skipheller

02:47 am: DJ Skip at the wheels of steel


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05:04 pm: I am chilling in NoHo
http://homepage.mac.com/skipheller/iMovieTheater180.html

Until I get back to Philly (Thus night), this'll have to hold ya.

05:27 pm: update
wolf gets mike'd

Just got back from the Gulf Coast, and have the following to report:

1) Michael Moore should get angry more often.

2) While down there in the Gulf Coast, I produced a new Lisa Christian EP that will HARM you. She's so amazing, and this time we concentrated mostly on her own songs, plus one each by John Hartford and Doug Fieger. Jim Cavender played bass and sang, David White played snare drum and hand percussion (no kick drum or toms on this one), and I played guitar, piano, and harmonium. Lisa sang and (finally) played guitar. We cut it at Nomad in Daphne, run by a fellow named Barry Little, who is a very premium engineer and a total sweetheart besides. I don't know what it is about Lower Alabama, but the engineers I've worked with there (even Chris Spies recording our rehearsals in his trailer on his little tiny rig) all have the touch.

3) There was an occasion on Section St in Fairhope that I will commemorate in song soon enough.

4) New Orleans. Me, Newt and David threw down one of our best shows ever at DBA to a tiny but maniac crowd. NoLa is still the Paris of our country.

05:31 pm: sister rosetta tharpe has no tombstone
click here and be amazed

Those of you who know me and my playing will not exactly be shocked to hear that I am a HUGE fan of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the guitarist/vocalist who did much to help invent rhythm and blues.

Now: She is buried in Philly, where I am hanging my hat at the moment, in a cemetary in the north part of of the city.

AND SHE HAS NO TOMBSTONE.

This is inexcusable. For a mere 500 bucks, we could do something about this.

I propose a day of different bands/musicians all around the Flat 48 each donating their talent, playing a local gig, and donating the proceeds to the GET SISTER ROSETTA THARPE A FUCKING TOMBSTONE ALREADY fund. Who else is with me? We can set up a Pay Pal account with a gravemarker company and just go for it. This needn't be difficult.

06:33 pm: advice for young bands
Click here to see how bands should speak with club bookers and record labels.

A seminar given by Alec Baldwin and his hair.

07:25 pm: this is a public service announcement... WITH GUITAR!!!
THESE ARE YOUR RIGHTS! ALL THREE OF 'EM!

Just saw an advance copy of Julien Temple's Joe Strummer doc. Unbelieveaby good. Felt the need to share.

02:28 am: Dallas (or, no, Newt didn't get prettier)


Newt Johnson couldn't make it, so Arcoiris Sandoval, a ridiculously talented musician with whom I first played at Tucson, came on board with David White and I.

Dallas: Hot, sweaty, Frisell was playing a FREE show the same night as our first gig (thanks for that, Big Guy), our buddy Spike Sikes came to the rescue when Frontier Air lost Arco's luggage by loaning us an amp and a keyboard.

Friday, we played Pearl At Commerce, which is one of my favorite venues in the country. OOne of the most aggressive shows the trio has played in recent memory. Spike was watching as his keyboard was being throttled by this furious creature that moments before had been a sweet, angelic young woman saying, "Thank you so much for letting us use your gear. I appreciate it SO MUCH."

Spike's lovely and amazing wife Katherine invited us for Saturday breakfast and stuffed us. Our Saturday gig got cancelled, so Arco and I played an impromptu duet gig at Pearl at Commerce, then she, I, and David (who recorded the duo thing), got some ribs and watched GLEN GARRY, GLEN ROSS on my laptop.

A really lovely time, and Pearl at Commerce asked for us back in September.

11:48 pm: philadelphia -- it ain't in the rearview
and in our ongoing "cowboys to girls" series

Part 2 in our "cowboys to girls" series of how we roll. Sometimes, the classics say everything better than anything else ever could.

On behalf all of us who have our musical heart in the City of Brotherly Love, here's some love.

