I recently received this email notice from Music Connection Magazine. Check it out.

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the untimely death of pioneer rocker Buddy Holly, and to commemorate it Music Connection’s website is featuring a remarkable mp3 for your listening pleasure: it’s a fascinating long-distance phone conversation between a then little-known Buddy Holly and the president of the label that had just dropped him. Bottom line: the ever polite but persistent Holly is heard getting the old heave-ho from The Man. The conversation (recorded by Holly on his own reel-to-reel tape machine) is heartbreaking (considering Holly’s impending death in a plane crash), supremely ironic (in light of the legendary heights that this artist would soon attain), but ultimately inspirational today to any struggling artist who hears it.

Take this opportunity to eavesdrop on this incredible piece of music history by going to http://www.musicconnection.com/. In the upper left of our Home Page you’ll find the Holly clip on the “Music Connection Channel.”

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At the recent NAMM show in Anaheim, CA, one of our Namba Gear neighbors were the guys from IMSTA. The International Music Software Trade Association (IMSTA) is a nonprofit association which represents the interests of the music software industry. IMSTA’s primary goal is to change end-user behavior in order to reduce the demand for pirated software. I had some lively discussions with IMSTA’s executive director, Paul Fattahi about why people and especially musicians might feel perfectly warranted about using cracked software.

This got me to thinking about a visit to Buenos Aires with my friend and associate Chris Adams of Studio Sound International. One day we had lunch with a very famous Latin American drummer, whom I was surprised to learn was also on the forefront of technology. I was surprised that he was technology fluent not because he was from Latin America, but because he was a drummer. (OK, I promise, no more drummer jokes.) As we talked about various music software, it seemed that our drummer had just about every piece of music software on the planet. When questioned about this, he boasted that he had cracked versions of everything and had paid little, if anything, for the majority of his software collection.

Now I wouldn’t claim that I was “without software sin” in my past, but his attitude just pushed my buttons. I couldn’t help myself and confronted him by asking if it would be OK if I distributed a pirated copy of his latest CD? Or if I came to one of his shows, took a line out of the main console and recorded the show, then made a CD of their live show and distributed it or posted it on the Internet for anyone to download for free? Now I had pushed his buttons and you would have thought that I was Dr. Evil by his reaction.

You get the point I’m sure. Whether you are a songwriter/performer or a software developer, everyone would like to be reimbursed for their labor (even if it is a labor of love). It’s not right for someone to steal your songs or your performances and it’s not right to steal software.

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(or an Italian View of American Holiday Home Decorating)

Being devoted to exploring the diversity of different cultures, I thought that I would share this little story of cultural differences that caught me by surprise. I was in Chicago, IL several years back and had hooked up with my Italian friend (and fantastic pianist) Enzo Boccerro. It was a about a week before Christmas, so the shops and many of the houses were well decorated for the holiday season.

I met up with Enzo on the last night before he flew back to Italy; we had dinner but before we hit a blues club for some live music, Enzo asked me if I knew where he could get a cheap bag to transport some recent purchases on-board the airplane. Enzo had purchased some music software, some computer memory, and a few other odds & ends and just needed a “one use & OK to toss” sort of bag. So I took him to Walmart for a small cheap nylon duffel bag.

As we walked through Walmart to find the bag dept., we passed an impressive display of the most hideous Christmas decorations I have ever seen. There were strings of LED tracer ropes, 3-foot tall tracer candy canes, strobing wreaths, three sizes of Santa with accompanying elves, reindeer and sleigh. The most awful decorations were the 2-foot tall plastic figurines of the three wise men, assorted animals, Joseph, Mary and of course, baby Jesus in a cradle.

Enzo stopped in dismay. “Wooody,(the extra “o” in my name is the way that Enzo pronounced it) what is this?” I wound up having to explain the concept of the way Americans decorate the exterior of their houses, with lights & signage, and yes even cheap plastic figurines of Baby Jesus.

“Why does Baby Jesus have a hole in his ass?”

