Various Notes by Robbie Seahag Mangano

United Mutations: DENNY WALLEY & THE RADICAL COOL DUDES THAT RULE

2013-10-19T18:33:00.001-07:00

United Mutations: DENNY WALLEY & THE RADICAL COOL DUDES THAT RULE: Thursday, October24, 2013 at Coco SixtySix in Brooklyn, NY DENNY WALLEY & THE RADICAL COOL DUDES THAT RULE Denny Walley - L...

MC WHACK - "Slicin it Up" single (Produced by Robbie Seahag)....

2013-10-17T13:41:00.001-07:00

download it on i-tunes!

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/slicin-it-up-single/id692951631

DENNY WALLEY (primarily the legendary slide guitarist Frank Zappa, The Mothers, Captain Beefheart, The Magic Band, Geronimo Black) called me up to do a set with him while in NYC.

2013-10-17T13:32:00.004-07:00

COME TO COCO SIXTY-SIX in Greenpoint, Brooklyn on OCT 24th.

DENNY WALLEY (primarily the legendary slide guitarist Frank Zappa, The Mothers, Captain Beefheart, The Magic Band, Geronimo Black) called me up to do a set with him while in NYC.

Coming next week. Radical Cool Dudes that Rule with DENNY WALLEY.

Denny Walley and Lead Vocals and Lead Guitar, Bossman

Radical Cool Dudes that Rule are:
Robbie Seahag Mangano on Guitar and Vocals
Adm Mnkff on Bass and Vocals
Keith Morris Abrams - drums
Brad Whiteley on keyboard
Rich Rakowski on Sax

10pm: Denny Walley and the Radical Cool Dudes that Rule...
The Woes and one more band TBA.

https://www.facebook.com/events/410812475687708/

The GOASTT (The Ghost Of A Saber Toothed Tiger) is a the name of the band for Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl.

2013-10-17T10:05:00.000-07:00

The GOASTT (The Ghost Of A Saber Toothed Tiger) is a the name of the band for Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl.

(Left to Right: Charlotte Kemp Muhl, Connor Grant, Sean Lennon, Jared Samuel, Robbie Mangano, not pictured on drums: Tim Kuhl).

Here's a huge review of our second show together that lasted about 40 minutes, in Kingston, NY on Sept 28th, 2013. -HAG

Purgatory at the 2nd Avenue Station

2011-04-29T11:30:00.001-07:00

Razor blade - sharp - shines at my eye.

Trumpeter plays the Dreiwitz pygmy horn, silenced for the hundredth time by the arriving uptown F.

There's never been a quick transfer at the 2nd Avenue Station.

Not for me in 15 years.

His licks sound like a blind cat sweeping his claws against linoleum

for a chance to find a bottlecap (his own toy invention),

once belonging to a 2-liter bottle of coca-cola or pepsi.

With arms raised, another stretches out the bullshit of the day.

It sheds but unfortunately, he gets it on everyone else -

because he feels it, he's relieving himself.

Men think they are cute - in movies directed by women.

Period pieces... so lonely are they.

They dress the part and their faces say -

"Save me

Mother me up

I'm real"

It's here:

For everything, I feel.

Straight Shot Down 2nd Avenue, Manhattan

2011-04-29T11:13:00.000-07:00

Tunnel view - capsulated street ship.
Aborted submarine.
Desert shark.

Nightlife:
It's these guys with ties that imagine they're on the rise. (They sure walk like it.)
Slappin' each other's back cause Thursday's been the new Friday
since before they joined the workforce.
Is it football Season?

She reminded me of the old heroin face.
The color or lack thereof grey skin.
Still cool.
No problem cause I've solved it, for now.
I could be dead wrong.
Donuts are sometimes the happiest notion in my mind.

Nothing brought bliss like the sweet cupcake with purple-pale icing.
Delivered from the Cakelord herself,
fully becoming the solid fruition of her legend,
her sound, her utter being.
My savioress, I savor.

Straight Shot Up 1st Avenue, Manhattan

2011-04-29T11:01:00.000-07:00

Ah to be on a bus, the airplane of the streets.
Noisy. Turbulence.
Out of the window, people in their clouds.

Goofy jogging man looks as though he's had enough running.
Hospital workers still wearing their drab hospital clothes -
walking on the dirty streets - I hope they go straight home.

