Music at the Tin Star Saloon

Nora McMahon at the Tin Star Last Night

2008-05-23T08:30:00.015-06:00

Tony was our host last night while Nora, Case, and Milton played at the Tin Star.

Click any picture to enlarge, click the play button to listen to the music.

The bar slowly filled up until it was packed, at 1:00 in the morning...

Case is a pretty damn good bass player.

Milton has a nice jazz touch on percussion.

Nora's new guitar sounded great. Nice and mellow: like her voice. Here she is doing a Jimmy Cliff song, Many Rivers To Cross.
Later on, I joined them for a set. We did one of my favorite songs of hers: Postcard.

Upon insistence from the crowd, Nora agreed to one last song, at about 1:00am: Ain't No Sunshine.

If you missed Nora last night, you can catch her tonight at the Savoy Bar and Grill in Albuquerque, and Saturday evening on June 7 at the Second Street Brewery in Santa Fe.

You can always see her play schedule on her home page, NoraMcMahon.com. You can also check out some of her other music there.

Later,

--Doug

Wednesday's 5-21 Tin Star Jam

2008-05-22T13:54:00.010-06:00

Tune first.

Click any picture to enlarge, click the play button to listen to the music.

Then play.

Ray likes it that way.

That's how Tony C'de Baca prefers it as well.

Jim approves.

One of Tom's tunes.

Linda was tuned.

The bar seemed happy about this tune led by Ben.

More to come, stay tuned.

--Doug

Nora McMahon at the Tin Star This Thursday

2008-05-19T08:10:00.002-06:00

Come on out to see Nora and Case this Thursday evening at 9:00 at the Tin Star. Also check out her new web page:

http://noramcmahon.com

--Doug

Look Who's Reading the Tin Star Music Blog!

2008-05-15T16:25:00.004-06:00

I just checked on where people who read this blog are coming from. Check it out.

--Doug

Click to enlarge

Wednesday's 5-14 Tin Star Jam

2008-05-15T14:45:00.025-06:00

Well...

Things started off normally enough. By 9:30 there was a full house.

Click any picture to enlarge, click the play button to listen to the music.

The music began fairly smoothly with a jazzy funk number.

Plenty of gorgeous women were in the audience.

Freddie "Suave" Lopez introduced himself to one of those gorgeous women to make sure she knew about his band's gig Saturday at Willee's Blues Club. In fact, you all should go see The Rue Barbs*, this Saturday evening at Willee's!

I seldom look at the men, but I'm sure there were plenty of gorgeous men there too.

We had trumpets!

Frank's old horn has a few miles on it.

As the evening wore on though, in spite of our best efforts and Laura's hostess skills

the music never came together. None of our drummers showed up, and that left a big hole. When you read this, you drummers, (I know, I know. But some drummers can read. Really. Don't listen to those vicious rumors about drummers. Most of them are just plain false.); you need to realize that you were missed. I hope you can make it next week. You know who you are...

Until next time (hopefully with a drummer or three),

--Doug

*The Rue Barbs: THE TROUBADOR, THE HUNK, THE GEEZER, THE ACTOR & THE ROAD MAN..

Sunday Night's "Cowboy" Open Mic

2008-05-13T13:36:00.011-06:00

We had cowboys.

We had cowgirls.

We had a guy with a guitar and a guy with a wind-midi. That's an instrument that you blow into, and a computer makes it sound like whatever you want: sax, clarinet, keyboard; whatever.

And we played some music together.

Here's one that we had some fun with: have a listen.

Until next time,

--Doug

Steppen' Out Tonight!

2008-05-10T11:32:00.001-06:00

Come on out to the Tin Star tonight to listen to Steppen' Out. See you there!

Rough Gems

2008-05-09T10:18:00.007-06:00

The thing that I really enjoy about the Jams is the fact that every once in a while an experiment turns out to actually have sounded pretty good. You can't really tell how a number sounds when you are up on stage playing. I mean, you can tell when it really stinks, but you can't tell if it's any good.

The next day when I'm listening to the recordings from the previous evening I am occasionally surprised to find a number or two that hold together quite well. Realize that in a jam, you frequently have a group of people of various skill levels that have never played together, playing something for the first time.

Those rough gems are never as polished as what you would hear in a regular gig, but sometimes they are just good enough to let you hear the potential for a good piece of music.

That's what keeps me going back to the jams.

--Doug

Wednesday, 5-7 Tin Star Jam

2008-05-08T08:50:00.013-06:00

It was quiet night, for a change. We had a good collection of musicians, but not too many visitors to the bar. The music kind of reflected this. Check out this nice little piece in G-minor, with Allen on guitar, Ben Lucero on bass, Freddie on harp, Russell on trumpet, Lena on Conga, Joe with percussion, Ben on drums, and me on sax.

UPDATE, 6:48pm, 5-8-2008!! I found another rough gem buried in the pile of experimental leavings from last night. Juan Ortega led us off on a nice little bit of country boogie woogie early on in the evening that I just now had a chance to listen too. Yes, we were having fun. Check it out. Juan will be leading a Sunday night "Cowboy Jam" at the Tin Star -- I'll post more on that when I have more information.

