STEEL AND STRINGS (steel pan & violin duo w/ Tanya Bovaird)
AFINKE MACHINE
www.afinkemachine.com
LATEST NEWS:
BABYLON SAINTS are finishing up the debut album Reggae is my Rifle for fall 2009 release.
Afinke Machine & XE LA PAN Rock the 2009 Wichita River Festival
Panhead is in the studio working on new tracks for late 2009 release
Influences
LOVE...ACCORDING TO J. KRISHNAMURTI:
"Love is something that is new, fresh, alive. It has no yesterday and no tomorrow. It is beyond the turmoil of thought. It is only the innocent mind which knows what love is, and the innocent mind can live in the world which is not innocent...inwardly you are completely silent. Do you understand what that means? It means that you are not seeking, not wanting, not pursuing; there is no centre at all. Then there is love." (Jiddu Krishnamurti -1980)
Sounds Like
MUSIC TRACK NOTES
1. SHE GOT AWAY by: XE LA PAN
Written by: Alex Alverez aka XE LA - guitars, vocals.
Featuring: PANHEAD - steel pans, RENALDO JACKSON - congas/bongos, RYAN GONZALEZ - bass, BLAKE COLIE - drums. Produced by: XE LA & Rocco Guarino at PANROC STUDIOS, Los Angeles, CA.
2. LA LA LAND by: XE LA PAN
I met Alex Alvarez (XELA) in the middle of the USofA, in the middle of a farm at The Kansas New Music Festival. The farm was owned by the Westerman's and they were kind enough to allow a handful of us music lovers to start up a festival out there in the late '90's. XELA was on tour with his group Cow's in the Graveyard, myself Afinke Machine. We fell in love with one anothers music, vibe, spirit and have been working on projects ever since. Last year we recorded an album through the mail (snail mail), a first for both of us. We're musical compadres for life and have much, much more music to bring you. This version of LA LA LAND was recorded in Burbank, CA in Feb 2007, the two of us played all the instruments.
3. CANCAO POR RAFA
This is one of my favorite tracks that evolved from Rafael Campanile playing with Afinke Machine. He is still my favorite Brazilian musician I've played with to date. Rafa wrote this during his extended visit in Wichita. This recording is with the Panhead Music Project - recorded live at the University of LaVerne. Many thanks to Steven Biondo for hooking this performance up.
Panhead Music Project personnel:
myself - pans
John Ballinger - guitar
Beau Jarvis - piano
Tracy Arrington - bass
Donald Barrett - drums
Walter Gershone - percussion
4. PERSISTENCE OF FREEDOM
The TROUBLE CREEK Project was formed with Rocco Guarino in 1996 shortly after I returned to the states from being in Trinidad, WI. At the time we met I was living in my van and vagabonding around playing instrumental pan gigs at cafe's/coffeehouses. We meet at such a coffeehouse located in Clearwater, FL - the place, Mother's Milk became our haven for the next year as I traveled in and out of town we steadily pieced together the group that lasted for the making of one album, Blue Earth. The lyrics on this tune were written by: Alex Kirt and inspired by my stories I was sharing with him of Trinidad. Joseph "Cass" Casatelli - bass, harmony vocals, Kris Hawkins - guitar, and Ayan Williams - drums. Ayan (Reginal) was the gem in the finding for Rocco and I. We discovered Ayan in Ybor City carting his drums around in a shopping cart and hitting on the streets...it was too cold in NYC in the winter to do such a thing so he came down to Florida. If you haven't heard of Ayan, you sure have danced to his beats. The tracks on the first Salt -n- Pepper CD were all made from Ayan drum tracks, He also toured with SUN RA for years and is the godfather of the buckets, he was the main cat 30 years back replacing guns with drum sticks and buckets in street kids hands in NYC. Rocco, Ayan and I ended up squating in a cottage and later travelled to Blue Earth Studios in Harrisburg, IL to make the record in 1997.
5. 27
I posthumously dedicate this track to my Godson/Nephew R.J. Peck who died on March 26, 2004 at the age of 16 from aspiration that resulted from an epileptic seizure. R.J. (Robert Joseph) Lived in Wichita, KS & played bass in a punk band, his dream was to start his own record label. I recorded this track in 2001 with Afinke Machine, 27 was his favorite number and this composition is in 27/8 time signature.
6. BLOOD SHOT
Recorded by my band AFINKE MACHINE in Wichita, KS between 2001 and 2002. Mark Lewis (six bass pans) and I had a studio in our basement, we called in Charles Franklin (chuck) as a guest vocalist/lyricist. Chuck came on down and laid down these vocals onto the bed track I wrote. True basement recording at it's finest, no click, no hi tech equiptment, no cut and paste...simply pure passion and drive! This recording features myself on tenor and double second pans, Troy Olson - guitar/quad pans, Keith McGee - drums, David Arrocho - percussion, Mark Lewis - six bass pans and special guests Sterling Gray - Piantar and DeAndre Manning - electric bass. AFINKE MACHINE still lives in some form or another, we tend to reunite once a year for a series of gigs throughout the heartland of America.
6. CALM OF THE STORM - TORNADO SEQUENCE
This free form composition of mine was comissioned by Exploration Place in Wichita, KS. It was used as part of a tornado simulation piece in the theatre of theirs. At the end of the piece is a very, very rare moment, hearing me play traditional drum kit, I totally rock out the swing style...pure adrenaline. Somewhere in the agreement of me selling this I was lead to believe that I could still use it for promotional purposes...I hope they don't arrest me for posting it here on myspace.
don't get me wrong but i like better ur new name hehehe congrats on the upcoming album, i cant wait to have a copy!! as for my break, well.. i'm moving to Playa del Carmen!! so, you tell me!! lol =)
well, they got me going crazy ya know :( the 25th is my last day! but i'll just have a week off, cause im starting again june 2!! this school thing is just.. BORING! hahah anyway, im starting to record a demo around those dates too.. so ima need ur address to send it to you!! we're making a really cool fusion.. its something like lady gaga meets reggae!! i cant wait to start working on it!! woot woot!!
Hey PANHEAD, yeah you guys did such a great job that night, I'm definitely going to come back to California just to catch another show since you'll didn't have your album there to sell:( I have all the song on my page though. But keep in touch I'm a promoter out here on the east coast hopefully I can get you guys out here.
i am flying into boston may 1-4 for a hardcourt bicycle polo tournament. after that i was thinking about visiting wichita for a day or two. how long will you be there?
It's been a long time, my friend. I hope that you've been well and happy and enjoying the adventure of life, one marvelous moment at a time!
Lots of exciting things happening for this daughter of the sun! I'll be writing another blog some time soon (at least that's the plan) and will let you know when that's done.
In the meantime, please come for a visit real soon and let me know what's going on in your world. Have a glorious weekend!
