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motel mancini had great weather at the river market last saturday. the temps topped out in the 80s, and the humidity was low for kansas city. we played in front of winslow’s barbeque, got to know other buskers, and thanked everyone who dropped a dollar in our collective hat. we plan on setting up again july 18 from 7:30-noon. my other project, beep goes the weasel, also benefited from the mild weather last saturday. we played for (and with) grown ups and kids before each movie at the boulevard drive-in. the manager told me he counted 850 cars that night. we’ll do it again july 10 @ 8:30pm. on july 11 we’ll beep at the santa fe commons @ 7pm before the neverending story! you can click here to find out where we are beeping this summer… and beyond.

this saturday, june 27 will be full of beats, beeps, and sweet sweet music. early in the morning i’ll be at the river market with motel mancini from 7-noon, then it will be time for pain meds and lunch, and finally at dusk we’ll wire up produce from the culinary center and play at the boulevard drive in for beep goes the weasel! the first movie is inside out starting @ 9:20, followed by jurassic world @ 10:55.

someone on mingle posted this pic of motel mancini. pictured from right to left it’s me, chris, and dan fitzgerald, the nomad banjo player. i’m not really sure what mingle actually is besides an online place to post photos. motel mancini is what chris and i are calling ourselves these days. it’s cool when someone like dan checks in.

jenny is out of town for a few days, so i am the lone wolf. ok, wait a minute, that isn’t right: i have my trusty cat, max by my side, but even he runs for cover when i start showing my fangs. the lone wolf feeling started to seep in after the dust settled. here’s what happened when the fur was flying:
friday i made noise on the sidewalk for local life, and handed out fliers for beep goes the weasel. saturday i joined chris mull at the river market where we played guitars in the shade and made a few bucks. we also made a new friend (dan) who plays a killer banjo! we are calling ourselves motel mancini and hoping for the best. this morning i took an aspirin for muscle pain, went to church, and played songs by tom waits, dawes, and talking heads.

i am ashamed to say that i have not made a blog post in two weeks. however there is no shame in saying i haven’t seen tucker love in 3 or 4 weeks. tucker came by homer’s a couple of days ago and let me take a pic of him wearing his cat covered tank top.

a few days ago i downloaded the kosmische synth app on my smartphone, and entered a whole new realm of electronic noise. at first it sounds like a setup to a scary movie scene or a disturbing dream sequence, but with a little work it can go past those boundaries. the random patch and random pattern function really stretches the imagination, and then simple fader adjustments can push it over the cliff. here’s a collage of sounds i made this morning.

max is our cat. he has a few cat toys like a stuffed zebra, a yellow rattle ball, and some feather sticks… but none of these things matter to him. he only cares about one toy: the bullwhip. he loves to chase it, bite it, lunge at it, and lay on it. i took this pic a few days ago during one of his calmer moments, and this morning i woke up early to play with him.

they both had funny teeth, they both could get in a nasty mood and turn on you, and i watched them both on late night TV over the years. it started in the 1970′s when my dad would wake me up after midnight to watch humphrey bogart in the treasure of the sierra madre, a 1948 movie that the TV networks usually aired in the wee hours of the morning. every time it was on, dad and i watched as bogey dug for gold, fought banditos, and slowly lost his sanity. eventually TV stations stopped showing late night movies and instead filled that time with infomercials and talk shows. i made the transition and watched david letterman off and on again for the next 30 years. last night christy frierdich and i watched the final letterman show. it was cool and bittersweet, and it made me feel like i continued a tradition that my dad started with me all those years ago. i even wrote a song about it.

went to the culinary center to get fruit and veggies to beep on last night for local life in old OP. it had rained earlier, and only a few people were out… but then a dog showed up. his name is murphy.murphy: hey whatcha got goin’ on here?
me: oh just settin’ up some produce for people to play music on
murphy: get out! you’re yankin’ my chain, pardon the pun! AHHH HAH HAH HAH! (yawns and slurps)
murphy: so how does this work? can i just lick something? (suddenly a lemon goes “beep!” as he licks it) WHOA! was that me?
me: yep. you and the lemon!
murphy: but how? these can’t be real fruits and vegetables!
me: they are real fruits and vegetables, provided by the culinary center of kansas city! if you want to find out how it works, i’ll give your owner a flier, meanwhile let’s make some crazy jams! murphy: alright! cool! can you program these things to play atomic dog? BOW WOW WOW YIPPEE-OH YIPPEE-AY!!
me: let’s do it!

last week beep goes the weasel got rained on but not out at the boulevard drive-in. it was cool at first because the rain was making its own rhythm on the fruits and veggies, but then everything was beeping at the same time. we still had fun playing the theremin though. tonight we’ll be at the culinary center (our proud produce sponsor!) for a third friday celebration. if it rains there, they will bring us inside.