Every good metal band needs a fiddle to keep it real. Right?
One of the most fun things this Christmas was sitting in with Sidekick. Tuned down 1/2 step?! Whatever, man. We’ll begin with coverage of the three violin songs which were, in actuality, widely dispersed in the sets.
First there’s Ozzy’s Crazy Train…
.
.
Then there is Don’t Stop Believing by Journey. 8th grade rides again!
.
But honestly, the coup de grace was Nothing Else Matters by Metallica.
.
.
.
I mean, damn that was fun.
—
Lets get chronological.
Romey throws the horns.
Sidekick takes the stage
Oh hell yeah!
Higher by Creed
.
Breaking the Law
.
.
A little AC/DC perhaps?
You Shook me All Night Long
.
.
Paradise City by Guns N Roses.
.
.
One of my personal faves, Killing in the Name Of by Rage
.
In the End by Linkin Park
.
Some ceiling work…
.
—
The opener featured some 16 year olds kicking it.
Allan James and I have played together a few times late night at a soltice party or during jam sessions at the cabin, but we had never performed together until this July 25th. On a steaming hot day, clocking in at 94 degrees in the shade, we played a couple of sets to an appreciative audience in the park at Rose Hill in Berryville.
We had a blast. Here’s how that went.
We played 20 original songs all written and performed by Allan. After just a handful of practice sessions, we were ready…
Lonely Little Bird
Low Down Dirty
The music was just as hot as the evening. You can find many of the songs we performed on Allan’s CDs.
This was the kind of show you get to see once every long time. Just wow. We were in the fourth row in the Charlottesville Pavilion. Here’s how the show went, from the end to the beginning. You know, last things first.
Anyway, what’s better than Nickel Creek OR Andrew Bird? How about some joint songs as an encore? I mean just listen to these two songs. So much joy and so much talent packed tight to a condenser circle.
Andrew Bird and Chris Thile are both at the top of their game. As a fiddle and mandolin player I can only watch slack-jawed.
Tumbleweed.
An as yet unreleased travel song written jointly.
The Nickel Creek set was excellent with Chris Thile exhibiting his particular manic genius with great enthusiasm and much fun. Such the jester. And the best mandolin player alive on the planet. Or, hell, maybe all time.
A wee snippet.
Destination Partial
This Side
Instrumental at the top of the set.
I mean Andrew Bird went first?! Holy shit he is so good. Lets review from the end.
Pulaski
Caravan (from the new record of Jazz standards)
Orpheo
Sisyphus chords
I Fall in Love too Easily (also from the new Jazz record)
So anyway, that’s why we came.
Mike Viola opened the show. He was good.
While Mike was playing both Andrew and Chris came out to take a look. Nobody noticed. Well, almost nobody.
Where’s Aubrey’s ninth record is also available on many streaming services including spotify, apple music, and youtube music. Click the cover to launch spotify. Each song also linked to spotify.
The set of sonatas played by Fenella Humphreys & Leah Broad at the barbican was impressive and moving. Excellent Sunday concert featuring a quartet of overlooked female composers.
Nick Schrenk, the consumate Winchester-based jazz drummer, and Gary McGraw, lifetime fiddle player (or is that violin?), will be performing together on stage again during the Where’s Aubrey benefit concert for the Barns of Rose Hill. They will be joined by Richmond-based multi-instrumentalist and professional-musician, Charles Arthur, and Where’s Aubrey frontman, New-Hampshire-based Rhine Singleton.
Tickets are on sale now. We recommend getting your tickets in advance, soon. Use this link –> https://bit.ly/WA-BORH23 (or call the box office directly at (540) 955-2003).
Nothing quite like staying with dear friends in Leuven. Yo and Caroline are excellent hosts. This visit was made even more fun by including a 65th birthday party for Yo.
Here are some pictures from my visit.
I even managed to sneak into the circus on Friday evening. An incredible show focused on lighting matches, making pizzas, and spinning plates.
The cast of two and the poor “volunteers” who were pulled from the audience.
Leuven.
There was dancing in the kitchen.
And there were homemade cakes.
We even got to try out some mixology for the party.
Rosemary grappa lemonade…let’s call it the “yo-yo 65.”
The birthday king presides.
The actual power behind the throne is slightly capricious.
The site of the party is the back garden with lots of veggie plants. Delicious food was about as “locally sourced” as you can get. There were fresh snap peas and strawberries. So healthy and so delicious.
This gorgeous cake was my favorite. Banana cheesecake. Yum.
There was some dancing in wooden clogs yo some truly bad fiddle sawing.
We walked several miles together all using the house as a base of operations.
And we visited the English books at FNAC to compare notes.
All in all about as much fun as you can have in Leuven!
An important new year’s resolution for me this year is to play more music. We started things right with a session on January 2nd. Rhine came into town for a day. Clark popped by for some music. Our best audience was lulled to sleep.
Playing in the living room.
We had some Scot Toddy’s in Romey’s xmas cups and kept the bar open late.
