Friday, December 17, 2004

Music Report for Dec. 17, 2004 - Holiday Superjam

Hi Friends, if you've been to any of the Tuesday jams at The North End you know how good they have been. Well, they're about to get better! We have a special event coming this Tuesday, Dec. 21st, as our old friend Jimmy Dormire of Confederate Railroad will be back in town. If you don't know Confederate Railroad, you haven't been paying attention to country music - they've earned lots of awards and nominations (including Grammy) and multi-platinum album sales. Jimmy is a scorching guitarist in all styles, and we'll be havin' a big time. Don't miss out!

More about Confederate Railroad: http://www.confederaterailroad.net (read the "About" section) or just Google 'em and see how many hits you get...

Add this talent to the fine house band I'm privileged to work with (drummer Theron Peterson and bassist/keyboardist Gates Nichols, also of Confederate Railroad) and all the talented guests who've become regulars there (Andrew Black and Barry Richman, among many others) and you can see it's gonna be spectacular!

Our soundmeister, Tweak (also of Confederate Railroad) has gotten the stage and the room to sound really good, and has been experimenting with digital recording of the music there. He tells me he has fancy new recording gear on the way. If it arrives in time, this evening may just turn into a live CD, and it'll be a good one.

Now, to my guitar and bass students - I know most of you are still under 21, but I've checked and it's OK for you to come out with your parents and enjoy the show. Some of you may even get a chance to play with us. We're starting this special evening at 8PM, and there's no school the next day. C'mon out, I want you to see this up close, meet the players, and see how we do things.

OH, and be sure to try the food! I'm not kidding, it is WAY above average, and the kitchen stays open late.

The North End Pub & Grill
5970 Atlanta Hwy (Hwy 9 at McFarland Rd.)
Alpharetta, GA 30004 678-867-6750
http://www.thenorthendga.com

Super Easy Directions: From the south, come up 400 to McFarland Rd (exit 12). Turn left across 400 and go until the road Ts into Highway 9 (Atlanta Hwy). You're there. From Gwinnett, come in on Hwy 20, turn south on 400, and go two exits to McFarland and turn right. From other directions, adapt what I just said. Here's a map: http://tinyurl.com/555vg

That's enough for now - I have another very cool jam to tell you about at Kennesaw Billiards on Wednesday nights, but I'll save that for another post.

best holiday wishes,
George Price

Friday, December 03, 2004

Mike Martin goes Bigtime!

Hello Friends,
This is a note about my friend and sometimes mentor Mike Martin. If you haven't heard him, you're about to. Mike is an amazing player in every genre - jazz, classical, rock, whatever - but has somehow been overlooked and underutilized. That appears to be about to change. He's been picked up by some bigtime rockers, and will be getting a lot more exposure for his formidable skills. You'll even have a chance to catch him on TV, so get your blank tape ready. Please check this note out from one of my true guitar heroes.

-------------------------
Mike's Notes December 2nd, 2004

Hello everyone! There has been much activity going on around here. I apologize for the delay in sending out the newsletter but things have really been just that busy! So without further ado, here's the news:

FOZZY
Over the past couple of months I have been offered the lead guitar post with the heavy metal group known as FOZZY. For those of you who know about the group, not much is needed to be said. For those of you scratching your heads wondering about the words "heavy metal" in a Mike Martin email, let me explain....

FOZZY is a great rock band that is basically comprised of members from Salem Ash and Stuck Mojo. Both groups are old friends of mine from years ago when I first moved to the fair city of Atlanta. The lead singer for the group is the internationally famous wrestler Chris Jericho. (this is about the time I expect many of you to really be wondering if I have lost my mind!)

Fear Not! I actually started my career as a shredder from back in the day. I was a little too young to get a chance to take advantage of the post 80's rock debauchery but my love for all things Jazz, Classical and Jimi Hendrix kept me busy!

For those of you not familiar with heavy rock, Stuck Mojo was, in my humble opinion, one of the BEST modern heavy bands to come out of the
90's. It is my absolute pleasure to get to play guitar with Rich Ward and the guys in this project. I have been blessed to play with some of the finest musicians in my career. No matter what style of music I have been called to perform, I have lucked into playing with the best. FOZZY is no exception to that.

