SamuelBLupowitz

I remember the point in my 20s when I realized I didn't have to tolerate playing with bad drummers anymore; that I'd rather not take a gig than play with someone I'd have to fight all night long (I feel this way as a keyboard player but it goes double when I'm playing bass). I've played bass, on and off, with a particular local singer-songwriter for over a decade; most of the rest of his band is a rotating cast. Plenty of nice guys came through the drum chair, but they were always strong in certain grooves and weak in others. Some fresh blood came in and I was all set to move from bass to keys until we played with the new drummer one time and I insisted I keep playing bass so I could finally do the job without having to struggle to keep the pocket. Anyway. A great drummer is nothing to take for granted. The really good ones make you play better, or at least sound like you're better than you are. And a subpar guy can make the best collection of pros sound amateur. I've been lucky enough to play with some incredible musicians behind the kit. That said, I would walk through fire to play with any one of the people on @SteveNathan's list...

Sure, of course not. I don't see trying to nail a specific recorded sound as something you do for the audience at all; it's something you do for the development of your ear, and your own personal satisfaction. I see it as the same reason @Josh Paxton advocates for learning to play "Superstition" as close to how Stevie did it as possible. Sure, you can just sort of fake it, or adapt the part to your own style, and people will still recognize and dig it. But getting inside of another musician's approach leads to discovery and additional tools in your toolbox, even if what you take away from it is "wow, I hate it and definitely would never play it that way myself." TL;DR: Knowledge is Good.

I grew up in the era of Napster and "you wouldn't download a car;" the implication being that pirating music and films harm their creators by keeping them from making a living from their art. Now the same people who made those ads are doing their best to avoid compensating creators and performers for their work, hence, the SAG-AFTRA and Writer's Guild strikes (if only songwriters and musicians were that organized). So, it was never really about taking care of the people who actually *make* things, was it? Art, culture, and history is far more important to humanity than the bank balance of the people who own, control, and fund the systems of distribution with little to no regard for the work or its creators. I have no problem robbing the robber barons. The trick is building a system that actually works for the creators and their audiences. Certainly this is within the realm of our collective imaginations and execution... but if it can't make some already rich people richer, it's tough to get off the ground under the current circumstance. I think the desire and the talent is there in our society, if we can manage to kick some old habits and ways of thinking to the curb. On a side note, I am happy to know a few professional archivists/librarians who find ways to preserve film, television, etc that otherwise might be lost to time. They deserve a shareholder bonus! 😉

Agreed with all of the above re: Day Tripper and the transistor organ. Reach Out sounds like it could be a Hammond with the vibrato on and a really shouty drawbar setting, can't tell if there's any spin on the Leslie or not. It seems a bit fuller than the organ on the other track, but it definitely sounds like what I do when I'm trying to get my Hammond to sound more like a transistor organ, if we're doing a Doors cover or something like that. There are definitely some sharper ears for that sort of thing than me on the forum, though, just wanted to make sure we addressed the first part of your question.

That guy in the bed will be gone in a day or two anyway.

My doctor put me on Vitamin D a little over a year ago after noticing my levels were extremely low. She added the caveat: "the medical community has no idea what anyone's vitamin D should like like, or when we should check on it, or where it should actually be. I could tell you if you were a post menopausal Caucasian woman how much higher yours should be. But you're not, so I'm going to have you take this much and we'll check again in a year." She then told me a very funny story which I will do my best to paraphrase here: "Before Covid, Vitamin D was the new, trendy thing that medical researchers were into. I know of a doctor -- probably from some cold, miserable, northeastern industrial town -- who actually got research funding to go live in a beach community for two years and use surfers as a baseline for the extremes of how much vitamin D a person should have. They figured, they're out in the sun all the time, that should tell us something. But the levels were STILL all over the place." So it established nothing, other than that if you're good enough at writing grant proposals, you can move to a beach community for two years on an institutional dime.