Pass the medical center, where the many problems are
Born, Bred, and Dead.

Hasidic man on cell phone looks like Santa Claus in April.
I have a feeling...

Pregnant woman uses her fetus hump to rest her hands upon.
Must be comforting to know its not a result of a bad diet.
A soft, portable texting table.
I wonder if Joe-soon-to-be-baby can break the mother's code....
Do we ever?

Respect for the handicapped, there within.

Mindset on the F

2011-04-29T06:34:00.000-07:00

Throw it on a t-shirt and sell it.
Retro-fit like a black and white photo tossed on a multi-colored poster.
Nine is a cheap number.
We're getting a deal.

Mr. Brown Hat/Brown Shoes guy grows a big nose,
and another one sits closer to me.
Sleeping man across from me has scissor-crab legs and a silver ring.

There's a tall baby with a green beanie,
holding a curved pole and dangling a gold earring,
invisibly leaning, soon to be leaving.

Electric Earmuff girl with blue mom-jeans and pink dad-watch,
remains on the train as I leave them all
alone.

Paper Cat Video and NYC Show March 28

2010-03-22T07:08:00.000-07:00

Paper Cat recording "Intro" at Slick Studios in Philadelphia, March 2010.

Bass - Julie Slick
Drums - Eric Slick
Guitar - Robbie Seahag

We're playing at Cake Shop in NYC, 8:30pm on Sunday March 28th.

Goodbye Winter! Hello Spring!

2010-03-17T11:55:00.000-07:00

(My porcelain touring bunny is sitting on top of the left stereo amplifier during my concert with the Grande Mothers in Germany, August 2009. I plan on retiring the bunny this year. He's been working with me for 2 years.)

Happy New Year Everyone! 2010 is a pretty looking number. Happy Birthday to me; an Aquarius, born on January 21st! I spent both New Years and my birthday relaxing with my lady. My whim idea to celebrate at Medieval Times didn't take off this year, but I'll go there someday.

Since I haven't written since Dec 18th, I'll tell you what has happened since then, and only predict the future. Since this is music biz, I'd rather just predict something will happen, than say it is. Yes, the gigs are booked in the future, but what if??

In April I predict I head will head off for another European tour with The Grande Mothers, a five piece band, featuring three members of the Mothers of Invention; Roy Estrada, Don Preston, and Napoleon Murphy Brock. I'll play guitar in this outfit and Chris Garcia will plays drums. We will play only the Frank Zappa compositions that the members Roy, Napoleon, and Don recorded or performed with the genius/maestro.

My instrumental band, PAPER CAT, has a New York debut show booked on March 28th at the Cake Shop in the East Village, NYC. We also have a show booked at the Khyber in Philadelphia, PA on May 21st. Eric Slick joined the Philly group Dr. Dog in December and they are heavily touring right now. We're going about our Paper Cat work between our collective outside touring schedules. Julie Slick is recording her killer sounding solo album and I'm contributing to that as well.

I've been rehearsing with my friend Dave Bronson for his projected 2010 CD release. Dave and I played together around 2002 in a band called Readymaker, after playing in the band for an off broadway rock-opera called Fortune Cookie Dreams. Dave has been working on his solo album for FIVE YEARS and in the last five years I've recorded a lot of guitar for him. Baritone Guitar, slide guitar, regular guitar... Actually all of my memories of the recordings I've done for Dave in the last five years are lost and I haven't heard any of it since the recordings were made. He tells me it's all great. It will be fun to hear what leads and rhythms I played on his album. He says, "You're all over it". What I do know is that Dave is a real nice guy. Also I have the opportunity to play with my old Project/Object touring buddy, Jordan Shapiro who is on keys and Dave's brother and animator, Jeremy Bronson, on drums, for the live band. Rehearsals will be once a week in march so we'll get some more down for then.

