Johnny E

Not being from SF, I'm not certain about this, but it appears that the Bay area has a thriving straight ahead scene but is seriously lacking in venues for the great outside players that reside there. Aram is a great player. The Monktailers are friends with him and we brought him up for the Sounds Outside festival last year. Reptet had a weird experience in SF last month. We played at Amnesia Bar subbing for Mitch Marcus who runs a jam session there every Wednesday night. His band plays a set and then there is a open jam session afterward until closing. Well, we showed up in full regalia and irreverence. The place was packed (150-200 people), but they only had one person (the owner, who will go nameless) to run the bar, the sound and everything else. We believe that the people started getting restless because it took a half hour just to get a beer. We sold a shit load of CD's and the people seemed to love our stuff, but the crowd started to thin out toward the end of our set. Izaak was being Izaak and he said (from the stage) that we were going to be running a jam session afterward even though we don't really do it that and we don't like jazz anyway, etc. etc. Well, the owner thought we were serious and viewed us as a bunch of costume wearing freaks from Seattle that played weird stuff because we didn't know how to play our instruments. He blamed us for the crowd dwindling after our set was over. Some folks over heard a few straight ahead players (who had brought their horns) saying that they didn't want to stick around for the open session because we were some kind of lame ass freak shit from Seattle. We held the session and had fun. People were blown away that we could actually play bebop, WELL. Anyway, it left a bad taste in our mouths and made us feel that the straight ahead scene in SF is really closed minded as opposed to places like Chicago and Philly that have a much more open scene. But again, I'm not from SF and that was just one experience.

Sweet. Burnt Sugar hits at 9:30 and we hit around 11. I hope Flip Barnes is in town at that time. When he's in town he plays with Burnt Sugar. Flip is a bad ass muthafucker and a sweet guy too.

We were just like a week behind you guys last time, right?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE End date 5/6/09 Press Contact: Beth Fleenor* The Frank Agency 206.491.0516 beth@thefrankagency.org *CDs, photos, and more information available upon request REPTET EAST COAST TOUR – MAY 2009 “This Seattle sextet does it all: it grooves, it rocks, it squawks - occasionally, it even talks. Mostly, it sounds like a New Orleans jazz band on crystal meth.” - Jazziz Magazine “(Reptet) create a Frank Zappa meets Dirty Dozen Brass Band atmosphere of wacky fun and highly skilled musicianship.” - All About Jazz May 1 Annandale-on-the-Hudson, NY - BARD College ‘Spring Fling’ May 2 Brooklyn, NY (Flatbush) - Vox Pop (w/ Ty Citerman of Gutbucket and Das Vibenbass) May 3 New York, NY - DROM (w/ Burnt Sugar) May 4 Philadelphia, PA - Chris’ Jazz Cafe May 5 Brooklyn, NY (Redhook) - The Jalopy Theatre For more information please visit www.reptet.com or www.monktail.com. The Band Reptet (Monktail Records) will be touring the east coast in May to promote their new, critically acclaimed record, Chicken or Beef? Their brief tour includes return visits to Manhattan, Brooklyn and Philadelphia. Winners of two 2007 Earshot Golden Ear Awards, this genre bending Seattle based band is comprised of six multi-instrumentalists who have an expansive approach to music, performing original compositions that incorporate jazz, rock, ska, punk, modern classical, avant garde, eastern European folk influences and more. Their internationally acclaimed 2006 release, "Do This!" (Monktail Records) won many accolades and was chosen top Jazz CD of the Year by Jazziz Magazine's Alex Gelfand. Their new disc, “Chicken or Beef?” (Monktail Records) released in June 2008 was chosen finalist for Jazz Record of the Year by the 8th Annual Independent Music Awards. Their live performances have been described as, “arresting, compelling and just plain cranked-up!” with stage shows evolving into transformative performance art pieces using costumes, story telling, dance routines and absurdist humor. Reptet have proven themselves to be a unique and utterly enthralling multi-leveled experience leaving audiences wanting more. This internationally touring ensemble will be making a trip through Canadian in the summer of 2009, will launch their first European tour in the fall 2009 and be releasing their first 10" vinyl record later in the year.

