Music Weekend

The Swinging Orangutangs rock the house at The Blennerhassett Hotel last fall.

Lots of music on the docket for this weekend. First is a jazz gig Saturday afternoon with my dad and drummer Chet Backus for a birthday party in Parkersburg, WV. Then my regular Sunday jazz brunch gig at The Blennerhassett Hotel.

Then a knock-the-rust-off practice for The Swinging Orangutangs at our farm on Sunday afternoon. The O-Tang Clan has a gig on Saturday, February 4, at The Marietta Brewing Company, and to avoid being arrested for aural assault, we're honing our mad skillz well in advance.

This show will feature our buddy Vinnie Mele on bass and vocals. The rest of the band is the ususal suspects: Julie Zickefoose on vocals, flute, and percussion. Andy Thompson on rhythm guitar, piano, vocals, percussion, and City Council At Large. Steve "Charlie" McCarthy on drums. And me, BT3 on lead guitar and vocals.

We'll be learning some new material, including a song I just wrote, called "Trying to Forget You." We also do original songs by Andy, and we cover a lot of material from other bands, including, but not limited to, The B-52s, Eels, Wilco, Mr, Neil Young, Santana (before he went all Rob Thomas on us), The English Beat, The Cure, Ween, and The Violent Femmes. We can also whip out some jazz standards, classic country, or rock if the situation calls for it. Here's a little-known fact for the "VH1 Behind the Music" folks: Someone once paid us $100 to play "Take Me Home Country Roads."

Our motto is, and always will be: "The more you drink, the better we sound."

Music makes the world go 'round.