White Wedding - Bally Bunion 10/30/10 Brooklyn, New York

Down the Rabbit Hole we went and we took a Great Crowd with us or was it vice-versa ???

The Halloween revelers were out in full force and regalia to celebrate ALL-HALLOWS EVE EVE with us and we with them as they became Superheroes, Vixens, Folkloric Characters and we became THE UNDEAD to ROCK IT as Only THE UNDEAD Can !!!



Thus ZOMBIE WEDDING Was Borrrn,..... ummmmmm,... I Mean KILLED



















Songs Premiered tonight were : Ghostbusters, You Give Love A Bad Name and a brush-off of Michael Jackson's "Thriller"



Its HALLOWEEN Morning.
CHEESEBURGER
mmmmmmm,......... flesh with cheese.

FLICKR

DW Collectors Series Maple Snare Drum 6X14 - In Performance

Extremely Crisp with Excellent stick response.

Cracking rim shots and "no fuss" side sticking.

Worth Every Penny.

Fast Food Asian Nation ll - The Return Of The McRib (Gimme A Wyb)

I saw the sticker from a moving bus and it said "The McRib Is Back" which is quite the statement indeed, there were rumors of this over the years but I think the last time that I even had a McWib was about twenty years ago and my recollection of the sandwich itself remains foggy, indistinct and untarnished in my mind, I Have No Idea what to expect but Need to have one as soon as possible because Its Back AND ITS A MCRIB SANDWICH and I certainly Don't Remember NOT LIKING IT!!!



Staring at the box and its clever graphics (McDonald's Doesnt EFF Around) was giving me no clue to its contents except that it was (1) McRib SandWib Full of Tangy Temptation.



While the Pickle and Onion make the perfect bedfellows for the McRib Sandwich complimenting it perfectly along with the Oblong Bun I have to say that in all of my experience the McRib is absolutely the Messiest Fast Food Sandwich I have ever had the pleasure to eat, I defy anyone eating with their hands Not to get the Temptingly Tangy Barbecue Sauce on their fingers. The texture of the Boneless Pattie of Rib Meat is correct but upon closer inspection you do realize that the reason the Wyb is Slathered in so much Sauce is because the Meat itself really has no Flavor to it just a Meatlike texture.

Would I have one again ? Of Course.





The McRib on Saturday Novenber 6th, Fourteen Days Later (Sean ate it)

Snare Some Change ? - Drums From a Life / DW Collectors Series Snare Drum

It brings tears to my eyes just looking at this pic.

L to R - Ludwig supraphonic (?) (serial number 255043 making it from Christmas 1965) Ludwig Accent CS Custom 6X14 (2009) DW Collectors Series 6X14 (serial number M566235) (10/21/10)

Ludwig - My second snare drum and my first Real snare drum (the previous was a twenty dollar jobby) was the metal vintage Ludwig that I purchased in 1982 along with five (maybe six) Zildjian cymbals and a five piece gold sparkle Ludwig Ringo kit for the unbelievable (even by 1982 standards) sum of $250 !!! These drums served me well and proved themselves roadworthy with the Sub Basement Blues Band (That snare has been onstage at CBGBs 3 times and L'amour once)

Ludwig Accent CS Custom - Once I started becoming professional on a regular basis (White Wedding) I figured it was time to get myself some decent drums of my very own instead of borrowing Doc Brown's very adequate Ludwig "School Bus Yellow" five piece kit and cymbals so I purchased a five piece Ludwig CS Custom Accent drum kit ($700ish) and a set of Sabian AAX cymbals ($800ish) at a later date. More than Nice and A Set For Life, The Ludwig CS snare drum has been on stage three times at B.B. Kings Blues Club in Times Square and has consistently made me proud and sound great for nearly one hundred gigs, Like I Said A Set For Life but frequent higher paying gigs made me strive for loftier goals. Is this beginning to sound like a Grimm's Fairy Tale ?



The House where I bought my first Drum kit on 58th street & 18th avenue.



The Drum department at Sam Ash on Flatbush Avenue where I purchased my DW snare drum..



After taking a blind taste test at Guitar Center (Union Square) I came very close to purchasing a Pork Pie snare drum (Tama was the close second) but kept eyeballing the unaffordable $600 DW snares off to the side.



With some prodding from J and deciding to eat my words and finally take my own advice "Do It Right The First Time" and in this case it was "Do It Right The Third Time" I bit the bullet and plunked down five and change ($520.39 MSRP $884.00) and did it right. Now we are Really Talking about a Snare Drum for Life.

