Rennie Neubecker: News & Updates

When I left you yesterday, we were talking aboutDavid Price, & the Digitech Vocalist Live 4 Harmonies machine he brought to the JAM. Dave let me use it to close the show with the song I wrote for my son & daughter in law. That song being When Our Toes Touch in the Sand. I realy liked the way it filled out the chorus, and add depth to the song overall. Thanks Dave, I appreciate it.
All in all it was a fun afternoon, made better by the traffic that the boat show brought through.

A side note about David Price.
David hosts' a jam session at Shamrocks on Patchen Dr., on any Tuesday That the CATS aren't playing. This makes me think about maybe putting a "GIG A DAY", reference on my home page when I get 7 days worth of variety. I have 4 days worth now. Such As; Mon with yours truly hosting an open JAM at Goshins Tavern, Dave's JAM at Shamrocks on Tuesday, The Wednesday JAM at O'Neill's Pub, hosted by either Lindsey Olive or Mike Anderson. & an awesome Bluegrass JAM at The Barn @ First United Methodist Church of Georgetown, on Thursday nights. Although it's been awhile, I used to frequent the BLUEGRASS JAM on Thursday nights, it's loads of fun & a LOT of good pickers show up. Oh let me not forget to say that this JAM is hosted by June & Jim Willoughby The backbone of DRIVING RAIN, A beautiful regional bluegrass band from the area. Jim & June are great people & I look forward to (1) getting back to their JAM at some point hopefully soon. & (2) catching Driving Rain at one (or more) of their shows this year.
I'll try to dig up JAM"'S for Fri, Sat & Sun, Then do that Gig-a-Day thing we talked about.

The Next LexJam II Unplugged, will be March 7th, 1-5PM.
Looking for a special guest for this session, any Singer/ Songwriters out there that might be interested... This is a great place to promo your stuff of plug your new record, etc. Also looking for core band members for this year. As core band member, we ask that you can make at least 6 out of the 10 sessions for the year & help with setup & teardown when you can. I know it's not always possible to make the commitment, but load in and load out is a job & I greatly appreciate any help I can get. This also provides more time to tweek the PA system to get the sound "just right". The ideal situation would be to have 10-12 core band members as this helps fill in when some cant make it & also adds to the variety of acoustic music we can offer to the masses. Please go to www.lexjam.com and look at the news page there for more on this topic.

Alright then. Last thing for now is that you might have noticed that I have left a Russian entry in my guest book. I usually pull these foreign entries because they are usually porn links or Sales spam. This one however is an actual music related compliment. I always go to www.babblefish.com and translate these entries out of curiosity & this entry says: "Class site at you, I wish you successes". Ok, it's broken English, but hey, a compliment is a compliment, so it stays!
Alright I'm gonna stop for now and start swinging the chainsaw.
Please consider joining LexJam II Unplugged, if you are an area musician, and we will work together to bring a nice balance of acoustic Bluegrass, folk, blues, etc., to the live music scene here in the big Lex!
Til Next Time
Keep Pickin
Rennie
P.S. you may have noticed I have left the Nov. & Feb LJ II sessions together in the Photo Gallery. When the time comes I will collapse them into the same album, this, because they are small groups.

Ok so we have the pics from LJ II Unplugged up. always a drawn out process. We'll start from the top.

