John Hendow

Back in college I studied learning theory and cognition, specifically focusing on typical human learning patterns. One of the common patterns is the “quantum competence” model, sometimes called the “plateau” model. It goes thusly: we learn and process new knowledge in a sort of soft ramp shape that flattens as it proceeds. We hit a plateau where additional knowledge / practice seems to result in little discernable growth. Then our brains make a quantum leap; new mental organization occurs and we experience a breakthrough in understanding. And then the pattern repeats anew.

I know when I’m struggling against that invisible barrier on a learning plateau. Right now I’m feeling it… as a musician I’m up against that pressure bubble and surging to break through into something new. For the next few weeks I’m trying to clear some time in my schedule for more practice, yoga and reflection. A door is about to open.

On Saturday 8/21 The Dudley Manlove Quartet performed at a private wedding reception on Bainbridge Island. The event was planned for the early evening on what is usually a dry August weekend. However, the weather deities chose to befuddle us with some randomization. The event was outdoors on the grassy yard of a beautiful house. Our host had wisely pre-arranged for a large tent to be set up over part of the dining area. We set up in one corner of the tent and after a quick soundcheck we left the site to change. Upon returning it was clear that rain was coming our way. We pulled everything under the tent (as best we could) and hung a tarp behind Jeff to keep the rain from blowing in on him. The performance was fun, and we enjoyed ourselves. Once the show was over we scrambled to pack up our cars and bolted to catch the ferry back to Seattle. We arrived just in time to pile aboard before it sailed. Overall, a fun show. Always a good time with the DMQ crew.

Friday 8/13 The Dudley Manlove Quartet performed at the Tulalip Casino, augmented by our horn section “the Plan 9 horns”. This is always an interesting venue for the band. Like many other tribal casinos the Tulalip allows smoking. Since Washington enacted the ban on smoking on bars, I really haven’t been exposed to nearly as much smoke as in previous years. It’s something that has made playing (or just being) in a bar more pleasant. Another interesting thing about this show is the absolute rule of no alcohol while working. The band members are considered employees of the casino which means we’re governed by the same in-house rules as all other employees: no gambling, no drinking. It’s not a big deal to us, but it’s an interesting perspective on how bands are experiencing the increased enforcement of in-house rules at venues.
The band played a great show and had fun. Our audience was the usual combination of friends and random strangers who wandered in from the casino floor. A few friends from high school came to hear the band, including a very accomplished  keyboard player by the name of Chris Joss. Back in high school (nearly 30 years ago!), Chris was unquestionably the most talented and well-known musician in the school. Lately he’s been exploring all kinds of interesting music and continues to play professionally. Always fun to catch up with friends, especially with such a good musician!
I put my amp slightly differently from its usual placement on this stage. They have an excellent monitor system at the Casino and the house sound operator always puts some guitar in my mix. It means I’m not dependent on my amp for hearing myself on stage, and I get a faithful un-eq’d version of my sound from the monitor. This is unusual and I definitely appreciate it. So the Twin sat toward the back of the stage just providing a nice source of audio for SM57 feeding the FOH mix.

Saturday 8/14 The Dudley Manlove Quartet performed at the Tractor Tavern in Ballard. This is a great music bar and has a long history of terrific bands who have played there. Again, the Plan 9 horns joined us for the evening. The stage isn’t nearly as expansive as the Casino, but we managed to fit eight people up there without trouble. This was probably the hottest bar gig we’ve played all year. Early in the day we saw a forecast for 90+ degree temperatures, and the band voted to abandon our usual stage suits in favor of short-sleeved shirts. The temperature in the bar must have been at least 100 degrees! We played an extended version of our set list, which featured the horn section.
I had my amp at the back of the stage, tilted up with a what stage production personnel would call a “technical spacer”; actually it was just a roll of duct tape wedged under the front of the amp. This small adjustment made it possible to hear myself pretty well despite the auditory chaos of all those people, horns and the warm wet air in the room. There is one significant advantage to playing summer bar gigs when the air is so hot and full of moisture: it makes guitar amps sound great! I’ve never figured out what specific physical effect is happening, but it’s probably the additional work the amp is having to do when exciting denser air. Much easier to get controlled feedback, and the overall sound seems even. When this show was over my guitar was a mess! I used some rubbing alcohol to clean up the strings and wiped down the neck and body with non-wax polish. It wasn’t perfect, but decent enough to be used for the Sunday gig.

