John Hendow

In our basement we have put together a fairly classic Tiki Lounge. We went with that theme simply because it seemed like the appropriate use of the space. I mean, the place was basically screaming TIKI LOUNGE at us. Among the amenities offered herein is a reasonable selection of liquid consumables, and tucked away under the bar is the Tiki Humidor, constructed of Spanish cedar and burled walnut. Generally I keep a dozen or so cigars on hand, but haven’t restocked lately. We have family coming to visit in September and I like to allow at least a full month of conditioning time for cigars. So yesterday I added about a dozen samples ranging from medium to full bodied. Now I just need to pick up a few single malts and we’ll be ready for a tasty evening of comraderie.

Hot! This was the hottest gig day so far this year, with temperatures hitting 90 on the outdoor stage at the Ballard Seafood Festival. It was hot enough that I could feel the stage burning my feet, right through my shoes. We did a great set of fun material and had a number of friends join us in the crowd. Most of them wisely stayed on the shady side of the street. Festival gigs can be a little random, and this one was no exception. I usually take a good look at the stage and sound system to assess whether there will be any issues with those elements, and it seemed like this was going to be a pretty standard deal.

Parking
The organizing team thoughtfully provided parking near the stage, which would have made it possible for us to leave our cars nearby while playing. Unfortunately the first band of the day left four cars parked throughout the event, occupying most of the available parking. We did manage to squeeze one of the cars into a spot vacated by a vendor. I guess the lesson is to be kind to your fellow musician and move your car after you’ve loaded out. Once we finished our set we left in search of showers and dry clothes.

Amp Gymnastics
During our setup time I placed  my amp on stand that tilts it up slightly. This makes it easier to hear without being loud, and is something I do at pretty much every gig. Because the stage seemed somewhat wobbly and prone to vibration I decided to take it down and put in on the stage to prevent any possibility of  it tipping over. I did this right after our first song, which took about 30 seconds to move it and replace the microphone. A well-intended stage hand came up and adjusted my amp by tipping it back against a monitor, presumably to improve my ability to hear it. Within 2 songs my amp had falled over backwards and was facing straight up. The sound guy came back up and replaced it in a leaning position, then put the mic back in to place. 2 songs later it fell over again. When he returned to monkey with again I shooed him away and left it lying on its back. Argh. My poor tubes, baking in the heat and being repeated impact stressed. Remarkably, my amp survived these drops without complaint. That’s a good amp!

Sound Operators
After our second song we wanted to make a few adjustments to the monitor mix. Stefan attempted to get the attention of the team at the front-of-house mix position for about fifteen seconds, without success. The production crew was having some kind of conversation in the mix tent and didn’t seem to be aware of the stage. Eventually the whole band waved and shouted into the microphones, which seemed to get them to notice, but it took a while. Strange. Most of the time the sound operators are on top of things. It might have been the heat.

Overall I had a great time playing. It’s always a gas to work with DMQ and I’m enjoying my time with them. Everyone in the band has played at these kinds of festivals and no one seemed affected by the random strangeness. We delivered a good show and the audience seemed to have fun as well. Another fine day, well spent!

Last night the 1 Uppers assembled for rehearsal. It’s been a little while since we were all together, and last night we were without our drummer. Eric is a busy guy and is occasionally unavailable, so we plodded along with the help of our substitute techno-drummer “Al E Sis”. We ran through some new songs last night; Jon and David continue to bring beautiful new songs to our set and it’s a pleasure to be a part of the music. Caben is rock-solid on bass which helps keeps the rest of us loonies in line. And of course Kris is just plain old amazing… he laid down a solo last night that gave me goosebumps.

It’s gratifying to hear the warm gritty tone of my telecaster straight into the amp. As much as I enjoy the tone of my Line6 gear, it’s just so fabulous to hear the uncolored sound of the guitar. A big salute to the Lollar pickups, Joe Barden bridge, compensated brass saddles and sneaky four-way pickup switch. This was all Kris’ idea and it turned my run-of-the-mill tele into a lovely tone machine.

