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Set List: Aug. 29, 2015 – State Theater

2015 August 31
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by Mike Vial

Set List: Saturday, Aug. 29, 2015
ArtBeat @ the State Theater, South Bend, IN

As close as I can recall:

  1. Damn Fine Day
  2. Don’t Mess Around with Jim (Jim Croce)
  3. Only the Rain Knows Why
  4. Smooth (Santana)
  5. Riptide (Vance Joy)
  6. Made a Mess
  7. Love and Be Proud
  8. Landslide (Fleetwood Mac)
  9. Empty Cup
  10. Drift Away (Dobie Gray)

Playing at #ArtBeat at the State Theater in #SouthBend. Photo Credits: Ronald Werntz

A photo posted by Mike Vial (@mikevial) on


 

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Set List: Aug. 29, 2015 – Chicory Cafe

2015 August 31
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by Mike Vial

Saturday, Aug 29, 2015
Chicory Cafe, South Bend, IN

As best as I could remember it:

  1. A World That’s Bigger
  2. Here Comes the Sun
  3. Damn Fine Day
  4. Smooth
  5. Only the Rain Knows Why
  6. Landslide
  7. I Just Want to Be Your Last
  8. Love and Be Proud
  9. Drift Away
  10. Before You Accuse Me
  11. Ohio
  12. Burning Bright


Thanks to Bello Spark for sharing the show with me!

A video posted by Mike Vial (@mikevial) on

A photo posted by Mike Vial (@mikevial) on


 

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Set List: Aug 27, 2015 – Fiddler’s Hearth

2015 August 31
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by Mike Vial

Thursday, Aug 27, 2015 – Fiddler’s Hearth
South Bend, IN

  1. Don’t Mess Around with Jim  (Jim Croce)
  2. Damn Fine Day
  3. Only the Rain Knows Why
  4.  Drift Away (Dobie Gray)
  5. Landslide (Fleetwood Mac)
  6. Ohio (Neil Young)

Downloadable studio releases linked.

Big thanks to Dena Dena Dena for having me at the show!

@denadenadenamusic at Fiddler's last Thursday!

A video posted by Mike Vial (@mikevial) on

A photo posted by Mike Vial (@mikevial) on

A photo posted by Mike Vial (@mikevial) on

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Which voice speaks louder than the other?

2015 August 25
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by Mike Vial

Which voice speaks louder than the other:

The creative voice, that says, “Let’s explore this idea!” or the critic, that says, “This idea isn’t any good”?

More importantly, which one is harder to harness? Is it more difficult to come up with unique ideas or squelching the voice that interferes with the creative process?

Either way, the second voice must be ignored to allow for the first voice to speak.

* * * * * * * *

I finished my first poetry commission last week, and it felt great to be not only writing, but be inspired to write from someone’s request.

And while it’s also great to be paid for one’s writing, the money serves as another motivator, saying, “This work must get done!”

We don’t always need an advance sale to be that motivator. Maybe there is an upcoming art show, a concert, a recording session, or a lecture you can schedule that will require work to get done.

Douglas Adams joked, “I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.”

Deadlines make another sound, being a third voice, that says, “Get to work!”

* * * * * * * *

Want to commission the next poem? Be the muse, and a patron:
http://mikevial.bandcamp.com/merch/be-the-muse-commission-a-poem

officekitchen

 

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#mymusicbinge: Santana Abraxas

2015 August 16
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by Mike Vial

[While watching Ginny in the mornings and afternoons, I’m avoiding the TV and listening to music instead. Today, Ginny got to hear Santana’s Abraxas for the first time!]

How many pop artists today are quoting Hesse on the back of their MP3s?

Columbia House might have called it quits last week, but CD clubs brought these records into my father’s hands decades after their original releases, to be shared, then stolen, by his Kurt-Cobain-idolizing son.

 

My dad reminisced, “We couldn’t afford to buy many records after your grandmother died and your grandfather was working shifts at General Electric [in Detroit].” The best albums were the ones my dad would warn, “Don’t get caught taking that one to school!”

Music was a bridge; but Abraxas was out of this world.

* * * Musical Notes * * *
Yes, Carlos Santana’s guitar tone is legendary, but the B3 organ is equally important on this record. Take note of the both instruments shining during “Incident at Neshabur”. Put your headphones on for this one:
  • 0:10: Piano’s panned right, organ’s panned left, which is really great at 0:48; percussion’s panned, too.
  • 0:18: Enter vibroslap!
  • 2:33-3:42: Eat your heart out Protools producers with your click tracks, no way this one was recorded on a grid with the rhythm and time signature changes!
  • 3:00: The guitar lick is an example how tone comes more from the hands than the equipment: the volume swell/feedback into a bend/trill, into soft notes!
  • 4:46: Which instrument is going to end the song? The guitar, no the piano, wait the bass slide; ah the percussion!
The biggest hit from the album, “Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen” has a 1:26 long instrumental introduction, breaking the typical rule of “get to the first lyrica quickly” that popular music follows today.
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