Mr. East did a bass clinic today at Grandma's music in Albuquerque NM. It was awesome. If you ever get the chance to see him, do it. AMAZING.
I missed the clinic due to a gig at the same time! However, I caught him at a couple of the other events around ABQ on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights. Did you go to the tribute concert/East band concert at the Kimo? It was great! I also hung out a bit with his brothers Ray and David the other night, then caught James, Marcel and Nathan at Vernon's. The whole family is genuinely humble, gracious, and kind. Marcel came up to me after I played a tune with some of the guys at Vernon's and shook my hand and had some nice compliments (Nathan was gone by then). Very gracious! Definitely go see Nathan and any of them if you have a chance!
I didn't get to the movie and concert as I was tired from the days events. The whole East family was at Grandma's, they all seemed very nice. It must have been nice to get kudos from his brother. What band(s) do you play with? We might know some of the same people.
It was long and late (I had already seen the movie, so I opted to not go to that), but it was worth it to see the whole East family do their thing with Phillinganes and Ferrone. The Tribute band's drummer, Mo Roberts, gave me his comp ticket to get into the show, which was super cool of him! I play with quite a few people around here, but the main band I'm in is The Real Matt Jones. I played with Gregg Daigle for several years, up till recently. I play at Desert Springs Church many Sundays, and with a post-rock band called After Osmosis (studio project). I do a lot of session work at Empty House Studio. I also have a jazz trio with Lewis Winn (guitar) and John Bartlit (drums), a couple of stalwarts of the ABQ jazz community. I do some pickup gigs with Rick Dorin and Los Radiators/Swag, and I've recently started working a little bit with Russell James Pyle (Porter Draw) and Greg and Alex from Wildewood. Oh, and Justin Thompson and a guy named Billy St. Johns. I guess I get around. How about yourself?
I have seen you play at Desert Springs (great worship band) and I took bass lessons from Lewis Winn twenty years ago when I was switching from guitar to bass. I played in blues bands for years, Gene Corbin, Michael Herndon, Ron Lipton, Joe Mancuso etc. I retired a few years ago due to worsening of my Multiple sclerosis.
I'm sorry to hear about your MS. My wife has Rheumatoid Arthritis, which has severely limited her ability to continue playing much music, though she's doing relatively well now. Do you attend Desert Springs? That's been our home church for going on 5 years now. It's larger than any church I've ever been a member of, so there are still many people I don't know. If you're ever there, please come say hi! You'll know me by my unwieldy beard... Did you ever play with Jim Magnarella? Lewis and I started our project (now called Right About Now) with Jim back in 2010 or so, a couple years before he passed away. He was deep in the ABQ Blues community. Great guy and a great drummer! Another guy you may remember was Rex Warren. Rex was a "Texas troubadour" of sorts who played around ABQ for many years. I played with him for a few years until he passed away in 2010.
We used to go to Desert Springs but have since moved to Corrales. Never played with Rex or Jim but have heard the names. Prayers for your wife, R.A. can be nasty.
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