Gotta say, the crew put in a fine performance during our scheduled stop at Andy's Old Port Pub last month! Those folks over there are the BEST! Met some new friends who now have some CD's and then HIGHFLIER had another smooth flight back to base. Lisa Naseef sang some songs and was very well received by members of the audience and she had a great time!
That brings me to what is going on currently........LOTS! We are clearing the tower once again for a repeat performance this Wednesday, April 25th, again at Andy's, and this time there are some nice surprises in store. Lisa will be coming back to sing and this time she will be performing all of the songs on HIGHFLIER's album. Also, later in the evening, a guest performer will be there and will sing 6 original compositions two of which will be solo performances immediately followed by four more that HIGHFLIER will be backing him up on. His name is Tom and he's a fine songwriter that I'm sure you will enjoy hearing.
It will be a pretty cool evening with lots of different things, a little something to watch for and listen to for everyone. We are pretty excited about the whole thing and being able to present these other musicians and their talents. So the crew is busy getting the ol' HIGHFLIER prepped and ready and will be on time at 7:00 pm sharp. As an added little piece of 'inside' information we are currently working on our SECOND album which we hope to have ready for you in June. The ten songs we have chosen for it are now in the mixing stages and we will let you know more as we get closer to its completion. In the meantime see you at Andy's Old Port Pub
Hey there! We have filed our flight plans and will be boarding the HIGHFLIER once more this coming Wednesday, March 21st. It will be the second time we have left the mooring mast, dropped the ballast, and set our heading to Andy's Old Port Pub. Flights in the winter are tough and here in Maine March is not much different than January but the 21st IS the official first day of Spring so what better way to celebrate the turning of the season than listening to good live music!
We LOVE doing this and sharing the experience with our family and friends only makes the moment that much richer. So grab your flight jackets and help haul on the HIGHFLIER's mooring lines as we descend into the Old Port and tie down at Andy's. It looks like there will be a good tail wind so we should be starting on time at 7:00 pm and believe me the pilot, co-pilot, and navigator are ready.
Pay some close, special attention to John Hoefnagels on bass and Joe Napoleone on drums as these two great musicians provide their amazingly creative talents to HIGHFLIER's songs. Lisa Naseef will also be performing as a guest singer on a few songs so the evening is just going to be chocked full of surprises for you. So climb the HIGHFLIER'S gondola to celebrate Spring, and above all, like the crew, enjoy the RIDE!
Well! The gig at Andy's Old Port Pub in Portland was simply a sky high event for us. Everyone there was so supportive and I honestly think we surprised not only a few of the people that were there to see us perform but the venue itself seemed to be quite impressed. We had a ball and John and Joe turned in fabulous performances. If sore fingers are a sign of having a good time then I had a blast. It was so, so good to see familiar faces and a few folks were even dancing. There were musicians and non-musician alike there and they all got to see HIGHFLIER go through it pre-flight checks and then zoom off to its musical aerobatics in good form.
We've been asked to come back and play there again in the near future and I will keep you up to date on that and any other opportunities we may have in this 2018 year. We are off to a great start thanks to all of you and so are encouraged to stay the course and file flight plans as often as we are able. Thank you for joining us on our shake-down cruise and making the even a very fun and enjoyable experience. Talk soon.
WOW, Gliders, your pilot has some great news. After some inquiry, the venue owner of Andy's Old Port Pub said since it was my show I could share the stage with whomever I wanted. Know what that means? It means that this coming Monday, Feb. 12th, HIGHFLIER will be cruising in typical formation with not only John Hoefnagels (co-pilot) on bass but also Joe "Da Monsta" (navigator) drumming on the flight deck!! So we will be flying full bore as a trio after all. And we can't wait. Estimated time of departure for the first set is promptly at 7:00 pm and all are welcome aboard. I mean c'mon, it's February, the middle of the winter and a Monday night to boot. The weather is going to be good for the puddle jumper into Portland and parking will be free. A perfect night to tell that ol' grounded, grouchy Groundhog a thing or two. Hope to see you there.
