Gotta agree with you there Ric12string. I'm a total hack and get around folks with so much knowledge is really a treat. The willingness to share that knowledge with other without any aura of pretense makes this event so very approachable. You're not joking when you use the term "encyclopedic" with regard to these guys knowledge of music. Really talented folks there.
NorCal Roundup Roundup, or What We Did at Gretsch Summer Camp
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- Rated: 114 ↑
Sep 14, 2009 1:18 p.m. bonedaddy:
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- Rated: 75 ↑
Sep 14, 2009 1:38 p.m. yettoblaster:
Y'know what REALLY got my attention?
The way afm_380's son Scott, doted on his mother's (SissieKidd) needs if a chair was needed, etc etc. What a FINE young man!
The other thing I look for in musicians is SINCERITY. Lots of chops doesn't mean a thing: it's the sincerity of playing a part in a musical conversation in an ensemble with others.
At whatever "level" a person understands music or the guitar, if they're in tune and the time is right, everything just flows.
We all know great guitar players in our lives who are not there for THAT, but have an agenda to feed their ego identity. Thankfully, blessedly, there was NONE of that at NorCal '09!
I was entertained and felt one of a community from the get-go. I could not have had a better time!
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- Rated: 121 ↑
Sep 14, 2009 5:19 p.m. Ric12string:
Yep, Scott and I talked briefly about his parents. From his remarks, as well as his conduct, it became very clear to me that he loves his mom and dad very much and is quite appreciative to them for the way in which they raised him. He definitely "gets it."
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- Rated: 75 ↑
Sep 14, 2009 6:13 p.m. yettoblaster:
Yeah, they race motorcycles too.
300 extra points just for that!
Y'know, I'd race too, except for this trouble I have with my back (there's a big yellow streak up it)!
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- Rated: 114 ↑
Sep 14, 2009 6:15 p.m. bonedaddy:
That's an interesting observation regarding Scott. I found him also to one of the first people to jump up and let someone in on the jam - offering up the variety of the amps that he and his father built.
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- Rated: 10 ↑
Sep 14, 2009 8:54 p.m. FritzTheCat:
I must say I was extremely bummed at not being able to attend this time. It sounds like nearly everyone I met last year was there. Should another one come about, I'll BE THERE!
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- Rated: 45 ↑
Sep 14, 2009 9:12 p.m. bwallace1:
it looks like y'all had a great time. good deal !!!
brent
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- Rated: 75 ↑
Sep 14, 2009 10:32 p.m. yettoblaster:
I was really impressed and inspired by Bigsbyslur's rendition of Duane Eddy's "Ramrod," and the other tunes he led.
I started playing guitar because of Duane Eddy, and though I've wandered far afield musically (and geographically) since my days of youth in Upstate New York, it was really nice to hear that music properly rendered as a tribute to the Real Deal in American Popular music.
Bigsbyslur can sho' nuff DO IT when it comes to paying tribute to one of my heroes (and a National Treasure), and represented well what attracts me to guitar and music in the first place: TONE!
Nicely done, Burch!
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- Rated: 114 ↑
Sep 14, 2009 10:53 p.m. bonedaddy:
Burch can also brew up some hooch, if you know what I mean
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- Rated: 75 ↑
Sep 14, 2009 10:59 p.m. yettoblaster:
Maybe I should have tried some for sleeping!
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- Rated: 40 ↑
Sep 14, 2009 11:20 p.m. Parabar:
I had a huge blast meeting, playing and hanging out with everyone, from the folks I met last year to the quite-a-few new attendees. Despite the wide variety of playing levels and experience, the overriding theme was enthusiasm and love for music. I found it particularly rewarding to see some of the newer players blossoming over the weekend from being a bit tentative and self-conscious at first to opening up and cutting loose as their confidence grew. Sharing "war stories" with some of the veteran players was nicely balanced by the eagerness to learn displayed by many of the younger folks, and having Yettoblaster and Dr. Gretsch share their thoughts on improvisation and chord theory was a superb complement to all the fine playing.
And you know how Proteus frequently deprecates his playing ability on his sonic comparison posts? He be jivin' --- homeboy can throw DOWN! Plenty o' chops to get it done, and some very inventive musical ideas too. Likewise Joe Carducci --- with all the time he spends on the road and promoting Gretsch, how he keeps his chops up to the level he displayed on Sunday is a mystery.
To those of you who were there --- it was a privilege meeting and playing music with you all, and to those of you who weren't there --- well, you missed something very special, and I hope you'll make it next time!
