CD, Blue Rose Records
with Felix Müller – Bass, vocals and Christoph Beck – Drums, vocals
Dark was the night, cold was the ground. December 10th 2010: Heilbronn in southern Germany was firmly in winter’s grip. Airports were closed, traffic jams everywhere. A perfect night for the famed Blue Rose Records Christmas Party. This event is based on the tradition that Edgar Heckmann invites too many musicians into a cramped, stuffy venue and people from all over the place show up to witness long hours of music played by a diverse mix from several continents. People have been known to break shoulders and/or play waltzes in 4/4 time during these shindigs. In other words: good, clean fun.
Usually my buddy and label mate Julian Dawson gracefully acts as MC and sings a song or two. Or three. He also handles the part of the show that has come to be known as The Blue Rose Rockestra. That’s when everybody enters the stage, plays and sings an eclectic mix of songs both the public and the musicians enjoy. Not an easy thing to do. And you never know, the label boss might even feel a Bee Gees song coming up.
But back to the business at hand. Edgar asked me to play an entire set with the trio and I thought the louder material would fit the stone walls of the «Buergerhaus» perfectly. I brought along my tried and true rhythm section, drummer Christoph Beck and bassist Felix Mueller, for the show you can now listen to in the comfort of your own home, car, RV, canoe, nuclear submarine or jet airplane. You can also burn it onto CDs for your friends or upload mp3s that sound like wet paper under a dead fish onto some sharing site. That will give you serious indigestion and more gas than that mountain in Iceland will ever produce. As Bob Dylan used to sing: Don’t say nobody warned you.
So just press play and enjoy this. We had a ball. Guitar, bass, drums and lots of freestyle lyrics – real music.
Hank Shizzoe, Summer 2011