The above picture is Readymaker in Tribeca, 2002. (l to r: Christian McCleer, David Bronson, Jeremy Bronson, Big Dan Jesselsohn, Robbie Seahag)

A lot of my gigs this winter have been playing guitar for a kid's music group called Audrarox. Audra Tsanos is putting out her second record this spring. Both Jordan Shapiro and I play guitar on the record. The album is produced by Marty Beller, the talented drummer from They Might Be Giants. Also the album was engineered and mixed with the great Patrick Dillet at the no-longer existing Campo Studios in the East Village, NYC. Audra has been keeping me busy lighting up little kids' faces with songs like "Too Much Fun", "Don't Wake the Baby", "Can't Find My Shoes", "Sugar High", "I'm Tired", "My Mom's A Rockstar". It is really cute and fun to play for an audience of 3 to 8 year old kids jumping around with their parents. The core band for Audrarox are "cats": Lily White (Sax/flute), Tony Graci (drums), and Adam Armstrong (bass). The vocalists are Jennifer Milich and Audra Tsanos.

The other gigs I have been doing are with the Old Rugged Sauce at The Lovin' Cup in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I've been playing regularly with ORS since December 1999 and I've always gone back to playing in the group when I'm home and off the road. We've played weekly at 3 other bars since I started with the Sauce. Those bars are: The Right Bank Cafe (Williamsburg), The Pour House (Williamsburg), and Grape and Grain (East Village). We play "Saloon-style" songs as Sinatra would call them. Standards with vocals and a few instrumentals. Also a lot of Rhythm and Blues. It's the kind of group where we don't advertise as much as go out and play to keep our chops up, make the bar owners happy, and hang out together. We play for tips too, and occasionally we've been booked for weddings and parties. Of course what makes ORS great is that the players are supreme and we're old friends with common needs. Pauly Sosnowski (golden vocalist and guitarist, fearless leader), and Dave Dreiwitz is on bass (dave is most popularly known as bassist for WEEN), when Dave isn't around to play we have the great Alec Morton (x-bassist for Raging Slab and comedian Denis Leary). We often have Mike Gomez (from Hazmat Modine) on lap steel and guitar. Lots of other guests have sat in on snare drum and cymbal, and harmonica, trombone, etc.

The picture above is Old Rugged Sauce in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 2010 near the bar at The Lovin' Cup. l to r: David Dreiwitz, Paul Sosnowski, me (with hat covering face).

I've been helping my friend Godfrey Diamond test out the best 15-20 watt guitar heads available for his recording studio. So far we went to guitar center and tried out their Egnator, the Vox night train, and went to Main Drag in Williamsburg to try out the orange tiny terror. I have been partial to the Tiny Terror and the night train. The idea is to bring 3 heads to his studio and try recording them and then keep the winner. Its a cool project. Godfrey says that the small amp heads are the thing that every amp company is rushing to make nowadays and i think he's onto something of a trend since I see Mesa/Boogie is now putting one out that I really wanna try. Anyway it's been fun trying these out and playing through them for godfrey who is a great engineer, mixer, drummer, and producer. Godfrey is looking for a straight up modern rock amp for his studio and chooses 15 watt heads because he prefers that the recorded speaker be at that volume range.

I'm still tutoring guitar and bass privately and teaching at the School of Rock. I've also been musical director to the School of Rock All Stars for 12 rehearsals. The kids are all cool and we're playing some fun music together,

That's all I'm gonna update for this giant blog post due to hibernation!

Thanks for reading,

Robbie

Hello Spring! Goodbye Winter!

2010-03-17T08:23:00.001-07:00

(My porcelain touring bunny was sitting on top of the left stereo amplifier from my concert with the Grande Mothers in Germany, August 2009. I plan on retiring the bunny this year. He's been working with me for 2 years.)

Happy New Year Everyone! 2010 is a pretty looking number. Happy Birthday to me; an Aquarius, born on January 21st! I spent both New Years and my birthday relaxing. My whim idea to celebrate at Medieval Times didn't really pan out this year, but I'll go there someday.

Since I haven't written since Dec 18th, I'll tell you what has happened since then, and only predict the future. Since this is music biz, I'd rather just predict something will happen, than say it is. Yes, the gigs are booked in the future, but what if?? In April I predict I head will head off for another European tour with The Grande Mothers, a five piece band, featuring three members of the Mothers of Invention; Roy Estrada, Don Preston, and Napoleon Murphy Brock. I'll play guitar in this outfit and Chris Garcia will plays drums. We will play only the Frank Zappa compositions that the members Roy, Napoleon, and Don recorded or performed with the genius/maestro.