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- Rated: 75 ↑
Sep 14, 2009 11:25 p.m. yettoblaster:
It was a priviledge and a pleasure to play with you, Parabar.
You held down the fort and showed everybody where the ONE was anytime it needed bolstering.
Band-glue: that's you, Bro!
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- Rated: 36 ↑
Sep 14, 2009 11:56 p.m. DrGretsch:
Just want to say that it was a great pleasure to see all of you again!, and some new faces! ,,, and I was really touched by the spirit of comradity, fellowship of everyone there and more! :)
Heartfelt Thanks!
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- Rated: 121 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 12:25 a.m. Ric12string:
FritzTheCat said: I must say I was extremely bummed at not being able to attend this time. It sounds like nearly everyone I met last year was there. Should another one come about, I'll BE THERE!
Hey FTC, you and that ultracool G6120N were sorely missed. Your name was mentioned on more than one occasion that I recall, so we must have been on the same wavelength with you. -
- Rated: 55 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 1:54 a.m. gretschman36:
Congrats guys- Looks like it was a BLAST!
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- Rated: 328 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 1:56 a.m. Proteus:
It's fascinating to read everyone's reflections on the event. In spirit and general observation they coincide with my experience at the gig – I just wish I'd had more time to spend in long one-on-one and small-group conversation with everyone, and learn more personally than I did.
In part, I get distracted by the "job" part of my presence at events - taking the hack pictures, running the recorder, gathering basic info, collecting 'local color' so I contextualize the story. Partly, though, I'm also just a bit a-social and am not all that good at just hanging out.
That's probably a trait held in common with many denizens of online communities - and one of the benefits of events like this, where attendees are all of the same self-selected (if geographically far-flung) community, and who already know something of each other before actually meeting, is that all us loners and misfits already have a head-start on being freely sociable.
So it was that I didn't find anyone much different from their online personae. Meeting just expanded and deepened the understanding of people already gained here.
No doubt that fueled the general musical compatibility as well. In very few cases did any random bunch of guys end up playing and find themselves fighting for the groove, or unable to find a place in the music as it unwound. In most cases it seemed we were all reading and responding to each other as though we'd played for years.
Part of this is that many were/are seasoned players, with years of band and performing experience - but part of it must also go to some shared sense of an approach to music which many members of the GDP hold in common. And it's not about the genres we play; it transcends style. It's more about the primacy of the song, listening and hearing each other, finding a way to contribute, with the shared goal of spontaneously creating a few minutes of something extraordinary in the way of the fluid sonic sculpture of music.
In fact, as the performance recordings will show (when we get them processed and up), the Roundup was short on many of the kinds of music stereotypically associated with Gretsch. There was a smattering of rockabilly, old rock & roll, and country – and a few quotes of Chettian fingerpicking – but the primary shared vocabulary was surely blues, slow and fast, minor and major. Throw in some Beatles, some blues-rock, some psychedelia, some jam-band aesthetic, some funk and R&B, more than a smattering of jazz and swing, and that's the flavor of the thing.
More specifically, I think I have accolades for all the players. Parabar is certainly a rock-steady bottomless pot of band glue, with the master's knack of holding things together, contributing the RIGHT parts, and effectively orchestrating piano, B3, classic synth technique (I heard those ARPy/Moogy rides!), and various sampled textures like horns and strings. All of it authentically voiced and phrased - and a velvet-smooth voice on top of it. You don't get all that overnight.
Scott was indeed a pleasure to hear, with a tasty bag of classic and modern blues licks, along with a sure feel for tasteful comping chords and lines - all of it blissfully free of "Texas blues" posing. Always a fat, sweet, singing tone from his self-made amps.
MacPhisto, what can I say, brother? The Jerry phrasing was uncanny, and the sense of texture and layering is as uncommon as it is welcome. It was always a treat, and I feel like I have a better sense of who you are after playing with you.
Unfortunately, I missed yetto's master class seminar, much to my loss I'm sure. I didn't so much hanker to hear how to use modes or learn about the theory and mechanics of jazz improv (I understand all that conceptually, but seem unable to apply it consciously) – but I sure wanted to hear him play more. I did hear him during the supper hour, and concur with others' estimates of his accomplishment. But duuude - you shoulda jumped up on the floor more often!
bonedaddy was strong and driving in all his rhythm duties, and took impressively rocking leads in more than one song. BigsbySlur did indeed nail the spirit and push of the Duanian material he brought to the table, along with a sure and steady drive on old rock & roll classics. I wish I'd had the chance to play with him more. Sturge was also a pleasure to hear - again with a sure ability to comp behind other players, a solid sense of how to work a song, and all the lead chops it takes.
