belt welts
last spring as the van Gogh Brothers went on hiatus, David Minehan suggested a side project to explore musical directions outside the lines that we’d been working in for the better part of 25 years. David suggested we have drummer and percussionist Jon Cohan join us, mostly because we were looking to have as much fun as possible. (it goes without saying that jon is a phenomenal musician!) in that spirit, David coined the project “The Belt Welts.” the first tracks to go were “Brave New World,” a post-apocalyptic rock song featuring my former bandmate and pal, Michael Levine on electric violin, along with “Paradise,” a bossa-centric ballad featuring Bobby Tynes on soprano sax, and my dear friend, Richard Gibbs, on Fender Rhodes piano. we were off and running. there are so many good musicians in my universe these days between Boston, New Orleans, and Los Angeles. locally, we were thrilled to bring in Cliff Goodwin on electric guitar, and Yuri “the Fury” Deych on percussion, both of Worcester-based Silverbacks, one of my favorite local bands. we were also finally able to bring in Sonny Barbato on accordion, who lent a whole new dimension to my writing. Richard and Bobby continued adding to later tracks, as well.
as usual, I’m updating this blog as I travel. i find it inspiring to be in limbo, where my mind is free to roam, and the phone doesn’t ring! this leg is NoLa to LA, after a fab Fat Tuesday with my son & family. i’m really looking forwad to reuniting with my tribe in Malibu. it’s been a couple of months, and each time i return, i’m finding i want less space in between. my next trip will be in late april into early may, but beginning in june i’ll be out every month for a couple of weeks at a time. i’m not sure if this is a migrtion or not, but this is how it started for me in 2011 and i wound up relocating. this time, i’m leaving the ultimate direction to fate and kismet, which are both ever-pressent for me in Malibu.
the van gogh brothers resumed our residency at Vincent’s Worcester in January, and we had great shows in January and on Valentine’s Day. it’s so good to get the band back together and to re-claim our place at our namesake room. 31 years and counting and every gig still feels fresh. the musicianship of this band is world-class and i hope we have the opportunity to bring it out to a larger public again at some point, as we used to in the late ‘90’s and earlier 00’s.
in the meantime, i’ll follow to sun, as they say. i’m thrilled we get to keep our place in the new england market, and that i get to work on projects like the Belt Welts and one-off’s with my friends in LA. it’s a big world and I’m lucky i get to taste a pretty big slice of it. i hope everyone is weathering the winter OK — St Patrick’s Day is right around the corner with the bright blue skies of March and start of spring. see you at Vincent’s on March 14th and at points in between as we go.
love,
jc