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It's close to Jim
Testa's birthday so Lazlo of BlowUpRadio.com—who hosts
these events with Jim—planned a surprise. Lazlo's wife
Naomi baked a couple of cakes too. And we ... um ... sorta
... sang. It always amazes me how no one can sing when presented
with the Birthday Song. Here we have a room filled with all
sorts of musical types and still ... I cringe.
Gibby of High Speed Chase was up first with his dropped tune
guitar hollering thru his set in his usual balls out style.
After a touching speech about his two decade plus friendship
with Jim, Gibby called for the cake to be served. To which
Jim replied, "Too late! I got mine already," bringing a smile
to the room. As did Gibby's impersonation of Jim's philosophy
of, "Your music sucks. I like it but it sucks. No really it's
not too bad, but it could be better." And so on. Jim is a champion
of local music and will tell you honestly what he thinks. One
thing you can count on is, if he likes you as a friend, he will
support you.
Gibby also made my night. At one point he joked about how God
was gonna strike him down for spouting his views about religion
on stage. And that I would write in my journal, "It was great.
Gibby's head exploded. I just wish I could have talked to him
about it afterwards."
Mike Robertson of the band Mason Dixon started with some nice
blues riffs. His thumb seemed detached from the rest of his
hand. With the help of his other thumb muting strings, it kept
a solid metronome rhythm. It was downright hypnotic. His more
straight ahead rock numbers had catchy hooks with a California-country
feel. Third song .. there goes that thumb again and the guitar
player in me is getting jealous. Another NY area vocalist named
Amy Miles came up to add some really sweet, shy harmonies bringing
even more Americana to the sound.
Jim Testa introduced Dave Calamoneri as, "That kid I used to
see at American Standard shows and as the guy that sold me
tomatoes at the Hoboken Farmers Market. Then I find out he
has a guitar and ... here we are." I've seen Dave several times
at open mics. His is a very bluesy, folk sound. A working man's
anthem that all can relate to.
As the night wound down, I met Alana of the band Six To Eight
Mathematics. As we chatted with my friend Stacy, we realized
that we were all paying our bills thanks to the world of publishing.
Alana works for a weekly newspaper, Stacy for a weekly magazine
and myself a handful of monthlies. We tossed around such geeky
work subjects like QPS, Quark, InDesign, PhotoShop, Illustrator
and so on. It was nice to place Alana's face with the name.
I get emails for her band all the time, but have yet to check
them out. I'll have to make it a point to do so.
Links:
Jersey
Beat
BlowUpRadio.com
Goldhawk
Gibby
(High Speed Chase)
Mike
Robertson (Mason Dixon)
Amy
Miles
Dave
Calamoneri
Six
To Eight Mathematics
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