10 August - Current Board Situation

These are the two pedalboards I'm using these days. They are essentially the same layout (Tuner > Overdrive > Reverb > Delay), but the reverb and delay pedals on the top board offer additional modulation that can be blended into the signal. This board is also the one I tend to use for live performances. You'll notice the tuner pedal is placed a bit more off to the right of the others so I'm less likely to hit it by accident when switching the overdrive on or off. Stepping on the tuner mutes the sound completely. Good when tuning, but not so much partway through a song.

9 August - Progress

Just a quick post to mark the fact that as of this afternoon, the basic tracks (rhythm guitars, bass, and drums) are done for all five songs that will be appearing on the next release. A couple of them have additional tracks completed as well, but the point is they are all ready for vocals.

27 July - Odd

It is a strange feeling to not have any performances booked for the remainder of the year. I drove down to Southern Connecticut this past week to reunite (after a nearly three year gap) with my Prestons partner Bill. We had a blast, and made tentative plans to play out again next year sometime. But to not have anything definite scheduled for the next five months is just plain weird.

17 July - Gig Photo

Played a great show last night despite the heat and humidity, which was oppressive. Our friend Hannah was in the front row, and got this very nice photo of us. We really did have a pretty good crowd, but the audience planted themselves well back in the shade. Sensible.

13 July - New Bass

Trundled some neglected/superfluous gear down to a favorite shop this week to see what it'd be worth in store credit. But then I found myself suddenly dashing back to the house partway through the process to fetch my old bass to swap as well. You see, I took this one off the rack while I was there and it started purring. So, yeah. Got a new bass, and I can't begin to tell you how much fun this one is to play. And because I ended up going home with fewer items than I'd brought in, it still counts as downsizing. 

9 July - Show Poster

1 June - Here We Go Again

The Group DeVille Trio has agreed to come out of retirement in order to fill the scheduling void left when The Mistress Miriam Show became unable to play the Angel Park Concert Series on July 16th. One of those "never say never" moments, perhaps? Anyway, the three of us met up yesterday morning over coffee and decided to have a gig. It'll be fun. It always is.

28 May - Disappointment

This has not been a good past couple of months for The Mistress Miriam Show. We are on indefinite hold at the moment, as our namesake finds herself unable to perform. No, I am not going to discuss any details here. Suffice to say we will be reassessing the future of The Show at some point this Autumn, but we have had to cancel our remaining appearances for the year. I wish there was a more hopeful take on this, but none of us can say when or if the situation will change.

4 May - Changes

That show that got postponed from April to June? The venue needs to reschedule us again, due to the owner now needing to be away on the date. This will all get sorted, just a matter of when. We and she are hoping to establish a regular rotation/residency for us there, so we're all working together to make this happen. I'll post the news when everything's settled.

3 May - Last Minute Promo

If any of you would like to hear what this particular Strat sounds like, I will be melting faces with it tonight at Luthiers Co-op in Easthampton, Massachusetts. Come on out and experience The Mistress Miriam Show. Our set begins at 8pm.

25 April - July Date Announced

We have just confirmed a July 16th appearance at the annual Angel Park concert series in Williamsburg, Massachusetts. Angel Park is a lovely memorial garden in the town center, and it's a great place for some live music on a Summer evening. You should come out.

3 April - Show Postponed

The Studio 30 show has been postponed until June 21st, due to April 5th now being a national day of protest. Many folks around here will be participating either locally or traveling elsewhere, so the venue decided to move the Mistress Miriam event to a date that will hopefully be better for everyone. We support this decision. The sad fact is this is what comes from having booked the show before last November's election. 

1 April - Rabbit Rabbit

Really looking forward to rehearsal tonight, and our show this coming Saturday. Not looking forward to the inevitable April Fools Day nonsense today, and am hoping that folks dial it back a bit this year. Read the room, people.

24 March - A Goodbye

The phone rang shortly after 1am this morning, with the news that my Mom had died. She was 97. Mom had been in Assisted Living for the past two years, and despite their excellent care, she was slowly being crushed by the weight of dementia. At some point she stopped being the person we had known, and had become a small stranger raging at her situation. She was moved to the Memory Care wing last year, and began Hospice Care a few months back. Their visits increased as her final days drew near. But now for her the war is over, and she's at rest.

