Gabriel Sullivan's Blog

No one lives here

2011-10-23T09:43:00.001-07:00

This page is out dated and battered and beaten. Please visit gabrielsullivanmusic.com for up to date ramblings!

Special Tucson Nights...

2010-05-10T13:11:00.000-07:00

It's been a very busy couple of weeks. I've been playing, composing and arranging so many different styles and forms of music lately. It'd been a blast.

The last couple weeks I've been working out my first string arrangement for a string quartet and contrabass as part of Chris Black's Chamberlab I. The concert was held Saturday May 8th at The Screening Room. It was a lot of work seeing as how I hadn't written out music in almost 8 years. After a couple of days of correcting notation errors, I finished my piece entitled "Danza Del Torero (Dance of the Bullfighter)." It was a 3 and a half minute song in the key of melodic Cm and was inspired by the Balkan music of Southern Romania.

We took Chamberlab to KXCI Radio for a live performance...

That week was also Salvador Duran's 60th birthday. We did the only thing we knew how to do and threw him a party at Che's Lounge. We played songs of my own, Y La Orkesta, Calexico, The Jons, Brian Lopez and even some of Sal's. Everybody pitched in and got him a Bud Light pinata, 4 cakes, and a shit load of candy. Definitely one of the most special nights in Tucson I've had in a while.

Playing Brian Lopez tunes...

Singin happy birthday to Sal...

Doin some Calexico songs...

DRUUUUUUUNK...

Currently trying to decide how to package a 3 song live demo of my new 9 piece band The Taraf De Tucson... ideas?

Gabriel Sullivan

Tucson, AZ 5/10/2010

We're all gonna die from the Black Lung

2010-04-20T16:47:00.000-07:00

So. My punk rock/ rage n roll band The American Black Lung has put up a new song featuring the one and only, Salvador Duran. It is one hell of a track if I don't say so myself. And not only that, but we've put a live album, our 2009 demos, and the new track all up for FREE download! That's 11 previously unreleased songs!

CLICK HERE to download your ABL rage pack!

In other news - A bunch of songwriter friends and myself did an hour and fourty minute performance at The Historic Rialto Theater last Saturday that consisted of 8 people all trading off and fronting their own songs. It was a one time event and it went off amazingly. Rumor has it there was some good video shot that night...

We had a lotta fun rehearsing this stuff...

The desert wants to rain.

Gabriel Sullivan

Tucson, AZ 4/20/10

Live EP for FREE download!

2010-02-11T16:04:00.001-08:00

Okay. So a few weeks ago I opened for Exene Cervenka and decided to make a big ol' night of it. Brian Lopez opened the show and naturally, there was some blending of bands. Brian and Sergio helped me out along with Andrew Collberg on one of my new songs "None Of This Is Mine." I joined Brian playing the Bajo Sexto for one of his songs. Having just moved into a new rehearsal space with all these guys, it seems like this is something that will be happening a lot more often.

This was also the first night where I tried out the band I want to use for my next album. All of which focused around a powerful brass section. We did new arrangements of old songs and tried out a couple brand new ones. It was a special night.

Here are four of the songs from that night, recorded with a little hand-held, bootleg promoting device. The download includes four mp3's, artwork taken from the show's poster, and a credits page.

If you dig the free stuff, check out my not free stuff... I gotta eat.

CLICK HERE FOR GABRIEL SULLIVAN MERCH

Gabriel Sullivan - Live at Club Congress 1/24/10

CLICK HERE FOR DOWNLOAD

Gabriel Sullivan
Tucson, AZ 2/11/10

Pepita the cat

2010-02-03T18:48:00.001-08:00

There's a new musician in the house...

Pepita

We've already written a song together. It is in melodic Cm and has a Reggaeton beat behind it.

Gabriel Sullivan
Tucson, AZ 2/3/10

Dark in the borderlands

2010-01-28T12:07:00.000-08:00

Tucson, AZ 1/28/10

It's a dark day in the desert. The sky is black and the ground is moist. My clothes are all soaked in mud.

Tonight Chris Black and I will play our first Tucson show with our new band "Bajo Turbato." It is low. It is rabid. It is Gypsy and it is Sonoran. It feels good to have a band where you can completely lose your shit and know that anything goes for the 45 minutes of broken noise. Isn't that what rock n roll is about? It's easy to forget. The rat race of trying to "make it" sure fucks up a lot of people. Townes knew what was up.

Black Lung is almost done tracking the first half of our new record. Imagine Iggy Pop and Dio drinking sipping on sweet agave, cooking carne asada in the back yard, singing along to Mariachi Tecalitlan and you'll have an idea of the new record.

New instruments

Still loud

Salvador Duran lended his voice

Chris Black & Vicki Brown

I'm working out a lot of new songs for a new record. They're fast, they're dark, they're balkan, they're latin, they're tex-mex. Can't wait for everyone to hear them!

