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News from the Trenches
News from the Trenches
Date Posted: July 18 2010
Written By: Steve Hashimoto
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A FRIEND IN NEED
Many of you on this list know the poet/guitarist/performance artist/composer Richard Fammerée. What many of you do not know is that Richard has been diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. The situation is not good; please visit his website for information on how you can help:
http://richardshealingfamily.wordpress.com/
THE DEPARTED
More names to add to the list of Chicago’s departed musicians. I can’t believe I forgot Joe Daly, who influenced several generations of Chicago jazz players, and not just saxophonists. Also Tom Bennett, Al Nutting, Rick Langlois, Freddy Schwartz, and Don Jones. Please, keep sending me names.
Pete, Dave, me, and a guy in a bird suit
ANOTHER WEIRD GIG
So what were YOU doing Tuesday morning at 6:15am? Well, I was playing music for the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the new Meijer’s store in Orland Park. It was Pete Oprisko’s gig (he does get some mighty strange ones), and Dave Holloway and I were the band. It was a little early in the day even for Pete, I think. I toyed with the idea of just staying up (I usually go to sleep between 4 and 5am), but I knew that could only end badly, so I took a little nap at about 2:30am, and left Hashimoto Industries Worldwide HQ at 5. The best thing about that, I guess, was that there was no traffic to speak of, so I made it out to Orland in good time, and there were plenty of rock-star parking spaces available in the lot.
Really, although the setting was a bit surreal, it was mostly the hour that made things weird. I’ve played in plenty of grocery and department stores in my storied career, but dealing with all that fluorescent lighting at 6:15am kind of put a hurting on my body clock. As you can see in the accompanying photos, taken by Pete’s wife Melissa, a guy dressed up as the Blackhawk’s mascot was on the gig too, and he was way too energetic for that time of day, in my humble opinion. He approached us but I think he took one look at me and decided that discretion was the better part of valor and switched his attention to Pete. I leaned over to Dave and told him, “See, it can always be worse. You could be wearin’ the bird suit!”
Somewhere in America, 6:15am
The event coordinator didn’t get Pete’s name when she announced him (she called him Paul), and when it was time for the ceremony she came up to Pete and made the universal “Cut!” motion. Of course, it was the middle of the song’s form, and God bless Pete for finishing the song, which was “Sunshine Of My Life”. As you hardcore jobbers know, the standard outro is to repeat the intro, but this woman couldn’t even wait for the 5 seconds it would have taken for us to do that, she started her spiel the millisecond that Pete stopped singing.
It also turned out that the mayor of O.P. was a little late (or maybe they started the ceremony early). He did get there, and I think he was a little ticked off; his remarks, besides the usual “What a great thing for the community blah blah blah” included “Someone told our office to be here precisely at 7, which it is now”; they started the ceremony at 6:45, and I’m sure there was some miscommunication. There usually is, when you have planners involved.
It was a pleasant surprise to run into my friend John Chisari, a very fine bassist, who has a day job at the store. And mostly the gig was painless, so thanks, Pete. One of these days, though, I’m gonna call you for a gig that starts at 2am, Hashimoto time, and the shoe’ll be on the other foot…
SYNCHRONICITY/SERENDIPITY
I just got home from the Al Rose gig at the Woodwalk Gallery in Egg Harbor, Wisconsin. The gallery is a beautiful place and the people there were warm and welcoming, but the weirdest thing happened. The woman who runs the concert program is a singer/songwriter named Jeanne Kuhns; in idle conversation she asked me if I happened to know a Chicago guitarist named George Sawyn, and since George is a friend of mine, of course I said not only did I know him but I thought he might stop by, since he had sent me an e-mail saying that he had recently moved to Egg Harbor. Jeanne then told me that George played in her band, which is named Lost Mothra, which of course led me to tell her that I have a band called Mothra, that I’ve led since 1976, to which she replied, “Oh, so YOU’RE the guy!” Seems she had tried to name her band Mothra but on doing a cursory Google search she discovered that “some bassist in Chicago” had already laid claim to the name, so she had to settle for adding the appellation “Lost” (she’s also a visual artist and her gallery’s name is “Lost Moth Gallery”). I mean, what are the chances of playing a gig 250 miles from home, running into a friend who plays in a band that had to rename itself because of a project of yours?
MUSIC ONLINE ALIVE
I’m participating in a website called Music Online Alive; it’s the brainchild of Oak Park composer Peter Saltzman, and after months of beta-testing it looks like it’s finally ready to go. I think of it as I-Tunes on steroids; not only can people hear (and purchase) music, but you can also upload musician bios, charts, photos and videos. Please check it out at: link name
HASH’S FAVES
This week we visit, of all places, Ireland. The song is “Raglan Road,” as performed by Van Morrison and The Chieftains from the album. It’s a beautiful song, with lyrics by Peter Kavanagh. I’m sure the melody is a traditional melody that’s been handed down for generations; as a matter of fact, at this moment I’m listening to Jennifer Warnes sing a song called “Too Late Love Comes” whose melody is almost identical, and I also find that the melody also belongs to a traditional ballad called “Dawning Of The Day”.
I’m afraid that when one says “Irish music” the immediate image conjured up is rollicking Clancy Brothers-style rebel songs (and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that). I’ve played my share of that sort of music, and I have a fondness for it, both as a performer and listener. But there’s a whole other strain of Celtic/Gaelic music, a deeply meditative, contemplative music that reflects the inherent mysticism of the culture.
