Tippin’

So I said last month that I was moving to a new apartment. Unfortunately that hasn’t actually happened yet, so I find myself a little bit homeless at the moment. If anybody knows of a nice deal on a 1 BR in Park Slope or north of there, please let me know! Otherwise, the gigs went really well, and thanks to everyone that made it. I’ve also started working for the office end of Encore Music Lessons ( I have already taught for them for years) and have a pretty full schedule at the moment, which is good for the time being.  Nonetheless I hope to fit a few shows in with the band this fall and I’ll post them up here soon, along with any of my performances with the Maeve Gilchrist Group. In other news, I caught my first keeper fish last week on the Cape Cod Canal. It was a rather large bluefish, I wish I had taken pictures, but we had to filet it right on the jetty so there wasn’t an opportunity. In any case, I’m glad that my first year of fishing finally resulted in something edible. I hope to get out on a boat in the next couple of months and try deep sea fishing before the end of the year. I also plan to start writing a book. Stay tuned!

Just wanted to get on here and talk a bit about the gigs this weekend at Ryles. Tonight, Friday August 15th, I’ll be playing with Leo Genovese, who plays on my CD, along with John Lockwood and Bob Gullotti, rhythm section of the legendary Fringe trio with George Garzone. I’ve never played with this ensemble so I’m really looking forward to it. Then tomorrow I’ll be back at Ryles with a different band of me, leo again, and Tony Falco, one of my favorite drummers. We’ll be doing different music on both nights.  This is a fairly busy month, with these concerts, Barbes in Park Slope next weekend with another great band including Pete Rende and Thomas Morgan, and moving to a new apartment, finding a new job etc. I’ll post the results of all these endeavors in September. Have a good week!

jon

Hello everyone, happy spring! I just wanted to put a couple videos up here, thanks to Goodbye Blue Monday recording my last show there duo with Garth Stevenson in April. Enjoy.

Hello, just an update that we’re coming back to Ryles next week on Friday March 21st. The band will include Leo Genovese, John Lockwood, and Jeff Davis. I’m really looking forward to playing in Boston again and I hope the old crew can make it to the show. Here’s a couple photos I just got from one of the last shows we did before the hiatus, thanks to Scott Friedlander. Pictured are Nir Felder, Frank LoCrasto, Matt Brewer, and Tommy Crane.

Just got back from the gig at Goodbye Blue Monday, and I think we played some really beautiful music tonight. It feels really good to play with the guys again, and I got a free Pablo Neruda book to boot. I’m optimistic that more good music will be made this year, and I hope to let you know when it will be soon. Good night.

Hello everyone, I finally have a show next week after a long respite. We’ll be playing at Goodbye Blue Monday in Brooklyn on February 5th, around 930-10 pm. This will be a trio with guitarist Nir Felder, and bassist Garth Stevenson. I really look forward to playing with my old bandmates again, and hope some of you can make it out to the show. You can find out more about Goodbye Blue Monday at www.myspace.com/goodbyebluemondayinc. Thanks!
jon

Well, I think it’s about time to get things going again with the band and filling up my teaching schedule. It’s been a long 6-8 months of working basically full time, coordinating the subtitling for Imaginasian TV. I’ve balanced out my schedule a little bit now, so I have time to play and work on promoting the band. So, if you are interested in booking the Jon De Lucia Group, I encourage you to monitor this page, read the press reviews to the left, and check out some of our music at jondelucia.com, or myspace.com/jondelucia. I will be updating the music there soon. Thanks!
jon

It’s raining. It’s monday.  At work. 

Since I decided to stop booking for my band for a bit, I’ve been pretty busy playing with scottish harpist Maeve Gilchrist. I am really happy to finally have a sideman project to work on. I only wish I wasn’t working so much so I could practice her music more often. 

Nevertheless it’s been really fun, and we’re driving to Boston to play tomorrow. Just a day trip, so I probably won’t see anyone, but I hope I can go home a little longer sometime in August. 

