A couple days later I played my monthly set at the Eno River Farmer’s Market with Seth Barden on bass, again in Hillsborough. Two shows in Hillsborough in the same week – when it rains, it pours. Literally. There was a huge, fierce thunderstorm today that cut our second set short. We still made a good haul, thanks to produce donations from the vendors, even if a few tomatoes were squished in our haste to clear out.

Coming up, I’m playing solo at Jack Sprat Cafe in Chapel Hill on Tuesday July 20 at 10 pm, along with Jeff Hart and the out-of-towners Black Mountain Symphony.

What else? Last month I played one out of town show at UNC Charlotte, and I’ve also been having fun experimenting in the latest edition of my home studio with some new toys, using a Linux-based system. And even though it’s the summer, my teaching schedule has kept me busy working with guitar folks and a number of harmonica students in Carrboro. That’s all for now. The last webcast went well, it’s archived for your reviewing pleasure. Hope you’re enjoying your summer!

A variety of food and beverages will be available, depending on how well you keep your fridge stocked. It’s a super cheap date, if you want to stay in with your sweetheart. And even if you miss the live show, you can watch the archived show at the link above.

Each day, we’d be setting up to play, and Seth or Charles would nonchalantly mention that they’d already played one, maybe two gigs that day, or were headed to do the same after our show. Casey Toll filled in on bass for the first time at Harry’s, and even he, the pinch hitter, had a similar schedule. Meanwhile, I was apparently swimming in leisure time, playing “only” 1.3 gigs a day. Every band’s gotta have a slacker, I guess.

Ardour records at 24 bits, has unlimited tracks and buses restricted only by what your computer can handle, has some MIDI functionality, and is freely available for download. Users are encouraged to donate to the developers in order to keep the project going.

It did take some research to get it all set up – they say you either spend time or money, and that’s definitely true with open-source software – but since I’ve gotten everything up and running, I’m finding that I can already make basic recordings.

The interface is graphical, and while knowing how to go behind the scenes to change settings is essential in the long-run for any computer audio situation, it doesn’t seem to be necessary in order to record a performance, do overdubs, and edit and mix the resulting tracks. When I can’t figure out how to do something, I consult the community-written manual or search through the Ardour user forums.

It’s been pretty cool so far. I’m just messing around right now, but I’ll post some of my experiments as they start sounding good.

The link to watch is http://www.taddreis.com/webcast

Last weekend, a group of eight of my music students and I took over the Open Eye Cafe in Carrboro for a couple of hours. Everybody played one or two songs on their own, and then we all got onstage at the end to play Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” Most of the students hadn’t performed in public before. Here’s a video of the big group playing together. Congrats to everybody, and thanks to the Open Eye for hosting us!

Right after the coffee shop jam, I headed out to Aberdeen, North Carolina, to catch Howard Levy performing in the Rooster’s Wife music series. I got there just in time, and enjoyed two hours of solo harmonica and piano tunes and improvisation. He played jazz, blues, Latin music, spirituals, and, if I remember right, even some rock’n'roll. Several of his tunes referenced both Middle Eastern and Eastern European music.

I got up my nerve after the show and asked if he’d be free to meet with me the next day for a lesson, and he graciously agreed. I drove home on cloud 9 and in the morning headed back to Aberdeen, where I met Howard at his B&B. We sat out on the porch and he had me play a little bit and asked me a few questions about my interests. Then we went over a bunch of stuff to walk me to where I wanted to go.

Subjects included: simple jazz tunes, how to play two notes and only bend one of them, different kinds of vibrato, keeping a drone going while playing a melody on top, tongue rhythms, sound effects, tongue blocking, trills, bending overblows, and basic reed adjustments.

Basically, I’d made a list of things I thought I heard him do in the concert, and just asked him how to do them. He broke things down into components and was patient while I tried them out, even though we were moving fast and covering a lot of material.

Pretty awesome, overall, and pretty much a lifetime of work, although to my surprise, some of the “impossible” things I tried at his suggestion actually worked right off the bat. Thanks for everything, Howard!

What I’m saying is, where else can you go and play board games while I try out my new foot shaker and sing songs to you? Where else?

Well, in your living room, but house concerts are another story. Also at your college, where “Tad Dreis and Chutes and Ladders” would be a BRILLIANT idea for an activity which we should discuss further.

But tonight, where is that going to happen? At Nosh, in Durham, from 6:30-8:30 pm. Directions are at my Shows page, just click on the little globe icon. And here’s the potential webcast link.

The sound is once again strangely warbly, but it’s still kinda interesting to have artifacts like this of my live shows. Do you need a link to view the video? It’s at http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/5124227. Enjoy!

Broccoli:
- boil water, then reduce to simmer
- throw broccoli in for 2-3 minutes
- remove from hot water, rinse to cool

Peanut Sauce:
- mix peanut butter, honey, and a bit of hot water
- when it’s smooth, add dash of cider vinegar
- mix and add cayenne pepper, crushed garlic, salt

For the full “Tad’s Saturday night” experience, dip tender crisp broccoli in the peanut mix and watch a Star Trek movie.