Band As Community, Community As Band

As I mentioned in a previous post, the Good Graces are more of an evolving collective of great musicians, rather than a solid lineup of a few people. What I love about Atlanta is the community feel of the music scene and the mutual admiration and support a large group of musicians and bands give each other. Almost to the point of incestuousness.

A couple of recent events have highlighted this fact:

1) Thunderbox, one of the main rental rehearsal spaces in Atlanta, closed, a victim of in-town redevelopment activity. Bands in other rehearsal spaces reacted and reached out to help with everything from helping folks move their gear out, to temporary storage for displaced bands' equipment, to offers of rehearsal spaces.

2) Organizers of The Happenstance just announced there would be no 12th event. The collective musical shudder and sigh in the Atlanta area was palpable. The Happenstance was an 11-year holiday/charity/musical institution that for one day each year, created 6 new bands out of musicians who had never played together before, had them go off and create 3-4 new songs and learn a cover tune, then come back in the evening and perform to a standing room-only audience whose entry fees went to fund local charities. The connections and friendships formed through this event bound many of us from across musical genres together in ways that is hard to describe.

I participated in three Happenstances; 2006, 2011, and 2013. Kim Ware was a drummer in the 2006 event and, though we weren't paired in the same band, it was my introduction to her. She would shortly release her first Good Graces album and I would shortly join her collective.

On this tour, in addition to Kim, I will also share the stage with two other incredible musicians; John McNicholas (guitar, bass, vocals) and Tracy Clark (bass, guitar, glockenspiel, melodica, percussion, vocals).

I first met John just after he arrived in Atlanta from Tampa, Florida. I was a co-host of the Atlanta Songwriters Series, then a weekly singer/songwriter event held at the Aurora Coffee location in Virginia-Highlands (moved later to Kavarna), and John performed one of his first Atlanta shows at our event. I instantly fell in love with his songs and guitar work. John joined several bands, including Mary O. Harrison's band the Tiny Tears that Kim Ware was the drummer.

John was one of the first to join the Good Graces when Kim was putting together a live group. He has been a constant presence in the Good Graces ever since, both live and on recordings. John has also contributed to one of my Sensitive Chaos tunes, Seeker After Pattern's "Simon Stilites Dreams of Rain." And I joined John's band, The Sunset District, for both live shows and recordings. John is also a Happenstance alum.

When I first started Sensitive Chaos, my idea was to make it a duo, in the mold of Yaz. Synth-pop electronics with vocals. The vocals part of the equation never got off the ground and until recently, Sensitive Chaos has been totally instrumental. But one of the people I spoke to about the idea (though she may not remember it) was Tracy Clark, bassist/multi-instrumentalist and singer for Silent Kids, the Blue Hour, Mary O's Tiny Tears/Virginia Plane, Chickens and Pigs, and The Preakness, among others. Tracy is also a Happenstance alum. And she has been one of the Good Graces collective for awhile.

So a band from the same community of friends. A group of friends from the same bands. So far so fun!

Blessings and Carpe Diem

Many folks have asked how the Good Graces got invited to open for the Indigo Girls. In a nutshell, it truly is a story of the right musician writing and recording the right song at the right moment and getting it heard by the right person.

Kim recorded part of Close to the Sun at Rob Dyson's studio in Atlanta. Rob also works with the Indigo Girls and one day he played a song of Kim's for Emily. She liked it, and seemingly, that was the end of the story. A year later, Kim receives an email out of the blue inviting the Good Graces to open for the Indigo Girls on five dates in June 2015.

Play the lotto for better chances, this is truly a once-in-a-career moment. You can't explain it. It's a Zen Koan.

As Kim stated in one of her "every thought" emails to the band:

"I am not even looking at this as some sort of "stepping stone" to some bigger experience or "great exposure" or whatever. This is the sort of thing that bands work for years to try and get. This IS the experience. I can't call this a "dream come true," because my dreams are something like "play at Eddie's Attic." I would never dream of something this ridiculous."

And why do I get to participate in this incredibly humbling and mind blowing event? As best as I can tell, I am the most ready, willing, and able keyboardist in the Good Graces stable for this assignment. Others, that would have likely been on the bus first, had circumstances that kept them from committing. Blessings and carpe diem. And much more Zen.

Or in the words of Yoda, Do or do not, there is no try.

And So It Begins...

How does anything like this begin?

For me, it began with a text on Tuesday, April 28 from my friend and leader of the Good Graces, Kim Ware: "Jim, please check your email."

And in my gmail inbox was an email, subject line "the Good Graces tour in June"

Hi Jim, 

First, this is super confidential. 

And, I'm sorry to interrupt your workday with it! But I need to get all the details figured out asap. 

the Good Graces got asked to open a leg of the Indigo Girls' tour this June.  

