Old Times

Thanks so much to our good friend Ryan Patrick Imming (RPI) who joined us on-stage at the Full Moon Club in Memphis last Saturday and played a darn fine set for some of the Standard faithful. Ryan had folks (including us) mesmerized by his deft blending of snappy original folk-rock tunes with some really cool looping technology that allows him to instantly morph into a one-man band. As you can see, at the end of the night, Ryan, Ted and I did a few songs together, ranging from a Capps/Imming original called "Monongahela" to R.E.M.'s "Superman" and the Stones' "Dead Flowers" (by request). What a great time we had! Ryan was off to Nashville on Sunday to do some work with a fellow singer/songwriter/producer and shoot for a coveted slot at the Bluebird's Monday night "Open Mic".

As promised, we tried out a bundle of brand new and semi-new songs. Folks responded very well, so you can expect to see many of them working their way into the standard Standard set and onto a new recording very soon, we hope! Here's what we did:

STRIKE
SO MUCH CLEARER
PERPETUAL AFTERNOON
TAKES SO FEW
BACK FROM LITTLE ROCK
MOLLY MOSAIC
WHAT MAKES YOU THINK
GREAT BIG COSMIC
THANK YOU, HERMAN MANKIEWICZ
HEAVYWEIGHT
JAY-C'S BROKEN RADIO
T-HO'S BROKEN RADIO
MY FRIENDS, TOO
DRIFT AWHILE (ANNIE)
YEAR 55
SHOULD'VE BEEN IN LOVE
IF I WANTED YOU

We'll be back in action next Sunday, August 6 at Neil's in Midtown Memphis, playing as part of a benefit concert for Mid-South Arc, which helps children and adults with developmental disabilities. The event starts at 2 p.m., though we won't take the stage until about 4 p.m. Admission is $5 at the door, and it's a 21+ event. For more information about Arc, please visit them on-line at www.arcmidsouth.net. Hope you can take advantage of the chance to support this worthy cause and check us out at a reasonable hour!

Ryan Patrick Imming (RPI)

Ryan Patrick Imming will be making his Memphis debut with us this Saturday night at the Full Moon Club. We're pleased to have Ryan sharing the bill with us, not only because he's a very talented songwriter and musician, but more importantly, because he's been a great friend of ours for more than a decade. Ted and I met Ryan at the University of Missouri. He's originally from the Kansas City area and still lives there, though he spends much of his time on the road in a minivan, playing college towns throughout Missouri, Kansas and the midwest. Here's a shot of the three of us playing on-stage togther (for the first and only time, I believe) in April 1996 at Reggae Sunsplash in Columbia.

Of course, Ryan and I played many shows together throughout 1995-96 in the band Bronwen Rae. We had a standing Monday night gig at TP's Bar & Grill. Incidentally, Ted's band at the time, the fabulous Pintos 'n Cheese, played there on Tuesday nights. Bronwen Rae was made up of Ryan on guitar and vocals, me on lead vocals, Milton Hopkins on keyboards (which doubled as bass!) and Mike Dohrmann on drums. Here's a shot of Ryan and I sharing a microphone at TP's in 1996. This picture's a little bit creepy, I know. It kinda looks like I'm biting Ryan's cheek.

Those were great times (cheek-biting and all). Bronwen was both Ryan's and my first gigging band. While we wrote three or four original songs, we were primarily a cover band. We learned a lot together, and playing with Ryan inspired me to get a guitar that summer and start writing songs on my own. We split into two bands that next fall (timmy likes to fish and 10shy), but Ryan and I remained good friends and occasionally played shows together. Timmy did a good amount of touring, which helped Ryan to sharpen his skills and fueled his passion for playing live music. After timmy disbanded, Ryan took a marketing/promotions job at a radio station in K.C., while working to put together a new band under his initials (RPI).

Eventually, though, Ryan discovered that he needed to puruse the dream on his own. He quit his day job and hit the road as a solo artist. Today, he's a one-man band! Ryan uses live looping (e.g. Keller Williams and others) to create a sweet one-man show complete with rhythm guitar, lead guitar, bass, percussion, lead vocals, backing vocals, harmonica, etc. Nothing is pre-recorded--it's all done on the spot, in front of the audience. This is compelling stuff, folks, and Ryan does it well. He's loose and fun on stage and does a great job of getting the audience involved in what he's doing. I know you'll enjoy his show. And, as is the case for all independent musicians who are trying to make it in this business, he works tirelessly in pursuit of his dream. Ryan is his own booker, promoter, driver, roadie, producer, engineer, etc. Here's Ryan in an early "press" photo (ca. fall 1995) in the basement of the fraternity house (e.g. Bronwen's rehearsal space).

So, here's to old friends and rock 'n roll. See you this weekend!

THE CENTRAL STANDARDS
w/ RYAN PATRICK IMMING
Saturday, July 29th
Full Moon Club
1718 Madison
Doors: 9 p.m.
Music: 9:30 p.m.
Cover: $5

This Saturday!

Check back later this week for a proper introduction to our good friend, Ryan Patrick Imming, who will join us for this special show!

Cool (Summer in the City)

"Cool" definitely was the theme for our two sets on Wednesday night at the fabulous Otherlands in Midtown Memphis. Perhaps most obviously because the show came at the end of a brutally hot 100-plus degree day in the city. The cozy-cool surroundings of Otherlands were just what the doctor ordered.

