10/30/2009 Happy Halloween, all you monsters and humans!

Had a GREAT time at Sandy Mack's CD release party at Paul's in Belmar last night. Mel Taylor, who used to play in the Shots back in the day and also includes Wilson Pickett amongst his credits, did some incredible solos, as did the band, channeling some great up and down tempo blues. Sandy's CD is being released nationally soon.

Just put up another preview from Road Construction, my own 5 song CD which will be released soon also, onto my Reverb Nation site. The song is "Wouldn't Let Me Say" and it features Al-Vis on guitar and vocals, produced by my great friend Cook Smith of LA East Studios. Thanks Cook! This is a limited-time release only, listen while you can, I'll be pulling it down after a few days.

Just heard from my friend Tim Cusack- he has just posted a bunch of videos of our performance at Asbury Park's First Saturday earlier this year, also featuring the great Andy Russo. Check some of them out on this YouTube site!

November is going to be a little period of down-time as I celebrate 10 years of marriage by heading down to Florida for a week. But I do have a few private performances, and will be appearing at The Boathouse on Friday November 6 with Chik-A-Boom.

Then December starts a new period in my career, as I will be debuting my new duo with Patty Tracy. Patty and I will be appearing at the Belmar Fishing Club to start things off on Friday December 4 (members only but lots of you I know are members!), with a special holiday show. The fun continues on Friday December 18 at The Boathouse again with Chik-A-Boom.

And as my CD nears release, watch for some showcases, so stay tuned for that.

Have a great time this weekend, and hope the year ends on a happy note for everyone!

10/21/2009 Happy Birthday this week to the great Carolyne Mas. The music world could never thank you enough for your contributions to it over the years, including here in the Asbury Park NJ area. So please accept my humble but enormous gratitude and best wishes that your dreams continue to come true.

www.CarolyneMas.com

Her fantastic music is available for download, much of it FREE, though she would greatly appreciate any donations to her project:

 www.OurAnimalHouse.org

10/13/2009 Hi Everyone- lots of stuff happening:

-I have a page now on Reverb Nation:

www.ReverbNation.com/AlvisRocks

And I have just posted some rare stuff up there- including a recording of the single I did with Big Danny Gallagher many years ago! This is a very rare recording, and its not great quality but you can hear all the instruments - listen for my solo in "Don't Stop The Dreamin'", one of my best I think!

There are plenty of other recordings up there, including a sample from some sessions I did with local songwriter Andrew James Hughes and another recording of me performing at the 1988 Clearwater Festival at Sandy Hook.


- Many of you remember me performing at Brewsters in Bradley Beach for a few years beginning around 2000. This great venue has started having live music again and this Thursday the GREAT Jo Wymer and her Itty Bitty Band will be there. Come on down for a taste of this highly talented singing sensation!

- And Patty Tracy and I are just about to start performing locally - watch my site for some dates!

- My only October public performance is coming up this Friday at 507 Main in Belmar with Chik-A-Boom.

- If you are on Facebook feel free to friend me. I have loads of pics not available anywhere else, and tons of blogs containing little tidbits of Al-Vis history:

www.FaceBook.Com/AlvisRocks

Below are my notes from my Facebook blog about the Big Danny sessions I just posted. Hope you enjoy!

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The year was 1988. I was living with David Shearn in New Brunswick but spending more time in Asbury Park with Big Danny, staying with him above JP Maloneys and playing at Mrs Jays every Tuesday.

Danny started talking about a studio tape he had that needed to be finished call "Don't Stop The Dreamin'". All that was done was a rhythm track with Rich Mitchel, Gerald Carboy and Vini Lopez.

So he booked studio time and brought the band into Shorefire Studio in Long Branch.

They had a beautiful pre-CBS Fendor twin setup for me, so I proceeded to cut the lead, which I had worked out in advance. It took a few tapes and a few splices, but I was very happy with it and thought my job was done.

But Danny thought it needed more guitar and I wasn't sure what else to put in there. It already had the shuffle rhythm and I thought that was fine. So I asked him what he wanted. "Just added something to it Al!"

