Cocaine Blues

[bbb]

Hi folks, here's one more classic from traditional american music from the thirties. Hope you all like it. Bruno.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0sVRl0AKtc&feature=youtu.be

[ST]

Hi Bruno,

These are really interesting interpretations of traditional songs.

I am really curious - can you tell us about the venue where you made this recording.

Thanks!

[bbb]

Hi, specifically, there were three performances in Aug. 2010, in Salvador, the capital of Bahia state, in the northeast region of Brazil. I´ve been trying to mix a few Brazilian famous songs with some air of Blues as well as picking songs like these and others like 'What a Wonderful World', etc, and trying to put something highly personal, if I may say it that way. Unfortunately, I´ve only gone through the first of these three gigs. The one mentioned before and others like 'Can´t Help Falling in Love' were not in decent shape, so I decided not put them on youtube yet. But that´s about it, to make a long story short. Honestly, I´ve been having a bit of a hard time to make myself noticed around here. It´s alright, I´ve already grown a bit of a thick skin. I´ve been fooling around with some Beatles tunes like 'Something,' Across the Universe,' Eleanor Rigby' and a few others, most of them with a bit of a personal approach, always with guitar, voice and harmonica.  Thanks for your interest, and any comments are always welcome. Bruno. 

[BenF]

Brilliant. One of the most covered songs of all time. You get the old bluesy character of it brilliantly. Cheers for sharing Bruno. I play this like John Martyn did, but I've been exploring se of the other interpretations lately. Discovering some interesting artists.

[boat]

Nice job!  Thanks.

[ST]

Hi Bruno,

This is very interesting. Thank you for telling us about it.

It looks like this could be a very nice venue (professional stage). Can you tell us about the place you were performing?  How big is it? How many people does it seat?

Thanks for the donuts.

Hi, specifically, there were three performances in Aug. 2010, in Salvador, the capital of Bahia state, in the northeast region of Brazil. I´ve been trying to mix a few Brazilian famous songs with some air of Blues as well as picking songs like these and others like 'What a Wonderful World', etc, and trying to put something highly personal, if I may say it that way. Unfortunately, I´ve only gone through the first of these three gigs. The one mentioned before and others like 'Can´t Help Falling in Love' were not in decent shape, so I decided not put them on youtube yet. But that´s about it, to make a long story short. Honestly, I´ve been having a bit of a hard time to make myself noticed around here. It´s alright, I´ve already grown a bit of a thick skin. I´ve been fooling around with some Beatles tunes like 'Something,' Across the Universe,' Eleanor Rigby' and a few others, most of them with a bit of a personal approach, always with guitar, voice and harmonica.  Thanks for your interest, and any comments are always welcome. Bruno. 

[bbb]

Hi ST, thanks for your interest. It is indeed a professional stage. Artists are supposed to submit their work and the theater organizers (it is part of the state of Bahia) elect the works based on some criteria. However, even when they provide the space and the stage, this area of Pelourinho, which is in an old part of Salvador, the capital of the state, it happens to be a very rough neighbourhood (crack users and prostitutes, scaring tourists and locals). And because these shows were done on wednesdays and, moreover, due to my meager means of advertising capabilities, I was only able to draw about 15 people to each of the performances. I believe the theater consists of a 200 seat area. Despite not having a large number of people watching, I was actually pleased with my own performance and improvement compared to previous ones. Only in hindsight, I was able to see that the state got a booked theater for three evenings in April of 2010, thus benefiting from the artists´presence, but not necessarily making it possible for the artist to benefit from it in the same way. Or should I say, we were taken for a ride, and not always a pleasant one. Therefore, with a helping hand from previous Video and Photography students (and wife on one of the cameras), I was able to have a decent video recording of the events. I´m considering making a CD compiling these songs from two of the three performances.  After all, I can´t complain. It allowed me to show what I´m able to do with my own efforts. Hope I was able to provide all the details about it. This is a link for the theater, even though everything is in Portuguese. http://www.theatroxviii.com.br/lista_guias.asp
Thanks, Bruno.

[ST]

Hi Bruno,

Thanks for all the background information.

Those 15 people were very fortunate (and brave it seems).  I think that it was very nice for you to have the opportunity to perform in this space and fortunate that you were able to capture these moments on video.  Nice work by the everyone involved there.

I think that people who perform live should have a chance to play in a space that was created for performance. So often, most often it seems, we end up making a stage area by pushing furniture out of the way. It feels that the music is an afterthought in these venues; almost a nuisance instead of a reason for being.

I liked this one Bruno.

Just like a Woman

[bbb]

    ST, I totally agree with you. The specific activity of playing in bars and venues like those, I´ve had a few throughout my life, and all I clearly remember was getting quite upset, exactly because of what you said. Instead of music being an end to itself, it becomes a shallow way in the lines of Musak, background noise, and not worthy of enough attention. Then obviously, people are chatting, and they start looking to performers as though they (the performers) were making too much noise and not letting them talk. But as they say, "the show must go on," we artists are a breed of our own, even more so when we keep struggling to reach a better level of art, and hope are eventually acknowledged somehow. Although I have to recognize the little bit of fiasco, as far as publicity stunt went in these performances, I was honestly pleased with most of them, even when I messed up a bit on lyrics and or some parts on the guitar/harmonica. Coincidentally, Just Like a Woman is one of the songs I felt I was able to pull it off and make it sound complete all the way to the end (considering the lyric slip too). It makes me feel good to hear someone like you clearly expressing that I was able to hit a mark.
     By the way, my PV 09E is coming around quite well. I know it would speak louder and better with mediums, but currently I'm with light gauge on it. Since the LV 10E is also with light gauge, I'm hoping to use it more on stage than the LV10E (which I intend to record with), and at this moment it's been playing quite well with a bone saddle I made myself. So, when I get to it, the string tension is lower then the LV10E, thus helping me feel more at ease. Once again, thanks, Bruno.