Our friends, Mark and Sean, at Simple Groove Productions and everyone at Otherlands are also pretty cool. They're the ones who have made this new Wednesday night music series happen. We enjoyed being there, and we thank all of these folks for their great support. Let's do it again!

But, of course, as always, the coolest folks in the house were our friends and fans who packed the place on a Wednesday night and let us pretend like we were in the rehearsal space from time to time, trying out some new tunes. Thank you all so very much--we had a great time!

Oh yeah...we also played the song "Cool", which happens to be one of our very oldest tunes. Here's the rest of the night, in the order in which it happened:

I
HEAVYWEIGHT
LITTLE ROCK
SO MUCH CLEARER
IN THE BOOKS
STILL STAY
WHAT MAKES YOU THINK
GREAT BIG COSMIC
THANK YOU, HERMAN MANKIEWICZ
TEENAGE HEART
ROSEMARY
PERPETUAL AFTERNOON
WHAT THEY MEAN
TIME TO KILL

II
MAKES ME TIRED
COOL
STRIKE
MOLLY MOSAIC
SECRETS TO SING
CHANGED
PRETTY PERSUASION (by request)
TOP OF THE WHEEL
NOTHING TO SEE HERE
TAKES SO FEW
REAL LIVE SUBURBAN ROCK 'N ROLL DAD
NO MAN ALIVE
KEEPING STILL
SINCE I'VE BEEN GONE

Acoustic Show at Otherlands!

Just a quick reminder for all of you Memphis-area folks that we'll be playing a couple of full-band acoustic sets, tomorrow night, July 19, at Otherlands, 641 S. Cooper. Otherlands has started a new music series that's been getting rave reviews, and we're happy to be on-board. It's a great little venue. Worth checking out, if you've never been.

We'll kick off the jams around 8 p.m. and keep the folk-rock fresh until about 10. Expect to hear at least two brand new tunes that have never been played in front of anyone, aside from the rehearsal space walls. It should be worth the trip. So, what better way to spend a beautiful mid-week summer evening than in the cozy, air-conditioned confines of Otherlands in Midtown?! There is no better way, I say.

In the meantime, here's a peek at our last full-out acoustic show in May, where we were joined by our friend and great multi-insrumentalist Matthew Geerdes. Congratulations, by the way, to Matt, who became a Daddy for the second time a couple of weeks back. See you guys tomorrow!

30

So, it happened. Whether or not you're ready, it just does. You get old. The main thing is to not let it pass by without a grand celebration--complete with some horseshoe pitching, nice tunes and great friends. Yep, I hit the big 3-0, and I feel fine. Marty was out-of-town, but the rest of the band joined me in the backyard with a couple dozen other friends, my mother-in-law (in town from Iowa) and my Dad and stepmom (who drove in, unbeknownst to me, from Fort Worth that day). What a great night we had!

One of my three "oldest" Memphis friends (he's only 30, too, but I met him in 1988), Matt Oliver, joined Ted and me for a wonderfully sloppy version of Jerry Jeff Walker's classic "Sangria Wine". We even had some crowd participation, which made it more fun, for sure. Here we are on the deck steps in my backyard.


As is prone to happen, some spontaneous music broke out at the end of the night per request of some of the remaining party guests (that would be my mom-in-law, Dad, stepmom and our lovely wives). Ted and I were reluctant (read sarcasm), but we decided to give the people what they wanted. We did a great little set of tunes, including:

NOTHING TO SEE HERE
YEAR 55
I'M ALRIGHT (Resident Clark)
BILL ME (Resident Clark)
MAKES ME TIRED (unreleased T-Ho song)
SIMON SAYS
HEARTBOUND (10shy)
ROSEMARY
TOP OF THE WHEEL

Here's how our very serious listeners looked. By the way, we were sitting in a makeshift outdoor living room, designed by the very talented Amber Capps!


So, if it had to happen, this was a pretty darn good way for it to go down!

Don't forget, Memphis folks--we'll be at Otherlands on Cooper on Wednesday, July 19 from 8 to 10 p.m. Don't miss this rare opportunity to see and hear a full-band acoustic set. We plan to play several brand new ones, as well!

In the Books

Thanks to the Germantown Community Library for having us out as part of their summer reading program. We played outdoors on one of the most beautiful nights of the summer, thus far. It worked out great. Jan, Barbara, Noah and the other fine folks at the library did a great job promoting the show, and we enjoyed playing to what was truly an "all ages" audience. Good times.

Not that anyone asked us to, but being the conscientious guys we are, we tried, but had a bit of trouble, drawing links from our melodic folk-rock stylings to reading and such. We do have a song with "books" in the title (see the top of this blog). We have T-shirts with a typewriter on them. And, well, we've all read some books that have, in some way, certainly impacted the writing of some of our songs. Is that good enough?

Evidently it was, 'cuz folks seemed to dig the tunes, and this was a highly educated bunch! How do we know? Well, we did a quick, highly unscientific poll that proved, in fact, that the kids out in Germantown are darn good readers! Way to go, guys!! Browse on over to centralstandards.com and check the "show archives" page for a full photo spread documenting this great night.

And speaking of all ages shows, mark your calendar for Wednesday, July 19, when we'll play for the first time at the fantastic Otherlands Coffee Shop on Cooper (they sell drinks for folks of all ages) from 8 to 10 p.m. This will be a rare full-band acoustic show. Don't miss it!