So I added two other rhythm parts, the snare drum hits on the treble strings you hear on the verses (which I wasn't and still am not sure added much) and the broken chord part on the chorus.

What was next was the background vocals. Vini and I went into the side booth and cut them in maybe two takes- pretty easy stuff.

We booked another session for Love Gravy and Danny's lead vocals. Danny was great, somedays fierce even before an audience but in the studio I didn't think he gave it enough oomph. He did a few takes and I was not happy. I said "Danny you're not singing the song right- sing it loud and hard!" He went in and still the same result. Again I said: "Danny sing the f*cking song!!! Put your heart and your body into it!" This time he got the message, and the result as you can hear is very impressive.

"Love Gravy" was quite a different animal. For one, he didn't really have the words finished. For another, it has that wierd bagpipe-type drone in the beginning. For that I tuned my low E string down to a D (called "drop D tuning") and cranked up the distortion.

And I also cranked up the reverb, since this was going to be a pretty aggressive arrangement. I played the main riff hard and then cut a second and third harmony riff you hear in the later verses.

I was playing a Fender Mustang at the time and it came with a wammy bar, but I almost never used it. For this song though I knew I had to use it- needed some heavy bends and vibrato on the solos. And I knew I would really need to go to town on the end "Its suppertime!" call-response section.

Together with Ken "Stringbean" Sorenson's wailing harp. Schraegers John Bonham bass drum hits and Vinnie Roslin's solid steady bass this turned out to be one heavy track! Sorta like ZZ Top meets Ozzy Osbourne.


"Don't Stop The Dreamin'" was supposed to be released as a single with "Love Gravy" as the B side, and we even shot a video on top of the Stone Pony (which I never saw and don't think exists anymore).

But as things turned out, it never got off the ground. Danny and I played together with Steve, Vinnie and Ken for the next two years as "Big Danny and the Power 13 Band", and after I left he kept it going as "Big Danny and the Lost Leader Band." In 1993 they recorded an album (and I even went on WRSU radio to help him promote it when he was playing the Clearwater Festival that year). Kirk Budelman played guitar for Danny all those years and they recut these two songs also.

Danny and I remained close friends until his passing in 2007. And I look forward to jamming with him again in that "Rock and Roll Island In The Sun" someday.

9/28/2009 Had a GREAT time at the Shana Foundation's Surf Jam at Monmouth Beach this weekend- thanks to John Cavallo from Chik-A-Boom for helping me out! And thanks to Sandy Mack for asking me to play. Finally got to meet the Jersey Shore's famed Laura Crisci there, who gave a great set from her new CD, to be released very soon. If you see some familiar faces on her site, don't be surprised- she has had some of the Asbury area's greatest performers with her in her stellar career.

Rocktober will find me doing a few private affairs- a wedding or two and a class reunion, as well as 507 Main in Belmar with Chik-A-Boom. I will also be announcing some showcases for me new CD soon, along with some postings from it. And Patty Tracy and I are are busy getting our new thing together- check my Calendar page often for news on that.

Recently, I have has some inquiries as to why I haven't posted more of my music online, and for this I can refer you to my online blogs at Facebook and MySpace, where I get into the details of my recorded legacy, and what happened to the last ten years of my work.

If you're on Facebook, by the way, be sure to take one of my Cruzin the Circuit With Al-Vis quizes, and see Kenny Wescott's Remembering The Circuit In Asbury Park, NJ group. And if you're not up there- you should be if you want to follow great music like Laura's and all the other past and current Asbury-area talent!

9/14/2009 I am proud to announce the debut of a new collaboration between myself and Patty Tracy. Patty is a veteran singer of the Jersey Shore scene, and has performed at many of the areas top venues such as the Asbury Park Convention Hall, the Stone Pony and The Wonder Bar. You can also see Patty perform with her current band One Eyed Jack at these and other great venues.

Patty and I will be debuted this new act at a special performance this coming Saturday at a block party. Please watch this or my other sites about this exciting new development in Al-Vis career!