Lippi's Blog

NEW BLOG

2009-12-06T17:40:00.000-08:00

So I'm switching over to a new blog server, please head over to the NEW BLOG and bookmark that one to keep up with lastest. Thanks for following.

Bird & Egg Studios; A new resource for the Bay Area musical community

2009-11-30T18:11:00.000-08:00

In August of 2009 Nino Moschella opened his Bird and Egg Recording Studio. Since then The Park has been hard at work writing and recording great new material with various artists for our debut CD. We've already had some killin' sessions at Bird & Egg w/ Keelay & Ragen Fykes, Siaira Shawn, Ohmega Watts and David Tam to name a few. I'll give you a little preview of some of our new tracks later but in the mean time, Bird & Egg Studio is now open to the Public! With comfortable rooms and tons of great analog and vintage gear Bird & Egg is the perfect spot in the Bay Area for recording, mixing, and production for a variety of projects. Check out the pics and gear list below

The studio features:

* A 24-track two-inch analog tape machine
* A Trident 65 mixing console and a Neve 10x2 summing mixer
* Pro Tools with tons of plug-ins including Reverb One, Altiverb, McDSP, Amp Farm, Echo Farm, Bomb Factory, Waves Gold Bundle, and others
* Microphones by Neumann, AKG, Audio-Technica, Shure, Cad, Rode, and others
* Microphone pre-amps by Neve, API, Telefunken, Universal Audio, Ampex, Audix, Trident, and others
* Lots of outboard processing
* Lots of instruments

The studio consists of:

* A 600 square-foot live room with 22-foot ceilings
* Two isolation rooms
* A large control room
* A bathroom and shower
* A kitchenette

We look forward to making Bird and Egg a thriving resource for the Bay Area music community and beyond. Please do not hesitate to hit us up with any questions, or for future scheduling:

Email: info@birdandegg.com
Phone: 510.387.3373

New music from The Park ft. Siaira Shawn Tonight @ Coda

2009-11-24T12:22:00.000-08:00

As thanksgiving approaches I realize that something that I am continually thankful for is having the opportunity to make music with not only amazing musicians but some of the most amazing people in world. This has been true my whole life and luckily it continues into my new projects. Tonight The Park will feature the amazing and talented Ms. Siaira Shawn at Coda Lounge as part of the Jazz Mafia Tuesday Series. We have been working with Siaira in the studio on some new original material that we are very excited about and will be debuting live tonight. Also on the gig will be our original man on the Mic MC Gedeon and a slew of great musicians including our team of shreddrers Nate Mercereau and Steve Wyreman (you might have seen Steve the other night playing guitar for Mary J at the AMAs), as well as The Park Family's Brian Switzer on horn and the mighty DJ Whooligan spinnin' between sets. Come see why we are all thankful to have such a talented musical community here in the BAY.

The Park backs RES, Martin Luther, & Boots Riley to help send off PST

2009-11-16T13:07:00.000-08:00

After a very successful year and a half rocking Tuesday evenings at 330 Ritch, PST is gonnta take a quick lunch break and gear up for winter -- and a new home and night!!! The Park will be providing the Live Band for RES, Martin Luther, Boots Riley & more for PST's Grand Closing Party tomorrow night as we officially blow a kiss goodbye to Tuesday nights.

Bass Player Magazine

2009-11-11T19:33:00.000-08:00

A early Holiday surprise was given to me this year, Bass Player Magazine gave me a very nice little blurb in this year's Holiday Issue covering the Outsides Lands Festival that I recently played with Darondo, Nino Moschella, and of course The Park Crew. I feel very fortunate to be alongside such great bassits as Calvin Turner (Rapahel Saadiq) and Danyel Morgan (Robert Randolph) and Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam). BIG THANKS to Brian Fox for showing the love. Bass Player has been one of my favorite mags for a while so go pick up a copy!

Park Shout out on Okayplayer

2009-11-11T18:21:00.000-08:00

Keelay and Zaire decided to remix their track, "Addicts For Real" featuring Tunji, off of their album, Ridin' High. Instead of your typical remix, they decided to redo the track completely with their band, The Park. Watch this clip from the studio of Tunji, Thurzday (U-N-I), and Kam Moye all laying down vocals for the remix. The redone track should be out next month, with Ragen Fykes singing the hook.

Taken from;
http://www.okayplayer.com/news/Video-Keelay-and-Zaire-Addicts-For-Real-Remix-Behind-The-Scenes-.html

Crown City Rockers "The Day After Forever"

2009-10-09T10:15:00.000-07:00

Bay Area Hip Hop Crew and longtime Park homies The Crown City Rockers have just dropped their new album The Day After Forever. Once again CCR brings some Hot Funky Hip Hop Soul to the plate, which only gets better at their live shows when the full band takes the stage. Check the XLR8R review and go get the album at . Also check out Crown City's own Kat O1O and Max McVeety get down with the Jazz Mafia horns next Tues Oct. 13th at CODA in the Mission for the Jazz Mafia Tues Series.

New Alice Russell Video

2009-10-08T12:08:00.000-07:00

Here's the new video for Alice Russell's "Let us be loving" from her latest release Pot of Gold. Pot of Gold features The Park on the first track "Turn and Run", pick it up if you haven't already.

Rockin' Steady w/ Wallpaper., Nino, and The Park

2009-10-05T10:46:00.000-07:00

Had a great week down south with Wallpaper. and Nino Moschella. Sold out shows in SF, LA, funky get down in San Diego at the Beauty Bar and finished it off with a dope party at the old Stonghold in Venice. Much love to Novena Carmel for hookin' it up at The Little Temple in LA as welll.

LA/SD run with Wallpaper. Nino Moschella

2009-09-28T12:18:00.000-07:00

For those who didn't see the SF Weekly cover story on our folks Wallpaper., their new record "Doodoo Face" is about to take the world by storm. If you haven't picked it up yet head over to and pick it up. Luckily The Park is on board to help throw down some stanky funk w/ Wallpaper. on a string of CD release shows down south. We're also meeting up with our boy Nino Moschella down there to really bring the Bay Area funk to Southern CALI. Nino's new record "Boomshadow" ft. The Park Crew is also out now! check the dates below....

Wallpaper. "Doodoo Face" CD Release Shows
Tuesday Oct. 29th Cinaspace, Los Angeles
Wedneday Oct. 30th Beauty Bar, San Diego

Nino Moschella SoCal shows
Thurs Oct 1st Little Temple Bar, Los Angeles
Friday Oct 2nd Milk Maid Anniversary Party, Venice

The Park featuring Novena Carmel Tues 9/22 @ Coda

2009-09-17T10:49:00.000-07:00

Next tues Sept 22nd The Park will be playing at Coda in San Francisco as part of the Jazz Mafia Tues series. Along with our usual crew and special guest including MC Wonway, and DJ Whooligan we will be featuring the talented Ms. Novena Carmel aka Babystone. Looks to be a great show, so put it in the books.

