[NewMusic] breathtakingly bad 21Grand

[Damon Smith]

The last time I heard him, he sounded good, and had dynamics. Most of  
the the other times he was burying the other musicians, which does  
not count as "being able to play" in my book, esp. from a drummer ( I  
will admit to couple amature hour moments recently myself while re- 
learning how to deal with amps, but I am also not getting that kind  
of hype.)
I respect Larry, but I can't get into him as a replacement for Lisle.  
There are tons of interesting options for a local trio with Donald  
while Lisle is away and I don't find that to be one of them.


Damon


On Jul 2, 2007, at 4:27 PM, Phillip Greenlief wrote:

> PG:
>
> Amendola can play. He just forgets he can play. I'd forget too if I  
> had
> to play with Madeline Peyrow, or whatever her name is. Fucking Billie
> Holliday clone...makes me sick.
>
> I heard him do a marvelous improvisation with Donald Robison once on a
> Larry Ochs Sax and Drumming Core set. They were communicating in a
> really beautiful way and time was not particularly present or  
> important.
> The truth is: he can play his ass off at times. Steve Adams put  
> together
> a double trio once that I played in, Gino and Amendola on drums...that
> was nice!
>
> I am a solid veteran of the Scott Amendola experience. We parted  
> due to
> economic reasons. It's a long story, but not terribly interesting. I'd
> tell it, but as I once said on this list, I'm trying to live by that
> lesson so many of our mothers tried to teach: "If you can't say
> something nice about someone, don't say anything". The truth is, I
> respect him regardless of our differences - as a human being. As a
> drummer, he does certain things very well, and one of those things is
> laying down a groove.
>
> With a little more regard to his playing, I grew tired of always  
> having
> the big beat shoved up my ass. It's probably best we parted ways.   
> He's
> a heavy handed drummer. Sometimes that's just what you want. But I'd
> rather play with Tom Hassett any day of the week - but no one  
> (certainly
> not your average hipster) knows who Tom Hassett is, so he's  
> probably not
> a very good drummer...
>
> ;)
>
> PG
>
>
>
> ----Original Message-----
> On Behalf Of David Slusser
> Subject: [NewMusic] breathtakingly bad 21Grand
>
> Pardon more verbiage, but there are still points out there to be
> made.  Tuesday's show @ 21Grand (7/26) may be an example.
> I missed the write-up in the Express, and don't know precisely
> what drew the nice size audience (besides the kids from Oregon
> traveling with their boy/girl friends).  The auslanders certainly
> resemble Jacob's description - I found them predictable with
> barely tolerable technique, but actually enjoyed the energy when
> they would finally build up a head of steam (and le Gruntfest's
> guest turn certainly elevated the proceedings).  Hopefully they will
> develop.  I think the WWCC was exceptionally good, but doubt the
> audience was attracted to the prospect of "too much gloom for one
> room" (in other words, a clarinet ensemble).
>
> Perhaps it was the appeal of the Amendola/Bossi duo that graced us
> with their audience.  I certainly won't look a gift horse in the mouth
> for putting butts in seats for a night of improvised music.  I don't
> think the percussionists were being disingenuous about trying to
> play a totally free music set.  Why do I view them with a jaundiced
> eye?  Because they don't play free music all the time?  Because they
> may be more calculating or aggressive about making it in the music
> business?  That there's an audience willing to hear them do just
> about anything?  Are these the hipsters Jacob mentioned?  We
> should thank the duo for bringing the hipsters in and hope our best
> efforts rubbed off on them.
>
> For those that split before the headliners - there were bits that were
> predictable and cute, but those are also elements that widen the net
> for audience.  I liked their counterpoint and textures, and how they
> morphed.  Good listening is not so hard in a duo, but I felt they
> used it more to just keep an implied time going - almost desperate
> some times.  Perhaps that makes them visitors to the scene - they
> didn't really let go of time...maybe that's too much to expect of
> drummers.  Otherwise, their imaginativeness and taste were quite
> enjoyable.  They could use a few lessons from Moe and Gino about
> playing the floor and other off-set surfaces/objects - but at least
> they tried the concept.
>
>   Hipsters welcomed?
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
>

Damon Smith

http://www.balancepointacoustics.com
http://myspace.com/smithdamon