Just came home from a really fun gig. It was my group, at The Riptide. I hired Tom Griesser to play clarinet and sax. Randy Odell was the drummer, Tim Fox on guitar, Sheilani Alix sang several numbers with us. We also had two very good woodwinds players some by and sit in - Mark Sowlakis and Doug Rowan.

We were able to do a klezmer tune of mine we haven't played in years.

The woodwinds guys were able to come up with a lot of great ensemble ideas.

We also enjoyed some highly stimulating dancing to my tangos by some very attractive women, including one of the bartenders, who got the undivided attention of most of the guys in the band.

It was a real kick to hear alto, tenor, and bari saxophones play a tune of mine I arranged years ago for a horn section but never get to hear played that way. These guys were remarkable for their ability to show up, play an unfamiliar tune, and blend as a section. It was the opposite of normally happens at times like those, where each player wants to get up, burn over a couple choruses of "Cherokee," then strut off, leaving the rhythm section up there thrashing away for the next guy.

Tim Fox did a very nice job and I heard some very nice comments about his playing and tone. Tim was playing his Tele - not the sort of axe I think of normally when I think of Tim. The night before, in fact, I saw him at The Albatross with a lovely Gibson Tal Farlow-model archtop guitar.

It was also a treat to hear my friend Sheilani Alix sing "People Get Ready" supported by the horns. She really took it to church.

There was nowhere I would rather have been last night than up there playing with those guys.

Next stop - Tues at the Boom Boom Room!

I had a very nice wedding gig tonight. The bride is dealing with
breast cancer but decided to go forward with the wedding as the plans were
already underway. The bride used to be a chef at Cesar, the Berkeley /
Oakland restaurant, so the food was catered by Cesar. Yum.

The band was contracted by Greg Sankovich, who is the boyfriend of the
bride's sister. Greg and I play together a lot - we played earlier that
morning at a church service and the night before at a private party.

Anyway, Greg hired Lincoln Adler on sax, Tony Marcus on guitar, and me on
upright bass. No drums. Bob Langlie sang some.

Man, Tony can swing like crazy! I always enjoy playing with him, and
Lincoln has the best pocket of any sax player I know. Bob by his own
admission is much more a blues and R&B singer, but tonight he sang
standards and did a solid job.

I was able to have Tony play a couple of my songs I have always envisioned
with him playing guitar, so that was very satisfying. Tony's all about
rhythm and swing.

The folks at the party seemed very nice, and it was great to see the
wedding party look so happy about the music. I wanna figure out how I can
get some more gigs with Tony. Greg was very happy with how we sounded but
was jealous because he didn't get to play with us!

I also got to bring a bunch of leftover paella home.

I've been feeling more insecure even than normal about gigs. This year is a lot slower for me than last year. Last year we had a weekly steady at Pres a Vi for several months. They just pulled the plug on their music program.

This year our weekly steady at Prima ended, after almost five years. They got rid of their piano and remodeled the bar, so that gig seems to be good and gone.

There was lots of talk when we left about having us back for special events, but they haven't responded to my follow-up on that.

I was stoked when the Black & White Ball wanted to hire us, but they went silent once I sent them a contract.

We played Jupiter last week and had a ball. They are cutting back their live music though - gonna be DJs, Thurs-Sat.

I've had several corporate gigs fall through. In fact, it looks like my calendar for the next couple months is the slowest it's been in five years.

uh-oh.

On the upside, we had a great gig at Downtown restaurant in Berkeley on Saturday. We had fun and the friends who came enjoyed themselves.

Sometimes ya gotta love the dumb. Tonight I seem to be in that mood, listening to the Cramps. Good, but dumb. What else can you say about "Garbagean" and :Human Fly"?

Last night we appeared again at the Riptide in SF. What a fun gig. We had Lincoln Adler on saxes, Greg Sankovich on keys, Matt Willis on drums, and Sheilani Alix on vocals. Big fun, friendly staff with beautiful women, drinks, friends there to see us - big fun all around.

