LA Jazz Festival
Mondays @ the Mint Continue with Upcoming guests!
Hello everyone! Finally i get my computer up and running again and i can update everyone as to what is going on! Well most notably, last Monday our promoter James Macion has retired the groovepocket party! There was a bit of confusion as alot of people were afraid that Monday nights at the Mint were over. NOT TRUE. THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THE NAME OF THE EVENT WILL CHANGE. So that leaves me with the daunting effort of coming up with a good name for it. In all honesty, im not really sure what it should be called if anything. Though it would be nice to have my name in the title, maybe get some much deserved credit. I dunno, something like that. Either way, for all of you, nothing will change. We are now open till 1-1:15 so that’s a plus as we inch our way to 2am. Also coming up in December will be Gilbert Castellanos on trumpet joining the band. That’s the 7th. And Gil, if you flake on me, im gonna tell everyone to comment your myspace page about it. Its official. The people know. They expect you. Cant back out now:p. Well that’s it for now everyone, ill get back to all of you when i decide on a name for Monday. Stay tuned….
The Mint Chronicles 9/15/08
- This Monday night marks another notch on our belt of successful Monday nights at the Mint. It was just freaking packed and it was my pleasure to have a host of good friends in attendance (John, Hanna, Noble and Adam!) as well as my regular piano player Josh Nelson! I always miss him when he’s away, and he’ll be out all October with Natalie Cole. 
We opened the night with our anthem, a Josh Nelson original, Nebulous, then went seemlessly into Wayne Shorter’s Deluge. More music followed with a special guest, Kamasi Washington (an old high school buddy of mine; he’s worked with a huge smattering of people in hip hop and jazz), and then we closed our set with a request to play Radiohead’s Exit Music for a Film. I really love playing this song. Josh, Charles and Ham play it as if it had been written just for them. There were some crazy fans in the audience so the vibes were good, we got off the bandstand and gave the spotlight over to one of my favorite dj’s, Lady Sha, and she naturally just tore it up. AS usual.
- As far as the session goes, I must say I couldn’t really have asked for anything more, especially after Sunday night’s fiasco (dealing with kids all night) it’s an honor that such talented players collectively unite at my show on Monday night. EVERYONE can play, 
and can play *well*. Simply killin’, really, and it’s a common trap for jam sessions that once the session starts, you lose your audience of listeners because the level of playing becomes so chaotic, the night very often loses its energy as a result. This NEVER happens at the Mint. I’ve burned enough bridges (for the greater good of course) and carefully filtered my event so that over time, it has tailored itself to be a high quality jam session. As legit as it gets. A place for us all to grow, to play and not feel like we wasted our time by coming out to a jam session. Tina Raymond, well done! Kicked ass and broke some teeth!! Anyways, cheers to everyone for another great Monday night!!! All photos are by Adam Driscoll and can be found here: www.picasa.com
Saturn Sessions Empty like Titan’s Surface
- I may be shooting myself in the foot here, but what the hell Orange County? I bring world class musicians, artists and DJs to your neck of the woods and you’d rather go sing Bon Jovi songs on kareoke at heroes all night. I have more faith in you though, I’m going to blame school starting today on the fact that no one came out last night. Well, that’s not true, drummers came out last night. Whooppee, like I need MORE drummers coming out to jam sessions. How about this, I don’t let you play unless you bring with you five people. Five people who will buy whiskey and coke. NOT five broke ass barely legal college kids who drink water and skip out on your bill.That’s my new rule for Steamers. Because in all honesty folks, a jam session is only as good as the people who come to play it.
If you want a jam session in Orange County, maybe ya’ll need to put in a little more effort to keep it alive! There’s only so much one man can do…
Groove Pocket Podcast Live at the Mint 8-25-08
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Pics from Monday 8/18/08!!!
