A BLOG-STYLE PAGE OF WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW!

March 30th, 2008: I gotta say something about Kevin Johnson. Kevin is a wonderful drummer and I really appreciate him. He is very versatile. He plays with equal authority on Jazz tunes, Rock, Funk, Country, you name it. As far as I can tell, stylistically, there are no weaknesses. (We've never done a gig where we played Middle Eastern ethnic music to accompany a belly dancer. I have - but I don't know how he'd do on that.) I have never seen him fazed, no matter what the situation is. And there WILL be "situations" - no doubt. One thing I have learned as a result of playing with Mark Valentine for many years: you can do anything with anything. One time we were playing a dance club and the bass player didn't show up. I played Mark's acoustic and Mark had Kevin stand up to play instead of sitting down behind his drums. This was more visual, Kevin's a happy-looking guy - as can be seen in this picture - didn't faze him. One St Patrick's Day we faked a set of Irish music at O'Dowd's on the Plaza with nothing but acoustic guitar and drums - didn't faze him. (The dirty limericks between every song probably helped.) 7-piece band on a big stage in front of a festival crowd doing R&B covers - didn't faze him. White trash rock bar with some definite racial crap going on - didn't faze him. We're currently playing a gig once or twice a month (Barley's on Midland Drive) where the instrumentation is acoustic guitar, sax, and drums with Mark up front. I use a loop station and create loops on the fly and then I solo over them. This means that Kevin has to play in perfect time with a machine - doesn't faze him. When I screw up and don't hit the switch just right and add a 16th of a beat to the time at the beginning of the loop, he just adjusts - doesn't faze him. He's never expressed dislike for anything we've done or disgust with anything that has happened - and he hasn't quit either! It's really nice to be playing a wedding reception, and the jazz during dinner is just as authentic as the dance music is at the back end. Anyway, I really like the guy, and his playing, and I hope we have many more gigs ahead of us than behind us.

March 3rd, 2008: A rather historic occasion occurred yesterday at the gig at B.B.'s. Well, historic in terms of MY history anyway. I played with The Scamps - or what's left of them. A couple of these guys are bridges to KC jazz from the '30's. I work with Alan Monroe (piano) all the time, and I've played many times with Dwight Foster (sax). But yesterday was the full contingent, with Oscar "Lucky" Wesley on bass and Wallace Jones on drums. My son Eric came by and snapped some pictures.

Physically, I'm recovering steadily. I'm maintaining 50 students a week and 1 to 3 gigs a week - a pretty normal schedule - and I'm not wiped out all the time. My surgeon released me a couple of weeks ago, so as far as he's concerned, we're done. Surgeons don't concern themselves with recovery or rehab. If you didn't die on the table the surgery was a success. Never mind that it will be a year before you have a chance at feeling normal again, if ever. But...my surgeon was a great guy, I liked him. He did a wonderful job, I can tell that I'm going to come out of this looking pretty normal. I will be monitored for glaucoma for several years, there's an increased risk of contracting it with injuries like mine. I still have numbness in my right nostril, gum, a couple of teeth, and parts of my face. I have daily nerve stuff - pinprick feelings, sharp pains that last for a couple of seconds - sometimes my cheek feels wet but it isn't, etc etc etc.

Jan 30, 2008: The "party" that I played at on Sunday was interesting. It was an empty house that was on the market for 1.3 million. Empty houses are harder to sell, right? So why not have an art show? That would include free cappuccino, maybe some wine and cheese, and some live jazz for ambience. We have empty rooms with beautiful hardwood floors and blank walls. So we had an open house. Dave McQuitty supplied the artwork, and yours truly supplied the jazz. I would say 50 to 80 people toured the house in an hour and a half. We made the Fox 4 News Sunday night at 9 and they ran the story again on Monday morning, I was on TV and I got paid for playing a hour and a half of jazz guitar. Life is good. Another good idea germinated from Mark Valentine's fertile idea factory. He said he was real close to being able to get realty companies to pay for this kind of thing. So there's a whole new source for music performance income that's never happened before. That guy has a knack for making connections and putting things together that one doesn't normally associate - like art/music and selling houses.

On the physical front I am improving incrementally every day. Within the last 3 days I've begun sleeping all night. More of the numbness is leaving my face - I've still got quite a ways to go on that, I hope it continues, even though the nerve pain is pretty constant. Last Saturday at the Embassy gig I kind of crashed about 5pm. I mean, I didn't collapse or anything, I finished the gig, but I ran out of steam and my face was hurting. I think it's the volume - the vibration - that caused that. I don't see that gig ever being a quiet gig so I hope that sooner or later it won't bother me anymore. Ironic isn't it?

We got Cheerio's ashes from the vet last Tuesday, he's now on top of the refrigerator. In front of the refrigerator was is favorite spot. In the near future, maybe in the spring, we'll scatter his ashes around outside and say goodbye for good.

Jan 22, 2008: Well, on top of everything else, we had our beloved Labrador, Cheerio, put to sleep yesterday morning. It was unbelievably hard. I never had a dog growing up, he was the first dog I ever had. But, he had a good, long life. According to the chart in the vet's office he was 108 dog-years old! My 18-year-old son, Evan, and myself sat with him until the end. I came home and bawled like a baby.