We'll be there again next week, with GG Amos and Taki on keys.

No, the title is not sarcastic. I spent three summers working with a small non-profit circus company, Make*A*Circus. I would have done it for more summers but financial realities interfered.

One of the most talented performers in the company was Ottavio Canestrelli. Ottavio was a dedicated circus performer. He was the last of his family to still do circus, in a family that had been doing circus for eight generations.

He was a great acrobat and physical comedian and he persevered in working in the circus. He showed interest in the practical aspects such as rigging and became involved in that too.

Sadly, Ottavio found the world too much to bear and he chose to leave this world.

He is missed by many people. He leaves behind a daughter. I know he loved her dearly - I saw many signs of it when we worked together. It's hard to understand how a man who loved his child so much and who loved performing so much - and was so aware of carrying on a family tradition - would choose to check out.

I don't know Ottavio to know what prompted his decision. I had not seen him in recent years - I was no longer working in the circus scene and he moved away. There did seem to be a dark side to him. I really got the impression he needed to be a clown - but that was part of what was so great about him and his performing. I guess he fit the stereotype of Pagliacci - laughing on the outside, crying inside.

Sunday I had a gig with Randy Odell at The Riptide. Randy also worked with him, as did Megan Kilian, who came to share a memorial for him. We dedicated "People Get Ready" to Ottavio's memory. Sheilani Alix sang it - you can hear a recording we did of it with her here - http://sheilaalix.vox.com/library/audio/6a00cd978a8087f9cc00d09e6c2159be2b.html

After the gig we toasted Ottavio's memory, sharing stories. Megan reminded me of some hysterically funny bits Ottavio did. I remember watching him all summer and him cracking me up every time. He was so funny it was a challenge for the band to play the cues.

We did a ritual the clown Sarah Moore, who had worked with Ottavio quite a bit, passed along to Megan. We did a shimmy, spun around three times, cursed, scratched ourselves, and then drank a toast.

The only good thing I see coming out of a death like this is it can remind us to treasure the living.

R.I.P., Ottavio. You are missed.

Remember, folks, value the living - and let them know you love them. I know I could be better at that.


PS - There's an irony that I played two church gigs and when there's a emmorial for a personal friend it happens in a bar.

The Kurt Ribak Trio CDs have been selling well - especially in Japan. Rick Ballard of the Groove Yard (A way cool indie jazz record store, 5555 Claremont, Oakland) passed my CDs along to a distributor there. There have bought a significant number of CDs. They also licensed the track "Pseudoafrocubanismo" for inclusion in a compilation record.

They mailed me a copy of the CD and LP releases. The LP release is a double set on heavy vinyl - it looks and feels great.

Another distributor inquired about carrying us in Japan but I hadn't heard from them in a quite a while. I had given up on them when today there was an order for 85 of our first CD (3 fingers) and 15 for the second CD ("more"). All this really boosted my mood today! wooHoo!

update - After November 8 the plan is for us to only
appear at Pres a Vi the first Thursday of every month. If you want
to come see us, tonight - November 1, and November 8 will be
excellent opportunities. If you do come, let management know you
came to hear us!

I want to thank all the people who came to see us at Armando's and at
the Riptide this weekend. We were hoping Lorna K would sing with us
at Armando's but she was sick. Sheilani Alix did a great job as
featured vocalist, though. Armando's is a great spot and we look
forward to coming back - we always enjoy being there.

The Riptide was a blast! They were sorta yin and yang gigs -
Armando's was intimate, calm, a quiet warm Sunday afternoon in the
old downtown of Martinez - which has lotsa of great old buildings, by
the way - and then we played the Riptide. Sheila again sang with us,
as did Bob Langlie of Blue Sky and GG Amos of the GG Amos band. I
knew she could play guitar but DAMN! She was tearing it up. She and
Bob made quite the powerful combination. That gig was more of a
blues / R&B bar gig - sweaty, loud, and fun.

