Thursday, February 26, 2009

House of Blues

Wednesday was a fun day. With the weather in the 50's, Charlie and I went down to the University of Akron to flier and promote the upcoming March 4th Northside band show. We met many cool and interesting people, pinned up a few fliers and got our excersize walking all over campus. Then, we headed down to Highland Square, Chipotle, and Square Records (to flier). At Square records, I found a 12" 45 of Prince's Let's Go Crazy (the dance mix with Erotic City as the B-side). That was a nice plus!

Then it was on to the House of Blues.

The Cambridge Room is one of my favourite rooms to play in Cleveland. The walls are adorned with Eastern statues, and is generally adorned with Eastern/Indian decor. Beautiful rugs carpet the floor, and there is at least one couch and several chairs.

Plus, a great sound system ,and wonderful sound man (thanks, Steve)!

This night, I was supporting Trevor Hall. He has a cool sound similar to Matisyahu (who is a friend of his). And he has a wonderful air about him of calm and peacefulness. As I walked in with my guitars, he and his band all said hello, and asked if they could help me load in. (Certainly a first for me with any fairly large act I've supported). After soundcheck, some friends of his made him this huge home cooked meal (of which he offered me some). And his band was as sweet as he, which made for an incredibly enjoyable evening!

Speaking of incredible: Chris Steele - Trevor's drummer/percussionist. Wow. He did a couple of songs on this percussion set of cajones, cowbells, tambourine, his hands and a brush. And on this he did a drum solo that honestly blew my mind. More so than the Kin's drummer who was quite impressive.

It was nice to meet so many folks and see some old friends. There was a lot of love in the room.

That love really was prevailing during my set. The crowd was energetic and supportive of my music - singing along with Perfect, dancing with me during Life, and taking Manifest to heart. It was truly a very beautiful performing experience for me. It was an energy that only happens once in a while. It was the sort of energy that makes you feel the light of a higher thought glowing all around.

The highlight for me was in Trevor's set. He wrote a song with Matisyahu called Unity. Such a gorgeous song. It's going to be on his upcoming CD. I reccomend buying that song (if not the record). I am trying to remember the exact chorus, but I wouldn't be doing it justice. If i find the lyrics or a clip online, I will post it. It is one of the most inspired lyrics I think I have heard.

The other plus side - T-Shirts are sold out! The first design sold out in less than 2 weeks. Not too bad. Lets see if we can make the 2nd design sell as quickly!

I hope to do more shows with Trevor and his band.

Until then - March 4th @ Northside. 8pm. The full band being moving and uplifting. And it's Free!

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Sonnet's

Last night, as the snow was falling in on Northeast Ohio, I had the pleasure of performing at Sonnet's in Wadsworth. This was my first time. The place has a nice atmosphere, and attracts regional acts that tour through.

Such was the case last night. My new friends from Grand Rapids, MI - Valentiger - were passing through this stretch of Ohio. They were an enjoyable acoustic guitar/drums duo, and fans of Bon Iver would I think much enjoy their music. Check them out at www.valentigermusic.com.

It was a fun show, and a pretty full room, too. With some dancing, as well!

And they substitute soy milk in their drinks. Which is so nice, I must say. They don't have much in terms of vegan options, but they do have a veggie wrap that would suffice (as well as a salad).

It turned out to be a wonderful night. I hope y'all come back out when I'm there next.

Friday, February 20, 2009

NYC and Mythology

NYC is always one of those places that breathes some life into you. Maybe not the soul-filling breath of the western Mountains, but a buzz of life nonetheless. And it is a place i love to be. This was my first time in NYC not actually performing. It was all meetings, mostly. All of which went very well, by the way. But in my travels about the city, I got to experience some wonderful things. Things like the largest used book store in the WORLD! We're talking some 5 floors of used books... Yes. I think I could go bakc and spend a weekend just going there!

Things like Kate's Joint, an awesome, funky, little dive Vegan restaurant in the East Village - they make most of their own non-meats (and are known for their veggie burgers). I had a Super Vegi-Burger (a pretty thick patty, actually), topped with this amazing sause I can only describe as a Vegan Raising Cane's sause, and mashed yams. It wa sa wonderful hole-in-the-wall kind of place that you'd only know about if you were looking for it. And the same goes for ? Cafe Express off of 7th Ave in Midtown. They had THE most amazing Falafal and Hummus pita sandwich wrap I have ever had! So tasty. And I don't think it had anything to do with me walking 60 some blocks lugging a nearly 10 pound bag.

Things like the Brazilian Consollate.

A random encounter with Padre Pio (thanks, Dad.)

And snow, big fluffy flakes in NYC. Big, fluffy, movie-quality flakes drifting down on the dozens of people manoevering through the cold streets.

And of course some very cool and surreal moments at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

On the drive up, I put in an audiobook called Joseph Cambell and the Power of Myth. It is a 6-disc series of talks between Joseph Cambpell and Bill Moyers. Each disc is a separate topic, yet builds upon the last in one way or another. Quite a brilliant and interesting work. I highly reccomend it. Joseph Cambpell was the preeminant voice about mythology. And he communicated it perfectly and clearly in this account. An obvious highlight for me was him calling Artists the modern mythmakers.

