Music and more with claudecat17 (aka Chris Davlin)!

This one speaks for itself, and frankly I can’t really be a know it all with this at all. I saw lots of Red Creek shows, but I don’t think I was at this one. For those not following along, Steve Gadd is a world renowned session drummer that you’ve heard all your life on hits and on other things if you’re a music person. My best friend Mike knows the man, well, and was helped by him after a brutal car crash in 96 I think it was. They were already friends, but this was more, as they both fought hard to get Mike back in shape, and maybe eventually back to playing shape. It worked! He’s got issues physically, a lot more than most, but he still can play at a high level, the best he ever has so he says, and I believe him!

The crazy thing is that when I move up there soon I’m going to get to meet all these people too! I’ll meet Gadd, the Mangione brothers and that band’s members, etc. I can’t wait! The full breadth of what’s possible is beginning to dawn on me, and I’m a little scared but mostly just looking forward to playing music again, to singing with the voice they never heard way back when. I doubt I’ll wow anyone really, but just playing with quality musicians, ideally also friends (very likely!) will be more than enough for me.

It may be that what I can offer the blues/jazz community up there is my music collection and some help getting off physical media if they want to. Some will be shocked that I carry around in my pocket a phone that holds the equivalent of everything that all the record stores in town have, plus much much more. That oughta be fun!

Or I can aim people towards good cheap guitars, maybe sold by me but not necessarily. Maybe after a while I open a store to sell instruments out of instead of my bedroom. Good Guitars Cheap would look good in neon, right? Or maybe I talk Tom at the Bop Shop into letting me scatter a few guitars around his store if I give him a cut. Endless possibilities, all of them good! It’s about goddamn time!

As for the clip, it was recorded at my all time favorite music club, the now defunct Red Creek, owned and operated by the great Jeff Springut, who passed some time ago and is greatly missed by music people far and wide. There are even jazz tunes on records with Red Creek’s name in the title! I got to see Stephane Grappelli there, sat maybe 8 feet from him. Mike was there too! Insane the shows we saw there, from Tower of Power to apparently Jan Hammer. Some of the fusion-y ones I guess I’ve forgotten, but I’m told I was there for pre-Miami Vice Jan, who was great! Best show was David Lindley, where another friend and I got there early to eat, and got to watch and interact with the band and Dave as they set up. No roadies, they all handled their own gear, and man did it sound great! They did our requests for sound check as we inhaled more chicken wings and beer.

By the time the show started other inhaling had been done, and again, our seats were so close I could literally reach out and touch Dave. I refrained from that, but did get an autograph after, on a Mosrite I had in the trunk for just this possibility. What a night! I think I got mailings from the Dave team for a decade or more after that, and I think we even emailed back and forth a time or two… It was a long time ago, but I can still see and hear highlights of that night, neatly stored in my head goo with all the other drivel-making apparatus.

Enjoy! If you know any drummers, this’ll scare ’em real good! Note how small his set is…