gig 020 – House Band #9

Saturday July 29, 2006
Cafe Pazzazz, Val-David
9:30 pm-12:30am

HOUSE BAND #9
John Sobol – sax
Tom Sokolow – drums/batterie
David Gauthier - electric guitar
François Myrand – basse
Richard St-Aubin – acoustic guitar

3 sets
no cover charge
75 people

usual musical mayhem
with one slight difference
this time we were forced to play quiet all night
due to complaints by neighbours
which was in fact fine
as i rarely use a mic there and it can get ptetty loud
so we chilled
relatively speaking of course
still a lot of intensity
just quieter than usual

i was sick
almost bailed on the gig
but the show must go on
and the gigblog too...

20th gig since I started this gigblog in february
plus I had a about 10 gigs in January
so about 30 gigs in the first 7 months of 2006
1 a week on average
so it goes...

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Risk Factor: 2
Riff Factor: 8
Volume: 5
Wild Card: shhhhhhhh
Cash Factor: 7
Parking Lot: a busy night in Val-David

gig 019 - House Band #9

Friday July 21, 2006
Cafe Pazzazz, Val-David
10pm-1am

HOUSE BAND #9
John Sobol – sax
Tom Sokolow – drums/batterie
David Gauthier - electric guitar
François Myrand – basse
Richard St-Aubin – acoustic guitar
Felix Leroux – percussion

Probably 75 people jammed into the little club in Val-David
renovations are under way to expand significantly tho so we'll be playing to bigger houses soon
a great night as always
we started late because at the 1001 Pots festival across rue de l'Eglise they were showing a Japanese film about ceramics and sex outside under the stars
i missed it but it sounded good...
highlights of our night included our finale
"With Or Without You"
another inspired off-the-cuff song selection by our special guest guitairist david gauthier
(last time he played with us his finale suggestion was Coltrane's Africa - which was a real blast)
we ended up doing a dub version of the U2 song that I turned into an evening outro by adding
"Everything's gonna be all right" riffs on sax and then on the mic
wrapping things up nicely
getting an encore even
after 3 sets
which we dutifully did

as always some pretty wired people in the crowd
it's nice to get the deep appreciation that people show
nice to feel the love
but sometimes it comes in from some pretty weird angles
and with some bizarre baggage
still, you learn to take it as it comes
_______

Risk Factor: 3
Riff Factor: 9.9
Wild Card: A super-intense Vincent Van Gogh look-alike telling me about his pit-bull-skin jacket (?!) and how our show was a tonic against the bad-vibe inflicted by having been passed by a swarm of Hells Angels on the way to the club (yeow!@)
Cash Factor: 7
Parking Lot: sex and ceramics
Joy: 10
Obliteration: 9
Jays vs. Yankees: Jays win 7-3

gig 018 – House Band #9

Friday July 14, 2006
Cafe Pazzazz, Val-David
10pm-1am

HOUSE BAND #9
John Sobol – sax
Tom Sokolow – drums/batterie
Gary Lindner - piano
François Myrand – basse
Richard St-Aubin – acoustic guitar

Another merry night of musical mayhem
gary is not only a killer drummer but a monster keyboard player too
and tom is just a nutcase on drums
i love his unpredictable totally madcap playing
as usual an excellent night

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Risk Factor: 3
Riff Factor: 9.9
Success Factor: kowabunga
Wild Card: I often space out when I'm playing a solo but I've been trying to keep my eyes open more --- well, tonight i spaced out with my eyes open and noticed at one point that without realizing it i had been staring directly into an audience member's crotch for about five minutes while soloing - i didn't really care but i don't know how he felt - another strange onstage moment
Cash Factor: 6
Parking Lot: 1001 pots
Joy: 7
Obliteration: 7

gig 017 - w/Born to Run @ Mohegan Sun

June 30, 2006
The Wolf's Den
Mohegan Sun, Connecticut

CLASSIC ALBUMS LIVE presents Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run
"Cut for cut and note for note"

John Sobol – tenor sax
Craig Martin – lead vox
Steve Butler - drums
Nick Hildyard - piano and vox
Jeff Pearce - bass
Marcus Garrison - keys
Stephen Bahnesli - guitar

7pm and 10pm sets
hard to gauge attendance
the club was not as packed as usual
but there were probably several thousand people listening
in the vast surrounding casino
which remains one of the most over-the-top joints you could ever hope to encounter

This was a great gig
a great band
a great album
and great fun

we definitely rocked it HARD
Craig sang Bruce much better than I thought he'd be able to pull off
buttles remains the most rocksolid drummer around
nicky as always a musical powerhouse
jeff and marcus and stephen all nailing their parts beautifully
all in all a blast

check out the posts on our message board

as for me
i had the immense challenge of blowing Clarence Clemons' parts
'the big man' blows like a muthaf***ka and i had to learn to do the same for this gig
he has pretty much the biggest baddest sound around
and tremendous musicality too
it was awesome to study this master of the screaming sax
steeped in the stomping wailing honkytonk r'n'b horn idiom that is so rarely heard these days
tho updated and with a ferocious edge
apart from the sheer power (like Clarence I can now blow down tall trees with my horn)
the greatest lesson was to learn to manhandle my horn WITH MY MOUTH
this goes against everything most sax players are taught
(not that i ever went to music school or anything)
but it took me a long time to realize that for Clarence the music is in the mouth not in the fingers
he shapes every note with huge bends, growls, slurs, spins, slpas and cries that constitute an incredibly rich narrative vocabulary
and NOBODY plays their horn that way these days
but now I do
:)
big up to the big man!
thank YOU!

Here's us doing the epic song Jungleland

I can't wait for us to do this show again somewhere...

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Risk Factor: 11 (JUNGELAND is terrifying)
Riff Factor: 1 ('note for note' baby)
Props: Standing Os and booty shaking in the aisles
Wild Card: dead guy stretched out in the lobby
Cash Factor: 11!
Parking Lot: dead battery
Joy: 10
Obliteration: 9 (post-gig only tho)
Travel: burning rubber 450 miles each way