There are several new tribute pages up on Facebook that the Taters are involved in. Go take a look, click the “Like” button – this was easier when it was just a “fan” button; then, when you clicked it, you became a fan. Now… what… are you a liker? That doesn’t sound right…

Rock & Roll Jubilee

This is the tribute show that Brad & I are in, along with Jim Wark, George Garrett, Brian Sulser and BJ Kocen. We pay tribute to Elvis, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Ricky Nelson, and the Everly Brothers in a 2-hour show that’s a mix of songs & live comedy. So far we’ve had 5 shows over the last year & a half, with another scheduled for September. We’ll post updates about the shows here, as well as on the Tater calendar and the new Facebook page.

Sensory Lullabies – The Ultimate Tribute to Jellyfish

This tribute CD was released 2 years ago, and features 38 cover versions (?!) of Jellyfish songs. The Taters contributed our take on an unreleased tune, “Queen of the USA”. You can find the CD here, and it’s also on iTunes & Amazon (CD or MP3). As of this posting, you can get it on the Burning Sky site for $19.99 for the 2 CD set.

If I… If I… If I… The Songs of Squeeze Revisited

This is the latest project we’re involved in, another tribute CD from Burning Sky. This one features the songs of Squeeze, a big influence in Taterland, as any true Taterhead knows  We did a calypso version of Goodbye Girl on this one, which featured several guests along with the regular Tater plate – George Garrett added bongos, and Cole Evans put some percussion on. Can’t wait to hear the whole project when it’s done. No date announced at this point, but maybe sometime next year.

(But that trick never works!) Well, we’ll see. We were finally able to record the coast-to-coast CD release party for menagerie this past Saturday, and it should be broadcast this coming Saturday, Feb 27 on Mike Lidskin’s TWIRL radio in Sacramento, CA. We tried doing the broadcast live over a Skype connection, but had some drops on Mike’s end, so fortunately he recorded the whole show and will re-broadcast in its entirety this weekend. The Taters have basically the whole show, which will be Mike playing lots of cuts from the CD, interspersed with live performances and interviews with the band.  We all gathered around the mic in the Fabulous Zebra Room here in Richmond last weekend, with a full party going on in the next room, and Mike & Amber had guests on their end as well. You can tune in via the web at the TWIRL radio site this coming Saturday and find out!  The show broadcasts at 4pm Pacific, 7pm Eastern time.

In the meantime, there are several cuts from the live portion of the show over at our YouTuber site. Here’s one example:

We’ll call this a tribute to that other band that all played around the mic just a scant 45 years ago (yipes!). There’s also a pretty fun medley of Roger Miller songs, but I’ll have to hear the show this week to remember why that was happening!

things have been quite busy in Taterland over the last few months, and most times I clean forget to add updates! Sorry, I promise I’ll try to try harder. Or at least I’ll try.

I’m sitting in the studio now listening to final and near-final mixes on menagerie. There have been a few setbacks, but it’s still alive and kicking, just taking longer (always!) than I thought it would. I’m also working on finishing the cover art, liner notes, all the publishing stuff, etc, and working with the pressing plant to get that all setup. But all that notwithstanding, I’m hoping for a Halloween release, so keep your bony fingers crossed!

On a related note, watch for the October release of  Virginia Creepers: THE HORROR HOST TRADITION OF THE OLD DOMINION.  It’s a documentary featuring stories and clips of classic Virginia late night horror show TV shows. The Taters have a song in the soundtrack, a menagerie cut called “Wolfman Told Me Tonight”, so you’ll want to get a copy of the film ! A lot of you know the song from our shows over the years, but this is the debut of the recorded version. On an inexplicable note, the website for Virginia Creepers lists our tune as a “romantic ditty” (??), so I don’t know what to tell you about that. Not a big Valentine tune to my way of thinking but hey, it made the cut so we’re happy!

Spread a little Tater around

Think about the last time you bought something from a friend’s recommendation, or because you read a review of a book, movie, album, whatever. Chances are that review or recommendation made more of an impact on you than any “official” advertising from the manufacturer. One of the most beneficial aspects of the web is this ability to spread “word-of-mouth” recommendations across a much larger audience.

Same is true with Tater tunes. We have all sorts of people who come to see us or buy the CDs because someone told them about us, or they read a recommendation from someone. You could be a big part of spreading the word about The Taters, not only by telling your friends but also by posting reviews of our music or shows on the web. Nearly every place that sells the music online – CD Baby , iTunes , Amazon , you name it – has some way for you to post reviews and comments. It would be a great help to what we’re trying to do (merely get every single individual on the planet to hear us) if you’d add some reviews of your own. Say whatever you like, tell about your favorite song on an album, what you like about the music, etc. If you use iTunes, make a playlist that includes the Taters music and share the list so others will find it! Every single voice helps, believe me!