TUESDAY SEPT 22nd 2009
The Park featuring Novena Carmel aka Babystone
Plus Some Special Guests annnd...
DJ WHOOLIGAN
Live @ Coda
Jazz Mafia Tuesdays
soulfunkcrithop

theparkmusic.com

Darondo and the Family

2009-09-17T02:37:00.000-07:00

Darondo and the Fam at Outside Lands Fest, Golden Gate Park San Francisco

Hyim CD Release Show

2009-09-15T11:28:00.000-07:00

The latest release featuring some of The Park crew premiers tonight (9/15) in San Francisco. Singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist, Hyim celebrates the release of his third studio album "Sex in the Morning" tonight with a double set show at the new Yoshi's in San Francisco's historic Fillmore District. DT and myself have been performing with Hyim for the last few years, taking us on amazing tours through Europe and a historic show at Stern Grove (which also featured The Park's own Ben Fred). "Sex in the Morning" features DT and I holding down most of the bass and drums, as well as many other amazing Bay Area musicians. Tonight we also have the pleasure of having Victoria Theodore (Stevie Wonder) hold it down on the keys. Don't Sleep.

Check out this old video of the Hyim Trio on tour in Europe, pretty funny especially with our long hair cuts, see part 1 for our special concert for the kids...

Miss you already Ragen...

2009-09-13T19:28:00.000-07:00

Had a crazy but great week last week working, recording, performing, and hanging with the very talented Ms. Ragen Fykes. Ragen is a wonderful artist, person, and spirit. Be on the lookout for new music collabs from The Park, Keelay and Ragen soon, in the meantime pick up her limited edition 7" (Rhythm of the Drum) that she did with another great artist and friend Ohmega Watts. Their new project M64 will be droppin' a full length soon, so get that 7" before they sell out and check out her interview with Park Crew homie, Seher Sikandar, below...

Sonic Boom

2009-09-07T21:12:00.000-07:00

Among the many projects that The Park is involved in, a new collaboration that we are all excited about is with the soulful Ms. Ragen Fykes and our good friend and amazing producer Keelay. We've been up the studio working out some great stuff with the whole crew and you can get a little live preview of the new collab this week at CAFE DU NORD in San Francisco. We are rockin' this thurs 9/10 with more Park Family, the one and only DJ Whooligan and 40 Love. Peep the funny video of us messin' around in Nino's new Bird and Egg studios with Ms. Ragen and come out this week to see the realness!

Wallpaper "I Got Soul, I'm so Wasted"

2009-09-01T12:59:00.000-07:00

Check out the new video from the homie Wallpaper. The whole video was shot in one take and if you look close you can find some of The Park crew in the background.

Soundcheck at Oustside Lands

2009-08-31T20:37:00.000-07:00

Had a blast playing The Outside Lands Festival in Golden Gate Park w/ Darondo, Nino and The Park Crew last weekend, here's some pics from soundcheck....

FUNKY C @ The Fillmore SAT Aug 8th

2009-08-07T14:54:00.000-07:00

As I've posted before, I've been playing for a dope multi-instrumentalist/producer from Chile named FUNKY C while his bass player was still back home in Chile. I've had a great time getting down with him and he gave me and Ben Fred the opportunity to rock the Fillmore opening for Raphael Saadiq. Well FUNKY C returns to the Fillmore this SAT Aug 8th this time opening for Brooklyn's Los Amigos Invisibles. Unfortunately for me his original bass player is back so I'm out the gig (but I may return on another instrument...) but he is a killin' bass player and the show is guaranteed to be crackin' so go check it out.

Darondo is back...

2009-08-04T17:47:00.000-07:00

As many of you know The Park has had the great pleasure of helping bring back and perform for bay are legend Darondo. We are getting ready to do a little Canada tour with D as well as the Outside Lands Festival in SF. Also be on the lookout for new Darondo recordings featuring The Park, Nino Moschella, and Happy Mayfield, but until then here's the new video for one of my favorite Darondo cuts "Listen To My Song"

Random Pics from the Road

2009-08-03T15:43:00.000-07:00

Alice Russell Montreal Jazz Fest

2009-07-26T00:31:00.000-07:00

Nino, Chin Chin, Armen West Coast Tour

2009-07-20T13:55:00.000-07:00

Next week we set off on a quick west coast run with a great lineup of amazing friends and musicians. Nino Moschella & The Park, Brooklyn's own Chin Chin, and Armen Nalbandian combine forces for three great shows down the west coast. We kick it off Wed July 29th in San Francisco at the Rickshaw Stop, then down to fullerton for a Thursday night show at the Continental Room, and wrap it up at the Dakota Lounge (formally temple bar) in Santa Monica on Friday. Don't miss this amazing lineup!

Fresh New Tracks Today

2009-06-23T13:11:00.000-07:00

Today is a great day for new music. Some great friends of ours are dropping some new releases for your listening pleasure. Weather Pending (Janie Oliver - vocals, Rob Cross - vocals, bass & beats, Brian Bloi - vocals & guitar) just independently released their first album "And How!". It's a great record with a subtle electronic groove that brings together jazz, pop, rock, dub reggae, hip hop, and world music. You can pick up "And How!" at your local online record store . Also today one of the featured artists from The Park's legendary "Park Presents..." shows is droppin' her first mixtape. Mz. MimZ brings us "Thoughts while Getting Dressed...A Mixtape". The Washington Informer describes this New School Graduate and Chocolate City native's unique voice and original compositions as a "sultry timelessness that is Undeniable". You can get "Thoughts While Getting Dressed..." for FREE at Mz. Mimz's blog HERE.

Also, acclaimed DJ, producer and all around family The Whooligan just released a new remix featuring Illa J! Grab “Sounds Like Love” x Nas “One Love” (The Whooligan Remix) HERE

Enjoy the new music to get your summer rollin'!

The Western Family Orchestra

2009-04-27T11:00:00.000-07:00

Last night I checked out another installment of the Western Family Orchestra's residency at the Make Out Room in San Francisco's Mission District. Once again it was a great night of extremely talented musicians and songwriters sharing their music in a "family band" style all playing on each other's tunes. The orchestra consists of some of the best songwriters and musicians from Sacramento and the Bay's most influential bands including Lee Bob Watson (Happy Mayfield, Jackpot, Aficionado) Gabe Nelson (CAKE) Tom Heyman (Chuck Prophet, Court and Spark, Deliver Me) Rich & Andi Good (Kings and Queens) Dana Gumbiner (Deathray, Station to Station Studios) Derek Taylor (the Park , Happy Mayfield, Alice Russell ) & more...Last night featured Paula Frazer, Greg Loiacono and Mike Farrell. It's a great group of folks who really love great songs and celebrate each others talents on the last Sunday of every month. Check it out next month!

On a side note, I have to say that even though Lee Bob Watson is one of my best homies, I am constantly amazed when I see him perform. He is such a great songwriter and performer it blows me away. Last night Lee got down with the WFO on his song "Stranger to Myself" and it was ridiculous! His songs are so good! If you haven't got his solo record "Aficionado" please pick it up ASAP on . It features many members of the Western Family Orchestra and was recorded at Dana Gumbiner's Station to Station studios (the Motown Studio A of Grass Valley).

"HOW CAN YOU BE SO SURE OF YOURSELF?" from David's Reel on Vimeo.

