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November 1, 2007: Another fine practice at the Greenhouse Submitted by Banjo John.
1) Don't the blue cello and the gold marimba tubes look flashy against the froggie curtains? Listen to (left click) or download (right click & save) individual mp3 files identified below. A little chilly tonight. Some discussion of the the gig at North Market last weekend while the banjo player was in Rhode Island. Seems there was a slow version of the usually peppy Jimmy Brown The Newsboy played at that concert so we tried it again. Oh so slow. Then just for fun we tried a usually slow song real fast—apologies to Mr. Zimmerman for pistol whipping Tom Thumbs Blues like that—nice laugh track tho. Next up an instrumental: Amazone, done once and then a second time. This tune (not an IA original) figured somehow in Dave's excommunication from a previous band. So we like doing it. The cello really gets to shine here too. Another nice celloey instrumental, the Bird Brain Rag, followed. Here we hear the cello talking to itself, and talking back along with a lot of friendly marimba—perfect for a merry-go-round ride. I like playing Leonard Cohen songs on the banjo so we do a couple of them. This one—One of Us Cannot Be Wrong—has been a favorite of mine a long while. Chevrolet Six is a meditative staple for banjo players everywhere, or should be. It Hurts Me Too is an old favorite that we are just starting to play, and since most Marimba players sing the blues, Gabe sings this one. Some blue banjo too. Next up, a couple original tunes: Peaceful Papa is my most autobiographical snapshot song tho always we make up parts as we go. Star Jump Trip explains the source of the bands enormous wealth. We've been zoning out with Dylan's Watchtower for a while now and its such fun to do it so we do it again. Althea is a new one for us but right up there with Watchtower in the fun chords to hit department. Dark Hollow is polishing up a little as we've been playing with it for quite a while now and it's getting a nice little sparkle to it now and then. The next tune is one of those funny little jams we fall into sometimes when we don't stop the inter-song noodling we are wont to engage in. I call it Ghost Riders simply because the melody from Ghost Riders In The Sky floated up on the banjo—never played it before that I can recall. Monkey Boy! We finished up with our note to ourselves regarding the present time and place and a song featuring Mark singing: Casey Jones. We've played this a number of times and performed it in public more then once. The funny thing is, due to the combination of Marks soft voice and my bad ears, listening to it on the headphones while I finish writing this is the first time I've heard it. I like it.
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October 24, 2007: Practice at the Greenhouse Submitted by Banjo John. Photos above: organic mysteries in the greenhouse.
Here are the "Liner Notes" from this evening's practice. Black Orpheus – Nice solid, tuneful rendering by the cello, guitar and bass. Fresh punctuating by the marimba, and jumping hither and thither goweth that monkey with the banjo. Blue Monk with time and date report. Somehow I hear a strange Salvation Army brass section in this—hows that possible—kazoos? Delightfully unconcerned is the mood in this one. Dark Hollow – Faster than we usually do it (and shorter) with "monkey boy" scampering around the room flailing the banjo recklessly about, much to Dave’s consternation. Cheese Curds and Dopamine – This is a spoken word performance piece. It’s not always about the music; sometimes the group mind is wide and wild. I'm Satisfied – right to the point. Bingo, biongo, bongo. Idaho Song – a Dave original—a song about paradise and good livin’. Never too noisy if you live in Boise. Boise? Which way's Girlse? It Hurts Me Too – a familiar blues tune sung by Gabe and you can practically see the monkey with the banjo being chased up and down the marimba on this one. James Alley Blues – Gabe singing in the blue vein. Althea – Dave’s guitar work is recommended. Headphones are suggested. And talk about tight endings. Stop on a dime with 3 cents change. Jimmy Brown – Snappy, zippy and a little polish on this one. Dave sings the plucky story of the little newsboy making a go of it. We make a nice noise to accompany the tale. We even end together this time. Primo! Plinkberry Jam – This is Frampton rising from a foxhole on a mist shrouded apocalyptic morning, looking for his car keys and eventually thinking better of it. Subway – A Dave original about a Russian guy he read about who was keeping busy after the break up of the Soviet Union by digging a proto-subway tunnel under his city by hand with pick and shovel. Too small for an actual subway but plenty big enough for the idea of a subway. We often wonder how the project is progressing but have had no word for several years now. The Carpet Song – Also known as the Ballad of Julie and Mr. Jones. Written by Jill and sung by her this time around. It’s about an actual letter found under the carpet they were replacing in a house that Jill lived once upon a time in California. We've tried calling the phone number in the letter a couple different times but never with any success. Perhaps if we call it from another time... Thrill Is Gone – Blue Gabe singing. Wild abandon from the monkey with the banjo. Blue cello. Bass master Mark, Guitar by Dave—a classic we like playing. Victory Plan – We declare "Victory!" as is our habit plus we make plans to declare victory before we get started from now on—it's the American way. Worried Man – an old standard with some new words we made up. Sung by Mark with John howling in the background. I'm singing now but I wont be singing long.
