Happy Christmas '15

Hey all!  Man, I do hope things are good with every last body out there.  It's been Crazy Go Nuts on this end, but hope springs eternal for peace, love, and downtime.  Hopefully we'll be seeing one another very soon, each and all.

In the meantime, head over to SoundCloud for a smooth stream of the accumulated (and, yeah, in need of some remixing) holiday hits.  Christmas this and Christmas that!:
           https://soundcloud.com/johnk-rkbs

Or deal with things via individual Box links:
     Christmas Parties:                
           https://app.box.com/s/t6ft5otduha7h09pul7byzcini5gu92s
     Christmas Ain't for Family:
           https://app.box.com/s/7yxnvgzu77w5artg0ezb4oj8fg2esuz6
     Time for Christmas:          
          https://app.box.com/s/ttjzioccw17zqd74wh4r
     Old Fashioned Christmas:  
          https://app.box.com/s/ttjzioccw17zqd74wh4r
     Everyday Christmas:          
          https://app.box.com/s/mvendmdnbfdzejhpamjm44vm6vhypv8j


Or stream here on the widgets below:




 

Tollstock '15, part 4

Figured I'd start this Tollstock '15 segment off with the anarchic drums/ space portion of the program that the kids dove into while the rest of us were finishing the post-Sautrday-supper clean up.  So commenced the general slide into the late-night portion of program when, as Levon Helm said, "the songs would get a little bit juicier and the jokes'd get a little funnier, and the prettiest dancer would really get down and shake it a few times."  Well, I dunno about all that, but the heading for the ditch can be darned fun.

The Expanded Honcho (i.e., with Charlie on actual lead guitar) then dove into a version of "I've Changed" that we probably could've stretched out quite a bit longer.  It was sounding pretty good in the afternoon but definitely improved after the sun went down, as usually happens when everybody's lost all self-regard and is pulling in the same direction.   After that follows an extremely loose version of Taj Mahal's "She Caught the Katy" (a song I actually learned about via the Blues Brothers, for what that's worth, and which Roady may not have previously heard at all).  Anyway, Roger was on board and in fine hollerin' form, and the song probably could also have gone on for a bit more.  Ah well... next time, I guess.  The only question is where's that horn section when we need it!?

jk

Children's Time:
https://app.box.com/s/f2v7hbrudxdccmt3kvyeq7m7f4fs55cb


I've Changed:
https://app.box.com/s/lbbuuip7182wllgr8bs3g7f7i8yy43nq


She Caught the Katy:
https://app.box.com/s/dnwdm6flt8yfbp1j90envgz0ksukd2ng

Tollstock '15, part 3

Now THAT is getting to be one alluring barnspace, no?  Somewhere I'm sure we have actual pics of it being populated and rockulated, so maybe those'll surface at some point.  Lordy, I was too busy just trying to hold my musical parts together, and maybe get some stuff on audio "tape", to take any photos. Living in the moment, wasn't live-tweeting nothin'.

So these next few posts occupy Saturday afternoon.  You've got three Keating and Co. originals plus a cover of the Byrds-via-Little-Feat-and-a-touch-of-Son-Volt "Truck Stop Girl".  Charlie comes along for the rocky runs through the Honcho tunes with me and Roady and Adam, and takes the wheel on the tragic tale of truckstop love gone wrong.

After this we decamped "up yonder" to the pond for some sitting around and social time and acoustic picking, then got down to suppertime, red wine and the evening part of the program.

JK
  
She's Lighting Up:
https://app.box.com/s/g7jtq1hbg097y464gcnqgxaul8bn6mvg



Truck Stop Girl:
https://app.box.com/s/qhohhete7778zmm28vz9kepvusqiaf22



Angie's Emerald Eyes:
https://app.box.com/s/5dw5923t1g5pej0lxfcx9fj1v4qymxg3



Dreaming I'm Fine:
https://app.box.com/s/mg8hcixzzhaojv9728428z97womna6hp

Tollstock '15, part 2

So that's the inside of the barn.  The set-up was incomplete at that point, lovers of cymbals and cables and mic stands and all that jazz, but you get the picture.  Also, it's the inside of the barn by daylight, you lovers of twinkly lights.  And it's a bit of a close-up, lovers of all the space to left and right and up and (on the right anyway) down.

Anyhoo, this batch of songs rounds out the cream of the crop from Friday, which was a short go of things to begin with.   We've got other stuff on "tape" but it's strictly for the professional archivists and humble self-flagellators.  The cuts below, though, are for public consumption, so long as you listen with gentle ears and kind hearts.

The major upside, evident upon dropping needle into groove, is that Charlie and Roger had arrived, thus kicking us up out of the gutter and bringing some focus and, y'know, quality and actually planned "notes" and such.  Witness a really quickly thrown-together "Drive My Car".  As for all these, Roady is on drums and Charlie on guitar.  For this one, I can only guess that it's Adam on tambourine, possibly Dirtbike Richard on guitar, Roger on bass, and me on some rudimentary piano

Next is a solid stab at the blues classic "Key to the Highway" (which I learned from Eric Clapton's Derek and the Dominoes, but which dates back electrically to Little Walter and further back acoustically to Big Bill Broonzy).  Man, but we need to do this more often! That's Roger on second guitar and me on the bass. 

From there we backslide into Honcho-plus-one-town with a run-through of our own "Jenny Everyday", with Charlie gamely along for the ride and making things so much better and kind of Chris Isaak-y now that I listen to it again.  Then it was time for young Oliver Sorkin to head to bed or wherever hisself had to go, so out came a hot-rodded "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain" and Roger sang and danced around.

