Reverend J.J. Vicars: Calendar

Saturday, July 17th, 2010

Hoffman's Pizza

A friendly get together out on the Chiba peninsula for some pizza, oat soda, and smokin' music. Singer/guitarist Roger Sherrin hosts a laidback show featuring guitarist Shinjiro Mori during the second set and Rev. JJV during the third along with a few other fine pickers. If the music flows as good as the beer it may open up into a late-night jam session. If you're a Tokyo resident who needs a break from the grind book a room at http://www.wavehuntersjapan.com/ and head down where you can take 'er easy and just go with the flow.

A very Dudely gig with some very Dudely cats. Roger Sherrin put on the show and supplied most of the gear. A folksy guitar/vocal & percussion duo kicked off the proceedings then Shinjiro Mori and his guitarist kicked it up a notch. I backed him on bass with the afore-mentioned percussionist playing a Roland electronic drum kit the wners had lying around. There was some rough edges to be smoothed out with the new PA but nothing serious. Stayed on bass to back Roger with his Bigsby equipped Gretsch flat-top and his guitarist who played a Gretsch Duo Jet. His guitarist switched to bass while I strapped on Roger's Gretsch 6120 and the cops showed up as we tore into WILD MAN. Limited to one song I was about to do a long medley when it was determined we could continue indefinitely. Twangin' that 6120 through Rog's Kendrick amp was Tone Hog Heaven! And the controlled feedback was cool too. Roger came back up and the cops showed up again so we finally packed it in around... sometime late.

Excellent pizzas from some excellent dudes and got to see a few old friends from the Topanga gigs a couple years back. Looking forward to heading out there again.

Saturday, July 10th, 2010

Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan

Stripping it down to the bare basics. Showing off the songwriter side. Takin' it easy on an acoustic, cruising through the entire catalog of released and unreleased CDs. Hanging out 20 floors above downtown Tokyo with a White Russian and a couple friends. Spend the early part of Saturday evening chilling in some upscale class before hitting the streets for decadence and debauchery.

Singer/guitarist Roger Sherrin came out to sit in for a few numbers and brought Shinjiro Mori from Steve Gardner's group with him. Shinjiro came up first and added some nice guitar work to the acoustic renditions of the JJV catalog. Roger came up, playing a Gretsch acoustic with a Bigsby, and the place turned into a Texas honky tonk. Mori spent most of the second set on the bandstand and will likely be called upon to do some pickin' in the near future. Roger came up again and then it really took off. Much more fun than being up there all by your lonesome. Look for some JJV/RS collaborations in the near future as well.

The old dude who's been the bar manager for a million years was conspicuously absent. Heard he got tranferred somewhere. What a bummer, he was a real cool dude and all of us musicians think very highly of him. The guy's got class. The new bar manager was some young "go go" guy who kept running out to everybody's table asking what was going on whose bill. Didn't dig that. There was some kind of internal politics going on but I'm just a performer, not a member, so I wasn't directly caught up in it and in the end a good time was had by all.

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

Crawfish

The roof will be blown off of Crawfish the old fashioned way, with chicken grease. It's gonna be lowdown and when guests are onstage it's a showdown! Mark Schwarz wields the Rocket Revenger bass and Masaki Shibata pounds out jungle rhythms. Be there or be square!

The rhythm section was in fine form and we had a guest harmonica player. Played a couple new Hillbilly Resistance songs, SOLITUDE, and SCRATCH MY BACK among others. The new arrangements for CUTIE PIE and AIN'T WAITIN' ANYMORE made their stage debut (night even finish the LWFH album this year). Great crowd and Jake & Carol were kind enough to let me play the Telecaster which sounded great through that Fender amp, especially with tremolo!

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

Crawfish

Played Jake's Telecaster most of the night and had a blast. Started with HONKY TONK and HIDEAWAY, went into CHICKEN SHACK and PIPELINE then the usual STINKY TWINKY and DOWHOME. Did two of the new Hillbilly Resistance songs, WHAT I'M LIVING ON and SHE MAY BE YOUR WOMAN along with a short version of SEVEN DAYS A WEEK. Mike Buttrick came out and brought a bunch of friends, several of whom sat in. Mike also sat in for a quick jam in E. They got loaded and got us loaded and Masaki was really laying into the pocket then. A little bit too much self-indulgence on the mic towards the end along with some techinical problems but nobody got hurt. In the end a good time was had by all. Always fun to play Crawfish.

Saturday, March 20th, 2010

Sand Dollar Blues Lounge

Canceled along with the rest of the tour. Was going to do it solo but when the transmission went out on the van in Vegas that idea went with it.

Friday, March 19th, 2010

Boondocks

Canceled along with the rest of the tour. Fortunately the owners were understanding of the situation and a substitute band was found. The date will be made up at the soonest poosible opportunity to hit the West Coast.

Friday, February 26th, 2010

Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan

From http://www.fccj.or.jp/node/5377

Mike Price, Steve Gardner, Andrea Hopkins, Vic Savoy, JJ Vicars, the Moonshots and many other musicians are donating their talents to provide non-stop entertainment while the FCCJ kitchen lays out an all-you-can-eat buffet featuring Haitian cuisine. Hotels, wine distributors and other businesses are donating prizes for a raffle. Jean-Claude Bordes, Acting-Ambassador of the Republic of Haiti, will make a few comments on the current situation in his country.

Proceeds go directly to Partners in Health, a non-profit organization that has been working in Haiti for 20 years and is dedicated to providing ongoing medical care for the survivors. www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti

Had a blast playing a pair of old spirituals with Steve Gardner, Bill Benfield and Hisa Nakase. Steve usually plays a resonator guitar but Bill had the first ever resonator mandolin and Hisa was thumping away on a resonator bass. With so many musicians there was only a short time for each but that meant getting to check out and hang out with all the other groups. Kudos to Mike Price for doing an excellent job of keeping a potentially chaotic situation well organized.

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

Crawfish

A slow night that turned out to be a great jam session. They warned me that Monday nights were dead but I took the gig anyhow. Chiharu Kawai showed up and we hung out with Carol as Jake fiddled with gear. Mark Schwarz walked in with the freshly adjusted Modbird and eventually I grabbed Jake for a guitar duet. Soon Mark and Chiharu were up as well and as the four of us entertained Carol in walked Masaki Shibata. Now we had a drummer and the rest of the evening was nonstop jamming. I played bass for a few numbers and sucked on the ones I called out and sang. We ended the night with TOO MANY HOLES from LONG WAY FROM HOME which has only been played live...??? I don't remember the last time we played it! Best jam session in many moons.

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

Barge Inn

Started out good, went downhill fast and turned out pretty good considering the circumstances. Mac showed up from an earlier gig just in time for a quick soundcheck before the first set. Although there was no rehearsal and neither of them had played with me in at least 6 months having real Blues players made all the difference. When I stepped back from the mic to go into a solo I didn't have to explain to them to open it up, they did it naturally. The first set was great and we had so much fun playing we stretched it out a bit. Even threw in a couple songs that weren't on the list juct 'cause we could!

While on break Youchi suddenly became deathly ill, puked up everything he ate and passed out on the bench. It was later discovered that the Indian curry he had eaten didn't agree with his Matsuya-exclusive stomach. There was no way he could have caught all the parts and rocked out so I decided to ditch the set list and do some laid back Blues numbers. We tried to get him up but to no avail. Second set was off and third was a 'maybe'.

He never made it to the third set. Eventually he was able to walk out back to his van where he slept until long after 6:00 A.M. when Mac and I went home. Bryan, the bar manager, was very understanding of the situation and made sure we knew everything was cool. "An act of God" he stamped it. So we all had a blast playing an excellent set and when one of our guys was 'struck down' Bryan and the DJs who had to cover for us were sympathetic to our cause and went out of their way to show it. That's a pretty damn good gig considering the circumstances.

Friday, January 29th, 2010

Crawfish

The first Birthday Jam was held at the now-defunct Fiddler in Takadanobaba. The next two were at Ben's Cafe, also in Takadanobaba. The fourth will be at Crawfish in Akasaka once again featuring a vast array of guest musicians. It's also a Farewell Roast much like the celebrity roasts of days past.

It started strange but ended well. Mark Schwarz showed up first and we hung out at the bar for a while. Jin Nagami showed up next, saw Mark and got weird. Started to take his bass off then sat down with it on giving off a bad vibe that could be felt all around the room. Head buried in his cell phone, as usual, then he took off without a word to anybody. Chiharu Kawai showed up soon afterward and that was the total number of jammers. Masaki Shibata and Sugi were both supposed to be there but never showed up. Turned out better without drums, we spent the evening laying into some real downhome Blues just like on the front porch back home.

The crowd was good sized and lively. We went for an hour and a half running through some Lightnin' Hopkins, John Lee Hooker and Slim Harpo after opening with HONKY TONK, BOOGIE WITH GRANNY and CHICKEN SHACK. JOHN HARDY also found it's way in there before taking a break to play LONGHAIRED LEFTOVERS over the PA. Back on stage for another 40 minutes or so. The Ben's cafe crowd never spilled over so we ended at 11:30.

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

Barge Inn

Wednesday, November 25th, 2009

Crawfish

Jin Nagami on bass and Masaki Shibata on drums

Since it was a last-minute pickup date there was no time to promote. With a sparse audience we started out with some laid back Blues; HONKY TONK, HIDEAWAY, WAIT ON TIME. Kept it loose and the rhythm section clicked into gear. Masaki is a Jazz drummer and Jin a Jam bassist (though I did find out he digs Louis Jordan) so I wasn't surprising to discover off-the-cuff old school Blues is their strong point on my gig. The first set was magical. Masaki recorded it and it will be posted later as a free download.

The second set was fun but a little ragged in comparison. "1987" was really bad, it just never took off. Jin learned the chord changes but he tried to play the song his way and it didn't work. But that's part of the learning process; I found out what this rhythm section's strengths and weaknesses are.

Saturday, November 21st, 2009

Crawfish

Celebrate Thanksgiving while across the ocean with some downhome American music brought to you by J.J. Vicars and his custom-built ModBird guitar. Through the backroads of the Texas Hill Country across the Plains and into the great Midwest it's an evening of Hard Drivin' Blues, Boogie & Rock 'n' Roll with that big bad roadhouse beat. You'll forget where you are until you step outside!

