Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Fantastic Release

How could I call it anything else?
It was indeed a Fantastic Release, but so much more.
Our culture and heritage
Past and present to explore
Somewhere I'd never been, but I'd felt it before
Perpetuating this vibe goes Dor'L'Dor

Wasn't this something?
What?
Which part?
Where do I start?

The custom Herzl seat-cushions at the Mercaz?
Adults only at a kids' summer camp?
Drinkin' beers on Rosemary's grave?

The Magic?
Andrew Rosen told me so; taught me how.
Skipping rocks, or skipping chugs?

Welcome Back
Welcome HOME
A Herzl first, like Yom Rishon

We gathered together to expand inclusion, support services and the reach of that magic.

An impromptu caravan, traveling to the Mercaz, led by Herzl's own Peter Himmelman, this caravan was over-flowing with Minnesota musicians, among the best in their respective fields:
Smushed together so the talent congeals

Kristen Mooney on vocals, Billy Thommes on drums, Jon Herchert on guitar, the legendary St. Paul Peterson on bass, and Jeff Victor on keys.

An ad-hoc committee
Musicians Supreme
Gathered to celebrate Herzl's dream

Wind-blown music and fly-away charts
Peter shares his creativity and opens his heart

At this moment, Herzl Camp is fundamental to who I am
On stage the talent is stratospheric
This is where I fell in love with HimmelMusic
HimmelLyric

The power of being "on-stage"
Powerful like a Disney mouse
As Jewish as Tevya, Kaplan or Krause

When is a "Dance Song" not a dance song?
As long as there's rhythm
As long as its hot
It is when its not
There's always a chance for interpretative dance

But Marv....
When Marv is at large
Gotta keep him at-bay
W.H. Auden
Poetry makes nothing happen
When the voice has something to say
To Shout Out
Reverberate
Ring
In the space of nothing, you can do anything

Melange of humanity
Jumbled together in the lyric of song
This Father's Day is emotive and strong
The Firemen's fire burns long
A precursor stretched out at great length
A prelude to themes seen later
From Strength to Strength

Suddenly at peace
A Fantastic Release
Herzl is a place that will never cease
Fantastic Release

Like Croft and Seals
What Mother Nature reveals
Cool, Summer breeze
But camp surrounds and warms like a fleece

Fantastic Release
Ethereal Culmination
Fantastic Release
Our Heritage
A Cultural Celebration

Devil's Lake among the trees
Arrived
Less the Stress
Seek an escape
To be free

Finding myself
Lost
To be with these people
Jews
A wandering tribe
The band begins a groovy vibe
Like Gil-Scot Heron about to get down

Ride Dark Pony
Past the Haks
We create and emote while Peter talks

The voice of Kristin Mooney
Power Soul
"Expanding Inclusion" was always the goal

Fantastic Release?
Release the Fantastic
Herzl Pride is a feeling
Like everyday Bikkurim
Enthusiastic

Fantastic Release
Doing the exercise, but not to appease

Cabins orange that lined the row
For a singular, Jewish experience
Webster's not too far to go

Fantastic Release
American Jewry and a Love Supreme
Fantastic Release
We manifest Herzl's dream
Fantastic Release
A partner for me?
Fantastic Release
Keyboard-inspired Victory



Who are we is who we are
Fantastic Release
Cookin' up music for the soul, like we're in the kitchen of the Chaddar





Sunday, July 20, 2014

Greazy Meal at The Cabooze: Sunday, 7-13-14

Return of Greazy Sunday
It was never about precision, but passion
Feeling
Meaning
Afro-Sheening
Left-leaning Tribe
You’d know it the second you tasted the vibe.

