Michael McDonald

So I'm obsessed with Michael McDonald.  Here's how it happened....

 

I've always been vaguely aware of Michael McDonald, that guy with the woofy sounding voice.  About 10 years ago, I was flipping through the channels when I came across a comedy special by Tommy Davidson.  He did a great Michael McDonald impression in his act.  It was funny, and it was spot on.  Here's a clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lonC3qKlguM

 

So after seeing this bit, I would laugh everytime I heard Michael McDonald on the radio.  I would try to do my own imitation, which was usually terrible.  After a while I started getting more familiar with the songs.  I wanted desparately do be able to do my own Michael McDonald impression.  I went out and bought the Doobie Bros. greatest hits and learned all his songs.  I even went as far as to record my own version of "What a fool Believes."  During that recording I realized something.  Singing like Michael McDonald is freakin hard!  Know why?  It's because Michael McDonald is unbelievably awesome.  What started as a joke turned into something completely different.  I became a Michael McDonald fan.  All I do is listen to the Michael McDonald station on Pandora.  I do Michael McDonald at gigs, and I try to sing all songs in the style of Michael McDonald.

 

Here's a related side story.  I was hanging out with the crew during the set-up at a BOC gig.  A well-respected pro audio manufacturer had just installed a brand new state of the art system at that particular venue, so their reps were there checking it out.  On this particular day, I did the entire line-check with our Front of House sound engineer, Woody.  I went through all the instruments and all the mikes doing, you guessed it...Michael McDonald.  After the line check was done, the audio reps approached me saying that they were supplying the touring gear for Michael McDonald, and they'd be interested hiring me to set Michael's vocal microphone at his gigs!  I don't know if they were serious, but it makes a good story!

 

So there it is.  Michael McDonald, is not silly, he's incredible.  Everything he does is awesome, and I worship the ground he walks on and the microphones he spits in.

 

-Richie

McCartney story

A guy named David Elkins went through the trouble of making a wikipedia page about me. It's very cool and he was very thorough in his research. He even put in something about me meeting Paul McCartney in high school. This bit of trivia was even displayed on the main wikipedia page yesterday.

On the wikipedia page this McCartney story is boiled down to about 2 lines. I figured this would be a good time to elaborate.

During my senior year of high school, 1998, my school music teacher, Lou Mannarino, got us tickets to see Paul McCartney perform on the Oprah Winfrey show. This was a huge thrill for us. We were all Beatles fans, and that spring we were putting on a Curtis High School symphony concert at Lincoln Center where the finale was to be "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End" from Abbey Road.

The Oprah show started and Sir Paul performed one of his latest songs live with help from himelf on accompanying video screens. On one screen he was playing bass, and on the other, drums while he played guitar and sang live. It was pretty freakin' cool. There was also the interview where he discussed the new album, and a bunch of other stuff. On the first commercial break, the screeners came through the audience to screen the questions audience members were going to ask Paul on the air. When they came to our row, we said that we wanted to ask Paul to play with us at Lincoln Center. The screener said something like, "absolutely not."

We were a little dissapointed, but that wasn't going to stop us. On the next commercial break me, and a girl whose name I can't remember right now, stood up and screamed in Unison, "Paul, will you play with us at our high school symphony concert at Lincoln Center?" He gave us this very playful shrug and replied with an enthusiastic, "Sure!" We went fucking nuts.

Now understand something, we just put the biggest rock star in the world on the spot, and he was cool as a cucumber. Although we got a verbal confirmation, some of us were still skeptical as to whether or not Paul actually intended to show up. He couldn't exactly say No in a room full of die hard fans. After the show, a reporter from the Daily News came up to us and said something like, "I saw the whole thing! I'm writing an article about this concert!" Now we were really going nuts. Not only did Paul McCartney agree to play with us, but there would be recorded proof in the Daily News confirming it.

The next few weeks were crazy. The news stations came down to our school. On my sister's wedding day, I had to do a tv interview before the ceremony! It was a frenzy. This was a very exciting time for all of us, but unfortunately there is a downside to this story.

Sadly, Paul's wife Linda passed away a few months later, and understandably, he was unable to perform at our concert. The show did go on, but without Paul. Instead, some of the students sang Paul's parts. I was lucky enough to be one of those students. I got to sing Golden Slumbers at Lincoln Center. It was really cool.

