Welcome back! I hope everyone is enjoying their Summer activities. Here in Florida we have a great summer exercise program. We get our heart rate up by running between air conditioned safe zones. From the house into the car, from the car into work or the store. Some really brave souls try to participate in outdoor activities, check with your local hospital to find out when you can visit them. 
   I've been in a bit of a writers slump lately. There are scraps of paper with half finished lyrics decorating every flat surface of the studio right now. Maybe if I mix them all together I can create some kind of stream of consciousness masterpiece. Probably a bad idea. I'll keep working on them, they'll either come together or end up in the lyrical dumpster. 
    The Ashley Gang has been on a bit of a summer break. We will be reactivating August 4, at the Osteen Diner in beautiful downtown Osteen, Florida. The Diner is a great place to eat, drink, and be merry. And who doesn't want to be merry?
     My musical pet peeve for this month is weird contraptions that change the sound of an acoustic guitar.  I've recently seen a small tambourine like device that fits in the sound hole of the guitar. Then there are some electrical devices you can strap to the guitar to alter the sound. I just don't like it!  The acoustic guitar is a beautiful combination of wood and steel that can't really be improved upon with cheesy contraptions. Granted, I love the sound of an acoustic run through an amp with a bit of tasty distortion, the middle ground between electric and acoustic guitar. But I'm certain, in time, these other devices will end up on the scrap heap of failed gimmickry. Anyone want to buy a pet rock? As a wise man once said, "Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should."  
  One last thing. Primary elections are on the horizon. Don't sit it out. This country is going down the tubes under the current fascist regime, voting is our only weapon against these creeps. My thinking is that old white guys have ruled the roost for far to long. I'm steering my votes to progressive female candidates, should I feel they are otherwise qualified. If you think that this is a crazy idea, just think back to when you were a kid. Your Mother likely played the good cop, while Dad usually got to play bad cop. Well, we've got a lot of bad cops in office and not enough good cops to balance it out. Just wait until your Father gets home!
  
    Okay, with that I'll be on my way.  

I've been silent long enough,. I can't take it anymore. I need to air one of my live performance pet peeves. I don't feel that it's necessary to add a ton of reverb to your live mixes. I see it way to often, an artist will dial in some hellacious amount of reverb when playing a small venue or room, like they're playing Madison Square Garden. In the words of very wise sound engineer, that shit aint right! Listen to some of your favorite recordings, do those artist slather the mix in reverb? Probably not. It creates a very unnatural effect in what would otherwise be considered an acoustic performance. The funny thing about it, those engineers mixing in those large venues probably don't dial the reverb in at that level either. The venue is the source of the reverberation, and for the most part, it's out of their hands. The best approach in my opinion, is to add reverb to your vocals until you detect it, then back off a bit.  
      I realize that this reverb problem isn't going to go away anytime soon. And there are some who will insist that they sound super awesome when the reverb is set at eleven. My response to them would be, "You are wrong".
   So there, I feel better now, having gotten that off my chest. Finally, as I suggested earlier in this post, give your favorite recordings a listen and see if I'm not right about this.  You'll thank me for the enlightenment.
    In other news, we recently attended another Florida Folk Festival in beautiful White Springs Florida. We had a great time in spite of the soaking rain we received at times over the weekend. The cloudy conditions made for a slightly cooler than usual festival. Don't get me wrong, it was still plenty toasty. A lot of great music and reconnecting with friends from all around the state. If you've never attended, you should go. If for no other reason than to earn your FFF merit badge.
      I'll let you go now, there are things that need doing around here. I hope you all have a great summer and keep the faith. Remember, It's always orangest before the dawn!
​   Your compadre, Al