Valentine keeps coming up with these jazz gigs on short notice. After the Embassy gig on Saturday I buzzed down to Crown Center and played a little two hour gig with James Albright on upright bass and Phil Brenner on sax. All instrumental jazz, very enjoyable. We were supposed to be background music, accompaniment to fine dining, but we were getting smatterings of applause after songs. So people were actually listening. I have a solo jazz guitar thing this Sunday afternoon at a party in a private home - Valentine set that one up too. I love that guy!

And, again, even though both gigs on Saturday were what I would consider fairly low intensity, I slept most of the day on Sunday. I am getting better though, I can feel it. Last night instead of sleeping propped up on 4 or 5 pillows, I slept laying down on two pillows. The nerve pain continues but the numbness has left some of my lip. I can tell that the bones in my face are almost healed - it's been 5 weeks and 4 days since the surgery. I think they say that by 6 weeks bones are healed up. I still have some swelling around my eye. I have a weird little bruise on my cheek and I think I can feel a plate in my cheek. Also, I think I can feel the plastic mesh in the floor of my eye-socket. The plates and screws will dissolve in six months to a year, but the plastic mesh will be in there forever. Hopefully I'll get used to it, and the sensation of something alien in there will go away. Hopefully.

Jan 14, 2008: Returned to the Embassy gig last Saturday afternoon. Many people had read the Open Letter. Several people expressed how cool they thought it was and several more people gave me money. I feel like I'm living in a Jimmy Stewart movie, I caught myself looking around for Clarence! Saturday night I played at George Brett's on the Plaza. I felt better than I thought I would, we quit early, but I stayed for a half hour or so longer than I needed to - just talking to people. But, again, I wound up sleeping off and on all day Sunday. But Sunday night I slept for 6 hours straight without waking up - that's an encouraging sign! Up until now I've only been able to sleep 1 and a half to 3 or 4 hours at a time. I've also had to sleep sitting up. If I lay down and put any kind of pressure on my face the pain wakes me up. Pain pill count: 3 in 8 days. I think that's pretty good. The gig situation for the rest of the month is pretty slim - one gig a week. I don't mind, I don't need to be working like I usually do, it's gonna be a while before I'm back to 100%, and it may be that my 100% may need to be redefined, we'll see.

Jan 8, 2008: Ok, it took a month before I could stomach it, but here's some pictures. Don't click on the link if you don't want to see the gruesome reality.

Jan 6, 2008: I decided to play it safe and not play the Embassy yesterday just in case the teaching and the gig on Friday was too much. I got through Friday ok, I was very tired by the end of the night but felt like I did ok. Singing didn't hurt as bad as I thought it would. However, I wound up sleeping until 3pm Saturday afternoon. I'm obviously right on the edge of functionability right now.

There was an incident at the club Friday night that was classic. During our last break, about 11pm, a fight broke out. There was a mad scramble of people getting out of the way, and other people trying to separate the two guys going at it. There was a lot of yelling and cussing. Finally things calmed down, each guy had two or three other people holding them back from each other, and then a girl lit into one of them. More screaming and yelling ensued. Finally the cops got there and were still sorting it out when we quit playing a little before midnight. The thing that sets this completely typical incident apart is that while the fight was going on, the song that was playing through the PA while we were on break was John Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance." As Kevin Johnson, our drummer, said, it was the epitome of irony. It was a classic little vignette from the heart of Americana. I have hundreds of memories like that. It's one of the reasons I love my job. Lots of stories.

I still have quite a bit of pain in my face. I think it's mostly nerve pain. It's that nerve trying to regenerate. I think that some of the numbness has left my lip, which is encouraging. Teaching is not as strenuous as performing is, so I'm hoping to teach this week as usual and be a little stronger for this Saturday, when I will attempt two gigs. A couple of you have expressed concern about the pain pills. I have gone through cycles in the last week and a half or so. I'll go without any pain pills for several days, then wind up using them again at night to sleep . At this point, I haven't had one since Friday night. (It's Sunday night as I write this.) Each time I go without them for several days I think maybe it's the end of them. Then, for some reason, the pain intensifies again and I wind up taking them at night for awhile. So, while I would like to think I've seen the last of them, I can't guarantee it. I appreciate your concerns, believe me, I share those concerns. But I really think I'm ok, in spite of my addictive personality! Besides that, my wife is watching me like a hawk!

On my post-op visit to the surgeon last Wednesday, Dr Jungbluth said that while he didn't want to make light of my pain, things were progressing normally, and he wasn't seeing anything that he wasn't expecting. Alrighty then!

Jan 3, 2008: Please read, An Open Letter to Friends, Family, Students and Fans.