I remember we were really tight-lipped about what Beatles songs we were doing. It was a big secret. I convinced my uncle to come to the concert, and I remember begging my grandparents to come. It was a really difficult task to get Marion and Phil Castellano to close the music store and leave Brooklyn for evening, but after relentless begging on my part, they agreed to come. So when we went into Golden Slumbers, one of my fondest memories was looking out at my family and seeing their faces light up as they realized what songs we were about to play. My grandmother passed away a few years after that, and I'm so grateful to have that happy memory of her in that moment.

So there's my whole Paul McCartney story. I got to have a very short conversation with my hero, but I never got to play with him. Maybe one day......

Stuff

Happy Independence Day!  We just played a ribfest in Illinois.  It was a good show.  Half our gear didn't make it on the plane with us, but luckily we had enough to get the job done.

 

I think we've come to a point where air travel is completely screwed.  So far we've had to deal with delayed flights, canceled flights, excessive charges, and missing luggage on many, many occasions.  It's like they're in the business of bad business.  I know everyone who has to travel for a living complains about air travel, but this summer is the worst yet.  The just screw with people, and lie to cover their tracks.  It's like they all go to training seminars on how to lie and the semantics of wording things to avoid liability.

 

Even though the travel is rough, it is nice to be playing.  BOC is a great bunch of guys and even when stranded in an airport, we can make each other laugh.  One plus to spending a lot of time on planes is that you get to devote a nice chunk of time to reading/iPod.  I've been catching up on Lost.  I just got to season 4.  While it's no Battlestar Galactica, it certainly is entertaining and it gets you hooked pretty quickly.  I especially enjoy the dialogue of the character Sawyer. That's some really funny stuff. 

I've also been reading more comics lately. There's a really great comic shop near me called Comic Book Jones.  I really like the atmosphere there and the people who work there are great.  Anyway, I'm really into DC stuff, especially Batman.  I'm currently reading the Return of Bruce Wayne, which is just awesome.  I can't wait for the next issue.  As cool as the Batman movies are, they never seem to nail the Bruce Wayne character like the comics.  Hopefully, we'll get to see more of Bruce Wayne, the Tactical Mastermind/Genius Detective in the next movie.

 

For a while I kept the comics thing to myself, but then I began to realize that a lot people are reading these things.  This weekend alone, I met 5 middle aged men with families and real jobs (including a physics professor) who are avid comics readers.  It's like a secret society.  We need a password and a handshake.

 

One thing I'm not happy about in the world of DC is this new Wonder Woman crap.  This is supposed to segue into a movie where they ignore a 70 year legacy of the most famous Super Heroine ever.  Don't they realize that people hate when they do this?  If you're wondering what the heck I'm talking about then let me backtrack.  They're giving wonder woman a new costume and a new persona.  Supposedly, this idea came from the heads of Warner Brothers in an attempt to modernize her and make her movie ready.  Sorry guys, but I think all of us want to see the classic armor and not a leather body suit.  Unbelievable.

 

Aside from the books,  I've also checking out some of the old Superman radio shows.  Whenever we do ground travel, I usually travel with our Tour Manager.  I downloaded these shows to pass the time.  They're actually really good.  It's total cheese, but in a good way.  The organist on these shows is awesome.  The guy is playing his ass off.  A funny thing about these radio shows is that they left the original Public Service Announcements intact.  It's amazing how different things were before everything had to be Politically Correct.  It's like no one can laugh at themselves anymore.

 

