"BOATS AND..."

...and the audience (with any luck upwards of 2000 people) shouts back "BLUEGRASS!"  That where I'll be this weekend.  Matt Ray and Those Damn Horses are playing at the Boats and Bluegrass Festival in Winona MN this weekend, AND we have a killer time slot - 6 p.m. on the MAIN stage.  Hehehehe.  I haven't been to Winona for nearly 6 months, and I'm excited to return.  There's just something about that part of the state for me - it feels very much like home.  The grouse woods and the duck blind will have to wait - there's crazy old time music to be made.  :-)

  

“Here’s a pretty thing…”

A few years ago, there was a time when I was a member of a Canadian duck camp, and every year starting in mid-September until the last weekend in October we’d make the 4 hour drive from home to an old cabin north of Morson Ontario to spend anywhere from 2 to 5 days a week hunting ducks on magnificent Lake of the Woods.  It was the greatest thing ever, but sadly the time spent away from my family combined with the investments I needed to make in new music gear and the demands on my free time exerted by heavily booked bands forced me to bow out.  I fully intend to return along with my sons in the not-so-distant future to share the mind blowing experience with them.  I was going through an old online photo album, and I came across this lovely shot.  It was taken from Drennan Point at the west end of the Basil Channel looking out into Big Traverse Bay at sunset.  Though you can’t see it clearly in this photo, there’s often a magical shimmer on the horizon at the point where the planet curves away, and it’s one of my favorite sights on all the earth.  I shot only two Bluebills the whole day and was thoroughly outsmarted – made a fool of, really - by the small flocks of Mallards and Black Ducks that would occasionally cut the base of the point, and yet I snapped 4 or 5 of my favorite photos ever including this one of Lucy and this one of some interesting clouds.  Like I said, it’s about so much more than simply shooting at ducks… 

Gettin' Juggy With It...

Here's another "Ok, so..." of mine. Ok, so, I've been working on the guitar since I was in 9th grade. Yes, that's a long time, and how sad that I've only reached my current level of skill. Oh well, I get by just fine, thank you, BUT with the unfortunate departure of Damn Horses' long-time washtub bass AND jug player, the job of blowing the jug in the band has fallen to me. This summer we played in Grand Rapids MN for KAXE Radio's Mississippi River Festival, and that was my debut performance on the jug - in a big amphitheater in front of a couple hundred people. Despite my total lack of experience - or know-how or skill for that matter - it went fairly well, and I received two very generous rounds of applause for my efforts. After our set as I was walking around the festival, I had numerous people actually approach me and tell me how much they enjoyed my jug playing. I thought about it for a moment and came up with, "Really? So, I work my fingers literally to the bone for 25 years trying to learn how to kick a$$ as a guitarist with luke warm results, yet one of the first times that I step up to a mic and produce semi-musical tooting noises by blowing into a ceramic container, it's an instant big hit?" I'll edit out the conclusions about people and music that I drew from that. ;-)  Instead, please enjoy this instructional video from the "Jimi Hendrix of the Jug."

"...if you were worried about looking like an idiot, why are you learning to play the jug?"

Ok, so, I LOVE duck hunting...I dig driving down some lost old dirt road at 3 a.m. with a cup of strong coffee while the BBC World Service on NPR is on the radio, and the very thought of pulling up to some overgrown landing on a little used swamp or bog of a body of water with my loyal dog Lucy in tow excites me even as I type this. The sounds of wings whistling overhead while mallards call and ringbills burl on distant darkened rice beds as drops of freezing rain pelt my parka have come to haunt my dreams, and I actually make a couple trips every year purely for the reason that they insure the maximum amount of Canoeing in the Dark.  The rush of adrenalin that comes from accidentally cornering a family of territorial otters in a bend on a river or scaring a large moose from it's pre-dawn breakfast is really the only drug I'd ever need.  Please don't misconstrue my enthusiasm about this activity as any sort of psychotic love of blood or killing, either.  Harvesting ducks is but a small part of a very complex and colorful equation, and far FAR more ducks pass safely over my decoys than actually end up in the game bag.  Adding even more enjoyment to my favorite activity (yes, if pressed I'd give up the public performance of music LONG before I shelved my decoys) is the fact that BOTH my young sons have become willing accomplices to this annual undertaking. Today is a "big day" in the scheme our duck season, for this morning we hauled 10 or more large bags of duck decoys from the storage shed to the garage where they will be sorted, inspected, and repainted as needed.  My garage will also be an "unparkable mess" of blocks, boating gear, bits of wild rice, and assorted happy debris literally until the lakes freeze over in mid to late November. "Get ready, boys...here they come..."

