This page contains a few thoughts and links to some other Web pages relating to music, bands that I perform with, performers or recordings that I recommend, etc.
Rock City Band
I am the alternate, substitute, backup bass player for Rock City Band. Daryl and Colleen have been friends for years, and it's a treat to get out and play with them. When Don can't make it, I play. (more photos, schedule).
NEW! Here's a short clip recorded live in March, 2009, with me sitting in on bass, Charlie Sweeney (drums), Colleen Desmond (guitar), Daryl Desmond (guitar), and Brenda White (lead vocals). That's Daryl doing the guitar solo at the end of the clip.
My equipment
I play an American Fender Precision Deluxe bass, which is basically a Fender Jazz bass with a Precision Bass neck pickup. For gigs with Rock City I use an old SWR SM-400 amp. This particular one turns out to have been on tour for years with John Garnache, who played with Jefferson Starship, and who used this amp while backing Ry Cooder. It's a bi-amp that drives a Hartke 1x15 (that someone put a so-so Peavy driver into) and an SWR 2x10 for highs. For smaller gigs I use just the 2x10, usually with a GK-400RB III amp. Anyway, after some fiddling with pickup heights, I mostly like the sound in the midrange, and am still struggling to get quite the bottom I'd like. UPDATE: the low end I've been looking for turns out to be there, if I crank down the treble on the bass itself. This is the first time I've ever had a traditional, passive pickup Fender that sounds good with the treble turned down, but it lets the bottom come through.
Some Interesting Musicians
Everyone knows the Beatles, Beethoven, and Vladimir Horowitz. Here's a list of some less well known performers and composers I like (in no particular order).
- Ivan Moravec: a really wonderful classical pianist.
- Gram Parsons: Yes, he's become a cult figure, but his harmony singing with Emmylou Harris was marvelous, his songwriting was good, and he created a style that's been hugely influential. Check out GP/Grievous Angel; Live is very rough, but the Love Hurts cut won a Grammy; Conmemerativo is not the official tribute CD, but it's truer to his spirit.
- James Jamerson: Arguably the greatest pop bass player ever, Jamerson was the heart of the Motown Funk Brothers Rhythmn section. He was a key influence on Paul McCartney and on most all the great rock/pop bass players. If you play bass, you should absolutely get and work through Dr. Licks' terrific Standing in the Shadows of Motown. It's got top players like Will Lee doing Jamerson's parts, isolated in one channel, or pan to the other channel and play along. Careful note-for-note transcriptions and interesting background on Jamerson is provided in the accompanying book.
- Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson: was a wonderful blues & jazz sax player. I heard him live with Pinetop Perkins at a great show at the Bach, Dancing and Dynamite Society in Miramar in about 1979.
- Clarence White just about invented bluegrass lead guitar, a great country picker who played on the Byrd's Sweetheart Album and with the legendary Nashville West — a truly fine guitar player...and he invented the b-bender! He was hit and killed by a drunk driver while loading up up after a gig in 1973.
- James Burton: an absolutely spectacular country guitarist who can play many other styles too. From Ricky Nelson (Hello Mary Lou) to the lead position in Elvis' band for years, Jerry Lee Lewis, Merle Haggard (Lonesome Fugitive, Mama Tried), and eventually Elvis Costello, Burton has played with an astonishing collection of the best. After playing lead in the Elvis band, he got drafted by Gram Parsons for his pioneering country-rock albums GP and Greivous Angel (check out astonishing the Burton solo on Ooh Las Vegas). When Gram died, Emmylou Harris convinced Burton to anchor the Hot Band, which he did for a few years, and since then he's played with many others. That's him playing guitar on the Roy Orbison Black & White special that PBS shows at fundraising time. (biography, discography)
- More to come!