Masaki Shibata was originally going to play this gig but had to send a sub. Hiromi played some good Blues drums! Steady backbeat and stayed in the pocket while following me. Found out later on she's into Magic Sam and Junior Wells. No wonder! Her stage clothes were cool too, especially the leopard-print hat.

Jin Nagami on bass and this time he was standing up. A little but of amp trouble turned out to be a dead battery in one of my stomp boxes. Second gig with the ModBird, this time running through a sweet Fender tube amp. She don't need no stinkin' pedals!

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

Barge Inn

The Broken Guitars J.J.V. model Modbird makes her debut. Bassist/luthier Mark Schwarz will be wielding the infamous Rocket Revenger. Two Broken Guitars on one stage, a first! Don't miss this historic event!

New drums, new PA speakers, and manager Bryan Harmon helped us with the lights so the stage wouldn't look like CARRIE (see older Barge Inn photos). Took the red out and it started looking good!

First set was a good warm up. Everybody was upstairs, the DJ crowd hadn't filed in yet. Good time to break in the ModBird. She has a nice, rich tone. After 2 years of talking and planning it was a gas just to run her through a loud amp on a stage!

Second set the DJ had a good crowd and I wanted to capture their attention while their adrenaline was still high. Unfortunately that didn't happen; the first several numbers were stiff and never took off. Playing the songs isn't enough, gotta play the MUSIC! I was pissed and wanted everyone to know this was not up to my standard. They noticed. Halfway through the set, during ICEBREAKIN', drummer Masaki Shibata got pissed at me and that's when he started really playing. He quit looking at his notes, which were too tiny and complex to read onstage anyhow, and played to me and the audience. The crowds cheers and hollers were audible over all the noise we were cranking out but when the song ended the uproar was un-fucking-believable!!! They were louder than us! And my amp was cranked! The rest of the set sounded like a J.J. Vicars show should sound and by the time we closed it with SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE it was all over. But not yet.

Third set was rocking along nicely after everything had clicked into gear middle of the second. STINKY TWINKY and DOWNHOME had the crowd boppin' on the dance floor. We covered Johnny Winter's LOVE SONG TO ME and started out a train wreck. I took an extended solo while the rhythm section found their place and then resumed the actual song. SEVEN DAYS A WEEK, co-written with L.A. Jones and Jeremy Gloff, was next and the dirty Blues had them doing the greasy grind. I didn't know I was setting myself up for trouble. A smokin' hot Thai chick in front was carrying on and ran up to the stage to pour her beer down my throat. Well, all's fair in Rock 'n' Roll and audience participation always gets the rest of the crowd going. But during 1987 (Gloff tune I covered on the new album) she jumped onstage and was hanging all over me dancing, shaking, grinding and pouring more beer down my throat while I soloed. I'm quite proud of the fact that I only hit one or two clams and managed to cue the band. After the set was over she dragged me offstage before I could tear down. Politely excusing myself was a chore.

Oliver Richter filmed the entire gig and took some great photos. Photos will be posted soon and the best cuts from the video will go on YouTube. After the gig was over we waited for the first train but missed it due to all the drinks placed in front of us. Stumbled out at 7:00 A.M. and had a 3-hour train ride across the Kanto plain. Yeah, it was a good gig.

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

Crawfish

The last gig with the Strat and the first show at new venue Crawfish in Akasaka. On the same street as ex-pat pub Mermaid.

On bass is Jin Nagami, from last year's July 4th show at Atsugi with Tara Tinsley. Jin also lent his lap steel meanderings to TOO MANY HOLES from the upcoming album LONG WAY FROM HOME.

On drums is Masaki Shibata, a veteran of many JJV gis at the Barge Inn and Warrior Celt.

First gig at the new venue and it was jumpin'. The gear actually worked (a first) and there was a very cool early 70's Fender amp with B-movie tremolo. My bud from way-back-when Mike Buttrick came down for the first set and stayed the whole night. He brought a pack of friends including our old bud Marcus and they also stayed longer than originally planned.

The rhythm section was solid, in the pocket and actually followed me. We opened with HONKY TONK and HIDEAWAY and they were right there with me from the git-go. It was tight and loose all at the same time. Chiharu Kawai sat in on harp and also shot some pics and video. All in all a great gig.

Saturday, August 15th, 2009

Reid Field

Atsugi Naval Base celebrates the Japanese holiday Obon with an open-base festival. Mark Schwarz on bass and Youchi Kurashige on drums.

The show was confirmed at noon the day before and the drummer canceled. After a few phone calls and false starts Youichi Kurashige was ready to show up at the base at 9:30 for a 10:00 soundcheck. At 9:40 he showed up at my house 2 hours away.

Somehow he got inside the gate before 11 and we had a 10 minute soundcheck, one of the shortest ever. Off to the food court for some much needed junk food and back to the stage where went on a little after 1:00.

We opened strong. TAKE ME ON DOWN TO MEMPHIS at a slightly slower tempo had a Stones-y feel and ROCK MY WORLD rawked. During MAYBE I'LL KNOW YOU the vocals dropped and I couldn't tell if it was me or the monitors but we soldiered on. TALK TO YOU DAUGHTER kept the momentum going. The sun and clouds shifted and during HELP ME I was sweating so much I couldn't hold onto my pick. Played the solo with my fingers while it dried in the sun. STINKY TWINKY and DOWNHOME boogied and shuffled the blues away. During 1987 (written by Jeremy Gloff) we got the sign to wrap it up. Finished with a big ending and that was the gig. The band was in fine form playing better than I expected and we got the best crowd response ever at Reid Field.

Later the closing band, Against Grace, broke a string during a song. They didn't have a spare so they quit playing. Us and members of the Jeremy Graham Band had a good old time cracking on the wet nosed kids who gave up so easily. They were told to stay in the area while everyone was rounded up to go and eat and sure as shit they all wandered off leaving ALL their gear unattended. Oh, boy did we have fun cracking on them after that! One guy wandered back with dango in one hand and a confused look on his face. Suzi practically made him cry which was even funnier. I'm now convinced these kids exist solely for the purpose of being cracked on by vets like us. There seems to be no other practical use for them.

Saturday, August 8th, 2009

Foreign Correspondent's Club of Japan

An evening of downhome acoustic Blues. Pickin' away on the old flattop just like we do back home. Have a cold beer and a bowl of chili from FCCJ's kitchen to put you in the right mood.

Much better than the last gig at FCCJ. No chattering leprachauns this time. 3 laid back sets of in-the-groove acoustic Blues & Boogie. Did tunes from SCI-FI DINER, LONGHAIREDS LEFTOVERS, LONG WAY FROM HOME and FULL THROTTLE. Firewors over Tokyo Bay during most of the show. Had a blast.

Saturday, July 4th, 2009

Reid Field

J.J. Vicars & the Desiatos will be one of the bands playing this year's Fourth of July festival at Atsugi Naval Base. The band features Suzi V on bass in all her B-movie glory and Ken O'Keefe on drums laying down the backbeat.

In addition to the all-day music (around 7 bands) there will be food vendors for those needing some American grub. Souvenirs from the festival will also be available.

A working holiday. Checked into the base motel on Friday night then had BBQ for dinner. Ran into Sparky (Boogie Sue) inside Club Trilogy where Floyd Vanlandigham was playing. Hung out for a beer and caught a few tunes from Floyd. Good to see people up dancing in front of the band and people in back shooting pool. This ole boy gets homesick.

Soundcheck at 10:00 AM. Awaiting me onstage was a vintage Fender Twin. Tone heaven! Tara Tinsley & Dan Quigg were noticebly absent this year but Brett and Sonoko of BUCCDA (who brought them over last year) were present. This was a surprise! Sonoko contacted me about the gig saying Brett was gone, but here he was. They were politely distant, cordial when spoken to but not going out of their way to be friendly. Maybe because I chewed him out for never coming up with the v ideo he shot at last year's July 4th fest. The only footage of Tara and I performing her SWEET MUSIC together. They were filming again this year but I didn't bother to ask for a copy.

The preceding band finished early so we were asked to go on early and play a longer set, to which I happily obliged. Paul knows I like to play! If there's a time slot to be filled just holler at J.J.V. Always ready, willing and able! We tore it up. Nothing like having a Fender Twin wide open. Had to move it over and angle it away from me so I could hear my monitors. Beautiful tone. We stormed through one song after another, dedicating WANG DANG DOODLE to Koko Taylor.

After a barn-burning finale we hung around for a spell before heading back to the food court for some Popeye's. The fireworks display was out of sight but what really got my attention was how different the base seemed. I've seen some real zombies during previous performances, as if there was bad news only they knew, but today there was a vibrancy that was refreshing. I don't know if it was me or if something changed but regardless I had one of the best times ever. Some BBQ for the road and then the reverse culture shock of getting on the train with peasants and heading back home.

Saturday, June 27th, 2009

Barge Inn

Suzi V on bass in all her B-movie glory and Ken O'Keefe on drums laying down the backbeat as JJV cranks out some of the nastiest guitar they ever heard. Come late and enjoy the after-hours/all-night party.

It was a disaster from the start. Couldn't get any vocals out of the PA and the staff said they didn't know anything about it. A club doesn't know anything about it's own equipment??? The DJs helped as best they could and got _some_ vocal out of it. Not enough so I could hear myself, though.

First set was atrocious. Some friends came to check out the band for the first time and it was embarrassing. No vocals and the rhythm section was sloppy as hell. I wanted to leave then. Broke my D string on JUMPIN' JACK FLASH and ended quick.

The second set picked up a little but it was still ragged. The drums were not in the pocket and there was no groove. But at least it wasn't as ragged.

Third set and the floor was suddenly packed. Lots of people dancing including some little dude doing some breakdance moves like I haven't seen since I was in Jr. High! Alas, there was still no groove. The recordings were painful to listen to and I never did make it all the way through. I miss Texas.

Saturday, June 6th, 2009

What The Dickens

JJV will be 2nd guitarist with Max Blues at What The Dickens in Ebisu. Come hear Mac & JJ smokin' some Blues and slingin' their six-strings! You might wanna bring earplugs and something for a hangover 'cause it's gonna rock the house.

