Tag Archives: Music

Frank’s | July 12, 2014

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Kevin and I played a set during our good friends Little Stuey and the Strangers‘ show this past Saturday night at the grand opening party for Frank’s new patio.

He spent hours meticulously molding this fabulous set list, which I wrote on paper big enough for us to see on stage … and then I proceeded to brazenly switch it all up during the actual set, hence the scratched-out titles and renumbering mess I made afterward.

Kevin said he didn’t mind at all, but he has pointed out repeatedly that his original set would have been just fine without any alterations. πŸ˜›

Frank's 7/12/2014

We got a lot of compliments on our set. I think “Son of a Preacher Man” went over the best of all, but if you were there and don’t mind commenting, I would love to hear it! Kevin was awesome with his black hat, Mr. Trilby, on; he even made a few comments, which he rarely does. (We have that in common. :/)

Stuart, Mike, and Kristie sounded great, as usual, and had the crowd dancing and singing along. At one point, Dolly and her friend even had a two-person conga line going on. LOL

Ooh! And Kristie let me come up at the end of the night and sing “White Rabbit”! That was fun!!

Overall, it was a fun night with friends … and family, too! My sister-in-law Rebecca and nephew Caleb came with us until after our set, since they were in town (with my brother Paul and other nephew Sammy) from Oklahoma. πŸ™‚

Ooohhhhh…and a special surprise: We haven’t officially announced it yet, but we booked our first actual show: Saturday, August 9, at the Golden Leaf Bistro from 6:30 to about 10! We asked Mike and Kristie Strange to alternate sets with us that night, and hopefully we’ll be doing some collaborations, as well. πŸ™‚

Shows I’ve Seen and Those I’d Like to See

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I like a lot of kinds of music and have a lot of favorite singers and other musicians. And although I’ve been around a lot of music for many years, I haven’t really seen that many of my favorite professional artists live.

Sheryl Crow

I’ve Seen…
(in no particular order)
-Neil Young
-Loretta Lynn
-Huey Lewis (twice)
-Stevie Ray Vaughn
-Robert Cray
-ZZ Top
-AC/DC
-Grateful Dead (seven times? eight?!)
-The Band
-Crosby, Stills and Nash
-The Who
-Todd Rundgren (twice)
-Tom Petty
-Pat Martino
-Marshall Tucker Band
-.38 Special
-Steppenwolf
-The Guess Who
-Sheryl Crow (twice)
-Dave Matthews Band
-Phish (twice)
-Widespread Panic
-Julie Brown
-John Anderson

Well, that’s a longer (and weirder!) list than I thought it’d be. But, then again, it’s been quite a number of years…

I’m going to start a list of people and bands I’d really like to see live.

But before I do, I want to make one of people I won’t have the opportunity to see:

Ella Fitzgerald <3

πŸ™ I’ll Never See…
(in no particular order)


-Ella Fitzgerald
-Billie Holiday
-John Lennon
-Louis Armstrong
-Miles Davis
-Janis Joplin
-Django Reinhardt
-Jerry Garcia
-Elvis
-Les Paul
-Jimi Hendrix
-Ray Charles

That would make a pretty cool all-star band!

And now for my list of must-sees. This is not an exhaustive list of my favorite bands or musicians; some of those I guess I’m okay with listening to and not necessarily experiencing. And I’m not saying I wouldn’t see other acts if I had the opportunity. πŸ™‚

Joni Mitchell πŸ™‚

I’d Love to See…
(in no particular order)


-Joni Mitchell (Something Miles of Aisle-ish would be awesome!)
-James Taylor (sharing the stage with Carole King would be great!)
-Billy Joel
-Simon (with and/or without Garfunkel)
-Paul Rodgers (preferably with Bad Company but not on a bill with Lynyrd Skynyrd…)
-Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks
-Crosby, Stills and Nash WITH Young
-Steely Dan
-Peter Gabriel
-Paul McCartney
-Warren Haynes (preferably with Govt Mule)
-Rolling Stones
-Pink Floyd (with Waters AND Gilmour)

How many of these are simply pipe dreams? A couple at least. If I think of any more, I’ll come back and add them to my list.

So…Who would be on your lists?

Atticus Sings the Gloria #2

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I’ve been sorting through my YouTube videos, getting ready for the school year (which starts Monday…can you believe it??), and saw that I had favorited this video last year.

It’s dated July 2011, so Atticus was 4 1/2. My parents shot the video and it’s posted on my mom’s account.

There’s a video here of Atticus singing this same song a few months earlier.

The Debut of Mr. Blue: Live at Washington Square

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It was Thursday, July 22, 2010, around 6 p.m.

We had just left The Silversmith on West 4th, where we got the most fantabulous Mr. Blue and Jo’s amber ring to celebrate our 5th anniversary.

The vibes were good. We were oozing happiness. It was a beautiful day, not too hot with a little breeze. And β€” oh, man! β€” we love playing in the park!