I’ll be working on my guitar parts this weekend and hoping we’ll get a chance to finish up our recording soon. I need to track some solos and fills, and then we’ll add those final bits of audio candy to wrap up the CD. It’s been a good summer for music, and I’m playing more guitar than I have in years. I am very lucky to have a family that supports my love of music and tolerates all the madness that comes with it.

On Saturday I performed a show in Napa Valley with The Dudley Manlove Quartet. This was a trip that included the usual fun and strangeness of a band tour. In Seattle the airport security screening team was baffled at the xray image of my guitar. Whenever I fly with it I try to select the line with the youngest-looking operator, reasoning that they are most likely to understand what it is they are looking at. It turned out the xray tech was troubled by what appeared to be wiring inside my guitar. He said “it looks like there are wires inside this instrument”. I replied that indeed there were. For a moment I had a mental image of being forced to disassemble the guitar to show him where the wires are and what they do. He decided it wasn’t worth continuing to discus and sent me on my way. Our flight to Oakland was fairly uneventful, and we arrived more or less on time. When I retrieved my checked baggage I discovered the TSA had decided to open my flight case and “inspect” my pedalboard. It’s reassuring to know that my POD XT Live has been approved by the TSA. You wouldn’t want to be modeling amplifiers or effects without their clearance.

Stag’s Leap Winery is beautiful. I enjoyed spending time wandering around before we played, and took note of the amazing sights. There were a large number of hummingbirds and hawks in the air, which was very interesting to see. I also did a bit of exploring the tunnels where the wine barrels are placed to age.

The wine barrels were stacked against the walls of tunnels that seemingly went on for hundreds of yards. During our wandering in the labyrinth we expected to encounter a minotaur or something. Alas, no monsters were discovered. We did come upon a side corridor that terminated in a room where a Foucault Pendulum was gracefully swinging. Being a geek, I was delighted to blather on about the purpose and history of this device. My bandmates appeared to be captivated, perhaps because I was blocking the exit.

Our home away from home in San Francisco was Tommy’s Joynt, a legendary BBQ eatery and bar on Van Ness. They had a glorious selection of international beers, knowledgeable bartenders, and (we discovered sometime later that evening) a pretty tasty kamikaze. Much fun was had therein, with enjoyable conversation and beverages in abundance. During our evening wandering on Sunday we decided to have dinner in North Beach at a lovely Italian restaurant. It was a great way to end the day, although we did find ourselves back at Tommy’s for a nightcap…

Last Friday I performed twice with The Dudley Manlove Quartet: we did an afternoon show in Occidental Park (Seattle), and another that evening at Woodland Park Zoo. Our daytime show was part of the “Out To Lunch” concert series and was attended by a good sized crowd. Many wonderful friends from my current job and my former job were there, along with some of Seattle’s obligatory colorful characters – including “Scarf Guy” (see picture). Scarf Guy is a fixture in the local art / music scene and seems to always be full of exuberant joy. I just can’t approve of the blatant display of color (since my wardrobe is 100% black) but then again he seems pretty comfortable with it. We did a pretty good variety of material for the day show, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. Definitely a great time.

On Friday night we played a wedding reception at Woodland Park Zoo. The bride and groom were both in resplendent garb, and they provided wonderful food for guests and band alike. Among our specific instructions for this gig was “don’t spook the owl”. Apparently an owl was being brought into the reception area in order for the guests to enjoy an up-close encounter with a winged predator equipped with flesh-ripping talons. Nothing says “happy wedding” quite the same. We were billed second to the owl and told to wait until it had exited the building before we began our portion of the night’s entertainment. It’s good to know where the band falls in the prioritization of things. In Spinal Tap tradition, we wondered whether the owl had a bigger dressing room than we did.

Both shows were a blast and continued to provide opportunity to polish our presentation of the music. Working with DMQ is really forcing me to learn a lot of new material and to constantly be on my toes musically. It’ a great time and I look forward to the next gigs.