Oh wow, I don't know if he would have been their drummer 15 years ago, but a buddy and I caught one of their sets at a Disney park on a trip our senior year of high school and had a great time, bought their CD and everything. Nice bunch of dudes. Glad to hear they're still kicking.

Indeed, though in his defense, that band is loud AF and I think the camera being that close to the stage is getting more stage volume than house mix, since the mains are off to the sides (you can hear the lead vocal not quite cutting as loud as it should either). Since I’m running direct (and the talkbox goes through the vocal mic), everything from the stage is drums and guitars. I’m still happier running direct than lugging an amp!

Spoke too soon! A friend got a little bit of the tune so I thought I'd share.

Yes, that's the one I own. It's a solid box and way less complicated than the old-school "needs an amplifier head to drive it" style. I usually use it with a synth, but the aforementioned Rocky Mountain Way cover (of which there is unfortunately no video) was on a gig where I just had piano and organ, so I made do.

My wife is an incredibly skilled, dynamic vocalist with a very warm, rich voice, and 58s accent the warmth to the point of muddiness and lose the sparkle on top. She's tried a few different live mics, but her recent acquisition of an e935 is the first time she's ever felt truly satisfied about what's coming through the monitors when she's singing with a band.

I just played keys on a cover of this song in a rock band I gig with from time to time -- I actually took the talkbox solo myself, so the way I approached the section was to play an overdriven Wurli patch which I split in parallel to the talkbox. Start off with the filtered groove part, then copped the guitar lines after establishing it. Not exactly like the record, but the audience loved it. So I guess what I'm saying is "one-up your guitar player and get a talkbox." 🤣

All right, I've been looking forward to sharing this one. https://mandygoldman.bandcamp.com/album/balance-of-the-trade My wife's debut solo album is available now on Bandcamp, a real labor of love, and I'm so proud of her. I contribute significantly as a sideman on keys and bass, but this is her baby, and I'm so excited for people to finally hear her gorgeous singing and songwriting. Official release on all major streaming platforms forthcoming; I'll drop a reminder when it's on Spotify and such. And if you're around central New York this weekend, there will be a release show at Deep Dive in Ithaca on Sunday the 13th at 7pm. I hope you enjoy!

This is an interesting suggestion! I think you're right that this would end up being higher value, and certainly make the works more widely accessible. But it might be a hard sell -- as a consumer, my kneejerk reaction is that the idea of having to constantly assent to little transactions sounds *incredibly* annoying. Not as frustrating as the big-picture of subscribing to multiple services with increasing amounts of ads and higher cost for gradually worse versions of the original product, but, more frequent. I think I'd probably take it, ultimately, but one of the big apparent conveniences that the current streaming model offers over the Legal Download model of my teen years is the set-it-and-forget-it aspect of the transaction. It's not "do I want to pay for this particular TV show/album, or save it for something else?" It's "now I have access to all of this as much as I want this month and I don't have to think about it anymore!" It's way more of a dopamine hit, and way less stress (because having to think about your bank account is stressful!) than a la carte would be. Zooming out, though, I think the real problems with streaming platforms stem from, simply, greed. They make enough to pay the creators better, these six different corporations don't HAVE to all be in competition with each other, years of creative work doesn't have to be shuffled into the abyss just for tax writeoff purposes. The power of the technology means we could have a magnificent, accessible digital library of television, film, and recorded music for all of humanity. And everyone still gets paid for their contribution to creating the work and maintaining the interface. But resolving those issues would involve some larger *ahem* structural overhauls on a government/social level, so... it's not like I see my approach being implemented as an alternative to the current model at this moment...

I mean, I wouldn't say no to Freddie Mercury's piano if I were the kind of person who could afford to buy music legends' instruments. Which, I'm not. I'm not that kind of person.

