A New Bluegrass & Beyond Poster!

Unless you're just waking up and haven't quite reached for a coffee yet, you will have noticed the new addition to our blog and website...

Our Art Department here at Bluegrass & Beyond was up late last night creating a new official poster for our 3rd year in existence!

Thanks especially go out to Sarah Galloway (who had to ignore my back seat editing most of the night...).

We figure that with the NYC Health Dept. putting letter grades in all the restaurant windows - that bar patrons should have some form of quality assurance as well.

Look for our poster in the windows of the finest drinking establishments in NYC (say Paddy Reilly's Music Bar) - and rest assured that the music that accompanies your drinking experience will be the finest in quality!

The Come Aways and The 2nd Ave. Mountain Boys to play at LaGuardia Corner Gardens

The Come Aways at JUNTO Space, Bushwick, 2010

The Come Aways and The 2nd Ave. Mountain Boys are performing at one of our favorite venues - the LaGuardia Corner Gardens (right in the heart of Greenwich Village).

Bluegrass & Beyond NYC  at the LaGuardia Corner Gardens, 2010 (Bluegrass & Beyond NYC are AJ Bender, Dave Comins, Sarah Galloway and Bill Giles)

See, I told you it was beautiful... and free!

Mark the date and place - Saturday, July 31st, 2010, 5:00 - 7:30 pm at the LaGuardia Corner Gardens, 511 LaGuardia Place (between Bleecker and Houston - closer to Bleecker).

The show will start at 5:00 with an hour of duets from an eclectic variety of sources - by The Come Aways (Sarah Galloway and Dave Comins), performing a capella, as well as with banjo, harmonica, National guitar and guitar. Blind Willie Johnson to Nanci Griffith... and back.

The 2nd Ave. Mountain Boys at Paddy Reilly's Music Pub, 2010

Following The Come Aways, from 6:15-7:30 pm will be the strictly bluegrass sounds and wonderful four-part harmonies of the 2nd Ave. Mountain Boys  - featuring  Jon Buchalter on guitar, Bill Giles on banjo, mandolin and guitar, Leslie King on mandolin and "Banjo" Mike Mulhollan on vuvuzela (I hope I'm kidding about that).

Hope to see all of you there...

July 19, 2010 - The "Zen" Jam

Well, it's good to be back, jamsters:

According to co-hosts Bill and AJ, the July 5th jam went off without a hitch - but I haven't heard a thing about it.

It's kind of like a tree falling in the forest while one hand claps... you never really know what it sounded like. I'll go with the flow and assume it happened!

Maybe I'll just call it the "Zen" jam. I wonder if anyone sang any Leonard Koan?

Speaking of koans and other mysteries, can anyone explain to me what Craig was singing about - a guy steals another guy's wooden leg (plus his wife) and then spends the rest of the song as a three-legged man - with a two-legged wife - being chased by a one-legged man? You can't make this stuff up!

He also did a nice version of "The Fox" (which I did understand...)

Scottie, sporting some natty shorts and socks, gave us "Summer Breeze" - apparently feeling a little breezy himself. I loved his introduction to the song's introduction: "The simple C to A is a gateway into a gorgeous pop tune...". I thought I was in an episode of "Star Trek".

That was only the beginning for Scott. He also gave us a highlight of the evening - the Doobie Brothers' "Black Water" - I think that was the song that had a B11 - causing Steve to ask: "Isn't that a vitamin?" Scotty was aghast... (for other memorable Scotty chords - see the "Disco" jam blog entry).

I can honestly say that Scott's a treasure to have at any jam - and especially at ours!

Well, I guess Westchester was closed for the evening because half of the Westchester Bluegrass Club showed up for B & B...

I'll blame Mike, Bob and Karen for that.

Mike gave us "The Year That Clayton Delaney Died" by Tom T. Hall and Karen went Canadian on us, with Gordon Lightfoot's "For Lovin' Me".

Northern newbies Deborah ("I'll Fly Away") and Pete (I think, Jim Reeves "Blue Side Of Lonesome") both sang it with a Westchester accent - although both claim to hail from NYC - fancy that!

Liz spent most of the evening looking for banjo parts at the bar - I think she almost resorted to using a Guiness bottle as a bridge... we'll have to wait until next jam to hear her play.

Gail was back again from the South, leading "Another Night" and others.

Lynn's "Bartender's Blues" by James Taylor was fun.

Sarah kicked last night with a bar-bashing version of "Sweet Home Alabama", followed by "Hey Joe".

The co-hosts didn't take their job lightly either. AJ's "Dire Wolf" from the Dead and my own "The Old Crossroads" from the father of bluegrass, as well as "Give Me The Highway" from Vince Gill (the great-grandson of bluegrass?) rounded out a good evening.

See you in two weeks, and get on the mailing list if you're not on it already.

Dave Comins

www.bluegrassandbeyondnyc.com

June 21, 2010 - The "Men In Shorts" Jam

Hello all,

Well, the last jam was on the summer solstice, and we celebrated with an abundance of hairy legs! Not just any hairy legs - but Bluegrass & Beyond pickin' hairy legs. 