This weekend will be busy one. Friday I have 2 gigs: lunchtime show in Occidental Park (“Out To Lunch” concert) followed by evening wedding reception. Saturday morning I fly to California for an evening gig, followed by toodling around in San Francisco before returning Monday. It’s going to be a fun weekend, but in the next 24 hours I need to finish woodshedding some of the songs and packing up my toys for air travel. It’s not glamorous, but it’ll make for a fun weekend of music and adventure!

This article recently surfaced on Google, and it’s a bit of a flashback to consider what I was up to 27 years ago. As a teenager I spent the majority of my time playing guitar and had began to play with local bands in Seattle, working to learn more about the music, the professional music scene, about myself. One of my first steady gigs was with a local band fronted by Jim Cull (now a local DJ). Our band “Straight Shot” was a wonderful learning opportunity for me, composed of musicians Nick Nicholai (keyboardist who performed / recorded with Louis Armstrong, Theresa Brewer and Loretta Lynn), John Jansen (guitarist who played professionally with countless country bands) and Howie Johnson (original drummer of The Ventures – “Wipe Out” !). At the time I recognized that I was playing with accomplished older musicians, but in retrospect this was probably the luckiest break a young musician could have. Nick, John, and Howie were incredibly generous with their musical knowledge, teaching me great turnarounds and cues; they were also very kind in sharing their road-earned wisdom about playing professionally. In the context of this band I played bass, guitar and banjo – we performed “Dueling Banjo” every night, along with other bluegrass staples. We played together for years, working almost every Friday and Saturday, and they patiently guided me as I learned the ropes. Jim was a steadfast friend throughout the years of playing in that band. He did an admirable job of interpreting the music Tom Jones, Elvis and Frank Sinatra. 

This article mentions a single “Do Ya / I’m Sorry” which we recorded in Bellingham’s “Fairhaven Studios”. I’m proud to say this was my first professional recording. I multi-tracked electric and acoustic guitars on the B-side of the single, with layers of 12 string forming a shimmering texture. I’m still pleased with the way that recording came out. Our engineer Armen Stein was very good and understood how to get the sounds we wanted. He also did some great dancing behind the control board while we recorded.

For me, this was an amazing introduction to the world of professional music. The band, the bars, and the audiences were all new to me, and I found a lot of adventure in the whole thing. It was a bit like running off and joining the circus I suppose. One of the key elements in the adventure was that for my first four years playing in this band, I was a minor and technically not even allowed to be in the bars where we played! Most of the places we played didn’t seem to care as long as I was onstage. Generally I was required to spend my set breaks sitting outside in the van, or if the bar allowed it, hiding in the kitchen. Great experiences all around, and an auspicious beginning. 27 years later and I’m still out there with the circus!

 On Friday night I had 2 great shows with the Dudley Manlove Quartet at the fabulous Triple Door in Seattle. The night was officially dubbed “Yankee Doodle Dudley” and we played a tasty collection of songs celebrating the nation’s birthday including “America” by Neil Diamond, “American Girl” by Tom Petty and of course the themes to “Love American Style” and “Greatest American Hero”. The audience was enthusiastic and did some great dancing and singing along. Excellent participation during “Venus” and “Sweet Caroline”! The band is a lot of fun to play with, and I’m looking forward to doing more shows with them. Steve Okimoto (Dudley bassist) is an amazing dancing machine and his awesome moves were a highlight of the shows. The crew at the Triple Door is always 100% professional and very easy to work with. It certainly makes it a pleasure to play there. Oh, and the Seven Flavors Beef is mighty fine too!

Yesterday two of my co-workers were looking at picture on the internet of a jet (apparently) breaking the sound barrier. It’s an amazing picture and one worth admiring. My contribution to the conversation was “oh, that’s a great example of a Prandtl-Glauert singularity”. Both of my co-workers did a slow head turn in my direction and gave me an accusing look. And so I went to the white board and drew the classic compression-rarefaction-recovery curve, showing how the negative pressure can result in condensation. I pointed out that this phenomenon is not limited to transonic jets, citing the classic bullwhip example, and that this can also occur at speeds below the transonic threshold. They both called me a pathetic paste-eating geek for having that term in my head and for being able to explain the physics behind it. Yum. Paste.