Winter is coming, Scorpio Rising
Ever since my brother JT urged me to many years ago, I’ve taken time to try and listen to music for pleasure instead of analyzing it to death. I don’t always have time to do this because my schedule dictates that I listen to music I need to learn and perform more often than just…
The Bates Update – Full Circle
This month’s Bates update is a little more loose than some of my others. I usually edit down these newsletters quite heavily in order to bring you the most concise and direct show info. But I liked the way this more conversational approach sounded so I’m leaving it. Let me know if you like it…
September Already?
September already? Where did the summer go? I’ve been Running Around with Todd Clouser, Mixing with Axis Mundi, dancing with a Suave Walrus and the Bill Simenson Big Band, staring at the Skyline with Adam Meckler and his Orchestra, going beyond the Mind’s Eye with Jason Squinobal (U of M Morris)and Kevin Washington, listening to…
The Bates Update – Red 5 standing by
The Bates Update August 2013 Viva La Musica! I’m a little jet lagged but super excited to be back and playing some pretty amazing shows for you all this month. Why am I jet lagging? Well I was just in France in Bretagne (Britanny) playing at the Liviou (Colors) Festival in this quaint village…
July – wha happen?
Well I failed this month to get up some promo for my gigs here on my website. However I now have updated the calendar through the end of the year with what is going on. There will of course be more as the schedule fills in. IN the important news category there are several things…
June Tunes! What a boon!
The Bates Update – June Tunes, what a boon! It has been a really busy year so far and I’m very happy about everything that’s happened and I’m looking forward to some great music making this month with a mixture of old and new friends. It is finally the time of year where we…
May the Bates be with you!
Bad pun intended…. That’s how I roll! OK – we’ve all been crazy slogging through this so called ‘spring’ but we also know it’s inevitable that the seasons will change around here. The transformative power of change is truly a wonderful thing to watch season after season. Music has transformative powers as well – sometimes…
April showers bring May flowers.
The Bates Update Last Friday I was playing a gig on a hotel deck in San Jose Del Cabo, Mexico with my friend, guitarist Todd Clouser. John Medeski (from Medeski, Martin and Wood, John Scofield etc) played keyboards and Anton Fier (Lounge Lizards, Feelies, Pere Ubu, Bill Laswell etc) was on drums. We had…
March Performance Update
February was fun! After some great music with Bryan Nichols and JT Bates, the debut of my series Magica Improvisado and the Todd Clouser CD release and short tour I’m excited to be back in town to play music for you! March is looking great with some very exciting shows and another tour with Todd.…
January News!
Well I just played a really nice show with Red 5 on Saturday night at Studio Z. The band played brilliantly and even thought the crowd was rather small we had a real connection going between performer and audience. It’s the kind of thing I live for. Whenever that connection happens it immediately takes the…
The Bates Update
“Hello all you boys and girls. I’d like to take you to the inside world. It’s quite an irregular place to be. But never fear you’re safe with me. Well, maybe.” – from Frizzle Fry by Les Claypool / Primus This will be the last Bates update in this form. Starting with the next mailing…