Old Town School – On The Road

Dispatches from the road from our wayfaring travelers.

Rock Camp Day Six

We spent the morning preparing for our set tonight at the Key Club, then headed to the hotel for a few hours of R & R. The energy at the Key Club was peaking as camp bands ruled the stage one by one. Literally every band had performed with intensity and precision, and every camper’s faced expressed the same sentiment: It’s great to be alive! Our band was scheduled to perform last, and we scorched through “Rainbow in the Dark” (Ronnie James Dio), our original song, and “My Hero” (Foo Fighters) in honor of Rami for making our camp experience so positive and productive. Fellow campers and counselors said their goodbyes as we prepared to head back into reality. From the moment we arrived until the moment we left, the entire Rock Camp staff accommodated to the campers’ every eccentric need. Most remarkably, they did it all with smiles on their faces and rock –n- roll in their hearts. I truly hope I get the opportunity to reunite with my band mates again someday, but I know they will keep music going in their lives and do it with a little more edge now that we’ve tasted the rock –n- roll fantasy.

Filed under: Domestic, Notes from Eric, Uncategorized by Eric | March 2, 2010 | Comments (0)

Rock Camp Day Five

Rehearsals resumed all morning for our recording session later in the evening. Rami then treated us to an amazing sushi lunch, followed by a tour of his amazing studio. After dinner, the band loaded onto the Gibson tour bus and headed to EASTWEST Studios for our original song recording. EASTWEST is the home of incredible legendary recordings from rock and pop superstars over the last 50 years. There to greet us in the booth was the notable producer, engineer and camp counselor, Ron Nevison. Ron has worked with the likes of The Who, Jefferson Airplane, Bad Company, Chicago, and Led Zeppelin, so I knew we were in good hands. The session was over before we knew it and the rough mixing process began. I’m looking forward to getting the final mix in a couple of weeks. Hopefully it will catch the great mood we all were in after collaborating so well together.

Filed under: Domestic, Notes from Eric, Uncategorized by Eric | March 2, 2010 | Comments (0)

Rock Camp, Day Four

We spent the day at AMP Studios rehearsing our original song for the recording session tomorrow and jamming to various songs so we can fill out our set at the Key Club. We got a chance to jam with Ace Frehley from KISS, and I sat in on a Q & A drum session with Charles “Keep a Knockin” Connor (original drummer for Little Richard) and Slim Jim Phantom (Stray Cats). Connor created that unique, choo choo train sound with nonstop 1/8th notes that American and British drummers in the 50’s and 60’s copied over and over in the 1950’s and 1960’s. As a left-handed drummer, I am always navigating in a right handed world by constantly switching the drum set when I share gear with other drummers. Performances become logistically bothersome when the drums and mics have to be changed quickly. Both Charles and Slim Jim are lefties, and Charles even told us that he was discouraged by others at an early age not play drums because he was left-handed. It turns out that there are many left-handed drummers but are often pressured in their youth to conform to a right-handed kit, like Ringo Starr. The rock stars have all been generous in sharing stories about the road and the many musicians they have known over the years, and I’m stretching out as a drummer by playing a variety of rock styles. Ace and Me

Filed under: Domestic, Notes from Eric, Uncategorized by Eric | February 27, 2010 | Comments (0)

Rock Camp, Day Three

The band rehearsed today in preparation for an acoustic performance at the Gibson Guitar Showroom in Beverly Hills. As we were deciding what song to perform, Rami suggested “No Rain” by Blind Melon. When the song came out in 1992, I listened to it thousands of times in my car until the cassette wore out. The choice of song was certainly a good one as Rami got on the phone and asked some of his friends to join us on stage that night – Christopher Thorn (bass) and Brad Smith (mandolin) from Blind Melon, and Jesse Greene (violin), who recently toured with the Foo Fighters and now with Pink. Rami broke out his accordion and the extended jam version of the popular song went over big with the crowd. The band is really coming together this week and ready for more.

Click here to see the performance at the Gibson Showroom

Filed under: Domestic, Notes from Eric, Uncategorized by Eric | February 26, 2010 | Comments (0)

Rock Camp, Day Two

Campers arrive at the AMP studios via a Gibson Tour Bus at 10 am. Everyone’s still tired from the night before, but we quickly head to the practice rooms and crank up the amps. We rehearse for a few hours before various rock stars show up to hang with the bands. Our band rocked out on “Runnin’ with the Devil” with Michael Anthony of Van Halen and Chickenfoot, I traded drum solos with Steven Adler and Sandy Gennaro, and played a few Kiss numbers with Bruce Kulick. Our band has already written most of an original song for our recording. More to come.

