NYE Tractor Tavern a good show.

12.31.08 - Tractor Tavern - New Years Eve

Handful of Lovin' has got to be one of the best live acts around. 

The Staxx Brothers were on fire and were nothing but pure entertainment. Mesa and I opened ad hosted the event. We did a handful of originals for the first set and then we launched 

Handful O' Lovin' off with a few covers including Time by Pink Floyd (a fitting song) and Whole Lotta love by Led Zepelin.

The show was a sell out and was a nice sign of things to come. It was nice to be in a room full of such optimistic and loving music fans! On a side note this was the first time I ever used a wireless guitar set up and I think I am hooked. Expect to see more wireless Guitari in the future.  In other news Sawka is in the studio producing the tracks from the Glasper sessions in NYC from a while back and he says they are sounding sick. I am feeling very good about this new year and already have two great new songs to debut soon. Viva La 2009 Friends.

Get Out and Vote!

Two Very Special Shows

Monday November 3rd at the Showbox
Tom Morello, Stone Gossard, Christine Gregoire, Jim McDermott, Mike McCready, Mesa & Ari, and more at the Showbox Market.

Saturday November 1st at Tost
With Lucky Brown, Kevin Sawka, Jeremy Lightfoot, Mesa, Bob Lovelace, Kent Halvorsen, Joel Ricci, Olli Klomp, Delvon Dumas, Ben Bloom and more.

Like Thom Yorke said best 'This is what you get... when you mess with us"
Please Remind your Family Friends Talk about it Vote! I really don't care who you vote for - I know who I am routing for Just Do It.


Get The F*&@ Out and Vote!

Catching Up

Well its been a while since I have written here but I plan to catch up this month. For starters, I went back to my home town in Cape Town South Africa. I did some Skydiving, and I co-produced a recording for a group of kids from Kayalitsha.

As far as music goes I am excited to say things are going great. On the technical side I have a new custom guitar in the works built by a local violin maker Dave Krause. Dave is a remarkable luthier and I can't wait to post some pictures of the guitar I'd like to also add that the guitar will be blessed with a set of custom pickups made by the great vashon pickup guru Jason Lollar, and with be equiped (thanks to an endorsement) with Ghost Piezo Pickups. I have purchased recently a VG-99 system witch is keeping me busy. As well I have been working with a fantastic team of artists in a new project Max Head Inn (Skoi Sirius, Rich La Chappelle, and Myself) Spinning downtempo electronic music broadcasted in Surround Sound.

Since the last post I was invited into the studio to record some tracks for one of my all time favorite composers and all around great fucking guy Stone Gossard you may know from the Seattle music scene. Stone was listeneing to the AriSawkaDoria record and it turns out he really liked it... he got my number from Shawn Smith (another one of those great local heroes). I can't say when the album will come out but I can say that everything I heard I would put in the 5 star catagory. I have been working on a new batch of 30 or so songs with a very talented and passionate singer named Mesa. We have recorded a demo and I couln't be happier playing the rythm guitar/composer role. Its sort of a childhood dream of mine.

Stay tuned.
Live n Love

Wavelength Guitar's 'The One'

'The One'

Dan at Wavelength Guitars and I are cooking up something special, a little thing we like to call 'The One'. The name is not for any special Sci-Fi reason but rather mainly cause calling it 'The One' was a whole lot easier then describing which one of Dan's creations we were talking about. Which one? - The One! oh That One!. Any how this Frankenstein is gonna be Bad Ass! The body is made from a super light Swamp Ash Hollow Body. So far we have installed a Mini Kaoss pad, Midi capable Pickups, a Piezo setup, Bill Lawrence Custom Noiseless Single Coil Pickups, and an Effects Send and Return loop so for example I can loop my Laptop or even my vocals or record player through the kaoss and out a separate jack or even through my floor pedals and amp! Good luck trying to figure that one out.

Special thanks to guitar maestro and electronics wizard Charlie Akeley for help with the schematics on this one. More to come! I tested out this puppy a few weeks back for the Hendrix Birthday show. It wasn't near complete - but I had to take it for a test drive. Nothing quite like a custom built instrument.

you can kind of see it here btw thats Shawn Smith - he rules!

stay tuned...

