tag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:/blogs/blogBlog2024-03-26T03:50:21-04:00wildcatohalloran.comfalsetag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/62517282020-03-16T22:53:35-04:002021-06-30T01:19:41-04:00You Can't make this stuff up<p>There are stock stories that music business courses suggest to aspiring musicians….some are called “elevator pitch” stories--as in, if you were in an elevator with a record company exec who could really “Make” your career, what would you tell them? Like it or not, you’d need to have some answer to the question “What’s your music like?” They don’t like it if you can’t give some description….and, in a way, they’re right….failing to answer indicates to them that you haven’t spent enough time focusing on what exactly your message is…..AND that you are clueless enough to be caught unprepared for a question that you should have known HAD to be coming! Anyway, a couple of favorite templates are the geographical “I bet you’re wondering how a cowboy from Oklahoma and a drummer from Belize found themselves in the best bluegrass band in Tempe, Arizona.” Or the hard-luck story “Fighting their way out of the projects of Compton, they forged their hard-scabble vision of what West Coast rap could and should be” But my personal favorite is a variant of that “ This story NEEDED to be told….and they ovecame impossible odds to make this album happen”......yeah, right! The next band that tells me something like that is gonna need to overcome me punching the shit out of them…..I give you the true story of the new Wildcat O’Halloran album, Deck of Cards: Writer’s block doesn’t seem like a problem commensurate with fighting your way out of Compton, but if you’ve ever encountered it, you’ll recognize that it’s a tricky little devil. The Wildcat has never been a particularly prolific songwriter….and this was CD number 15 ( not ALBUM 15….there were several vinyl and cassette releases before )....how many smart-alecky “If You Ever Need A Friend...Buy A Dog” lyrics were as yet undiscovered? Would he ever come up with another sad love song as good as “Crossin Off”? Would everything he came up up be half as good? Or worse yet, STUPID! Oh, THAT word….favorite of Bill Sr…..yeah, he’d like to avoid stupid. And between teaching an ungodly number of sections at the local Communuty College HVAC department, AND getting actual “no heat calls”....and keeping his band working, there just was no time. Worst of all, he realized that he had no idea where songs came from, Lots of songwriters SAY that, and there are exercises purported to help address they dreaded block….but most of those said things like “Write something every day….even if it’s dreck”. That wasn’t going to work….the hatred of dreck was too strong, and the time too short. Finally, he was reduced to writing down one good line at a time. After a year, he tried to assemble some of them into a coherent idea…..”Yeah, you’ve met people in education and showbiz who are two-faced….actually MORE than two-faced…..what was that expression the oil truck drivers used? More Faces than a deck of Cards?”...off we go! Using a rhyming dictionary. After a ridiculously long time (which did, however allow his band to get sharper and more experienced), he had 6-7 songs. Hardly Compton, you say? Yes, but this was the EASY problem. Remember that sharper and more experienced band? Well, the Cat slapped together some kind of demo of the songs (what’s below primitive?) and started rehearsals. Looking back later, he asked “How did you hear that demo and think….yeah, ok…..it was HORRIBLE!” “WE figured you knew what you were doing” they answered…..Beautiful, loyal, trusting little band. So they started rehearsals…...and Mark, the drummer….had a heart attack! And not your “ a little chest pain, and a stent and your back in a week” heart attack. He was unconscious for over two weeks. He had the Last Rites. A student doctor there on a fellowship devised a plan. A nurse had an idea how to wake him up. And folks, when he woke up and was (somewhat) coherent, there was a PARADE of doctors coming into that room to witness the miracle….barely hiding their surprise. Meanwhile….. Emily Duff, who, beneath her sweet little blond girl appearance hides a masters degree in Jazz arranging, and a brilliant ability to anticipate where the Cat is going next, pays back those student loans by performing on cruise ships. As this is written, she is out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, hopefully with enough fuel to get back home after a very unfortunate cruise to ASIA!! Not quite as disastrous as the ones on the tv news, but unhappy enough that the passengers wanted out, and the next group have mostly cancelled. Though she makes sure to be home for the Wildcat summer tour, she’s gone a good chunk of the year. The plan was to record while she was home after Thanksgiving…...aaand that ….wasn’t going to work…...Mark was NOT going to be ready, and the rehearsals had all been cancelled….and yet,,,The performances while Em was home were artistically beautiful, and well-received, but more than that, had a deeply reassuring effect on the band. One of the drum subs rounded up was Gilbert May, who had played with the Cat back in his Sheehans heyday. “Gilbert”, the CAt said” I HAVE to record something while Emily is home….it’ll be learn one, record one, like in the Doves Nest days when we started….can you do it?” “Why not”, said Gil “Christmas angels are only around at Christmas” And off we went…...with a maze of wires in my living room, since it was too late to book studio time. I brought the machine on the road for Emily’s overdubs when my house had other stuff going on, I brought back one of the songs Gilbert had played on, did my solos, fussed endlessly with the scratchy thing I call a voice….I mixed and re-mixed, often checking my settings with Kathy Peterson or my son Willie….since I woke up after my parts pretty deaf….a combination of a head cold and too much loud headphone work. I pulled mechanical licenses for the covers….and found, to my horror, that one of the songwriters had pulled his song off of the service I was trying to use! Fortunately, they let one last request (mine) go through before their breakup. When the album started to come together (almost forgot daughter Sarah, who patiently learned what weird timing I was singing...and what note I had in mind), I ordered USB thumb drives as well as cds…...thumb drives…..from China…..in February…….haven’t seen those yet. And waited for our grand CD Release Party…..which was, naturally cancelled in the wake of the coronavirus. So, to sum up: the next band that uses the “tremendous obstacle” template around me, is gonna get this response: “Tremendous obstacles, you say? Yeah, right! Did your drummer almost die? Did the world almost end on the day of your release? Don’t make me laugh” That’s my story.</p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010542019-06-04T20:00:00-04:002019-12-10T10:13:12-05:00My article for Write-Away magazine.....including part 2!<div><span style="font-size: medium;"> If you ask a sculptor what their latest work "means", the traditional art wisdom says you'll be deeply dissatisfied with the answer. After all, that particular artist has clearly chosen to express whatever unique insight and whatever private pain they have....in clay. If they wanted to work in words, they would have been a writer. Logically then, we would expect a more satisfying answer when posing the same question to our friendly neighborhood songwriter. After all, that person works in words, and actually spends hours trying to succinctly distill complex experiences into short, yet powerful, verbal snapshots. That are, for lack of a better term: "catchy". With some kind of musical notes glued on for the ride. With, as in any other art form, the ability to at once seem completely familiar and natural--while also fresh....even revolutionary. And, as in any other field of human excellence, the ability to inspire admiration, even awe, the "Wow! Can a human being actually do THAT!!" response. Uh-oh, dear reader....as the semaphore flags on my parents' cocktail glasses used to spell out: "You are standing into danger"--this may be harder than we thought.</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: medium;"> Harder than we thought indeed, because, analogous to our first case, if the songwriter felt the need (and ability) to express his or her personal reality in straightforward prose, they surely would have worked in prose! Not rhyming jingles! And they CERTAINLY wouldn't have dragged that old emotional button-pusher MUSIC into the equation. Having embarked on this attempt to analyze this odd human activity, we are, in one sense, immediately defeated....one central truth of the matter is this: no one really knows where these artistic impulses originate. Having admitted defeat, however, we can attempt to describe the part of the elephant we can detect in our part of the room. So we soldier on.</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: medium;"> People inquiring about songwriting often start with this question: Music first? Or lyrics first, music built to match afterward? For me, it's almost always lyrics first. The rhythm of the phrases will usually suggest a rhythm for the accompaniment, and eventually, some chord changes and such will suggest themselves. Not quite as simple as "You see, Sally, major keys are for HAPPY songs, and minor keys are SAD" ( in fact, somewhere on my website there's a rant about the whole twisted world of blues, based on the possibly racist (certainly Eurocentric) assumption that the flat third and seventh must mean that the Africans are sad.....but i digress).....sorry, I'm back now....ANYHOW, some chords suggest themselves, and we're off! In fact, tearing the daunting task of attempting to write a song down to a manageable trick: I'm looking for a title. Just a title. If the title is powerful enough to suggest one brilliant insight into the human condition (or just a fun insight!), the goddamn thing writes itself! And one insight is about the correct, pointed amount of wisdom that can conveniently fit into a 3 minute pop song . Don't make me drag Aristotle and his unity of time, place and action into this article, 'cause you know I'll do it, you know I'll do it! But old Ari could turn a phrase or two, depending on whatever vintage he and Plato were throwing back. Check these titles, submitted for your approval: "I Second That Emotion"........"I Feel Like Breaking up Somebody's Home" ...."I Hope the Russians Love Their Children Too" (ok, I cheated on that one...title shortened to "Russians"....for good measure, I'll throw in my own "If You Ever Need A Friend, Buy A Dog", and perhaps " If God Can Make That, No Wonder He's In Charge". Each of those sets a scene vividly enough that, as songwriters, we're OFF! Filling in the blanks....a thrust here, a riposte there....hell, pull out the rhyming dictionary and we'll polish this up in 15 minutes!</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: medium;"> Songwriting articles often extol the benefits of co-writing.....careful with your feelings there. There are "pros" who write with other pros they've just met....insert joke of your choice about the pornography industry, but if you're the sensitive type, choose someone gentle to co-write with. I used to co-write with a friend, and we kind of unofficially started using "well, maybe it needs a bridge" instead of "that song sucks"....a bridge IS a contrasting counter-melody, right? Anyhow, your friend may have an idea but no place to go with it (not a frequent occurrence) but will more often be a brilliant help polishing what you've got.</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: medium;"> Ah, polishing.....yes, I definitely believe in that. If the urge to express what seems like a great idea presents itself (it used to frequently hit me, when working for a heating company, as I was walking into a basement with a brush and a soot-vac), it needs to get written down quickly and immediately. Almost every songwriter nods sad agreement with Duke Ellington's famous comment "The best song I ever wrote....I forgot". Tell Mrs. Smith you'll be in to clean the furnace in a minute, and write that sucker down....in any sketchy form you can scrabble together. The central idea that inspired you originally will surely rekindle itself when you look at your sketchy notes a week later.....if you can read the sketchy notes. And yes, I am not above using Masterwriter or some other crutch at the polishing point. Unlike the movies however, where the songwriter has a great line, and is floundering, trying to slap in a rhyming line..."What rhymes with Lemon?", I do believe in the rule that the killer line goes last. If there has to be a weaker line for the sake of rhyme, make that the setup line. I almost think the screenwriters always have the songwriter doing it the other way as a kind of cruel joke....." Look at this poor sap in writing hell.....he doesn't know what he's doing! What an amateur!"</span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: medium;"> Am unsure as to whether the discussion of the two sides of the brain are science....or pseudo-science. But for our purposes here, the concept might be useful. Songwriters, and indeed musicians in general (ok, artists in general) have a judgmental side that edits the ideas and emotions that the other side of the brain demands they express. For me, the constrictions of the blues form simplify some of the leap of faith form-wise, if that makes sense. Often, musicians will suppress that editing side with drugs or alcohol, just so some of their innermost feelings will get out. Often, they will get so good at damaging that judgmental side, that stupid shit, for want of a better word, will come out. In that case, they gradually become an exaggerated version, then a parody of their original artistic selves, an embarrassing cautionary tale to future songwriters. Or, they go to the other extreme, analyzing the beats per minute of the last 30 top forty hits, and noting that the listener is drawn in by the use of the word "you" within the first 25 seconds in 20 of the last 30 platinum singles. Those people have already probably moved to Hollywood, but I would suggest that they go the final step, and move in with the Kardashians. Not how I do it, not my part of the elephant, don't wanna hear about it......well....that's not QUITE true. If I had something I needed to express, and I built a song out of it, and I really liked it; really thought it was good, maybe I would check it against some of these metrics. Just to understand whether that's why I thought it was good, to sort of check my sense of what was really getting across to my fellow humans. Because that, my friends, is the joker in the deck for all artists. Yes, it's your message....on your terms.....sculpt it, if that's what you do......it's not about what's going on in history....it's not about what's going on in your life ("Shakespeare was clearly depressed about his business reversals")....you may not even be consciously aware of all that you've put in there....it's your bottle (possibly formerly full of the bottled bravery you needed to put your vision "out there")....but it is, whether you like it or not, a communication. You've got to get this important message through....in code....maybe with a bridge</span></div>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010532019-02-01T19:00:00-05:002022-01-17T05:45:46-05:00Mellow Yellow?<p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p>
<p dir="ltr"> I wouldn’t call it mellowing, exactly. If you’re reading this with no personal knowledge of me, let me start by saying that, in the part of New York City where I grew up, when picking teams, you grabbed a hitter, a pitcher…..and an arguer….not necessarily in that order(yes, I was picked early). I’ve offered countless game officials the use of my glasses, once arrived at a game where an opponent had threatened me...in a coffin, have berated musical sidemen who blundered badly (I once threatened the Super-Heavyweight Karate Champ of New England….”one more screw-up and I’ll Kill ya”). So maybe I have a temper. How about this story as background: A few years ago, my wife and i were leaving the western Mass basketball tournament when the head of court security recognized us….and asked why we were in attendance. “Our son Willie was in one of the games tonight” I answered. “Oh”, he replied…”That bratty little thing...he was so mouthy when he got his 4th foul, I was amazed he didn’t get tossed….I should have known he was your kid”. Pride of fatherhood.</p>
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<p dir="ltr"> But one of the few benefits of getting older is perspective. I don’t think anyone who knows me will confuse me with Buddha, but things that would have caused me to blow a gasket years ago, now actually make me happy. You say you’ll need some examples before you buy that? As you wish.</p>
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<p dir="ltr"> Late night service calls that are tricky…..at temperatures that are dangerous? The new me thanks his lucky stars that he’s seen pretty much everything that can go wrong, made almost every kind of mistake already, and has a huge reservoir of parts, suppliers, specialty experts, friends….and strong young students….to get things back on track…intimidated by a problem? No longer a problem…..take fear away, and it’s amazing how your brains will grow back!</p>
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<p dir="ltr"> My recent illness, for another example--besides the aforementioned army of contacts and friends, the familiarity of how my body usually reacts makes the process and timeframe clearer (it was nothing serious, btw). It’s also worthwhile to notice how “urgent” day-to-day tasks can be pushed back by a sick day without the sky falling…..who knew in our 20’s, when we needed to get “straight to the top”.....immediately…..or…...what? I no longer even have to repeat “Jim Henson was busy too” as a mantra.</p>
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<p dir="ltr"> Let’s go further out on a limb…...though I have no interest in donating him another plane, and though many people have questioned whether his actions match his words, I find the words of televangelist Joel Osteen often brilliant. One theme he likes is this : “The Lord who carried you through life’s previous disasters will surely carry you through today’s…..why would you doubt that?” When a young person tells me about one of their disasters (sometimes asking why I’m so annoyingly positive in my old age)....I have an awfully long list of situations I never thought I’d survive, mistakes I thought were irreversible etc. Perspective…. A beautiful thing</p>
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<p dir="ltr">But I’ll still be having a cow if the refs cheat poor old Tom Brady tomorrow</p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010522018-07-25T20:00:00-04:002024-03-26T03:50:21-04:00The Tour blog!<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB7CmqT61zI"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/785ca4fa2bbcdab7f3713303053892d8162d22b8/original/37564178-10211851077772756-514890257221550080-o.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MTA4eDEwOCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="108" width="108" /></a></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;">The “On tour” blog .....Kingston Mines videos in our new video page!! </span></p>
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<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;"> If, like me, you prepare for your first tour by reading everything you can get your hands on, related to the subject….you’re going to hear this phrase repeated : “Going on tour is like being married to 3-4 people at the same time”. My solution? Fall madly in love with the band I brought west (Kathy Peterson and Mark Chouinard, who will be on every track of my next album, and Emily Duff, who has been on the last five!). You will read that you need to have the right people with you….again, check--but let me remind you that, if you’re a perfectionist band leader (is there another kind?),you’ll need to focus on that word “people”.....you know, those imperfect individuals with their own hopes and dreams that inhabit our planet. I suggest making a couple dumb mistakes right off the bat, so they’ll know in advance you’re gonna have to forgive theirs (again: Check!) But seriously, my band members were so considerate of each other, and so brilliant at each working their part of the puzzle, it was almost easy. If you decide to tour with two egomaniacs and a whiner, driving 880 miles, I have absolutely no idea how you’re gonna survive . That’s right, driving! They got them some full-sized states out there, not like our little itsy bitsy practice states…..told Em “ Wake me up if we pass a big field of corn, with a little row of trees, and then another big field of corn” She said “Ok, but I’ll be waking you every 8 seconds”. Another time, while the female contingent were asleep in the back, we passed a sign that said “Oil changes, starting at $190”. I said “Uh, Mark?” He confirmed “Tractor trailer”....I said “Where would they find any tractor trailers around here?”....in case you thought goods get to and from the middle of the U.S. by BOAT, you’d be mistaken. There’s a parade of double trailers on every highway in the Midwest (I think they might even sneak in some triple trailers). One of my favorite episodes was the tractor trailer guy who flipped us off in Indiana…..for having Massachusetts license plates! This guy has skipped racism and sexism as too complicated, and conceived a simpler way to determine who the good and bad people are; just check the plates…..done!</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;"> On to the music: we played a whole bunch of clubs we can’t wait to see again….and maybe one we’ll see on Bar Rescue. Most of the people did not know who we were, but the response was terrific. You’ll need to bring your confidence that, when you jump off the building they’re gonna catch you, ‘cause you can’t jump off a building gradually (next album title?)....but in a weird way, doing the same show a bunch of nights in a row, where the only change is a new audience, gives you a whole new perspective on what you can control, and what’s up to them. Best audience was Indianapolis, where they still party like it’s 1969, but I was especially pleased in Buffalo, where the club design added the challenge that most of the audience were on the other side of a wall! Going around with the wireless helped, but mostly it was: finish the song….see if they liked it…..start another song….wonder if they’re liking it.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;"> You’ll read in those tour guides “don’t forget to schedule some sight-seeing”....check. I don’t think a struggling kid band could afford to do all this, but I’m glad we did: Rock Hall of Fame, Chess Records Museum, Wrigley Field, Second City Comedy Club, brief stops at 2 Great Lakes….and Muddy’s House. I posted one picture of his brick structure with the big X on it (which warns firemen and other responders not to enter this unsafe building)....I buried the ones of us smiling on the porch, because the situation is not a happy one. In the toxic racial climate in which we find ourselves, it hurts a bit to realize the symbolism that the “off the radar” neglect of this historic site represents. Although I may have heard about this, I’m ashamed that it wasn’t on MY radar...I adored Muddy Waters, as a music legend, but also as the kind of self-assured yet gentle human being showbiz rarely encounters, completely comfortable in his own skin…..there is, apparently, a “mystery owner” who may be planning to renovate---that story is from a 2014 news story, repeated in another news story in 2017….no more recent updates….”DUDE! Put a poster with a GOFUNDME address in front of the building….OR SOMETHING!” Rumors abound that it may be Buddy Guy, whom we did not meet while at his club(he’s touring). Speaking of which:</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;"> Bringing your blues band to Chicago involves a special kind of leap of faith. They already have those….perhaps you’ve heard…..and despite my New York-snob teasing of Kathy, it is DEFINITELY a REAL CITY! It’s big enough that you can’t just ramble through it and guess your way to where you want to go (Kathy to the rescue there), parking is BRUTALLY difficult….an the folks there have their own shit going on, in a busy, hard-headed way completely familiar to a New York refugee like myself. Despite that, our reception there was good. Old friend Scott Cashman showed up and shot videos of us (one with Kathy’s pal Linsey Alexander, who also shot a little of us next night at Buddy Guy’s), and you can hear even the world weary bluesmen gasp when Emily Duff GOES OFF! I play great on those videos, but Em pays even better (if I’m outplayed by the princess, I’m actually HAPPY about it, such is my level of admiration)....and, as Bill Belichek would say, we’re on to Indianapolis.</span></p>
