Inktober 2020 - #26 to #31

 Here's my last six Inktober 2020 drawings.

#26 - Hide.

#27 - Music.

#28 - Float

My first idea was to use the Mohammad Ali quote, "Float like a butterfly...sting like a bee." But, I change my mind, as I already use a boxer for another prompt this month. I'll save this for another time.

#29 - "Shoes"

#30 - "Ominous"

#31 - "Crawl.  Thanks goes to my wife for suggesting a caterpillar.  So how Mothra popped in the mind.

So, that it for another Inktober.  Overall, I think it has been my most successful as far a good drawings.

Sunday Music Muse Day - Bob Sneider & Mike Melito, Bill Frisell

This Sunday Music Muse Day finds the weather turning nippy, a reminder that winter is coming. My latest finds will warm you heart.  First is a real gem, a bittersweet reminder of what we missed last summer, with no jazz festival.  Bob Sneider, Melito and Phil Flanigan All Through the Night is a tribute session to the after hours jam session Bob hosted for the Rochester International Jazz Festival for many years.  This 2006 studio session was recorded in Brooklyn NY., but has the feel of RIJF jam sessions.  An added bonus is John Snieder, Bob's talented brother, adding his Trumpet on two tracks.  Lets hope we can see them all play live again next year, at the usual time and place.

Next is simply titled, Bill Frisell Quartet.  This quirky session, even for Frisell, as "Much of the music has ben arranged for the quartet using themes originally written for film...Tales from the Far Side, an animated TV special created by (cartoonist) Gary Larson."  I like Larson twisted humor, so this CD will grew on me.  Charlie Brown's Christmas it ain't. Still there much to like in this.

You might think of getting some fire wood for one last fire pit gathering, or prep the indoor fireplace for use. There is a chill in the air, either way good tunes will warm your heart. Enjoy.

Inktober 2020 #18 to #25

 Here the next Inktober 2020 drawings:

#18 - "Trap".

#19 - "Dizzy".

Here's a earlier boxer drawing from Inktober 2018.  Looks like our boxer is not having a good career.

#20 -" "Coral" 

#21 - "Sleep".  No one attempted to answer my movie quiz question in my Facebook post, so I added the answer on the image, here.

#22 - "Chef".  Sadly, this was the first chef that came to mind.

#23 - "Rip". I lot of artist went with "Rest In Peace".

#24 - "Dig".  I'm slightly repeating myself with this/

#25 - Buddy".  Many artist went with "Buffy the Elf".

The pattern on the left is actually from a 1969 doodle, flopped. A cheap Peter Max attempt. It one continuous line. The original is discolored by water damage, but I was able to clean it up digitally. I might try to do something with it, later.

Six more to go....To be continues

Sunday Music Muse Day - Julian Lage, Kurt Rosenwinkel, No Laughing presented by Warped Sky Stray Clouds

 This Sunday Music Muse Day find us having a changeable fall weather day, Sunday, then cloudy, then windy.  Just the kind of day to enjoy these young jazz guitarists, who I think of as new guard picking up the torch from my 70's  guitar favorites, like John McLaughlin, the late John Abercrombie, and John Scofield.  Kurt Rosenwinkel Deep Song is solid outing from musician who has established himself solidly in the New York jazz scene.  

My second is Julian Lage Arclight. Another guitarist who has made his mark first as child prodigy, then as band leader, noted sideman with Gary Burton, among others, and educator. I hear strains of John Scofield and Abercrombie in the CD, and a little playfulness of Bill Frisell. Well worth a listen.

This week Warped Sky Stray Clouds entry is the continuation of my travel down the Rabbit Hole I started last week with the word "fancy" from the Inktober prompt, which led to my tale of the folk group Solidier's Fancy, led by singer Marie Mularczyk.  As I said, I was a friend of Marie through another musician friend and co-worker, Paul Kovit,  Paul was excellent folk guitarist and song writer, but he had a desire to play drums, so he got the idea to rent a practice studio, invite some friends to come play and jam so he could bang on the drums.  I asked me, and after heavy arm-twisting, I agreed. Paul was much better guitarist and musician than me. At the studio we were joined by...Marie Mularczky on acoustic guitar and vocals, Jerry Mastriano on electric bass, and female singer guitar who only came to a a couple of early session, not sure it was Hazel. I play my Fender Stratocaster with my EFX rack. We ended up playing Irish Folk tunes which I never played before. Paul named the ad-hoc group "No Laughing", is in no one was to laugh at his mistakes as novice drummer.  Well there was plenty of good hearted laughs in the year of bi-weekly sessions.  We start recording the sessions for fun.  In the end I thing we surprised ourselves.

So, that brings me to the deeper the the Rabbit Hole, as I kept the cassettes, recorded on my Walkman, from our collection year and half session. I listened them and decided to do a "best of..." video.  This is done very tongue-in-cheek, leaning heavy on nostalgia of old friendships. That said, we don't sound half bad. No worst that any ad hoc band you find playing some small local bar/restaurant to a near empty room except for close friends and family of the band.

In putting this video together, I imagined it as the live set we'd do in funky bar. 

No Laughing - In Studio - Live

"Susanna Martin" - About a maiden accused of being a Salem Witch.

"Back Home in Derry" - A tale of an Irishman's journey to the Australian Penal colony. (This is my Favorite tune,                                           the parallel to the American slave trade was enlightening.