Sunday 8/15 the 1 Uppers performed at a private event over on Bainbridge Island. With 90 degree temperatures in the forecast the merciful approach might have been to go without our suits, but fashion overcame our desire for comfort. We played outdoors on the deck of a house, to the delight of children, dogs, and adults. Definitely a fun event with a beautiful view and yummy food. The black stratocaster was suitably “seasoned” after two days of sweaty gigs, so my strings had a country-blues approved tone. I also opted for a smaller footprint on this gig by bringing the M9 as my only effects system, and by using the Hot Rod Deluxe for my amp. The M9 has a very good sound that lest my guitar’s tone shine. I use a pretty simple signal chain in the 1 Uppers so this is a great, easy to manage setup. Our set was the usual assortment of country favorites and originals, somewhat shaped by committee. We had a few guitar showdowns, with everyone getting in on the fun during “Luxury Liner”. Jon Hyde and Kris Geren laid down a bunch of wicked solos at this show. Once again I went home determined to come up with better licks for this band. Always a pleasure to get together with these gentlemen.

Tuesday 8/16 the Preons performed on the roof of the Bell Street Conference Center in downtown Seattle. This event was part of a social media gathering, and we were invited to play a set of music. This marked the first Preons show in a while, and it was good to be performing for an audience again. Fortunately we were facing west, so while the audience was watching the band, we were looking at a stunning sunset. This show was a little challenging since we didn’t have any vocal monitors. It meant that we had to simply do our best to sing in tune without being able to hear anything. Definitely not ideal, but we managed. For rehearsals I use a different bass amp; it’s been a few months since I fired up the Ashdown half stack and I was immediately reminded of why I like this amp. It’s big and bold, and produces an authoritative fundamental bass tone.

So, after four gigs in just five days (with three bands!) I’m pretty satisfied with my musical life. I’m blessed to be working with such talented musicians, and it’s always a pleasure to get together for a live show. On to the next!

This last week has been intensely busy.  Two of my bands have had rehearsals, and all three bands have had at least one gig. The detailed itinerary:

Thursday 8/12
Rehearsed with Dudley Manlove Quartet and the Plan 9 horns.

Friday 8/13
Drove to Marysville (about an hour North of Seattle) to play at the Tulalip Casino with the Dudley Manlove Quartet and the Plan 9 horns.

Saturday 8/14
Performed in Ballard with Dudley Manlove Quartet and the Plan 9 horns. It was over 90 degrees outside, and I’d guess over 100 in the club.

Sunday 8/15
Caught the morning ferry to Bainbridge Island, then drove another 45 minutes to Hansville. Performed with The 1 Uppers outdoors. Another 90+ degree day. Caught the ferry home in the evening.

Monday 8/16
Rehearsed with The Preons.

Tuesday 8/17
Performance with The Preons downtown Seattle on the waterfront.

On Saturday 8/7 The Dudley Manlove Quartet performed at a wedding reception in the Seattle area. It was a lovely event at a beautiful house overlooking the water. The organizer had planned ahead in case of inclement weather, which was a very good idea since it did rain on and off the whole evening. Undaunted, the band and guests had a great night of music and dancing.

