The Zig Gazette

The Zig Gazette
August 15 2009
Thezigsband.com Myspace.com/thezigsband
Jim Ziegler, Bill Raffensperger, Ron McRorey, Jim Downing
Saturday 8/15 Grand Lodge Ketchum OK
MUSICAL MUSINGS AGAIN
Jimmy LaFave was talking to Steve Ripley and said “Pythagoras walks into a bar.”
No, really he was talking, I think, about how the ancient Greeks regarded music as one of the primary sciences, like astronomy. There is some sense to this, because music is based on physics and mathematics. I suppose it’s not a stretch to assume that physics is based on music, but not the way most of us think of it.
It’s a fascinating subject. If your kids are seriously interested in music, especially as a career or second career, make sure they really learn about it; not just how to read some notes and make those notes on a horn, but to understand how the notes relate to each other; that’s the interesting part. I take this position because that’s how I was taught, and I’ve enjoyed the trip. I’ve been playing a very long time and I’m still discovering things. It hasn’t made me a professor or even a virtuoso, but it’s served me well all the same.
When I was at Hale, they offered College Music Theory One, I took it, but I realized that Mrs. Cain had already taught me all that by the time I was 8, so it was a breeze.
On the other hand, formal training is not really required for playing Rock and Roll. Some people intuitively understand as much about music as I do, even if they can’t communicate it. Some people have more innate manual dexterity, and some people seem to have a gift of special hearing. I told Terry McBride once “That last chord is a thirteenth with a raised eleventh.”
“What the %$#@ does that mean? Play it for me.” That’s a seven-note chord, and I have trouble picking those out; I usually have to go to a chart to figure out what Donald Fagen is doing.
I played the chord. Terry wadded his fingers up and said “Oh, this?” Yeah, that was it. He could hear it, but he didn’t know what it was. Of course, he had taken some lessons from Monk and Milt Norman, so that knowledge may have been sitting in the dust in the back of his large brain.
Since I knew theory, I was always the one in the band that figured out the chords to the songs, and taught singers their harmony parts. Ear training is part of theory, and it gives you some guidelines that help you find your way around better. It’s my opinion that most people can probably learn this stuff; I’m not sure that anyone is really ‘tone deaf’, but it’s possible. There are only 12 notes, and only so many acceptable ways they fit together, for most music anyway.
On the other hand, even devout music fans may not know the difference beyond a certain point. Dale Shipman pointed this out when someone told him his band was as good as Tommy Crook’s band. Dale knew better – Crook is extraordinary - but he didn’t want to insult the fan, and just thanked him. It dawned on him that Crook is a musician’s musician, and not everybody knows the difference. Some non-players might be great closet musicians; I’ve met people who have all the same records I have; they know what’s really good, whether they understand why or not.
So the other side of the argument is that there are some people who don’t know much about music, but they play well enough to satisfy most listeners. Maybe they have that ability to connect with an audience, whereas there’s some kid who can play amazingly well who will sit in his room for the rest of his life and maybe crop up on Youtube a few times, but might never be heard or seen otherwise.
As a free-lance sideman for much of my musical life, I’ve had to jump up on stage with bands that already had their act down pat. With no rehearsal, I’ve had to just guess where the songs were going, watch the guitar player’s hands, listen closely and follow along just a little behind. In that circumstance, I have to say that knowing music has served me well and gotten me a lot of gigs I might not otherwise have had.
Again, it’s not essential, but it sure helps.
Happy birthdays this week to our good friend Ralph, who is over 50, ahem. Monday was Mad Dog’s birthday; he’s fifty-sem. Wednesday it’s 60 for Dick Gagle and about 55 for Pete Huckabee. Leos rule, of course. At least it’s best to let us think we do.
Saturday 8/15 Grand Lodge Ketchum OK
Flotsam
40 years ago this week were the Sharon Tate / LaBinaca murders and Woodstock; two milestones of hippie history happening at the same time. Of course, we didn’t know anything about The Manson Family yet; they weren’t apprehended for a couple of months.