"Liverpool Lullaby (Mucky Kid) - Tale of Victorian slum living (I got make good use of my guitar efx)

"Ready for the Storm" - Sailor fighting the raging seas.

The fun aspect for me was I got to play Irish/Scottish folk tunes I would have never sought out. Paul and Marie pulled those from your play list. Paul and Marie worked out the basic arrangements and over time we came to group arrangement.  I was allow come up with guitar parts, using my Fender Stratocaster and efx rack.

But, slipping deeper in the creative Rabbit Hole, I made a music video telling the stories in the songs.

Not to stop there I pulled two other tunes, "Bonus Tracks", which I made a separate video for. One is my only original tune presented the band, "Dream Again", done with my average vocal and a nice vocal back up by Marie. The second is our merciless butchering of the Lou Reed's "Sweet Jane".  We loved the tune, even if we could do it justice, but it was fun to play.

That's the real bottomline, Those were fun times. an I hope to share them with my old bandmates, if I can track them down. Exiting the Rabbit Hole...for now.

Inktober 2020 - #11 to #17 drawings

 Here's the next batch of Inktober 2020 drawings.

#11- Disgusting & #12 Slippery, combine. Some time is you get behind schedule you can combine prompts, instead of giving up.

#13 - Dune.

#14 - Armor

Based on one of my favorite pictures of my sons at play.

#15 - Outpost.

This old, very faded, old sci-fi idea, from 1971, came to mind.  The figure is from a lunch time sketch book (2010).

 The figure is from a lunch time sketch book (2010).

#16 - "Rocket". Remembering my first rocket.

#17 - "Storm". The X-men character drawn as tribute to my animation friends who worked on the original animated series.

To be continued...

Sunday Music Muse Day - Mike Melito/Dino Losito Quartet, Bill Evens, Soldier's Fancy

This Sunday Music Muse Day find me celebrating the new release of friend, and October birthday boy, Mike Melito, with The Mike Melito/Dion Losito Quartet You're It. This a tasty and highly anticipated CD has Mike and company deliveriing a solid and smooth swinging session.  I glad CD player use lasers and not needles or I wear this out in not.  I picked my copy at Bop Shop Records, you can, too.  Support you local musicians and retailer.  We need them both.

To round out my weekend music, here's Bill Evans Trio On A Monday Evening.  This a live recording of a date at the Madison Mission Theatre in Madison. WI. on Monday November 15, 1976. The liner note say even with the rise of electric jazz fusion and Bill's Heath issues "brought on my years of narcotic addiction, was still at the top of his game in'76".  I rarely hear a Evans recording when he's not.  This will been get plenty of hearing time from me.

Time for another additional extra, which a start with a Inktober 2020 drawing.  It curious how one word can launch you down a creative rabbit hole that would make Alice think twice.  Inktober's # 7 prompt was the word "Fancy".  Simple, enough but my brain immediately jump to "Soldier Fancy",  which was the folk group of friend back in the 1980's n New York City.

I was pressed for time, so I Google "Soldier Fancy" the song and the group. First thing to pop up was a paint titled "Soldier's Fancy" by Henry Victor Lesur.

This was a good start point for me.  I dug into Google more and found one version of the song on youtube, not by the Soldier" fancy I knew.  There isn't an online version of original group, Marie Mularczyk, Hazel Pilcher, and Jerry Mastriano doing the song (there has been additional members at different times)   There was a Soldier's Fancy reunion concert held in 2018 at the Folk Music Society of New York, although only Marie Mularczyk  remained from the group in he '80s.  The concert info mentioned Soldier's Fancy was featured at the first Annual Village Voice Festival of Street Entertainers. 

As it happens,  I have a cassette of the event, Street Heat, given to me by Marie, stored with my  Warped Sky cassettes. Plus, I had another cassette, Ballads Broadsides and Bad News, with Marie, Hazel and Jerry, which has the song Soldier's Fancy" on it, so I played the tune to refresh my memory on the lyrics

I decided to do drawing inspire the lyrics of their title song.  I tend to do my drawing in the early evening, in about 2-3 hours.  This came out well.

I decide to add gray tones later.

But as finished the the rabbit hole sucked me in deeper.  I needed to make a video using the tracks from the cassettes and my art.  But, one element was missing, I remembered I had a old Soldier's Fancy concert flyer somewhere my art file, that wild be perfect the video.  Of course, I didn't know exact where, so that meant search through boxes and art files in the basement. Three hours later I found it.

So, I gather the artwork and transferred the tunes from the cassette and make this video.

But the travel in the Rabbit hole are to be continue,  next week.  You see, as I said I was a friend of Marie through another musician friend, Paul Kovit,  he's the opening act on the Soldier Fancy concert flyer.  Paul was excellent folk guitarist and song writer, but he had a desire to play drums, so he got the idea to rent a practice studio, invite some friends to come play and jam so he could bang on the drums.  I asked me, and after heavy arm-twisting, I agreed. Paul was much better guitarist and musician than me. At the studio we were joined by...Marie Mularczky on acoustic guitar and vocals, Jerry Mastriano on electric bass, and female singer guitar who only came to a a couple of early session, not sure it was Hazel. I play my Fender Stratocaster with my EFX rack. We ended up playing Irish Folk tunes which I never played before. Paul named the ad-hoc group "No Laughing", is in no one was to laugh at his mistakes as novice drummer.  Well there was plenty of good hearted laughs in the year of bi-weekly sessions.  We start recording the sessions for fun.  In the end I thing we surprised ourselves.

Next week.  Enter No Laughing.