Pete is a member of Moonalice
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New 2011 Moonalice Dates for Pete Sears
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March 4, 2012: I just heard that Ronnie Montrose passed away...I am so very sad. We reconnected a few years ago, and played a Harvey Mandel show together at "Biscuits & Blues" in San Francisco. I knew he'd been fighting cancer...but he looked and played like he might have licked it. So long old friend...see you down the line. Thanks all...just got home from the Harvey Mandel gig. 1:30am. Every now and again something really, really special happens. Tonight was one of those moments...the band connected in that special, almost musical telepathic way. The drummer Billy Johnson (Carlos Santana and many others) and I didn't have to think...we just played, and it brought us to that magical space. And it all happened in a small, intimate bar gig in Forestville, California. Harvey was amazing on the guitar, as was Jose Najera and the wonderful harp player. You never know when and where it is going to happen. This was a last minute gig that I was asked to do three days ago...when Harvey was scrambling to get a band together for a gig he didn't think was going to happen. Harvey was completely stocked at the end of the evening...he had a great time also. Thanks for all your wonderful comments. I'm off to bed. Helping out Harvey Mandel on bass tonight...he's an amazing guitarist. I used to listen to his wonderful "Cristo Redentor" album back in 1969. Around the time I first came to the states from England...lived above the Merry Go Round on Santa Monica Pier with Leigh Stephens from Blue Cheer, and rehearsed our band "Silver Metre" in Venice Beach. I didn't meet Harvey until many years later...started playing keyboards on his CD's once in a while, including a live album he put out. Now I play with him occasionally on bass for fun...my main band is still "Moonalice" of course. I'm playing with Harvey tonight at the "Forestville Club"...just past Sebastopol. Our first set is around 9:00pm. wwwww.harveymandel.com |
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March 2, 2012: I just played a show with "The Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band"...lots of fun. It was at the JCC in San Rafael and I played accordion of all things. I sat in for the last half of the set...lots of great musicians, and Peter's songs are wonderful. Just a few mikes to pick everyone up. They are flying to Australia for a tour on the weekend. Check them out if you see them playing anywhere. |
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"THE STORM THAT SWEPT MEXICO" Pete wrote and recorded the original score for this new movie, which will air on PBS in the spring. There will be a screening at The Rafael Film Center March 31, at 7:00pm The filmmakers, Ray Telles and Kenn Rabin will be there in person Pete co-produced the traditional music with Pancho Rodriguez and Los Lobos. He also produced and recorded a Bach piece played by classical guitarist Paul Binkly, and a Bach Cello piece played by Paul Hale. |
Harvey Mandel Site
Pete will be playing bass with Harvey Mandel at “Biscuit’s and Blues”
in San Francisco on April 17th. Pete is also playing keyboards on
Harvey’s latest CD release, “Harvey Mandel and the Snake Crew Live”.
CLICK Here for more information
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Pinetop Perkins Blues piano player Pinetop Perkins just passed away at age 97. He was one of the great’s who helped inspire a whole new generation of piano players around the world. Although he is probably most well known for his work with the Muddy Waters band, he also had an extensive career with artists like, Sonny Boy Williamson, Earl Hooker, and BB King amongst others. Pinetop had his own unique piano style which stands strong alongside such greats as, Big Maceo Merriweather, Otis Span, and Champion Jack Dupree. Jeannette and I had Pinetop, his manager Pat Morgan, and Blues guitarist Rich Kirch who was John Lee Hookers band leader for many years, over to our house near San Francisco for dinner one night. Pinetop had some wonderful stories, and was of course the perfect gentleman…although you suspected that, like so many of his contemporaries he’d lived hard and raised hell as a young man. Later in the evening we sat at my piano together and played some four handed boogie, but the video camera sound of course chose that moment to go belly-up…always the same when you really want something to turn out. I at least have a few minutes of silent footage of us playing together…maybe I’ll convert it into black n white and add a flicker like the old time silent movies. I get the impression that Pinetop lived a full and relatively happy life and he was blessed to be able to play his beloved piano music long into his old age. He also got to experience the recognition he so richly deserved from his musical peers when he won a Grammy for Best Traditional Blues Album, “Joined at the Hip”. The album also featured fellow Muddy Waters vet, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith. My condolences and heartfelt sympathies go out to his family and close friends, especially his manager and confidant for many years, Patricia Morgan. Pete Sears, March 22, 2011. |
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A Note from Pete on Bear's Passing I'll miss him, he was one of a kind...and had a profound influence on an entire generation. He mixed monitors for the original Jefferson Starship for a while...I once saw him eat the largest plate of oysters I've ever seen, in one sitting. Glad I got to see him when he was last in the USA...we talked a while back about him writing some poetry for a weird "out on the edge" musical/visual art project I'm working on with artist Andreas Nottebohm. He told me he wasn't a poet...I told him everything he said, or did was poetry in an off-beat sort of way. He said he'd come up with something after I sent him the music, which I was about to send him. He was one of lives true characters. I agree with Jeff Tamarkin that it's "Kind of anticlimactic that a car crash would get him", I think he would have lived beyond a hundred. My heartfelt condolences go out to his family and close friends on their terrible loss. |
Updates on Progress (PDF) (9-10-2009)
Hospitalito Atitlán Site