Just finished listening to Jim’s guitar part on “Feet Start Walking”, and it’s great. Right now suffering thru listening to Bill solo my bass & piano bits to get them all EQ’d nicely… sure sounds better when the rest of band is around it! Ah well, that’s the beauty of the studio – I can play just like me, and Bill can make me sound just like I do in my head (which is always better!).

Overall I’m loving what everyone has come out with on this. There’s been a lot of work done by everyone, and I hope it shows.

or, sounds, I guess…

We’ve had dozens of shows over the last few months, and that’s kept us out of the studio quite a lot, but I’m hoping we’re nearly wrapped up on this. 4 shows this weekend, including a very fun “Christmas in July” day to help raise money and awareness for the Central Virginia Food Bank. We got to play a whole evening of Christmas tunes, in the middle of summer. Ho ho ho! We also got to do this with our pals from Offering, so we had the benefit of Jeanine’s beautiful voice and a whole stage of very talented players – even strings & flute, so we were truly culture filled! These folks did a beautiful job on the music, and with organizing the whole thing. Chris had a relaxing 15 hour day of setting up & running the stage sound, so I know he was wiped out by the end of it! A big Tater thanks, though, for all his hard work. Mike came down from Stafford to help out for the evening, we even pressed Cole into service, and everyone’s help was needed and appreciated. The event was by all accounts a big success, and I think the Food Bank got lots of donations and exposure.

OK, back to work. I’ll try to post some of the results of the mix later this week

Not sure if I’ve posted this at all yet, but here is a sneak peek at the cover for the new CD –

We’ve also started adding shirts & buttons with the new cover to our CafePress site, so if you haven’t been over to see those now’s as good a time as any

We’ve finished the mixing on several songs, so (dare I think it?) the end is in sight! Back in again next week to continue mixing. In the meantime, here is a clip (unmixed) from the intro to Spend a Little Time with Me, featuring Chris & Alan from the Grandsons on horns!

For Virginia folks, we’re up at the Ashland Coffee & Tea tomorrow night, Sat, May 30 starting at 8pm, so come on out and say hi. And the Grandsons are there on June 5, so go see the show and tell ‘em you heard them on a Tater track!

No matter how many hours or years I spend on the computer, mostly online, I’m still always surprised at how many hours and years I can spend on the computer, mostly online. I get very easily distracted and before I know it I’m 12 more tabs away from what I was originally reading or working on.  I love tabbed browsers, but they have their cost!

Recently found 2 tools that may help a lot if I can remember to use them. Readability is a tool that removes pretty much all but the text on a web page, and formats it to your liking for easy reading. Try it and see if it doesn’t help!

Quietube does a similar thing for videos. Just use the bookmark while you’re on a YouTube page, and it will show you the video without all the rest of the page behind it. Granted, if you’re out just browsing for things to look at or listen to, or are in an exploring mode, these tools will be at cross purposes, but if there’s something you want to concentrate on, they are great!

Song clip

Here’s another clip from an early mix for the new CD. This one, Lonely Like That, is one of the quieter songs on the CD, and features guest-Grandson Alan MacEwen on trumpet.

Lonely Like That (early mix, clip)

We’re in the mixing stages now, with almost all recording finished. As always, time and money are slowing things down – never enough of either – but it’s coming together. Thanks very much to the folks who have made donations toward the completion of this behemoth – I hope you’ll love the results! We’re looking at a few fund-raising opportunities to help finish the thing up, so I’ll let you know about that as soon as I figure it out!

We got another tremendously appreciated gift towards the CD this week, which will really help us get this thing moving along! I continue to be amazed and gratified by the amount of support we get from folks who’ve seen us and like the music! Who’da thunkit! A big Tater THANK YOU – you know who you are

I think the horn parts on “Spend a Little Time With Me” are done – we’ll know more as we mix.  Chris Watling sent his part across the ether and we’ll be adding it to the trumpet parts that Alan already put down. After that, there are a few small fixes to work on, and then mixing, which is due to start any day now. I’m traveling a lot for work right now, so that’s slowed me down a bit, but I hope to catch up soon!

Had a great time at the VibeFest 2009 last weekend, rain notwithstanding. It did hold off a bit during our set, so that was nice for us. Big thanks to Chris Guidry for sound on that show, and to all the techs who helped keep the rain water off of us and the electrical cords! Bzzzzt! Here’s a nice little video piece that I just found about the VibeFests. We’re not in the clip, but it’ll give you an idea of what this is all about:

We’re back at the Positive Vibe this evening for a show with Offering. We tried to schedule this a month ago, but it didn’t work out, so I’m really looking forward to it tonight!

just a quick update to let you know that the recording on the new CD is nearly finished! We have a few tweaks here and there and then we’re ready for mixing, so I’m still hoping for a late Spring or early Summer release! Working with The Grandsons this week, who are putting horn parts on a few songs – Alan came down to Ashland to add trumpet to “Spend a Little Time with Me” and “Lonely Like That”, and Chris will be recording his parts in MD and sending them through this marvelous new Internet thing I hear so much about.  I’m looking forward to hearing how the final mix comes out! Those who have been around Taterland for any length of time have heard the Grandsons before, either live – we’ve done Christmas shows with them for the past 5 years – or on our live CD, “Just One Night” from 2005.

