Why this blog?

Posterity.

As much as I appreciate your attention, dear reader (if you do exist), this chronicle is not primarily for you.

Jonathan and I are fortunate to have found this project. Apple Crisp is a rare thing to come along; momentous and interesting enough that I feel it worthwhile to chronicle. Perhaps it will make a good story someday.

I intend to eventually write up the history of Apple Crisp before summer 2005.

Time for a Contra Jam

We're hosting a Contra Jam, two weeks hence.

Sunday, November 13
1:30 - 5?
potluck at 5:30.

Apple Crisp served, naturally.

drop me an email if you're interested.

Rolling on with more tunes

They called "Rambling Pitchfork" on the bandstand at MIT last tuesday. Good tune, so we've added it to our repertoire. Also, the waltz, Seamus O'Brien.

We came up with a very funky version of Katy's Rambles that I'm looking forward to playing at our next gig.

Jonathan Plays MIT's Contradance Tonight

I heard a rumor Jonathan will play at tonight's MIT contradance, 8 to 10:30 pm in the Student Center. It's also supposedly the Halloween special, so dancers can wear costumes. I'm going as the invisible man.

Ear Training

We practiced on our accordions today & learned a few new songs off of recordings we like.

"All That You Ask Me", waltz from the Airdance CD
"Emon Acnuck", jig from The Latter Day Lizards, and
"The Volunteer", reel from Airdance.

I'm realizing that picking up songs by ear is a useful skill for sitting in with dance bands.

Jonathan also wrote a jig called Shooting Star.

With "Friends" like these...

re: donating to hurricane relief
I had a corporate gig yesterday, running audiovisual for a CEO of a major department store. At the end of his video, to a backing track of James Taylor's "You've Got a Friend", there was a graphic stating that the company had donated $15,000 to Hurricane Katrina Relief, as well as treating an evacuee to a highly publicized shopping spree.

This is a half billion dollar company, and I roughly estimate they donated the proceeds of about 12 minutes of business.

We donated the proceeds from a day's gig. Either we should have sent in about 4 bucks, or that big company should have sent the Red Cross about a million dollars, or something's really out of whack.

"You've Got a Friend" indeed. I wanted to puke, not as much for their miserliness, as for them patting themselves on the back for it.

The Instruments Choose Us, Part I

What instrument to play?

Luckily, we don't really bear such portentous decisions. Like wands at Ollivander's, the instruments choose us. And they are always right; I've learned that it's just our job to obey them.

Here is how some of our instruments have come to us.

Part I

The Vibes

I've always wanted to get my hands on a set of vibes, since I played in high school. I adore the sound, and the action of playing them even more. As a percussionist, and a pianist, the vibraphone is a no brainer. I'd occasionally had the pleasure of hearing vibes in my own studio when a vibe player practiced here with his band.

My Dad's old friend, Mr. Shook played vibraphone. When I was a kid and we visited him, Mr. Shook would joke that he'd someday give up on getting any good at vibes and hand them over to me.

I saw Mr. Shook for the first time in decades at my Dad's funeral. I asked him whatever happened to his vibes and he just smiled. A few days after I got back home, I got this email from a friend here in Boston.

Avi, How goes it? Hope you are well.

Anyway, I have this Vibraphone that is available for anyone who wants it. It's a Jenco form the '50's or '60s(i'm not sure).[...] If you know anyone who wants it, it's their's.

It is said that at a funeral, the spirit of the departed is still hovering. I can't help wonder if my Dad was there & had heard me, and then somehow hooked me up.

45 minutes after I saw that email, the vibes were in my car. And since then, I've talked to a few other people who had heard about the same instrument being available & were hot on the trail, but were just an hour or so behind me. I was able to relate to the instrument instantly, and my technique came back quickly, despite the twenty year hiatus.

