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Newsletter
Newsletter - December 2001
8th Record and Prospects
for the 2002 Season
Mixing has been virtually
completed on Bruce's eighth record (seventh studio record), which is as
yet untitled. Recorded entirely at two studios, Bruce's home studio in
Virginia and the fabled Electric Lady Studios in New York (although the
music, regrettably bears no resemblance to Jimi Hendrix's "Electric
Ladyland" or the Butthole Surfers "Electric Larryland"),
the record features almost no piano. Bruce and producer Dave "Mercedes" Bendeth,
southpaw A&R phenom bonus baby industry hopeful, decided to explore
other, supposedly more exotic keyboard textures, recalling Wayne Fontana
in his prime. Song titles include "Sticks &
Stones", "Cartoons and Candy", "Take Out The Trash", "Try
Anything Once", "Big Swing Face",
"So Out", "No Home Training" and "The Chill".
The album is slated for late May release, to be preceded and followed by
the usual dog-and-pony show designed to awaken the slumbering and generally
indifferent masses to apprise them of its existence.
Dates are already being
booked for the months of July and September 2002, including most of the
band's standard haunts and also exploring newer territory, including a
lengthy run of college dates. Already on the books is an appearance at
the Old Settler's Bluegrass Festival on April 20th in Austin, TX where
J.V. Collier's pink blo-fro will be in evidence.
Also on the radar screen
is the commencement of recordings for the Bruce Hornsby with Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky
Thunder bluegrass album. Initial plans have the musicians coming together
for a week in March to record a few songs, then picking up again in the
fall to continue and hopefully finish for an early to mid-2003 release.
2001 Re-cap
T.V. Appearances
In January, Bruce and
Ricky Skaggs played their version of "Darlin' Corey"(from Ricky's
Bill Monroe tribute record "Big Mon") on Conan O'Brien and the
Tonight Show. The appearances included Bruce's first time on Conan (and,
yes, Conan is maybe even a little taller than and more perfidious than
Bruce) and his seventh Tonight Show turn.
In July, Bruce and the
band made their second appearance within the year on the Weekend Today
show, taped outdoors at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. This performance
was way more enjoyable for the group because, as opposed to their previous
appearance in December 2000, they actually had feeling in their fingers
as they played.
Other Records
Chris Whitley, in Bruce's
mind one of the greatest and most unsung artists of the last ten years,
was calling Bruce to tell him how much he liked the live Noisemakers album
when conversation turned to Chris' new record Rocket House (Bruce loves
to talk about himself and receive accolades, plaudits and laudatory remarks,
but decided this time to be curious about his friend's recent activities).
Chris said,
"I wish you could play on this, but I just finished it."
Bruce said, "That's OK, Chris, I could still play on it."
Chris then said, "I'll send you the finished record and you can just
overdub onto it, or play some intros or outros." So Bruce wound up on
the song "Radar", making a cameo appearance playing a solo electric
piano intro for about twenty seconds.
He plays a bit longer on old friend Patti Scialfa's upcoming solo record,
having recorded a quick piano overdub right before soundcheck on the afternoon
before the August Red Bank, NJ show. Watch for the release to see if they
actually used his part.
NBA Finals
For the third consecutive
year, Bruce played the National Anthem for the NBA Finals, this time Game
Four in Philadelphia, where Axl Rose was seen ululating and undulating
to the strains of the grand old tune.
Spring Week
The band played five
shows during the last weeks of April, including three shows in Florida,
a show in Gadsden, AL with the Etowah Youth Symphony and a Charlotte, NC
date opening for Widespread Panic. Bruce sat in with the Widespread boys
for ye olde one-chord jam as drummer Bonny Bonaparte sat wide-eyed and
in disbelief. Bonaparte's subsequent comments to Bruce in the catering
tent led to new sonic explorations that influenced the summer tour and
made sound man Wayne Dagle's job even more difficult than it had been previously.
Bruce also played a few solo shows, in the late winter-spring, including
an opening solo piano slot with the String Cheese Incident at the Fillmore
in Denver, and opening the brand new Harriet Himmel Gilman Theater in West
Palm Beach, FL, where a possibly unprecedented incident occurred - a fight
broke out in the middle of a solo piano concert between a taper and a man
talking during the concert. Bruce sided with the taper.
Summer Tour
The band played the
summer concert run that didn't happen in 2000 because of Bruce's last Other
Ones tour, and it was great to return to some of the usual spots after
a two-year absence. Highlights included a guest appearance by Bruce Springsteen,
playing "Cadillac Ranch"
with the band at the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, NJ; Steve Kimock sitting
in all night at the second Villa Montalvo night, a truly special and musical
night; and five appearances by R.S.Hornsby, Bruce's nephew and gifted young
guitarist. Almost all shows were recorded, and many pictures of the band's
occasional face-making show opener were taken.
RCA Records For Years
Bruce re-signed with
RCA in August 2001, after sixteen years with the label, ensuring a probable
twenty-year run, a rare lengthy stay for an artist with a major label.
This contract enables Bruce to record various types of records, and not
just your standard "collection of songs"
over and over. Future recording projects include: the 8th record, a Ricky & Bruce
bluegrass record, more live albums (one from Burlington VT, November 2000
and possibly the Villa Montalvo show with Steve Kimock), a piano and strings
record of songs, a solo piano record, a live solo piano record and a jazz
record.
Broken Wrist
On September 29 in Virginia
Beach, VA Bruce was bicycle riding with his family when, in attempting
to avoid hitting a son riding out in front of him, flew over the handlebars
and broke his wrist in two places. Novel therapy methods including arm-wrestling,
hand-stands, jello baths and Wesson Oil parties ensure a fine recovery.