Fits Like a glove
Jesus
The Juice drippin’ down
“Don’t Do It”
Shot like a bullet
Killer Funk
(But Not Just) Knee Deep
Earth Man’s Blues
Dig Greg
Won’t beg for nuthin’ tonight
All Feast
Eatin’ Right
Jesus Juice drops the Dynamite!
Dujii
A song by Kool & The Gang
When Jesus on the wheels of steel
Then everything is everythang
Came back to The Cabooze 4 a hang
The Perch
Greazy Meal left FunkyTown in a lurch
Trading records 1 for 1
Street 45?
Gotta pay attention to who’ what, who’s who
And that’s no jive
Choppy transistions passing the headphones
Feeling the rattle in my bones
Latin conga bass-walk-groove
You can look around and see the people start to move
Quiero Bailar, contigo
Greazy Meal esta esperanza
Hope
Climbing up from the darkest places
Up the basement steps
Like a weight weighed down
What should’ve been
Drags the past to what I hear
And the NOW

As-Is-Ensemble from NYC
Like a glove, fit instantly
Fusion 4 Miles
A return to forever
Jesus Juice used 2 blend these beats
Funky treats
Like Modeski, Martin & Wood could
Drums, bass and keyboard trio
Delivering The Deal before the Full Meal
Dealing in Funk
No amateur junk
Rhythmic hooks
Miles-like-Evil-like jazz fusion funk
Warming the crowd until we Greaze it up
100 bucks says they’ll look back on this gig
An opportunity bigger than BIG
Michael Bellar cuttin’ funk from the edge
To open for Greazy is a HUGE “privilege”
“1st 3 were originals”
4th was their Jam-of-the-Night
Spicy T and the Bass did rumble just right
Rightly
Wish we could do this nightly
Keyboard jam
Vampin’
Voodoo Chile with a keyboard lead
Giving up the funk for the hunger
The Feed
An insane drum solo; rippin’
The body delights
Jerkin’
Bass player looks like Anthony Perkins
Stabbing that bass line like mom’s kitchen knife
A night like this will funk-up your life
Greazy Fuckin’ Meal
Dealin’
Jesus got the Feelin’
We amped up a level, more than before
More Latin grooves
What else is in store?

Then Misha said “Sigh”
Santana
Cory’s Banana
Makes me wanna have a drink
Gotcha’ panties down in-a-blink
Na Baixa Do Sapaterio?
Maria Fumaca?
Banda Black Rio, “Of Course”
Time to ride the White Horse
Feeling the heat
I want PJ to pick up THIS beat
Go from here to nowhere
Good music floating in the air
Crowd at The Cabooze is growing
Drink is flowing
FEELS GOOD
This experience to share
Not a Heatwave
Stylin’ like GQ
Disco Sunday Nights
Freaky Rock
OGMFs getting’ down
We dominate the block, but watch time tick & tock
Everyone’s ready to Beat The Clock
Take it to the stage
Moment by moment
Anticipation
Open the Cage
Waiting to Unleash the Beast
Riding this train towards a new frontier
Engine to Cabooze
Moving past the border
Set Yo’ Self free
Got nuthin’ to loose
We are ready to order

Panic at The Disco
Sabatuer
The system is ill and we need an immediate cure
STAT
JRob where you at?
This is your moment, your time shine
The fixer who toils
Stands behind
Support
Buttress the case
The one I made while in all it’s because of the sacrifice YOU MADE
Nested like Crow with a view from above
Singing his heart out, but singing for love
Beat interrupted
Put on hold
What to do?
EXCELSIOR!!
Beat the problem
Beat resumed
They’ll ask to leave it buried,
If this day were exhumed some day down the road

But it was part of the show
The best aspects of the night
After that build-up? To stumble so epic
So loud, arresting
Mind Bending and unending
Our Greazy hearts filled up
Anticipation dripping everywhere
Dropping funky beads of perspiration
What happened there?
Didn’t matter
Stayed pro and true
Coalece
Congeal
About to see our beloved Meal
The Feeling’s true
Ain’t seen Nuthin’
‘Til you see them
Do the do

Juice’s driving Petar’s groove
Petar
Cedar
Nice being back with the boys from this hood
His stops
Starts
Just like he should

“The Wind blows
The Grass Grows
Greazy Meal goes on”

Unfaithful
Lost faith in conventional religion
My idea of G-d
Spirituality
Peace Signs Everywhere
Tossed to the crowd
Music makes my spirit sing out-loud
“Just hang onto it”
Keep ‘em in line
Drunk on Juice, right from the vine

Given Freely
Not a crime, yet stolen from another time
A place in space where we came together when
Never knew we’d be together again
The chance to call upon all our Greazy friends
Listen to the notes
The way they bend
Curve
Slide
Dancing the groove
A Pleasurable Glide

