News » May 2008

I'd never been to Martha's Vineyard before, but Robyn, Jeremy, Kristin and I all took a trip down there together for the Memorial Day holiday long weekend. The weather was pretty much perfect, and we had an amazing time. I took a ton of photos from all over the island, so check them out.

And I actually ended up heading down there a day early with Greg Luttrell to do a friday night gig with Blacksnake at the Ritz Cafe in Oak Bluffs. The gig was a basic trio with Tony Hall on drums, and was a lot of fun. Normally, I'm just too busy to be able to find the time to do a Vineyard gig, but because I was already heading down there for the weekend, it worked out perfectly.

Also, if you're ever down that way, be sure to stay at the Clark House Inn in Vineyard Haven. It's a fantastic bed & breakfast run by Lisa and Bud Rusché. Not only was the bed super-comfy, but the breakfast was super-tasty. Good on both counts!

Playing to a sold-out Paradise Rock Club in Boston last night, The New Deal broke beats left and right. These guys are all about the groove. up-tempo, down-tempo.. mid-tempo.. They're tight and when they're playing, you can't not move your body to the music.

The drummer (Darren Shearer) beatboxes, plays kit, and percussion.. and is usually doing at least two of those three things at any given time. The bassist (Dan Kurtz) plays his Fender Jazz through the mothership's control board (apparently, since everything he plays sounds like it's from outer space). And the keyboardist (Jamie Shields) is surrounded by a half a dozen synths and god-only-knows how many delay pedals.

I'm not sure, but I'm guessing these guys *live* on Red Bull. It's the new coke. And I don't mean -a-cola. Check out my photos from the show!

It was great to see Robyn play out with her drum ensemble at the Drum Connection's "Acacia in Kenya Scholarship Fundraiser" benefit performance last weekend. I've been playing music for a long time, and I've had countless gigs.. but it was a real treat for me to get to see Robyn having fun, playing djembe and dunun, on stage in front of people. I managed to get some decent photos of the group (ok, mostly of her) playing.. check them out!

Robyn recently decided to pursue her developing interest in photography by purchasing a used Nikon D70 DSLR camera and signing up for a photography class - and in celebration of the wonderful weather, we went for a nice walk along the Charles River bike path in Waltham, cameras in hand.

So, for a change of pace, you can check out not only my photos from the day, but also Robyn's photos. (warning: lots of canada geese photos ahead)

So, everyone gathered at Skellig the other night to wish a fond farewell to Karen and Pat, the two most recent casualties in the Cosmic Blender - Broad Street - Evoke Interaction roller coaster ride from hell. It seems like just the other day that we were saying goodbye to Michael and goodbye to Samantha and goodbye to JB and Erwin.. and me.. of course.