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<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;">We arrived ahead of our scheduled show, and planned to promote a little bit at their jam night. “Leave all the stuff in the car”, I said. “We’ll go in for dinner and find out if the host is nice….or a jerk” No need to worry there, everyone was extremely gracious (it didn’t hurt that he broke a string during house band’s first song….and didn’t have one! And you KNOW I carry spares)</span></p>
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<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;">Our real show started well, and never lost momentum….even the older folks don’t go home after dinner there, they get their second wind and start dancing (perhaps the large selection of Irish whiskeys might be involved). I was on a mission, and the band was really happy and engaged (once again, Irish whiskey might have been involved). We slept fast, and left early for home, arriving in time to rest up for the crazy kid event back home: Shackstock, where our time together sharpening up things really showed, I think. “Look out, young bands! We’re touring pros!” I think we felt. Hanging around home catching up on all the details I missed, I already miss the band (Shouldn’t we be riding somewhere in the car right now?)....a feeling that will only get worse when Em heads back to China after a few more gigs…</span></p>
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<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;">favorite memories---Em getting carded everywhere…...hearing the echo of the Chess studio (twice, when they played tracks from there...in there….my Howlin’ Wolf imitation actually sounded like him!) Mark and I rolling our eyes when Em and Kathy said they’d be ready at “the crack of dawn”. Kathy proudly showing us Millenium Park and other sites of her “real city”. And best of all, the musical conversations(both onstage and off) with my beloved band. I certainly didn’t get rich on the deal, but I’m still walking on air (which you know is not me, right?)</span></p>
<p dir="ltr"><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010512018-03-11T20:00:00-04:002019-12-10T10:13:10-05:00A technical question....or is it?<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Back in my 20's, I remember being baffled while reading an interview with B.B. King....in Downbeat, I think. He was asked a technical guitar question, something about scales, and what things he heard other guitarists doing.....and he replied with what, at the time, seemed to (the very young) me to be a complete non-sequitur. He said something like " Let me just say this....you have to, at some point, be happy with how you play. You don't have to be as old as me (he was then 44....which seemed hopelessly ancient to me then.....like when I helped John Lee Hooker limp out to the stage at the Four Leaf Window, and learned he was 54- you know, way younger than I am now!), but at some point, you have to be happy with how you play. Otherwise, you'll end up comparing what you're doing to what other guys are doing....while you're doing your thing...in front of YOUR audience" In other words, whatever it is that you thought you wanted to communicate to the audience must have been important....or at least you thought it was important....otherwise, why are you wasting everybody's time! And you'd probably HAVE to agree that B.B practiced what he preached....he would build his solos with a precise logic and an unmatched clarity of purpose. Likewise, when I would watch James Cotton work through the many styles and rhythms he used, it was always like he knew how the Rubik's cube was gonna turn out from his very first move.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> The flip side of this is....we're not all there yet. At some point during my 5 year stint hosting a blues jam, I realized....or at least concluded, that all diva stuff, twitchy fussing with the sound, lengthy tuning adventures, fussing with effects etc...eventually turned out to be a cry for help---"HELP! I'm not sure I know what I'm trying to do"....and, I will admit confessionally that as I burned out on hosting, I lost all semblance of patience with trying to answer that cry for help.....I wanted to yell "COME ON! GROW UP"....even though I had been through all those same neuroses many times myself....and still, after all these years, get thrown by minor glitches that should be water off a duck's back. But I keep trying. And as i watch the development of young players around me, I see that confidence growing....and that gives me hope that....one day.....we'll all "like the way we play". I told Emily Duff during our recent recording session "Remember when I first met you, and complimented how you played?....That's because I knew you'd someday do what you're doing now! That was some little girl....compared to this"</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> A pretty good example of that is her work on our recent Advocate Sessions performance....and I do okay.... I hardly hate any of my part....keep repeating " You have to DECIDE to like the way you play" </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010502018-01-09T19:00:00-05:002022-05-11T02:28:24-04:00Just talkin' about Spaghetti<p><span style="font-size: medium;">You know what? Spaghetti is really great. It’s a little spicier that the food boomers grew up on in the 50’s, and we really like it. Tons of people really like it , even if they’re not Italian. Some people say that you need to grow up in an Italian family to understand spaghetti, but lots of people have made a lot of money by making varying types. Some of them went back and studied the work of chefs that came before them, and some, not so much…..and sometimes people would get too weird and put pineapple or something in it. But basically, even people who could afford something way more expensive might order it. Not everybody likes it though, although they’ve all heard of it….and some Italian chefs have moved on to other cuisine that’s more radical...maybe lobster risotto or something. But, whether it’s made the classic way or not, I like it. Because, regardless of its history, or whether the chef is happy or getting divorced, I like it because it tastes good. And if it tastes REALLY GOOD, I think, “Can a human being really make something this good?” Maybe that’s what a genius is. Now if, as an exercise, we replace a few words, starting by replacing the word spaghetti with the word “Blues”......but that would bring in the poison of slavery, its “justifications”, and its aftermath...which would make a much more interesting (and controversial) story…..or would it still just taste good? It gets kinda confusing when we forget that we love great art.....because it's great, No? </span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010492017-06-20T20:00:00-04:002017-06-21T15:37:49-04:00My introduction to college....and alcohol!<p><span style="font-size: medium;">Ok here goes.....might be a blog---"how I first met alcohol"--</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> It's my third night at sleep-away camp....oops, I mean Providence College.....and my roommate has been pretty quiet since arriving (with parents who were extremely concerned that I might be a smoker).....and, since this was the Middle Ages, or at least that's what our school thought, we have "lights out" at 11:30 ....and yes, they would have the camp counselors (oops, R.A.s) check....and in case they forgot, they had conveniently located my room 2 doors from the providence College Dean of Discipline (actual title), the unsmiling Father Bond, so we're laying in our unfamiliar bunk beds in the dark, when a loud knock at the door occurs....it's an upperclassman, a sophomore to be exact.....a VERY drunk sophomore to be exact, and he starts screaming about a beer can pyramid. "Quiet down, Fr. Bond will hear you", I say, at which point he steps into the hall ans bellows "Fuck Fr. Bond!! Fr. Bond SUCKS!".....he re-enters and points to some rings on the floor--"This room was the most PISSAH room on the whole campus, and this is where we had our 800 can beer can pyramid.....and you guys have to keep up the tradition....oh, and they have to be ALL BUDWEISER".....to which my shy quiet roommate answers " I like Miller High Life", which enrages the soph-- "SHUT UP!!! It has to be all Budweiser"...picture the look on my little Catholic school altar boy face as I say, as if to calm the lunatic "Yeah, Pete,... it has to be Budweiser,.... everybody knows that". After a few more Fr Bond, you sucks, he decides we're going to his room on other side of the campus for a "starter kit" (It turned out he had 42 Bud tall boy empties for us....after all, he had been back for two days).....I mention "lights out" (foolish, foolish Wildcat) which just makes him louder, the Harkins Hall elevator creaks loudly, the empties wet the paper bags they're in and crash to the floor, each time fueling expectations of an apoplectic Fr. Bond arrival which somehow never occurs, but he's not done yet....nope....we have to stop and wake up every single person on floor (remember P.C basketball star Charlie Crawford not particularly amused) and order them to bring beer cans to our room for whole semester......and he did come back and check several times.....to my terror.....and yes, always bombed....we eventually bested his 880 can pyramid ( I think we approached 1100), until it became just too tempting to open our door, wing a tennis ball into the pyramid, and run out, leaving us to re-assemble the wreckage....and hiding the Schlitz cans on the inside.....so eventually, we had to stop being the most PISSAH room on the c</span>ampus.</p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010482017-03-15T20:00:00-04:002017-03-16T15:32:19-04:00A True Giant has left us!<h1><span style="font-size: medium;"> What to say about the passing of Blues Legend James Cotton? Well, when a famous person dies, it's frequently said "We won't see his like again"....problem is, in this case, it's probably true. From the fields of Mississippi to Chicago backing Muddy Waters, through the rise of the blues to Rock and Roll prominence, playing with the Rolling Stones....unsure where we'd find this type of pedigree for a musical giant again. And a giant he surely was, combining virtuosity with showmanship (he loved standing offstage with his microphone, playing the first few bars of Cotton Boogie before letting the audience see him), and modern rhythms with respect for blues heritage (equally comfortable with exact quotes of Sonny Boy Williamson licks, and "giving the young people some dance music").</span></h1>
<p> <span style="font-size: medium;">I first met James at the Tobacco Shed in Whately, a venue aptly named...it was so long and narrow that visuals of the stage actually reached the back before their accompanying sound. Blues acts were frequenting the Pioneer Valley, and I had made the brilliant decision(I thought) to provide real blues opening act support for them instead of letting the rock bands screw things up....in other words, I had decided to be a Bluesman, and offered my services to Blues venues at whatever the market would bear....which turned out to be:....not very much. But I didn't care, working up what I thought was a brilliant set that was SURE to impress the audience...and the master himself. However.....about 50 seconds into the James Cotton portion of the evening, I realized just how far over my head I was.....James' band absolutely DESTROYED us. A bit demoralized, I walked into the dressing room, desperate for guidance, which Cotton's drummer and bass player, Ken Johnson and Charles Calmese (still the greatest rhythm section I've ever seen) might provide....adding to my confusion, I found them embroiled in an argument about a missed cue during the set (which had seemed flawless from my perspective)....James walked in, and it was like dad settling a squabble among grade school siblings....complete with "he started it" and such. Cotton got them calmed down, and they did give me some pointers. Later, James came up to me with 6 hot dogs in his beefy hands. "I saw your check while I was getting mine, and you better take these before your band starves to death!", he said. That was the start of a beautiful friendship. A couple of gigs later, Matt "Guitar" Murphy's Fender Twin broke, and we loaned him an amp (might have been Henry Spadoni's), and steered him to a local repair shop, after which I was on the guest list for a LOT of James Cotton shows. After Johnson and Calmese left the band, I watched him build up another dynamite group with Ray "Killer" Allison on drums....Kenny, who had settled in Greenfield, brought them in to eat at the Dove's Nest. (He also occasionally recruited me to play in his Valley Blues all-star band). Still later, when his voice began to fail, Cotton did a duet for part of the show, then brought out the opening act to back him (guess who?) on an electric closing set. All of us here in the Valley were tremendously influenced by this brilliant, yet gentle blues genius. Have already altered the new Wildcat album to include a James Cotton tribute....it wasn't that hard to arrange, since we all knew his stuff backwards. Hope we come close to doing it justice <strong><br></strong></span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010472017-01-15T19:00:00-05:002019-12-10T10:13:09-05:00A few memories of the late Art Steele<p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p>
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<div class="_3058 _ui9 _hh7 _s1- _52mr _3oh-" data-tooltip-alignh="right" data-tooltip-content="8:19pm" data-hover="tooltip" data-tooltip-position="right">I first met Art in 1978, shortly after moving north from Springfield.....first conversation turned to a comparison of blues idols, with him suggesting that Buddy Guy was the most complete artist in the genre....while I defended the honor of Magic Sam....after I knew Art for a while, it occurred to me that, considering the number of notes I tended to play...and the partial chords and piercing tenor that he employed, it probably would have been more logical if we had reversed positions...I later would play a few songs during his Evening Pro Bluesica shows in S. Deerfield,(at the Hot-L, then managed by the late Buddy Rubbish) and we did many shows together over the years, including a stint where Art had me pretend to be him when his P.A. gigs pulled him away from home after booking the Art Steele Band (and his band would look to me for leadership...which I found weird...."Guys, I'm the SUB") In the shifting sands of our Valley music scene, Art was always ready to adjust on the fly, while still being completely present and in the moment to the audience. In recent years, I would bring Art in as a featured guest at my Sunday show at City Sports Northampton, where he was invariably a most charming, though mercurial, guest....my house band would hang on for dear life as he went "really Deep" in the Blues....oh, I forgot to mention his previous car accident, and the benefit we did at the Harp afterwards....the outpouring of love from the community...and the awe when he walked slowly to the stage..."Stay ready to cover, I lose feeling in my hand and drop the pick sometimes since the surgery" he whispered. "No problem, big guy" I thought to myself...."I'll be over here basking in the reflected glow if you need me"....it was a major trick finding room for all the artists who wanted to perform, a fact we laughed about the next day as I proudly handed him the benefit proceeds...I told him two key facts helped--nobody wanted to be the difficult diva in those circumstances....and the parking filled in so far from the club that they couldn't drag in a million sets of equipment. There's about 20 pictures of various area artists....all with my guitar!....</div>
<div class="_3058 _ui9 _hh7 _s1- _52mr _3oh-" data-tooltip-alignh="right" data-tooltip-content="8:19pm" data-hover="tooltip" data-tooltip-position="right"> We also would do an annual visit to the Radio-a-thon on WMUA to support Katie Wright, with Art usually issue appeals like this: "Blues on WMUA are a symbiosis with the community, where a continuum of Christo-mystical synergy makes the community more holistic....don't you agree, Wildcat?"I'd respond after a pause "Uhhh....Art, I was goin' with <em>You gotta donate or KATIE GONNA CRY, MAN"...</em>One way or the other, we'd get the phone ringing</div>
<div class="_3058 _ui9 _hh7 _s1- _52mr _3oh-" data-tooltip-alignh="right" data-tooltip-content="8:19pm" data-hover="tooltip" data-tooltip-position="right"> .One last memory: I got a call from a club in Holyoke a few years ago, which I had trouble locating when I tried to drop in with posters...I wandered further, eventually coming face-to-</div>
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<div class="_3058 _ui9 _hh7 _s1- _52mr _3oh-" data-tooltip-alignh="center" data-tooltip-content="8:22pm" data-hover="tooltip" data-tooltip-position="right">face with three cop cars, who were blockading an apartment building, guns drawn....since the only avenue open was to the right, I turned and hurried away...and right ahead of me was this marquee: Live Blues tonight---The Art Steele Band....I went in and said: "You know, Art....I'm always glad to see ya......especially tonight"...Good Night, sweet Prince....you shoulda been Magic Sam</div>