Jan 1, 2008: The gig last night was super easy and I was home by 10:40. It was all jazz and I didn't have to sing at all but I was pretty wiped out when I got home, and had a bad night. My neighbor started shooting his gun at midnight, six or eight rounds three different times. I couldn't turn my brain off, I had the changes to Satin Doll going on in my head over and over. What a nightmare! Gunfire to the tune of Satin Doll! In spite of all that, I feel pretty good today ("good" being a relative term these days) and am encouraged by that fact. Other than another post-op visit to my surgeon tomorrow, I have nothing to do 'till Friday when I will attempt a return to a normal schedule. Friday I have 4 hours of teaching and then a gig. Friday will be a big test.

Dec 21st, 2007: The surgery was a success and I should be ok. Thanks to the many people who sent emails of support and encouragement and prayer. It's times like this that one realizes how much is taken for granted. There've been days where I said, "I'd give anything just to be able to go to work!" I'm also looking forward to pain-free days. I know they're coming. I'm now at 48 hours with no narcotics. That's progress! It indicates I'm not hurting as bad as I have been. I'm also sleeping 4 or 5 hours at a time with no drugs. For probably 12 days I haven't been able to sleep at all without pain pills.

I have much gratitude for my son Eric, my son-in-law David Eames, and one of my students who also teaches, Derek Dodson, who covered a great deal of my teaching schedule over the last two weeks. Also, there have been monetary gifts from various generous people (you know who you are). The gifts from good-hearted people (that I accept in much gratitude) as well as the help from Eric, David, and Derek, has minimized the financial hit and helped make the next couple of months go from looking kind of bleak to not being much of a problem. I taught for a couple of hours last night and I'm going in today and will teach 4 hours. Today is the last teaching day of the year so after today I have nothing to do until New Year's Eve. I haven't committed to the Embassy gig on the 29th yet but at this point am seriously considering it.

I hate the fact that this page has turned into a blog about my physical issues. My life to a large degree revolves around music and the guitar and that is what this site is all about. Music has been one of the magnificent obsessions of my life. But...there ain't no Jay-music if Jay isn't playing any! So for those who are interested here are the gruesome details.

My surgeon was Dr Jungbluth at Truman Med Center downtown (Kansas City). When he actually got into it the damage was worse than anyone realized. He said that my eye socket was so fractured that when he pushed my cheekbone (which had been crushed into my sinus cavity), back into place my eye socket collapsed. He put in a plastic mesh to hold things in place, which will graft into the bones as they heal and will stay in there forever. I also have various plates and screws holding my facial bones together but they are not metal. They are made out of a substance that will break down and be absorbed by the body in 6 months to a year. The surgeon was very cooperative with our desire that no metal be left in my face, even to the point of agreeing that if he did have to use metal or titanium he would go back in after healing was complete and remove it. We are very thankful that we wound up with the surgeon we did. We both liked him a lot, and for Andrea (my alternative healing earth-mother wife! ...who happens to be another one of my magnificent obsessions! ) to actually get along with, even to say she likes, a modern, western-style MD is saying something! It turns out that this guy and his team do more surgeries of this kind than anyone else in town, hundreds a year, according to him.

Two days ago was the first post-op exam. Before the exam I had an MRI done at the request of the radiologist who thought he might have seen a hint of some bleeding in my brain in the CT scan done earlier. The surgeon ran the CT scan by his brain-surgeon buddy who dismissed it, said it was nothing. At this point we haven't heard back about any results of the MRI so unless we hear something I'm assuming it's a non-issue. I'll follow up on it next week if we don't hear anything. Anyway, I'm glad I did the MRI because by the time I got to the post-op exam my MRI was accessible on the hospital computer system. Since an MRI of the brain also shows the skull and facial bones, the surgeon was very interested to see a post-surgery MRI, which is rare. They use MRIs to asses the damage and extent of the injury, not the results of the surgery. It's a chance to really see how he did. There were all kinds of surgeons and interns grouped around the monitor talking their lingo. Andrea and I could see everything. The surgeon explained to us what we were looking at, what a great job he did, and why. He was very pleased with himself, which was very encouraging to me! Everyone there was very curious to see a post-op MRI. It was actually kind of fun.

Dr Jungbluth was impressed by the fact that the swelling and bruising was actually much less than what he was expecting to see. This is directly attributable to the energy work my wife does. His response to this was, "Whatever you're doing, keep doing it!" This is a very polite way to say, "I'm not interested in this area ("whatever you're doing"), but there may be something to it ("keep doing it")," This actually is a positive response - especially so when qualified by the fact that it is coming from a surgeon of the western-medicine paradigm. Dr Jungbluth gets many, many brownie points for not being dismissive, condescending or downright hostile, which has happened to us many, many times when dealing with the practitioners of western medicine. I like him, and so does my wife, and he is certainly very good at what he does. Because of him, the rest of my life will be normal. This situation - my broken face - is the kind of situation at which western medicine excels, namely, trauma intervention and control. (For a little more info on this see the entry for Jan 15, 2007, third paragraph.)

