Tom Cattin' the Boogie/ Thumpin' the Bass/ these are my favorite to date

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Walter Tore

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I was recording today with my tokai 335 copy, and the black cat mojo guitar called me. I didn't want to listen. It was in the closet, and in the case. Well, the tokai busted the top e string, so I got out the Black Cat Mojo Guitar. This is truly a magical guitar, with the action set up like a lap steel. I use a big socket extension as a slide. These 2 came out. I was walking the bass line as I picked the lead, and the snare drum was reverberating as I hit it, giving the song a kind of delay. Anyway, this guitar plays itself. Walter

PS: I don't know what others will think, but these are some of my favorite songs to date.


hear it hear:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/7/waltertoresspontobeat.htm

The black cat mojo guitar was given to me by Paul Sessoms, the owner of the black cat lounge in austin, Tx, when Judy and I moved in 96 to California. Will and Charlie Sexton had set up a few weekends of gigs for me at Stubbs BBQ, to serve as a going away party for us. I had Ken Cooke, who joined my band as an eager teenager, on drums(James Harman is his best known gig), Mike Vernon on bass(guitarist/band leader of 3 balls of Fire), Will Sexton on bass, Charlie on guitar and as soundman, and Marc Rubenstien on Accordian. Lots of musicians came out and sat in over those 3 weekends. One night, Paul Sessoms walked in with his wife, a painting, and a guitar case. Paul always was giving guitars away to musicians that played his club. I played there for almost 10 years, and more frequently than anyone, yet he never gave me anything but a hard time. He was always telling me to fire my band, put a mic under a rug that I would tap on with my feet, and play solo. If I did this, he would book me 7 nights a week. I was into my trio set up, so never did it. If now was then, I would be doing the one man band Paul made many predictions to me, about my future. The one man band set up was just one of many. As with all his predictions, I thought him nuts.

He would often tell me I was the worst musician to ever play his club, but the only real artist to. He said I played like an old nigg*r. He said that was a rare thing, and my main problem was my over concern with pleasing the audience. Again I thought him nuts. Again he was right. THis was the first time a musical community accepted me, and man was I knee deep in good stuff in Austin!

Anyway, When he came in, he opened the case and put the picture on the stage. The photo, was one of his wife's Roberta's famous watercolors, that look like a real photo. They are that lifelike. He had her paint the musicians he really liked, who played the club. They were framed and on the walls of the club, and did tours of places to eat in Austin. I remember seeing my photo over where I sat and ate breakfast with Jimmie Vaughn, at Trudys South, near Ray Hennings Music store. Nobody ever bought mine, and they gave it to me as a going away present.

Then came the guitar. Man, I never saw anything like it. Paul said he had it made by a mojo man, especially for me. He was more excited than I had ever seen him. He wanted me to play it, and man, did I want to. I plugged it in and it just crackled and popped, and would not go in tune. I gave it to Charlie to figure out. He fiddled with it for awhile and gave it back to me, and said it was a piece of junk, and to just hang it on the wall. Paul was pissed.

Fast forward in time to about 2000 or so. Mike Vernon called me to let me know Paul had died. He had bought up an entire little town, on the gulf, called Polacious(sp?). It was an old WWII military base. My father trained there as an anti aircraft gunnery instructor. The few remaining buildings were renamed PAUL TOWN. Paul was the mayor, sheriif, and everything else. He was fixing the places up, and was going to bring down the best austin bands. Anything would go, and anyone who remembers Paul, it could never get too wild! He was driving back to austin, when his van flipped and he was killed. That was Paul. He was always doing new, and often laughed at by all, things. He really inspired me on this level.

I pulled out the guitar, and for some reason, plugged it in. It was in perfect tune, and sounded great through my amp. I had not even opened the case since that night at stubbs.

Then I posted my smiling with hope foundation website. That same day, Mike called me again, to tell me the black cat burned to the ground, and all the music memorillbelia inside burned too. Now all that was left is the this guitar.

If you read the spell, you will see how Paul predicted my foundation, and self recording endevour. When he handed me those papers, again, I thought he was nuts. I started recording 3 years ago with a mini disc, and instead of late night tv, I used the internet. I have my own studio now, where I am inspired all the time to play, and a mobile recording set up too. Paul often told me a real artist plays for himself, because he has to play. Whether people like it or not, is not the point. I finally am understanding what he told me night after night, and at the time, refused to listen. I play because I have to, and when I let go of the crowd pleasing angle, it gets real good, and the crowd gives me a ton of energy, which in turn I channel back.

This guitar only plays when it wants. Often I get real excited to play it for people, but if it is not calling my name, it won't go in tune and crackles and pops like crazy. But when it calls, it has to be played, and I swear, it plays itself. I was itching to play it when BC Blues was at my gig the other night, but it never called. I have a bunch of songs with it on my site below if anyone is interested. You have to sift through the songs for them.





here it is. the action is high, like a lap steel.