Bill Copp was supposed to come out and shoot some pictures but the dummy never made it. Too bad, 'cause the kid was lookin' sharp and the stage was smokin'. It was just one of those nights where everything went right. Mac actually showed up 20 minutes _early_! Mark that one on the calendar. The place was packed and there were cuties galore shakin' on the dance floor. When it was my turn at the mic the first number was WANG DANG DOODLE dedicated to Koko Taylor. The hi-lite of the evening was Mark singing I WILL SURVIVE. Somehow it's hard to connect him with Gloria Gaynor.

There were a few nutcases who kept trying to talk to the band while we were playing. Self-absorbed dumbasses. One idiot walked onto the stage in the middle of a number, as if it were his living room, asking if we could play something or other. He got pissed when I chased him off the stage. What a jackass.

As I was rushing out the door for the last train a fight broke out. Looked like a good one, took three guys to barely break it up. Unfortunately I didn't get to see all of it.

Great gig all around. Packed house, fun crowd, band was firing on all cylinders. Looking forward to doing it again.

Saturday, May 30th, 2009

Red Dragon

Acoustic duo with Mac 'the Knife' Okuyama

After the disaster at the Press Club a few weeks ago, which lingers like the smell of ass, this was a welcome gig. Playing some Blues and a little Americana with a real musician made me feel normal again. It was like coming home. Good venue, good crowd and all-around good time. Looking forward to playing there again and to playing with Mac (and Mark) again.

Thursday, May 21st, 2009

Dubliner's

backing up Mark 'pookie bear' Schwarz and his Brit-Pop

Great gig, did two Hank Williams songs and a Ramones tune as well as 99 RED BALLOONS. We weren't sure at first what this odd duo would sound like but it was surprisingly easy and natural. Had a lot of fun. Looking forward to doing more like this in the future.

Saturday, May 9th, 2009

Foreign Correspondent's Club of Japan

With Steve Kovacs

That gig sucked. First Steve called Mark Schwarz to play bass. I found out when Mark called me to say he was on the gig after leaving a Facebook comment that he couldn't make it. He knows I like to stay updated on what's going on. From the first song it was Amateur Hour all the way; besides all the babbling DURING the endings when we'd ask what key a song was in Steve's answer was "I'm capoed at the 1st/2nd/3rd fret." A little light-hearted ribbing was lost on him, he defended his ignorance of music righteously whenever the horrendous error was pointed out. It continued after the gig. He enjoyed ripping on the Blues and R&B guys (of which he knows nothing) but when I backed him into a corner with "and how many Miles Davis albums do you own, Mr. Musicologist?" he damn near blew up.

Moral of the story, if you're a pro don't lower yourself to amateurs. And Tokyo is the worst. Tell these guys to play a I-VI-II-V turnaround and they not only get lost they get defensive. Thankfully I'm now sitting at home listening to Chess Blues Guitar (latest Ebay purchase) and thinking about my up-coming move back to to Austin. I'll be glad to leave this joke/hell-hole behind.

Friday, May 1st, 2009

Ben's Cafe

Special event, Jerry & J.J. Vicars. Rarely seen together except on jams and old Hipswingers gigs). This is a one-off performance, don't miss it!

I played bass with my dad's swing band from '98 - '00 in Cincinnati, appeared in two promo videos from Cincinnati and Vegas respectively, then played with his group in Tokyo from '03 - '07. Once he played on my gig, a private party.

Rarely do we play together, two guitars. No particular reason, it just doesn't happen much. This is the only gig to date we've done as a co-bill. In a way it took me back full circle to when I was 15 and he's take me out to sit in with him at the Reddi Room in Houston, TX. Except this time Bobby Selby wasn't there to play the wrong changes! We played a lot of the same songs- COMIN' HOME, CHICKEN SHACK, HONKY TONK, HIDEAWAY. It was a blast to revisit "the old days" and to play some newer material. Hopefully there will be some recording in the near future.

Just as with the JJV gig that Jerry was on, Mark Schwarz was on hand to play bass and record it for posterity. Mark's become part of the family now.

Friday, April 24th, 2009

Little India

Backing up Steve Kovacs

Started off slow. My dad sat in again and played just about a full set. By the end of the night the crowd was digging it. Played an encore and Steve played IF YOU COULD READ MY MIND (Gordon Lightfoot) while I packed up trying to catch the last train.

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

Dubliner's

J.J. Vicars & Mac 'the Knife' Okuyama acoustic

Mark Schwarz turned out to play a couple sets and Jerry Vicars (yes, Poppa Vicars) sat in for most of the 2nd set doing COMIN' HOME and 24 HOURS OF THE DAY among others. Management fucked up our food order in a typical blockheaded fashion (note- the band should order separate from any entourage so as not to confuse the beauracrats) so I'm typing this at home in between bites of leftover chicken curry.

Saturday, April 4th, 2009

Black Lion

Backing up Steve Kovacs again

Last week we got asked back. Jimmy Mac was on drums this time. Good crowd, nice folks. Some strange music though. Gordon Lightfoot???

Saturday, March 28th, 2009

Black Lion

Backing up Steve Kovacs (vocal/guitar)

Steve finally made it around 10:00 and off we went. Nice crowd but not very hip. Comedy was lost on them. After a rousing performance of PLAY WITH YOUR POODLE for a very ecstatic lady some bozo yells at the band "you should replace 'poodle' with 'vagina'." I feel sorry for his girlfriend, if he has one- this guy has no imagination! The idiot wouldn't back down either after being put in his place. Where do these people come from and why do they breed??!!! People who use terms like 'passive aggressive' (yes, he actually said that) should not be allowed to reproduce. After fuckng with him a little more he went in the back where he stayed until he left. What a putz.

Scott, the owner, dug the band and invited us back for the following Saturday. He was most gracious to us and tried to get us drunk. Didn't get fresh with us though.

Saturday, February 28th, 2009

Barge Inn

Suzi V on bass and Ken O7Keefe on drums

An excellent gig with the rhythm section really locking in together and laying into a tight groove. MP3s of the show will be posted on the website. During the 3rd set we played Jeremy Gloff's 1987 and the Tailgators' MUMBO JUMBO but unfortunately the Edirol ran out of batteries halfway through the set.

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

Ben's Cafe

Bring your axe, bass. harmonica, kazoo or whatever you got. Drummers, bring a snare and brushes.

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

Dubliners Irish Pub

Acoustic duo with Mac "The Knife" Okuyama

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

Zest Cantina

Private event for the Jewish Community of Japan, a non-profit organization.

Thursday, December 25th, 2008

Dubliner's Irish Pub

Acoustic duo with Mac "The Knife" Okuyama

A lively crowd including a few old friends who turned out on this Christmas evening. The whiskey was good and the music was even better. A few album favorites from SCI-FI DINER and LONG WAY FROM HOME, some downhome shuffles, and lots of Americana including Mac's rendition of JAMES LANE. Sugi from Max Blues sat in (or sat on) during the last set filling out the sound nicely. Some video was shot and hopefully will make its way onto YouTube. The first set was recorded and part of the second before the batteries went out. Something for a future release.

Tuesday, December 9th, 2008

Ben's Cafe

Acoustic performance at Takadanobaba's coolest hangout. They have a top notch selection of beers, wines, coffee and desserts. On the 9th they also have a top notch selection of music courtesy of the stylish pickings of the person whose website you're currently viewing.

Saturday, October 18th, 2008

Barge Inn

Suzi V on bass and Ken O'Keefe from Boogie Sue on drums.

This gig rocked so hard I forgot to write the after-show diary until much later. Ken kicked ass on the drums, chicks were blowing kisses at Suzi and Sparky from Boogie Sue sat in during the 3rd set. All 3 sets + soundcheck were recorded. Anybody who wants CD-Rs of the gig contact J.J.V. directly.

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

Sunshine Studios

4th recording session for LONG WAY FROM HOME.

New recording rule, never do overdubs first! Tried to redo the acoustic on SOLITUDE, couldn't get a good take, got in a progressively foul mood. Did manage to double the melody and lay down backing tracks to JOHN HARDY with Mark playing his Ashbury "Lil' Doggie". Added a slide part to it and was about to call it a day when we started fresh and got on a roll. Added bass and drums to PICKIN' & GRINNIN', the instrumental I recorded with Don Leady in Austin back in April. This new one grooves! Cut basic tracks to TOO MANY HOLES, added slide and an acoustic, then background vocals (complete with background noise) and finger snaps. Despite the bad start it turned out to be a very productive session.

Saturday, October 11th, 2008

Foreign Correspondent's Club of Japan

Another cozy autumn evening of solo acoustic Blues and Americana performed on the 20th floor overlooking Ginza.

*Note- this date was originally scheduled for the 25th.

Brad Holmes of the Hitmen came out and I insisted he sit in for a couple. I ran overtime both sets so during the 2nd I just played all the way through until the end. During the 1st set Bill Bruton's OSCAR WILDE was given the Texas treatment. Despite having overexerted my throat doing vocal exercises I managed to get through the evening without sounding like a Grade School clarinet player.

Friday, October 3rd, 2008

Warrior Celt

Suzi V on bass and Masaki Shibata on drums

The first gig at Warrior Celt. The first set sucked, fuckin' amateur hour with all kinds of little technical problems throwing everybody off. After a long break the 2nd and 3rd sets rocked hard and received a very enthusiastic response. Looking forward to playing there again.

Saturday, September 27th, 2008

Sunshine Studio

The second LONG WAY FROM HOME recording session. Engineered and co-produced by drummer Bill Concello.

Spent most of the session working on SOLITUDE. I had no idea what we were gonna do with the song but once we started adding acoustic guitars and goofing with the keyboard it all fell into place and came together effortlessly. Bill played three keyboard parts and a Rain Stick. We got on a roll and didn't stop until we finished the entire track including most of the mixing.

We also re-cut the ICEBREAKIN' solo, added the acoustic to BALLAD OF THE BUMBLING PYGMIES, and cut basic tracks for TOO MANY HOLES. An excellent session that left us buzzed.

Saturday, September 13th, 2008

Sunshine Studio

The first recording session for LONG WAY FROM HOME after two pre-production sessions. Mark Schwarz on bass and Bill Concello on drums. Engineered by Bill Concello.

We spent 2 hours working on MAYBE I'LL KNOW YOU. At first it was cool 'cause we kept coming up with new ideas for the arrangement but some of it was technical difficulties and I finally got burned out. I was ready to call it a day and end the session when drummer/engineer/co-producer Bill Concello suggested we take a break and try it again. We did and it clicked right away. Mac "The Knife" Okuyama showed up to play 2nd guitar and while bassist Mark "McGuyver" Schwarz picked him up at the station Bill and I nailed 2 vocal tracks, first take each. The final mix will have a bit of each. On the spur of the moment I decided to add a typical Rockabilly acoustic guitar in the background and then the track really started to come alive.

