Andy Aledort Gig Update News September 2004

Gig Update News!

Must Read!!! Newly added gig update about the FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL WITH MITCH MITCHELL AND BILLY COX--JULY 31 AND AUG. 1: or
SEE THE LASTEST ISSUE OF GUITAR WORLD, NOV. 2004 (JET COVER) FOR A STORY ON THIS EVENT!

Current Gig Updates...

THE LIARS SALOON, SUNDAY SEPT. 5 IN MONTAUK

Sunday was a 7-11 gig with my very close personal buddies Rich Rosch on drums, his wife singer extraordinaire Annie Morgan, the incredible Kenny Harris on bass and the great keyboardist Ken Kresge.

It's about a 110 mile drive to Montauk so I left plenty of time, stopped in on mom in East Hampton and then made it out there---perfect timing!! The only thing was that we were playing outside, pretty much right on the dock, and it was real windy and not too warm by any stretch of the imagination. In years past (when it was warmer) they got a few hundred people there, but this was closer to 100.

With Rich and Annie we play a lot of soul and r&b, which is a lot of fun for me. The best part is that Rich, Kenny and I have played a bunch of times together this summer, so we are getting very comfortable playing these songs and having "three-way conversations" musically speaking. Kenny is really an amazing player, a great listener intent on musical communication; Rich and I have logged (oh sorry) a lot of time together and the ESP is pretty up there. And Annie really likes to be in the moment and push the envelope, so the songs end up sounding very lively with lots of spirited improv.

I really like getting to play rhythm guitar on the r&b tunes like "Let's Stay Together," "Love and happiness," "Work to Do," "Clean Up Woman," "Baby I love You,' and all the others, but we also did "Pride and Joy" and "All Along the Watchtower," and some other rockers. The people were very into it but it was cold---the frozen margheritas were served hot (that's a joke). Or they were unintentionally frozen (another joke). Or it was a redundancy...(you get the idea, or not).

The inimitable Brett King (putter buddy) and Sarah Conway showed up about a half hour after we were done (a subliminal message, perhaps?) and then it was back to EH for sleep and on the road back to Sea Cliff first thing in the a.m. (Didn't want to miss my all-important tennis date...)

YE OLDE SPEONK INN, FRI. SEPT. 3 IN SPEONK

This past Friday I played at the Speonk Inn with my good friends James Bernard on drums, Clutch Reilly on bass, and Mike Demeo on keyboards. The four of us played together a few months back at the Speonk, but that time we had Ed Terry with us on keys and vocals--he's a great singer and does a mean Christopher Walken imitation.

This was the first time the four of us played a gig together, and it really was great. Clutch and James have played together often, so they are a very good rhythm section. I always have a great time playing with Demeo because we end up playing the same things all of the time, which is creepy---I mean funny.

Since it was Labor Day, I thought there'd be tons of traffic heading east, so we let real early. Wouldn't you know it? No traffic; we were an hour early. So Mike and I set up and played as a duet for a while, playing some old soul and r&b, and then we did a butcher job on "All The Things You Are"
because neither of us could really remember how to play it.

Then Clutch and James showed up and we jammed out on a bunch of instrumentals---"Cissy Strut," "Elizabeth Reed," and I'm sure there were many others but I can't remember. It was a good set but there were not a ton of people. (Other than Miss Body of the Year...)

The second set really was a blast because we sort of jammed our way through four or five different tunes---I know we did "Black Magic Woman" but it started as "Feelin' Alright," morphed into "Season of the Witch" (excellent singing there, Clutch) and at some point became "Black Magic Woman." Some broad wanted to hear some Huey Lewis and the News (she was very nice,
actually) and we attempted "I Want a New Drug," and, believe it or not, it sounded pretty decent---I just couldn't remember the horn line well enough to play it correctly.

Then we cranked up the volume and played "White Room" and it was pretty slammin', along with a good version of "Maybe I'm A Leo" (Clutch had no idea how it went and had never heard the tune before, but did a great job). I think we ended with my re-arrangement of Otis Redding's "Dreams to Remember." Then Mike and I went to some psycho diner, had Western omelets and thankfully I made it home before falling asleep....

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