Saturday night was another Shanghai Mermaid extravaganza at Galapagos. This time we shared the stage with the wonderful Gordon Webster on piano.
As some of you know, Gordon has been taking Rob and I out on the road with his quintet from time to time. It’s a blast for us to play in front of all the swing dancers at these events. It was also a trip to flip it a little and have Gordon working in our band and introduce him to the Tin Pan hang – comes complete with exotic dancers. We did a rehearsal on Thursday and Gordon made a comment that I thought was telling. Essentially he had thought that from hearing us initially that because we were so energetic on stage he could just throw himself in there and play whatever he felt and it would be fine. After about the third song of the rehearsal he realized that we have a really specific structure for each tune and real specific requirements to keep things interesting and spare so that we can be energetic but not have it be just a monster mash. As soon as he realized that his playing immediately followed suit and we all felt that he would really be able to add a lot to our sound.
The piano pictured here is the one at Galapagos. The kind and mellow folks and Galapagos promised that the piano would be tuned. It was tuned. It was also missing about a dozen keys! Even some quite important one’s like the A below middle C and the F just above it. “Hey G., give me an A” “Nope.” At least the piano looked real cool! Gordon was a trooper, though and he made that thing sound great. The Piano was a good choice and we had the idea to add it to the mix to better compliment our host, Juliette Campbell’s voice. Juliette is going for a Peggy Lee sound that is a little more refined than the typical Tin Pan gut-bucket barrage. In the middle of the evening Juliette came up and sang three songs with us. She killed it too: confident, good strong attitude – the crowd ate it up.
Also on the bill with us was Shien Lee and Mamie Minch. Shien did a lovely set of old time Shanghai Jazz tunes with our own Rob Adkins pitching in on the bass. This photo here is of Shien warming up back stage. It was great to hang out a bit with Mamie. MM’s done a few Shanghai Mermaid’s with us and we also had a chance to have her sing with us at Super Fine. She’s got a great voice and a wonderful style. By the middle of her second set, she had everyone in Galapagos enveloped in a real cozy, warm vibe.
The night ended with Gordon, Clifton and I having pizza at Artichoke on 14th street. I got to bed at 6am.
The ox is alleged to be stubborn, hard working, doesn’t complain, keeps its head down, methodical and serious. I read today that the ox and the monkey do not get along too well. I’m a monkey – agile, quick in the mind, playful, does a lot at once, a schemer, etc… But maybe this is the right time to be ox-like. Winter’s hard and the economy is rough right now. An ox would just plow through the tough times and the good times with equal determination and consistency. Anyway, here’s some David Byrne lyrics from the Talking Head’s tune, “Animals”
I’m mad…And that’s a fact
I found out…Animals don’t help
Animal think…They’re pretty smart
Shit on the ground…See in the dark.They wander around like a crazy dog
Make a mistake in the parking lot
Always bumping into things
Always let you down down down down.They’re never there when you need them
They never come when you call them
They’re never there when you need them
The never come when you call them down down down down.I know the animals…Are laughing at us
They don’t even know…What a joke is
I won’t follow…Animal’s advice
I don’t care…If they’re laughing at us.They’re never there when you need them
They never come when you call them
They’re never there when you need them
The never come when you call them down down down down.They say they don’t need money
They’re living on nuts and berries
They say animals don’t worry
You know animals are hairy?
They think they know what’s best
They’re making a fool of us
They ought to be more careful
They’re setting a bad example
They have untroubled lives
They think everything’s nice
They like to laugh at people
They’re setting a bad example
(Go ahead) Laugh at me