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Poppy's Forum
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| Viewing Page 1 of 1 (Total Posts: 6) |
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Paul Sanchez
 Jun 19, 08 - 12:44 AM |
rehearsing for the gig at the Joint in Los angeles with Shamarr Allen and john Boutte
playing next week out West with my two good friends and while I wish folks from around the country could be there, I wanted to share the story of reheasal We scheduled for twelve so I knew it would be a one o'clock rehearsal. I had to call Boutte an hour and a half before because I knew he would have forgotten about rehearsal. I knew to call Shamarr an hour before because he is young, busy, a father, has a lot of girlfriends to keep up with and though I love him, he digs late. Boutte' answered the phone pretending to be asleep. It was eleven o'clock, I've known him for twelve years and he rarely sleeps past nine. Yawning, he said, "Rehearsal? What day was 'dat baby? Today? Let me wash my ass an' I'll be over by one" Shamarr answered, " Wassup? I'm in Baton Rouge pickin' up fliers but I'll be back by one or one thirty." Perfect, we're right on schedule. I don't know how well some of you know Boutte but he is one of the slowest moving humans on the planet. I waited for him on my balcony on Esplanade and he arrived at ten after one in his giant 67' Cadillac, if you can picture that tiny man behind the wheel of such a monster. I watched him take a full minute to park and another, perhaps two minutes to emerge from his car. He was wearing his old summer Stetson, a bright orange Hawaiian shirt, orange striped seersucker pants and bright orange, (though not matching the shirt), Crocs and carrying his old battered trumpet case. Walking the fifty feet to my building took as long as the average person takes to go to the bank and back. We waited for Shamarr, who I hoped wouldn't be so late that John would split before he got there,and John played some trumpet for me. We have a deal, I'm working on my guitar playing and he is working on his trumpet. Neither of us are looking for mastery, just to give a little something back to the guys that play with us. I played some songs while John showed me stuff he was working on. To watch John Boutte' play trumpet is like seeing a Creole Popeye, one eye closed and face scrunched up in focus, about to burst a cheek like Dizzy Gillespie as a Looney Tunes cartoon. Shamarr showed up a respectable twenty minutes late with his six year old son and the son of Dinneral Shavers in tow. Dinneral was a drummer for The Hot Eight Brass Band and a high school music teacher who was shot and killed in one of the many random acts of violence that American cities are known for and that have become all too common place here in New Orleans since the flood. It was the first time these two guys were to get together and really pay attention to each other as players and people and John was clearly touched by knowing how Shamarr has cared for Dinneral jr. since that time and by bringing him to rehearsal. I have a big balcony and the boys had a good time chilling safely out of ear shot from Boutte and his salty tounge. One of the reasons for rehearsal is to get a feel for how to back them both up. I've backed John up for years and Shamarr many times in the last two years but they have very different styles and I needed to feel how to back them up at the same time and make it feel like one. The other reason is that Shamarr and John have never really played a gig together besides one with me and they needed to get a feel for each other. I had a set list ready and was set to get to work. Boutte, on the other hand, wanted to show Shamarr his trumpet work so he was determined to play trumpet on every song. The end result being that between his Popeye face and his still becoming trumpet playing, Shamarr was laughing as much as he was playing. Boutte was playing his Popeye trumpet and not singing and I was watching my one rehearsal go by in what looked like chaos and kidding around. My attempts to get Boutte to stop playing the horn and sing only resulted in louder blasts on the trumpet. Shamarr was no help because he likes playing the trumpet and teaching so he was showing John stuff and encouraging him to play more which would be all well and good if we had a month but we have a week and knowing John I knew he had no intention of playing the trumpet on a gig just yet. When John did sing he was changing all the words so they were dirty limericks, further frustrating my attempts at a "serious" rehearsal. It wasn't until later that I realized this was their way of getting to know each other. They didn't need to play the music, they are both great and will be on that night. They needed to find out what made the other cat laugh, where his heart was so they'd know where each other's music was coming from. The whole business of me trying to motivate Boutte to focus was the funniest thing of all for Shamarr, he said that we should forget about playing the show and try to get a reality show for me and John so folks could listen to us fuss with each other. In the end it was a good rehearsal in that they have a sense of what to expect from each other musically and I know I have a lot of work to do between now and next week. But really, I wish you could have seen it. red bean and ricely yours, Sanchmo |
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Joy
Jun 19th, 2008 - 8:25 AM |
Re: rehearsing for the gig at the Joint in Los angeles with Shamarr Allen and john Boutte
Kinda like hearding cats. |
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healey
Jun 19th, 2008 - 11:17 AM |
Re: rehearsing for the gig at the Joint in Los angeles with Shamarr Allen and john Boutte
The picture that you painted of John in that boat of a car and an outfit only he can pull off will get me through today. I miss that beautiful man. Thank you. |
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Simon
Jun 19th, 2008 - 12:04 PM |
Re: rehearsing for the gig at the Joint in Los angeles with Shamarr Allen and john Boutte
We need a picture of him getting out of the car. |
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Mark H
Jun 19th, 2008 - 4:21 PM |
Re: rehearsing for the gig at the Joint in Los angeles with Shamarr Allen and john Boutte
Poppy: Someone needs to collect all these stories that you keep posting and publish them as a set. They are priceless. Your life appears to be a one man reality show that you capture perfectly in words. No wonder you are a songwriter. |
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Joy
Jul 9th, 2008 - 9:47 AM |
Re: rehearsing for the gig at the Joint in Los angeles with Shamarr Allen and john Boutte
Did anyone make it out to this show? Any reviews? I'm sure it was fun. |
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