The above picture is Readymaker in Tribeca, 2002. (l to r: Christian McCleer, David Bronson, Jeremy Bronson, Big Dan Jesselsohn, Robbie Seahag)

A lot of my gigs this winter have been playing guitar for a kid's music group called Audrarox. Audra Tsanos is putting out her second record this spring. Both Jordan Shapiro and I play guitar on the record. The album is produced by Marty Beller, the talented drummer from They Might Be Giants. Also the album was engineered and mixed with the great Patrick Dillet at the no-longer existing Campo Studios in the East Village, NYC. Audra has been keeping me busy lighting up little kids' faces with songs like "Too Much Fun", "Don't Wake the Baby", "Can't Find My Shoes", "Sugar High", "I'm Tired", "My Mom's A Rockstar". It is really cute and fun to play for an audience of 3 to 8 year old kids jumping around with their parents. The core band for Audrarox are "cats": Lily White (Sax/flute), Tony Graci (drums), and Adam Armstrong (bass). Also great the vocalists are Jennifer Milich and Audra Tsanos.

The other gigs I have been doing are with the Old Rugged Sauce at The Lovin' Cup in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I've been playing regularly with ORS since December 1999 and I've always gone back to playing in the group when I'm home and off the road. We've played weekly at 3 other bars since I started with the Sauce. Those bars are: The Right Bank Cafe (Williamsburg), The Pour House (Williamsburg), and Grape and Grain (East Village). We play "Saloon-style" songs as Sinatra would call them. Standards with vocals and a few instrumentals. Also a lot of Rhythm and Blues. It's the kind of group where we don't advertise as much as go out and play to keep our chops up, make the bar owners happy, and hang out together. We play for tips too, and occasionally we've been booked for weddings and parties. Of course what makes ORS great is that the players are supreme and we're old friends with common needs. Pauly Sosnowski (golden vocalist and guitarist, fearless leader), and Dave Dreiwitz is on bass (dave is most popularly known as bassist for WEEN), when Dave isn't around to play we have the great Alec Morton (x-bassist for Raging Slab and comedian Denis Leary). We often have Mike Gomez (from Hazmat Modine) on lap steel and guitar. Lots of other guests have sat in on snare drum and cymbal, and harmonica, trombone, etc.

The picture above is Old Rugged Sauce in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, 2010 near the bar at The Lovin' Cup. l to r: David Dreiwitz, Paul Sosnowski, me (with hat covering face).

That's all I'm gonna update for this giant blog post due to hibernation!

Thanks for reading,

Robbie

Street Sweeper Social Club

2009-12-18T15:25:00.000-08:00

STREET SWEEPER SOCIAL CLUB (House of Blues, Chicago DEC 17)

16th of December - Flew out to Chicago airport and got picked up by a man. I was then delivered 45 minutes to Libertyville to a nice room at the Hampton Inn for a quick shower. Then took a cab back to downtown Chicago to check in at the same address as the venue, House of Blues. Went to dinner with 3 people I just met at a place called Rockit Bar and Grill. I had the Seafood Cob Salad which was delicious and filled with gold... pure gold (If gold were only small sea creatures.) I felt like i was fishing in that huge bowl of salad. Fishing right over a school of hungry fish. Their bait=my fork. After went to 7-11 and got a snackbar, water, and banana for the mornyin. Hotel was great but the tv really sucked. It's like everytime you change a channel on the thing it takes 2 seconds for it to go. It's not channel surfing... its channel crawling. It's a huge high def flat screen tv but the channel network was as fast a 1990 56k modem. Otherwise, the Hotel Sax is a beautiful hotel and I didn't wind up watching too much tv except some CNN to learn about a new gun for the military that shoots smart bullets that can bend around corners of buildings and into foxholes. That would help me maybe if i was trying to shoot someone who was hiding behind something else..... I'm not in the military so i can't see that happening soon. As with life, though, you never know when you're gonna need that gun and those bullets. I spent the night practicing the songs for the rehearsal at 9am.