Filed under: Domestic, Notes from Eric by Eric | February 25, 2010 | Comments (0)

A Rock –n- Roll Crusade; First day at Rock –n- Roll Fantasy Camp

Thanks to a fellowship grant from The Chicago Community Trust, I am here in Hollywood as one of about 60 campers spending six days with an incredible array of rock star counselors to live “the dream.” Today I was assigned to a band featuring Rami Jaffee (the Wallflowers and Foo Fighters, among other projects). The band consists of seven members including Rami, and represents East Coast, West Coast, Midwest, and Canada: three guitars, two drummers, bass, and vocalist. Just after meeting for the first time, we had 1 ½ hours to choose a band name and pick and rehearse a song to play at the Key Club for the opening party. We chose “No Logos” for the name, a reference to the dress restrictions placed on us due to a VH1 film shoot going on here the camp. Seconds after we were ready to play, one of the guitarists started to riff on “Shook Me All Night Long” by AC/DC. We never looked back. No Logos closed out the student bands at the Key Club party, and handed it over to a rock star counselor jam that brought the house down.
Next up, the bands head to the studios and all week for rehearsals, master classes and open jams. Then we’re on to recording an original song and performing at the Key Club again for the final night. Stay tuned for more.
Click here for info on The Chicago Community Trust Fellowship.
Click here for info on Rock –n- Roll Fantasy Camp.

Filed under: Domestic, Notes from Eric by Eric | February 25, 2010 | Comments (0)

Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

Here at the southern tip of Asia, the beaches shelve off precipitously into the Arabian Sea. Waves that have traveled from Africa are almost right on the sand before they break. It makes for treacherous swimming, and every year a few tourists venture too far and are washed out to sea. Along this stretch of coast hundreds of double-ended fishing craft launch through the surf every day. No diesel engines here, these are craft propelled exactly as they have been for millennia, by a crew of fifteen or twenty sailors pulling against the tide with oars. They drop enormous nets just past the breakline, with floats on the top and rocks as sinkers tied to the bottom. Two swimmers are sent to the shore with ropes, and as teams gather on the beach to haul in the catch, they’ve created a perfect purse net.

The hauling is a spectacle in itself, requiring an hour or two for a team of sixty or more. It is essentially a tug-of-war with the sea. One man anchors each line and coils the ropes as they are pulled in. The rest of the team hauls vigorously when a wave is approaching to take advantage of its forward momentum; then they dig in their heels and strain to keep the backflow from pulling their catch back out to sea. When each hauler progresses up the beach until they reach the anchor man, they run forward to the front places, which are right in the teeth of the surf. All of this is coordinated by rhythmic chants, a call and response that echoes up and down the beach, rising and falling with the momentary needs for extra exertion when a particularly large swell is washing back out. By and by, the net itself appears in the surf, filled with thousands of silver fish, flashing and writhing in the sunlight. It takes a special effort to actually land this catch, which must weigh well into the thousands of pounds.

Then the village women appear will all manner of tubs and buckets. They separate the fish by species. Some are loaded into basins and carried away on the women’s heads immediately to market. Many more are spread out over a vast expanse of beach to dry in the sunlight for the rest of the day; they are gathered together and carried off in the evening – while the fishermen play a pickup game of cricket.

The entire scene, from dawn to dusk, feels timeless – it has probably changed very little in the past few thousand years. It is also striking for its entirely communal nature. No individual could haul in those nets; they require the joint effort of the entire community. No single person could contend with two tons of seafood to process and market; it needs participation from everyone, sharing in both the bounty and the labor. Sustenance demands that every member of the community pulls their own weight, otherwise they won’t have dinner on the table tonight.

As an outsider observing this simple spectacle, it’s impossible to avoid drawing parallels to our own existence in the complexity of Chicago. The metaphors beg for a reflection. Is there anything that compels our participation as a community with such singleness of purpose? What do we have in our lives that requires us to join together and pull in the same direction? Every day? If there is an answer, I believe it is in the stewardship of our traditional heritage. Music and dance are ephemeral, they’re present right now, and then they are gone. But the sustenance and passage of that “intangible heritage” from this generation to the next does indeed call for our common attention, perpetually. And just as the act of hauling nets shapes the fishing communities of Kerala, the enactment, over and over again, of our musical rituals defines our own sense of community. It is what makes the work that goes on every day at Old Town School so vitally important. We all have to participate today, or we’ll lack our soul force tomorrow.
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Filed under: Uncategorized by Bau | November 6, 2009 | Comments (0)

Festivals Acadiens

Colleen’s report from the wonderful Festivals Acadiens in Lafayette. For a full line-up check www.festivalsacadiens.com and for some cell phone vid’s, check www.youtube.com/mikecolleenvideos

Big thanks to Sandy Wilson and Pamela Toler for their support of the Louisiana Music and Culture Exchange!

