Rest and Relaxation

It's my own fault, and my Wife gives me Hell about it often, but I don't get enough rest.Between my regular work at the library and playing music with the Ants, I just burn the candle at both ends and in the middle.
Today I feel like absolute Hell, like I got run over by the subway, all 10 cars of the IRT (it's a New York thing...).
My problem is that I'm so driven that I forget that I gotta stop now and then and just simply relax.
This past Thanksgiving weekend I overdid it. I worked at the library Friday got off at 5pm,went home, fooled around without resting, then went to play at a nightclub that night.Played there til the wee hours, came home and instead of going directly to bed I fooled around on my computer before finally settling in at 6:30am, only to have to rise again at 8 to get to work by 9am.
After that entire day, I left and drove to Lewisburg to play at a party.
I didn't allow for proper rest and I paid the ultimate price for me...NO VOICE, well just barely.
If you know me even a little bit you know that I was embarrased beyond measure to not be able to perform; yes, it means that much to me.
Got minor rest on Sunday went to work Monday feeling foggy and now this. UGHHHHH !!
I want to be in the music business, but I need to remember to first and foremost be in the "my health business."
So many of us work so doggedly to achieve our goals that we forget the primary catalyst for achieving them is to rest and relax. Rest, so that your brain can capacitate the goals that are laid out in front of you, and relax, so that you can reflect on the process and thereby refine it.
I'm gonna end by paraphrasing an old saying...
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, the new one is gonna be, all work and no rest makes Jack fall over like a chimney stack.

EVERYBODY...Support Live music today tomorrow and always, and get some rest along the way.

The Vandalia Groove

This is the 3rd post that I've written about the Charleston nightspot the Vandalia Lounge, and try as I may, I can't find one single negative thing to say about my experience of playing there.The vibe just gets better and better.

I can't begin to tell you how much fun it is for me and my band to play at this nightclub. Every time we're here they up the Ante just another notch.
I've never felt so welcomed in place before as when I come through the door and the entire staff greets me with, "HEY Charlie Tee, we're soooo glad you're here, glad you guys are back, man it's gonna be fun tonight !!"
I've played music for alot of years, and I've gotten to know some great spots during my life. There was a place in New York that I used to frequent, and eventually started playing at called Mikells. Michael and Pat Mikell were two of the nicest people that I had known at that time, just absolutely loved music, loved the vibe that musicians created, and loved to share that with people.Mikells was a tiny place but the atmosphere was tremendous.If you wanted to impress a lady, you take her there and you had it made baby.
Well the feeling that I get at the Vandalia Lounge is exactly the same as when I was hanging out at Mikells. I simply think they have the nicest spot in Charleston.Now don't get me wrong, many of the clubs in this town are fine in their own way , but the feeling at the Vandalia is total, meaning they operate at a level that invites the most beautiful women, the coolest cats, and the greatest of all gifts, FUN.
Every time we have played here, I come away feeling completely resolved to staying in the struggle to be in the music business, and to continue trying to further my career.
On a fun note, I have to ask Pierre ( the club's manager) where in the hell, do they find all of these gorgeous women? Brother, I think that I'm going to start calling you Noah because you're bringin' 'em in 2 by 2.
Alot of ladies loved to be dressed up, and look beautiful, so it's easy for them to fit right in with the Vandalia groove.
Again, I want to say that most of the clubs in Charleston are doing their best to make life better for we musicians, and their patrons but the Vandalia Lounge is raising the bar for all of them...and that's good.

The Vandalia Lounge, the best of New York, in the land of the mountains.

The Vandalia Lounge
212 Hale Street
Charleston WV, 25301

(304) 343-4110

Support Live music today tomorrow and always.

Remembering Noriyuki "Pat" Morita

I know that this is gonna sound fairly silly to alot of people, but truthfully, I really don't mind if it does (it's my quirk and I'm proud of it)...