Here is a video of one of those new songs. The video was shot 1/24/10 at Club Congress and features Brian Lopez, Sergio Mendoza, and Andrew Collberg. We were opening for Exene Cervenka.

"None Of This Is Mine"

Gabriel Sullivan
Tucson, AZ 1/28/10

The cowboy way is the only way

2010-01-04T20:35:00.000-08:00

Drive about 40 miles south of Tucson towards Ajo, turn left on Hayhook road, follow the signs to "Keeylocko" and before you know it, you'll be sipping bottom shelf whiskey in a dirt floored bar while a guy named Oatie sings Johnny Cash karaoke songs. Step outside and you'll find a handful of ranch animals roaming around, a few battered wood buildings that read "church," "Keeylocko Bank," and things of the sort, and you'll gaze at a night sky that goes on as far as your drunken eyes can see. Cowtown Keeylocko was started in the 70's by Ed Keeylocko - A 79 year old African American cowboy who lives on his land, lives by his rules, and lives everyday like it's his last. It's a real western town with none of the bullshit gimmicks you'd expect to find in "cow towns" nowadays. Folks from Tucson make trips up there every once in a while. Sometimes for "Keeylocko Days" in October, sometimes just to get away, and sometimes to see some of the Tucson musicians kick out the jams on the dirt floors.

I've been out there a good number of times. I've played some songs, danced, passed out drunk, been woken up by a bull... the whole bit. No matter what happens, you always leave with an aching body, some stories, and some life lessons. I returned from our most recent trip with my mind wrapped around the idea that the Keeylocko locals have managed to strip life down, and stripped happiness down to its very core, and when it comes down to it, these "poor" folks are the happiest people I have ever met. I've liked to think I understand that a person does not need much to be happy, but I think only now am I even beginning to see what it really means. You go out there and play your songs with your delay pedals and vintage amps and fancy guitars, and everyone loves it. But it is not because your analog delay sounded so great, or because you had the oldest supro guitar, it's simply that you're playing some tunes, and why the hell shouldn't people have a good time! It's a really beautiful thing, for even just one night, to really understand the way life is meant to be lived - loud, passionate, and with people you love. Being back in Tucson I've been running Ed's speeches in my mind on repeat and remembering the way it feels to be care free and really living to the fullest. What it feels like to not care about putting out records and booking tours in a certain amount of time. Fuck time. Worrying about how much time you've got will kill you. Live now.

I don't ever put too much time into these online blog things, but I felt this was something worth writing about. If you're ever in Tucson, you make sure to take those dirty, bumpy roads to Keeylocko.

A ling to a video of one of Ed Keeylocko's speeches:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adcK1HrIXzY

Gabriel Sullivan
Tucson, AZ 1/4/10

Casi Muerto

2009-11-18T18:07:00.000-08:00

This has been a very crazy few weeks filled with rehearsals, remembering the dead, shows, driving, and a lot of drinking. It's over now, and I can breath... somehow.

On Sunday, November 8th I took part in the filming of "Flor De Muertos;" a film documenting the All Souls Procession that happens every year in downtown Tucson. The Procession was fallowed this year by a performance by Calexico and friends at The Rialto Theater. I had the great honor of performing a new song of mine, entitled "None Of This Is Mine," with Calexico as well as joining them on a few of their songs. It was a great night to say the least.

Performing "None Of This Is Mine" with Calexico

I spent the next day rehearsing for a two day Borderland trip with two musicians who had never played my music with me 'till that day. To no surprise, Clay Coweek and Eric Parisi picked it all up damn fast and before we knew it we were off to Texas. We played Lubbock, Las Cruces and Tucson with our friends in Tumbledown House and had a blast. Driving along I-10, through El Paso especially, is a drive that haunts you everytime. Seeing Juarez only a hundred yards away really puts things in perspective.

Claw Coweek, Gabriel Sullivan, Eric Parisi

Sunset over Juarez, Mexico

Live at El Patio, Las Cruces, NM

The next few weeks will be dedicated to prying some new songs out of my recently acquired bajo sexto. The woods so damn thick there must be a hundred songs hidden in there.

Gabriel Sullivan
Tucson, AZ 11/18/09

New things and such.

2009-09-24T16:06:00.000-07:00

Well. It's been a little while. Since the last time I wrote a lot has happened in my musical life that ought to be written about.

On July 28th, 2009 we (me and my 12 friends) did a big ol' party of a set at my "By The Dirt" CD release at Club Congress. It was one hell of a time. Everyone played, everyone sang, everyone rubbed against each other. It was grand. OH. And a couple was married at the show!

CD Release Show

Since then, I've taken a little time to myself to catch up on things I've been meaning to do. Such as write, practice instruments, listen to music (funny how hard it is to do that sometimes), etc. These couple weeks of being a sort of home-body has been great. A lot of new music is coming, and again it is all wildly different from song to song. I've been listening to a whole lot of mariachi and latin music and playing bass for a whole lot of rockabilly and it's all starting to show. These new songs are wild!

