John Churchville: Music

Middle School Composition: Ideas and Inspirations

2011-12-07T12:57:00.001-05:00

For last few weeks I have been teaching a two hour music composition elective to 5 middle school students at Go Like The Wind School in Ann Arbor, MI. Here are some of the main lesson concepts from each week:

Week 1: (introduction to composition)

I wanted to challenge the pre-conceived concepts of what composition was supposed to be, so I started the elective by showing them some contemporary scores like these:

From the first glance they said that the elective was nothing like they thought it would be, and they loved it! I then simply asked them to create a composition in any way they wanted. Here is an example of one they came up with, (two girls worked together on this one):

We then took all the compositions and performed them. I was amazed at how much ownership the students took in these highly interpretive ideas. They had to make definitive decisions about timing, dynamics, instrumentation, tempo, and mood of the pieces. During the performances they developed very strong ideas about how the piece should go. We had to do multiple passes to "get it right" in the eyes of the composers. I suggested they add a cover page to the composition defining some of these ideas. This would help guide future performances.

Week 2: All about interpretation!

I asked them to compose another type of interpretive composition. This time there was to be no notation, only an outline of the rules for the performers to follow. The only restriction was that they needed at least five rules. Here is one example of what they came up with:

Music Project by Talyor

Instrumentsneeded: piano, drum kit, guitar, ride cymbal, shaker and vocals
4 measures long, 4 beats per measure.
Piano: useonly the notes between middle C and 2 octaves below it.
Drum kit: only use the bass drum, floor tom, hihat, crash cymbal and snare drum.
Vocals:the song must contain the word “play” and “summer”.
Make measure 1 sound like a nicehot sunny day.
Make measure 2 sound like awaterfall with big fish trying to swim up it.
Make measure 3 a piano solo (anything he/she wants to do)
Make measure 4 sound like a bookbeing opened flipped though and then closed.

I thought it was interesting how most of the students thought it was important to define the beat structure and measures. This piece again, requires lots of decisions to be made by the performers and is open to lots of interpretation. I love how, in the performance, the concept of a measure takes on a whole new dynamic in this piece.

Week 3&4: Real World Scenario

By now the students all consider themselves composers in their own right, so it seemed like the perfect time to give them some real world scenarios to work with. I came up with these ideas and handed them out. They were allowed to work in teams or on their own:

Scenario #1 You have been asked to compose a jingle for a national corporation that helps students get extra help for math. The company is called Mathletics. They are looking for a 30 second, (needs to be exact), spot that is lively, spirited, and encourages students to get extra help with their program. they also want the song to incorporate their telephone number: 1-800-math4me, and their website: Mathletics.com. The song must rhyme and be clear and easy to understand. They need it by 2:45p.m. All they need is a voice and one other instrument, (guitar, piano, drum, etc.). If they like it, they will make it national, which could mean thousands of dollars for you.
Scenario #2 An art museum is premiering an installation of the pop art piece by Roy Lichtenstein titled "In The Car". They want to commission you to compose a piece to be performed live at the unveiling. There will be many famous people in attendence and they want to set the mood of the painting with your music. You must research the piece, write a piece of music that fits the mood of the work. There is no restriction on the time, but there should be specific instructions about when the actual unveiling should happen in conjunction with the music.
Scenario #3 You have been asked by a local museum to write a piece of music that will play for visitors as they walk through an installation about the construction of the Mackinaw Bridge. They want the piece to reflect the popular musical styles at the time the bridge was being built. The installation has 3 parts, each of which should be reflected in the music:
1. Ambition, which reflects the great ambition of the people involved in getting the project started
2. Loss, which reflects the loss of life that surrounded the construction.
3. Triumph, which reflects the grand opening of this glorious gateway.

They had a great time coming up with the music. I was surprised that in all the scenarios the students chose to use Noteflight to create their compositions. After weeks of great interactive interpretive work, they came back to the more 'standardized' way of composing. I actually took it as a great sign that after they spent all their time thinking 'out of the box', and they felt the strongest about their composition skills, they saw the notation programs as the powerful and creative tool that it is. I am inspired!

Lesson guidelines for Elementary Composition Project

2011-03-19T17:51:00.001-04:00

Writing a song as part of an all-school collaboration.

Grades 1-3, (done over the coarse of 4-6 one hour classes.)

1. Brainstorm - Discover what the students want to write a song about, talk about 'creative destruction' and the fact that some good ideas will not be used in the pursuit of the one we all believe in. Teachers role - write ideas down as fast as possible, group them, clarify them, connect them. Whittle it down to one main idea, theme, or story.

2. Talk about style, mood, dynamics and whatever else you deem important about a composition. Help them to decide as much as possible about how these concepts will apply to their song.

3. Create a melody through singing. Teachers role - Bring them face to face with all the decisions made thus far and ask them to sing how they think it will go. Listen very intently and catch ideas, play them back on whatever instrument you can relay emotion best with. I like using the guitar.

4. Discuss the story or message that the students are trying to relate and help them to link the ideas, melodies, and overall structure of the piece. It is important to help them make decisions and commit them.

5. As you compose the song, record it and play it back. They are their own best critics.

6. Record the song on a multi track protools sytem with nice mics. Have older students play different instruments on the pieces and then bring in the young ones to overdub the voices. Each class does one song which is on an all school C.D. They perform their song at the spring concert.

I will be posting 6 years worth of these C.D.'s online very soon. Please follow me on Twitter to get the links. Also, please leave comments below.

Thanks,

John

Elementary Composition?

2011-03-19T10:20:00.001-04:00

I was recently asked to complete a survey on my ideas about composition in the elementary classroom. The survey boiled down to one simple question:

Why do you think composition is important at the elementary level?

Once a composition is created, the composer is left to decide if it depicts an accurate representation of their OWN idea of music. That thought process is a vital component in the development of a creative, confident, and well rounded musician. When students are left only to 'perform' the ideas (compositions) of others, they become highly skilled at 're-creation' of musical ideas and they are rarely inspired to develop their own personal idea of what music is all about. Do you learn painting only by reproducing the work of great artists? Do you learn to dance only by following the moves of a great dancer? When you speak, are you only saying phrases and sentences that you have learned from great orators? As my two year old son would say...."No, MINE do it!" Sure, it is not "proper", but it is his way of communicating, and it is very effective! (And for all we know, he is channeling Shakespeare)

In the coming weeks, I will be posting 6 years of student compositions on the web. Follow me on twitter to get the links.

Thanks,
John

Every healthy music community needs a great show....

2011-02-20T14:25:00.000-05:00

Last night I played in a great show. It was 2 inspired hours of music with 5 friends who all felt the same way I did. We successfully shared our unique and joyful experience with an appreciative and welcoming audience. New ideas were expressed through the music and caused intense joy that was shared by everyone in the room. When the show was over, there was no talk of mistakes, missteps, or miscues, only the most creative and exciting moments were reflected upon by everyone in the group. We hugged each other, we smiled. And we even made a little money, which went right into paying off our shared creative endeavors.

This experience is why I play music, and why I feel blessed to do so. I wish this kind of show on all of my musician friends.....keep playing, practicing, working, and loving what you do! I also wish this kind of show on all of my music loving friends....keep going to see live music and come ready to share something special with the musicians. Come ready to share your love and passion for good music!

Last night a healthy music community sat together and feasted on the fruits of creativity and hard work. It was a nourishment that came from the simple organization of space and time, and it goes straight to the soul. We owe it to ourselves to have this experience as often as possible.

Why Music?

2010-09-16T13:31:00.000-04:00

  One of the most precious lessons I have learned about music came long before music school, or being a professional musician was even a thought in my brain. It came from my years growing up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and it is all about silence. I am not talking about quiet breezes through the trees, or the crisp stillness the morning after a 4ft. snowstorm, or sitting alone on the shores of lake superior with nothing but the waves and seaguls to keep you company. That is all well and good, (and yes, I miss it dearly), but I am talking about one moment in particular that, looking back, has shaped the way I view not only music, but the entire world around me. So here it goes.
   I was out on one of my late night bike adventures, (literally just riding a bike with my friends all over the town until the wee hours of the morning, it is how I spent most of my summers). I was on my way home, I think it was around 2 a.m. and I just stopped to listen. After about 10 minutes of calming my own breath and heartbeat, I heard....nothing. Or at least the closest thing to nothing that I have ever experienced out in the natural world. There were no cars, no A.C. units, no planes, trains, no wind to disturb the trees. It was like the whole world was silent. I got off my bike and sat down right in the middle of the street and just listened. The simple act of listening took me on an auditory adventure. I was listening as far away as I could. I tried listening behind me, way up above me. I was constantly distracted by my own breath and body rhythms. Just shifting my foot caused such a stir in the silence that I would have to wait a moment for the silence to set in again. The longer this went on the more excited I became. It felt like I was at the peak of a mountain that only a handful of people on the planet have ever been to. I was in the center of nothing with nothing on the horizon a full 360 degrees around.
  It felt an eternity but in actuality it took about 10 minutes before a glint of headlights in the distance alerted me that the end of my little adventure in silence was about to be thwarted by a late night driver. The car crept closer and passed quietly, I had moved into a shadow to avoid detection. It was late and I decided to ride the wave of sounds back home.
  When I got home and laid down, I could not re-create the experience I just had. The silence in my room felt claustrophobic, and when I really listened, I could hear the fridge running downstairs, and a slight hum from my alarm clock. I felt trapped by these slight simple sounds. I could not escape them.
  I can honestly say that now, almost 20 years later, I have not experienced another night quite like that one and yet, the feeling I got from it has never left me. It is a comfort to me to know that out there amongst all the noise and ephemera of daily life, there is a huge open expanse of silence that is there, ready to embrace us all, and all we need to do is stop for a moment and listen.
  I remember a moment not long after I moved to California to go to music school. One of my pastimes was riding my bike into the mountains. My friend Bryn, who was an art student came with me often. He was from Vermont and we related with each other on that small town boys in a big city kind of way. We were neighbors in a small village about 10 miles north of the school campus. It was tucked away in a gorge within the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range and had lots of great little fire roads that would wind up into the hills. They were great for short rides to nowhere.
  So one day I took a ride up the hill behind our house. It was about a mile and a half up and when I reached the top I put my bike down and just listened. At the time I was reading a great thinker named Krishnamurti. He had this great concept about listening in 360 degrees. I thought that the top of a big hill would be the perfect place to practice that. When I cooled down and closed my eyes to listen, I was constantly distracted by the sounds of the freeway. The 405 ran north and south about 5 miles east of our village. You could not see it, even from the top of the mountain, but you could definitely hear it. What was even worse is that when I got back down to my house, I could still make it out. It was now a new sound in my life that I knew would never go away.
  So the interesting part about this story is that when I told Bryn about my new discovery he did not believe me. He thought that I was crazy for being sad about having a sound that I could not escape. He said there is no way you can hear the freeway from way back up in this gorge. We got into a bit of a heated debate and finally he made us go out to his driveway to listen. Neither of us could hear anything. I think now it was because we got so fired up talking about it that our own body rhythms were just enough of a distraction that we were unable to deeply listen. 2 days later I opened an e-mail from Bryn and it said something like...."Dude, I just rode up the mountain, you were right!" After giving him a big fat "I told ya' so" reply, I actually felt a little guilty for bringing the sound into Bryn's consciousness. Ever since then I have been keenly aware of the sounds around me, and though they do not make me sad, I do long for the days of truly quiet time.

  The purity and beauty of silence is probably the highest form of music I can imagine. You hear all the time from performing musicians that the space between the notes is the most important part, it is what gives the notes meaning. What the experience that night on the streets of my hometown showed me was just how expansive and awe-inspiring that space can be. As I grow as a musician, I must constantly remind myself to leave room between musical ideas. I am starting to understand now how to let the music bring the listener into the space, and not keep them at bay with a wall of sound.
  Creating music, in my view, is one of the purest and most expressive forms of communication that humans are capable of. The simplest definition of music is "The organization of space and time". Isn't it funny that these are two things that we constantly tell ourselves that we have no control over?
   It is fascinating to me how little people are aware of all the sounds happening in the space around them. I believe that all the noise is the reason why the whole concept of "background" music is so ubiquitous. The organization of the space that the music provides gives us comfort and room to think. It allows us to breath and settle in to a pre-programed rhythm, while pushing all other sounds out. At it's best, it provides an island of salvation that allows us to focus on other things, (like shopping in a mall, or elevator).
  It is precisely for this reason that background music falls short of a certain level of sophistication. By design, it can not leave space, so it must fill in all the gaps that would otherwise pull the listener in. Really great music gives us a way to let go of the world around us, but at the same time shows us a side of reality that most of us do not see everyday. It quiets our mind and resonates our body, hopefully in a way that evokes the purest of joy. From this we move, dance, and become inspired to create in a way that is truly free.
  The moment a great musical experience comes to an end is the moment you will find people most inspired to do....well, just about anything. It is in the silence that creation is born, lives, and becomes silent again. We get ourselves in trouble when we fail to either create, enjoy, or otherwise experience music. The silence is always around us but we choose to fill it up with noise most of the time. This noise distracts our thoughts, muddles our emotions, and masks the realities of the world. Music, by it's very nature, suspends our notions of time and shows us just how big the space around us is. It is our window into that which connects us all, and it has been that way since we have been on this planet. It is the greatest gift we can give ourselves, all we need to do is listen.

Secret Seven at TOP and Crossroads, Kirtan, Indian Music Night at CW, Mike Waite in Big Bay

2010-08-11T13:21:00.000-04:00

Hello again,

  Well this was one of the best July's that I have had in a long time. Lots of good gigs, lots of good practicing, and even a little time to relax. I started off the month with another HOT gig. It was hot in every sense of the word. I was playing tabla/percussion with the Dave Sharp Secret Seven at the Ann Arbor Top of The Park stage, which is set in the street at the end of Ingalls mall, (not the kind of mall where you get smoothies and lotion, but the grassy, flowery, in the center of campus kind). It is a free festival that has live music every day for like a month an a half. It is free and is always full of people. It is very competitive for the bands looking to play there and I can see why. It's great exposure, in a beautiful spot with a top notch sound and stage crew that make everyone sound great.
  We were slated to play from 5-6:30p.m. which is the first spot on a night that included 2 other bands and a movie that was shown on a big inflatable screen. When it was our time to play, the uncovered stage was directly under the sun and it was radiating heat. My face was sore at the end of the set from all the squinting. That aside, the music was really uplifting and sounded incredible. It is amazing what horns and an organ does to a bands sound when you put it on top of drums, percussion, bass, and guitar. The music is all original with a cover or two thrown in for a tip of the hat to the inspiration. Dave really works hard to put out a good product and the group of guys he has put together really gets behind the music. When the show was over, half the band had to leave to play at other gigs, which tells you something about the caliber of musician he works with. I was off with my family to spend a week on the beach up north near Traverse City for a long overdue break.

AAAAHHHHH, 2 naps a day, dips in the lake, gentle guitar on the beach, and nothing else.......

  So the next gig was the monthly Kirtan at the Freinds meeting house in Ann Arbor. It was a perfect way to get back into the swing of things. I was well rested and ready to play for two hours with my eyes closed. The beautiful thing about the Kirtan is that once it starts it does not stop and it does not require the usual intercommunication amongst the band members that the average night of music making would entail. The only real need for eye contact is when the chant comes to an end.
   The routine is key for this group. It has been a few years now and at this point, the set up, sound check and execution of the chant has become a well rooted routine, so everyone knows what to do and expect. For other more performance based musical evenings this sort of routine could be seen as a barrier to creativity, but I think it is just the opposite for the kirtan. The routine allows the meditative dynamic of the evening to begin as soon as you walk through the door. In addition, the fact that we don't speak, except for the beginning and end of the evening, really makes the two hours of chanting feel like one complete piece of work, rather than 7 or 8 different chants.
  Another interesting observation I have noticed throughout the years is that it doesn't seem to make a difference if something really good or really bad happens during the coarse of chanting, it is all let go during the final moments of silent meditation. Everything that happened for the last two hours is whisked away into the past and you are left with just the rhythm of your breath to ponder. For me, a great night of chanting reminds me to breath and let go. Letting go of the music is the first and most obvious step, but the key is to keep letting go once you step back into the world. Breath and let go after a fight, after saying something witty, after breaking a glass, after beating your father-in-law in a game of...whatever. Don't hang on to anything and you become available for everything. This is what the kirtan reminds me to do, and I feel lucky to have it as part of my musical life.

  So it has been happening for a few months now that the night after kirtan is the Indian Music night at Crazy Wisdom Tearoom downtown Ann Arbor. We have been building this night for almost two years now and it is really turning into an incredible night of music making. It seems to be the perfect balance of creativity and performance with an informality that allows everyone to be loose and fully enjoy what is happening.
  At this particular show, we tried a piece of music I could not stop listening to for the past two weeks. It was from a recording from the 70's out of India that was classified as 'Raga Jazz'. It was such a cool piece to play. When the night was over all the musicians were just buzzing about how cool it was. It really inspired me to pursue this sort of fusion. This is exactly the reason why we do these CW gigs, to play, be inspired and celebrate this music with people. Again, I feel lucky to be a part of this all.

  Now if you keep up with this blog, you may recall the last time Mike came down to Ann Arbor. Our bass player had to cancel at the last minute, so we played the show as a guitar/percussion duet. It worked so well that we decided to do it again up in Big Bay. It was a show put on by the Peter White Public Library in Marquette and it was a full house. We played for 2 hours and people were so receptive. There were families with children, old friends, some new faces, and everyone seemed to have a great time. It is always so easy and free to play with Mike. When you have been making music with someone for so long, the feelings and passion that you put in the music when you were young never seem to go away. Mike and I played for two hours and we did not even rehearse. We have found that when we don't have a lot of time together, it is better to just hang out before a show, rather than cram a bunch of song structures and diagrams of how the night should go. Once you begin, the show, or more specifically, the music carries you through. The key is to let it take you wherever it goes.
  We did most of the songs on his album, some covers, and some plain old improvisation. We were joined for a couple of tunes by Mikes friend Sven, who is an incredible luthier and dobro player. His wife Erica also joined us on stage with some beautiful dancing and some really sweet tap dancing. I had a blast playing with he movement of her feet. I think that tap dancing gives a whole new perspective on the gravitas of the downbeat. Your whole body is pulled down by gravity and the point at which you meet the earth is the point of attack. It is such a pure percussive art form. As a drummer, it is a real treat to accompany a dancer, and when you are onstage with Mike and Erica Waite, the music just seems to create itself. It was a nourishing night of music making.

  The final show of the month was with the Dave Sharp Secret Seven. This time we were playing at the Ypsilanti Crossroads Music Festival. It was a great night. The temperature was perfect, the crowd was welcoming, and we had the prime time spot from 8-10. We did pretty much the same show as the Top of the Park a few weeks earlier. It is such a blast playing with this group and I love my newly conceived role as a tabla/percussionist. I even built a nice stand for my tabla so I don't have to sit on the ground to play. It is a bit awkward to sit on a seat and play tabla, but just as awkward to sit on the floor when everyone else in the group is standing up. Anyway, I love the opportunity to bring tabla into a jazz group and it feels really great to have Dave playing with Sumkali. The exchange of ideas between the two groups makes for a very healthy and strong element in our local music scene. I look forward to what the future has in store.

So that is it for July. Thanks for reading, and I will write again soon.

John

p.s. If you haven't already, look me up on Facebook, which is where I have been posting pictures from all my gigs. Thanks!

Sugata Marjit, Student Recital, Walk for Values, Crazy Wisdom, Kirtan, 2 Nick Strange, Deep Blue, Gratitude, Mastering in Chicago

2010-07-11T13:27:00.001-04:00

June has been a transition month. Spring to summer, no more school, morning practice turns from a half hour early in the morning to an hour or two when I am more awake, and the best of all are the outdoor shows. I love playing music outside when the weather is nice. It was always so appealing to me to see concerts in outdoor venues and it is even more appealing to play in them. There are a few lined up this summer that I am very excited about, including the Top of the Park in Ann Arbor and the Crossroads music Festival in Ypsilanti, both with Dave Sharp.
I started the month off with a gig that stretched all the way to the brink of my comfort zone. It was with a well known Indian vocalist named Sugata Marjit. I was contacted by the Center for South Asian Studies to play the show and I couldn't pass it up. But as soon as I said yes I recalled the words of my guruji, who said, "The only type of music a western tabla player would have much difficulty accompanying would be vocal music, especially if you don't understand the words that are being sung." He told that to me in a casual conversation in the car a few years back, but it hit me like a hammer when I realized that it was exactly what I was about to do.

  I must say, it really put me into the mode of some serious practice, which was much needed considering I have not seen Guruji since last September. Honestly though, I really did not know what to practice. I think I was more preparing myself to 'go with the flow' and follow anything he might do. I did a lot of vilambit ektal, which is an extremely slow 12 beat cycle, (it takes like a minute to get though one cycle!). This was a hallmark of his style of singing which is known as Khayal.
  When I got to the theater, (it was at the U of M music school), I met him and we had about 20 minutes to go over what we might do. He tried me out on the vilambit ektal, but I was not able to play it slow enough, so he, being very kind hearted and easy going, said, "No problem, let's just do something else that you are comfortable with." I was humbled and happy to hear that. I have always said that the best musicians are the ones that know when to push you and also when to back away and let the music be good. He was one of those musicians.
  We had a great time and there was a really nice crowd there. I was happy to be joined on stage by Atmaram Chaitanya on tanpura. He is such a calming presence, while at the same time his excitement to be in a new situation is infectious and almost child-like in it's innocence, and I mean that in the best way. I get energized by this and it is much appreciated.
   I played as simply and nicely as I could. I had a great time watching him perform because he is so expressive when he sings. By the way, none of what we rehearsed before the show actually made it into the show itself. True to the improvised nature of Indian Classical music, Sujataji called out something different every time we played, it did not matter if we were rehearsing with just us in the room, or if it was filled with people, once a musical experience was had, it was time to move on to the next one.
  He kept it pretty simple, just tintal, (16 beats), but he did do a slow japtal, (10 beats), which pushed my comfort zone just enough. I relished in the fact that I was the young guy on stage who had a lot to learn, even after hundreds of performances and 11 years of studying the tabla. I truly believe it is necessary and good to push yourself beyond what you are comfortable with just to see what might happen. Sometimes you fall, but more often than not, you simply get a renewed energy with a broader perspective on where it is you are headed.

  Just two days later was a completely opposite, but equally rewarding event, it was my student recital held at Go Like the Wind. What was completely different compared to past recitals was that this recital was almost all tabla students. Just one student who played the conga, but no drum set students. I am not sure why this excites me so much, I mean, I love the drum set and I love teaching drum set, but to have a recital with all tabla players just seems so cool. I think it also has something to do with the set up time and involvement when you have a drum set recital compared to a tabla recital. Usually, with the drum set comes a guitar, bass, and/or keyboard, along with the amps and sometimes a microphone. With tabla I just need to bring my drums and a carpet. So nice. This gave me more time to hang with the students, help calm nerves and meet with the friends and family. It went great, and I am so happy to see everyone together doing so well and playing this beautiful instrument that I have loved for so long now.

Meeta Banerjee, Dan Piccolo, Anoop Gopal and myself. I remember looking over at Dan and just seeing him squinting almost in pain. Luckily we just had to play a half hour after the walk was over, so we didn't get fully cooked. It was actually nice to play for a good cause and I got to meet the Mayor of Ann Arbor John Heiftje, who was there to make a speech and cut the ribbon that started the walk. He was a nice guy and I really liked that he rode his bike to the event.

  So later that evening, in a cool, air conditioned tearoom we had the same crew, with Atmaram, Mahesh Ganesan and Dave Sharp added to the mix. It was a fun night. We tried a totally improvised piece with percussion and bass that was incredible. Dan played the cahon, Mahesh was on his kanjira, and I played the tabla. It was one of those things that made me wish I had been recording, but since I wasn't, it was incredible to take in and be a part of. It epitomized the whole reason for Indian Music night and inspired us to take more risks. As always, the crowd was great and the whole night went by way too fast.

  The following Friday was the monthly kirtan at the Friends Center in Ann Arbor. It was a beautiful night of chanting and I was enjoying the music, but at the end things got crazy. The wind started howling, lightning started to crash and the power started cutting in and out. All of this happened at the last chant. Usually we do a 10 minute silent meditation at the end, but it had to be cut short because the power was out and people were getting a little uncomfortable knowing they were about to go out in the midst of all this natural chaos. I believe this is the third time the kirtan has ended with some major weather event like this....coincidence?

  The next day I was back on the drum set with the Nick Strange Group. This time we were in Ypsilanti at the Tap Room Annex. It was a nice room to play in with a little stage and lots of room. The crowd seemed to like the music and we had a special guest sit in with us. He is a well known saxophonist in the area named Martin Simmons. I loved it, he came in the door with his sax already around his neck. He had been walking around downtown playing with other groups at other venues, playing on the street, and now with us. It really felt like a great 'community' moment. I guess he just decided to make a open mic night out of the Ypsilanti music scene. Not many people can get away with that, unless you are well liked and well known in your community.

  The whole next week I was back at GLTW for a morning hand drum camp for 3-9 year olds. I have been doing the camp for about 5 years now and it is one of the cutest things I do in music. Seeing a 4 year old close their eyes and 'go for it' on a drum is so darn cute. I spent the whole week smiling. It was a great way to start the day.

That weekend I was packed with gigs. First was with Gratitude Steel band at a private wedding party in someones beautiful backyard in West Bloomfield, MI. The band was really rockin. We had 5 pan players, plus a timbale maestro and a great conga player. I have said it before and I will say it again, playing with that band is like playing musical sunshine. I love the music and the sound so much. It is like a warm hug of sound that I have never experienced before with any other group.

The next day I was in the sun again, (though not nearly as hot), with Deep Blue at the Genesee Valley Mall up in Flint, MI. It was nice to play with them again and I love to people watch. We had some regulars in the crowd who I found out were mall employees that loved to take their breaks out by the live music. It made me feel good to know that the people who spend the MOST time at the mall chose to spend there free time listening to live music. I think it creates a calming atmosphere of sound that drowns out all of the other noise in a mall.

Playing with Deep Blue is always fun and relaxing. I think it is also amazing that we have figured out how to get a full sound without the use of a bass player. Granted, it really pops when we do use a bass player, but as far as a complete sound goes, I think we have managed to get it with just drums, guitar, and sax. I suppose it is sort of like Indian music in that way.

The following day I was with the Nick Strange Group again, only this time we were at Fishbones Rhythm Kitchen Cafe in St. Clair Shores. Being that it is summertime and it is light out much later, we showed up to the gig for the first time that I remember when it was still light out. I say this because I realized for the first time that we were just a block or two from the water. I don't know why, but this changed my whole perception of the venue that I had played at for years. To top it off, we got a response from the crowd that rivaled all other nights. Usually we play, no one claps or reacts, and then on the set break, people come up and let us know how great it is and how much they love hearing us. I have always suspected some sort of covert appreciation policy. But this night was different. People were clapping, dancing and just enjoying themselves more than usual. It probably has something do do with the magic that is summertime :)

The very next day I was up early and on my way to Chicago to master the Sumkali C.D. with my good friend Ryan Staples. He was a music technology major at CalArts and now he works at a big studio in Chicago. We went to his studio and spent most of Sunday night tweaking and finishing the Sumkali C.D. So now I am happy to say the audio is DONE! Yay, now it is simply a matter of putting together graphics and sending it off to the presses. By the way, our C.D. release party is at the Ark on August 26th, so mark your calendar!

That is it for June. Thanks for reading and I will write again soon!

John

Gratitude at UofM, Nick Strange NO SMOKING, Crazy Wisdom, GLTW music highlights

2010-06-08T12:05:00.001-04:00

  My first gig in May started off with President Barack Obama flying in Marine One directly over my house. He was en route to Michigan Stadium to deliver the commencement address for 80,000 U of M grads, friends and family. I was outside loading my drums before heading to north campus for the U of M Art and Design graduation ceremony. It was a yearly ritual with the Gratitude Steel Band. On the way to north campus I passed by the field where he landed in hopes of catching a glimpse, but no luck. The overwhelming security presence and road blocks kept him well insulated from any interested onlookers. So on I went to the gig. It had been a while since playing with Gratitude and I was very much looking forward to playing what I like to call 'sunshine music'. Over the years we have worked out a few songs that include tabla, so I brought them along. When I went to set them up I realized I had left one of my rings at home. The rings are what the tabla sit on, and if you don't have them, the drums are impossible to play. Luckily, the bass pans, which are 50 gallon drums, require mini tires to keep them suspended off the ground. The tires just happen to be the same size as my ring, so Janiela let me use one of them for my tabla.

  The ceremony went great, as it always does and we were asked back for next year. I am looking forward to it already!