December 17, 2009 - 7:30 AM - Wake up and surf the internet from bed. Contemplate watching a netflix streaming movie. Eat said banana and snack bar, drink water. Brush. Go down to lobby at 9am and walk over to House of Blues across the street for my first rehearsal with three out of four other members of the band. See drummer, Eric, already there, and meet the SSSC techs, Ted and Jason. Bassist Dave, walks in - meet and greet. We talk about our vocal harmonies. Boots walks in. Tour Manager Dawn takes requests for bagels. I say Sesame toasted with CC. I search for coffee. I adjust my pedals. I have a wonderful marshall half stack and a backline Gibson Les Paul. I try out the Les Paul out but my ES-335 is better and cooler so I stick with that. I remove my distortion pedal from my board. Now I've widdled it down to a tuner, a whammy II, and delay. It's a rhythm guitar gig after all---I'm going playing rhythm guitar for well known "guitar god" Tom Morello. The morning rehearsal was just eric gardner (drums), david gibbs (bass), boots riley (rapper), and your truly. Tom couldn't make rehearsal since he had to play an impromtu Rage Against the Machine radio spot live on morning UK talk radio. We rehearsed Fight Smash Win, Nobody Moves Til We Say Go, The Oath, Promenade, Somewhere in the World, The Squeeze, 100 Little Curses, Paper Planes. All sounded good. It was fun to play too. Afterwards, Dave and I went to Starbucks and I got one of those Peppermint Mocha's and he got a regular coffee and oatmeal. God Bless the holiday tasty coffees at Starbucks. They have been making me happy for the last 4 years during the holiday season.

12:30pm Went back to Hotel to Sleep.

Went to Soundcheck at 4:30pm. We all ordered food. (Me: Jumbalaya) for after soundcheck. Ran over about 5 songs with the whole group until we didn't have any more time. Came upstairs to the green room and Tom and I played the rest of the songs together to make sure it was all good to go. All Good! We ate. We hung around. Went back to the hotel for a minute.

8:00pm - Put on the SSSC uniform (Carl's SSSC Coat, SSSC t-shirt, black pants, black shoes, and aviator glasses). Went downstairs and rocked the *&^$% out. Sold out hyped crowd. We were 2nd between AM Taxi and Rise Against. I had fun next to Boots cause he's quite a dancin all over the stage type of rapper and the music is heavy and funky. I can really bust out my Mr. Furley/George Jefferson dance moves to this music.

Nothing but great opinions about the vibe of this entourage. Techs, tour manager, and band. All nice, good people, easy to get along with. After show, talked with the band/crew and a few friends and then went to a wine bar in the hotel with the same group. Had a beer there and ate mixed nuts from a plastic boot-shaped container. Went upstairs and slept great.

December 18 - 10:30 AM - get ready to go to airport. 11am: Livery Driver talks and talks and talks. I can't even think---so i reverse the game and try to talk more than her. She turns out to be a good listener as I ramble on about New York City Pizza and OJ Simpson. And I laughed in my head because she's from chicago and was talking sports with me....and mentioned DITKA. "He's no Ditka", she goes. I love that last name. DITKA. I get to airport. I write this blog on the plane. Tonight I get back at 5:45 and I gotta rush home and learn songs for private house party gig with Audrarox playing R&B covers at 9pm. So glad I get to play Lets Groove Tonight by Earth Wind and Fire.

SETLIST:
FIGHT! SMASH! WIN!, SOMEWHERE IN THE WORLD, PAPER PLANES, THE OATH, 100 LITTLE CURSES, CLAP FOR THE KILLAS, PROMENADE, NOBODY MOVES (TIL WE SAY GO)

PAPER CAT GIG in Philly Thoughts

2009-12-18T15:18:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a long time since there's been an exciting opportunity for me to play what I truly want on stage and really speak my musical mind comfortably. Last week, Julie Slick, Eric Slick, and I played our first show as Paper Cat and debuted all of our new songs and improvised as well to a sold out crowd. Needless to say, it was a great time. The crowd reaction --- oozing with loud applause. We really enjoyed ourselves and are psyched to do it again.

We are due for another video conference meeting. That's next on the agenda! 2010! We're psyched!

SETLIST: INTRO, SPIDER, ROCKY, IMPROV, FOUR SQUARE, CAGED MOUSTACH, OPERATION DESERT STORM, NOVEMBEARD

December Rules

2009-12-09T07:48:00.000-08:00

Super Busy this December. I haven't gone shopping for anyone (sorry gift expecters).