Set up was in the usual spot inside (outside during nice weather).First person to show up was Donavan Howard.
Donavan was also the first one to show up at the 1st LJ II UNPLUGGED in April of last year. Donavan is a very talented young man. He has several original tunes that are in the country vein, with just the right amount of folk seasoning to make it full flavored. I believe he will have a CD coming out at some point & I know I will “wear it out”, when I get a copy. Donavan (AKA “Big D”) is also an on air DJ @ WRVK, in Renfro Valley KY. He has my record & might give me a spin or two, & he plans to come back to LexJam II Unplugged when time permits. I know I look forward personally to this prospect, as mentioned above of his skills.
Next on the sign in was Tom Grafton. Tom brought his blend of Irish folk tunes as well as an original song from a local band where he grew up in Illinois. Tom is another talented individual that is always encouraged to come back.
Part time regular, (does that make sense?), Tony Jasper came to set in with us on several songs. And we always look forward to Tonys’ rhythem to compliment our songs.
We also had 1st timer David Price come to grace us with his presence. Dave brought a slew of cover tunes to the table, such as Matchbox 20’s, 3am & several Old Crow Medicine Show tunes. One of my favorites (which I also cover) Wagon Wheel, and a lot of others.
David also brought something to the gig that I have been looking at for awhile, a Digitech Vocalist Live 4, vocal harmonies machine that puts up to 4 backing harmonies in your song wherever you punch it in. It sets on the floor like a pedalboard (side note; For those of you that follow me and aren’t musicians, a pedalboard is what you see on the floor in front of “eletric guitar’ players. They use this to punch different effects into their guitars.) We got it hooked up & He used it on most of his chorus’. This is a great tool for solo players to add [said] backing harmonies to their songs, without actually having backup singers there. At some point I might add this to my gear.
(to be cont.)

Ok, Got the images in the "Image Bank! so tomorrow I should get them posted in the photo gallery along with the News Update.
Shouldn't take 3-5 minutes per pic to just to get them in the image bank. I'm gonna e-mail the host & try to find a faster way. But, as it stands, I am doing it by the book, just like they instruct! Soooo, keep your fingers crossed for tomorrow, cause I am gonna play guitar tonight instead of working on website! Gotta Run
Ren

Ok. Just finished editing the pics from Saturdays (02/07/09) LexJam II Unplugged. So hopefully I'll post them tomorrow, and have the narrative.
An old friend & a few new faces. Some killer original music & some killer covers.
The painful part is the process of getting the pics off the computer (or Memory card in this case), all the way through to the point where you can see them. I think I have mentioned before that it is one pic at a time through various levels. I wish my web host would make it easier to post pics! I put the pics on the computer, edited them on my very limited Kodak software, then sent them back to the card. That way I might be able to get them posted at work tomorrow. Note to boss; On my lunch break of course.
We'll have it for you soon folks. Time for the Ky/Fla game.
Ren

News coming soon about the Feb. installment of LexJam II Unplugged, ( it was great), & other news.

Wow. 2nd ice storm in 6 years, that I had to chainsaw my way out of the drive.
2 days now without power & might not be back on til Sat, or Sun.
Music news will be late as always.
Wish us luck...

Rennie

The time is getting close for the start Of this years LexJam II Unplugged sessions. I have e-mailed everyone on the blast list with a plea for more "core band" members this year. I know I missed putting some addresses on my list. Please send me your e-mail addresses, even those out of area folks who want to be kept informed. If you haven't received an e-mail with the date of 01/23/09, then please send me the address & I'll be sure to add it to the list.
As stated an appeal to musicians to join LexJAm II Unplugged as "core members". Lots more very soon, (yeah I know your sayin "we've heard that before"). No really. Things are starting to roll again.
TTYS
RENNIE

Hey everyone.
Tom will be playing at "Rumors Restaurant" this Saturday. He starts @ 8:30. Head on out & support this very talented & funny artist. Rumors has an extensive dinner menu, with a vast array of Surf & Turf appetizers, Dinners, Sandwiches, Soup's & Salad's, etc.
A full bar, Good Food, & the awesome musical talent of Tom Cool. What else do you need???

RUMORS
3110 Mapleleaf Drive
Lexington Ky.

Hey, we have a few Tom Cool pics from the November installment of LexJam II, posted at the photo gallery. You can see more pics from the Nov. 15th, session with Tom as our special guest @ www.lexjam.com. You can also see more of Tom, sample his music, buy CD's,etc at his really "Cool" website @ www.tomcool.net Check him out, check us out, & dont forget next LexJam II is FEBRUARY 7th. 1-5 pm.