With a look of disbelief, Enzo picked up one of the plastic Wise Men, looked at it and put it down. Then he picked up the figurine of Mary, looked at it and put it down. Finally he looked at Plastic Baby Jesus and said, “Wooody, why does Baby Jesus have a hole in his ass? In fact, Mary and the Wise Men also have a hole in their ass? …what is this?” So now we have another explanation about putting small lights inside the figures so that they light up at night. Enzo looked at me like I was telling him the biggest lie of the century and having a big joke at his expense. When I assured him that I was telling the truth, and asked about Italian customs, he told me that of course Italians decorate the shops with lights, but homes are decorated more discretely with wreaths that do not strobe and red ribbons and candles.

“Stop the car, I just saw Plastic Baby Jesus IN ACTION!!”

Enzo purchased his bag and we took off, with me driving the car. We were on one of those major streets that only has occasional stoplights at other major streets,  with suburbs on each side of us. Enzo was staring out the window, really noticing the house decorations for the first time. All of a sudden Enzo shouts, “Wooody, stop the car, I just saw Plastic Baby Jesus IN ACTION!!!” At Enzo’s insistence, I had to go about 1/2 mile and turn into the housing subdivision to look for Enzo’s Plastic Baby Jesus. We found it.

It appeared that the owner’s of this modest little home had spent the family fortune at Walmart and purchased every awful, distasteful, hideous exterior Christmas decoration that Walmart offers. The tracer-light candy canes were lined up so tightly on either side of the short driveway that it looked like an airport runway. The complete Santa scene was perched at an alarming angle on the roof. A complete mishmash of competing flashing lights and tracer strings encircled the house. The wreath on the door strobed, and best of all… There was the biblical manger scene beneath a Live Oak tree… complete with Plastic Baby Jesus. The look on Enzo’s face was priceless, as he now knew exactly how Americans decorate their homes for Christmas.

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One of the things that I always notice as I view our Namba Gear friends on MySpace is the “tag line” beside the musician’s or band’s name. Some of you guys use it to promote a new song or new CD release, some use it to confirm an artist’s official MS site, while other just ignore it completely. But the coolest thing is when the tag is used to extend an emotion onto the page. Namba Gear now unveils the five categories of MySpace tag lines, with some great examples for useage. We have provided links to all of the artist’s myspace pages so that you can check them out. Our comments are in italics at the end of each category.

The Love Sluts

• Simply being loved. BT
• Love, and do what you will. Brett Tuggle
• Power to the Peaceful. Vivek Maddala
• The present is a gift. Adam Absinthe (actor, musician, make up artist, model, writer, illustrator, and more…)
• Life is priceless. Ali Ghanavi

To BT, Tug & Vivek I love you and there is no disrespect intended, please embrace the term “love slut”. To Adam, who doesn’t seem to know what he is or what he is doing on any day of the week, and Ali thanks for your sincerity.

Motivation Haitian

• Only those who risk going far, know how far 2 go! Junior Sanchez
• Dream a dream and make it happen! Annalee
• Dream big, Live large, or Die average Troy Castellano
• Music begins where the power of words ends. Lilie Parm

I think that it is very cool that we try to encourage one another, especially to the extent of exposing our personal affirmations to the world. Of course as artists we should be used to exposing ourselves. (Stop it. Be nice.)

Was that a joke?

• ‘cuz reading the manual SUCKS! HowAudio.com
• Life is like a beanstalk. Isn’t it? Alvah
• How much for the Ukulele? Adam Levy
• We will rock your city for free golf… View From Everest
• Jazz-rock saves the Universe!!! Adam Holzman & Brave New World
• My neighbor’s dog’s girlfriend loves my songs. Elle

This has got to be my favorite category of tag lines, but sometimes they leave you wondering. I believe that I am pretty enlightened, and then my old friend Alvah Rob comes up with something like this. I had never considered life being like a beanstalk and yet there is an assumption that I should have not only considered, but digested this thought… and agree with it!. Another old friend, Adam probably didn’t intend his comment to come under the joke category, but in my humble opinion, this is where his tag seemed to fit.