I guess it's been about a month since I last posted, I'm trying to stay on top of this blog thing as best I can. 
The season has wrapped up for the Indian River Arts & Concert series, and it was another great year of musical madness.  I've stashed my sound gear and will give it a rest for the summer. I'll keep you informed as to next seasons activities, there's bound to be someone coming in to play that you'd love to see. 
    We just returned from the Gamble Rogers Music Festival in beautiful downtown St Augustine. A magical place to hear so many talented artists.  I played a solo set on Saturday, then the Ashley Gang played a set just as the afternoon rain storm swept in. Mother nature made sure that the big top was packed with listeners seeking shelter from the storm. Fellow Ashley Ganger Paul Garfinkel had a set later in the day, and he did a splendid job in spite of the moisture levels. He persevered, and before he wrapped up his set, the sun was shining and he had a good size crowd of listeners. Another happy ending. 
    We made it home safely and have now recovered from our festival hangovers. Just in time to prepare for our next adventure. There's couple things coming up, you can wander over to the calendar and check it out.
.     Summer's on the way, so musical activities will slow down a bit. It's the time of year when us southerners take time to re-evaluate  our lives, mostly because it's to hot to do anything else.  And come the fall, we'll be full of new and interesting ideas on how to navigate this road called life. 
    I'll sign off now, I would't want to bore my faithful followers. So check the calendar and make your way out to see some live music when you can. Your presence is always appreciated.
   Be safe, and treat each other kindly,  Al

A good positive title can go a long way to insure I remain upbeat throughout this post. So here goes!
 There are many new and exciting musical adventures on the horizon. The Ashley Gang has recently decided to regroup and do some touring around the state. We played an impromptu set at the Will McLean festival last month, thanks to long time friend and masterful sound guy, Tom Ellis. Thanks Tom! The line up consisted of Me, Paul Garfinkel, Kay Garfinkel, Bob Bronar, and Pete Hennings. It was a total blast, and no audience members were injured as a result of our shenanigans. We are looking forward to more of said shenanigans.
     In other news, I am still doing sound for the Indian River Arts and Concerts series in Vero Beach. We have also been working on doing video and multi track recording of these shows. I've been shooting video with one camera and Etta Schaller has been shooting from another angle with her camera. The multiple camera angles and great audio quality should be a beautiful thing.  Those recording should start appearing in the near future on the IRAC web site.  I'm pretty excited about the recording process and quality of the tracks we're capturing. I've been using one iPad for mixing and another for recording. Any sound nerds out there who'd like more info on the process feel free to contact me. 
     I think that's about it for this session. Check out the calendar, and come hang out with me if you get the chance. I'd sure appreciate the company!
​   Al

  October got away from me, but better late than never.  When last we met I alerted you to the upcoming Ashley Gang Family Reunion show. Well, it really happened! I think it went well, and no musicians, or audience members were injured in the process.  Two signs of a successful event.
    It all came about thanks to my good friend and concert producer T-shirt Cathy Woolsey, a folk super hero if ever there was one. She gave a listen to our old chestnut filled classic CD, "Doing Time", and asked if we'd like to open the season with a reunion show. It had been a while since we performed together, but it was like falling off a bike, you just never forget!
     I normally do the sound for our little concert series at the Heritage Center in Vero Beach. and I've learned to deal with that pretty well, but I knew this show would be particularly stressful due the multi tasking nature of performing and taking care of the sound. My low blood pressure and a lot of helping hands were the key to my success.  That, and my good friend Geoff Myers took control of the mixing board while I played with the Gang.  Thanks Geoff!  
     The next show we'll be presenting as part of the Indian River Arts and Concert series will be Tom Chapin with my good friends ​Wild & Blue opening. That will be on Sunday Dec, 3.  For more info on that you can check out the newly designed web site WWW.indianRiverArtsConcerts.com 
   I guess that'll do for now. I hope you are all doing well, and we meet again soon out there on the road of life. Stay tuned for the next installment, and be good to each other, Al  

The first days of summer have arrived, and the heat indices across the country bare witness to the fact that climate change is doing quite well under the new administration. It's good to see something is! We've got ourselves in a real doozy on all fronts it would seem. Environmentally, financially, globally, heck, the only folks still talking to us are the Russians! There's something that just seems wrong about that. 
    Meanwhile here on the home front,  our favorite politicians are diligently working on the best healthcare bill you've never seen. Talk about your beautiful chocolate cake! So in an effort to shine some light on this travesty, I have started the "I AM A PRE-EXISTING CONDITION" campaign.  These are people who need healthcare more than any other segment of society. The insurance companies and our elected representatives are in cahoots, jacking the rates up to an unaffordable level for those with a pre-existing condition.  It's just not right, and maybe even criminal!  So join me in letting these dirtbags know that we're on to their slimy tactics. Proceeds from sales of these shirts will be donated to Moveon.org.
     Okay, enough about that for now, let's talk music. It's been a busy couple of months for me, traveling around spreading the joy of Gibtown. I had a gig in Melrose at the world famous, Artisan's Way on the way to the Florida Folk Festival. The Countries longest running, and hottest folk festival. Two great claims to fame.  We had a great time and survived the event without to many disasters.  The mark of any successful mission. From there we made our way up to Lynn Haven, for a show at Robert's Hall. The  legendary Hank Williams played there many moons ago, and the place has some magic in it still.  Lucky Mud, Mike and Maggie McKinney, run the show there, and are great hosts and human beings. It's always great to hang out with them.
     I'm back to hosting the Open Mic on Tuesday nights here in Sebastian at the Blue Lion. It's a great place to unwind and hang out on a Tuesday evening. So stop in if you get a chance and bring your talent with you.
     And remember,  if you need a new black T-shirt, keep me in mind.  
​See ya soon, Al

