OK, I’m back....

Sun, 26 Dec 2010 20:06:55 -0800

Hi all....

OK, I’m gonna try to get these blogs going once again, as there’s a lot of music going on locally in the San Juan Islands these days....
I’ll try to keep events current at the RadioFree Olga Calendar, but if you know of a musical event in the San Juans and want to publicize it, drop me an email.

Had a great time doing a couple impromptu gigs at The Fire Smokehouse and Grill in Eastsound lately with “Red Tide”--Walter O’Toole on harp, Jimi Mudd on bass, and Andrew Moore on drums....
Fun space for sure, and I hope they deep encouraging live music....

The Open Mic is going strong out in Doe Bay at the Cafe.
It all goes down Thursday nights starting at 7-7:30 or so. Hosts change every week, and I’ll be doing the honors this coming Thursday, December 30th...
Last Thursday was a gas, with Walter O’Toole and the Blue Tarp guitars doing a nice set, Lerner on imbura, Matt doing his solo bass thing that managed to blow the power (yeah!), Carlos doing a brand new tune, and River hosting....
Good times at the DB Cafe....

The Dust Bunnies will be playing the Doe Bay Cafe on New Year’s Eve......

The Wednesday Night Blues Special is happening at the Rumor Mill in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, with the Henry James Band taking the stage on December 29th....
Music starts around 6:30 and goes till 9:30....

The Sliders play New Years Eve at The Rumor Mill, with music starting at 9:30....

Randy Smith is back to hosting the Open Mic at the Lower Tavern in Eastsound.
Music kicks off at 8 or so, so bring your instrument and go for it....

OK, just a quickie this time....
Will try to keep ya’ll up to date on what’s happening musically in the San Juans....
BH

Review: The Wanderers Wander to Orcas Again — and Sing Our Hearts Out....

Sun, 18 Apr 2010 09:52:54 -0700

Last night’s concert at the Grange — the Wanderers and Tom Rawson — proved to be a sweet, sweet night of musical history, charming musicians, and a true hootenanny. It was the first concert I’ve ever been to that the audience sang nearly as much as the performers, and it is because all of the musicians sincerely were there to make sure NOBODY ever forgets people like Woody Guthrie and the three thousand songs he wrote.
The Wanderers, the well-seasoned duo of Carl Allen and Bill Murlin, opened the show with the news that this year marks the fiftieth year of their musical collaboration. That is remarkable and a blessing as they sure did bring us a lot of fun and great music with lots of old Woody songs and more. Carl plays guitar, harmonica, and Bill plays banjo and guitar.
Also, they brought along a friend, Jim Portillo, that played an intriguing electric bass ukelele with strings made of polyurethane, which gave it a resonance like rubber, very rich sound for such a small instrument. Besides perfect licks, he had a great classic, statue-like stance of a bluegrass bassist, never wavering, and then later, it was revealed he was blind and had only been playing a few weeks.
Their set ended with Carl informing us that he spends two months every year in Arizona at the Mariners training camp. Yeah, it seems he parks himself outside the fence and collects all the home run balls. So, as a MOST unique souvenir for a musician to offer, they gave anybody buying a cd…a baseball.
Tom Rawson is an elementary teacher by day and peace activist always. He has a great talent for inspiring people to come together, and on this night, it was to sing along with nearly every song he played. With his disarming manner and generous heart, he fed us lyrics like he was cooking us supper. The result was a houseful of people united in song. I mean, since when do you go to a concert, and the focus is on the audience, not the ego of the performer?
Joined by a real live Canadian, Ellen van der Hoeven, on penny whistle, guitar, mandolin and vocals, Lynn Graves on violin and vocals, and Bob Morgan on guitar and vocals, Tom released a slew of light-hearted and delightful songs into the atmosphere. The one that stands out for me is the one about a guy NOT looking for love as much as a sturdy woman with a chainsaw to spend the winter with. I think I saw an ad on the bulletin board at the post office about this very subject.
s. jaen black

the SCENE of the crime...