The DW is seen above with its "Mag" throwoff switch in the "off" position.



3P Three Position Butt Plate (BWAHAHAHA), Oh Really



Numbered Lugs on a Drumhead ? (1 through 10) who knew ?



My DW Snare is sympathetic to Timbre Note B.



Of course we are talking features without foundation, I will be able to finally take the DW out for a morning drive with full ensemble playing this coming Wednesday evening with White Wedding so watch this space for more details as they develop. (see above 10/28/10)

Sweethook - R Bar 10/20/10 New York City

Sweethook played a nice tight forty minute set at the R Bar as part of the CMJ Music Festival and it was Great on a very personal level to see my peers Franklin and John the Bass Player in attendance at this gig.

Stephen (who blows a mean harp) and myself had some pre-gig Dumplings (P.G.D.) at the Congee joint across the way (hinthint) of which thrice pork filled morsels are pictured directly below and they were very yummy too.



The R Bar at 218 Bowery is a kinetic and living space for the arts, drunks, meanies and just plain hipsters who like a little sake in their stride as the "Congee Kitchen" is just LIGHT ACLOSS STLEET!!!.

TO The R Bar - Thanks for the drink ticket (performers fee) allowing us to play your venue and help make you sound cool and Also Special thanks for letting Jamie charge her cellphone if ya know what I mean.












Sunday 10/17/10 Band Meeting at the Pub (Pre-Grub)

ELP - "They've Only Got 'Am Or Cheese!!!!!" - The Legacy Of TARKUS

In the annals of the much beloved and respected Prog Rock format (ask any rock critic) 'Tarkus' Is amongst the top five masterpieces in the albumsidelong twentyplussomethingminute epics of the genre for many reasons, you may feel daft upon the initial listen becoming rather confused with what can be a puzzling muddle of early 70s Dube over Drama Lyrical Poetic License (of which it is) But!!!,.... As a Classic, Different, Adventurous record even for 1971 (and the trio's sophomore effort at that) its Very listenable, groundbreaking, extremely heavy and lets not forget way ahead Of its time For its time and in substance, performance and scope the piece continues to be way ahead of its time (as far as popular music goes) right HERE in the 21st Century.

Tarkus is also possibly the Greatest 20 minute piece ELP ever wrote but most importantly amongst the best of the LP's of Any Decade featuring a half mammal/half cannon on its cover, We also get some colorful landscape/action/battle shots depicted inside the gatefold sleeve and the first look at the mythical Manticore which would become ELP's very own imprint label (Manticore Records) two years later in 1973.



Below we see the infamous Inner Gatefold Sleeve (in digital .jpeg format), its said that people used to "roll" things on the original 33 1/3 RPM vinyl record encasing cardboard versions but I wouldnt know anything about that.

I dont Know, That Looks Kinda Like A Manticore in the middle there !!! (Lion's Body, Scorpion's Tail, ya know)



And then of course theres 'Tarkus' Merchandise.

My initial impetus for placing this article online was influenced greatly by this dandy little number, of course I am speaking of the Tarkus Medallion. I was initially shocked to see this item even existed and still question wether or not there is ANY Time in my life when I would have thought this a cool item even as a gift, I still remain on the fence about it.



Backed with a facsimile of Emo's signature.



The Cock Rock Disco Record Label.



The 2008 Japanese Re-Issue



The Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab CD Pressing.



The Stage 'Tarkus" YES its my term but there is a stage 'Tarkus' (seen here "onstage" in 1973)



Performed by the Japanese in the Classical format.



The word 'Tarkus' means Wisdom in the Estonian Language.



My cottage industry VHS trading company catalog cover.

White Wedding - O' Flanagans 10/15/10 New York City

I must admit that these photos are a bit dark (They were taken with a flash) but hey O' Flanagans is kind of a dimly lit bar nice as it is. It was great to be invited back after a self imposed No Live Music Summer on the part of the venue and the crowd was certainly there but we had a bit of bad timing due to the fact that there was a Yankees vs. Texas Rangers game on tonight and we decided (and rightfully so) to go on with our first number AFTER the game, We wisely chose the Journey tune "Dont Stop Believing" to play off the Yankees and to play us on. Alas the White Wedding band was postponed by the worlds oldest profession ,....err ,... i mean the worlds Favorite Pastime. We Played Three Hours without a break and Rocked the house.