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<p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010462015-08-31T20:00:00-04:002019-12-10T10:13:09-05:00Preserving the Music<p><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>Preserving the music<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/4bd1b18525c9a4337393078e830034a73a3e0180/original/11406523-832697143450340-7447325503600722511-o.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MjA0eDE1MyJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="153" width="204" /></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: large;">Not to underestimate my ability to get myself involved in arguments, but I was surprised nonetheless recently to find myself rousing the ire of a blues legend. This gentleman, not a household word, but known to any in-depth blues fan, and an awesome player (and who will remain nameless) was ranting on Facebook about Ana Popvic, who had posted on Youtube a quite-inauthentic version of the classic One Room Country Shack, complete with pinup pictures of herself, and a reference to “ten foot sacks”.....having picked no more cotton than Ms Popovic, I was nevertheless aware that they are eleven foot sacks...but I was taken aback that this was supposed to be a sign of the Apocalypse, and always ready to defend blonde girls in revealing outfits, made some comment (innocuous, I thought) like “Everybody brings to the music what they can, it's not the end of the world....and are the pictures hot?”....this brought the wrath down on little old me! Good thing I didn't say what I was thinking (which was “It was supposed to end the Blues forever when the let the WHITE GUYS in.....which event should have been ABUNDANTLY familiar to the ranter, who was among the first in that cultural development). </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;">Now I admit that those first few guys went out of their way to immerse themselves in Blues culture, and I would urge the current crop of youngsters to drink in all the nuances of the old masters...but I AM irked that, whenever something new is introduced to the music (be it blonde girls in short skirts or something more substantive), SOMEONE feels the need to protest that you're coloring outside the lines! Let me cut to the chase—leaving aside the question of who appointed guardians for the Blues, my MAIN question is: WHAT PART OF IMPROVISATIONAL MUSIC DIDN'T YOU UNDERSTAND? It would, by definiton, change.....it would, by definition, change all the TIME! Every major Blues book has someone who's “doing it right” and someone else who's a “lightweight dilettante newcomer”....and usually that perspective looks foolish a few years after the fact (I believe it was Charles Keil of Urban Blues fame who brought out a second edition 20 yrs later, in which he apologized for minimizing James Brown in this way!)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;">This is in no way to assert that any old Blues is just as good as any other Blues. When you have a music of three chords, you had better get used to the fact thats some people can cover those changes without providing us with much value...there's gonna be a whole bunch of chaff....which is to say, stuff you don't like. And, since we can't expect every music listener in the world to immerse themselves in Blues culture, SOME music that seems “lesser” may achieve sizable commercial success (it's said that older Bluesmen were mystified/annoyed by the success of Jimmy Reed...for example).</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;">But, cutting to the chase: The very people who think they're PRESERVING the music are actually holding it back. What's the point of making the circle SMALLER?</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><em>Wildcat O'Halloran is a Blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He has labored, mostly in small clubs for 45 years, trying to keep exciting Blues music in front of the public...mostly in New England (not Mississippi or Chicago). In that time, he has seen Disco lionized, along with Rock Shredders, teenagers with metal-shredder guitars (but with porkpie hats), and blonde girls (though he likes those). He has been called “one of the most entertaing songwriters in contemorary Blues” (LB2011)....and also “might be fun at a party, but NOT a serious blues band” </em></span> </span><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/e4461d13d7f5ae3b8b6e8e45446e69ae116c0751/original/11337002-10155555816010062-6678230061982333033-o.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MjA0eDE2NSJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="165" width="204" /></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010452015-06-15T20:00:00-04:002015-06-16T09:04:30-04:00Inspiration Meditation<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>Inspiration underrated? Perspiration overrated?</strong></span></p>
<p> <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/e4461d13d7f5ae3b8b6e8e45446e69ae116c0751/original/11337002-10155555816010062-6678230061982333033-o.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MjA0eDE2NSJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="165" width="204" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/e9856424f0488b2bce62198b307ef0ce0bac2dde/original/banner-party-up-in-heaven-1color-2.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MTE4eDExNCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="114" width="118" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/c7abd0ac8b3eb57456fa871611b49b57a79dbdc9/original/10357717-10201496265723354-4821352457949317977-o-1.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MTcweDE1MyJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="153" width="170" /></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;">It's been a while since I blogged....I thought about one on musicians relationship with substances....maybe another time (short version: The brain has its creative side and it's logical, judgemental side....musicians, or any artists need to quiet that critical side in order to make that leap of faith that presenting creations to the world entails....use drugs and alcohol to uninhibit....and usually overdo it! Often doing permanent damage to their “good judgement” side) But I digress, because the subject I want to address today is a term we use without really analyzing: Inspiration. We say something is “inspirational”...or someone “inspires young people”...what exactly are we talking about?</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;">We could start with the views of the ancients...to them, it literally meant that a spirit had entered someone, just as, to them, a “genius” might be receiving secret insights from their personal genie!! Unclear whether every level of society took those ideas as symbolic or real (Remember in the Iliad when the goddess “Rumor” ran through the camp creating discord...there might have been a demi-god named Discord as well, but this may have been more “imagery” than actual literal religious belief...unless there were republicans even in those days)....but we don't believe in spirits...do we?</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;">No, we're not going to church now. But this is what I think inspiration means: The ability to create in the mind of other people (or to recognize in oneself) the idea “Oh, wow! A human being can actually do THAT!” (Or solve that, write that, draw that)</span></p>
<p>“<span style="font-size: large;">Wow! I'm transported by that experience....I gotta raise my game!” When I hear Otis Redding, or Aretha....Mike Bloomfield or Tower of Power, I still think “Wow, a human being can do that!” Or it might be non-musical...Shakespeare, Richard Pryor...or even Lupe Fiasco or Manny Ramirez, or ...wait for it....Joel Osteen might have something that speaks to the inner person.....without inspiration, we're just ants scurrying around an anthill....with it, we have the opportunity to strive for our highest potential...to reach beyond our grasp.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;">And as for the actual existence of spirits....well, another time for that one. <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/e43626a2b2fc0d232cf2c3923f9f10e94584b541/original/966438-4739889465713-1608876693-o.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MjA0eDE0OSJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="149" width="204" /></span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010442014-10-16T20:00:00-04:002014-10-17T17:52:26-04:00For the Benefit of Mr. Kite<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>Musicians and<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/21f3404b982e892edbb34413a663a3d8f25dbdee/original/997079-923607994334622-8193902092182913034-n.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MjQweDMyMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="320" width="240" /> Benefit Concerts...match made in Heaven?</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;">Many a musician has had a significant other say (or scream?): “Musicians are the most selfish people on earth!” To create original music, polish it, promote it takes time and attention away from others....you'd at LEAST call them “self-absorbed!!” Yet no other group bands together so often to raise money for charity, and donates their talents in shows that would otherwise have cost thousands! (with apologies to your local church, who meet weekly, but usually without the same star power....and some have mandatory attendance!), how do we reconcile these two statements?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;">Well, some might suggest it's as simple as this: musicians like to play.....musicians LOVE to play.....they NEED to play....why Not do a benefit, see all your friends, pretend you're Mickey Rooney, and play for a combined audience? And that's part of the answer, but let's look deeper. There's been a LOT of debate lately about what value musicians should be putting on their services....a lot of which is, unfortunately, counter-productive....if a venue hires you hoping you'll attract some customers, and you don't....they won't be interested in compensating you for your hours of practice (we've talked about this before, right? They might have steered your practice to Nickelback covers if they WERE paying for it!)....but, regardless of your position on that issue, it's an indisputable fact that musicians will frequently be recruited for situations where some one else gets paid first (I did not use the word weasel), while they are left with the short end of the stick....so it might be that they just feel that they'd rather benefit a “cause” than some music biz weasel (there, I couldn't help myself).</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;">But I still don't think that's it. What I really think is, musicians ARE aware that their performances have value....great value! But, they're also aware that, unless they are in a recording studio, their performances go out into the air, hoping to hit a target, like the rays of the sun finding the earth....and when their time is up....it's all over. In other words, musicians give generously of their time and talents because that's what they HAVE to give. Like the Little Drummer Boy....but they're still selfish...don't skip the video at the end of this blog!!</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010432014-08-17T20:00:00-04:002014-08-18T16:10:13-04:00What are we doing up here?<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/953ae425ad66490c573f4a4d639db6e2ffef99e2/original/10560589-10202302133905275-1627012927034201713-o.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NDA5eDMwNiJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="Wildcat Band @ Sunderland Library" height="306" width="409" />What A<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/5f63c18e707b995981cc72a300a49cdfcfe14993/original/935901-10151705864952953-1302541410-n.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MzIxeDQ3OSJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="b&W" height="479" width="321" />r<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/5f63c18e707b995981cc72a300a49cdfcfe14993/original/935901-10151705864952953-1302541410-n.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MzIxeDQ3OSJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="B&W Cat" height="479" width="321" />e We Doing Up There?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-size: large;">In her book “How To Play Madison Square Garden”, Mindi Abair presents this breakthrough concept: </span><span style="font-size: large;"><em>If you don't understand that the audience is giving you something of value when they respond to your music, you don't truly understand what you're doing performing in front of people.</em></span><span style="font-size: large;"> Which led to a lot of soul-searching on my part, because frankly, I would get so caught up in the nuts and bolts of making the songs “come out right”, that I wasn't at all clear on what the audience was up to...oh, I liked it when they applauded, all right , and I was clear that I was supposed to communicate something to them....I remember telling one of my jazz snob friends “If a musician is a communicator, and literally no one is getting what you're putting down, why do you think you're such a great musician?”...but I still was only scratching the surface, miles from wrapping my mind around that italicized sentence. They're giving ME something of great value?</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;">Let's re-group.....We've all seen the T-shirts that say “More of ME in the monitors”, playing on the known fact that, to beginner musicians, the idea that they can MAKE SOUNDS!!!! is so fascinating that they have no interest in what the rest of the band is doing (or how the song sounds!)....but, on the other hand, musicians further evolved must have SOME fascination with the sounds they make, or else why would they bother presenting them to other people? Where's the tipping point? Is Dunning Krueger effectinvolved? it the fault of the internet? I frequently hear that computer recording, Facebook et al have “flooded the market with amateur musicians”...usually from “professional” musicians who think “chops” are passe, leaving me to wonder in what area they ARE higher than the “amateurs”.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;">I used to divide musicians (or performers in general) into two classes : “Hey Look at Me” performers (Britney Spears?) and “Hey, Look what I can do” (Joe Satriani?)...now I've decided there's a third choice: “Let me tell you what's in my heart tonight” musicians, who present the audience with that rarest of complete experiences: The Great Song!!</span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010422014-06-25T20:00:00-04:002014-06-26T11:44:46-04:00More radio stations added<div>
<div dir="ltr">Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2014 20:37:16 -0800<br>From: <a href="mailto:toddg@gci.net" target="_blank">toddg@gci.net</a><br>Subject: Radio Airplay Report - Wildcat O’ Halloran – Party Up In Heaven – Dove’s Nest Records<br>To: <a href="mailto:bluemondaytoo@hotmail.com" target="_blank">bluemondaytoo@hotmail.com</a><br><br>
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<div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><strong>Wildcat O’ Halloran – Party Up In Heaven – Dove’s Nest Records</strong></em></span></span></div>
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<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Confessing The Blues - Syndicated</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Blues Debut</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WCNI -New London - Connecticut</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WVBR - Ithaca - New York</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WFDU - Teaneck - New Jersey</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WMWV- Conway - New Hampshire</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WPCR- Plymouth - New Hampshire</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WBRS - Waltham - Massachusetts</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WMUA - Amherst – Massachusetts</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WUML - Lowell – Massachusetts</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WOMR - Provincetown- Massachusetts</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WMEB -Orono – Maine</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WBOR - Brunswick – Maine</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WMPG - Portland - Maine</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WRBC - Lewiston – Maine </span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WIZN - Burlington - Vermont</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WNRB - Wausau - Wisconsin</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WVPE - Elkhart – Indiana</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WUEV Evansville – Indiana</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WNKU - Highland Heights – Kentucky</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WFPK - Louisville – Kentucky</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WBGU- Bowling Green - Ohio</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WAIF - Cincinnati - Ohio </span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WNIJ - DeKalb - Illinois</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WEFT - Champaign - Illinois</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Friends of the Blues /WKCC - Kankakee - Illinois</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WFOS - Chesapeake - Virginia</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WNRN - Charlottesville - Virginia</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WWCU - Cullowhee - North Carolina</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WBZR- Atmore – Alabama</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WJAB - Huntsville – Alabama</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WLRH - Huntsville – Alabama</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WWNT - Dotham – Alabama</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WVVL - Enterprise - Alabama</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WWOZ - New Orleans – Louisiana</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Smoketack/WUCF - Orlando – Florida</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WQTL - Tallahassee – Florida</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">WMNF- Tampa - Florida</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KTEP - El Paso – Texas</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KPFT - Houston - Texas</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KENW - Portales - New Mexico</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KKIT - Taos - New Mexico</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KXCI - Tucson - Arizona</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KTDE- Willits - California</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KROV - Oroville - California</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KSCU- Santa Clara - California</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KWPT - Fortuna – California</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KHUM - Humboldt County - California</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KNCA - Redding – California</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KRCB - Rohnert Park - California</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KEGR - Concord - California</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KAFM Grand Junction - Colorado</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KPVL- Postville – Iowa</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KCCK - Cedar Rapids - Iowa</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KZUM - Lincoln – Nebraska</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KIOS - Omaha - Nebraska</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KRUE- Owatonna - Minnesota</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KRCL - Salt Lake City - Utah</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KDHX - ST Louis – Missouri</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KSPQ - West Plains - Missouri</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KRVM - Eugene - Oregon</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KWCW - Walla Walla - Washington</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KAOS - Olympia – Washington</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KKZX - Spokane - Washington</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">KTUH - Honolulu - Hawaii</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">CKUT- Montreal - Quebec – Canada</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">CKIA - Montreal Quebec – Canada</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">CFRO - Vancouver BC - Canada</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">3 Way Radio – Australia</span></strong></div>
<div><strong><span style="font-size: large;">Bluesbeat /Hot FM – Australia</span></strong></div>
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<br><strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">Todd Glazer Promotions <br>Po Box 230531<br>Anchorage AK 99523 <br>Ph / Fax 907-279-8546<br>Email <a href="mailto:toddg@gci.net" target="_blank">toddg@gci.net</a> <br><a href="http://www.toddglazer.com/" target="_blank">www.toddglazer.com</a></span></strong>
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<br><br>--Forwarded Message Attachment--<br>Date: Thu, 22 Aug 2013 19:36:57 -0800<br>From: <a href="mailto:toddg@gci.net" target="_blank">toddg@gci.net</a><br>Subject: Friends of the Blues Radio Show - Stations<br><br>
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<div><strong><em><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span>Friends of the Blues Radio Show</span></span></em></strong></div>
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<div><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span>Kankakee Community College</span></span></strong></div>
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<div><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span>Kankakee IL 60901</span></span></strong></div>
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<div><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span>Co-hosts: Shuffle Shoes – The Blues Guru & Dr. Skyy Dobro</span></span></strong></div>
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<div><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span>Saturdays – 7 to 11 pm</span></span></strong></div>
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<div><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span>WKCC Radio 91.1 FM</span></span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><strong><span>Internet Audio Streamed on</span></strong><strong> </strong></span><a href="http://www.wkccradio.org/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">www.wkccradio.org</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"></span></strong>
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<div><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span>Broadcasting from U.S. Central Time Zone</span></span></strong></div>
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<span style="color: #c00000;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><strong><span>Find Us on Facebook:</span></strong><strong> </strong></span></span><a href="http://www.facebook.com/friendsoftheblues" target="_blank"><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">www.facebook.com/friendsoftheblues</span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"></span></strong>
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<div><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span><span>Audio Streamed in CD Quality Stereo!</span></span></span></strong><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span></strong></span></div>
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<div><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span>Now being broadcast over-the-air from 11 stations in 10 States:</span></span></strong></div>
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<div><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span>1. KBBG Waterloo IA</span></span></strong></div>
