Molasses Creek prepares to launch on Northeast Tour. You can help spread the word!

Help us promote our shows and earn this!

Hey there Molasses Creek fans!

We are ankle deep in springtime and preparing for the beginning of a month-long tour in April.  If you live near one of our upcoming dates on our spring tour, we would love to send you some posters to help promote the show!  We'll even send you our new CD "An Island Out of Time" as our thanks for helping us out.  Just click on the following link to go to our Street Team page on our Molasses Creek website.  Fill out the online form so that we will know where to send the posters and what show you wish to help promote and we'll drop the package in the mail.  Posters should be up 2 to 3 weeks before a performance date.

Here are the shows we need help promoting (There are more dates than these.  Check our calendar for a complete list of performances!)

 Friday, April 20 ~ Martin Arts Council, Williamston, NC
 Saturday, April 21 ~ Shady Grove Coffeehouse, Glen Allen, VA
 Sunday, April 22 ~ The Washington Theatre, Washington, VA
 Wednesday, April 25 ~ Johnny D's, Somerville, MA
 Thursday, April 26 ~ South Congregational Church, Granby, CT
 Friday, April 27 ~ Chandler Center for the Arts, Randolph, VT
 Saturday, April 28 ~ Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs, NY
 Wednesday, May 9 ~ Institute of Musical Traditions, Takoma Park, MD
 Sunday, May 13 ~ Mountain Spirit Coffeehouse, Asheville, NC
 Friday, September 14 ~ Arts Council of Wilson, NC
  Sunday, October 28 ~ Davidson Community Concert Series, NC

Leaping: The Unsung Hero of the Folk Ensemble

 Many audience members are not fully aware of the rigorous vetting process artists must endure before being admitted into the arms of a folk music group.  After filling out a three page form highlighting rare ingredients in your top potluck dishes, an applicant must then produce two nickles from their pockets and rub them together without dropping them.  Finally, before the musical skill is ever brought under scrutiny the potential member must undergo the leap test.

It had been a couple years since Molasses Creek members renewed their airborne vows.   Last winter during the photoshoot we practiced our chops and here is what we discovered.

Gary doesn't leap.

 In a declaration that surprised everyone, Gary confessed that he has never been a leaper.  He had been able to hide this shameful secret because he was the first member of Molasses Creek.  He did make the rest of us complete the full audition though.  What a sneak!

Marcy was a gymnast in her previous life.

Though this shot missed the moment, Marcy had just executed a one-handed half heimlikker.  Very impressive (and the mandolin was still in perfect tune!)

Fiddler Dave was a Peter Pan understudy in a sub-off-off broadway production.

We got Fiddler Dave to leap, but things just kept getting worse and worse.  Hate to say it, but this was as good as it got.

The only one with leaping respect, Louie demonstrated the classic Heavy Metal leap.

   Lou is an awesome leaper.

All of a sudden, we looked around and Gerald was missing.  Marcy's phone vibrated and there was a texted photo from Gerald via the Hubble Space telescope.  We realized that Gerald had been making some undocumented upgrades to his bass in his workshop.  Wow!  What a luthier!

A Strange Teambuilding Exercise!

A few weeks ago we travelled “off-island” to Nags Head to play a local songwriter’s showcase concert for the Dare County Arts Council project “Outer Banks Sounds”.  It’s just a quick all-day trip.  Lou and Marcy took their own car to run some errands and Gary, David and Gerald took the “band” van. 

After the show, the van crew went for a quick bite (we don’t have fast food on Ocracoke!) and Lou and Marcy headed south for the ferry.  Marcy was driving her 4WD and soon hit some heavy fog.  Lou called the guys and warned them of the fog and to head on down as soon as they were done as it might take a little more time.

Understatement!

Marcy and Lou were about to Avon when the cell phone rang.  It was David.  They were having engine trouble, looked like the alternator.  Their lights were dimming and they needed a battery jump.  We met at a well-lit place and hooked up the cables and charged the van up.

We had about 40 minutes until the midnight ferry would run.  We had dense fog and an alternator that was clearly fading fast.  We decided to go for it and head for the ferry.

Gary was driving the van and he was driving “black” as everything needed to be turned off to conserve the battery, so he tucked in close behind Marcy and we set off.  Lou was on the cell with Dave, giving instructions to Marcy.  This arrangement quickly changed to the phone on speaker as we headed down highway 12 in the pitch black, foggy night with the van close enough to be able to use Marcy’s brights to see.  If Marcy turned on the flashers, dimmed the lights to regular level or got too far ahead, Gary couldn’t see.

“No slow down.  No no no, speed up we’re going to hit you!  We can’t use the breaks because the engine will quit!  Don’t hit your brakes we can’t see!  Speed up, no no, slow down we can’t see!  STOP!  Pull over.  The engine has died!”

So then Marcy u-turns, goes nose to nose with the van, the guys charge the engine for a bit, then we set off again.

Meanwhile David is on the phone with the ferry.  “No problem Buck,” says the ferry worker.  “Ferries won’t run until this fog lifts some.  We’ll wait for ya!”

In the last “no man’s land” dark stretch of the road, we see flashing blue lights ahead. 

“No no no, don’t stop, keep going, we’re on your tail!  Turn your flashers off we can’t see!”