A Musical Reference for the IN Group

• Grooves, melodies and vibes of the world united. Global Noize
• I want to play how I feel in every moment. Mike Garson
• “Don’t play what’s there, play what’s not there.” Miles Davis Daren Burns
• “There is no such thing as a limited instrument, only limited musicians.” Howard Johnson” Pete Levin
• Putting an octave in your life would make a difference, a BIG difference. Nikos Piperis

This is another fun category. If you are a musician you understand these comments on a deeper level than the plebian citizen. I don’t know about you, but I enjoy the occasional brief moments of superiority. I really don’t know what Pete is doing quoting the HJ motel / diner king. (or is there another Howard Johnson?)J

The Other Brother

• Dreadful but quiet war of organic beings. Andy West
• Analogue girl in a digital world… invasion. Erykah Badu
• This is what it sounds like when computers cry. James Bernard
• Winter Anon

These are the tag lines that stand alone. They are few and far between and make you think. The minimalism of Anon’s single word is chilling. My buddy Andy, of Dixie Dregs fame, will always get the brain juices going. Erykah and P-head James explain their music with a single phrase that makes you want to take action and hear what they have to say.

Have you got a good MySpace tag line to share? Send it our way.

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This story definitely fits under the Namba Gear Tribal Drums (miscellaneous) category. For this episode of “Travels From A Musician’s Point of View”, I was attending the Frankfurt Musik Messe (Music Fair) with a business associate. After a couple of days at the trade show, and having tired of the traditional German food (pork; not that there is anything wrong with that), we decided to try and find an Indian restaurant for our dinner.

We went to the taxi stand and were fortunate to find that our driver spoke a little English. We told him that we wanted to find a really good Indian restaurant and he assured us that he knew the best place in Frankfurt, the food was fantastic, and that he even took his family to this restaurant. Great, off we went.

As we entered the packed Indian restaurant, the smell of the curries and spices convinced us that we had indeed found The Promised Land. Traditional Indian decorations and the soft sound of tabla drums and sitar music completed the ambiance. The owner of the restaurant, complete with turban, came over to our table to take our order.

Maybe because our hair was a little longer (my associate’s hair was in a ponytail), or the Dave Matthews Band t-shirt I was wearing under my leather jacket, the owner asked if we were musicians. We told him that we were in town for the Musik Messe and were certainly in the music business. That was all it took.

Do You Like AC/DC?

Excitedly, the restaurant owner asked if we liked AC/DC. We both replied sure, they are a great rock band. Now the owner launched into an excited and animated description of the AC/DC concert in Munich that he had recently attended; how hard AC/DC rocked; how great their show was; etc. We tried to bring him back to the menu and our order of food, but now that he knew he had found some “fellow believers”, he dismissed our attempts and just said that he would serve us the special for a big discount. OK, that sounded good.

The owner left and was gone about 3 minutes when we noticed that the sitar music had been turned off. 30 seconds later… Highway to Hell blasted through the speakers at what had to be close to the maximum volume. The owner appeared from the kitchen in time to do a head-banger’s impersonation of a lead guitar player. I’m certain that our mouths dropped open, as this was just an amazing sight. We watched in dismay as we witnessed an Indian head-banger’s turban wildly bouncing to the beat as he thrashed his air guitar. The restaurant cleared of it’s customers almost immediately and within 10 minutes of AC/DC’s musical debut, along with the entertainment of the bouncing head-banger’s turban, we were literally the only customers left in the place.

We made great friends with the restaurant owner, who seemed oblivious to the fact that he had just run off all of his regular customers. And yes, we listened to AC/DC for our dinner music (although at a lower volume) and the food was indeed fantastic.

Got a good musician’s travel story? Feel free to share…

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In continuing my story of the wonderful things we learned in J. Maarten Troost’s book, Getting Stoned with Savages, we’ll push ahead to the “getting stoned” part of the book. If you haven’t read the first bit ‘o blog,  go to: The Danger Of Reading Travel Essays When You Are Trying To Name Your Company. But first, I want to give my disclaimer right here and now that I/we do not endorse nor condone nor even suggest non-prescription or illegal narcotic usage, but only present the following information for the edification of our interested readers… whom we are sure would never imbibe or participate in any illegal narcotic usage themselves. OK, then.

