has…but it’s got so much control over the shape of the sound, as well as a gain knob, that it seems that there will be a lot of sounds that can be dialed in with my little Pianet T.  Plus, it’s portable, relatively small, and has a tremolo/vibrato stereo option.  It’s not cheap; the non-tremolo version is $410, and the stereo trem version is a whopping $650.  But it can do double duty as the Dyno preamp for our Rhodes Eighty-Eight (bypassing the on-board electronics altogether by using a 1/4 inch-to-RCA cable to connect directly to the harp), and I’ve heard only great things about what it can do for the Rhodes.

The jury is out on how it’ll work on the Pianet.  When we scrape the money together, we’ll pick one up.  I plan on doing a lot of tests.  We shall see.

I picked up a Hohner Pianet T for my brother’s and my little project studio in Knoxville, TN. I’d found it on Craigslist for $200. I asked the seller if he would take $150 and he did. I met him in Sevierville, TN on March 8, 2009, and the transaction was made.

I got the Pianet T home and immediately started playing with it. I was struck both by how small it is—as if it were a slightly smaller version of an electric guitar case—and also by how heavy it is for its size.

I unscrewed the top. Everything inside looked complete. The reeds were rusted, but not beyond use. And all the keys worked. The original, pink sticky pads still worked…sort of. Some were a little more degenerated than the others. But it worked, and it was ours. I plugged it into a little ‘74 silverface Champ we have. it sounded sweet. It wasn’t perfect, but it was a start.

Very, very cool.

Yesterday the electric piano we had ordered for Beth came in. She’s been taking lessons since sometime last fall, and she’s still very much into it. Up until yesterday, she had been practicing on a toy piano. Problem with that is that the keys are smaller than the ones on a real piano, it only had 3 octaves, and the volume of each note was the same no matter how hard you pressed the key. Also, it did not have a sustain pedal.

Since she has been sticking with it, and she has been making some really good progress, we decided it was time to spring for something that will hopefully suit her needs for years to come. I could have had an acoustic piano for free if I had been willing to talk a friend or two into helping me move one. Free pianos come up on craigslist all the time. The caveat is that you always have to move it yourself. But even then, we just don’t have a place in our house to put an acoustic piano. Acoustic pianos are big!

The one we got is very nice, IMO. It sounds like a piano. Plus it has 482 voices to entertain a geeky dad like me, including helicopters, machine guns, footsteps, barking dogs, galloping horses, gurgling brooks, laser guns, starships, etc.

I was playing around with it last night after everyone went to bed. Penny was in the same room, but she was pretty much just ignoring me until I selected the “scream” voice. “EEEEEEK!” sang the piano, and Penny about leapt out of her skin. She quickly came over and sniffed at the piano. I played a few more screams. She cocked her head. Then she pawed at the keyboard and played one herself.

Now that’s entertainment!

In other news…
This morning Beth told me that they had been having a bit of trouble with the computers at school, and Mrs Brace wanted me to look into it. So I did. One of the kids did something to her account so that the keyboard no longer worked. I knew the keyboard itself was working, because we were able to log in to her account. And her account was the only doing that – at first. Mrs Brace logged her into a different kid’s account so she could get her work done (most sysadmins would freak about that. I don’t like it either, but I do understand the necessity). In short order, she managed to magically disable the keyboard in that account too. That’s how I found it when I got there.

I poked around, but I really didn’t see anything obvious. Not being of much use, I decided to head on to the office and kick off a few Internet searches while I did my work. Also, I wanted to consult with another Linux geek (Dennis). Dennis was as puzzled as I was. But then I hit paydirt on the Innerwebs. Here’s what was going on.

There is a feature built into the desktop environment (KDE in our case) that was designed for handicapped people. This feature is called “Slow Keys”, and when enabled, the keys don’t “take” until they’re held in for half a second or so. This feature is for amputees (et al) who may accidentally, and momentarily strike several keys with a stub before settling on the one they really want. It’s also useful for quadreplegics how type with a stick held in the mouth. Or at least I think that’s what this feature is good for. Anyhow, this feature is activated when the shift key is held in for 8 seconds. A screen popped up, and she just clicked “Continue” either without reading it, or without understanding it. Thus, it appeared that the keyboard was disabled, when really it was in an “accessibility” mode.

I went back to the school after work and fixed her right up. Sure enough, that’s what it was. Mrs., Brace also complained that the Internet had really slowed down this week (which coincides with all the work I did switching us to a new firewall and bringing the new ltsp online). I verified that indeed, the speeds were horrible, but also found that it was only the DNS lookups that were taking forever (where forever equals one minute). THAT will certainly slow things down! I haven’t figured out why it’s doing that yet, but knowing what it’s doing is more than half the battle.

In true proud David style I feel I need to share this great video clip of Johnnyboy plinkplonking on the piano blues style!

I’ve had the pleasure of hearing him play in real life throughout the years but not until now can I tell the world AND show them how great he really is.

enjoy …

PS.  it is also available in HD!

There are numerous keyboard and piano manufacturers that are in business making digital pianos for home use. Many of which that actually feel like a real piano are very pricey and there is usually a trade-off, real feel for not-so-real sound. On the other hand, there are some digital pianos made for home use that have it all, real feel, true-to-life sound and beautiful looks. The M Audio DCP 200 Digital Home Piano is one that has it all. This incredibly loaded digi-piano features a graded hammer action key bed for the most realistic piano feel in its price range, 8 internal sounds including a grand piano based on Steinway, electric piano based on Fender Rhodes, FM electric piano, harpsichord and more. Other features include 14,000-note song memory, vinyl-clad dense wooden cabinet with modesty panel, headphone hooks, stereo sound system with dual 20-watt amps, 4 inch woofers and .5 inch silk-dome tweeters for thick, detailed sound and a beautiful dark wood grain finish. You can get all these appointments for only $899.00 or 3 payments of $299.66 using the Easy Payment Plan from AMS. If you’re a player or have a student in the house but don’t have space or money for the real deal, get yourself the next-best-thing.
-Ryan

I found out that my electric piano has a phone in it.  My friend Tubs really wasn’t happy about it. Please rate, comment, and subscribe!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VRpdPNntwA

-Jack

Eumir Deodato in concerto ! 6 agosto, Pescara, Porto Turistico, ore 21,30.

Different indeed!

Un album vraiment trop bon!! La voix de Betty est à mi-chemin entre le cris et le chant, c’est puissant et tu peux juste pas être indifférent à une voix comme ça. La musique supporte très bien cette voix énergique et ça groove à fond!

Ça vaut la peine d’acheter la réédition: un bon livret et quatre versions démos (je préfère quand même les versions finales)

[MPC, 1974]