Kirtan, Gratitude High Energy, Pictures

Hello,

On Friday I played in my first ever Kirtan event. For those of you that have never heard of Kirtan, it is, as far as I know, an event where a vocalist, backed by a group of musicians, leads audience members in chants consisting of Hindu mantras and phrases. There has been quite a buzz about it lately and I was very interested to see what it was all about. The event I played at was sort of a dress rehearsal for bigger events to come. There were only a limited number of people invited and there were a few bugs to be worked out, but all in all it sounded really good, and I look forward to more events in the future. Check out artists like Ram Das, and Ragani if you are interested to learn more.
On Saturday I played with Gratitude Steel Band at a house party in Clarkston. It was a really fun gig. I was amped from the show in Marquette, and Guy Barker was smokin' all night. I love to play with vetran musicians like Guy, because you just never know what they have in store on any particular night. On this night, Guy was playing things that I never heard before, and I felt like I was getting a glimpse into his past. What I mean is that, as a musician, you are always working to develop your craft by practicing and playing new things. To really master something you need to play it thousands of times. Guy has done this for many years and on Saturday I think he pulled out some of his licks that he had mastered long ago. It felt fresh and very energetic. I am very determined to bring him up to my hometown of Marquette, MI. so he can experience a crowd equal to that energy. Lamar Woodall and Kelly were the other two musicians on the gig, and they always sound good too. Lamar was a bit stressed towards the end of the night because he was misinformed about when the show ended, so he ended up being late for another gig he had in Novi. I guess, as a musician, that is not the worst spot to find yourself in, but it is a shame when it makes the music less fun to play.
Looking at the calendar I see that the next gig is on Sunday with Gratitude at a church. I will tell you more about it. In the meantime, I have been working long hours on my website (johnchurchville.com) and I finally have pictures up, so check it out.

Thanks for reading,

-John