Splinters at IBM Centennial Celebration

As previously tweeted and facebooked, J and I played at the IBM Centennial Celebration at the Museum of Science. Both of us being IBMers made it convenient, for sure. The event was an "IBM's Got Talent" show with about 10 acts, ranging from rock and bluegrass to show tunes and dance numbers. I especially enjoyed the Indian dances - one traditional and one Bollywood style. (Somehow I ended up without a program, so I don't have all the details!)

Each performer had 4 minutes to get it done. This required quite a bit of editing on everyone's part. That was a common comment backstage, for sure. For our part, we decided to string together 2 fiddle tunes: Salt  Creek followed by Whiskey Before Breakfast. We did the math and as long as the tempo was right, we'd be about 4:15. :) I guess it makes you focus and get to the point to have a time constraint.

We were fourth on the program, which was good - right after the solo singer doing "Memories" from Cats. After us was one of the Indian dances. The venue was the Cahners Theatre, which holds about 300 people. It was standing room only in there, maybe because there was no alcohol served at the party! Anyway, in addition, they also simulcast the show to screens throughout the museum.

Bottom line: we had fun and we nailed the transition to our satisfaction. One of J's colleagues took a video on his iphone and posted it to Vimeo.


The Splinters at the Boston IBM Centennial Celebration from Paul Beaulieu on Vimeo.

Chris

Lucas got a camera

It looks like Lucas got a camera in Jerusalem yesterday. Photos are starting to appear on Facebook, including this one, that I screen captured. He'll probably be adding some to his own blog later to help tell the story. This looks like it's at the Temple on the Mount.

There were a bunch more pics on Facebook. I'm sure we'll hear more. The blog is quite entertaining.

Chris

(HA! Lyle Lovett's "Penguins are so sensitive..." is now playing on iTunes! LR is a fan, in case you didn't know...of penguins, that is.)

Lucas Has A Blog

Follow his adventures in Israel here.
I wish he had a camera!!
Chris

The Splinters Live

J Johnson and I have been hanging out in my basement for a while shedding fiddle tunes. We debuted at the West Roxbury Open Mike night and have played at Roslindale too. One of these days, we'll get more than 2 songs to play at a real gig. :) We typically include some form of improvisation after playing the melody a few times; and it's fun to trade 4's back and forth.

We're making our way through the bluegrass top 20 tunes like:

• St. Anne's Reel
• Salt Creek
• Red Haired Boy
• Billy in the Lowground
• Whiskey Before Breakfast
• Cherokee Shuffle
• E.M.D.
• Blackberry Blossom
• Arkansas Traveler
• Soldier's Joy
• Temperance Reel
• Prisoner's Waltz (from Tone Poems 1)
• I Am Pilgrim
• Shady Grove

We still want to add some more vocals and probably some more swing. We've played All of Me and Sweet Georgia Brown, for example, along with Minor Swing, which seem to be popular with the bluegrass/newgrass set. I picked up the Fiddler's Fakebook recently, so I'm ready to mine it for some of the more obscure tunes to go along with the fan favorites.

We have been influenced by Doc Watson, Norman Blake, Tony Rice, David Grisman, Chris Thile, Bill Frisell, and Frank Zappa, among others.

We put up a web site under The Splinters name. Check it out to listen to some of the basement tapes.

Chris