Papa Dave

Around last Chanukah, my sister in law, Ellen mentioned she had a squeezebox sitting in the attic. She had played it some when she was little, and it had been passed on to her from her Grandfather. It sounded to me like a good match for Jonathan. We got way more than we bargained for, the instrument that showed up in the mail was not only still in fantastic shape, but it had been a fine quality instrument to begin with. It's pretty much the standard - a Hohner 2815, 2 row button accordion (keys of G & C). This instrument also did a shrewd job of picking its player, because Jonathan has already become very comfortable on it. It's become a perfect complement to his contra piano. Something small he can tote anywhere, and play when someone else is on piano. I name instruments in memorium of their original owners, so I suggested that Jonathan call the accordion, "Papa Dave", after Ellen's grandfather, who passed away in 1979. Jonathan wrote a new jig specifically for accordion, and we gave that tune the same name.

Rachel

My bright yellow baby grand piano was a gimme from my dear friends Jason & Missy when they were moving away from Boston. This 1928 Gulbransen 5'6" baby grand had been purchased by Missy's Russian immigrant grandmother Rachel, so the piano has her name (Yiddish pronunciation - short 'a', gutteral 'ch'). I was honored that they wanted me to have the piano, so it would "stay in the family". It's such an integral part of my life now, I can't believe that when they first offered it to me, I waffled for a week.

(click picture to zoom in)

Missy recalls her family painting it yellow when she was a kid.

My Fender Rhodes was sitting in the basement of another sound engineer, taking up space. I took it off his hands. It sounds beautiful, but is currently in need of repair

To Be Continued...

Faneuil Hall Wrapup

This summer went by quickly (was there ever one that didn't?). We've had a marvelous time playing - it's our absolute favorite thing. All told, we didn't miss out on that many performances due to injury, thanks to superb support from friends. Thank You all.

This was our first summer playing at Faneuil Hall Marketplace (or FaHaMa, as I like to think of it), and also our first full summer of street performing. We first started street performing last fall in Harvard Square. This gig has dominated our schedule and we're feeling ready for a break - especially from the traffic, loadins, parking, etc. I hope to use the time dividend in putting together some better recordings. (Wait, isn't that what I said last winter?).

Veteran FaHaMa performers all said that tourist crowds & tips were down this year. In that case, I'm glad we had no previous experience to compare it to, because we were pretty happy with the money in the bucket. But we're not looking to make a living from this.

The Apple Crisp formula is this Triad: novel/upbeat music + unusual instrument + young kid.

All told, if I had the summer to do over, I can't think of anything we'd have done differently.

Guerrilla Squares & Contras

When we're street performing, there's no reason there can't still be folk dancing going on. I think it'd be fun to get a group of 8 decent dancers together to do a square dance out in public when we're playing sometime. We wouldn't announce what was going to happen; at some point, the dancers would spontaneously form a square & do a pre-arranged dance. It could be something simple that didn't require a walkthru. One dancer would also be a caller.

I think it'd draw a serious crowd. People out there just want something to watch.

Applications now being accepted.

2 Problems

1. The roof in my studio is leaking.
2. Learning accordion makes my shoulder hurt.

One solution: Use the accordion to plug the leak in the roof.

(thanks to Matt)

The Website is UP!

After long hours of hard work and toil, the website is finally in business! Now, if someone types in applecrispcontra.com, the computer will come up with a beautiful new homepage, along with links to this blog, recordings, our tunelist, and much more! Thanks to my dad who messed around with formating and links for most of the morning, we actually have a website. Hooray!

Avi and Jonathan Play Twice this Week

I'm always amazed when I meet friends of Avi or Jonathan who say they haven't heard them play yet. What are you guys waiting for? A written invitation?

Dear [insert your name here],

Avi and Jonathan have two great gigs this week. You should come out to hear them play! You can even dance while listening! On Sunday, October 9, they start playing at Faneuil Hall at 1 pm. On Tuesday, October 11, they play the MIT contradance on the fourth floor of the Student Center starting at 8 pm. There are several more opportunities for you to hear them in October, too. Good fun!

Cordially,

j

Addendum 10/9: OK, well, Avi and Jonathan didn't play Faneuil Hall today. When I learned of the schedule change, I was nowhere near a computer to update this post accordingly. My apologies if any of you went out there hoping to see them.