What's new...

Man, I need to start blogging more than once a month! @jomarbassman is cranking them out once almost every other day it seems, and it's all ways fresh! Follow his Twitter and check his blog, it's good stuff!

On the music front: Brooke Nicholls' Set at The Opera House August 7th was off the hook...so much that they asked us to come back Sept. 3rd (all ages, $15 in advance, $20 at the door)) and Sept. 4th at the Rivoli (+19, no advance sales, $10 at the door) We're working on an arrangement where you may be able to purchase one ticket for both shows, more on that later!

Really having a fun time with this band BTW...great bunch of guys (and gal!), and we're having a great time putting together the live show and playing off each other's strengths...that aforementioned Aug. 7 show won us some free recording at Chalet Studio (a division of Chalet Communications); looking forward to spending some time there banging out Brooke's next hit tune!

Checked in with my old pal Matisse this past week (on Facebook, natch); he's a busy guy, not only working on new solo material but simultaneously working on a new mixtape with Keys N Krates; hoping to get a chance to work with either or both acts sometime again, those were good days that I hope will come around again!

Still no luck on locating my missing ZX, or the other three instruments and the pedals that went with it...I've taken up the Electric Upright Bass (EUB) to "comfort" myself in my time of loss...did I say comfort? Let's correct that with CHALLENGE myself! It's a different mindset and a totally different set of finger muscles that are used. I've messed around with EUBs and 3/4 acoustic uprights at the store, but not over any length of time, like now. So glad I started using the SIMANDL method of fingering (1-2-4) over OFPF (one finger per fret) on electric bass awhile back, it's made the transition a LOT easier than what I hear it would have been...however, it's a great stretch (no pun intended, though the term is quite accurate), and I'm looking forward to adding that skill-set to my palette...gotta get a bow and start working on that too!

Capstone Recording Studios is up and running (please note that while it housed in the same building, it is a separate entity of Capstone Lesson Studios, so no worries/concerns about conflict with my day gig, okay?) Contact me at 905-320-3593 or by e-mail for rates and availability, I think you'll be happy with what we can accomplish there!

Continuing to work on stuff for the fall with 24/7...the summer rock series is going really well, come out this Sunday Aug. 22nd, the cover tune is "My Generation" by The Who; immediately after the service, we're going to have a coffee house in the Upper Room Cafe with Bianca Bernardi of Burlington, ON bring us an acoustic set! Don't miss it, this young lady is awesome and you want to say twenty years from now that you were there!

More stuff coming this fall, including a project that I'll give more details on next time around...really excited!!!...until next time, hopefully it won't be too long this time!!!

New gear, new philosophy, summer stuff...

So, I FINALLY got that M-288 Bass Octave Deluxe pedal I blogged about say, 8 weeks ago now? It rocks. Really rocks! Get a great Moogerfooger like sound when using it with my MXR M-188 Bass Auto Q Pedal. Gonna be killer on funk gigs and stuff where I need to cover synth parts. I believe my pedal board is pretty much complete...

...but I'm probably going to be leaving it at home more often. WHAT???

...on some gigs, I use it like crazy. On the rock gigs though, I pretty much only use the overdrive and distortion pedals, and I can approximate that sound with my amp...and on gigs like Keys N Krates, on some of the small stages I play with them, it takes up way too much real estate. So, depending on the gig, you may not be able to hear the M-288...but...

...I am planning to (finally!) track some of my original ideas over the summer, in between the few gigs I have currently scheduled and prepping to get into Berklee (Online) for the winter or spring semester 2010. Some of the stuff will be full band, other stuff will be solo pieces, so you should hear it being (hopefully) tastefully used here and there!

Look out for GTA artist Danian , looks like I'll be doing a few shows with her over the next few months; details once the dates and bands are confirmed, but check out her tunes, and contact her for bookings. Great vocals, she's going places in my opinion!

Again, still looking for more gigs, still looking for students, so send 'em my way! Good Night!



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Now playing: Brandy - Almost Doesn't Count
via FoxyTunes

Sacrebleu!

Wow, what a weekend! An outing with Keys N Krates is never without adventure, and this past weekend did not disappoint!

I left Burlington to pick up the boys at Sole Power around 11:30 last Wednesday...the thought was that rather than driving all day and doing sound check and set up on arrival (being all worn out from driving), we would drive through the night, check into the hotel, and relax for the day. Well, I lasted behind the wheel until about 2:30 and then Flo took over, and I crashed. Next think I know, it's daylight and we're stopping at McDonalds somewhere around Montreal for breakfast...then Tune got behind the wheel (we don't let Matisse drive...long story...) and headed for beautiful Lac-Beauport and the Manoir Sainte Castin Hotel...oh, it's just gorgeous up there, I wouldn't mind heading back up there for business or pleasure at all! Nice clean atmosphere, and one of the best hotels I've ever had the pleasure of staying in!