IMG_0068_1_1_1.jpg



here it is in action


mojoguitarblueheron5-14-05.jpg





here is the case just as Paul gave it to me. I don't mess with anything on this guitar. I haven't changed the strings or anything.

IMG_0067_1_1.jpg



here is the spell on it

IMG_0069_1_1.jpg
 
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Wow Walter...you are a machine!!!
Listening to Tom Cattin'....way cool swing/boogie stuff. I really like this. Nice sounds all around. Excellent playing as always.
Cool tunes Walter.......very cool.
Ed
 
Hi Dogman: Thanks! I had more fun playing these songs, than I have had in a long time. I am going to be exploring this area more, when the mood hits, hopefully, like tomorrow night at my gig. Nothing like learning on the job! Walter
 
Walter,
Share some secrets - how about a phot of you & the recording set up?
Tom's Boogie is truly old school.
Cheers & thanks for the parcel.
rayC
 
rayc said:
Walter,
Share some secrets - how about a phot of you & the recording set up?
Tom's Boogie is truly old school.
Cheers & thanks for the parcel.
rayC

Hi rayc: thanks again for the support and interest in what I do! I did some reading on building a studio, here mainly, and realized it was way to complicated for me, thus the recording setup is pretty simple, and technically all wrong. I did it all in 3 days. It doesn't look real pretty, but it works fine for my needs. Being math challanged, I just started insulating the walls, ceiling, put a carpet on the floor, covered soft insulation in ceiling with plywood. 1 wall is all wood,with a 5'x5'x3'deep wood closet for isolation of amp. I found I didn't need to isolate it, so it now holds guitars and cases. The other 3 walls are plaster and big windows. My studio allows some sounds in, but not enough to bother me, and I play so quiet, that I really wouldn't need any soundproofing if we didn't live in an urban area.


here is my "studio", and I use the word lightly :D It is a 10' x 20' room, off our detached garage, in the backyard. Food for thought.................

2 of the walls (1short, and 1 long) have big 3'x5' windows. I cut rigid insulation to fit them, so I have the opition of seeing the yard, or feeling like I am in a basement (they don't have them in ca, and I miss them bad!)

IMG_0124_1_1_1.jpg


IMG_0122_1_1.jpg


here is the micing of the 1 man band. Everything is in the same room, and within 3 feet of me.

IMG_0223_1_1.jpg



When I record the band, like on the house party cd, we do it in our 20'x17' living room. Our house was built in the early 1930's, and has lathe plaster walls, with a curved lathe ceiling, and wood floors. I love the acoustics. I would put my studio in there, but then we got no living room. We invite about 20 people, I cook a full texas bbq spread, put in chairs and remove the furniture. On that session, (stealing cadillac cars) I used no PA. We played that quiet. I sang in the 414, put the Rode behind my drummers right shoulder, about head high, and put a cheap MXL condensor on the bass. THe AT 3035 was put in the back of the room. I was using samplitude classic at the time, and it only had 4 tracks. Now I have better mics and more tracks to use. We will be doing another party in april, when my good friend Patti Sterling, comes up for a week of dates with me. She is a heavy singer, who can sponto as good me. We did a session down in los angeles a couple of months ago, and had so much fun, we are going to do a week of club dates up here, and a house party. Check her site out. She has worked with some of the best, including sara vaughn, rev. james cleveland, and a ton more. I am thrilled she likes playing music with me, even with my funky 1 man band setup! http://pattisterling.com/
Playing gear:

Tokai copy of a 335, 1938 kalamazoo acoustic, 1963 jazzmaster (from lonnie mack, to SRV, to me), 1940 national steel style ), no name fat hollowbody from the early fifties, a lelani lap stee, the black cat mojo guitar, hohner harmonicas, a THD Hotplate- I use this to get my volume down lower than an acoustic guitar. The mics pick it up like it sounds big. This way, the snare dosen't rattle on the bass notes.

Recording gear:

2- oktava 012's, 1 on the snare, and one over the kit, AKG c414 TLII on vocals/harp, AKG C414 BLUS on front of guitar cabinet, RodeNT1A on back of cabinet, AT3035 on room, in front of drum kit. They all go through EH 12ay7 preamps, to a delta 1010 soundcard, to samplitude classic v8 software.

I think that is it! Walter
 
Thanks walter,
I listened top the cadillac house party last night - it seems you quite enjoyed the Telecaster!!
I loved the road song about your folks.
Thanks for the recording setup insight. Sophisticated enough yet simple enough.
Your band are sympatico to the max.
Cheers
rayC
Oh & listen to the black cat next time.
 
Its certainly a lot of fun! Reminds me of when I lived in New Orleans. Not much to critique here, it sounds great and is a fun lil jam!
 
thanks davidK. I was exposed to the sacred steel sound, while living in austin. Willie Easton and sonny treadway really hit me, and I would credit them for teaching me the bass lines. Walter
 
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