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Uncle Dave Lewis lives in a hole in the back of his brain, filled with useless trivia about 78 rpm records, silent movies, unfinished symphonies, broken up punk bands from the 80s and other old stuff no one cares about. This is where he goes to let off a little steam- perhaps you will find it useful, perhaps not. Who knows?

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Monday, November 28, 2005

played tonight

with Jason Voss at the Dreamland, a puppet show in Depot Town, the gentrified part of Ypsilanti. Although it was a public event, only Jason, I and the two promoters showed up. I don't blame anyone for not coming - it was pouring down rain and my car was sliding all over the road.

Jason was really good, doing looping with a pedal, a guitar and violin. Same sort of thing I've seen Dan Williams do at his home. Very nice music - I like the roughness of his guitar - guys who use delay to loop the guitar often opt for a smooth sound. Jason's playing is full of splinters, and they cycle through the delay in an intriguing and musical way.

I decided that since I had a new audience of just three I would devote most of the evening to untried, experimental versions of songs. First try was "Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire" which is about a month old. Although I wrecked the first chorus, the rest of the long song seemed to go well.

The next was "She is the Soggy Biscuit," a folksy song about internet porn spam that's about 2 years old. It's about a full verse too short, and the ending was weak, but the early part of the song went over very well.

Then I wrapped up the new material with a number that's been rolling around in my head for at least ten years, a song which, for now, we will title "Grimoire Groundmoth Grumlator Worms."
I don't quite have the chords to this down, but it's a very funny song, and they "got it" towards the end. It was half a verse short, and I improvised a lyric that said something like "Well I'm really very sorry/I have no ending for this song/But if you let me come back again/By that time I will have the ending figured out." Good save - I hope to play there again in February.

Then I did Jackie and JFK, and rediscovered precisely why I should not play these songs on an acoustic guitar. But other wise it was a fun night.

Uncle Dave Lewis
uncledavelewis@hotmail.com
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