   Exactly one week later I was at Fishbones Rhythm Kitchen Cafe with the Nick Strange Group. It was a landmark gig. No, not because it was during the Red Wings playoff game, which prompted the venue to be sure we kept our first two sets just 15 minutes, (a Zamboni set, as we liked to refer to it), but rather because it was my first gig since Michigan passed it's No Smoking ban in all bars and restaurants. I must say, it actually felt surreal from the moment we walked in. The first thing I noticed - I could smell the food from the kitchen. Not to mention all the perfume and cologne. The whole place looked crystal clear, and the colors and lights felt brand new. It was so nice. Don't get me wrong smokers, I totally respect your right to your vices, but as a non-smoking musician that has sat so many nights in smokey bars, keeping my coat in the car so it doesn't smell, having a set of 'smokey clothes', and nursing a sore throat and burning eyes at the end of the night, I am SO excited to have it all be gone, done and over with! I am proud of my state!
  Yea, and because of the whole Red Wings thing, (they lost by the way). We actually got to play all of our favorites back to back and the crowd, although a little sullen from the game, were actually dancing and cheerful by the end of the night. I will remember this one for a long time I am sure.
  Speaking of non-smoking venues....I didn't have it on my calendar, but I played with a great singer named Sean Ike at the Elks Lodge in Ann Arbor. It is a small, cozy little venue that has a lot of great music all the time. I met Sean through my shows with the Dave Sharp Secret Seven and he asked me to play percussion with his R&B, Soul, and Funk project. He has been using the Secret Seven musicians, but for this gig they were gone, so he called on the drummer, (Griffin Bastian) and bass player, (Brennen Andes) from local powerhouse funk group the Macpodz. It was a great night and lots of fun to play impromptu funk with musicians that are livin' it. It brought me right back to my 'Whipple' Days.

  The third Saturday of the month was back at Crazy Wisdom with Sumkali. The Tearoom really feels like my musical home. I stopped my full force advertising for the Crazy Wisdom gigs and now just rely on word of mouth. The crowd is always full of both fresh faces, and old friends, and you never know what the music might do. I like to think of it as sort of a musical laboratory where we can curate, develop, stay sharp and spread the word about the musical world. If you have never made it out for a night of music at the tearoom, I recommend it.
  We had Anoop with us on this night and we tried some arrangements of some kirtan chants that transformed them into more musical performances. It was an interesting night. Anoop, who has been a great sport about learning new things and fitting in with our group gave me the nicest surprise at the end of the night. I had said goodnight on behalf of the group and was just about ready to shut down the sound system when Anoop asked to play one last tune. It was a nice surprise and a very cool tune. It put a smile on my face and sent me home humming. Thanks Anoop.

  The last thing I want to mention is more on the teaching side of my life. May was the month of the Go Like The Wind Spring Concert. It has been such an honor and privilege to be the music director at this incredible school. I love having the opportunity to give students their first introduction to music. This year was the first time I felt like I had the complete picture of the music program I set out to create 6 years ago.
  When I started at GLTW has inspired me to share what I do with other teachers, including presenting our recording program at the Michigan Music Conference. I feel blessed and grateful and I look forward to another year!

That is all for this month. Thanks for reading, and I will write again soon!

John

Kirtan, Sumkali in Saginaw and Crazy WIsdom, Thanks to Randall Beek, Weekend with Michael Waite

2010-05-12T12:22:00.000-04:00

  April turned out to be one of the most rewarding musical months I have had in a long time. It started with a break from music altogether. I spent Easter weekend with family in my Dad's hometown of Milwaukee, WI. It was great to relax and be away from the hustle and bob. The first gig back was with the Ann Arbor Kirtan group for the monthly kirtan chanting experience at the Friends Meeting House. Going into that gig relaxed felt like something new. I think it might be what it feels like to be retired, or perhaps so wealthy that you don't have to work. Many times I am go into kirtan thinking that I will use it as a chance to relax myself and calm my mind, (which usually works). This time however, I felt nice and relaxed going in, so I didn't need it for it's regular purpose, so I thought of it as a way to re-focus my energy and get back on the performance saddle.
  I am grateful that the group is confident enough in the music that I can take this sort of approach to the kirtan. I remember the days when we didn't know if we would make it through each chant, and when one little mistake could throw the whole train off track. I had to be much more focused on keeping the music together. The group has done a lot of great work on the music and now it is becoming a much more personal experience for me.
  Isn't it funny how sometimes we have to work very hard and long together in order to forget about each other? I suppose we do the same thing in our own practice, whatever it may be. I practice drumming everyday, working on my technique, dexterity, creativity, and state of mind. It is all very conscious and deliberate and, ideally, it is pointing to the goal of forgetting about myself and just serving the music.

  Speaking of serving the music, the following day Sumkali took a road trip up to Saginaw, MI. to play at an old church, which was now converted into the White Crow Conservatory of Music. It was a sweet venue. You walk in and the first thing you notice are lots of amazing acoustic guitars hanging all over. Look to your right and you see the old church pews facing a nice stage complete with the old church organ. It made for a pretty dramatic backdrop. We got there with plenty of time to set up and relax a bit. It was great to get away from Ann Arbor and hang with the musicians. We are a very busy bunch of people, and to have time to hang out is great, not only socially but for the sake of the music as well. I learned a while back that 'hang time' can be just as valuable as 'reherasal time' when it comes to performing music that is improv-based. It makes sense when you think about it, improvising with someone is like having a conversation with them. The more comfortable you are with someone, the better conversations you can have. In all, we played for 2 hours and didn't have enough time to play all of our stuff, (which is a good thing). The crowd was very appreciative and receptive and they asked us back before we could pack up. We will be there again in October, celebrating the release of our new C.D. Yay!

  The following week was like a warm hug of music. First my good friend Michael Waite came down to Ann Arbor with his family for the weekend and we played together twice. Friday was at Crazy Wisdom Tearoom. It was packed, and for the first time, I played drum set and tabla, Mike played acoustic guitar and sang and that was it. No bass player or additional guitar player, no guest artists, no set-list, and no rehearsal. It was a breath of musical fresh air. Mike and I have played so much together, (including on his 2008 C.D. "Let it Go") that we can sense what the music is doing without questioning a thing about it. It just flowed. It is one of those things that felt so easy and nice, but at the same time was so good that we could not figure out why we don't do it more often. I hope I am writing about more gigs with Mike in the near future.

  The next night Sumkali was back in the Tearoom again for our monthly Indian music night. It was a nice night of music that just felt good to play. It has gotten so comfortable to play in the tearoom, that it almost feels like I am playing in some body's house. Our audience has developed to the point that I don't really advertise the shows actively like I once did. We have a usual smattering of regulars some newbies, and then the ever-present straggling and curious shopper. It has become a great place to meet people and introduce them to the music. I am so grateful to have a place like this in Ann Arbor.

   It has been my mission, since moving here in 2005, to become a part of, help develop, and cultivate a sense of community centered around music. The venue at Crazy Wisdom has been a wonderful home-base to do that. I have played there with over 50 different musicians in musical settings including all the various musicians in Sumkali, experimental jazz fusion group Kozora, Mike Waite, Mickey Richard, Norm Ballinger, Muruga's Global Village, Madcat Ruth, Ann Arbor Kirtan, Rocketstyle, and probably a few I am forgetting. How does it all fit, and work, in one venue? I think most of the answer can be found in the man who does all the wonderful booking - Randall Beek. He has always had an open mind, and a willingness to take risks. I owe many wonderful nights of music making to Randall, and I thank him for that.

  The next night I was excited to meet up with my fellow Yooper Mike Waite again for another night of music at Old Town Tavern. We were supposed to have a bass player with us, but he had to bow out at the last minute for a family emergency, so we ended up doing the show as a duet. I was not going to bring my tabla to the tavern, but once I got the news about the bass player I figured I should bring them so we have more options and a little variety, and anyway, it was a very successful pairing at Crazy Wisdom two nights earlier. The only problem though, was having to sit on the floor - not advisable in a tavern! So I called Dan Piccolo and asked him if I could borrow his tabla case and special dolly he constructed so he could play his tabla while sitting on a chair. He had just made it for a percussion concert he was a part of at UofM. I remembered him telling me that it worked out well, and it did.
  Mike brought his 'Request Wheel' to this gig and we used it the ENTIRE night. It is simple: members of the audience write a song of their choice on a post-it note and then stick it on the wheel. Mike spins the wheel and stops it randomly. He then takes the top note and plays the song that is written. A risky venture for most, but for Mike, he just takes it all in stride and things seem to work. It helped that many of the people in the place came to see him and knew his music, so a lot of the requests were for songs that he wrote or played already. The fun ones though were the ones that said things like 'anything by Bob Dylan', or 'a song about a dog'. It was very homey and warm feeling and we played for 2 and a half hours straight. When it is good, time is not an issue, and how often is time not an issue? Thanks Mike for the great weekend.

So that is it for April, thanks for reading and I will write again soon!

John

Hurley Glitz Ball with Deep Blue, Interfaith Center, Ann Arbor Kirtan, Sumkali at Crazy Wisdom

2010-04-02T08:59:00.000-04:00

Hello again,

  March started off with a type of gig that I have not done in a while. It was for the Hurley Medical Center Glitz Ball and it was what we like to call 'fancy-shmancy'. So I had to bust out my tuxedo, (which I bought for a jazz gig about 10 years ago!). It was good to play with Deep Blue again. Scott Brady, (who plays the bansuri in Sumkali) is the sax man and band leader, and he did a great job of putting the show together. We were in the main lobby of a Holiday Inn executive hotel. Our mission was to provide casual entertainment for the patrons of the ball as they got ready to move into the dining area. Not too exciting as far as performing for others, but we were playing with a new singer and bassist, so it was just enough of an adventure to keep things exciting.
  We played one big long set and then had to make the announcement for everyone to move into the dining area. The problem was that there were so many people and it was so loud, and they had really been 'tuning us out' the whole time so when the announcement was made, just a handful of people in front of the stage moved. The singer started to have fun with it, she changed the lyrics of the songs she was singing to be all about being hungry and getting food. Still, no one would pay attention. So after her attempts failed, I hopped off the drum set and grabbed the mic. In my best announcer voice I made the announcement and people finally started to move. It reminded me of my club-playing days with my old rock band Scrubby when we had to get everyone out of the club at closing time. ahh memories.

The next morning I went to the Interfaith Center in Ann Arbor to play a couple of pieces with Craig Brann. It was the 'music offering' for their morning service. We played the same two pieces that we played the month earlier at the Unity church. One was a nice instrumental written by Craig. He was on acoustic guitar and I was on tabla. The sound was great, and it came off really nice. Was was even more special about it was that right before we played there was a 10 minute guided meditation, which I took full advantage of. It was like my meditation dreams come true....meditate into music. It is often way to difficult to attain that 'moment before the moment' when you are about to play music. When I teach the bands at GLTW we try to attain about 5 seconds of silence before the first note. Having 10 minutes was dreamy. That moment made my whole day.

Speaking of meditation, the following Friday was the monthly kirtan at the Friends Meeting House in Ann Arbor. It was packed. I think it was our biggest turnout yet. When you do kirtan with so many people the response washes over you like a wave in the ocean. It is such a warm feeling. I can see why it has become so popular. If you have never checked it out, it would be worth it. It is the yoga of sound. Every note you sing sends vibrations throughout your whole body. Some notes resonate your head, while others resonate your chest. The chants sung in kirtan are 'sound formulas' that attain a full spectrum of resonation throughout your whole body. When it is all over you just sit there in silence and feel the affects of all the wonderful resonance. It is active meditation that allows you to express yourself for your own sake, (or, if you want, you can really get into the spiritual aspects of it as well, which also run deep). Whatever the motivation, the result is the same...calm, quiet, clear, still, and open.

  Performing the music in kirtan is really not much different than any other time I perform. It takes focus, quiet hands, and dedication to the music. When I perform with Sumkali, (like we did at Crazy Wisdom a week after kirtan), the difference comes in the presentation. It is still a shared experience, but the audience is not required to respond with sining, so it is our duty to keep the music interesting, entertaining, and fruitful. I am so happy to say that this show at Crazy Wisdom was by far one of the best we have ever played. It was definitely some release from all the excitement surrounding our recording session last month, but it was also the crowd, the playing, and the spirit everyone brought to the gig. It was also great to see Meeta Banerjee come out and support us. She had to step down from the group in January to focus on her Phd work. Thanks for coming out Meeta!
  Another great addition to the mix was Rushyal Shyamraj, who sang a couple of great pieces and played harmonium. It was a great addition to an already great night. Make sure you don't miss the next Sumkali gig in April!

That is all for March. Thanks for reading and I will write again soon!

John

2 Kirtan, Sumali at Crazy Wisdom, Rocketstyle, Secret Seven, Sumkali Recording Project

2010-03-03T14:32:00.001-05:00

Hello,

   February has turned out to be a very fruitful month, musically speaking. Otherwise it was full of cold and snowy days, which never seemed to end. The first Wednesday of the month was the 'informal' kirtan gathering in the back room of the Crazy Wisdom bookstore. It had been well attended in the past, but this month was sparse, probably due to the frigid cold outside. The musicians were Atmaram Chaitanya, Dennis Chernin, Simon Ha, and myself. There was a lady sitting right in front of me who was singing out fully and then a few people sitting in the back. If it wasn't for the lady in front of me, who I found out later was a choir director, the response singing would have seemed very off balance with the music. I have always thought that all you need to perform is just one audience member. This is a little different in kirtan since the audience members are actually singing with you and providing a response to the lead chanter, but in this case that one lady was able to carry the rest of the singers along and the whole evening turned out to be really nice. I love being able to play tabla without a microphone and still be heard in a room. That is the way it used to be done and it just feels much more free when you don't have to worry about sending a signal through a bunch of wires.
   The next show was not until a week and a half later, but it was right back at Crazy Wisdom, this time in the front of the tearoom and this time with Sumkali. We have been expanding our lineup of musicians so we have been having trouble fitting everyone in the small space, but the music has never sounded better. Dave Sharp has been playing electric bass guitar with the group, which have given us a bottom end groove that we have never experienced in the past. He also brought along a friend of his, Chris Kaercher, who is the sax player that plays in his jazz group, (they just released their debut CD, "Secret Seven", which I played tabla for a track". He did a great job of filling in and doing some killer soloing. The whole night went by fast, like it usually does when the music is good. I know I have said it before, but I love playing with this group and I am so excited for what the future holds.
   The following week I had 3 shows in 2 days, which meant I had to call on my student Vinnie Russo once again to help with the logistics. On Friday I had the monthly kirtan at Friends Meeting House in Ann Arbor from 7:30-9:30 and then a Rocketstyle show at a new place called the Keystone Underground Lounge in Ypsilanti. The kirtan went great, lots of participants and great energy, and as soon as it was over I had to bolt out of there to get to Ypsilani in 15 minutes to play improvised space funk on the drumset with Jesse Morgan on piano, Paul Bowers on keys, Akili Jackson on freestyle vocals, and new Rocketeer Dave Sharp on bass. Vinnie had come early to set up my kit for me, (thanks Vinnie), and all I had to do was sit down and play. It sounds easy, but it was actually pretty difficult to switch gears so fast.

I find that when I do kirtan lately, I really get into the idea of quieting myself and relaxing into it. I have been closing my eyes and focusing on releasing tension. This causes me to be very mellow at the end of the 2 hour event. Coming into a club and pounding away on the drum set just seemed to take more effort than usual. Once the first set was over I was fine, back into the groove and ready to rock, but pulling myself out of my meditative state was not easy. I think that is a good thing. I have been so busy lately that any chance I have to relax and be mellow is good. Anyway, the Rocketstyle gig ended with a bang, people were up and dancing and everyone was in good spirits at the end. It really caused me to reflect on how much I love being a musician and doing this sort of thing for a living. I truly feel blessed.

The next night I was very excited to play with Dave Sharp again, only this time it was for his second CD release party for his CD "Secret Seven". He had a lot of great players on the album and most of them were at this show. We played at P.J.'s Live in downtown Ann Arbor, which has a nice stage, but it was very tight once you add a drummer, two percussionists, bass, guitar, keyboard, sax, and two singers. Since this was our second time around we had a much better idea of how to make it all fit, and it actually looked pretty cool up on stage. I was sitting next to a legendary musician named Muruga Booker. He has played with Weather Report, Dave Brubeck, John Lee Hooker, Parliment Funkalelic, Jerry Garcia, and many more. He is such a happy and high spirited guy. It was a pleasure to play along side him.

The show was also being filmed for a local TV station, so the whole time we played there were cameras in our face. Muruga really knew how to ham it up for the cameras. My first reaction is to try to look as stoic as possible, but Muruga, through his actions, showed me that it was OK to exaggerate yourself for the sake of the camera. I can't wait to see how it turns out. I know how much work it is to put together a group of musicians and Dave really did a great job bringing everyone together for this one. It was loud, groovy as could be, and very high energy the whole way through. Again, I was feeling lucky to be a musician.

The following week was very special for me. I had organized a 5 day recording session with Sumkali. My school was on winter break, so I got permission to use a couple of the rooms and a lot of the great sound equipment. Pulling it all together was no small task. Just to give you an idea of what you have to put together to do a multi-track recording like this involves I can tell you it took me about 6 hours of set up time and 4 hours just to tear it down. There were 8 microphones, 8 headphones, all the cables, adapters, extension chords, power adapters, power strips, stands, screens, a computer, a digital interface to convert the audio, a hard drive, playback speakers, baffles to isolate the sounds, all the instruments, and of coarse, all the musicians. It all had to be set up in a room that I had never used before, so I had to design the layout to give everyone a space they could play without the sound bleeding into someone else's mic. Fortunately, I had a lot of help from Dan Piccolo, who has had a lot of experience in studios. Once it was all set up and working, then we had all the time we wanted to create music, and that is all we did for 5 days straight. The musicians involved were Dan and I, along with Scott Brady, Mahesh Ganesan, Vishrut Srivastava, Atmaram Chaitanya, Meeta Banerjee, Prashanth Gururaja and Dave Sharp. Everyone did such a wonderful job. We had to take a few hours off here and there to teach lessons and do errands, but it was really a great opportunity to record everything exactly like we wanted to do it. We got though 8 pieces of music in the 5 days and it all sounds really really good. I can't wait to get into the mixing and mastering. I will keep you posted when it all turns into an actual CD. For now all I have is a couple of pictures:

That is all for February. Thanks for reading, and I will write again soon!

John

Local musician specializes in drum music of Northern India - Life - Heritage

2010-02-10T20:02:00.001-05:00

Local musician specializes in drum music of Northern India - Life - Heritage

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Muruga's huge band at Crazy Wisdom, Cairn to Cairn at Johnny's Speakeasy, Unity Church, MMC, Sumkali at Crazy Wisdom

2010-02-10T12:41:00.000-05:00

  Hello again,

  The year has started off fast and furious and I can hardly believe January has come and gone. It was a month of travel filled with emotion, ill health, and healing, and it couldn't have started off with more of a bang. Well, actually, it was the first time I can remember falling asleep before midnight on New Year's day, but that is because I wanted to rest up for the day after when I would be playing an amazing night of music with over a dozen other musicians. Muruga Booker is not just a local ledgend, but he has been all over the map with his music experiences, from playing drums at the original Woodstock festival, to recording with Weather Report, Merl Saunders, and Jerry Garcia, Muruga has been around the block many times and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. So anyway, every year he puts on a show at Crazy Wisdom with all his friends and fellow musicians that he has been working with and this year I was one of them. Now I have played many times at Crazy Wisdom, but I have never seen it as packed or as energetic as I saw that night. Muruga started off playing some duets and trios with various people including myself, Dave Sharp, Alex Terzian, Perry Robinson, and Baba Titos. The night then quickly moved into an all out jam with Ken Kozora on synths, Richard Smith on bass, and (sorry for not getting everyones name), a guitar player, the shaker player straight from Parliment Funkadelic, and a great Sax man. It was high energy and just a blast. People were packed in all the way to the back of the store, which I have never seen. Anyway, I can't say enough about how uplifted and energized I felt when it was happening. I played tabla most of the night, except the end where I moved to conga for a couple of tunes. I hope to do that kind of music making much more often in the coming years.
   Less than a week later I was asked to play with Cairn to Cairn again for a nice little gig at Johnny's Speakeasy. I was playing tabla on just one tune and their encore, so I got to sit in back and take in the show, which I hardly ever get to do these days. It is such a great place to play, and the mystique surrounding it makes it that much more special. It is a house, Johnny's house, that just happens to have an old ice cellar built by Germans many years ago. It is like 30ft. deep under the house with an arched ceiling made out of brick. Johnny has it all decked out with old instruments and vintage odds and ends plastered all over the walls. Word of mouth is how people hear about shows, so it feels really special to be there. I had a great time, and it was wonderful to play with such a polished group. I hope to do it again sometime.
   Two days later I met up with Craig Brann for a 'musical offering' at the Unity Church of Ann Arbor. It was a nice crisp winter sunday morning. We played two songs at two services, one was an original by Craig with acoustic guitar and tabla and the other was guitar, voice, and djembe. It was a very nice way to spend a morning. Craig's music fits very nice with tabla and the idea of a musical offering lends itself to self-less playing, which I believe allows the music to flourish. It doesn't really matter what the religion happens to be, it is simply the idea that the music is itself the thing you are offering, not a show, or a product, but simply the music. Offering a sound to the air, a moment of sonic organization meant to instill reflection and thought. I like it, it is very sweet.
  The next week I was in Grand Rapids Michigan for the Michigan Music Conference at Devos Convention Center and Amway Grand. It is three days of Music teachers scuttling around the expansive grounds going from room to room learning about all the latest techniques, approaches, ideas, and technology associated with music. This year I hosted a 3 hour presentation on using Pro Tools recording software to create a professional sounding C.D. It was a great experience, although it was not without it's challenges. First of all, I was supposed to be in a beautiful Mac lab, but had to settle for the P.C. lab because of some hardware issues, no big deal. The bigger issue was that Pro Tools would not install on the computers, so I had to vamp for about 45 minutes while the very able tech staff got the computers up and running. Talking has never been an issue with me, so it all came off pretty well. It was fun to work with music teachers that were learning the software with the intention of using it with their students, which is what I have been doing for 5 years now. It felt sort of like I was recruiting more soldiers for the cause of creating music. Getting creative with students was the main idea behind the workshop and I think the teachers involved were into it. When it was over I was tired. Partly due to the fact that I was going full steam ahead for 3 hours, but also because of what I was involved with the evening before.
  I ran into my friend Joe McGraw, who was also presenting at the conference. He invited me to play with his electronic string quartet on Friday night a a nearby club called Z's. He said they had the percussion for me to use so I didn't have to bring anything. When I got there I saw what I had to use and got genuinely nervous to perform. It was a cool device called a Handsonic by Roland. It was basically a circular pad with about 10 different zones on it that all could be assigned to different sounds. All I had to to was touch the zones. I had a choice of drumsets, hand drums, and all sorts of special effect sounds. It had a bit of a learning curve, and I had about 10 minutes to learn before the music started. It took about a half hour before I started feeling comfortable and could blend with the group. The strangest part of it was how little I had to move to make such big sounds. Just a tap of the finger would give me a deep bass sound, or a loud crash of a cymbal. It felt odd not to have to put the energy in to get the sound out. I enjoyed the new experience and appreciate Joe and his group giving me an opportunity to perform music during a music conference.
  The rest of the time at the conference was filled with classes and workshops. I took a lot of classes about strings, a few about technology, one really cool one about arranging latin jazz, and a few more about class organization. I was filled to the brim with new ideas and inspiration. I also took a bit of time to talk with some music publishers about new music for my ensembles at Go Like the Wind and university music departments about all the great things about Indian music. Last year I presented on Indian Classical music and I just wanted to try to keep the discussion going. I don't think I had more than an hour to myself the whole weekend, which was great. It meant I was getting a lot done. I look forward to going again next year.

  The last Saturday of the month was the first Indian Music night of the year at Crazy Wisdom Tearoom. I was so excited for this night because we had some new ideas about what we wanted to do with the music and we are bringing some more people on board, including Dave Sharp on bass. On this night we also had Dan Piccolo, Scott Brady, Mahesh Ganesan, Prashanth Gururaja, and Atmaram Chetainya. The place was full and we had a blast playing the music. Having the bass really added to the 'groove' factor. The only thing that wasn't great about this night was the fact that I was feeling terrible. I had missed a couple of days of work in the days prior and I came about 10 minutes away from calling in sick to the gig. The excitement about it could not keep me away though and I decided to tough it out. It was worth it. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to this group's future. We have some recording sessions planned for February and the Crazy Wisdom nights will keep the performing juices flowing.

So that is it for January. Thanks for reading!

John

2 Nick Strange, Ann Arbor Kirtan, Rocketstyle and Sumkali at Crazy Wisdom

2010-01-09T21:27:00.000-05:00

  I am starting this entry on Christmas eve and I am sitting on my couch. It is white outside and cold, I'm sure. The overcast sky allowed the morning to turn into afternoon without warning and I am just grateful to have the time to reflect on the past year. Professionally speaking, this has been a year of organization for me. I started my business Sangeet U.S.A. which is geared toward promoting music an musicians of Inida, I totally overhauled my website, (with a ton of help from Atmaram Chetainya), went online with my calendar, got some great pictures (thanks to Corey Robinson), went full steam ahead with my Indian music group Sumkali, (including a website, Electronic Press Kit on Sonicbids, and lots of grassroots promotion), and I am happy to say that have one of the newest profiles on Facebook!
  Highlight performances of the year include my presentation at the Michigan Music Conference in Grand Rapids on Indian classical music, Sumkali at the Top of the Park, playing live on 107.1 for Radio Free Bacon, Kozora at Riverfolk Folk Festival, C.D. release parties for Cairn to Cairn and the Dave Sharp Secret Seven, and all the Crazy Wisdom shows that have been such a creative outlet. Thanks to everyone who was involved in all of these shows! I love the community of musicians I have been surrounded with in Ann Arbor.
  So with November being such a light month of gigs, all of which were tabla, it felt great to get back to my roots and play some really nice drum set gigs in December. I had two gigs with the Nick Strange Group, and they could not have been more different from each other. The first one was at a nice little venue called P.J.'s Live, (I played there for the Dave Sharp C.D. release in Nov.) They have begun to have live music from 8-10p.m., (they used to have it all night!), and the new format has not really caught on with the regulars, so basically we were playing to the tables and chairs. Actually, that is not altogether true, there were 2 full tables right in front of the stage. They were filled with family and friends of a girl who opened for us. I am sorry to say I forgot her name, but she sang a few songs with Dan accompaning her on guitar. She does not perform very much, but she had lots of support from her family on this night. They were gratious enough to hang out for our set and they even seemed to enjoy it.
   I have never minded much when there is no one at a gig. It has always been fine for me to just go deep into the music and forget about what is around. In that last few years, I have been doing this whether there are people there or not. The only moments that stick out are the ones right after the music ends. When a song gets rockin' and then comes in for a swooping landing, all the musicians land on their feet and then BOOM, silence.   This moment of silence is the sweetest part of a Kirtan chant, the silence brings you inward and you are able to meditate, but a rock show begs for a rousing re-assurance from the participants after you lay it all out there. It is about releasing outward, rather than inward.
  The second gig I played with the group was in St. Clair Shores, MI. at a place called Fishbones Rhythm Kitchen Cafe, which is a name I have always really liked, but never thought it fit the establishment. There are t.v.'s everywhere you look, a big bar, no real stage, and a really strange, seemingly built-in mentality that you do not respond to the live music happening right next to you. It is a very peculier phenomenon that has happened every time we have played there. No one dances, no one cheers, but they do come up to us on the set breaks and say that they are loving the music. I have never figured it out. We played there the Saturday night right before all the Michigan college graduations, so the place was PACKED. There must have been 400 people all in a great mood. Sure enough, we played some great sets with lots of cover tunes, mixed with some high-energy originals - no reaction. We actually had a better reception at the gig earlier in the month with just a hand full of people, so I guess you just never know.

  The second Friday of the month I was at Crazy Wisdom Tearoom with my Indian group Sumkali for the last monthly show of the year. It was also the last show that Meeta Banerjee would be joining us as a full band member. She is stepping down as our Sitarist while she turns her focus to her doctoral work at MSU, (good luck Meeta!). So we did what we have done every time we go to Crazy Wisdom, we sit and play and have a great time. Playing with Sumkali is such a relaxing and fulfilling experience. I love to sit back and just take in the wonderful sounds. I feel blessed to be a part of such a wonderful musical experience.

  The next day was the Ann Arbor Kirtan holiday gathering. This is the third year and it was, by far, the biggest yet. The place was filled to capacity and when the chanting started and the first response came I literally got the shivers. It was like calling out to the ocean and having a huge wave crash down in response. I could get used to that kind of energy! I still did just about the entire kirtan with my eyes closed. I have been doing that for a few months now and I am growing more and more fond of it. I think it is all about letting go of the things you can not control and holding closer the things you can. When you take out what you see, you are left with what you feel and what you hear, and isn't that what music is all about?

