Operation Gig

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At the Japanese House with Brass Queens

At the Japanese House with Brass Queens

I had the pleasure of playing not one but TWO events presented by Operation Gig over the weekend. If you aren’t familiar with the series, Operation Gig has been presenting crowd-funded outdoor gigs to help support working musicians through the Covid era. The concerts are hosted throughout porches in Ditmas Park, one of my absolute favorite neighborhoods in all of New York City.

Amor Prohibido pre-show. Yuka Tadano on bass and Rich Stein hiding back there on percussion.

Amor Prohibido pre-show. Yuka Tadano on bass and Rich Stein hiding back there on percussion.

Saturday’s concert featured the triumphant return of Amor Prohibido: The Must of Selena. I fall in love with her songbook the more I play it and it is truly a joy to play with each and everyone in that group! Sunday’s concert was with Brass Queens at the famed Japanese House and it was amazing to play with those ladies after being away in California for three weeks!

It felt really good to have back to back weekend gigs after a difficult year of lockdowns and cancellations. The Ditmas Park community came out strong both days and it was a delight to share both of these projects with everybody.

Me and some absolute legends who came out to Brass Queens: Jo Lampert, Kate Freer, Barrie Lobo-McLain, and Ada Westfall.

Me and some absolute legends who came out to Brass Queens: Jo Lampert, Kate Freer, Barrie Lobo-McLain, and Ada Westfall.

The Ballad of Cyclic Change

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On Saturday, I played a Juneteenth concert at the Ballad of Cyclic Change, a multimedia collaborative art project with interactive sculptures by Kathy Creutzburg, Mirabai Kwan Yin, Jake Elkin and Aya Harota.

Mirabai is an old friend of mine: her husband Ric Becker was my very first NYC/Mannes friend. Shortly after meeting, we formed my first NYC band, Just Puppets! Ric played trombone and percussion alongside me, Jess Tsang (another Mannes alum), and Jake Elkin, in a contemporary program of Braxton, Rzewski, and more. We got out there, especially on one of Jake’s compositions for electronics and spoken word. It was a wonderful and weird way to spend a beautiful Saturday morning in one of Manhattan’s many community gardens.

More on the installation from the artists:
Inspired by the biogeochemical cycles and how they mirror cycles in human lives, we built acoustic kinetic sculptures from upcycled everyday materials and created musical compositions using the sculptures as instruments. By connecting human stories of transition to nature’s cycles we encourage people to feel connected to their planet.

It's All Happening!

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Knock on wood, but things seem to be getting back to “normal” here in NYC. In fact, we were treated to a fireworks show last night to mark a huge milestone: 70% of our population has received at least one dose of the vaccination. Let’s keep it up, NY!

For the first time in 15 months, I decided to add some shows to my calendar! Saturday, I get to play an ART INSTALLATION! How cool is that? Ballad of Cyclic Change is a collaborative art project my friend Mirabai worked on. I’m not exactly sure what I’m playing on and how, but it’s going to be a really cool hour of musical exploration. Sunday, I am playing a rooftop concert right here in Brooklyn with Brass Queens, hosted by Kid Krill.

In addition to the shows, an educational piece I’ve been working on for nearly a year will be posted to Phish.net (yes, it’s combining my two favorite things: drumming + Phish) and a recording I did with the Quarantined Woodwind Ensemble is forthcoming as well, so stay tuned for those.

I will be spending the first three weeks of July visiting my wife’s family in California, so if you are in LA or the Bay Area, please hit me up for hangs, jams, shows, or lessons!

Thanks for reading and hit that subscribe button above to stay in the know. Peace!

Served Up Live

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Last night I joined Brass Queens for a performance of Served Up held at Culture Lab LIC. It was the first time I’ve performed on an actual stage since March! It felt wonderful to play with a group of women for a group of women.

Drumming at Pride

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Reclaiming Pride 🏳️‍🌈

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Happy Pride, ya’ll! While things around here have been unusual to say the least, it was nice to get out and do a little bit of celebrating, protesting, and drumming at yesterday’s “Reclaim Pride” event here in NYC. I played with a solid crew of drummers with Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Choir. It was a hot one and my hands were pure goo after playing street beats for three hours straight. Worth it!

That's a Wrap: City of Angels

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I just finished a 4-show run of City of Angels with St. Bart’s Players, the longest running community theater in New York! The book is almost entirely swing so I wanted to use some of my “jazz” cymbals that don’t get a whole lot of use these days. Unfortunately, the gig was in a boomy church so I had to play extremely quietly and those dark, dry cymbals just don’t get enough rebound at soft dynamics, so I swapped them out for some old faithful As. I did, however, get to use my vintage Rogers snare which sounded particularly good for brushwork. It was great to play with my Grinch fam, Joe Graziosi, as well as MD Jon Audric Nelson.

Ring of Keys' 2nd Birthday @ Joe's Pub

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I had a most excellent time playing with these ladies at the 2nd birthday for Ring of Keys at Joe’s Pub on Sunday night. Hearing Julianne Merrill on a grand piano was, frankly, mindblowing. And even though this was a cabaret, the bass was pumping and Meghan Rose was holding. it. down. Special thanks to Emily Erickson for all of her hard working prepping the music for us!

That's a Wrap: Broadway Across America Conference

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I had a fantastic 30-something hours in the Bahamas playing for presentations of the Karate Kid & Empire Records at the Broadway Across America conference. It was nice to see some old friends and make some new ones in a tropical climate in February! Congratulations to Drew Gasparini and Zoe Sarnak on their new shows! And shouts to the amazing Erica Rotstein who keeps one-upping herself on gig locations. I owe you, lady! 

On the Radar: More Selena!

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As you may recall, we had a helluva time doing a Selena tribute at Barbes a few months ago. Such a good time that we are doing it again! This time in Bushwick presented by Barrio Collection, in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Selena’s last concert (it is a gift from God that footage from that event exists). We packed Barbes last time and hope to do it again at Gold Sounds (tickets available here). Hope to see you there!

Selena @ Barbes

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I am still radiating joy from the all-Selena show I played at Barbes over the weekend. This gig had been in the books for quite sometime. With only a few rehearsals, I was pretty nervous about it to tell you the truth!

I’ve played a lot of Latin styles in my career, but never cumbia, the folk music of Colombia, which is the basis for many of the grooves in Selena’s repertoire. After understanding the fundamentals of the style, I had to figure out how to adapt it to the drum set and share duties with only one other percussionist, who I only had one rehearsal with. Thankfully Brian Adler is a true pro and with his guidance, we were easily able to divvy up responsibilities.

On the day of the show, I finalized what my setup would be: after toying with it on the left, I mounted a cowbell on the right side of the kit, used mostly my left hand to cover maracones with the hi-hat, and left the snares off to play some timbale-like fills. Brian covered congas, bongos, and a ton of fun “toys."

I am happy with the way it turned out and thought I would share the entire recording. Here’s the personnel and setlist:

La carcacha—>
Techno cumbia
No me queda más
Si una vez
Como la flor
I could fall in love
Dreaming of you
Baila está cumbia—>
Amor prohibido
Tu solo tu
El chico del apartamento 512—>
Bidi Bidi bom bom
E: La carcacha —>Techno cumbia

Jenny Luna: vocals
Barrie Lobo McLain: backup vocals
Sky Steele: synths, violin, backup vocals
Joshua Camp: accordion, keys
Michael Winograd: clarinet, saxophone
Ilusha Tsinadze: guitar
Mike Lavalle: bass
Ashley Baier: drums
Brian Adler: percussion