On Tuesday of this week we performed at the Guggenheim for the second time. It was a wonderful experience. They were celebrating their 50th anniversary and were hosting the 5th Avenue Museum Mile Festival. They had us set up just outside the museum underneath that big overhang above the gift shop. The acoustics were great. It was our own little amphitheater. I didn’t expect we’d have much of a crowd. They had said that we’d be right in front of the area where people would be exiting the museum and I had expected that it would just be flow through. Regardless, we consistently magnetized about a hundred people at a time right in front of the museum.
Clifton came up for the beginning of the show but then he had to scram to go do his Blue Man Group gig. Rob is away on vacation until our Joe’s Pub show as well so we had two of our favorites fill-ins to help out. “Alabama” Steve Lewis on guitar, harmonica, and back-up vocals and Cassidy Holden on the Bass. We’ve been working with both of these guys for such a long time now and they are really, really solid.
One of my favorite things happened on this show which tells me we are headed in the right direction. A very lovely, upper-east side kind of woman, obviously very cultured, asked one of my favorite questions, “What do you call this kind of music?” Right away I smiled because it means that we are doing something original for her. She was unable to pigeon-hole us into any category she had already established. We are not jazz, folk, dixie-land, trad jazz, country, rock, blues or any other label. I said that we are roots american music and she said something charming like, “Yes, I can definitely hear the roots in it.”
There were plenty of press folks shooting video and photos but so far only one of these people was kind enough to get in touch with us. Olia Saunders took some really bizarre and delicious photos that make our band seem so dreamy and psychedelic – in a very playful colorful way. I think Stefan will be really pleased with these pictures. And Olia, I think you should certainly be in contact with Stefan to work with the Gato Loco Coconino project as I think its a good fit! I like this picture of Steve’s shoes! Good eye!