Next, while we laid down SOLITUDE, Mac went out for cigarettes forgetting that it's a penthouse apartment on the top floor with a private security elevator. Unbeknownst to us he left his cell phone behind and was locked out for half an hour. We thought he was just being moody as usual since he barely talked to anyone when he came in and kept working until we needed him to lay down his part, called him AGAIN, and figured out what happened. He came back in pissed off grumbling "Don't ever do that to me again" whereby I reminded him that I wasn't the one who told him to go out. It's always somebody else's fault, LOL!

After we got him back in the room we worked on his acoustic part for SOLITUDE. He asked me what I wanted him to play; I told him the same thing we recorded on the demo at his house to which he replied he didn't remember and hadn't listened to. He and Bill laid down a real nice part, then he stepped outside where he spent most of his time while we cut basic tracks for BALLAD OF THE BUMBLING PYGMIES. Next up was ICEBREAKIN'. I wanted to record the four of us live but technical limitations prevented it so we recorded as a trio then laid down Mac's rhythm guitar.

Four songs in the can on the first session. Things look promising at this stage. Originally it was going to be a raw stripped-down album like SCI-FI DINER but the songs lend themselves to layering and the results are kicking everything up a notch so the album will be different from the first three. The three of us form a strong core working unit and the guests add another dimension. I'm eager with anticipation to get to the mixing stage.

Saturday, September 13th, 2008

Foreign Correspondent's Club Of Japan

15 musicians regularly performing at the Press Club come together for the annual Jam.

What a blast! After the 1st LWFH session I headed down to the Press Club with Mac in tow. Mike Price was there www.mikepricejazz.com and sat in with us. I've played with Mike before on my dad's gigs where I played bass, but I don't think he knew I'm a guitarist. After a grooving little rendition of TALK TO YOUR DAUGHTER we boogied through STINKY TWINKY. At the end of the night they got damn near everybody up on stage together for the big finale. Mac on bass, myself on acoustic, three other guitar players, Mike Price, pianist Victor Savoy ("no E!"), Chris Grundy, and a whole mess of people some of whom were new to me.

Among then was a fiddle player who had that beautiful Appalachian sound- like the soundtrack to a suspense movie where a bunch of smart-ass college kids get hacked to pieces by a psychotic inbreed out in the woods. I thought she would be perfect for JOHN HARDY on LWFH and went to introduce myself. She turned out to be REALLY short which was a good sign -all the women I'm good friends with are around 5'2"- and it turns out she's from Austin. Well that does it, she's playing on JOHN HARDY if I have to hold her for ransom in the studio! Corrin with the pigtails and funny orange hat. This chick's BAD, she should be playing with John Mellencamp.

And a good time was had by all. There's audio recordings, photos, and possibly some video. Whatever lands in my Inbox will posted on the site, and probably MySpace as well, as soon as it gets here.

Friday, September 12th, 2008

Sunshine Studios

4th recording session for LONG WAY FROM HOME.

New recording rule, never do overdubs first! Tried to redo the acoustic on SOLITUDE, couldn't get a good take, got in a progressively foul mood. Did manage to double the melody and lay down backing tracks to JOHN HARDY with Mark playing his Ashbury "lil' doggie". Added a slide part to it and was about to call it a day when we started fresh and got on a roll. Added bass and drums to PICKIN' & GRINNIN', the instrumental I recorded with Don Leady in AUstin back in April. This new one grooves! Cut basic tracks to TOO MANY HOLES, added slide and an acoustic, then background vocals (complete with background noise) and finger snaps. Despite the bad start it turned out to be a very productive session.

Saturday, August 30th, 2008

The Barge Inn

Suzi V on bass & Masaki Shibata on drums

With a steady lineup in place this was the best show yet. The first set rocked hard and the crowd that usually avoids the band was hanging downstairs with us while the ones there for the band payed the cover charge to come down and get closer. The dance floor was packed for the first two sets and by the time we got back up for the third we had wore them out! Special thanks to Oliver for bringing his friends and leading the way for the rest of the audience. We're looking forward to coming back soon.

Sunday, August 24th, 2008

Reid Field

Rained out and cancelled. What a bummer! But we still had a good time of it. New drummer Masaki Shibata got his first taste of gigging on base, we ate some good ol' American junk food, had some diner coffee, and hung out with Sparky who's playing accordion on a couple tracks for the upcoming album. Last time I played Atsugi we rehearsed with a hair dryer (w/ Tara Tinsley) -this time Masaki and I rehearsed in the food court. Always an eventful rehearsal at Atsugi, LOL!

Monday, July 21st, 2008

Sunshine Studio

The 2nd pre-production session for LONG WAY FROM HOME.

Tracks were cut for TALK TO YOUR DAUGHTER, ICEBREAKIN', JOHN HARDY, and SLEEPWALK.

Sunday, July 13th, 2008

Sunshine Studio

Pre-production begins on LONG WAY FROM HOME at Bill Concello's Sunshine Studio with Bill on drums and Mark Schwarz on bass.

We cut tracks for MAYBE I'LL KNOW YOU, CUTIE PIE and SOLITUDE. All have brand new arrangements thanks to Bill and Mark.

Friday, July 4th, 2008

Reid Field

Max Blues, Tara Tinsley, The Hitmen, J.J. Vicars and more. Max Blues is backing J.J.V. after their set.

Fourth of July '08 was one of my best gigs to date. Festival gigs are always fun when you know the other bands on bill 'cause you get to hang out all day. Usually we're working different venues/cities so we don't get to see each other as often as we like, despite constant talk of collaboration. This time we not only got to hang out together but I made sure we all got to play together onstage.

Max Blues opened the show at noon and set the tone for the rest of the day. Fill-in bassist Jin Nagami anchored the bottom end like nobody's bizniz and played some nice lines that kept the engine moving. 45 minutes of Blues and R&B in the SRV/Hendrix school and it was clear we were staking out our own turf on the bill.

After a sudden schedule change, rounding everybody up real fast, and going over some last minute notes your truly hit the stage backed by Max Blues. Opening with an atmospheric peice along the lines of the Allmans' LES BRERS IN A MINOR and building to a slow climax we then tore through the 1-2-3 sucker punch of LONG WAY FROM HOME, WANG DANG DOODLE, and CAN'T GET ALONG WITH YOU. A short 'hello' to the crowd and then into one of the tightest renditions ever of STINKY TWINKY with Mac and I playing the head together, sounding like a full-on horn section. TALK TO YOUR DAUGHTER got off to a false start but we recovered quickly. SOUTHBOUND also got off to a false start but we recovered before we were through the intro. By the end of the first verse the band hit it's stride and was firing on all cylinders. A couple solos from Mac and I and we were off into some dual-guitar unison lines, jacking up the intensity level trading fours, and then peaking out with a return to our unison lines. By the time SOUTHBOUND finished we had earned our bragging rights and were strutting with a new-found swagger.

For the remainderof the set we were joined by Tara Tinsley for two songs. I first met Tara two years ago at another festival at Atsugi and when we found out we were on the bill together again I _insisted_ she join us. Earlier this year she sent me a demo of a new song SWEET MUSIC which I liked so much I took the liberty of adding instruments to on my home studio. We performed this one first, so far the only live rendition of us performing it together. However, just as we were starting my slide I was wearing busted and I had to play the song with shards of glass dangerously close to my finger. Moral of the story- when they break throw 'em away, don't glue 'em back together. For the second number, and the set closer, Tara's guitarist/producer Dan Quigg added some nice texture with her acoustic while she and I dueted on Ike & Tina Turner's BABY GET IT ON. Because of the last minute schedule change we had to run over the tune in their room 30 minutes before the set started, Dan and I on acoustics and Tara fixing her hair. First time I ever rehearsed with a hair dryer! Mac and I did another duet in the guitar department, Tara and I revisited to the chorus a couple times, and then it was the big finale.

After the set her and Dan gave me a suprise gift- a jumbo size bottle of Cholula, the best hot sauce known to humankind. An hour later Tara and Dan took the stage and I finally got to hear the SAIL AWAY album performed live. www.cdbaby.com/cd/taratinsley2
In the evening we all went to Smokey's, the only place in all of Japan where you can get Texas BBQ. Sandwiched between Suzi and Dan with Tara sitting across from me I couldn't help but think we were in Austin- the older rockers playing the 'biker music' and the young'uns playing the 'college crowd music', all of us sitting down to a plate of BBQ together.

Honorable mention goes to Suzi for snapping the candid offstage shots, Bill for the onstage shots, and to Brett and Sonoko of Bucc Wild promotions www.bucdaa.com for the video.

Saturday, June 28th, 2008

The Barge Inn

Mack "The Knife" Okuyama of Max Blues on bass and Rumi Muhr on drums.

The first set was played to a sparse crowd throughout the club and turned out to be a good warm-up. During the DJ's first set more people poured in and the place was packed by the time we came back. He was playing straight-up Dance music instead of the "fuck your mama/kill your daddy/shoot a cop" Rap shit so the vibe was good, but we still expected the dancers to clear out as so often happens when the band comes on. The crowd is usually watching from the rails. We opened with TAKE ME ON DOWN TO MEMPHIS and they were dancing away to it! They kept dancing to ROCK MY WORLD so we went into ROCK ME BABY. The whole set they were boogieing away and we played to the dancers. The Blues Nazis in their attempt to make a museum piece out of the music by insisting that everyone copy what the old guys did to the letter have forgotten that this is originally dancin' music. Drink, dance and get rowdy- that's what Blues/Rock'n'Roll bands are for! During DOWN ON MY LUCK we stretched it out by inserting HIDEAWAY -all of it- in the middle. All of the songs got stretched out until the audience was wore out.

The 3rd set was played to the rafters as usual. Since we ran overtime in the first two this one was cut short but there was an encore, a very off-the-cuff version of Chuck Berry's REELIN' & ROCKIN'. We hung out until the wee hours of the morning and then took the Skyliner train back. Mac passed out in one car, me in the other, and Suzi & Rumi woke me up when we got to our stop. I threw my boots on, grabbed my guitar and hauled ass off the train before they shut the doors. Since I didn't know where Mac was I grabbed his bass as well. A few (cell) phone calls later and he was at another station where the attendants woke him up and kicked him off the train. He caught up with us, collected his bass, and the rest -as they say- is history. And Barge Inn manager Bryan Harmon, being Irish, had never heard of George Carlin until he died.

