Good week for looping in Santa Cruz

["William Walker" <billwalker@baymoon.com>]

 As Dan mentioned , Steve Lawson and Michael Manring put on a splendid show
at the Brookdale Lodge, a  bizarre and beautiful  local venue to say the
least, and as Dan also mentioned, at a few points in the show the rain
pouring on the roof created an amazing ambience. One point in particular
when Michael Manring was playing a beautiful long toned textural piece, it
was if the environmental sounds were being cued from the mixing board. 
Steve
Lawson played brilliantly, as usual, not to mention being the comic genius
that he is, but I must say, as a guitar player, keep playing those
otherworldly lead guitar shred tones, Steve, and I will have to kill 
you....
Michael Manring used no looping at all, (other than his fingers), but he 
did
use long delay regeneration and long reverb very effectively, to give the
impression that looping was going on. His sole effect....a Boss VF-1.... He
actually was the inspiration for me getting one,  when I saw him a few 
years
ago. So much power in that little teeny box. I have only begun to scratch
the surface of the VF-1
 Later in the Week my brother Rick and I sat in with Tom Greisgraber and
Jerry Marotta at the same Brookdale lodge. Tom used a Repeater in his rack
on a couple of tunes and was multi-tasking like crazy, juggling not only 
two
parts on his Stick, and a looper, but working a guitar synth and the
occasional midi foot pedal triggered synth tones. Wow!   Not only is Tom is
an incredible player/composer  on the stick, who, remarkably, has only been
playing a few years, but, Jerry is one of my all time favorite drummers, 
who
has played on some of my favorite music (the Peter Gabriel tunes, San
Jacinto, and Red Rain to name a few).  It was a complete thrill to play 
with
them.  Having not had much chance to learn their music, it was very much a
"fly by the seat of the pants" adventure. I brought a minimal assortment of
stomp box effects, a couple of DL-4's, and a pair of low wattage tube amps.
I also kept my playing very minimal as well, as the music already had 
plenty
going on, mostly volume swelled ambient chords and single note parts, with
the occasional solo or melodic part from the Billster, and Kim, don't hate
me for this, but I even snuck in some e-bow!!  Rick and I had gotten to 
know
Jerry a couple of years back when we opened up for the Tony Levin Band in
Santa Cruz on two separate occasions.  Not only is he one of the nicest 
cats
I have met, and like Steve Lawson, a comedian trapped in a musicians body,
but he showed tremendous trust and generosity in asking us sit in for a
whole set. He also gave us a very nice introduction when Rick and I opened
the second set, with a short loop improve.  Hopefully we will have the
opportunity play again together soon, and perhaps do some recording as 
well.

Bill