Christmas Shows
Bruce will play two
shows with Bruce Springsteen December 7 and 8 at the Asbury Park Convention
Center, Asbury Park, NJ. Bruce H. will play some solo piano songs and sit
in with the band on some others, making his first public appearance since
the wrist injury.
Bruce Hornsby Newsletter - January 2001
The Other Ones
Bruce played his last show with The Other Ones on December 30 and 31, 2000
in Los Angeles and Oakland, CA, having decided in October to stop touring
with the band. He has developed an increasing interest in concentrating
on his own music and has been trying to get less involved in outside projects.
He leaves with love and great feelings for all of the band members, ten
years of singular memories, and will always feel like a close "first cousin" to
Bob, Mick, and Billy (and Phil, for that matter). It's been and long and
beautiful trip.
Here Come the Noisemakers
Bruce and his band (increasingly referred to as the Noisemakers, although
we generally call them Pantload, Spankula, Generica, or Black Manilow) toured
for three weeks in November to support the new live album. Highlights:
- A 45-minute long concert TV show recorded in SF sponsored by the radio
station KFOG. We don't know how anyone is supposed to see this show, but
we hope it is somehow widely broadcast because the band felt strongly about
the performance.
- New old friend Steve Kimock sitting in at the Berkeley (CA) Community
Theatre, turning ten-minute long songs into fifteen minute long songs.
- A TV appearance on "Regis Live", where the bassist J.V. donned a pink Blow-Fro
wig, much to the amazement and glee of fellow guest Larry Fishburne and Regis
himself, who introduced the estimable, esteemed, and eschewed bassist as "my
co-host for tomorrow!"
- The Flynn Theatre concert in Burlington, VT where R.S. Hornsby, guitar-playing
nephew to the Star and King, was dubbed "fastest fingers on the frets" by
the local musicological intelligentsia as he intoned languorously all night
while his three-freak entourage played Crazy Eights on stage, blowing him
off completely.
- The Oakland Theatre show in Wallingford, CT where ESPN stalwart and
bulwark Chris Berman offered to sing the Brown University fight song to
the tune of "The
End of the Innocence" and tour manager Jon Martin stood aghast.
- The Berklee College of Music (one of Bruce's many alma maters) Performance
Center concert, where the band played a solid 2:45 set performing not one
Bruce hit or Dead cover; one of the best shows of the tour, appreciated
by true aficionados who comprised the majority of the sold out-house.
- Ending the tour in Charlotte, NC at the Belk Theatre, a new favorite
Band venue (25% of the live album comes from the 1999 Belk show).
- Freezing their collective hindquarters off on the weekend Today Show,
playing three songs in 28-degree weather outdoors at Rockefeller Plaza.
Steve Kimock proved his undying devotion by showing up to say hi at the
5:30 AM sound check.
Austin City Limits
On December 13, the band taped "Austin City Limits" in Austin, TX. This performance
marked the third appearance on the show for the post-Range BH band (BH and the
R never played on the show). The three songs the
"made the cut" are either "Jacob's Ladder" or "Sunflower Cat," "Rainbow's
Cadillac," featuring young and old Austin lovelies undulating on
stage for the people and "The Way It Is", the first TV performance
of that song since the January 1987 "Saturday Night Live" version.
And this new one is a lot better. The show should be broadcast in
February or March on PBS.
McGwire Foundation
Bruce contributed a new song to "Close to Home," a new documentary produced by
the Mark McGwire Foundation for Children. The song, "Dreamland,"
will be the end title piece capping a musical score written by longtime
close friend, collaborator, and former Range guitar player Peter
Harris.
Ricky and Bruce and Conan
On January 9, Bruce joined Ricky Skaggs and the Kentucky Thunder for
a stroll down the banks of the deep blue sea on "Darling Cory" on the Conan O'Brien show.
Conan, looking Bruce in the eye at 6'4", issued the one-on-one challenge,
which will surely be met with great force and intensity.
New Studio Record
After wondering where the time went in 2000 (it went into the Keith Jarrett
tribute song, the Bill Monroe tribute song, the Spike Lee
"Bamboozled" end-title song, producing and mixing "Here Come the
Noisemakers,"
playing the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, the JVC New York City Jazz
Festival, Saratoga JVC Jazz Festival, Roanoke Symphony Show, Kentucky
Troubadour Series, West Virginia University solo piano concert, Tony
LaRussa benefit, the Other Ones rehearsals and tour, the Noisemakers
tour and TV appearances...) Bruce began again in earnest on the seventh
studio record, working with Dave Bendeth, RCA Records A&R Big Shot
at the production helm. All that can be said at this time with total
certainty is that new areas and directions will be explored, and
experimentation is in the air.
Upcoming Gigs
Solo piano concert on February 2 in Palm Beach, FL... February 15 marks
the first time Bruce will open solo piano for the String Cheese Incident
in Denver, CO... and an August run of dates is in the works.
Last Newsletter Via USPO
This January 2001 newsletter will be the last to be distributed by the
USPO, ending a fourteen-year Mom-and-Pops run. The ubiquitous nature
of the internet (it's also cheaper and more efficient) plus the desire
not to add to anyone's junk mail if they're not really interested, has
made us come to the decision that the newsletter will now be available
only via the Bruce Hornsby website. Bruce, a complete computer illiterate,
will now be forced to learn the bare minimum to see what he is supposedly
doing!
Come visit at BruceHornsby.com
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