Ladies, you missed your chance - we had tall legs, short legs, skinny legs, fat legs, ugly legs and humbly speaking, of course - some pretty good lookin' ones (at least according to Tony, Bob and myself). 

The extra ventilation seemed to help the music as well.

We started off with Jeanne and co-host Bill leading us in the "Pig Ankle Rag" - not your normal instrumental (nor body part, come to think of it).

Judy was well received by both the bar and the dart leaguers in the rear room - especially on her B.B. King blues' shouter.

Although, I was a little worried later when we forgot to do "Wagon Wheel" for the dart crowd - that I'd leave Paddy's looking like a pin cushion...

Outside of the normal fiddle tunes, bluegrass standards and pop classics, the highlight for me was the impromptu Beatles segment.

"I Saw Her Standing There" on the banjo was so well received by all, that immediately all thoughts turned Beatle (although, in fairness to Bob, he had done "Act Naturally" earlier, but I guess that counted as a Buck Owens tune...)

Kim's a veritable encyclopedia of interesting tunes - teaching us "Thing We Said Today" and "I Feel Fine" (a nice bluegrasser).

Bill kicked in "Drive My Car", and I picked up my banjo again for "Back In The U.S.S.R.".

By midnight, the hard core jammers were just settling in...

As I left I had two thoughts - "Does Scotty ever wear shorts?" and "I'm glad it wasn't a Pool Party Jam (B + B ers in Speedos?)".

See you next time (and ladies, save us, please - we need some better looking legs there!).

Dave Comins

www.bluegrassandbeyondnyc.com

June 7, 2010 - The "TV Nostalgia Night" Jam

Hey There, Hi There, Ho There Jamateers *:


Well, the A/C was working again last night (although, it turned out we didn't need it). Howard stayed away - apparently still de-humidifying his electric uke from last week - while Karen and her kids were safely back at home, sobering up from all that Sprite they drank during their wild Memorial Day evening at Paddy's.


Nonetheless, enough people showed up to make for a good jam, one that unexpectedly turned great later on - but more on that later...


Bob came in announcing that he couldn't sing because of sinus problems - and wound up doing more songs than anyone. Man, if I could sing like that, I'd give you my sinuses Bob! (Although you might have to throw in that big old Martin).

Steve, besides doing a kicking version of "The Race Is On", brought along a fine guitarist whose nickname may go down as "Best In Show" for Bluegrass & Beyond 2010 - "Topher" (from Christopher). I'll just call him "The Toph"...

Co-host Bill revived Bachman Turner Overdrive's "Taking Care Of Business", a highlight, and Sarah did cool versions of "Little Wing" and George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass".

Not to be outdone, the other two co-hosts brought in the Dead's "Friend Of The Devil", Carl Perkin's "Honey Don't" and Jerry Reeds' "Eastbound And Down".

Mike threw in Jim Croce's "Leroy Brown", and Kim "Bye, Bye Love" before the jam went even a little further "Beyond"...

Craig picked up "Ball And Chain" from California punk rockers, Social Distortion, and Scotty chimed in with Elvis' "Alison" and Micheal Jackson's "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough".

There were plenty of bluegrass standards, including "Knocking On Your Door", "Dark Hollow", "Foggy mountain Top", etc. - and plenty of fiddle tunes - "Down Yonder", "Kentucky Mandolin", "Gold Rush" and "Big Mon".

All in all, a fine night - but the "Twilight Zone" part was yet to come - literally!

It started off routinely enough, a little Eagles tribute by Scotty, Bill and Steve ("Lying Eyes", "Taking It Easy" and "Peaceful Easy Feeling") - when suddenly I hear... What the heck? That's no fiddle tune. 


It's Hoss, Little Joe, Adam and Ben Cartwright, Virginia City - and we're rockin' - like it's 1962!

Bill's "Bonanza" theme had started off a half hour tour de force "Name This TV Show" - mostly Scott and Bill (with help from Steve, Craig and myself). Besides, the obvious "Twilight Zone" - we hit 'em all: Hawaii Five-O, Batman ("Splat!" "Pow!!), Star Trek (that one had to be Scottie, of course), Mash, Secret Agent Man, Gilligan's Isle (a rousing Bill sing-a-long), Rawhide, The Munsters, Cheers, I Dream Of Jeannie, Mary Tyler Moore - even the lowly Patty Duke Show (...at times they even think alike, What a crazy pair! Yes, they're cousins...).


The "Toph" was in shock by this point, I think. Steve had to help him out at the end of the night.

I wonder if 40 years from now they'll be playing the themes to "Dancing With The Stars", "24", "American Idol" and "Lost" in late night Paddy's jams? Do they even have theme songs?

It made you glad to be alive. Who needs the upcoming World Cup when you've got Scotty and Bill?

See you next jam.

Dave Comins

www.bluegrassandbeyondnyc.com

* For all you non-geezerly type B & Bers, this is obviously a reference to the Mickey Mouse Club Shows from the late 50's. (Neither Scotty nor Bill knew that theme song... although I understand that Scotty still has his pair of Mouseketeer ears!).