(i made this flyer on my downtime last week between teaching students)

Went back to Philly this past weekend for days of recording and writing again. Julie Slick made delicious food and engineered and played bass. I realized I play no regular guitar in this band. I only play baritone guitar and played wii versus Eric Slick. He kicked my ass in Table Tennis and I kicked his ass in Swordfighting. I took NO pictures this time! We were hard at work but we were having fun. Coffee, Food, Chocolate, music, wii, youtube and cable. Really satisfied with the way things are turning out. We went straight back to recording our songs again but revised them and wrote more to them. Right now, the E.P. has about 4-5 solid songs that we've roped in and caged from our improvisations 3 weeks ago. Most of all, have the fire on our asses to perform well at our first show in 3 days. We're all psyched to play it too.

Played a really cool christmas tree lighting celebration at Madison Square Park with AudraRox. It was the 92nd anniversary of the tree being lighted, and it was historic because this is also the site of the first christmas tree in america to ever be lit. So as soon as they lit it, I started on guitar playing Rockin' around the Christmas Tree and kids and parents were dancing in the cold. It was really sweet to see so many kids excited about christmas cheer.... we played all the happy fun christmas songs like frosty the snowman and rudolf and these kids went nuts jumping on tiny stage in the park and every kid sang along. Great time. Really roped in that old happy excited christmas spirit for me, seeing these kids sing and jump around in the cold. And it was cold! I bought red 99 cent gloves and cut the fingerstips off so i could play.

Got a rehearsal today and need to learn about 20 R&B songs for a house party coming up (Let's groove tonight by earth wind and fire is a song i have to learn....YES!). Also have to learn about 14 Rock songs for a cool one-off gig I'm filling in for. That being the case, I need to go now.

Philly Paper Cat Recording and Upcoming Show

2009-11-24T08:36:00.000-08:00

This past saturday morning, I drove out to Philadelphia, PA to write and record with Paper Cat. Our small goal is to record an e.p. and the big goal is to record as much as possible!

We recorded about 3 hours of improvised music on the first day. Second day, recorded as much as we could trying to get good takes of what we wrote. Next session is in two weeks to tighten up everything and record more, plus rehearse for our show at the Kyber coming up December 11th. Some pics of the session can be found on julie's blog:

Gear I used: Italia Baritone Guitar, Gibson ES-335, Musicman combo RD-100, Mesaboogie 1x12 cab, Ampeg Combo 1x15, Digitech Whammy II, MI Audio Crunch Box, Vox Wah, Fulltone Soulbender, Boss DD5, Boss Tuner, Electro-Harmonix Small Stone.

Paper Cat news

2009-11-12T12:01:00.000-08:00

Paper Cat - the band, featuring yours truly with Eric Slick and Julie Slick, will be recording an e.p. in Philadelphia within the month. A few weeks ago, we had a pre-production conference meeting via video iChat and it was very productive as well as funny and new. Julie gave me a live video tour of her recording studio and it seems it will be just the right atmosphere. We discussed gear, studio layout, song material, improv, food, drink, sleep, film, and schedule. We all seem to be looking forward to it and I plan to warm up for 5 days in advance before the sessions. We also took screenshots of our video chats.

I set up my pedalboard, including a Delay, Wah, Whammy (peevish name), Distortion, Fuzz, Phasor, and Tuner. Got it plugged into my home stereo and I'm not sure if i'm blowing my speakers or not but I love the way guitar sounds through a home stereo.

I think, for the sessions, I'm going to bring a solid baritone guitar and semi-hollowbody electric and use two amplifiers running at the same time in stereo, most likely using my 1x12 combo amp and one of julie's guitar amps. I'll also bring a couple more microphones and we're gonna "just do it" after setting up and record music in the same live room.

Keep checkin here for more updates about the recording..... but also check out julie's blog.

and....

We have a show on December 11th at the Kyber in Philly opening for Cheers Elephant. It will be our second show and by then we will most likely be finished recording our E.P. I believe we are going to be the 2nd band of 5 bands to play.

I am proud to leave you with this picture; from a show I played with AudraRox for kids recently at the Socrates Sculpture Park in Astoria, Queens, NY.

