Alaska State Fair Gig

Last night at the State Fair’s “Sluice Box” the Matt Hammer Band scored a knock-out. We played for 2 hours and rocked the house. On stage was Matt Hammer, Lona, John Nyman (drums), Frank Iarossi (bass), Stu Schulman (pedal steel), Doc Schultz, Ed Christiansen (lead gtr). Not there from the recording sessions of Surreal Sessions were Kurt Rieman (organ), Mike Merrill (tenor sax), Kyle Stersic (alto sax),and Paul Schlomer (harmonica). I noticed Matt’s daughter snapping some photos but I don’t know if they will make it onto his website or not.

Poetry Gig

I'd been searching for poetry readings around Anchorage and couldn't find any, even after contacting Leo Josey aka "Black Verb", a local poetry slam coordinator. Then I found "Out North" on DeBarr road and went there last Wednesday (8/6/08). The "Poetry Parley" featured numerous readings of e.e. cummings' work. Jon Minton put it together. After about 45 minutes of cummings, Faye Sikora got up to finish off the evening. Faye is a prize-winning slam poet and is connected to the local production group "Speak Easy", a spoken arts outfit that--as it turns out--performs Sundays at the House of Rock (used to be Fly-By-Night Club) in Spendard. But here's whats cool, Out North will hoste the Poetry Parley once a month and also the Poetry Slams once a month. For more information email poetryparley@gmail.com or platinumproductionsalaska@yahoo.com for the slam info. Or you can go to this website: mynameiswisdom.com

The Snow Goose Gig

Last night (7/24/08) the banquet room at the Snow Goose was filled with the musicians featured on Matt Hammer's new CD "Surreal Sessions", and a cadre of loyal Hammer fans for the CD release party. First, each number on the CD was performed live on the stage by the musicians who recorded those tracks. Unfortunately, saxophonists Mike Merrill and Kyle Stersic weren't able to attend, but it gave me a chance to play their solos on their pieces as well as my own on "San Diego Serenade". Kurt Rieman was there (owner of Surreal Recording Studio, and organist of the CD), but he only records and never plays live gigs. That was too bad, I'd love to see him play. Also, Paul Schlomer (harmonica) was absent and we hope he's feeling better soon. We all had a great time. The food was good, the cake was great, and the free-form last hour of music was a kick. Oh, if you weren't there, you missed a terrific drum solo by John Nyman. I noticed someone was shooting pictures of us and I imagine they'll eventually be posted on Matt's website (www.heymatt.com)

A real web log.

After writing my books, I had (have) material left over. So, I'll post some of the left-overs here along with a journal and new brain twitches. For insights and reviews of my books, and audio downloads, refer to my website: http://www.deweywhetsell.com and from there to my other 2 blogspots.
Contact me at dewey1@mtaonline.net