A few more pics from Fireside

Here are a couple more photos from the Fireside Jam last Saturday:



To see more pictures, take a look at the Portland Jazz Jams Blog.

Los Angeles and old friends

[This is a re-post from May 25]

I think I've finally recovered from my trip to Los Angeles enough to write about it! I was down there May 7th through 14th. This was my first real trip back to Southern California since June and I left there in 1989.

Impressions:

• Well, it seems to me that they have not repaired any of the freeways since I was last there. They have gotten very, very ratty.
• Governor Ah-nold is on TV all the time. I don't know who's paying for it, but every single commercial break on every channel has at least one ad with him imploring the populace to "Help me to fix Calli-fawn-ya."
• During the day, you can get a break from soap operas by watching one of the many car chases live on TV. This has become such a big draw that the TV stations compete with each other for who covers car chases the best. Some stations have equipped their choppers with HDTV cameras, so you can get a really good look at the perp when the cops shoot him. And yes, they will definitely shoot him. If there's anything they understand down there, it's the importance of the "money shot."
• More than half the broadcast TV stations are non-English, particularly in the UHF band.

Not that I actually spent much time watching TV. I spent the majority of each day hanging out with my 87-year-old Mother-in-law, running errands with her, and swapping stories. She's a terrific person, and I'm glad I got to spend so much time with her at the retirement home she lives in. He home is in Alhambra, which is south of Pasadena. Alhambra has become a largely Asian community in recent years, and at one local market I was able score some rather rare Chinese spices for June to use in cooking (which, of course, benefits me directly!).

In the evenings, I got to visit with some old friends from my LA days. It was very interesting to me that -- almost without exception -- each of these folks seemed to be at or getting close to a turning point in their lives. These are all people who are very special to me, and it was a wonderful gift to be able to spend time with them, share a few laughs about the old days, and catch up on what's been going on in the last few decades.

I'll try to get some pictures posted soon.

UPCOMING GIGS:

• I'll be at the Fireside Coffee Lodge with Darren Littlejohn and lots of other great Portland Jazzers most Saturdays through the end of Summer at least - 9:00 PM to Midnight.
• May 18th, 2:00 - 4:00 PM the 7th Street Jazz Band will play at the Multnomah Falls visitor's center out in the Columbia Gorge. We did this last year, and it was a lot of fun.
• June 30th, 8:00 - 11: PM at C-Bar with guitarist Darren Littlejohn and jazz singer Armonica.
  
• July 4th, 5:00 - 7:00 PM the 7th Street Jazz Band will play at Clackamette Park in Oregon City. I don't know too much about this gig, but it's Independence Day, so there will probably be hot dogs, beer, and sparklers.
• July 16th, 7th Street Jazz Band will play at the Hubbard Hops Festival. I know this sounds corny (or maybe hoppy?), but it's a fun gig.

Getting fired...

Like a lot of musicians, I work a (non-music-related) day gig. Today we had a big layoff. In corporate-speak, that's a "RIF" (Reduction In Force). I still have my job, but a lot of good people don't.

It made me recall the two times I was actually fired from a band.

The first time I was fired from a band was in the mid 70s. I was traveling in Canada with a trio that was backing a lounge singer. It was New Year's Eve, and we were playing the Banff Springs Hotel. The piano player and I decided to drive to Calgary (about 100 miles away) for the day, and drive back in time for the gig. Well, winter being what it is, the drive that took about two hours on the way to Calgary in the morning, turned into a five-hour slog through a blizzard in the afternoon (and evening). We showed up about an hour and a half late, to find the singer doing his best to entertain the audience with just drums for accompaniment. We were both fired the next morning.

The second time, it was such a bizarre scene that I sometimes wonder if I remember it accurately. I was touring in a band that was backing a singer who had been famous at one time. We had been booked into a lounge in Vegas, and I was kind of looking forward to it -- I was going to get a Vegas union card and everything. However, the lounge manager came to hear us rehearse, and she minced no words. I was too tall and too "funny looking" to play in her lounge.

So, fired twice -- once my fault, once due to genetics.

Fun at the Fireside

I'm having a great time jamming with Darren Littlejohn and the other great musicians that come to the Fireside Coffee Lodge on Saturday nights. Last week we had FOUR terrific sax players and a fine young guitarist from California sitting in, as well as the luscious singing of Armonica.

Here's a snapshot of me and the aforementioned young guitarist (Eron) from June 4th:



Part of the fun for me is the variety, and the challenge of playing tunes that I have not played in years (or in some cases have NEVER played). Also, as a bass player, trying to establish a pocket with the variety of drummers that play at the jam really keeps me on my toes. They are all good players, but they are also very different from one another in their approach.

Happy birthday, June

Happy birthday to my beautiful, smart and creative wife, June!

L.A. Impressions

I think I've finally recovered from my trip to Los Angeles enough to write about it! I was down there May 7th through 14th. This was my first real trip back to Southern California since June and I left there in 1989.

Impressions:

Well, it seems to me that they have not repaired any of the freeways since I was last there. They have gotten very, very ratty.

Governor Ah-nold is on TV all the time. I don't know who's paying for it, but every single commercial break on every channel has at least one ad with him imploring the populace to "Help me to fix Calli-fawn-ya."