Hey Look, Two Posts in One Day.

My crazy old-time acoustic string band Matt Ray and Those Damn Horses was recently invited to play on Twin Cities radio station KFAI’s House Party.  The show and the interview went fairly well, and the gig at The 331 after was REALLY good.  There’s a video below and a bunch of other videos from the day as well as a TON of stuff from other amazing bands here on 420Ninja's Channel.  Enjoy!



Incidentally, that also marked the sixth time I've done a live radio show...it doesn't seem to be getting any easier.  ;-)

Ok, that’s it. I used to LIVE to blog, and yet I’ve posted NOTHING here since May. My old blog The Ethereal Garage had a hit counter that was up in the tens of thousands, and it also had a respectable number of loyal readers. LAME. I’m going to post something on this damn thing EVERY single day whether it be an actual substantive post, a photo with a caption, a rant (I have been stifling a LOT of those as to not offend people), or whatever. Ready? GO!

Hey, look! I just took a peek through my phone and found this photo from last week. Last Sunday was a special occasion because my band and I played a great set at the 1st annual Northern Train Music Festival in Holyoke MN along with local legends Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank (can you believe that Jessica Lange was in the audience??), and by the time my wife’s car rolled back into our driveway, I was in a pretty relaxed state of mind. It was a cool, fresh “pre-autumn” evening, and the grass in our backyard was exceptionally inviting, so I kicked back for a couple minutes. I invited my spouse to join me, but she wasn’t in the mood to make “grass angels.” This photo is of our fire pit and wood pile area on the left, some wild raspberries in the middle, and the storage shed that the previous owners used as a chicken coup. We don’t have poultry, but we call it “the chicken coup” anyway. It used to be the “atom bomb” of time out locations for our high-spirited little men. …and there you have it – daily blog post number 1. ;-)

At this year's Duluth Homegrown Music Festival, my other-worldly experimental rock band Roxie Magistrate was the 1st band to perform on New Band Night at Pizza Luce. The crew from WDSE Channel 8 was there to tape an episode of The Playlist featuring the evening's festivities, and the footage was edited together along with interviews of all 4 bands involved. Our interview section featuring Derek and Sela is HERE, and the video of "Stuck on Want" is below. Nice!

 

Bah!

"If you're going to have a blog, you might want to POST something now and then." 

Well fine, I will.  Many apologies, but the two main reasons my blogging has suffered so severely are 1.)  I'm able to connect much more easily with both my friends and those who share my interests AND get faster and more meaningful feedback using a certain social networking site, and 2.) my musical pursuits are a tremendous drain on my free time and have left me with far less meaningful blog content - it's a "same story, different day" sorta thing. 

Anyway, my hard driving acoustic string band Matt Ray and Those Damn Horses is still kicking a$$ all over the place.  We have tons of bar gigs, benefits, theater shows, and festivals on the schedule for 2011, sales of our DOUBLE CD "Then and Now" have been brisk, and we were recently featured on WDSE Channel 8's television program "The Playlist."  Video clips from that show can be found HERE and HERE.

Also, my other-worldly, outer space, experimental rock band Roxie Magistrate has been working hard and playing some great shows.  That band also has a T.V. appearance coming up in April, and we're putting the finishing touches on a set list that will allow us to play full 4 hour shows.  It's a LOT of work, but it truly is a labor of love.

Beyond that, I just made my 18th annual President's Day weekend winter camping trip (sadly a short, solo expedition), and I had a nice time and took some great photos.  It would make a heck of a blog post, but don't hold your breath.  ;-)  Peace! 


