Pies and Pints featured the regular crew (Tom Rooney, Johnny Fitzpatrick, Pat Ferris, and myself) plus Matt Heron playing the entire night. It was Pat’s birthday and he was in an especially good mood. A good crowd, including a family that sat at the closest booth with a little girl that was dancing up a storm. Michal and Au Bickle made it through an entire set, which is always nice to play for!

Lots of Dead covers and a couple Rolling Stones tunes, we’re dangerously close to becoming a classic rock cover band… Pat sat out the last set to hang with his friends and family. When we started playing Rocky Top, a guy came up from the crowd and said “may I?”, pointing towards the bass.  A great player, Eric ended up playing the rest of the night with us. Turns out he was born and raised in Tennessee. He talked about how it’s interesting that growing up barraged by the song, he was sick of it. But after moving away it becomes endearing. I totally understand what he was talking about.

0 Comments | Posted by Michael Spaly in Shows

Had the privilege of playing guitar with How Now Brown Cow at the Triple Door’s Musicquarium lounge. My good friend Matt Rankin is moving to Salt Lake City and so he invited several friends to come and join in the jam. Mike Ferraro also joined in on percussion. When Michal and I first moved to Seattle in 2003, Mike, Matt, and Matt’s wife Keri all lived together a few doors down. We quickly became friends and they introduced me to the Seattle music scene (or parts thereof). For which I will be forever grateful.

As you can see from the picture below, I had the privilege of standing directly in front of the horn section and sandwiched between the Rhodes and the drum kit. I’m telling you, nothing can compare to being able to ride some incredible improv’ed melodies while being washed in horns, keys, and kits. It was so incredible to throw together 8 people, call out a key, and have complex and dynamic music ensue, complete with tight endings. How can you go wrong with a lineup that includes Matt Rankin, Marc Hager, Dave Kurtiak, Donovan Pfeifer, Mike Ferraro, Brad Schrandt, and Adrian Witherspoon? Thanks guys! And it is a very sad day for Seattle to see the Rankins depart :(

0 Comments | Posted by Michael Spaly in Shows

Pies and Pints started off like any other night. Tommy, Pat, and myself playing some bluegrass and deadgrass tunes. Greg Paul, an old-timey banjo player, came down for the night to play a set of his own. He ended up sitting in with us for our first set and then doing a set of his own. Focusing on ballads, he held the bar crowd captive really well. Tom and I sat in for his last tune, Amazing Grace, to add some harmonies.

Shortly after, things started to get funky. Bob Dylan (or a kid that looks, acts, and talks like he used to) showed up with Pandi, of the Gloria Darlings. They mentioned that Baby Gramps would be coming by later. Well, that seemed to get everybody all up in a bunch. I’ve never seen or heard the guy, so I can’t give you my opinion. But among the folkies, he is a definite legend. By the time he showed up, he never made it inside because of the number of folks that wanted to talk to him. The whole time I think he may have spoken about 15 words, what with other people trying to tell him their stories, sing him songs, and otherwise make an impression.

Between all the dancing, copious amounts of beer, and general goofiness, the night ended up a bit blurry. Fun but blurry…

0 Comments | Posted by Michael Spaly in Shows

I’m a huge fan of Northwest Folklife. Playing, attending, busking, and hearing but missing, are all things I enjoy about it. Never in one place have I seen so many different people making different kinds of music using different instruments (think “isn’t that a kitchen utensil? sure sounds good”).

Last weekend, Tully’s Coffee, lead sponsor of the festival, put on two preview showcases to get warmed up for Folklife. Sam Russell and the Harborrats were chosen to perform. Stripping things down and keeping it loose, it ended up just Sam, Allison Noel-Tullos, and myself. No practice, showed up with two instruments requiring restringing, and no expectations, nothing could keep us down. We knew all the songs very intimately and we played them as they wanted to be played that evening.

Jerin Falkner helped put on the show and it was great to catch up with her again. We had a similar experience of leaving Seattle, thinking we weren’t coming back, and ending up right back where we started. Olivia De La Cruz opened up. Her songs were almost all relationship based, and her ’stories behind the songs’ showed that clearly she hasn’t found a ‘keeper’ yet. She made a comment about how relationships are an endless cycle of new love, get together, break up, start over. At one point I may have felt that way, but I’m definitely not there anymore… Nice guitar work and real keen voice.

After the show we went down to May Thai to check out Mark Livingston’s new project The SummersetMom Bakery: Lounge versions of all your favorite classic rock tunes.

0 Comments | Posted by Michael Spaly in Shows

A crazy night at Pies and Pints. After a loooooong weekend after a looooooong week, the Sunday night residency at Pies and Pints rolled around. When we were kids and starting to get cranky, or sick, or hungry, or hot, or cold, etc… my Dad would always say “get some sleep, that’ll make you feel better”. While annoying to hear as a child, it often is the perfect solution. Needless to say, my sleep deprivation and consumption of a few pints made last night kind of slide into the ether.

The crowd mainly consisted of a group of kids that are good friends and came from all over the region (bellingham, portland, colorado). Bellingham’s Scarlett Runners kicked off the night with their old timey harmonies. Some nice mandolin licks there as well. When the second act wasn’t there on time, I asked a couple folks in the audience if they wanted to play a few tunes. I noticed the woman showing her buddy her newly acquired washboard, so it wasn’t far fetched that they knew what they were doing. They (Mongol Juice?) closed out their short set with a great rendition of Purple Rain! Next up we played some ‘hot bluegrass’ (Tom, Johnny, Pat, and myself). Following us, a couple touring guys that are intimate friends with the Nettlehoney crew played some solo sets. First was some really intricate guitar work, closing out with Stairway to Heaven. Next up was Grif Snyder of Denver’s Dovekins. He sang original songs in the vein of Feist & Flaming Lips. Everybody was singing along with him. By this time of night, everybody there was pretty good friends and it had a very campfire feel. We ended up playing a few more ‘hot bluegrass’ tunes with Tim Wettmiller and Milly ‘Racoon’ joining in on fiddles.

Our current sound setup seems to be by far the best and most versatile. It handled every group and their instruments/vocals perfectly. One large diaphragm condenser for vocals and two small diaphragm condensers for instruments.

A couple pics below…

0 Comments | Posted by Michael Spaly in Shows