Back to the road soon though. November I'll be doing a short Texas trip with my friends from Montana Tumbledown House. Check the Myspace for dates.

That's all for now. Oh yeah. I moved in the middle of all this.

Home sweet home!

- Gabriel Sullivan

Im going to release something on you

2009-08-10T13:35:00.000-07:00

Okay. SO. This is the show that I've had planned since i started writing this record. There were so many amazing musicians who contributed to the record, as well as a few fantastic folks who were not exactly on the record, but contributed in so many other ways, it just didn't seem right to have a CD release show with myself and a couple openers. So here's what's going to happen...

I will be doing one performance on Friday, August 28th with no "opening" bands. Instead, I'll be performing all the songs on my record (and a few new ones) while parading all the musicians who played on the record on and off stage in an extremely hectic fashion. On top of having these folks play their parts from "By The Dirt," each of these superstars will be performing their songs through out the set. Now, if this all goes as planned (which it will) and Bob Dylan doesn't pass away before August 28th (which he won't), this will be an amazing showcase of some of the best musicians in Tucson.

The band will be....

Gabriel Sullivan - Guitar, Piano
Chris Black - Upright Bass
Jake Sullivan - Drums, Percussion
Connor Gallaher - Guitar, Slide, Lap Steel
Vicki Brown - Violin
Tom Walbank - Harp
Andrew Collberg - Guitar
Mike Hebert - Guitar, Slide, Piano
Amy Rude - Guitar
Arthur Vint - Drums, Percussion
Johnny Saczko - Guitar

This is all happening Friday, August 28th @ Club Congress. The show starts at 9pm and will cost $10 with a free copy of "By The Dirt" or $5 without the CD. Sadly, it is 21+ (there will be some all ages show coming) which means there will be people inebriated on that brown water doing bad things so don't be bring yer children.

Oh yeah, and I'll be selling some original art, and some very nice large prints of the poster shown below...

Can't wait to show you all the horrifying stage antics we've picked up on the road!

- Gabriel Sullivan

What do you do with 98 acres...

2009-07-21T14:35:00.000-07:00

Missed a few days...

In short, we have played the Deep Blues Festival, we met Santa (wisdomofsanta.blogspot.com), we made some wonderful French friends, played a few more shows, and are now staying on a 98 acre ranch in Bozeman, MT.

We're in a bit of a hurry, so I'll tell the story in photos...

Deep Blues Festival...

Our French buddies, Thee Verduns

St. Cloud, MN

98 Acre Ranch in Bozeman, MT

Billings, MT tonight, Missoula, MT tomorrow with Holy Rolling Empire. Yesssssssssssssss.

-Gabriel Sullivan

We have one less tooth than we left with.

2009-07-13T18:33:00.000-07:00

Some interesting things have taken place in the last couple days.

Friday we played with the Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash and had a great time. Great people, awesome venue, lots of beer. As good as it gets.

At 3 Kings Tavern

Saturday we played a show that we had our doubts about, but turned out great. We played Union Station in Colorado Springs with a band called Supersonic Audiochronic.... folks seemed to dig our tunes despite our lack of marijuana reference. Although my album title, "By The Dirt" has now turned into "Buy The Dirt" in reference to the rumored times that Connor and myself had to make the difficult decision to buy the "dirt weed" or the "nice weed." Buy the dirt weed.

After a lot of wine and mcdonalds the night before, we woke up Sunday morning to the news that Chris was in excruciating pain due to a tooth ache he'de been dealing with for a few days. After a couple hours of thinking Chris might be forced to get back to Tucson, he got his tooth pulled and was forced to sit out our show that night. Jake and I made our best attempt at a two piece, black keys esque set. Connor helped us out on the acoustic guitar for the last few songs. We still had fun.

At Walnut Room

In summary, we had a good weekend, Chris is still on tour, and we are collectively missing a tooth. But we're all still here.

Chris when he could eat solid food

Deep Blues Festival this weekend.

- Gabriel Sullivan and The Titty Mountain Blow Jobs

El Paso to El Patio

2009-07-09T23:27:00.000-07:00

In Pueblo, Co stayin at Chris's parents house drinking Poison Blue Ribbon watching Family Guy... Not bad at all.

Last night was a bit of a roller coaster. We got to Zeppelin's in El Paso to find closed doors and no one at the venue. After getting ahold of the promoter and him explaining to me that the show was not going to happen because it was my job to find the bands and flier the show. After using most four letter words and explaining to him that he had things a little backwards, we made some phone calls and got on a show just down the interstate in Las Cruces. We got there to find an amazing 75 year old bar filled with people, and good bands. We played, people stuck around, and had a blast. A very good night.

Denver tomorrow with Bastard Sons of Johnny Cash. Should be good times.

Drove past the Rio Grande today...

The van... Our sliding door works for the first time in 5 years. God is it great.