   

Outstanding...

I'm working on a long post about a recent trip (no, REALLY), but until then, please enjoy this new video from Duluth's own Trampled By Turtles.  It's my understanding that this album is currently #1 on the Billboard Bluegrass chart.  Nice job, fellas. 

The I.R.O.M.A. Warm for the Winter Food and Clothing Drive-

On 12/19/09 I had the distinct pleasure of managing and running sound for a charity event that was dreamed up by the leadership of IROMA. The following is a brief “gig report” from that afternoon:

On a snowy Saturday in late December of 2009 the Iron Range Original Music Association produced the 1st annual Warm for the Winter Food and Clothing Drive. Graciously hosted by Barb at Bonsai Tea in Eveleth MN, the event was staged both to showcase the talents of a number of local solo acoustic performers and to raise donations for some of the less fortunate folks in the area. IROMA is a nonprofit organization founded by a group of musicians in Northeastern Minnesota for the purpose of promoting and publicizing the creation and performance of original music, and the members involved in the fundraiser were all very excited about the opportunity to perform their songs for the benefit of others.

The show began at 1:00 p.m. when Mike Drianis took the stage. An experienced solo performer, Mike recently wrote, recorded, and released a CD of original tunes. Having moved to Virginia MN from California, his music reflects that journey and clearly draws from a broad variety of influences. His songs covered a wide range of topics from the pitfalls of materialism to the complications of romatic relatioships and many points in between. He played a crowd-pleasing set while showing some impressive chops on the guitar and got the event off to a great start.

The next performer on the bill was Mark Henderson. Bringing to bear the confidence, technique, and expertise that come from 50 years of playing the guitar, he moved flawlessly through his set while exhibiting a genuine ease of performance that instantly won the room. He favored the audience with several amusing anecdotes with topics ranging from his childhood in the South to his family to his tenure as front man for the Mojosaurs Blues Band, and he ended his part of the show by playing a few numbers of growling slide on his resonator guitar.

Due to an unfortunate conflict, there was a last minute change in the line-up, but thankfully Jesse Richter was there to save the day both by showing up early and by extending his set by a couple numbers. Jesse has been writing original music and playing out for several years now, and he has arrived at a point in his career where his act is highly polished yet very natural. Through his carefully-crafted songs he treated the audience to a candid peak into a lifetime of experiences in Minnesota with the occasional tasteful addition of a harmonica accompaniment. He left the stage warmly received by those in attendance.

Tim Baldonado was the last performer to take the stage at what had already been a great show. In musical terms Tim has always been a drummer by trade, but as of late he has been sliding into the role of the singer / songwriter. Some of his songs harkened back to the protest songs of the 60ies or even the old labor anthems from the 1st half of the 20th century, and his inspired lyrics and enthusiastic playing instantly struck a chord with the crowd. After Tim finished his very entertaining set, there was still nearly half an hour left in the show, and pianist Geri Burja stepped in and let fly a flurry of traditional Christmas carols thereby bringing the afternoon to a decidedly festive close.

Despite the fact that at the end of the performance the roof over Bonsai Tea was still fully intact, the show was still well attended and generally regarded as huge success. Donations in the form of some cash and a decent amount of nonperishable food items were raised, several IROMA sampler CDs were distributed to the public, and the groundwork for future IROMA charity events was laid. IROMA sends a sincere “Thank You!” to Bonsai Tea, Hometown Focus, and Suzy Archebald at Range Print Shop in Eveleth for their parts in helping to stage this event. The first Warm for the Winter Food and Clothing drive was just the beginning, and IROMA is now committed to growing and improving upon what they hope will become a popular annual event. Be sure to check their website for a calendar of exciting upcoming shows, and thank YOU for continuing to support the vibrant local music scene here in Northeastern Minnesota!

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Bonsai Tea is located on Grant Ave. in downtown Eveleth MN and is open daily. They host an open mic show for local performers from noon to 4 p.m. every 1st and 3rd Saturday, and if you’re looking for an audience for some new material, just give Barb a call – she’d be happy to have you on her stage anytime.