At this point, all the bandages are off and sutures removed, except for two sutures in my upper gum, up against my cheekbone. These will dissolve in a week or so. I have 2 incisions around my eye and one on my cheek. Probably be some minor scaring, but I don't really care about that. The older I get, the less important my looks are, at least to me. Besides that, chicks dig scars! Every face tells a story. I still have swelling on the right side of my face, and my eye turns a different color every day. The tear ducts and drainage aren't working right, I assume because of the swelling, and my right eye is constantly tearing and the tears run into the incisions. It's salt in a wound, literally! I have numbness in my right upper lip, gum, teeth, and a little part of the cheek. I have reason to believe normal nerve function will be restored but it may take several months. I can talk and eat ok. I have a sinus cavity full of fluid, blood and mucous and junk that's slowly draining out the back of my throat (I'm not supposed to blow my nose). Yuck!

That's the basic scoop - I hope my next entry is about the gig I just played.

December 12, 2007: Last Saturday I fell on the ice and broke my face - literally! My right cheekbone and right eye socket. Multiple fractures. I'm very ugly at the moment. Friday morning I will have facial reconstruction surgery. The prognosis is good. I should completely recover. However, I have cancelled all gigs up to but not including New Years Eve. It's possible I might play the Embassy on Saturday afternoon the 29th. I'll make that call after the surgery and the first week of recovery. So sorry to any of you who will be in town for the holidays and want to see me play. The last year has just been one thing after another hasn't it? As Arnold says, "Ah'll be baack!"

November 5, 2007: I'm improving physically now. Finally! Still not sure of the cause but the dental work seems to be the thing that's correlating with the improvement. I have one more visit at the end of this month and then all my amalgam fillings will have been replaced with composite fillings. After that, I have two permanent bridges that have metal on the back to replace. The replacements will be porcelain. Most of my adult life I've been 27 in my own mind. 7 years ago I was 45 years old and still thinking of myself as 27. The last couple of years have obliterated that! Chronic daily pain definitely changes one's self-image!

October 12, 2007: Mama Ray has moved the Jam to the Embassy Bistro and Bar permanently. Positives: No stairs, the air conditioning works, the bathrooms don't stink, it sounds better, there are decent blinds on the west-facing windows, there's actually a stage, and they serve food. Negatives: it's smaller than Harlings. In the wintertime Harlings packs. I think that people will be turned away because it's too crowded. But....that could be a good thing, more demand than supply = our price goes up. Some have expressed to me that they'll miss the sunlight streaming in the windows at Harlings. It's true that Harlings has a unique ambience. But...time moves ever onward. The only constant is change. Deal with it! Harlings will always have a special nostalgia for me. I was fairly young (28) when we started that gig. I've played with some great players there, it was the right gig at the right time. Thanks to Jerry (the owner) and Rich VanSant for making it happen all those many years ago. As far as I know Jerry and Mama Ray have parted on good terms. I've heard that Jerry is planning on putting another band in there on Saturday afternoons. I think that would be a good thing. The two jams would feed off each other, people would go upstairs to hear the band (I've heard that Tom DeMasters is putting it together) have a drink or two, walk downstairs and see Mama Ray et al, have a drink or two, go back upstairs....could make for a fun Saturday afternoon.

August 29, 2007: This is to let you know about some temporary changes occurring to Mama Ray's jam at Harlings on Saturday afternoons. This Saturday, Sept 1^st, Harlings will be closed for the Labor Day weekend. The band has decided to just take the day off.

Secondly, Harlings will be temporarily closed for the month of September. We are moving the jam downstairs and 2 doors south to the Embassy Bistro and Bar for the remaining Saturdays in September (Sept. 8, 15, 22, and 29). The Embassy is a great little place - and they serve FOOD! So come on down, enjoy the jam and EAT too!

We will resume at Harlings in October.

July 30, 2007: Sorry, regression. A week after the last entry I started hurting again. I'll make it short. We now suspect I have a low-level chronic infection somewhere. Possibly in my teeth but it could be anywhere. More later.

July 1, 2007: A quick update: Through my energy work, among other things, there have been indications that at least part of the problem is my teeth, specifically R31, which is a 30-year-old root canal. Long story short, just this last Monday I had oral surgery to extract the tooth, root canal - everything. I have to tell you, it was a bitch, even the surgeon said it was a tough one and there was about 3 hours Monday night that I was in the worst physical pain I have ever experienced - and I'm no stranger to pain. It's been a very rough week. My face is still bruised and swollen and I still have stitches in my mouth. However, I just played a gig tonight where I sang all but a half dozen of the tunes. I pushed myself, I picked tunes that last week would have hurt me bad for sure and I'm VERY encouraged. There was only very slight pain! I got home from the gig about half an hour ago and I still have energy, I'm not totally wiped out from the pain! VERY ENCOURAGED!

