Archived News—2006

20 January

There are new reviews of Delta, here.

Gearing up for recording the next Mentones disc 28/29 January. Hope to have it out in April or so. Wish us luck.

Also gearing up for recording Lane Ends Merge Left sometime in the late spring (if all goes well), probably for release sometime in 2007.

17 February

New pics of Lane Ends Merge Left (thanks Ken Luey!)

The Mentones recording went well and now it's on to mixing.

More new reviews of Delta, here. (One is LAME, tho'.)

30 March

The Mentones disc (Nowhere Calling) is now mixed and the master and the artwork are going out to be manufactured this next week. I think it kicks pretty hard. The amazing Wayne Peet did a bang-up job recording and mixing it and the band plays pretty darned well if i say so . . . coming out in early May (I hope) on pfMENTUM.

Also, I've been remiss in mentioning that I've been on two discs that recently came out:

Ellen Burr's Duos.

The Choir Boys with Strings - - which is Jeff Kaiser, Andrew Pask, GE Stinson and Me.

Both have been added to the CDs page.

Also updated the links page (too big, made it into smaller pages).

5 April

Put in the bass players page.

Also created a Choir Boys with Strings reviews page.

Fixed up the Mentones page a little and started getting the site ready for our new release.

11 May

Been crazy-busy . . . played at some micro fests here in SoCal - - loads o' fun. Got more gigs soon - - see the calendar page.

Posted more reviews on the Choir Boys with Strings reviews page - - and more new reviews of Delta, here.

Mentones second disc is almost ready for its close-up . . . a few more days and it's gonna be announced. Here's its page, a little something to see before it's really "here."

14 June

Mentones second disc is here! Here's its page. It's called "Nowhere Calling," available on pfmentum records. The pfmentum page for the disc is here.

08 July

Crazy-busy trying to get ready for the 27 July at Cryptonight (see the calendar page) that's going to be two pieces from Pomegranate as well as some new writing and some stuff that's old but never been heard. Come on down! Special guests are Nels Cline, Vinny Golia and Wayne Peet.

Also, posted new reviews for the Mentones' Nowhere Calling. Some people seem to like it!

31 July

Well that's over.

Been recuperating from the 27 July 50 B-Day Gig (it was a lot of work - - big thanks to everyone concerned, see the archived calendar page for names). I think it was a success . . .

Did a new piece for Wayne Peet (the shimmering light of each assent), which I finished writing specially for this occasion, plus the two older tunes from Pomegranate for Nels Cline and Vinny Golia. Those three for KammerStig - - I played and conducted. Also did the second-ever performance of Capricorn, which I wrote for Jeff Gauthier and an expanded version of his Goatette, as well as the premiere of Transformer, written for David Witham and the Goatette. (I conducted only on those two.)

That's right, we did two "world premieres."

People seemed to like it . . .

I'll post

some pics at some point.

24 August

Updated the reviews pages for the Mentones' Nowhere Calling and Stigtette's Delta. Also made a new picture page for the 27 July 50 B-Day Gig, here.

And have a page for an interview that L.A. writer Rex Butters did of me in the August L.A. edition of All About Jazz, here.

20 Sept

Updated reviews pages for the Mentones' Nowhere Calling and Choir Boys with Strings.

Things are changing in the L.A. music scene - - well at least in my part of it. Venues being sold, others needing proper permits . . . all meaning cancelled gigs and fewer places to play in the foreseeable future.

Bummer.

23 Oct

Well this stuff all went down about a week and a half ago, but two of L.A.'s main places to play the kind of stuff I do (whatever you want to call it) are both on hiatus. One (Cryptonight) is looking for a new venue (the restaurant where it was held was sold), the other (Rocco's at Cafe Metropol) is having to deal with permit hassles. Hopefully both will be up and running again next year.

Wish us luck . . .

09 Nov

Had the world premiere (that sounds so important) of the new Minim (version two) material - - think it was pretty successful - - on 05 November in Eagle Rock, then did a workshop of that material for a jazz forum up at California Institute of the Arts (thanks David Roitstein!) . . think that went well too. Looks like we'll do some more playing in January and then record.

Some pics (thanks Ken!) from the Open Gate gig are on the Minim page and the bands pics page . . .

Also had the first get-together of a group with Scot Ray (dobro), Dan Clucas (cornet), Joe Berardi (drumset) and me. Kind of like the Mentones but not . . . seven tunes and counting.

Now just doing some writing and trying to get some other stuff together.

27 Nov

Too full from Thanksgiving . . .

The interview with All About Jazz that I did back in August has hit the Internet in a longer version. I have it on its own page, here.

Been writing more for the dobro/cornet quartet. Need to finish one more tune and then I need to finish up on last piece for something called Panharmonicon . . . before the end of the year.

11 Dec

Put up a new page for something I call the Tee-Tot Quartet, here. It's got some sound files of rehearsal takes of new music that's a skewed version of American vernacular music (well, sorta).

19 Dec

Finished the Panharmonicon Suite - - roughly 70 minutes of what I call "shiny surfaces, slamming grooves" . . .

Also finished the book for the Tee-Tot Quartet. Gigs coming in May (this is what happens when three-quarters of the band live in L.A. and one-quarter lives in Montana).