Takin’ The Highlife 4 a ride
High Notes
Tough to find
This is driving me Out-of-my-Mind
Petar’s on a runaway train
Funk in my soul
Destroying my brain
Sax of Brian
Getting’ high and
Scream and Cry and
Judah’s Lion
Straight from Zion
The Motherland
The vibe we’re getting’ from this band
Gettin’ High with the girl I met
“On the By-and-By”

Petar “tune-in”
Follow the lead
Dimi had the crowd in a frenzy to feed
Chanting his name
Packin’ the house
The reason we came
Gettin’ what we need, no reason to grouse

Bill up on stage
Apropos
1st OGMF on the Davenport for this show
Papa G’s runs
Controlled in the Wild
Julius screams like a neglected child
Double-Door
Chicago
Deana Hamilton
Love
Believe we are one
Old Soul Café her favorite song
That’ my jam too!
Every Greazy Sunday Night
My Life through and through
Petar watchin’ B
Spicy T
Everyone
Lookin’ for cues and clues
Adventurous
Old Soul Café
Hearing this cut makes my day
OGMF’s
The song of how we came to be this way

Await Delilah
Slow
Such a mellow groove
NGB like a memory
Wouldn’t know it without The Greaze
Cabooze
Chorus Sings
Everyone
Peace being made
Elementary Lessons
Top of the Grade
John in-control
The reckless and the wild?
Eschew
Glistening Fields of Lillies with dew
Under wraps, but full-throttle, too
Wet from the romance of making love to The Muse
Best StrawB Delilah solo EVER!
Funky Feel
Intoxicating
Libidinous
Lascivious
The Scent of Heather

Time
A little music 4 everyone
Can’t hear G’s sax intro
Lost in this oblivion of sensory assault and overload
Charles conducting the breaks
Post “Dancing In the Dark” moment with a girl
Juice like The Boss
Showing Greazy Kinship
Truly a Hoss
Taken for a rhythmic stroll
Petar on the dummer’s roll
G takes us home
Casa Roja
Blessings shared amongst us all
FunkyTown on-top again
Floating the ride
Everybody’s got something to hide

Juice lessons and Greazy Etiquette
Urban Herbalist goes on-and-on
Just won’t quit
Bordering on “Dangerous”
That was a test
And we passed
Universes Baby
“We just rehearsed and now we’re gonna play a song 4 you”
Stay
Thanks to Ken
Musical Glue
4-Leaf Clover
Less-than-luck
Charles up there
Quick snap, then duck
Paid dues well beyond A Twins’ Ransom
Passion Shared
Dancing free without a care
Davenport of Love
Introductions Made
On Sunday Nights there is no barricade
Stage to show to audience flow
Greazy fell from up above
1st chorus breaks from Harmony Supreme
Greazy manifests like one man’s dream
Couldn’t believe until I was wrapped inside
The Calm
The Eye
Papa’s wailing cry
Stay
Over
Like Crimson and Clover
Ingredients for a recipe
Greazy
You give and get the best of me
Kid C
Are you fucking kidding me?!?
The answer didn’t matter
Drum-breaks on the 1st chorus
Stumble drumble G’s solo
Felt its power like the thunder of The Crusher
The Bolo
Getting’ smashed in the face
Driven by the drums and the funky bass
Feel not present
Some to begin
Return My Heart heard over the din
Mushy love lags right from the start
Grated
Messy, but again precision’s overrated
Feeling it ONE BILLION-FOLD
Tales of Greazy Sunday left untold
Curfman Feels Good
Kid rocks with Kid Rock
Sandman’s tune
Margie’s part affirmed
Watch The Boom
The Boom
Whom?
Thunder Chorus fills the room
Could’a put “America” there
She’s all grown up
Curfman Shanon
Filling my Greazy-Loving-Cup
“Got Your Guitar?”
Rich Girl?
I Can’t Wait
Heavy Kick
Assets Affirmed
No Time Lost
Harmonies sounded BOSS
No fidelity loss
Rehearsed
Paid the Cost
Heard’em Clear over the rumble
Rhythmic stumble
Chorus Force humble
Communal Vibe
G’s solo directs the Sunday Night Tribe
Miraculous ending
Mushmouthed a truth
“Coming all the way from Spain”
Constantly in awe
Fancy Affair
Strawberrious gonna carry us
Spicy-like
Petar J
Anton on Bass
Puppet Funk
G-d Damn that ripple started waves
A seismic shift that opened the graves
Dead-bodied souls awakened by sound
Thriller-like crawl-up and out from the ground
Spicy’s BEST BOOTY
Everything spent like a sailor on shore duty
On leave
My senses
Friction-mended fences
It’s Sunday Night in MN
Are we alone?
Are we one?
Deeds left undone
Love One Another
No drop into bridge
No need
“Nothing to see here”
Moving Along
Up and Out
Scream
Shout
Scat into break
Makin’ our Crib
The Cabooze
Tremble
HouseQuake
Mother Earth whispers the wind
Breezy
When we’re here, it don’t have to be easy
Propulsive Bass
Marching soldiers
March in place
Breakdown for Elvis
Jeremy gonna be givin’ the business
Wild and misplaced
Never expected his pace
I believe in oneness
There’s no you
There’s no me
The lesson
These teachings are easy to see
“If I’m horrible, so are you”
In & Out
Curfman Chorus Harmonies
Good Times & Bad Times through
We’re Greazy Meal and So are you!