I opened up the latest ME news yesterday & noticed that they had a date of 01/10/09, as the next LexJam II Unplugged.
I almost went into shock!
This is a mistake. The LexJam II Unplugged sessions are scheduled to start on FEB 7th Although not completely etched in stone, I am fairly confident we will restart then. By weeks end, we will know for sure.
I have yet to talk to the core band members & find out which ones will commit to this years effort. I will be looking to list 2009 official core band members ASAP. Anyone interested in becoming part of this fun event, to promote live acoustic based music in the area is welcome to e-mail me. I will have more on this very soon. After I talk with last years core band, I then can determine our needs for the upcoming year.

Well it's the 1st. quickie of the year.
GUESTBOOK
You may remember I turned my Guestbook off last fall. This was due to the amount of SPAM & foreign porn links that were being posted there. Since its a new year & I'm a nice guy were gonna turn it back on, and see how far we get before it starts getting corrupted again.
All previous posts have been archived, so if anyone wants to see their old post (or someone else's, for that matter). Drop me an e-mail & I can get it.
Also, Thinkin 'bout a new look for the sight. When I do this I will pull all the old NEWS
post's, from the beginning to about 3 or 4 months back. Like the old Guestbook entries, I will archive these to disk. Soooo, if you want to look at any of the old articles, e-mail me & i'll dig them up.
TTYS
Rennie

Here's to wishing everyone a HAPPY & PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!!

Lets look forward to a new Year of great music!
Thanks to all my music friends for a fun 2008 of music, in spite of the economy. I really had a blast.
My Thoughts On...
Live recording at the open jam at GOSHINS.
I've listened to the first hour so far, and we've got some good music & some seriously funny stuff too.
I want to personally thank; Mike Anderson, Tom Cool & Peter Griffin, for a really fun night. Cant wait til you guy's get to hear it.
I, have more of "My Thoughts On..." Coming up. I'll probably start off with my upcoming record.
As for today I'll cut it short & get that PORK LOIN on the grill & get the cabbage cookin.
Be Safe Friend's...
Till next time...
*** HAPPY 2009 ***