Jan 15, 2007:  As some of you may know, I have been having a physical problem that is keeping me from doing a lot of singing and has just generally been inhibiting my performances. For those who are interested, here's the scoop;

My symptoms are acute headaches with exertion - singing, coughing, picking up something heavy etc. It started about four years ago but within the last year has gotten considerably worse - way past the point of deniability. Within the last couple of months I've actually turned down gigs, or lost them because the physical stress was going to be too much to deal with. I have not been pain-free onstage in a long time. When my ability to work is hindered it is extremely frustrating and scary to me. I've tried all kinds of stuff - drugs, structural stuff - chiropractic, traction on my neck and head; massage therapy - acupuncture, etc. Nothing has helped. I've gone through a gamut of tests (X-rays, CT scans, MRI etc). The MRI of my head showed a vascular abnormality that is said to be congenital. That means that there is a vascular system that is fetal and after birth it goes away and another more mature vascular system develops. In my case - apparently - there are remnants of this fetal system still functioning on the right side of the back of my head. The main system is narrower and smaller than the corresponding system on the left side. So I have two vascular systems on the right side in parallel that both function and that probably feed into each other somewhere. While all that is very interesting, the consensus seems to be that the MRI was "unremarkable" and that what it showed does not account for my symptoms. I'm a little skeptical of the consensus because the pain is on the right side. However, my skepticism is going against, in particular, one man's opinion who knows way more than me and who I highly respect. So, I am stuck on the horns of a dilemma there. So at this point, all we've done is rule out possibilities. The MRI showed no evidence of an aneurysm and there was no plaque showing in the vascular system in my neck and head - that rules out a stroke. The news about the absence of plaque was very encouraging and worth the price of the MRI as far as I'm concerned. This tells me that my diet and exercise regime is working. Heart attack is a major problem in my family history. My dad had a heart attack and a quadruple bypass at 51 - the same age I am now. My grandfather died in his early sixties, my great grandfather died at 52 - all of heart attacks caused by arterial sclerosis (plaque build-up in the arteries).  None of them smoked, none of them were overweight.

There is a glimmer of light, however. As you may or may not know, my wife has a background in the medical field. Over the last 28 years she has rejected a great deal of that paradigm and has explored all kinds of alternatives. She's way into nutrition, herbology; she makes tinctures - all kinds of stuff. We go to the doctor as a last resort and use western medicine in the case of trauma control - broken bones, childbirth, acute problems etc. We have had no health insurance for the last 18 years - and that's with 5 kids! How we manage our health care expenses with no insurance is another long story, I could write a book about it! We've had the usual gamut of sickness, accidents, injuries, hospital stays etc. Our main health care provider is a chiropractor that also does acupuncture, various forms of energy work, nutrition, and so on. For the last couple of years my wife has been studying a form of energy manipulation called, "KI" that has it's origins in Japan. It just so happens that the main practitioner in the West of this discipline lives and works in the Dallas area. I happened to play in Dallas a couple of months ago. When I committed to the gig, Andrea took it upon herself to make me an appointment with this guy - his name is Dr King. Andrea and I made the trip the weekend after Thanksgiving.

To make a long story short, Dr King believes the root of my problem comes from a head injury I sustained in 1978. I have about a two-inch scar that runs across the front of the top of my head about an inch in back of my hairline. Scar tissue is a serious problem when it comes to energy flow. We're talking bio-electromagnetic energy here. This electro-magnetic energy runs in loops in and around various sections of the body. It feeds all systems and organs. There are 144,000 energy functions in the human body and they ALL nexus at the exact place that I have this scar. He said it was one of the worst places on my body to have scar tissue. He gave me some exercises to do that focus energy on the scar tissue to break it down. He also had me go to Radio Shack and buy a laser pointer. The laser light breaks up scar tissue. Andrea is lasering the scar twice a day. She is also doing energy work on me that I can't do myself. All this is taking at least two to three hours of time out of my day, which bugs the crap out of me. It takes me about an hour and 20 minutes in the morning to do the energy work on myself that Dr King proscribed, plus 10 or 15 minutes of "laser therapy." Andrea's work is taking about an hour in the evening, plus 10-15 minutes of the laser. I'm trying to use the time to relax, and meditate, but sometimes I struggle with restlessness, impatience, and resentment at the time it's taking out of my day. The alternative, however, is unacceptable. Anyway, there is definitely some improvement. I still have bad days, and I'm still struggling on the gig, but there are days when I feel that some of my lost vitality has returned. I was getting pretty worn down just managing the pain every day.

We've been doing this energy stuff very faithfully for about a couple of months now and it has had more of an effect than anything else I've tried. So it appears to me that we're looking at several months of this, at least, in order to give it a fair chance.

I think that there may be another factor playing into this and that is the amalgam fillings in my teeth. That is a whole other subject but suffice it to say that I am having all the metal fillings taken out of my mouth and having teeth capped with porcelain caps or refilled with composite fillings. There are several ways this could be playing into my symptoms, but one of them is that metal also inhibits energy flow. Dr. King wanted to know if I had any metal in my body, pins, plates, etc. I don't, except for the fillings in my teeth. Another way that amalgam fillings cause problems is that the mercury in the fillings gets absorbed into the bloodstream and deposits in various organs. I became aware of this several years ago when I noticed a couple of my teeth were very discolored. The teeth were healthy but the enamel had absorbed the filling to the point that the cavity was actually beginning to show. The teeth looked rotten they were so dark, but it was the filling that was being absorbed by the tooth. "This can't be good!" I said to myself. So I did a little research and there is indeed a growing body of evidence showing that metal fillings are bad for you. I found a sympathetic dentist who REFUSES to put metal fillings in anybody's teeth and we've been taking the metal out of my mouth as I could afford it. I had some pretty major work done on two teeth - the last of my upper teeth to have metal fillings - several weeks ago on a Monday morning. I had no head pain until Friday of that week. THAT is an anomaly - to be pain-free for that long - so I am ramping up the schedule to have it ALL done as quickly as I can afford it.

