Browse Category: Music

THE DANNY GODINEZ BAND STRIKES AGAIN

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(Originally posted on the website Continuum…)

THIS PAST TUESDAY, April 29, the Danny Godinez Band played the Pattenburg House. Danny, Todd, Farko and Joe Raven were back, filling that smoky little place with quality music much deserving of a larger venue. Since October, I had been anticipating their next East Coast tour. I was not disappointed by their show or by their friendship.

These boys are excellent musicians, top notch. Guitar work that is smooth, rich and versatile. Drumming that spares no talent and remains powerful and controlled from start to finish. Piano sounds that put their arms around you and lift you off your seat. Bass work that is astounding. It all blends together in their own unique sound. When you hear the Danny Godinez Band you know it is them.

Truly, they deserved a much larger crowd than the one that turned out on Tuesday. Tuesday night and rural Hunterdon County, New Jersey are not the proper combination to produce a thronging audience. A Friday or Saturday night would have been better. Even then, I think this band is worthy of greater exposure than the Pattenburg can offer. Here we were, a stone’s throw from New York City and all those people were missing the show. It was almost an insult to the band that there was only a four dollar cover charge that night. These guys drove across the country from Seattle in order to share their music with people. We need to provide more people to hear it next time.

ANOTHER quality about this band is their personalities. Each of them is friendly. They are eager to play their music and just as eager to mingle with the crowd. They have a way of turning spectators into participants, fans into friends.

I appreciate this aspect of the band’s interaction with the audience. I met them at the Pattenburg in October and drove to Connecticut to see them the following night. I’ve exchanged a few emails with some of the band members in the intervening months. When I arrived at the show an hour late on Tuesday, it was good to hear that they had been asking for me before I got there. During one of the breaks, one of the guys and I had a great conversation. It wasn’t just a bar conversation about the girls who dumped us or the cars that broke down that week. It was a talk that friends engage in, the kind that leaves you with an interest in the other person’s struggles and aspirations. It culminated in an open invite to hang out in Seattle. You can be sure that I will take up that offer.

I’m a fan. I’m a friend. I’m a promoter. Go see this band when they come around! They are worth it! Read more about them in one of my earlier entries HERE.

Dropping Fiorinal at the Laser Show

(Originally posted on the website Continuum…)

Dear Faithful Reader,

I regret to inform you that last night’s laser show absolutely SUCKED!

Hard to believe that the spoof on economics below holds more promise of reality than my former anticipation of the laser show does. But alas, it is so! At first, I speculated that my preference for economics over rock-n-roll and laser enduced psychedelia was a sure sign that I had indeed crossed that line and had become officially OLD. They say that the memory is the first thing to go. But no! It is the COOLNESS that one loses! Long before a man forgets where he placed his keys when they are still in his hand or loses control over his bowels, his control over his own coolness slips from his grip. He trades his Mad Magazines in for the Wall Street Journal. No longer does he find his heroes on the cover of Rolling Stone Magazine. Instead, his icons and gurus cast their spell over his feeble mind from the cover of Fortune Magazine.

However, upon further inspection I was relieved of the notion of having achieved oldness. Even my fifteen-year-old son concurred with the suckiness of the show. And my cousin was almost out of control due to the laser assault. Yes! I think she was ready to vomit from the motion of the stars and laser designs flying across the ceiling, not to mention the corniness of the announcer during the show. She taunted me to get up front and do the moonwalk. She raised her arms and sang “coo-coo-ca-choo” along with the Beatles. She clapped out of rhythm with the Beach Boys, messing up the entire audience, all 14 of us.

Okay. In fairness, I admit that the moonwalk idea was my own. I had my arms up too. Yes, I did the out-of-synch “Little Deuce Coop” clap too. But I had an excuse. I was under the influence of fiorinal, my migraine medicine. Yes, I was “Comfortably Numb,” waiting for the Pink Floyd show. Even without the lasers the room was spinning for me.

In days long ago, people used to drop acid or smoke pot when they listened to Pink Floyd. And now… Perhaps the issue in all of this is that I have crossed that line and am now old. I dropped migraine medicine in order to listen to Floyd! Fiorinal. Truth be told, fiorinal is just a “turbo” caffiene pill. It’s loaded with caffiene and just wires me out when I have to use it. “Fiorinal.” Sounds quite poetically related to “urinal.” I think it is an intentional relation because when you have a migraine you really don’t feel well enough to care if you’re pissed on, pissed off or just plain pissed.

