Matt Aquiline and The Highballers at Club Cafe

When we moved back to Pittsburgh in 2014 we really lucked out in a lot of ways. Of course neighbors sometimes can be a liability when buying a house. Just ask me about Long Island sometime. However, Regent Square is a wonderful Pittsburgh neighborhood and we have great neighbors. One bonus we couldn’t have planned for is that one of our neighbors is a singer-songwriter.

I have great respect for songwriters, they are poets. As a novelist, yes I can say that, I am even more impressed. It’s hard enough to think up the words let alone set them to music. Our local poet is Matt Aquiline and he writes alternative country rock music that is humorous and heartwarming and never depressing. Last night he played at Club Cafe in Pittsburgh with his new band and they were awesome. They were proceeded by The Highballers with Belén Pifel, who used to sing with Matt when they lived in Washington. At the end of the night Belén Pifel and John Woolf joined Matt and his new band for a great finish. Here are some images from the show.

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Matt Aquiline with Belén Pifel  and John Woolf

Matt Aquiline with Belen Pifel and John Woolf

The Highballers

The Highballers

singer

Belen Pifel

Belén Pifel

Matt Aquiline, Belén Pifel  and John Woolf

Matt Aquiline, Belen Pifel and John Woolf

Neighbors that Rock

In our life we have had some good luck with creative neighbors. In Montclair we lived next door to Janet Aldrich who was a musical comedy actress with a great voice. She actually borrowed our dog for a one month run in Anything Goes. Janet Shaw lived across the street. She was a set designer for many Woody Allen movies and when we knew her she worked on The Sopranos.

When we moved back to Pittsburgh we were excited to meet our new neighbors. We recently discovered that our neighbor across the street, Matt Aquiline was not only a musician but also a songwriter. I have always been fascinated by song writers. As a novelist I have enough problems just writing words let alone music to go with the words. To me music is a separate language and writing a song is like writing a poem in two different languages at the same time! We found out that he was performing at The Hard Rock Pittsburgh last night with his longtime singing partner Belen Pifel. It was a wonderful concert. His songs are filled with wit and passion and the harmonies were terrific. I have posted a couple of snaps from the show.

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Belen Pifel  and Matt Aquiline

Belen Pifel and Matt Aquiline

At The Hard Rock

At The Hard Rock

Matt and Company

Matt and Company

Changing Wetlands–Ed and Amy

Ten years ago when we moved here we came across this spot in the game lands which we called “Ed and Amy”. On the rock in the center of the small wetland area it was inscribed Ed + Amy in white paint. We used to walk through there with our dogs and wondered who Ed and Amy were and if they were still together. We hadn’t been down that trail for years and a couple of weeks ago we hiked back down to Ed and Amy. The rock was still there but the paint all gone now after ten Pennsylvania winters. The stream still runs through there but entropy at work has removed Ed and Amy from these wetlands.

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Ed and Amy

Ed and Amy

Rock Striations

I always thought that striations on rock faces were evidence of glacial movement and maybe that is always true. However this cliff face was photographed in Indian Canyons in Palm Springs California and I am not sure if the glacier came that far south. It is an attractive an interesting pattern.

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Rock Striations.

Rock Striations.

Chris Wood

Chris Wood from Medeski,Martin and Wood is one of the world’s best bass players. During their current “acoustic tour” he played three different basses during the show. When he plays the “stand up”bass the instrument seems to become part of his body. Click here to see other images or by a print of this one.

Bass Hands

Quicksilver–Caught in the Act

I was listening to some Quicksilver Messenger Service the other day and thought of this picture. One of the first photojournalistic images I ever took. It was taken at Music Festival at Pitt Stadium in 1973 called the One World Festival of Music. Quicksilver was sitting in the stands listening to Billy Preston when I grabbed this picture of Dino Valenti stealing a kiss. You can buy a print of this image by clicking here or wait for my new book, “Just a Kiss”.

Caught in the Act

Caught in the Act

Grateful Dead Revisited

The third in a series revisiting my first posts leading up to my Blogaversery next week.
Jerry Garcia and Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead at Madison Square Garden in September 1993. This photo was taken the last time I saw the Grateful Dead and near the end of their historic run in rock and roll. I still enjoy listening to old Grateful Dead concerts occasionally but have no desire to ever see any of the cover bands. I saw the real thing and I don’t want to spoil that memory. You can buy a print of this one and see others by clicking here

Jerry Garcia and Grateful Dead Madison Square Garden 1993

Chris Woods on the Fender

During the Medeski, Martin and Woods Acoustic concert at the Sherman Theater, Chris Woods played three different types of Bass instruments. Here he is playing his well traveled Fender Bass during the concert. You can buy a print of this image on my commercial gallery by clicking here.

Chris Wood on the Hofner

Chris Wood plays a lot of instruments but outside of Paul McCarthy you don’t see too many professional bass guitar players playing the Hofner bass guitar which has its own unique sound. This photo was taken recently at the Medeski, Martin and Wood concert at the Sherman Theatre in Stroudsburg Pennsylvania. I have seen most of the great bass players in concert (Clarke,Woonton,etc)and Wood is a member of that class. You can purchase a print of this image by clicking here.

Chris Wood on the Hofner