My condolences, friend. The weather has really been disconcerting and disruptive to my outdoor gigs this summer, between the erratic thunderstorms and the wildfire smoke. I played a big outdoor show opening for a Moderately Famous Band earlier this month; pro stage, crew, production, the whole bit. Showers forecasted for close to set time. What was not in the forecast was a torrential thunderstorm that kicked in right as we were starting to soundcheck (hours before it was predicted), blowing over tents, drenching the stage, calling the whole event into question. We were able to get a lot of our equipment covered and/or out of the way, and things cleared up in time for the show to go on less than half an hour later than scheduled, but I was drying out cases (for once wishing I had heavier road cases instead of padded soft ones) and accessories for a couple of days afterward. The bandleader, already anxious about the show going well (because he has had a LOT of weather-related issues with gigs this summer, which has been translating as "lots of lost income and damaged gear"), was exclaiming to no one in particular, "how did none of the weather reports see this coming AT ALL?" An older gentleman on the crew leaned over and said "well, the temperature and moisture in the atmosphere are very different than they were even ten years ago. They just can't predict these intense storms anymore." So much to look forward to as a gigging musician! Anyway, this is one reason I have a whole-house industrial dehumidifier installed in my home.

It's tricky! And I don't want to dwell on the social issues/politics on this forum and keep things light and gear-oriented, but I did want to offer my perspective that for me, learning about what makes my favorite (and less favorite) artists tick, the positive and the negative, helps provide insight to me about what makes the art happen. Human beings are full of hope and flaws and inconsistencies, and I find all of that very compelling. John Bonham was apparently a very kind, caring, loving family man as well as, at times, an out-of-control monster. There are countless stories of bad behavior and ego and self-destruction violence from people who also have reputations of being full of integrity and commitment and kindness. The demands of being a touring artist (or public creative figure of any kind) in our society don't necessary bring out the best in people, and I find the underlying humanity that produces the art to be a fascinating element of a complex picture. Of course, sometimes I just want to dance to Billie Jean and not think too hard about any of that other stuff. It's allowed!

My younger brother was a huge Styx fan in his teens, so I wound up listening to them a lot sort of by proxy. Some great, great songs, terrific vocals, and killer arrangements, especially once Tommy Shaw came on board after the first four records. Years ago, I read bassist Chuck Panozzo's memoir, and he was diplomatic but firm about the falling out between Dennis DeYoung and the rest of the band in the 90s. While Chuck didn't point any specific fingers, he made clear that there was an atmosphere of homophobia within the band that kept him closeted for many years (I've always wondered if the quiet drummer in Almost Famous was a reference to this). I'm sure that was commonplace in many rock bands of the period, but it's an interesting facet of a band that seemed to straddle a line between "all-American arena band" in the vein of Boston or REO Speedwagon, and "over-the-top theatrical rock act" a la Elton or Queen or even ELP. It seems like Dennis, increasingly to the rest of the band's chagrin, was the driving force between the theatrical side. All that's to say, very cool to learn more about the gear that Dennis used to craft all those layered keyboard arrangements! That Fooling Yourself lead line is probably one of my earliest inklings that synthesizers could be more than just a boring, mushy pad underpinning my favorite 60s and 70s artists as they dragged themselves through the 80s.

I have a Morley wah pedal (actually a "distortion wah volume") that the drummer in my high school band bought me as a gift when he got an unexpected bonus at work. I have gotten a ton of use out of it over the years, beyond its initial "I wanna be Cliff Burton" application as a bass player (though I have played in a couple of bands where I've paired it with a Big Muff, and boy does it make the Metallica happen). The little bit of grit the wah alone gives makes it awesome on clavinet; I love a snarly, bitey wah tone for that. I've messed around with flange on the clav as well, and even a Digitech Polara reverb pedal with some out there "shimmer" and "reverse" effects. I've used phaser pedals on my Wurlitzer, and even used the fuzz on that once -- not a ton of definition, but great for a really over-the-top sonic punch in the face. And of course, if anything can be sent through a Leslie, it will be sent through a Leslie. That is, of course, even more unwieldy than an effects pedal, but it's one of the fun parts of having a home studio.