Monday, June 23rd, 2008

Jazz Spot J

Jazz & Blues vocalist Pamela MacCarthy appears with her trio. J.J.V. is a featured guest in the last set.

After much wandering around I finally found the place. I also found a few more areas to Shinjuku that I didn't know about. Les Coles broke the news to Pam and I that George Carlin had died. What a bummer! None the less Pamela and her trio were in fine form and I joined them for CITY OF NEW ORLEANS, a B.B. King tune, and later ROUTE 66. A mad dash for the train and it was back to the swamp.

Saturday, May 24th, 2008

The Foreign Correspondents Club Of Japan

Solo acoustic -songs from the book of Lightnin' Hopkins, John Lee Hooker and Robert Johnson along with *public domain* Americana and a few more recent numbers by the likes of the Allmans and Dylan. Plus lots of originals including some new arrangements of familair classics.

I'm finally starting to get the hang of these acoustic shows. Unlike the trio where I count off each tune in tribute to Dee Dee Ramone the acoustic shows are best played like a living room jam.

Towards the end of the first set I was joined on the bandstand by 'the dancing samurai'. An older Japanese guy dressed in a kimono, probably stopping at the club on his way back from somewhere, jumped up in front of the speakers and boogied away. I double-timed it then brought it back and he kept going. Later on his way out the door he told me he was a big Lightnin' Hopkins fan and sat up when he heard MOJO HAND near the beginning of the set.

A sparse but receptive crowd who braved the rain and went out of their way to pay compliment. From the audience Tom got a CD for himself and his wife Chika telling me they would be listening to it in the shower on their water-proof CD player. I keep saying it's party music!

Sunday, April 6th, 2008

Reid Field

Suzi V on bass and Chris Muhr on drums

I got back from India on Saturday morning, back at the house in the afternoon, and was busy the rest of the day. Then up at 6:00 A.M. to be at Atsugi for an 8:00 A.M. soundcheck. We got VERY lost, getting off at the wrong station twice before finally making it there at 9:30. Everything else was already behind schedule so our soundcheck was bumped down to 10 minutes before being eliminated altogether.

Once we hit the stage we had all kinds of little problems piling up into one big disaster. The bass amp was set for some kind of Funk/Fusion tone with booming low end and a high end that spat out every little movement across the strings. Chris couldn't hear anybody and I couldn't hear him. I thought I had my amp set right but when the other instruments came in that went out the window. It had channel switching but both had overdrive- the point of channel switching is clean and dirty. During WANG DANG DOODLE the sound was too distorted for those chords and when I kicked in the overdrive channel for the solo the volume dropped. The technical glitches combined with my exhaustion produced one of my weakest performances ever. The set started out nervous and ended ragged. I walked off stage bitching at the sound guy as to what to bring up and down.

The second set went smooth. After the soundguy had adjusted everything we could all hear better and everything fell into place with a nice pocket. The wind kept blowing my hair in my face completley obscuring it -and my view- and my amp was set too loud from when I was cranking knobs during the first set -and sitting at waist level- so I couldn't hear my vocals too good, but that was all. Everything went smooth and TWISITN' & TURNIN' really got going. Later in the day the BarD Wranglers played some Country music the way it's supposed to be played and I met more people from Texas than I knew there was over here, including the captain of the base who's from Bellaire, my neighboring area in Houston! It started rough but it ended well. We even had dinner at Smokies, thank you Paul.

Saturday, March 29th, 2008

The Barge Inn

With Suzi V on bass and Rumi Muhr on drums

Suzi's debut on bass and she kicked ass. Chris Muhr was originally slotted to play drums but had to send a sub. He sent his wife Rumi. I didn't know anything about her so I had to take him on his word. Turns out she was already familair with this kind of music so everything went smooth. having two chicks on stage went over good with the audience and we had a larger crowd downstairs than I had ever seen before. The disco-biscuits crowd hung around and one was even breakdancing to us! I've seen it all now. We did a few easy numbers like TUSH and WHO DO YOU LOVE and threw in CAN'T YOU SEE for shits and giggles which went over real good. The ladies locked in tight with each other and had a nice groove going. I think I'll keep 'em.

After the gig we hung out with our fan club 'til the first train and then they went home while I headed over to the hotel where I took a nap and a shower then boarded plane for New Delhi, India. That's why I had to play the Hohner, as funny as it looks on me- Suzi had to carry it home for me after the gig.

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008

Court Street Grill

The Spring 2008 Midwest Tour makes it's way down to the Ohio River village of Pomeroy and one of America's "hidden gems" of a venue. Howard Glazer and Patrick Sweany are regularls so you know it's cool.

~~** Cancelled **~~

The Spring 2008 Midwest Tour has been cancelled due to lack of response from local venues. See the NEWS page for details.

Monday, March 17th, 2008

Mudflats Bar & Grill

The J.J. Vicars Spring 2008 Tour kcks off during St. Paddy's day in the beautiful village of Galena, northeast of Columbus near I-71 and U.S. 36.

~~** Cancelled **~~

The Spring 2008 Midwest Tour has been cancelled due to lack of response from local venues. See the NEWS page for details.

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

Topanga House

Back by popular demand! They asked and we said OK. Another round of foot-stompin', barn-burnin' Blues, Boogie & Rock'n'Roll. Mark Schwarz on bass and Chris Muhr on drums with very special guest Mike Buttrick sitting in for a couple numbers.

Leaving the house was a pain in the ass. A soccer game at the stadium screwed up the traffic and I couldn't hardly get out of the area. Many phone calls and rearrangements later we finally met up in Tokyo station 5 minutes before our once-an-hour express train took off. On the way we stopped at a station called Toke. Despite being pronounced 'toh-keh' we had to take pictures. I jumped off the train and ran out to get the big sign making it back on right as the doors were closing. We got to the gig and the turn-out was fairly low which was suprising since we were requested back by the owner who had been getting heaps of inquiries on the subject. *Note- I've been hanging around Mark too long, I'm starting to talk like a Brit. LOL!* The first set started out a bit shaky but came together. The second set started off OK but fell apart 2/3 of the way through. Mark and Chris did their best and worked really hard to get the tunes down but they're just not Blues players. If they didn't have something memorized they didn't know what to play and several times one or both was playing stuff that just didn't fit. At that point it was embarrasing to be up on the bandstand; I wanted to pack up and go home right then and there.

Here's why- guys that aren't Blues/Roots players only comprehend the structure. They can count the measures and so forth but they're speaking a foreign language and the accent is thick. They often think it's just a repetitive pattern so they can just fly on auto-pilot while the guitarist wanks off. Not true. Roadhouse boogie -everything from Blues to Country to Rockabilly to Southern Rock and all points in between- is downhome music for downhome folks to dance to. As Clifford Antone said, "If the people ain't dancin' you ain't playin' music, son!" Most of the musicians around here are into technical music, 'look what I can do', and don't know how to groove. Nobody who has ever played with me has ever really understood my gig. They only comprehend the surface at best. They play my songs, but not my music. One more reason I miss Texas, Texas musicians!

So I cut the last song short and stormed out for a long walk speaking to no one while I cooled my heels. The guys knew I was pissed and they knew why. Frankly, they just got a little over confident, lost their edge and forgot they were playing outside their musical 'comfort-zones'. Anybody else would have gotten an ass-ripping for it but these are good cats who _do_ try hard and who do work hard for me. They knew I was pissed, had enough sense to understand why and redoubled their efforts next set. And the third set had a spark and a life to it that was groovin'. One guy in the audience later told the drummer that the music put his old lady in the mood!

The after-show was hilarious, a touch of Monty Python. Due to a mix-up in dialects we thought we were staying at a bed & breakfast, then we thought we were staying at a private residence. Our host Robbie disappeared around 3:30 A.M. while we were lounging about in the living room without telling us where to crash. We eventually pulled pillows off the couches and made makeshift beds using our jackets for blankets. Mark woke up first and with the help of daylight found three empty bedrooms. We were later informed that it wasn't so much a bed & breakfast as a bed & do-it-yourself and that it's a local custom to show up at somebody's house unannounced and uninvited, party 'til you puke, and crash out wherever you pass out. The three of us, being Southern and European gentlemen, wouldn't dream of poking around somebody's house while they're passed out. Bad form. But we managed to have a nice relaxing morning over coffee and do-it-your-self breakfast (they didn't know to stay the hell outta my way when I'm cooking, though) and my oldest niece whom I'm quite fond of e-mailed my cell phone, a conversation that is still ongoing as of this writing. I sent her a picture of Mark eating lunch and she insisted he 'definately looks British'. Thank you, pumpkin. Mark thought she meant he had bad teeth, which he doesn't. It's the hair. The ride back was relatively uneventful save for the ongoing conversation with my neice.

Saturday, February 2nd, 2008

The Barge Inn

Another round of Boogie, Blues, Rock'n'Roll topped off with a pints of Guinness and Stell Artois. Mark Schwarz on bass and Masaki Ito on drums.

There are no peaks without valleys, I recently told a good friend, and this was definately a valley. Dead response from most of the crowd and lots of little problems on stage. There was a guy in the first set who came down to hear us but split before I got a chance to say 'hi', and some ladies from Brazil who came up to us afterwards wanting to take pictures with the band. That was it. The DJ played nothing but "fuck your mama/kill your daddy/shoot a cop" ghetto rap for the wannabes who've never been to a real ghetto and would shit themselves if they ever did. Several times in the middle of a solo I stopped and asked myself, "What the hell am I doing? Why do I even bother?" I was trying to rock out and take it to the next level but suddenly the thought occured to me, I'm trying to get off on music that cannot be gotten off on with an audience that cannot be gotten off with. After the gig was over I hurried to pack up and leave. Hopefully it'll be better next time.

Tuesday, January 29th, 2008

Ben's Cafe

The Second Annual J.J. Vicars Birthday Jam will be held at a more low-keyed setting this year, Ben's Cafe in Takadanobaba. Acoustic guitars are welcome, Jazz singers are welcome, and the elcetrics will be humming low. Drummers, bring your snare and brushes. Ben's Cafe has plenty of beer and food as well as Torani syrup for us coffee drinkers. The deserts are made in-store; maple cheesecake, cranberry cheesecake, cream cheese and cranberry muffins and more temptations.