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<div><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span>2. KFSK Petersburg AK</span></span></strong></div>
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<div><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span>3. KTOO Juneau AK</span></span></strong></div>
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<div><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span>4. KGUA Gualata CA</span></span></strong></div>
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<div><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span>5. WVAS Montgomery AL</span></span></strong></div>
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<div><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span>6. WNAA Greensboro SC</span></span></strong></div>
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<div><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span>7. KCRJ Gulch Radio Jerome AZ</span></span></strong></div>
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<div><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span>8. KISU Pocatello ID</span></span></strong></div>
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<div><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span>9. WVSD Itta Bena MS</span></span></strong></div>
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<div><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><span>10. KPVU Prairie View TX</span></span></strong></div>
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<div><strong><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">11. WKCC Kankakee IL</span></strong></div>
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<br><br>--Forwarded Message Attachment--<br>Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 11:41:50 -0800<br>From: <a href="mailto:toddg@gci.net" target="_blank">toddg@gci.net</a><br>Subject: The Smokestack Lightnin’ Family of Radio Stations<br><br>
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<div><span style="font-family: Arial;"><span style="color: #0000ff;">The Smokestack Lightnin’ Family of Radio Stations</span><span><span style="color: #0000ff;"><br><br><br><br><br>WUCF, 89.9 Orlando, Florida 4/28/02<br>KJZA, 89.5 Williams, Arizona 5/03/09<br>KJZP, 90.1 Prescot, Arizona 5/03/09<br>KJZK, 90.7 Kingman, Arizona 5/03/09<br>KJZA, 89.5 Flagstaff, Arizona 5/03/09<br>KJZA, 91.3 Flagstaff, Arizona 5/03/09<br>WPRL, 91.7 Lorman/Jackson, Mississippi 6/03/09<br>City Sounds Radio Blues (<a href="http://blues.citysoundsradio.com/" target="_blank">http://blues.citysoundsradio.com/</a>) 6/20/09<br>KASU, 91.9 Jonesboro, Arkansas (Memphis market) 7/11/09<br>KCOL - Kansas City Online Radio (<a href="http://kconlineradio.com/" target="_blank">http://kconlineradio.com</a>) 10/29/09<br>95.7 The Wolf, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada 2/10/10<br>WZXP, 97.9 Burlington Vermont 7/21/10<br>BluesJazzRadio.com, Virginia Beach, Virginia 11/02/10<br>WVAS, 90.7 Montgomery Alabama [Pending]<br></span></span><span style="color: #0000ff;">WBRS,100.1 Waltham, Massachucetts (Boston Market) [Pending]</span></span></div>
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</div>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010412014-05-27T20:00:00-04:002019-12-10T10:13:08-05:00The Young Horse Run Fast, The Old Horse Knows the Way<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>The Young Horse Run Fast, But The Old Horse Knows The Way</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/9bfed053e13a4b1be77ce8888821752bf602c139/original/muddy-waters.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MzI1eDMzMyJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="333" width="325" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/02e36091b2275f87d5bd626a887f89efaefceef0/original/812658-10151414032726245-789749266-o.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NjUweDY4OSJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="689" width="650" /></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;">It's been dogma in the U.S, for a generation or longer, that our culture in general, and music in particular, are (and should be) youth-centric in the extreme. Those teenagers are the ones who follow the trends, and have the diposable income to run to the record store, everybody knows that........well, all that's out the window now!! The young people rip the music ( a lot of which is rehashed 80's stuff anyhow...they don't have much of a consensus on music of their own) off the computer, while the boomers not only might still BUY a CD, but kind of like the feeling of having a concrete piece of the artists they enjoy, something they can hold up and say “Hey! I just got the new Wildcat O'Halloran CD!”...or whoever.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;">And it's not like it was always thus....Rock and Roll was proclaimed a young person's game partly because young black artists were willing and eager to take out a few of the subtleties of the blues, while pumping up the tempos....and the amplification, to the initial horror of the established blues artists! For many years after R&R's inception, there would be “revue” shows with older legends in the tradition for the parents, and Rockers for the “young uns” When record companies saw how much money could be made off the younger audience (and how gullible they were!), the “teeny-bopper is our newborn king” became etched in stone...or so it seemed. “The Blues had a baby....and they named the baby Rock and Roll”, said Muddy Waters.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;">But it's really never been like that in Blues. From the time of Charley Patton and Son House mocking the young Robert Johnson, to the tours of Willie Dixon with his grandson and nephew in the rhythm section, Blues has always been a music where we expect our party to be hosted by someone with a little “mileage” on them. And when Albert King embraced the hippies at the Fillmore (he had already embaced feedback, which they absolutely LOVED!), he immediately advanced his career....and taught a whole new generation (and race!) how to party.....which has always been a theme of this music. From “She's 19Years Old” (and got ways like a baby child) to “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl” (she's not only underage...she might be Jewish....and in some versions, the singer threatens to kill her!....a little TOO Creepy!) the Blues has been a music that, on one level purports to set up war between young and old, but ultimately resolves that conflict as the younger folks come of age under the tutelage (or is that corrupting influence?) of 2000 years of African (not Sunday school) wisdom (“The boy has the boogie in him, and it's got to come out”, says John Lee Hooker. A Bluesman may not really fully hit his stride until 60, and will get respect even when staggering out to the stage one more time as a 90 year old fossil (“I wanted to party with him/say I met him in person---one more time.”) Side trip----the aforementioned John Lee was doing what I call the “frail act” when I first met him....being led out to a chair, only to stand up for the last song, to the amazement of the audience.....now, I understand that the Hook may have had a hard life....but he was 54 then, much younger than I am now!....I may start with the chair soon....but can I still dance with the pretty girls?</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;">Someone will no doubt bring up the now-numerous really young blues artists, and my answer may upset some readers: It's exactly the surprise of seeing the teen (or pre-teen) cover the music and appear to dispense the wisdom, that makes this interesting....not to demean the abilities of these artists, but it's precisely because they go against the grain that we marvel....would an analogy to seeing a poodle in a tutu doing ballet be too harsh? Maybe, though at one time, the white bluesman dispensing “down Home” wisdom may have been a similar novelty.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;">Wildcat O'Halloran has kept the Blues alive in western Massachusetts since about 1968....making him officially....old enough to be a Bluesman......his new CD, Party Up In Heaven, is now competing with new releases by men who died in 1968...but that's another blog! Meanwhile.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOXTjpnyxpo OR:<a href="http://www.wildcatohalloran.com/files/Probably_Dea_Mix_1_03.wav">Probably_Dea_Mix_1_03.wav</a> </span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010402014-05-12T20:00:00-04:002019-12-10T10:13:08-05:00War of the Sexes, anyone?<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>Meaning of the Blues.....Battle of the Sexes??</strong></span></p>
<p> <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/43e6a437c90da9d6f99f51d1b61961f695e05983/original/bobby-bland.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MjY4eDMyMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="320" width="268" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/45dc0044f1f5d19b87f248378ea5ecb3a011fdd1/original/mm3.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MTg5eDI0MCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="240" width="189" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/4963289c243d28dbea199554a82452aa3227f31b/original/johnny-ds-semi.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NzIweDQ3OCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="478" width="720" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/f71b57378b9e9a8bd404abb32830328a53466937/original/321680-2030752738988-1549212564-31794624-2015418967-n-2.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NjY3eDQ1NiJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="456" width="667" /></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;">Judging by the enormous number of lyrics in Blues that relate to the....shall we say... “issues” in relationships, maybe we should award this music the grand WAR OF THE SEXES first prize, whatever that prize might be. Think opera or country can compete? (“All I want to be is...DONE” currently rocking the country charts)--No chance!!`As they would say in High School, compare and contrast that little ditty with “I'm gonna call up Big Boy Hogan, to come down and dig your grave....and I'll be right there laughin', when he throws that dirt in your face” (V-8 Ford).....Think your current crop of rappers have street cred? Pat Hare, author of “Murderin' Blues”, acted his tune out, landing in the penitentiary (unsure if it actually WAS better “Than bein' worried out of my mind”)....and what about Howlin' Wolf's girl, who “Puts iodine in my coffee, rat poison in my bread, when I get a little sleepy, she puts lye all in my bed”??</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;">And it's not just the men talking tough and complaining about the fairer sex (“She's a mean mistreater, and she DON'T mean...me no good”-Muddy Waters). From the sass of Carla Thomas (“Otis, you ain't nothin but a no-good tramp....straight from the Georgia woods”) to Little Esther Phillips (“I'll put this stick down, all right....right on your head!!”---same riff as Tramp, btw—always signals trouble...that's why I used it in “If You Won't Do What I Want”,where I tell Emmalyn Hicks that she doesn't need a bra since she has nothing to put in there, and she responds “Then why do you wear pants?”) Ouch!... the girls make the blues an equal-opportunity war. What about the legendary Memphis Minnie, who favored the National Steel Standard guitar (sometime you'll see Bonnie Raitt with one), because, if a man gave her too much unwanted attention, “You could hit him over the head hard enough to kill him....and it wouldn't even go out of tune” Double Ouch!!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;">Whether the cause is infidelity (“ I saw your other man wearin' my brand new suit”---Bobby Bland), drinking (“he's a real mother-for-ya....got drunk and tore up the neighborhood”---Memphis Minnie), or just general (“Albert, you ain't nothin but an overgrown fool”----Albert Collins, who reminds her that “a good fool is hard to find!”), you never need to mince words in the blues....which is why we love it!! You can make Donald Sterling seem like Ghandi and it's all fair game...just as exaggerating your troubles (“If trouble was money, I'd be a millionaire”---Albert Collins among many...”If it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all”--Albert King) is all part of the fun, exaggerting how horrible your girlfriend is (“When we got down to Joe's place, the whole band knew her name”-Jimmy Rogers)....or how badass you are (“We gonna raise your eyelashes and whup you some, and if you run fast enough, we gonna whup you on the bottom of the feet!”-Albert King ) is just part of the one-ups-manship.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;">Unless you're Bobby Blue Bland, who, even while “telling the bitch off” and riling up the menfolk, would get nothing but sympathy from the women, who'd actually be incensed at the girl who had hurt “poor, poor Bobby”....how could she do that to him? Some day, I'm gonna get that skill...and hear “poor, poor Wildcat”</span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010392014-04-08T20:00:00-04:002014-04-09T16:38:30-04:00More Blues History...and Supa Chikan<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/5f63c18e707b995981cc72a300a49cdfcfe14993/original/935901-10151705864952953-1302541410-n.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NjQzeDk2MCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="960" width="643" /> </p>
<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>A little more about Blues History...can you stand it?</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;">In case you haven't read my earlier bashing of Blues books, let me start this blog with a disclaimer: By definition, a Blues book is an attempt by some literary type to figure out someone else' culture....after that culture was uprooted, mangled, and mushed together with all kinds of other stuff in America....500 years ago! Sure, I'll take a shot....can't do any worse.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;">When we hijacked a whole lot of different people from West Africa, and threw them together in distinctly lesser conditions in America, what did we get, culturally? We got a rich oral tradition, kept alive by traveling musicians/storytellers called griots, who, while keeping the cultural traditions alive, were also the short-time stranger visiting the village (and viewed with both admiration and distrust, in the finest small-town tradition). Perhaps because of this, or perhaps because West African stories often have the element of trickery as an important component, the patron saint of the griots was Legba, god of music.....and deception! A little ol' trickster god who might put one over on you to satisfy some selfish desire of his own....what a choice for a musician deity! By the way, if you've heard the blues line “I'd rather drink muddy water, and sleep in a hollow log”, those images go all the way back to Africa, where the traveling griots would take shelter enroute in a baobab tree (and sometimes be found dead in there)....and muddy water indicated the Nile was getting ready to flood your farm (hence the association with bad luck). Oh, and you would, of course, meet the griot (or maybe Legba himself)... at the crossroads.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;">Well, as you might expect, it didn't take the white folks (who came to America partly to BE religious fanatics!) long to equate the mischievous Legba with the more sinister....wait for it....Satan! First of all, because they were suspicious of multiple deities anytime, and trickster gods (plus music and dancing...and keeping alive African traditions) were just too much! So, as we might also expect, the early, traveling bluesmen had an image problem......or was it an opportunity? Identifying themselves with the Devil tied them to the tradition, made them seem superhuman....and most importantly....defiant of the white man's rules! So Peetie Wheatstraw adverised himself as “The Devil's Son-in-law”, coated his cornrows with wax, and started shows with his hair on fire....way before Michael Jackson. Robert Johnson's obsession with the Devil has been well documented (maybe not ACCURATELY documented....was he poisoned? Stabbed? Both? Did he really spend his last hours barking like a dog?), but the question is: Was this Posturing, maybe with a little Marketing on the side? Or did life outside mainstream (read white) conventions convince these guys that they really WERE in league with the Father of Lies? Hard to really know, but I think the key words are: Life outside the mainstream (read: White) conventions.....fighting “the Man”, spurning the white hospital to consult a “root doctor”....living like an African griot.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;">One more note about the crossroads: I've been told this story very seriously by TWO different (white) blues fans....who don't know each other....after the tour, which includes a trip to the crossroads near the Stovall plantation, where Robert Johnson supposedly sold his soul to the Devil, and after a few drinks, our tourist decides that he's going to take a guitar and go down to that crossroads at sunrise (this worries me, because I always thought it was supposed to be sunSET, but whatever)....qnd both guys were startled when a black man, all dressed in black, DID approach them...the amusing idea now turned a little more real than they had planned, and thinking not of the mischievous Legba, but rather of our more sinister Lucifer, they each asked hesitantly: “Are....you....who I....think....you are?” And the man answered …............”Absolutely! I'm Supa Chikan (bluesman who lives nearby....and talks to chickens)....Wanna buy a CD?”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;"></span></p>
<p><em><span style="font-size: large;">speaking of Cd's...the new Wildcat CD Party Up In Heaven actually <strong>CHARTED this week (#13 on Blues</strong></span></em><span style="font-size: large;"><strong> Debut)</strong></span><span style="font-size: large;">...check web store to order yours!!!!</span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010382014-01-27T19:00:00-05:002022-03-27T11:28:29-04:00Thank You Blog<p> </p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/e0114227b221d1da153d25b485b35f86fc6efa68/original/inside-cover.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6OTAweDYwMCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="600" width="900" /> </p>
<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>Open Thank You Letter.....to ALL my musician friends</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;">The night of the Bill Buckner World Series Game (1986, Game 6 for you non- Red Sox people) While the Buckner error was fatal, the baseball coach in me was almost more horrified by the Bob Stanley wild pitch that preceded it (not a good sign when, years later, the teammates are still debating if it was a passed ball), and so all night I tossed and turned, thinking “Buckner!”.....NO, Stanley!!!....no, Buckner.....no, definitely Stanley...or was it Gedman?” When it came time to head over to the Dove's Nest (5 AM), I was as exhausted as I was frustrated. Opening waitress that morning was none other than Margaret Wasserman....who was biggest booster on recent Kickstarter campaign btw....and I turned to her in my grief and said “ Mahgret!....Buckner...Stanley....Stanley....Buckner”.....”Forget it” , she said, “It's gonna rain....if it rains 2 days, we pitch Hurst again, and they can't hit him”. “When did you get so tough?”, I wondered....but, of course, it only rained ONE day, we pitched Hurst on short rest, he came out (leading) after 5 innings or so....and the rest is history...not happy history......................................................................well, now I've found some closure.........for the past few nights, I've been falling asleep listening to final mixes of my new album “Party Up In Heaven”, and thinking “Isn't Emily Duff (sax) the most wonderful thing on this record?....no, wait...that would be Wally Greaney (harp)....no, Emily...no, definitely Wally...but wait, what about the keyboards (Paul Provost)?....No, stupid, the best thing on this album is the rhythm section (Jopey Fitzpatrick and Matt McMannamon).....but what about the Harp Girls?....and Rae Griffiths, sassing me on “Evrything I do”....and Devin, who did his best work EVER!!...........no I think it's definitely Emily........no Wally......no, wait..what about Nick Borges' trumpet on Drownin'!!..no, Emily...........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;">When I wake up, I think of all my other musical friends who I didn't get onto this record, and how awesome THEY all are...and Karen Traub gently telling me to do one more take...and Danny Bernini coaching the Harp Girls!....and I think of Trevor Sewell and Cassandra, whose songs were so incredible that I BEGGED to cover them........and all the people who put up hard -earned $$ on Kickstarter....and I know it sounds corny, but I ain't never seen no parting of the Red Sea, or guys getting carried around in a whale, but I'm pretty sure I HAVE experienced a couple miracles....thanx for hanging in through that convoluted story </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>Wildcat O'Halloran has just completed his 10th CD PARTY UP IN HEAVEN...release parties Feb. 14th at producer Karen's Shutesbury AC, and Feb. 23rd at Wildcat's weekly Northampton Blues jam (4-8...most of the CD musicians will be there!)</strong></span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010372013-09-24T20:00:00-04:002019-12-10T10:13:07-05:00Love is All Around (Even In A Guitar?)<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrOoX6xGntc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrOoX6xGntc <br></a></p>
<p>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_VpjSv_4QM</p>