Photo by Kim Parker Russell

Morning Guitar Out of a Book

2009-10-28T08:47:00.000-07:00

Today I woke up and picked up my Sigma coustic guitar, set the "Real Vocal Book" on my music stand, and played a song at random called "My Attorney Bernie". The "Real Vocal Book" is better than the "Real Book" in my opinion because it has lyrics so you can actually see what these songs are about. I'm not a jazz-buff but i like reading music and I absolutely LOVE lead sheets. My method for playing something I've never heard before on a lead sheet is reading and playing the chords, then reading and playing the melody, then trying to play the melody with attention to the chords, then improvising licks on top of the chords, then trying to sing the song and play the chords. Then the phone rings or something....
"Music is the Best" - FZ

Have a look inside the Real Vocal Book

Paper Cat Review

2009-10-22T07:30:00.000-07:00

Woke up today and played two songs on acoustic out of the The Real Vocal Book (I picked them at random so I don't know what they were...but one of them was a billy strayhorn song). I really love to start out my day playing music. Reading music is nice. Music is Nice. Last night I got word from Julie Slick that there is a nice blurb about the Paper Cat Live at John n' Peter's cd's. Check it out here:

http://ropeadope.com/

and just look at this adorable kitty.

By the way, Check out Paper Cat bandmates Julie Slick and Eric Slick on the current Adrian Belew Power Trio tour. You can buy the new Adrian Belew CD called "E" (which the Slicks play on) and you can buy our Paper Cat album there too. They are an awesome trio to see and Adrian Belew is an amazing musician.

I can't wait to record PAPER CAT in the studio this winter!

PAPER CAT

2009-10-14T10:20:00.000-07:00

Here are the uploaded PAPER CAT music tracks from a taped concert performed by myself, Eric Slick and Julie Slick at John and Peter's in July. This is our new project. We finally have a name and we will be recording at Julie's Studio in a the next few months so check back often!

http://papercat.bandcamp.com

Enjoy!

Robbie Seahag Solo Acoustic

2009-10-14T07:12:00.000-07:00

I recently went out of my way to play an acoustic set by myself in the Tri-State Area of New York City. Being that this was my first time doing this, I didn't tell anyone. I did this for myself to practice in front of a fresh audience, and I think I'll be trying this again secretly to get my chops up.

The experience was great and I got to play in front of people I didn't know, and I realized how easy it was to make people laugh. My banter was surprisingly comedian-esque and, well, my songs are often like that too. Let it be known, I was nervous about doing this gig and that's the exact reason I said yes to it when I was asked. I had to get over the hump. I learned a lot from this singular performance. We had a little jam at the end with my friends (guitarist) Tim Palmieri and (drummer) Adrian Tramontano, and some other talented performers.

My set list included these original songs: Haunted Boat Ride, She Sleeps in the Attic Now, Ham to the Clam, Hangry, Boring 40-Something, Puppethead, Scattered Showers, Four Eels. No instrumentals were performed.

Evelinn Trouble & Chris Harford

2009-10-14T06:56:00.000-07:00

Last week I played bass for an artist from Zurich, Switzerland named Evelinn Trouble. The band consisted of Joe Russo (drums), Scott Metzger (guitar), Chris Harford (guitar), Evelinn Trouble (gtr, vocals), and myself (bass). We had one rehearsal and I created basslines for 4 of the 5 songs we played which were: Wrong Shape, Yours, North, Meantime, The Things You Don't Know. We played the beginning of Chris Harford's set at Brooklyn Bowl, and then the next night at John n' Peter's in New Hope, Pennsylvania. The band sounded great! I also was fortunate enough to sit in on baritone gtr for the whole Chris Harford set in Brooklyn and on a song or two at during the Chris Harford set in New Hope the following night. I'm hoping to play more with Evelinn and Chris Harford soon enough. We are checking out our options to record at the moment and I'm visiting a studio today to get a lowdown.

Back from Europe Tour

2009-09-16T07:32:00.000-07:00

Back from Europe!

Here's a great pic of Roy Estrada at the home of some friends in Italy.

There are video clips from the tour.