My main concern at the moment is to continue with the energy work every day and work on breaking down the scar tissue on the top of my head.

If you're curious about the KI method you could go to kinginstitute.org and check it out. If you do, be sure to read Dr King's own story, it's quite amazing.

Aug 23, 2006: The new CD is here - go to: http://masterguitar.com/shipnotes/shipnotesindex.htm

Aug 13, 2006: The 20th anniversary jam at Harling's yesterday was hot, sweaty, crowded, and loud. Yeah baby! My brother Kevin, who among other things is a documentary film-maker, had a camera crew there filming the whole day. It appeared to me that the BRC Audio people had no major problems. Sooo - later this year there should be a CD and a DVD of this historic occasion. BTW - we made the Fox-4 News at 10. Whoopie!

Ok - here's my take on the Roland GR-20 guitar synth. Bottom line - tracking problems. It's STILL not there yet. I can see positive functions for it in my studio work but I can't see playing it live. I've spent 30+ years training myself to play with as light a touch as possible - this is not only beneficial from a musical point of view, but absolutely necessary in order to avoid tendonitis, carpel tunnel syndrome, and a host of other physical problems that result from more-than-necessary hand pressure being applied, extreme repetition of movement etc. And a light touch is precisely what this guitar synth CANNOT accommodate. A good friend of mine who recommended this synth to me said, "All you have to do is make a little adjustment..." Sorry, but I'm not interested in changing my hard-won technique - such as it is - to accommodate a technology that's not there yet. Frankly, I was disappointed. It didn't feel any different than the version I tried 5 or 6 years ago. I assumed some progress had been made since then. Apparently I was wrong.

Playing the guitar - really expressing yourself with it - is a very visceral, emotional, and sensual experience. Kind of like really good sex. Playing this synth was like wearing a rubber. I can do it, but it degrades the intensity of the experience.

I'm gonna keep it and use it in the studio, but that's about it.

Aug 8, 2006: This Saturday is Mama Ray's 20th anniversary jam at Harlings. It will be one big freakin' big whoop-dee-do! Even my wife will be there! :-o We are recording live and will release a CD later in the year. Bill Crain will do the recording. Good luck, Bill, you'll need it! I know for sure that Rick Hendricks is coming in from Nashville to play with us - because he has a gig here Friday night and wants to use my amp!

The Wed gig at Barleys on Midland Drive went away. However, Valentine has salvaged Thursdays in that the Old School Knights are playing Barley's at 119th and Quivera every Thursday from 10 to 1am - at least through August. The gig story over the last month is a perfect example of the undependability of giggage. It just comes and goes. There was several months there where I was playing 5 gigs in 4 days every week. And then, all in about 10 day's time, I lost over $800 a month worth of gigs. And that happened at the very same time I have to put out the money to finish the CD project! Daaaang! If I didn't teach I'd be scrambling big-time right now. I remember those days! :-) Life is good. I don't have to scramble. I admit I'm just a wee bit "concerned" - but not enough to go runnin' around trying to find more work!

Discmakers tells me they'll ship product by Aug 15th. I added a big section to masterguitar to help promote this CD - My Ship - but I'm not going to link it up until I have a page up at CD Baby, so people can actually buy it!

The Jazz and Blues festival is getting close - Valentine hasn't slept for weeks! We'll be warming up for Bo Diddley.

July 7, 2006: Sorry to say the gig at the 810 Zone is history. That's show biz. That's why I teach :-) But....it was a pretty good run (5 months) for something I was hoping to get 1 month out of. You may also notice that Friday night at the Woodlands is off the calendar. That may be temporary, it might start back up again. My calendar page gets changed as soon as I know, so keep checking if you're interested.

My new CD was mastered today by Bill Crain. A mastering session is the MOMENT OF TRUTH. It's the point of no return. There is no "undo" menu. It's the point at which a better set of ears than mine judges what has taken me hours and hours and hours to accomplish. And Bill is brutally honest - that's why I use him. (He's really a good guy - it's just that he knows what he's talking about!) I'm happy and relieved to report that things went well. My mixes didn't have anything that Bill couldn't deal with - no fatal flaw. Whew! Bill did the mastering ju-ju that mastering engineers do and made it sound even better!

June 26, 2006: Check out these photos from Andy DeWitt's site. They're from KC Power and Light's first gig at the Woodlands.

May 22, 2006: Andy DeWitt and Terry Swope will be merging with The Old School Knights to play the Woodlands on Fridays through the summer. That band will be called Kansas City Power and Light. I have purchased a guitar synth and will be playing keyboard, string, and horn parts (as well as some guitar). Terry is a fine guitar player as well as a singer. I'm looking forward to this deal. No tellin' what might happen! It should be a very strong band. I now come full circle. One of the first full-time bands I played in back in the '70's hired me to replace a keyboard player. It happened because I was a jazz guy and knew all the chords. I split my guitar signal to 2 different amps and was using all kinds of effects to create texture. I liked it because I didn't have to play those stupid disco guitar parts! Here I am again functioning as a keyboard player - only this time the technology is more to the level of what I'm trying to do. We'll see. I haven't actually received the synth yet, I won't have very long to get it under control before I have to start using it.