I'm grateful that she still knew who I was during most visits, and also for the rare and fleeting moments of clarity that she sometimes had. During what was to be our last real conversation, Mom told me she had finally come to terms with leaving this world for whatever came next. That was this past Tuesday. We stopped by again on Saturday. She was no longer conscious by then, just a ghost in the departures lounge.

There will be no services or funeral. At some point we will place her ashes, along with my Dad's, into the sea off the coast of Maine, as per their wishes. Maine was where their happiest memories were formed. As for me, I will keep my memories of them everywhere. 

16 March - Gig Announcement

I'm not on any of the Meta platforms, but our publicist still is, so the word is out about the April show on FB. Insta as well, for all I know. Anyway, if you're in the 413, you should get on the email list for Studio 30 and get advance word about the venue's events. It's a great room, and we love playing there.

15 March - Another Board

After I had reconfigured the main gigging board (see earlier post), these leftover pedals were languishing in a drawer. They seemed sad. Electro Harmonix recently introduced a 15" wide "picoboard," and I wondered if, instead of trading them all in on other stuff, these five pedals would fit. Lined 'em up and measured. Ordered the board. Everyone's happy again.

13 March - New Promo Selfie

23 February - Told Ya

22 February - Day Off

No work to do and no errands to run today, but instead of just lounging about the house, I have decided to visit a couple of favorite local music stores. One of them recently moved into a new location, a building they purchased last year. This will be my first chance to go see what the new digs are like. And the other shop has a pedal in stock which interests me, because it would serve the same purpose as two pedals I currently own. As you know, I am in favor of fewer things to stomp during performances.

So yes. I strongly suspect my next post will be about yet another change to the main pedalboard.

6 February - Success

The recent change in pedal order and placement worked like an absolute charm at our recent gig. Practically silent noise floor, and an improved ease of on-and-offing* during live performance. Very pleased.

*Technical term I just invented.

22 January - Impermanence

It turns out that my idea for more clarity in the pedal order did not prove itself in the real world the way we expected it to in the lab. After last night's rehearsal, I decided to tweak things again. Delays were swapped back between the two boards and the reverb and preamp places changed on the main board. This seems much better to my ears this morning.

Of course what all this messing about really proves is the reason I (like many players) use Velcro for attaching pedals to boards. Change is often required of us. We need stability, but we also need impermanence. I shudder to think how things would be if we had to use glue to hold our pedals down.

19 January - MLK Day Eve

It was a pleasant enough temperature in my unheated attic studio today to get some practice in. During the winter months, I usually just move gear around in the main part of the house. It's not a big deal, but I don't like cluttering up the living space, so I pack it all back up again once I've put in the time. Today it was a treat to just plug the Tele into the little studio Ampeg and work on some new material for a bit.

And apart from honoring the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. tomorrow, there's nothing else going on that's worth mentioning. I mean Tuesday we have rehearsal, but that's about it.

15 January - Pedalboards Update

All I really did was swap the two delay pedals, but it's still a change, and needs to be documented for future historians (yes, I am laughing as I type this).

8 January - First Rehearsal

Our first practice session of 2025 was yesterday evening. It was good to be together again, and we had fun narrowing down which new songs to get ready for the February show. I brought a pleasantly trimmed-down set of gear along: my Telecaster, the three-pedal board, and my little five-watt tweed amp. Wonderfully simple.

We've decided for now to keep the show in its current form: Mistress Miriam out front, with Rachael and yours truly as a supporting string section, sans drums. One advantage of not having a drummer is that we can practice and perform at a volume that's quite a bit lower than when someone was behind the kit. Don't worry, we still make a sound that fills the room. We hope you'll come out this year and hear for yourself.

1 January - Here We Go

Well, it's the first day of 2025 and we've been enjoying a quiet day at our house. Looking forward to more studio projects this year, as well as performing for you with The Mistress Miriam Show. Stay tuned.