Welcome back?

I think Facebook has killed the casual blogger. Anything I have to say is there and there are only so many places to post....oh, and I turn 40 next week!

Max on Halloween

Weekend on Martha's Vineyard

Kathy, Max and I finally made it up to Martha's Vineyard to visit Grandma & Don (Max's GREAT Grandparents!)

Max Leland - the first Video

iphone

iPhone is as freakin' cool as I thought it would be

Elton John & Billy Joel - Concert 3/14/09

I have seen this "face To Face" tour twice before (and have seen Elton and Billy do thier own headliner shows) but this may have been the best of the bunch.

Highlights:

My Life
Movin Out
Burn Down The Mission
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Zanzabar
Angry Young Man
Birthday / Back In the USSR (McCartney has to be their collective biggest influence)

Billy has a new young band (and Long Island Guys!) Elton has the same guys since 1972.

Most people told me they liked Billy better. He lost weight, his voice was great, he had a better rapport with the audience.

I would say that it was VERY close. I can't really pick a winner.

The loser was the audience that had to suffer through "Uptown Girl". They did a bad song badly. What I like best about these shows is when Billy Sings an Elton verse that sounds like he should have written it and vice versa (like My Life works on another level as an Elton song, Guess That's Why they call it the Blues works as a Billy Song) ... We'll uptown girl, about a poor boy from Downtown NY who wants to get a girl from uptown does not work sung by a gay Brit wearing $2,000 sun glasses

2009

2009 is gonna be the best year ever! (you know I can rock a superlative like nobody's business)

Here is why

The Luxury Kings (www.theluxurykings.com)

Rocksploitation (www.rocksploitation.com)

Eric Leland - Solo Acoustic Guitar & Vocal (www.ericleland.com)

This is gonna be the year of quality gigs...just you wait and see!

~e

Show with John Faye last night

Kirk and I (as Nine Times Blue) opened for John Faye (of Caufields, John Faye Power Trip and Ike) as well as Cliff Hillis. They are what I consider professional singer/songwriters (as in this is their job, they have big league tallent and sounded damn near perfect).

I also got a new guitar to use for this show. A Michael Kelly "Hybrid" acousic electric. I think this might be going back to the store. It, like most Hybrid things does two things, but not as well (on either side) as I hoped.

I thought we had a good set, a good audience, good sound system, but our guitars clashed and I am not sure if it was the new guitar or that Kirks had not been intonated in a long long time.

I think in the future we may be better off with me playing lead on Kirks songs and then doing a few solo rather than trying to keep the two guitar thing going... or just improve our gear.

John and Cliff did 5 song sets and traded off about every 1/2 hour. I liked this way of doing things. They did play "Purple Rain" together as an oncore.

Singer in a Rock & Roll Band

I made the very scary move from bassist to bassist/singer this month. I also did my 1st solo gig (acoustic guitar and vocals). These gigs proved two things (1) I have become a good enough player that I can just think about vocals while performing and (2) That I need to train my voice in order to get though more than a dozen songs.

Found a spray called vocal-eze that I will use next time. I was hoping it would make me sound better, but I think it just makes my throat stay coated.

Got a good suggestion from my wife (sing from your gut or you will sound like you are immitating your brother) and good feedback from Mark Scarbrough (you sound the best you ever have 'cause you pushed your voice instead of singing from your head/nose) I think they were making the same point, although I am a big fan of Adam's nasal singing style.

New Music (and some from my youth)

Marc Olsen - The Salvation Blues - Beautiful and sad and very personal record. Good news it there are great songs here too.

Elvis Costello -Momofuku - Costello's best since Spike. (Meaning that he is guilty of trying too hard post 1988, this CD he is in the moment, a very good thing)

Steve Windwood - Nine Lives - Forget that the 1980's happened. Steve sounds like the Steve Windwood of Traffic with some late 1970's world music mixed in.