For more info on all things FOZZY and Rich Ward please check out these links:

www.fozzyrock.com
www.thedukerocks.com

Both sites have full bios and pictures so you can get a sense of the history that is here.

The Big News
Playing for FOZZY means some pretty cool stuff
1. MTV music video shot in San Diego a couple of weeks ago soon to be in rotation.
2. World Tour. We will be playing all over the US, Europe, Japan and Australia in 2005 to support the release of "all that remains" due in stores January 18th, 2005
3. Performing on national television

That's right. Live on TV.

This monday, december 6th, on the SPIKE channel, we will be appearing live on the WWE RAW program. The show starts at 9:00pm so tune in and check me out with the FOZ!

We are also doing a run of the southeast over the next two weeks:

"The Fall That Remains Tour 2004"

Monday, November 29
Baltimore, MD
Thunder Dome
3612 Hanover Street
410-354-4700
All Ages
$9.98
Doors - 8:00PM

Friday, December 3
Playground Bar
873 Broad St
Augusta, GA 30901
706-951-6924
$10 - 21+
Support Act - American Devils

Saturday, December 4
The Jinx Nightclub
127 W Congress
Savannah, GA 31401
912-236-2281
10 Adv / 12DOS 21+
Support - Murder Junkies

Monday, December 6
Amos' Southend
1423 South Tryon Street
Charlotte, NC 28203
704-377-6874
$10
Support - American Devils

Friday, December 10
Soho
5751 Milgen Road
Columbus, GA 31907
706-568-3316
$10 - 21+
Support Act - American Devils

Saturday, December 11
Rivalry's
3986 Northside Drive
Macon, GA 31210
478-474-6684
$12, $10 w/WWE ticket stub
18+
Support - Camelspur

Sunday, December 12
Rhythm and Brews
221 Market Street
Chattanooga, TN 37402
423-267-4644
$10 18+
Support - A


If we are coming to a town near you please stop in for a great show!

The Mike Martin Trio will still be performing around Atlanta and the southeast as my schedule permits. We will be recording a cd this winter with a scheduled release for spring of 2005. In between tour responsibilities for FOZZY and Rich Ward I will be touring to support my cd.

www.mikemartin.net will be getting a facelift in the coming weeks too so please check back for updates! In the meantime, here are some sound clips for your enjoyment:
http://www.allrightnow.com/fws/news.htm#Mike_Martin_091904

I hope to see you at the shows and that you enjoy the RAW performance on monday. You can send any and all feedback or comments to me by replying to this email and I promise I will read them all!

Thank you for you continued support!

Peace and Love,
Mike Martin
www.mikemartin.net

Wednesday, December 01, 2004

Music Report for Dec. 1, 2004 - New Jam Venue: Kennesaw Billiards

Hi Friends, I told you Larry Griffith would get us a Wednesday gig soon, and sure enough he did. The new venue is Kennesaw Billiards (a.k.a. KBs) and it's located logically enough in Kennesaw.

Kennesaw Billiards 770-514-9900
3600 Cherokee Street Northwest Suite 107
Kennesaw, GA 30144

Take I-75 to Wade Green Rd, exit 273. Turn west (probably your left, unless you're coming from north of there). Go until Wade Green becomes Cherokee St. NW. You should see Kennesaw Billiards at the corner of Cherokee and McCollum Pkwy NW. (This is unverified, I'm using MapQuest.com, but should be OK.)

Also, we still have the jams on Monday nights at Crystal's On The Square in Marietta, and Tuesdays at The North End (Hwy 9 & McFarland Rd.) and both of those jams are drawing major talent and good crowds. The Tuesday jam was EPIC last night, and soundmeister Tweak has begun experimenting with multi-track recordings of the jams. What he got last night was great, I think with a bit of mixdown it could go right to CD. Many thanks to Andrew Black, Barry Richman, Steve Mays, Mike Hinton, and other guests for a stellar show!

Gotta run, more updates later. I've just returned from a great trip to Memphis with the Elvis trio (Harold Shulz & Franklin Bunn) and have cool stories to tell. I also have 21 shows in the next 31 days to tell you about, but I still have a few nights unused so book me while you can.

Remember, the last thing I want to do is burden you with unwanted spam, so if you don't want to hear from me I promise I will remove you from my mass mailing list upon request.

best wishes,
George Price