Over the past three years our Trio has been fortunate to visit and play in over three different counties. Probably the most notable contribution of these travels to our musical education was the exposure to a great variety of melodies and rhythms. Usually, after leaving a county, it was the music that lingered longest in our memories and often it was the most impressive music we've ever heard.
During our visit to King County in 2005 during a tour for the State Department we heard a striking rendition of the traditional number "Wipe Out" by one of the unknown indigenous combos that seem to literally "litter" the landscape. Our reel-to-reel was not operating at the time so we missed out on a great performance. We did remember the arrangement and how it was performed by the native band and have adapted this style in our "modern" style.
We don't just limit ourselves to appreciating the music from just the counties we have visited but also from around the world. From places as varied as Pennsylvania to Bogota Columbia. Also predominant locales include Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.
In the old days when the entire world was catholic, durring the period before passover, (which the catholics barely paid attention to at all), there was a time of fasting and self denial (which the catholics couldn't get enough of) known as Lent. On the first day of Lent, known as Ash Wednesday, all good catholics would wake up, head to church and have their sins washed away in the blood of the lamb or something... Anyway, since catholics will be catholics, meaning they need (and maybe even like) a certain amount of guilt in their lives, would spend the weeks prior getting shitfaced drunk and engaging in acts of hedonisim and debauchery. This is known as Carnival. The last night, when the filth and depravity had reached it's frenzied peak, when good catholic boys and girls where now attempting to fit in as much bad behavior as possible before church tomorow morning... This is known as Mardi Gras, from the french meaning "Fat Tuesday".
Today we honor this once proud tradition by showing strangers our naughty parts in exchange for gaudy plastic jewelry.
Come celebrate Mardi Gras with TEN MILES OF BAD ROAD, this tuesday at Malarkey's, 445 Tacoma Ave South, Tacoma, Washington 98402