Without wasting time doing extensive research, I'm gonna go out on a limb here & say the word NEWS, is a derivative of the word NEW. (Naw... Ya think?). Now, whoever decided to call current events or the latest "goings on", news most likely
did it because it was in fact, "current events or the latest "goings on", and it was, in fact, new!
So now yer sayin, "Ren what does this have to do with the price of tea in China, or the price of tea anywhere for that matter & why are we talkin 'bout tea now anyway?. Were not, were talkin News & Olds. Huh, Old's???
Yes OLD"S, I'm so far behind in updating, that its no longer news, (well some of it will be later in this post). So here are My Thoughts on some of the "OLD'S"...
My Thoughts On...
November Installment of LexJam II Unplugged.
As advertised our special Guest Host for the November installment was "Tom Cool".
www.tomcool.net.
Tom brought his many years of musical experience & talent to the floor as well as his ability to infuse quick witted, ad-lib comedy into the show. We had a "pleasant" turn out for the show & families with children and all. Now the nice thing about having Tom Cool as you Guest Host, is that Tom can appeal to ANY audience. The kids in the audience really took to Tom as he interacted with them. Another family, sitting at one of the side tables, had their kids dancing in the isle to "The Wheels on the Bus". I immediately went into the first 2 verses of my original song "The Wheels", 'cause it was a nice fit. However I had to stop abruptly because...get ready for it......I haven't finished writing the song. It is however, close to being done. And when finished & tracked will be one of my favorites. Think Bob Dylan meets Jim Reeves,meets Roger Miller, meets Bruce Springsteen, for a Country/Folk, not to kinky, 4 way. If you can imagine such a thing, then sing it from the heart to make it serious, then you'll finally have it.
I want to thank the musicians who showed up to play & support LexJam II Unplugged.
We had Jim Olive, banjo player extraordinaire & brother of Lindsey Olive, a great guitar player. I've known Lindsey since first moving to Lexington & we've been friends a long time. Good to finally meet Jim, who I'd heard so much about.
Mark Taylor also came with his fiddle and sat in on a few tunes. I know Mark wanted more Bluegrass & I plan to get the ratio back to at least a 3rd (maybe half) bluegrass for the 4hr. jams. Gotta get the core bluegrassers back on board for the coming year, as they went missing in action the last several months. We'll try to fix that.
Thanks to Tony Jasper who has 3 or 4 LJ II Unplugged's under his belt now as well.
Tony likes to set in and play a little rhythm with us, on his 6 string.
There are some pics @ the lexJam website as always. www.lexjam.com.
My Thoughts On...
The Economy.
All i can say on this one is it sucks. I am very fortunate to work for a great company, (when not doing music). At this point we are weathering the storm very well & I hope this trend continues into next year also. Its good to see the prices of gas back to a reasonable level, after the ridicules & totally unsubstantiated 4 dollars plus we saw last summer. Having said that don't think for a minute, that these low prices are here to stay. We, (at my day job), actually had one of our biggest customers, ask us to drop our prices now that the price of fuel & metals has come down! Yea & by the time we spend another 6 grand printing new price books were back where we started. Like I said, hold steady so you can be ready, ( hey another song lyric), for the next wave. I'll close this thought by repeating what I said. "If you think for a second gas or metals will stay this low for ANY length of time, we'll your just plain crazy.
There is ALWAYS some corporate asshole's looking to gain their golden parachute at our expense. There is No job on earth deserving of 20, 30, 100, etc. million dollar pensions. This, my friends is not a matter opinion, It is a matter of cold hard fact.
Ok sorry 'bout the rant. It happens sometimes.
My Thoughts On...
Getting my Studio back together...
Man oh man, what a fiasco. As you might remember, it got flooded last spring. Yea, not a lot got done over the summer. There was some things done however. The carpet had to be at least laid back out & cleaned, re vacuumed, and furniture put back down for the time being. This all with no pad underneath. If your wondering why I didn't put the new pad down & get this all done over the summer, then go read all my posts from then. Yes it was a very busy time.
So October found me once again taking out the furniture, rolling up the carpet & getting new pad laid. Didn't hire anyone. Did it myself.
It all came back together nicely & while in the process, I expanded my capabilities & am now more advanced with digital multi track recording & a new look. oh now have a much better sump pump & dual watchdog alarms. Soon as I go through & tune up & make a frame & fuel tank, I'll have a generator to cover any power outages. Anyway I'm back in the music saddle as far as my music room is concerned. Thanks for asking.
My Thoughts On...
Being a grandpa!
I became a Grandfather this fall. I am Proud to say. I feel like I'm pretty young to be a grand dad, but wifey & me had our kids early so when they grew up & moved out we would still be [relatively} young. My daughter (a musician herself) gave birth to a healthy baby girl in October.
Phenix Aamira Storms. NO, there are no misspellings here. Thats the way they wanted it, & I'm quite tickled my self. Although me thinks, Phenix will have a bone to pick with mom, when she gets older. She'll be getting a lot of things, cards, etc. with an "O" in her name, or people leaving the extra "A" out of Aamira. We'll see how this pans out & as Grampa, I will just sit back & enjoy the fun this might conjure. I love my Grandbaby & my family & the HOLIDAY SEASON is mostly over now. But good memories & the hope for an exciting & hopefully prosperous 2009, fill me to the hilt.
I'll have more to say about everything & whats coming down the pike.
tomorrow I'll update you on the Dec. 29th recording at Goshins, news on my upcoming album, & who knows I might be inclined to wish you a Happy New Year.
OH BTW
HAPPY NEW YEAR Hows about I talk to you tomorrow.
Peace
RENNIE

Steady as she goes captain..
I can see the NEWS from here....Its almost here.
And maybe a new look for the Website as well.
Dont forget tonights Jam at GOSHINS. We will be recording it.
Ren

Where in the world is Rennie???
Lost in the mist's of time thats where. Hell have that long awaited news & LexJam II Unplugged update soon. (I sure hope so...)

