“We don’t hide the crazy, we parade it down the street!”
Laissez les bons temps rouler!
I didn’t celebrate Mardi Gras as a kid, but it’s been my favorite holiday since. I designed and constructed a Mardi Gras costume every year from 2002 until I moved to Vermont in 2012. It involved combing thrift stores, multiple trips to Michael’s, lots of hot glue, burned fingers, and laughter with friends. I usually finished it just in time to join the Krewe Of Grandview—a growing collection (starting at ~50-70) of costumed, bead-throwing revelers, musicians, acrobats, stilt walkers, and performers—parading down the Venice Beach boardwalk from Rose to Windward and back on the Saturday afternoon before Fat Tuesday. It was always the highlight of a busy couple of weeks of gigs and celebrations.
In January 2007, I recorded, edited, and mixed an original Mardi Gras album with my band, The Gumbo Brothers. The guitar player, Johann Stein, returned from being home in Louisianna for Christmas with several new tunes, including Yellow Pocahontas, Here Come The Tribe, Keep It Raw, Start Throwing Beads, and Lagniappe. We had “On Fire” printed and ready by Mardi Gras weekend - in mid-February that year.
"Hailing from Venice Beach, the New Orleans-style quartet makes the kind of saxy, wah-wah, keyboard-driven funk that was popular before most of today’s music buyers were born, but it doesn’t sound outdated. It’s dance music, sho’ ‘nuff, and the band’s new album never slows down" - Berkeley Place.
Gigs
Big Easy Tuesdays at The 126 have been heating up this winter. March 4th is Fat Tuesday, and we will be celebrating it (in)appropriately! I’ll be joined by Back Porch Revival—Mike Santosusso on bass and vocals, Rob Church on banjo and vocals, and many special guests. There will be beads, drink specials, and dancing. Rumors of a simultaneous birthday celebration for Mike have been swirling…and he’ll also be joining me with Ted Perry on piano and Dwight Ritcher on drums earlier that day for a Fat Tuesday lunchtime concert at Vermont University in the cafeteria at the campus in Randolph. We hope you can join us for some indulgence to mark the end of the Carnival season.
I will be at The 126 on Saturday, March 8th with Jon McBride’s Big Easy featuring Ted on piano and Dwight on drums. We are excited to have Clyde Stats join us on bass. You can keep up with where I’ll be playing on my website or by following me on Bandsintown.
Shop News
The beginning of March marks two years since I purchased my tools and supplies from Mark Walker, whom I’d worked with for six months, and officially went into business as First Chair Winds. In two years, I’ve completed over five hundred repairs, met an incredible swath of musicians and educators from around the state, sponsored two GBGSL soccer teams and a season of the VYSO, and (almost) finished building my shop.
This week, I will overhaul a clarinet brought to me by a man in the ADK whose grandfather played it professionally. When I opened the case, I found a handwritten list of one hundred songs the man knew and played regularly. Many of the tunes here are also in my repertoire, plus some I don’t know, and plenty I want to learn. Every old instrument has stories to tell!
Welcome back.