went to lawrence tonight to see MALACHY PAPERS at the Jackpot saloon. showed up waay too early, and as i was standing outside having a smoke and wondering how to kill the time, Mike Dillon comes walking up. he knows me. after 12 years of being my biggest, most direct musical inspiration and having seen me and approached by me at countless shows from BillyGoat to HairyApes BMX to Malachy Papers to Mike Dillon's GoGo Jungle, we're pretty friendly.
chatted with him a little while, then we walked across the street to the Replay, where Rex Hobart was playing. Mike D took off to start moving gear, and i started talking to this guy about 9/11 and how it was a blatant inside job, etc. it got pretty heavy, and then we discussed music and what each of us do. he's a drummer, and i do believe we will be hooking up to jam together. this conversation must have went on for over an hour and a half, and when i finally walked back to the Jackpot, Malachy was setting up.
They only played a 45 minute set as they were opening up for another band that i don't feel like mentioning. Mike is currently on tour with Ani DiFranco as her percussionist, (obviously) and Todd Sickafoose (sp?) on upright bass. He played with Malachy instead of the usual Jonny Hamill and did a fantastic job. After the show, i volunteered to help haul their gear back to the tour bus. As i was walking out, i smiled at Ani, who was sitting at the bar, surprisingly not being mobbed, looking very cute and pregnant.
it took mike and i two trips to move his vibraphone, tablas, pedalboard and drumkit across town to the tourbus. he let me go on the bus and check it out, and as i expected, it really made my apartment look like a shithole. we talked about a lot of things aside from music. it was really cool to connect with another mentor.
for the third trip, we crammed todd's upright bass, in a very space shuttle-esque flight case into my car, filling the entire hatch and extending almost all the way to the windshield and him to the hotel. we tried to go to the tourbus, where everything else was, but the entrance to that parking lot became blocked by a stopped amtrak train and we sat there and talked for about 15 minutes until we realized that the train really was not going to move. I told him it certainly wasn't necessary, but Mike gave me a few bucks for the help anyway. I told him that my lady and i were going to NOLA in november, and i'd love to hang out maybe, but it turned out that he wont be returning there until the day we're leaving... then he offered to give me a free private drum lesson when he comes back through KC area in december "if i'd like".
i don't think he has any idea what that meant to me.
fantastic night. unbelievable even. this is the second time that i've gotten to hang out alone with bands i admire at the Jackpot.. last time was Sleepytime Gorilla Museum a few years back..helped them move some gear and got to hang out on their tourbus that night too...
chatted with him a little while, then we walked across the street to the Replay, where Rex Hobart was playing. Mike D took off to start moving gear, and i started talking to this guy about 9/11 and how it was a blatant inside job, etc. it got pretty heavy, and then we discussed music and what each of us do. he's a drummer, and i do believe we will be hooking up to jam together. this conversation must have went on for over an hour and a half, and when i finally walked back to the Jackpot, Malachy was setting up.
They only played a 45 minute set as they were opening up for another band that i don't feel like mentioning. Mike is currently on tour with Ani DiFranco as her percussionist, (obviously) and Todd Sickafoose (sp?) on upright bass. He played with Malachy instead of the usual Jonny Hamill and did a fantastic job. After the show, i volunteered to help haul their gear back to the tour bus. As i was walking out, i smiled at Ani, who was sitting at the bar, surprisingly not being mobbed, looking very cute and pregnant.
it took mike and i two trips to move his vibraphone, tablas, pedalboard and drumkit across town to the tourbus. he let me go on the bus and check it out, and as i expected, it really made my apartment look like a shithole. we talked about a lot of things aside from music. it was really cool to connect with another mentor.
for the third trip, we crammed todd's upright bass, in a very space shuttle-esque flight case into my car, filling the entire hatch and extending almost all the way to the windshield and him to the hotel. we tried to go to the tourbus, where everything else was, but the entrance to that parking lot became blocked by a stopped amtrak train and we sat there and talked for about 15 minutes until we realized that the train really was not going to move. I told him it certainly wasn't necessary, but Mike gave me a few bucks for the help anyway. I told him that my lady and i were going to NOLA in november, and i'd love to hang out maybe, but it turned out that he wont be returning there until the day we're leaving... then he offered to give me a free private drum lesson when he comes back through KC area in december "if i'd like".
i don't think he has any idea what that meant to me.
fantastic night. unbelievable even. this is the second time that i've gotten to hang out alone with bands i admire at the Jackpot.. last time was Sleepytime Gorilla Museum a few years back..helped them move some gear and got to hang out on their tourbus that night too...