Not unless you can help score us a gig on May 2nd. :blush2: John, you've got to take Reptet to Richmond VA. Check out Fight the Big Bull, Ombak, Glows In The Dark, etc. Let me know if you are interested. You guys would fit the scene perfectly! Yes, I've heard of those bands. I definately see the connection. Not sure if we'll be able to hit up Richmond, Wilmington or Chapel Hill this late in the game, but thanks for the info. Besides Cous Cous, Gallery5 and the Nightlite in Chapel Hill, are there other places to play down there? What we really need now is to fill the one remaining hole in our schedul - Saturday, May 2nd.

Not unless you can help score us a gig on May 2nd. :blush2:

We had four euro festivals send us invitation letters (none in the Netherlands) but the grant funding for travel did not come through so we are planning to reschedule a european tour for fall or spring of 2010.

Hi all, Our west coast trip went swimmingly, although the economy seems to have hit the club scene just as hard as every other industry. But now it's on to bigger and better things, namely our east coast trip in May. And that brings me to my plea for help... We have had a number or NY/Brooklyn venues fall through while booking this tour. We have a Phlliy gig booked for May 4th at Chris's Jazz Cafe, but so far no NY or Brooklyn gigs (or Boston for that matter). We are available Sat. May 2nd, Sun. May 3rd, Tues. May 5th and possibly Wed. May 6th. But this is right around the corner and many clubs are now already booked. We will be in the area one way or another since we have some high paying school gigs that will be paying for our expenses, but it would be a shame to be in NY as a band and not play any where. If anyone here (or any one you know) has a connection at a NY (or Boston) club, loft, gallery, house party, whatever - please let me know. Thanks all, -john

A little more than half way through. Attendance not so great on many shows...although Tahoe and Portland were good. Anyone who lives in the Bay area and has wednesday night free should come down to The Amnesia Bar in SF. We play at 10pm with a open jam to follow. Also, check us out today (St. Patty's Day) in Davis at the Delta of Venus, Eugene at Cozmic Pizza on Thursday and Seattle at the Triple Door on Friday. Happy Spring ya'll! -john

A little more than half way through. Attendance not so great on many shows...although Tahoe and Portland were good. Anyone who live in the Bay area and has wednesday night free should come down to The Amnesia Bar. We play at 10pm with a open jam to follow. Also, check us out today (St. Patty's Day) in Davis (Delta of Venus), Eugene at Cozmic Pizza on Thursday and Seattle at the Triple Door on Friday. Happy Spring ya'll! -john

Well, the Art After 5 does Latin on the first Friday of the month (which is when we'd be in the Philly area). Alan from Chris Jazz Cafe might be interested and I'm supposed to call him on Monday. Do you think Chris would be a betrer place to play than Tritone? We've already played the Tritone twice. I'm thinking we should try a different place. Well, the only friday we'll be in the philly area is May 1st. Once I learned that the Art Museum only does latin music on the first Friday of the month I moved on. We are now booked to play at BARD college in NY on May 1st, so I don't think the museum will work out this time...unless they have music on other days besides the 'After 5' series. I did hear from the booker at Johnny Brenda's and we might be able to get a gig there on May 2nd. Is that place good?

Thanks all. at first I was like, "Holy shit! 33 responses? I'm so popular." but then I realized that this was a revived post from previous birthdays.

Well, the Art After 5 does Latin on the first Friday of the month (which is when we'd be in the Philly area). Alan from Chris Jazz Cafe might be interested and I'm supposed to call him on Monday. Do you think Chris would be a betrer place to play than Tritone? We've already played the Tritone twice. I'm thinking we should try a different place.