The staff at the Archibald Microbrassarie was great, great sound, we had a killer party going on...the place was packed out, I heard it was one of the largest they've had at that venue, around 550 or so rocking out to the remix by Keys N Krates! Sounds like they'll be heading back for more, and hopefully yours truly will be along for the ride!

So, after we dragged ourselves out of bed the next morning (the only negative at 'Castin was that there's no late check out, so we had to boogie by 11) to head for the next gig in Montreal. So after tracking down Matisse's jacket at some studio in the industrial area (still not sure of how that story came about...) we arrived at the venue, Tabu Lounge for set up. We had a nice little crowd for a more intimate performance, once again wowing the crowd...BTW, if you're still not hip to what reinventing the remix is all about, head over to http://www.keysnkrates.com and check out what the show's all about...and then make it a point to get out to the next show that's in a venue close to you...or even far!

Where was I? Oh yeh, so we hooked up with Flo's boy Kevin and headed back to the Prisonlodge...oh yeh, let's talk about that for a minute...

...as nice as the Manoir Sainte Castin was, the Travel Lodge on Rene Levesque in Montreal is it's polar opposite in my experience and opinion. The room was maybe 100 sq. ft, with bunk beds...the bunks were bolted to the wall above the regular bed...the picture didn't get saved unfortunately, but wow, we all felt it was like a prison, for real! They ran out of underground parking, so we had to unload all the gear into storage overnite and park on the street...yeh, hopefully we'll get the Delta next time again!

So yeh, we unloaded, chilled for a quick bit...then decided to go get some chinese food. I was going to stay in and catch up on sleep, but I'm a total mark for chinese, so off we went. Kevin is from Montreal, going to school with Flo in New York...so he knew of this place that had pretty good deals...and what a deal it was...a HUGE (think two medium-full size) plate of spicy pork chops, with fried rice, leeks, and a fried egg (on top of the rice...)...um, WOW! Greasy, Chinese goodness, I couldn't finish my 6-7 good sized pork chops, so I had to get a doggy bag...finished them for "breakfast", and they were just as good then! Big thanks to Kev for taking us there!

So, the return trip was largely uneventful, we took turns driving and snoozing. The guys are heading to Germany next month, I'll have to decline that as there's a work conflict with my day job, but if you're in Europe, check the Keys N Krates website for the venues and try to make it out! There's a West Coast tour towards the end of June that Matt (West Coast bass guy) will most likely be handling unless things change, Van, Calgary, Winnipeg, check it!

So, unless things change, I have no gigs outside of church schedded for the next little bit...yikes! I really want to try doing Berklee Online this fall or Winter semester to get their Bass Specialist Certificate, so help a brother out: if you know or hear of someone who needs a bass player, HAVE THEM CALL ME! Check out my website or contact me at andrew.jacksonsmith@gmail.com for contact info and creds. I'm a quick learner, and work really well with people and different genres, you won't be sorry!

(Oh, just a plug for Mrs. Groove's new blog, "Dancing on Jupiter" , she talks about some of the family stuff going on, check it out!)


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Now playing: dc Talk - Dive
via FoxyTunes

May Update

Just a quick update, but first, I neglected to post a gig report on the Keys N Krates gig at the Supermarket April 10th...great venue, the place was packed out! Free the Robots started the night off with a killer set, and then the KnK Krew killed it like usual! Great night all around!

Next show is London 17th at the Tap House in London, this is THE May 2-4 bash to be at (okay, this year V-Day is not on the 24th, but that's what we've been calling it since way back in the day!) Definitely worth the trip details here .

Before that though, I'm doing a worship gig this Sunday morning with the Weber's at the Joshua Centre in Hamilton, it's been awhile since I've played with them as we got the fam settled into our new church 24/7 , it'll be nice to play with them again. But if you're in Burlington on a Sunday AM or PM, swing by the old NRG/Kingdom Nightclub...it's in a club, but the church is NOT a club...unlike anything you've seen, totally change your paradigm of church!

So, those are the only two shows on the horizon...but I have a summer gig coming up that I'm really excited about! I won't say anything yet as the rest of the band needs to be finalized, but Tune and I are going to be really busy this summer!

Still working on simplifying the rig. As much as I love Traynor gear, I needed something powerful yet portable, so for now the amp is a GK 2x12 combo (Neo 1001/212), I didn't used to really like GK amps, but Norm Stockton showed me that not only are they great sounding amps, they sound great with MTD Basses! Seth Horan, another killer solo bass player, has recently signed on as a GK endorsee as well.

