11 posts tagged “jawbox”
Cal Robbins has just celebrated his second birthday. For a kid with Type I Spinal Muscular Atrophy, that is a huge accomplishment. In honor of this milestone, a bunch of musicians are holding a series of auctions to benefit this son of Jawbox frontman J. Robbins.
I've joined the fray and will auction off a cello arrangement of the song of the winner's choice. The auction ends in four days, so hop to it!
Also, I have a show that is almost confirmed for Sunday, February 17, at The Lab in Alexandria, VA. Several other talented local cellists will join for this concert... more information soon.
The album is out! It is available through iTunes, eMusic, Napster, and others... and if you prefer a physical CD, you can order one through PayPal as well by visiting my MySpace page.
Here are the links to download:
The show at Brooklyn's Union Pool on November 2nd was a blast. It was the first time i had ever played any of the Jawbox cello arrangements with other cellists. Somehow, through the Cello Mafia GrapevineTM, I was hooked up with Brooklynites Isabel Castellvi and Seth Woods, and I also recruited old friend (and former roommate) Jonah Sacks (Chris Brokaw, Dresden Dolls, etc) for the fourth slot. I spent countless nights struggling with Finale music software, and finally sent everyone parts for seven songs at nearly the last minute.
It actually was the last minute when we all met up at Isabel's apartment for the one and only rehearsal. Due entirely to the amazing musicianship and awesome attitudes of my fellow cellists, everything came together perfectly. At Union Pool itself, we were blessed with The Best (and most accommodating) Soundman Ever, who ran around for 45 minutes straight to ensure that four cellists, each with a different amplification style, all sounded great in the small rock club.
The show itself was awesome, and the crowd's response was incredible, especially considering we were the opening act. There is nothing quite like the sound of a live cello ensemble -- so much power and soul all at once. I can't wait to do it again.
The stage was really small, but we all fit! (Photo by J. Nordberg)
l to r: jonah sacks, isabel castellvi, seth woods, gordon withers
Hey all, I will be performing some of the Jawbox cello tracks this Friday at Union Pool in Brookly, NY:
11/02/2007 08:30 PM - Union Pool
484 Union Ave
Brooklyn, New York 11211
US
$7.00
Union Pool, not to be confused with Union Hall, is quite the hipster joint in Williamsburg. The Jawbox Cello Ensemble (featuring Jonah Sacks, Isabel Castellvi, and Seth Woods) will be opening for longtime pal Rotary Club’s CD release party. Also joining Rotary Club on the bill will be Marcellus Hall (formerly of Railroad Jerk)
Copies of Jawbox on Cello: A Benefit for Cal Robbins, can now be ordered via Paypal by either going here:
http://www.myspace.com/threetoedmusic and clicking "Add to Cart" in the "About" section, or by going here:
http://trisloth.livejournal.com/profile and clicking the "Add to Cart" button in the middle of the page.
Please let me know if you have any problems with ordering. It should be configured so that you are required to enter a shipping address. You should also be able to order multiple copies in one transaction.
Thanks!
- Gordon
This past weekend I played a second benefit show for Cal Robbins, and I just realized I never posted pictures from the first one.
The Funky Buddha Lounge in Boca Raton was gracious enough to host both shows, and both were a blast. The first show was held on June 16, and five acts played -- we raised over $500 to split between the SMA Foundation and Cal's fund. The CD's arrived the day before, and we sold a bunch -- however, there was a misprint -- a photo of Cal underneath the CD tray was partially obscured, so I haven't been selling the CD's except at the two shows. As soon as the sleeve reprints arrive (hopefully today!) I will put up a Paypal page for ordering copies.
Here is Paul Roub's photoset from June 16: http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulroub/sets/72157600382862890/ (let me know if the guest pass expires). Paul came all the way down from Melbourne to play a set, and we ended up pulling off an impromptu version of Jawbox's "Cooling Card" after rehearsing it once before the show. I also joined Alex's band Frenjen for their entire set. Since three other cellists weren't readily available to instantly memorize parts to 8 Jawbox songs, I finished the night playing a set of tracks from the CD against a backing tape (with the "vocal" tracks removed). It ended up working a lot better than I expected. Alex went above and beyond the call of duty again at the end of the night, when we pulled out a surprise encore of Metallica's "One" -- the Apocalyptica version rearranged for cello and acoustic guitar. THERE WILL BE A VIDEO OF THIS posted soon, I promise!!!
The Funky Buddha asked me back for a second show, so last friday (July 6th) I played two solo sets of mostly classical music, with the Jawbox stuff at the end. It was strange playing two Bach suites, Hindemith, Cassado, and a Harold Meltzer piece at a bar, but it worked (sort of). People seemed to enjoy it -- at one point, a crazy, immaculately dressed Italian guy bought ten CD's and handed them out to random people, while demanding that I play The Godfather Theme. In between sets a friend downloaded a midi version of it to his phone, which I learned and played on the spot (to the guy's delight).