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:13:25 -0700

OK, here’s the latest correspondence from our always-entertaining host of the Open Mic at the Lower Tavern, ms. jaen black....

The Open Mic is on Tuesday Nights, starting at about 9:00 P.M. MST (that’s “Musician Standard Time”)....

Here tis:

hey music fans in orcasland,

so, open mic down at the lower had a great party in honor of the
changing of the guard, so to speak...yep, starting next week randy
smith is gonna host it...surely, a lot of you have heard his
work...he's a great musician, a great solo artist or collaborator and i
feel sure he will bring some fresh new energy to open mic...

oh, and just to be clear, we're cranking up at 5:30 to prey on the
happy hour revelers and/or entertain anybody trying to eat a meal..so,
DO come down and check it out..there will be great music, i promise...

back to last night...well, everybody and his brother showed up, played
and supported the lower in continuing keeping open mic alive...bruce
and randy started off...bruce was breaking in a brand new guitar he
just finished building...they were so great...just look at that...two
world class guitar players, sittin' in the lower tavern at happy hour
playin' for free for all to hear...

TPR...temporary price reduction...you know, madrone 'n them...yeah,
well, they were rockin' and they are playing that very stage at the
lower this coming saturday night...i think it's their llllllast as in
finallll performance...for now anyhow...

the TARP showed up in mass, with sidney and his drums even!! yeah,
blue tarp is fixing to record a new album and so they came over to
stretch out in front of a crowd and celebrate open mic....always
kickin'...they are sounding greeat...

who else??? oh yeah, wally and the tuba showed up...he's spending the
winter here...so, keep your eye open for him and that tuba...
then, this girl karina showed up...she showed up last week, and MAN, i
love that girl's sound...she played acoustic guitar, some of her own
songs and she played 'wagon wheel'...her voice is so simple and
sensuous...clean...she'll be coming around, hopefully to play a set or
two...

so, i have really enjoyed the opportunity to host open mic since the
beginning of the year, and i want to thank a bunch of people for their
help, starting with all the people last night who showed up to thank me
for hosting open mic. BIG DADDY jim passer who owns the joint has been very wonderful to me and i appreciate his confidence and trust so
much...thanks to the beautiful SHELBY, who has been keeping us hydrated behind the bar there...she has listened to it all, and hopefully, has not suffered hearing loss or an aversion to music a result...thanks to
lisa crowe, the manager of the lower, who, too, has worked with me,
treated this whole concept with respect and enthusiasm...PAULINATOR, thanks for being there and helping me figure out which knob to turn and
when and for contributing weekly with some of the hottest guitar licks
to be found from orcas to cleveland, ohio and inbetween...i wish you a
lot of luck and success with your music...

bbbbbbbbruce, thanks man, for paying attention to it all, and always
stepping up to come do musical service work such as with this very
great thing called radiofreeolga.com...not to mention, your playing is
SO enjoyed by any who is privy to it...

hell, i reacon that's it...NO WAIT...i wanna thank my mama and jesus 'n
them......

peace and love y'all,
jaen

Thanks for all, Jaen....
BH

house afire...

Sat, 8 Aug 2009 10:32:38 -0700

OK, here’s the latest correspondence from our always-entertaining host of the Open Mic at the Lower Tavern, ms. jaen black....

The Open Mic is on Tuesday Nights, starting at about 9:00 P.M. MST (that’s “Musician Standard Time”)....