   The third Friday in December I was at Crazy Wisdom Tearoom in Ann Arbor playing with Jesse Morgan, Paul, Akeelee, and Rob Crozier. It was a re-creation of the Rocketstyle recording session we did in the beginning of the year. We basically improvised what I like to call 'Space-funk' for two hours. It was a lot of fun. So much so that it almost felt a little too self-indulgent, like eating nothing but cake for dinner. It was the kind of show I wished that all my friends could have been at. Nothing but freedom, fun, and freestyle. Need I say more?

  So that is all the December shows. It was a fun month and now I am looking forward to whatever 2010 has in store. Thanks for reading and I will write again soon!

John

Cairn to Cairn C.D. Release, Crazy Wisdom, Dave Sharp C.D. Release

2009-11-24T12:00:00.000-05:00

  November is over half way done and have already played all my scheduled shows. Wow, what a light month on the gigging front. It has been a great month to catch up, reflect, and get a lot of extra practicing in. Looking back I only played 3 shows this whole month, but they were really special and inspiring.
  The first show was a C.D. release party for Cairn to Cairn at the Ark in downtown Ann Arbor. It was very cool to play at the Ark, since it was the first place I went to see a show after moving to Michigan from California, over 6 years ago. What was even cooler is that I was now sharing the stage with the performer I went to see, Peter 'Madcat' Ruth. The stage was actually very packed. Cairn to Cairn is made up of Terry Farmer on guitar, Kelly McDermot on flute, and Rob Crozier on bass. They went all out for this concert and invited as many people as they could pack onto the stage. There were members of the Bijou Orchestra on violins, and cello, my old teacher Jon Hill on percussion, a drummer, guitar player, Madcat on harmonica, and myself on tabla. I only played on one piece, so I was free to sit and watch the rest of the show. It was great to see Jon Hill again. He taught me marimba and snare drum solo at UM-Flint during my teaching certification days. We got to hang out after and catch up on things. The show went great, and there was a good crowd. The sound was also really nice, the sound guy was Jim Gibbons. He has done sound for some great tabla players, so it was an honor to have him on the board. My only wish was that I could have played more songs with them.
  The next show was nearly two weeks later at Crazy Wisdom Tearoom. This time Meeta was there, but no one else from Sumkali could make it, so we again called on our ICMD friends. This time it was Vish Srivastava on vocals and harmonium, Mahesh Ganesan on kanjira, Meeta on the sitar and Atmaram on the harmonium.

   It was a great concert and we ended up with the biggest tips of the year. I love the energy that has been happening at CW. The vibe is so good and the music is very uplifting.
  I am so excited to be involved in so much music that inspires, relaxes, heals, and energizes me. I feel lucky. I was guided from an early age to play music that I love to play and now I see the wisdom in that. Honestly, I did not count on the road being so busy, so difficult and so long, and as far as I can tell, there is no end in sight, but as I look around I am realizing that everyone around me is also forging ahead. When I talk to friends, family members, or anyone else that I cross paths with day-to-day, the topics are always dealing with the journey of life. How has the past been?, what does the future hold?, who else have you heard from? Conversing about all of these inquiries give me so much reassurance and gratitude for what I get to do every day. I am proud to talk about my life and all the wonderful things happening and it reminds me how lucky I am.
  So, anyway, enough gushing. I have got to tell you about this great project I did with Dave Sharp. Back in the summertime I went a couple blocks down from my house and recorded tabla on a track for Dave's upcoming album, "Secret Seven", (available soon on iTunes). Dave called me sometime in October and said the C.D. was done and he was planning a C.D. release party and he would like me to play. It was at a great club downtown called Live at P.J.'s on Saturday, Nov. 20th. The band Dave put together was really incredible. Two singers, sax, trumpet, keyboards, bass and three percussionists. I was on tabla for two of the tunes and for the rest I played conga, shaker, tambourine, and even cowbell! It was fun. Muruga Booker was also on percussion, which was great since we have been doing so much recording together lately. I felt like the whole band was able to lock in right from the first rehearsal. The crowd was great and it was a lot of fun getting to know everyone in the band.
  One thing that is so great about music is that the relationships you build while actually playing the music seem to last over years without losing a beat. If a group of musicians lock in and create something great, then the feeling that they can do it again never goes away. The next time I play with any of the musicians I played with on this night, even if it is years from now, chances are we would be able to pick up right where we left off, without missing a beat. I guess you could say it happened with Dave. I played a small kirtan gig with him over 2 years ago and then he just called me out of the blue for this recording. Based on just an hour or two of playing together, (we didn't even really get a chance to talk that first night), Dave felt he could bring me into a studio and record on his album. I don't know, perhaps this instant recognition and comaraderie is the prevalent in many professions, but I notice it in music over and over again. It motivates me to keep practicing and to always be ready for whatever is around the corner.

  So that is it for November. I don't see any other shows on the horizon until December, so I will take the time to rest, relax, and keep practicing!

Thanks for reading,

John

Humidity, 10,000 Villages, Judy Piazza, Ravi Shankar, Kirtan, Crazy Wisdom, MSMS, Mata Mandir

2009-11-22T21:29:00.001-05:00

  October was a very wet month this year, it seemed to be raining all the time. The "Does the weather affect the drums that much?" conversation was an icebreaker at a couple of the gigs this month. It does. When I first started studying tabla in California we were always keenly aware of the wind. If the wind blew in the desert, it meant that whatever little moisture was in the air was gone and all the drums dried up and got tight. In Michigan it is the opposite, the air gets very humid and the drum heads all loosen and get thick.
   Either way, your instrument is in need of constant attention to stay in tune and sounding nice. Musicians often refer to their instrument as a living entities, and I believe it stems from the fact that in order for the instrument to do what you want it to do, you must care for it every time you are in contact with it. Each instrument has its own set of sound characteristics that can literally resonate our bodies in ways that feel absolutely fabulous. When just one little thing changes, like a string coming just out of tune, or a loose component starts to rattle, the feeling can evaporate and we are left wondering why the same song that gave us joy yesterday is today giving us anxiety today.
   Even moving your instrument to a different room, or changing how you hold it will affect the sound. When a musician starts talking to, naming, and adoring their instrument, it is not (always) dillusional, crazy, vein, or for entertainment....no....I like to think that it comes from a moment where that instrument resonated deeply and joyfuly with the musician, giving them something they could not get anywhere else. Have you ever seen Willie Nelson's guitar? Not exactly a practical choice for the rigors of touring, but an old friend that rings out a layer of sound unlike any other. I wonder...does he have a name for it?


   I love going into new situations and different spaces to play music. As a percussionist, I don't always get to bring the same instrument, but this month seemed to be all tabla gigs. It has been great, since I have been so inspired by my Guruji's visit last month. I have been practicing everyday for at least an hour and the tabla have been opening up to me. I am not sure how else to put it...I guess I feel like I am getting more out of my tabla now than I ever have and it is driving me to practice more and more. I have also been saying yes to a lot of tabla gigs just to have an opportunity to play them outside the practice realm.

  Meeta Banerjee and I have played music at 10,000 Villages every year since their opening, and this year they asked us back for an anniversary party. The stores concept is great, they are a non-profit fair trade goods store. Everyone who works there is a voulenteer, so there are always new faces working when we play. This year we were sitting directly across from the cash register, so the voulenteers got to see us head on. In years past we have been on the same side and a bit removed from their view, so this was a nice change. It felt more like we were giving a concert.
  One lady saw me play the tabla and immediately went over to their drum display and picked up a baya. She said she always wondered how you play them and now she wanted to try. She set it on top of the countertop, took a good look at my hand to get the technique, and then tried to play. One problem...she had no ring under the drum. As soon as she laid her hand on it, it slid across the countertop, flipped over and slammed down on the glass. She nervously laughed and said "sorry" and put the drum away. Meeta and I just smiled and kept playing.
  The next day found Meeta and I at a lunchtime Indian wedding reception in the Bloomfield Hills area at some private country club. It was the first wedding for Meeta and I, and we had no idea how it would go over. We had a nice little stage and I brought a sound system. We got all set up and the sound was really great, so that relaxed us and got us excited to play. We knew that it would be one of those events where we were just the back ground music, so we played nice and light. When we finished our first piece the whole group, about 250 of them, gave a rousing applause. It took us both off-guard. We did not think that people were even listening. I would have loved to have a picture of our faces when the applause came, I am sure we looked surprised.
  So that changed the tone for the whole rest of the event. Now people started coming up to us and requesting certain rags, and some were walking by guessing the rag we were playing and telling us stories about when they used to play. It felt very comfortable and friendly. I had a moment when I almost lost the beat when I saw a large gentlemen lose his pants right down to his ankles as he got to the end of the buffet line with both hands full of food. It was hilarious in a funny-home-video way. I could not get Meeta to look over without attracting too much attention, so it was a moment for me, the guy, and the server that was also standing right there. If the server and I would have caught each others eyes after it happened, I think the bubble would have burst, and I would have lost it completely. As it happened, we finished the song, the guy pulled himself together and the afternoon went on normaly.  Meeta and I finished up, got a bite to eat, and headed home. It was a nice show to play.

   The next day I was at a house in the Bloomfield Hills area, (again) playing tabla for a small kirtan with Judy Piazza. She was in town for a little while and asked me a few days before if I would play with her. I was excited to not just because we have made great music in the past, but she was also playing with her newly developed instrument, the 'Dulcitar'. It was beautiful, and sounded great. It is a bit hard to explain, but it sits flat on the ground and there are the regular dulcimer strings in the middle on the inside there are some strings with moveable frets and on the outside are the drone strings, very similar to the sitar's sympathetic strings, only these you can play easily. I wish I had a picture to share with you, but I am sure Judy will have one online soon, if she doesn't already.
   Anyway the most important part of any instrument is the sound, and the Dulcitar sounded great. Lot's of great layers that made two musicians sound like 3 or 4. It was a fun night. The room we were in had big windows that was letting in the soft evening light. We sat down, set up, and started to play. As we played, the sun went down and the room got darker and darker. When Judy asked everyone if they wanted to turn on some lights, they said 'no', so we ended up singing and playing in near darknes. It was very different, but also very nice. Turning off the lights seems to turn the silence up and hence, give the music a great space to exist without distraction. It was a nice change from the norm.

  Two days later I was at Kerrytown Concert House in Ann Arbor for an event presented by the University Musical Society, (UMS). My group Sumkali was invited to put on a lecture/demonstration in anticipation of the upcoming Ravi and Anoushka Shankar performance that was to happen on Thursday at Hill Auditorium. It was really exciting to work with the UMS team. They are very professional and have an incredible history. I was interviewed by Annarbor.com for the event, and we got a 'thank you' in the program for the Shankar show. Not to mention some great seats. We all got to Kerrytown early and it allowed us to really dial in the sound. It was a fun night, though not as well attended as we would have liked. We took questions from the audience and played. The two hour event went by fast. It was well recieved, and I felt honored to be a part of it. Here are the pics:

UMS Presents Sumkali

  Two days later I was with Ann Arbor Kirtan at Friends Meeting House in Ann Arbor. It was nice. The kirtan experience seems to be growing on me. In the beginning I saw it as merely an opportunity to play tabla for two solid hours. Now I have been really getting into the meditative aspect of it. I try to close my eyes as much as possible, and keep my head clear. I think I have been able to do this because the other members of the group have really grown comfortable with the music. It has allowed me to go into my own space. When I first started with the group, (which is made up mostly of non-professional musicians), I kindly told them that it will take about 50 kirtan events before we all start feeling comfortable with the music, and I think that has played out to be mostly true. Now we can go through a whole night without much bobble or miscue and it is allowing everyone to enjoy the experience much more. It is really nice.
  No teacher, lesson, or instrument can give to a musician what time with the music can give. That is all it takes, (I guess you could say 'quality' time, just to be thorough about it). Just play, and enjoy what you play and every question will be answered through the music. To get good at music, you simply have to play. If you focus on playing what you love, then eventually you will love everything you play. This philosophy is what keeps me coming back to my instrument time and time again with excitement and desire. It does not matter where I am playing or who I am playing for, it just feels great to play. I feel blessed to have been able to do it this long, and I hope I can continue to play well into the future.
  After the Kirtan I had a full week before the next performance. It was Saturday the 24th at Crazy Wisdom Tearoom in Ann Arbor. We were slated to have the full Sumkali group, but Meeta had to cancel at the last minute, so we called upon a couple of the ICMD members at U of M to come in and fill the void. Mahesh joined us on the kanjira and Prakash was on the mrigdangam. With 4 percussionists it was bound to be a bold night of music making. We were fresh off the excitement of the UMS gig and we had some demo C.D.'s available thanks to the hard work of our bansuri player Scott Brady. He has been recording most of our shows and he mixed, mastered, and compiled over an hour of music to put on a C.D. So with actual merchandise to sling, it gave me an extra incentive to be the charming host. I think we sold something like 14 C.D.'s, which is great for a small venue like that. What is even better though, is that I felt like we put on a great show. Everyone was having a good time and the music was sounding great. I may be biased, but I fell like you can never have enough percussionists, provided they are listening well to each other. In this setting, Prakash and Mahesh did a great job of blending in and playing great, so the energy was high, and the crowd let us know. I am getting more and more excited about the Crazy Wisdom 'experience' each month. It seems to be getting better and better as the months go on.
   The following day I was back over in Troy, MI. at the Sommerset Inn for the Michigan State Medical Society's first ever International Cultures night. I was slated to play with Meeta Banerjee. There were lots of different performances from different parts of the world. We were the Bengali contingent, so we played a couple of Bengali folk pieces. It was a nice little show and continued on the same vibe that the entire month seemed to have, which was solid, good, and fun.
  The next Friday was an interesting gig, which was, once again, over on the Southeast side in Rochester, MI. at the Red Lotus Yoga Studio. I was playing a girbani kirtan with Mata Mandir, who has been recording and doing kirtan for many years. I got the gig from Trevor Eller, who is an Ann Arbor local yoga teacher and musician. He was also playing with us. Since there was no rehearsal, or talk about logistics of the show, I over packed for the show. I brought my tabla, a rug, and my audio suitcase with mics and short stands. It seemed like overkill, but I just wanted to be safe. When I showed up to the gig I heard that Mata's van had broken down the day before up in Canada and all his equipment was in it. They had secured a sound system to use, but it lacked a lot of essentials, so guess who got to come to the rescue! I couldn't believe that I had to use absolutely everything that I brought. As it turned out we got the sound dialed in just in time to start the kirtan. It was an interesting night. It was not the kirtan like I was used to in Ann Arbor. There were more sing-a-long chants, as opposed to call-and-response, and the audience clapped when the songs were over. It was a fun show, and I liked the mellow state of mind that Mata brought to the whole thing. He was really great to play with, and I hope to play with him again then next time he comes to town.
  So that is it for October. It was a great month of music making and I feel inspired to keep pushing forward. As the year starts to come to a close, I am feeling great full for the experiences I have been able to have. I have been working with Atmaram Chetainya on re-creating my website, and it is looking GREAT! Thanks At! I have also been busy behind the scenes organizing my online world including my picasa photo account, my google calendar, my blog, and e-mail lists. As I move forward in all of this great technology I hope to connect with more people, and continue to share my musical world with you. Thanks for reading and I hope to write again soon!

John

Pandit Samar Saha in Michigan 2009

2009-10-19T15:19:00.000-04:00

Hello,

I have been so excited to write about the recent visit by my guruji, Pandit Samar Saha. This year Guruji and I began organizing his U.S. tour way back in February. The first order of business was to organize the first annual Samar Saha Tabla Retreat. This was not quite as easy as I was expecting. Because of the rough economy 2 of the retreat centers that I had scoped out near Ann Arbor had both gone belly up, so I scoured the internet hoping to find just the right place. I did. It was called Wind Rise Retreat Center. It was an artist retreat on a beautiful plot of land up in Metamora, MI. Once that was in place, I sent out the flyer to every tabla contact I could find. We needed at least 10 participants as per the retreat center's requirements, so I was e-mailing, calling, e-mailing, and e-mailing some more to find everyone I could. It was a 4 day 3 night retreat and, to sum it up, it went like this: Arrive, eat, play tabla, eat, play tabla, sleep, wake up, play tabla, eat, play tabla, eat, play tabla, eat, play tabla, sleep....on and on like this for 4 days. We did squeeze in some time for some tabla repair, a few listening sessions, and even a little tennis. The retreat center was run by a very sweet lady named Estella. The whole time we were playing tabla Estella was in the kitchen preparing some very excellent homecooked, organic, locally grown meals. We felt blessed indeed. It was a really beautiful place, although we did not do much more than sit and play, (I added it up...around 35 hours sitting behind the drums). The end of the retreat culminated in a student recital held at Britton Recital Hall at the U of M Music School in Ann Arbor. The whole experience for me was great. Here are the pictures:

  The recital that followed the retreat was really amazing for me. I had been working closely with Dan Piccolo on getting the venue, his U of M alumni status really helped in getting the Britton recital hall. So with that pressure off me, it was all about making sure we had a good sound system, putting up posters, more e-mailing, and arranging for Sumkali to open the show, (along with the Srishti dancers). I knew that we would be out of reach once the retreat started, so everything for the recital on Sunday had to be arranged before the retreat on Thursday. So when Sunday came, I watched everything sort of pull itself together. I was tired, sore, and my brain was pretty much maxed out from all the tabla compositions running through it. I loved it. When Sumkali started the first thing that struck me was how nice the sound in the room was. After a weekend full of full volume tabla playing, it was very nice to just 'touch' the drum and hear the sound ring out. It settled me down and really felt theraputic. When the dancers took the stage I felt like I had front row seats to the show. I hardly even realized I was playing. I really enjoyed watching my son Charley sit on him mom's lap wide eyed with his mouth open completely focused on the dancers. I felt like I was looking at a person who was falling in love. It was sweet. Here are the pics:

  When Sumkali was done it was time for all the drummers to take the stage. When I was backstage getting ready, Samar ji said, "The sound was good".
   I thanked him and said, "That was the calm before the storm, now comes the thunder!" He laughed. It is not too often that you have 8 tabla players on stage at once. We had everyone mic'd and turned up, so I knew it was going to be a huge sound.
  Once it started, it seemed to go by very quickly. Compositions seemed to fly by. I think that part of that is because I was used to playing them over and over, as we did at the recital, and now it was 'one-and-done', no turning back. I was so happy to be doing something that we all worked so hard to do. When the whole thing was over I found myself standing alone in the theater just listening to my breath and bidding farewell to an incredible experience. I can't wait to do it again!

  After the recital Pt. Saha flew out east to do a bunch of shows in New Jersey, New York, and elsewhere. I pressed forward doing more e-mailing and poster hanging for the big upcoming show on September 19th. There was also a few other things on the docket. Pandit ji returned a week before the concert, so I got some 'hang' time with him before getting down to business again. On Wednesday the 16th he was scheduled to do a tabla demonstration at Go Like the Wind Montessori School in Ann Arbor. He played and talked about the tabla for 45 minutes to the 1st-9th graders. It was so great to present my teacher to my students. They were very excited by the idea that I have a teacher too. I was also happy to bring my son Charley to the show. When it was winding down, Charley sat on Guru ji's lap and played a little tabla for the middle school students. He was happy, and so was I!
  From there we went to the U of M music school for a Master class arranged by Dan Piccolo. It was a two hour intensive, in depth look into the world of tabla with an audience of future professional percussionists. It was great to see Samarji doing what he does so well. I should mention that Meeta Banerjee was with him the entire day and also helped out for both shows by playing sitar accompaniment, and driving him from place to place. Thanks Meeta!

Three days later we were at Towsley Auditorium for the Ancient Rhythms concert that I arranged with Sreyashi Dey. This was one of the first major concerts I arranged that I actually did not play in. I made the decision a while back. I wanted to put all of my energy towards putting on a great event and not have to worry about performing in it as well. I was very happy with my decision. I was able to help get the sound just right, make sure the artists had everything they needed, do the M.C. duties, and even work the curtain. It felt great to watch it all unfold. The first half was the Srishti Dancers. They were beautiful, and the lighting was perfect. They really work hard! A full hour of dancing like that was intense. I didn't actually feel the intensity until I saw them come offstage pouring with sweat and breathing heavy. Those are some of the details that are missed when you are watching from the audience. It was an inspiring perfromance.
The second half was a tabla solo by Guruji. I was so excited to finally see him on a big stage doing what he does best. I just sat on the side of the stage and admired his work. As always, he played a lot of the compositions that we had learned over the coarse of his visit here, and then a few of his big 'hits'. I felt like I was in tabla heaven. Here are the pics:

After the concert I felt relieved that all the arranging had come to a successful end. Guruji was in Michigan for a few days afterwords so there was some more opportunity to take lessons and just hang out. On the last day he was here, Monday the 21st, I set up a relatively spontaneous meeting with Muruga Booker, (if you have never heard of him, just google :). Muruga owns a beautiful recording studio in Ann Arbor, and I thought it would be great to get them together to do some recording. What ensued was epic. I actually don't want to go into it too much, (because it will probably end up in the liner notes of the album that was recorded.) So I will leave it at that for now.
The next morning Samarji was off to the East coast again where he had many other concerts organized by other students and then he was back in Kolkatta by early October. We have already started talking about next year, and I can't wait. In the meantime I will be practicing!

Thanks for reading,

John

Ravi, Anoushka Shankar concert to link Western pop, Indian music - AnnArbor.com

2009-10-12T14:54:00.002-04:00

Hi Friends,
Just a quick link to an article that I was interviewed for on AnnArbor.com:

Ravi, Anoushka Shankar concert to link Western pop, Indian music - AnnArbor.com

Sumkali also made it into the program! Click here, were on the first page.

Nick Strange at Fishbones, Jazz Trio, Indian Music for CSAS, A.A. Kirtan, Radio Free Bacon, Crazy Wisdom

2009-09-30T10:54:00.005-04:00

September has flown by and October seems to be rushing in with cold wind and rain. Thinking back on this month fills me with warm thoughts and feelings. My Guruji, Pandit Samar Saha has been in the U.S. since the end of August and I have been very busy arranging lots of different events for him. I have decided to write about everything that happened with him in a separate blog entry, so this entry is only about the shows I did on my own. Look for that entry very soon!

So this month started off with a gig in St. Clair Shores with the Nick Strange group. It was at the end of a busy week of preparation for the new school year, so it was nice to get on the drumset and just play for a while. For this show we did not have our lead singer, so it was just Dan Orcut, Rob Crozier and myself. Dan sings most of the songs that Jessica usually does, so it was not a problem. Actually, it allowed us to jam a little more than usual and go outside of our regular structure, so it was a nice change. I always have fun playing with Rob and the night seemed to fly by. It was labor day weekend, so the plac

e was pretty empty, which didn't really bother me because honestly, the crowd at Fishbones is usually not too into the music anyway, no matter how good it sounds. It is actually kind of odd, when people do enjoy the music, they usually keep quiet, and then approach the band either between songs or on the set break to let us know that they like it. I have a theory that it has been established by the Fishbones culture that people do not cheer, dance, or show appreciation in any way for the live music. Somehow music is to be treated like background music, no matter what or how the band is playing. Anyway, it is just a theory, and it gets me through the night :)

A few days later, on a Thursday I think, I had a gig with Jesse Morgan, (keys), and Rob Crozier on bass. It was outside in an industrial complex

in Ypsilanti, MI. It was a 30 year celebration for a non-profit company called Synod Residential Services. We were simply background music for the workers and some of their clients. It was the first time that the three of us played together since recording the Rocket Style improve record, (find it here: http://www.crfmusic.org/). We actually did not rehearse at all, we just emailed some ideas for songs we could do and then showed up and did a bunch of jazz standards. Rob and Jesse both had their Realbook, so all I had to do was either play swing, latin, or funk. It really got our juices flowing and re-inspired us to play together more often. It is so great to find musicians that you sync with so well. I have found though, that those are also usually the musicians that are the busiest. We always talk about playing with each other, but have not found the spaces in our lives to make it happen. I really believe it will though. Perhaps I will be writing about another good show with them soon. Hope

so.

So about the middle of that same week I got a communication from the Center for South Asian Studies, (CSAS) at the U of M. They were looking for an Indian group to play just a half hour for a cocktail party at the Rackham building for graduate studies on central campus. It was a last minute booking; they needed us to play just two days later. So through the magic of texting I got Meeta, Prashanth and Atmaram to agree to it, (Scott and Dan both had other gigs booked). So on the day of the gig, actually right before I left to go to the gig itself, I got an e-mail from Meeta saying she was sick and could not make it. Meet

a never cancels, so I knew it had to be pretty bad. I called Prashanth and asked him if he knew anyone who could fill in for Meeta. The only person he could get a hold of was Prakash, a mrigdangam player, (the same one who played with me at a Crazy Wisdom gig a few we

eks back. Now, filling a sitarist slot with drummer is kind of like replacing a quarterback with a punter, their roles are very different. So, without warning, the evening became something totally different than I had expected. As odd as it seemed to be, it actually turned out just fine, and it was only a half hour long, so it seemed to be over as soon as we began. I did get something really great out of it, I got to hear Prashanth,

who is trained in South Indian music, play some pieces that he usually does with the mrigdangam. One in particular caught my ear and now we are learning it in Sumkali. So, out of the confusion came a little gem of a song that is very fun to play.

Exactly one week later I was playing with the Ann Arbor Kirtan. Like I mentioned earlier, I was right in the middle of a whole bunch of tabla related events with my guruji, so doing the kirtan was my first opportunity to play tabla out of the auspices of my teachers ear. It was nice to just close my eyes and not think about what I was playing, just play and enjoy the sound. I kept my eyes closed for the entire 2 hours. It is really amazing how different the experience is when you take away the visual. I learned at the Michigan Music Educators conference earlier this year that 70% of what you hear is affected by what you see, so I have been trying to close my eyes a lot more just to observe the difference. The kirtan is the perfect place to do it. I found that it made it a much more personal experience. I enjoyed it very much. The only time I opened my eyes is when my wife Jody made a surprise visit with my son Cha

rley. It made it harder to keep my eyes closed because I found myself wanting, as I do a lot these days, to stare at Charley.

The next day I was in a rehearsal for Radio Free Bacon (http://www.radiofreebacon.com/) It is a great local live radio show on Ann Arbor's 107.1 fm. They have interviews, stories, and of coarse live music, complete with a different musical guest each week. I was sitting is as the drummer for the house band. The musical guest was Rod and Annie Capps, a pair of local singer/songwriters that have been performing for many years. I think they just came out with their 6th album. The process includes the house band learning 3 or 4 of the guest artist songs and playing a delux version of them. The rehearsal was a lot of fun. I joked with the band that I had never been to a rehearsal that used so many metaphors to describe the music.

To summerise the experience, it was meaty, it floated, so when it came in for a landing, it set down gently, and when it came back in, it really came heavy and pushed it's way through to the chorus, where it opened up, and when it........you get the idea?

Anyway, it was all in preparation for going live on the air the next day. They do 6 shows a year, and this was the third one, it was on Sunday from 2:30-4. The setting was great. It was outside in the West Park Bandshell, right in downtown Ann Arbor. It was a beautiful day and there is a really professional sound crew that makes it sound sweet. We had to be very alert and ready to start playing on a seconds notice. Our theme for the show was 'Movies'. It was great, there were all sorts of local actors and talents on the show talking about the recent insurgence of movie making that has been going on all over Michigan. We just sat and watched, and as soon as they finished an interview we played.

We did the songs with Rod and Annie, and then we also had to do what was called 'incidental' music, which was just background music for live commercial announcements and a few little bits. The whole experience was great and I really liked playing with Rod and Annie.

The last gig of the month was at the Crazy Wisdom Tearoom with Sumkali. We got in a good rehearsal the day before and I was inspired by the entire month spent with my Guruji. We had a great crowd. Playing a regular gig at Crazy Wisdom has been so good for our group. It gives us just the motivation we need to keep pushing ourselves forward musically, but at the same time, it is informal enough that we feel a bit more free to experiment and have a good time. This time we actually played that South Indian piece that I heard Prashanth play at the CSAS gig earlier in the month and it was energizing. I hope we keep up the good pace.

August part 1: Kozora in Manchester, Kirtan at Sun Moon, Live on WCBN, Deep Blue, Ann Arbor Kirtan, Crazy Wisdom, Unity Church

2009-08-17T11:25:00.015-04:00

So I started off the month with a blast from the not-so-distant past. I played a set with Kozora at the Riverfolk Music and Arts Festival in Manchester Michigan. If you don't remember, Kozora is a group I played with for a couple of years and we did some very experimental and cutting edge music, including some shows with Pandit Samar Saha. We had not played in a little over a year, but the leader of the group, Ken Kozora, thought we would be a good fit for the festival, which he helps organize. We were one member short, Scott Brady could not make it, so it was just Ken, Dave Gilbert and myself. It was like a breath of fresh air for me to be on the drum set with them again. A lot of the compositions Ken writes has very heavy drumming and I had forgotten how much I liked playing them, especially in a festival setting.