Back to serious stuff.  I've made some changes to my BOC gear.  I'm using ENGL stuff now.  It's really heavy.  Right now I just have the preamp but eventually, I hope to go totally ENGL.  I also picked up a really cool piece from Voodoo Lab called the Control Switcher.  It has 4 jacks that you connect to the footswitch jacks on your guitar amp.  Then you can pick any combination and save it as a preset which can be changed via the MIDI jack!  For example, my ENGL preamp has the following footswitch functions.  1) Clean/Dirty, 2) Gain Boost,  3) Mid Boost.  I plug each of these jacks into the Control Switcher which is connected Via MIDI to my TC Nova System Effects Pedal.  When I hit preset 1 on the pedal it switches my amp to Clean, with no boosts.  Preset 1 is a Chorus/Long Delay which I use for songs like "Harvest Moon" and "Shooting Shark."  So by hitting that one button on the pedal, is switches my effects and the amp.  When I hit preset 2, it switches the amp to Dirty, with no boosts.  Preset 2 is dry, but I have effects that I can add as I'm playing.  My Nova is setup so I can turn effects on and off within presets like stomp boxes.  I have a slap delay that I use for the Vigil, the Burnin' For You Flanger, and the Rudy-Medley Chorus all ready to go when I need them.  Preset 3 switches the amp to Dirty with all the boosts.  That preset also pulls up a Medium Delay.  I have other effects in that preset as well.  There's a chorus, and a C Major harmonizer there for the extremely rare occasion that I'd have to play Burnin for You by myself.

 

The coolest thing is that I also programmed this rig to work with rental gear.  We've been using it with the Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifiers and it works like a champ.  The only difference in the effects setup is that I add a little EQ to preset 3 to make the tone a little less buzzy which is an inherent characteristic of those amps.

 

Aside from all of the BOC gigs, I'm also in the middle of filming the next 2 tiger's fang movies.  I really didn't want to start filming during the BOC busy season, but a limited time opportunity to shoot in a really cool location just opened up and I had to do it while it was available.  It's just really crazy right now because I'm also in the middle of moving, so I have a lot of things going on.  We still have more stuff to shoot too.  I probably wont be able to start the post production on this one until we're settled in the new place, so in all honesty, I'd probably say I can have it out by November.  I know all the people who helped us with these movies is dying to see them, but all I can say is, be patient guys.  It'll be worth the wait.  So far it's completely awesome and is on a totally different level from the others.  The production value keeps getting better, but with that comes more work for me.  The first tiger's fang movie was a silly thing we did on a whim.  It took me a couple of hours to make.  Now they are elaborate productions that take weeks of planning, and months of post production which includes me and Steve Corn spending hours staring at a computer screen.  I have to say the biggest difference in this one is the amount of great people we have working on it.  Everyone is so charismatic about it.  When you have a bunch of people all working toward the same goal, it's amazing what you can do.

 

I've also mapped out the rest of the Tiger's Fang films.  To be honest, we've already shot footage for Tiger's Fang 7, 8, 9 and 10!  7 and 8 are mostly done.  We have about half of 9, and a quarter of 10.   And I plan to do a few more after 10 so stay tuned!

 

One final note.  As soon as BOC busy season is over, I'm looking forward to getting back to my local stuff.  Hopefully, I'll be able to do the Painter's jam more often, and I also really want to record something with MorningStarlett. 

 

Thanks,

-Richie

Why it takes 21 hours to get from St. Louis to New York.

I feel it's my duty to inform people of the way American Airlines conducts business.  Basically they lie as much as possible until they're caught, at that point they make up a new lie to cover up the first one.  Finally when the truth comes out, you almost always discover that they lie to save money and basically don't care about totally screwing their customers.  Luckily, there was one AA employee who told it to us straight.

 

Remember the Jet Blue flight where they made the passengers sit on the runway for 9 hours?  Well, since then the Federal Government passed a law stating that if a plane sits on the runway for more than 3 hours, the airline will be fined $25,000 per passenger.  That's a potential fine of $1 million for a flight.  No one has been fined yet since the law was passed.  American Airlines' method of avoiding this fine is rather shady.

 

If air traffic control says there's congestion at the airport to which you are flying, they'll simply cancel the flight.  If there is congestion at the arrival location, then there's a very small possibility that the plane could be on the runway for more than 3 hours.  So rather than get their stuff together, they just avoid doing their jobs altogether.  For them it's financially sound because they don't have any risk on their part, but they never have an acceptable contingency plan for the passengers they are stranding.  Case in point is what happened to us yesterday.

 

At 9 am after being informed our flight was canceled, we were told that all other New York flights were sold out.  Our best option was to fly to Washington DC, rent cars, and drive home.  Of course the DC flight was delayed so by the time we got to Washington National airport it was Midnight.  After returning the rental car at Newark, I got home at 6:15 am.

 

I think that treating customers like this is unacceptable and something needs to be done about unethical ways in which Airlines conduct their business.