Kava is a (quite legal regionally) narcotic liquid that is used in Fiji, Kiribati, Vanuatu and the South Pacific islands in general. We even stumbled upon some photos of Prince Charles having a shell of Kava. Some cultures reserve it for special celebrations; others restrict the use to men only, while other cultures think of Kava like we think of “happy hour” at the neighborhood bar. So pay close attention as here is what Mr. Troost has to say on the subject.

We Humans Are A Mysterious Species

“Fortunately, I was now in Vanuatu, where getting profoundly stoned every night is a venerable tradition. In the gold hour before sunset, the men of Vanuatu gather in a nakamal, typically a clearing under a banyan tree, where they consume kava, which, to the uninitiated, is the most wretchedly foul-tasting beverage ever concocted by Man. Kava derives from Piper methysticum, a pepper shrub that thrives high in the hills of Vanuatu. Traditionally, the kava is prepared by having prepubescent boys chew the root until it becomes a mulch of pulp and saliva, whereupon it is squeezed through coconut fiber, mixed with water, and swallowed all in one go from a coconut shell. Pondering this, you have to wonder And whose idea was that? I could not think of any circumstance where it would occur to me that consuming some kid’s globby spitballs might enhance my well-being. But we humans are a mysterious species, willing to try anything for a buzz, and fortunately for us, a long time ago, somewhere in Vanuatu, and enterprising individual discovered the secret to the most satisfying narcotic available for our pleasure.”

A few pages later in the book, we have this exchange.

“It doesn’t look very appetizing,” Sylvia said. “It looks like muddy water.”

“Wait till you taste it,” Patricia added. “You’ll wish it was muddy water.”

…What concerned me, however, was not the taste but the possibility that this bowl of swirling brown liquid may have had as one of its essential ingredient the spit of unseen boys, which, frankly, I found a little off-putting.

…Those of us who had had more than a couple of shells had become strangely mute, as if lost in some distant reverie. I was happy to note that I wasn’t the only one who had lost the urge to speak. This wasn’t from any lack of sociability on my part. Indeed, I was beginning to feel as one with all. Sam was seated next to me on the bench. He turned to me and said apropos of nothing: “America.” It wasn’t a question, just a word, an image, an idea, and it hovered between us for a long moment, enveloping us. We silently communed about this thing called America. “Yes,” I said finally, after we had exhausted the topic.

…It was two days before I returned to Earth, and many more before I ventured to another nakamal. I felt like I had been mugged, taken unawares, slugged from behind, and now I was wary. …”I asked the people at work, ” Sylvia said, “And they said you had way too much kava. You should have stopped at two shells.”

“Well, maybe they should put a warning label on their kava.”

So with this little story, we bring you the Kava Laptop Studio Bag from Namba Gear, which like the earlier disclaimer has nothing whatsoever to do with illegal drug usage; and I know that you are scratching your head looking for the tie-in for the bowl of Kava and a laptop bag. Let me put your mind at rest… other than the fact that there is still so much that is wonderous and unknown about the people of earth, there is none; Kava is just such a cool name we had to use it.

By the way, if you have ever had Kava, give us a shout and let us know about your experience and if Mr. Troost described it accurately.

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I was telling this story about the late Michael Brecker to a friend and he suggested that I share it with you. I am fortunate that I could count among my friendly acquaintances the late, great jazz saxophonist, Michael Brecker. Although Michael recorded many solo albums as well as jazz albums with his brother Randy (The Brecker Brothers), he was also one of New York’s first call session players.

At the time of this story, Michael had just released a solo album when Paul Simon asked him to join his Rhythm of the Saints tour. Michael told him no, because he wanted to promote his own music. But when Paul promised him a 15-minute solo spot in the middle of his concert, playing in front of 20,000 people each night, Michael couldn’t turn it down.