The only thing worse than a migraine is a migraine accompanied by a Raritan Valley laser show.

Now back to the psychodelia of finishing my economics paper…

Posted at 12:45 PM (EST)

Short Skirt

(Originally posted on the website Continuum…)

Here’s a song for you. One of my current favorites. It’s half good ideas, half tongue-in-cheek. I like it all except for the part of changing her name from Kitty to Karen. I understand that the name had to rhyme with Chrysler LeBaron. But how about changing her name to Doris and trading in the MG for a Ford Taurus?

Regardless, it’s a funky tune.

“Short Skirt, Long Jacket”

I want a girl with a mind like a diamond
I want a girl who knows what’s best
I want a girl with shoes that cut
And eyes that burn like cigarettes

I want a girl with the right allocations
Who’s fast, thorough, and sharp as a tack
She’s playing with her jewelry
She’s putting up her hair
She’s touring the facilities
And picking up the slack

I want a girl with a short skirt and a long jacket.

I want a girl who gets up early
I want a girl who stays up late
I want a girl with uninterrupted prosperity
Who uses a machete, to cut her red tape

With fingernails that shine like justice
And a voice that is dark like tainted glass
She is fast, thorough, and sharp as a tack
She’s touring the facilities and picking up the slack

I want a girl with a short skirt and a long, long jacket

I want a girl with smooth liquidation
I want a girl with the right dividends
At City Bank we will meet accidentally
We’ll start to talk when she borrows my pen

She wants a car with a cupholder armrest
She wants a car that will get her there
She’s changing her name
From Kitty to Karen
She’s trading her MG for a white Chrysler LeBaron

I want a girl with a short skirt and a long jacket

by CAKE
from the album Comfort Eagle

Buy Comfort Eagle from Amazon.com by clicking HERE.

Posted at 3:30 PM (EST)

Ummagumma

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(Originally posted on the website Continuum…)

I got a Pink Floyd poster!

So what?

Noticing that I was starting to overdose on CNN’s and NPR’s war in Iraq coverage, I decided to go buy some new music last night. I needed something fresh and new. What better music to cure an overdose than Pink Floyd? (?)

I got a remastered CD version of their 1969 “Ummagumma.” I had forgotten all about this album. After listening to it, I bet most people have forgotten about it! But how can you not buy a CD that has a song title on it like this: “Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict?” If that won’t distract you from war nothing will!

Okay. Here’s the funny part. When I opened the CD there was a poster inside. This caused an instant flashback to the age of 15. Back then I had tried to steal a poster out of Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” album. I had the cassette. But cassettes didn’t come with posters. There was a girl in the aisle as I slit the plastic album wrapping and dropped the poster in a bag I was carrying. She looked like a stoner, so I didn’t worry about her. Well, she was undercover security and I got busted for ripping off a poster! Nothing ever came of the incident. And I did reform my ways. I don’t think I’ve tried to steal any Pink Floyd paraphernalia since then. But all these years I’ve had to endure life without a Pink Floyd poster. Now I have one. Maybe my karma is improving. Maybe the experiences of my life since 15 have been sufficient punishment and the recording industry gods now deem me worthy of a poster. Or maybe is just further proof that CDs are a huge improvement over cassettes.

The poster hangs proudly… in my cube at work. Not exactly where I would have placed it at 15.

Buy Ummagumma from Amazon.com by clicking HERE.

Posted at 1:00 PM (EST)

DANCING FISH AND THE DANNY GODINEZ BAND

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(Originally posted on the website Continuum…)

SOMETIMES the best things happen when you do something on the spur of the moment, something spontaneous. When you are tired of the routine. When it’s late Friday afternoon and the full workweek has all but killed your brain. When you make a phone call to hook up with someone you haven’t seen in a while and say, “Let’s go!” When they are available and it just all works out. That is the best!

Such was the way my weekend started out when I called Cousin AP and asked the magic question: “Sushi?”

We went out for sushi at The Dancing Fish Company in Bethlehem, PA. It was the best! I didn’t see any of the fish dancing. Even if the fish tried to dance, it would have been a short little waltz! One of us would have covered it with ginger, dipped it in soy sauce, and it would have been curtains for the fish and delight for the palate! Spider, dragon, Alaska, vegetable and yellowtail were the rolls we feasted on. Plus we had “chicken and ribs.” Huh? At a sushi restaurant? But wait! The “chicken and ribs” dish was actually a California roll covered with spicy tuna. Yummy! Add to this a little salad and miso soup. Top it off with an ice cream dessert called “mochi” that brings you to a state of near euphoria, especially the red bean. And you have a meal worth dancing for. Bring a cousin, a good friend, a lovely person onto the stage and you have Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers cutting up the rug!