Video Games vs. Art Critics

Roger Ebert, a film critic who I respect, said that video games aren't art. OK, of course he's entitled to his opinion...so are you and I. I've actually heard quite a few people argue this point.

To put it as eloquently and articulately as possible...this is a load of shit. This argument should be resolved by simple fact that it takes just as many (if not more) skilled artists to make the average video game than it does to make the average movie.

Star Wars: The Old Republic video game has more actors than any of the star wars movies. So I don't understand what these people are arguing?

On any given major video game there are graphic artists, animators, actors, motion capture performers, composers, script writers, musicians, composers, engineers, producers, concept artists etc... So I'm supposed to believe that these great artists are not creating art on video game projects?

I think that interactivity is on the horizon for art, and a lot of people (especially film directors) are going to have a hard time handing the reins over to the audience. I can relate, I don't know how I would feel about someone changing my songs from the way I want them to be.

Maybe I experience games differently than other people. I stop to look out windows, I never skip cutscenes, I look at textures, walk around objects so I can hear them pan around in surround sound, watch how my shadow bounces off objects... I don't understand how these components can all be art, but cease to be art once they are put together.

I've had the pleasure of working on a few video games. There are definitely talented artists working at the game companies and to say that what they're doing is not art just seems wrong to me.

What do you think?

Booking gigs is hard work.

For the first 16 years of my musical life, I booked almost all the gigs. I wasn't good at it. I never got many great paying gigs, and I was very easily bullied by shady club owners. I dreaded the process of constant phone calls, meetings, making press kits...remaking press kits, etc... In the end all that hard work was rewarded with getting crummy gigs for low pay. But, at least we were working.

When I started doing club dates and playing with BOC, I was very thankful that someone else was booking the gigs. When I went back to booking my own gigs I found it even more difficult. I lost some of my nerve/business sense, and had to build it up again. What made things even more difficult was that there were more bands and fewer venues.

My point is this: Booking gigs sucks and it's really hard. It takes patience, persistence, and it means developing relationships with some people who do everything they possibly can to NOT pay you. So after you do all this work, what do you get? You get to hear every member of your band complain to you. Why are we starting so late? Why are we starting so early? Really, 3 sets? Is this all you're paying me? Why won't this place give us free drinks? I don't want to play at this place anymore, why don't you book us somewhere else? Why do we have to bring people? Why can't my girlfriend get in for free? And on and on.

Now that I'm in a position where musician friends of mine are putting me on their gigs, I always make sure to say thank you. Thank you for booking this gig and putting me on it.

Believe me, after weeks or months of going back and forth with club owners the last things someone wants to hear is you complain about the gig they just busted their ass to get you.

So the moral of the story is: If a musician friend of yours gets you a gig, say thanks.

-Richie

PS: if you don't start saying thanks, your gig booking musician friend will stop calling you for gigs, book solo acoustic gigs for himself and be happier, he doesn't care who you play with, stop being a dick.

Japan Day 10

This is the day we left Japan.  Since our flight was in the evening, Ann Marie and I went to Asakusa before we had to check out of the hotel.  We visited the outdoor market stalls right near the train station.  This was interesting to check out, but once again, I was disappointed to see the same stuff here that I'd seen everywhere else.  This market was a massive tourist trap.

 

On the whole, I loved our Japan trip.  We got to experience so many amazing things.  I felt like I was finally getting the hang of Tokyo just as we had to leave.  I guess I'll have to save that knowledge for next time. The people were mostly very friendly and helpful to tourists.

 

I really enjoyed the Japanese language.  Even though I only knew a few phrases, I got around with no problems, and speaking the language was a lot of fun.

 

Since the exchange rate was so crappy, it was easy to spend money very quickly if you weren't careful.

 

My biggest regret is that we didn't get to see Mount Fuji.  Ann Marie was particularly disappointed by this.  Unfortunately, the weather just wasn't clear enough for a Fuji trip.  It was also really expensive to visit Fuji and quite a time commitment, so to go through all the trouble of getting there just to not see the mountain and get rained on all day would have sucked.

 

If I had to do it again, I'd probably take more day trips, and spend a little less time in Tokyo.  I loved Tokyo, but Kyoto was just so beautiful that it's hard to top.

 

-Richie