Thus was Friday, as far as the Tiny Robot was concerned.

jk


Drive My Car:
https://app.box.com/s/b61d9jigbjj6h3m77rbpsgw6zdgy1mct



Key to the Highway:
https://app.box.com/s/sfjijzywem3gsw3nvrgg18s47zy79vx4



Jenny Everyday:
https://app.box.com/s/vtrmqo5z3svrhb6r4tnp9j7tcc6f9l6o



She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain:
https://app.box.com/s/04convflcq5ldjw2v8xtgf26jbfhe6kc

Tollstock '15, part 1

That, of course, is the barn. Or part of the barn, anyway, because that thing is gargantuan.  Man, but in short order it became my favorite place to play, on account of the acoustics and the company and the casual vibe and everything else.  What was conceived as an practice/ recording session for three of us gradually picked up momentum and complexity until, by "go time", it had become a long-overdue multi-day Hudson River Valley getaway for friends and families, music, cooking, beer-slaying and generally hanging out and having a grand old time.  Thus was "Tollstock 2015", with unending thanks to Adam and Malinda and Kay and Maynard.

We set up the gear Friday and gradually got to working on things, with people arriving and then drifting in and out.  Roady was usually on drums, and Charlie on the good and fancy and funky guitar.  Adam most often on bass.  Roger on guitar or bass.  Me playing guitar or trying to keep up on whatever slot was open.  Mysterious guests like "The Man Known Only as Beez" or "Richard from the Dirt Bikes of Brooklyn" appeared out of nowhere and disappeared into the shadows.

So these first cuts are early on, from Friday daytime .  Roady, Adam and I got the sound up and running and shook off the dust with some Honcho tunes.  That's the three of us on "St. Mary, Star of the Sea".  We then got to a rough 3-piece run-through of "Steep Starts" (not posted here), after which you hear Richard ask "You guys don't need a rhythm player, do you?"  And thus we were off to the races!-- That's the much improved 4-piece version here, after which we tried to get a contract inked, as you you can hear.  Then our newly constituted quartet took a stab at "Mary Mary", even as a few more people arrived....  More on that next....

JK

St. Mary, Star of the Sea:
https://app.box.com/s/sx652635gxpbkzklb77pznwwdpk99g0j




Steep Starts:
https://app.box.com/s/q6slu4ggoi6dabtcak6xgeezo0zmo6rg




Mary, Mary:    
https://app.box.com/s/j27fhdx373z37qeg2e5ubdryf8snud0q        

"Grey Gardens" preview, part 2: "The Suitors Turned Away" / "All In the Stars"

OK folks.  Just wanted to follow up on the last post, "David Darling", which debuted the "Grey Gardens" material for You, the Listening Public.  Here are two more cuts from the Jan 2014 sessions, down in Sei's basement in Station North, Baltimore.  Roady, Dillo and I knocked out the backing tracks there, after which there was some overdubbing done back in the northlands.

"The Suitors Turned Away" comes from relatively early in the story, as "Little Edie" Beale has to face up to the fact that her marriage options aren't panning out for one reason or another in the big city, and back she goes to live with her mother on the Island.

"All in the Stars" pretty much wraps up the whole thing in uplifting fashion.  The Beales, and Little Edie in particular, were a superstitious lot and, wrapped up in tarot cards and stars and dream interpretation and all, it's Edie telling everyone that she knows what's up and that everybody else has it "aaaawwl wrong!"  Roll credits.

jk


"The Suitors Turned Away":    https://app.box.com/s/zcwd2fcqb21r55oqy0twd3magjh1r6sr



"All In the Stars":                   https://app.box.com/s/nmxy98yn5m9c3nplceh4edc6zh2dry0s

"Grey Gardens" on the way: 3 versions of "David Darling"

Hey all-

Well, there are a few new, old and perennially delayed things on the docket, as ever.  Likely next up will be a multi-part posting from "Tollstock '15", but this posting was in the chamber already, so listen away if you're interested.

The posted song ("David Darling") is from a fairly recent and big bunch of thematically related songs, which...  I dunno... comprise a "cycle" or something?  Nothing linear as a rock opera, that's for sure.  Anyway, the parties involved are Roady and Dillo, and the songs are based on the fairly famous "Grey Gardens" history, as largely lifted from the two Maysles brothers documentaries as well as the fictionalized HBO version.  You may know the story: Wealthy mother and daughter, of the Bouvier family, retreating many years from society and living in squalor amid the remains of their Hamptons estate?  Abandonment by husband/ father, mental and physical deterioration, legal troubles, at least one financial rescue by Jackie (by then Onassis), famous documentary ensued?

So, yeah, this particular song is directed from "Little Edie" Beale to David Maysles.  Just to give an idea of how the sausage is made back at the Great Island Music Works, you've got the initial acoustic demo I recorded for my partners in crime (Roadkill, Dillo).  Second is a version in which the backbone (bass-drums-guitar) were recorded a month or so later in quasi-studio demo format at Sei's place in Penn Station North (or whatever the designation is), Baltimore, with subsequent overdubbing of the usual nonsense.  Third is a live-in-studio version with only the three of us from a year or so later, at the newer practice space in  Butcher's Hill, Baltimore.

jk

David Darling (acoustic demo):        
https://app.box.com/s/bj5g9tf21733u3y2e7fcs5cwtd72u65n



David Darling (full electric/ studio):  
https://app.box.com/s/8e3xoap6n3bs6sz94edqadgodz42nkl2



David Darling (3 pc rehearsal):          
https://app.box.com/s/g62pcft3nfcw3f8dvc0wh4anmssakfvl