 #RealTalk
#Wisdom is true
Heavy, phat dose of Vitamin U
PJ on creative fills
1st chorus to next verse
The Ship has landed
Busted Orbit
Davenport
An invitation
Ritual
Habit
Love how they approached the vocal break
This thing’s “fixed”
She’s “A Ringer”
“On-The-Take”
Well-rehearsed
Musician Supreme
The Antidote from the Superheroes of Funk
Better than my dream
Frenzied Ending
A sermon of Cause
I Can’t Wait
The Chorus
Singin’ so sweet, so right tonight
Bellar’s face screwed by Tommy’s call  
Had a ball
Rhythm and phrase
Greazy Sundays
These ballz did AMAZE
Unearthed the Funk, Man
We’ll see ya….
Again?
Amen
Can’t go back to Kansas
But we can send you home 4 a night…..
And it did
Swept away in a tornado of sound
Greazy Meal came through with a rhythm unbound
Streaming from Crow’s Nest-to-stage

While frantically I scribble these notes on this page.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Greazy Meal @ IceHouse Mpls- Thursday 7/10/14

“Wow” is right
I feel beautiful tonight
Fulfillment
A peaceful intensity
Shower Jam
Got hot; The Feel
Preparing for a Greazy Meal
My lady hit my fade, then I hit the shot
Caught a spot then a stop 4 a thought
Literally trying to breathe it all in
A group of kids gathered in garden’s delight
Then shouted a mantra to live for the night
“Wolfgansa Fosleuce, uh?”
Felasi?
Phellacy?
Watusi?
Foolasi?
Asti Spumanti, Reuniti on Ice
House is about to get turned-out
Tonight with a sound and a crowd rocking into the night
Ice Out House
Cooled off right
Up to now, though?
Its not enough
I need more of what I feel right now
Sittin’ on stone
A garden plot
Wastin’ time
Deep in thought
“Loosen Up, but not too loose”
Not rowdy-down-n-out
Lowdown
Droppin’ that Caboose
Had the Flow but then I let it go
NGB waved a cool breeze blowing me back to old friendships
From the Greaze did grow
From the Greaze did grow
From the Greazy shows
A spirit had grown
And music that’d make your lover groan
Moan
Erupt in screams of delight
Like we used to do every mother-fuckin’ SUNDAY NIGHT!
*The Sunday Night Tribe
*The Sunday Night Tribe
Every Sunday Night we’d groove from the vibe
I won’t say we got drunk, but we did imbibe
*The Sunday Night Tribe
*The Sunday Night Tribe
By who?
The Meal
About to congeal
Just no way I could describe what I feel
Watchin’ Julius Collin’s walkin’ in on the real
A Playa
A Hustler
A stone-cold killer with pipes that can rock on the mic with a jam
Like “The Kid” with his hat, and his chain, and his BlueDevil
A Fan-I-Am
And that’s on the level
Watchin’ Barbarella step on the pedal
A tickle
A tease
The man on the keys
Watchin’ the texture unfold on the stage
Like the words that I scar like a knife on this page
Percussion and somethin’
Feel like bum-rushin’
Crushin’
Out-of-control and I feel flushed with soul
Thinkin’ ‘bout the show that eye wright
3 more days until Sunday Night
I hear the syncopated sound tonight
Coming from talent and creative souls
Then I turn to my right, looking over the Fields
But he’s gone, he’s gone
Vanished into space, but someone’s sitting there in his place
Uncle Steve
Fedora-styled Icon
Music for Life
Minnneapolis
A Sound
A Town
Funk that gets down
Geo-fenced to locate the passionate souls
Old friendships from the Greaze did grow

