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Serendipitous Looper Sighting -- Spooky Ghost aka Gerry Leonard



Hi all,

I am deep into my usual post-NAMM depression (and a very nasty head and chest
cold too) but I thought I post the list about something I saw on Saturday night in LA.

The better half and I were having a hard time finding many good NAMM-related
musical events/activites during the evenings of the show (guess we weren't invited
to any of the cool parties). So, picking up a Times Calendar Section we noticed that
a favorite singer/songwriter acquaintance of ours (Glen Phillips of Toad the Wet
Sprocket) was at Club Largo on Fairfax in LA.

We got there early enough to catch the opening act who (as it turned out) did quite
a lot of looping in his set with a DL-4. I had no idea who the guy was. I had to ask
one of the club employees. The performer's name is Gerry Leonard. I guess he's
done some work with Bowie and a few others of note. I guess he's also got a CD
out under the moniker of Spooky Ghost.

His set was pretty good -- sometimes accompanied by a drummer and/or female
vocalist, sometimes just him solo. He did a good job of integrating a broad variety
of loops into more-or-less conventional song structures -- whether the piece was
vocally driven or an instrumental piece. I can't say I was all that impressed by his
lyrics or singing ability but that's just me. His playing and use of loops was pretty
impressive for the low-tech setup he had.

He's got a pretty decent website up at:
<http://www.spookyghost.com>

Anywho. I just thought I'd pass along this little tidbit. I hadn't heard of the guy before
but he's pretty good (must be if Bowie's used him I guess). I wonder if he's aware
of the list? He ought to be since his shtick is so loop-oriented.

BTW . . . the best music I saw and/or heard performed at NAMM or anywhere else
this past weekend was at the Senheiser booth at 4:00pm on saturday with Tom
Griesgraber (stick) and Jerry Marotta and Rick Walker (percussion). What a hoot!
Very tasty stuff, astoundingly well played.

Maybe after I feel a little better I'll post some more about the show. I spent the entire
day yesterday in bed. Ugh! I feel awful.

Best regards,

tEd ® kiLLiAn

"Different is not always better, but better is always different"

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