(Yeah, this means Lisa Christian and I are gettin' ready to hit it again, gigwise. Gotta circumcise our watches, musically.)

10:35 am: my last official act as an angeleno
voodoo that he do

Those of you who remember my chaotic little life as I was leaving Philly in 1995 will remember I was working on a Dionysus Records reissue of Robert Drasnin's VOODOO album.

Well, Bob composed a follow-up, I produced the sessions (with Philippe Aubuchon on board as my co-pilot) and here it is is, and if anyone needs me, i'll be in philly again for a minute. Full circle.

VOODOO 2 is now out and of course on Dionysus. It's a very nice way to come full circle.

01:05 am: home
philly

Sitting on the steps here on Sansom Street, listening to the Intruders sing about how a young man makes the transition from cowboys to girls. Slight humidity, and a faint breeze coming west from the Delaware River. Makes a young man feel good and alive.

12:05 am: this is forever
what a wonderful world

Saturday the 19th, me and my punk rock big bro Ed Engel went to the Joey Ramone birthday bash at Irvine Plaza, and it was probably my first real "goin' to a big punk rock show" since the first X reunion at the House Of Blues.

There were several bands, but the New York Dolls rocked my fucking world. David Johnansen was one of the best frontmen I've ever seen.

That night and the following -- we played Tritone for the first time since Rick D passed on -- made me think about all the beautiful miracles that we get, if we just let 'em happen.

Hanging with Eddie again after so many years, celebrating Joey, keeping alive the adventurous music spirit that Rick made Tritone for, and -- TA DA -- meeting Tommy Ramone, shaking his hand and trying to put "thank you for everything" into that handshake.

And I say to myself: what a wonderful world.

11:20 pm: oh canada/who are you digging lately?
my new favorite voice

I'm working on some getting some bookings up in Canada. There's an excellent organist -- Vanessa Rodrigues -- up there with whom I'd like very much to work, and, if we can make our schedules work out (mine summer is quickly becoming a punishment), I'll be up there later this summer.

To prepare, I watched a documentary about Glenn Gould this evening. Very premium stuff.

But my new favorite Canadian is a singer/songwriter called Emma-Lee, whose voice, playing, and songs are just fantastic. Her WAITING ROOM EP is available on iTunes, but the more minimal stuff on her MySpace page is more my taste. I'm pretty much a fan at this point, and I'm hoping I can play with her if everything works out with me getting gigs together in Canada.

So there you have it: my two favorite artists to emerge (on my radar, anyway) are her and James Hunter.

04:43 am: ten guitar players i love
1. Johnny "Guitar" Watson -- pretty much anything. "Space Guitar" is the manifesto cut, with all his trademarks in one tune.
2. Grant Green -- "Little Surrey With The Fringe On Top" on BLUES FOR LOU
Grant swung the hardest of all jazz players, and he plays the most inventive stuff and makes it sound like the most off-the-cuff shit in the world.
3. link wray -- "Rumble"
The gates of hell opening. True menace and greatness.
4. Marc Moreland -- "Back In Flesh" on Wall Of Voodoo DARK CONTINENT
Kind of Andy Gill/Gang of Four skronk with Morricone bass patterns and cool feedback stuff.
5. sister rosetta tharpe -- Anything she did for Decca, without exception. Her tone and the way she got a driving sound by using triplets against the beat. I'm quite the fan.
6. Dave Alvin -- "Why Did She Stay With Him" His ability to make a guitar solo that fits in the song as indispensibly as the lyric is pretty amazing.
7. ani difranco -- funky as a motherfucker. She might be the funkiest thing since Jimmy Nolen on JB's "Mother Popcorn".
8. Kenneth "Jethro" Burns -- The entire HOMER & JETHRO PLAYING IT STRAIGHT album. H&J's comedy was basically an excuse for some of the hottest jazz playing ever to come out of Nashville. Jethro's rhythms have a really cool push on them. I can't do it without it sounding like rushing.
9. Jim Hall. The two duet recoords with Bill Evans. Duh.
10. James Burton -- A favorite of mine since childhood. He still kills me. What he plays is incredibly guitaristic. Total guitar music. I learned how to bend strings from this and BB KING LIVE AT THE REGAL. Probably my favorite Burton solo is "Travelin' Man" by Rick Nelson or the way he and Buddy Emmons lock up on Judy Collins' "Someday Soon".