We were on the pavilion stage, which was nicely tucked away in a back corner of the festival grounds. As soon as we started people gathered and it ended up being a very nice show to play. I also did a little talk and demo with the tabla which was something Ken asked me to do. I appreciated the time he gave me, considering he has more than enough music to fill the hour. He is a true music lover and is always willing to showcase interesting music beyond his own. Thanks Ken!

A couple of days later I was at the Sun Moon Yoga Studio in downtown Ann Arbor. I was asked by a guitar player named Trevor to sit in on a small Kirtan. We were joined by another guitar player named Chip, and Atmaram Plummer on the harmonium. It was nice to play in Sun Moon again. The acoustics are great and it is small enough that 20 or so people really feels like a good crowd. I had done a kirtan there before with Trevor, must have been about 4 or 5 years ago, (I wonder if I might have blogged about it?....). It was when I first started doing kirtan. This time I felt like a seasoned veteran.

The event was an all day benefit for Sun Moon. I heard they had suffered a flood and needed some repair. I was more than happy to help out and do some kirtan with a different crowd. It was very low key, no P.A. system, no microphones, just singing and playing. I had a great time and it seemed to go by very fast. It was a great way to spend a summer afternoon.

The following Wednesday I was at the WCBN studio at U of M playing live on the radio with Rob Crozier on electric bass, Michael G. Nastos on percussion and electronics, and Mark Kirschenmann on electrified trumpet. All I brought was my tabla and a little shaker. This was my first time without a drum set and I felt a little stripped down. Especially when the other performers all had signal processors, mics, and amps to give their sound many faces. It turned out to be a challenge to keep up with all the different soundscapes that were created within our hour long non-stop improvisation. Playing freely and improvising may sound easy and liberating, but it can actually be surprisingly difficult and complex. It is not something that is easily explained, but when it is good you know it, and when it is bad, well...you know that too. I think an important part of the creative process is being honest with yourself about what it is you are creating. Do you like it? Is it your best work? Are you fully present? ...these are the questions that you have to ask yourself, if you really want to take it seriously and do it well. I suppose that applies to just about any creative endeavor. Anyway, it was a great experience and I look forward to doing it again soon.

The following Friday I was up in Flint, MI. at the Genesee Valley Mall to play with Deep Blue.

This time I made double sure to bring my snare drum! (I had forgotten it last month). I can't

tell you how much better it went with that nice snare sound ringing out! I was happy. I guess it

can be the little things, like forgetting a drum, that really make you appreciate what you have

and what you do.

Exactly one week later was the monthly Ann Arbor Kirtan at the Friends Center. We had just

come off a really great rehearsal and I was looking forward to how the group responded. In the

rehearsal everything seemed to click for one of the chants. It was a moment where we started a

chant, then Atmaram, who was the leader for this particular chant, had to suddenly leave the

room. The group did not stop playing and we just vamped until he got back. Everyone just

settled in on the nice groove and when he finally did come back, it was sounding so nice that his

entrance into the verse just lifted the song to a level that I have never felt with the group. It

was like the group stepped into a new realm of music making. Sure, it was just a rehearsal, but

it never matters when you are making music. The more you can make it good, the more good

you can make it. (Does that make sense?) I was curious to see if that feeling translated into the

performance. I suppose it did, however it was sort of a unique night. Dennis Chernin, who is

one of the chant leaders, had just gotten back from a kirtan camp week and he was VERY tired.

I even had to nudge him awake on a few of the chants so he would keep his mouth in front of

the mic. The night went well, though it did not have the magic of the prior rehearsal. I guess

you can't expect your team to triumph when your quarterback is using the ball as a pillow ;)

The following night was the monthly Indian music night at Crazy Wisdom Tearoom in downtown

Ann Arbor. It was a unique night due to the fact that the usual musicians could not make it. Of

the original crew, only Scott Brady, Atmaram Plummer and myself could make the show, so I

called on the ICMD, (Indian Classical Music and Dance) group for some help, and boy did they

pull through. It turned out to be a great night in a few ways. First of all, Scott got to do some

solo playing, which he hardly ever gets to do, and I got to play a nice little piece with a great

singer/harmonium player named Vish. The real treat of the night though was a rag sung by a

girl named Kamia, (sp?) I have never seen the tearoom so riveted by a performance. Even the

baristas stopped what they were doing to listen to her sing. When she was done everyone

clapped and a few people even stood up. It was a great moment that I will not soon forget.

After the show we all went to Mongolian BBQ and talked about doing it again sometime. I

hope it is sooner than later.

The next morning I was still reeling from the night before as I pulled up to the Interfaith center

for a little musical offering at a church service with Craig Brann. We were supposed to play for

two services, one at 9 and one at 11. I showed up at 8:30 and no one was there! I waited until

8:55 and then made a phone call. As it turned out I went to the wrong place! So after a 10 minute

drive to the Unity Church, (which I made in 5 :), I rushed in and got set up just in time for the

ceremony to start. It went well in spite of my mix-up.

That is all for this installment, I will write again about the exciting end of the month very soon!

thanks for reading.

John

Playin in the U.P., Kirtan, Crazy Wisdom, Deep Blue and Nick Strange

2009-08-10T09:01:00.006-04:00

Hello again,

I love the summertime. Going outside without a coat, night time bike rides, playing music in the park, swimming, growing food in the backyard, fiddling in the garage, and one of my favorites...going to the U.P. (that's the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where my hometown of Marquette is located, right on Lake Superior). Jody and I decided to take Charley for his first trip to the U.P.

About a week before we left I got a call from my good friend Jared Smith. He had just completed a solo album and he wanted to get together and play the songs at Harley's lounge in the Ramada Inn right downtown Marquette. Of coarse I said yes and the day we got there I was up in my Dad's garage with Jared, Mike Waite, and Nora Waite, rehearsing for the show the next night. It was so great to be in the place where

I grew up playing music that was just created by an old friend. It is a grounding feeling to have the past and present come together with such ease. I know there are a lot of people out there who have a problem looking, let alone going to the places in their past.

I know I am a fortunate soul to be in the place where I grew up and doing something new. It is right in line with my undying desire to live in, and serve my community. These days it is so easy to be in a far away land, but still stay connected to your home. Communities of people are brought together through communication lines that I did not dream of even when in High School. It is very easy for Jared, who is in L.A., to contact me in Ann Arbor, and Mike in the U.P. and set up a time to meet, change our minds at the last minute, change the time, let each other know if we are going to be late, all before we even talk to each other.

The real sense of community is created, however, not through texts or e-mails, but when the actual meeting of the real people takes place

e. I still believe this. I had a computer teacher at CalArts, his name was Dave, and he told us that all this computer connectivity will not lead to the de-personalization of society, but rather to a re-personalization. I see now what he means. I have had some great relationships and interactions with people that I have never met face to face. I do feel lucky, grounded, and thankful for the fact that most of what I do for a living involves actual interaction with not only the people, but also the space we are in.

On to the music....

So the show with Jared Mike and Nora went well. I was so proud of Jared for all that he had accomplished. Not only did we play and entire set of music where every part, every arrangement, every melody, harmony, and rhythm were all created from Jared's mind, but we were also treated to a full hour of compositions Jared had written. It was just a guitar and him on a mic. The songs were all his. Some of them were songs that were performed by his former band Hello Stranger, some were old ones I used to hear him play sitting around the fire when we lived together in Val Verde, CA. and some were new to my ears. All of them were songs he created and obviously loved. The audience was full of good friends and family, with a few hotel guests mixed in. It was a nice evening and I was very happy to be a part of it. Not to mention it was a great way to begin our time in the U.P.

7 days later we were on our way back from what had been a very relaxing, nourishing trip. I was feeling excited for the rest of the summer. As a teacher, one of the great perks is to have the summer off. The beginning of the summer was full

of home projects, visiting friends and family, and unwinding from the school year. Now it was time to play music. I couldn't think of a better way to start it off than with two straight hours of playing tabla for Ann Arbor Kirtan. I haven't gone to a kirtan so relaxed in a long time. It was a very nice experience, almost like I was on the sideline watching, not actually playing. I really appreciate those times in life where there is not tension or stress. If I can be playing music without those two things, I will be a very happy man.

The following week my new Indian group Sumkali played at Crazy Wisdom tearoom in Ann Arbor. We were still reeling a bit from the Top of the Park experience the month before, and without the pressure of that performance on us, I feel like everyone in the group loosened up and just played. We played for our usual 2 hours straight and, as usual, it seemed to go by fast. For me, loosing yourself in time is a good sign that you are creating something good, especially if you can do it with 5 other people and countless others watching.

One interesting thing that happened at this show didn't have anything to do with the music. Meeta leaned over to me before we started and said, "That guy over there looks like the guy from Alias". She mentioned it a couple of times, but never went over to ask him. After the gig, she did some research on Twitter and as it turns out, it was Kevin Weisman who plays Marshall Flinkman on the show. He was in town filming a new Rob Reiner film. Cool! Hope you enjoyed it Kevin!

The last day of the month was a Friday, and after a full month of very relaxing nice shows, I found myself double booked once again. This time I was playing from 6-8p.m. with the Deep Blue Jazz group. It was out in the courtyard of Genesee Valley Mall an hour north in Flint. From there I would have to high-tail it back to Ann Arbor to play from 9:30p.m.-1:30a.m. With the Nick Strange Group. Most of my double booking this yea

r has involved one tabla gig and one drum set gig, but this was two drum set gigs, so the logistics were a bit more complex.

I do have 2 complete drum sets, but not enough cases, so transportation was a bit of an issue. Needless to say I also needed to enlist the help of my student Vinnie Russo to help set up my set at Gracies. I used my smaller student set at the mall so I could get packed up and out of there quick. As long as I did not run into traffic, or have any car troubles, I would just be able to pull this off.

It had been a long time since my last gig with Deep Blue. It was great to see Paul Allen again. Scott Brady, had been working together a lot with the Indian Music, but I only see Paul for the Deep Blue Gigs. I got to the mall and loaded everything into the courtyard. We were catching up on each others lives while we set up when I noticed...

.I did not pack a snare drum! Yikes!

So after a few failed attempts at calling some drummer friends I know in Flint I went to plan B, which was trying to fashion a snare drum out of my floor tom. The only thing that makes a snare drum a snare drum is the wires, (or snares), that are strung across the bottom of the drum that snap against the bottom head when you hit the top. So after digging through my gear for wire, I pulled out my wire brushes and taped them to the bottom head of my snare drum. Scott and Paul huddled around the drum as I taped it up. When I tapped the top of the drum and a snare-type sound came out, everyone sort of sighed and felt a bit more relaxed. I, on the other hand, was bummed that, after all the careful planning, I had left my snare drum in my studio and now I was playing with a really deep snare-ish drum and no floor tom.

The group played a lot of bossa and latin songs so I did not have to rely on the weak snare sound. (Bossa and latin music uses the stick on the rim of the drum to get a click sound instead of hitting the drum itself). The show went fine and I even took some drum solos. I wondered if there were any drummers watching us play and wondering what the heck kind of set-up I was using. One good thing about it...I did not have to pack up a snare and stand, so I saved about a minute of transition time. So I bid adieu to Deep Blue and headed for Ann Arbor. It was smooth sailing the whole way. I parked my van, took a deep breath and gave thanks for everything working out, even with the hiccup.

I love the feeling of walking to a venue with nothing more than a stick bag. It feels great to know that the drums are all set up and all I have to do is sit down and play. It is a small thing, but it totally changes the feel of the night. I am able to focus better, relax, and even put energy into coming together with the other members of the group. So I showed up with about 10 minutes to spare before showtime, but as I walked to the door I noticed Vinnie and Dan sitting outside, which was pretty unusual. I asked what was up and they told me Rob, the bass player, had not shown up yet. This was a bit more serious than a forgotten snare drum. We could not get a hold of Rob, so Dan started calling other bass players, all of them turned out to be busy. Just as it was time to come up with a plan b, Rob pulled up. We had just a minute or two before we were supposed to start, so there was no time for explanation. Vinnie and I helped Rob get his stuff in and we were set up and ready to go right on time. Dan was a bit frazzled, but it all melted away once the music started. I was just happy to be playing on a full drum set! The night went great and by the end I was ready to keep playing. I had a lot of drums to take out of my car after the show, but I was thankful that it went well.

That is all for July, thanks for reading and I will write again soon!

John

CW, WCBN, Nick Strange, 2 Kirtan, TOP

2009-06-20T08:23:00.004-04:00

Hello and welcome to summer!

I am now sitting in my kitchen on a beautiful summer day listening to the birds outside and getting ready to finish off a big deck building project I have been working on. I am happy to say that I made it thorough another great year at Go Like The Wind, and now I am looking forward to a nice summer break from that environment.

Over the past two weeks the effects of the 'bad economy' that I have been hearing about all over the news has hit home for me. I was supposed to teach a hand drum camp at a school in Brighton, and also a teachers seminar about Indian rhythm at Madonna University. Both were cancelled due to low enrollment. It sort of put a damper on the start of summer, but also made me very thankful that I still have my job at GLTW, especially in a time when music programs all over the country are getting cut.

From an artists point of view, a downturn in the economy usually means an upturn in creativity. You see all around you the word 'creative' being used. You are being urged to be creative with your spending to get the most for your money, be creative with the idea of recreation time so it doesn't involve so much spending, be creative with the clothes you buy so you don't have to rely on a huge wardrobe. It seems that when you take the money away, creativity becomes valued. Common phrases like "the best money can buy" are replaced with "the best minds coming up with the best solutions". I see commercials urging people to simply "think", and businesses talking about "social connections" rather than their usual 'innovation' and 'competition' talk.

I get the sense that everyone is a little tired of all the talk of money. When you replace the desire for money with a desire for real, tangible experience, then the artist becomes more valuable, and the message of the art gets more time and consideration from the observer, which in turn grows appreciation, and increases the value.

All this talk comes from what I notice as I sit behind my drums. In the late 90's and early 2000's money, power, competition, spending, and investment were what it was all about. I would play lots of house and corporate events that seemed to be a celebration of wealth and excess. Now I seem to have more shows that are about education, community, and helping people in need. The one constant in all of these shows has been the music. I learned early on that every time you sit down to play is just as important as any other time, no matter where you find yourself sitting. I now have a renewed appreciation for that idea. You can not make people pay attention to you, they have to want to. So when they are ready to pay attention, will you be doing your best work?

June was a good month for music in my life. It started on the 5th with a show at Crazy Wisdom Tearoom with Sumkali. It felt like a pre-Top of the Park gig more than a gig all it's own. We had been rehearsing to perform with dancers, so a couple of the pieces that we usually improvise on were now tailored and structured. This is not a bad thing. I think the repetition helped us solidify some really good musical ideas, which made us tighter as a group. The following Wednesday I found myself at the WCBN studio for a live broadcast of some free improvised music with Rob Crozier on bass, Kelly McDermott on flute, Jason Burbo on guitar, a viola player (whose name I have forgotten), and Michael Nastos on percussion and electronics. It was 2 hours of intense listening and free exploration. The end result was broadcast out live. One thing about working with microphones is that they create a second, very different reality of the sound you are hearing come out of the instrument in front of you, so you have to know, and sometimes guess what that other sound is and play to that reality. For instance, while we were playing, Kelly was quietly whispering into her microphone. None of us could hear it during the session, but when we listened back to the recording it was the dominant sound. It is what my friend Jared calls the 'big illusion' of sound. Once you understand and work with this other reality of sound, your musical possibilities grow exponentially.

Two days later I was onstage at Goodnite Gracies in Ann Arbor with Rob Crozier and Dan Orcut for another Nick Strange show. Jessica, the lead singer, could not make it so Dan filled in and we expanded some of the songs out with instrumental jams. It was a good night and is always fun to play with those guys. Not to mention Dan, being a very handy guy, gave me a lot of great advice on building my deck!

Exactly one week later I was playing with the Kirtan again at the Friends Meeting House in AA. This was one of the first Kirtans where I had the day off, had no double bookings, and felt very well rested. It was nice to be at full strength for the kirtan. I felt like I could participate more, rather than just stay focused on making through the night. When everyone in the group is relaxed and the sound is good, it is some of the most peaceful, quiet, and relaxing music making I have ever been a part of. The group has not gotten to the point yet of giving totally into the music, (which, by the way is probably one of the hardest obstacles to overcome as a group of artists), but when we do, you could not ask for a better setting. There are moments where the group does gel and some great energy is created, but it is not quite happening consistently. I feel good about what is happening though, and I look forward to playing more with them.

In fact, after a week of hand drumming with some very happy 3-6 year olds for the Go Like The Wind Summer Camp, I was back behind the tabla with the Kirtan group again for a more informal kirtan at the Interfaith Center in Ann Arbor. It was part of an ongoing music series they have once a month. We did some kirtan, talked about the instruments and the music, and then did more kirtan. At the regular kirtan we never talk once it starts. It goes from chant to silence right into the next chant. I found that having a break and talking actually made it harder for me to sit for 2 hours straight. When music is happening, especially when it is good, time seems to fly by, unless you are trying to focus on the length of time you are playing. Only then does it creep along. At this show 15 minutes of talking was like doing an hour and a half of chanting and I got 'cold' We ended with about 3 chants in a row, and by the end I had to stretch out before I could even stand up. It is so fascinating to me how little changes in experience manifest themselves physically. The more I think about it, the more I am thankful to be a musician, surrounding myself with such good vibrations and energy all the time. It makes me a happy guy.

Speaking of being happy, I was so happy the following Tuesday when it was time for Sumkali to finally take the stage at Top of the Park. Ever since moving to Ann Arbor I have heard about and enjoyed many Top of the Park performances and I was so happy to finally be a part of it. It is all done on an uncovered, outdoor stage and is free to the public. It is always well attended and it is a great venue to play. We were all watching the sky all day. It was cloudy and just north of Ann Arbor it had been raining constantly. By the time we reached the time to play, the sun actually came out and the weather was perfect. Everything went so wonderfully. We only had a 35 minute set, so we had to be quick, efficient, and good. The dancers looked great, the music went great, and aside from a slight problem with a buzz in the monitors at the beginning the show went as well as any of us could have hoped. I am hoping to have some great pictures soon. The crowd seemed really receptive and I heard nothing but good things. I was proud of the group and I am looking forward to what is next.

That is all for now, please check back, there are some good things on the horizon. Thanks for reading!

John

2 Kirtan, 2 Nick Strange, Gratitude at UofM, GLTW, Tap Room, Alma, Sumkali at Castle and CW

2009-05-14T20:49:00.007-04:00

This picture was taken at the Interfaith Center in Ann Arbor on March 1st by Catherine Lilly. I was warming up and checking the sound for a gig with the Kirtan group. We were sharing an evening with a singer named Norma Gentile. It was the third or fourth time I had performed in that venue and I enjoyed hearing the Kirtan in the new space.

I have been going through some changes in the way I am hearing music that I am a part of. It is a bit hard to explain but I feel like I am able to hear with more than my ears. I have been sensing how the vibrations coming out of my instrument are affecting the whole space. I don't hear my instrument as if I was out in the audience listening, and it is different that close listening when I am playing by myself in a quiet room. I think perhaps I am getting a sense of the resonance of certain frequencies and how they affect the space around me. When I make the mistake of turning up or playing louder when I can't "hear" myself, then the risk of throwing the musical picture out of balance becomes great. Of coarse the way to really fine tune this type of listening/feeling is by performing a lot, not to mention having like minded musicians around you. When the feeling is just right it feels so good that neither you, or no one around you, can deny the richness and quality of the 'experience' of the sound. It has been a journey I have been on for a while now and I feel like I am beginning to see some light. Hopefully, if the musical opportunities keep presenting themselves and I can fine tune this feeling.

So after all this contemplation about the greatest part of my journey, there is another reality I have had to come to grips with...double booking (aaaaaagh!) Actually, about one hour after the picture above was taken, I was quietly and quickly packing my tabla to head into downtown and play a show at Gracies with the Nick Strange group. I did not even get to see Norma Gentile perform. It doesn't upset me or make me tense/nervous to have to do this for a number of reasons; I love to play, I have the ability and I want to use it, and I am the one booking myself, so I must come to grips with these realities weeks and months before they happen, but that doesn't mean it is easy. Traveling from one gig to the next without a breath in between takes discipline, calmness, and some help. Luckily I have some great students, friends and band mates that are willing and able to help me out with the otherwise impossible logistics. Without them this madness would not be possible. Thank you!

The next day was a treat, or more like a homecoming. I was at the U of M school of Art and Design playing with the Gratitude Steel Band. It was the third year in a row that we have played at the ceremony. It is a nice show to play, not just because we are a part of a very special day for the graduates, and not just because it is one of the first outdoor gigs of the year, no, it is really nice because we set up our stuff, and then we have a long time to catch up with each other. It has turned into a great time to reflect on the past year, look to the future and appreciate the relationship we have forged together as a group.

The next week was jam packed with a lot of different stuff. I won't go into much detail because honestly, I have been putting off this blog for too long and I really want to get caught up! So this is what it looked like:

Tuesday the Go Like The Wind Jazz Band played a fundraiser at Noodles and Company in Ann Arbor. It was to raise money for the middle school adventure trip to Colorado. For most of the band it was their first real gig, so it was great to see them put on their serious faces and play their best. I was a proud teacher.

Wednesday I went to the Tap Room Annex in Ypsilanti, MI to play a jazz open mic with the Skylounge band. It was mellow, fun and very easy going. It is always fun to play with those guys.

On Thursday I played tabla with the Emerson School 4th graders for their rendition of Piru Bole, which is a piece written by my CalArts mentor John Bergamo. It was part of a whole evening of music from South Asia. Judy Barthwell put on the event, and she did a great job. As a music teacher, it inspired me to do more with my students. As a student of music, it was equally as inspiring to see my teachers composition performed so enthusiastically by young musicians.

Friday was a double hit. First, Meeta and I went up to Alma College to do a lecture/demonstration of Indian Classical music for a music appreciation class. We were excited to do it, and the professor was great. The students were a little quiet and we wondered why. We figured out that we were coming to them on one of the nicest days of the spring so far, on a Friday afternoon, right after they turned in a big paper and right before they found out about their last big assignment. So this was not the best time to get a lot of new information. It had been a while since Meeta and I had done a presentation like this, so we were having fun with it, and for the most part, it went well.

From there it was back to Ann Arbor to get ready for the GLTW Spring music concert. This was a first. In the past the music concert was paired with the promotion/graduation night so it limited the amount of music that could be featured. This year we played everything we knew, 25 pieces in all. It was a great night to showcase the music program and it was much looser than in years past, which made it fun for the students.

The next Monday I left for a week in Colorado with the GLTW Middle School. It was the yearly adventure trip. I brought a guitar, but other than that, it was a nice break from the whole music scene. Here was the view:

So we got back on a Friday, and Saturday I had another gig with the Nick Strange Group, but at the last minute it was cancelled. What I heard was that there was a lightning strike and the club had no power, so they could not open up for the night. Although I was bummed not to play, it turned out to be a nice evening at home with the family.

I didn't play again until Friday the 22nd with the Kirtan group at Friends Center in Ann Arbor; our regular gig. I was barely moving though...literally. I had spent the day prior busting up concrete with a sledge hammer. Sure it is the worst possible thing for a drummer to do to their hands, but I have gone full bore into a home improvement project, (building a deck), which required the cement to be gone quickly, so I had to do it. I made it through the 2 hours of chanting alright, but I now have a whole new appreciation for healthy hands.

The following day was a little less sore, which was good because Sumkali had another gig at the infamous Bennett Castle. It was a benefit gig for Sparsh, which is an organization that provides surgeries for children in India that can't afford it. The castle is on the outskirts of Ann Arbor and was once the fortress for Henry Ford's right hand man, Harry Bennett. It has secret tunnels, 2ft thick walls, and a beach house to escape to. Needless to say Mr. Bennett was a wanted man by unwanted men. Anyway, it is now a private residence and the owners have been nice enough to let people come in and use the space. We felt lucky as a group have a chance to play in such a cool environment. We did the same gig last year with the Kozora group. This year the musicians were Meeta Banerjee on sitar, Scott Brady on flute, Dan Piccolo on tabla and percussion, Atmaram Plummer on tampura and myself on tabla. We were missing Prashanth on the violin, but the music was still sounding great.

The next week we were in full force at the Crazy Wisdom tearoom downtown Ann Arbor. It has been such a pleasure to work with this group and we are all getting so pumped up for our show at the Top of the Park festival on June 30th. The tearoom gigs feel like they are a buildup to it. We have been getting great crowds and the spirit among the group has been high. We get so into it at CW, that we usually play the entire two hour show without taking a break. It is an energy that I have not felt in a while on such a consistent basis and it makes me very excited to see what happens next.

Well that is what happened in the month of May. I know it took me a while to get this post up, but rest assured, there will be more to come. The summer promises to be a good one. Thanks for reading, and I will write again soon.

John

3 @ the Tap Room, Last Skylounge, Recording with Dave Sharp, Nick Strange at Gracies and Firefly, 2 SumKali Shows, Kirtan

2009-04-29T09:06:00.012-04:00

Hello again,

It has been a great month in my musical world, and like the weather, things seem to be heating up. April started off busy with 4 gigs in the first 4 days. An open mic, a Skylounge gig, a recording session and a Nick Strange show.

On Wednesday the 1st, I went to the new Tap Room Annex in Ypsilanti to help get a new Wednesday night jazz open mic off to a good start. It is a collaboration with the Community Records Foundation, headed up by Skylounge keyboardist Jesse Morgan, and A3 Radio. All the donations collected are going to fund school music programs for schools that can not afford a music program. I agreed to play 3 of the 4 Wednesdays in April, each with its own theme. The first one was a straight up jazz open mic. The Skylounge band played host for the evening. A jazz combo from EMU started the night off with a set of standards. The Skylounge band went on second to play host to a number of musicians, and feature some of our own tunes. It was fun. People came with charts, acoustic guitars and just vocals, so the band had to be on their toes to adapt to the different settings.

The next night was the last Skylounge band gig at EMU for the season. It has been a very interesting series of shows to play.

The crowds have been very consistent and predictable, (in a good way), and the band has begun to evolve into a nice sounding ensemble. We went through some lineup and musical changes over the months to tailor ourselves to exactly what they were looking for; a band they could dance to.

I hope to be able to do it again next season, and I am pretty sure we are going to pursue other gigs in the meantime. At the minimum we will be doing one Wednesday a month at the Annex. Here's a group photo to mark the end of the experience:

The next day I took my tabla and went a few blocks down from my home to Big Sky Recording studio and recorded a track for Dave Sharp's new album. I played with Dave like 3 years ago at a small kirtan gathering at Sun Moon Yoga Studio. I haven't really seen or spoken to him since. Out of the blue I got a text message from him asking if I wanted to record tabla. I said yes of coarse and he sent me the track over e-mail so I could practice with it. We finally met face to face about 10 minutes before I laid down my tabla track and then went our separate ways again. It made me think of all the musical relationships I have had like this, where we have done more music making than speaking. The personal connections seem just as solid and deep. It goes beyond a superficial 'business' transaction. You have to feel comfortable enough with someone to share a meaningful musical experience. I think this comfort can only come through the music making process. I feel fortunate to have these kinds of relationships with many musicians, and I am always ready for the next one to come along.

On Saturday the 4th I kicked of the first of 4 gigs with the Nick Strange Group at Goodnite Gracies. Honestly, as I sit here I am having a bit of trouble remembering this show. I guess that can happen when you play the same venue with the same group many times. I do remember that it was with Rob Crozier on bass and he was just about to finish up his first semester at the U of M music school and he was very excited. This excitement has definitely shown in his playing and it has been a joy to play with him.

The following Wednesday I got an e-mail from Jesse Morgan asking if I would come back down to the Tap Room Annex in Ypsi to play drums for the Hip-Hop open mic jam. It sounded too interesting to pass up. It actually turned out to be a very memorable night. It is part of the Wednesday night jazz series that Jesse has set up with a3radio.com and his foundation Community Records. I was surprised at the amount of talented word-slingers that were on hand. Jesse and I were the only 2 musicians and we just played deep grooves all night while the mic was passed from person to person. I had so much fun just listening and playing along. I turned out to be a very memorable experience, and I hope to be asked back again.