With Project/Object:

Bass in Eindoven, NL at Effanaar

With Grandmothers:

Guitar in Bussana Vecchia, Italy

Guitar in Spello, Italy

Guitar in Vallo della Lucania

Sold a bunch of my new project with Eric and Julie Slick in parts Italy and in Zurich. We don't quite have a name yet, but I have some favorites. Plus Eric Slick and I have a band name list of about 400+ horrible band names.... most too horrible to use for ourselves or that describe our music. I sold it as many different names.... Hag/Slick, Slick/Hag, Robbie Seahag Trio with Eric Slick and Julie Slick, Paper Cat Trio featuring Robbie Mangano, Eric Slick, and Julie Slick. It is a cd of our first and only live performance thus far! We're planning on getting into Julie's studio to record for real very soon, though.

Ciao My Shining Star: Benefit Concert

2009-09-16T06:58:00.000-07:00

I'm playing rhythm guitar for Chris Harford and Mr. Ray Neal at this benefit for Mark Mulcahy. Mark suddenly lost his wife Melissa last year and has two twins to raise who are just three years old. The benefit coincides with the release of a new tribute album featuring many talented artists covering Mark Mulcahy's music.

September 20th

at Music Hall of Williamsburg

Brooklyn, NY 11211

For Tickets

Here's info on the Album coming on out on Shout! Factory Sept 29th.

track listing

01 Thom Yorke - "All For The Best"
02 The National - "Ashamed Of The Story I Told"
03 Michael Stipe - "Everything's Coming Undone"
04 David Berkeley - "Loves The Only Thing That Shuts Me Up"
05 Dinosaur Jr. - "The Backyard"
06 Chris Harford & Mr Ray Neal - "Micon The Icon"
07 Frank Black - "Bill Jocko"
08 Vic Chesnutt - "Little Man"
09 Unbelievable Truth - "Ciao My Shining Star"
10 Butterflies Of Love - "I Have Patience"
11 Chris Collingwood (Fountains Of Wayne) - "Cookie Jar"
12 Frank Turner - "The Quiet One"
13 Rocket From The Tombs - "In Pursuit Of Your Happiness"
14 Ben Kweller - "Wake Up Whispering"
15 Josh Rouse - "I Woke Up In The Mayflower"
16 Autumn Defense - "Paradise"
17 Hayden -"Happy Birthday Yesterday"
18 Juliana Hatfield - "We're Not In Charleston Anymore"
19 Mercury Rev - "Sailors And Animals"
20 Elvis Perkins - "She Watches Over Me"
21 Sean Watkins - "A World Away From This One"

2009-08-18T03:25:00.000-07:00

In Laredo, Spain

2009-08-11T01:54:00.000-07:00

I am in Leredo, Spain. It's on the beach. Last night I went out to eat with Eric Slick and we drank Duff Beer together. My Spanish Sucks but i think i have a good memory for it. A full bottle of Duff beer brought my shyness about the 5 spanish words I know. I probably sound like borat to these people but worse. A laughing idiot who cant talk. They humor me here though. Mom taught Spanish, but I opted to switch out of Spanish to Italian class because my mom was too interested in finding out if I did my Spanish homework... so much that interrupted my bass and guitar playing.

Speaking of BASS playing. I am having a blast playing RENTED basses every night. I have a new realization: The world trusts standard things: Fenders and Gibsons. Everyone knows how to play one of those guitars. Why the HELL would I want to bring my guitars on planes across the world when I can get a working, pro, already set-up and intonated, new

stringed bass for free included in the backline? Here are the two basses I've played with so far. On the Backline Rider it says -- I need either a Fender Jazz or a Precision Fender.

This bass is a Fender Jazz Bass. I adjusted the action to my liking but realized that I am used to a wider neck, so I prefer a Pre

cision Bass. My Spector NS-2 is wider like the P-Bass. This Jazz Bass had a good sound but it had a problem with hum when I tried to mix pickup volumes seperately. It became easy to play but I had to warm into it. String spacing was too close for my liking. About this Amp Setup, I realize I love the Ampeg 8x10 but I couldn't get sound out of this amp with this head. I know it's an beloved SVT but I think I like an 8x10 C

ab run by a GK Head. My first head was a GallienKreuger 800RB and I still use it today because it still works! It's from 1989. I bought it New!

Here's the Bass for the Eindoven, NL show. This had a great sound. It came with Heavy Strings which shredded my fingers up, but