Katreese Barnes, 1963-2019

Katreese Barnes, 1963-2019

Chris and the Photographer: A story in 5 parts

Part 1.

Part 2.

Part 3.

Part 4.

Part 5.

A Decade of Jared Scharff

10 years ago during the Summer of '07, I went to check out my friend's blog for anything related to SNL, including the house band when I've found a post that Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald had left the band after 10 years due to the success of his songwriting/ producing credits with artists such as Kelly Clarkson.

Once the abbreviated '07-'08 season began (RE: Writers' Strike), I've noticed a young, blond haired guitarist in Luke's place. I've been asking about the house band's newest addition, but I was left without answers all throughout the season, until one day.

Dave sent me an email about the band's newest recruit: Jared Scharff. Along with an article from what I thought was from Guitar Player magazine, I now realized who he was.

When I first saw him, he reminded me of Edward Elric from Full Metal Alchemist with his shoulder-length hair and spunk. Flash forward a decade, and he looks like Robotech's Max Sterling, or Max Jenius for you Macross purists, but with a shorter haircut.

I'm hoping that he'll return for his 11th season. ;)

Give the SNL Band More Camera Time Twitter Petition

One catch, though: You must have a Twitter account to participate.

http://twitition.com/dhc52

Tom "T-Bone" Wolk, 1951-2010: One Year Later.

See previous link for more details.

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the death of former SNL Band bassist and longtime member of Hall & Oates, Tom "T-Bone" Wolk. In honor of him, I have enclosed a YouTube video featuring the late musician.

An update on Chris Parker and his band, Toph-E & The Pussycats

Image copyrighted 2010-2011 Modern Drummer magazine.

Hi, MD readers! The making of Toph-E & the Pussycats’ new CD, No Ordinary Day, featuring Clifford Carter on piano, Will Lee on bass, Ralph MacDonald on percussion, David Mann on tenor and soprano saxes, and me on drums, was a long project, stretching over a year and a half. It was recorded at the now shuttered Clinton Recording Studios in New York City—probably one of the last projects to be done there after years of great albums and movie soundtracks being recorded there by chief engineer and owner Ed Rak.

We did twelve tracks during that period—some brand-new compositions by Will Lee and David Mann, Clifford Carter, Ray Chew, and myself, along with re-arranged covers of tunes by Angelique Kidjo, Herbie Hancock, and Schubert. We re-cut our anthem, “Tee,” by the late, great Richard Tee, Will, and I—which also appeared on our last album, Live In Detroit. This song holds so much meaning for all of us. Richard and I were in the band Stuff, and we played on numerous record dates, TV shows, and jingles together, which is where Ralph, Clifford, Will, and David also got to know him. This was Richard’s last recording at home, and we transcribed and arranged it for the band to stretch out on. Check out Clifford’s piano solo followed by Dave’s tenor.

Clifford is in Latin territory with his “Un Nuevo Mundo” and our recasting of Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage.” It was really fun playing a cascara and drumset hybrid approach. Our great friends pianist/composer Rob Mounsey and jazz guitarist Steve Khan consulted on these two tunes, to give us authentic parts and the correct mix images. “Opus De Tophe” is something Ray Chew and I wrote while fooling around with Horace Silver’s “Opus De Funk,” which, along with “Filthy McNasty,” “Song For My Father,” and “Doodlin’,” is one of my favorite tunes of his. Lots of room for my drum fills between sections, and really fun to play live. Check out Clifford and David’s “fours” leading to Will’s funky bass solo, one of two on this record—and both first takes!

I am particularly happy with my take on a Schubert Ab melody, which we played as a “Caribbean Waltz.” I had been listening to my son Russell practice this piece on piano upstairs while I was practicing drums downstairs, and I kept hearing the changes in a different way. I thought this would make an interesting vehicle for the band and add something ballad-like to the set—calm and somber. Preceding that track is “Tatchedogbe” by Angelique Kidjo, which I transcribed and arranged for the “cats in the jungle.” It’s a dense track, but everything is in its place and builds the groove in layers of insistent percussion, bass drum, bass, and hi-hat. I took things that Clifford played on the original take and made some effected loops out of his cool Rhodes and B-3 parts.

The final track and the one we recorded last was Herbie’s “Maiden Voyage.” Clifford’s cool arrangement spotlights himself, then David, then Will—who rips another great, thoughtful bass solo—and then me, stretching the limits of my technique (such as it is), trying to be musical.

It’s a cliché to say, but this album was a “labor of love” from start to finish, with all the Pussycats contributing in significant ways throughout. We all wanted to do the material that grooved us in our live performances—our first CD, Live In Detroit, documents one of those—so this time it was especially sweet to get in our familiar comfortable studio environment and make the best-feeling and best-sounding record we could. A lot of the labor involved just coordinating schedules of four super busy cats; Ralph’s touring with Jimmy Buffett, Clifford is with Art Garfunkel, David is producing artists and touring with Christopher Cross, Will’s with the Fab Faux and The Late Show, making for a delicate balancing act. Studio time and rehearsal time at Euphoria was booked months in advance, with the hope that something that couldn’t be turned down would not eclipse our sessions, making each one precious.

