Videos
Here's some videotape from various stages over the years, including the prestigious venue of my kitchen and living room.
The band arrived in Montreal to the aftermath of a snowstorm which this winter invincible city had cleaned up in no time. For us "southerners," it was bone-numbingly cold outside that night, but we got things heated up real quick after taking to the stage at the Katacombes.
MMM BLUES 2015, Montreal:
The Downtown Shimmy (RIP) performed our spin on Ray Charles' "I Don't Need No Doctor" as dancers performed a choreography they arranged to it. After months rehearsing to our recording, this was the first time they danced to a live band--and the first time we played to a prepared choreography. It was hard to focus on playing with the moves getting thrown down on the dance floor...
One morning after The Downtown Shimmy woke up in Montreal on tour.... Josh Fialkoff (vocals) Frank Velardo (guitar) Matt Keppler (bass) Alex Maio (tambourine) Ansel Barnum (harmonica) Thanks to our gracious hostess Tanya for putting up with our shenanigans!
My 'backing track' is courtesy of Mr. Jacob do Bandolim who I'm trying to keep up with in this classic choro tune. The harmonica is a G diatonic played in 1st position.
Here is a musical collage from a night we were the featured artist at Burlap & Bean's open mic. Jason Hahn on guitar, Ansel Barnum on harmonica.
It was New Years Eve, and I had no date to spend it with, so I kissed my harmonica instead to usher in 2013 with this timeless folk song. The lyrics, furnished by a poem of Robert Burns, never seem to fade either: Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind ?
MUSIKFEST 2008, LIEDERPLATZ STAGE, BETHLEHEM PA As a winner of the Godfrey Daniels Open Mic contest, I got 15min of fame in the Musikfest spotlight. Here I'm performing Le Festin (from Ratatouille), accompanied by the great songwriter Sharon Abott. Played on a standard Richter-tuned diatonic harmonica.
Another Invention butchered on the harp (sorry Bach!). I had to do some octave wrapping with a few passages that fell off the bottom of the harp, but the rest of the piece is played "loco."
More apologies to Bach!
MUSIKFEST 2008, LIEDERPLATZ STAGE, BETHLEHEM PA As a winner of the Godfrey Daniels Open Mic contest, I got 15min of fame in the Musikfest spotlight. Here I'm performing Dvorak's Humoresque a la Chet Atkins, accompanied by the great songwriter Sharon Abott. Played on standard Richter-tuned diatonic harmonicas.
This choro of Pixinguinha's is a classic that musicians often shred their chops over at blazing speeds. But on the diatonic harmonica, merely playing at "normal" speed is a challenge unto itself. I had to throttle the backing track here down to 70% speed!