We found a park bench and spread out a bit. Black squirrels greeted, acoustic guitar tuned, H2 recorder ready.

The whole band was there, minus Josephine, of course (no electricity in the park). πŸ˜‰

The full show (minus encore, below) with all our crazy chatter and everything:

Since we haven’t edited out individual songs yet, here’s a set list with approximate start times:
What Else Can I Say* (0:32)
All Around the World* (6:17)
Music Man* (12:01)
Every Second of Every Day* (18:08)
Baby, What Do You Want Me to Do (23:46)
I Don’t Need No Doctor (27:22)
Amazing Grace: test (37:07)
Amazing Grace: full (39:37)
Danglin’* (42:42)
Johnny LV* (49:50)
Summertime (56:19)

The encore, Going Down the Road Feeling Bad:

*original ESoED songs

Danny Cockram, Songwriter

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Danny Cockram | Songwriter.

Please check out Kevin’s Uncle Danny’s new website. He’s written some great songs and now he has a place to show them off. πŸ™‚

Kevin and I recorded his “Back to New Orleans” with him soon after Hurricane Katrina hit.

If you’ve listened to our show in Washington Square Park from 2009, you may remember his name from the credits. We recorded his “Let’s Shoot for the Moon” then.

Soon, I’ll also be adding another of Danny’s songs that Kevin and I recorded with him called “Coffee in the Morning.”

Lucas Is a Harmonica Boy

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Lucas has been playing the harmonica for a few weeks now.

He picked it up one day, and (with my very rudimentary understanding) I showed him how the holes work, in for one note and out for another. We worked out the notes to “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” and he was set on learning it.

After a day or two, he had it down. He played it for us. Very impressive, yes.

But Kevin said he wouldn’t really have it until he could play it from his soul. So Lucas kept at it. The next morning, he got up and grabbed the harmonica and played it perfectly without even thinking.

Maybe the missed notes were about the video, although Lucas says he doesn’t get stage fright. I actually wondered at one point if he were even for real about messing up.

You can hear him tell me a couple of times in the video not to stop it, no matter how many times he messed up. He said that was what would make it interesting. So I let it roll. And I haven’t edited it.

I actually love the way he stops and looks at the harmonica when he hits a wrong note, like it’s betraying him. Very comic. πŸ™‚

Atticus Sings Neil Young’s ‘Ohio’

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Atticus has been a bit obsessed with Neil Young for the past year or so.

Yes, it all began way back when he was only four and a half. Before his dad and I went to see Neil Young live, we downloaded and burned his awesome Live at Massey Hall album from 1971.

Well, Attie went crazy over it, wanting to hear certain songs over and over. He wanted to hold the CD cover in the car, so he could name the songs as they played and he sang along. He had me upload them to his own CD player.

And we sang along with him: Kevin, Lucas, and myself. It’s still a fun family event in the van when number 3 (“Old Man”) comes on. πŸ˜›

I’d known all of the songs for forever, of course (Neil’s one of my faves <3), but I’d never known all the words to all the songs. And some of them came to me with new meaning, after having lived through so much since.

It wasn’t long before he’d memorized the songs and could even name which song was which number on the album.

We thought it was amazing.

But anything in excess can get, well, um β€” even though I feel like a bad mama admitting it β€” downright annoying … which is to say that we didn’t exactly mind when Atticus started to sway from his Neil Young obsession.

Anyway, as you can see, he didn’t turn away completely and has continued to fan the flame over the months. πŸ˜›

Mike & Kristie’s Open Mic Set

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Yes, it’s true. Kevin and I got out of the house without the kids for the first time since we saw Neil Young at DPAC last April.

We went down to The Highlander for Mike & Kristie’s Open Mic. Yay!

My dad agreed to watch the boys, so after I left school, we rushed around to get them and get them some food and get them to my parents’ house. The kids were excited; they always love going to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Plus, they got Transformers Happy Meals!

Mike and Kristie played a few songs. <3 Then, Kristie brought her acoustic over to Kevin. A bit of talking into it and we were up there behind the mics. Here's what we played:

  • Moondance
  • Music Man
  • Every Second of Every Day
  • Are the Good Times Really Over
  • I Don’t Need No Doctor
  • Natural Woman
  • Baby, What Do You Want Me to Do

Mike had the mics hot, so it was fun to be able to sing soft and then back off for the punches.

But I did a little too much screaming, I think, because by the time I got to “Natural Woman,” my throat was a bit raw. (Of course, that could also be attributed to not having sung much in years!)

It was fun. πŸ™‚

I wish we could’ve stayed longer and heard some other people play. And I wish I’d been able to sing with Mike and Kristie!

When we returned to my parents’ house for the kids, my dad said they were great. They painted pictures with watercolors, built a tepee in the backyard, and watched the big screen TV.

Since they did so well, maybe we’ll be able to do it again someday, huh, Daddy????