Thursday night- it’s a balmy 85 degrees as we head to Randol’s for dinner and a dance set by Huber Maitre. Afterwards it’s over to the Blue Moon Saloon, sort of Lafayette’s version of the Hideout, but with a great backyard and a rooming house too. All open air and yes it’s super sweaty on the tiny dance floor. We’re treated to a gorgeous trad set by Ray Abshire with guest Pine Leaf Boys Courtney Granger and Drew Simon. A great night, though we did note that $1.00 cans of Schlitz is still not worth it.

Friday – scored some comfy olive green chairs at Wal-Mart and headed over to the free Bach Lunch concert downtown. What a great series! A fun zydeco set by Coret Ledet with delish local lunches for sale. The 98 degree heat index did not stop folks from dancing. The best thing about Louisiana is that everyone dances, even the little school children. Later, Downtown Alive with Feufollet, Doug Kershaw, Jo-El Sonnier & Jimmy C. Newman was disappointingly cancelled due to storm warnings, so we decided to take a driving tour of some of the legendary restaurants and dance halls – Mulates, Prejeans, and the fantastic La Poussiere where Steve Riley was playing.

Saturday – chilly and damp today, accompanied by a muddy mushy festival site, but nobody cares. All the smart people are wearing stylin’ rubber boots. The Festival de Musique in Girard Park is very similar to our Folk & Roots Fest in terms of size and layout, but it is 100% Cajun & Creole music, crafts and food. A day of great music, with highlights including Balfa Toujours w/Horace Trahan, PLB, Geno, Les Amis Creole, LRD, Lil Nathan, Feufollet and a fantastic stripped down set by Randy Vidrine, Chris Segura and Peppy Carmello. [Side note: now I know why they call them fire ants.] Later it’s a monster double bill at the Blue Moon- Pine Leaf Boys and Lost Bayou Ramblers, dance floor packed like sardines.

Sunday – the Savoys start out with ominous clouds that quickly release an extended downpour. Fortunately it’s not windy so they keep playing and the astonishing mud dancing begins (see video). The smart rubber boot people are even smarter today. The site’s a cold messy mud swamp, but it’s such a great scene, nobody complains. More highlights today… the Redsticks with Hadley Castille, Bonsoir Catin, Cedric Watson, Kevin Naquin, Ray Abshire and of course the Lost Bayou Ramblers. We bestowed our chairs upon the people behind us, who also had olive green, now they have 4.

Monday – a surreal morning drive through the extremely foggy bayou back to NOLA airport. A picturesque way to end a fantastic trip!

Filed under: Domestic by Colleen | October 14, 2009 | Comments (0)

Musical Exchange in Ahmedabad

We trekked out of Rajasthan, a long two days of driving punctuated by stops at Mt Abu, the Indian honeymooners equivalent of Niagra Falls, this one in a high mountain retreat in the middle of a tiger preserve; Rani-Tki-Vav, an enormous eight or nine storey well, carved out of solid rock with every surface displaying images of the avatars of Vishnu, really overwhelming; and the Modhera Sun Temple, a lot like the step well only it rises from the earth rather than descending into it.  The state of Gujarat is a total contrast to Rajasthan’s desert — lush green farming country, lots of animal life.

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Filed under: India 2009, Notes from Bau by Bau | October 12, 2009 | Comments (1)

A Wedding in Rajasthan

A few days ago we landed in Jaisalmer, a town in far western Rajasthan near the border with Pakistan. It is known as the “golden city” because all of the buildings and temples are made of yellow sandstone that positively glows in the desert sun. To our surprise and delight, our oud teacher and HR Assistant Ronnie Malley announced that he and his longtime girlfried Nicole, who is accompanying our delegation, had decided to get married! Pranita Jain took them shopping for rings and special wedding attire and arranged for a Hindu priest to officiate.

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Filed under: India 2009, Notes from Bau by Bau | October 9, 2009 | Comments (2)


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