Digitalize
Singin’ my truth
‘Bout to blow out the top of the roof
The MuthaSucka
The Faithful and the Caj
The nude and the new
The beat Petar beat put my face in a screw
I was once standing next to his heat, but who knew?
I need JJ’s number
I miss his musk
We used to party and jam from morning to dusk
The bullets are flyin’ killing the faithful and non, alike
Like getting’ back onto your favorite bike
Dropped the thunder; a wonder they could be gone so long, and still rock the house with
The newest same song
Vibrating my mind from somewhere
Days unkind
Unfaithful
Infidelica Mix
Caught in love with lust betwixt
Between bad habits picked-up on the scene

Love One Another
But a mellow-type jazz
Could have come from the song we just had
Papa switch to sax
The groove would relax the most uptight clown who’d ever heard the sound of the meal
A $10-dollar STEAL
A devil-made bargain
A value-priced deal
The Groove
The Appeal
Petar playin’ the breaks
Between lines
Between Miles
From the smiles of the cats that came down to jam
Getting’ down with the Fam
OGMF’s

Old Soul
That’s my Jam
Feelings to breathe
No need to cram
No reason to rush
Ken’s conducting the ending and such
Clutch
The Bump
A Dimi Thump
Too much information
Too much explanation
“Pounter Kountal”
I said it
You didn’t
A diss?
I’d be remiss to suggest an etiquette breach
A reach
Packed
Jumpin’
Rhythm is pumpin’
Petar’s stix and skins are bumpin’
The Highlife
Vocal Break was spontaneous
Tight
Feeling just right
Dirk is surely gonna do it tonight
Kenny’s skins and greazy insight
Took PJ a minute on beatin’ that heat
But Tommy, as ever, was there with the groove
Sanjic locked the pop
Has nuthin’ to prove

Jimmy
Heavy thunder
Low-end 4 days
Blowin’ my mind in SO many ways
Slayer of souls
Beyond what you find in glass-blown bowls
Dancing in moonlight
Déjà vu
Out-of-sight
Juice with the Touchdown-like-call-of-the-night
Walkin’ on stage and again what feels right
Leather g-d-dog-it and with style high-and-tight
#6 on “The new album”?
No, Inner City Blues causing dance floor moves?
Greazy Meal can bust out your box with them grooves

Lovely Day
Lovely Night
I feel beautiful tonight
Recaptures the spirit of Sunday’s quite right
Bill Withers inspired many Greazified jams
A background beat made 4 poetry slams
Exhausted from dancing
Too tired to stand and these aching gams
Awaiting Delilah on the final leg
When they’re gone they won’t be back again, but I ain’t too proud to beg

Another show
Another Time
Gravy
Watching
Technical Problems, getting’ in the way
Scott-free
Gesticulation
The Band’s waving 4 their lives
Great help on the high parts
Communal Cooperative
The “Sing It” trick
Tried and true
We all get older as Time passes by
What’s an OGMF to do?
Once we learn how to fly
The hardest part is coming down
You always can fly when you live in FunkyTown
Fields with harmony breaks
Thank G-d
The Maker of The Funk
Sexiness givin’ it up for my trunk
Wonderin’ how they’d do
Drunken Master
Drunk on Papa’s sax-solo love

SuperNatural
Making Housed Ice
Wishing 4 more
More nights like these where the house is packed
A mystical vibe from the front-to-the-back
Resolve Resolution
A Question, All Vibe
Given freely without a bribe
*The Sunday Night Tribe
*The Sunday Night Tribe
Every Sunday Night we’d groove from the vibe
I won’t say we got drunk, but we did imbibe
*The Sunday Night Tribe
*The Sunday Night Tribe
A Question?
How did they know?
That Dirk would steal that part of the show?
Petar’s drum breaks are strong while Jimmy drives the bass bus
A tire is flat
Doesn’t matter
All the while this Bettis keeps truckin’
For Fan?
When you smash your tooth on the mic
Excited by what’s coming next
Don’t know?

Grieve chords but with Universal stylings
Stay
Unexpected pick for this show
But I’m just a Charlemagne Charlatan
What do I know?
A Poser of wicked intent.
Even sounds of evil can be heaven sent
A cover? No way
But a groove so familiar?
Just Greazy’s way
Chosen for chorus harmonies?
The reason why?
Petar’s drumming
The high-hat break was so right
Still
The Beat
Withered and dried
“That was hot”
What is this next song about?
Strictly subject matter
MLICP, Ya’ll
The lights dim for a high-flying, quicky jam
The Greazy Guestbook
A sketch
Something to say “Hi”
To Us
Jim Speaks
Needle Spike
All the time on his bass, but rarely on the mic
Await Delilah
Lost chorus vox Juice
Saving his voice from getting’ too loose
Talouse
Matoose
Missing Sean, Duppy and Tony too
Here in spirit
Sated in soul
Hoist a drink
Smoke a bowl
They will be in my heart at the show
Ad-Lib
To be a back-up singer 4 this
10ft from the mic
Stardom
#TheSong
Gaining musical wisdom as these days grow long
Musical Giants
Beasts
Ferocious like KONG
The King
Our voices ring
Carry Delilah through the night
The harmony vox
Like a babbling brook
Shielding right
Shandling; a shonda tonight
That REAL OGMF’s had to miss this
Looking at the weather?
You out of your mind?
The mic is a mess
Don’t matter tonight
 $$ is something to hate, but you can like what it buys
Trials
Tribulations
The American Dream?
A world where everyone is beautiful
Breaks on-the-one
On the one tonight
Not Phil Collins, but a Genesis of a different kind
Petar?
Keytar?
Shout Out to The General
Too Cold, without you tonight
But I gotta admit, Petar has things groovin’
No slight
Salud to you
A round of Tequila
Another Goodbye?
A Toast
The Band from Minneapolis
Goodbye?
Everything
All is lost on the local scene
When Mpls starts to fiend for Greaze
Transitions lost
Not with ease
Acting heroes, up in The Balc
Birthdays and Drunken, spontaneous funk like powdered talc
Keeping it moist with powder dry
Music so badass it’d make the toughest cry
Can’t recall what I missed in-between
But I know that IceHouse tapped into the scene
Thanks to the Droppers
Teaching break beats to all the Hip-Hoppers
Tight Ending; Mountainside
A nervous wreck?
Ambitious
Ya’ll love authenticity, right?
10 Zillion?
Must B Careful not to overreact
Stevie Wonder is beloved
Saturn?
I can’t remember the jam
Overwhelmingly Overwhelmed
A 10yr wait with a ghost at the helm
From the Deep
He’s a Leo
“Ruby’s Dad”
Shout to the back
Funk Band
Smart & Fuckin’ talented
Band outros
“This guy’s a jerk and he wears an ascot”
Tryin’ to give it all away tonight
Sophistacated ass, like Nat Cole
The King
A child of Minneapolis this night

Coda:
Absurdist Art in a garden’s delight
High from bein’ a playa on this site
To finish where you start
The Garden
You lie
The fountain whispers
The sky?
It cries
Sometimes it takes sacrifice
Commitment to craft
Commitment to groove
The perfect spot found, I dare not move
Endeavors to climb in a vertical sky
Greazy Meal is the reason why
Sole
Soul
The effort was made
The reason to try
Out on the prowl 4 inspiration tonight
How the mighty have fallen to instincts
The bassist owns another life
Who am I to say what is “right”?
Suddenly rain falls from the sky
Drips dropping slowly
Then Stopping, but why?

Greazy Meal: The Ultimate High