In the last 2 weeks of April I had 6 shows in just 4 days. Once again, I could not have pulled it off without the help of my student Vinnie Russo, who has become very good at setting up my drumset just right so I can just walk in, sit down and start playing, which is just what I had to do on the 17th. I had a show with my group Sumkali at Crazy Wisdom tearoom, which is a show that normally goes from 8:30-10:30. Since I had to start at Goodnite Gracies at 10, I was forced to cut out of the CW show early. That was harder to do than I had expected. First of all, I had to make sure the rhythm was covered for the Sumkali performance, which it was very ably by Dan Piccolo. He has been playing a lot with us lately and so I had no worries that he could hold it down for the half of the show I could not be at. I had also asked Shani Thirumali to come join us for a couple of numbers. She plays the Veena, which is the older ancestor of the Sitar. It was a great start to the night and set the mood perfectly. She hasn't performed in front of people too much, so she had some nerves, but as it often happens with able musicians, after the first few notes were out of the way she did great. The hardest part of the night came when it was time for me to step out. The crowd was full, the sound was great, and the atmosphere was really nice. It was difficult to walk out of that and walk into a dark barroom not yet populated and quiet. I took a few breaths and it turned out alright, and we actually had a few people from Crazy Wisdom come down to the club and check out the second show. I was talking to them on the set break and they said that they had no idea that I also played the drumset. I love these sort of surprises!

The next day Sumkali, minus Dan, Atmaram, and Shanti had a gig at the Cromaine Public Library in Heartland, MI. It was set up by Scott Brady and it was during the day, which is always nice. It was also nice to play in a very quiet setting. Indian instruments are so quiet to begin with, that any outside noise can be a big distraction. We were the first musical group that they have had at the library, so they were still working on their advertising and promotions, which is the nice way of saying there was hardly anyone there. We all still had a great time though and we got some good recordings out of it. The manager of the library loved it and said she would like to have us back once the music series is more established.

The last Wednesday of the month I was back at the Tap Room Annex. This time it was the improvisation theme, so everything was improvised the whole night. There were a lot of musicians on stage this time and all I can remember is what I would describe as a wall of sound all night. Have you ever had a conversation with a loud talker? How about a non-stop talker? How about both at the same time? This is what seemed to happen on this night. Improvisation amongst musicians is a lot like a conversation amongst strangers, you really have to be aware of not only what you are saying, but what others are saying. And, as a musician playing in a group, you don't really stop the flow of sound, you have to know how to lay your sound out so others can be heard. It is a subtle art that, when it is good, is one of my favorite musical experiences. When it doesn't click though, you get a wall of sound that just pushes everything louder and crazier, and all parties seem to just man their own post as the ship sails through the high seas. O.K., so are you getting the idea of how this night went? When it was over I was tired, my ears were mad, and I just wanted to cut out as quick as I could. Luckily, some of the other members felt the same thing happen so next time we can set sail with calmer waters in mind.

The final two shows of the month fell on the same evening. They were a familiar pair, Ann Arbor Kirtan and the Nick Strange group. This time, however, the Nick strange group was at the Firefly jazz club on South Main St. in Ann Arbor. They were celebrating the 6th C.D. release. What made this night tricky is that the Nick Strange group started an hour earlier than usual, so the Kirtan overlapped it by a half hour. I had to negotiate with the kirtan group to end 10 minutes early, which they agreed to with no problem, and then I had to convince Dan to start his set acoustic, which he did as well. I did not like having to be the thorn in both groups for the evening, but when scheduling live music is as tough as it is in this town, you have to take what you can get. Vinnie helped me out on the Firefly side, and a tabla student of mine, Simon Ha helped me on the kirtan side by taking my tabla home for me. I could not have pulled it off without them.

So having a night like this always causes me to pause beforehand and take a few breaths. I know that I have a big night of music in front of me, so pacing is very important. It is lucky that doing kirtan lends itself to slowing down and calming the mind. I wanted to be sure to be present in the moment all night and not think about what had to be done next and I think that mindset helped keep me calm. I arrived early and was happy to have my son Charley with me. He hung around for the set up and soundcheck and then wen home early with mom. We wanted him to come to a kirtan in the shirt they bought for him before he was too big to wear it. It made me happy to have him there, and it helped to keep me calm. So usually the Kirtan ends with a 10 minute silent meditation, so what I did was sneak out as soon as I hit the last note. everyone had their eyes closed, so I heard that many people did not even see me leave. I got in my car and took the 2 minute drive down to the Firefly. I walked into the club and Dan motioned me to come on stage the moment he saw me. I was a minute into the first song before I even got a chance to look around at this place I had never been. It was a true test of my nerves. No warm-up, no time for a breath, no time to even think, I was playing. After the first song was over I was thinking to myself that the kirtan group had probably not even opened their eyes yet and already I am playing the second song of the night, which just happen to include a drum solo, AAAAAGH! It was a roller coaster ride. It made for an exciting night that I will not soon forget. I really enjoyed the club. It was a nice space and the best part was that it was a non-smoking room, which has been a rarity when playing with this group, (made up of all non-smokers). A few kirtaners came down after the kirtan was over and watched a few sets, which was nice to see. I had a really good time, although I hope I never have to pull off something like that again!

So that is it for April. Thanks for reading I will write again soon.

John

Sky lounge, Emerson School, Nick Strange, Kirtan, Sumkali, Mike Waite

2009-04-03T22:49:00.007-04:00

Hello,

March has come and gone and at the moment it feels like a blur. 12 gigs in all. So let's dive right in!

It started on Thursday the 5th with another Skylounge gig at the EMU student center in Ypsilanti, MI. We have 6 of these scheduled in all and it seems, after doing this, the 5th one, that the band is just starting to gel. Even with great musicians involved, there is still a period of getting to know each other that has to happen with any group. I believe we got a little help from the organizers of the event. They called and asked if we could do more 'jazzy' tunes and less popular and rockin tunes. I think this focused the group and gave us a sort of unified feeling in coming to the show. In the past we had played a very wide range of songs, with only the idea of having tunes you could dance to. The organizers, however, wanted more of a Martini Bar feel to the evening and they thought that sticking with the jazz stuff would help. Of coarse, replacing the white punch with actual martinis would no doubt do more towards reaching this goal, but we do the best we can when we are on the grounds of a institute of higher education. All in all it turned out to be a great night, and the music was really smokin'.

The next morning I went to the Emerson school for the gifted in Ann Arbor to do a lecture/demonstration of the tabla. It was for 4th and 5th graders and lasted just over 45 minutes. It went very fast. This was one of the first times I brought extra drums and let the students try their hand at playing. It went very well, although putting the students on a set of tabla for the first time definitely tested there gifted notions :) It actually went so well that the teacher, Judy Barthwell, asked me to come back and help them organize a piece for their upcoming spring concert. We are going to perform a segment from a great piece called Piru Bole, which was written by my former mentor from CalArts John Bergamo. I have worked with them a couple of times since and it is going to be a great little piece. I think we perform it in the first week of March. I will let you know how it goes!

The following Thursday was the GLTW winter music concert. I let the students organize and produce the concert, which they titled "Go Like The Wind's Infinite Playlist". I thought this title was a real sign of the times. I was wondering what a similar name might have been when I was in middle school, perhaps: "Graveraet Middle School's Musical Mix Tape", anyway the concert went great and the students performed wonderfully. I was a proud music director that night.

The following Saturday I was with the Nick Strange group at Fishbones Rhythm Kitchen Cafe in Roseville, MI.

This is a gig that tests the fortitude of good musicians. It is a weird dichotomy of playing at full volume to a packed house of both a late dinner crowd, and frisky bar hoppers, neither of whom seem to be there for the music, although they will come up to you quietly in between sets and tell you how much they are enjoying it. It is almost like there is an agreement among the patrons that no one will clap or pay attention to the band while they are performing, and you must save your appreciation for when no music is playing. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. I can play to the tables and chairs and have a great time, especially if the music is sounding good. No, it is just that I get the feeling that somehow the people in this venue have been trained to hold back and behave when it comes to live musicians in the room. Add to the awkward silence of hundreds of people an endless stimulation of big screen High Definition T.V.'s in every nook and cranny of the joint, and you are talking about a tough sell for any musician. So we play and be happy to be making a little bit of money doing what we love. It is all part of the journey and I believe everyone in the band feels the same way. That is how we can pull it together and play great, even in a tornado of over-stimulated silence.

.....Whew.....was that a rant? I'm not sure. Anyway, moving on to the very next night. This time I found myself in Old Town Tavern in downtown Ann Arbor with an overturned soup pot, a hand drum and some brushes sitting next to my good friend Mike Waite. He came to town with his family to visit friends and relatives, and they never let him leave without booking him a gig at the Old Town. Mike called me up and asked me to join him, so I did. He stopped over the house for a minute before the show to see my new baby and then we were off. The plan was that Mike would play the first set alone, and then I would come up to join him for the final hour. So I sat with some friends and enjoyed some songs. After an hour and 20 minutes, I walked up and sat down. I wasn't sure how long he would play, and there was only 40 minutes left in the night, so I wanted to get some songs in before the night was up.

I sat down and Mike just said 'Cool' and we played. It was all going great and was a lot of fun, and then about 10 minutes before closing time, Mike leaned over and said, "I think I want to take a break now". He had not realized that he had played for 2 hours straight and the night was just about over. When I told him I got the feeling he didn't believe me. So I asked the bartender when they want us to be done and he confirmed it.

I thought it was such a beautiful thing. To be with a musician and a friend that does not concern himself with time. That doesn't seem like such a big statement, but when you think about it, we are all very concerned with our use of time. Getting lost in time doing something you love doesn't just happen everyday for a lot of people, and it was refreshing to have a front row seat to it on this night. Mike and I could have played 2 more hours without a problem and for a second it almost felt like we should have been able to, but the confines of the clock knocked us back into the reality of the situation and we packed up, gave each other a hug, and once again, went on our separate ways.

Two days later started one of the busier weeks I have ever had in music. Wednesday and Thursday night we had a couple of pickup gigs with the Nick Strange group at Goodnite Gracie's in Ann Arbor. It was actually really nice to play the venue during the week for a change. There was far less smoke, and the crowds were really into the music. Dan and Jess did an opening set, so the bass player and I got to sit on the comfortable couches for an hour and just relax. It was so nice to go onto stage in that relaxed state of mind. It seemed like all the usual, normal chaos was gone and we got to play music in that room like never before. It was almost like you could listen to the music deeper than in the past, and that made it very enjoyable. Never mind the fact that it was during the week and I had to get up at 6 a.m. the following morning. Nothing seems to matter if the music is right.

Friday was the monthly Kirtan. By this time I was actually pretty tired. I had spent most of the day practicing and rehearsing with my Indian group Sumkali. By the time I got to the Kirtan, I had been playing tabla for 6 hours. So what's another 3 hours added on! I have said it before, but when you push the physical limits like that you really discover new ways of playing that could not be possible otherwise. It doesn't feel like a benefit at the time, but in the days and weeks to follow, your technique changes and adapts to the possibility of playing so much and for so long and you get into a very relaxed position when you play. I am having a little trouble putting it into words, but I can say it is very satisfying and nice.

The following night Sumkali was at Crazy Wisdom again, only this time it was different. Last month, as we were playing, I had an idea to set up the room differently than we have ever done before. The tearoom is a long, narrow chamber that runs east and west, and the standard set up put the bands right up against the back western wall of the chamber, so all the sound just traveled right out of the performance space, past the audience and into the books in the back. This made for inconsistent sound and not to mention, a very tight fit for the audience.

So my idea was to turn everything sideways and set the band up on the south side wall, which made the stage wider, and the audience could now see the group, no matter where you were sitting. I was a little worried that this idea would cause a bit of a ruckus with the staff, but they were all very into it. It made for a great night of music. It felt more intimate, the sound was better, and as a performer, there was not the distraction of looking up and seeing the entire store buzzing with people. I believe that as a direct result of this new set-up, we had one of our best nights of playing ever. I can't wait to go back in April and do it again!

So now it was Sunday and as a bonus at the end of the week I got to see Zakir Hussein in concert right here in Ann Arbor. He was on tour with Pdt. Shiv Kumar Sharma, (santoor). As expected, the concert was inspiring, incredible, and over the top good. To top it all off, earlier in the day I got to bring a tampura, which is a drone instrument, to the hall and meet Zakir's student and road manager Ty Burhoe. Ty has been all over the world playing the tabla and is best known for his work with Kirtan giant Krishna Das. One of my students had just come back from a retreat hosted by Ty in his home base of Boulder, CO. and so we talked a lot about teaching, playing, and what life was like on the road with Zakir. It was a great end to an incredibly hectic week.

March ended with a Friday gig at Goodnite Gracie's again with the Nick Strange Group. It was a good night, and the music just seems to be getting tighter and tighter. I have really been focusing on playing my best as often as possible, and it really lends itself to discovery and new ideas no matter what the music is that you are playing. Even if it is the same song you have played hundreds of times before, there is always something to discover. My first tabla teacher Pdt. Swapan Chaudhuri often told us that music constantly changes, you may sit down one day and play something and be totally moved by the beauty. The next day you may sit down and that same thing will be completely different. No matter what, you always have to surrender yourself to the music, and let go of yourself. By doing this the music will reward you, and it will not stop giving. I think about this a lot when I am at a gig that would be easy to write off as 'just another gig'. When I avoid that sort of thinking, the opportunity to discover something new is uncovered. I also think the other musicians feel it, as well as the audience, and this makes any night of music making a great night.

Sky lounge, Nick Strange, Kirtan, Crazy Wisdom, Mind Body Spirit Center, Nick Strange

2009-02-23T08:33:00.004-05:00

Hello again,

March is here already and it is very cold outside today. It is that time of year where you can't leave your instrument in your car, even for a half hour without worrying about something cracking. With a busy schedule, it can be difficult to plan a day around having to play a show. I have been very lucky and have been getting a lot of help from my student Vinnie Russo. Has been helping me out at gigs by picking up my drums and setting them up at the show. It has given me some much needed flexibility.

Flexibility is needed when you teach all day, come home, say hi you your baby, teach some private lessons, and a tabla class, and then have to get ready for a show. An extra half hour or hour really helps. Especially a gig like the Sky lounge, which I played on the first Thursday in February. It is on the third floor of the new big student center on EMU's campus. You must pull your car up to the side of the building bring in the drums, park the car, come back and locate one of the student workers and have them get a cart for you. You then load the drums on the cart, pull it into the service elevator, wheel it down the hall to the Sky lounge room, set up the drums and return the cart. That whole process, without even taking the drums out of the cases takes at least a half hour.

Vinnie, I believe, is also gaining from the experience. He has met a lot of musicians, and even impressed one group so much during a sound check that they asked him to play in the band when I couldn't make it. I think he actually played his first show with them on Valentines day. Yes, I remember now because he was not available to help me with a show I was playing on the same night. It was with Nick Strange at Goodnite Gracies in Ann Arbor. The place was packed with couples. We were playing for the first time with a new bass player named Sam. He used to play with a group called Cloud Nine, which was a popular local band. He was filling in for Rob Crozier who could not bring himself to put a gig above a romantic Valentines day outing with his girlfriend.

He knew it for a while and hooked us up with Sammy early on, so after a little preparation and rehearsing, the music was still sounding nice. Sammy was having a little difficulty doing everything in the live setting where one song comes right after another, but his sharp ear and good technical skills could pick up on things very quickly.

I feel for a guy who has to come into a band for the first time and just go for it. All mistakes and mishaps feel like they come right from your newbie presence. It is like playing a card game for the first time with a bunch of people that have played the game together for years. At first everyone is trying to be helpful, giving you tips and things to look for, and then very soon after it starts, they sort of expect you to get it and play along without disturbing the pace of play too much. All in all it was a fun night, and it felt good to be the soundtrack for so many people out to celebrate love.

The following week was a monster tabla week. I counted it up and from Friday to Sunday I had just over 13 hours behind my drums. It was actually a very nice way to spend a weekend. Tabla is a much gentler style of drumming, which doesn't involve nearly as much volume, heavy lifting, physical stamina, and time setting up and tearing down. It is easy to whisk in and out of playing situations without getting physically worn down, which gives you more energy to put into the music. (Oh my gosh, am I sounding too much like an old man with all this tired talk!) Anyway, the weekend started with the monthly Friday Kirtan. When I got to the Friends Center, I had already been playing tabla for about 5 hours. I practiced in the morning and had a rehearsal, so my hands had felt like I already played a whole show. It really caused me to pace myself with the chanting and focus on relaxing into the patterns. This mindset is such a powerful place to be when you are studying music. I love the feeling of being just fatigued enough that I must play conservatively. I tend to have trouble getting myself to hold back when I play with full energy, so playing in such a state as I was Friday I could hear all the sound and richness that comes when my throttle is turned down. What is a bit ironic is that in reality, things like speed, creativity, precision, and a sweet sound, which are all constant desires seem easier to achieve with a slow, steady pace. John Bergamo used to call this the Long Speed Distance, (...."Man, all you need is a little LSD!").

The next night I was excited to play again at the Crazy Wisdom Tearoom for our monthly Indian music night. Scott Brady could not make it to this one, but we were joined by Dan Piccolo on a tabla that was an octave lower than mine, so the rhythm was nice and fat, (or is it 'phat'?). Prashanth and Meeta played a rag together for the first time and it was, for me, the highlight of the evening. It was called Hamstawani, and between the two of them, there was so much melodic painting I felt like I was part of a beautiful mural of sound. Something seemed to really click with our group and I think it has a lot to do with all the rehearsals we have been getting in. At the end of the night I had 13 people sign up for my e-mail list, which was by far a record for a CW gig.

The next night we were all together again for a pick-up gig with Dan Piccolo at the Mind, Body, Spirit Wellness Center in Ann Arbor. It is a non-profit place where they do all sorts of meditation classes, massages, etc. and now they are trying to do music on Sundays. We were just playing for a half hour before some other groups got up but it was a very sweet half hour. There was no P.A. system, so we were all acoustic and I think that really freed us up to really just listen to each other and play very tight. I enjoyed it very much. Not to mention Scott was able to join us so the sound was just that much more full. It was a great end to a very fulfilling weekend.

The last weekend in February had just one show. It was another Gracie's show with Nick Strange. The crowd was not as big as the Valentines show, but the music was sounding much tighter. Sammy was back and he had definitely done some practicing. Getting through the first gig is always the hardest. Even thought the crowd was smaller they seemed to be listening much more on this night. I was still in the mindset from the week before, taking it easy and pacing myself, although it was for a very different reason. Earlier in the day I was changing a light switch in our house and my hand slipped and I cut my left index finger right at the second knuckle. It bled really bad and I was concerned with how I would be able to play. I taped it up very well and just played only using three fingers. My hand was tired and sore at the end of the night, but I made it through alright.

All in all it was a great month of music, and I am looking forward to another one in March. Hopefully things will warm up a bit around here. Thanks for reading, and I will write again soon!

John

Paledave, 2 Nick Strange, A2 Kirtan, MMC, Saraswati Puja, Crazy Wisdom

2009-02-01T09:19:00.002-05:00

January has started off busy as can be. On the 4th I had a small pick-up gig with Paledave. We played mostly acoustic stuff at the Old Town Tavern in Ann Arbor. It was a nice easy gig, and despite the frigid cold weather, the place was packed. Thanks Dave for askin' me to play.

The following Saturday I was at Goodnite Gracies in Ann Arbor playing with the Nick Strange Group. It had been a little while since we last played and it actually felt pretty good to play. Rob Crozier, the bass player had just started at the prestigious University of Michigan Music school and he was on cloud nine. It was great to play with that kind of energy. It seems to me that when you get so involved in something that you love to do, such as making music, that you begin shaping your life around it, you begin to bring your absolute best to every little piece of the puzzle, knowing that it all fits together. I felt this in Rob's playing that night. It reminded me that I also do what I love, and I owe it to myself to bring my best every time I pick up the sticks. Thanks and good luck at U of M Rob!

The next Friday I was with the Kirtan group again at the Friends Meeting house in Ann Arbor. It was a special night for me because I got to bring my Dad, who was in town to see his grand kids for the first time. He sat through all the setting up, the sound check, and the short rehearsal that has become our customary 2 hour pre-kirtan routine. I wasn't sure how he would like the chanting, or the music for that matter. He said he was pleasantly surprised. He wasn't expecting it to 'groove so much'. I saw him in the back singing and having a good time, so I was happy. For some reason I get a nervous feeling before someone I love watches me do something I love to do. I worry that they will not like it as much as I do and it will somehow be diminished in my own reality. It never happens though. I think I am very lucky to be surrounded by a loving and supportive family. Perhaps this nervous feeling is really just adrenaline released by the excitement of sharing what I love.

The next night I was playing with Nick Strange again, only this time we were in St. Clair Shores, MI. at a place called Fishbones. This is a much different place than Gracies. It is much bigger, and there are T.V.'s everywhere, including a huge large screen just to the right of the band, and the KENO screen right above the guitarists head. This sort of atmosphere doesn't usually lend itself to great music making. On this night however, the music was really clicking. It was one of those nights where everything was right on and everyone in the group knew it. It felt great to go out for a night's work and have something like that happen. The one downside of the night was that there was no dancers, no applause, and seemingly no interest from the crowd. Interestingly enough though, once the sets were over, people would walk up to us and tell us that we were sounding great. It was like the culture within that venue did not usually acknowledge the bands, so even if people were digging it, it wouldn't be 'cool' to show it by dancing, or applauding. I don't know, perhaps we were all just so into what we were doing that 'capturing' the audience did not seem like such a high priority.

Music is a funny business. There is definitely a difference between being a musician and being an entertainer, although as a performing musician, you must be a little of both. It seems self-indulgent to forget about your audience and just turn into the music. If you played a couple of extra pop tunes instead of a couple of extra rounds of improv, then you might get a few people to dance, or a hoot from the back of the room.....so is that worth it? Would they rather hear professional musicians doing what they love, or it is more worth their time to hear these musicians play some thrown together different version of a favorite song from the past? This question has plagued the independent musician since the creation of the cover band.

I was happy to be having this conversation with the group when we were done with the show. It made me feel like I was part of a group of musicians that has moved to the next level together. We weren't lamenting the lame crowd, or mistakes that may have occurred, instead we were contemplative, like-minded, and satiated. It is easy to play music all night with most any musician, but moving into the next level, where things click and you all know it, and the music becomes something that nourishes you....that is fairly rare. I am not sure it felt like that to the audience, if that even matters. They seemed happy, entertained, and in good spirits. I am just grateful that we were too.

The following weekend I was in Grand Rapids Michigan for the Michigan Music Educators Conference. I was there to give a presentation on Indian Classical music. It was a great opportunity to introduce Indian Classical music to music teachers from all over Michigan. I asked Meeta Banerjee to join me and she graciously agreed to drive all the way across the state to do this 45 minute presentation and then turn around and drive back. Thanks Meeta. the presentation went great. The time flew by and there were all kinds of great questions from the audience. We were lucky to be the last presenters in the room that we were in, so we could hang out after and talk with the teachers and professors.

I spent the remainder of the conference going to many many presentations, workshops, clinics etc. about all different stuff like music and movement, notation programs for the computer, music technology for educators, choir visualization techniques, cello teaching techniques, and so on. Not to mention it is a great way to network with other music teachers. I hope to go again next year.

On the Monday after the conference I drove down to the Depot Town Community Center in Ypsilanti, MI. to do an improvised recording with Jesse Plummer, (of the Skylounge band) on Keyboard, Rob Crozier on Bass, and Jessie's soon-to-be brother-in-law Paul Bower also on Keys. It was an inspired night of playing. Something about recording brings out the best in musicians, perhaps it is the impending permanence of what you are about to do. Whatever it is it worked, and I can not wait to hear the record when it comes out. Look for it in a month or two at http://www.communityrecordsmusic.com/

On the last Saturday in January I had a double header. Meeta and I were asked to play at the Saraswati Puja for the Mitiali community group, which is made up of mostly Bengali's living in the U.S. We played the same one last year. This year I got to also play a tabla duet with my student Preetom. His dad Pulak, is the organizer of the event. I have been his teacher for over a year now and putting together a short duet came pretty easy. Meeta played the lehera and we just did a few compositions both together and one at a time. It went well, except that the sound guy could not get Preetom's mic to work, so he was silent to the crowd. Bummer. I guess we will have to try it a gain next year.

As we were all standing backstage waiting to go on, a sweet 85 year old woman saw my tabla and grabbed my arm and asked if I knew Bhajani Theka, which is a simple groove on the tabla that many songs (bhajans) are sung to. I sat down and played for her and she lit up. She said "That is perfect! You will join me on stage". So I sat with her on stage and played about 3 songs. It was very nice and she had a beautiful voice. Pulak told me later that she was a professional singer in India and she sang on Mumbai T.V. and all India Radio. It was an unexpected treat.

So as soon as we were done, Meeta and I had to split to hurry to get to Crazy Wisdom tearoom for a show with Scott Brady, Prashanth Gururaja, and Atmaram Plummer. It was the debut of what I hope will be a great group called SumKali. We played some Indian classical, folk, and just straight up improvised stuff. It was so much fun, and the crowd was great. There was standing room only. I am hoping we are able to play much more in the near future.

That does it for January. It was a very productive month for music, and things don't look to be slowing down anytime soon, so keep reading and stay in touch!

Thanks,

John

Happy 2009

2009-01-03T10:41:00.005-05:00

Happy New Year everyone. I am back to blogging after taking time off to see what life is like as a new dad. I love it. Charley Bear is a happy boy. He sleeps relatively well, and when he is not tired or hungry, he smiles. What more could I ask for! He is just about 2 months old now and on at least 4 occasions he has stopped crying as soon as I start practicing. It makes me feel so special and lucky to be a musician with a captive audience. Of coarse, on twice as many occasions, he has cried harder. At the same time I am more inspired than ever to play nothing but good music for his young ears, and also filled with humility when it comes to pleasing your audience. As musicians, sometimes we think that one song, or one line in a song will bring people to their knees, (so to speak). The anticipation of that moment actually brings us further from it. I believe music can soothe, heal, and inspire, but we must remember that it can also annoy, enrage, and even fan the flames of anger. In the most innocent, and definitive way, Charley reminds me of that.

This new state of fatherhood brings with it lots of introspection, appreciation, anticipation, and desire. I feel luckier than ever to be in a line of work that helps me to understand, express, and share these feelings with others. I had planned it out for months that November and December would remain as gig-free as possible to give me ample time for adjustment to my new role. As it turns out, I have been more inspired than ever to play, and the few shows that I have played have shown me that there is life after kids, and it is very good.

So the first show that I did not plan to do was the monthly Kirtan. It was scheduled for the 21st of November, just 10 days after Charley was born. I had lined up my friend Dan Piccolo to sub for me. Well a few days before the show Dan called and said he had another gig come up and wondered if it would be alright for me to cover the show. Things were pretty under control at home, so I said sure. Now, as a new parent, one of the things you have to deal with is getting no more than 2-3 hours of sleep at a time. On top of that, I was still working at Go Like the Wind. When it came to the night of the show, I was so tired I could have fallen asleep while sitting at my tabla. As a result I don't remember much of the show. It felt like a dream and all I could do was close my eyes and play. It felt very "out-of-body". I remember enjoying the feeling and everyone was happy and supportive of my tired state. Lots of smiles and good wishes filled my consciousness when the music was over. Thanks for the support Kirtaners!

My next show was not until 3 weeks later and it was with the Skylounge band. I may have said it before, but playing an evening show focused on dancing with no alcohol on site makes for a very interesting crowd. People fill and empty the dance floor many times throughout the night, rather than trickling on and staying until the end and screaming for encore after encore until the bouncer shoes them out the door. At this event, people come to really dance. Many of the attendees this night were dance students and some instructors. When the band would hit a song with just the right tempo and feel the floor would fill up. People would request styles of music rather than particular songs..."Could you play something with a Latin feel?" Another thing that is a little different is that the dance floor would sometimes still be full on the set breaks. We play swing music over the PA and people just dance like the band never stopped. At the end of the night when we play our last song and then turn off the PA, the place empties out faster than a fire drill and it is just the band packing stuff up in a student center. They turn on the house lights and you would never know what just took place.

I'm not saying it is a bad evening to play or anything. It actually feels pretty good to have people appreciate music in that way, sober and dancing for the art of it. Not to mention the band sounds great and they are a great bunch of people to play music with. My next show with them is in February and I am looking forward to it!