About wildman Joey Carducci's axework, what can we say? The forward motion is unstoppable, the tone searing, and the go-for-the-jugular intent always compelling and exciting. Of course he knows how to manage a group of players and guide them through a tune, and he's always generous to other players. Then when it's his time to burn, stand back! I HOPE I caught that B-jam he taught everyone Sunday on the recorder. It's an original titled "A Man of My Word," he sang the wheels off it with unmistakable conviction – and there's no doubt it's hook lyric line is the man's personal manifesto: "flaking out is not an option."
Passion personified – as we might expect.
Dr Gretsch is really a force unto himself. There's no end to the play of inventive ideas that occur to him during his improvs and while constructing his arrangements. He has an amazing command of chord inversions, extensions and colorations, and rhythmic figures to bring interest to solo playing. In a band context, he always brings the energy and the spirit, and it's always "up."
Our mild-mannered, soft-spoken and diplomatic Ric12String was quite a revelation. He flat nailed the bass chair when he sat in it (or stood in it), with a fat authoritative tone and a solid link to the drummer – and a seemingly encyclopedic knowledge of songs. Then he'd pick up a guitar and just nail not only the vibe, but the dead-on note-for-note detail and groove of the apparently endless list of songs he knows. With fine tone. AND I heard him play some really stellar acoustic stuff. Add to that a rich, smooth voice and an ear for harmony - and you have another model for a pro musician's musician.
Bluesgoober is another in that same mold - always listening to the context, always working out what he can do to make everyone else sound better, and then dropping in first-rate vocals, in-the-pocket rhythms, and creamy soaring lead lines.
Every one of Ric12's guest drummers and bass players could walk into any band of mine and just do the job; I think I played more with Steve than with the others, and it was always a joy to hear him catch the groove and hold onto it while playing around it with real musical suppleness.
So yeah - a treat to play with any and all of these guys.
I also enjoyed hearing Sarah, HotRod Michelle, and Vickie Hollywood's trio The White Falcons. It was a treat to hear some female vocals, and they've clearly worked on not only their harmonies but the arrangements of the wide range of material they do, from rockabilly to classic country to old-time rockers. Michelle in particular just CAN'T stop playing and learning. She ALways had a guitar in her hands, and despite having a ton of licks in her head and a repertoire going back through decades of guitar classics, she was hungry to learn from everyone else - and everyone else was glad to work out licks with her.
Several players worked more in background, accompaniment roles, without any intention or attempt to leap to the front - afm_380, SissieKidd, and Sarah among them. They all contributed the right texture and forward motion to the jams they participated in, and sounding good while contributing to the song at hand is really what it's all about.
Most importantly, I don't recall hearing any songs dissolve in confusion or go off the rails in messy trainwrecks.
OK, with the possible exception of "Stairway to Heaven," which Kim requested Sunday afternoon, and which a few players were game enough to try - who would tell Kim no? None who were involved (and I ain't sayin' I was or I wasn't, or mentioning any other names) need ever admit it, and I say it was a noble attempt and honorable to make it to the fanfare before the outjam. AND it was worth it to hear Kim sing a couple verses, wasn't it?
Me, I was glad to feel I could hang with the program. I played in gig bands for years, but we were never much on working out faithful arrangements. I always figured I was a fair hand at picking stuff up on the fly and working with other players, but for the last decade and more I've really been doing nothing but originals. It was good to know the old insticts were still intact.
But playing with good players makes it easy to sound good.
HOWEVER, my droogies. Pay heed, pay heed. You wanna know why none of us is famous? (Bluesgoober and Sturge come closer, and you'll see why, and perhaps appreciate Dr G's growing ütube popularity as well.)
I'll tell you why. We look MISerable! You just see if you can find a picture of any of us where we look like we're not waiting for oral surgery. I swar tew Gawd, we're a grim, dour, serious bunch. Would it really cost us much to grin every once in a while, like we were actually having FUN?
I mean, I know we were having fun. Maybe old white guys just can't help looking terrified and put-upon. But gosh fellers, is it really that bad?
The exceptions? Bluesgoober, Sturge, Dr Gretsch, sometimes Hot Rod Michelle. afm_380 (though that could be a grimace!) – and definitely SissieKidd. Now THERE's a happy camper.