Click any picture to enlarge, click on any link for the music.

Later,

--Doug

Steppen' Out at the Tin Star Last Saturday

2008-05-07T10:04:00.008-06:00

We left Willie's to head on over to the Tin Star to catch Tony Buford and Steppen' Out.

Click any picture to enlarge, click on any link for the music.

"Harmonica Mike" Handler sat in with them for a number.

Murali & Jen did the "guitar nasty" together.

The band sounded good. Take a listen to this number.

Later,

--Doug

The Santa Fakers!

2008-05-04T20:55:00.008-06:00

So, we dropped in to Willee's to listen to the Santa Fakers Saturday night.

Click any picture to enlarge, click on any link for the music.

"Freaky" Freddy Lopez, who sometimes comes out to the Wednesday Tin Star jam was in fine form.

My buddy John Curtis drums for the Fakers.

We didn't have time to stay very long, but they invited me to sit in for a number or two anyhow, and when they started one of my favorite Johnny Cash songs -- Your own Personal Jesus, I jumped right in.

Take a listen.

The Santa Fakers have a great sound, and are a lot of fun. I hope to see them playing in town again soon. Thanks for letting me sit in, guys!

--Doug

A busy Saturday Night

2008-05-04T00:17:00.002-06:00

There will be a couple of blog posts coming up in a day or two: we stopped in to visit with the Santa Fakers at Willie's last night, and then went over to the Tin Star to catch Tony Buford and Steppen' Out. I'm out of town for a few days, but I'll get those posts up as soon as I can.

--Doug

Steppen' Out this Saturday at the Tin Star

2008-05-01T14:32:00.001-06:00

Come on out to the Tin Star this Saturday evening to listen to Tony Buford and his band Steppen' Out!

Wednesday's 4-30 Tin Star Jam

2008-05-01T11:56:00.024-06:00

Tin Star Jam, April 30th.

Click any picture to enlarge, click on any link for the music.

The bar was already filling up with people when I got there at 8:30.

The Tin Star is a friendly place, as I've probably mentioned before.

Dr. Phil was his usual cheerful self. Mike looks a little grumpy, tho.

I was just kidding. We're always glad when Mike Montiel drops by the Jam.

I'm told that this symbol means "Foundations".

The foot belongs to one of the conga players.

We finally got around to playing some music. Ben, in one of his Y.Que band shirts.

Pete

Prakash

Linda

Jonathan Romero led us off on this nice blues piece in G minor.
Take a listen.

Tom Kendrot did The Wonder, a song he wrote a while back. Harmonica Mike, Ben and I took a few turns on solos somewhere in the middle of it.

Finally, here's one more number in A minor that Ben led off.

People seemed to be enjoying the music.

I hope you enjoyed the pictures and the music. See you next time.

--Doug

No Post for this Wednesday's Jam

2008-04-21T19:22:00.003-06:00

Unless somebody else wants to write it -- I'll be DC this week.

--Doug

Nora McMahon at the Tin Star, Thursday, 4-17

2008-04-18T09:23:00.014-06:00

A colorful crowd had collected at the Tin Star last night by the time the band had finished setting up.

Click any picture to enlarge, click on any link for the music.

Nora

Case

Milton

Nora invited me to sit in with them for a few numbers. We did one of my favorites of hers, Postcard.

Case and me sharing a musical moment during another favorite, an old Peggy Lee song named Fever.

Thanks for letting me join you again, guys!

Nora and Case will be at the Second Street Brewery this Saturday evening, 5:30 - 8:00, come on out!

--Doug

Wednesday's 4-16 Tin Star Jam

2008-04-17T14:13:00.025-06:00

I had to chase one of our peacocks off the back of my truck before I could drive down to Santa Fe for the jam. He thought the latillas were just for him to perch on.

Click any picture to enlarge, click on any link for the music.

Then, once I got to the Tin Star I found two of our musicians engaged in a friendly discussion about some silly thing.

Carla explained to them that they needed to behave, or they'd be moved to the end of the Jam list.

They agreed.

Dr. Phil showed up.

Jim had something to say, but we couldn't understand him with his hands in front of his face like that.

This young gentleman was in town from Hawaii. He and his friends did a couple of numbers.

Then, Ben launched into a fun little rap/jazz piece.
Take a listen.

Ray joined in on his green Telecaster.

Joe on conga.

A Tom Selleck look-alike from Las Vegas dropped in, and decided he liked the Tin Star.

Anybody who enjoys our music is welcome back any time.

Until next time,

--Doug

Wednesday's 4-9 Tin Star Jam

2008-04-10T10:01:00.027-06:00

It turned into a white-knuckle experience last night, driving down to the Tin Star from Nambe. From about 10 miles north of Santa Fe until I reached town it was white-out conditions. Even when traffic slowed down to 20 MPH you could only see about 20 feet ahead. There was so much snow coming down that I could not see either side of the road. The other drivers and I just slowly snaked down the middle of 285 for about 30 minutes until it cleared as we dropped down into Santa Fe.