Tour fast approaching. If you live in any of these towns please stop by and say hello.... (and if we can crash on your floor that would be awesome!)

Sweet.

Really. If you're a shill what's that make me? That's what this board is all about. Sharing the love man. I can't wait to get a show review. Come on fellas, do tell...

Thanks all. If anyone can help with suggestions on clubs in Philly, Brooklyn or Beantown please drop me a PM - Not a BM, but a PM. Although, if you gotta go, you gotta go. We've played at the Tritone the last two times we've been in Philly (and we could play there again, they love us there) but I was hoping to play someplace else this time around. We're looking to be in the area the first week of May (got a bunch of school gigs on the east coast the last week of april). We got a lot of new material but do not plan on recording again until summer, so these shows will be a preview of our next record. Should be good.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE End date 3/21/09 Press Contact: Beth Fleenor* The Frank Agency 206.491.0516 beth@thefrankagency.org *CDs, photos, and more information available upon request REPTET WEST COAST TOUR – MARCH 2009 “Reptet make new music by merrily hopping around the history of jazz. A stereotypical, finger-snapping walking bass lick can smartly mingle with a dissonant free-jazz freak-out, a moody, minor-key TV-cop-show melody, or an Anthony Braxton–inspired lamination of simultaneous layers. Best of all, Reptet make jazz fun.” ~The Stranger~ “(Reptet) create a Frank Zappa meets Dirty Dozen Brass Band atmosphere of wacky fun and highly skilled musicianship.” ~All About Jazz~ March 12 Portland, OR Mississippi Pizza March 13 Mt. Shasta, CA The Stage Door March 14 Lake Tahoe, CA The Divided Sky March 15 Reno, NV The Zephyr Lounge March 16 Santa Cruz, CA Don Quixote’s March 17 Davis, CA Delta of Venus March 18 San Francisco, CA Amnesia Bar March 19 Eugene, OR Cozmic Pizza March 20 Seattle, WA The Triple Door Musiquarium For more information please visit www.reptet.com or www.monktail.com. The Band “This Seattle sextet does it all: it grooves, it rocks, it squawks - occasionally, it even talks. Mostly, it sounds like a New Orleans jazz band on crystal meth.” ~Jazziz Magazine~ Reptet (Monktail Records) will be touring the west coast in March to promote their new, critically acclaimed record, Chicken or Beef? Their four-state, nine-city tour includes return visits to San Francisco, Reno, Santa Cruz, Portland and Seattle, with debut performances in Mt. Shasta and Lake Tahoe. Winners of two 2007 Earshot Golden Ear Awards, this genre bending Seattle based band begins their tour on Thursday, March 12th in Portland, Oregon. They are six multi-instrumentalists who have an expansive approach to music, performing original compositions that incorporate jazz, rock, ska, punk, modern classical, avant garde, eastern European folk influences and more. Their internationally acclaimed 2006 release, "Do This!" (Monktail Records) won many accolades and was chosen Jazz CD of the year by Jazziz Magazine's Alex Gelfand. Their new disc, “Chicken or Beef?” (Monktail Records) released in June of 2008 was chosen finalist for Jazz Record of the Year by the 8th Annual Independent Music Awards. They have toured nationally and will be launching their first Canadian and European tours in the spring and summer of 2009.

Just NY, Boston, Philly and maybe DC...in late April. The only way we'll be playing in Chicago (or Michigan) is if we are invited to play at this years Chicago jazz Festival. If invited (this is the first year we've applied so who knows) we'll be stopping by on our way back from Europe.

Man, it was off the hook (as the kids say). Packed house and positive vibes. The Blue Cranes played a very subtle, emotionally charged opening set. And Orkestar and Reptet had an extended jam at the end...15+ horns (including dueling Sousaphones!) and five drummers whipping up a crazed crowd. Sweet. The only bummer was that the music has to end at Midnight there. It could have gone all night.