I really truly enjoyed the Karate Kid movies, something about all of them just touched me someplace down in my soul. I'm sure it's probably because I am a romantic at heart, and I'm also sure because my life has been fraught with lessons of all sorts; especially from my parents.
Decency is a trait that is so lacking in my opinion in today's world that maybe we do need heroes to remind us our humanity, and not those costumed super heroes, but real live flesh and blood men and women.
Pat Morita to me was that kind of person, he just exemplified the type of excellence that I feel all of mankind needs to have. It's the kind of thing where one stares at adversity, then mows it down.
To have lived through being in a Japanese Internment camp (America's dark version of Nazi war camps), come out still with love for your country, still make something out of yourself, live through stereotypes, and hazing, rise above it all and become a beloved actor as he was just says volumes about the man.
I was very sad today to hear of the passing of this truly wonderful man, who brought me so much joy in a darkened room, who made me think about being better toward all people, who made me forget my troubles for awhile, and see the world angularly.
I am proud to say that I was alive to witness his spiritual messages on film, to see and hear him accept himself and transformed me into a person who accepts myself, I will be forever grateful.
We as human beings who live in America and were fortunate enough to see him act hopefully will never forget him.
I'm gonna end with a quote that will be forever etched in my mind from the Karate Kid..."First learn to stand, then learn to fly."

I hope that everyone will get a good dose of Pat Morita "Mr.Miyagi" wisdom.
Good night Brother.

Noriyuki "Pat" Morita 1932 - 2005

Support Live music today tomorrow and always.

Hot Dogs on Thanksgiving

Last night we had our 12th annual pre-Thanksgiving bash featuring the always irrepressible Alan Griffith.This gig is always loads of fun with plenty of good music, loads of laughs and just a good time.
Bud Carroll was up from Huntington ( he is an absolutely great guitarist, look for a story on him in the spotlight section soon...) sitting in with us, and as usual he delivered the goods.
Opening the evening were a trio comprised of Jamie Adkins on electric guitar, Tom, a standup drummer, and a great bassist named Diane "Dynamite," no last name on either of them. They did a great Rockabilly set complete with truck driving songs, it was wonderful.
The second part of the show,with Alan on acoustic guitar, did his solo pieces and kept us all in stitches...he just ought do stand up comedy as part of his act because I swear, that man is a riot.
Before Alan finished up Jamie and Tom backed him up and they did a bevy of songs, from Dylan to Hasil Adkins.
During their set in walks a friend of mine who had been telling me about her friend who is fairly new in town, and has been searching for a band to be in or play with. Steve,"the bassist" proceeds to tell me that he's ready to play and that he's learned every song from our first CD "Long Live the Queen, and knows them backward and forward." Ok...!!!
I think this is a good spot to insert my disclaimer: what I'm about to say is true, the names won't be changed to protect the innocent, but if you ask anyone in attendance they will bear me out...
One of the greatest lessons that I've learned as a musician is before you just jump up and play with someone, listen to them first so that you'll have an idea of their style.Believe me folks, it ain't about territory.
When you listen, it's fairly easy to see whether a band that recorded a CD almost 10 years ago is still doing their songs the same way, so that if you decided to that you want to show off for your girl you'll at least half way sound credible (are ya gettin' where I'm goin' with this ?).
Well, needless to say, I'm a ham enough for anybody in my band, but we got served a hot dog for Thanksgiving.
Mr.Steve bassman was everywhere and then some, he took over the song list, he took over my chores as frontman, he took my drummer Jupie Little on the "plane ride from Hell," by God he was even a solid gold dancer.
I'm gonna add something that I rarely say publicly but only to a few choice friends...he wore my ass out ( if you could see me right now, I'm sitting on my legs 'cause I have no ass).
If all that weren't horrendous enough,then he wanted to stay on stage...for the duration.
Now don't get me wrong, I ain't some diva, and I'm by no means the greatest of musicians, not even in my warped mind; but I do at least know when it's time to say when, especially if it's not happening with a band. That just makes everyone in the room uncomfortable, and boy you could have cut that tension with your elbow...I've never had peanut butter that thick.
OK back to reality...it wasn't a total loss, there was a young man in the audience who asked us to do his favorite song which as it turned out, to be our song "Cryin' in the Streets," off of our new CD.He said that he was into Hip Hop primarily but this song really means alot to him...he was so moved by it that he purchased a copy of our new CD "Ants In Your Pants,"he was like a little kid on Christmas morning when I gave it to him.
I have alot to be thankful for, but my greatest thanks are for never having to eat hot dogs on Thanksgiving...and hopefully, never having been one.

Support Live music today tomorrow and always.

It's Just Like the Bronx...

