FRESH SONIC EXPERIENCES IN LATVIA



I will be embarking on a new performance opportunity next month. In a way when one writes about something they will do it is kinda like predicting the future as we all know when someone claims thier own adventure one is calling thier own shots and creating thier personal destiny. I am looking forward to calling these. Latvia is a part of the world that I always wanted to explore I visited Riga once by accident on the way to Odessa Ukraine for a festival in 2013 and missed my flight in a fit of Rock Star confusion but we won't get into that.  One can say being an artist is akin to being an explorer. We get to find a place, go sprinkle some magic dust on the situation and then try to bring some kind of new idea to the conversation. I have been living this way for some time now and I cherish every moment. I am a child at Christmas at the idea of going to a place I have never really been to perform music that people there have never really heard. On February 27th of 2016 we will be there in the former Soviet Union to do such a thing. I am in the process of studying all there is to know about the area to show myself approved to conversations concerning history, culture and music. If these topics  indeed come up. I have decided to call this group of performances Caribbean Blues. Because my plan is to hopefully break into Latvia and the rest of the Baltics as the rock blues pop performer that I am. Bringing my signature Hendrix inspired New Orleans shouts and Gospel literal get down. The last time I was this far East people rocked so hard I could have played for them all night and it would not have bothered me one bit. I get the feeling there is a similar energy in Latvia so my spirit tells me it's a good place to begin putting this idea out there. My set will be a mix of original songs, some New Orleans standards like Big Chief, Mardi Gras in New Orleans and Party By the Wild Magnolias and a nice assortment of Blues and Blues inspired old school rhythm and blues songs. There is something to be said about some of these old songs being put on Steelpans especially encorporating my 4-Mallet Quadra-Grip. With my technique I can make the Pan sound like a four note piano so it does these tonal firebrands real justice. There are some riffs that fit so well on Steel Pans I scarcely can imagine another instrument playing it. At least in my head it just belongs there. When I first attempted to deal with Jazz as a place to begin my journey, I was taken aback by the relative ease certain licks or melodies play on steel pans. With this I decided not to play them or basically avoid them all together due to what I saw was an ease of use issue. I simply do not support these ideas anymore.





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