School’s out, summer travel on tap – but still plenty of fun to be had in and around Mil-town. Wanted to keep you in the loop on the following dates – full schedule at www.jryantrio.com.
Arte´ Wine and Painting Studio
1442 Underwood Avenue, Wauwatosa, WI 53213
414-810-6095
www.artewineandpaint.com
Friday June 14
7pm – 10pm
Part of the Arte´ Wine and Paint summer music series – enjoy drinks prepared by gracious staff, painting tips provided by their top artists and music courtesy of, um… well the little ole JRT of course. Ingredients of a perfect Friday nite.
Bugsy’s Backalley Speakeasy
218 N Water St, Milwaukee
(but enter via the alley off Chicago Ave)
414-221-6565
www.bugsysbackalleysaloon.com
Saturday June 15
9pm – 1am
The cavalcade of musical anomaly that is the JRT will convene our June plenary speakeasy session at the fabulous Bugsy’s. Both members and prospective inductees into our musical family are encouraged to attend.
Special Alert: The JRT is very excited to be opening for Kings and Associates at Ally’s Bistro the evening of July 10 for a special event as part of their US tour. Awarded multi Australian Blues Music Awards and 2018 ARBA album of the year, you’ll want to eek out time on your summer calendar to reserve seats for this very, very special event. Rest assured I’ll keep you posted with further details. In the meantime check them out at the link below:
www.facebook.com/kingsandassociatesmusic
Speaking of special events, we had a little 8’th grade graduation shindig last Friday. Not sure when 8’th grade graduation became an event – but I’ve got the left-over cupcakes to prove it’s indeed a thing. Oh you know the cupcakes – store bought jobbers that if not consumed at the party, get unceremoniously dumped in the office break room on Monday morning – the hallowed tradition of feeding left-overs to co-workers. Ostensibly a waste-not, want-not arrangement but also a fascinating ongoing social experiment. I’ve seen left for the taking both delicious morsels, and less desirable fare:
- Random vegetables – from a home garden or maybe from a relative serving in an agrarian work camp – and always includes zucchini. Any workplace in July / Aug invariably features abandoned zucchini. Why grows them if you don’t wants them? No-one takes them – no one wants unwrapped fringe vegetables on their desk all day, or wants to tote these nature-made punch-lines with them to the parking lot. Tomatoes? I guess, but the zucchini thing has got to stop.
- Christmas cookies – anytime after Jan 10. I’ve seen these things show up in March…. March. Sometimes they’re broken into pieces in what I suspect is an attempt to mask their origin, but I know my cookie forensics and ain’t no way those rock-hard atrocities were crafted in any month other than December. Heck the tin says ‘feliz navidad’. Now my Spanish is limited to that and ‘donde esta la biblioteca’ but those cookies are ‘no bueno’.
- Any candy not in a wrapper. And this goes for hotel check-in desks, banks counters all of that. M&M’s or Mike & Ikes or whatever ampersanded confectionery exposed to whomever last took a big unwashed handful… no. hecks no. In our resurgent age of measles, swimmers ear and restless leg syndrome the whole unwrapped candy scene is done. Shut it down.
- Candy that IS wrapped, but has near it a sign-up sheet for boy scout troop 007 or brownie troop YYZ or whatever wee-tyke paramilitary club y’all are into. Don’t get me wrong – those are all great organizations and I’m more than happy to buy a $5 Twix to support them. My request is simply that the sign-up sheet be explicit and clearly marked in direct adjacency to said candy. Else I think I found free candy (free candy!) but instead inadvertently commit a serious and egregious social misdeed inadvertently stealing from the wee tykes. Wee tykes with survival and military training.
Oh – and I don’t like potlucks.
With a ’64 Coupe Deville in the garage and decades of experience on Milwaukee’s rock scene under his belt, we had to bestow upon him the affectionate moniker of Cadillac Jimmy. Stuttgart? Tokyo? naaah. Only the hard-scrabble ground and true grit of Detroit could incubate things so iconically American as the Cadillac he drives and the Motown, blues and rock that he plays. Kicked around? Sure, a little bit. Both Cadillac and the Jimmy that shares the brand have seen their portion of hard knocks, tough times. But real cars like real people don’t quit. They know what really counts – being the best there is and in exchange enjoying the adulation of those that care deeply about them. Sure, Caddy’s have their enthusiasts, and any car club will geek like hell over a ’59 Eldo, but a Cadillac Jimmy bass line? not even full sticker price can buy you that – it can only be found when he weaves his magic with the JRT.
That was some crazy Kelvinating cold and snow. Had to shovel my roof. My roof for cryin out loud. But I stand by my record: fell 4 times and not a single fatality.
The Bay Restaurant in Whitefish Bay
We are obviously very excited to bring Christmas jazz back to Von Maur. I recall fondly my meeting Santa Claus during last year’s outing. Being a lifetime member of the ‘coal society’ I hadn’t had the pleasure of greeting him face-to-face during my formative years. Anyhoo, as we laid into our first set, ‘ole St Nick descended the escalator while shaking sleigh bells on 2 and 4 in perfect time. Sauntering past the line of kids and leaning over the piano he says to me, and I kid you not, “Hey man, can y’all play some Art Blakey?”. That’s right, Santa was a true blue jazz cat that knew. his. stuff. At that moment, in my mind, he was indeed the real Santa. Voice 2 octaves higher than intended and rife with child-like excitement I heard myself exclaim “Sure thing Santa!”. Well we busted out ‘Moanin’ from the Jazz Messengers and had ourselves a merry little time. So maybe pop on by this Saturday, Dec 15 at Von Maur and say hi to Santa’s groovin’est elves, Or catch us at any of the other superb venues listed above.
Candy Corn – What flavor is it supposed to be? If brainstorming new candy ideas, best to start with something good and make it better – make it candy-er. Corn is not a starting point. Any vegetable really, no-one wants candy asparagus or candy spinach either. Plus they seem perfectly shaped to choke on – was that intentional?
OK
Moving that gear. Keyboards – big ones. And drums – lots of ’em. And stairs. It’s excellent resistance training – with cardio. I save on gym membership; you’d think I’d be in better shape after all that hauling, and I’da thought toting a keyboard down the sidewalk would raise my coolness quotient. Not the case. I’m uncool for, um… other reasons. Many… many other reasons. It’s even changed the way I enjoy watching other live bands. I watch folks play and mentally tally up the gross tonnage of gear on stage – then smile knowing I don’t have to load it out once the set wraps. heeeee he.
Musicians. The musicians themselves. They (and me included) are an absolutely interesting bunch of cats. Yup. Interesting, that’s the adjective we’re going with. Sharing music is a great way to learn the real ins and outs of the people who play it. I’m blessed to share music with some fantastic people, and to have grown to know them so well is one of life’s best treasures.
Our very own Kristi and family returned recently from touring the venerable RCA Studio B in Nashville – part of the Country Music Hall of Fame. I can only imagine what tunes she’ll be adding to our set list.