I'm going to re-share this from a similar thread over at the Keyboard Corner, because I just love telling this story. My #1 "surprisingly good" show was Weird Al Yankovic. I'd been a casual fan for years (because what's not to like about Weird Al?) but not a diehard or anything. But the summer of 2010, I was home on break from college, and the local newspaper was doing a mail-in sweepstakes for free tickets to see Weird Al at the theater downtown. First prize was two front row tickets and a meet-and-greet. Second prize was two second row tickets and a meet-and-greet; this went all the way back to about the tenth row. I thought to myself, "how many people who read the newspaper in Reading, PA are going to actually bother to mail in for tickets to a Weird Al concert?" So I wound up in the fifth or sixth row with a buddy, and let me tell you: I never would have gone to that show if I had to buy the tickets, but after seeing Al once, I will go see him any time he comes around. He sings like an angel, he plays the hell out of the accordion, his band is absolute fire, and they put on SUCH a performance (costumes! acrobatics! video screens!). After the show, we did get a quick hello and photo op with Al, who is very polite but very quiet and shy. My friend did wind up talking shop with Al's longtime guitarist, Jim West, for about half an hour. What a great night!

Neo Instruments, Dynacord Electrical Engineering, and Los Pollos Hermanos: all divisions of Madrigal Electromotive GmbH. 😉

Thanks man! One of those things is definitely *tempos* -- I really got to come to an intimate understanding of how wordy some of my songs are when we took them a feeeew clicks too fast, hahaha.

Just responding to the notes about presentation: we were opening for a touring band (which I was also playing keys for) and the staging reflects that. I normally turn the piano in, but I had the organ set up facing in on this gig. Similarly, that’s the headliner’s kit — tuned for loud guitars and with a WAY bigger kick drum than my guy usually uses. He drove three hours from a wedding gig to play this one with me, so he didn’t even swap out snare and cymbals. If we were headlining, or not sharing gear, I completely agree that setting up closer together, with better sight lines (especially to work through the open improv sections; we had one or two missed cues in the thick of it) would be ideal. I think if it were up to me, I’d set up with the piano and drums stage right and left, angled inward, with bass in the middle. And yeah, I definitely wouldn’t trust the phone recording to tell the truth about the sonic profile of the ensemble as delivered by the venue’s sound guy in the shoebox-shaped room after our brief soundcheck. 😉

Using in-ear monitors regularly has drastically improved my live singing, and that's part of the reason I'm feeling so confident in this lineup. And since my wife is an absolutely crushing lead vocalist (she did sit in on one tune in the set, how can I resist?), I need all the confidence I can get! But technological assistance aside, the minimal distraction -- and frequency competition -- of only having keys, bass, and drums onstage makes it *so* much easier for me to sing accurately than when I'm unintentionally shouting over guitars and/or horns. It's part of the reason I'm trying to resist the temptation to get my first-call guitarist on board, as sensitive and dynamic a player as he is. Maybe for some gigs that merit a larger ensemble every now and then, but the stripped-down arrangements absolutely help me think more about *delivering the songs* rather than being distracted by too many nuances of the arrangement, or too much going on in my ears to really hear the tonal center accurately. "Okay, cool, the guitar is taking this solo, it's going to cover the rhythm after the drum break, I should ask for less guitar in my mix, and then... oh shoot I forgot the words and I'm a quarter tone flat." This is a good thought, because I go back and forth about whether I should embrace the patch diversity of a modern digital stage piano, or really approach the gig like I'm playing an acoustic grand and find my creativity through that limitation! One of the tunes I shared above is predominantly Wurli-driven with an AP solo on the recording; I've performed it that way, but this gig I was feeling the piano-purist approach for it. Conversely, there's a tune we performed that I originally tracked a live-in-the-room trio for when we made the record -- we were going for a Physical Graffiti vibe, and so I conjured Jimmy Page via John Paul Jones by slamming my clavinet through a wah pedal into an overdriven tube amp. When it came time to play the tune live, I just went with the clav patch (with a healthy dose of not-as-cool-as-a-real-tube-amp overdrive and pedal wah) on my Yamaha, as sacreligious as it feels to play clav on a weighted hammer action. I think that song *could* work with a piano-driven arrangement, but we were already opening for a Rock Band with a capital R, so I wanted to bring some crunch. I imagine I'll keep experimenting, maybe bring some of the onboard effects (particularly tape delay) into my solos so I don't start feeling like I'm running out of ideas halfway through the set. Best wardrobe purchase of my music career, bar none.