Terrace Martin guesting with the MINTband
The rest of the photos can be viewed here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29256330@N05/sets/72157606862777534/
Podcast
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Tonight @ the Mint!! 8/18/08
- Well another monday for the books…damn tonight was fun. Terrace Martin did his first night with us. The First of his 4 week run with us. First of all, for those of you who dont know, i knew Terrace in high school. Id go out thursdays and hang down @ 5th St Dicks or the World Stage and get SCHOOLED by Terrace and all those bad cats down there. Koran, Isaac Smith. and Kamasi Washington, (we went to high school together)…and Billy Higgins would hang too. This was probably 1996 id say. Anyways, damn, Terrace and i hadnt played together in a minute and he came through the Mint with Kamasi about a month ago, and it was so killin. So, because my man Tom is out for a few weeks, i jumped at Terrace comin’ in to fill the role. It was a blast, we did Joshs “nebulous” again. For those of you who think we play this too much, kiss my ass!! I LOVE this tune. Terrace killed it of course as did Ham and Josh. A cool version of Nardis etc etc etc…i dont need to recap the tunes we played, if you are reading this blog i assume you already know or just .. like…whatever dont care all that much. Haha. Real professional. Moving on..tons of cats out tonight. GREAT drummers..damn…Iahji Hampden, Guri, Tom, and hahaha, my man, Zach Harmon. Shit. Zach…..*deep sigh* ((must shed must shed 12 123 12 123 123123!!!!!!!!)) Kamasi tore it up all night, Equinox, and whatever else was played. At this point i think i was somewhat preoccupied *haha*. Shizzz, anyways, special shout outs to those who are now on my IOU list:
- Sammy Miller
- Rashawn + 1 drink
- Crane
- Jake
……I got your back fella’s! And DJ Patrick. This guy was rockin the house on the tables!! Wooooo, hes just moved from SF so welcome to the west coast sir!! So that wraps up my monday night blog, but in thenext day or two the pictures from that night will be added so check back if you wanna see your mug on my site. Adam Driscoll once again did his part to capture the essence of the night. Thanks Adam!! Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd i have indian food waiting for me. Yum. Peace.
The Weekend in Review
- Ah. What a freaking weekend man. San Jose Jazz fest in the morning, played with Bill Holman. Its always wierd playing anywhere but the musicians union with that band. We only play 5 gigs a year it seems and rehearse at the union every other week. Mind you, this is the only band ill do that for, so if you have any bright ideas about 9 30am rehearsal in room 5 with some west coast tribute dekette, well, you know where to go. Anyways, yea, outdoor gig with a band like that is no easy task. couldnt hear SHIT as usual, and playing the drums in a huge outdoor stage just sucks, no dynamics, no sound from the drums. The band
sounded great still, even with all those things against us. The real treat was afterwards, a nice impromptu hang with my homie joe sanders, and jamire williams, just in with christian scotts band. Heard Zakir Hussein, shit was bad ass!! With Steve Smith (of 80’s band Journey) .Anyways great day all in all, and after the hang , a nice short flight and a longer drive down to Oc for the Saturn Sessions!
- Sunday night also turned out to be a great hang. This show at steamers is still a work in progress but damn sunday night was killin. Josh has been sounding so freaking good and he came out with some new shit for sure. Sam Minaie on bass made it really special. electric trio all night. i Fn loved it. Plus a great crowd, Dayna Stephens came through as well as some more L.A. cats. If this continues steamers has a weekly hit on their hands thanks to me, and of course dj Abel. I just gotta get to the right audience in OC. It 
doesnt matter how killin a show is if youre not playing for the right people. BTW we are off next two sundays but labor day sunday is going to be HUGE so come out for sure!!! The 31st or something. Which brings us to the MINT this past Monday, 8/11/08!
- The mint! Ahhhh the Mint, i love you, yes i do. Sometimes after a really long weekend of hosting shows etc etc, having to deliver as a band leader can be more responsibility than i usually enjoy. Sometimes its nice to be told what to do, to follow, to just play and not worry about the vibe. Just play. Well we did that on monday, and what made it interesting was the fact that Josh, bless his heart, was not among the crew on monday, as per usual. However, Charles Altura is back from tour and we semi-featured him as the 4th man. Its *always* nice to have charles in the mix. As usual great to see all the homies out this monday. 
Sara G and Gina S, in the house. My man Terrace Martin and Kamasi Washington. It was a good night all in all. And to top it off, Steve Lopez (www.frustr8.com) gave me his painting! Woohoo!!! And of course another special shout out to my man Adam Driscoll for taking some great pictures of the night! You can view all of them at the link below the few thumbnails i posted! Thanks everyone!!
The Mint 8/11/08
photos courtesy of Adam Driscoll
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29256330@N05/sets/72157606705934560/
Drum Night vol. 2 at the Mint!
Thanks to everyone who made vol 2. of drum night an awesome hang! Zach and Dan sounded incredible as usual, as did the accommodating musicians of my wonderful band, Josh, Ham, and Tom! Lets not forget alllll the cats who came out; Dennis Hamm, Gabe Noel, James Macion, Aaron McClendon, Garrett Smith, and so many more! Right on everyone, thanks for another memorable monday night!! The complete collection of photos from last night are here as well, courtesy of Adam Driscoll
Phat Crowds
Kevin Kanner
Dan Schnelle
Zach Harmon
Photos by Adam Driscoll
The complete photo album for Monday August 4th can be found here.