Marcy drives past the police officer, who has someone pulled over, with a big gray van slip-streaming her, invisible in the dark night except for maybe a flash of chrome.  We keep moving until we hear the “pull over” instruction.  Marcy u-turns, gets hooked up to the van and we see the blue lights come from around the curve.  The officer hears what’s going on and sends us on our way with a word of caution to be careful.  Miraculously, that was the ONLY other car we encountered during this ordeal.

It’s Monty Python meets a Tony Robbins Teambuilding Workshop!

We go like this all the way down highway 12 until we reach the ferry terminal at Hatteras.  The boats are still being held for fog.  “We’ll go when you can see the houses across the street,” the ferry worker said.

So we all crawl into our vehicles for some rest.  It’s 12:30am or so.  Marcy says she was so pumped-up from the Teambuilding Exercise that sleep wouldn’t come, but thank goodness for a good book.

Gary left David and Gerald sleeping in the van to find a bathroom (the ferry terminal building was closed) and was on the way back when he heard his name being called.  It was 2:30am, the fog had lifted and we were headed home.

We had charged the van’s battery enough to drive off the ferry and into the parking lot on the Ocracoke side where we stuffed instruments and band members into the other vehicle and headed for the village.

So now we have proof that we really do get along with each other, work well in crisis situations and are a real band!

 Getting Starting on on Guitar: A tutorial for beginners by Lou Castro (Part 2)

This is the second part of Lou Guitar Advice, “Getting Starting (ed) on Guitar: A tutorial for beginners by Lou Castro.” (must be an import manual) from Feb 5,2012 Molasses Creek and Soundside Records Journal (more newsletter below! Click “Read More”) (that is how I found it!)

The authorities say people who are good with music are also good with computers and math! It’s a good reason to get kids playing music and singing. It makes a strong connection between the two halves of your brain, making the bridge between the hemispheres very active.  Like learning a second language!  It helps connect people with each other and connect people of different cultures together too, directly, just like food does! Thank the “creative force/higher power of your understanding” for Music and Food! Bow to your Sensei! (Not me, the Sensei of your understanding)

It doesn’t take many chords to play a song. Some songs are just one chord (Mannish Boy, Tomorrow Never Knows) or two chords (Horse with No Name, Jane Says, Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love).  Many blues, bluesgrass, country, rock and pop songs are THREE chords (Three Little Birds, Sweet Home Alabama, LOUIE, LOUIE!) and that’s the entire song!  The main function of the guitar is to play chords – rhythm guitar. Lead guitar and face melting solos are fun, but they actually make up a small percentage of a typical song that regular folks sing. Different styles of instrumental music may have prolonged solos like jazz or progressive rock, but almost all styles of music DEPEND on a steady rhythm, songs are mostly chords. Almost all styles of music use the same chords! 

Rhythm guitar is an overlooked art.  Most great lead guitarists/soloists are AMAZING rhythm guitarists. Django Reinhardt, Les Paul, Joe Pass, Jim Hall, all the Jazz guys, Chuck Berry, Bob Marley, Curtis Mayfield, Jimi Hendrix, Prince, Jimmy Nolen, Catfish Collins, all the Funk guys, the Funk Brothers, the Wrecking Crew, Steve Cropper, Cornell Dupree, Eddie Van Halen, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Lindsey Buckingham, Kaki King, Andy Somers, Jerry Reed, Tony Rice and all those Nashville Cats and Bluegrass Flatpickers! These smoking guitarists all play different styles of music but have one thing in common! Get the picture?

Now that you have a good sound with the E chord, let go of it and do it again! Get your fingers used to reforming the chord on the guitar. Don’t let go completely, just hold your fingertips a little above the strings and push down again on the E chord. Try to keep your thumb on the back. You can fix it, your fingers don’t have to land perfectly in the E shape right away or now, or even today! This exercise develops muscle memory.  After a while you will watch your hand “doing” the E chord without much effort and you will get a good sound consistently.

Play the E chord 4 – 8 times evenly, steadily. If you have a metronome you may try playing to a slow and easy tempo. Try just strumming downwards with a medium or heavy pick for now (later, try your thumb and/or fingers of your picking hand, try your teeth!) after 4 - 8 down strums, let go, not completely! (just hover your fingers a little above the strings) strum the open strings for 4 - 8 down strums and then plunk down your fingers on E again for 4 – 8 down strums.  You can fix the E chord while you strum it, I won’t tell anybody!

You are ready to try the other chords and work on switching from chord to chord! Use the same process as you did for the E chord. By all means try all of the chords in ANY order but don’t try switching them till you have a good tone and the strings are ringing out properly in the chords you are already working on.  Don’t tense up, relax your arms and shoulders and use the least amount of pressure to push the strings down against the frets necessary. Don’t squeeze the neck and strings like a GI Joe with THE Kung Fu Grip (remember those?) you need to be able to let go to make the next chord change without putting dents in your frets and hurting yourself (if your guitar hurts to play, get it checked out by someone who plays or a music store). Changing from chord to chord creates the harmonic background for a tune. That’s all a song is, a melody and a bunch of chord changes!

The chords are listed in an order that will help you as you learn songs. The chords that have a little “m” are minor, listen to the difference!  Do E then Emi. The B7 is a B dominant seventh. Dom 7^th chords have a bluesy, unstable sound. B7 “wants” to go to E or Em.  Listen to that change! B7 to E or B7 to Em.  

Good luck and have fun. Next time we will look at some typical chord changes (songs)!