Will Maranto's World

Rumors of my death...

...have been greatly exaggerated.  

In all seriousness, I've been biding my time and playing a few things here and there.  

A couple weeks ago Kenny, Mike, Bryan and I played a party with Mr. Rich Kelham of the Moulin Dudes playing guitar and singing harmony.  I have to say that it was a good experience and, though not without a few hiccups, a good performance.  These isolated shows remind me of just how good the musicians are that I play with.  

In an only-mildly-related note, I recently read a strangely-coherent interview with David Lee Roth in "Classic Rock" magazine.  Though Mr. Roth is not one of my usual points of musical reference, I was both impressed and surprised by the points he made about the newly-ressurected Van Halen.

First, he hammered home the fact that he and the band practiced exhaustively before recording and later touring.  I believe he said they rehearsed 42 times before recording the new songs.  That speaks volumes.  And it's an approach I miss badly.  

Next DLR mentions that despite the considerable prowess of his band, a lot of what propels them is the experience and feel they've accrued over 30+ years.  That's also a valid point.  He mentions Johnny Cash in passing, but I have always loved that about Cash's voice: it's the undeniable authority that references YEARS of experience.  

But even the most experience needs regular polish.  To extend the JC analogy, why else would the Man In Black have worked with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers as his backing band on American II?  Even a legend wants the tightness of a good and practiced unit behind him.

I'm not feeling the need to say more about that, but suffice it to say this: I'm ready to really do this thing.

WTF?

Today was a day that confounded me in the extreme.  You can lead a horse to water?  You can give a man a fish?  I don't know what else to say, but it amazes me how people can makes such bad choices.

Music and what I'm really thankful for

We played a private party last night. The Cascios, Jeff and Melissa, are wonderful folks and gracious hosts.

I felt moved this morning to mention what great guys I play music with. Kenny, Travis and Mike are ace players and top notch PEOPLE. I feel blessed to have them as friends.

A few quick Vegas pics

Molly and I on the bridge in front of Hoover Dam:

The Dam:

Communism comes to Capitalism:

A Really good Beer:

Revel Pics

We snapped a few pics before we played our set at the Revel last week.  I thought I'd share!

 
 

A Few Random Thoughts

It's been a busy week. Last week we played a great show at the Revel. I'm currently on unassigned call & hating life.

Revel Time Again

Hey everyone,

I'm sorry I've been MIA for the last couple months.  I've been steadily plugging away with various projects: firming up my batch of newer songs, playing guitar on Bryan Copeland's Skulks project, working as hard as ever and writing RPG material with my main man, Jim Ed Brewer (in case anyone reading this blog doubted that I am a big nerd).  I'm itching to get down to recording my new batch of songs, but that will probably have to wait until at least December.  

But tomorrow I'll be playing the Revel with the Usual Suspects.  This year the Suspects' ranks are going to going to be more numerous than ever before.  Kenny, Travis, Bryan, Mike and even Wes will be joining me, so we ought to sound full, especially in the vocal department.  The weather looks to be perfect and I'm glad to be playing on a weekend day.  I hope everyone comes out to hear us, because I have a very good feeling about this show...

Kerry has made a cool flier, as usual, which I'll post below!

Live @ Muddy Waters

I'm normally busy in July, but this year takes the cake.  Fortunately this week, I get to rest up a bit before we descend upon Muddy Waters.  The band and I had a great time playing in May.  This time should be a trip as well.  Props as always to Kerry Faler for the great flier above! 

June Update

I apologize for my blog silence of late. I've been focused on polishing up new songs for future projects. I'm really happy about the material I've got and I am so itching to start working. But it's not that simple.

When you record an album, you're making an investment of songs, time and money. All are precious things, but especially the songs themselves. You also have to factor in that a physical album works to support a band or "act," so before you commit to work, you better know what or who you're making this recording to represent.

I love the idea of working on a Gypsy Mountain record but I also like the idea of doing my own record. The decision thus hinges on who is here to play shows on a regular basis. We shall see how this plays out.

Oh What A Night

Yesterday was filled thoroughly with music. Myself and the Usual Suspects (Bryan Shelby, Mike Gauthier and Kenny Brown) played an afternoon show at Mudbug Madness. After we finished our set at Festival Plaza, we packed up and headed to Muddy Waters where we played an evening show.

Mudbug was nice, if extremely hot. Though I love to blab on and on about the limitations of playing without a dedicated lead guitar player, I have to say that deficiency has felt smaller and smaller over the last year. This is mainly due to Mike's wonderful organ and piano and Kenny's -presence- (Mr. Brown really fills up space and still never overplays). I suppose I've gotten a bit more relaxed in my role as the band's lone guitarist.

Mudbug's audience was great with lots of friends and tons of new faces in attendance. One of the comments I love the most is, "Where are you guys FROM?!?". Almost like we fell to Shreveport on a meteor. What I love mist about it, though, is that it implies that we're a professional touring act. I've long believed my musical coconspirators are top-notch; it's nice to hear it from others too.

One funny Willism from Saturday: I'm leaving Mudbug, hot and dehydrated. I'm happy but tired. A nice young woman comes up to me and says, "Hi Will, how are you? Have you talked to my dad lately?". I recognize this person but my tired brain just can't bring this knowledge to where it needs to be. So I filibuster as best I can: No, I haven't talked to him lately. How are you, etc. What I remembered about an hour later was that this was Charlie Dempsey's (lead guitarist from Retroverb) daughter. The last timeI had seen Robin was three years ago and she was in high school, but nonetheless, I totally managed to misplace her identity. Ugh!

So we roll out to Muddy Waters to sound check. This show was a stretch, not just because we'd already played an earlier show. Kenny's daughter graduated from high school yesterday so he understandably had other things to do. I asked the one and only Wes McKinney to fill in on bass. It has been just at a year since Wes and I have played music together and a mere seven years since he'd played bass (rather than guitar) at a show. So how did it go?

I think we gave one of the best performances we've ever given. Wes dropped in on bass just like he'd been playing it all along (Shelby and Mike played like gold too - there was one really nice guy wanting to get Bryan's autograph all night too. How cool!). Maybe most wonderful of all was that the Gypsy Mountain harmonies were back with a vengeance. Just like the Olson-Louris "one voice" of our beloved Jayhawks, Wes and I locked in tight. I was in heaven. We had a good crowd all night and they liked the sound we were making. I don't know if they realized we were really just playing for each other.

What I got out of May 28th is that I'm literally blessed with great friends who are ridiculously talented (and, yes, even the little aside tipping the hat indirectly to the indispensible help Charles Dempsey gave me a few years ago supports that thought.  Don't assume your unwise and folly-prone son misses all your prompts, Lord). We make beautiful music together and all past drama aside, we really should keep doing so. I think that feeling was shared by all. So what might the future hold?