Our final song of the evening was “Don’t Stop Believing”, which is always a crowd pleaser. Right after the intro I started to experience intermittent output from my guitar, with the signal dropping out and coming back at random. I did everything I could think of… wigging the cords and flipping switches on my guitar, giving the amp a bonk with my fist (we all know that’s the best way to troubleshoot electronics, right?) and otherwise performing any ritual I could think of. As we approached the solo section, I was really concerned about whether I’d be able to make any sound, but fortunately I did get past that section before my signal dropped out again. Once the song was over I tried to diagnose the issues but didn’t have time or the proper setting to really delve into it. I loaded out and drove home in a bit of a snit, trying to imagine what had gone wrong. Getting my guitar or my amp into the shop for service would be difficult with my work schedule, and I really didn’t have enough time to work on this myself.
It wasn’t until the next afternoon that I finally had a chance to go through my signal path to see what might be going on. It appears the culprit was a bad cable between the guitar and pedalboard (whew!). It’s especially a difficult thing to nail down with certainty because it seems to be an intermittent connect, and the cable doesn’t appear worn or broken. Usually cables fail at the solder joints to the plugs, but I decided to just throw this out since it seemed to have a flaky connection somewhere in the middle of the cable. I always come to gigs prepared for field-triage… I carry spare cables, plugs, batteries, tools, and usually a spare guitar. This one was a pretty random failure, but if I had needed to, I could resolved it with a quick swap.

Other than the minor hiccup during our final song, the gig went really well. I think we played a great show and the music is getting better every time we get together. Our upcoming gigs will include the Plan 9 horns. Come on down to see us at the Tractor this Saturday 8/14. We’re going to have a great show!

This was a great weekend for the Dudley Manlove Quartet. We performed at wedding receptions on Saturday 7/31 and on Sunday 8/1. Both events were in the Seattle area, so we didn’t have very far to travel. The show on Saturday was at the Georgetown Ballroom, which is a beautiful venue. I will keep it in mind if I ever need to throw a big private party. It has a dining / reception hall and a separate ballroom with permanent stage and flown PA system. This made our setup a little easier since we could just patch into the house mixer and use their monitor amp feeds to power our wedges. We used one of our mains speakers as a drum fill. A major logistical bonus of this show was the painless load-in; we were able to park in a loading zone directly in front of the door and only had to carry equipment about 20 feet to the stage without encountering any stairs. The wedding party was composed of enthusiastic dancers, and we had a full dance floor from the beginning of our show.

Sunday’s performance was for a wedding in West Seattle and we had a bit of a load-in challenge for this show with some stairs and narrow corridors. The room was pretty large with a big stage. Our soundcheck was quick and we took the opportunity to run some of the requests including “Twist and Shout”, “Love Shack” and “Cecelia”.  Then the band walked over to Endolyne Joe’s for a beer and few games of Bananagrams. It also afforded us an opportunity to watch the sun set, which is always nice. Upon returning to the venue we changed into our suits and prepped for the show. I don’t usually put a microphone on my amp for this type of gig and the size of the room required a bit more amp volume than usual. I had the Twin turned up to 7, which is pretty loud for that amp. It sounds good at that volume, but I think we should probably start putting both the guitar and bass into the PA for shows this size. We started the show with the usual assortment of jazz standards, and I found myself wishing I had spent more time practicing solos over this material. Mack is especially good at playing over those changes and it’s a little daunting to follow his solos. It’s going to be a good summer of musical fun with the band, and we’re staying very busy!

Friday night the 1 Uppers performed at Conor Byrne in Ballard. We played last, sharing the bill with The Hilltoppers and Lisa and Her Kin. It was a fun night of good music. We wore our suits, which has become a trademark of the band’s presentation, and several of us wore hats… alas, I am not among the hat-wearers… I looked (in vain) for suitable headwear while in Montana but after test-driving several possibilities it was decreed that I was never meant to wear a cowboy hat. I own perhaps two hats; one is a baseball cap with the Einstürzende Neubauten logo, and the other is a snowboard hat. Neither would probably go well with my cowboy suit.

The gig on Friday was a fun one. When there are three bands on the bill in a small club like this, it guarantees that there will be a big pile of equipment strewn about. I arrived with my gear and discovered there was no space anywhere to put it. Stuff was already piled up in the corners and in front of the stage, as well as the back hallway. I eventually just beached my equipment back in front of the restrooms. It took some wrangling to navigate back to the stage for setup, but it all worked out.

