Our East Coast October Trip
Back earlier in the fall we took a trip to New York. There was a gig in Camden, New Jersey at Camden County College. We’ve played and taught there a number of times before all courtesy of professor Mike Billingsly. After the drive from NY to NJ, over the Gothels Bridge, through Sopranos Land, USA we made it to the green campus. After a sound check at the school, we drove to a Target nearby and bought a friesbee and a football. Sporting goods are a must on the road. We ended up playing ultimate frisbee with a football for the next couple hours in the field outside the concert hall. Shane was barefoot. We were all completely exhausted and dirty. It was only four of us actually I think Ben mentioned something about not wanting to hurt his fingers. Backstage there was a small shower but the nozzle didn’t work so well. A small stream of water would trickle out and that was it. To wash, you had to fill your hand with cold water and splash it on. There were no towels (not that there needed to be…I don’t think that they expected the night’s entertainment to get nearly as sweaty and mud covered as we were.). We were changing and in various states of undress and filth when the opening band from Camden/Philly walked into the room. Not that we needed to really explain why we looked the way we did, but there were some awkward words exchanged when they came in. They were really nice guys. A big group, they sounded good. The bass player lived in Philly and took lessons with Gerald Veasley. Anyway, here’s a video from that concert. Again, post psycho game of football outside. It was one of the nights of the world series.
After this show, we made it back to New York where the next day we had a rehearsal for a show we booked at the 55 Bar with Josh Roseman and Ben Monder. This was a really cool bill. It was all of us along with those two really cool guys. We rehearsed in a semi circle at Josh’s space in Williamsburg. Josh had such a cool blend of music. Some really nice spiritual meets Al Green song, a cool long form pice with a totally strange melody played by the horns. We worked on his music and Shane’s music. The gig at the 55 Bar was awesome. Two sets. We were packed into the corner and a good crowd was there too. It was a lot f fun. Ben Monder is so great to play with. It was really great sitting between him and Adam and getting to hear the way they were voicing chords… I’ve always been a big fan of his from his album “Excavations”. Here’s a photo of him and Ben at that gig before we played just after we set up:
The next day, we drove upstate to Ithaca, New York where we had a day of teaching at Cornell and a concert later that night. First of all, the fall (this was October) is the best time to drive around upstate New York. The leaves are beautiful. Here’s a shot I took out the window of the van as we were headed up there:
We made it to Cornell, set up in a hurry and taught our master class. The students were mostly from our old friend Miles Brown’s jazz band. Miles went to school at Eastman with us. He’s a great bass player and his dad Steve is a great jazz guitarist. It was awesome getting to hang out with him that day. Later that night, we played a gig there in town. Fun fun. And after that, there was a jam session at the cafe across the street. Ithaca’s the town that Adam and Miles grew up in. It think that the cafe there was where they payed their first gig. Here’s a picture of Miles sitting in with the musicians at the jam session:
After Ithaca, we made our way back down towards the city. We had a gig at The Falcon Arts Center in Marboro, New York. This is an “awesome/only on the road would you ever experience this place” kind of place. In the small upstate community of Marlboro. It’s an old church that has been rebuilt in the backyard of organizer Tony Falco. The venue is run completely through donations and is an opportunity for te community to hear music. It’s a house concert setting.The next day we made it back to New York where we played a concert at Galapagos. An awesome show billed by James Donahue. We played with Lilly Maase’s band The Suite Unraveling. And finally, we finished the night with a performance at a loft party at Lilly Maase’s space Monduma. Again, along with Lily’s group this was a late night musical explosion. Here’s a shot from that night. It’s of the floor by my feet:
