Posts

Just Keep Swimming (The Ocean)

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Right. I was gonna do a post on The Ocean.  Some time has passed since I last journaled about our thing. [Much of this post was written before our Newfane show. Sorry the chronology is a little off.] Darcy calls it Life in 3D and even wrote a song about it entitled Life Sucks In 3D. But somehow, despite tooth infections and broken ribs and general old-fart fatigue we've managed to keep plowing away. Our Darcy is an unstoppable force of nature. She would be practicing every day, 7am to 7pm, if she had her way. We manage to wrestle her down to two full band reheasals a week, Wednesday and Sunday, with sectionals with her and Ben or me or all three on however many of the remaining days we can. Then when we're there, again, she puts that stupid pink rabbit to shame. She plugs herself in, grumbles about the amp a little and we take off and work at high intensity, loud, turned up. Play a tune. dissect what went wrong. Drill a spot, looping a phrase over and over, repeating it until ...
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What's the opposite of a Swan?

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 If you have a Swan Song, meaning your last gig ever, your final gasp, that last wave to the adoring crowd, then what is the opposite? For your first shout to the world, your debut performance in front of real public:  A Goose Song? Hawk song? Should be waterfowl, I guess, so perhaps Loon Song?  Whichever, Black Rover had its Loon Song last Saturday night.  After nine months of work, practice, study, personal adversity, and sheer determination we had our baby in the Union Hall in Newfane, Vermont. And boy was it fun.  Black Rover on stage in Newfane It should be mentioned that Newfane, about 12 miles north of Brattleboro, is perhaps the prettiest and most iconic New England village in all of New England. The Union Hall was built in 1832, serving as a grange and community gathering center.  Union Hall in 1922, long before Led Zeppelin.  We pulled in for the sound check about 2pm and found out that we were going to be the featured band, playing second; i...
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Bird by Bird

To explain, a friend recommended a book by Anne Lamott called Bird by Bird. She describes having to write a huge book on birds, lots and lots of birds, and feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of the project. Her advice, just take it bird by bird, and before you know it, it's done. Bird by Bird. For Black Rover, it's song by song. We have ambitious and exciting plans to perform a show in Brattleboro's Latchis Theatre early next year; that's our working goal right now, getting a really strong set together and producing a fun concert at that amazing and surreal space. But it's gonna be like 12-14 songs. An evening with Black Rover. It's a lot of birds. But this is where we are. Bird by Bird. We've made a decision not to fuck around. Two full rehearsals a week plus at least one preferably two sectionals as well. Me and Darcy, the Percys, practice our vocals together without having to involve Bob and Benzo. She and Ben will get together and work out details ...
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Ben, BYAP and Doctor Bob

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 Our first rehearsals as a band were inauspicious. At the time I was spending a lot of time at the Latchis Hotel/Theater/Pub/Gallery/Shop complex in Brattleboro. With our friend Dan we had access to a streetfront space on Flat Street (across from what used to be the Flat St. Nightclub, a venue that once hosted Aerosmith.) The space was chock full of Dan's stuff. Collectibles, audio equipment, instruments, boxes of Legos, literally piled from floor to high ceiling.  Those first days Darcy and I wedged ourselves into a corner office of that space, Dan provided a couple of amps and a little PA, and we were off.  It was not particularly comfortable. We barely had room to stand up, and were in almost constant danger from wobbly plastic totes teetering in great stacks above us. Just getting in and out of that little room was an exercise in choreography. And then Dan brought his drums. We got very loud and had some pretty serious laughs. But we also discovered each other as musi...
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A PhD in Zeppelin Studies

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As of this past spring, when the eclipse happened, my knowledge of Led Zeppelin was limited at best. Stairway to Heaven! Free Bird! Wait, they didn't do Free Bird. OK, Stairway to Heaven! Now I grew up in the 70s and 80s so of course I was aware of Led Zeppelin. I'd listened to a lot of Physical Graffiti in the attic of my friend Tom's house while we played pool. So I knew some of the tunes, sure, but probably not what they were called. Black Dog, you say? Really? That's the name of that tune? Cool. But basically, it was: Stairway to Heaven!!!  Then the eclipse flew over West Brattleboro, Vermont and Darcy and I were chatting on the banks of the Whetstone Brook. Pretty much from then on I've dedicated myself to what I not-too-pretentiously think of as my doctoral dissertation on the music of Led Zeppelin, This written/oral/instrumental/vocal/analytic study of Led Zeppelin will culminate soon, when we play our first set on a stage in front of people. It will be from ...
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From the land of eclipse and snow - The Birth of Black Rover

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The day of the eclipse in Spring of 2024, as weird shadows latticed the forest and the birds went silent, Black Rover was born.  Darcy and Mel had arrived a few days before and were comfortably ensconced in our AirBnb studio. I had gone to the park to see the eclipse but had decided to go home and watch it there. Ran into Darcy and Mel, chatted about the eclipse and they revealed they didn't have eclipse glasses. I did, because I was a Boy Scout and I'm always prepared, so I offered mine to them and we set off to check out this eclipse thing. Walking around my property we were chatting, getting to know each other, enjoying the day, when Darcy mentioned that she was a musician. A guitarist. I said, somewhat hesitantly because I was leery of getting into a new musical project, "Well, I play the bass." Mel practically jumped up and down and said, "Darcy, did you hear that? He's a bass player!" Darcy let out a discreet little "whoop!" and said, ...
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