It is going to require practice 2-3 x a week and being gone from around the 14th or so til the 26th. 

Here are the dates from their management: 

June 17 - Grand Rapids, Mejer Gardens
June 18 - off
June 19 - Summer Festival, Ann Arbor
June 20 - symphony show - no opener
June 21 - benefit - no opener
June 22 - off
June 23 - Asheville, Chattanooga or Mobile
June 24 - Asheville, Chattanooga or Mobile
June 25- Asheville, Chattanooga or Mobile 

This is not a joke. :) 

Let me know what you think. I know it's a lot to ask...

The mind boggles. What do I think? What do I think? I think holy another word for moly, that's what I think.

My brain was racing with questions: How did this happen? How can I take two weeks off? How will my wife react? What gear would I need?  Can I play these songs well enough? How large are the venues? Is this really happening? Over and over, ad infinitum.

Then the adrenaline really kicked in.

OK, there's really no other choice. Of course I want to do this. But first, I need to talk to the wife.

In the meantime, Kim shares some logistics she has already set in motion. Rehearsal schedules and locations, initial thoughts on additional tour dates leading up to and surrounding the Indigo Girls dates, and lodging ideas.

We're in uncharted territory. Just the past weekend, the Good Graces performed at Steve's Live Music in Atlanta, a small, nice listening room that might hold 100 people on a good night. With the Indigo Girls, there might be ten times that many at some of the shows. We've done a weekend tour here and there, but not one of this length or logistical complexity in a long, long time.

I should give you some band context. The Good Graces is less of a "band" band and more of a musical collective band that revolves around Kim Ware, her songs, and different groups of musicians that support her and the songs at different points in time. There are some musicians, engineers, producers that are part of the recording process and others that join the group to play those songs live. Kim plays many shows solo, and will often add one additional player to cover extra guitar, bass, background vocals, or percussion, or will move into trio or quartet mode with more players to cover keyboards, more percussion, extra guitars/basses/vocals.

I am lucky to have been playing with Kim for almost eight years, starting just as her first CD, Sunset Over Saxapahaw, was released, and including both live performances of most of her recorded output, as well as a few of the recordings along the way, including the EP Bring On the Tambourines!

The Good Graces most recent album, 2014's Close to the Sun is fantastic and blew up big in the bloginterwebosphere. I have watched The Good Graces musical and production sophistication grow over time and the keyboard parts and atmospheres on the new record were contributed by some really great players. Several band configurations have formed to support the album over the past 10 months, and I joined on for shows last November and just a few weeks ago in late April. I'll need to raise my game for these new shows. I'm a meat and potatoes player at best, and the parts on the record are a couple of steps above that.

I want Kim and her songs to shine. As the adrenaline subsides, the fear that creeps in is the one of letting down my friends in front of hundreds of people. The excitement quickly overcomes the fear and it turns into motivation to practice, practice, practice.

I head home to share the news with the family. I'm floating a hundred feet in the air.

The Good Graces Open For The Indigo Girls

I'm reviving my blog. It's been dormant since after my last solo record, Sensitive Chaos Amerisynthecana, was released back in 2013. There is much musical activity going on right now, and I need a place to document it. I'll thank myself for it later.

Yes, there is a new Sensitive Chaos album in the works, with four songs mixed and ready, another handful of songs ready to be mixed, and two songs that need a few overdubs. More on that in a later post.

And yes, I've been having great fun performing out with several bands including the Good Graces, The Sunset District, and Blackfox. It is the Good Graces that is kicking me into action at the moment and will be the primary subject of this blog for the next month.

You see, the Good Graces have been invited to open for the Indigo Girls for five dates in June, and I have been invited to occupy the keyboard seat for the Good Graces for this two-week tour that will also include a mess of shows in and around the Indigo Girls dates, up and down the central part of the U.S.

So, we (Kim Ware, John McNicholas, Tracy Clark, and I) are two weeks away from hitting the road, and I'll be attempting to document all the activity that is going into preparing for our tour. Not only the logistical, but also the emotional and the technical aspects I have personally been going through. There have been lots of all of this so far, and I'm sure they'll be lots more before we're done.