Mudcrutch - Mudcrutch (feat. Tom Petty & Mike Campbell) Recorded live in the studio in a three week session. Scare Easy should have been a #1 hit for them.

John Mellencamp - Life Death Hope & Freedom - T-Bone Burnette kicked him into gear to do a record of originals that sound like his blues covers Cd from a few years back


..........and from the way back collection:

Blondie - Parallel Lines (30 years later it remains one of the great pop-rock-punk records)

Huey Lewis & The News - Sports I needed to hear Heart & Soul, so I downloaded the whole thing, great tunes, super slick, more soul / r&b that I remembered, and a great Honkey Tonk Blues as the last track

Frank Zappa - You Can't Do This On Stage Anymore (Vol 1-6) , The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life, Broadway The Hard Way (ok, maybe 20 hours of live Zappa is more that you can digest in one lifetime, but for the brave, this is some great stuff. Live in NY and Baby Snakes might be his BEST live recordings, but I've played them to where I know every note by now.

Solo acoustic this Thursday

My first ever acoustic solo show.

Sort of

I've enlisted my brother Adam to sit in for the 1st set for some moral support.

The Details:

When: Thursday, August 7th from 8:00pm-11:45pm
Where: Firebird Rotisserie and Sports Bar
4719 Ashford Dunwoody Road, Dunwoody, Georgia 30338
(770-804-8288)

New Website: www.ericleland.com

Today I purchased www.ericleland.com and directed it to this blog page

This site will help me link to various sites and projects I am working on, such as

www.rocksploitation.com Rocksploitaion, the band

www.theluxurykings.com The Luxury Kings, the band

www.demagogue.net Demagogue Productions, the record label

There has to be some way to link this to my google calender.....

2008 - A Good Music Year (so far)

Brighter Than Creation's Dark - Drive By Truckers

Vagabonds - Gary Louris

Warpaint - The Black Crowes

Accelerate - R.E.M.



Plus they all have direct ties to Atlanta / Athens (Gary Louris is managed locally and produced by Chris Robinson)

Where has he been for the last 2 years?

I can remember way back in 2005....those were the days

Then I forgot my password to Blogger

So now I'm back

It's like when a TV show is over for the season, then they just pick back up like nothing had happened

...lucky you

The Chronic....

http://www.youtube.com/watch.php?v=oZOsgQC8qqM&search=snl

 

 

 

SNL hit the mark two weeks in a row (A-always, B-be, C-cobbling from last week was dead on as well)

 

 

Chris Whitley Obit

Chris Whitley 1960-2005

Chris Whitley 1960-2005

 

One of the most phenomenal singers songwriters and slide guitar players I have ever seen. Chris was the one artist that drew Luke and Jason and I together in the first place to play original music. I saw Chris perform 6 times. Opening for Tom Petty in 1991 with Adam at Lakewood, at Center Stage in 1992 with Jason, twice in 1995 with Luke at The Highlander, and twice at The Cotton Club with Mark, Luke, Jason, Shew & Jerry. Each show was unique. Some were full band, some were acoustic, some were blisteringly loud, some were intimate and direct. Every show was top notch.  There are a whole lot of great records to enjoy (and a new one set for this month). I'll miss not being able to see him perform. I hope he gets the credit he deserves from the music world.

 

Sorry about your dad Tadpole....

 

This was on www.chriswhitley.com

 

 Words from Trixie Whitley:

My father took his last breath last night the 20th of November. I would like to make it clear that the people he needed and loved the most were with him while and when he left in peace. Those were Dan, Susann and me.
I would also like to ask you guys to understand there is a very fine line between Chris Whitley the legendary musician and Chris Whitley the Father, Brother, and Lover.

This was my Dad's favorite line from the first song I ever wrote, this is for you Daddy:

"Like the feather we blow away, in the thoughtlessness of words others say."

All faith and peace,
Trixie Whitley

--
Eric Leland
www.leland-nation.com