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Sept 15, 2007: Performance at the North Market Submitted by Banjo John. Photos above: Musicians and roadies preparing for the show. The North Market in Columbus is a venue we enjoy. Its a Saturday destination for food lovers and people watchers. During the non-winter months the area outside of the market proper hosts a farmers market, and to add to the festive atmosphere, live music is provided (paid for) by the North Market advertising and marketing folks. So on this sunny September morning we loaded our PA into the Lincoln and converged upon the appointed place at the appointed time. On the whole, the recording turned out pretty well and gives an accurate sense of what some folks refer to as the "Animal Atmosphere." This is the unique mixture of merrily plinking silliness laced with ocassional classical renditions and a sprinkling of offhand comments mixed with inquiries into the ultimate nature of reality. Since this is a live recording of a live concert, each musical selection is preceeded by a lengthy chunk of ambient crowd noise and band chatter as we meander from selection to selection in our firm belief that efficiency is not all its cracked up to be. A pretty enthusiastic crowd gathered as we got our sound together and took off with a short Physics lecture and a nice rendition of Black Eyed Suzie, which we sped up maniacally as we are wont to do for fun. We got some nice applause after each of the next bunch of tunes as there were a number of parents with young children and these little sprouts tend to like dancing to our odd instrumentation and their parents like to quiz their kids as to whether they know "What's that lady playing?" (a cello) or "What's that man hitting?" (a marimba). Several of the selections are ones we have performed quite a bit but Godzilla, Worried Man, One of Us Cannot Be Wrong, Casey Jones, and The Hop in D are still from our "havent been done much" pile.
Here is the set list:
*These are Intermittent Animal originals and **Worried Man has some new verses that we made up in it too. |
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March 22 and March 29, 2007
At the beginning of spring, we had a couple practice sessions at the bass player's house. Listen to (left click) or download (right click & save) individual mp3 files identified below, or download a zip file (65MB) containing all 16 mp3s. We started on the 22nd with Comin Round the Mountain. Our version often has a non-traditional verse or two. Continuing in an upbeat vein, we played Jesse Taylor and then our version of Black Eyed Suzie. Who knows what would happen if these two characters were ever to meet each other? We mellowed out just a bit with Dark Hollow, as sung by Dave. This was followed by our most recent instrumental, The Hop in D, and the equally playful Two Dead Boys. Dave and John usually try to agree in advance on the sequence of colors in the song Colors, but this doesn't always have an effect on the order in which they end up singing them, which makes it even more colorful if you ask me. Another instrumental followed: Sonata V, mvmt 4 by Vivaldi. Admittedly not the originally intended instrumentation. But perhaps Vivaldi was not aware of the option of our particular combination. The final three songs on the 22nd were Midnight Moonlight sung by marimba Gabe, All Along The Watchtower sung by banjo John, and James Alley Blues again sung by Gabe. A fun way to end the evening with a victory-for-now. We began again on the 29th with another rendition of The Hop in D (or "The Hop" for short). This was followed by Maganets, one of the original songs encoded in the capsule unearthed so many years ago in Wisconsin (see our folklore page). Once again banjo John sang about her impending Comin Round The Mountain, whoever she is. I have always wondered this. "We will ask her for some ID when she comes?" Only a couple more songs were recorded this evening: Sweet Ox Lorraine and Jimmy Brown the Newsboy. One also wonders what would happen if these two were to meet one another. The rest of the evening is lost to history, but one can rest assured that victory was declared at the end of it.
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Jan 2, 2007
1) Quality Control Department Our first session of 2007 and we're back at the Greenhouse. A solid evening of the fairly familiar. Cold out, warm in. Welcome to the new year. Listen to (left click) or download (right click & save) individual mp3 files identified below, or download this week's zip file (96MB) containing all 13 mp3s.
Tom Thumbs Blues © B. Dylan
All Along the Watchtower © B. Dylan
Maganets © J. Carnes
Angel Wings © J Carnes
Idaho Song © D. Houston
Big Machine © D. Houston
Gypsy Davey at the Hop © J. Soha (at least the Hop part)
I'm Satisfied © Trad
Walkin Blues © not sure
Hello Stranger © not sure
Goin Down that Road © J. Carnes
The Hop in D © J.Soha
Victory © Intermittent Animals
Respectfully submitted,
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Technical Notes Most recordings in the VPZ were made using an M-Audio Microtrack 24/96 digital recorder. Files are recorded in .wav format (44.1 kHz and 16 bits) and saved with exciting names like file234 and file235. We edit these closer to the actual song names, with a bit of the original file number left on to recall the order in which they were recorded, thereby maintaining an evenings changing mood. The recordings are made in stereo using a Shure M57 vocal mic on the left channel and a Samson CO3 multi-pattern condenser mic (set usually on cardioid) picking up everything in the room on the right channel. Audio processing is minimal. Audacity software is used on an iMAC to boost the gain some, then files are imported into iTunes and converted to MP3s. Thats it. Fresh is best. |