Winter 2009

"No Excuses"-

A Pirate Looks at Forty, Against the Wind, Ain't Even Done With the Night, Ain't No Reason, All for You , Angel from Montgomery, Another Brick in the Wall Pt. 2, Babylon, Behind Blue Eyes, Bertha, Big Yellow Taxi, The Boxer, Brian Wilson, Can't Hardly Wait, Cherry Bomb, Come Monday, Country Roads, Crash, The Daze, Dead Flowers, Dire Wolf, Don't Ask Me Why, Drive, Driver 8, Eyes of the World, FOTM, Flake, Friend of the Devil, Harvest Moon, Heart of Gold, Hey There Delilah, Hide Your Love, Iko Iko, In Your Eyes, Jack Straw, Kentucky Woman, Learning to Fly Let Me Go, Love Lost, Lucky's Charm, Man on the Moon, Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard, Me & My Uncle, Meet Virginia, Mr. Jones, Obla Di Obla Da, The Old Apartment, Pinball Wizard, Pinch Me, Poor Poor Pitiful Me, Ring of Fire, The River, Ruby, Save Tonight, Sitting Waiting Wishing, 6th Avenue Heartache, Song to Baby, Southern Cross, Steal My Kisses, Sugaree, Sweet Baby James, Tangled Up in Blue, Thunder Road, Under the Milky Way, Upside Down, Waiting on a Friend, Waiting on the World to Change, The Weight, Where Are You Going?, Wild Night, Wild World, The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald, Yellow, Yesterday, Your Body is a Wonderland, You'll Think of Me

Performances by-
Axis Acoustic
The Studio G Combo

Origin...

Q: What's with the name?

A: Back in the day, some mates and I produced a few mock radio shows (and a blog many years later) entitled the Members of the Rank and File. Brothers Nanook, Ozone, Roame and Axis were the names of our "characters" and they've just kind of stuck through the years.

A round of applause for you!

Thank you everyone for lending your helping hands in 08!

Throughout the year a portion of the proceeds from my live performances benefit various organizations. Because of your patronage and with the support from my absolute 2 FAVORITE venues to play, Mad Dogs & Englishmen in South Tampa and the Front Porch in Old Seminole Heights, we've been able to do our small part in helping the following organizations this year:

-Women & Infants Hospital
-The Humane Society
-Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Tampa Bay
-Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
-Boys and Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay
-The SPCA of Tampa Bay
-Make a Wish Foundation
-Muscular Dystrophy Association
-The Spring
-The Vincent LeCavalier Foundation
-National Parks and Conservation Association
-The Sierra Club
-WMNF Community Radio
-The Children's Home

Thank you again and please remember to stop in and visit both Mad Dogs & Englishmen (http://www.maddogs.com/) when you're on the south side of town and The Front Porch in Historic Seminole Heights (http://www.frontporchgrill.com/); two first class establishments! Be sure to let them know that you appreciate their helping hands and their support of Live Music in Tampa Bay.

-A2

So long '08...

12/13/2008

Part 1-
Tangled Up In Blue, Where R U Going, Steal My Kisses, You and Me, Brian Wilson, Norwegian Wood, Babylon Waiting on a Friend, Waiting on the World to Change, Poor Poor Pitiful Me> Ring of Fire, Lucky's Charm>Flake, Angel from Montgomery, Little Drummer Boy, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Drive

Part 2-
You'll Think of Me, Heart of Gold, Sitting Waiting Wishing, A Pirate Looks at Forty, Hey There Delilah, Let Me Go, Friend of the Devil, Me and Julio... Southern Cross, Ruby, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Wild World, Under the Milky Way, White Christmas, Country Roads



Musically, this has turned out to be quite a year and there's more to come in '09. If you've listened to even a single note in 2008, I couldn't be more grateful and I wish everyone the happiest of holidays!