Amanda Lopez

2009-04-23T13:02:00.000-07:00

Amanda Lopez isn't just one of the dopest photographers around, she is also one of my best homies and a wonderful person. Her photos have been featured in mags such as XXL, Mass Appeal and The Source. Her critically acclaimed True Story Series exhibition which details her travels through the eyes of her beat up Vans, will be up until April 26th in LA at IMIX books, so if your in the LA area get on it! She has a ton of great things coming up this year, including the GIRLS GOT KICKS project (photo documentary of badass females, told through their passion for sneakers) and a solo show at Pueblo Nuevo in Berkeley, CA on May 8th, which The Park is very excited to provide some live music for. Check out her recent interview with SNEAKER FREAKER HERE, and stay up with Amanda at amandalopezphoto.com and amandalopezphoto.blogspot.com.

Hitsville

2009-03-17T14:24:00.000-07:00

The Alice Russell Tour is going great, its always a pleasure to go on the road with these great musicians and friends. I'll try and do a little rap up post later but for now here's a little highlight that was special to me. When I was at SF state I wrote my senior theisis on James Jamerson, the bass player for the legendary Motown studio band The Funk Brothers. If you don't know who they are please watch "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" get educated on where the real "Motown Sound" comes from. At our stop in Detroit we visited Hitsville, the home of Motown records and Stuido A, the amazing room where all those classic hits were recorded. It was a dream come true to finally stand in the same room where many of my favorite artists were recorded and where Jamerson and the Funk Bros. created the basis for soul music today. I couldn't get any pics off but heres some of me and Alice in front of the house and of the control room. Check how the floor is ripped up from years of the producers and engineers tappin' their feet to the infectious groves of the Funk Brothers. Also I threw in a little Jamerson vid with Marvin to show respect. (RIP)

Thanks to Funky C and Saadiq

2009-03-06T13:00:00.001-08:00

Big big love to Funky C for letting me rock with him at the Fillmore, and a huge thanks to Raphael Saadiq for making the whole thing happen. Saadiq was extremely cool to us and even kind enough to let us use his backline. And his show left me speechless! Thanks for doing what you do, it was a great night filled with much inspiration. I'll throw up some pics a little later.

The Whooligan, Saadiq and Me

Opening up for Ray

2009-03-02T12:22:00.000-08:00

I'm very excited to announce that tomorrow March 3rd I will be opening up for grammy winner and Bay Area soul legend Raphael Saadiq at the Fillmore in SF. Not only is Saadiq one of my major influences, it will be my first time rockin' at the historic Fillmore. I'm playing with a new friend and great musician from Chile named Funky C (a.k.a. C Funk in Chile but in the U.S. it's Funky C....i don't know). He's a dope guitar player/multi-instrumentalist/producer so please come out early and check us out, were only doing about 20-30 but it will be a hot 30 min! The next morning I'm off to D.C. to kick off a month long tour with the U.K. soul sensation Alice Russell, so this will be my last Bay show for a while, hope to see you there!
.

Thanks for 5 great years!

2009-02-27T11:22:00.000-08:00

Big big love to all the folks who came out to help us celebrate 5 years (not 4 as we found out at the end of the night) of our Wednesday Night Hip Hop Session at The Royale in North Beach. And even bigger love to all the MC's, DJ's, musicians, bartenders, locals, anyone who blessed the stage and supported the sessions over the years. We've had some amazing nights at Royale starting from DJ Johnny Venetti holding down the tables with a just a few MCs to rockin' with a 8-10 piece band and a line of MC's out the door. I was very excited to have our long time session family in the house like Gedeon, MC Mars, Melina Jones, Seneca, Do-Dat, alongside the newer up and coming faces of 40 Love, Fortilive, Keelay & Zaire, and Da Evangelist to name a few. We also had our man Steve Wyreman fresh off tour with Keyshia Cole back killin' the guitar with Ross Grant and the new kid on the block Nate Mercereau. As always Switzer was blowin' his ass off the trumpet The Whooligan put it down on the tables, and Wonway continued to show the crowd why he's the freshest freestyle MC around. It was a great night and I look fwd to another 5 years of great music and an amazing musical community. Thanks to Royale, my brothers in The Park, and you! Here's some pics of the night courtesy of Dion Decibels.

Lookin' At Your Face hits TOP 10 for 2008

2009-02-25T13:12:00.000-08:00

One of the many highlights of 2008 was working with Nino Moschella on his upcoming record "Boom Shadow". Not only is he ridiculously talented but he's just good folks! We had just as much fun kickin' it and listening to music as we did making it. "Lookin' At Your Face", a song that Nino and I co-wrote, was selected for Soul Bounce's Year-END Top 10 Pics for 2008! Others on the list include Erykah Badu, Raphael Saddiq, J Davey, and Janelle Monae, check out the whole list HERE. "Lookin' at Your Face" is available on a Ubiquity Records comp of unreleased music called White Label, if haven't got it yet hit up the old and add it to your list. And believe me the rest of Boom Shadow is KILLIN, so pick it up as soon as it drops this summer. Peep the press release HERE while your download continues...

A week of shows, then hittin' the road...

2009-02-23T12:00:00.000-08:00

So this week kicks off our last week in the Bay for little while because come March we have the amazing opportunity to once again hit the road with the wonderful Alice Russell, TM Juke, and Mikey Simmonds. We're rollin' with the Brits to promote Alice's new record "Pot of Gold", which features The Park on the first cut "Turn and Run". The upcoming tour takes us to some of my favorite cities in the US (NYC, Austin) and some exciting new ones (Detroit, Boston, Minneapolis). I'm hoping that in Detroit I can sneak away long enough to go to Hitsville and check out Studio A (a.k.a. The Snakepit). I'll try and keep up the blog during the tour and keep yall in on the action...

But before we leave we have some great shows this week that send us off in style. First, its Mardi Gras! The Park is playing a FAT TUES (Feb 24) party at the historical Enrico's on Broadway. Throwing beads and gettin' Funky New Orleans style! On Wed Feb 25 we are celebrating the four year anniversary of our legendary Hip Hop Jam, The Wednesday Night Sessions @ The Royale in North Beach. It's crazy that we've been doing this session for four years now. This session has been instrumental in the development of The Park and our extremely talented community of musicians, MC's, DJ's, vocalists, and all around creative people. It all started at the Wed sessions and continues to grow four years later. For those who haven't seen our boys Keelay and Zaire getting love all over Okayplayer and various blogs, they are on the rise fast and The Park will be providing the live band for their upcoming show this week. On Sun March 1st check out Keelay & Zaire w/ The Park Band, The Blue Scholars, Grynch, and DJ Vin Roc at SLIM'S in SF. I'd love to see all my favorite folks before hittin' the road so come out this week and party with us!