We have young Jim Wark back on a tune this time around. Jim was also on the live album, and it’s fun hearing him on the new material. Jim’s been playing with Brad & I, along with Brian & George in the Rock & Roll Revue shows, another of which happens this Saturday in Ashland. You can see the videos from the last show on the new Taters YouTube channel, TaterVids!

OK, that’s it for the nonce. Stay tuned!

Sorry I’ve been a bit absent from the blog for the last several weeks. I get caught up in so many things and more often than not I get to the end of the night -- or usually the middle of the wee hours of the morning -- and finally have to lay myself down for a few hours of sleep with visions of all I didn’t get done. But I’ll try to catch up a bit here…

Recording
The bulk of the recording is done, with just a few bits to add on at this point. Still have a few guests that are going to add to the mix, and we have to schedule all of that. Then it’s down to mixing and mastering, and looking at a way to get it pressed. In the meantime, here’s a few more clips of what’s been going on. As with some of the previous posts, keep in mind that these are just unfinished clips, still need mixing, some EQ’ing, etc:

• Wolfman Told Me Tonight
  This is a song that Gary & I have had for years, and it usually only gets totted out around Halloween each year for the live shows. Somewhere at one of those shows last year someone said, “Why do we only play this at Halloween”?”Because… it’s got a werewolf in it?” I’m sure there was more to the conversation, but I’m pretty easy to convince when it comes to adding some monster fun to the calendar year, so… on the CD it goes!
• Fun At Home
  I put an earlier version of this up about a month ago, but we’ve added some more vocals, including the Nonexistent Taters Horn Section on the bridge, so I thought I’d stick this up and let you hear the progress
• Wax Paper
  Another very fun song that comes from the Monday Week days, this has been dusted off and refitted for the new millennium. This has got to be one of the few songs out there with distorted guitar and banjo on it, not to mention one of the surprisingly few odes to household products and food containers specifically.

Other stuff
As always, in addition to Tatering live and in the studio, all of us stay busy at whatever side projects come our way. Here is a recent video that I worked on for the VA Tax Dept’s online filing initiative. The lyrics were a committe process, and the tune is me trying to write and perform my best Zimmy impersonation! I’m playing bass, guitar & singing on this, with Richard Schellenberg on lead gtr, as well as recording & mixing. Guest spot from Kevin Cronin on harmonica. And no, the guy in the kilt is not me -- I’m behind the camera on this one.

Rock & Roll Revue
Brad & I have started rehearsals for the next R&R Revue, coming up in May. We’ll be reprising a lot of the Elvis, Buddy, Roy & Everly’s tunes from the first show, and adding in a few new ones, including a few appearances from Ricky Nelson. Backing us up again will be the vintage talents of George Garrett, Brian Sulser and Jim Wark. Check the calendar for the dates and call early for tickets!

Here are some of Brian’s videos from the first show

By the way, if anyone would like to volunteer to film or photograph the next show, we’d love the help! And we’ll be glad to let you share in the fame and glory

I think that’s it for now. Should have a version of the CD cover finished soon, so I’ll post a draft of that when it’s ready. For now, here’s a shot we’re using for some new flyers. Click on the image for a larger version.

Hope to see you soon!

Craig

Brad & I had a great time playing in the revue last weekend, along with “the band” featuring George Garrett, Jim Wark, and Brian Sulser. Brian has videos of most of the show up on his YouTube site, so go take a look! I got to do Elvis and Roy Orbison, Brad was Buddy Holly, and we each became half of the Everlys. It was a pile of fun to play, and very eye-opening for all of us; it’s been awhile since any of us had really listened closely to those recordings, really trying to pull out some of the nuances that get lost when modern bands (guilty as charged) play them. Not saying one is better than the other, but it was sure done differently back then, and we tried to do our homework! We’re already planning a follow-up show, so be sure to keep an eye on our calendar for future dates.

Work on menagerie (yes, the new CD has a name!) is coming along. Here are a few new clips of some songs we’re working on:

• Oceans Apart
  This is one that Gary & I started quite a while back, but just never really got finished. I finished it up last year and we worked out a new arrangement of it with the walking bassline, which I think helps it a lot. Vocals are pretty straightforward duet throughout, with Brad taking the high harmony. I’m playing a bit of piano on this one as well.
• Fun at Home
  One of my oldest tunes, we used to play this in Monday Week, though I never felt like we quite had the rhythm down that I was looking for. His majesty Buz King is taking care of that on this version by pounding on a leather chair cushion, which we then mixed on top of the drum track. Very cool sound, sort of an acoustic-electronic groove. The sound of the leather gives it an organic tone which keeps it from being too mechanical. Lots of great slide and 12-string work from Greg on this, and Brad & I reprise the famous Non-Existent Tater Horn Section on the bridge!

more later