You might wonder if Charlie was just pissed that he didn’t have the bread to go see The Who so he told his flunkies to take out Terry Melcher.
John Phillips almost went to Melcher’s house that night, but Marshall Brickman had dropped by and talked him into going to the beach instead.
One thing really changed for the worse with the arrest of that bunch. Some people like Reagan and Nixon hated hippies, but the average person just thought of us as harmless geeks. When you saw another person with long hair, you knew you were kindred spirits; having similar experiences. Since we were so peaceful, it was easy to hitch-hike. We were a curiosity
Then suddenly, long-hairs were capable of grisly unprovoked murder. The Doors come out singing “There’s a killer on the road…” After that, I spent 19 hours in San Bernardino with my thumb out one day. Thanks, Charlie and Jim. An era was ending quickly; Altamont and Kent State helped.
Last week PBS showed Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton concert at Madison Square Garden. Our friend Teb caught the tour in Denver and kept going on about how good it was. We told him to shut up already. Walking out, he overheard some young men pondering: “Wow, those old guys can really play.” Well, yeah – that might be why they’re still packing them in.
Of course, the OETA hosts don’t know Monterrey Jack about rock and roll, and seem as surprised as anyone to be a rock history resource. They erroneously reported that Eric & Steve first played together in Blind Faith.
Actually, I have an Elektra sampler album from 1967 called “What’s Shakin’?” and it has The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Lovin’ Spoonful, and Eric Clapton & The Powerhouse featuring Steve Winwood. They do a slow version of Crossroads with Winwood singing it. This group didn’t really exist, but it was thrown together in the studio for some reason. So go win a bar bet with that little tidbit of information. Maybe I should’ve Stumped The Zoo with that before I spilled the beans.
Does anybody want a virtually free Hammond organ? A producer friend in Nashville tells me his church has a Hammond M-3 they will take $50 for if someone wants to go get it.
The M3 is the spinet model of the same series as the famous B3. It has shorter manuals, and half the drawbars, but sounds very much like it’s big brother. “Green Onions” was recorded on an M3. Since it’s been in a church it is probably in very good condition. Joe is going to check it out, make sure it plays, and generally give it a once-over. On E-Bay they go for $700 to $1000. These old tone-wheel organs are still appreciating in value; built to last.
Pete Seeger just turned 90. I met him in Oklahoma city a few years back and told him I had just been singing an old Weaver’s song, “Four Nights Drunk” to my kids just a few days before.
“I just got back from Russia and some friends of mine there just recorded that. They taught me their version!” he piped. Then he began singing it to me, in Russian! Pete actually was a communist, before Stalin gave it such a bad name. Woody Guthrie was a socialist, and neither of these guys are considered bad people now. How times change.
Commercials: how about that one where the eight little men in their white suits and white hard hats lift a giant bottle over their heads and carry it to a giant woman’s nostril? Calling Dr. Freud. Then there’s the one where the little girls are telling dad it’s time to dye his gray hair. What’s that all about? “Daddy, you’re embarrassing us at school because you’re so old!”
Three fourths of The Zigs went out to Blues city last Sunday to sit in and audition. They said they’d hire us if they could just hear us. We played there for years under three different owners.
The host band was killer: Joe Modica, Kevin Flint, Steve Pounds, David Russell and Bob Withrow. “Follow these guys? I don’t know.” Laughed Zig. That’s one way to cut down on really bad jammers: have an intimidating house band.
But we have no since of decorum, or shame for that matter, so we just did what we do and we rocked the crowd.
Someone in the audience said “Hey, these guys play the old stuff.” Flint answered, “Yeah, they do the old COOL stuff.”
Saturday 8/15 Grand Lodge Ketchum OK
ALSO
This might be our last date in Ketchum this summer; things will be winding down at the lake somewhat after Labor Day, so come on by and party with us, Pam and Sandy at The Grand Lodge. They have a nice motel, good food, especially their real smoked barbecue, and a friendly bar. It’s perfect.
Saturday 8/15 Grand Lodge Ketchum OK
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