The Road To Happiness

Why buy SPOOKED?

... An appeal to reason...

Friday March 31 at McCabe's

McCabes in Santa Monica... We have played there several times over the years. This time, as last time, we will be joined by our friends Van Dyke Parks on piano and accordion and "Hutch" Hutchinson on bass for some tunes. These guys think it is fun to play with us so ... what are you gonna do when great guys who are outstanding players want to share a bit of fun?
It turns out that is a rhetorical question.
There is a vibe to that place like many great venues -- the sound is first-rate and they know how to put on a show, but the best part is the expectation the crowd bring of seeing a great show. I LOVE to be in the audience or on the stage when that energy is filling the room.
Good ju-ju.
I went to The Fillmore to hear Los Lobos re-create the 'KIKO' CD a few months ago and from the first note the crowd was high as a kite on the energy.
good show.
I hope we'll see you in Santa Monica–it will sell out so hurry and get tix...

The Birth Of A CD

The Birth of a CD ... OR How we drug some innocent characters into this mess

clustrmap

Here's a tool that supposedly shows the geographical area vistors are from...
How? beats me.


Perhaps it is cool...
Let's find out.

Jerry ... the new Ghost

Adding Jerry Fletcher to the band was the best idea we have had in quite some time.
Jon and I had played with Jerry since the Seventies, Dan grew up with him, playing with him in 'Liberty' and Jerry played drums on ...hmmm... three of our previous CDs over the years?
He is an amazing talent. A great drummer / percussionist and that is just the demo. He has a degree in piano and vocal arranging and made his bones on a jillion or so club gigs playing everything imaginable. I used to love going to see him and now I look over my shoulder to watch him play drums and piano at the same time while singing complicated vocal parts.
Wow.
The guy has two brains.
Jerry is also perhaps the most positive person I know, a wonderful attribute for a fellow bandmember.
Come up and say "Hi" to him next time -- he is fun to know.

25 Years

Let me introduce myself. I'm a long time friend of the band - and a guy who is just catching the blogging bug (trust me, no one is more surprised than I). I'm not sure if it feels too nerdy or just too young - regardless, I'm liking it.

I've been enjoying the band for many years, not 25, but something close. What the Ghost means to me, my family and friends can't be measured in years, however. We were introduced to Strawberry by Dan and the boys - maybe 15 years ago? -and have been going almost non-stop ever since. When we first started going, I was perhaps married, but childless for sure. I tell you that, to tell you this. Yesterday my son (now 11) summed up our feelings for what the band has brought us. He walked into the family room, sat quietly for a minute then uncharacteristically said " Dad, you know what the best morning in the world is?" "no" I said. He said " The best morning ever is Sunday morning at Strawberry, I'm in camp, Marleys Ghost is singing gospel and Jeff (Dans brother-in-law) is cooking everything left in the ice chests saying "eat up, everythings gotta go", the sun is shining and everybody is just so happy."

I sat there and thought about it and said - "well the reason that feels so good is because there isn't any place I know that feels closer to god and heaven on Earth than the Ghost singing gospel at the lake at Strawberry - there's nothing in that place but buckets of love". And it all wraps back to the band, arguably, the best, most honorable and creative group of guys I know. They somehow anchor the whole thing, even in years when they aren't there, it all somehow comes back to them - oh yea and their music is pretty good too. (ha)

Karass ... or Granfalloon?

Do any of these resonate with you?
Sweet's Mill
Puget Sound Guitar Workshop
Strawberry Music Festival
Walnut Valley Festival, Winfield KS
Fiddle Tunes - Ft. Worden
St. Charles Saloon
Tucker's Grove
San Diego Folk Festival
Grass Valley

...if so, perhaps that's where we shared some music together. If not -- check them out, and be sure to take your axe!

Happy Anniversary

Today, or at least this week, marks the twentieth anniversary of Marley's Ghost. Sitting around Jon's kitchen table in 1986 Lake Sherwood,CA, putting together songs to go out and perform our St. Patrick's Day gigs, or playing the first Strawberry Spring Music Fest(1986 Memorial Day Weekend) as a trio – who knew we'd still be having this much fun?
Not me.

To all of you who have supported us, bought our eight CDs and six solo CDs, our T-shirts, DVDs, cassettes and posters, come to our live shows and laughed, cried, clapped, wore matching thematic outfits, hired us for festivals, shows, corporate events, parties, weddings or to play outside your villa, ran sound for us, put us up or just put up with us, shared a meal with us, or maybe hung out with us swapping songs and tunes until we fell over– THANKS!
It is still fun, which is why we're still doing it.
My advice? Go start a band.
Sure – it is insane, but it surely does make you feel good sometimes.

Creative Process...

GhostBlog_Start!

Well ... here goes.
Marley's Ghost has been around for quite a while but things really began to get interesting about a year ago, when we hired a new manager– a very savvy guy and realized that our friend Van Dyke Parks was the perfect guy to produce our new CD project "SPOOKED" - our eighth - and were able to interest Van Dyke in producing it.
Things heated up when we were able to get underground comics legend R. Crumb to do our CD artwork and we got really excited about the project -- even more so when Van Dyke, having looked over the song list we gave him, began to tweak the songs.
VDP is a freakin' genius and we started having serious fun when recording began at Entourage Studios in Studio City (where else?). Hutch Hutchinson, Bonnie Raitt's longtime bassist volunteered to play on some tracks, ending up on 'Love, Not Reason" on his fretless which was stored around the corner -- he works enough down there that he has basses stashed around various studios. Larry Taylor (remember Canned Heat?) also played standup bass on a fiddle tune as did our dear friend, bassist and accordionist David Jackson and we were off and running.