OK Kiddies
LexJam II Unplugged Vol. 8 is in the funny pages. We'll have the story & a few pics, coming by the end of the week.
So....Stay tuned!
Ren

Tomorrow. Lexington Center. LexJam II Unplugged. 1 to 5 o'clock. See You There.

Our good friend's & webmasters for LexJam (both I & II), Mark & Tammy McKinley, have posted our Sept & Oct pics @ the website. www.lexjam.com.
Run along now & check them out. We have some great Almira Fawn pics there, plus some of the usual suspects.
C U Soon

Rennie

Get Ready folks for this years LAST installment of LexJam II Unplugged.
As mentioned we have Mr. Tom Cool as our special guest host. www.tomcool.net.
I know I'm a bit late as usual with news & it's not that there hasn't been any, it's just, well you know me by now. Always packing 10 lbs of (stuff) in a 5 lb bag. Thats the story of my life. And I wonder why I'm ALWAYS tired. Still in the finishing stages of getting the studio set back up. But now with added recording capabilities. I'll have more on that and other news soon. (Probably after Sats LJ II). Please encourage as many people as you can to come out Saturday. Free parking in the large upper lot of Rupp, then just come down through the Civic Center Shops.
See you Saturday.

Rennie

We have TOM COOL coming as our Special Guest Host for the NOVEMBER 15th LexJam II Unplugged. I'll have more on that & other stuff soon.
Later Taterz
Ren

I was a little late reading this months edition of Music Entertainment, and it was with great sadness, that I read about Darrel Mullins', loss. Darrel Mullins is A Judge and a music aficionado from Eastern Ky. He writes for M.E. Music Entertainment. Darrel's House burned down in early September. Now you may ask "What does this have to do with you"? Well, actually nothing in the physical sense, but I do read M.E. every month. Do I know Darrel personally? No. Have I ever met Darrel? No. Heres what I'll say. After reading this monthly music rag since it's inception, I feel That I've come to know Darrel through his articles, titled "My Back Pages". SO yes it seems like Darrel is a friend. His articles take me back to my early days in music, as he likes to touch on a lot of "old School", music topics. I always find something in his works that I can relate to on a personal level, so when I read about his tragedy, it touched me & it totally bummed me out. To think of the music collection he lost, (a lot of it irreplaceable), The instruments he lost(like his first guitar, a 63 Fender Jazzmaster). Amongst other things. Like his house & a quadrant of his life. I just wanna say my heart goes out to Darrel & his family. we're pulling for your unhampered rebuilding. Thanks for the words of wisdom & we look forward to more.

Rennie Neubecker

The final batch of pics, from the September LexJam II Unplugged", have been posted.
Lotsa pics for your perusal. Enjoy & that gets me off the hook for a few weeks til I do it all again.

The October session of LJ II Unplugged was somewhat subdued, what with the game & Keeneland & a host of other things planned for this day. Plus the fact that I had to make it a short 12:00 to 3:00, session. But we knew that was going to be the case.
I wanna thank Tony Jasper, for coming down & sitting in, for the last half of the jam. Also thanks Tony, for helping us with teardown. Folks don't realize how much goes into setting up & tearing down an event like this.
A big thanks to Caroline Puterbaugh & Lexington Center for having us. Thank you Michelle for all your help with tables, chairs,etc.
OK next LexJam II Unplugged is November 15th. Hope to see a big turn out for probably the last session for this year. Special guest will be announced a bit later.

With the holidays looming large & an "only Available", date of Dec. 20th We might just take a break. Unless there is a big enough call for a Christmas type show. It's up to YOU "Musical Public", to let me know!