The Wednesday Night Sessions have had so many great nights, here's a little video that shows one of them, with special guest Greg Errico from Sly and the Family Stone sittin in at last years Jazz Fest...
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Valentines Day/DT Birthday Weekend w/ The Park and Friends

2009-02-13T14:14:00.001-08:00

Tonight we kick off a special two night stand of music with The Park Family at one of our favorite local spots, Mojitos in North Beach. Tonight Friday the 13th and tomorrow the 14th we're throwing down a special Valentines Day/ DT birthday bash filled with tons of special guests. The amazing Ms. Fanny Franklin (from Ubiquity Records artists Orgone, Macy Gray, and the 60 piece Hip-hop Orchestra Dakah) will be blessing the stage, singing out some classics as well as some unreleased material written by our boy Nino Moschella. Freestyle Olympics champion MC Wonway will be there showing everyone why he's the champ. Happy Mayfield (Lee Bob Watson + The Park) will be gettin' "Happy", as well the brimlow bifocals team of DJ's, Johnny Venetti and The Whooligan. And of course the The Park band will be backing up these talented folks with some funky, sweaty grooves. What better way to celebrate Life, Love, and Music! Show starts around 10:15 to close, don't sleep!

Ms. Fanny Franklin

Happy at The ROXY and a weekend with The Park

2009-02-09T10:45:00.000-08:00

Just a little reminder to all of our Southern Cali fam, Happy Mayfield is rollin' down your way to "put our foot on the rock" at the legendary ROXY on Sunset. We will be opening up for Hot Buttered Rum, and hit the stage at 9:35pm. Then we're back in the Bay for a special weekend stand at Mojitos in SF. We will be getting down Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th to celebrate love, life and music. It's a Valentines Day party, DT Birthday party, and just all around party. Expect to see tons of special guests including Happy mayfield, The Whooligan, the amazing Fanny Franklin of Orgone, and many more...

WWW.THEPARKMUSIC.COM

40Love BANGERANG!

2009-02-04T16:03:00.000-08:00

As stated before I'm constantly amazed and blessed by the talented folks surrounding me. Another great group of people that emulate this talent and work ethic is DJ Whooligan and 40Love, whose new record BANGERANG! is droppin' Tues Feb 10th. This is a great record and features some big names including; Black Spade, the Jacka of the Mob Figaz, L*Roneous, Keelay and Zaire, Jesse Boykins III, Denise Wallace and Malik of Aquarius. The record will be available on iTunes, Amazon, major ONLINE outlets, Amoeba, Rasputin's and stores near you so mark the calendars and pick one up. Here's a FREE preview of the fire their comin' with featuring some of The Park Family...

Throw All Your Rocks prod. by Keelay and Zaire

In The City feat. Jesse Boykins III

DJ Wonway Posibul "Makossa Classics Vol.1"

2009-02-03T10:05:00.000-08:00

If you've been to a Park gig you know that our crew is filled with tons of multi-talented and hard working folks. Freestyle Olympics champion and our main man on the Mic, Wonway Posibul, is the perfect example of this. Not only is he one of the best MC's in Bay/World he is also a killin' DJ always on the Grind. Check out his 1st mixtape "Makossa Classics Vol. 1", a dope collection of uptempo soul, funk, and salsa. FREE Download! Keep doin' it Won!

Park Presents Vol. 2 1/2 @ D-Structure

2009-02-02T13:25:00.000-08:00

So last Friday we had a little mini "Park Presents" at D-Structure SF on Haight Street for the "Prerequisite Party". The Party was a DSSF X Hustlenomics jumpoff with many amazing folks under one roof. If you haven't already , check out D-Structure to see some of the freshest clothes and art from some amazing independent and local artists. The Park was holdin' it down up in the loft with our friends Wonway, 40 Love, Siaria Shawn, and Melina Jones on the mic. We even had a special guest appearance from Funky C straight from Chile. (I played bass for Funky C at a gig a few weeks ago and their shit it hot, definitely keep an a eye out for them) The DJ's were in full effect as well with our folks The Whooligan, Leydis, and Dion Decibles. With Mikey 1soul in the house doing live silk screening, a digital slide show, and live painting by Ashley Arnold it was a great night of Art, Music, and Family. Check out a little video of the Party HERE.

And always keep up with the music at www.theparkmusic.com

Up that Grind in '09

2009-01-26T12:01:00.000-08:00

Well, it's beyond Happy New Year now, it's already almost FEB! '09 is flying by, but The Park crew is working even harder. This looks to be a great year for us with new music and tours from Alice Russell, Nino Moschella, Darondo, Happy Mayfield, and Keelay and Zaire; all featuring The Park band. And yup, we're setting the wheels in motion for a Park record. New music is being made and collaborations are in full effect. Here's a few things to keep you on your grind in '09....

--The Wednesday Night Sessions @ The Royale in North Beach (Grant & Green SF, CA);
Our Legendary session continues with the Bay's finest MC's and all around talented musicians. The Park is getting down THIS WED (1/28) w/ new tunes and special guests. Catch the Park band on the 2nd and 4th WEDS of the month with the Jazz Mafia crews holding down the 1st and 3rd.

--THIS Friday Jan 30th, The Prerequisite Party @ D-Structure (520 Haight St., SF)
Live Painting/Live T-Shirt Pressing/Live Music, OPEN BAR 8pm-12am w/ Wonway and The Park

--Friday FEB. 6th The Park (now dubbed the Crit City Funk Brothers) heads up to Grass Valley to back up the hit country/pop sensation Brianne Michelle @ The Coppertop Lounge

--Happy Mayfield hits The ROXY! That's right our new project Happy Mayfield (Lee Bob Watson + The Park = Happy Mayfield) is rollin' down to LA to throw it down at the legendary ROXY on sunset on WED FEB 11th. All our LA peeps, roll through! We hit the stage at 9:35, grab the new EP and limited edition USP Tape!

--The Park Valentines Day/Birthday Bash Weekend at Mojitos.
We're throwing a weekend long party at Mojitos on Grant St. FEB 13th and 14th to celebrate a little valentines day love and all our FEB birthday homies including our very own drummer DT (whose B-day in on valentines day). We are bringing all the crews out so expect appearences from Happy Mayfield, Wonway, The Park horns, Ms. Fanny Franklin from Orgone, and many more...

--Alice Russell Tour
The New Alice Russell record "Pot of Gold", produced by TM Juke is out now and flying off the shelves. The first track on the record, "Turn and Run" features The Park, and your can get it at the world's local record store . We are extremely excited to be hitting the road with Alice and crew once again. Look for Alice dates in March , June, and July.

that's enough for now, like I said we're working harder than ever so stay up with The Park at www.theparkmusic.com. Whatever your grind is, keep on it in '09! Peace.

