1:59 a m January 30, 1999 (Van Goh's ear) Venice Beach California
Let me preface this with the fact that I love jazz-fusion (one of the few people left who do)
Last night I was 1 out of about 1000 people who went to hear
Steve Morse band at The House of Blues. The place was cool but
I had to stand the entire time and never was able to see the full
stage. I was always peeking around something. I Really enjoyed
Van Romaine. (The drummer) He reminded me of Mark Lloyd right
down to the same kind of hair (or lack of it.) They both have
an energetic style of playing (Ritalin deprived ballet) and wear
a strange trance-smile.
Which reminds me, I've always wondered
that if those 'musician' faces were the same faces they express
in bed, especially guitar players. (If you've ever loved a guitar
player let me know) -- anyway-Van built one hell of a fire under
Steve Morse and Dave Larue. The music was definitely jazz-fusion
although it was a tad too white for me. (Mechanical chicken pickin)
although parts of it were great.
Tonight: I had no art openings to do and was feeling very lonely
I called my friend Nate and he said to meet him and 2 of
his friends at Catalina bar and grill (close to Hollywood and
vine) he said that he didn't know, but there may be something
cool happening. -- The place was small. (About 60 people) We grabbed
a table about 20 feet from the stage; hell the worst spot was
30 feet from the stage. I gave the band a visual assessment. They
looked like typical musicians (probably from Pasadena) except
when they hit the second measure I said, "shit these guys
are good
It reminded me of what jazz guitar great, Glenn
Alexander once told me about New York: "There are a thousand
guitar players who will kick your ass and you've never heard their
name." I figured this must be an example of just that. By
the middle of the tune they were groovin hard and kickin the energy
like a nitro-charged ghetto cruiser. Fire spittin guitar with
the edges rubbed smooth by a classic B3 Hammond organ. Who the
hell did we inadvertently stumbled into? The song was over and
a singer walked up to the stage and introduced the keyboard player
as T Lavitz
T Lavitz! NO @^!#4)&*!! WONDER!!
And on bass Alfonzo Johnson
ALFONZO JOHNSON! I am starting
to giggle in disbelief as well, as my friends, we were not prepared!
On drums Billy Cobham
BILLY COBHAM!!! WHAT IS THIS? THE
TWILLIGHT ZONE! We were all laughing so hard everyone was starring
at us
We were close enough to the band that if they looked
our way, they would swear we were NY city street schizoids, who
else would be laughing at their introductions. No one in the place
was laughing and we were on the floor! Needless to say a night
of Goosebumps and applause. I dug it a lot more than Steve Morse.
Plus it was small and intimate. I was practically onstage.
This is the coolest thing about big cities
how many cities
in the world can you walk unsuspectingly into a little bar and
hear the finest music on the planet - 3
4 or uh
Ok-ok
I'm not counting the great sitar players in Bombay!
From lonely to lively That's the big city I love it! ...heres a pic of hollywood blvd near vine
The kount
The art of Kaz Maslanka http://www.kazmaslanka.com/