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<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/f71b57378b9e9a8bd404abb32830328a53466937/original/321680-2030752738988-1549212564-31794624-2015418967-n-2.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MTk1eDEzMyJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="133" width="195" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/5f63c18e707b995981cc72a300a49cdfcfe14993/original/935901-10151705864952953-1302541410-n.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MjEyeDE5MSJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="191" width="212" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/c67f716e6bbff7212183de382515a0a5bf6855dc/original/iheg.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MTkyeDE0NCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="144" width="192" /></p>
<p><span style="font-size: x-large;"><strong>SILLY LOVE SONGS?</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;"><strong>I</strong> CAN”T be the only person who's wondered this.....You'll be listening to some streetwise, tough ghetto singer (or rapper), all about the mean streets and killin' people and selling drugs, and how you can't trust nobody....and in the middle of the album, there'll be a love song.....a REALLLY SAPPY, Saccharine, cliche-ridden, ooh-ah—isn't love grand....love song......and you'll wonder: Where on the mean streets did he meet Paul McCartney? This is not a new phenomenon....Tower of Power would be funkafying about how they were gonna “Knock Your Damn Self Out!!” for half an hour....then it was time for “You're Still A Young Man.....WAHOOO!”....and the same band that covered “I'm A Man” and made it MEANER !!! (Chicago Transit Authority) went straight to innumerable variations of “Color My World”...but I wrote those off to the gradual and insidious process of falling in love with your own horn section. Let me explain: If you have a lyric line that's not that strong...say it's a not-very-clever cliché type line...but you have a powerful horn section land on a really big-sounding Chord to underline it, it suddenly sounds profound....like Moses has just come down from Mt. Sinai with those two tablets....”Oh, THOU SHALL NOT KILLLLLLL!!!!!” ...Got it!! This works so well that the band starts to rely on it more and more (and the horn players get better and better at it), and it becomes like a drug addiction, complete with the diminishing returns. Similarly, if the singers voice is so beautiful that he could “sing the phone book”, singing something more profound and possibly controversial starts to seem like too much trouble....after all, everyone Oohs and AAAhhs when he sings “Baby, I Love You” so why mess with success. But I gradually realized that this doesn't explain ALL the Sappy love songs.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;">There's also the guy from the mean streets who has so much success that he starts to be more about the mean streets of Malibu (Hello, Bruce Springsteen), but that doesn't explain the phenomenon either ...though it would explain where he meets Paul McCartney....</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;">Then there's the bio-chemical explanation: Sexual arousal causes the pituitary gland to secrete oxytocin, a substance that induces feelings of warmth, desire to bond, understand, care for the love object. It even allegedly makes the annoying habits of the beloved seem cute and/or brilliant. So, instead of singing “It Must be the Money!', the rappers should be singing “Must Be The Oxytocin”...this would explain why the SONGS seem brilliant to the artist and the listeners who've just fallen in love (“They're playing OUR Song, dear!”)....and annoying to everyone else. Come to think of it, I recall detesting “Isn't She Lovely” by Stevie Wonder when it first came out...”What a sugary piece of crap”, I thought....”and it has a “baby solo” (baby sounds....”More reverb on the baby, please...and we'll need a little more baby in the monitors”)....Stevie Wonder needs THIS? What next, will we need someone to die to drum up sympathy for the next song (known as the “Seasons in The Sun” principle)? Five years later, as yet still unmarried and child-less....I thought “Isn't She Lovely” was the greatest song ever written....no apocalyptic horn chords, but brilliant harmonica riffing, gorgeous chord changes, I'd almost burst into tears if it came on the radio....well, not that I'm ungrateful for my kids, but they're all now teenagers or older....and I think that song is a saccharine piece of crap again.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;">What's really going on here? As best I can dope it out, there's a couple of things at work.....First of all, maybe the gentle feelings of love are not that familiar to the songwriter from the mean streets, so he falls back on cliches because he's out of his (or her ) comfort zone....Or maybe it's the opposite: The feelings of love are UNIVERSAL, maybe it's ignorant to think otherwise, so the songwriter comes up with...you guessed it....the same lines as everybody ELSE!!! (Go, Oxytocins!!!)......or maybe it's deeper than that....maybe the power of love is SO overwhelming that NOBODY fails to be awed...no one's really “Qualified” to distill THAT down into a 3 minute lyric sheet...so everyone falls a little short there, yet feels the need to TRY to process the experience. (remember a couple of blogs ago)</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: large;">a postscript: Wildcat O'Halloran (once called “one of the most entertaining songwriters on the current blues scene”......and later called “derivative” by same magazine, who at least didn't say I needed an autotune) mostly writes funny songs (e.g. next album will feature a song called “I Don't Need An Angel, Just Not A Rollercoaster”), but will include what he refers to as a “praise “ song on next CD.....hope you don't think it's stupid....but, if ya do......that's right ….”Must Be The Oxytocins”</span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010362013-08-21T20:00:00-04:002013-08-22T16:54:34-04:00That Natural Rhythm<p><strong>THAT NATURAL RHYTHM</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Back in the 80's, when Drum machines were becoming popular</strong> (we actually thought they sounded like drums!), some of the fancier ones had options to “humanize” the machines. A couple of them called this feature the “shuffle” button, because we supposedly “knew” that real blues drummers didn't keep perfect time, but were somehow more interesting because of this imperfection.....well.....color me puzzled! I played with Kenny Johnson (James Cotton, Steve Miller, Kenny Neal drummer), one of the greatest of all time, and I'd swear on a stack of Modern Drummer Magazines that he kept <strong>PERFECT TIME</strong>!!! If you set a metronome to match his pulse, then walked far enough away that you could no longer hear him...then walked back into the room, he and the metronome would still be exactly together.....so what are they talking about?</p>
<p>I think what was actually being described (and poorly imitated) were varying ACCENTS during the “shuffle”. I just saw an article by a Berklee prof where he described a 4 beat measure as being like the word “alligator” (a 3 beat was “crocodile”). For those of you who aren't musical pros, a shuffle beat in Blues is like “alligator” with a strong accent on “gat” and a sort of strong accent on “All”....they blues drummer would vary the intensity of the accent (as fast as Kenny's hands were, he would wait until the last possible millisecond to deliver a mighty blow on the accented beat, alternating seeming unconcern with sudden focused intensity....projecting a classic Blues attitude in the process)...here's Kenny:<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS8kvUznqK8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS8kvUznqK8</a> . When playing a slow blues, the drummer plays 6/8 (or maybe 12/8) still with varied accents and a sharp snare pop on the 4<sup>th</sup> beat of the 6, sometimes described “6/8 on the cymbal, 4/4 on the snare”....think “croc-croc-o-DILE-croc-croc, croc-croc-o- DILE- croc- croc....here's that: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJl7J1PEv3U">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJl7J1PEv3U</a> ….note that, after Kenny's death, the drum chair was passed to another monster player Bryan Morris.....can't find one of him really going wild, but here's a sample of the Blues with the energy really pumped up: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10L7IjnuilA">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10L7IjnuilA</a></p>
<p>I'm having so much fun with these clips, I've forgotten my point, but don't care!...here's Kenny Johnson doing same song: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMCa8yqhdIc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMCa8yqhdIc</a></p>
<p>Just for fun, let's finish with our own Joe Fitzpatrick playing a “New Orleans street beat” which is a march syncopated until it fits into African-American form.....that's what plays when you come to the wildcat site!</p>
<p> <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/e43626a2b2fc0d232cf2c3923f9f10e94584b541/original/966438-4739889465713-1608876693-o.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MjA0eDE0OSJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="149" width="204" /><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/a19046447f4774e9128a2c9381c39516337a4185/original/977118-4739886625642-1756589933-o.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MjA0eDE1MyJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="153" width="204" /></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010352013-07-23T20:00:00-04:002022-01-17T06:00:34-05:00Life of cars?<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/aa13005b45755e3de82e5f90a323f74d41b01899/original/976056-4739892905799-806896670-o.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MjA0eDE0NyJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="147" width="204" /> <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/01b28059ebac03aa3a1735b039351408f22e21f3/original/new-banner.png/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MzUweDM1MCJd.png" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="350" width="350" /><span style="font-size: xx-large;">Cat not thinking about songwriting</span></p>
<p class="western"><strong><span style="font-size: x-large;">Nobody would be interested in a song about the life of cars</span></strong></p>
<p class="western">While playing my newest song for my band late at night at the Southwick Inn during break time, I got hit with this familiar question: “Is that song autobiographical?”.....WELL...I couldn't help firing back the old joke shown above.....but, the fact is...they're ALL autobiographical! Or maybe that's an overstatement, but the whole idea of creating art is processing the experiences of our life in a simplified way that makes us (and the listener or viewer) able to understand them. It, in effect, gives us CONTROL over those experiences, whether beautiful or harsh.</p>
<p class="western">Ask yourselves: Why do we play games ? Why do we encourage children to play sports? One answer is: Those games are like extremely simplified life lessons (that don't really hurt, despite our tendency to describe them in life or death terms...yes, Red Sox fans, the whole idea is: we don't REALLY die). Well art is like that, and songwriting, since it involves words...and those words are fit into an evocative musical framework that makes the emotional experience even more striking, is one of the forms most likely for that process to be at least somewhat transparent to an outside observer.</p>
<p class="western">While my pal Devin's question prompted this blog, it might have been kicking around in my subconscious (waiting to be processed into an understandable form) since I saw old friend Al Fuller a couple of weeks ago, since I seem to remember Al being one of the MANY songwriters I know who have been hit during a relationship break with the dreaded barb “This oughta give ya a couple more song ideas, AL!”. I'm pretty sure one of Taylor Swift's boyfriends fired off some variation of this old favorite. And a number of my songwriting friends have had significant others ask/beg/order that they NOT write about the relationship. Well, bad news, significants! The songwriter may make that promise, but they will almost always break it....they HAVE to process life experiences in this way! It's like the Biblical prophet Jeremiah, who wrote:</p>
<p class="western"><strong><a href="http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Jeremiah-20-9/"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Jeremiah 20:9</span></a></strong><strong> </strong>|</p>
<dl> <dd class="western">Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But <em>his word</em> was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not <em>stay</em>. …..didn't think I'd be quoting the Old Testament, did ya?</dd>
<dd class="western"> <br> </dd>
<dd class="western"><span style="font-size: large;"> All that being said, these constructions are ART, they're not reality. When I was teaching the band the chords to “All I Want For Xmas is a Divorce”, and wife Amy burst into the room, shouting, “Did you write that?”....WELL....I HOPED she remembered that. I WAS a little concerned when she said, “That's the best song you EVER wrote”,...and she must have remembered about the art stuff...several Christmases have passed...and I've written several more HORRIBLE songs (wait 'til she hears “Everything I Do and Everything I Say”)...thick skin can be a virtue when dealing with songwriters. I think it was Woody Allen who said, “We try so hard to make things come out perfect in art, 'cause they usually don't come out that way in life”.....just had to get that off my chest.....but that's the whole point, isn't it?</span></dd>
</dl>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010342013-07-08T20:00:00-04:002020-10-08T04:00:46-04:00Own your own Music<p class="western"> “<strong>Have you ever played anything other than your own music?”</strong></p>
<p class="western"> </p>
<p class="western">Playing in New York is always equal parts exciting and grueling, but sometimes my favorite part is actually the ride down, where I get some uninterrupted time with my bandmates to listen to and talk about music, in a way we'd never have time for in a club/ And when that means uninterrupted time with the lovely Emily Duff, all the better. Thing is, I'm sooooo opinionated and verbal (and loud), and Em is so soft spoken and gentle, it almost takes all that time before I can draw her out enough for her to get some words in edgewise! She is, after all, a grad student in Jazz arranging (not for dummies!) and I've seen how quickly she picks up things in a studio situation, so I was thrilled when she started to tell me some things about her band The Raft (only kid band I love)...and we discussed some things in the area where music and marketing meet (When a business person asks you to describe your music, you HAVE to have an answer ready....for me The Raft starts with polyrhythms, but it's about what THEY think it's about.....would it be better if they had a “signature song”?....well, yes, but if you try to force that it always comes out hokey, I said):</p>
<p class="western">Her seemingly innocuous question at the top of the page actually gave me pause....I started to say “Of course I've played other music”....but then I thought about it.....when much younger, I played in a band where we covered “Heart of Gold” and “Drift Away” (try to picture me gritting my teeth through those, not to mention the “Proud Mary” requests)....but even then, I was basically hanging around, waiting for us to get to an Albert King song that I had foisted on the group....I wouldn't have had many of my own compositions then, but I'm pretty sure I already had a DIRECTION. And while I've certainly played a lot of covers in my life, it's always been some song from the blues tradition that I think an audience needs to hear...or needs to hear what I do to it!</p>
<p class="western">Now, any one of my contemporaries undoubtedly has spent a lot of time thinking about the conflict between “playing what the people want to hear” and “following your own special muse”, and I'm sure I'll get a few comments based on their experiences..which I welcome...but I'm mostly going in another direction today....just a couple of thoughts on that minefield subject:</p>
<p class="western">There was a time that Hollywood did “market research” about films by having someone walk up to theater patrons leaving a movie, and asking them what they'd like to see next... They stopped doing that when they realized that folks coming out of an Erroll Flynn pirate movie tended to answer “Uh, I don't know....maybe a pirate movie”...in other words, IF EVERYONE IN THE AUDIENCE WERE A CREATIVE GENIUS, THEY'D ALREADY BE <em>MAKING </em>THEIR OWN MOVIES!!!!! Which is not to say the opposite fallacy: Make your own music, it doesn't matter what the audience wants---is correct----the truth, as I see it, is more complex.....let's cut to the chase....</p>
<p class="western"> </p>
<p class="western">The answer, for me, goes like this: A musician is a COMMUNICATOR....the act of making music is, in itself, pleasurable, but music as a PERFORMANCE ART, involves telling somebody something! If you're spending hours on social media, and thousands on advertising, and driving the proverbial 500 miles in the $500 car for the $50 gig, desperately trying to get people's attention, ask yourself: IF YOU GET THEIR ATTENTION......What was it that you wanted to tell them? It doesn't have to be profound, or even verbal, but YOU need to know the answer....otherwise, you're like a dog chasing cars....if you catch one, what are you going to do with it? If your message is “It's fun to dance” or “Look how fast I can play this guitar”, that is NOT, in my opinion, any less of a message than “We need to end war” or “ Women in Africa are oppressed”...it might be less cosmic, but what I'm stressing here is that the message needs to be <em>CLEAR, it must be communicated to the listener clearly, so they feel something</em>!!!!!!!!!!! <em>Whether the message is IMPORTANT isn't the point</em>...the point is, if you think you're a great musician, but absolutely NOBODY is getting it......you might be kidding yourself....this might be one of those “My music is better than it sounds” things. In this worldview, while the audience doesn't LEAD the creative process, they are CRITICALLY important; they will tell you....listening, brother musicians?....what's getting through... and what's not.</p>
<p class="western">Now, this might sound like it's leading up to that old saw, the 100% rule. For those not familiar, that rule of performing states that, if something in your act works 70% of the time, and flops 30%, you need to gradually replace that with something that works 80%, eventually honing an all 100% lineup......surprise, surprise, surprise, Sgt. Carter....I hate this rule! Honor this turkey, and your act will get more, and more, and more, and more predictable, stale and formulaic. HOWEVER.....ignore this rule completely at your peril....that audience is not your enemy....just as you are sending out your “message in a bottle”, they're trying to send one back! They're trying to tell you how to get better!!!! That is the true meaning of “critic”, after all.</p>
<p class="western">So how does this answer Emily's simple little question? Well, ultimately...my answer is: No one REALLY plays anything other than their own music. Some people have burning messages inside that they simply MUST communicate...and others haven't thought clearly or found out yet what they want to say, so it comes out “Please like me, I could play something you liked that someone else said....maybe Proud Mary?” But either way, if you want that to be your message, that's up to you. <img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/a19046447f4774e9128a2c9381c39516337a4185/original/977118-4739886625642-1756589933-o.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6MjA1eDE1NCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="154" width="205" /></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010332013-06-30T20:00:00-04:002021-06-21T02:49:51-04:00So you wanna open Blues shows, kid?<p class="Standard"><strong> SO YOUR GOAL IN LIFE IS TO BE AN OPENING ACT?</strong></p>
<p class="Standard"><strong> </strong></p>
<p class="Standard"><strong> </strong>Actually, no one's goal in life is to be an opening act....except maybe me in 1973, when touring Blues Legends like Muddy Waters would start show with some rock band out front, and I'd say: “Wait, how about somebody who actually FITS on this bill! I can do the job better...and cheaper”. I was cheaper all right! One time early on, James Cotton came up to me with a handful of hot dogs, straight from the club's steamer (they can't yell at HIM for dipping into those, he figured) “Hey, I saw your check when I got mine, and I figured you might need a little help... might as well get SOMETHING out of this gig” he said.</p>
<p class="Standard"> Speaking of the legendary Mr. Cotton, he was the second blues star I ever opened for. John Lee Hooker was the first, and, while was, after all “THE HOOK”, his pickup band was not that over-awesome. Cotton was another matter...I rehearsed my bandmates ruthlessly (current sidemen should have seen how driven I was then!)....I threw every arranging trick up-to-and-including the kitchen sink, I chewed the scenery, I stood on my head, I played slide with a shot glass......and it took about a minute for me to realize I was gonna get DESTROYED!!!! Afterwards, after watching the legendary band leader referee a minor dispute between bassist Charles Calmese and Kenny Johnson (do gods have minor disputes , I wondered?), I asked Kenny how much rehearsal it took to perfect all the special hits, and tricks of “Cotton Boogie” . “What rehearsal?” he replied. “When we left Chicago a year ago, that was a simple shuffle....as we got bored we added stuff, 'til it became the way you heard it now”. At first I was positive he was playing “put on the white boy”, like the time he told me professional musicians don't drink at all....and was interrupted by Calmese complaining “They want us to start, and we're not even DRUNK yet!”, and I'm still not sure...but now, after 40 years, I could see how it COULD have been true....interplay between high level blues musicians is kinda like that game that used to advertise “Minutes to learn....a lifetime to master”. Anyhow, the power, interlock, and immediacy of the music made me slink home, vowing to do better next time...or the time after that....or the time after that.</p>