2 Great Park Gigs

2009-01-12T11:47:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

yea a little late but this is an exciting year for us and the country so I'm going to try and keep reminding myself so that I stay up on my New Years goals and resolutions. For those of you whose NY resolution is to check out more LIVE music, then we got you covered. The Park has two great shows this week for both sides of the Bay. On Wednesday we bring our famous Wednesday Night Hip Hop Jam Session, at The Royale in North Beach, into the New Year with special guests and NEW MUSIC! Then on Friday we head out to the East Bay for a Funk and Soul Review featuring one of our newest and funkiest projects Happy Mayfield. We will be throwin' down at the Shattuck Down Low in Berkeley with longtime friends The Monophonics and the Grease Traps. What a great way to bring in the 2009...(3 weeks later)

OM WINTER BALL

2008-12-15T19:30:00.000-08:00

Soundtrack to a Joyful Holidays

2008-12-03T11:20:00.000-08:00

Even though they've had the decorations up and Holiday sales going since Oct, it's now officially the Holidays. Yet what was once an exciting and happy time now seems to be covered by a dark cloud. When people are out of work, worried about the future, and trampling each other to get that 4am sale it makes it hard to find that joyful holiday spirit. A new found Hope was felt in many of us as Obama took the stage as president elect, but we need to realize that the change we want to see has to come from us individually, with Obama providing the image and symbol that we can use as inspiration to bring back that joyful feeling of hope and happiness. My life centers around music. And I hope that the music I help create can add to the soundtrack of people's lives who want to breakthrough that dark cloud and bring some "love and happiness" back to the world, as Al Green sang many years ago. I'm very excited to be a part of many projects right now, all with great new music coming out this Holiday season. Working with these artists has been a great uplift for me and I hope that the music touches some people and uplifts their spirt and brings them a little joy during these hard times. I'm not saying we're changing the world, but singing and dancing never fails to put a smile on the face. And what better way to kick off the holidays than with two of the funkiest men around that guarantee to make you move your feet, Nino Moshcella and Darondo. We're throwing a Holiday party at SLIMS in SF with the funky Nino Moschella, the 70's soul legend Darondo, and an amazing opening set by the original T-REX Wallpaper this Friday Dec. 5th. Times is tough so make sure and get those tickets in advance at slimstickets.com to get a better deal ($16 adv./$21 door). ALL AGES! Showtime: 9:00 PM, Doors: 8:00 PM. If you don't leave this Holiday Party with a smile and some joy in your bones, than you weren't paying attention....Happy Holidays!

Happy Mayfield

2008-11-24T20:32:00.000-08:00

The newest musical venture of The Park Crew is ironically one of its oldest. We have been playing and trading music with our friend and amazing singer/songwriter, Lee Bob Watson, since our high school days. And now after years of jams, mixtape swapping, and "free" studio time when we could find it, we are finally able to put out some music together. Happy Mayfield (Lee Bob Watson + The Park) is happy to announce the release of the "Happy EP". We are playing two Nor Cal CD release shows this week (Wednesday, Nov 26 @ Crazy Horse Saloon, 230 Commercial Street, Nevada City, CA, w/ Casual Fog 9pm and Friday, Nov 28 @ Old Ironsides, 1901 10th St, Sacramento CA, w/ Friendly Creatures and Casual Fog 9pm) where you can purchase the CD or a Limited Edition USB tape. Check out the article in the SAC BEE, and come out to the shows. IF you can't make it there's always

2008-11-05T10:56:00.000-08:00

So I am very excited to be a part of Nino Moschella's new record and have had a blast playing with the group so far and am looking forward to the next level. I'm super hyped because a song that I played bass on and co-wrote with Nino is now available for download. Ubiquity Records is using our song, "Lookin' at your face" on a new compilation called "White Label" to promote unreleased and up and coming music from their artists, as well as let folks know about a new high end clothing line they are about to launch. Our track is alongside other great artists on Ubiquity such as PPP, SA-RA, Ohmega Watts, The Lions and many more. Check it out HERE and support good music.

The Park Presents Vol 2!

2008-09-24T14:36:00.000-07:00

We're doin' it again! That's right another amazing night of music with the Bay Area's best MC's, Vocalists, DJ's, and all around dope people backed by the most in-demand rhythm section around THE PARK. If you were at Vol 1 then you know it was an amazing time filled with great music, dance, words and community. We are hoping Vol. 2 will throw down even bigger, and once again it's ALL AGES! Music for the whole community is what this show is all about. The show goes down Saturday Oct 4th @ the beautiful La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley, CA. $10 general, $7 Students 9PM. Starring Nino Moschella (Ubiquity), Secluded Journalists (Wonway & Ayentee), Melina Jones (Female Fun), Do Dat & Isis, Panama (Los Rakas) Mia Zuniga, Righteous Movement, Gavin a.k.a. T Root & Songbird Dovey. Opening set by Ill-Literacy, DJ's Dion Decibels & The Whooligan. And of course THE PARK as the house band, DON'T SLEEP!

15,000 Miles w/ The Brits

2008-07-29T11:23:00.000-07:00

So once again Derek and had the extreme pleasure of going out on the road with the amazingly talented and down to earth crew from the UK; Alice Russell, TM Juke, and Mikey Simmonds. But this time we hit the road on some crazy rock star tour covering around 15,000 miles in close to three weeks, hitting the major east coast cities, bouncing coast to coast all over Canada and ending up back in Cali with a little SF and LA to close it out. Needless to say we had a blast! Flying almost everyday, and sometimes playing two sets a night our daily routine began to look like the following; wake up (or still be awake from night before) get to the airport (all our flights were booked way too early in the morning), have all our gear searched every time, pass out on plane or watch movie (air Canada is sweet), get to hotel in next city sleep for an hour, go to sound check, go back to hotel sleep for an hour, go to gig, throw down a slammin' show, party till the next plane (Makers, Havana Club, Vodka, Dice). We were united with our Brit friends in the first stop of the tour Chicago. We played at a spot called Schubas Tavern. With only one rehearsal we pulled off a pretty good show after a scavenger hunt to find Derek some Drum keys and met some nice folks out there. For some reason in the neighborhood we were in everyone was jogging....so we ate deep dish pizza and watched them run by. The next stop was one of the best, Miami Baby! Big thanks to the Giant Step crew for throwing a great party! We played at the amazing Delano Hotel in the Florida Room (Lenny Kravitz's club) right on the beach in South Beach, Miami. They styled us out, complete with free drinks all night and table service with a bottle of grey goose, which they were charging $650 for. We had a great night hanging with the Miami crew and dancing to Daz-I-Kue from Bugs in the Attic. We ended the night the next morning swimming in the ocean, the only ones on the beach with sun and moon still up.
And since Miami was one of the few stops were we had a night off, they had us come back the next night and styled us out again. Luckily our boy, and Miami native Jesse Boykins III was in town and we set up shop at the Florida Room once again, this time vibing to the sounds of a great local salsa group. The next stop was NYC and it was way too short but it's always great to be in NYC. Before our gig at the Hiro Ballroom in Chelsea we hit up the famous Katz Delicatessen and had the best pastrami sandwich I've ever had at the table where Harry met Sally (seriously).
The show was another Giant Step production and this time Jose James was on the bill with us, another deeply talented cat. After our set the venue turned into a NYC dance club with no other than the legendary Biz Markie on the turntables. We finished the east coast in Chocolate City, Washington DC. DC was our favorite stop on the east coast. Big love to O, Donna, and Vicky for hooking it up with great food, great people and a great time. We played at the Bohemian Caverns, a legendary Jazz Venue in DC that is being kept alive by this great family of music lovers, if you are in DC go there!
The club is under ground and made to look like a cave. The DC audience was by the far the best of the tour and their energy hyped us up more than any other crowd, thanks DC! Check out a review and pics of the show HERE. On to Canada... Ben's homeland, to play all the Jazz Festivals. The first stop in Canada was Calgary. Calgary didn't really do it for us and considering the sound man had never done sound before, the gig was a huge test of our patience, of which I failed. We tried to go out but everything would close as soon as we walked in the door (this would become a trend in Canada), but we did walk in on Wynton Marsalis playing chess (I think he lost). The plus was that for the first time we all got our own hotel rooms at a nice hotel so we got to chill and relax for a night. Winnipeg was next on the Canada list and turned out to be a nice town with really nice people. We had a good turnout at the gig, and although we had to fight off the countless mosquito we had a good time, Derek especially. Next we were off to the world famous Festival International de Jazz de Montreal. This festival is huge and filled with the heavy hitters including Al Green, Aretha Franklin, Brad Melhdau...yet as was the case with all these Jazz festivals we weren't there long enough to catch any music. I tried to see Marcus Miller after our sound check and saw about 30 sec of the last encore.
Our set was at Club Soda and instead of going to the musicians' after party, Mikey's hippie friends took us to a lame party where there was no booze and hippies were playing conga drums and we had to pay to take a cab back to the hotel...on to Toronto. Toronto, like most of these cities seemed really cool and I wish we had more than one day to check it out. We played a place called the Supermarket on a cool section of town that was filled with little shops, bars, and cafes. We did two sets and had fun. You can listen to the Toronto show HERE. I showed Alex how to play dice and began to take all his money ( a trend that would continue the rest of the tour). As the rock stars tour continued we somehow had a limo take us to the airport in the morning. Our last Canada stop was Vancouver, another beautiful city that we didn't get to see for more than 24hrs. This was our lowest attended gig and a little random in a club under our hotel. But at that point we got down for people that did come out and got excited to come back to SF. Our home coming gig was at the Independent and we brought the whole family out, having Nino do the opening set. Derek and I got to play all night with all our good friends in our city, it was good night. Early in the set I notice Meshell N'Degeocello in the crowd and tried my best not to flip out and keep it funky. We rapped up the tour in sunny LA doing a early set at the Hotel Cafe on a little stage amongst mostly singer songwriters. A nice surprise was to see all our LA homies come out and support. Fanny Franklin, Sean Oshea, and Noel Scaggs, Todd Simmons of Orgone, Breakestra, Dakah family all came out to kick it and get that late night diner on. Of course Derek was filming at times off his mac (usually all the random stuff) and put together some funny videos, so check out The Park Blog for more photos and videos of the trip. Much love to Alice, Alex, and Mikey for taking us out again, can't wait for the next run in NOV!

