The Year That Was

Recap of my past year or so musically

October 2003 - CenterAisle (Brian Baxter, Harry Brandon, Ed De Caro, Mike Lewis) plays their last gig together as a foursome, though we didn't know this at the time. We played at the venerable Metaphor Cafe.

December 2003 - CenterAisle officially breaks up. My daughter Jessica is born. I take a brief break from music.

January 2004 - Brian Baxter, Harry Brandon and I jam with Bob Schreiner, a local drummer who plays in the cover band "Ivlvinl". Jams were ok, but I felt I was in a rut artistically.

March 2004 - Ed De Caro asks me to join him in his band "With Intent". I jump at the chance as I will get an opportunity to play more of my original material. I am no longer in a rut. We jam regularly and set out to gig right away as a twosome (Ed on acoustic guitar, me on bass). We play two gigs as a duo and pick up two musicans, guitarist Dan Stuart and drummer Mark Schaefli, both formerly of the Christian rock group "Freedom 51". We play a lot of gigs at the Metaphor, land a pretty good paying Labor Day gig, and a gig at the biker bar Pounders. Shortly thereafter, Dan and Mark leave "With Intent", and we embark on a few more gigs with substitute players.

October 2004 - I play my last gig in "With Intent". Family matters force me to leave the band. I begin my new endeavor "MikeLewisMusic", just me on acoustic guitar, playing my original tunes. Suddenly I am artistically renewed.

It's been quite a year for me, but I am right where I want to be. I can work on my stuff and concentrate on writing and playing my beautiful Gibson Hummingbird. I so do not miss playing in a band right now. There were a lot of good times, but there were issues and personality dynamics that were a little bit challenging, and at my age I don't need those types of challenges. But I loved the experience, and I loved the bands I played in and all the people that I played with.

I'd like to take this little opportunity to thank the following people:

• Ed De Caro - Thanks for all of the support, beginning in CenterAisle, and continuing into With Intent. You were never judgemental with my original material, your pragmatic approach was much appreciated. You were truly a prince and a pro during my association with you. I look forward to checking out your new musical endeavors soon.
• Brian Baxter - Thanks for singing my songs in CenterAisle. I felt our voices blended together well. I hope you keep active musically.
• Harry Brandon - To my fellow gear-head, your lead work breathed life into my songs. Thanks for the care you gave to them.
• Mark Schaefli - Thanks for being a cool dude and a good drummer. Our short association was enjoyable, and you often made me laugh while we played on stage
• Dan Stuart - Thanks for your impeccable lead playing. You have great skills, and you and Mark really rounded out the group.
• Tony Vigo - Tony, you are a cool dude and a great guitarist, I hope that somehow we can play together again.
• Tony Taravella - Tony, thanks for sitting in with us. You did great, and handled all the new stuff like a pro. For a guy who never heard the songs before, you did great
• Allen Robinette - You played great with us, and considering we only gave you a couple of practices before the gig, I was impressed. You're a great guy.
• Jason Borisoff - Young squire, you did great playing with us old geezers. Best of luck to you in all of your musical endeavors. You have a good future ahead of you in music.

I have a lot of great memories and all of you played a big part in helping me grow musically over the past year or two. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, and may God Bless all of you.

-Mike

New Year's Musing

Happy New Year!

Been toying with alternate tunings lately, and came up with one that is working for me and my songs. I tuned the high E string down to a D and coverted my tunes to the key of D (instead of G). This gives me some very interesting dynamics.

First off, it brought my voice down a few registers. This is a good thing for my voice as it lowers the strain on the vocal cords. My voice needs work in the lower registers though, but I think with some continued practice I'll be ok.

The second thing is that I seem to be much stronger guitar-wise playing in this key. I am free to play more lead-type licks in this configuration - generally involving the D, C and G chords and the variations that exist with those chordings such as the add9, etc.

The third (and IMO, the most important) thing is I'm keeping my ring finger pinned on the 3rd fret of the B string, which is a D note. This, coupled with the open D tuning on the high E string gives me a interesting dynamic with the open chiming dual Ds going. I'm getting a good chiming D at the high end of the sonic spectrum that's sounding pretty sweet on the Hummingbird.

So I'm toying with a new sound that's pretty cool. This is just another page in my ongoing music education, but I'm pretty excited with what I can do with this configuration. One of my songs, "MikeLewisMusic" (which happens to be, obviously, my theme song) has been vastly improved with this key change / alternate tuning, as I able to wail away on a lead lick throughout the song, and actually engage in an acoustic solo that sounds like a solo with rhythm guitar, all on one guitar. It needs to be cleaned up, and of course I don't consider my playing to be even close to perfect, but my foundation is getting firmer by the day, and the framework has been built. Just need to fill in the gaps.

Did I say Happy New Year?