Tour Diary

Adam Rafferty Gig Review @ Henflings – Ben Lomand,CA 8-21-08

Greetings Friends!

Well, I am back in NY after almost 2 weeks in California. Wow, what a great time, what nice folks and what PERFECT weather!

On the last night of the very successful Cali trip I played at a place in Ben Lomand, CA called “Henflings”. Yep, I scoured the net for venues in the area I knew I’d be…lo and behold they gave me a gig….thanks guys!

One of the tricky things about playing solo is the anticipation of a gig right before load-in, (although I am getting better at anticipating only the best!) When I showed up it was a happy-hour, beer drinkin biker type crowd and I basically hoped they’d dig the music. Ben Lomand is a quiet place so I just hung out on a bench in the great outdoors and warmed the fingers up.

As an audience started to collect and the sun went down it felt more and more like a gig. Here are some of the highlights:

A good friend and fabulous blues player named David Crane stopped by to sit in and play a few tunes. Dave and I were childhood best friends and he came to Cali at age 12….serendipitously he became a guitar player, and it was special to connect with him on a musical level.

Go ahead youtube!!! I was encouraged and delighted by how receptive the audience was. A fellow named John introduced himself and said he’d seen my youtube vids and was excited that I would be in his area! Yeah!

“Billie Jean” had people in the back movin’ & groovin’….I even had a die hard fan on crutches up and dancing during “I Wish”…yes my fans will dance even with broken ankles…that’s dedication!!!

I got to test the waters with some new songs as well…Gershwins “Someone To Watch Over Me” is brand new. I am working on balancing out the firey songs with lush ballads…

The sound system was great. There’s no better feeling for me than to look out and see smiles. Ahh, the curse of the musician! 🙂

And, just when I found myself questioning my own sanity as to why I am shlepping across the country to play there, driving and flying endless hours, John told me that years ago he saw Tommy Emmanuel play there for a small audience.

Cool! I must be doing something right!!! 🙂

P.S. Gig pictures will be up on https://www.myspace.com/adamraffertytrio – just go to pics & look for Henflings…

Steep into the Blues and then Jazz is Easy – 2008 Bay Area Guitar Workshop

By Adam Rafferty 1 Comment

Hey y’all. This week has been really a blast. I have been doing a small guitar workshop with a few students on “blues and jazz”.

I was not quite sure what my students were requesting when they asked for a blues meets jazz type workshop,but we managed to strike gold about 2/3 of the way through the week.

Most guitar players can get a pretty good blues feel happening but experience a “disconnect” when they switch into what they “think” is playing on jazz chord changes.

Here’s what we re-discovered:

What’s getting lost is the basic notion of what a key is. A key is a “central tone around which the others revolve” , not a scale. So, “D Blues” has D as it’s central tone. “D Blues” can be a major or minor key blues.

Now, if you have a ii-v-i in D Major, D major or minor blues could work. In the minor key, D minor blues will work.

Here’s what is important though, and here is the essence of the experience rather than the book smarts – you can get the depth, the nuance and the magic in your blues going and then plop it onto jazz changes.

Doing this and only this is limited – but spiritually, it is more correct than running scales and licks.

Once I was able to get the students into this “place”, or “zone”, or get their playing into the behavior of grooving, soulful blues, I had them play over me playing chord changes to tunes like “Autumn leaves”.

With ear to ear smiles and in a state of utter disbelief, here’s what they said:

“This feels too easy.”
“This feels like cheating.”
“I’m not even thinking.”
“I feel so relaxed.”
“I am not even trying.”

And so while I strongly advocate music school and becoming literate with reading, scales and theory, there is a BIG difference between learning vocabulary and learning how to speak or write with a “flow”. Essentially it’s “book smarts” and “street smarts” on a musical level…

Unless a teacher can take you into that “flow” all the scales and licks (book smarts) don’t mean squat!!!

Until next time…. keep swingin’

Adam Rafferty and Friends LIVE @ The Bar Next Door, NYC Gig Review 7/20/08

By Adam Rafferty Leave a Comment

Here I go, reviewing my own gigs again. It’s a tough job but someone’s gotta do it.

Last nights gig was a BLAST, and I hope that everyone had as much fun as I did. The audience was tough to read at first…New Yorkers are a tough bunch, but after the first set I had some believers, for sure. Actually the audience was listening intently, but just not showing a whole lotta love at first. A few Martinis in their bloodstream remedied that though! And…the special guests who performed were a knockout – more on them in a minute!

About the solo stuff…

I got to do a bunch of “first time” tunes. “Billie Jean” was a smashing success. “I Can’t Make You Love Me” – the tune made famous by Bonnie Raitt (I learned that an ex-NFL linebacker wrote it) got me points with the cocktail waitress, so that was good. I also got to perform 2 originals “Ciao Bella” which worked great, and a banjo type tune which well…still needs work!

About the guests…

She’s pretty, she’s got sex appeal, stage presence and actually can sing pretty good too! 🙂 Sabine Kuhlich from Germany sat in on a few tunes on vocals and sounded great. Highlights of her appearance were our Page / Plant trading of blues licks on “Stormy Monday” and an audience participation percussion groove on “So Danca Samba”. Even the bartenders got ice into their Martini shakers and got in on the fun…don’t tell their boss!