The bi-amping capablities and the ability to cut those high frequencies that I don't like sold me...plus it's distributed in Canada by Yorkville Sound, so it's still in the family! I still use a Traynor DB300T with a custom 2x12 cab as a house rig at church though, and will pull the combo for smaller gigs.

The rack has been gone for awhile now. Too heavy, and the extra noise added to my signal resulting in arguments with sound guys just got to be too much of a hassle. So I've been looking to add to my pedal board the one effect that left my rack that I feel needed replacing. The dbx 120a Subharmonic Synth was great, but the rack had to go...after some research, I decided on an MXR M-288. There's a wicked player Uriah Duffy that has demo'd it, check out his Youtube clips.

Here's the frustrating thing...they're for sale all over the place. You can get them on E-Bay, theperfectbass.com has them available, different stores in the states...but they're still on backorder here in Canada it seems! What gives??? I'm using an Octaver from a different manufacturer that will remain nameless, it was (a distant) second choice based on my research and sound clips I'd heard...but it really doesn't track well down low...it sounded great when a colleague played a Strat through it, but I wouldn't reccommend it for bass. So, I wait in frustration...no love for the Canadian bass playing consumer, argghhh!!!

Hoping it comes in this week...then I'll be pretty satisfied with the set up...and be looking to a.) do Berklee online sometime next year and get my Bass Specialist Certificate and b.) get that MTD Saratoga 5 string...though if I can find a Czech NOS version I may go for that...

...until next time...



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Now playing: Michael Jackson - Don't Stop Till You Get Enough
via FoxyTunes

Carjacked? NOT!

So, last Thursday's CMW show at the Wrongbar was off the hook! In the face of not having backline as promised, several bands came together in a spirit of community and put on a killer show. Great sets by Plushgun, The Framework, APlotAgainstMe, KeysNKrates (natch), The Wongboys, and Team Canada DJs made for an awesome night!

After a night off on Friday, we spent the day driving to Montreal for another show at the Academy...despite a language barrier with the sound guy, the team brought it again and entertained our Montreal Fans, along with Plushgun and The WongBoys. I was pretty wiped, and this old man fell asleep at the back of the club for a bit...but we still had a good time, all in all!

Now, to the subject of this post...Carjacked...not fun, not a good look, as they say...but as we were trying to find our hotel after the gig, a black SUV pulled up behind us, asked flashed it's lights, and used their speaker system to ask us to pull over. While there were no police markings, the it was consistent with a SWAT/SRU type truck that is commonly used...so after a brief discussion, we pulled over.

Next we were asked to exit the van, lie face down on the pavement, and put our hands behind our head...

...now, debate has occurred as to what would have happened yet. Maybe it was some jokers, just looking to pull a "harmless" prank...or maybe, it was something a bit more nefarious:

"Friday, January 30, 2009 at 11:37 a.m.

A 19-year-old man is wanted for impersonating a San Juan police officer.

Roel Garcia is accused of stopping a couple on Minnesota Road by using an unmarked car with flashing red and blue emergency lights.

Garcia was in plain clothes and allegedly told the victims he was an undercover investigator with the San Juan Police Department.

The 19-year-old man told the couple that he was on the lookout for a car full of cash.

Rolando Garcia with the San Jan Police Department said it became it obvious he was not really a police officer.

"When they said, 'We only have 10 dollars,' he grabbed it," the police spokesman said. "The victims made a comment like, 'You're a dirty officer and the suspect allegedly replied, yeah i'm a dirty officer so what!"

Police said only uniformed officers make traffic stops.

Action 4 News learned that red and blue emergency lights are actually easy to come by.

But Eddie Guerra with Communications Etc. in McAllen said he makes sure they don't end up in the wrong hands.

Guerra said he verifies that he's selling the public safety equiopment to legitimate police and firemen.

But he admits would-be criminals often offer him a pretty penny for the lights.

"I've been offered almost four to five times more than the light is worth just to purchase the lights, so they can go out in the streets and cause harm," Guerra said.

And then:

"Feb. 4 - The man who has been posing as a fake police officer may be using a police scanner to listen in on the real cops trying to catch him.

The Escambia County Sheriff's Office says the fake cop tried to stop a woman early Wednesday morning. The woman was traveling on North Palafox Street near Nine Mile Road when a white Ford Crown Victoria with blue lights got behind her, said Sheriff's Public Information Officer, Sgt. Ted Roy.

The woman called 911 to check to see if a real officer was trying to pull her over, says Roy. The woman stayed on the line with dispatchers and was told a real officer was not trying to pull her over and to keep driving.

"I told my husband I wasn't going to stop unless I called and made sure somebody was stopping me," the caller told emergency dispatchers.

It's a call that deputies say may have saved this woman's life and they're advising anyone else who encounters the "fake cop" to make the same call.

