Big Sam, Abita Tour

This weekend I've got a friend in town so I decided to show him a good time native New Orleanian style. I took him to Big Sam for a good local show and the Abita brewery tour today. I don't have much to say about either so I will let the pictures do the talking.

On the way to Molly's for a pint.

At Molly's with a pint. This is Jeffrey.

At Blue Nile for Big Sam's Funky Nation. Good live band, definitely worth seeing live at some point during a New Orleans stay. However, I can see why they play live so much as opposed to relying on CD sales. It's hard to listen to a CD with a bunch of "throw your hands up" and "shake it, shake it!" all over it. That said, the music is tight, Sam is extremely energetic, and has a killer taste in sunglasses as you can see below. Somewhere, Grandmaster Flash is smiling.

Big Sam's guitar duder, Casey. My apologies to Casey for the picture but he never gave me a good shot.

My favorite picture of the night by far.

And finally, on to the Abita Brewery Tour. Kat is enjoying a beer before noon if I recall correctly.  She's a champ.  It's all delicious, it's all informative, it's all free. What more could a red blooded American ask for in a Saturday morning?

Cody maxing and relaxing after a few pints from the self-serve taps.

The glorious self-serve taps. Everything (almost) that Abita offers is available here. There are hundreds of cups stacked nearby for unlimited refills. The cups fill quickly, the lines progress with such a fervor of Americans realizing they had better move before this thing that is too good to be true ends, and every sip is ice cold. The end of the "tasting" (imbibing) is marked by the beginning of the tour into the brewery.

The brew tanks. These house the ales, lagers, and soon to be Belgian brews. Look for those this fall.

Many rounds later...

Studio

So in the past few months I've been putting together a studio. I've mainly been using it on the My Name Is John Michael stuff. So far I've accumulated what seems to be a pretty nice set up. That said, I'm always looking for other projects in the New Orleans area, whether that's just vocals, mixing, or mastering.

For those of you that might be interested in knowing the gear I have, check the following list:
Digidesign 003 Rack
DriveRack PX (for RTA with my monitors)
Event TR6 monitors
Neumann U473SP mastering compressors (pair)
Neumann PEa parametric EQs (pair)
dbx 162SL
dbx 163x
Neumann M 149 Tube
Audix SCX25a

and on the way:

Aurora Audio GTQ-2
Focusrite Octopre LE
AKG D112

So, as I've said, if anyone is interested, please contact me about recording/mixing/mastering at drinks11@gmail.com

Tour Details!

I've gotten some info on tour dates so I figured I'd pass them along. The Theresa Andersson tour will start June 6th in Natchez, MS and I should arrive back in New Orleans July 29th. Here are some of the dates in between:

Jun 6 - natchez, ms @ bowie's tavern
Jun 7 - oxford, ms @ two stick
Jun 10 - atlanta, ga @ eddie's attic
Jun 11 - greenville, sc @ handlebar
Jun 12 - charlotte, nc @ visualite theatre
Jun 13 - baltimore, md @ chop shop
Jun 14 - philadelphia, pa @ world cafe upstairs
Jun 15 - brooklyn, ny @ union hall
Jun 16 - new york, ny @ pianos
Jun 17 - new york, ny @ living room
Jun 18 - vienna, va @ jammin java
Jun 19 - charlottesville, va @ gravity lounge

We'll be flying off to Stockholm on the 22nd and playing apparently another 17 shows in Europe before flying back.

In August, after an Iowa wedding, I'll be heading out with the Allman Brothers sticking mainly to the Northeast:

Aug 12 - Bethel, NY - Bethel Center
Aug 13 - Wantagh, NY - Nikon Theater
Aug 15 - Holmdel, NJ - PNC Center
Aug 16 - Mansfield, MA - Tweeter Center
Aug 19 - Saratoga Springs, NY - Saratoga PAC
Aug 20 - Hartford, CT - Meadows
Aug 22 - Canandaigua, NY - Constellation Brands PAC
Aug 23 - Camden, NJ - Susquehanna Center
Aug 25 - Hershey, PA - Hershey Star Pavillion
Aug 27 - Clarkston, MI - DTE Eneregy Theater
Aug 28 - Chicago, IL - Chapter One Pavillion
Aug 30 - Morrison, CO - Red Rocks

This tour seems unusually short for the Allman Brothers but we'll just have to see. Gregg Allman has been recovering from Hepatitis C for months so they are still figuring out a touring schedule that will not be too strenuous for him. I was told initially that the tour would stretch from August into October but that may be it folks.

On a side note, I purchased a new camera recently so you may actually see photos shot by yours truly appearing in this blog soon. I will certainly take lots of pictures of the Theresa tour and as many as I can of ABB (they do not allow cameras or even cell phones on stage and that includes band, crew, visitors, etc).

Check back soon and often for updates!

And finally, a couple of pictures:

New Tours!

Hey people,

Sorry it's been so incredibly long since I've last posted. I just got out of the habit I suppose. Here's what's been going on:

Since January 1st, I have been a part of the mynameisjohnmichael.com project. It is a local New Orleanian (John Michael Rouchell) writing, recording, mixing, and releasing one song a week for the entire year. We've recently passed song #20 and still going strong. Make sure to visit the site and catch up on the songs. There's definitely good stuff in there.

Second, I'm going on more tours this summer. During the months of June and July, I'll be with local artist Theresa Andersson in New York, England, Sweden, Holland, Norway, and maybe Finland. When I arrive back in New Orleans, I'll be home for a short week then it's off to tour with the Allman Brothers again until possibly middle of October. Needless to say, I'm going to be very busy.

I will keep everyone updated on the tours via this blog as much as I can so stay tuned.