Click any picture to enlarge, click on any link for the music.

Early on in the evening, we eased into a kind of hypno-funk-jazz sort of a thing.

Take a listen.

I like playing with Freddie and his "mouth Wurlitzer". Freddie and his band, The Santa Fakers will be at Willie's Blues Club on Saturday, May 3. Come on out.

A bit later Yolanda got up to do a number.

A guest star dropped by for a while, but didn't stay to play.

Ray stopped by the table to tell us how glad he was to see us...

Local songwriter Tony C'de Baca dropped in and did a few tunes. Check out this one.

Tony is playing at the El Paseo tonight.

Ben was able to put the jam on auto pilot for a bit around midnight when one more singer showed up late wanting to do a couple of numbers.

Gordy sang a few, and with that, another Jam was concluded.

Later,

--Doug

Yesterday's Dr. John Party

2008-04-07T07:28:00.022-06:00

Randy Heddon and Santa Fe's newest band, Fat Tuesday, had one hell of a first gig yesterday afternoon at the Tin Star! The place was packed at 4:30 when we got there. One of the folks standing next to me said, "I'm not used to hearing this kind of music while it's still light out. "

Click any picture to enlarge, click on any link for the music.

Take a listen.

Lots of people, lots of dancing. Check it out.

Dr. John party at the Tin Star today!

2008-04-06T09:00:00.000-06:00

Dr. John concert pre-party at the Tin Star Saloon today, April 6th, at 4pm with no cover charge. With Dr. John concert ticket giveaways, as well as a live KBAC radio broadcast from the bar. Also, the party will feature the debut of Santa Fe's newest "New Orleans Style Party & Dance Band" FAT TUESDAY.

Naiz!

2008-04-04T07:35:00.030-06:00

Naiz played last night at the Tin Star. I had never heard him before, so I showed up a bit early to introduce myself while he was setting up. As I always do, I asked if he'd mind if I recorded his music and made some of it available here on the blog.

He did some great stuff, some of which you will have a chance to listen to by clicking on the links below.

Click any picture to enlarge, click on any link for the music.

I saw a couple of familiar faces sitting around the bar as the rest of the band arrived.

Murali Levine.

Case Tanner.

Johnnie Benoit.

As I said, I had never heard Naiz before. He reminds me a bit of both John Prine, and John Fogerty. Check out this number.

These guys spent a lot of time out on the dance floor.

He started to cook. Take a listen.

By this time we had plenty of entertainment out on the dance floor as well.

Later in the second set Naiz invited me up for a few numbers -- I wasn't going to turn down to opportunity to get up on stage with such a great group of musicians. Here's one of the numbers -- something in the key of G.

I want to point out that after I sat back down, the Tin Star stage was again occupied by some of Santa Fe's premier musicians. If you have not yet heard these guys, you have deprived yourself of a fine music experience.

Thanks, Naiz!

--Doug

Wednesday's 4-2 Tin Star Jam

2008-04-03T07:30:00.020-06:00

Have I mentioned what a friendly place the Tin Star Saloon is?

Click any picture to enlarge, click on any link for the music.

Friendly, that is, until someone tries to smart off.

They quickly go back to being friendly, however (click on the picture; really -- you'll see that they actually are friendly again).

Which makes almost everyone else feel friendly too.

The friendliness was downright contagious.

Ben took time off from his busy schedule to show a Jam Groupie how to pray for good music.

Which we got. You'll have to take my word for it, though, because I forgot to turn the recorder on.

And so it went, until 1:00am.

'Til next time,

--Doug

Lion 5 Takes Latin Music to an Alt-Rock Realm...

2008-03-30T09:10:00.003-06:00

http://www.lion555.com/home.html

Ok, as the slightly cranky commenter of March 27 noted, this is not exactly a Tin Star Music event. Although, Lion 5 has played at the Tin Star. And I've played at the Tin Star. So let's think of this as a virtual Tin Star event that just happened to occur at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame.

The place was hopping when Oscar and Victor invited me up to join them for a couple of numbers. Here's Te Deseo, followed by a Blues piece in A. As usual, Craig Small was ripping it up on guitar. Thanks, guys -- it was fun sitting in.

--Doug

CD Party!

2008-03-27T22:29:00.012-06:00

Nora McMahon's CD party last night was a happy gathering. The Backroad Pizza on Second Street was packed with friends and fans.

Check out a few of the numbers that Nora and Case Tanner performed:

Fever

Music Is Madness

Ain't No Sunshine

Your next chance to catch Nora and Case is this coming Wednesday, April 2 at The Cowgirl, 319 Guadalupe St, Santa Fe, 9:00pm, and they will be at the Tin Star again on Thursday, April 17.

--Doug

Speaking of something fun to do this Saturday...

2008-03-27T22:22:00.003-06:00

Saturday, March 29th: DON CURRY & PETE SPRINGER (Classic Rock) 9pm at the Tin Star!