You just pay attention to all the pics and see what I mean. We gotta happy up.
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- Rated: 328 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 2:05 a.m. Proteus:
You can't tell the players without a program.
I'm fixin' to post over 200 pictures (which ought to be fair warning), photographically pretty decent and snapshottily incompetent alike - mostly because an event like this is about people, and at least those of us who were there will be interested to see everyone again. (I also have a lurking suspicion that people like to see themselves, as long as their zippers aren't down and they aren't drooling.)
There are so MANY pictures of the same bunch of people that it would get silly to caption every one of them.
So let me provide here a mugshot gallery of the rogues responsible for the Roundup, starting with the group picture of 23 of us (as always, a few slackers don't make the class picture):
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And herewith, mugshots worthy of any abnormal psychology text, naming names with wanton disregard for the innocent.
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- Rated: 114 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 2:07 a.m. bonedaddy:
Damn Proteus, did you have to post THE most unflattering picture of me? Hell, I didn't sleep at all the night before!
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- Rated: 328 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 2:08 a.m. Proteus:
I have so many good pictures of you it's ridiculous. I'll deny saying it, but you're a pretty photogenic sumbit!
You want me to pull a more conventionally flattering one? You don'lika da humor?
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- Rated: 114 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 2:12 a.m. bonedaddy:
No no, I'm kidding. Self deprecation is the best.
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- Rated: 328 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 2:15 a.m. Proteus:
The weekend's music proceeded in a lazy succession of evolving personnel configurations on stage, with no real plan (that I could determine).
A group would play awhile, with various players dismissing themselves and trading out with others, usually one-at-a-time. I don't recall a complete band change at any one time (though I wasn't in the Lewis & Clark room all the time, so I won't swear to it).
This meant that most of us played with most of the others at one time or another. That being the case, I'm just throwing up perfomance pics in random order - and since y'all have the program, you can I.D. the players as suitsyer.
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- Rated: 328 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 2:17 a.m. Proteus:
Sez bonedaddy: Self deprecation is the best.
I dunno, man, there was a girl in my first-grade class who self-defecated on the classroom floor, and we all made fun of her.
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- Rated: 328 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 2:26 a.m. Proteus:
The Altar
Joe's generosity is legend, and he seems to outdo himself at each event in some way. As he's said on more than one occasion, it's all about sharing the love.
Here's some of the love which was shared in a gifting fest Saturday night.
(A complete list of winners and winnings will follow - for the moment I'm trying to build suspense. Play along with me here.)
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Note: not all prizes are shown. Not by a fur peace.
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- Rated: 79 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 2:31 a.m. roadjunkie:
Proteus: said: HOWEVER, my droogies. Pay heed, pay heed. You wanna know why none of us is famous? (Bluesgoober and Sturge come closer, and you'll see why, and perhaps appreciate Dr G's growing ütube popularity as well.)
I'll tell you why. We look MISerable! You just see if you can find a picture of any of us where we look like we're not waiting for oral surgery. I swar tew Gawd, we're a grim, dour, serious bunch. Would it really cost us much to grin every once in a while, like we were actually having FUN?
I mean, I know we were having fun. Maybe old white guys just can't help looking terrified and put-upon. But gosh fellers, is it really that bad?
The exceptions? Bluesgoober, Sturge, Dr Gretsch, sometimes Hot Rod Michelle.
I was busting up Michelle about your pictures that you first posted. She looks like she is about to rip someones head off except one where she is smiling. That one must have been after she won the guitar!
Honestly that place looks to rival Miss Phila's place as far as Earth's sheer beauty goes. What a site! You left coast folks put together one hell of a shindig and should really feel proud of what you pulled off!
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- Rated: 328 ↑
Sep 15, 2009 2:33 a.m. Proteus:
Clair Tappaan Lodge is actually run by The Sierra Club. That may explain the antipathy to smoking (several of our worthy Good Grooming Lounge members were busted for smoking fat cigars on the porch), the fact that we couldn't park remotely near the lodge on the fragile grass (besides, carrying gear up hill and down a rutted dirt lane has to be good for soul and body alike), and maybe even the 10:30 curfew on electric music.
Here's a walk around the grounds.
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We were glad to see Chonny could make it.
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For what it's worth, the Sierra Club specifically and in the strongest possible terms denies any relationship with the Nazi party as it was at any time in the past or may now be constituted, despite the appearance of that last sign.