Met a guy a couple of weeks ago named Tom DiMenna. Nice guy who is also a songwriter in his own right. We talked for about an hour over coffee and he informed me that he had a performance date that he wasn't able to keep and said he thought HIGHFLIER would be a good stand in to take his place for the evening of Monday, Feb. 12th. To make a long flight short he set up introductions between me and the venue owner and it was agreed that HIGHFLIER would go in and perform. The timing is great an it will be our first paid Portland, Maine performance. Now how cool is that!
It will just be John and I as a duo however so just guitar and bass but since it's a Monday night it's fine. They do book groups with drums closer to and on the weekends so this is a nice beginning to what we hope will be opportunities to be ourselves as a trio with Joe on the throne filling out the songs in his usual expert way. Looking forward to that I can assure you. John and I have been rehearsing and more than once we commented that the music just isn't the same without Joe's tasty embellishments- individually we are all good players but it takes all three of us to create HIGHFLIER.
Be that as it may, I think John and I will be well received and the full compliment of HIGHFLIER will just have to get together and blow the place away at some later date. In the meantime I have offered my recording expertise to Tom Dimenna to help him get his 12 songs well recorded as a thank you for this gigging opportunity. We'll start that process Thursday, Feb. 8th and he's really looking forward to it. I think I will start backing him up on the 12 string and down the road he and I will occasionally perform as a duo with me sitting on a stool in the back corner trying my best to help color in his music. Should be fun. He'll get an accompanist and I'll get to play more.
Well, that's it for now. There are other test flights that I'm waiting to hear back on and will keep the news coming as I get it. HIGHFLIER on the runway, over and out.........
Hey, Gliders, thought I would tell you about a recent personal victory over what could have been a rather traumatic performance setback. About a month ago I experienced a pretty severe break in my thumbnail. Oh yeah, I know, who could care about something as ridiculously petty as a broken thumb nail? In order to put this into any kind of perspective I should tell you that I don't use any artificial picks when I perform. None. So I will play and practice with HIGHFLIER for hours relying solely on my fingernails. And if something could be construed as anything in the way of ridiculous about breaking a nail it would be the RIDICULOUS habit that I seem to have of breaking one right before an important engagement.
And when it's two it creates the biggest AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGHHHH! you ever heard. Pretty serious too when my mood crashes into one of those moments when doing something I love becomes fairly ineffective. BUT! the good news is I was able to reshape what was left AAAAND nails re-grow and so, lucky for you, today I am back to my old cheery self. I even went in and did a short podcast interview at WMPG which is the University of Southern Maine's radio station. THAT'S how cheery I am! It was great to be there and as soon as the podcast airs I'll post a link.
Also, re-strung the twelve string yesterday and attended a recording session last night. Don't ever let anyone tell you that 12 strings can't hold their tuning. Few people play the darned things as it is. And probably no one who does would dare go into a studio only two hours after a restring one but I am not afraid ;-) That Taylor 355 is a great guitar! I did the guitar work and laid a vocal track on a song called "Caught Me Unaware" It may just appear on the next HIGHFLIER album now in the works but the song is also involved in a project all of its own. The idea is to use it as a test run for exploring HIGHFLIER's goal for where our sound is going. More thoughts and news on that front next time.
Thought it was time to connect with you Gliders and let you know how things are going with the band. We are still three and are still on the trail for a singer, sax player, and keyboardist. It will take these three added musicians to round out the vision I've had for the music and where I would like to take it.
Not having those that we seek has not slowed us down though. We now have our first ten song CD under our belts self titled 'HIGHFLIER: an original song band' With the first 50 individually numbered 1-50 linking the CD with their jewel case inserts. I think we may be the only ones to do this but thought it a nice touch for anyone who receives one of the first 50 copies.
We still work hard on the songs every week and every time we do we add a little something extra. It has been great to see the music evolve and just get better. John (bass), and Joe (drums) are still excited about getting 'out there' to show audiences just what we do and how well we do it and we are sure we can hold our own as an original band competing for the stage. I've been actively knocking on some doors to get the ear of the venues where we would like to perform and it's nice to have the ball in someone elses court for a change.
Talk again soon, Gliders, and I'll let you know when and where we will be performing just as soon as we know.
Dan