A lot of recording is being planned for the up coming several months, so a break in the jams might give us a little breathing room.
I'm really excited about what is coming down the pike & can't wait to see how it all pans out. At the moment we have 2 demos & at least 1, feature length CD to get busy on. I'm already a year late starting the CD project & now have the afore mentioned demos ,to boot! So, yeah, I think were gonna be busy.

I'll have some comments to make about something sad I read in M.E.(Music Entertainment), in my next update.

Till then, I'm headed outside, 'cause it's beautiful out. To nice to set behind this computer any longer.
Grab your guitar or, banjo, or whatever your favorite instrument, head outside & make a joyful noise unto the Lord. After all it is Sunday.
Till Next Time...
Rennie

Ok... The next 10 pics are up.
Go check 'em out.
The final batch for this section will be posted by the weekend.

Unfortunately I have had to turn off my "Guestbook" for now. Seem the idiots in the Ukraine &some in Russia, think its a good place to dump links to their porn. As you know I try to run a family / musician friendly site here. There is no room for porn here. I will leave it off for awhile then we'll get 'er back on. In the mean time, you KNOW that you can drop me e-mails here. If you wish to e-mail me somrthing that you want on the guest book, by all means, do it. I will make sure to put in the G.B. when I turn it back on.
Thanks for your patience & understanding.
Rennie

More pic to be posted as promised. I'll post these on Wednesday sometime. I think there is 10. Then I will have the final batch up for the weekend.
Again these are LexJam II Unplugged pics from the Sept. 20th gig, with Almira, D.J. & Fuzzy.

Wed. night, don't forget
Jim Hurst will be at Arts Place taping Red Barn Radio.
Red Barn Radio is a worldwide syndicated radio show, taped at ARTS PLACE every Wednesday night.

Dont forget this Sat. is time for this months installment of LexJam II Unplugged.
I'll have more on that tomorrow. We might be making a slight time adjustment. I'll fill you in.
'Nuff for now. Late at GOSHINS last night. We'll talk more about that too.
Ren

Ok Here its.
The first seven pics show a small portion of the Green Acres Gig". Here we have various pics of family & friends. This was the 4th year for Kent & I to do this thing. It seems to grow every year from the standpoint of spectators falling in to hear the music. Things got moving so well musically, that the evenings "Dance Band" was late getting a start, because we were a bit late tearing down our stuff. Hey, its great when people want you to keep doing "just one more". So to everyone,(Family, friends & the people we didn't even know), thanks so much for your support. It wouldn't be worth it with out you guys. I believe I speak for Kent, & Kaleb as well as my self, when I say, "we love each & everyone of you".

The last 3 pics in this group were actually taken 2 weeks before at LexJam II Unplugged. Kent was our special guest for this session, and we had one of the best LJ II Unplugged's ever.
I have to note that these pics were taken by our good friends Mark & Tammy McKinley. They are the official photographers of all that is LexJam. They are the proud owners of Marks Online Graphic Source. www.mogswebsite.com. Hop on over & check them out. They have a huge collection of resources & thousands of really cool pictures. I spent about 3 hours there one afternoon & think I barely scratched the surface. That was the first time. I find myself poking around there from time to time. Still have not seen it all!

This LJ II Unplugged as well as the Green Acres Gig, is documented much deeper for you, if you go back to my 5 part "Where To Start" series. It begins with part 1 on August 27th. A good read. Go check it out.
As always if you have ANY questions about the pictures or articles I write, just drop me an e-mail and I will 'splain further.
I have pictures ready to post from our Sept.20th, LexJam II Unplugged, (the beginning anyway), That featured Almira Southworth as our special guest. We will start out with about 15 or so, and when all told there will be about 35-40. I did not have time to do a bunch of editing or snappy captions for these, but I had almost 200 pics to go through. Now if you could just find me a 25th hour for each day...
Look at the Sept 26th, news article for a more in depth account of the September session. The next one will be October 11th. Please come out, bring your friends & support the performing arts & live music (isn't that redundant) in our town & area.
Till Next time
The Cities On Flame, With Rock & Roll...Folk & Bluegrass too.... ;)
Rennie