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About My Musical Life

I am a musician/composer/producer from Chicago.

and at this point, I’d like to quote Hunter S Thompson, who in his brilliant description of the journalism business, comes quite close to describing the professional side of Music:

…not a profession or a trade. It is a cheap catch-all for fuckoffs and misfits - a false doorway to the backside of life, a filthy piss-ridden little hole nailed off by the building inspector, but just deep enough for a wino to curl up from the sidewalk and masturbate like a chimp in a zoo-cage.”

Thank you Hunter ..RIP…and now, without further swear words..

I primarily perform live and record with an electric Extended Tenor Bass and a synthesizer, though I also play a conventional electric bass, piano, open tuned slide guitar, baritone guitar, and melodica (more like Augustus Pablo than Toots Thielman).

I compose most of my original music using software on a computer, and have been doing so since buying a Commodore 64 and Doctor T’s Sequencer in 1984. I wish computers still had names like “Commodore 64″. These days I use Reason, Acid, Recycle, Stylus RMX, and several plug ins on a cheap laptop.

I’ve performed in many bands and worked at a lot of recording sessions. I’ve started several bands performing original music that went on to achieve (achieve? what does THAT mean? -ed.) major record deals; I have also started several bands that couldn’t get more than one gig (most of the latter were better then the former). I have played in North America and Europe at venues ranging from festivals for 100,000+ people (hi everyone!), to clubs the size of a shower stall, and most everywhere in between. There’s a list of people I have performed and/or recorded with further down. I have worked in some major recording studios: The Record Plant in LA, Universal and CRC in Chicago, Sigma Sound in Philadelphia… but these days my favorite studio is my laptop.

I work hard at playing and composing noisy, soulful music that’s filled with juice… My style is an original dark brew of James Brown inspired and derived fahnk (which is my way of spelling “funk” (thanks! -ed.), Jamaican-rooted 1971-era dub, and (almost) free jazz, which I still don’t have a proper name for, other than “FreeDub” or “FreeFahnk”, neither of which describes it very well.  I also occasionally dig playing Chicago-style electric blues with people who are the real deal (few and far between, and I have played with enough to know….and very sadly, most of whom have passed away over the last 10 years). My music performs a certain social function as well.. the term “rock concert” is an oxymoron for me.

I am a member of the Future of Music Coalition, and I am a Creative Commons user/contributer. I like and participate in the community at ccMixters.

ATTENTION! the next bit is very important:

I believe in freely and openly sharing my work….as well as getting paid for it when it’s appropriate.

just sayin..

I’ve worked with:

In the “Blues Field” (as Howlin’ Wolf used to say)

In the Rock Industry ™ I started and/or co founded the original music groups:

  • I have played literally hundreds of gigs with these groups, and a lot of other fine and not so fine groups, artists and charlatans. My bands have opened for: ACDC, Van Halen, Ted Nugent, Cheap Trick (had their same manager for a while..), Journey, The Ramones, Babys, UFO, Blackfoot, BOC, Judas Priest, The Tremolos, Tony Sheridan, The Jordanaires, The Band, Booker T and the MG’s, Roy Orbison, the Everly Brothers …..if you want I’ll send you the complete list…And yes, in case you were wondering… I have also played bass for Chuck Berry…. and Johnnie Johnson…. Willie Johnson…. Syl Johnson..never played for the Johnson Brothers, though I did open for them once..

NB: I don’t like the Rock Industry, anymore than I like..oh let’s just say for example..the Defense Industry, or the Petroleum Industry..or the “umbrella” of the Rock Industry, the Entertainment Industry. They are remarkably similar (see Hunter’s quote above). Working for this odious business for a short while was enough.

I have listed my various misadventures and time wasting exploits above only for those of you who may have stopped by after a Google search and wondered if this could possibly be that same John Pazdan (…..) they knew in 1978, the one who was in that band that blablabla..probably is..isn’t anymore.

In the “Country Market ™”, my band Big Guitars from Memphis opened for some great people:

  • Johnny Cash
  • Buck Owens
  • Dwight Yoakum
  • The Desert Rose Band
  • Charlie McCoy
  • Marty Stuart
  • ..and a lot more. Big Guitars was called one of the first “alt. country” groups in the US. Personally speaking though, I think Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Three was the first “alt country” group in the US.

I’ve also played in the soul-jazz instrumental groups Thrillhouse Collective and Park 9, in a live House/R+B band backing diva Suzanne Palmer, in a cajun band for a wildman named “Mojo”, at least that’s what I remember him calling himself, in some jazz/fahnk things, and in a fantastic R&B group called The Hall Brothers, where I learned to play the Fahnk on the job..that was in 1973 btw. I’ve also done recording session work with David Sanborn and Fareed Haque (met Fareed, didn’t meet Dave..).

I’ve been fortunate to meet some great luthiers and electronics people and get endorsements from a few small companies over the years-Danny Ferrington helped me get his big basses through Kramer and Rich Godinez got me in with ART, where I designed patches and files for a few of their bass FX units.

As of now (6/08) ..I am at the start of two musical projects I have wanted to do for a long time. The first is putting together a band of musicians to perform the songs I have been writing on a computer over the last few years. This group will play locally in the Chicago area for the good people here who like to groove and dance to live, instrumental Fahnk. The second project involves working with a very select crew of musicians, rappers and poets from all over the world, doing online collaborations of music dedicated to the Big Idea of Peace and Justice in the World. This music will be digitally disseminated via the Internet to podcasts, websites, mp3 players and hopefully some new things I don’t know even about yet. All of it licensed under Creative Commons, and given free to anyone who asks. It’s one small way I can work at and contribute to what I believe in.

10 Last Things:

  1. I was born on the West Side of Chicago.
  2. Had my first paid musicians gig on 6/6/66. Was paid $6….the pattern begins.
  3. Hitchhiked around England in ‘71, and went to the 2nd Glastonbury Festival. Whoo HOO. Saw Dave Bowie..at 5AM..promptly fell back asleep.
  4. At age 18, I apprenticed to a banjo maker and did work on an instrument for Doc Watson
  5. Wore a living grass jumpsuit in a performance art piece by artist Gene Pool
  6. (edited out by the Department of Homeland Security)
  7. “Acted” in a tv commercial that ran for 9 months, several times a day. Received $50.
  8. Raced recumbent bicycles when I once “quit” playing music. Didn’t do so hot.
  9. Wrote music for a Catholic Mass at age 16..was later excommunicated. It wasn’t THAT bad.
  10. Know the real words to “Smokestack Lightnin”.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 United States