WarrZONE.com: May 2009

« April 2009 | Main | June 2009 »

May 2009

May 31, 2009

In Memorium - Ray Ashley

"Pennington (New Jersey) - Raymond F. Ashley, 41, passed away on Thursday evening, May 28, 2009, at Somerset Medical Center in Somerville.

Born in Plainfield, NJ, Ray resided in South Plainfield through high school and had been living in Pennington. He was a 1985 graduate of St. Joseph's High School in Metuchen, earned a BS in Chemistry from Union College in Schenectady, NY, and a masters in Environmental Science from NJIT.

Ray was a compassionate and caring young man who had numerous interests. He participated in the ROTC program and served in the US Navy aboard the destroyer escort USS Pharris. In addition, he enjoyed running, homebrewing, volunteered in teaching English as a second language, spoke Russian, and was an avid Mets fan."

**************************************************

I first met Ray when he attended the 2002 NAMM show as a guest of Warr Guitars. He owned a Warr 11-string, but had a particular fondness for his ADG-10. His knowledge covered many subjects (please see the link above for more details on Rays life and interests), and I most remember his command of several languages, including Russian and French, his lecture on the composer Borodin at the 2004 E-tap seminar in Belgium, and the incredible Imperial Stout that he made from scratch, which he brought to Belgium for everyone to sample.

In 2006 he came to E-tap with an accordion, an instrument that had caught his attention in recent years, and showed a clear command of the instrument after only a short time playing it. He had an encyclopedic knowledge of the touch-guitar world, and a robust sense of humor. In other words, great company while sitting in a bar and drinking a brew in Southern Belgium.

I was always grateful for his help and advice on my trips to Europe and otherwise, and was proud to call him a friend.

Ray performing at Art-O-Base in Brussels 2004, and in Neufchateau with the accordion in 2006.

Posted at 10:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

May 19, 2009

JW and CwF to Play FZ at Rose City Rocks May 28th, Pasadena, CA

   Jim Wright and Crepuscule with Fido will play a set of music composed by Frank Zappa at the Rose City Rocks music festival in Pasadena CA Thursday the 28th @ 10PM.
   Having performed the music of Frank Zappa on touch-style instruments since the early '80s, Jim developed the uncrossed 4ths tuning in large part because he found that much of Zappa's music could not be played on the tunings most common to tap guitars. Four years after beginning the new tuning, Jim was performing pieces previously impossible for one person to play. See this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOGdHPt-GB8&feature=channel
   Since then, the uncrossed 4ths tuning has become the most popular tuning sold on instruments by Warr Guitars.

On Daniel Schell's recommendation, Jim taught the music of FZ at E-tap in 2006, and also performed "The Black Page #1" in Neufchateau, Belgium that same year, as well as other FZ music. At Daniel Minoza's B-tap seminar in Baltimore in 2007, he performed The Black Page #2 and other FZ pieces. The piece is called The Black Page due to the large number of notes and hard-to-play polyrhythms it contains.
Jim also sometimes performs Zappas' music during shows with the jazz group, Fuzzy Logic Boptet.

The other members of "Crepuscule with Fido" are Polly Klemmer on keyboards, and Jim Miller on drums, two rare musicians who are capable of performing such unusual music, as well as being composers themselves. The group will perform The Black Page #1 and #2 ("The easy teenage New York version") in addition to many other pieces by the late composer, who passed away in 1993. Since it is a rock festival, the group will perform many of Zappa's rock and roll songs, as well as some of the more complex tunes.
www.myspace.com/crepusculewithfido

The set should begin about 10PM, but it is advised to check the schedule, as events of this size are constantly in flux. This is an annual event that involves many venues in Old Town Pasadena, and a full schedule can be found here:
http://rosecityrocks.homestead.com/schedule.html

Crepuscule with Fido will perform on one of the stages at:
Fred's Mexican Cafe
119 E. Colorado Blvd. Pasadena, 91105
626.304.9955
Stage hosted by Cafe 322
$ 5.00 Wristband for both stages

FZ on democracy, " ...I happen to think it's so great we ought to have it in the United States."

from the Pasadena Weekly 5/21/09 "Several artists stand out amidst that musical multitude. Thumbs-up recommendations go to Big Joe Hurt and Jim Wright at Fred's Mexican Cafe Thursday night..."

Posted at 07:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)