<p class="Standard"> I recently sent a Youtube video of that band (actually just before that tour) playing “The Creeper” to someone passionately interested in blues, but relatively new to it...and she asked me if that performance was a special “magic moment” for the Cotton Band. I think she thought I was playing “put on the white girl” when I told her that I'd seen them play that song 100 times (former road manager Muggsy used to let me into a lot of shows because I once loaned Matt Murphy a Twin Reverb in an emergency) and it was always that good ..usually Calmese was driving the bass boogie and re-arranging his “Big Apple” cap while the whole thing was going crazy...........but, several hundred words later, I digress.</p>
<p class="Standard"> Point is, Don't Even Be Thinking: “ I'm gonna cut the headliner”....it ain't a competition, it's an exhibition.......also the audience paid for tickets with THEIR name on the top, they LOVE the headliner....also you're likely to be more of an annoyance than a help to the show, thinking that way........................and NUMBER ONE: IT AIN”T GONNA HAPPEN!!” About 15 years ago, I opened for an up-and-coming Rock (but Blues-based....yes, I hate that term too) Band, just endorsed by Rolling Stone Magazine. At the end of my set, 4-5 guys approached. “WOW!” , they said. “That was incredible! We've seen the headliner half a dozen times, and they can't TOUCH that set you just did.” Yeah, Right.....45 minutes later, as I was lugging the Supro thunderbolt (I remember now that the rock band's harp player wanted to buy it!) to the car, I paused to say good night to these guys.....who were now PRESSED up against the very front of the stage....mesmerized....their faces flashed no sign of recognition whatsoever....had they met me somewhere? Faces seemed to say they didn't remember.....can I get a “Poor Poor Wildcat” here?</p>
<p class="Standard"> So, why do we do it...open shows, I mean? Well, let me count the ways:</p>
<ol>
<li>We get to see an idol for free....and name drop... “he used my guitar” afterwards</li>
<li> We get to see exactly HOW the legend gets over/destroys us...usually you'll note that whatever the star does best, he finds a way to make a particular feature at key moment of show.</li>
<li>We may get some name recognition...even pick up a few fans... (although, when they show up at our next gig at Joe's Dive, they may be underwhelmed!)</li>
<li>We can compare gear. Blues people like OLD! One time, I showed Debbie Davies a part guitar I was building (she had admired my battered Tele, which is a '65) and, out of habit she asked me what year it was. “If I finish it soon, it'll be a 2000” I answered.</li>
<li>It is an important fact of local band life that, when there's publicity about a show, a LOT more people will see the publicity than will see the show. “You just played with Bo Diddley, didn't you?” they'll say....sometimes a year later!</li>
<li>There's always the chance they'll say “ Start late, and run over”....or “can you loan me an amp?”</li>
<li> Or maybe, just maybe….someday you WILL cut the headliner…..if they look like someone hit them in the head with a shovel, aren’t very friendly, and the crowd still remembers who you are at the end….to quote Scotty, “It JUST MIGHT WORK, Captain”</li>
<li>Here's me pretending I'm Charles Calmese....minus the hat!<img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/16075026a12a77826d7fb7fd7174620ec814f307/original/421395-339423129511658-1780510965-n.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NzIweDk2MCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="960" width="720" />
</li>
</ol>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010322013-06-03T20:00:00-04:002021-11-03T11:44:58-04:00If you thought the last one was too technical.....<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/5f63c18e707b995981cc72a300a49cdfcfe14993/original/935901-10151705864952953-1302541410-n.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NjQzeDk2MCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="960" width="643" /><a href="/files/450229/bottled-bravery.mp3">Bottled_Bravery.mp3</a>While reading this week's Valley Advocate insert about the Institute for Musical Arts in Goshen, most people probably thought "Isn't that nice that they're teaching girls to rock!" or maybe " It's about time Women banded together to teach girls to rock!"...or maybe "Look at the little girls in the pictures rocking...isn't that cute?"....me being me, the reaction was totally different. Was I the only one thinking "Are those solid-state guitar amps they gave those girls?" "How they gonna 'Rock like the guys' with solid state guitar amps!!!!! What are they teaching those poor misguided girls?"....But I digress....is it digressing if it's right at the start?....oh, never mind.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Right off the bat, let me admit that one of the few things in the music business that NEVER gets old: Showing up at a faraway jam where they don't know me, walking in with my battered Supro Thunderbolt (and battered Tele), and watching the reaction....."Who is this loser....and WHAT is that thing?" Thanks to the intraweb, occasionally now a kid will recognize the ancient amp..."That's a Supro Thunderbolt! Jimmy Page used those on the first two Led Zeppelin albums!!"...I tell him "Relax, kid, I bought it in a used furniture store for $90" But the real fun begins when they HEAR it! Question is, why do we like older tube amps sound so much?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Let's zip through the science : that growling,roaring sound that makes electric guitar so unlike acoustic or classical guitar, we call that distortion, right? HARMONIC distortion!! In addition to the original tone, something in the amplification circuit is producing a sympathetic vibration...similar to a chord...it's like each note has the Mormon Tabernacle Choir adding some complexity to it. But what's the big deal about older tube amps? Can't a solid state amp distort if we turn it up? Well, yes it can, and scientific treatises have been written tracking what frequencies and how much of each. I love this part: the scientists concluded that, although the tube amps produced similar amounts of 3rds, 5ths and 7ths to solid states, they produced more even numbered harmonics....but, in the big picture, not enough more to be noticeable to the human ear...and I'm hereby advising you to be very, very wary when anybody tells you what you can and can't hear....but, interestingly, even the scientists admitted that the odd harmonics seemed harsher, the even ones, smoothed out the sound....and, get this : when we listened to the complete amplifier comparison (not just the output of the tubes.....the scientists....yes, even the scientists... could tell that the tube amps sounded better! WTF, you say (I bet the scientists said that...if scientists say that). The speakers were the same (you can get speakers to distort, but not usually without them getting quickly damaged)...what else was different. Well, it turns out there's another component that, when overdriven, produces harmonic distortion....lots of EVEN numbered harmonic distortion....and that's the output transformer. But wait, solid state amps don't have those! Exactly!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> If output transformers make the key difference, then perhaps lesser output transformers might actually be more, so to speak. That would bring us to amps that , while having the same tubes as "Name" brands, might try to "cheap out" on transformers....which would bring us to the prized Silvertones (Sears)and, of course...Supros. English amps have always used slightly different tube combinations, matched a little differently to their output transformers, and have their own devotees.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;">Now, why can't we simulate these sounds with a computer based technology? Well, the short answer is: we can....and some day, when I'm in the nursing home, my great grandson will tell me they finally got that perfected (I'll probably be too deaf to argue...."No, No, sonny-boy, they been tellin' that lie my whole life...get a tube amp, by cracky!"). The modeling amps I've seen can be tweaked (by someone young) to sound pretty darn good.....but then you decide they're set too loud or too soft for the band you're in, you'll start tweaking all over...as you will with amps with a million analog knobs....ear fatigue sets in, you think you sound great...then you hear a recording the next day and say.....Wish I had a Supro Thunderbolt (Or a Jennings A-15, look that one up in your Funk and Wagnalls)</span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010312013-05-22T20:00:00-04:002013-05-23T23:31:03-04:00Back to the Serious Business of Scales<p><strong>Back to the serious business of scales!!</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>No stupid stories about John Lee Hooker thinking I'm a Mormon, or Bo Diddley tuning his weird square guitar (he had stomp boxes built inside it,BTW)....no, no, no, today we're back to the serious business of scales. You may remember our trip through the so-called “minor pentatonic” (Bill Russell's quote- “If I wanted to avoid everything in America that I considered racist, I'd lead a hermit's life” comes to mind, but I digress already)....anyhow, we're on to the so-called “major pentatonic”....you know, the country scale.....non-musicians, think of the song “Yakity Sax”....or, oddly, the start of “My Girl”. In the key of A (psst, non-musicians....that means song probably starts, and definitely ends with an A chord accompanying whatever else is going on) that scale would be : A, B, C#, E, F#...and again, there would frequently be passing tones, especially C, used as we climb from B to C#....and, remember what this looks like on the guitar (with no black keys, guitar reminds us that some of our conventions like no black key between B-C and E-F are, well....conventions....in guitar world, it's always: do we go up one fret (½ step) or 2 frets (whole step)....all keys work the same, visually as well as audio-wise)....oh, yeah, we were remembering: up 2 frets from A to B, up 2 frets from B to C#, next string same fret as B gets us E, 2 frets up gets us F# (and if we want octave A, it's next string, same fret as E). Now, here's where it gets really interesting....the blues scale for F# would be:</p>
<p>F#, A, B, C#,E (F# octave).....ain't them the same notes???? Starting on F#, with an F# chord in the background, they sure sound different!!! But guitarists have now found the ultimate 2 for 1 sale!! Because the fingering for the blues scale near the standard “first position” A chord, will conveniently also get us the F# country scale....right near the “third position” F# chord....and vice versa (see accompanying video for clarification). If keyboard players are now lost (never mind non-players), let's look at key of C: Blues scale would be C, Eb, F, G, Bb.....same as Eb country: Eb, F, G, Bb, C.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Advanced players may have spent hours learning other “modes” in order to solo over more complex chord changes....especially Dorian/ Mixolydian against II-V changes beloved by jazz guys. Note that, in Key of C, Dorian would be D,E,F,G,A,B,C....but C country would be: C,D,E, G,A, which approximates Dorian.....and Mixolydian woud be</p>
<p>G,A,B,C,D,E,F...which it also approximates, especially if we drift back into blues scale and pick up that F...F to G whole step helps us cover those changes with our 2 fingering patterns! We're not working harder, we're working.....dumber!!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Where this applies directly to blues is, it gives us a lot of interesting color in our soloing, and adds subtlety to our stock phrases...if you've always thought, for example, that B.B. King is playing the same solo or intro every time, try playing along....you'll find that he's a master of drifting from one scale to the other to create something that seems both familiar and yet interesting and new. B.B. has studied those jazz modes as well, and actually goes there from time to time (but not enough to hurt his playing, blues-wise!). Confused? Remember rule number one: If you land on a real klunker while soloing....one fret either way will be a good note....and if you land on the klunker so strong that you can't slide over, repeat the phrase with the klunker and then slide over one fret...people will think you did it on purpose!.....oh, and the other rule #1: always trust your Cat!!</p>
<p>ACCOMPANYING VIDEO AT:<a href="https://www.facebook.com/wildcat.ohalloran?ref=tn_tnmn">https://www.facebook.com/wildcat.ohalloran?ref=tn_tnmn</a></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010302013-05-12T20:00:00-04:002013-05-13T09:49:12-04:00Katie Strikes Back!!<p><span style="font-size: medium;">so ANYWAY.... being a non-commercial, partiallyuniversity-supported station, our mandate includes education, and the systematic degredation of African-American additions to our culture creepily echoes the inherent bedrock racism that this country was built on, and still stands. Kids need to know who Leadbelly was, and they deserve to find themselves tapping their foot to Joe Hill Louis, even though they don't know who he was, and even when he was alive, he wouldn't have made the pages of People Magazine. Those of us who are not making money off our tiny sub-industry probably have a slightly different view than the folks who actually WORK in this tiny sub-industry, even "in your spare time". But people on both sides of that equation can see that the blues is a Gift from the african-american culture to our wider American culture, and to refuse that gift or degrade it, would be rude. I think educating people about the past of this music, and moving it forward by innovation, are both good. So where's my blog? I dont' know if any of that would warrant an edit or not - and the JLH story is still funny, so it's all good!</span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010292013-05-10T20:00:00-04:002013-05-11T09:25:38-04:00I know Robert Johnson better blues player than me....but he dead<p><strong>I know Robert Johnson Better Blues Player Than Me....but He Dead!”----John Lee Hooker, dressing room at Four Leaf Clover, New Salem, Ma....1975</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Of course John has now passed as well, which brings us to today's topic: the tendency of blues media (and blues people) to focus on the obituary page.</p>
<p>Let's face it: there aren't many areas of American life that are more focused on the past than the blues...unless we count the southern evangelists, whose motto is : “If it's true, it ain't new...and if it's new, it ain't true”. Problem is, sometimes that's the motto of the blues as well. In what other music form does a new release compete with a “new” bootleg of a dead performer, (possibly with dogs barking on his porch)? ….don't tell me hip-hop, their dead performer would be twenty and was shot during the bootleg....last week! And European blues magazines are full of pictures of young performers in pork pie hats (we have white bands here that do that....what year did bluesmen dress like that?...I've only been following since 1968, and James Cotton was more likely to be in jeans and a t-shirt ...Junior Wells might feature a “Huggie Bear” Australian bush hat....and Albert Collins was the king of polyester....nary a pork pie hat to be found, but what the hell!) And there used to be a regular ad in Living Blues that proclaimed “If a guitar ain't been in no pawn shop, it can't play no blues”. OK ALREADY! I GET IT! We like authenticity...no problem there....that used to be a quality that Country Music valued...if you were gonna sing that you were a coal miner's daughter, you'd damn well</p>
<p>better BE a coal miner's daughter! And maybe the rappers still need street cred. But my problems with our “looking backward at the plow” are two: First, to our young emerging audience, it's all just MUSIC. They don't know or care whether you've been in a coal mine or have worked as a male model “MerMAN!!”...and they feel excluded... “do I have to pass a test to listen to this music? I thought that was Jazz!”</p>
<p>And secondly, (I pause before speaking this heresy) in a music that's constantly evolving through continual improvisation, this thing called “progress” occurs, and songwriting or performances that would once have been “state of the art”....are now....wait for it....sometimes not that good. Yeah I said it...at one time, blues might be a series of unrelated one-liners, time and measures might wander (the aforementioned Hook was famous for this!) And while it is extremely rewarding to check out the building blocks of what came after, and while the true classics are so brilliant that they still jump off the disc today, if we make blues programming into a history class, no wonder the young people think we're boring! Wouldn't we have been better served to give the artist some air time while they were at their most productive, rather than 9 tracks in a row on the day they died, starting with their last performance at age 96!</p>
<p>If you've been a blues fan in my area (western Massachusetts), you've no doubt heard Katie Wright's show on WMUA (UMASS Amherst, Thurs 2:30-4:30, 91.1FM)....heck you've probably heard me hawking some show on there! I've always thought Kate had great taste in blues, and have been continually flattered to find that she might play my stuff, but a couple of years ago, I phoned in my first complaint....it was, to be precise, Jan 26<sup>th</sup>, 2012. “What's with all the ancient acoustic stuff”, I asked, “Muddy Waters done invented electricity, ya know.” “Well, it's Leadbelly's birthday”, she answered, “Or at least it MIGHT be Leadbelly's Birthday...we're not exactly sure about the date.” “It MIGHT BE Leadbelly's Birthday?” “ IT MIGHT BE LEADBELLY”S BIRTHDAY?????”.....I'm fired up now “For THAT we're putting UMASS to sleep?” Katie calmly deflected my inquiries, but I think she's mostly avoided the museum approach since (maybe alarmed by crazy people calling in!). But this Jan. 26<sup>th</sup>, I was headed down to NYC for a gig, with bass player Dave Kenderian in the car. After we'd played all my CD's til they skipped, we tried radio....and...lo and behold: A BLUES SHOW!! But a blues show playing really old, scratchy records (believe it was WKCR...Columbia?). Thinking I'll impress Dave, I whip out my phone and call in (as we now know, calling on cell while driving in NY is a no-no, but I digress). The DJ calmly tells me she can't play any Wildcat today, it's...you guessed it....Leadbelly's birthday!....couldn't help saying “You mean it MIGHT be Leadbelly's birthday!”</p>
<p>A couple of John Lee Hooker notes: One, if you loaned him your guitar (he was reluctant to bring his on planes), when you got it back, you might find the strings in BETWEEN the bridge saddles...5 out of 6 for me....John struck the guitar rather firmly, you might say. Two, when I first met John, he had a pickup band from Boston and would play three song forms: shuffle, drone, boogie....shuffle, drone, boogie...shuffle drone, boogie....but later (after Blues Brothers movie?) he brought a terrific band out from West Coast with Deacon Jones, who would shadow his every move (14 bar blues, then 18, then 11 and a half....didn't matter what he did, they were right with him). After another year or two, some new guys joined and you might catch Deacon cue-ing them...then eventually it was back to pickup band, which led John to say the sweetest words an opening act could ever hear...he said to me “ I need you to start late....and play overtime”....not exactly what openers are usually told! Oh, and three, once when I wanted to take a photo with him, and my wife Amy had wandered off, I had Katie Wright (then a Smith undergrad) fill in as photographer, letting the Hook think she was my better half....high comedy ensued later when John Lee asked Amy if she wanted to come back to the hotel with him and she replied that we were married ...I can still picture the Hook looking from Amy to Katie.....finally he asked me if I was a Mormon.<strong>“</strong></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010282013-04-29T20:00:00-04:002013-04-30T17:34:56-04:00Blues Books....Threat..or Menace?<p> </p>
<p><strong>Blog 2---Blues Books—Threat or Menace?</strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Last week, on the same day my first blues article came out, I was scrolling through Facebook posts and came across one from a FB friend that I don't really know saying that Facebook was nothing but a bunch of white people trotting out theories on things they knew nothing about.....hoped it wasn't a direct reference to my blog! But “White People Trotting Out Theories On Stuff They Know Nothing About” might be a good title for this week's blog, which has no scales this week, but is instead about Blues books...specifically, about why they are doomed to failure.</p>
<p>While I admit that I haven't read them all (and I don't want to), I do have some favorites....Deep Blues by Robert Palmer (not the Addicted To Love dude, the Rolling Stone writer) has a lot of great stories, and the concept of “deep” blues, which comes from a conversation he has with the late Muddy Waters, might be in the category of really important concept....Urban Blues by Charles Keil walks us step-by-step through B.B. King and Bobby Bland performances, attempting to analyze how and why they create their magical effects.....Blues for Dummies (comes w/CD!), Blues Highway, Rhythm and the Blues, and our own local Steve Tracy/ Jack Coughlin book, all have things to recommend them.....but the whole genre has something in common with the Reggie Bar: they're good to throw!</p>