Deputies were about to initiate pursuit when the fake officer must have listened in on scanner traffic and turned around, Sgt. Roy said."

(Both stories found using Google.com search function)

So, keeping these things in mind, the final consensus was NOT to exit the van. At this point, I was pretty pissed...tired, cranky, alla dat. What we should have done, was called 911 to confirm whether or not it was a legitimate traffic stop.

Instead, I stick my head out the window and yell "let's see a badge first"...and was lucky I wasn't pelted with BBs or something more lethal....the SUV pulls up beside us, the passenger yells "F*ck off", and off they drove...

...they did circle around behind us and hit the siren again, but they grew tired of that game and took off shortly after...

...so, we lucked out...but I was pretty irked...and heard of the two stories posted above as well as some others, for pete's sake, is it really that easy to purchase that kind of equipment and not be involved in law enforcement, at least bonded??? There's other stories of worse occurences, people getting seriously hurt...something needs to be done about this...seriously...or as the Al Gore sez on South Park: "Serially!"

On the way back to TO, Matisse turned me on to this really cool project the Duke's of Daville , check it out sometime, I'm spinning the Millenium Music The Prequel CD, Steady's my fav track right now. Peace!

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Now playing: Dukes of Daville - Steady (Mesh Up Mix)

via FoxyTunes

Rev Groove Update

Just a quick update on what I'll be doing this month (so far):

Playing bass with Keys N Krates next Thursday Mar. 12 at The Wrongbar.

TEAM CANADA | KEYS N KRATES | WONG BOYS | EH TEAM DJS @ WRONGBAR LAST GANG | TREMENDOUS RECORDS | IDEAL FRIENDS | CMW EXTENDED LAST CALL 4AM
Hosted by:	WRONGBAR
Type:	Party - Club Party
Where:	Wrongbar
When:	Thursday, March 12 from 9:00 pm to 4:00 am

If you're in TO on Thursday night, make this the CMW Event to attend. Keys N Krates IS re-inventing, and REINVIGORATING the re-mix. Check out the Keysnkrates.com for more details, videos, booking, and downloads. Love working with these guys...


Then on Saturday, it's off to Montreal for another Keys N Krates Gig at the Academy:

FUEGO! ☼ KEYS N' KRATES + GUESTS @ ACADEMY MAR14 "We Re-Invented the Remix"
Hosted by:	LOOKOUT
Type:	Music/Arts - Jam Session
Where:	Academy Club
When:	Saturday, March 14 from 9:00 pm to 3:00 am

Then at the end of the month, I'll be the guest clinician for the Halton Board of Educations's Band Extravaganza, shaking the Burlington Music Centre with 10-15 bass playing students...one of the tunes they're doing this year is the Transformers Theme, I'm pretty excited about it. That's March 26-27th...not open to the general public though. If you would like me to roll by and do a clinic for you, drop a comment and I'll be in touch!

Things are starting to calm down from the family's health issues, so I'm hoping to get back to finishing the track I'm working on for my uncle's poem and laying the tracks for my dad's stuff. Hopefully we'll have that posted for you guys in the next week or so...that's all for now, back to the poke war with my west coast buddy Marianne...






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Now playing: Diana King - Shy Guy
via FoxyTunes

Gig Report

Just got in, literally, from a gig in Montreal with Keys N Krates (http://www.keysnkrates.com/), man, I haven't been to Mo-Town north since I was 11...that's way too long ago...and woosh, it was off the hook. Eli and Jesse at the Academy were awesome, and as per usual, KnK (Flo, Tune, and Matisse) put on a great show. The after party was ridiculous (in the good sense) and we made some new friends to boot that we'll look forward to hooking up with again at future shows.

I was going to put up a video blog last night, but we didn't roll into our hotel room until 6:18 this morning. The Delta Montreal is a class joint, I think it's the nicest hotel I've stayed in, on a par with Adams Mark hotels in the states. We were SUPPOSED to leave around 11:00 this morning, but after a roll in at that time, fuggedd aboud it! Flo flew from MO straight back to NY, and so it was just Matisse, Tune and I on the way back for some spirited discussion on the lovely women in our lives (or the lack thereof in one particular case), music, production, and future goals we each have as far as our musical endeavors.

It was indeed a late arrival, all my kids except for the baby were up to greet me...sounds like she's about to get up though. Some stuff happened today before I got home that I won't get into, so daddy coming home to slay the bad guy is an especially big thing this time around!

We'll get back to a bass-centric or musical blog post in the next several days. If you have any ideas on specific topics you'd like to hear my take on, post a comment!



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Now playing: Rev. Groove - The Breakdown
via FoxyTunes

Until next time: The Rev. AJ Groove