I saw a place for rent in a sketchy path in the East Village. The sign said "1,000 sq. ft. Only $4,500/mo." So, who's moving with me? :-)

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

So good

This is my favourite song of all time. Absolutely gorgeous. The harmonies on this version are Angellic. Mmm. Yes. If anyone knows Nina, it's been a goal of mine to meet her. I do have that cute Ohio accent...

seriously...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq_3S-77tiM

Friday, February 6, 2009

Live This Thursday!

akron, musica

Vote for Zach!

Vote for Zach as Bets Local Band in the Akron Life and Leisure Best of 2009!

http://www.akronlifeandleisure.com/akronbest-09.asp

You can also vote for your other favourite Akron places, like 91.3, Mustard Seed, Musica, Evening for Chuck!!

Send to all your friends!! Please!

Thanks for taking that extra minute to bring democracy to Akron!!

Most Ever Sincerely,
Zach

Northside (contd)

For a sample of the funktastic energy that was oozing from the stage and back again - enjoy the new song at:
myspace.com/buffalozefrecords.

If you weren't there - you know you missed it. Don't let it happen again. :-)

Seriously though... (tell your friends. Send them to this link. Check it out. I would have posted the finale - but that was a 16 minute soul workout of unparrelled proportion (and myspace wouldnt let me load it - so you'll just have to see it for yourself next time!)

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Northside

The day started off kind of strange. I was told by a guy in a store that I looked like a young Shakespere.

Yeah.

Must have been the tights...

From there, it just got snowier. I guess it must have been bad. Northside had the heat on, so it was nice in there. All i have to say about the show was that it was a dance party! I danced so hard, my bracelet started to fall apart. On top of that, I danced so hard, I nearly passed out. But I did not. (Though that would have been awesome rock and roll!)

See you all on the 12th at Musica!!

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Post some comments!

...is this thing on?

if you're out there reading this (you must be, if you just read this...), hit the button and post a quick comment (or two.) it's easy. and fun. possibly addicting.

btw....shameless plug....Zach full band show @ the Northside in Akron (northsideclub.com) this Wed, Feb 4 (that's tomorrow, people!) - 8:30p-10p! ...oh, and did I mention, IT'S F-R-E-E !!

Monday, February 2, 2009

Super Bowl Champion Steelers!!

There's not really else much to say.  It was a great game and a fantabulous season.  The only little anecdote I can offer was the parallel in my life between Oliver and I.  When I was first born back in 1979 I was able to spend my first few weeks rooting for the Steelers and was just a few weeks old when the Steelers won the last of their 4 Super Bowls in the 70's.  

So when little Oliver was born on my birthday 29 years later he was able to relive the same events and watch his Steelers win the Super Bowl.  A friend of mine made sure that he was outfitted with all of the proper Steelers attire prior to the playoffs.  Last night, he was only really awake through the first quarter but apparently what he watched satisfied him enough to sleep in both my arms through the third quarter and Erin's arms in the 4th. 

A great night all around.

Curling

So on Saturday night Erin, Oliver, and I joined around 25 others to try out curling.  If you don't know, curling is one of those sports that you can watch at the olympics and find yourself saying out loud "I can do this".  It's one of those "sports" that has really risen in popularity the last few winter Olympics and has spawned the rise of curling clubs throughout the US.  Being Italian, I've always considered curling bocce on ice.  If you don't know how to play think of a mixture of shuffleboard and bocce, but on ice and with 42 pound granite rocks that you need to hurtle (I mean place very slowly) within a target around a 100 feet away.  In an attempt to make your rock go straighter or faster two "sweepers" need to do what the title says.  Sweep ahead of the rock in an attempt to make the ice melt fast enough and create a smoother and straighter passage towards the goal.  The women of the group loved to watch the zeal and strength we used in sweeping the ice in front of the rock.  And of course you can bang your rock into the other teams rocks in an attempt to gain more points, just like bocce.

Of course, there is a lot more too the game and a lot of other fancy words to describe each member of the 4-person team.  It is a very gentlemanly game after all.  As such, rather than using a beer to balance your other arm when throwing the rock we used some PVC device (I don't think that the original Scotsman used PVC pipes perhaps they used mangled golf clubs).  And because it's on ice and throwing requires using an extra slippery base for your shoe many people decided that studying the ice was best done as close as possible. 

After spending much too long humiliating ourselves trying to learn all of the proper techniques we gave a game a shot.  Of course, by that time our lesson was fast approaching the end and I was left with the feeling that I might not be able to learn fast enough for Olympic qualifying for the 2010 winter games.  Then again I can always visit Vancouver on my own.

I hope to get back sometime soon to continue developing my skills on the ice.  Learning how to curl allows me to keep the dream of being in the Olympics for many years to come.  How many other sports give you the opportunity to not be past your peak at 25 (archery? fencing? Dana Torres still competed at age 41 but I'm nowhere near a freak of nature and I really don't like to be in the water)

So for now  I'll continue to dream the dream and wait for the day the Olympic curling events are shown on TV at 6 in the morning on some obscure NBC channel.