<p>Now, I've already referred to the Paul Oliver books, which, in their day, at least gave us ONE BOOK IN THE LIBRARY ABOUT BLUES! While fatally flawed (my favorite was when he went to Africa --of course he's 100 years too late-- hangs around for a couple weeks, and concludes----nope, no blues here, it must be an American art form! ), there are some great parts, like the slave songs that are half in English (quite tame) and half in an African dialect (decidedly less Christian in outlook!). His main crime is that he sets the template for virtually all the blues books to follow: Some things are “THE REAL BLUES” and others are cheap commercial imitation crap.....which is not to say that there isn't cheap imitation crap out there!!...problem is, people writing books will usually be far enough behind the cutting edge that they'll look foolish in retrospect, excoriating developing artists who actually advance the form but who they haven't yet understood. Charles Keil, when updating his Urban Blues book, in which he rips what he calls “moldy fig” reviewers who only like “old school” blues, realizes, to his embarrassment, that he's made the exact same mistake.....he's decreed B.B. King “ the real thing” (for Palmer, it's Muddy Waters) and dismissed James Brown.</p>
<p>Trying to figure out the exact origin has left many a writer looking foolish....Palmer has Blues being invented on the Stovall Plantation in 1911 (he leaves out the time of day) by Charley Patton....listening to Charley's Pony Blues, followed by little girlfriend Louise Johnson, I can't help wondering about the speed at which the student jumped ahead of the “inventor”, at least in stylistic complexity...Oliver rules out Africa, as previously noted (that scale we talked about last week, where ya figure THAT came from!) Palmer also has Tommy Johnson “inventing” the falsetto (See Cool Drink Of Water Blues)....seems unlikely, especially since Oliver reports that the pygmies use falsetto when singing about departed ancestors (dead answer in falsetto).</p>
<p>If we really want to make a case for an American origin for the blues, a better piece of evidence might be the fact that South American and Central American black music evolved differently (in an atmosphere where direct contact with whites was MUCH less frequent....overseer there was usually another slave). My own quack theory is that those pesky Irish contributed something (They LOVE line, line, Rhyming Line form, have a pentatonic scale....not the same one....and they have distilling skills...'nuf said about that for now). But I'm not a big enough fool to try to pin down chronology of a music rooted in constantly sharpening IMPROVISATIONAL skillsThat's where all the books tend to crash and burn.</p>
<p>To digress...and sum up at same time. One of my former bandmates used to get angry at our tendency to throw “everything including the kitchen sink” into songs (and blues cliches out!). “Blues Bands do certain things...we don't do those things!” became his mantra “ I'm not even sure we are a Blues Band”.....this was my answer:</p>
<p>“You once told me a story where new band members (in your previous gig) were given a copy of James Cotton's “Live and On The Move”, and told that, if they liked the record, they should learn every trick on it...and if they didn't, they shouldn't come back.....thing is, James Cotton was once quoted as saying that, while he was proud of that record, it was kind of a “dance record for the kids”....maybe not a “REAL” Blues record.........Dude, the moral is, the line keeps moving, it has to move....too fast for any BOOK....what part of IMPROVISATIONAL MUSIC didn't you understand?<a href="/files/450228/310105-1940577404661-1549212564-31717308-1502893-n.jpg">310105_1940577404661_1549212564_31717308_1502893_n.jpg</a><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/8f9876585c7cea9264daa07acddf1cacd9523800/original/bb-finals.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NzIweDQ3OCJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="478" width="720" /></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010272013-04-23T20:00:00-04:002013-04-24T17:05:57-04:00Wildcat explains (or at least rants about) the Blues Scale<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Xbk1MBgYKvA" width="640"></iframe></p>
<p>“Cheer up, BB! You'll beat those blues eventually!” Remember that Wendy's commercial, with the late Dave Thomas misguidedly attempting to advise a rather perplexed B.B. King? Well, while that commercial was SUPPOSED to be funny, it exposes one of the most pervasive (and, yes, racist) misunderstandings about America's greatest, yet most under-appreciated cultural product....of, course I mean The Blues. If you follow along with me, I think I can help crack the code. Whether you're an advanced player, or casual listener, if you want to understand a little more about the music that birthed Rock and roll, this understanding is vitally important. So let's start right here as our jumping off place....IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SADNESS, LOSS, DEPRESSION, OPPRESSION,HARDSHIP, LONELINESS OR ANY OF THAT!!</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Jump in the Time Machine with me and I'll explain:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>It's a common story for white musicians of my generation to say that, after noticing that their favorite Rock songs were all the blues-based ones, they went back to the sources and found the “originators”. Not content to stop there, and wanting the “Big Picture” about playing and listening to the music I loved, I did what any self-respecting boy with an academic scholarship to a liberal arts college would think logical: I headed to the library. (Don't give up on me yet!)</p>
<p> </p>
<p>After reading Paul Oliver's early Blues writings (and talk about a mammoth task for which the author was woefully under-prepared), and puzzling over his description of the “blues scale” complete with cryptic “Blue notes”......BTW, they're still teaching this crap some places, so if that's what you've been taught, you REALLY need to stay with me (don't feel ashamed though, 20 years ago everybody taught this). Anyhow, while puzzling over this, I happened to open Leroi Jones' “Blues People”, which, in its introduction, raises, and then destroys this ridiculous conceit: saying something like “the third is flattened so regularly that it's almost a scalar value....ALMOST a scalar value!!! If we called it a scalar value, then we might derive the ACTUAL BLUES SCALE (what guitarists now call the “minor pentatonic) instead of attempting to force this music into our Euro-centric major scale”. (Non-musicians, stay with me!!)</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If we look at our piano keyboard (Eurocentric or not), most of us are aware that to play a C major scale (“doe, a deer, a female deer”), we hit all the white keys in succession (a color coding joke not lost on the African-Americans encountering it). But for C BLUES, we would play these 5 notes: C, Eb, F, G, Bb (some black keys!!....and in fact, if we played only black keys, we could derive a blues scale, but I digress!). Counting up from C, Eb would not, in the white world, be the third step(which “should be” E, one fret higher on guitar), it would be the so-called “minor third”, used to devise “minor chords” , which the Caucasian ear has been programmed (after centuries of somewhat skillful musical communication) to hear as...you guessed it, SAD!! That Bb would also not be in our “happy” major scale, but would be used in our (sad?) minor scale. In other words, what we've really encountered here is a non Euro-centric scale from...somewhere else!! Not sadness, oppression, longing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Having said all that, there are two other vital considerations. One, if we think about the mysterious way that music pushes our emotional buttons, we MIGHT try to figure out WHY European composers use those “minor” elements to express or induce sadness. The short answer is because it works!! However our brains are wired, that minor third and flatted 7 (step before 8---octave) is an OUTSTANDING was to express/induce those feelings. And am I saying that African-American composers were unaware of that??? Absolutely not!! Of course they (sometimes) wanted to use that power of their traditional scale, ESPECIALLY if some of their audience were pre-wired to “get” that message. Other times, they were just using that scale, or they might mix in major third one time, minor third the next (“confusion of major and minor” is traditionally taught as one of the hallmarks of Blues....keeping in mind that those people taught that ridiculous scale!!)</p>
<p>And Two, would one be drawn to this music as one's main art form if one had no encounters with sadness, loneliness, depression, oppression etc.........well, I doubt it. It's so powerful at expressing pain, and so cathartic at clearing it away, that it would be a natural attraction for the poor, the down-trodden, the far-from-home.....or anyone who's encountered the down side of the human experience....in other words, anyone might respond.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When I realized that Leroi's scale was the scale I was hearing (and playing), and passing tones (with a little racial bias) were the basis for the scale in the other books....I literally fell off my chair in the Providence College library. Don't fall, but I hope this article aids you in understanding the music I love.</p>
<p><img src="//d10j3mvrs1suex.cloudfront.net/u/393727/02e36091b2275f87d5bd626a887f89efaefceef0/original/812658-10151414032726245-789749266-o.jpg/!!/b%3AWyJyZXNpemU6NjUweDY4OSJd.jpg" class="size_orig justify_inline border_" alt="" height="689" width="650" /></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010262013-04-17T20:00:00-04:002013-04-17T23:37:51-04:00Sky TV Video<p><span style="font-size: medium;">Here's the Sky TV UK video about my collaboration with award-winning British Bluesman Trevor Sewell:</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;">http://tyneandwear.sky.com/news/article/63853/tale-of-two-sunderlands-wearside-meets-stateside-in-blues-collaboration</span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010252013-04-16T20:00:00-04:002013-04-17T10:32:10-04:00Advocate article...Ray and Janet, plus Me!!<p><a href="http://www.valleyadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=16604">http://www.valleyadvocate.com/article.cfm?aid=16604</a></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010242013-04-10T20:00:00-04:002013-04-11T01:36:36-04:00Sunderland-to-Sunderland Collaboration<p><span style="font-size: medium;">Just sent off video for Sky TV UK about my collaboration with British Bluesman Trevor Sewell! Last fall, while in the digital waiting room for our respective interviews on Les Young's Wall to Wall Blues radio show in Sheffield (though he, too, lives in Sunderland!), Trevor and I started chatting, and hit it off really well. And when I heard his award-winning song "Hate Me For A Reason", I was blown away....texted him immediately, said I wanted my band to learn song. Well, about a month ago, he suggested that I remake it with my band, and have him add tracks. which I did. Lo and behold, Trev says Sky TV will be doing a feature segment, amused (I think) by the Sunderland-toSunderland aspect. Karen Nugent (Boston Blues Society, Blues Audience, Worc. Telegram) may also do an article here!</span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010232013-03-25T20:00:00-04:002013-03-26T17:39:27-04:00International recording !!<p><span style="font-family: 'arial black', gadget, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Exciting News!!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'arial black', gadget, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Tomorrow (3/27) we start recording....our remake of English pal Trevor Sewell's award winning song "Hate Me For A Reason"...we'll have Jopey and Matt, plus special guest Emily Duff of the Raft, and maybe some Harp Girl vocals....Trevor will add his touch digitally later! And video of session may pop up on UK music program...I'm chuffed (Trevor taught me to say that)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Bangers, sans-serif; font-size: medium;">ALSO....Will soon have video of NYC TV show to share</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Aclonica, sans-serif;">Less happy news, believe Friday's gig in Ct. is cancelled!!</span></span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010222013-02-17T19:00:00-05:002022-05-09T04:01:29-04:00New British Review!!<p>> Wildcat O’Halloran Band – Cougar Bait Blues <br>> Dove’s Nest 7500<br>> <br>> “I’m too big to cry so I might as well laugh” sings Wildcat as he lists his woes on the nicely rocking opening blues, and that seems to define his approach. New York born Wildcat has fun throughout, as he remembers that a prime function of the blues is to entertain and he certainly does that on this lively album. He has a muscular guitar style, a sense of what works – listen to him tackle Magic Sam (a lovely tough cover of ‘All Your Fault’), Sam & Dave, James Hunter and Robert Johnson, none of them slavishly so – and the talent to back it up. He writes good songs (try ‘Redneck Woman’ or the title track, which will raise a smile at the very least), has an ace band with him and isn’t afraid to admit he’s old – “the old horse knows the way” – so that it is a little surprising that he is not better known outside his immediate area. Maybe this release will give him the wider exposure he certainly deserves on the evidence of this CD – he’d certainl<br>> y be an asset to any blues festival, I guess. <br>> </p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010212013-01-30T19:00:00-05:002013-01-30T21:18:14-05:00Special guests!!!<p>Holy Special Guests, Batman! Lightning Boy on Sat at A.C., Ray and Janet Sun. at Bowling Jam....and next Thurs in Westerly....Roomful of Blues drummer Ephraim Lowell joins us for Knickerbocker show!!</p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010202012-12-31T19:00:00-05:002022-03-11T03:35:06-05:00First Nite...plus cool review<table style="width: 100%;" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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<span style="font-size: medium; font-family: Aclonica, sans-serif;">Two Rockin' shows on New Year's Eve in Northampton!! Basement was rockin' like never before! And amazed that my "flame" shirt didn't actually ignite while playing Blues on the altar at St. John's Church!!! ... </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Fontdiner Swanky', serif;">also...check out this new review from <a href="http://www.facebook.com/l/kAQGqUVrF/www.livemusicnewsandreview.com/Wildcat" target="_blank">http://www.livemusicnewsandreview.com/Wildcat</a>"</span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: 'Allerta Stencil', serif;"><em> </em></span></span><br>
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<p class="pagetitle">New England’s Blues Cat takes it to the people!</p>
<p> </p>
<h2>Wildcat O'Halloran Band Shutesbury Athletic Club</h2>
<h2>Friday December 21, 2012 </h2>
<h2>Review Submitted by Reader: Karen Traub</h2>
<p class="ecxmsonormal"> </p>
<p> </p>
<p class="ecxmsonormal">I was lucky enough to catch the Wildcat O’halloran band just up the road at the Shutesbury Athletic Club pn Friday 12/21/12. <em><strong> (Check out some video of Wildcat in the attached video section, from an appearance at Snowzees in MA with special guest Ted Wirt.)</strong></em></p>
<p> </p>
<p class="ecxmsonormal">The band was smokin' hot and not just because they were playing next to the woodstove. Wildcat is a seasoned professional with charismatic stage presence and insightful songwriting peppered by a wicked sense of humor. If you've lived in the Pioneer Valley long enough then you remember seeing the Wildcat at Sheehan's in Northampton or perhaps he served you breakfast in Sunderland at the Dove's Nest restaurant which he owned for 20 years. Wildcat is a local legend whose playing is, was and always will be top notch. He has opened for just about every major blues artist to visit the area including Gregg Allman, John Lee Hooker, and Bo Diddley and the list goes on and on. As a band leader he has a talent for bringing out the best in other musicians, sometimes surprisingly pulling them from the audience and occasionally even handing over his 1965 Fender Esquire guitar.</p>
<p class="ecxmsonormal">Wildcat chose the iconic Slumberland Stomp from his album Drinkin' with the Harp Girls to get people dancing from the first song and the crowd that was more Kennedy than Dead Kennedy generation continued through an amazing set including<em> </em><em>B</em><em>ottled Bravery, Cross-eyed Cat, That's my Life, Every Night and Every Day, Born in Chicago, Ain't Superstitious, Crosscut Saw, Come in My Kitchen</em><em> </em>and <em>Suzy Q</em>-in the first set. The collective mood in the room elevated with the cathartic blues melodies and deeply touching lyrics. </p>
<p class="ecxmsonormal">Wildcat promised not to repeat any songs from his recent show at Wendell's Deja Brew and he delivered a generous cornucopia of originals and covers that would make old dead blues guys wish they had been born later so they could have added influences like Hendrix to their music. </p>
<p class="ecxmsonormal">Complementing Wildcat's mastery on guitar is Devin Griffiths' who exudes a saintly joy that has earned him the nickname Brother Teresa, hardworking, far-driving Jim Campbell on drums is the band's heartbeat and Belchertown's Gene LaVoie is versatile and funky on bass. Smooth and crisp from the first note, under Wildcat's direction the band plays like they’ve been together for years. Guest musicians on Friday included Myron Becker, Emid LaClaire, John Mackenzie, John Lyman and Doug Smith.</p>
<p class="ecxmsonormal"> Wildcat proved his genius for musical alchemy when he hosted the recent fundraiser jam for Art Steele at the Harp in Amherst and he offers a very cool blues Jam on Sundays in Northampton at the City Sports Grille that attracts big name local musicians as well as rising stars. There is also a rumored tour of England in the Spring. It's no wonder the Wildcat O'Halloran Band was chosen as the 2012 Valley Advocate Band S</p>
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</table>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010192012-12-22T19:00:00-05:002012-12-23T01:20:48-05:00Holiday Excitement<p><span style="font-size: medium; font-family: 'arial black', gadget, sans-serif;">After this Sun (23rd) Blues jam in Noho (with recovering legend art Steele), the Wildcat Band heads north to Stratton Mt. for an apres-ski party 3=6 on 12/26...then east to legendary Blues venue Greendales in Worcester on 28th...and <em>then</em> ...2 gigs on New Years!! First Nite Northampton has the Cat at St. John's episcopal 8-8:45, then we race to the Basement (across from Iron Horse Noho) and do our double bill with Trailer Park (we play 9-10:45)...hope we can work out equipment, changeover was a mob scene last year!! Deepest Holiday thanks for all the support this year from our friends....could absolutely not have made it through without ya!!!</span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010182012-11-30T19:00:00-05:002012-12-01T04:55:15-05:00Round Music Magazine article<p><span style="font-size: medium;">Round Music Magazine has an online article about us, with a cool link to video...just came up at: http://roundmagazine.net/music/round-indie-music/303-wildcat-ohalloran</span></p>
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<p><a href="http://www.tkqlhce.com/click-4055349-10671869" target="_blank"></a> <a href="http://www.kqzyfj.com/click-4055349-10690321" target="_blank"></a></p>
<h2 class="art-postheader"><a class="PostHeader" href="http://roundmagazine.net/music/round-indie-music/303-wildcat-ohalloran">Wildcat O'Halloran</a></h2>
<p>On our latest CD "Cougar Bait Blues", we have a song called <em>Bottled Bravery and Canned Courage</em>, which I actually wrote a long time before I cut out (most) of my drinking, which I finally realized was a crutch that was actually holding me back (the part of "Drinking with the Harp Girls" --title of my previous CD-- that I really can't do without....wasn't the drinking). Anyhow, I had been jamming with the horn players from a Northampton band called Primate Fiasco for about a year (they run a jam on Tues nites, where I meet the young players, including the luscious, sax-playing Emily Duff of The Raft), and I wanted to feature them on my next album....so....I rewrote the song as a New Orleans second line groove, and assigned them the Professor Longhair-like riff, which I wrote on a bar napkin, and the luscious Emily, who's actually a music PHD candidate, wrote out for them later in parts (helped by their alto and trumpet players Steve Yarbro and Nick Borges). This also allowed me to have their Tuba player (J. Witbeck) double the bass line.</p>
<p>At the end, when I waver on sobriety, we pretend it's Emily's birthday (we didn't actually drink Irish car bombs, that's a Harp Girl specialty....but I believe there was some Jameson product consumed). Oh, and the other references are the Shutesbury A.C. girls (fans who want us to play at their home club, shouting "We want to get you in the SAC"), and my former waitresses from the Dove's Nest restaurant, who put up a big chunk of the recording money for this track!</p>
<p>I love to quote famous blues motifs (for example, in our version of Fluffy Hunter's Walk Right In, we quote Muddy Waters' "Walkin through the Park"...or in our Daisy Dukes song, the horns insert the bridge from james brown's "Hot Pants") and I really love to set up interlocking musical parts (Bruce Iglauer of Alligator Records says he loves the rawness of my guitar playing contrasted with the smooth horns)...sometimes we'll do the same thing with my gruff voice and a silky female voice. Now I have a lot of fun that I CAN recall!</p>
<p><a href="http://www.myspace.com/wildcatbluesband" target="_blank">MySpace</a></p>
<p>This little Theological number was written after meeting the lovely, Guiness-bearing angels known as the Harp Girls....and our video was shot at an annual musician party called Jopeypalooza....we had raced back just in time from Fenway park (Sox won).</p>
<p><em>If God Can Make That</em></p>