How we got over

2008-06-05T13:41:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was slammin'! Friday we hit the Independent for a great show with Nino and our adopted Godfather Darondo. Our friends from LA Orgone threw down an amazing set of classic funk, soul, and Afrobeat. If you don't know about Fanny Franklin and Orgone, then GET ON IT! They are some of the best musicians around and great folks too. Sat we hopped in the van and headed down to LA for the 10 year anniversary of Abstract Workshop. The Workshop is a monthly Hip Hop party put on by our friends Cocoe, Scotty, Josh One, and Jud Nester. Some amazing DJs/musicans/good folks who've been throwing this party for the love of the music. A special treat was the cameo appearance of Erick Coomes (a.k.a. Jesus) from Lettuce throwing down some fat bass for Jud Nester. Here's a little vid treat from the SF show, more pics to come...

JBIII

2008-05-23T15:01:00.000-07:00

One of the many amazing artists that THE PARK has been able to back up is a friend of ours from Miami via NYC named Jesse Boykins III. Our own Anthony Coleman da 2nd has written and played horn on some of this talented singer/songwriter/producer's tunes, and Jesse has done alot of collaborating with our man DT. Check out the AC/DT production page to hear some samples of the smashin' work they've been doing over the years. Here's a video of when Jesse came out to CALI last year, dir by the man Dr. WOO, also Jesse's new record DOPAMINE: My Life on my back is available now, pick it up!

Talib Kweli

2008-05-20T13:20:00.000-07:00

Once again I've been blessed to open up for one my major musical influences. Thanks to our boys in Sac The Righteous Movement The Park was able to warm it up for one of the dopest, most creative MC's ever, Talib Kweli. I can't tell you how many times we've rocked Kweli's records, as well as using many of his songs for our Hip Hop Jam The Wednesday Night Sessions at Royale. And of course we love backin' up The Righteous Movement. Not only are they our boys but they are right on their way to the big time, an extremely talented and hard working group of folks. The gig was at a nice theater on the UOP campus in Stockton. Also on the scene was beatbox extrodinare Butterscotch . Although his plane was late and some "changes" need to be made on stage and behind stage, once Talib hit the mic the show was ON. He was also a down to earth cat and we got a chance to kick it with him for a minute. Cross one more off the "To Do" list.

SXSW

2008-05-17T00:52:00.000-07:00

The South by Southwest Music and Media Conference is one of the biggest Independent Music festivals in the US. It was an insane week of music with close to 2,000 bands playing all day all night all week in every imaginable venue. I was lucky enough to perform with Alice Russell, Nino Moschella and Darondo. We had a great time all week. Amanda and her sister flew out (they are originally from TX) and some of our Bay Area folks came as well. We set up shop with a amazing family who allowed us to crash in every room of their house, borrow their cars, and did everything and anything to help us get by. They were great and we threw a nice big party/jam/bbq to thank them. With Nino and Darondo we did a fun outdoor show that was broadcast live on the radio station the Current, a in-studio radio gig with Nino for KUT, and finished the week off with the Ubiquity Records Showcase. The Showcase was a blast and we got to perform along with some of the Ubiquity family (Ohmega Watts, Bing Ji Ling) as well as hang with some bay area family (J Boogie, Tommy Guerrero). Darondo stole the show as usual performing to a sold out crowd with a line around the block. We later heard that the crowd outside was so large that they brought in the fire marshals. This great photo of Darondo at the top of the post was taken by the amazingly talented Amanda Lopez. To check out more of Amanda's work click the Snapshot Lopes link under my FAM section. If you haven't seen the show yet we will be putting on another Ubiquity Soul Showcase in a few weeks on May 30 at the Independent in San Francisco, this time with the crazy funky group from LA, Orgone. This is not to be missed!

