First gig w/ my new Louson strap-on box

One thread per person please. Feel free to share with us your photos and video clips from your gigs, jams, rumbas, etc etc. No random clips or images, this is a section for our members to post up and promote their own projects and adventures.
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One thread per person please. Feel free to share with us your photos and video clips from your gigs, jams, rumbas, etc etc. No random clips or images, this is a section for our members to post up and promote their own projects and adventures.
Lets keep it positive.

First gig w/ my new Louson strap-on box

Postby JoePasko » Wed Mar 22, 2017 1:50 am

Albany NY -- The Linda Auditorium


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Re: First gig w/ my new Louson strap-on box

Postby burke » Thu Mar 23, 2017 1:28 pm

Took a bit to find the brand online. Looks like a 'laptop cajon'. I made something similar which LP calls a laptop conga cajon which has two notes/sides about a 3rd apart to give a quinto/conga kind of sound:
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If you are handy and want to experiment there is a huge post about homemade cajons with lots of dimensions and instructions:
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5288&hilit=+cajon
Personally I think even a semi skilled woodworker can make something pretty close to a 'pro' built one and save a pant-load of money.

So is that a bluegrass band or old timey Appalachian? The reason I ask is my wife plays old timey [fiddle and claw hammer banjo] ... that's why I have a washboard project waiting in the garage. Congas are not a great fit :) ... I also play bodhran and darbuka [which actually kinda work]. But for purists [aka: snobby bastards] these are not acceptable ...

Cheers

Darrell
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Re: First gig w/ my new Louson strap-on box

Postby JoePasko » Fri Mar 31, 2017 11:48 am

burke wrote:So is that a bluegrass band or old timey Appalachian? The reason I ask is my wife plays old timey [fiddle and claw hammer banjo] ... that's why I have a washboard project waiting in the garage. Congas are not a great fit :) ... I also play bodhran and darbuka [which actually kinda work]. But for purists [aka: snobby bastards] these are not acceptable ...

Cheers

Darrell



That's a nice looking box drum you made !!

Our band is ostensibly a bluegrass band ... instrument-wise ... and I know full well that there are purists who do not think percussion belongs in bluegrass. Plus, the traditional Monroe-style arrangement has the guitar and mandolin more or less substituting for a drum set, so finding practical and interesting ways to add percussion can be a fun challenge. When they first invited to join, 5 years ago, the idea was that I would do my "hillbilly percussion" thing : spoons, minstrel bones, washboard, jews harp. (Modesty aside, I am very adept at those instruments, having been at it since I was a kid.)

Our original banjo player was more of a jug-band guy than a bluegrass guy. The jug band tunes presented good opportunity for the instruments I mentioned ... as well as siren whistle, slide whistle, taxi horn, vibra slap, cooking pot lids mounted on cymbal stands, etc. LOL.. you get the idea.

But since our new banjo man joined, direction has changed. We dropped the jug band songs. We still do a fair number of BG standards, but now we have many more originals, plus we cover material by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Dan Fogelberg, Little Feat, Grateful Dead ... even Pink Floyd !! More in the Americana or 'acoustic rock' vein, than purely bluegrass. For these songs, I found the novelty percussion to be less appropriate. And that is what triggered me to bring the box drum into the act, as well as some 'drum set' drums & cymbals, played with brushes.

It's been a fun, interesting and challenging trip playing with these guys ... looking forward to a bunch of good jobs we have booked for the spring and summer.



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Re: First gig w/ my new Louson strap-on box

Postby burke » Fri Mar 31, 2017 12:51 pm

That sounds really cool! What a great, fun band to be with.

My other thing is Celtic music [almost mandatory in Nova Scotia :) ] and bodhran. I've been picking away at bones for a bit ... they seem to work/be accepted in both styles. The one session I regularly attend is way more open to non trad instruments and for certain tunes its surprising how well a darabuka fits.
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Re: First gig w/ my new Louson strap-on box

Postby JoePasko » Mon Apr 03, 2017 12:17 am

Ha! You're a bones-player too ! Cool. Our fiddler knows a boatload of Celtic & Appalachian fiddle tunes. We always put a few into our setlists, let the singer give his voice a break. I mostly use the bones, for those fiddle tunes. Can I make a pitch for my friend Jim Hesch ? He lives here in Albany NY and makes great playin' bones from exotic woods (and also natural bone). He sells them under "Triskele Ryhthm Bones", if you ever see that. Try them.


I have a darbuka too. My wonderful sister gave me one for Christmas one year. Basic aluminum Meinl model; I drilled a hole and put a clamp onto it, so I can mount on a percussion rod. I have it on my jug band rig, I can easily unscrew it and strap it from my neck if I felt like jumping around with it, on stage. But right now we really don't have any material in the band, where darbuka would fit in... it's here for jamming, anyway:

aa_rig_1.JPG
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Re: First gig w/ my new Louson strap-on box

Postby burke » Mon Apr 03, 2017 2:38 pm

"Ha! You're a bones-player too"

Just a wannabe at this point ... they are sitting in front of me on my desk and I periodically pick them up and clickity clack them :wink:

Nice setup! I have a few darbukas including a version of that Meinl with the jingles inside.

I just this weekend put together a 'prototype' of a home made temple block [oak] like the ones in your setup.

Great minds eh?
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Re: First gig w/ my new Louson strap-on box

Postby JoePasko » Mon Apr 03, 2017 10:51 pm

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Re: First gig w/ my new Louson strap-on box

Postby JoePasko » Tue Apr 04, 2017 9:26 am

burke wrote:I just this weekend put together a 'prototype' of a home made temple block [oak] like the ones in your setup.
Great minds eh?


That's great that you can fabricate your own wooden percussion. I am more of an adapter than a builder.
Such as this mountable antique copper tea pot. Every percussionist should have one !!


IMG_3614.JPG


(Yeah that was me, going around to flea markets and garage sales with a drum stick in my hand, tapping on kitchenware until I found my sound)
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Re: First gig w/ my new Louson strap-on box

Postby burke » Tue Apr 04, 2017 1:27 pm

Thanks for the video link.

We have wondered far from congas or even cajons, but its been fun.

Last comment re: bones. It seems that in Irish music the predominant method is to use one set, whereas in 'Southern' music two is the norm.

Cheers
Burke
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