Peace,
-A2

"Let there be songs to fill the air..."
- Robert Hunter

12/12/08

Drummer Boy harp intro>Where Are You Going> Do You Hear What I Hear, Sitting Waiting Wishing, Friend of the Devil, Brian Wilson, Angel From Montgomery, Steal My Kisses, Hey There Delilah, Waiting On A Friend, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Meet Virginia, Iko Iko, Wonderful Tonight (Dan W lead vocals), Let Me Go, Cherry Bomb, Drive, Wild World (2 from Dan) Flake, Ring of Fire

Holiday under the Stars

Spent Saturday afternoon chilling in the stands with my main man at Raymond James watching some college football after a raucous night gigging with Punch Drunk under the stars in downtown St. Petersburg, FL. This can be a pretty damn good band when it gets cranking (the "Jazz Master" on bass, "Nice Guy Eddy" on lead and of course my boy, "Brother Roame" on drums) and last night was great fun.

We seemed to be in sync as soon as the guitars came out of the cases. It felt as though we had a good groove in during sound check and we pretty pretty much stayed in the zone most of the night. There were very few of those, "uh oh" moments when all of a sudden the music doesn't seem want to flow quite as easily. We weren't even close to being technically perfect mind you but, as the first set moved on we just locked in and it was a nice ride.

I played through the Jazz Master's Marshall last night and I loved the versatility. The clean sound was great for the softer stuff and when it was time to really kick it, this amp had more than enough muscle to get it done. Of course, when our good buddy "Nails" came by and I handed him my guitar, that's when the thing really came to life. For me its such a treat to watch Nails and Nice Guy trade licks that I usually just go grab a cold one, sit off to the side and watch the fireworks as these two pros trade licks.

Anyway, it went a little something like this...

I
One I Love, Rain King, Can't Hardly Wait, Waiting on the World.., Meet Virginia, Margaritaville, Fall Down, Heart of Gold, Runnin' Down A Dream, Flake, Call Me the Breeze, Dead Flowers

II
Old Apartment, Sitting Waiting Wishing, Just Like Heaven, Pipeline, Keep Your Hands to Yourself, Driver 8, You'll Think of Me, Friend of the Devil, The Middle, Rooftop Jam, I Want You to Want Me (J Lords, lead vocals), Honky Tonk Woman (J. Lords, lead vocals), American Girl

III
What I Got, Last Dance for Mary Jane, I'm A Believer, Ball & Chain, Wish You Were Here, "Nice Nails" Jam, Glory Days, Under the Milky Way -Sweet Home Alabama

I'll finish up the year next weekend with two acoustic gigs on Friday and Saturday and that'll be a wrap for '08.

Until next time,

-A

Back to back...

After a lengthy break in the playing schedule it was nice to get out and do a couple of gigs. Both nights were enjoyable and overall I was pleased with the way things went. Breaking out the new sound system was a highlight. I've been bitching to anyone who would listen about my patchwork setup for the last year so although, not perfect, I have my own rig now to continue to work with and tweak it I shall!

Anyway... the evenings went a little something like this:

Friday 11/14/08

Rodeo Clowns, Save Tonight, Waiting on a Friend, Steal My Kisses, Sugaree, Let Me Go, Cherry Bomb, Drive, You'll Think of Me, Flake, All Apologies Iko Iko, Poor, Poor Pitful Me> Ring of Fire, Tangled Up in Blue

Saturday 11/15/08

Part 1
Learning to Fly, Against the Wind, Save Tonight, A Pirate Looks at Forty, Drive, Sitting Waiting Wishing, Poor, Poor Pitiful Me> Ring of Fire Waiting on A Friend, Hey There Delilah, Brian Wilson, Let Me Go, You'll Think of Me, Flake

Part 2
Southern Cross, Wild World, Cherry Bomb, Iko Iko, Upside Down, Me and Julio, Sweet Baby James Rodeo Clowns, Waiting on the World to Change, Bertha, Hide Your Love Away, All for You, Under the Milky Way, Everybody Hurts

I hope everyone had as much fun as I did. Each night had a completely different and cool vibe that positively affected the music. Good stuff!

Until next time,

-A