The Brits

2008-04-11T12:23:00.000-07:00

I'm way behind but still attempting to catch up.... So after LA, Derek and I got down once again with the amazing UK crew of Alice Russell, TM Juke, and Mike Simmonds. Not only are they ridiculously talented they are some of the coolest down to earth musicians I've ever worked with. This time we were lucky enough to do a little tour with the UK crew to get out to South By Southwest Music Fest in Aus, TX where we would meet up w/ Nino, Darondo, and the boys. After a two night stand at one of our Grant St. homes, Mojitos in SF, and introducing the Brits to their first IN&OUT burger experience we flew out to Scottsdale AZ to play a corporate event for Scion......yea random, but a lot of fun. We got the hook up at this crazy hotel/golf course/resort/spa. Life styles of the rich and famous, we were definitely out of place but we had fun with it and took advantage of all the free stuff we could get- cigars, drinks, food, spas. The next day we flew out to Austin, TX for the SXSW fest. This was my first time there and its' crazy, but a great time. I'll do a whole post about SXSW. With Alice we played at the only Jazz club around called the Elephant Room. It was a cool underground small club and Alice brought the roof down. We were the last group to play and she had the joint packed. And thanks to her gangster manager Gary we got to do a double encore to the standing O from the Austin folks. We finished our Alice run off with another random but fun gig playing a quick half hour set on a small stage in the backyard of one of the Austin gay clubs. With broken gear and a very sick Mikey it still ended up being a good gig. Luckily our travels with Alice and the crew are just beginning because we will heading out with them again in June on a great tour to Chicago, NYC, Washington, then up to Canada for some Jazz Fests in Calgary, Winnipeg, Montreal, and Toronto. It's gunna be LIVE! Here's a funny video that Derek made of our adventures with Alice and the Brits from Brighton, UK.

Back home but still on the road...

2008-03-20T22:33:00.000-07:00

So I've made it back safe from the middle east, but have managed to stay on the road. As soon as I got home from overseas I was right back into rehearsals and gigs. But it was all good stuff. I've had a blast these last few weeks. Things have slowed down a little, so in the next few posts I'll try and catch you up with what's been going down. When I first got back I had a great time playing with Nino and the boys at 12 Gallaxies in the Mission in SF opening for Bing Ji Ling (http://www.bingjiling.com/) and Tommy Guerrero (http://tommyguerrero.com/) for their dual CD release show. It was a good time, with good music and I got Tommy to sign my copy of The Search for Animal Chin. If you skated in the 80's then you know what I'm talking about. From there we shot out to L.A. to play the Crash Mansion with Nino and to bring Darondo out for his first L.A. show. As always he killed it, and left the crowd dying for more, especially since they pulled the plug on us at 1:50am. It was a great line up with The Lions, Connie Price and the Keystones, and all the crews from Orgone, Hepcat, Fanny Franklin, Noelle Scaggs and many more. Then like the road dogs that we are we drove right back up to the Bay the next day to make an evening rehearsal with Alice Russell and TM Juke to get ready for the South by South West trip......more to come.......

Day as a Tourist Pt. 2

2008-02-24T06:31:00.000-08:00

So like I was saying before my whole post was trashed, we had a great day on Sat. Two of our friends from the base that work the shows with us rented a van and took us to see all the famous spots of Bahrain. Big thanks to Hussain and Sidney because they did this on their one day off. First we went to the Grand Mosque. The architecture of the Grand Mosque is beautiful and everything inside is imported, the marble, the wood, the glass. It's only like 13 years old so it's got a cool old meets new thing going on. Our tour guide gave tons of information about Islam and the practices and beliefs of the Muslim people. It was very interesting for me because I really had no idea about the nature of Islam or Muslim beliefs. I think that there are many misconceptions about the religion and the people and alot of the stuff he explained was pretty cool and I could respect it.

From the Great Mosque we checked out a museum that is dedicated to Arabic Caligraphy and the Koran. As I've said before, Arabic Caligraphy is some of the coolest art and writing I've ever seen. This museum was cool because we saw writings and text that were centuries and centuries old, as well as new contemporary styles that even incorporated Amercian inspired graffiti writing and spray paint. There was also an amazing stained glass dome in a elaborate prayer room. From there we piled back in the van and headed to the Bahrain Fort. The Fort is the ruins of a 15th century fortress that has been partially restored. Since we were basically the only ones there we had a fun time climbing up some walls and checking out some old towers and caves that we off limits (we didn't know). The top of the fort provides a great view of the isalnd, old and new Bahrain, coast and desert. It was also a beautiful day (finally) so we got some great pics. After the fort Hussain took us into town to one of his favorite local spots to eat lunch. It was good stuff, tons of food and cheap (my favorite kind of food). We had some rice, hummus, lamb chops, and chicken with some pita breads. It was pretty good BBQ.

Full from lunch we then took a 30 min drive out to the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life is a huge 400 year old mesquite growing mysteriously in the middle of the Bahrain Desert. There different stories about the tree, some associated with "eternal youth" others just say it gets water from an undergrownd spring. It was cool, but like most attractions at home, it was littered with trash and spray paint and peoples names carved in it. What took most of our attention, and was what ened up being one of the coolest things we saw was the herd of around 100 camels in the desert close to the tree.

There was a camel herder with all these camels just hangin out so we went over there and got right up in the pack. It was pretty amazing and we got some great pics. Camels are huge, but pretty mellow, they didn't move around too much and let us pet them and never showed any signs of anger. It was a wild experience, I'll do a separate post with all the camel pics later. So after the Tree and the camels we headed over to another Souq (market) but this one was more of a flea market style where you could get anything you can think of. From tools to furniture, movies, cell phones, rabbits, chickens, cats, anything. We walked around a little, then headed back to downtown and the Gold City where we have been buying most of our gifts. I have become the spokesman for the group when it comes to bartering for prices. I seem to be able to get the lowest price from the vendors, or as they call it the "happy price". I guess I got my Dad's salesman skills, or as other would say I'm good at bullshitting. Either way I got that price cut in half. It was a great day and it came at the perfect time since we are entering out last week. We were able to get out and see all the stuff we've been to busy for, and it broke us out of our daily routines which can become very boring. But its back to work today, and luckily for us work is playing music, and playing music is never boring.

Day as a Tourist

2008-02-23T12:50:00.000-08:00

So we are nearing the end of the trip, and we had a great day today pretty much doing all the things that we haven't had time to do. We spent the day as a tourist seeing all the Bahrain sites. I wrote a great blog detailing the whole day and then the internet crashed and I lost the whole thing. So I'll try again tomorrow. Here's a pic why you wait.