AFTER DINNER, Cousin AP and I decided to go to the Pattenburg House. It was only 9:30. Neither of us felt like going home so early. So we went over to Pattenburg to have a drink and maybe catch some music. AP had heard that some guy from Seattle was doing a solo show. We enjoyed the first band, a group of local guys called Dyer Weed. Their music was kind of groovy and fun. Some of the guys in the band weren’t even wearing shoes. That’s the way it is at the Pattenburg House. The atmosphere is kind of laid back. A lot of people frequent the place and know each other. You can let your hair down, laugh and dance. But since I don’t have enough hair to let down, and I don’t dance (despite the Fred Astaire analogy above), I just enjoyed watching the band.

The first band finished, packed up and we were excited to see that the act from Seattle was not just a solo singer but a full band. They were the Danny Godinez Band. The who? No, not The Who! The Danny Godinez Band! Although we had never heard of them before, let me tell you, within the first 30 seconds of the very first song we were amazed and knew that we had gotten something worth way more than the little $5 cover charge we paid! These guys were awesome! They were extremely talented, precise, jazzy, rocky, soulful, playful, quiet and explosive! Wow!

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Of course, as a drummer, I watch every move a drummer makes. This drummer was blowing me away! He used everything at his disposal with precision, speed, accuracy and timing. He was a well-trained warrior wielding his weapons and tearing through the crowd.

Yet, when you talk with him, Todd is a mild-mannered kind-hearted guy, an intelligent guy who takes the time to listen when people speak to him. We struck up a conversation when the band took a break and made a connection for me to possibly do some web design for the band and, more importantly, to make a friend.

What about the rest of the band?

Danny Godinez will quickly get your attention with his acoustic guitar. He was smooth and fast. It was obvious that he “becomes one” with his guitar. When a guy uses harmonics, slaps his strings, picks with precision and speed, and masterfully bends his guitar neck to get just the perfect sound, you know that you are getting more than just music. You are getting the man’s soul. When he adds smooth singing and even mimics his guitar licks with his vocals, you are getting soul and art.

Danny, as well, is a super nice guy. In fact, all the guys in the band are great people. There is no arrogance among them. They interacted with the crowd in a positive and friendly way. It was great to see. How many times do you see musicians that don’t even have half the talent as Danny and his band who have ten times the amount of arrogance and act like their “you-know-what” doesn’t stink? Most of the time their music stinks more than their “you-know-what!”

Farko is the bass player. He came from Uzbekistan and hooked up with the others when he came to Seattle to attend music school. Farko is a mighty cool guy to talk with. We really enjoyed talking and laughing with him. It was interesting to hear his story.

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On the keyboards is Joe Raven. Wow! He is all curly hair and lightening fingers! It was a lot of fun to watch him play. Just like the others, he was a delight to talk with as well.

COUSIN AP and I enjoyed ourselves so much that we decided to make the trek to Norwalk, Connecticut to see the band again on Saturday night. I wanted to hook up with them again in order to talk some more about their website and possibly helping them out with that. AP and I both wanted to see them again just to enjoy their incredible music. We were surprised that it took us less than two hours to make the trip. Norwalk was a nice little town. There were plenty of clubs, shops and restaurants around. The band played at a place called Ocean Drive on Washington Street. It appeared to be a little upscale. In fact, we nearly paid more for a glass of wine than you would pay in a store for a small bottle! It was so opposite of the scene at the Pattenburg House. Regardless, AP and I had a good time. She took a lot of good pictures for the band. We had an opportunity to meet some new people. It felt good to get away and do something different.

ONE LAST THING. The Danny Godinez Band from Seattle, Washington is like a secret that no one should keep anymore. When I first heard them I thought, “Why hasn’t someone told me about this band before?” It almost felt morally wrong that I had never heard anyone talk about these guys before. Hey! If there is a good band, I want to know about it! Don’t leave me in the dark! How dare you! Let’s make a deal. Any time you find out about a good band, let me know. I’ll do the same for you. And if the timing is right and you are in the mood to do something spontaneous, let’s go hear a good band together. Okay? Good!