My boss is dancing next to me, the Spongebob dance. In a pink shirt.

So in continuation of that last entry…I ended up consolidating a couple of my bigger credit card balances and getting on a payment plan to have all the debt payed off in 5 years. It definitely feels better.

It was good to look at how much money I’m making, and how I’m actually going to be making enough for once.  Could be worse.

In music news, after our gig at Jimmy’s last week, I’ve decided to refrain from booking any gigs for the band for a little while anyway, besides the one’s that are offered to me. This has nothing to do with that gig specifically.

But, I did a string of smaller gigs with the band at certain venues that don’t pay at all, and ended up losing a good deal of money paying my musicians. This is a critical flaw in the way the business works here in New York, and I just don’t want to be a part of it for now.

I’ve been meaning to catch up on writing and practicing anyway, and it will be good to play more sessions. Anybody that wants to play, get in touch!

Should I update this blog more? Are people reading it?
My computer is becoming completely useless, taking 2-3 minutes to load web pages sometimes, programs crashing…It’s a first generation Mac Mini, and I think 2 years might be about the end of it’s lifespan. A great conclusion to my “Face your Fears” day, where I decided to take a frank look at my financial problems and overall situation. It wasn’t fun.
About 2 hours in, I was utterly depressed and wanted to go back to bed. I’m paying hundreds in interest a month to credit cards and loans, and though my income is finally getting kind of stable, the bills are just getting higher.
How is a musician supposed to keep peace of mind enough to actually create any music?
Perhaps I will ask Vijay Iyer, who I’ll be interviewing in the morning for Imaginasian TV. I saw his band last night, and he gave me a copy of his new CD, which we will talk about during the interview.
This is probably the first interview I’ve ever done, so forgive me Vijay, I’ll do my best. I’ll spend the rest of tomorrow subtitling Anime, as usual. My hands hurt more than ever from all this computer work. We have a ton of shows coming up at the end of the month, well, maybe not a ton, but a good few. I think they’ll be great and a good break from this neverending work.
We’re playing at Bar Four first, on seventh ave in Park Slope, on the 20th at 7pm. This is a pretty different band, with Nir, Kris Davis AND Jeff Davis, and Chris Tordini on bass. We’ll be playing my tunes.
Then, on the 22nd I’m playing at Still, on 17th St and 3rd ave in Manhattan. I don’t know much about the venue yet, but it sounds cool, an art space. I’ll be playing with Nir, and Dave Treut, with one more person TBA.

Then up to Boston for Ryles again, on saturday the 26th,this time quartet with Leo Genovese, and John Lockwood and Ziv Ravitz.
Followed by a trio gig at the Greenwich Village Bistro with Garth Stevenson and Steve Lyman on the 27th.

Finally, for now, we’re at Jimmy’s on June 3rd, in the East Village, with Matt Brewer, Nir, Frank LoCrasto, and drums TBA.

Oof, so much work to do…

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Originally uploaded by dhgtrane.

Hello, i just came back from a week in Seattle visiting my friends from home, Pat and Dorothy. I am grateful to them for letting me stay at their place and doing an extreme amount of sightseeing.
Seattle’s a cool relaxed city, though the best trip was when I left the city and saw Snoqualmie Falls. These are the falls picture in the show Twin Peaks, and sitting by them was a great experience.
If you check out my picture set on Flickr by clicking http://www.flickr.com/gp/44814412@N00/h3pRZ9, you can see most of the stuff I checked out.
It’s good to be back, and I hope to go to Seattle again soon.

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Originally uploaded by dhgtrane.

Finally getting a whole day to practice and relax at home. I’ve been working and working and teaching and going out, and haven’t spent much time at home at all. But today is a rainy Sunday, and I hope to spend some time on all the things in this picture at least. I’ll be going to Seattle on Friday, to visit my good friends from Boston. It’s my first time to see the west coast of the US, believe it or not, so I’m pretty excited. Any travel suggestions are welcome.
-jon