Thursday, October 1, 2009

October 2009 E-News

Quote of the Month
“It’s not life that matters. It’s the courage that we bring to it.” Yogi Tea label

Blog
October’s harvest moon and Fall will be in bloom when I head north to Eaton, NH this month to begin recording in earnest my John Lennon tribute project with good old friend Tom Dean of Devonsquare. I am projecting this recording’s release for JL’s 70th birthday in 2010. This will be as big, if not bigger in scope than our Time It Was Simon & Garfunkel songbook CD that Neal and I did with Pete Fornatale last year. In fact Pete has already signed up to write the liner notes for it and Neal has volunteered to play some lead guitar against Tommy’s amazing rhythm tracks. It’ll primarily feature acoustic versions of John’s Beatles’ songs, some of them interwoven and “smashed” together, plus snippets of John’s voice detailing many of those songs. It will also feature montage snippets (there’s that word again) of his more emotive songs beginning with the word “I” - preceded by his plaintive passionate “Is there anybody going to listen to my story…” from Girl. This project will be a blast, a true labor of LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. Meanwhile it’s John’s 69th birthday on the October 8th. We love you John. We miss you still and always will.

ATS has been selected to perform at one of the Far West Folk Alliance’s Premier Showcases in Irvine, CA next month. To our west coast contingency, we were unfortunately unable to book dates to surround it this time out but we’re hoping to start playing the western region on a more regular basis, especially if all goes well in Irvine.

Happy 35th Birthday my dear son Rufus! Fare the well Mary Travers.

1 comment:

M Kehren said...

Rex - Here are my wish list of JL tunes for you to record/perform:

"Real Love" - Your voice is perfect for this tune and I can just imagine at TD and Neal guitar track!

"Dear Prudence" - See above.

Any of the JL tracks from _Rubber Soul_

Are you going to do a recording of Johnny's an Angel and the tune from your Gettysburg album ("Just Another...")?

Aside from the lyrics, I've always loved the verse, chorus, and bridge chords in Johnny's an Angel. I also love how you invoke 1960s pop cultural geographical imaginations with the "left at Greenland."

Keep strumming!