GCNE Meeting, 08-01-2010, The Loft

In attendance: Rick McCarthy, Chris Paquette, Brad Hogg, Alex Lahoski (the "luau team").

We begin the meeting at a quarter of 8pm. A moment of acknowledgment, and then improvisation initiated by Alex. A bit of organizational discussion, with regards to the upcoming luau gig on the 7th, and we jump into working the set (not quite a list yet, as there is no defined order as of this writing).

First up is Intergalactic Boogie Express. A false start, and then a full go at it. With only one bass player, though, we quickly decide to leave it for this gig. 3rd Relation next--this settles in once we actually get into the piece. We spend a little time touching up the final descending run, to give Alex a chance to get used to playing the Dancing D's part, and make a note to revisit the piece before the end of the night.

Growing Circle, next. Once through, with comments from Alex to remember to play the dynamics. A comment from Brad, regarding the playing of this at the Midway gig--Alex has us run it again, with both comments in mind. With this small of a circle, it helps to enter more strongly than we might with more players.

Moving on to Blockhead. This gets two runs, with a quieter entry into the polyrhythm section, the second time. This is a fun piece to play, and a good addition to our repertoire. Where's the Nurse is up next, and gets a good ten minutes of spot work. The Turkish spirit in mind, we continue with Askesis, and give some extra attention to the middle tricky bits, as per request. Flying Home gets some time spent with it, as we are missing an ornamental part for the end--this is also run twice. A break at 9:15 or so.

Back in the circle at 9:25 with Morning Has Broken, with parts as follows: Rick and Alex on melody lead (Rick takes the tremolo picking in the last verse), Chris on chordal accompaniment, and Brad on the Glenn Special. Everyone having addressed their parts, this will be a good addition to the set list for Saturday (and also its premier performance). A bit of a digression, here, as Brad takes a moment to ask about logistics for arrival--this leads to a couple of further digressions, including a recipe from Rick (given below in the comments!).

Eye of the Needle next, with the notes from last week in mind. Chris makes a point of reminding everyone about keeping with the tempo as counted out. A couple of runs with this, and then once more through 3rd Relation, with attention to open strings. A circulation to close the night, starting in C Major and moving to areas more ambiguous. With a moment of silence, we close at about 10:25 or so.