30 plus shows....and counting

2008-02-18T14:43:00.000-08:00

Well we are reaching the downhill part of the trip as we approach close to 40 shows and two weeks left. It's been a fun and interesting trip but I'm definately ready to get back home to the Bay Area. We've done alot since my last post so here's a little update on what we've been up to. We've had all sorts of shows. Huge crowds, no crowds, freezing cold and hot nights, and our least favorite...sand storm shows. It's really fun to play a gig while being blown away by sand, and as you can see from the pic it's not fun for our equiptment either. But we have had some good times. For the superbowl the base threw an all night party (the game aired from 3am-6am for us) and chili cookoff complete with us on a huge stage and the Rams Cheerleaders. It was a very nice view from the stage.
The whole weekend was fun because we also got the chance to take a tour of the USS Hue City, a ship that was docked here for a while. It was cool to see how those ships are set up and all the crazy equiptment they have. The sailors were really cool and gave us a tour of the ship, and treated us to a mess hall lunch. There is no way I could live in those tiny barrocks. The guys cots are stacked three high with very little room and one locker for personal items. I give my man Roger (Sax for Bucho) all kinds of credit for dealing with being in the Navy. And anyone who knows Roger knows he's a big dude. Our Buddies the marines gave us yet another thrill as they showed us how to rapell of a four story building. We tied up our ropes and went for it. My childhood wish of being a spy came out yet again as I let the rope ride and flew down the wall. Those guys are used to jumping out of hellicopeters with no harness so it was like a walk in the park to them, but we had to buid up a little nerve before some of the guys would go for it. But we all made it down safe. On one of our few days off we decided to get out of our little neighborhood and see some more of the country and lean a little. So first we checked out this great restaurant to try the local food. On the causeway that leads to Saudi Arabia is a man made island in the middle with two large towers, one on the Saudi side and one on the Bahrain side. On the Bahrain side there is a restaurant on the top where we had a nice lunch and took in the view of the Arabian Gulf. It was an amazing view, if you didn't know where you were you might think you were somewhere tropical. The food was good even though I can't tell you how to say it or what it was. Ben and I washed it down with some Turkish coffee witch put us in a delirious caffeine high and we pretty much thought everything was hillarious. After lunch we checked out the Bahrainian National Museum. It was a really cool museum and I'm glad I got to learn a little about the history and culture of the island. It is an extreamly old place in the world and the museum had a full exhibit of skeletons and burial sites from long ago. It was also cool to see some of the traditional clothes and customs, alog with some middle eastern modern art. I am amazied by Arabic wrting, it is some of the best caligraphy I've ever seen anywhere in the world. We decided to walk back to our place and check out more of the city. On our walk we ended up looking face to face with a camel. Not a wild camel, it was a guy with a camel giving rides for 2 BD (Bahrainian Dollar). It was the Bahrainian Pony ride stand, so of course I had to ride it. Now I can say I rode a camel in the middle east. We've had some great experinces, ones that are once in a lifetime but the length and the repetativeness of the trip is starting to wear a little on everyone. Bahrain is a interesting place to visit, but I don't think I could stay long. It seems that the culture is mainly built of a history of trade and merchants so the population is largely foreign, and contemporarry Bahrain is somewhat of a Vegas for the Arab world. Many Saudi Arabains come here to spend money on what they are forbidden at home, mainly alchohol and women. And many poor Indian and Ethiopian people come here for work providing cheap labor or pleasuralbe company. Everytime time I travel the world I end up appreciating more and more what I have at home.

Shooting With Marines

2008-02-06T21:20:00.000-08:00

So our friends the Marines were nice enough to take us out to their shooting range in the middle of the Bahraini Desert and let us fire off some rounds. We got up at the crack of dawn and drove out with them on their bus to the middle of the desert. Being in middle of the Desert with herds of camels walking in the distance definatly made it official that I'm in the Middle East. It was a blast to go shooting with the Marines. We got to shoot about 4 or 5 different machine guns and shotguns. It was crazy and we had a lot of fun. We actually ended up being better at shooting than some of their guys, which the Marines got a laugh out of. All my years of watching Rambo and action movies rubbed off I guess. It was cool to hang with the guys in their own element and see their training, their leadership, and their bond as a group. It continues to amaze me how young these guys are and what they are training to encounter. They are a great bunch of guys now that I know them pretty well I'd hate to see them go into battle, but that's their job and they are all waiting for the opportunity work. Later in the week, they took us rappelling of the side of the highest building of base. I feel like I'm finally getting to live out my childhood dreams of being a spy with all this stuff.

Manama Souq

2008-01-29T05:13:00.000-08:00

So we reached our 20th anniversary for shows here, and we have almost completed a full month. Recently we went with some marine friends of ours out to the Manama Souq. The Souq is a huge neighborhood in the city that is basically a large market. There are stores, indoor malls, and tons of street vendors. The streets are small and sheets hang from building to building creating a maze of store fronts and venders in every direction. It was nice to be out of the base/hotel rutine and see some of the real culture here. From what I've learned Bahrain was one of the great trading empires of the ancient world and its people have always been natural merchants. That is still evident today as we barter constantly on the prices of everything from taxis to gifts to getting into the clubs. Sometimes it can be fun and sometimes its a pain in the ass. Even though this county dates back to the 3rd millennium BC its moving into the 21st century with a force, with new hotels and commerce everywhere you look. This is city is close to or even more expensive than SF, which is crazy. Luckily everything we need is on base and cheep, including $1.50 beers at the Desert Dome (that's the club on base that we play everynight).

Sorry for the delay

2008-01-23T04:42:00.000-08:00

I know...I've been gone about three weeks now and I haven't really posted anything on this blog. My apologies. So I will attempt to give a little recap of what we've been up to. So far the trip has been good. We are playing 6 nights a week and have played probably close to 16 shows so far. The band is getting solid. We are playing about 10 of Chris' original songs and the rest are covers of country, classic rock, alternative rock, and classic whiskey bar soul standards. I never thought I'd be playing Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" and Skynard's "Freebird" in the same set, but I was wrong. But it's all good and we are having fun with it. Every night we play from about 8pm to 11pm doing three 45min sets. We are also constantly learning new songs. We take requests from the troops and every week we bring out about 6 new songs. We also do a lot of songs on the fly (learn them on the spot) if someone in the band already knows how to play a request. That has been fun cause it keeps our ears working and adds a new excitement to the sets. We have also brought up a lot of troops to perform with us. There are many talented men and women serving out here and around the world. We have have featured some talented singers who have music scholarships back home, and some good old boys to sing their favorite country classics. And everyone always joins in for the nightly drunken classic "I got friends in low places". Regardless of the size of the crowd it has been a pleasure to play for the men and women of the navy and marines. From talking to them, they deserve all good times they can get for the short time they are here. Many of the troops are very young, with wife and kids at home but still devoted to their jobs and their service. We have hit it off well with the marines and they invited to us to a great BBQ that made us feel like we were back in the states. Most of time we are on base or at our hotel just out side the gate so we haven't been able to go into town too much. But we've made a few trips into the city and have seen some amazing architecture, both old and new. Bahrain is a country being built as we speak. In every spot of open land there is a skyscraper being built. Many hotels and flats surround us with constant contruction waking us up everymorning. I look forward to seeing more of the country and getting out a little more now that we are settled. But don't worry we are alway safe and mindful of where we are.I finally got a little makeshift road studio up and running and we are sending tracks back and forth to our boys back home. There is some cool stuff coming up for us but I'll let you all know about it after we do it. Hope all is well everyone back home, missin' you all here and I'l try and be more frequent on the blog posts. Peace from the Middle East.

Bahrain Tour

2008-01-07T21:31:00.000-08:00

So we've made it safe to Bahrain. For those of you who don't know where that is, it's a little island in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, and Kuwait. I'm here for two months to play as the house band for a club on a Naval Base. Troops come out to this base for their R&R, so there are ships coming in constantly. We are doing three sets 6 nights a week, variety stuff, mostly rock, oldies, and country for the troops. I'm playing with a great band, backing up the country singer from New Orleans Chris Grey. I got my boy Ben (from the Park, Bucho, Nino, Lee and everything else we do..) with me and we've set up a on the road studio. So hopefully we'll be comin' home with some dope new tracks. I figured now would be a good time to try this blog stuff out. I not the best on the computer so bear with me and I'll try and keep everyone updated and post some good stuff. Peace to the friends and fam back in the states.