The Tater Blog

Posts Tagged ‘video’

(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!

no maybe’s about it, it’s bitter! Thermometer says 20, but a lot wind blowing bits of snow onto the frontal plane! We had to cancel the coast-to-coast CD release party tonight -- snow on our end will keep us from gathering around one mic, and Mike’s sick on the Sacramento side, so we’re both under the weather! Hope to reschedule in Feb -- maybe I’ll have the whole Skype thing figured out by then. The connection seems to work fine, but I’ve got to work out a way to let us talk and play on this end but still hear Mike on the other end without feeding back. We’ve only ever done this over the phone in the past, so it wasn’t an issue.

In the meantime, since I’m snowed in I’ve been wandering about YouTube finding fun things. Here’s a great video of some early Nick Lowe, from the Brinsely Schwarz days. The TV tag says 1973. Love the 70’s Monchichi cut!

Just a quick posting, so I can get something up here! Here are a few videos posted by a Tater fan on YouTube. These are from a recent show we did with Willie Nelson in Richmond.

The Kiss

That’s Where I Belong

There are lots of other Tater videos from a variety of folks over at our YouTube site -- Tatervids

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

I’ve had a great weekend here -- a very fun show on Friday night (more on that later, including some clips), beautiful weather (is this the same week that last Monday was in?!?), the half a tree is gone from the yard (thanks to Tobe Marrs for that one!), and our cable is hooked up again after a week, so I have internet at home. A lovely convergence of good things, just makes me feel like dancing

As a side note -- this song is being sung by Tony Burrows, one of a handful of guys who seemed to sing on most every AM pop record from ‘69-’72, including “Love Grows Where My Rosemary Goes”, “Beach Baby”, and “United We Stand”.

On Wednesday I posted a notice about the video I worked on for the Tax dept. This morning apparently Newsweek online found it, and it got a mention on their site:

(RICHMOND, Va.) Talk about cheesy. Virginia’s Tax Department debuted a video on YouTube on Friday intended to promote online filing of state income taxes.

The video opens like a trailer for a film featuring a superhero. Enter Phil Mousepower, a blue-caped and masked hand puppet — the arm controlling it clearly visible.

Now, we’ve just got to get some masks & capes for the Taters…

As a side project, I’ve been working on a video for the VA Dept of Taxation, to promote their online filing options. Here’s their first video. I helped storyboard and write the script, did the voice-over and the closing music.

And my hand is on the cheese. What more can I say? Go watch, give it wonderful ratings, link to it, whatever!

still trying to figure out this WordPress thing, but I really like all that you can do with it. I’m trying out a Christmas theme to get used to how “themes” work. It may change many times over the next few weeks, who knows? Also trying to figure out how to get everyone’s avatar to show up next to their postings. Every time I figure out one part, there are 3 new questions! But I’m having fun with it, when I have time to sit down and tinker.

Been off for a few days from recording -- everyone’s schedule got filled up, including Bill’s, so we’ve all been listening to what we have so far and getting some ideas on where to head next. Brad was doing shows last night (with BJ Kocen, Jim Wark, and Tater Emeritus Geo Garrett), and then tonight with the Bop Cats. I’m playing a show tomorrow night, Sunday, at the Barksdale Theatre in Willow Lawn, with Harry Gore & Buzzy Lawler (When Harry Met Buzzy), so looking forward to that. I hope to get to play some piano on that as well.

Then back in next week for a few recording sessions, in between several shows -- got 3 Christmas parties and one public show (Shenanigans, on Tuesday night). And, all the time, Christmas just keeps getting closer! It’s barreling down on us faster this year than ever!

In the meantime, here’s an odd little bit of Christmas cheer for you!