Here's the announced tour schedule so far:

Sunday, June 14 – tGG, Nashville, TN, East Room (with Granville Automatic & Wyatt Espalin) 9pm

Tuesday, June 16 – tGG, Daytrotter.com, Rock Island, IL (day session), & Second Unitarian Church, Chicago, IL 7:00pm

Wednesday, June 17 – tGG opening for Indigo Girls, Grand Rapids, MI, Mejer Gardens 7pm

Thursday, June 18 – tGG, Kalamazoo, MI, Old Dog Tavern (with Valentiger) 9pm

Friday, June 19 – tGG, opening for Indigo Girls, Ann Arbor, MI, Summer Festival (Power Center) 8pm

Saturday, June 20 – tGG, Cleveland, OH, The Bevy in Birdtown (Lakewood area) 7pm

Sunday, June 21 – tGG, Indianapolis, IN, Melody Inn 9pm

Monday, June 22 – tGG, Knoxville, TN, Preservation Pub 10pm

Tuesday, June 23 – tGG opening for Indigo Girls, Asheville, NC, Orange Peel 8pm

Wednesday, June 24 – tGG opening for Indigo Girls, Chattanooga, TN, Track 29 8pm

Thursday, June 25 – tGG opening for Indigo Girls + Kristy Lee, Mobile, AL, Saenger Theater 8pm

Pretty New Songs blog reviews Sensitive Chaos 'Seeker After Patterns'

Kim Ware reviews CDs from Sensitive Chaos, Supervisor of the Loveless Average, and Virginia Plane on her Pretty New Songs blog.

The best, most accurate review I can give of Jim’s record is what I told him after the first time I heard it. I was driving to my friend Nina’s while listening to it. And I got lost. Three times. Not because I didn’t know where she lived, but because I was that lost in the music. Hypnotic, atmospheric, and very relaxing, it’s the perfect soundtrack to chilling out after a hot day. Or, driving around aimlessly.

http://prettynewsongs.com/2011/08/01/me-and-all-my-talented-friends/

My Last Show with The Good Graces (for awhile)

The Good Graces is taking a hiatus starting in June, so that band leader Kim Ware can turn her attentions to other aspects of her life beyond her Eskimo Kiss Records label and The Good Graces band. EKR is celebrating its 10th anniversary and tGG have been at it for nearly 3 years, with an album and EP, plus several appearances in compilations to show for the work, plus many, many performances at some great venues from Atlanta to Wilmington, NC.

I'm very thankful for my time in The Good Graces. I responded to Kim's ad on MySpace way back when looking for a percussionist and ended up playing keyboards, percussion, and singing background vocals. Getting to perform with Kim, guitarist/vocalist John McNicholas, and drummer Donna Riley, including our two mini-tours of Georgia and North Carolina, are definite highlights. I love Kim's music and have loved playing those songs out live. It's hard to put into words what the experience has meant to me, but fabulous friends and improved music abilities are the two main bullet points.

While Kim and John will close out The Good Graces this Sunday at the EKR 10th Anniversary Show in Wilmington, NC, the whole band's last show was May 21 at Kavarna in Decatur, GA. Here is a video of that last show shot by Jacque Carder .

The Good Graces - Atlanta Finale @ Kavarna 5/21/10 from Jim Combs on Vimeo.

Free mp3 download of new music from The Good Graces

My alt folk band, The Good Graces, is giving away our new EP for FREE - one song at a time.

Get the first one, "Working Title" here:

http://bringonthetambourines.com

The Good Graces are Kim Ware, John McNicholas, and Jim Combs

More new band photos can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/maigh/sets/72157621639172742/

This song features my Fender Rhodes and a Korg MonoPoly soft synth. Kim does vocals, acoustic gtr, and drums, and John does electric guitar.

AJC Gives Flip Four Stars

Flip, the new Atlanta burger eatery from the team of Barry Mills and Richard Blais, was given a stellar review and four stars by the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Mark Nanna, husband of The Good Graces' Kim Ware, is the operating chef there. My personal review gives Flip five stars, but the AJC has more readers.

For someone who has never opened a restaurant before, businessman Barry Mills is sitting pretty right now. Burrowed into the weirdness that makes up the stretch of Howell Mill Road between I- 75 and the Atlanta Waterworks, his mod house of burgers, Flip, has a bar packed three- to four-deep, and the dining room is turning tables faster than the cooks can flip the burgers onto their buttery brioche buns.

A smallish room, as square as a to-go box, is highlighted by blond-wood tables and aluminum chairs, hipster music, splashes of red and white, and a custom graphic on the back wall that conjures the fleeting feeling of Warhol’s Exploding Plastic Inevitable mutimedia events. But Flip is hardly a nihilistic showdown of any sort.

No, everything here, from the name to the playful faux-French frames around the flat screen TVs is fun. Especially the burgers.

Well, that is save for one thing: The title “creative director” for chef Richard Blais seems a bit stuffy for the guy who introduced Atlanta to liquid nitrogen and frozen Coca-Cola rocks.

Finally, after years of wandering nomadic in Atlanta’s restaurant scene — from his own failed Blais five years ago to his star-maker stint last year on Bravo’s “Top Chef” — Blais has arrived.

And with what? Burgers.

Read the whole review here.