The Los Angeles Forum Show

I saw the show at the Forum in LA, and after Paul introduced Michael for his solo, Paul Simon and the entire 11-piece band exited the stage leaving Michael all alone. Michael picked up his Akai EWI and started playing, then using a foot-switch, he triggered some pre-recorded rhythm samples from his Akai S1000 that he then played against. Switching from the EWI to his sax, slowly… one by one… the band members rejoined Michael on stage and started playing. The song built and crescendoed to a spectacular finish as eventually everyone was back on stage, including the six drummers/percussionists.

The Dallas Reunion Arena Show

Now I told you about that show in order to tell you about the next show. Two weeks later, Michael invited me to bring my wife, Lisa, and attend the Dallas performance at Reunion Arena. What a treat - the S. African accapella group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, who sang on the Graceland recording, were in town performing at SMU and they rushed over and joined Paul for the extended 40 minute encore. Michael’s solo seemed inspired that night, and if possible was even better than in LA. The song went from a dizzy, jazzy disjointed feel to a really tight ending.

After the show, Lisa & I went backstage to thank Michael for the tickets. I told him how impressed I was with his solo and congratulated him on the off-beat style that I thought was so much better than the previous time I heard his performance.

How A Little Mistake Made for a Great Performance

He seemed to get a little embarrassed, as he told me that it was a mistake. It seems that he WAS truly inspired, he closed his eyes, got totally involved with the music, turned the rhythm around and inside out, and just let it soar. As far as he knew, he could have been levitating. It wasn’t until he heard drummer Steve Gadd give him an “end the song” cue that he turned around to face the band and realized that this totally grooving engine of a band had no idea where “one” was, much less the turnaround to end the song. He said, “I saw this large group of musicians, all playing away, all looking at me with big round eyes, trying to get a clue where I was going next. The question on everyone’s lips was, where’s one? I showed them the downbeat by moving my sax and punctuating the notes and when I did that Steve was right on top of it. Which is how we all manged to end up together at the end.”

There is probably a lesson here about how listening to the other members of the band can even make a mistake turn out alright, but I’ll leave it for now as my small contribution to the life story of Mr. Brecker.

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Tanacun, The Crocodile Man

My son, Jacob, recently turned me on to a couple of amazing guitarists from the region of Ixtapa, Mexico, who go by Rodrigo y Gabriela. As I was totally blown away by their music, they will be happy to know that I have personally purchased at least ten of their CDs as gifts for friends.

Evidently in the early 90’s, Rodrigo and Gabriela played in a heavy metal band in Mexico City and later abandoned the band concept to just work with two acoustic guitars. They even do awesome covers of Zepplin’s Stairway to Heaven and Metallica’s Orion on this recording.

One of the first things that I noticed when I examined their CD is that their individual song album notes look like a blog for each song. As a result, you really start to get a sense of them as human beings. The human awareness and impact that each of us can raise in others, even through something as simple as communicating our thoughts and comments on our albums or our web pages, is phenomenal. The first song off of their self-titled album is Tanacun. So, I would just like to present you with their words, from their album notes of Tanacun.

Tanacun

In the South Pacific of Mexico, there is a town called Ixtapa, it’s in Zihuatanejo. This place had diverse and vast numbers of wild-life species in the early ’80s. Construction companies, along with the governnment of the State of Guerrero, contributed to destroy their natural habitat here. Like in many other parts of the country, the coastal slaughter of animals continues nowadays. There are just under 90 crocodiles left in the region, but one man, Erroberto Piza, AKA Tamacun, takes care of them as if they were his children and they love him like he was their croc father. The little reserve where they live sometimes collapses when heavy rain hits and they escape, scaring the shit out of a few tourists just for the laugh… (well, it’s not that bad).

But before long Tamacun is there to take them back home. The Mexican government doesn’t fund his work, and he makes little or no money. We promised him to tell people of his dedication and love for nature.

Pretty powerful stuff. All I can say is that I highly recommend Rodrigo & Gabriela’s  CD for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is their sense of ethics and world citizenship. Yes, we can make a change.

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