Here tis:

howdy all my lower fans and friends,

lordy lordy, we had ourselves a shO nuf barn burner last night at open mic...a little bit of everything and a wagon load of racket ensued until the wee hours...

a very lovely poet by the name of mary b wilke started things off as she read three poems she had written...she been all over this country and read poems about maine, the midwest, and i forget what the third one was about...i love having poets show up...

next, pete from olga came...always, his presence and what he has to allow was powerful and lovely and feral...

ken salt took the stage next with his acoustic guitar...the paulinator backed him up on electric guitar on a couple...ken keeps threatening to bring a piano..he's taking lessons...

then things got loud as the electricity was cranked with a stranger
from orange county, dave sale (pictured above), brother of local gary sale...he makes and has made his living playing music and it sure does show...he was talented, easy to work with, and had a deep reservoir of material from all kindof genres i ain't never heeeeeard of...also, he plays it all bass, guitar, and drums though he didn't play drums last night...no, I was slappin' 'em silly...

but, really, it was a cool jam...bruce harvie was there and brought the cutest little electric mandolin you ever did see...but, he played bass and his les paul all through the night too...paul kicked it all night on his wailin' leads...

walter from tarp showed, amazingly, 'cause word on the street was lollapolooza orcas 'bout got the best of him last week...still, good sport that he is, and righteous partier, well, he showed up with his harp case and started huffin'...

man, we played for three hours, and i tell you, people got to hear some good music for free...i tell you what...

ok, y'all, won't be here next week...the paulinator will be taking
over...i'm going down to port orchard to the puget sound guitar workshop to TRY and learn to play some of these dang guitars better!!

peace & love y'all,
jaen

the karaoke open....

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 07:47:29 -0700

OK, here’s the latest correspondence from our always-entertaining host of the Open Mic at the Lower Tavern, ms. jaen black....

The Open Mic is on Tuesday Nights, starting at about 9:00 P.M. MST (that’s “Musician Standard Time”)....

Here tis:

hey fans of the lower and curious passersby,

like snowflakes, the lower tavern open mic is NEVER the
same...sometimes a good thing...since i oCCASIONALLY get called into to run the karaoke thing, which i did, last saturday, and it left an impression on my psyche that coasted into tuesday...

actually, i love doing it...cause i run home and HUG my guitar and vocal chords/cords...
hmmm...

my favorites are always the people who canNot
carry a tune in a bucket, have absolutely NO sense of rythmn, yet they perform breathless with passion, like they were the star who recorded it...like god intended us to sing in the shower, have mercy....that said, the night started out with my favorite part of the night...with bbbbruce on the donated washburn and me on drums, we just did a few minutes of that....the night was hot and my drums sounded really good, to me...i was getting my toms to sound like rototoms...i think it was the heat...

kenny salt showed up and played a few songs on his acoustic, which were great, and he's been taking piano lessons...soon, he says, he'll drop in with that scene...

the paulinator had talked about a soul man about town, that had jammed with him at the lower on acoustic guitars...so, i was looking forward to hearing him...he did show up....electric gear, had a fancy box with lights and all that shit...he wanted a LIVING rythmn section originally, but then said he wanted to go it alone, 'cept he wanted the paulinator to play with him...so, they set into playing, and you could tell the guy, john, as it were, could surely play, but it was kindy muffledy...and, the dude had a click track drum machine runnin'....ahhhh...dude, plllease...

so, then, he did want me to sit in on drums, so i sat down, paulinator was suited up with his axe, and john started that damn drum machine and started playing...to myself i was going, 'what am i?? chopped liva??

that's what i said, in my finest imitation queens jewish accent'...my
drum soul said NO, we will NOT be a part of this, and i cleared
out...paul, shortly thereafter, fell victim to heat prostration, OR
drum machine sudden death syndrone, put his guitar down whilst john, oblivious to the fallout around him, was happily plucking away. the paulinator air lifted himself outside for a smoke...and, a NEAR puke...

it was then i was reminded of a rap song i wrote while mc hammer was a gleam in his daddy's eye...it was called 'hooked on the buzz', my vibrator rap song...the last two lines go like this: 'yO next human lover might be out on some limbs, 'cause who can compete with 30,000 rpms...

i rest my case...
be real, y'all,

jaen