Check her out on the web:
https://www.sabinekuehlich.com/

Everyone got a taste of one of my favorite American Rock and Roll singer-songwriters (not to mention he’s a savvy record producer) – Jefferson Thomas. Folks, he’s got a vibe that is just real honest, real, and he tells a story when he sings his tunes! I am fortunate to have had Jeff stop by last night. He was scheduled to play Union Square outdoors earlier that day, and due to the heat, his gig was postponed. Hey – great for me, because I could then invite him to come and sit in. He brought a whole new flavor to the show!

And now check him out:
https://www.jeffersonthomas.com/

In short it was a fun night for all – the audience and us musicians as well! Isn’t that how it oughta be? I think so…

Greetings from CAAS in Nashville, TN!

By Adam Rafferty 5 Comments

I am sitting in the Nashville airport on the way home to NYC after having spent 3 uplifting days at the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society convention (CAAS).

I can’t even begin to tell you how much fun this was, and how many wonderful people I met. Not to mention, I heard some of the greatest pickers in the world.

(I will post all the photos on my myspace page soon, so take a look.)

What really thrilled me was to dive into a scene where I knew virtually no one, and within days I was embraced by the guys (and girls) there…I gave some lessons on how I do my solo arrangements – and I got some lessons too!

Buster B. Jones showed me some very cool fingerpicking stuff, gave me insights on rhythm…Tony McManus showed me some wildly beautiful celtic type patterns and techniques.

It was a blast to meet Pete Huttlinger, it felt like meeting an old friend – as we have had what appears to be a similar “jazz background” before entering the acoustic world (he’s been doing it a tad longer though!!!)

I also got to hear Chet’s music more and listen to the older players who are masters of that style. It really has such a happy “sound”. I’ve just been in a great mood from listening to it!

And…the young talent was VERY promising indeed! It was great to see the “young fellas” fired up about guitar.

The whole vibe of the event was upbeat and happy. The intent of all was to make nice music, and there was an overall attitude of camraderie and support.

Mark Pritcher and his team did a fabulous job of hosting a great event…Mark, THANK YOU!

Well…back home to NYC in a few minutes…the plane is boarding…see you soon!

Is the picture out there, or in here?

By Adam Rafferty 1 Comment

Greetings. I am on the plane back from Germany, just having performed with the Bennie Wallace 10 piece band. We did 2 concerts, but last night’s concert was at “Semperoper” – an unbelievably prestigious, beautiful concert hall, very much like Carnegie Hall – only much older and historic! Pics on myspace.

Before I go on (and this is not lip service) it was an honor to play with these 9 very, very excellent musicians. Yes, every one has a spark of genius, and it was a wake up call to never stop in the quest for excellence and musical understanding, ability and humility. I am honored that these guys would have me play with them as a peer.

=-=-=-

I watch my mind during my tours and gigs, and not only try to play great music, but to grow mentally and spiritually. There are always tough moments for me when I travel. They are mostly internal, and they give me the chance for growth.

2 nights ago, I found myself listening to some talks by Alan Watts on my laptop – he’s a well known scholar of Buddhism and eastern philosophy, and he was a key figure in explaining eastern ideas to westerners. He’s got this dry English accent and wit that make him fun to listen to. A night later, I stumbled on a “teachings of the Buddha” alongside the Bible in my hotel night-stand droor. Yeah Germany – you’re getting hip! As always, teachings were appearing before me as I needed them.

The previous tour in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky brought up in me a lot of “aversion”, a feeling of “pushing away”. Please don’t get me wrong if you were there and enjoyed the music – playing the music was a blast. However, I experienced this feeling in the pit of my stomach that something was just wrong and dealt with dissatisfaction, fear and doubt more than usual. Bravo – it pushed me out of my comfort zone, and resistance to the present moment arose. Time to grow!

We all do this when we are on line waiting for a slow cashier. It’s a “no”, a push that we feel inside. So I felt “no, I deserve more money, better hotels, more recognition, more publicity, easier travel” and so on. I made myself unhappy for much of it. I was grasping for “something better”.

In contrast, last night I stayed at the Hilton in Dresden, played with stellar musicians, in the most prestigous place I have ever played, got payed well and ate like a king. My feeling was, “wow ,of course this is cool, but it simply is what it is. I am here. So this is what I have been grasping for? It’s still me and my guitar, my mind, my fingers and I have to do my best. This is just as much NOW as Kentucky was NOW. Different, but not really, because I am always here in the NOW!”

It’s very hard to describe, but I saw a MAJOR flaw and built in guaranteed misery for all of us humans in the whole grabby-grasping for the things we want, and the pushing away of the things we don’t want. And magically, a book on Buddhism appeared in front of me.

I want to be serene more than I want anything. I guess I still want the pleasure, but there is a wide-awake delectability when there is calm, peace and acceptance. It’s a joy that is quiet and still – and always there if the tornado of the mind chills out!!! It’s a greater pleasure than a vacation, money, or ego inflation. It is the backdrop of inner peace.

The little Buddhism book from the hotel says many perfect things, but here’s the one closest to what I felt when I looked at this push-pull in my own mind:

“People grasp at things for their own imagined convenience and comfort; They grasp at wealth and treasure and honors; they cling desperately to mortal life.

They make arbitrary distinctions between existence and non-existence, good and bad, right and wrong. For people, life is a succession of graspings and attachments, and then, because of this , they must assume the illusions of pain and suffering.”

Can YOU see that attachment to the “good things” leads to misery when they are not there? Can you see that grasping to re-create a past experience is the hell of grasping, and that the present offers all that you’d need? Can you see that getting a nice big fat ego boost and enjoying it makes you thirst and kill for the next ego boost, which vanishes like a mirage?

Thank you life, for being the greatest teacher of all. See you tomorrow.