The drums I used on this record include my Yamaha custom HipGig toms (10", 12" , 13", and 15"), a 20" Recording Custom bass drum from my first trip to Japan in the ’70s, my Roy Haynes signature Yamaha snare, and assorted K and A cymbals from Zildjian, including 15" hi-hats I bought in 1961 at Manny’s in NYC and Armand Zildjian’s 18" “Beautiful Baby” sizzle cymbal. Love them, ’til death do us part! I also had my 12" HipGig snare beside the hi-hat for special cross-stick and smacked sounds. And on “Impromptoph” I played an antique Ludwig parade drum that Will gave me for my birthday. Hope you all have a chance to check out the record. Enjoy! And yes, we are serious.

Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald in Da House

http://nymag.com/guides/summer/2010/66784/

All Together Now

G.E. Smith and Shawn Pelton are among those who are participating on the May 15th, 2010 airing of Live From Daryl's Hosue in a tribute episode to the late Tom "T-Bone" Wolk.

It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere in the World.

The Cringe, featuring SNL Band's drummer Shawn Pelton, are in a mini-video that takes place both during their photo shoot with photographer Timothy White and at their concert in Brooklyn, NY, to promote their forthcoming third album, Play Thing, to be released at stores nationwide on June 8th.

Ladies and Gentlemen! The one, the only: G.E. SMITH!!

Former 'SNL' band leader back to his jam band roots.

Former ‘SNL’ band leader back to his jam band roots

By BILL DEYOUNG

“We start in the bars; we end in the bars,” G.E. Smith tells me, quoting his friend and fellow guitar legend Jorma Kaukonen. “The only difference is where you go in the middle.” Smith is the lead guitarist for the band Moonalice, appearing Thursday at Live Wire Music Hall. Twenty years ago, he was touring the world as Bob Dylan’s musical director (they once did a single show for 600,000 people).

Before that, he’d played the planet’s biggest rooms — and Live Aid — during his seven years with Daryl Hall & John Oates. And from 1985 to ‘95, Smith was the bandleader on “Saturday Night Live” — square-jawed, blond hair, ponytail ... see him in your memory? Yep, that’s the guy. The 57-year-old Pennsylvania native was a professional guitarist — and yes, playing in bars — by age 11.

So he’s done pretty much all there is for a musician to do. He just loves to play, and he doesn’t really care where. “What’s the ultimate goal for me when I go out of my house and go to play for people?” Smith said. “It’s to try to communicate something … to get some emotions over. To have a good time, so what’s the difference if it’s five or 50,000? You’re going for the same thing.” Moonalice has a most impressive pedigree.

The bassist is Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jack Casady (he was an original member of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna, both with Jorma Kaukonen); on keyboards is Pete Sears, a British session player who spent a decade with Jefferson Starship (and was in Hot Tuna, too). Steel guitarist Barry Sless plays with the legendary Phil Lesh & Friends; drummer Jimmy Sanchez, singer/guitarist Roger McAmee and lead singer Ann McNamee came from San Francisco’s great “retro” rock band, the Flying Other Brothers.

With those credentials, Moonalice has become a draw on the jam band circuit — hey, Thursday they’re opening for Grand Jam- Daddy Col. Bruce Hampton—but Smith maintains that Moonalice is more about the songs than just noodling and grooving (not that there’s anything wrong with that). “To me, the jam band thing comes out of the Grateful Dead, through Phish, and Widespread and that,” he said.

“There are certainly elements of that in this band — but I wouldn’t say that we are strictly a jam band. Although we do have some songs that are 15 minutes long — if we cut them down.” Moonalice’s self-titled debut album — which will be in stores shortly — was produced by TBone Burnett, who won a round of Grammys this month for his (strictly song-oriented) work with Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Most of the songs on the CD were written by the band members, although they’re famous for playing oddball covers (Steely Dan’s “Showbiz Kids,” anyone?) at the drop of a hat.

The only “non-permanent” band member is Casady, who misses about half of Moonalice’s dates because he’s off working Hot Tuna gigs with Kaukonen. All six of the others, Smith included, switch off on bass when Casady’s not on the stage. Smith sees himself as the band member who keeps everyone musically focused — he’s an arranger, an orchestrator and, most of all, a guy who knows how to make things happen.

“I don’t necessarily want people to be mystified when they’re standing there, going ‘What are they doing?’ There’s bands that do that, and it’s really cool, but my training — or whatever — is to be an entertainer, I guess.”

What does G.E. Smith — a man who’s been there, done that and lived to talk about it — want from the Moonalice experience? He certainly doesn’t need the money or the recognition. “Iwanttoplay—it’swhatIdo,”he said with a laugh. “It’s too late to stop now. I want to play in front of people, andIwantthebandtobegood.”

IF YOU GO
What: Moonalice with Col. Bruce Hampton & the Quark Alliance
When: 10 p.m. Thursday
Where: Live Wire Music Hall, 307 W. River St., Savannah
Admission: $10
Information: (912) 233-1192, or go to livewiremusichall.com

Happy Birthday G.E. Smith!!

For a guy who shares the same birthday as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, music DOES IN FACT flows in his veins.