Jimi Hendrix 65th Birthday Bash!

Well there you have it James Marshall Hendrix - all I can say is if I could point to the first thing that made me want to do this (be a musician) its Jimi. The guy would make me tingle to the bone - when no one else knew what a p erson can go through Jimi knew. I must have been 12 years old when a family friend from up the street bought me my first guitar -'The Terminator' - a black g uitar with a built in speaker - the first thing I learned was The Star Spangled Banner - Jimi style. I think I learned it in a single day - then I took the guitar out back and smashed it. Ahh those were the days. I wanted to be Michael Jordan and I wanted to be Jimi Hendrix.

Well its the man's 65th Birthday - what better way to pay homage then this. Welcome to the Columbia City Theater minutes away from where Jimi grew up - he even perfromed at the theater as a teen. The bill is with The Leon Hendrix Mysterience (thats Jimi's Blood Brother) and Sammy Drain Jimi's childhood jam buddy - no joke. These guys knew Jimi in a way most of the world will ne

ver know him. But we all get a pretty amazing idea. If you ask me he is a Legend, a Prophet, a Jokester, a Genius, and one of the greatest guitar players ever to walk the earth but that aint all. So join us for Jimi Hendrix 65th Birthday Bash November 27th at the Columbia City Theater 7- Midnight.

Oh and I can't forget to add the poster you see here will be screen printed and available at the show and was vreated by the masterful John Warner.

Michael Shrieve Quintet at Tost 6.25.07 & 7.2.07

Michael Shrieve at Tost Lounge Mondays

The last few mondays I have been checking out one of my favorite all time musicians Michael Shrieve's newest project evolve at the Tost Lounge. Michael has been exploring his vast catalog of incredible recorded music each with a wonderful cast of musicians. Each week Shrieve draws from past collaborations with the likes of Bill Frisell, Andy Summers, Wayne Horvitz, and more. If you are in Seattle it is not to be missed. It is a true honor and a privilege that I have been asked- for the next two weeks - to fill in for regular guitarist Danny Godinez (a monster of a player - u must check him out I love his style so much check out The Danny Godinez Band). The band includes John Fricke on Trumpet, Farko Daumov on Bass, and Joe Doria on Organ (both my buddies from SwampDweller -www.swampdweller.com and of course Joe from ASD). Anyways I spent a few hours last night talking with Michael - late night - about what he is looking for and am excited to work on some really wonderful compositions. Michael is a real artist. He has a very special outlook on music and how he likes to perform it. As I was leaving his apartment he mentioned how important it is to play a melody and to make it sing and how if you can do this people will realize when you perform they are a part of something special - that is what music is... It's true.
A conversation with Michael about music never reaches a dull moment, it is always an honor to spend time with him in any capacity. Check out also Tangle Town anther of his newer projects.

(and fyi, yes this is the same Michael Shrieve that played at woodstock with Santana, & I would encourage any readers to dig into Michael's cd catalog (during and post santana) - more info at AMG - all music guide on the web)

More Info on my other music can be found at;
www.arisawkadoria.net - ASD stuff
www.arijoshua.com - more obscure jazz stuff
Cheers

Kent Halverson in Sky Cries Mary

Just saw my buddy Kent Halverson in Sky Cries Mary at Neumo's last night!
www.skycriesmary.com

They performed their entire new album 'small town' during the first set.
It was a super sick show with old school visuals and an old school 'early 90's' feel.
I remember being 13 listening to the radio in Seattle before nodding off...
It was local music interviews with Kim Thayhil, Eddie Vedder (giving out his phone number), Lazy Suzan, Sage, or Sky Cries Mary. I would have never thought in a million years that 12 years later a buddy of mine would be in one of those bands (Halverson)...
Well, I never thought in a million years that my friend would become People magazine's 'Most Eligable Bachelors" either (Bshorty/Blake Lewis). Two more cases of 'it could happen to you'
so drink up your dream potions and cast your magic spells - or don't... - your choice.

Music First,
Guitari

www.arijoshua.com
www.arisawkadoria.net