Sunday, February 26, 2006

Sunday

Listening to recordings of the shows with Charly in Pinamar. Yes!

This week:

rehearsals with Vertigo Colectivo and Francisco Bochaton began, both with wonderful new songs

my new CD The Jungle and the Radio came out from the drawer and what I heard amazed me. Hope. Next step is recordings with Mono and Maria.

from the office: the japanese tour got confirmed... end of June.

today I walked with baby in the morning, practiced and worked on repertoire, walked around Puerto Madero with Moni and baby;

visited Charly in the evening to talk about an upcoming project in which I'm happy to take part. the plan was to record tonight but we decided to do it tomorrow... gaucho aphorisms apply here: don't leave for today what you can do tomorrow ... or don't leave for tomorrow what you can do next week

Sunday, February 19, 2006

La NFCO, Malba

Same lineup and same movies as last week: Mono, Matias, Maxi and myself playing Steamboat Bill Jr and The Docks of New York at Malba. Samalea couldn´t make it today.

It was luxurious to have Maria Rosa Yorio in the audience for the second show. I believe her presence helped us enormously.

I had a couple of technical problems today: the presets of the VG 88 changed randomly! I solved this by turning the wheel several times back and forth. perhaps a dirty pot? also, the power adaptor of the Line 6 DD4 kept unplugging from the power strip.

Besides all this, the sound was very good.

Last night we saw Mercedes Sosa with Charly as guest, on TV. Amazing how the energy of the show changed when Ch went on stage. And he looked very happy and comfortable.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Charly Garcia. Second show, El Ojo de las Artes, Pinamar

Monday, Feb 13

mon 9:10hs- bus to Pinamar. Arrived at the hotel at 14:00hs. Dropped luggage in the room. Lunch and quick visit to the beach. Siesta. Practice. Reviewed my songs list. Preparation for the show. Charly sleeping.

mon 23:00hs - the organizers decided to move the show to Tuesday. Ch needs to rest. OK: one more day in Pinamar. Called Moni to explain the situation. Dinner with Monitor and Astor at hotel lobby.

tues 1:30 - lobby phone rings: I grabbed my gtr and went up for playing and recording in Charly´s room. Coffee kept me up.

tues 6:30 - I´m tired. I go to bed. Not much sleep, though: Charly continues recording vocals in the room (next door to mine).

tues 8:30 - I woke up with baby´s smile in my head. beautiful. walk to Plusmar office to change my bus tkt for tomorrow

unfruitful search for a suit

practice. learned the lines that charly wrote for me last night. amazing riffs. some with tricky fingerings in the NST. practiced them in different octaves. tried to sleep some more: hopeless...so I decided to knock at Ch´s door guitar in hand. rehearsal: new songs, new ideas. more songs in my list. preparation for the show.

tues 23:00- time of uncertainty and tension

wed 1:00- showtime I. better than last week, at least to my ears: my guitar sounded much better in my headphones. charly was so inspired, once more. this theater is a wonderful venue to play at. a small theater, with tables. the staff is very kind. I played with my Washburn Red Rocker again in order to make as little changes as possible in my set, but I was tempted to use my Telecaster. Good choice: the 12 strings acoustic and the bass presets in the VG88 were very useful and sounded great. hot moments in the show. a cover tune that charly played at Badia´s request was sublime. burning end.

dropped gear and gtrs in hotel. lay down for a few minutes and changed clothes.

wed 5:00- showtime II at Iguana. I went back to the hotel to get my gear again. since I use the New Standard Tuning I´m useless with a borrowed guitar. I used my Telecaster through a Proco Rat. Distortion most the time. Charly had a Fernandes strat and played through a Korg pedalboard. We played until about 7:00, Ch´s songs (many from the new CD) and cover tunes. Ch played burning gtr solos.

at 7:30 I said goodbye and walked back to hotel.

Slept less than 2 hs.

Bus back to Buenos Aires at 10:40hs. Listened to Neil Young´s Prairie Wind and The Smiths (Johnny Marr´s guitars are stunning) on my Ipod.

Back in Buenos Aires the Taxi I took from the station broke down and I had to push it. Tough. Very hot in Buenos Aires.

Happy to be back home.

Monday, February 13, 2006

Sunday

Walked with baby in the morning. Coffee at bar in Palermo.

Jorge and Carina Vargas and Cris visited for brunch.

Walked with Moni and baby.

Preparation for tomorrow: reviewed all the songs on my acoustic gtr and added a couple more to my list. Watched Head on TV (co-produced by Jack Nicholson....featuring Frank Zappa...and The Monkees).

Sunday, February 12, 2006

La National Film Chamber Orchestra at Malba

We played 2 shows at Malba today. One Buster Keaton movie and The Docks of New York. First time we played both movies. Good attendance on both shows. As usual, some families with little kids for Keaton. The lineup: Mono Fontana and Matias Mango on keyboards, Maxi Demo and myself on gtrs. Sama couldn´t make it. He played last night with Rosal in Mar del Plata and stayed there.

A team from BBC News came to cover the shows. We still don´t know when it will broadcast.

After one of the shows someone mentioned that Spinetta was playing at Rosedal for free. A massive show. I thought of the huge difference in nature between that and our work at Malba.

Friday, February 10, 2006

Charly Garcia. Teatro El Ojo de las Artes, Pinamar

First entry...from February 6, 2006:

Listened to Before the Flood by Dylan and The Band on the bus. Special focus on Robbie Robertson´s guitar comments and Levon Helm´s drums. Arrived in Pinamar at 14:00hs on a Plusmar bus. Straight to the hotel. The maid led me to room #31 and showed me Charly´s room, right across the corridor. Impossible to sleep.

Rehearsal in Ch´s room. Many songs, some I learned on the spot; some I knew; some I refreshed in the rehearsal. I had my own set list with about 40 songs, few of them covers. Later Badia and DJ Pont Lezica came in the room to set the order of the show and details and tune with Ch´s ideas.

The audience was asked to bring a portable radio and headphones to the show: there would be no speakers at all in the theatre. The concert was to be broadcasted live. No monitors on the stage either. An Orson Wells feel...people in town was listening to the broadcast in their cars, homes, on the streets, at the beach; so was the audience in the venue and so were we on the stage! Bizarre experience. Unique.

I used my Washburn through Roland VG88, a Rat, a Boss compressor and a Roland DD20 delay. I gave Charly my Big Muff. I should have had a spare guitar. I didn´t bring it...thought it was "too much"...My 4th string broke...and then my 5th. Ouch!

Never play a gig without a torch...ever...

The audience was very enthusiastic. A good feeling. Ch was inmensely happy.

Charly´s show at Gesell Rock seems to have been quite chaotic and this one felt like a redemption. A recovery.

After the show Clerico at a restaurant by the sea. Back to the hotel at 7:00hs. Slept a couple of hours and back to Pinamar on a Plusmar bus. Slept and listened to Neil Young´s Prairie Wind on the bus.

Back home in Buenos Aires at 17:00hs.