10:51 pm: the chill-down
elis regina

After Butane James has burned the stage down, where do you go?

Brazil.

Here's Elis Regina with her trio. The pianist is Caesar Mariano, to whom she was married. The drummer is Paulo Braga, who I met when he played with Joe Henderson in Feb 96 in Hollywood, and I was as buzzed to here Paulo as to hear Joe.

12:19 pm: the greatest shit ever
butane james at the height of his powers

I was in Huntsville recently watching this show on BET with Jessica, who is generally in my Top Friends but this wk I had to make room for the good folks I'm about to see in Dallas/Ft Worth. Anyhow, we were watching this "Most Influential Hip Hop Dancers" thing, and they got to the Top 5, and the Nicholas Bros were #2 and James Brown hadn't even been mentioned, so you knew what had to come next: the TAMI Show clip. And BET cheaped out. And I complained loudly to Jess, because I wanted her to see the greatest thing ever. She's a fan of Pantera and a lot of other 1980s stuff, so I had good reason to suspect she really didn't know about the 50s/60s rhythm and blues show tradition that reaches its apex in the TAMI clip. And I was PISSED OFF that BET wasn't showing it, because whether you love Marvin Gaye, Pantera, or whatever, THIS IS THE SHIT.

For those who don't know, this is the most incendiary thing that ever happened on camera. James knew it was his moment, and he seized on it, and here it is, in glory you never imagined. This is one of the few things in life that exceeds its adavnce billing.

10:09 am: have some great art. on me.
katy moffatt

Along with Johnny Hodges, the most expressive human sound I know is Katy Moffatt. Here's some footage of her from -- I think -- the Kerrville Folk Fest a about 15 years or so ago. Her playing and singing are so connected together and so right.

Wish I had footage of her singing Jimmie Rodgers' "Waiting For A Train", just so you could hear someone who is worthy of a Jimmie Rodgers song.

She's just amazing.

02:31 am: django in action

I've never been the world's hugest Django guy, but you can't deny greatness. He was filmed embarrassingly little, so this snippet is really great to have found, especially since they did such a great job getting BOTH of his hands in the frame so we can see his technique clearly (he only had two fingers on his left hand that weren't severely burned).

The leaden all-accoustic Hot Club Quintette is probably the reason I prefer -- GASP! -- the electric Django stuff with the clarinet player from later on in his career.

01:34 am: the anthem

I feel like I should apologize for being so scarce as of late. The people who I've spoken to I've spoken to often. A lot of my friends feel like I lost their numbers.

Lots of change going on around me. Just trying to relax in the eye of the storm.

07:42 pm: size matters
http://homepage.mac.com/skipheller/iMovieTheater163.html

While in Arizona last week, I had occasion to lead a quintet and a quartet as well as play in front of a big band. While each was a pleasure for reasons of its own, I got to do some duo playing that was the most rewarding for me, mostly because of the interactive freedom afforded by the format (and the high muscianship of the pianist).

I admit: the trio is my format of choice because I like drums. But the duo is right up there for me. That I've made duo sessions with Uri Caine, Bob Dorough, David Andersen, and -- most notably -- Heath Allen is a pretty good indication of my prediliction for the format.

This film clip of Bill Evans and Eddie Gomez playing duo in '77 should indicate why I love it so.

02:45 am: nara leao
nara in action

My favorite singer. The more minimal the setting, the more she shines.

There's no real lesson here, except that she's my chill music and I'd love for y'all to hear her.