I spent the rest of that weekend at Dan Orcut's house recording some drums and percussion tracks for the new Nick Strange album. Dan lives just outside of Ann Arbor on a few nice acres of land. It is a quiet retreat away from the city where he does fine wood working and his music. The recording went very well. He had all the tracks done for the most part. He just wanted some drumming on a few of them. It was a bit of a challenge to play the drum set as the last track. Usually the drum tracks are the first ones laid down. Luckily, the rhythm of the other musicians was good, and since it was all his own equipment we could do as many takes as necessary. One of the last tracks I laid down was some marching type snare drumming for a slow pretty song. I was in a room overlooking the woods in the backyard. Big fluffy snowflakes were falling just slow enough to seem like they were in rhythm with the music. It was very quiet and peaceful. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

The following week was the most hectic one of the year at school. It was the week of the Christmas concert at GLTW. We transform the gymnasium into a Christmas auditorium complete with a huge reef, stage, sound system, decorations, and hundreds of folding chairs. We do two shows, one on Thursday during school hours so parents who can not make the next evening's concert can see their children perform, and the pre-primary students can see what their musical future holds at GLTW. I wrote a review of the concert for our schools newsletter, so instead of rehashing it again I will just cut and paste:

The Christmas concert this year was one of my favorites to date. The gym was transformed into a wonderful holiday stage, thanks to Mr. Collier, Sam, and many other parent and staff volunteers. It is a pleasure to work with the GLTW community to create a great evening of celebration.
The first graders were the first to take the stage, and they did a wonderful job singing two Christmas classics, "Silent Night", and "Over the River and Through the Woods". This year our lower el students worked with both upper el and middle school students for their songs Little Drummer Boy and Carol of the Bells. The students were excited to have the instrumentalists come to their class and support their singing with live instruments. It is so great to see all of our GLTW students working so well together. They also worked with Mrs. Scott on choreography, which made the stories in the songs come alive.
A nice bonus of the evening was when the Upper El and Middle School Spanish students sang a song in Spanish together. I must say, after watching the Lower El students, the older students looked like giants on the stage. Thanks again to Mrs. Scott for working with the students on choreography. A nice addition to the music this year, Upper El students gave us a very nice rendition of "The Night Before Christmas", complete with posters they designed themselves. They took turns reciting the poem in between the musical numbers.
The second half of the concert started with the debut performance of the GTLW beginning band. It is hard to appreciate how much work goes into playing an instrument just 3 months after getting it into your hands for the first time. They did a great job! The String Orchestra, which nearly doubled from last year, played wonderfully. I must also acknowledge Andrea Arts, who, after breaking her bow on the second note of the first piece, did not quit. She set her bow down and played the rest of the concert plucking her instrument. She exemplified the true spirit of never giving up.
The Advanced Band took the stage after them and really showed how all the hard work of practicing your instrument pays off. Their performance was highlighted by a piece entitled "Sorcerers Procession" which is the longest, and most difficult piece ever performed by a GLTW advanced ensemble. Great work!
The final segment of the concert featured the newest group in the GLTW musical family, the Advanced Jazz Band. This group started out of the desire of advanced students to pursue new musical ventures, and that desire came shining through in this concert. They performed 2 original pieces and one swinging version of "Dashing Through the Snow". I can't wait too see what is next for this group!

The day after the X-mas concert madness was the 2nd annual Kirtan holiday gathering. Last year this was done at a different venue, but this year we were at our regular place, the Friends Center in Ann Arbor. It was a fun evening. People brought food and we ate and talked an hour or so, and then we did the Kirtan. It was especially fun for Jody and I because this would be the first musical event we brought Charley to since he was born. He seemed to be soaking it all up, just staring around. Looking at all the people smiling back at him. It was nice to have him there while we played, although he didn't make it through the whole night. He got tired, hungry, and wanted to go home early. I thank him for coming anyway!

And so we come to the last gig of the year. It was the day after Christmas at the Detroit Institute of the Arts with the Gratitude Steel Band. Now I have played many many times with Gratitude over the years, but for many different reasons, Janiela went off to college, I was busy getting ready for a baby, money was tight, schedules didn't mesh, etc., 2008 only brought us together 3 times. Regardless of that, when I sit down to play with them it feels familiar, comfortable, and as if we never skipped a beat. I had been looking forward to this show for awhile, and it did not disappoint! We played in the Diego Rivera room which was filled with huge murals depicting Detroit's auto industry. The sound was amazing. I brought my tabla and before the show I just sat in the room and played them for about a half hour and just listened to the sound bouncing off the marble walls and echoing throughout the museum. It felt great to play with the group again. On another level I felt great satisfaction to be bringing musical vibrations into a place that had great art hanging everywhere. On our set breaks I was checking out some paintings by Degas, who must have spent a lot of time at art schools, painting dancers, musicians, and other artists. I felt like his paintings were somehow accustomed to being around music. I then thought about all the other artists who must have painted while listening to music. I felt like we were creating the environment they were intended to be in, one of celebration and song. Not to mention that the band also brought a dancer to dance to some of our tunes. It was all of the arts in one place and it just felt right. I felt honored to play the show and it filled me up in ways that I haven't felt since being at CalArts. It was the perfect way to end the year.

So here we are, just a couple of days into the new year and I am as excited for the future as ever. Looking ahead I see a lot of shows involving Nick Strange, Kirtan, and Indian Classical music. Also, I am very excited to be presenting Indian Classical music for the Michigan Music Educators Conference later this month. I can't wait to see what else is around the corner and I look forward to sharing it with you. Thanks for reading, and I will talk to you again soon.

John

Our new president. Kirtan, PaleDave, Bijoya, Nick Strange, Skylounge

2008-11-08T08:25:00.004-05:00

Hello again,

Wow, what a time to be alive! I just watched the new President Elect Obama give his first press conference since the historic election last week. It feels so good to turn on the T.V. and see people in other countries cheering the U.S. We have done the world proud. My hope is that we will now carry ourselves with humility and openness, and maybe, just maybe we can spend a little more time playing with each other and less time being scared of each other. I feel proud to be a musician in the world today, and I truly believe that music is one of the few universal modes of communicating that which we all share....our human experience.

The election is not the only reason I am looking forward to the future and feeling hopeful. In less than 4 days my wife Jody will be giving birth to our first baby, Charley Bear Churchville. Wow, that is the first time I have typed his full name, and like a lot of seemingly insignificant gestures, it has filled me with excitement and joyful anticipation. I am sure he will teach me more about this world than I ever thought possible and I look forward to.....well, I guess everything!

O.K. so now my usual patter about the gigs I have played in the last month seem a little less significant, but I will do my best to forge ahead and keep this live documentation of my musical experiences going. So let's start with Friday October 17th. It was the monthly Kirtan event.

This was going to be another night where I would participate in the 2 hour Kirtan, and then quickly pack up and rush over to Gracie's downtown to play with the Nick Strange Group. I had the same situation in the previous month and I remember being very tired and worn out by the end of the night, so this time around was all about energy conservation. It started with loading in. I took it slow, asked for help, and focused on being relaxed. As the music began I kept my eyes closed, focused on my hands being very relaxed, and I made sure to drink plenty of water in between chants. I was so focused on being relaxed that I did not even break a sweat. It was actually a great way to do Kirtan. By the end of the chanting, I was feeling energized and ready for more music. So I quickly packed up and headed downtown.

When I got to Gracie's I learned that the band had been double booked and we would not be playing that night. I was surprised at how bummed out I was to get this news. I sat in Gracie's for a while to check out the band that was set up ahead of us. I said hello to some friends that came out to check out the band. Did all the explaining and then went home. The fact that I was so bummed actually made me feel good. It is a reminder that I am very lucky to be doing something I love for my profession.

One week later on Saturday October 25. I found myself at a bar somewhere in the no-man's land between Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. It was a place called the Bistro. I was playing with Paledave. I had agreed to play the show months ago when we were rehearsing for Dave's C.D. release party. Since the group does not play that much together, and the C.D. release party consisted of just about 2 hours of music, we had to do a lot of rehearsing to play a full 4 hour night. It is difficult to put 4 hours of quality music together, especially when the music you are learning is all cover tunes and it is only for one night. Usually bands will develop a full night of music over the span of a few months of playing gigs. To throw it all together for just one show puts a little too much emphasis on getting it right the first time. To top it off, the crowd was scattered and not into the group as much as they could have been, (is it fair to say they did not live up to their potential as an audience?). So you play a song that you rehearsed 20 times and no one seems to mind either way. Towards the end of the night more people were getting into it and we even got some cheering. The music was sounding pretty good, and it is a fun group to play with. It brought me back to my days with the Flat Broke Blues Band. Smokey bars, rough and gruff crowds, late nights, and a small, almost insulting amount of money for the band. C'est la vie.

Exactly one week later I had another double-header. First was a short performance for a group called Mitiali. From what I understand, they are a community of Bengali's that celebrate religious holidays and other events together. The event on this day was called Bijoya. It was at Heritage Middle School in Saline, MI. The celebration consisted of a full day of music, dancing, one-act plays, and a big dinner at the end. I actually played this show with Meeta Banerjee the year before. The man in charge of the event is the father of one of my tabla students, and this year he asked me to play a piece with Sarit Dhar. Sarit is a 10 year old sitarist who I actually played with at Crazy Wisdom Tearoom the month prior. It was a nice performance. We played one piece that lasted about 20 minutes. Sarit is very good for his age and I look forward to watching him grow with his instrument.

Unfortunately, I couldn't hang around for the dinner. I had to get on the road and get ready to play with the Nick Strange Group at Good Nite Gracie's once again. This time the show was on. It was a fun night. The crowd was good. They were into the music, and the music was sounding great. Rob Crozier was on the bass, and him and I have a great connection when we play music. It felt good all night. The group got a bunch of gigs booked for early in 2009 as an apology for the double booking, so I will be writing about them again soon.

So the final gig of my life before fatherhood was with a new band. It was on the third floor of the Eastern Michigan University Student center. They turn a room into the "Skylounge" and people come all dressed up and ready to dance all night. The unofficial name of the band is the Skylounge Band. They play swing jazz, and some funky stuff meant to keep people dancing. There is no smoking and no alcohol, but you would never know it. The atmosphere is very classy and nice. The musicians in the band are great. Jesse Morgan plays great keyboards, and is the manager of the band. I am sorry I don't know the last names of the other members, but they are Drue and Erin on vocals, and Trent on the bass. I will be playing with them for 4 or 5 more of these Skylounge shows and perhaps another gig or two over the next few months. I am looking forward to it. The music sounds great, and I hear they may be adding horns and a percussionist.

That is it. The next time I write will be as a new father. From what I hear, life as I know it will never be the same. I can't wait to find out for myself! Thanks for reading.

John

Two at Crazy Wisdom

2008-10-12T14:05:00.003-04:00

Hello again,

A couple of weeks ago I had a show lined up at Crazy Wisdom with Meeta Banerjee and myself. It was to be our usual Indian Classical music performance/workshop like we have done in the past. Crazy Wisdom does a lot of great advertising for their shows and since we have played there so often in the past, as soon as I told them yes on the dates, they had pictures and descriptions all printed up and posted online a moth before the show. I sent out a reminder of the show via my e-mail list a couple of weeks before, and made a poster to put up around town. It is a nice, streamlined operation. One problem though.

Meeta, (who happens to be on my e-mail list), got my reminder and realized she had not put the date in her calendar. She called me and told me she could not make it. Yikes!

O.K. so I remain calm and started looking for a solution. I called every Indian Classical musician in my phone. One after the other told me they could not do it. It started looking like I may have cancel when I got the idea to send an e-mail the Indian Classcial Music and Dance group at the U of M and see if anyone wanted to perform with me. I got a reply from 2 singers Vaishno Devi Dasika and Sindu Kutty. I also called on 5 of my tabla students to put together a tabla ensemble piece. They loved the idea. The show was starting to take shape. I then got a call from Dr. Rajan Sachdeva who could not perform the show, but had a student who could; 10 year old Sarit Dahr. Last year I was a judge for the youth talent competition at the North American Bengali Conference at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Sarit Dahr

was the overall winner of the competition. What a handy coincidence. To round out the night, I

asked Jon 'Atmaram' Plummer, (Ann Arbor Kirtan), to play some harmonium for the tabla ensemble and tampura for the vocalists. He said yes and I had full confidence the show would be a success.

After a couple of weeks of rehearsing and another e-mail later it was time for the show. In all 9 musicians would be performing at Crazy Wisdom that night. So you must imagine a small tearoom with 9 musicians, all of their friends and family, plus the usual Crazy Wisdom crowd. It was absolutely PACKED. Unfortunately, I don't think there was enough space for everyone and so some people had to either stand or leave. All that aside it

went very well. It was a little more like a student recital rather than a rehearsal, but we all ended up having fun and the crowd was very supportive. I was proud of my tabla students, they

performed a 15 minute piece without any help from their notes, and it sounded great. The singers were great too. after the first few songs, I had all the tabla players accompany the singer. Sindu said it was great to have so much rhythm to sing to. I let Meeta know that the show went well, and that it took 8 other musicians to replace her ;)

A couple of weeks later Meeta, Scott Brady and myself were all set to play again at Crazy Wisdom. This time Meeta had it in her calendar. This night was much more mellow as far as the crowd. I was so happy with how the music was sounding. We really took our time getting to the venue, setting up, getting the sound just right, and taking time to relax before playing. It all paid off. The crowd was small at first, but just kept growing

as the night went on. One Indian family wandered in by chance as they were waiting for a dinner reservation. They had a little boy with them and as soon as he saw the tabla he got

very excited and wanted to sit right next to them. His father said 'no, we have to go' and the boy started to get upset. The father then asked us how long we would be playing for and told his son that they would come back after dinner. Meeta promised the boy we would still be here and so they left. This night was very relaxed. Meeta Scott and I just played, improvised, and vamped on whatever came to mind. I did a little talking, but mostly we just played a bunch of stuff together and just had fun making music.

After an hour or so the family came back and the little boy sat in a chair right next to me. He started moving his fingers and pretending to play the tabla.

He then moved to sit on the floor in front of us. We had laid out a couple of bean bags for people to use for sitting on the floor. He took two of them and put them in front of him and started playing on them like a set of tabla. He was very much into it. After a little while he

crawled up on the stage area and sat, facing the crowd, right in front of Meeta. He pulled the beanbags close and began to play. Everyone had a good laugh. His mom was a little embarrassed, so she tried to pull him away. He didn't like that one bit. Maybe she thought it was too early in his career to start performing :) Here are some pictured Scott snapped with his phones camera, they are a little blurry, but they could very well be the first pictures of a great master performing for the first time!

Thanks for reading and check back again soon,

John

Kirtan with Guests, Indian/Western Wedding, Day of Peace at EMU

2008-09-24T11:53:00.010-04:00

Hello again,

This past weekend was such a monster weekend of music I had to devote an entire blog entry to it. I counted it up...12 hours of music, not including rehearsal, set-up, tear down, and all the other stuff associated with playing music for an audience. I was also dealing with the symptoms of a cold, so all the great experiences cam

e filtered through a tired achy haze. No complaints though. I actually think that being sick caused me to slow down and take things as they came, rather than stressing about everything all at once.

So the first show was Friday evening for our monthly Kirtan event at the Friends Center in Ann Arbor. This was a special event due to the fact that we had some very talented visiting artists joining the group. It was the husband and wife team of Einat Gilboa from Israel and Gerhard Fankhauser from Austria. They both travel the world doing music, and through the work of Dennis Chernin and Glen Burdick, we were lucky enough to have them join us for a great weekend of music.

The kirtan went very well. We did our regular chants with a couple of theirs thrown in, which were beautiful. Just having their voices and Gerhard's stellar guitar and lute playing added into our regular chants was enough to turn our regular experience into an extraordinary one. They were a pleasure to work with and very nice to talk to as well. What it must be like to just travel from place to place with nothing but some clothes and your music. They embodied the tradition of the troubadours and truveres of the old days.

Normally, I just close my eyes during our Kirtan and let the music take me away without a care in the world. This night was different. I was constantly checking the time. I had a gig to get to as soon as the kirtan was over. We usually end at 9:30, and I needed to be at Goodnight Gracie's downtown to play with the Nick Strange group by ten. Once again, I had my student Vinnie help me out by setting up my drums for me, so all I had to do was pack my tabla and get downtown. As soon as the last chant was over I started packing. I made it into the club with 5 minutes to spare. It was such a change to go from playing this nice meditative music on a quiet instrument to rocking it out on a drum set. I really had to 'wake up' to get the music out at first, but once the first couple of tunes were over I was fully in drum set mode.

It was a great night at Gracie's. There were a lot of people all night. Vinnie stuck around to check out the music. On our first set break he told us that he was having trouble staying in his seat because he felt like dancing. We told him not to hold back, even though no one seemed to be in the dancing mood. So when we started the 2nd set, Vinnie popped out in front of the stage on the first tune and started dancing with wild abandon. At first people stared, laughed, and smiled, but it wasn't long before there were about 10 people shaking their stuff. I guess that sometimes all we need is for someone to show us that it is alright to lose yourself a little and let yourself be moved by something regardless of what the crowd is doing. I can tell you that having a dance floor full of people will always make the music sound better. The energy given off by the dancers is felt directly by the musicians, (and vice versa). It made for a great night of music.

The next day was an unexpected surprise show. I got a call earlier in the week from one of my former teachers, Dr. Rajan Sachdeva. For anyone in the southeast Michigan area who has been interested in Indian Classical music, Rajan Sachdeva is a household name. He has been teaching Indian Classical music for over 25 years and established the Institute for Indian Classical Music in West Bloomfield, MI. I took lessons with him in Ann Arbor through an organization called Saadhani. He is also Meeta Banerjee's sitar teacher. Anyway, he called to ask if I could play with him at a wedding in downtown Detroit at the Detroit Athletic Club. It is a swanky private club nestled between Ford Field and Comerica Park. Everything about it was high class. The wedding was on the second floor of the club, (which is at least 5 floors). We were set up in the room where the ceremony would be held. It was fully decked out like a traditional Indian wedding. There was a difference though, this wedding was between an Indian man and a western white woman. We were to play background music for the ceremony, which was a very interesting mix between Indian and Western traditions. They circled a fire 7 times, and then stood in front of it and exchanged vows. All the groomsmen were white, but they were dressed in full Rajastani garb.
The whole thing lasted about a half hour, which is about 4 times shorter than a regular Indian wedding. All of the differences seemed to work very well together and it ended up as a very beautiful ceremony. I was happy to be a part of it, and also happy to be playing for the first time with Rajanji. I hope to play with him again soon.

The next day I had to rise early to make my way to the Eastern Michigan University Convocation Center in Ypsilanti, MI. The Kirtan group was slated to be part of the One Peace event.We were set to kick off the day with some chants. It was a great opportunity to play in a huge arena for a lot of people and the group had prepared well. Fortunately for us Gerhard and Einat were still in town, so they were able to join us again. Just walking into the place got me excited.

Once we set up the instruments and it was time to get the sound pumping through the house system everyone in the group was excited to hear how our simple chants reverberated throughout the arena.

We were there early enough to be able to play for a half hour before people started arriving. This allowed us to tweak the sound and get comfortable playing on such a big stage.
By the time people started to arrive, we were ready to do our chants. Things were running a little behind, so we had to cut things short a bit, but the experience was well worth the effort. As we chanted, the words were put up on big screens on either side of the stage. As I looked out on the audience it seemed that most everyone was participating. There were not quite as many people as we had expected, and the sound of the response was difficult to hear on stage, but with our additional backup singers we were able to hold it together nicely. It was a great effort by everyone in the group and I am very proud of how far they have come.

So that's how the weekend went. I have not had one like that in a while. I am grateful to have made it through successfully and I am as energized as ever to play good music. thanks for reading, and please check back soon!

Thanks,

John

Kozora at a Castle, 3 with Nick Strange, Paledave C.D. Release

2008-09-08T21:48:00.007-04:00

Hello again,

September is such a busy month on the gigging front, I feel pretty relaxed about it, but I don't think I can remember a time when I have had such a variety of shows in such a short amount of time. It all started on Saturday the 6th. It was an intimate affair at the Bennett Castle, a private but extravegent residence on the upper east side of Ann Arbor overlooking the Huron River. I was hear a couple of months back with Kozora doing Indian fusion music for an event put on by the Sparsh organization. The hosts of the party liked the music so much they asked us to come back for their mothers 80th birthday.

So it was Scott Brady, Ken Kozora, Dave Gilbert, Prashanth Gururaja and myself. We had not played the music since the last time we were at the castle, but we did get a couple of rehearsals in to tighten things up. The rehearsals paid off. We arrived to an empty house apart from the host. She showed us to the room where we would set up and play. Set up went pretty quick, (I only had my tabla, and we used a very small sound system), but as showtime grew closer and closer there was no one around. 5 minutes before showtime there was still no one around, so I took a walk to see what was happening. I found out that everyone was down at the 'riverhouse' and they would be up shortly. So the band just relaxed and listened to some music. I think the quiet time really helped to relax everyone. When the guests came up and it was time to play, the music sounded great. I mean really great. I had never heard Kozora sound this good. I thought it was so interesting how we all came together so well for one of the smallest crowds we have ever played for. Everything just clicked and it worked very well. It figures that this would be the one show that no one in the group recorded. Oh well, perhaps that is the secret.

Everyone at the party was so nice, they invited us to stay after and hang out, which is rare at a private affair like this. I was sorry to have to go. I had to rush off to another show. Since I was the point person on the gig, none of the other bandmates felt comfortable to stick around either, so they actually ended up coming to my show to hang out.

So the gig that night was at Good Nite Gracie's in downtown Ann Arbor with the Nick Strange Group. It was a special show for the band because their regular drummer was moving to California and he would be stopping by to play a few 'farewell' tunes. I am not sure what that means for me, other than I have a lot of Nick Strange shows booked up in the near future. Anyway, it was a great night of music. I was pumped to have the Kozora band their to hear me play something other than what I do with them. They hung around for most of the night and seemed to enjoy themselves. The music sounded great. It usually does in that room. It is just small enough so I do not need to be mic'd, but big enough that I can play with full volume and not drive anyone nuts. I was a little tired by the end of the evening, but all in all it was a great night.

The following Friday I was with the Nick Strange Group again. This time it was at the Ypsilanti Crossroads Festival, which is a summertime music series that was supposed to be on an outdoor stage in downtown Ypsilanti. This day was threatening rain so we were moved into a dance club right next to the outdoor stage. I think it was called Club Divine. It looked a little like a booty bar.....dancing poles and cages, lots of blacklights, and even some 'VIP' sections. We had a little stage to play on and a nice big sound system to play through. There was a professional sound crew, which was very nice. Also, Rob Crozier was with the group on bass. Dan Orcut, who is the founding member of the group, has been doing this a long time. To his credit, he never says no to a gig, even if all the members can not do it. He will take the time to train a new person with the music and the show will go on. Having this mentality means that he has a pool of musicians he can call on to play shows. Granted, he likes to have the same crew for extended periods of time, but if someone can not do it, he always has another number. His professionalism and dedication to the music itself prevents any sort of drama and/or jealousy from developing and everyone seems to get along just fine. So anyway, the past 5 or 6 shows I have played with them have been with Jon Sperendi on the bass. Jon is great and we have a blast playing together, but I have been doing so many other projects with Rob lately that it was great to have him on the bottom end again in this group.

The same crew was together the very next day for the first annual Michigan Music Expo in Novi Michigan at the Rock Financial Showplace. The Nick Strange Group had an hour long spot on the lounge stage. When I walked into the arena, I got the same feeling I get when I have 2 or three music players open on my computer and they all start playing different music. It was chaos. The main room had booths filled with D.J. companies, radio stations, record labels, and music stores, and they all had a P.A. system blasting music. I actually got a bit queasy as I walked around. I quickly made my way to the Lounge Stage, which was in the next room. The crazy noise disapated into a low rumble. It felt sort of like standing next to an angry ocean. It definetly distracted from the 'loung' feel. Regardless, I was happy to be a part of something that seemed to bring musicians together. The lounge stage featured a pretty unique sound system. It was called something like the Bose L1 sound system and consisted of 5 narrow speaker towers set up accross the back of the stage. Each band member had their own tower complete with a little mixer to mix their own sound. It was nice to have my drums pumping through a nice system right into my back. I could really adjust how it was projecting into the crowd. The music sounded very crisp and clean. I don't think Dan liked his system, but all in all it was nice to be on a nice stage with fellow music lovers as your audience.

As soon as we were done playing I had to rush off yet again. This time it was back to Ypsilanti to a place called the Corner Brewery to play drums for the long-awaited Paledave C.D. release party. I recorded Dave's C.D. the same week that Jody and I moved to Ann Arbor. Actually, the studio was just 2 blocks from our house. That was back in 2006, so needless to say, this was a long time coming.

Since I was up in Novi, I asked one of my longtime students Vinnie Russo to set up my drumset for the Paledave show. So I had the luxury of coming into the venue to a drumset all set up and ready to go. (Thanks Vinnie.) It was a happy night all around. Dave had a lot of friends there, the music was well rehearsed and sounding good, and all the musicians were relaxed. It was great to have some closure to this very extended project. I wish Dave luck with his C.D.

So that is the first half of the month, and there is plenty more to come. Thanks for reading and check back soon.

John

Yoga For Peace, Kirtan, Nick Strange, 10000 Villages, Crazy Wisdom Twice, Boychoir Tabla Talk

2008-09-01T11:13:00.006-04:00

Hello again and welcome.
O.K. so summertime is winding down, schools are starting up again, Ann Arbor is buzzing with students, and the country is getting ready for a new president. For me, August was a great month. It started off with a full 2 weeks of a completely empty schedule. I looked back in my calendar and realized that it was the first time I have had two weeks off since Christmas of 2007. I took the time to rest, practice, do a little personal recording, teach a few lessons, and hang out at home. Now I am feeling refreshed and ready for the fall.

It will be an exciting end of the year. My wife and I are expecting our first baby in November and we are so excited. I have already been playing music and singing to him, and last week I felt him moving for the first time. Everyone is telling us how different things will be, some things good and some bad. I am not sure what to make of it all, but I know that I have been inspired to play more music and with a passion I have not felt before.

After two weeks off, getting back on stage can feel a little stiff, but I had a great gig to get back into the swing of things. The Kirtan group was invited to play at a gathering called Yoga for Peace at Ford Field in Dearborn, MI. It was Sunday afternoon August 10th. It was a little chilly and the threat of rain was there, but the event was well attended and the atmosphere was calm and relaxed. The idea was that there was free yoga classes happening all day, followed by some guided meditation, followed by some more yoga and then the Kirtan group would do some chanting with everyone. We were supposed to start the music right as a class ended, so we had to get there early to set up before it all started. When we showed up, someone was there with a tiny sound system already to go. It was for a group of musicians that were going to play background music for the yoga classes. The system was a little too small for the venue, so I offered to combine it with our system, (I didn't want to suggest they take it all down, since the lady setting it up had just laid her last chord). So I was tested right off the bat to make our two systems work together in just a half an hour. Not an easy task, but everyone hanging around was very helpful and we got a nice system complete with monitors and extra mics.

The Kirtan group was a little concerned about this gig since we were there without 2 of our regular response singers, (we only have 4, and one is the lead chanter). When the event started we noticed that the group playing the background music had 4 singers, so we asked if they wouldn't mind joining us on stage for our chanting. They agreed and we ended up playing with a nice full sound. By the end of the chant, which lasted about an hour, there were a little over 100 people all chanting. It was great energy and felt very fulfilling. The rain held off and the day ended up as a great success. (click for pictures) Not to mention there was a person in the crowd that liked what we did and asked us to be a part of a huge event in September at the EMU Convocation center in Ypsilanti, MI. It is called One Peace, and they are expecting anywhere from 3,000-10,000 people and they want us to open the event with kirtan chanting. I am excited to see how that turns out.

The Yoga for Peace event gave the group great practice and renewed energy for the next monthly kirtan, which was just 5 days later on Friday. The attendance was a little down from the norm, probably due to the summer and whatnot, but the energy was high and the music was sounding great. The group really has been making great strides since January, when it started rehearsing once a week. That is really the secret behind any successful group, lots of time together playing the music. No amount of discussion, or pre-planning can make up for time spent in the music making experience. It doesn't matter what type of music, or how many people are in the group, if you are paying attention and playing well, the quality of the music is always increasing.

So after those two peaceful nice shows, I was back in the swing of things, and things did start to swing steady and fast. The very next night I was again playing drumset with the Nick Strange Group at Fishbones in St. Clair Shores, MI. The group plays mostly songs composed by the leader, Dan Orcut, with a few covers thrown in to fill out the evening. Dan has been around the Ann Arbor music scene for many years and has played with a ton of drummers. The music is fun for a drummer. Lots of different feels, rock, reggae, swing, soca, funk, etc. The energy is high and Dan likes to keep the quality of the music very high, which I appreciate greatly. It can be difficult to do that at a place like Fishbones where they have 20 t.v.'s all flashing and spreading the focus of the crowd. This night was especially challenging. It was right in the middle of the Olympics and it just so happened that this was the night that Michael Phelps swam in the relay that won him his 8th gold medal. It happened during a song called Lucinda, right before the guitar solo. The crowd went crazy. They were so loud you couldn't hear the band, and like the professional wallflowers we were, we did not stop the music, so once it calmed down, the song picked up and I think it actually helped to carry the energy of the moment. Somewhere deep in the subconscience of those at the place that night lies a strange connection between Michael Phelps and a girl named Lucinda. Something about that gives me satisfaction. The rest of the night went along smoothly and the music sounded great. I heard through the grapevine that the drummer I usually sub for in this group is moving to California, so I may be writing about them much more in the future.

