rocky laber

Saturday, April 25, 2009, Trivalve will open at the Hotel Utah in San Francisco.  We have a 45 minute set to open a bill that features Slipstream Sparrows and The Union Trade.  Pretty exciting for us, first public performance and all.  I’d been talking to Dave Walcott (Slipstream) about this for a few weeks now, we all agreed that the variety of a surf trio opening for some very talented indie-rock bands was interesting. Looking forward to a GREAT show!

We’ve also been talking to another lead about playing a private party the following evening, so after months of learning and polishing material, we’re finally ready to move it out of the rehearsal studio with a flurry of activity.

Rocky Laber, Danny Stevenson and Gene Tucci started playing instrumental surf tunes in September 2008.  It’s a musical genre all had been interested in, but until then, hadn’t been presented the right opportunity.  For the time being, the band’s called Trivalve (it’s a play on “mollusk,” but that’s another story altogether).  We’re looking at some dates in April and May, including public and private functions, and have goals of recording and distributing material.

You can listen to some samples at myspace.com/trivalve.  There’s a lot of energy, some snappy songs, driving rythms and soaking wet reverb.  We’ll make announcements to our friends when we have performances lined up.

from opening night at the Fox Oakland.  (continue reading…)

I play bass in the Bob Claire Orchestra, a band with the distinction of having played the first show at the newly renovated Fox Theater in Oakland. We opened for r&b legend Al Green at a party hosted by One California Foundation. More photos are on the way, but for now, a few snaps from Ruth Ann:

She performs regularly with the Larry Olino group in SF…

We’re set to play as opening act at the grand re-opening of the historic Fox Theater in downtown Oakland. Did I mention that the Reverend Al Green is headlining? Dang!!!

www.oaklandfox.com

www.foxoakland.org

ever since I started listening to Phil Dirt, I’ve wanted to be in a surf band. My drummer friend, Danny, told me about someone he started playing with, a guy that lives in my neighborhood. How cool is that? It’s a very attractive arrangement in that a) it’s close to home; b) it’s easier to organize 3 players than it is 12; c) the guys are very laid back; d) the songs are fun. I know there are more reasons to enjoy this, I’ll scribble them down here as time goes by.
For now, we’re covering some classics by the Ventures and the Challengers. But the guitarist, Gene, has a penchant for playing jazz, we’re going to fool around with some Paquito d’Rivera soon.
Now, for a name…. hmm??

Dean Thomas and I got a drum and bass solo in the middle of I Wish… see it here!

I golf. Yeah, about once every five years I golf. I won’t go so far as to say I’m a golfer, that would be wrong. I would probably have to own golf clubs and shoes in order to say that I’m a golfer. Many years ago I actually did own clubs, the shoes might be somewhere in the basement, but they’re long out of style with their metal spikes. The new spikes are these round plastic discs, they don’t seem as long but they look to provide more stabilizing contact points with the ground. Losing my footing on my most recent round wasn’t the problem, losing feeling in my toes was.

My brother, on the other hand, is a golfer. This is good, because if I ever have opportunity to play, I can borrow his clubs, which also means that he and I can’t play together. He also has feet roughly the same size as mine, so shoes are part of the deal when he has very generously set me up like he did last week. These shoes, however, a gift from his father-in-law, we’re not of the ideal proportions. They’re close, so who am I to be the ingrate?

The band was hired to play a private party at the Wente winery in Livermore, a client holiday party put on by D.B. Makely, an investment product wholesaler. D.B. lives the life. He’s a member at Wente, he has a one year old house, with six or seven bedrooms, just minutes from the winery and golf course, where he lives with his lovely and charming wife, Lisa. His generosity and graciousness are clear indicators of his personal success. He’s a funny guy and a pretty decent golfer. (Now he’s a golfer!)

Our trumpeter Jeff is a pretty decent golfer, I think for him it’s part of the whole financial planning and investments career. To me, that looks to be a world largely made up by golfers.

I like to hit balls, I enjoy the design of good golf courses and the meticulous care that the finer ones receive. I like to track the flight of a well-struck tee shot, or follow the high arc of a wedge from 100 yards out. The smooth, even greens, the manicured fairways and sand traps. Chasing shots down, searching for the OB ball, watching them skip off cart paths, that’s not so fun.

Here’s my idea of a good time on the golf course. It would have to happen at a private club, on a moderately warm spring morning. The group would make most sense as a twosome, any more and it would not only bog down, but it might get dangerous. We could start somewhere on the back nine, so as not to hold up any legitimate golfers, who are bound to be playing much faster than my group. Bringing along about two dozen balls each, we’d hit three or four tee shots each (hit till you’re happy), then drop and hit another four from the vicinity of your best lie. That could continue until you got to the green, then you could play maybe one or two, just so putts aren’t bouncing off each other.

This could start on about the 12th or 13th hole, play for a couple of hours, then have lunch. It’s not so much a round of golf as it is a moving driving range. Score? Why?

BCO website

My wife and I were invited to a 40th birthday party for a friend of ours from the kids’ school. It was a real fun time, held at a small dance studio, we learned some salsa steps. I think it would be a great place to have a party, maybe we’ll do Mary Ann’s next milestone there.

So a lot of friends are there, not all are particularly close to us, but people we both enjoy hanging out with. One guy I talk music with is Kevin, he plays guitar in a band called Bender. I started telling about a gig we played the night before at a school in Orinda.

Here are the pertinent facts:
The band sounded great – all the parts were tight.
The PA (weeks old) was absolutely dialed in. I heard every note everyone played or sang.
The crowd danced with zeal – I’d say 90% participation.
We got paid up front.

It’s times like these you remember, I was brimming with pride.

Back to the salsa party. After a couple drinks, mingle, hang out – I end up with Mary Ann and a small group of people including Kevin and his wife. Someone asks me how the band’s doing and I’m ready to launch in with my gig story from the previous night, but before I can get much more than a couple of words out, Mary Ann, a little too eager to provide her take on things, lets it be known that it was a dance for a Brownie troop. It was actually a father-daghter dance for the troop our keyboard player’s girl belongs to.

OK, so I have a little egg on my face, but you know, it kind of tasted like an omelette. I hadn’t mentioned to Kevin that the 7-10 year olds were screaming like Beatlemania when we played, nor that we signed autographs whn we finished. So I took my lumps, maybe blushed just a little bit, but you know what? I’d play that one over a dog gigs where the crowd doesn’t give a shit or dance.

Feel the love! BCO!