Right now I'm so homesick for the Bronx that I can't hardly stand to see pictures of New York City without getting teary eyed...
It's so funny, when I was younger I had such loathing for life in the Bronx, and everything in it. I hated my dialect, I hated my school, and I longed to be from somewhere else. Nothing prepared me for how I now feel. When I was growing up I played music much like I'm doing these days and I was involved in the music scene in much the same way that I am here, but I didn't realize that I was getting the same support then that I am now. I didn't realize that the people of the Bronx as it were, gave me the same kind of life lessons that Daniel LaRusso got from Mr.Miyagi in the Karate Kid movie series; you remember..."wax on, wax off."
There was a scene in the first movie where Mr.Miyagi was explaining to Daniel who was enthralled by the Bonsai trees to trim the tree by "closing your eyes, and just trusting the picture." The inference here was to believe in your abilities enough to, 1.see that everything in your life has the same beauty if you work toward the trust of it, and 2.in the same way that Allah's (God's) aim is to create balance and constancy in our lives, those standpoints can be utilized anywhere, but you have to believe that it can and does exist ("just trust the picture...")
One time I took my wife to New York, and we were driving up Webster Ave in the South Bronx, the street was terrible, our car was just going along bumpity bump THUMP!! Vickie looked over at me and said " are all the streets this way ?" Then she said, I can see why you love Charleston so much, it's just like the Bronx !! Of course, we had a good laugh, but my point here is that close your eyes and you can transplant that situation anywhere.
The reality is that everything is relatively the same, and for all my desires to "escape" the Bronx, I learned that running away doesn't help because you have to take yourself along.
Despite my current bout with terrible homesickness, I love it here in West Virginia and I wouldn't trade it for the world, but I will use it to launch me from this spot to the world because hey...it's just like the Bronx.

Support Live music today tomorrow and always and you'll find that the grass is greenest wherever you are.

Closing in on the End (of the year), and Giving Thanks

I realize that it's not the end of the year yet, but I thought that I would take this time to assess somewhat the year and put it in a little bit of a perspective...and try and make a few predictions for 2006...
By and large, the Carpenter Ants have had a great year, we marched forward inch by inch, but we kept moving and things started picking up steam. We did quite a few interesting and fun gigs this year, made some great friends/ fans, to which we're grateful.
When you play in a band it's really a crap shoot to get where you're going and do something with your music, but the beauty of it, at least from my point of view is that it's always interesting and new.
I think that next year is going to be the year for the Carpenter Ants, I've had a good feeling about it for awhile now, but something is going to explode us in a big way on the music scene...so stay tuned.
I want to express my sincerest thank you to everyone ( literally and figuratively) for getting behind me, my band, my blog and my dreams.
At the end of the day it really is just about my dream, but it has deeper meaning for me when I know that people like you consistently keep me in your prayers and your kind and warm thoughts. I hope that I will always measure up sufficiently.
Regardless of the outcome...Support Live music today tomorrow and always.

Playing With Fire...

Most of the time when I hear that term, playing with fire, I think that someone is trying to tell me that if I fool around in uncertain territory that I'll find myself in trouble of some sort. While there may be some truth to that, the fire of which I'm referring is the kind where being in a musical situation is so great that is defies words.
Lately, the Carpenter Ants have not only been on fire but also, playing out of this world.
I've felt the need to acknowledge my band mates and give them some much needed praise, and invite you to our world to experience it too.
A while ago, our drummer Jupiter Little gave up cigarettes, followed by also giving up alcohol altogether... not even a beer. Jupie, had a marvelous voice to begin with, and now that he is smoke free, omigodddd!! This man is killing me his vocals are so good, and his drumming standpoint really has taken off to the ionosphere. I'm really proud of him for his accomplishments.
Ted Harrison is starting to really feel his bass, and he's laying down some bottom licks that just blow me out of the water, he's even starting to dance a little bit , not that he ever just stood around, but the music is taking him somewhere special, and he's up for the journey.
What can I say about our leader Michael Lipton, he's just my musical hero period. Mike can spur me like no one else, when he hits those amazing notes on that Fender guitar I'm just gone. It can be subtle like he does on songs like "Helpless," or it can be razor sharp like on "For What It's Worth," or even still it can be down and dirty like on "Hush On Hush."
I am so unbelievably lucky to have found a home with these musicians. So many people look for a lifetime to find friends like these in regular life let alone a musical one. When I was living at home in New York, I used to get so upset because it seemed like all the folks that I was meeting (with the exception of a few) just weren't serious about doing anything with their music beyond being mediocre. Those of us who were really trying hard were in such a minority that you could almost liken it to slavery, you just wanted to escape the madness.
To be sure, I miss my hometown alot, but I have found the peace of mind that I sought here and I have found musical like minds in so many of the people here and I just want you to know that while I'm playing with fire, for this, I'll love getting burned.