<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0feB8w3asWI?rel=0" width="640"></iframe></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010172012-11-21T19:00:00-05:002012-11-22T15:19:41-05:00Packed Harp hosts Art Steele Benefit<p><span style="font-size: medium;">Fabulous Night at Harp Girl Mission Control for Art Steele Benefit Concert!! Who's Who of area stars...major thanks to WMUA, corporate sponsors, the Harp, my band for hosting, and...here goes (please don't let me forget anyone): Donna Hebert, Dawn and Jeff, Eva Capelli and band, Tommy Filiault, Roger Salloom, Jeff Hinrichs, Matt Ingellis, Wally Greaney, Mark Nomad, Dan Thomas, Brian Cavanaugh, John Coelho, Janet Ryan, Ray Chaput, Steve Toutant, Dave Boatwright, John Sheldon, Johnny Marino, James Ti, Brian DiMartino, Nate Martel, Tom Shack, Mark Snow,Guy Devito, Dave Robinson...also Dave from my Noho Bowling Jam(don't believe i have a last name, played awesome, though)....also an appearance by Art himself, played much better than he claimed he would!....and special thanks to guys who gave up their spots, esp. Myron Becker (who'll join me Fri in Wendell!) and Joe Dulude. If the Harp Girls can get all these stars to play this good together, we need to get them to Fenway Park right away! Hope to see some of you on Sun. in Northampton, where the incendiary Shanta Paloma guests this week (Dave B. next week...then maybe Art!)</span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010162012-11-13T19:00:00-05:002012-11-13T22:33:00-05:00Famous in Greece?<p>Check out this interview on Greek Blues site:</p>
<p><a href="http://blues.gr/profiles/blogs/new-yorker-wildcat-o-halloran-talks-about-bo-diddley-albert" target="_blank">http://blues.gr/profiles/blogs/new-yorker-wildcat-o-halloran-talks-about-bo-diddley-albert</a></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010152012-11-01T20:00:00-04:002022-09-13T12:06:08-04:00Weeks just get Wilder!!!<p><span style="font-size: medium;">After rte. 63 on Fri., Basement in NOHO on Sat., and Blues jam 4-8 at City Sports, Northampton on Sun (w/ special, about to leave for Europe guest Wally Greaney)...cat band head to NYC for TV show taping on Mallet's place TV (Keepin REAL music alive!!) on Tues...The ultrahot Shanta Paloma will be guest Harp Girl!!</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;">and see new UK review on "Press" page from Blues matters!!!</span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010142012-10-14T20:00:00-04:002012-10-15T16:15:44-04:00New stuff<p><span style="font-size: large;">Next news for the Wildcat Band: New York TV!! The cats will be taping Mallet's Place on Nov. 6th....Acoustic songstress Shanta will be making her Harp Girl debut!</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size: large;">Also, The Band Slam-winning Cat is starting his own Sunday afternoon Jam at CITY Sports Grille, 525 Pleasant St. Northampton (@Spare Time Bowling Center)...4-8 PM, MANY great guests...first week's feature dude is Dave Boatwright of the Equalites (also an awesome bluesman with his own blues radio show!!)...fellow Slam champ Katelyn Richards, Lydia Warren, some of the Primate and Stylie boys among the many guests...and we haven't even listed Nate "Lightning" Dana!!....oh, now we have...</span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010132012-10-02T20:00:00-04:002012-10-03T10:14:28-04:00Valley Advocate loves Cat!<p><span style="font-size: medium;">The Wildcat won Valley Advocate Grand band Slam 2012 in Blues category... now this review has come in:</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>The Wildcat O'Halloran Band</strong></p>
<p><em>Cougar Bait Blues</em></p>
<p>(Dove's Nest)</p>
<p>Putting in <em>Cougar Bait Blues</em> is like transporting yourself directly to a New England summer barbecue. Its fun, unpolished sound is unpretentious and speaks to simple days and warm nights. Wildcat O'Halloran's vocals are gravelly and marked by a distinct Americana twang. " If You Don't Do What I Want" is a funky love song duet in which Emmalyn Hicks' silky, soulful voice balances out Wildcat's sandpaper gruffness. The album as a whole has an old-timey, trucker-blues feel, and "Come In My Kitchen" pays homage to the blues ballad with its clear acoustic sound. Wildcat and Emmalyn make a great duo, and dish out true blue American sounds without taking themselves too seriously. <em>Cougar Bait Blues </em>may not win you any music geek credit with your friends, but few would complain about its upbeat guitar riffs and perky drums at an outdoor party.</p>
<p>—Kathleen Broadhurst </p>
<p>only one quibble....some of that pretty singing is actually Celia Miller, and some is Chani Craig...my poor liner notes to blame!</p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010122012-09-17T20:00:00-04:002022-05-23T01:14:28-04:00If things get too good, a Bluesman's out of business!<p>Some ups, some downs this week...UK tour details extremely involved, but probably March...BTW, Blues Matters review comes out on Sept. 28th over there...and speaking of Sept. 28th, I will then be able to comment on Valley Advocate Grand Band Slam winner....Old pal Rich Badowski won Ct. Blues Challenge, then hurried over to play with me at Southwick Inn, not quite as exciting...lost at Snowzee's to very good bluegrass band, Jatoba.....Karen Traub has brilliant/crazy idea to have me cook breakfast-for-dinner at Shutesbury AC on 11/9, then play...can anyone say DOVE'S Nest?</p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010112012-09-03T20:00:00-04:002021-06-23T06:16:06-04:00re-broadcast Fri....and it's really in Sheffield (UK)<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0">
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our chat is at I chatted with Cat and listened to some of his great CD 'Cougar Bait Blues'. You can listen to our chat here<a href="http://www.facebook.com/l/4AQFqYfiFAQEEm9n6DLOzqXyBJ0lPWvV_Oa48XgMdDIl-iQ/https://dl.dropbox.com/u/52852068/cat%252520o%252527halloran%252520on%252520wall%252520to%252520wall%252520blues%25252003sept12.mp3" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/l/4AQFqYfiFAQEEm9n6DLOzqXyBJ0lPWvV_Oa48XgMdDIl-iQ/https%3A%2F%2Fdl.dropbox.com%2Fu%2F52852068%2Fcat%252520o%252527halloran%252520on%252520wall%252520to%252520wall%252520blues%25252003sept12.mp3</a><br><br>The show goes out again as a repeat on friday at 22:00 UK time</td>
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</table>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010102012-09-02T20:00:00-04:002020-09-23T06:13:15-04:00Cat now famous in Sunderland...the one in England, dude<p><span style="font-size: medium;">On Labor Day, the cat will be interviewed live on Les Young's Blues show from Sunderland UK....about 3:15 PM our time (8:15 in England)</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;">Here's the link to listen in:</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;">http://www.penistonefm.co.uk </span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010092012-08-19T20:00:00-04:002012-08-20T14:06:13-04:00B'man Very Enthusiastic!<p>B'Man's Blues Review very pleased with Cougar CD (and I'm very pleased that he singles out Emily Duff's sax solo on All Your Fault, which is a pitch-perf ect example of sensitivity and taste....which, of course sets up my solo perfectly...I don't use those elements much!) Here's the whole thing:</p>
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<h3 class="western"><a href="http://wildcatohalloran.com/">Doves Nest Records artist; Wildcat O'Halloran Band - Cougar Bait Blues - New Release Review</a></h3>
<p><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hXDdfjTybvA/UDK7lJg7SkI/AAAAAAAAM68/-oPHCuzDNaA/s1600/wildcatohalloran.jpg"></a><br>I have been listening to the new release, <strong>Cougar Bait Blues</strong>, by the <strong>Wildcat O'Halloran Band</strong>. This recording has a little bit of something for everyone. First the band is fully loaded with 13 musicians playing drums, horns, guitars and vocals. The recording opens with <em><strong>Too Big To Cry So I Might As Well Laugh</strong></em>, a country rock style track twisted with humor. <em><strong>Bottled Bravery and Canned Courage</strong></em> is a real cool horn track right out of New Orleans. <em><strong>If You Won't Do What I Want</strong></em> gets the funk line going with solid vocals and a slick guitar solo for a very entertaining track. Magic Sam's A<em><strong>ll Your Fault</strong></em> takes a traditional blues line and the horns take the backseat to a more traditional stripped down blues sound. There are particularly nice sax and guitar solos on this track as well. The title track, <em><strong>Cougar Bait Blues</strong></em>, finds a two guitar solo exchange which is pretty tasty. Sam and Dave's <em><strong>Hold On, I'm Coming</strong></em> gets a more traditional blues/rock run (as opposed to the R&B treatment as original) turning to a fairly nice vocal duet and featuring some smart harp work. <em><strong>Better Luck Next Time</strong></em> finds another trip to New Orleans but this time with more of the NO R&B sound. The track does nicely feature the musicians including guitar and horns. <em><strong>Come In My Kitchen</strong></em> is done acoustically with guitar and vocal duet. A very nice rendition of thie Robert Johnson track. <em><strong>Redneck Woman</strong></em> hits the blues rock sound head on making for a cool crowd pleaser and an opportunity to get that harp back out front again. <em><strong>Daisy Dukes</strong></em> is another blues rock track featuring again some pretty nice guitar work and solid backing from the band. The final track, <em><strong>I Worship The Ground She Walks All Over Me On</strong></em>, again shows O'Halloran's sense of humor and ability to blend great musicianship with crafty lyrics.<br><br>This is an interesting recording and one that anyone who likes a variety of blues styles as well as humour in their blues should check out.</p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010082012-08-16T20:00:00-04:002012-08-17T18:16:51-04:00Current Radio report for Cougar Bait Blues CD<p>Here's the stations playing Cougar Bait Blues by Wildcat....not listing all the syndicated stations that feature Blues Deluxe (150+)...and for some reason WMWM (Salem) and WTCC (Springfield) not listed :</p>
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<p><em><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Radio Airplay Report</strong></span></em></em></p>
<p><em><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Wildcat O’Halloran Band – Cougar Bait Blues – Dove Nest Records</strong></span></em></em></p>
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<p><strong>Blues Deluxe – Syndicated – See attached</strong></p>
<p><strong>WQLN- Erie Pennsylvania</strong></p>
<p><strong>WCNI -New London - Connecticut</strong></p>
<p><strong>WITR - Rochester - New York</strong></p>
<p><strong>WBFO - Buffalo - New York</strong></p>
<p><strong>WMWV- Conway - New Hampshire</strong></p>
<p><strong>WPCR- Plymouth - New Hampshire</strong></p>
<p><strong>WMUA - Amherst - Massachusetts</strong></p>
<p><strong>WUML - Lowell - Massachusetts</strong></p>
<p><strong>WMEB -Orono - Maine</strong></p>
<p><strong>WBOR - Brunswick - Maine</strong></p>
<p><strong>WRBC - Lewiston - Maine</strong></p>
<p><strong>WIZN - Burlington - Vermont</strong></p>
<p><strong>WVPE - Elkhart - Indiana</strong></p>
<p><strong>WBGU- Bowling Green - Ohio</strong></p>
<p><strong>WDPS - Dayton - Ohio</strong></p>
<p><strong>WEFT - Champaign - Illinois</strong></p>
<p><strong>WKCC - Kankakee - Illinois</strong></p>
<p><strong>WYKT - Wilmington- Illinois</strong></p>
<p><strong>WGVU - Grand Rapids - Michigan</strong></p>
<p><strong>WMNC - Traverse City - Michigan</strong></p>
<p><strong>WFOS - Chesapeake - Virginia</strong></p>
<p><strong>WWCU - Cullowhee - North Carolina</strong></p>
<p><strong>WEVL - Memphis - Tennessee</strong></p>
<p><strong>WDVX - Knoxville - Tennessee</strong></p>
<p><strong>WWOZ - New Orleans - Louisiana</strong></p>
<p><strong>WUCF - Orlando - Florida</strong></p>
<p><strong>WMNF- Tampa - Florida</strong></p>
<p><strong>KTEP - El Paso - Texas</strong></p>
<p><strong>KUNM - Albuquerque - New Mexico</strong></p>
<p><strong>KKIT - Taos - New Mexico</strong></p>
<p><strong>KMEC- Willits - California</strong></p>
<p><strong>KSCU- Santa Clara - California</strong></p>
<p><strong>KFSR - Fresno - California</strong></p>
<p><strong>KXGO - Eureka - California</strong></p>
<p><strong>KHUM - Humboldt County - California</strong></p>
<p><strong>KSJS - San Jose - California</strong></p>
<p><strong>KRSH - Santa Rosa - California</strong></p>
<p><strong>KEGR - Concord - California</strong></p>
<p><strong>KZUM - Lincoln - Nebraska</strong></p>
<p><strong>KIOS - Omaha - Nebraska</strong></p>
<p><strong>KMSU- Mankato - Minnesota</strong></p>
<p><strong>KMSK - Mankato - Minnesota</strong></p>
<p><strong>KRUE- Owatonna - Minnesota</strong></p>
<p><strong>KRVM - Eugene - Oregon</strong></p>
<p><strong>KAOS - Olympia - Washington</strong></p>
<p><strong>KKZX - Spokane - Washington</strong></p>
<p><strong>KMXT - Kodiak - Alaska</strong></p>
<p><strong>KTUH - Honolulu – Hawaii</strong></p>
<p><strong>Hot FM – Australia</strong></p>
<p><strong>3 Way Radio – Australia</strong></p>
<p> </p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010072012-08-11T20:00:00-04:002012-08-12T11:44:06-04:00After trying to resist, Living Blues finds new CD "Irresistible"<p> After rocking the fabulous Stone Church, I arrived home to find the new Living Blues Magazine...complete with a review of our new Cougar Bait Blues CD. While the author takes a while to warm up to the disc, he ends up hooked... " the grooves are so damned infectious and the guitar playing so strong"..."a fun record that can make you dance and make you laugh"...read the whole thing (yes, including his questions about my singing...and misnaming of the Harp Girls) on our Press page!</p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010062012-08-10T20:00:00-04:002012-08-11T07:36:39-04:00Wildcat News<p>New Booking Agency (Simon Says) seems to have some juice! Off to play legendary Stone Church in Newmarket, NH during their Oysterfest....meanwhile CD continues to get airplay (KKUH in Honolulu seems to like acoustic R. Johnson song)....also hearing from Washington, New London, CT....and Sunderland (UK) where I'll be doing a live interview on Labor Day...Lightning Boy is away, schmoozing with the Hollywood types, so tonight we have sax virtuoso Mark Whitney....and next week, we play the Shemeika Copeland afterparty (Basement...across from Noho Iron Horse)...then Pumphouse in Southbridge.</p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010052012-06-23T20:00:00-04:002012-06-24T13:39:56-04:00Former Sheehan's Legend visits Noho...also E. Brookfield and Holyoke!<p><span style="font-family: 'arial black', gadget, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: 'arial black', gadget, sans-serif;">The Wildcat, who used to rock Northampton regularly at Sheehan's Cafe, has been seen much less frequently in Noho in recent years...but on Sat. June 30, he's BACK! !! at </span><em><span style="font-family: 'arial black', gadget, sans-serif;">The Basement, Center St. Northampton (across from Iron Horse, behind new Police Station)---8-10:30 PM....</span><span style="font-family: 'Cabin Sketch', sans-serif;">and it's not to soon to hit the Cat for tix to the Blues Guitar Summit at Iron Horse on Fri. Aug. 3, when he shares the stage with Duke Robillard!!!</span></em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'arial black', gadget, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><em><span style="font-family: Aclonica, sans-serif;">The Cat will also make a cameo at the Holyoke Firefighters Benefit, joining old pal Ray Chaput at the Elks Club in Afternoon of 6/30!!</span></em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'arial black', gadget, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><em><span style="font-family: 'Permanent Marker', sans-serif;">Then on Sun. July 1, Wildcat is featured guest at the famous Dunny's Blues Jam---4-8PM on rte 9 in E. Brookfield...with house band the Living Bras</span></em></span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010042012-06-20T20:00:00-04:002012-06-21T11:24:02-04:00Busy week for Cat<p><span style="font-size: large; font-family: 'arial black', gadget, sans-serif;">Busy week for Cat and Band!!!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Cabin Sketch', sans-serif; font-size: medium;">Got onto syndicated Blues Deluxe show, will run on 107 stations week of July 8th...here's their Net version <a href="http://www.rootsmusicreport.com/" target="_blank"><strong>www.rootsmusicreport.com</strong></a><strong> . Also in Bud Light Battle of the Bands, can vote for us at : http://www.budlight.com/battleofthebands. </strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'Cabin Sketch', sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><strong>Meanwhile, at Theodore's, Spfld on Fri. 6/22 (voted #1 Blues Club in U.S.)</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif', serif; font-size: medium;"><em>and Sat., we hit Manhattan! L4 Black Door, 7:30PM, 41 Murray St.</em></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: 'Droid Serif', serif; font-size: medium;"><em><br></em></span></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010032012-06-11T20:00:00-04:002020-08-19T01:01:37-04:00new CD interview<p>See new interview abou us and new CD Cougar Bait Blues, which is already on Blues radio from here to Australia</p>
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<p><strong>Who’s The Wildcat O’Halloran Band? How you guys all met?</strong> I’ve been playing as Wildcat since the 80’s, but had pretty much stopped until I met Nate (Lightning Boy) Dana at a benefit for a local clubowner who had died in a car crash (coincidentally at the Harp, home of the now-famous Harp Girls). Turned out he was playing in a rock band with a local bassist (Steve Toutant) who had been with one of my local blues rivals for years. We brought in John Coelho on drums ( who had also played the benefit) and were off to the races. After we got too busy for John and Steve, we brought in new blood, including Matt (Loverboy) McManamon. Dana Tolman is our current drummer.</p>
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<p><strong>What’s the meaning behind the band’s name?</strong> It means I was tired of being “Wild Bill”</p>
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<p><strong>How would you describe your sound?</strong> We’re “Not your father’s Blues Band!” Tight arrangements, high energy guitar, uptempo, fun, funny songs!</p>
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<p><strong>What are your music influences?</strong> Allman Bros. (we opened for Greg here), Buddy Guy, Albert King, James Cotton (we were his backing band during one visit to N.E., People bring up Stevie Ray Vaughn a lot</p>
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<p><strong>Cougar Bait Blues. How was the recording and writing process for this album?</strong> How you guys came out with the title? Any release date yet? We were on a Boston radio show, and they kept advertising this young band, Cougar Bait. My guys couldn’t stop laughing at the name….so I emailed them and asked “If I write a Cougar Bait song, will you guys sing on it?” They looked up my music online and dug it, and away we went. CD is out, available on CDBaby, Itunes,Amazon, etc…. can click on an icon at www.wildcatohalloran.com. We recorded at Northfire Studios, a state-of-the-art new studio in Amherst, with MANY,MANY special guests (actually Cougar Bait recorded at their own studio and we mixed them in at Northfire. We work really fast in the studio, most of the basic tracks done the first day…actually, on the previous CD, I didn’t schedule enough stuff for the first day and we quit early….with basics, my solos, my vocals, and one backup vocalist all done…THAT was SERIOUSLY quick!!</p>
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<p><strong>What has been the funniest moment you guys have been or took part while touring?</strong> Well, there was that girl in Montague with the electrified bra….</p>
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<p><strong>Are there any more plans for the future?</strong> If CD builds on the reception of previous (Drinkin’ With The Harp Girls…was on 200+ stations), would like to move up to festival work…maybe a live album this year</p>
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<p><strong>What’s your method at the time of writing a song?</strong> Like the great Motown writers, I like to start with a catchy title, and then tell the story it suggests to me…like I worship The Ground She Walks All Over Me On, for example, or All I Want For Xmas is a Divorce (my wife’s favorite tune…..hmm)</p>
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<p><strong>Do you guys feel you are moving on the right direction?</strong> Just scratching the surface musically, Lightning Boy and I are developing something approaching ESP (or at least ESPN), bass and drums rockin’ every house they visit…add awesome guests and Harp Girls (who have a brilliant “show sense” of what to add). But, in a down economy, we’re gonna need to catch the attention of someone who can give us a boost….Bruce Iglauer of Alligator says he might pitch a song or two to his artists….maybe someone you know loves Blues?</p>
<p> shareshare</p>
<p><iframe scrolling="no" src="http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?channel_url=http%3A%2F%2Fstatic.ak.facebook.com%2Fconnect%2Fxd_arbiter.php%3Fversion%3D7%23cb%3Df35b61e4c4%26origin%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fventsmagazine.com%252Ff501c45c%26domain%3Dventsmagazine.com%26relation%3Dparent.parent&extended_social_context=false&href=http%3A%2F%2Fventsmagazine.com%2Fthe-wildcat-ohalloran-band%2F&layout=button_count&locale=en_US&node_type=link&sdk=joey&send=false&show_faces=false&width=90"></iframe></p>wildcatohalloran.comtag:wildcatohalloran.com,2005:Post/60010022012-03-03T19:00:00-05:002012-03-04T08:22:09-05:00Boston with the Superband<p><span style="font-size: large;">In addition to doing this weekend's shows with my regular 4piece band, I'm frantically scrambling to get "Superband" ready for Boston Blues Society's St. Pat's show...actually 3/16 in Newton, contact Boston Blues site for details and tix...This band will include Primate Fiasco Horn players Nick Borges and Jeff Fennel, as well as two brand new Harp Girls: Elena Ciampa and Celia Miller. Some of these folks are featured on our Upcoming CD, along with Jopey Fitzpatrick, Steve Yarbro, Emily Duff, Ottomatic Slim, Hugh Currier, J. Witbeck...and Alpha Harp Girl Emmalyn Hicks!! Should be ready soon...waiting for track with Boston's Cougar Bait to be complete!!</span></p>wildcatohalloran.com