It was a blast. Mark was there before I was and Chiharu showed up shortly after I did. Pamela MacCarthy came out and she got the party going. Thank you for the pink wine, Pammy! We did all sorts of numbers, I don't even remember all of them. We played JESSICA three times, Pamela sang ME AND BOBBY MAGEE while I played bass (she was suprisingly good on guitar), SLEEPWALK was in there and so was SOUL SEARCHIN'. Sparky from Boogie Sue came out and played several numbers. To top it all off Yoshiko, the proprietor of Ben's Cafe, got us a spot on Internet Radio at www.guyperryman.com He gave a nice introduction, talked about the jam and played ONE OF THESE DAYS. My albums have been on the radio for the last two years but this was the first time I actually heard it. Very surreal. Lots of good fun all around, I'm looking forward to next year's jam.

Saturday, January 26th, 2008

Topanga Roadhousehouse

Skank Promotions Presents NEW YEAR'S BOOGIE & BLUES at the Topanga Roadhouse. Sponsored by Mike Buttrick.

Mark Shwarz on bass and Chris Muhr from the Steve Lukather video shoot on drums.

The trip over started off BADLY but the gig and the trip back were cool. Hauling my PA, amp, and mic stand on the train with my Firebird on my back was a bit of a challenge. While getting on the first train of the journey my portable PA busted a latch and came flying apart. I had to 'walk' it the rest of the way until I met up with the rhythm section. Chris Muhr -from the Steve Lukather video shoot- was on drums an loaned me a strap to hold the PA together. We finally made it to Tokyo station and the long walk, got on the express train and had an hour to relax and enjoy the ride.

We got to the last stop and Mike Buttrick picked us up at the station. I hadn't seen Mike in 15 years! His curly black locks (he used to look like Rory Gallagher's bassist, Gerry Macavoy) were replaced by a grey crew cut with a short beard. That's what 15 years will do to ya, kids! He took us down to the venue, a roadhouse near the beach that reminded me of a biker bar I used to play at in northeast Ohio, and we set up. Soundcheck and a couple tacos later and we were on. This was Chris' first time with us. He only had 2 days to learn the tunes but did an excellent job. He kep a solid backbeat and a grooving pocket going all night and followed the cues. Mark Schwarz was on bass so all was solid. Much to my suprise there were several people I knew that showed up, some current and some from when I lived here before. Among them a tip of the hat to Markus and Brian.

There several people who sat in with us. Most of them were hobby players so not familair with the etiquette of sitting in. When they heard we were starting they just jumped up and started plugging in. I had to tell them the program -we're gonna do a few numbers then I'll call you up. This is how us working hacks do it, when we sit in we wait for the bandleader to call us up on stage. But it was all in good fun. The highlight of the jammers was when Mike got up. I knew him way back when I was a teeny-bopper and still getting my feet wet. He was one of the first guys that me a break back when all the other 'older cats' blew me off. I have hours of tape of us jamming from when I was here before and it was at one of those jams that he played a riff on an early rendition of SOUL SEARCHIN' that he let me steal and use for the soloist's cue. When Mike jumped up and grabbed Mark's bass the old chemistry was still there. He tore into a riff in G and I could have worked out a new song from it had we not been on the gig. I almost did step up to the mic to improvise a few　lyrics. Then we did HIDEAWAY, the Freddie King instrumental which was the first song we ever played together all those years ago sitting at Alan Kidd's kitchen table puting together the Infozine.

After the gig we crashed at his place around 4:00 A.M. after a few more drinks and banging a gong (just don't ask) and woke up to a helluva view. I couldn't see anything at night. We were on the Chiba peninsula right next to the beach. He fixed us an excellent continental breakfast and on the way back to the station we drove through some of the most beautiful scenery I've encountered here. It was a refreshing break from the mega-metropolis of Tokyo and we look forward to playing there again, especially during bikini season!

Monday, December 31st, 2007

Club Trilogy

Mark Schwarz on bass and Youichi Kurashige on drums at Atsugi's Animal House theme party. No, we ain't wearin' togas.

Happy New Year! They wanted some songs from that era so we worked up PIPELINE and RUMBLE which I had been wanting to do anyhow. The sound guys were on top of it all and I could actually hear my monitor. We dug out a few chestnuts we hadn't done in a while, like MEMPHIS, and some newer material - TWISTIN' & TURNIN' (my recently composed tribute to Ike Turner), FEVER, Chuck Berry's REELIN' & ROCKIN' (lyrics from both versions) and MEET ME WITH YOUR BLACK DRAWERS ON (a song I've been hearing since I was a kid and used to do with my dad's group). We started to go overtime and there was another band scheduled to play so when Paul Perry (the MWR guy) came over flashing 5 at me I thought he meant 5 more minutes and went into LAST TRAIN HOME. Nope, 15 more minutes so we did ROLL OVER BEETHOVEN (3 1/2 Chuck Berry songs in one night) and STOOP DOWN BABY. The ball dropped at midnight and 2007, a magical year, turned to 2008. Thanks to Paul Perry, Andre the DJ, the band that went on after us (sorry, forgot their name but had fun hanging out with them) and the Country band in the club next door. Three good bands in one building and it wasn't even a festival. But it was a great New Year's. Now to get a copy of that Redd Foxx/Lawanda Page together album.

Saturday, December 15th, 2007

The Foreign Correspondents Club Of Japan

Intimate 'backporch' renditions of songs from SCI-FI DINER, HI-TECH HILLBILLY, HEARTLAND & LONG WAY FROM HOME, along with traditional Blues and Americana songs in the Texas 'songster' style.

Nobody pulled the plug out of the wall this time. Thanks to Willy Canuck (see Guestbook), Anna Quinn, and Yoko & Sakai for coming out. Started off with usual acoustic opening number CHURCH HILL BLUES and had a brain fart. Improvised my way out of that one real quick and into MOJO HAND. Everything was cool from there. EAST TEXAS BLUES went over real well and so did HAPPILY MARRIED MAN. The 2nd set included CUTIE PIE which wasn't initially intended to be an acoustic peice. JOHN HARDY and PISTOL SLAPPER BLUES caugh5t people's attention. The idea of doing something from the 1800's, as I mentioned over the mic, got them curious. Retune to Open G and some John Lee Hooker styled boogie, SPANISH FANDANGO, and some slide on Robert Johnson's COME ON IN MY KITCHEN and my own SLIDE GUITAR RAG from my forthcoming instrumental album. A couple songs into the 3rd set were some solo arrangements of ONE OF THESE DAYS and BUSTIN' MY ASS from the HEARTLAND album with introductions, followed by BLACK HEART. JOLIET BOUND from a century ago and closed the show with TELL ME and BOOGIE WITH GRANNY from SCI-FI DINER. The bar manager brought over an excellent stage prop, a keg with a pint of Guiness on it. I hope somebody took a picture of it. It was fun, I'm looking forward to doing more acoustic shows in the near future.

Saturday, December 1st, 2007

The Barge Inn

With Mark Shwarz of Max Blues on bass and Masaki Ito on drums.

The best gig I've played in a long time. Masaki Ito on drums meant we rode down in his Mini-Cooper. Suprisingly Mark fit inside! A real 'Kodak moment'. We got there early, ate, ran through some stuff and hit the first set, SCI-FI DINER stuff. Typical, we got an OK response from the people up top we couldn't see. The DJ comes on and the dance floor is empty. Where's the disco-biscuits crowd? I guess they stayed home. I figure they're not gonna dig us anyhow, but the rest of the crowd is a Rock & Blues crowd, we should be getting a better response than we usually do. So I decided to change the set list a little. We open the first set with a psychedelic jam, sort of LES BRERS IN A MINOR run through my new Zoom GX1 effect pedal. Lots of noodling with overdrive, flanger and delay. Then back to the Fender Tweed sound and into JUMPIN' JACK FLASH. The crowd ate it up. I didn't stop, tore through one song after the next with the boys right behind me. I don't usually drink on the gig, but I needed some 'muscle relaxant' tonight and it helped. Sometimes it's best to not give a shit, just do what'cha do. The rhythm section was right with me and COOKIN'. The audience stayed with us right through the end of the 3rd set. This was the best response I've gotten from the audience in a long time; everybody applauding nice and loud after every song, sold plenty of CDs. We stopped for snack at a rest stop on the way back and I was feeling like I was on the road once more. Perfect night. And for those long breaks while the DJ spun records I had some Te Amo cigars. They went well with the Stella Mark reccommended. Yeah, I was feelin' good...

Saturday, November 24th, 2007

The Funky Monkey

Saturday, November 17th, 2007

The Funky Monkey

Saturday, November 10th, 2007

The Funky Monkey

Thursday, November 8th, 2007

www.monsooncafe.com

Saturday, November 3rd, 2007

The Funky Monkey

Saturday, September 22nd, 2007

The Barge Inn

with Yo on bass and Masaki Ito on drums

Aquila checked into the hospital after the last Barge Inn gig and hasn't been heard from since. Former Max Blues bassist Yo filled in. He knows the Blues idiom so it was an easy fit for him. Between sets he chain smoked incessantly, exhaling with a heavy breath of air. This earne him the nickname 'Darth Vader'. Drummer Masaki Ito drove us out in his Mini-Cooper again and I stuck Yo in the back since he's shorter than me. DJ Mie was as cute as ever and played straight up dance music instead of that 'fuck your momma-kill your daddy-shoot a cop' rap bullshit. And as usual the crowd was gathered 'round top. Special thanks to Johnathan for coming out with Sarah.

Saturday, August 18th, 2007

The Foreign Correspondents Club Of Japan

playing bass with the old man's group Jerry & The Hipswingers

Saturday, June 23rd, 2007

The Barge Inn

with Aquila Furuta on bass and Masaki Ito on drums

This was Masaki Ito's first gig with me and he nailed it. He had the tunes down and kept a solid pocket all night. He was also nice enough to drive us out there which was a bit comical; my 6' 190 lb. ass in the back of a Mini Cooper! Bryan Harmon,the manager of the Barge Inn,printed up some gig posters and hung them up all over the place. Looked sharp. Unfortunately Aquila had a cold that worsened and in the morning after the gig checked himself into the hospital near his home. Ouside of that everything went sgreat and these guys will be back with me when I play there next in Spetember.

