Absynth Quintet

Earlier this year I was asked to play bass for an americana-fusion band out of Humboldt called Absynth Quintet. I had seen them play a few times before and they were incredibly good and the mandolin player is a friend of a friend so naturally I considered it. Within a few months I learned most of Rudy Luera's bass lines and in June we zipped down to SF for my first show with them at the Freight and Salvage. After a few more shows here in Humboldt, some time to put my own influences into the tunes and a crack at some new material I can say with excitement that I now feel like I'm part of the AQ.

We are headed to Mt. Shasta, Eugene, Portland and Bend this week so if you're in the area, do check out the website for tour dates and come to the show! I'll probably hug you and buy you a beer. Here's a shot from the KEET TV recording sessions on PBS. Thanks to KHUM and KEET for putting it together! It should air sometime late this year.


Photo by Bob Doran

Ian isn't in that picture but here is his hand and an electric banjo that he made.


Photo by Bob Doran

All I want to do

Some great work has been done for the next release and lately, all I want to do is immerse myself in it. Should be out in a few months. A free download of one of the finished tracks from the new release is available along with many other great tracks by DIY musicians on a compilation called Daydream Generation No9.


Click here to download the free track from my next release.

Home on the stage

I’ve hardly picked up my guitar for the past few weeks but I have a good excuse. Opening weekend of ‘Man of La Mancha’ has just passed and all the hard work has paid off. If you’re in Humboldt during the month of April, don’t miss it.

Set design by Daniel C. Nyiri

The show is loosely based on the life and writings of this guy
Reserve tickets online
or at the box office 
800-838-3006







photos by
Bobby Amirkhan

This is Fishstick.
photo by the cat

Now that the curtain is up I actually have a life again. The house will be in order tomorrow and recording shall recommence.

Finally! Recording is easy like when I had an analog 4-track.

I just bought a PreSonus Firebox. It's a little interface that feels pretty solid and does what it's supposed to do.

I haven’t had good luck with recording equipment in the past few years. My Fostex MR16 glitched out four months after I got it from musicians friend, Andrea’s interface (Tascam US-122) glitched out as well, a few years after she got it. I fought with both units for a while hoping to work through the glitches and finally caved a week ago. The Firebox works. Yay! I’m using the garageband that came with my mac 4 or 5 years ago. I’m recording the acoustic in the den near the snail bowl and I think I’ll do the vocals in the hallway.

Some of the basic tracks I recorded out in Petrolia came out good and will probably make the cut. A bunch of great artists have already agreed to work on this project. I’m so psyched.

I’ve been working on the first track for the past week. Most of the material on this release is new but the first track is two years old. This morning it gelled. My arm muscles are actually slightly sore. It can really be a challenge playing some things exactly the way I want them. I think this one will happen by Sunday.

We changed Amaryllis' name to Neil because she's like Neil from 'The Young Ones'. See?




This guy is in his mid to late teens or something and he makes great pop music.

Halloween 2009

This was Andrea's idea.  I quit my job three months ago and my last day was Friday.  I was a coordinator/ supervisor for an independent living program for five years.  It came with lots of responsibility, a sense of purpose and belonging, a nice paycheck and benefits.  I needed to pursue my music career so I let it go.  Anyhow, Andrea came up with this great idea.  I certainly didn't have time to prepare anything!

This guy (Matthew was his name) was awesome.  Jumped right in there, we didn't know him, he was just willing and cool.

Isn't she pretty...

Andrea rescued a Red Eared Slider from a local school.  It had been in a small fish tank with no basking lamp or place to dry off for two years.  We hooked it up with a nice habitat and I stared at it a lot for two weeks.  It’s alarming when she devours helpless goldfish.  The set up looks like it was easy to create but it was tricky.  She's actually too big for THIS tank but she's a lot happier.

By the time I was done obsessing over T-Rex, Dean Haakenson and his band visited for a few days.  This is Dean with his band, Be Brave Bold Robot.  Just kidding, that's Dean and a mural.

They just keep getting better.  Carly, Katie, Tommy and Tony are real people.  They're probably not part of a mural anywhere and they're fun to hang out with at breakfast.

Here's a fun game that you've probably played before: everyone writes down a well known name on a small piece of paper and hands it to someone else.  Everyone sticks their piece of paper, which they haven't looked at, on their forehead.  Everyone randomly asks yes or no questions and attempts to figure out what is written on their head before the food gets to the table.  I forgot to mention, you play this while waiting for your breakfast at a restaurant.  It isn't essential to the game but it passes the time nicely.