Truth be Told, I was was shocked…
It was 1986 and a bunch of my hippy friends weren’t going to be able to hang out that weekend. It turned out that the Grateful Dead was going to be at Alpine Valley and they were all going.
I should say at this point that I had literally Zero interest in tagging along.

Yes, I grew up in a family that went camping often. Yes, it was a very Musical Household (my Dad used to say that “even our sewing machine was a Singer”). However, I was into Motorhead, UFO, Maiden, Husker Du and the Clash at the time and figured that if I wanted to take a nap, I could do it at home for free. And so I told all my hippy friends repeatedly. Who looked at each other and laughed knowingly.
Then they told me that one of the guys going was bringing his girlfriend.  One of her friends, who I was kind of crazy about, was going to be going.

So I decided to go…

In the car on the way to East Troy, Wisconsin, I asked the guys what I was getting in to. Was I going to hear Trucking each night? What about Box of Rain? I loved that song, but hearing it 2 or 3 nights in a row might seem predictable, boring, etc.
They chuckled and told me not to worry. At that point I specifically recall thinking “…if we are going camping and there’s Live Music and she’ll be there, just how bad can it be..”?

Fast forward to the Show.

Immediately, I loved the Vibe.
Actually, people often miss that the community feelings at a Dead Show are familiar to certain parts of Punk/Metal Shows. They all share a certain marginalization aimed at them from mainstream Society and have learned to embrace that. Both scenes, at their best, foster a sense of Community that can rival the Music as a source of comfort and belonging.  To me, the Dead vibe was welcoming, familiar and very friendly. Again, I thought, “how bad can the Music be?”

By the 3rd song they had me. Forever…

By the end of the night I felt energized and really lucky that I had friends who would drag me to something that I had loudly and repeatedly told them that they were crazy to enjoy, but that’s what friends are for.

Mars Hotel Blotto is a Grateful Dead-themed Festival held each year at the Best Western in La Porte, IN. This year it’s November 2nd & 3rd. Go to the Festivals Tab on this website for more info and Ticket Sales.

-Chief

There are probably and literally a Hundred things I want to Do, See, Eat and Hear every time I go to NOLA. There is one musician that I’ve always wanted to catch Live but haven’t been able to. That’s never been an issue, as the town is freaking full of badasses and I’ve never been disappointed in the decades that I’ve been going there.
But there’s this one guy…
While we are talking about badasses, one of the most highly respected NOLA Pianists today is Jon Cleary. Like Taj Mahal, he is a walking jukebox of Musical styles. While Taj is crazy deep in Blues, Folk, and Caribbean stuff, Cleary is that way when it comes to New Orleans Piano. Here’s the link that introduced me to him…

I should say at this time, I grew up disliking the Piano. I was forced to take Piano lessons from a Nun at my grade school. ‘Nuff said. That, and my Dad used to play these old songs on our Piano that I found super-corny.
Now, I wasn’t anti-Keyboard. I’ve always had a thing for the B3. There’s nothing like a Hammond B3 screaming though a Leslie. And I’ve always been a fan of a great Synthesizer line, whether it be a Prog solo or Bernie Worrell going deep on a P-Funk synth line, certain keyboards have always been cool by me.
….but the Piano? Not so much.
The exception was in NOLA Music. Once I started heading down, I started hearing how it was the perfect bridge between Melodic Music and Percussive Music. Any High School Band member will tell you that the Piano is classified as a Percussion Instrument, and nowhere is that better heard than in NOLA, where there’s a local history of creative musicians bending that thing to their will in ways not found elsewhere. I began to hear the Piano in a new light.
Here’s how the puzzle pieces all fit together in perfect New Orleans style.
Guess who is playing at the Maple Leaf on Friday November 16th, right before Mr. Blotto, promoting his new Album?
Jon Cleary…the one guy I’ve always wanted to see live but never could.

He goes on at 8.
We hit at 10.
…Same Room. Same Stage. Same Night.

Thanks NOLA…

-Chief

As you may have heard, we are headed to New Orleans in November to play a weekend of Shows. Playing NOLA (NewOrleansLousianA/NOLA) has been a dream for us for a long time. Since we now have this Blog thing at our disposal we thought we’d take a little time and talk about why that is.
If the USA is a Melting Pot, then New Orleans is the most northerly Caribbean pot on the stove. It has a mix of Native American, Creole, African, Celtic/Southern, Caribbean and more influences rubbing shoulders on a daily basis. This has given the US (and the World) a number of unique developments.
In the Food Area, the most obvious mix is the Creole/French cuisine intersecting with the Cajun Style. While the former owes a debt to the predominantly French influences of NOLA’s High Society of the earlier days with it’s rich sauces and delicately balanced dishes, the Cajun food leans toward the hotter spices and more earthy ingredients. When you put these together on the same street, you end up with a confluence of dishes not found anywhere else in the World. Thankfully this still exists today.
What really hits us in the Band however, is how this intersection of Cultures became ground zero for some of the most unique Music that we have ever heard.
Just as the Cultures that drifted through New Orleans brought their Cuisine, they also brought their Music. New Orleans is the home to both Jazz and Rock and Roll, as well as Funk and Gospel. Zydeco is brought in through the Cajuns, bending the Accordion to Lead Guitar status in ways I never thought possible. Take a walk down Frenchman Street and you’ll hear Reggae, Funk, roving Drum & Brass Bands, Country and Rock. And that’s on your average Tuesday night.
As a band that tries to be as eclectic as possible, NOLA has always shown us what can happen when you put your joy and pain into your own music and infuse that with the influences brought by those around you. It’s been a dream of ours to play our Music there, and in November, we will…

This is the inaugural Post of what we hope will be a semi-regular blast of news and views from Mr. Blotto. We aren’t going to over-define anything at this point; we’d prefer to just see what happens.

Here goes…

-Chief