Land of Deborah at Car Free Day Main St. June 17 2012; Make Music Vancouver June 19, 2012.
It’s neat to play outside. Main St. (at 30th) was like playing at the side of a river, with people passing by instead of water. Enthusiastic enough audience. What was interesting was seeing people you know (but don’t know to talk to) from a completely different context walk by and stop to watch you play. ie. ‘Hey, there’s that lady from the gym!’
Same thing down at Gastown a few nights later. This time we were on a street corner with a more closely packed-in crowd gathered round. Again, enthusiastic. A bit more challenging due to rackety band down the street as part of the same festival. But a good show nonetheless.
Got into a bit of an accident on the way home, though. Rear-ended a cab (just barely though; no damage or injury). One of those situations, as a comedian whose name I forget once said, where you know you can make the yellow light, but the guy in front of you chickens out.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Monday, February 11, 2013
A Guiro, Wrath of God
I love percussion in music. I think one band that used percussion very nicely was the Rolling Stones, particularly in their heyday during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Perhaps this is due to the influence of Jimmy Miller, himself a drummer, who produced most of the Stones' work from Jumpin' Jack Flash in 1968 through to the Goat's Heat Soup album in 1973. You can often hear various percussive elements on the band's recordings during this era, adding both atmosphere and groove.
Examples include: Gimme Shelter - Listen to the guiro that comes in at the .09 mark and runs the entire length of the song. Also the maracas, which enter at 2:03. They kick the song into another gear.
The same thing happens on Jumpin' Jack Flash. The maracas come it at 1:33, and serve the same purpose; emphasizing the pulse of the song while marking the instrumental break.
Mick Jagger apparently plays the castanets you hear at the outset of Brown Sugar. They come in with the drums at :03, and are repeated twice more before the song launches into the main riff. I believe Brown Sugar was recorded at Muscle Shoals studios in Alabama during the 1969 tour, so this seems to be one piece of percussive work that was outside the influence of Jimmy Miller.
One of my favourite Stones songs is (Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo) Heartbreaker. You can hear hand drumming mixed fairly low throughout the song. It's subtle, but I think it gives the song a necessary groove injection that serves it well.
Perhaps this is due to the influence of Jimmy Miller, himself a drummer, who produced most of the Stones' work from Jumpin' Jack Flash in 1968 through to the Goat's Heat Soup album in 1973. You can often hear various percussive elements on the band's recordings during this era, adding both atmosphere and groove.
Examples include: Gimme Shelter - Listen to the guiro that comes in at the .09 mark and runs the entire length of the song. Also the maracas, which enter at 2:03. They kick the song into another gear.
The same thing happens on Jumpin' Jack Flash. The maracas come it at 1:33, and serve the same purpose; emphasizing the pulse of the song while marking the instrumental break.
Mick Jagger apparently plays the castanets you hear at the outset of Brown Sugar. They come in with the drums at :03, and are repeated twice more before the song launches into the main riff. I believe Brown Sugar was recorded at Muscle Shoals studios in Alabama during the 1969 tour, so this seems to be one piece of percussive work that was outside the influence of Jimmy Miller.
One of my favourite Stones songs is (Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo) Heartbreaker. You can hear hand drumming mixed fairly low throughout the song. It's subtle, but I think it gives the song a necessary groove injection that serves it well.
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