More pictures from both shows to come soon!
All of a sudden, in the space of a few weeks, the CD is done, and we have a benefit show set up for 8pm next Saturday at the Funky Buddha Lounge in Boca! Once the master was in hand, I scrambled to get it sent to DiscMakers, literally the next day -- just in time for them to promise delivery one day before the show. Hopefully there are no snags and the show will double as a CD-release party.
I updated the myspace page with four of the final mastered tracks, a couple of new pictures (thanks Cathy!!) and one video of me recording the bass track for "Reel."
Gotta run, but I will update again soon with more details about the show and album.
A quick update:
To anyone who was planning on attending the benefit show we had scheduled for May 5 at Uncle Sam's in Lauderhill -- the city has shut down live events at the venue, so we are currently in search of a new location. I'll post updates as soon as I know anything.
In the meantime, eight songs are completed for the benefit album, and with the help of Zach Barocas (Jawbox's drummer), I have located an excellent mastering studio who has agreed to master the final product. I'm hoping to wrap up recording by the end of March.
Gotta run... more soon.
(note: for those of you wondering why I'm recording cello arrangements of Jawbox songs, please see the original post below)
It has been several weeks since I've seen any update on Cal's blog regarding his condition; I can only hope that the winter is being kind to Cal & family, and has not brought any more colds or complications. Likewise, internet traffic regarding Cal seems to have slowed lately; I'm hoping that as this album gets closer to completion, there will be a resurgence of interest.
Speaking of recording, I had a marathon session with Alex last Saturday -- we recorded three songs in six hours flat. The diplacusis thankfully has not come back, and I managed to go through the whole session with the headphones only on my left ear. Saturday's session added "Whitney Walks," "Savory," and an odd re-interpretation of "Consolation Prize" (from the album Grippe) to the seven songs completed so far. The latter song's arrangement was something I heard in my head while falling asleep one night -- I woke up thinking "damn, which song was that???", luckily figuring it out a few moments later. It ended up as basically just two tracks, one being the original vocal melody, and the other loosely based on the guitar line -- I'm happy with how it turned out. "Savory" was a challenge, as I'd never done it before, but it came out well too.
Sometime next week I'll rotate the samples on the MySpace page -- right now you can hear clips of three of the songs from Jawbox's self-titled album. Feel free to add the profile to your friends list.
On Monday night I checked out Uncle Sam's Music in Lauderhill -- Alex and I are currently working to set up a benefit show for Cal there for sometime in April. It's this awesome record store -- basically the closest thing to a Newberry Comics in South Florida -- and the owners have built a loft over the back half of the store where they hold shows. The vibe is fantastic, I can't wait to play there.
I'll take real pictures soon, but in the meantime, here are some cell-phone camera shots of the recording process:
a vocal mic is definitely the best to record cello, as the instrument is the closest of any to the sound of a human voice.
Not sure what half of this equipment does, but it looks cool.
A pre-requisite for getting through marathon recording sessions.
Please check back for more updates soon!
(note: for those of you wondering why I'm recording cello arrangements of Jawbox songs, please see the original post below)
Recording is going well -- Alex and I have four songs completed at this point: Iodine, Desert Sea, Tools & Chrome, and Spoiler. I broke down and started a Myspace Music page which includes 30-second samples of some rough mixes, so feel free to add it to your Myspace friends if you're into that sort of thing. I'll keep the major project updates on this blog, though.
Recently I set up a Google Alert to automatically email me daily blog/news updates on Cal Robbins, and it is so wonderful to see how many people in the music community are taking up his cause, organizing benefit shows, or just getting the word out. It would be impossible to quantify the impact Jawbox (and Burning Airlines and Channels) has had on so many musicians -- I've even received emails from people in Canada and France who credit Jawbox with changing their entire perceptions of music. Meanwhile, I've been anxiously checking Cal's blog for updates on his condition. When I listen back to what I've recorded so far, there is an audible sense of urgency in every track.
Yesterday afternoon I had what I thought would be a major setback -- the re-appearance of symptoms of diplacusis that I had once for a period of two weeks following a very nasty cold sometime in 1993 or 1994. Also called "double disharmonic hearing," it is the sensation of hearing the same pitch as two different tones in each ear At the time, I (probably unwisely) ignored it and it gradually went away, and luckily it seems to have disappeared again, this time overnight. It is such a strange and apparently rare condition that there is almost nothing written about it (it doesn't even have a wikipedia page. is that even possible in 2007??), and it took 30 minutes of various Google searches just to find out what it is. However, I did determine that it is caused by hearing damage, so no more earbuds for me, and when I'm recording I guess I'll only have the headphones over my left ear. With the symptoms, it is nearly impossible to play, as one can't tell if any particular note is in tune, so I am fervently hoping it doesn't come back.