During the day, you can get a break from soap operas by watching one of the many car chases live on TV. This has become such a big draw that the TV stations compete with each other for who covers car chases the best. Some stations have equipped their choppers with HDTV cameras, so you can get a really good look at the perp when the cops shoot him. And yes, they will definitely shoot him. If there's anything they understand down there, it's the importance of the "money shot."

More than half the broadcast TV stations are non-English, particularly in the UHF band.

Not that I actually spent much time watching TV. I spent the majority of each day hanging out with my 87-year-old Mother-in-law, running errands with her, and swapping stories. She's a terrific person, and I'm glad I got to spend so much time with her at the retirement home she lives in. He home is in Alhambra, which is south of Pasadena. Alhambra has become a largely Asian community in recent years, and at one local market I was able score some rather rare Chinese spices for June to use in cooking (which, of course, benefits me directly!).

In the evenings, I got to visit with some old friends from my LA days. It was very interesting to me that -- almost without exception -- each of these folks seemed to be at or getting close to a turning point in their lives. These are all people who are very special to me, and it was a wonderful gift to be able to spend time with them, share a few laughs about the old days, and catch up on what's been going on in the last few decades.

Upcoming gigs

I'll be playing every Saturday in April with Darren Littlejohn and Black Samba at Fireside Coffee Lodge, 1223 SE Powell Blvd in Portland (near the Aladdin Theater). The same group will also be appearing April 22 at C-Bar, 2880 SE Gladstone in Portland.

Also, I'll be performing with the 7th Street Jazz Band in a public concert at Tigard Community Church on May 21st. See the 7th Street web page for more details.

Winter update

Lots of music happening these days! Of course, I'm still playing regularly with the 7th Street Jazz Band. I've also started playing occasionally with a fine local guitarist named Darren Littlejohn. He runs a regular Tuesday evening jazz jam at the Bethany Village Grill, and plays most Saturday nights at the Fireside Coffee Lodge in Portland. Lots of jazz standards, and there are always great local musicians sitting in.

Well, winter has turned out to be a non-event! We've had hardly any rain or snow. Los Angeles got all our weather this year! Frankly, it is a bit of a worry, because without our regular winter snowpack in the Cascades, there will most certainly be a shortage of drinking and power-generating water this summer. Blackouts and forest fires are the likely result.

Happy new year!

Happy new year, everyone. There are a number of things to talk about now.

First of all, it is clearly NOT a happy new year in southeast Asia. I hope a lot of people will donate to the groups that are helping out. Links to two worthy groups are on the right. Northwest Medical Teams is a particularly good group -- about 96% of your donation goes to direct relief.

Well, I've finally released The Ivory/Bobbidazzler Archive Project. This is a 3-CD set containing -- as far as I know -- all of the material released on vinyl by the 70's groups Ivory and Bobbidazzler, including singles and a strange hybrid project called "Departure." There's also some fun "bonus material" on the CDs. I've been collecting the vinyl records for several years, and finally had enough material to complete the project. I am more than happy to send copies of this to anyone who requests them.

Speaking of the old band(s), I've had terrific phone conversations with some of the guys from Ivory lately. That was a very special time in my life, and I'm really happy that I can still talk to these folks who meant so much to me, and still do. Brian Whitcomb, the pianist from Ivory and Bobbidazzler, just sent me a copy of his new CD, and it's terrific! He's taken a group of songs and re-worked them into very beautiful, simple arrangements that are both very accessible and musically very solid. Brian has a knack for finding the beauty in songs that others may have missed. I can also send copies of Brian's CD to anyone who requests it.

I'm still recovering from my back operation, and I think I've stabilized to the point that I can function pretty well, and know my limits. At least I can carry my own instruments into rehearsals now.

Fall update

If the weather of this past week is any indication, we will have a very cold winter. It has been in the 30s every night for the last week or so, and we've made our yearly shift to the flannel covers and down comforters. This is particularly good news to our cat Ollie, who likes to sleep on the pillow just above June's head, but ONLY if there's a flannel pillowcase on it.

Healthwise, the news is mixed. I had my back operation in September, and felt really good for a few weeks. Now, however, the same old symptoms are reappearing. I'm definitely in better shape than I was before the operation, but it seems that I'm regressing. I can still walk without a cane most of the time, but that may not last. I'm still having fun playing with the 7th Street Jazz Band. We could use a few more horn players, particularly trombone, but it's still a lot of fun to play those old tunes. It's good exercise for my sight-reading, too.

I've also started doing a few more casual jam sessions, which is great fun. I have a number of side projects in motion, some of which I can talk about and a few I can't. I just finished mastering 3-CD set of a live recording from Paul Bass' 50th birthday party. This has been a long-term project, and I'll manufacture and ship as many as are requested, in honor of my late music partner. I'm also about halfway through archiving all of my recorded song demos to CD. So far, this amounts to about 30 CDs. Some of the tunes are not too bad! I also want to transcribe as many of my tunes as possible to leadsheets. I'll probably get a high-end notation program like Finale or Sibelius next year to help with this. It'll be a rather large book, tentatively titled, "Steve Pinkston -- Less Than a Fake Book." Those familiar with Charles Mingus will get the joke.