Each gig was a great complement to the other and it was great to have
so many friends show up at both.


I can't pretend I'm not disappointed about the Pres a Vi thing being cut back - it's probably the right move for the venue, but it really puts a dent in my income. I may wind up working in a warehouse for a while at this rate....

Hosted By: Kurt Ribak
When: Friday Oct 12, 2007
at 8:00 PM
Where: The Berkeley Hillside Club
2286 Cedar Street
Berkeley, CA 94709
United States
Description:
Kurt Ribak

Click Here To View Event

Funny how some songs just really grab you hard. I was just listening to Alejandro Escovedo singing "Evening Gown." It's one of those songs that is so filled with longing combined with a battered pride, sung in a voice that has known pain.

I don't know much about him other than that he comes from the Escovedo family that includes Pete and Sheila, and that I musta seen him back in the day with Rank and File and before that he was in the Nuns.

Kinda reminds of how mournful John Doe can sound, in a way that makes me sad yet not want the music to stop.


Reminds of a conversation yesterday with a friend. I see him very seldom now that he lives in Chicago. When we were confused young men trying to figure out our places in the world we spent a lot of time together. We were chatting, catching up on life when he said in effect that he was in a bad place in his life because he didn't plan ahead and have enough goals. It was such an honest moment caught me off guard, especially as we were in a room of his brother's house. A few feet away was his wife, playing with his brother's toddler daughter.

I feel pretty good about what I'm doing and how I'm doing it - I'm not a star, but I am working regularly leading my own band, playing my own music and other music that matters to me. That's a big blessing to be sure. On the other hand, I'm a guy who hasn't had a serious relationship in several years, much less a wife and children. Homeowner? Yeah, right - like that will happen here in California.

I pointed out that to most people he was the successful of the two of us. He just quietly said "I don't see it that way." He said he feels burnt out and wishes he could retire. He's not much past 45, and it ain't likely to happen soon.

It's hard seeing your friends feel like that about themselves.

Being a working musician playing the local places definitely has its good points. This weekend I played a gay wedding backing Veronica Klaus, a local transsexual chanteuse. Veronica's got a nice voice and a great sense of humor.

The wedding per se had already happened - this was more of a reception at the couple's *very* nice house in San Francisco. We were grumbling about the difficult load-in, the howling wind trying to push me and my bass this way and that. You'd think a guy my size wouldn't get knocked around like that, but there's a lot of square footage on an upright bass on your back.

The couple was very nice - one of the guys noted that the speakers wishing them well included his former wife of eighteen years, the mother of his two daughters. He called her the most beautiful or wonderful (I forget which) woman in the world and thanked her for setting him free and allowing this moment to come about. The gratitude the man showed for his friends and family was quite touching.

Veronica did a great job and it's always fun to play with my buddy the drummer Randy Odell. I tore out of there because the pianist had another gig and needed a ride. I needed to get to bed for my church gig the next morning. Man I have a hard time making it through some of those services! I nodded off during the service, to find the other musicians grinning at me.

Next was a gig at the Riptide, a little bar on Taraval at 47th. It's a cross between a neighborhood bar and a hipster bar. It's nice and unpretentious yet draws some cool people. My trio (Greg Sankovich on keys, Randy Odell on bass) played, hosting the guitarist Tim Fox. Tim sounded great on his Johnny Smith guitar. He sat in for much of the evening and played some very tastyl stuff. We also had Sheilani Alix and Bob Langlie sit in on vocals. They complemented each other very well.

Part of what really added to the fun was seeing my friends from my rowing club there. This is a small bar, and I counted over a dozen South End Rowing Club members there. It was great having them represent, as well as my other friends who showed. There was a nice community vibe happening between us and the audience. It was the kind of gig that gives you a nice happy buzz - or was that the bucket of PBRs and the shots of Maker's Mark?