Saturday, June 9th, 2007

Monsoon Cafe

J.J. on acoustic guitar, Jerry Vicars on 2nd guitar, and Mark 'The Spark' Schwarz of the Max Blues band on bass. All instrumental.

The first time my dad played on My gig. Mark "The Spark" Schwarz from Max Blues played bass. It was mostly instrumental but they wanted to hear a vocal so I got a mic put in front of me that the dancing crowd managed to move around as I was singing. A very interesting night indeed.

Friday, April 20th, 2007

Jindaiji Monkey Studio

Pre-production and in-house recording starts on the LONG WAY FROM HOME album. Something old,something new,something funky,something true. A few guests may appear. Or maybe it'll be a one-man job.

Saturday, March 24th, 2007

The Barge Inn

With Bill Concello from the Max Blues band on drums and Mac "The Knife" Okuyama himself filling in for Aquila on bass. Very funky,very greasy,and very rockin'.

The first time I played there was nice but this was even better. The band alternates with a DJ and this DJ was way cooler;she played some cool dance tracks that even WE were groovin' too,a big improvement over the wannabe-hoodrats of last time. That set the tone right off the bat.

My rhythm section on this one was Bill Concello on drums and Mac "The Knife" Okuyama,doubling on bass,of the Max Blues band. My other two who did the Yokosuka gigs with me are good players technically but there's no soul to their performance and no cameraderie between us,plus the one driving is always in a hurry to finish the gig and leave. Nope,this time I has a rhythm section that was there to PLAY MUSIC and has a similair musical background to me. Mac and I only ran through the songs briefly and Bill I didn't get a chance to reherse with at all but everything clicked right into place.

We were in the pocket from the git-go and got a great response from the crowd which nicely suprised me. This is what live music is SUPPOSED to be,real human beings well versed on their instruments interacting with each other and the listening audience. That's what makes it an experience worth coming back for. Without that the general public doen't need us and musicians are outta work.

Everything went real smooth and there was only one major fuckup,BOOGIE IN A was heavily sodomized. But with all the rehearsing that we didn't do there was bound to be one major fuckup and even then the pocket stayed consistent,just the arrangement got reversed. We also debuted a couple cover tunes I've been wanting to do for a while,Humble Pie's 30 DAYS IN THE HOLE which rocked the hell outta the last set and Free's FIRE AND WATER which I counted off too fast but was otherwise OK.

I'll DEFINATELY be using this line-up again! Oh yeah,and the staff was really cool too,took real good care of us.

Sunday, March 18th, 2007

What The Dickens

The Hi-Tech Hillbilly from the Sci-Fi Diner will be making a guest appearance with Max Blues at the Annual Amnesty Event.

"The kid is in RARE form tonight"

Spring Day was MCing and doing some stand up and I made sure she had to work for the applause ;) Nothing like an interactive audience. Max Blues had the crowd groovin' and dancin' when I hit the hit the stage during the end of the second set we kicked out a burning rendition of TAKE ME ON DOWN TO MEMPHIS. Next up we tore into WANG DANG DOODLE which Mark thought was a three chord shuffle. Once he finally got it right we settled into the groove and the audience got out their cell phones,called up their next of kin and told 'em we we're gettin' lowdown and funky in this joint. A couple burnin' solos later we were done with that number. We closed out the set with a rollicking TALK TO YOUR DAUGHTER and it was time for a raffle.

After the raffle another hot set from Max Blues and then I jumped up again and we stormed through STINKY TWINKY. Bill was playing some hot Louis Prima tom shit behind the solos so I nodded to him to take a drum solo which he mistook for an ending cue. Don't why,we hadn't back into the head. So I started it off again,played the head a couple times and we were out. Next up was a groovin' rendition of SOUL SEARCHIN' with a nice solo from Mac in the middle. People were actually dancing to it! I've never seen a crowd dance to that number before. For the big finale Tara Solheim,who had already done a couple short acapella sets bewteen eardrum blasting,came up and we had a funky little duet on HIT THE ROAD JACK. For the barn burning finale we tore it up with Ike & Tina Turner's BABY GET IT ON,Tara and I dueting again,dancing and carrying on and having a good old time with the song. The crowd was eating it up and we were eating the crowd up. The duet was HOTTEST thing happening and plenty of patrons continued that party when they got home. I broke out in a cold sweat.

Saturday, February 24th, 2007

The Barge Inn

An inetresting gig. A British pub on the ground floor and 'pit' area downstairs like a nightclub where we alternated with a DJ. The local Rap/Hip-hop/Club whatever the fuck they are wannabe hood rats crack me up. Somehow I just can't seem them in the ghetto. I think they'd shit their pants. They sure as hell wouldn't know how to score weed! Ah well,everybody needs a trend to follow,right? The 'dance' crowd exited while we were playing but when I looked up outside of the pit onto the ground floor I saw there was quite a crowd styanding around. It'll be fun to see what happens next month. I'm thinking of working up a couple Rockers just for that gig,some Cramps and early Leroi Brothers.

Saturday, February 17th, 2007

CPO Club,main room

Celebrating Black History Month with live Blues and a buffet. The song list for tonight will include a plethora of Blues standards and classics.

This gig is cancelled 'cause nobody gives a fuck. The most indifferent crowds I have EVER played to were at this place. We were hoping that this night would attract a few people who don't usually come out to the CPO club but no dice. What a shame 'cause the club manager and the MWR folks have always been good to us. Our stint down there turned into my own OLD MAN AND THE SEA (Ernest Hemingway). If you really wanna know what that means you'll just have to call or e-mail and ask me,I ain't goin' into it here.

"Just look outside yourself
If you don't see what you want
And sometimes when you don't
Just leave your mind alone and just get high"

--AIN'T WASTIN' TIME NO MORE,Allman Brothers,EAT A PEACH

Now is a good time for me to get loaded and wasted.

Thursday, February 8th, 2007

Rock Factory

Performing material from SCI-FI DINER and HI-TECH HILLBILLY as well as the forthcoming LONG WAY FROM HOME with the Max Blues band.

Well that was an interesting gig. Ready to go on at 9:00 I get a call from Mac at a quarter 'til that he can't make it and can I cover the gig. Sure,why not? I was looking forward to doing all the stuff for the quartet that we had been working on but I've been playing trio with pickup guys for years so I can handle it. Mark and Bill are solid but they're not yet familiar with how I do things,it still some of that 'Fiddler jam night' thing going on. I had one set list ready assuming Mac would cover the other set with his material so I had to make one up on the spot. Suprisingly we had a really good response from the crowd. I was impressed,usually it was a bit dead and indifferent in there. By the end of the night the audience,including a couple from Russia,was rocking out with us. After the usual JUMPIN' JACK FLASH/BOOGIE ON DOWN finale they actually wanted an encore! Usually they want us to go somewhere else so they can sit there and talk (they can do that home,isn't my enthusiasm charming?). So we stormed through LAST TRAIN HOME before I got on one. Funny,all hope of doing the 4 piece show was shot to hell and we got the best response I've ever had in that place. That's just too fuckin' weird,better go do a few bongers and get my head straight. Ahhh,an anti-hero at 35,just like I always imagined.

Monday, January 29th, 2007

The Fiddler

That's right,it's my birthday and I'm throwing myself a party to which you're all invited,The 1st Annual J.J. Vicars Birthday Jam. Max Blues will be backing me up on this one and various musician friends will be dropping by to sit in. The show will be filmed and excerpts posted on line.

The cast of characters is:
Youichi Kurashige -drums
Mark 'The Spark' Schwarz -bass
Mac 'The Knife' Okuyama -guitar
Akira Furuta -bass
Antoine Edery -drums
Chiharu Kawai -harmonica

After rehearsing at the house with Mark Youichi came and picked us up. The three of us plus Suzi and Youichi's girlfriend rode down together and set up the gear. Mac came down later looking a little lost and disappeared outside. Tired of waiting we went on as a three piece. Akira was laready there so I brought him up to do our version of SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE. After rocking that one Mac came up and we tore through COMIN' HOME,WANG DANG DOODLE,OUTSKIRTS OF TOWN and STINKY TWINKY.

We took a break after that and hung out at the bar with my old family friend Mario Jac Sacripante and the Nesintial Kuroi Poet Dasmond Willis who introduced his clothing line to the audience and loaned me his BOONDOCKS DVD set a couple months ago. Also in the crowd was Teru who I met on MySpace,a good cat with a good ear for music.

During the second set Mark was back on bass and Mac was outside again. Not wanting to play trio (that was more like a gig than a jam) I brought Chiharu up to play some harmonica. Around that time Antoine came in and came up to play a few songs with us including AINT WAITIN' ANYMORE. Eventually Mac made it up during RAIN KEEPS FALLING and we went into SOUL SEARCHIN'. This was the highlight of the evening for me. That song was originally written for two guitars and keys to play Allmans(Dickey Betts)-style harmony lines. Whenever its been performed live it was with a guitar trio so I had to play all the harmony lines myself chord-melody style;it sounded more like Joe Pass than the Allmans. On the HI-TECH HILLBILLY album all the parts are there but it's only lil' ole me overdubbing and the limitations of the recording situation influenced the arrangement. This was the very first time I had two guitars and bass playing the arrangement live on stage. It was a little rough in some spots,Mac had learned it a few days earlier while doing other gigs and Mark had just learned it that day,but despite the obvious clams you could hear where the arrangement was going. After that Youichi came back up and we closed it with the barn burning BOOGIE ON DOWN. Tara Solheim walked in during the closer and although I didn't get to sing our duet of HIT THE ROAD JACK she brought me a very nice cake with chopsticks.

Keys/sax man Sean Tait was going to be there but got called for a llast minute fill-in gig and called to let us know he would be there in spirit. Pamela MacCarthy was MIA so we didn't do any Jazz numbers or any Ramones.

Big thank you to all the musicians who got up to jam and to all the friends who came out to hang as well as to Paul for letting us have the jam at The Fiddler. Ya'll made my 35th birthday one of the best. The evening's music was recorded as two long MP3s and when the discs are ready everybody present will recieve a copy. May the Force be with you!