I've attempted the "singer-songwriter piano power trio" thing on many occasions over the years, inspired by early Elton John and Ben Folds. It's a lot of fun, but it never stuck. My own limitations as a player, plus negotiating the arrangements in an impactful, varied way with so few textures, plus my compulsive desire to bring into the fold any musician who wants to play with me, always led to me expanding the band or moving on to other things. But I had a date I needed to fill, and a willing rhythm section who had played a show with me before (albeit as part of a larger lineup), so I booked what I figured would be a one-off Samuel B. Lupowitz Trio gig, and trusted that folks would do their homework and be fine with 1-2 rehearsals, given everyone's very busy schedules. Thing is, two songs into the first rehearsal, the rhythm section was adamant that this needs to be more than a one-off. So... I'm here in part to brag, in part for thoughts, tips, and feedback from anyone else who has had success with booking instrumentation like this (or generally small ensemble original music -- too loud for the corner of a coffeehouse, probably, but also, you know, a guitar-less band). Now that it's looking like we may be booking at least a few times a year with this ensemble, I'm trying to think how to best develop it. It certainly helps me get around how difficult it's been to schedule around the availability of the younger parents in my larger projects. Some three part harmonies would really make the whole thing. The bass player has worked with me a lot, and took initiative for this to sing as much as he could manage while playing some very complicated bass parts. The drummer has a nice voice and is open to singing, though I'm not sure if it will stick to start working out really specific background vocals if we're not rehearsing regularly. And while I did play both piano and organ on this gig (because I was also playing keys with the headlining act), I think I'd want to keep my rig more spare, generally speaking -- if not just a piano, maybe a small synth rather than a dual manual organ. So just thinking about ways to fill the space and expand the palette while keeping things stripped down (read: easy to load in and out, also ... fewer people to divide the money between). On that note, it was nice to have such an encouraging musical success on the first performance, because from a financial perspective, this was a rough gig. An old friend touring from out of town set this show up with me months ago, and I promoted harder than I've promoted anything this year (most of my gigs have been sideman work or small local festivals that have a built-in crowd). But between the holiday weekend, the smoke in the air only recently dropping down to an acceptable level, a general lack of walk-in traffic, the venue being probably two or three weeks behind where they would have been helpful with their end of promotion (which, might I add, they took a cut of the door to pay for) and, I guess, the algorithm failing me, it was a pretty humiliating turnout. But I certainly need some things to get excited about and look forward to, so ... here's hoping! Certainly interested in thoughts any of y'all have. Oh, and, here are a few clips from the show. Forgive the non-embedded links; they're not all clips that I'd share publicly, but they're too big to embed and I just thought y'all would appreciate the reference point for what I'm working on (and the caliber of the rhythm section players; I still can't believe I get to work with these dudes). https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NqYAe1NzvxYd5SZPlFfdqtU9ObuSUyXY/view?usp=sharing - "Dancing on the Ocean Floor," full song from my 2021 solo album. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QPe2f4brJVF_rTwyFZpEKrj9Z5REpYEH/view?usp=sharing - trading solos in 5/8! The drummer notices that the bass player and I do, indeed, get lost at one point ... and gives us a big crash on 1 to help us out. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lezYNDnP-lqt4KuRis_-NJzNKCZdejLV/view?usp=sharing - clip of "Verses and Choruses" from my 2012 solo album. Playing two keyboards and singing! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-88rsr0-S74v_6yiK6fX-BovdhqQWTqK/view?usp=sharing - outro tag/jam of "Can I Put You On," an Elton John deep cut the bass player and I learned for the 17-11-70 anniversary livestream in 2020.