The following Tuesday I found myself sitting on the floor with Meeta Banerjee in a store in downtown Ann Arbor called 10,000 Villages. A few years back Meeta and I played there for their grand opening. I guess Meeta was out one night and happened to walk in. She started talking with a worker, telling them about the gig and they asked if we would play again, so there we were. I like to think of the gig as a live practice. People walk in and out as we play. All we see are butts and crotches as they walk by. It really makes you turn your atttention inward, focusing on the music. I love to play, so I can get into the music almost no matter where we are, and I joked with Meeta before we started that it is possible we could play better than we ever have on this night. She laughed, but when the gig was over we both agreed that the chemistry between us that night was working very well, and the music was great. I have said it before....you never know! You can never count out the possibility of great music happening no matter what the situation. I often tell my students that once a piece of music starts, it is a living thing complete with a pulse, a personality, and direction. If you honor that with focus and good intention, then the possibilities for making great music are always there.

The following Friday I got invited to play tabla at Crazy Wisdom Tearoom in Ann Arbor with bassist Rob Crozier, guitarist Randall Beek, and a drummer known as "O". It was a simple gig. No rehearsals, no charts, no expectations. I just showed up with my drums and played. The first half of the show consisted of some compositions that the group had written, mostly free form, but very groovy. I was able to lock in nicely with the drummer and we had a great time. The second half of the show was much more free form. Two other musicians showed up, a trumpet player, who's name escapes me, and a sax player named Piotr Michalowski who specializes in free form improv. And that is exactly what happened for the next hour an a half. With the group growing in size, the volume increased greatly and I was left for the most part, watching my hands move, but not hearing anything. One of the hardest parts about playing the tabla in fusion groups like this is getting the sound levels correct. Tabla are such a quiet instrument in comparison to the drumset that it takes a lot of amplification and a nice mic to level the playing field. After a good portion of craziness the music did settle down a bit and I was able to hear myself. All in all it was a fun, interesting, and worthwhile gig. I always appreciate any opportunity to think outside the box and just play in the moment.
The following Tuesday I took a drive just south of Ann Arbor to a nice place called the High Scope Retreat Center. I was slated to do a demonstration of tabla and Indian classical music for the Ann Arbor Boy Choir summer camp. There were 21 boys ages 9-17 and I was their main evening activity. I wasn't sure how interested they would be in listening to me talk and play for an hour, so I brought a guitar and a video just to fill some time. To my surprise however, we talked about Indian classical music for over 2 HOURS! I could not believe how attentive, interested and inquisitive they were. It was such a nice surprise. When it was over I hung around a bit to listen to them rehearse. It turned out to be a very nice evening which left me inspired and energized about teaching tabla.
The following Saturday Scott Brady, Meeta and I were up in Crazy Wisdom again. The atmosphere in the tearoom is so great. It has nice tall ceilings, comfortable seating, and it is intimate. It feels full with 20 people, and packed with 30. We always have a great time and this time was no different. We played, talked about the music and instruments, and played some more. I was happy to have Scott with us. He has been working so hard at learning the bansuri, (Indian flute), and it has been paying off. We did a lot of our usual pieces, but I was so pleased to also do a good bit of improvising. It was just a fun night of Indian style music.
All in all it was a great month of music, and left me fully energized and ready to start my "day job" at Go Like The Wind the following Tuesday. The fall looks to be filling up nicely with all kinds of different shows including the long awaited C.D. release party for Paledave's new C.D., a big chant at EMU, more Indian classical, more Nick Strange, and the biggest gig of all...the arrival of a new baby boy! I look forward to writing about it all, so please check back soon. Thanks for reading.

John

Kirtan at Genesis Center, Samar Saha, Concert of Colors, Fenton Concert, Kirtan

2008-07-26T23:25:00.006-04:00

Hello again,

What a great summer it has been so far. July started with a much needed vacation to my home town in Marquette, MI over the week of the 4th. It was the first time in over 3 years that I have been in town and NOT had a show to play. At first it was a little strange. No running around rehearsing, getting equipment together, coordinating everyone involved, none of it. Just sitting at home enjoying the clean air and great water.

My first show was not until July 13th. And, as if to ease me out of my summer slumber, the location was changed at the last minute to be just 4

blocks from my house. It was with Ann Arbor Kirtan. We played for an hour for a Day of Healing and Meditation at the Ann Arbor Genesis Center. I had to go a few hours early to set up the sound system. They had a whole bunch of "healers" lined up to do their thing. There was guided meditation, a Tibetan singing bowl demonstration, group singing, and of coarse, Kirtan.

I loved being out of the usual venue. We were in a nice sized sanctuary and there were well over 100 people, our biggest crowd to date. The sound was very nice in the room, with a very open natural reverb. The big response crowd created a lot of energy and it carried the group through the chants nicely. The new situation made for a few issues, like space to sit in our usual horseshoe layout, and a slight lag in the response

singing due to so many new voices who are just hearing the chants for the first time. It was all easily overcome and I think everyone had a great time Here are a few pics taken by Monte Fowler (montefowler.com):

The very next day was an exciting one. I was on my way to Fenton, MI to pick up my Guruji, (teacher) Pandit Samar Saha and his wife Madhumita. They were on tour in the U.S. and would be in Michigan for a week and a half. I had spent the past few months arranging a week long workshop and two shows. The workshop was very exciting. I had advertised by e-mail only and got a great response.

A big thanks goes out to Doug Collier, the administrator at Go Like The Wind School for allowing me to take over the building in the evenings. It was a very nice set up, all the tabla classes happened in one room, the vocal lessons in another and then there was a room available for practice. In the hall in between the rooms was a cart with tea/coffee and cookies. In all there were 17 participants. I was thrilled to see most of the Ann Arbor Kirtan group taking lessons as well.

On day one, all the tabla players sat in the room and Samarji listened to everyone play so he could see where everyone was at in their playing.

He then split them up into groups and started working on a more individual basis. The groups not taking the lesson would sit in another room and practice.

The vocal workshops was where I ended up spending most of the time. There were a few people coming and going throughout the week, so there was a different group every night. Towards the end of the week my friend and band mate Scott Brady showed up with his bansuri flute and started learning some songs. I played tabla and Dennis Chernin, (from AA Kirtan) sang. It was fun to be part of that process.

When the week was over we all shared in a meal and then snapped a group picture. Thanks to everyone who participated. It was a great time! Next time I think I would like to arrange for a retreat style workshop where everyone stays in the same place for a few days where the only focus all day is music. We'll just have to wait and see.

So as the workshops came to a close it was time to prepare for a big show on Saturday. I had arranged a group (featuring Samar and Madhumita Saha) for the Concert of Colors in Detroit. It is a great event that has been going on over 15 years in downtown Detroit at the Max M. Fisher Music Center. Judy Piazza was in charge of getting groups for the Rhythm Stage and I told her about the show we put on last September in Marquette. She said it would be great to have that same thing at the Concert of Colors, so we made it happen.

This time the group consisted of Samar Saha on tabla, Madhumita Saha on vocals, Prashanth Gururaja on violin, Scott Brady and Dave Gilbert on saxophones, Ken Kozora on bass, and myself on drum set.

With just a couple days to prepare, the pressure was on to put on a great show. We had Thursday night to get our sound under control and try some ideas we had been working on. Then Friday we worked all morning putting all the ideas together into on solid hour of music. Saturday morning we polished the set off and everything was sounding great. We left from rehearsal and ate together at an Indian buffet. From there we did a caravan down to the "D".

When we showed up the stage was empty and ready for us to load. We were set up in about 20 minutes and had about 40 minuted before we had to play. I was feeling very lucky to be performing with a musician of Samar Saha's stature. During the week he was telling me about some the venues he has played, Carnegie Hall, the Royal Albert Theater, the Kennedy Center, etc. I try not to let that kind of thing get to my head, but I can't help feeling honored to play with someone with such great experience and mastery of their instrument.

It was rare at a festival of this size that we had so much time to set up, but it just so happened that the group before us was a community drumming group that was out in the crowd doing their thing. This gave us the run of the stage. An ideal situation.....but wait! As it got closer to showtime I noticed that the sound guy was having some major problems with the monitors, (those are the speakers the musicians use to hear each other on stage). There was no sound coming out! Now, for those of you who have never played on a stage with a big ol' sound system you must understand that no matter how loud and clear it might be out in the crowd, if you are on stage without monitors, the sound of the other musicians, mixed with the feint echo of the crowd P.A. drowns out your own sound and hearing becomes very difficult.

So now it was 5 minutes before the show and we still did not have monitors. The band members were getting a little edgy and the sound guy was scurrying to get things working. It never did, so we had to do the show without the monitors. Everyone was experienced enough to be able to pull it off, but in the little amount of time we had, it was hard to get the sound troubles out of our sub-conscience, which left a residue of frustration in our minds once the show was over. The crowd seemed to enjoy it, so I was feeling pretty good about making it through, but it does go to show you that no matter how much time you spend preparing, you never know what you will have to overcome.

The next day I was up in Fenton getting ready for a house concert featuring Samar Saha, his wife, Meeta Banerjee on sitar, and myself on tabla. It was at the Banerjee's house right on Lake Fenton. The audience was made up of friends of the family, and workshop students. It is such a treat to see Samarji perform up close and personal like this. Another bonus of the show, Meeta and I were joined by Samarji for our opening set of music. Playing drum set with Samarji is completely different than sitting with him on the tabla. I feel like a propeller plane trying to keep up with a Boeing 747. As I diligently sputter out my few compositions I know, Samar would answer with a flurry of beautifully delivered poetic statements that were clearly on a whole other level. Again, I feel honored and lucky.

The second part of the show was Samarji and Madhumita performing some Dhuns and Bhajans, which are just two styles of Indian folk tunes. It made me wish I understood Bengali. The audience was made up of 90% Indians and they were very into the songs. They kept requesting more and more. I think she tried to stop about 4 times and they just kept asking for more. It was a very happy atmosphere. And her voice was sounding beautiful and clear, again, translations would have been nice.

The last part of the show was Samarji's tabla solo. I found out right before the show that I would be playing the lehera on the harmonium along with Meeta on the sitar. The lehera is a melodic pattern that just keeps repeating, thereby keeping a steady rhythm for the drummer to play over. I was alright with it, although it did not allow me to focus on what he was playing as much as I had to focus on my steady rhythm, especially when it got going faster. It was great to play with him on yet another instrument, although I think I would rather stick to the drums.

The days following were filled with nice long lessons with my Guruji. He taught me lots of things about my technique, and my approach to teaching tabla. He also recognized all the practicing I had been doing, and gave me inspiration to keep it up. Without any kind of plan or agenda, it always seems like my Guruji knows what areas need help and knows just how to push me in the right direction. I have said it before and I will say it again, I am honored to have Samar Saha as my teacher. Thank you Guruji!

Samar left on Thursday for Chicago and I don't know when I will see him again. I hope it is soon. As it turns out, I was not the only one inspired by the weeks events. All the members of the Kirtan group that attended the workshop could not stop talking about it. We happened to have our monthly kirtan event that following Friday and it felt very good to be playing together after sharing the experiences of the week prior. In fact, it was so good that we went a whole half hour later than usual. That may not sound like much, but from my perspective playing tabla for 2 hours without a break is already pushing some limits, so a half hour more really put me into a whole new mindset. Somewhere between enlightenment and basic survival. It was a good thing, I think.

I had the weekend to rest and take in everything that had just happened and I feel so good. As the summer winds down and I start looking to the future I feel refreshed and newly inspired to keep practicing. Thank you for reading, and I will write again soon.

John

Deep Blue, Kozora, Kirtan, Gratitude, Looking ahead

2008-06-24T11:56:00.005-04:00

Hello again,

June is coming to an end, (already?!), and I am happy to say the school year is done. I am fully the most wonderful benefit of being a teacher - summer vacation! Time to work on bikes in the garage, play golf, sit on the front porch and read a book, or just sit and relax. Actually, the relaxing part is one I have to work on. I always seem to find a way to keep very busy.

Lately I have been doing a lot of preparation

and planning for July, when Samar Saha will be coming to the U.S. for another tour. This time he is bringing his wife Madhumita, who is a terrific vocalist. We will be playing a set at the Concert of Colors on July 19th. It will be Samar,

Madhumita, and the Kozora group. It should be fun. I am also organizing a workshop for them as well. There has been a great response so far, and I am looking forward to spending more time with my Guruji.

This month has been relatively light on the gigging front. It started off on a Monday, actually it was the Monday just after the monster weekend I wrote about in my last two entries. It was a nice, small show at the end of a string of bigger shows, and it was very relaxed. I was with Deep Blue in a park in Walled Lake, MI. We played the same show last year. They have a nice little gazebo in a park close to downtown. One problem though, they don't really advertise, so people don't come out. This year we had about 5 people show up, (twice as many as last year!). It is a funny thing about performing though, it doesn't matter if there is just one person, the show must go on. It is definitely more relaxed, but the quality of the music doesn't, (or shouldn't) change at all. In fact, the 5 people that did come stayed until the last note, and even hung around while we packed up. To me, that makes the performance worth it. I always have a good time playing with that group, and it had been too long, so I was happy to do the show.

The following weekend I found myself back in the Crazy Wisdom tearoom with KOZORA. I was excited to play some free form improv. It seems to put me in the mode of 'youthful thinking' on my drum set. As I get older, I notice that I am increasingly concerned about quality control. With improvised music, you never know what you are going to do, so you must give up your sense of control. It is liberating and refreshing. Especially when you are playing with people who can listen, and don't feel like they need to say too much. The Kozora group has been gelling very nicely lately, and I am looking forward to more shows with them.

The following Friday was time for Kirtan. It was supposed to be a double-duty day. Gratitude was slated to play for the Go Like the Wind Family Fun Day, but some ominous thunderstorms caused it to be delayed until Tuesday. That meant my day went much easier. The attendance at the kirtan was down a bit, but the group sounded great. All the extra practicing has been paying off.

Aside from learning the chants, the group has also been learning the delicate art of using a P.A. system in performance. Since I wasn't pressed for time, we got a chance to do a nice, full sound check. I think this was the first time that everyone really got to hear how they sound all by themselves with a microphone and digitally added reverb. A calm comfort came from everyone understanding how they sounded through the system, that lead to everyone listening much better, and that lead to better playing. Good listening always does.

Fast forward to the following Tuesday. I had to go into GLTW for a year-end meeting, and then it was off to Independence Lake for the make-up Family Fun Day. Now, to give you some idea of how the gig went, I want to start off about 2 hours before show time. I went to one of my favorite burrito joints to get some quick lunch. I got a burrito for the road. As I'm driving and eating I looked down and saw RAW chicken....Yikes! I wrapped it up and threw it in the bag. Just as I am lamenting my lost lunch I got a call from the Steel Band. They were broken down on the freeway about 45 minutes from the park....Yikes!

I was close to the park, so I just went in to see if there were some parents that could help. There was, her name was Jan. Jan had a big suburban with a hitch that was big enough to haul the bands trailer. So the band had their van towed and they waited on the freeway next to the trailer for us to show up. We got there, loaded everyone up and headed back to the park. The band knows how to set up fast, and we were up and running just about an hour behind schedule. So, thankfully, the best part of the day was the music. It is so great that no matter what adversity is in the air, once the music begins, all the worries go away. Especially with a happy group like the steel band.

So now the music was over and we had another dilemma.....Jan had to leave to take her daughter to a hockey game and no one had a truck big enough to haul the trailer...Yikes! To top it off, the band had a gig the next day in some far away city and their truck was not going to be done in time. The solution...call Uhaul. So another parent took Charles to the local Uhaul to get a vehicle. When they left I said my goodbyes to everyone and wished them a great summer. When I got to my vehicle I could not find my keys. They were nowhere to be found. I thought back to the last time I saw them......IN JAN'S TRUCK.....YIKES!! So I walked back to the party and told everyone the embarrassing news. Everyone put their heads together trying to figure out what to do. Eventually, we figured out which ice arena Jan went to. A parent called the arena and had Jan paged over the loudspeaker. She was there and she picked up the phone. We told her the news and she went to her truck to look. The keys were there. The game was just finishing up, so she had to drive back to the park to give me my keys, (Thanks Jan!).

By the time she arrived Charles had gotten back with the Uhaul and everyone was ready to put an end to the day. One small problem though.....the ball on the Uhaul was too small...Yikes! Jan had the idea of cutting a tennis ball and using it as a shim. One of the parents had one, so we cut it to shape and the band was off. I got home about 4 hours later than planned and waited for the chicken to do it's damage. Luckily, it never did.

Thanks for reading,

John

May Part 2: GLTW Spring Concert, Mike Waite @ Johnny's Speakeasy, Crazy Wisdom, and Radio Free Bacon

2008-06-02T13:37:00.004-04:00

Hello,

So it is now Monday afternoon after a jam-packed weekend of music with my students and my good friends. It all started with a rehearsals on Thursday. During the day it was at Go Like the Wind School. I was appointed the chair of the spring concert comitee, so not only was I in charge of all the music, I also had to direct the graduation ceremonies, (or 'promotion' as GTLW likes to call it). It was a big job, but very rewarding. It was actually nice to be the point person of an event that featured all the music groups that I direct at the school, (6 in all). We do our end of the year concert at a big ol' church just down the road from the school. It fits everyone, and it is air conditioned nicely. The only drawback is that we can't get in to do any run-through until the day of the show. That can be tricky when you are trying to direct 150+ children. So we settled on doing a rehearsal in the school gym instead. It went well, but took a lot of energy. From there I went home to teach my private lessons and then have a rehearsal for the weekend's shows with Mike Waite.

It was great, all the original musicians from Mikes album 'Let it Go' came to Ann Arbor to do a couple of small shows. I don't know who or how it worked out, but Jared Smith, Ryan Staples, and of coarse Mike all showed up in Ann Arbor for a weekend of music. It felt a little random, but very happy nonetheless.

Friday was a 4 phase day for me. The first phase was doing the final run through of the spring concert at the church with GTLW. It meant coordinating busses, lunch, audio, and all the other logistical puzzles associated with such a 'grand' event. That lasted from 9 a.m. till 2 p.m. From there I picked up Jared and we went to my house to load equipment for the show that evening. Luckily, we were able to load in and set up in the middle of the day at the venue, and what a venue it was! It is called Johnny's Speakeasy, and it is at a private residence. It was an actual Speakeasy in the 1920's. Before that it was used as a fruit cellar and ice house by, what Johnny described as 'Crazy Germans'. It was a basement, but it was about 2 stories tall. There was a stage, cool seating, and a second loft-type level that housed a makeshift bar. There were all kinds of old instruments hanging from the walls along with pictures of many of the artists that played there. It had such a great vibe to it. As we were setting up I was getting very excited to play later that evening.

Phase three consisted of me rushing home to clean up, put on a tie and nice shoes, and heading back to the church to prepare for the concert. I was very worn out, which probably served me well. I stayed calm and just let everything happen. The concert went great. The 1st-3rd graders all sang songs that we had written together and recorded. The C.D. we created called "Moving Up" was debuted and as a special bonus all the students came together to sing Mikes song 'Spread the Love'. Mike and his family even showed up to check it out, (Thanks Mike). After the singing all the bands played, awards were handed out, and the concert was over. I rushed to get things packed up and head to the speakeasy for phase 4!

I showed up just before we were supposed to go

on. The atmosphere was great. In the spirit of the speakeasy there was an ongoing dialogue between the band and the crowd, and it just seemed to feed the music. I love playing music with those guys, and this place seemed perfect.

When it was all over I was so tired I could barely drive home. It was all worth it.

The next morning it was back to Gladwin Farms for another rehearsal for the Radio Free Bacon show. This time it was Mike who was the special guest, and the regular drummer was back, so my duties were on the tabla and percussion. It was fun to watch another group of musicians learn and play Mikes songs. The rehearsal went great, but I had still not recovered from the day before, so when it was over I went home for a long nap.

That night we played at Crazy Wisdom Tearoom. There were a lot of family and friends that came out to see us, so the atmosphere was very warm and friendly. I felt like we were playing in a living room. Everyone seemed mellow and relaxed and very subtle.

It went very well with Mikes soothing music. That night we said goodbye to Jared and Ryan and got ready for the radio the next day.

The radio show happens outside on a patio at Zingermans Roadhouse. The day was perfect. Lot's of Mikes friends and family showed up and there was a lot of great energy. Mike did some songs with the house band, and then they did a few covers of his songs. They themed the show "We all Know What to Do" after the lyrics in Mikes song Spread the Love. It was a great way to end a beautiful weekend. By the time it was over I was exhausted and revitalized at the same time. When I said goodbye to Mike all I could say was, "I guess we will see what happens next....."

Thanks for reading, and I will write again soon,

John

May Part 1: Nick Strange @ Greektown, Sparsh@ Bennett Castle, Kirtan, A.A. Book Fair, Radio Free Bacon w/ Madcat

2008-06-02T13:15:00.003-04:00

Hello again,

What a month! I am still in a dazed state from a month that included shows with 6 different groups in some great settings. I thought about halfway through the month that I should start writing about these experiences or they are going to pile up too far. Well, here we are, it is the 2nd of June and I am writing for the first time in a month. I think I will split this blog up into two sections - the first section will include the first 3 weeks of May, which found me in Detroit, at a castle, and on the radio. Part two will include just this past weekend, which was a memorable one spent with some old friends. So, here it goes....
On May 3rd I played a show at Fishbones in the Greektown Casino with the Nick Strange group, (Dan Orcutt, Jessica Oberhaltzer, and John Sperendi). The setting was unique. It was at a restaurant wedged between the casino and hotel. The ceiling was 6 stories high and we played in front of what used to be the world's largest indoor man-made waterfall. It was made out of solid granite and was a sight to behold. Fortunately for the band, it had not been in use for a few years, so competing with 6 stories of falling water wasn't an issue. The sound in the room was interesting, lots of echo and reverb. The sound bounced around and filled the room with a lot of noise. Luckily they had a good sound man who knew how to make it work, so we ended up having a good show. I just kept looking up, trying to listen to the sound in the distance. Residence of the hotel could look down on us from whichever floor their room was on, so I had some fun waving at the curious guests. All in all it was a fun, unique experience.
Exactly one week later I found myself on the back deck of a castle playing my tabla to birds in the treetops. I had been working with Sreyashi Dey and her organization Sparsh on providing entertainment for guests at a thank-you/fundraising dinner. It was in Ann Arbor at the Bennett Castle, which used to be the home of Henry Fords right hand man, Harry Bennett. He was rumored to be the guy that did Ford's 'dirty work', and this castle was Ford's gift to him. It comes complete with secret tunnels, hid-a-way's, and foot-and-a-half thick walls meant to protect. It is now a private residence, and it was a great place to play music. The back deck overlooked the Huron River and it sat about 150 ft. above the shoreline. The big grandaddy trees on the shore stretched up to the height of the deck, so we were playing to all the birds in the trees. The group was an experimental Indian/Western fusion group made up of Ken Kozora, Scott Brady, Dave Gilbert, and Prashanth Gururaja. We played about an hour. It was a little chilly, so the instruments were difficult to keep in tune, but the music was still sounding great. The people listening were very receptive and complimentary. I hope to play something with that same group again soon.
On March 16th I was back in Ann Arbor with the Ann Arbor Kirtan group for our monthly chant. The group has been coming to my house for 2 hours every Monday since January to work on new chants and just become a better musical group. The work has really paid off. Chants flow much better now. I can actually enjoy most of the evening with my eyes closed, which I find really enhances the experience. There is also a solid base of responders that come every time and know the chants very well. That helps the whole group sound better, and I think it relaxes the musicians. The group provides an interesting challenge for me. We have to strike a balance between performing good music without being so 'performance' oriented that it distracts from the chanting experience of the whole group, (responders included). I guess it is a lot like any good musical group...the music must be solid and everything else follows and flows from that. Regardless, I have been enjoying the experience more and more.
The very next day I met up with Meeta Banerjee, Dan Piccolo, and Rohit and Amanda Setty for a children's storytelling event at the international studies booth at the Ann Arbor Book Fair. We did a similar show to the one back in February at the Ann Arbor Public Library. Rohit and Amanda read stories, and danced while Meeta Dan and I played music and provided sound effects. It was a fun little show, and the kids who were there seemed to enjoy it. It was a nice way to spend an afternoon in the spring.
The following Monday I was on a plane with 11 middle school students from Go Like The Wind. We were on our way to Washington State for an "Adventure Trip" organized by Colleen Carlson and Outward Bound. It was a week of camping, canoeing, and hiking. No music, aside from some campfire songs on the last night, but I thought it was worth mentioning. We got back late Friday night and I had to get up early on Saturday for another very unique rehearsal.
Saturday morning I drove to Gladwin Farms just outside of Ann Arbor for a rehearsal with the Roadhouse Revival Band and featured artist Peter "Madcat" Ruth. It was a rehearsal for a live radio show called Radio Free Bacon. I was called to fill in for the regular drummer, and what a treat it was. The show is broadcast live on Ann Arbor's 107.1 fm throughout the summer from Zingermans Roadhouse in Ann Arbor. The show is totally locally grown. They have interviews, live commercials, and musical guests. I was so happy to be playing with Madcat. When I was in California I played in a funk band called Mudhouse, and we covered a bunch of tunes by this obscure band from the 70's called Sky King. After graduation I moved back to Michigan and learned that the harmonica player from Sky King lived in Ann Arbor......it was Madcat. It was a great experience to play live on the air. We had to play, then sit very quiet while the interviews and other things happened, then they would turn it over to us and we had to be right on the mark. Very exhilarating!
The following weekend was so packed, I want to give it it's own post, so please keep checking back, and I will write again soon!

John

CSAS party, Kirtan, Neutral Zone, Graduation, Folk Wave Festival

2008-05-02T09:19:00.003-04:00

Hello Again,

April has come and gone, and summer is just on the horizon. The spring this year seems especially sweet after an extra long, salty winter. I have been having a blast playing music this month. It all started with a last minute call for Meeta Banerjee and myself to play "sitar and tabla music" For the U of M Center for South Asian Studies end of the year party. It was a carbon copy of the CSAS beginning of the year party. It was in the CSAS lobby in their central campus building. We were the background music as professors and students mingled and ate Mediterranean appetizers. We were having so much fun with the music it didn't matter that no one was listening and all we could see from our seats on the floor were people's butts. It was a performance setting, but the energy in the room was so scattered that there none of the pressure to "perform" for anyone but ourselves. It seems that Meeta and I don't play in that type of setting very often. It allowed us to relax, have fun, and play music however we wanted.

We played 2 sets, one was about an hour and the last one was only about 40 minutes. During the break Meeta and I got into this conversation with these two happy old Indian gentlemen about different styles of Indian music. They kept asking me about styles of Indian music that I was not familiar with, (although later Meeta told me that they were refering to the style of music we were playing!....whoops, I just always called it Bengali folk music, never learning the Bengali words for it). The conversation was a little akward, and yet very familiar to me. I have had many conversations with Indian musicians and music lovers who have a hard time understanding how I seem to know so much about tabla, and so (relatively) little about Indian folk culture. I totally understand their confusion.

I was born in the U.P., (of Michigan, not Uttar Pradesh :) I was raised in the land of the Finnish. My first introduction to Indian music was a video of Ravi Shankar and Allah Raka at the Monterey Jazz Festival. I was doing research for a ninth grade english paper on Jimi Hendrix. The Indian music definitly caught my ear, but I never dreamed I would be playing it one day. It wasn't until 4 years after graduating high school that I experienced Indian classical music live for the first time. It has been all I can do to keep up with the huge amount of information associated with tabla alone. I have accepted the fact that my musical fascination with India will always be accompanied by a certain amount of cultural ignorance.

Anyway, I am getting way off track.....on to the next show.....

It was exactly two weeks after the CSAS show. It was the monthly Kirtan. It seems the Kirtan chants are growing everytime we meet. The group has been meeting at my house every Monday since January to work on chants and learn the basics of playing together in a musical group. All the extra work is definitley paying off. The chants are becoming very solid, and we are adding lots of new material, which is keeping things very interesting. I look forward to the future with this group. Even though most of the members are not very musically experienced, their work and dedication is worth any bumps in the road on the way to successful musical execution.

On the 25th of April Meeta and I played at the Neutral Zone as part of their Weapons of Musical Diversity series (WSD...get it?!). We played the same show last year, but this year was much different. First of all, they now have a nice stage and built in sound system. We were also joined by a few dance groups, so we only played for a half hour or so. It seemed too short for me, but I enjoy any chance to play. Here was the description of the show put out by the NZ:

Neutral Zone (www.neutral-zone.org), in partnership with SPARSH (www.sparshlife.org), an Ann Arbor non-profit organization which supports healthcare projects for disadvantaged children and women in India, presents an Indian Cultural Showcase featuring youth dances and music - classical as well as modern Indian pop. This show is part of the WMD (Weapons of Musical Diversity) series that Neutral Zone has presented for the second year now to bring people of all ages together for music, dance and celebration of diversity. They are able to offer this free concert with grants from Borders and the Michigan Council for the Arts and Cultural Affairs.

