SEPTEMBER 2019 NEWS
“NO SPRING NOR SUMMER BEAUTY HATH SUCH GRACE AS I HAVE SEEN IN ONE AUTUMNAL FACE” (John Donne)
Hello, Bluestorms Friends, Fans & Followers! Autumn’s beauties abound and we are gearing up for the last quarter of the year. Below we will give you our news, but it also occurs to us that there is a lot written and spoken about the music industry, the local club scenes and many other peripheral issues, with relatively little discussion about the music. Often critiques, especially online critiques of Pop Music, make one long for the days when 16 Magazine and the like would ask the artists what their favorite color was. So, here’s the plan:
We’ll post some information and/or intelligent analysis of music in every News Storm update whenever possible. Sure, we will probably favor The Cherry Bluestorms’ recordings, but we want you to participate. If you have questions or comments about our songwriting process, recording, gear choices, influences, other bands’ music where relevant or the like, please reach out via the “contact” form here on our site.
GOOD MORNING SAN DIEGO!
As we shared last month, we are excited to be returning to the stage in San Diego to perform at the Adams Avenue Street Fair on Saturday, September 21! We will be on the Starbucks Stage at 8:15 PM. This is a free, all ages show! We are also happy to inform you that since our last update, we have also been booked to perform live in the studio on KUSI’s Good Morning San Diego the morning before the gig—Friday, September 20! For those in the San Diego area, tune in to channel 51 (digital channel 18) to see us perform two songs around 9:40 AM. For those not in the neighborhood, you can livestream the performance on KUSI’s website.
GOOD AFTERNOON NORTH HOLLYWOOD!
We made our return to the International Pop Overthrow Festival with an afternoon show at Skinny’s Lounge in the NoHo Arts District on August 4. We had a wonderful turnout and were thrilled to see so many familiar faces rocking our new TCB logo badges (more on those below) in the audience! Check out our Instagram and Facebook pages for photos from the gig as well as behind-the-scenes rehearsal photos. Please also check out our YouTube page to see the video of “A True Heart Wears a Thorny Crown” shot by Courtney at the festival. While on our YouTube page, don’t forget to subscribe, “like”, comment, share, or any other helpful action that you feel moved to contribute!
SPEAKING OF BADGES…
Our Skinny’s show marked the debut of our first ever Cherry Bluestorms logo badges! Couldn’t make it to the gig? We’d love to share them with you no matter where you are, so we are offering a free badge with any purchase from this site (Click for Music, Click for Shirts and More), while supplies last. Don’t miss out on this limited-run collectible item!
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!
In honor of Whirligig!’s first anniversary on August 19, enjoy this video from the album release party one year ago. Thank you to everyone who purchased, streamed, listened, reviewed, came to a show, or otherwise supported this project—we couldn’t have achieved what we did without you! For those still looking to add it to your collection, it is available here on our site, and on Bandcamp, CD Baby, Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, and more!
THE MUSIC EXCHANGE
As indicated above, we want to give focus a bit closer to the musical bone. Our inaugural subject will be one of my fave guitars. I’m sure we’ll return to the subject of gear and technology in later editions, particularly regarding the way the tools affect the music, but for now, it’s all about this six-string Fascist-killing machine.
There is no doubt that the most featured guitar on The Cherry Bluestorms’ recordings is the 1966 Rickenbacker Rose Morris “1998” model. It’s a special guitar for several reasons. Firstly, I have only seen perhaps five non-reissue examples. One is in Pete Townshend’s hands, or hand, as he is captured performing his famous windmill in the black & white “Maximum R&B” poster that many are familiar with from the “Live at Leeds” packaging. Townshend modified his with a Gibson tailpiece and other minor changes. Another famous example is the one John Fogerty (Creedence Clearwater Revival) owns, which is the only one besides mine I have ever seen with a Bigsby vibrato tailpiece. My friend Scott, who is a preeminent Rickenbacker scholar tells me that Rickenbacker absolutely never shipped even one of this model with a Bigsby. Nevertheless, I have yet to see any evidence that mine ever had any other hardware. It’s a mystery.
Secondly, I have owned quite a few Rics. Several were more perfect and less funky than this one. But for me, the slightly left-of-center Ric quality and sound give this guitar a unique soulfulness. It is easy to go beyond the “jangliness” that people expect from a Ric, yet still retain the Ric character.
Thirdly, though I have owned the guitar a for a very long time and have recorded many songs with it, my history with the guitar goes beyond that to the pre-Punk days of Radio Free Hollywood, when I would see David Swanson of the immortal The Pop playing it. Several years later I was playing with David for his solo project on RCA Records and I noticed the guitar sitting in his front room. He noticed me noticing it and commented that he should sell it, as he rarely played it anymore. I immediately made him an offer that I have never regretted.
I keep this guitar in a non-standard tuning pretty much 100% of the time. For those wondering, all of the guitar parts on the first five songs on Transit of Venus are played on that guitar. On Bad Penny Opera, the guitar is featured on Overture, A Better Place, Wear Your Love Like Heaven, A True Heart Wears a Thorny Crown, Sunday Driving South, World Going Mad and Bad. On Whirligig! the Ric is featured on Heel to Toe and Out. After all these years, it is still the guitar I seem to get the most compliments on when we do live shows.
GL
We would love to hear from you about any subject that touches our mutual worlds. Contact us.
Meanwhile, have a safe and Happy Labor Day!!