We did a good set of mostly original material with some selected cover songs. We all took turns at the microphone; I sang “Ring of Fire”, with good accompaniment provided by the entire bar. Everyone knows that song, so there was plenty of support during the choruses.
All in all, a fun show. The band sounds good, and every time we play I am reminded how lucky I am to be surrounded by such great musicians. This is a band that consistently improves from gig to gig, and after every show I want to go home and polish up my stuff.

On Saturday 7/10 The Dudley Manlove Quartet performed at Redmond Derby Days. Outdoor festival shows bring their own idiosyncratic challenges with strange acoustics, short changeover times between bands, and random issues with power / grounding. This performance took place on a stage that was covered with a large tent / awning, and it creates a strange acoustic space where some sounds reflect and others seems to disappear entirely. I knew, from previous experience, that this event would be a parking challenge so I packed as light as possible. This meant bringing the Hot Rod Deluxe rather than the Twin. While the HRD is lighter, it definitely doesn’t have the big-stage delivery of the Twin, and about half way into our set I started to wish I had just packed the bigger amp.

The set ended with “Don’t Stop Believin'” and during the solo I felt inspired to leap out the front of the stage, and from there I crept out onto a little ledge that overlooked the grass. Having gotten that far I decided to jump down onto the grass, estimating the drop to be around four feet. About halfway down I realized it was taking a long time to reach the ground… needless to say, my rangefinding might need to be recalibrated. Fortunately, I did stick the landing and had fun running around with the dancers in front of the stage. It was a bit of a hike to get back… but was worth the effort. After the show we had a great BBQ and spent a fun evening chatting and relaxing. Another wonderful gig with great friends.

I’ve been going back and forth between the options of a Line6 M9 and a Line6 M13 effect unit. Based on my testing, both seem pretty good, and I’m honestly tempted to add both to my setup.  The M13 would form the backbone of my effects processing, and I’d use the M9 for fly dates. I’ve been using Line6 equipment for a long time, starting with the original Pod, then a Pod Pro, Pod XT Live, and an XDS wireless system.  There are plenty of people out there who really strongly prefer use discrete stompboxes for their effects, and are willing to haul around a lot of pedals on a massive board.

My main interest in putting together a new pedalboard is to get smaller and to increase the flexibility in routing effects for live gigs. Hopefully I’ll be able to put these new units into play before the end of the summer.

On Sunday 7/27 The 1 Uppers made their debut at the Little Red Hen in Seattle. This is one of the better-established local country bars, and a gig there marked our official “coming out” party for the local scene. Sunday nights aren’t usually the best night night of the week for gigs, but the Little Red Hen has an advantage on those nights because they teach country dance lessons before the band starts to play. It definitely helped with getting people out onto the dance floor for some boot scootin’.

Several of our friends made the trek to the bar that night, so we had a few ringers in the crowd. Between them and the regulars, the place was packed! It made for a  fun night of music with wildly enthusiastic reception to some of our songs. As observed by my friend Chris “…that was the world record for the largest number of people country dancing to ‘How Soon is Now’…”. Each of us took our turns that night at the microphone; I sang “Ring of Fire”, which is right in my baritone range. Hope I did Johnny Cash a reasonable bit of honor by taking that one on.

For this gig I decided I didn’t need the larger wattage of the Twin, so I brought the Hot Rod Deluxe. It was the right amp for this stage, but the biggest challenge was the layout. The Little Red Hen has a fairly wide but very shallow stage. Essentially, the band was presented in a single-file line across the front. On stage left I was situated somewhat behind Jon Hyde, but since he sits down when playing pedal steel I was still visible. When you’re a short guy, such things are a consideration…

Our first set was 2 hours long. This is a little unusul, but was a good strategy as it kept the crowd in motion. Once we took a set break around 11:00 PM people started to drift out, although we had a good bunch of people around until nearly the end of thenight. The gig felt like a great success. People stayed and danced until well into our second set, which ended around 1:15 AM. It made for a somewhat tough wakeup the next morning, but well worth it. We look forward to the next show at the Hen.