Open windows

Dan will record guitar, vocals, harmonica on Friday.  I will record the violin part on Saturday.  

Tonight we practiced at my place.  I am back to playing the violin I love, for a week or two, because we are recording with acoustic instruments.  So I get to play my 100% acoustic violin.

Hilariously enough, considering how much I've complained about the other violin, it took a few days to get used to playing my favorite violin again.  It is so much smaller.  I've been practicing a lot of scales for a few days just to get the fingers automatic again.  

Tonight we played through all the new songs as the sun set.  So much fun.  While we played the room slowly darkened.  At some point I turned on a light.  Dan made a suggestions about a section that could use violin.  I improvised until I found a few workable harmonies.

The windows were wide open.  At one point I thought, "I had better close the sliding glass door so I don't get a mean letter from the (one) irate neighbor."  But when I walked to the balcony, a neighbor was standing outside on the street, clapping!  He had been standing outside listening.   I walked out onto the balcony and said hello.  He said he loved it.  He said all the neighbors were walking around saying how good it was.

"Not just good, great," he said.
"I was worried it was bothering the neighbors," I said.
"Not when it sounds like this," he returned.

He said he played guitar and was taking songwriting lessons.  Dan asked where, and as it turns out he was taking from Ruth in San Carlos.

"We know her."
"We have opened for her before," we said.

Small world.   

Letter to Dan and the Beautiful Violin Player

I would be remiss if I did not mention that Dan and I played at The Wine Bar in Half Moon Bay on Oct 6.

It was a magical night.  Finally, everything with the new setup seemed more comfortable.   I was once again able to get around the violin and improvise.  (Relief.) A cluster of couples and singles sat around the bar, listening and drinking wine.   On my breaks I sat with them at the bar.  One couple said they had come because Claudia (the owner) said we were so wonderful.  The woman said she played violin "when she was 3" but had quit after a few years.  The guy said he played trombone in junior high but he was so bad that they asked him to pretend to play. "Just blow like this."  He blew air.

The bartender kept coming over to make sound suggestions.   We tweaked until the violin and guitar levels were right.  She remained troubled by the vocal sound quality (not Dan's voice; but the system).    Later when I went to the bar to hang out, she mentioned she had worked with Neil Young for years.  She said he was an incredible perfectionist about sound, everything.  I mentioned that a few people we played for at Applejacks in La Honda said they knew him; they were neighbors.  One said he had partied with him.  She said the bikers think they know him, but "ask them if they have ever been at the ranch?"

It seems Neil Young is a legend in these parts - around the Northern California Coast.  The bars practically whisper of his presence.  I have been listening to his "Love is a Rose" over and over.   To me, the idea of letting love exist undisturbed, "unplucked," makes it seem even more palpable, precious, powerful in its untouchability.

At the end of the evening we found a napkin addressed to "Dan and the Beautiful Violin Player."  It said they loved the music but sometimes couldn't understand the words.

Watching the videos

I just listened to a bunch of recordings of our recent shows.

!  Amazing !   The new violin setup DOES sound better (at amp'd gigs).   Even with the kiddie violin.

And...  There is NO WAY to tell from the recordings that my fingers are jelly.   It looks pretty normal up there.  Sure it's sedate...yes.    But I do agree, the sound system more than makes up for it.   It's a lot more polished than some of the earlier recordings, sans LR Baggs pre-amp, sans Realist under-bridge pickup mic, sans Dark Chocolate cables.

Who knew?!

It's pretty funny how you can have a completely unrealistic idea of how you look/sound up there...til you see the video & hear the recording.  

Interlude and adventure

Two days ago (Thursday Sept 29), Dan (guitar/harmonica/vocals), Justin (percussion/vocals) and I (violin) played at Pasta Moon in Half Moon Bay.   Imagine hardwood floors; clean, cube-and-rectangle chairs and sofas; one row of gauzy white film drapes hanging from the ceiling.   I love this place.   The group listening included smiling couples; best girlfriends in glamorous poses; a solo guy who said he had the same guitar as Dan; and the drinkers at the bar.

Fast forward to midway through our set.  Justin and Dan gave me more and more room to solo; egging me on with the tilt of the head, the strumming of the guitar.  Now normally I can improvise all over the place.   But this was only the second time since high school that I had performed using this violin.   After my solo I whispered to Justin, "It's challenging to solo right now...I have changed my setup."  "Oh, you changed your strings?"  "I changed everything.  Different violin, strings, pickup, chinrest, preamp, cables."

After each of the first few songs, Marc (my French-fiance-and-music-critic) walked up with a polite but determined air to recommend adjustments to the sound.    Regarding any matters of taste, Marc is one of the most honest people I have ever met.   I appreciate this.  Marc says "yes" or "no" without sugarcoating, whenever I try out a new harmony offstage.    This time, Marc pointed out rasps we did not hear; and made a few 1-millimetre volume adjustments.  Apparently, "ca fait toute la difference."

Marc loved the smooth sound created by the new pickup and preamp, but he wondered why my solos were so sedate.  "It's not like you...what others love about you playing violin is that you are so great at improvising.  But tonight you did not."  I confessed my struggles with the new fingerboard and string action.  I will see if this violin eventually feels more comfortable.  If it does not, I will replace it.

For me, music is both an interlude (from work) and an adventure.  You play on stage where everyone can hear you; you meet people you'd never have met; you experience different venues, from festivals to old-time bars to cool restaurants; you try different sound setups, new songs, alternative harmonies; and you adjust as you go.   And in this and other aspects of my life, I keep re-discovering that taking some risk leads to relaxation.

At the end of the night, we all sat down at a table and melted into the chairs.    I can attest that the cod was succulent.  The others reported that the arugula pizza was just the right combination of health and sin; veggie and crisp crust; green and salt.