Okay, I've been slacking on the blog updates. But my vast group of followers have indicated they'd like to see what my latest random thoughts have been. So here goes!
   It's been a busy beginning of the year, it's already March! I've been doing live sound for a bunch of shows with my friends at the Indian River Arts and Music community.  The visiting dignitaries have been great to work with. We've had concerts by, Sarah Lee Guthrie, Radislav Lorkovic, Andrew Hardin , and T Bruce Bowers, Runa, Susan Werner, David Amram, and our last show of the season was John Flynn.  Needless to say my engineers hat needs to cool off for a while! But it was a blast!
     From the Gear head dept: I've been using a Behringer wireless digital mixer for all of the shows for sometime now. The 100' audio snake is history, and I can't say I'm sad to see it go!
I can do all the mixing from my iPad anywhere in the venue, and it has set my soul free! The App that controls the mixer is chock full of effects and a Real Time Analyzer (RTA) to clean up those pesky frequencies. It's a beautiful thing!  
     On the more musical front, I just returned from the Will McLean Festival.  A fabulous family reunion of sorts, deep in the heart of Brooksville, Fl. Thanks to long time compadre Paul Garfinkel's generosity to share one of his sets with me, an Ashley Gang reunion took place.  I have to say, it was more fun than i could have anticipated.  Many thanks to Paul, Kay, and Bob.
  I also, for the second year in a row, was asked to do a young folks song writing workshop. I thought that last years successful attempt at writing a song with the younger crowd was a fluke and most likely would not be duplicated.  But the kids were awesome once again, and managed to turn out a very cool song.  The topic we finally landed on was an ode to the Sound man, "Sound Guy" I believe was the official title.  They performed it on Sunday before the  festival closing ceremony, very cool! They make an old guy proud!
     I've got some other things coming up, and I'll do my best to keep you informed. Don't hesitate to bug me if I appear to slip off the grid. I'd love to hear from you! 
  Take care of each other, turn off your TV, and try to put yourself in someone else's shoes!
     Al
    

,Another year has come and gone, but the adventure has only just begun!
The new disc "Gibtown" was released in October, but the holidays and other important activities sidetracked my intentions to really push this project. So now with a new year, it's time for me to act like a real starving artist and get to work.
I'm in the process of closing down my official occupation, which has allowed me to be a semi casual performing songwriter for a number of years. This starving artist thing may get real very soon!
   My multi prong strategy for survival will be A) to play more gigs, rumor has it, you can make hundreds of dollars a year doing this! B) taking on clients in my recording studio. A small but decent recording space with some pretty sweet gear. The results can be heard on the new "Gibtown" disc. Like most things, the learning process involved in recording music is never ending, but I think at this point I've got enough experience to offer my services up to the public.  And
C) Doing live sound for small to medium sized venues. I've been doing sound for a local house concert presenter, Indian River Art & Music, for a while now with some decent results. The series was originally presented in someones house, which was set up really well for such activities. But due to the producer doing such a bang up on job in the promotion department, we outgrew the space.  The latest concerts have been held in Vero Beach at the Heritage Center, a great room with plenty of space. We recently hosted Sarah Lee Guthrie to a sold out room.  Our next show, Feb 5, will be Runa, a 5 piece award winning celtic band! If this one doesn't kill the sound guy, (me!) nothing will!  
    I guess that about wraps up my thoughts for today. I'll try to update the site more often this year, part of my unofficial New years Resolution. And I hope to see your smiling faces as often as possible somewhere down the road!