Among the performers are youth groups from the greater Detroit area as well as Meeta Banerjee (sitar) and John Churchville (tabla). From 8:30 till close at 10 pm is a dance with a Bhangra DJ. SPARSH is presenting a potluck of Indian food.

The next day I was back at U of M's art and design building with the Gratitude Steel Band for the second year in a row. We played their graduation ceremony last year and they asked us back again. You may remember that last year the keynote speaker was Martha Reeves and we did an impromptu version of "Dancing in the Streets" that brought the house down, (check the blog archive) This year the speaker was Bob Garfield, who is a radio host on NPR for a show called "On the Media". He was extremely funny and had a great speech, but no spontanious renditions of the NPR theme or anything like that. I had not played with the steel band in a long time, so it was great to catch up and play some great music. I look forward to some shows with them in the summer.

The very next day I found myself at a beautiful farm/performance venue for something called the "Folk Wave Festival" I was playing hand drums and percussion with an Irish - type band called "Cairn to Cairn". I got hooked up with the group through bass player Rob Crozier. Terry Farmer was on the guitar and Rob's girlfriend Kelly was on flute and vocals. They put on this beautiful little concert and had artists come to show work. It was a perfect day and the venue was great. It was a nice room with a stage overlooking a beautiful back yard full of spring flowers. There were not too many people, but they all brought kids, so there was a lot of energy. The music sounded great and the people seemed to enjoy it. I had fun stepping out of the usual musical context. I have a feeling I will be playing with the group again in the near future.

That is all for this month. Thanks for reading, and I will write again soon!

John

Live on WCBN, ICMD Grand Concert

2008-04-02T09:54:00.002-04:00

Hello again,

It has been a relatively slow last couple of weeks for me, which has translated into some nice downtime. I have been spending a lot of time looking ahead and organizing some summer events, including another visit by my Guruji (teacher), Pdt. Samar Saha. This time he is coming with his wife Madhumita, who is a great vocalist. I am very excited!

On the 19th of March I played live on WCBN once again, only this time I did not bring my drumset. The main reason for that was that they were remodeling the building and the entire radio station was condensed down into one room. The group was made up of Rob Crozier on the bass, Piotr Michalowski on various woodwinds, and Jason Burbo on electric guitar. I felt like this was one of the most talented group of musicians that I have done this live show with. Before we began, Piotr was warming up his bass clarinet. It reminded me of a former teacher of mine from CalArts named Vinnie Golia. I asked Piotr if he had ever heard of him and he said, "wow, yes, he is actually the one who inspired me to pick up...(all the various woodwinds)... I play". Vinnie Golia is a very well known artist turned musician who is a big influence in the world of improvised music. I was excited to play with someone who was connected to my old school. He was a terrific performer and I think the session went really well.

It was a challenge to do improvised music for 2 hours just on tabla. I guess I still feel a bit more freedom of expression on the drum set. I think it stems mainly from the fact that I played drum set exclusively for 10 years before touching the tabla. Even though at this point in my life, I have probably spent more actual practice time on the tabla, my drumset still carries the raw, reactionary, instinctive mindset of my own personal musical concept. Part of it also comes from the fact that my tabla training has been classical. I find it difficult to play the tabla and listen to my playing without the filter of all the classical compositions dictating how I hear and feel the music. Although it seems like a difficult task to try and 'unlearn' what I have learned in persuit of pure musical expression, it is a journey full of pleasant surprises and liberating experiences. Samar Saha was the first tabla teacher that gave me the freedom to think about tabla in this instinctual way, which is why I am always so excited and dedicated to the time I get to spend with him.

On Saturday the 29th I found myself in a familiar setting. It was the Indian Classical Music and Dance group grand concert "Swaraanjali". I have performed in many ICMD concerts in the past, but have not been to one in almost 2 years. I performed a duet with one of my students, and brand new member of ICMD, Arun Ganesan. We performed the same piece I played at my graduation recital at CalArts with my teacher Randy Gloss, so this felt like one of those 'full circle' type of events. The concert was great, with lots of performers, mostly singers, doing pieces from North and South India.

Nick Strange, Mike Waite, Student Recital, Kirtan

2008-03-18T14:22:00.002-04:00

Hello again,

March is here and almost gone again, and I have been busy busy busy as usual. This has been a very nourishing month for me. The first weekend of the month was nice and relaxed with just one show on Friday with the Nick Strange group. It was the last of a series of shows I played with them, so the music was very relaxed and nice. We played at Goodnite Gracies in downtown Ann Arbor. If you don't mind the smoke, it is a really nice venue to perform at. They have a nice stage, and lots of comfortable seating, which gives it a nice jazz club feel. It is just the right size so I don't have to worry about amplifying my drum set at all.

Oh I almost forgot about the very next Saturday. I met up with Mike Waite and a bunch of his family and friends at a place called Hathaways Hide-a-way, which is just a block away from Gracies. It is this non-descript building that you have to rent out to have an event. It is a very cool, old style bar with lots of character and and aura that makes you forget you are in the middle of the city. Some of Mike's cousins use it all the time for small events, and since Mike was coming through town this particular weekend, they decided to put something together. I brought the drums and P.A. system and bunch of other people brought their guitars, basses, banjos, and whatever else. It was a good ol' fashion jam. It reminded me of the Hiawatha Music festival in Marquette. Very laid back, with some great music happening spontaneously.

The next weekend Mike was back, and this time he, his wife, and 3 kids all stayed at my house. It was a blast. I had organized a show at Crazy Wisdom Tearoom on Saturday and his cousins got him a show at Old Town Tavern, both in Ann Arbor just a couple block from each other downtown. The Crazy Wisdom show was great. We put together a band that consisted of myself on drums, Mike on vocals and guitar, Rob Crozier on bass, and Brian Delaney on guitar, (actually, it was 4 guitars and a banjo....he really came prepared!). We had put together a couple hours worth of music, which consisted mainly of songs from Mikes new C.D. 'Let it Go', which was released in January. Mike sold a bunch of C.D.'s and the crowd was with us right till the end of the night. It was a much smaller show than the big Kaufman show back in December, but it was just as much fun to play.

The next day I was in full preparation for my student recital. It was at Go Like The Wind in the gymnasium. This recital consisted of the fewest students I have ever had at a recital, but the music was some of the highest quality I have seen. It was the premier of the 5-piece tabla ensemble that I have been working with, and also the premier of a couple of my students who have made the switch to bass guitar. Danny Rivet and Jiyan Babaie-Harmon have been with me for over 5 years and decided it was time to take up the melodic side of the rhythm section. It is so rewarding to watch all these students grow, practice, and blossom into great musicians. I felt like a proud parent when it was all over with.

There wasn't much time to ponder the recital however, because that night Mike and the boys were set to go at it again at Old Town Tavern. It was louder, looser, and just as much fun. We were much more comfortable with the music and each other, so we let loose a bit more than the previous night. Brian Delaney is great with the finger pickin' old-style jazz guitar stuff, so he took many more solos. I had a blast playing a lot of the songs with brushes, which I don't get to do very often. The balance was nice, and we had the whole place hoppin'. It has been a long time since I had a weekend that was so musically nourishing. I can't wait to play with Mike again.

The following weekend was a nice relaxing one. The only music happening was on Friday night with the Ann Arbor Kirtan group. It was an exciting night to play because not only did we have some new chants prepared, but we were also joined by Judy Piazza. Judy played with us for almost a year before she moved out to California to be closer to family and soak up the sun. She is an excellent singer and percussionist and it is always a treat to perform with her. The group has also been developing nicely. They have all been coming to my studio for 2 hours a week every week since January to work on playing music together. All the work has really paid off, they are sounding great, and the music sounds much more balanced and in control. I look forward to playing and working more with them.

That is all for now. Thanks for reading, and I will talk to you soon.

John

A.A. Kirtan, Nick Strange, Hebrew Kirtan, GLTW Winter Rock

2008-02-24T20:02:00.004-05:00

Hello again,

The past two weeks have been such a unique blend of musical experiences. First, on Friday Feb. 15th, there was the monthly Ann Arbor Kirtan where we do call and response chanting of Sanskrit mantras set to the backdrop of cello, tabla, harmonium, guitar, and of coarse, vocals. The group was missing two of it's regular members, including one of the lead chanters, so we didn't go on as long as we usually do. It was still a workout on the tabla though. I feel lucky to be the only one in the room who gets to do my chanting with tabla syllables....all night I am saying things like "Dha Ge Na Tu Na Ga Dhi Na", and "Dha Ge - Ka Na Ka Dhin - ". It is a lot of fun.

I had to switch gears the next night. I put away the tabla and packed the drum set into the car. I was, once again, sitting in with the Nick Strange Group again at Good Nite Gracie in Ann Arbor. It sort of felt like a homecoming after playing a few gigs at other places. It is a great place to play, (aside from all the cigar smoke). The music was really comfortable and sounded good to me, so that trumps the smoke any day. I was happy to have my sister-in-law and brother-in-law come to check out the first set. They came down from Grand Blanc for dinner and then stayed for the show. It is always nice to play for family. Another bonus of the evening was when we played "Tell Me Something Good" by Rufus and Chaka Khan. They just added it to their song list and it is one of my favorites.

The next night it was time to switch gears once again....back to tabla, back to chanting, but this time it was in Hebrew. One of my tabla students hooked me up with this group that was coming through town for a night of chanting in Hebrew. Actually it was a husband and wife duo based in Boulder Colorado who make their living doing chanting all over the country. The event was held at the Interfaith Center in Ann Arbor. I had performed there last year with Judy Piazza. They called the event Hebrew Kirtan, but it was very different than the kirtan I was used to. They stood up, and I was on the floor, he music was much more western influenced....I believe he called it 'Jewgrass', and there were a lot more words to each chant than in the Sanskrit stuff. I still played close to the same stuff though, so there was a definite link. I think there were about 40 people present, mostly Hebrew-speaking people. There was a lot of laughter, dancing, and good singing. All and all it was a fun evening. You can check out their website here: http://hebrewchanting.com/

The following Friday was not just about switching gears, it was like getting into a whole new vehicle. It was the premier of the "Winter Rock", featuring the Go Like The Wind instrumental music students. It was the first concert of it's kind at the school....middle of winter, not tied into any other event, (like Christmas or graduation), and it was all student produced. I, of coarse, am the director of the music program at the school, so I was in charge of making it all happen successfully. It actually ended up being a lot of fun, and the students did a great job. We had middle school students doing the sound and recording. One student, who, per doctors orders, could not perform, read snippets and quotes about the benefits of studying music in between each performance. The students even picked names for their groups, (band1, band 2 and string orchestra were just not cutting it any more). So band 1 was now called the 'Warthogs', band 2 was now the 'Icicles', and the string orchestra was now the 'Melodies'. We also had duets and quartets from each group do an additional piece. The show went off without a hitch, aside from a slight problem with the stage lights, which kept tripping the circuit breaker. That was easily solved by turning on the gym's fluorescent lights. We were also missing about 11 members of our advanced band, the Icicles, mainly due to a scheduling conflict. I had not realized that I scheduled the concert on the first day of Ann Arbor public school's spring break. Neither did a lot of families. It was a learning experience for all of us, so next year will be much better in that regard. The students who were there for the concert really pulled together and made the music sound great. I look forward now to the spring concert!

That is all for now. Thanks for reading, and I hope to write again soon.

John

Nick Strange in St. Clair Shores, Indian Culture at A.A. Library, Saraswati Puja

2008-02-13T21:30:00.003-05:00

Hello again,

The winter is rolling right along, and the gigs seem to be coming as fast and furious as the bitter cold and blowing snow. This is the time of year when musicians must be extra studious about keeping their instruments in a controlled climate. Even just an hour out in the cold can cause all kinds of problems. On top of the difficulty with playing a cold instrument, there is always the fear of tuning, cracking, tearing, snapping, and.....well....let's just keep them warm shall we!

So the first show was on Saturday Feb. 2nd with the Nick Strange group. We were at a place called Fishbones in St. Clair Shores. It was a big resteraunt/bar that has a built in crowd that seemed used to having live music, but not too attached to the idea of it. The weird vibe I got was probably due in part to the fact that it was the day before the super bowl. I did have a good time and it was fun to play in a new place. There were a few people who really liked the music, which made it worth the drive out.

The next day I had a fun little daytime event at the Ann Arbor Public Library put on by my friend Rohit Setty and his family. It was an Indian cultural celebration for young families. We had Meeta Banerjee on the sitar, Dan Piccolo and myself on tabla, with Rohit, his wife Amanda, and their young daughter Shalani telling stories and doing dances, and making crafts. It was a nice event. The Ann Arbor News sent out a photographer, and we got a great spread in the Saturday paper.

The following Saturday Meeta and I drove to a middle school in Saline, MI. to play at a Saraswati Puja put on by the Bengali group Mitali. A Puja is a type of religious ceremony that, as far as I can tell, is meant to honor a god and share music, dance, and fellowship with your community. It is the second year we have done it, and it is always a fun show to play. We did just a 15 minute show and within the first minute, Meeta broke a string.....Ouch! Luckily, it was not her main string, but it did throw our balance off a bit. Like a true pro, Meeta played on as if nothing was wrong, and the crowd was very appreciative. I felt lucky to be a part of it.

Thanks for reading, and I will write again soon!

John

Impromptu at U of M, In Redford with Nick Strange, CSAS Party, Kirtan, and Crazy Wisdom

2008-01-21T15:48:00.000-05:00

Hello again,

It has been an eventful last couple of weeks on the giging front. It seems like I have been playing or rehearsing every other day. It has not been very stressful though, just busy as can be, and for that I am thankful.
So the first show came about as I was giving a lesson to one of my tabla students, Arun. He told me about a show that he voulenteered for through the ICMD group at U of M. The only problem was that no one else signed up to play, so he was thinking he would not play. I told him I would play with him. That was on a Monday, and the show was on a Thursday, so we didn't have much time to work anything up. Actually, we ended up putting something together about 15 minutes before the performance. We strung together a bunch of compositions with a nice chakardar at the end that we played together. To top off the spontaneous feel of it, we had no P.A. system, no rug to sit on, and only 5 minutes to set-up, perform, and take-down. Not to mention we were right inbetween some high energy dance groups. All things considered, it ended up being a big hit with the crowd. I was amazed at the execution, since Arun has only been playing tabla for about 5 months. We were able to keep it together, and it sounded great! I look forward to playing with Arun again soon.
The next day I loaded up my drum set to go play a gig with the Nick Strange Group in Redford, MI at a place called Bullfrog's Bar and Grille. Their claim to fame is "the hottest wait staff in Southeast Michigan". We were playing just one set. We were the first of something like 4 bands playing that night. When we walked in I felt like I was back in L.A., small place with a tall prominent stage, huge sound system, big stage lights, and a 5 ft. tall drum riser that put my head right near the 20 ft. tall ceiling.
It was very strange to play that high up. My feet were at about eye level of the other musicians, and like 3 feet above the audience. I felt like I was in my own world up there. It really felt like L.A., because the real feat of the evening is not pulling off a good set, which we did just fine, but rather setting up and tearing down as quickly as possible. There are a few reasons to tear down very fast and furious as soon as you hit the last note. First, the club wants minimal downtime, so as not to drag the night down. Second, the band following you is always chomping at the bit to get up on stage, and tensions can rise very fast. Third is if you go too slow, you stand a good chance of forgetting something, or unconsciously trade equipment with someone. It is really undesirable to tear down as soon as you are done playing. It brings the phrase 'paying your dues' to mind. All in all it was a good night, and we were packed up and on the road home just 15 minutes after being on stage. We wanted to see a bit of the band that followed us, but they were having some sort of problem with the sound system, so we just took off. Hot wait staff, small club, oversize stage, tons of bands, fast packing.....I felt like I was in L.A. all over again. Putting on a winter coat, gloves, a hat, and seeing your breath...brought me right back to my beloved Michigan!
The following Tuesday Meeta Banerjee and I took our instruments back to the building where we met for the first time, the Institute for International Studies on the U of M campus. This is where I took tabla classes with Dr. Rajan Sachdeva back in 2002. Rajanji happened to be Meeta's sitar teacher. Meeta was at a class one day playing her sitar and I sat down and played a little folk piece with her. We hit it of musically right away. Since then we have played many shows all over Michigan, (most of them can be read about on this blog), so it felt nice to come back to the same building and play together again.
We were asked to be the background music for the Center for South Asian Studies welcome back mixer. It was a 3 hour gig, our longest one yet. I was sure we would be repeating a lot, but I guess I had not realized how much reperatoir we actually know together. With this music, there is also the ability to improvize in every piece, so we took full advantage and streched out each piece. I think we ended up only repeating one or two pieces. By the end we were questioning weather anyone was listening, not that it mattered, we were just happy to be playing together, but we had to put it to the test. For the last piece of the night, Meeta quietly started playing Mary Had a Little Lamb and improvising with the melody. She would come back to the melody now and again and get a little stronger, and a little louder. We started turning some heads and putting smiles on peoples faces. When we did a dramatic end to it people clapped and we said good night.
3 days later I was back at the Friends Center in Ann Arbor playing with the Kirtan. I showed up 2 1/2 hours early for some reason and set everything up. I played an hour before anyone else showed up. I kept playing as the other members came in and then we did a 45 minute rehearsal before the show. We took a 15 minute break and then played the regular 2 hour kirtan. The chanting went great. It a good sized group, about 60 people. By the end my hands felt limp. No pain though, which is a very good sign. There is so much benefit to be had when you play so much that your physical body gets worn out, provided you are not hurting yourself. You learn how to play with as little effort as possible. You also learn how to conserve your energy and get the most out of every stroke. I would love to have the opportunity to do this for a week straight sometime.....
The very next night I hosted a show at Crazy Wisdom with Meeta, Scott Brady on sax, Dave Gilbert on sax, Ken Kozora on bass and zendrum, and Jon Plummer on the tamboura. The idea was to start the night off with straight Indian classical music, and then morph into a west/east mix of Indian folk tunes with western harmony. I had recorded Meeta playing some folk melodies, notated it with a computer program, then added the horn and bass parts. It sounded great, and was so much fun to play. Ken and I also did a zendrum and tabla duet that we improvised. If there wasn't more music to play, I would have loved to keep playing with Ken. The sounds were mixing so well and we really fell into a great groove. Did I mention it was a FUN evening.

The place was packed, and everyone was very into it. I was very inspired to do it again on a bigger scale.....

I am feeling very inspired at the moment, and look forward to the near future, which includes a visit to Ann Arbor by my friend Mike Waite, (whose album I just got in the mail yesterday, look for it online soon!), another visit this summer by my Guruji Samar Saha, and another student recital coming very soon. Thanks for reading, and I will write again soon!

John

Mike Waite C.D. Release Concert

2008-01-06T12:00:00.001-05:00

Happy 2008! I have been reeling from a great holiday break that was highlighted by the long awaited Mike Waite C.D. release concert on December 28th. The band was big the venue was packed, and the music was some of the best I had ever been involved with. We, (meaning Mike Waite, his wife Erica, Jared Smith, and Ryan Staples), had been planning this concert since June, and since we all live in different cities, the main mode of communication was over the internet. Jared and Mike were in charge of the musicians, Ryan was busy getting the C.D. mixed and ready for the release, Erica organized a bunch of dancers, and I dealt with the theater and sound logistics. We all had a part in promotion which included setting Mike up with a myspace page, (http://www.myspace.com/hatchofthemayfly), writing a story for the various local Marquette publications:

We also did a live radio interview on Sunny 101.9 at 7:30 in the morning the day before the show. Later that day, we had our first and only rehearsal with the full lineup of musicians and dancers. In all there were 10 musicians and around 12 dancers. Here is a small picture of the musicians right after the show:
Back Row L to R: Bob Mahin, Ben Imdieke, John Churchville, Jared Smith, Tom Laverty, Dave Ziegner (back), Carrie Biolo. Front Row: Stephanie Whiton, Mike Waite, Ryan Staples.
It was a long rehearsal, but very fun and there was a ton of energy and excitement building for the show. The next night was the kind of night that got me into music. Mike started off the night with a short set of his solo stuff, then the second half of the show was the whole band. We played the entire C.D., and I was amazed at how close it came to re-creating the actual sound of each song. Oh yea, I guess I should mention that the final cut of the C.D.'s didn't make it out of the printers in time, so there wasn't an actual C.D. to release. So the company sent 500 ep's with just 5 songs on it in blank cases that got individually decorated by some of Mikes friends. It was a happy medium. It would have been nice to have the C.D. that night, but the show went so well, that people didn't seem to mind.
It felt like everyone in the audience of over 600 people were all friends, family, and people that all had some sort of personal connection to what was happening. Backstage before the show, the trombone player Bob Mahin made the statement "this is real community". He was right. Since leaving CalArts to embark on my professional music career I have always believed that the most important roll a musician can play in society is to help build a sense of community, and Mike's show accomplished that better that I could have ever imagined. I am very proud, honored, and lucky to be a musician from Marquette, Michigan.
Thanks for reading, and I will let you know when the C.D.'s are ready!

John

Live on WCBN, GLTW Christmas Concert, Kirtan Potluck

2007-12-20T22:58:00.000-05:00

Hello Friends,

A few weeks ago I played live on the radio again with my friend Rob Crozier, a bass player from Ann Arbor who curates a live show on U of M's student radio station one Sunday a month. This month we we were with a local radio personality Michael G. Nastos. He was the host of a jazz program at EMU for 27 years, and really knows his music. It was a great show. It is always a treat to play for an audience, even when you can't see them. I also really like the fact that the shows are broadcast over the Internet, so my family can listen in if they feel like it.
The following week was hectic. I was very busy getting ready for the Go Like The Wind Christmas concert. I had to prepair 20 pieces of music for the 1st through 9th grades. The music program has grown a lot this year. It went from one big orchestra to 3 separate, smaller groups. We now have a beginning band, string orchestra, and advanced band. It has been a lot of fun, and it is so rewarding to watch the students who started from scratch come into their own as young musicians. The show went off without a hitch, and I am as excited as ever for the new year.
Just one day after the Christmas concert I was at the Zen Buddhist temple in Ann Arbor for the first Kirtan potluck and chant. It was put together to bring the community together, say thank you, and have one last chant for the year. There were a lot of participants, (I think around 80), and the temple turned out to be a great place to play. It was a bigger room with hardwood floors and a wood burning stove, which made for a cozy evening. Honestly though, I was so wiped out from the crazy week that I was barely able to keep focus. It is an interesting situation to find yourself in...so tired you can barely play and faced with 2 hours of intense playing. By the end my arm was freezing up. It wasn't agony, but it was very close. I guess, to be positive about it, you could say that it is a great way to find the easiest, most relaxed playing positions.....work yourself to exhaustion, and then play 2 hours for 80 people.. *don't try this at home ; )
That is all for now. Just one more show left this year, but it is a great one.....Mike Waits C.D. release party at Kaufman Auditorium in Marquette. I am so excited! I will let you know how it goes......

Thanks for reading, and I will talk to you soon.

John

Gratitude in the U.P., Sitting in with Nick Strange, Kirtan

2007-11-21T12:59:00.000-05:00

Hello again,

It has been a nice few weeks since my last entry and there have been a nice array of gigs happening. First, I found myself heading North over the Mackinac (mack-in-aw) bridge again on my way to a gig with the Gratitiude Steel band. We had two shows lined up in the nice little U.P. town of Manestique. The first one was on Saturday. It was the 3rd of November, and the gig was at a grand opening of a brand new elementary school. The old elementary school was burned down due to an electrical fire started by a light in an iguana tank. The iguana was a classroom pet. I guess, in a way, you could say that the iguana gave his life for the students to have a new school. For some reason, it was all I could think about as we played. The band was set up in the gymnasium, where they had just put the final layer of gym-floor epoxy a couple of days before. The toxic smell was overwhelming, and I think it affected the whole band. I remember feeling a bit dizzy and feint the whole time. Later that evening I went for a walk along lake Michigan and felt a lot better.
The next morning we were playing at a church right down the road from the school. It was a fun ceremony, people really appreciated the music, and afterwards we all met in their banquet hall for a meal. Everyone was very nice. I definitely felt like I was back in the U.P. Before we left town a couple of the locals took us to the biggest natural spring I have ever seen. It was called Big Spring, (how fitting), and it was this 100ft. wide, 40ft. deep spring that had more than 1000 gallons of water bubbling up from the ground every minute! The water was crystal clear and there was a cool glass bottom raft that you could float across the spring and check out the huge trout that made their home at the spring. It was a nice send off before the 7 hour drive back down state.
The following Thursday I was on my way to a city called St. Joseph, city on the west coast of Lower Michigan. I was sitting in with the Nick Strange Group, who have just released their latest album titled 'Yesterday Was Better". It was an interesting gig for me because of the venue. It was a smokey club called Czars, and it was one of the first places I played after moving to Michigan from California. It was a pick-up gig with a band from the U.P. called Paulding Light who had just lost their drummer and needed a fill in. It must have been in the summer of 2001. The place had not changed a bit, and neither had the circumstances for my being there. It was a fun night, although there were not very many people.
The next morning we got up and drove back to Ann Arbor. That evening I played with the same group at Good Night Gracie's in downtown Ann Arbor. There was a big crowd and the music was sounding great. Playing multiple nights in a row really helps to tighten up the sound. It was good to fill in for that group again. Gracie's is a great place to play. They have a nice stage and the place is just big enough so you can fit a good crowd, but don't need a big sound system. I had fun and I look forward to playing with them again soon.
The next week was the monthly Kirtan event at the Friend's Center in Ann Arbor. It wasn't our biggest crowd, but the chanting had a ton of energy. I have been really getting into the idea of playing at those chanting events with my eyes closed the entire time. I usually have my eyes on the other group members and my own hands. I find that when I close my eyes, the music and sound is so much more in my immediate focus. This type of music making really lends itself to an inward experience, rather than a group effort to entertain. I am just now beginning to discover deeper levels of enjoyment when I play with this group. It has to do more with my own inward experiences, rather than a purely musical one, although the music must be in very good control in order to let it go. So I guess, the journey continues.....

Thanks for reading, and I will talk to you soon.

John

October, Kirtan in Brighton and Ann Arbor, Kozora at Edgefest, Everyday Heroines Debut, GLTW with Sameep Kulkarni

2007-10-31T14:23:00.000-04:00

Hello, and Happy Halloween!

It has been a nice relaxing refelctive month for me. I have been doing a lot of practicing, and a little bit of playing. One of the nice shows that happened was up in Brighton, MI. at a Yoga studio. The Ann Arbor Kirtan group was invited up to do a night of Kirtan. It went great. I was so proud of everyone pulling together and putting on a great event. The group is really coming into it's own and the sound is developing nicely. Playing outside the comfort of the friends center was a great move. I think we also got a few new regulars. I was so happy I brought my C.D. to sell. When the Kirtan was over there was a line of people ready to buy one. A nice bonus at the end of the night.
A couple of weeks later I found myself playing music again with KOZORA. The show was on Friday the 19th. Ken Kozora got us a noontime show that was part of the Edgefest. Edgefest is an Ann Arbor music festival that features all kinds of experimental and new music. We played in a courtyard just outside the Kerrytown shops.

It was a surprisingly fun show to play. We really loosened up after a couple of pieces and all the work we have been doing this past year really showed itself. There were not many people in the courtyard, but all the store owners and patrons gave us lots of compliments when the show was over.
Later that day I was back at the Friends Center with the Kirtan group again. It was the biggest turnout we have ever had. I think the Brighton show had a lot to do with that. I was just enjoying the feel of the tabla in my hands. I have been enjoying the feel of the tabla so much lately. All the practice definitley has it's rewards.
The next night my wife Jody and I went to the new Arthur Miller Theater on the campus of U of M. It was the debut of 'Everyday Heroines' a dance theater piece by the Sadhana Dance Theater group.
Over the summer I recorded tabla for the piece, so I got to sit in the audience and just enjoy all the work come together. It was a real treat to see the dancers playing to my drumming without having to focus on playing. I could definitely get used to doing projects like this.
The following Wednesday I put on a performance/workshop with a new friend of mine from Pune, India named Sameep Kulkarni. We played at Go Like the Wind for all the 1st-9th graders. Sameep was on a tour for the first time in America mainly doing demonstration shows for students. He was not able to get a professional visa, so this trip was about making connections and sharing his talents. For me it was a taste of real Indian classical improvisation. We only rehearsed a little bit before the performance and then improvised on the spot. He definitely pushed me to my limits on the tabla. In the past it may have made me uncomfortable, but these days I am eager to know what I need to do to get myself up to par for on-th-spot performances like this. Sameep was great with the kids, and we had a great time playing. I am sure I will be writing about him some more in the near future.
So that is all for October. November is shaping up to be another interesting month of shows, and then it will be time to get ready for the big Mike Waite C.D. release party up in Marquette in December. It looks like the year is going to end with a bang!

Thanks for reading, and I will write again soon!

John