Saturday, January 27th, 2007

Chief Petty Officer's Club

Saturday, January 20th, 2007

Chief Petty Officer's Club

After three weeks off this was the trio's first gig together back at the CPO Club. Being revved up from the last two nights with Max Blues I was ready to take off into the stratosphere. Antoine and Akira had done their homework and were ready to go. I somewhat abandoned the set list and just took off with them following close behind and it was ALIVE. This trio hasn't sounded this good in a while and it was great to be back. It was also great to be playing my Firebird the last three nights. The Strat is good for certain things but I'm a Gibson man by nature.

Friday, January 19th, 2007

The Fiddler

with Max Blues and Tara Solheim

A follow up of the previous night's gig,another do-no-wrong gig. Mark & Bill were smokin',Mac was my other guitar half as usual and being inspired by the night before as the momentum carried over I grabbed the reigns and took charge leading the band into some new territory. J.J.'S BOOGIE somehow segued into MOUNTAIN JAM,a first and a hint of things to come.

Thursday, January 18th, 2007

Rock Factory

With Max Blues

The first time back at Rock Factory since the last time I played with Shimpei. The band was in rare form,kicking ass from the get go. There were a few recordings made of the gig that I suspect will be circulating as bootlegs in the future. TGhe rhythm section could do no wrong and Mac and I bounced off of each other all night. Tara Solheim came up to sing a few and I had to stay late so I could sing HIT THE ROAD JACK with her. This was the gig that got everybody stoked to take it to the next level.

Sunday, December 31st, 2006

The Fiddler

New Year's Eve bash with Max Blues

Saturday, December 30th, 2006

CPO Club

Saturday, December 23rd, 2006

CPO Club

Thursday, December 21st, 2006

The Fiddler

With Max Blues

Saturday, December 16th, 2006

CPO Club

Friday, December 15th, 2006

M bar K

Private party at Mike and Keiko Lynch's new bar & kitchen.

The first gig I did at MbarK. An excellent venue,very cozy and downhome,the kind of place I stop in at even when I don't have a gig there. There was a private party last night which meant I was squeezed up in the corner of the bar. It woked out really good,I could face the audience when I was playing and when I went on break I could turn around and I was sitting at the bar in front of the Guinness tap! Life doesn't get much easier than that. Tom Holliday was there,I hadn't seen him in ages,and sat in on harp for a few numbers. Everybody knows Tom as the Polish Elvis but he's also a good Blues harp player. I'd like to hear him do more of that. Tip o' the hat to Steve and AZ at the bar,and to Mike and Keiko for having me. Looking forward to playing at MbarK again.

Saturday, December 9th, 2006

The Fiddler

After hours with Max Blues

Good show. Tore through ICEBREAKIN',ROCK MY WORLD,ONE WAY OUT and a few others before Mark had to epmty his beer. Grabbed his bass and Mac took off into SRV's SO EXCITED. When Mark got back he grabbed my Strat and peeled off a nice solo! For some strange reason Mac wanted to play FREE BIRD,so we did. I'd rather play WHIPPING POST. Maybe next time.

Sunday, December 3rd, 2006

The Fiddler

Guest appearance with Glen Terry & Max Blues on the final night of Glen Terry's Tokyo Tour

The last night of the Glen Terry tour. Glen's voice was shot so Mac and I did some stuff together. Later I filled in on bass for Mark then Glen played bass and picked my guitar back up. I had been listening to another copy of the Allman Bros LIVE AT THE FILLMORE EAST (my other copy was MIA so I had to replace it the day before) and got revved up to break out the Les Paul.

It was a pleasure meeting Glen and playing with him. What a great player,I look forward to crossing paths with him again.

Friday, December 1st, 2006

Australian Embassy

I really felt like I was moving up in the world. The first time I played at the Aussie Embassy was a couple years ago with my dad's group. Now here I was playing with my own trio.

The first set was short and low keyed. People still coming in and eating;the food was outta sight! The second set we cut loose a little and got the juices flowing. By the third set we were rocking and the audience was up and dancing (the booze had probably kicked in). We went into our version of SUNSHINE OF YOUR LOVE and during the first half everybody was on the floor dancing with a few taking the center spot. Longest rednition of that song we ever played!

Thursday, November 30th, 2006

What The Dickens

Guest appearance with Glen Terry & Max Blues during Glen Terry's Tokyo Tour

The second time I made it out to see Glen Terry. I sat in,but didn't get to play with Glen and Mac. Right when I got up Mac broke a string and Glen's amp crappd out so rather than jam with them I filled in until everything got sorted out.

Steve Gardner came up and we did a slow Blues in E then a rockin' shuffle,also in E. I've known Steve for 3 years,ever since I rolled off the shrimp boat,but this was the first time we actually played together. Real Blues players are few and far between so it's really nice when I can play with one.

For the non-musicians and non-Blues musicians that may be reading this you have to be intimately familair with the idiom to play it the way it's supposed to be played. There are a lot of standard moves and backup parts and whoever is leading the band uses them as a reference point to go off. It's completely spontaneous. Other Blues players will know where he/she is going instinctively and follow right along. Players that aren't familiar with the idiom can't anticipate what's around the corner. With Max Blues and the 2 guitarists Mac's brought over so far,L.A. Jones and Glen Terry,and with Steve I could play some real Blues and not have to explain anything,just count it off and go for it.

Also siting in was the lovely miss Tara Solheim,a fine poet-turned-vocalist. I hope to do some recording with her in the future. The crowd was one of the most enthusiastic I've ever seen in there,probably having to do with the fact that it was the Dicken's 11th anniversary. There were familiar faces and new aquaintences and a few things to keep optimistic about for the coming year. All in all a good time was had by all.

Wednesday, November 29th, 2006

Rock Factory

Guest appearance with Glen Terry & Max Blues during Glen Terry's Tokyo Tour

I finally got to meet Glen in person. Had a great time listening to him,what a fantastic player,and jamming with him,Mac,Mark and Bill. Man,Bill's a hard hitter! Great dynamics,though.

On a sad note Shimpei came out to play a few numbers. He's not doing so good these days and it's a bummer to see him like that. I'm glad I got to play some music with my friend,I don't know if he'll be able to continue. I miss him already,I'm used to him running all over the place like a chicken with his head cut off being the life of the party. I'm also glad he played on the next Max Blues album so that we have him on record. I had wanted him to play on one of the sessions for LONG WAY FROM HOME next year but I doubt he'll be up for it.

Tuesday, November 28th, 2006

The Fiddler

Guest appearance with Glen Terry & Max Blues during Glen Terry's Tokyo Tour

Had to bail on this one. With my mom going into the hospital last week,having to rush out to Chiba to check up on her,getting paperwork ready to take into Immigration,going to Immigration,acoustic gig with Jeff Duclos in Yokosuka on Saturday,staying overnight there,putting in a new bath at home and fixing the rusted out plumbing,having to check into a hotel to take a shower;I damn near came down with a cold. What a week.

Saturday, November 25th, 2006

CPO Club

Acoustic duo with Jeff Duclos

A potential disaster turned to gold. When Antoine couldn't make the gig I was worried. Not only is finding a replacement drummer a bitch but the gate pass situation at Yokosuka limits the choices even more. In the end I decided to have Jeff Duclos,another entertainment contractor,play 2nd guitar and make it an acoustic duo. I'm glad I did.

I did a few numbers by myself and then brought Jeff up. With minimal rehearsal he eased right into the material. I had the rare privelage of being able to lay back and groove behind a good soloist (instead of having to play all the solos myself) as well as having a solid rhythm player behind my solos. It was so much fun that while we were onstage I was thinking of recording a couple peices together for a future release.

The only bummer was that I caught Jeff totally off gaurd with the song list. While some of the tunes were a bit obscure I was shocked that he had never heard of some of the older Blues and Americana songs including the gospel number WILL THE CIRCLE BE UNBROKEN. But that gives us an excuse to hang out and spin some discs doesn't it?

I've been wanting to expand to a 4 piece for quite some time. Between Mac Okuyama in Tokyo and Jeff in Yokosuka you can look forward to some serious guitar duels in 2007. Might even have to do a Triple Threat Revue with all three!

Saturday, November 18th, 2006

CPO Club

With 2 fleet ships back in we actually had a bit of a turnout. The band was in fine form and we even had a special guest sitting in who had left his gig early to stop by.

Saturday, November 11th, 2006

CPO Club

Friday, November 3rd, 2006

The Fiddler

J.J. will be making a guest apperance with Max Blues. Always a pleasure to jam with Mac,Mark and Shimpei.

The Guinness was flowing and the Cuban cigars were delicious. Unfortunately Shimpei couldn't make it out due to illness. We all wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to playing with him again.

As usual Mac and I had our fun swapping solos and doing 'the double header'. The crowd seemed to dig it,too. Not only is Mac a good soloist but a great rhythm player,which is just as important. One of the many pleasures of playing with Max Blues is that when I go into a solo I have full confidence in the band behind me which allows me to relax and just play,really get into it. Look for more collaborations in the future,this is just the beginning.

Saturday, October 28th, 2006

Yokosuka Chief's Club

Friday, October 27th, 2006

Club Trilogy Bar None

J.J.,Antoine & Aquila storm Atsugi in a flurry of hard drivin' boogie. Lock up yer daughters!

After getting stuffed on a huge helping of BBQ we moved all the equipment to a different room where a crowd had already gathered around the pool tables. Travis,the DJ,was playing Robben Ford,SRV and some cuts off the Vaughan Brothers' FAMILY STYLE while we were setting up and during breaks. We had the usual heckler,the one that doesn't know the difference between a Blues band and a Classic Rock jukebox,but he was mostly harmless. It was pretty damn funny when he shouted out HOTEL CALIFORNIA. He probably saw John Lee Hooker and asked him to play some Pink Floyd. And then there was our new friend "fuckin' Brian" who kept us entertained. Brian wasn't a heckler,he was celebrating his 22nd birthday and anted to make some noise. He livened up the room and thanks to him we got more response from the crowd. All in all a good time was had by all. We're looking forward to coming back.

Saturday, October 21st, 2006

Yokosuka Chief's Club

A better night than we've had in a while. Didn't have too much trouble getting onto the base and we had a group of ladies who got up on the dance floor for a while. Just gotta keep on the boys and make sure they don't forget it's a Blues gig,not a Jazz gig. They get a little over eager sometimes,even though they don't remember all the songs.