I'm getting close (again!) on the CD. Having to record everything all over again has been rough. But I'm hoping to be done with the tracking and mixing in the next few days. I have most of next week off from teaching so I'm planning on mastering it next week. Then I have to send it off to Discmakers in NY. I also have to get the artwork together etc etc etc.

Feb 12, 2006: So John Bukaty calls me this afternoon and wants me to play tonight! Short notice. It's for his Dad's 70th birthday party at a local country club. He says Mike Harvey will play too. There will also be a duo from Denver there, two girls who call themselves Honeysuckle Rose. I like John, I'm comfortable with Mike (Mike and me go way back) so I say ok (the money is cool too!). So I get there and I hear Honeysuckle Rose going over some tunes. Guitar and fiddle. I decided to seize the day. I need a fiddle solo on one of the tunes (James and Grace) I'm doing on my next CD. I also need a female vocalist for some harmony parts on another song (and they looked hungry!). So Honeysuckle Rose came over after the gig to do some recording. It was serendipity. Thanks John. Honeysuckle Rose is Bridget Law and Bonnie Paine. Check 'em out. The session was a success.

Jan 28, 2006: I ran into Danny Embrey tonight. He came into my gig at Plaza III and stayed for a couple of hours. He is an awesome jazz guitarist - totally world-wide. I took the opportunity to talk to him about playing some on the CD I'm working on. He was up for it! I've got to make that happen somehow!

The gig situation is cranking! In Feb I will be playing 5 gigs in 4 days every week. The last week in Feb. will be 7 gigs in 6 days. Ouch! That's almost like the old days when I played 8 gigs a week without a night off for months at a time. But back then I wasn't teaching. And the money is better now than it was then. And I sleep in my own bed every night now. Back then I was on the road a lot. Things are way better now.

In spite of what I said earlier the gig at Barley's on Wednesdays is continuing. Apparently the management gets it. If you are going to have a house band, you have to give it some time so that people figure out that they can count on the same band being there every Wed. That takes time, several months at least. I think each week is a little better than the last one. I'm starting to see "regulars" there - people who like the band and are showing up every Wednesday.

Jan 5, 2006: Check this out:

Subject: HELLO MUSICIAN
From:"Nancy Williams" <nancywilliams11@msn.com> 
Date: Thu, December 29, 2005 12:35 pm 

HELLO,
THIS IS NANCY WILLIAMS FROM GERMANY,
I HAVE INTREST IN MY SON LEARNING MUSICAL INSTRULMENTS  , ABOUT 3  MUSICAL 
INSTRULMENTS  , WE ARE PRESENTLY IN AUSTRALIA BUT  WE ARE RELOCATING TO USA  
BY JANUARY 28, SO WHERE  ARE YOU LOCATED SO  I CAN KNOW HOW TO ARRANGE FOR  
YOU AND  MY SON, I WANT MY SON TO LEARN THESE THINGS  TO THE PROFESSONAL 
LEVEL, AND  I WANT HIM TO HAVE HIS PERSONAL INSTRULMENT AFTER LEANING IT 
FROM YOU  SO , TELL ME  THE ACTUAL INSTRULMENT YOU TEACH AND HOW MUCH YOU 
CHARGE PER HOUR   TO  TEACH  ,I WANT YOU TO TEACH HIM FOR 1 HOUR A DAY, AND 
3 DAYS A WEEK, AND FOR 3 MONTHS  SO I WANT YOU TO  give me your sheldue for 
this time and CACULATE THE TOTAL AMOUNT  AND LET ME HAVE THEM   IN   YOUR 
REPLY  AND  PLS  HELP   ME PRICE A PERSONAL INTRULMENT FOR MY SON , SO TELL 
ME THE TOTAL PRICE OF OF YOUR SEVICE AS WELL .PLS  TELL ME YOU CITY NAME AND 
CODE  TO LET ME KNOW YOUR DISTANCE   BETWEEN YOU AND TO OUR NEW HOUSE
THANKS

What do you wanna bet that Nancy WILLIAMS and WILLIAMS Nojeto are the same person? (See the Scam Page).

Dec 21, 2005: Working on a new section for the site: PUBLICITY. I've got a file cabinet drawer full of scrapbook stuff - articles, reviews, pictures etc. from various newspapers and magazines over the years. Never made a scrapbook. Now I know what I can do with it, I'll put it on the web!

If you've read the forum at VS-Planet.com you'll know that I got my recorder back. I had to start over on the CD so now I'm looking at releasing it in the spring or summer of 2006. That's show biz. One nice thing about the situation though. When I'm producing myself in order to maintain some modicum of objectivity I follow the 90% rule. If I think the song is 90% there, then it's done. To deal with the other 10% would involve obsessing over minutia, I might NEVER get it done, and if I did get it done 99.9% of the people wouldn't know the difference. BUT NOW, since I'm forced to do the whole thing over, I can deal with some of that 10%! Little things that bugged me that no one but myself would notice on the original recordings I can now "fix" because I have to do it all over anyway.