The tempo of this recording is majestically slow, and the rhythm section does an incredible job of holding it together. I’ve always had the highest respect for The Chieftains, but after hearing this cut I put the bassist on the cut, Ciarán Ó Braonián, in the highest echelons of time keepers. I’d be willing to bet that this was the kind of recording session that, when the song ended, everyone in the studio looked at each other and said “Wow!” The requisite level of mystery for Hash’s Fave status is fulfilled here, in spades.
Many of you on this list know guitarist Dennis Cahill and fiddler Martin Hayes (my pal Erwin Yasukawa played bass for them for many years). The Pong Unit was in New York playing a booking showcase a few years ago, and Dennis and Martin were in another room. I was able to catch them, and they played a piece that lasted perhaps 10 minutes, and was one of the most spiritual, intense musical experiences I’ve ever had. It was much like this, very slow, and it never sped up, it just got deeper and deeper until it felt like you, and the whole room, had been sucked into the very heart of the music. It takes extraordinary musicians to resist the temptation to use speed and pure volume to generate excitement. I hear that no less a musician than Richard Thompson has expressed his admiration for Dennis and Martin, and after seeing them conquer a room full of college booking agents I know why.
I have a very good friend who doesn’t share my love of Van Morrison, and I’ve taken him to task for his lack of good taste. Van is one of those musicians who seems to be able to enter this trance-like state of communing with the heart of the music he’s singing, whether it’s a slow tune like this or a raver. To see him high-kicking through the out-vamp of “Caravan” in the Band’s “Last Waltz” movie is to see a guy who’s, well, just GONE, and indeed another of my favorite Van tunes is his blue-eyed soul song “Real Real Gone.” And his song “Astral Weeks”, featuring Richard Davis on bass, is in much the same ballpark as Pharaoh Sanders’ “The Creator Has A Master Plan.”
The Chieftains have a live album called “An Irish Evening With The Chieftains.” It’s a document of a concert in Dublin, I believe, where they invited many of the artists that they’ve recorded with in their fantastic career, including my favorite female singer, Nanci Griffith. Roger Daltrey sings “Raglan Road” with them, and, sorry, Rog, but you can’t even hold Van’s walking stick. There’s absolutely no mystery, even though the Chieftains pretty much play the song exactly as they did with Van, and Daltrey sticks close to Van’s version. Just goes to show that the notes ain’t everything.
SHOUT-OUTS
Thanks to Greg Penn for a little chart-writing gig, and a faster-than-light payment! Thanks to everyone who came out to Simon’s last Sunday; you know who you are.
THE WHINE LIST
Still looking to fill many of my off-nights. Looking ahead, very MUCH need to fill Saturdays October 16, 23 and 30 and November 6, 20 and 27! ¡Ay caramba! Also still wanting to teach you (or your child) bass, design your cd or poster or flier, write your liner notes, help you with charts for your book, get those old band and composition demos off of those disintegrating cassettes or DAT tapes, convert your LPs to CDs, etc. Call Hashimoto Industries Worldwide at 708-660-9469 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 708-660-9469 end_of_the_skype_highlighting.
THE SCHEDULE
This week Steven Hashimoto will court synchronicity at:
SUN. 7/18: Sunday Jazz Brunch at ANDIE’S MEDITERRANEAN RESTAURANT, 5253 N. Clark, noon-3pm, with The Steven Hashimoto Trio (Dan Hesler, sax, and John Beard, guitar; this time for sure!); the gig will continue through July, then we’ll take August off, and return in September, but it’d sure be helpful if some of you showed up in July.
MON. 7/19: KOPI CAFÉ, 5317 N. Clark, 8-10pm, with guitarist Pat Fleming.
TUES. 7/20: JILLY’S, 103 S. Main St., Naperville, 8-10pm, with Pete Ellman’s Big Band.
THURS. 7/22: TAVERN ON LA GRANGE, 5403 S. La Grange Rd., Countryside, 8pm-midnight, with Tony Ocean & The Expensive Winos (again, I don’t know who’s on the gig).
FRI. 7/23: THE GREEN MILL, 4802 N. Broadway, 1:30-3:45am, with The Green Mill Quartet (Barely Winograd, bari sax; Dennis Luxion, piano; Rock Shandling, drums) for The After-Hours Jazz Jam Session and Hang.
SAT. 7/24: ROB ZETTL’S BLOCK PARTY, 5000 block of West Windsor, 1-2pm; I don’t know who’s on this besides Rob on guitar; then later on, jobbing with High Society.
SUN. 7/25: Sunday Jazz Brunch at ANDIE’S MEDITERRANEAN RESTAURANT, 5253 N. Clark, noon-3pm, with The Steven Hashimoto Trio (Mike Levin, sax, and John Beard, guitar). Our last one for a month, come on out!
MON. 7/26: GREEN MILL, 4802 N. Broadway, 9pm-1am, the one-night-only RETURN OF THE LATIN-JAZZ JAM SESSION hosted by Sueños Latin-Jazz Quintet (Mike Levin, saxes; Leandro Lopez-Varady, piano; Joe Rendon, percussion; Heath Chappell, drums). Please come out and play with us! ¡Muchas Gracias to Señor Jemilo!
The Mothra cd, “Tradewind”, is now available on an individual basis, as are the rest of the year’s series of releases, from Chicago Sessions, link name or send me $15. If you send me $25 I’ll throw in a copy of the Sueños cd, “Azul Oscuro”. My address: 826 N. Cuyler, Oak Park IL 60302.
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