Support Live music today tomorrow and always.

Ants In Your Pants

Well after some considerable time off, it's time to jump back on the horse and let you know what's going on in my world...
I've received a good amount of e-mails as well as verbal messages from folks telling me that they either have missed my postings or to quit bein' lazy and continue this "journey that you've gotten us transfixed to."
I have to admit, the lazy bug bit me good...but it's good to be back.
Well, let's talk about the title of this post,as it serves a couple of purposes...
First, I'm excited to tell you that the brand spankin' new Carpenter Ants CD has arrived. Ants In Your Pants is our long awaited, too long overdue third outing . It's filled with some gems, such as the songs about me and my other bandmates, Ted and Jupie.
I would be lying if I didn't say that I was truly flattered by my song. The fact that someone has gotten to know me and my little idiosyncrasies that well makes me smile all over...it just touched me.
Recently we signed on with Second Sight Management, a company comprised of 2 dynamic women who are puttin' in some overtime trying to help push us out there to the masses. On our own we have been playing everywwhere and logging in loads of frequent flyer (in our vans ) miles, plus holding down our regular jobs and some other gigs with other folks. This year we might get the award for "band that's yet undiscovered, but all over the place ( I bet the statue for that will look like an unopened suitcase, with clothes bustin' out of the seams !!)."
Alot of things transpired during this time that I've been away from you good and bad...
My Uncle, John Tuitt passed away, and I was very saddened by this because he and I were finally at a better place than we had been in my life, which brings me to the second part of the relevance of the title for this post.
The Tuitt side of my family (my father's) has lead a fairly nomadic life, in that at some point or another we have all migrated to places other than New York.I'm not 100% certain of the reasons, but we haven't seemed to do well staying where we started.My Uncle and Aunt moved to Barbados just about 30 years ago, my Sister Caroleigh moved to Washington DC in 1964,my Dad first moved to St Croix, USVI, then to south Florida, I moved here to West Virginia, my younger Sister Lauren lives outside of Chicago (she's in the US Navy), and even my Mom ended up moving to northern Florida.
The Charles, and Mendez side of my family (my mother's) basically all remained in New York and just got old and cranky ( not necessarily in a bad way). Again, I'm not certain why but they seemed to not do well being outside of New York...it's definitely weird.
I brought this up because my entire family suffers gravely from ants in our pants. We are absolutely restless spirits, all of us looking for something on the other side. For me, I've wanted to be a star for as long as I remember, and I've worked and worked and then some toward it. These CD's are as close as I've come so far, and I'm tremendously proud of the work that we've done, and the title of the CD so sums me up that it's almost frightening.
I truly feel as though I am at really great place in my life. I get great ups and downs with my bandmates, but even then I'm thankful for their restless spirits because all of this restless energy has made us have motion...a motion toward the kind of musical life that I have dreamt of all of my life.
If you find yourself at any kind of crossroads in your life, get ants in your pants and you'll find out in short order where the true value in your life is.
You can also get a copy of the CD, "Ants In Your Pants," and use that wonderful music to spur you forward and help charge your mental battery.Let go and dance, let the music take you to...wherever.

I've missed you all, it's great to be back. There's more to come.Thank you for all of your encouragement.

This post is dedicated to my Father James M.Tuitt today would have been his 84th birthday.
It's also dedicated to Michael Lipton, today is his birthday too.
Together, they are 2 men who have inspired me tremendously.
It's also dedicated to Carlean Moser and Amy Windham of Second Sight Management, thanks for all your efforts for us.

You can catch the band everywhere or click here:the Carpenter Ants...get our music at CD Baby.com., or from us at any gig.
Support Live music today tomorrow and always and calm your restless heart.