The gig at Plaza III has been going well, I enjoy the room. It's high-class. Very quiet, I can actually play with some finesse there. Barley's on Wednesday nights is not looking so good - I can't see that one continuing for much longer.

I've had a teacher from Seattle and another one from New York contact me after finding the scam page I put up in September. It seems Mr. Nojeto is continuing to run the same scam without even changing his name. These teachers googled Williams Nojeto's name and the masterguitar scam page was #1 in the rankings! That's awesome!

Oct 9, 2005: The gig at Barley's on Wednesday nights looks like it will last a while. Ditto for the new O'Dowd's in Zona Rosa on Fridays. The gig schedule is looking better than it has for the last few months.

Sept 25, 2005: I've had guy attempt to run a scam on me - it makes for a somewhat entertaining read, I think. Check it out: http://www.masterguitar.com/html/scam1.htm

Sept 23, 2005: Bad, bad, bad! My new recorder is down. See the forum at VS-Planet.com

Sept 5, 2005: Played the KC Jazz and Blues Festival yesterday. It was the most musician-friendly festival I've ever played. No humping gear for 3 miles in the heat. No fighting with security to get backstage. No Johnny-on-the-Spots. People right there to take my gear to the stage from the time I drove up to the front entrance . Air conditioned quarters (with a bar!) for the musicians. Nice vans that transported us to the stage and picked us up. REAL BATHROOMS! The sound was awesome, the sound guys knew what they were doing, the stage was BIG. The stage was shaded. The stage was well constructed. I've played on some mighty shaky stages. I'm sure the lights were great too but we played in the afternoon so no stage lights for us.  Kudos to Mark Valentine who put it all together. Check out some festival pics at: http://masterguitar.com/html/photos.html

Also - I'm in the middle of recording my next CD. I'm doing it on a Roland VS2480DVD. I was hoping that my experience with Cakewalk would carry over but the Roland software is proprietary so there has been more of a learning curve than what I'd hoped. Things are coming together pretty well on it though. I'm almost done tracking. Spent last week bringing soloists in to put some solos on various things - Phil Brenner (saxes) Stan Kessler (flugelhorn) and Kent Means (vibes). The music is acoustic guitar-based singer/songwriter type stuff - think James Taylor, David Wilcox, or Van Morrison. 14 tunes - 12 originals and two covers. Hope to have it out by Christmas but we'll see. The photo below is my little home studio. It's actually a finished garage so it's a medium sized room but most of my activity is right where I'm sitting. Notice the 7-string on the stand. That's the EuDaly Special by Wendler Instruments.

Feb 2, 2005: Check this out. A press release for the EuDaly Special by Wendler Instruments - that's Dave Wendler who built my 7-string.
http://news.harmony-central.com/Newp/2005/EuDaly-Special.html

Jan 31, 2005: This weekend was the 4th show I've done with Artist John Bukaty. It's a performance art kind of thing where John paints in tandem with the band playing. It's really cool and I've enjoyed it every time. John is very affected by the music, he claims he HAS to have it. We change up styles and subject matter, mood and tempo and so on and watch how the music and atmosphere affects the painting. He uses some kind of acrylic, the paintings are generally a pretty good size, about 4 x 6 or larger and very colorful. Generally they are not abstract but impressionistic, many times he actually paints the band.

He works very quickly and when the band quits playing the painting is done! There have been times when we decided the painting wasn't quite done and so we would extend the song, play another solo or whatever. Usually 2 to 4 paintings in a 3 or 4 hour period. So far I've made it into 3 Bukaty paintings! The paintings are for sale and generally are in the neighborhood of $1000.00. It's quite an artsy scene - people stand around and watch John paint. That sounds trite, I can't really give descriptive justice to what happens. It really is performance art. It's pretty fascinating.

Dec 30, 2004: The gig at Union Station is over before it began. New manager, all gigs there off the book, the agent has to renegotiate everything. That's show biz! Among other reasons, that's why I teach!

Dec 13, 2004: I received my new 7-string guitar today from Dave Wendler. He's a luthier in Lawrence Ks. who solicited me for an endorsement deal several months ago. (http://www.electrocoustic.com/) His guitars are unlike anything I've seen, ergonomically speaking. They're very light, extremely thin solid bodies with the back being concave. The Jay EuDaly Special (dig it!) will be offered in 6 and 7 string versions. I've tuned the 7th string to an A. It will take some getting used to but I think I can do it.

Dec 6, 2004: Gonna start a new gig every Tuesday at the Union Cafe in Union Station. It will be solo jazz guitar accompaniment to lunchtime fine dining! 11am to 1pm starting the first Tuesday in Jan.

Oct 4, 2004: Started gigging with Valentine's new R&B dance band this last weekend. "Valentine's Old School Knights". I think it's going to work fine. Back to the Jackson Strat and earplugs!