playing the music of Bill Frisell

I am playing a fun gig tomorrow (wednesday) at Somewhere There. I am the special guest in a weekly series. We are playing the music of Bill Frisell. It is funny as this is something that I would never have done as I often try to avoid playing music of the people I was influenced by. It turns out (we rehearsed today) that it is going to be a lot of fun. Patrick has picked some great tunes and we are playing a couple of mine too. The band features: Edwin Sheard - Alto Patrick O'Reilly - Guitar Derek Gray - Drums Perhaps the weirdest (of course I think the neatest) part is that I am not playing guitar at all. I am playing fiddle and banjo. We go on shortly after 8pm and play till 10pm. Hope you can make it.

my vinyl collection!

A couple times a year I organize, shuffle, alphabetize, prioritize (the ones I listen to most stay on the first floor where the working turntable lives) my vinyl collection. Tonight was one of those nights.

The best part of it is finding records that I either bought and forgot to listen to or just some great records that fell to the back of the pile. Tonight's vinyl session made me wonder what percentage of the ones I have upstairs right now are either John Hartford, Springsteen or Tom Petty. A close second these days would be Quebec fiddle music (Mr. Pointu!) or Irish music.

Right now I am listening to a great Stephan Grapelli record on the Atlantic label from the late 60s. I think I bought this on our recent trip to Quebec. I would love to be able to play the fiddle like this someday. (keep dreaming right!)

It is insane how popular vinyl is here in Toronto right now. There are so many vinyl shops all around the city now. I really have to avoid them otherwise we may soon have no money and nowhere to eat sleep or play hockey as they take up a lot of room. (a lot more than mp3s!!)

Tonight I also listened to Dylan Thomas reading Dylan Thomas (thanks Spike!), David Grisman Quintet, The Steve Martin Brothers (the comedy side), Tom Petty (forget the title...the one with Night Watchman) and Randy Newman Little Criminals.

I really enjoy the challenge of finding the records I want for a reasonable price. I love the dollar bins as often their junk is my treasure. I rarely listen to CDs anymore. Sometimes it is the only way to check out my friends new records or still good for when we rent cars.

My friends Clutton Michelli West have a new record of improvised music. It sounds great. They are doing a CD launch party on September 20. The venue is still tba but I think it will be a double bill with the Oolong 7. Stay tuned here for details.

Gotta get up and flip the record. Until next tim(e).

Tim