And in case you don't know it, Sam is also a member of Orkestar Zirkonium - a Balkan-inspired mobile brass-and-drum band cast through an American lens. We are based in Seattle WA, drawing our inspiration from the music of Fanfare Ciocarlia, Kocani Orkestar, Boban Markovic, Goran Bregovic, and others. More from their web site: As a marching band, our desire is to facilitate joyous musical spectacles in unexpected locales. Our performances range from the completely unsanctioned to the civically sponsored: We maraud through grocery stores, throw dance parties in fountains and parks, and take over parties as surprise (and, sometimes, invited) guests; we burst uninvited into taverns, play for families at city festivals, provide the soundtrack for underground casinos, and entertain wedding-goers. It's gonna be good folks.

Thanks Chewy-chew. If you (or any other Seattle based board members) are able, please come to our show on January the 23rd in Georgetown (see poster below). I'm hoping to make it! Sounds like an interesting line-up... Me neither! Not exactly my favorite neighborhood. Man, I was just in Georgetown yesterday evening and night (and we also now rehearse in Georgetown) and I gots to tell ya', the neighborhood is coming up. Full Throttle Bottles is a kick ass beer and wine store, there is the Seattle Drum School & Art in Music, Fantagraphics offices and store, Georgetown Records, Stellar Pizza is slammin', there's the Christoff Art Gallery (The Mix) where we're playing, and of course there are still all the pubs (some of the oldest in town) and coffee shops. I love it there. And my son loves how low the planes fly in (Boeing Field is right next door) and all the trains going by. If you haven't been to Georgetown in a while you owe it to your self to check it out.

I was poised to sign the thing and then I read the Marty Khan interview Larry posted. He makes some really good points, but I have to disagree with him on a few things. Who's to say that if it is set up right that the office of Arts and Culture wouldn't be the perfect organization to provide "Health care, pension funds, product distribution and marketing, establishment of artist-driven c3s and the professional training programs needed to make them work, and so forth?" Just because JLC has become such a boondoggle it doesn't mean that every state funded institution has to go down that road. For example, the Federal Art Project (FAP) which was the visual arts arm of FDR's New Deal WPA Federal One program was hugely successful at putting artists back to work. It had an art production department, an art instruction division and an art research division. Some of the works that came out of that program are still around today (mainly murals) and are considered some of the best American visual art of the time. Also, he sites cable TV as being a huge advance for viewers and artists alike. I beg to differ. I am old enough to be the last generation that came of age before cable TV. I remember watching VHF channels at 3 in the morning because that was the only thing on. I used to watch Edward G. Robinson, Spencer Tracy and Charles Laughton films. I watched PBS documentaries on civics and history. I watched cartoons and comedians that were famous decades before I was born. Now there are so many channels, they have to reach to the bottom just to keep people from clicking to the next channel. More sex, more violence, more mind control. I've found that folks born just five years after me have no idea who Humphrey Bogart is for Christ sakes! And I'm talking about smart people who are great musicians and artists. It's a wasteland and most have lost site of what is of value and what isn't. Just because there are more options it doesn't necessarily mean that it makes things better. I believe this to be true (at least to some degree) of the promotion, distribution and transmission of music as well. So, I'm signing the damn thing (but I'm also buying Marty Khan's book ). We got arts advocacy groups closing their doors left and right, grant funding is drying up and I'm out there every fucking day bustin' my ass just trying to make enough money to keep my band together - forget about making a living. Shit, everybody has their hand out. Why shouldn't jazz musicians? Even if 95% percent of the money goes to real estate or into sleazeball’s pockets, at least there will be 5% that's going to the artists that wasn't there before. Chuck, Larry, please feel free to make me look silly with those big brains of yours...but I'm signing it.

Thats what I heard, thanks. Think I will just get the shirt. The only American made Belgian I ever liked was the Hennpin and the Ommegang Abbey. Fat Tire is everywhere here in SF which I think is terrible. Have you tried these? These aren't Belgian style, but tehy are really good: