Jeff scored this choice gig, and will be performing some of his crooning standards, some of his originals, some classic covers, and throwing in a surprise or two. We’ll also be doing a tune or two from the “Ghostly Tales” cd and other “Freak’n'Fuzz” standards.

It’ll be a night of good music and funny anecdotes in a classy, intimate setting. Come on down if you’re in the area.

                                                We really do have a sense of humor. Really.

Pretty Cool.

In other news, the Freak and I are going to start putting our lovely PA system to work, and start offering DJ services, so get in touch if you need us for your party, wedding, special event, or just want two dudes to show up and play your favorite tunes in your living room, really, really, loudly.

Still looking for a bassist for the full band version, hopefully one will work out.

Jeff is gigging at the old folks homes, and doing music therapy for an autistic boy.

I’m not doing anything so beneficial to society and the soul. I’ve been working on 2 projects for bagpipers. It’s different, fun, and educational.

I’m also finishing up the latest Whitey Bleu band project, “Manifesto 2010″, read about it at the whitey bleu blog page.

We should be lining some summer gigs up soon, stay tuned.

We’re back from our self imposed break and will be at The Judges Bench on Friday Jan 8 at 9:30 pm, in duo form.

The Judges Bench is at 8385 Main St, Ellicott City, MD, and yea, it’s haunted.

Hope to see you there.

The title song from my “solo” cd “Law of One” is once again a featured song on the westsidewill artist showcase this week. Check it out and vote for it, and, I don’t know, maybe something cool will happen.

http://www.westsidewill.com/artistshowcase/index.php

If you really dig it, you can find the whole cd at ITunes, Amazon, and many of your favorite download sites.

Check back for upcoming gig dates in 2010.

Been away for awhile, doing some more research and writing some stuff for a local publication. More about that at a later date.

The band is taking a little brake, wih the holidays coming. We’re planning on recording a new demo, getting a fill in bass player (The trek from NJ for Tommy is getting rough), and coming out fresh in the new year.

Here’s the last track from “Ghostly Tales of Annapolis and Beyond”. Thanks to everyone who took the time to read about it, listen to it, and buy it. It’s available at CD Baby, ITunes, Amazon, and whole bunch of other places.

The fundraising effort for the Goshen Farm Preservation Society has taken in over $2700. Very cool.

Track 14

NO MORE SAILIN’

Two famous seafaring ghosts are said to haunt the area. Captain William Kidd (1645-1701) was hired as a privateer by the English. He sailed the east coast of America, the Indian Ocean, and the “Pirate round”, hunting pirates and enemy ships.

Unfortunately, he was saddled with a crew of miscreants and eventually committed at least one act of piracy, and even that event is questionable. Along the way, he threw an ironbound bucket at William Moore, a gunner on the ship. It was a good throw, hitting Moore in the head and fracturing his skull. He died the next day.

During the return voyage, Kidd learned that he was wanted by the crown. Feeling confident in his political connections, he returned home anyway. He was promptly arrested, and eventually sent to London for trial. His political cronies had no further use for him, and left him to his fate.

Found guilty of murder and piracy, he was taken from Newgate Prison to the “execution dock”. They hung him, but the rope broke. So they hung him again. It took that time. He was gibbeted and hung over the Thames river, where his rotting corpse would serve as a warning to anyone else thinking about crossing the empire.

He reportedly hid treasure everywhere from Nova Scotia to Japan. Some of his loot was actually recovered on Gardiners Island in New York, by the colonial Governor Bellemont, and sent to England as evidence against him.

The tale associated with this area is the appearance of his ghost on Gibson Island. Legend has it that Kidd hid some of his treasure here. One story has it that a man had a dream about the loot, buried under an old oak tree on the island. When he and his friend went to search for it, Kidd appeared, and scared the bejeesus out of them. They of course ran, and never returned.

I haven’t found any proof of Kidd ever coming this far up the bay, but it is not out of the question.

John Paul Jones (1747-1792) was the “father” of the American navy. His most famous exploit, of course, was his fight against the British ship “Serapis”, and his statement “I have not yet begun to fight”.

Finding himself unemployed, in 1788 he became a rear admiral in the Russian navy, fighting against the Turks in the Black Sea. He was very successful and was even awarded The order of St. Anne, but politics and jealousy caused him to quit and return to France in 1790.

He was found dead in his apartment on July 18, 1792. The cause of death was reported to be a severe brain tumor.

He was buried in Paris at the Saint Louis Cemetery, which belonged to the French royal family. Four years later, France’s revolutionary government sold the property and the cemetery was forgotten. The area was later used as a garden, a place to dispose of dead animals, and a place where gamblers bet on animal fights.

To some back in the States, this was not a fitting situation for our first naval hero to spend eternity in. In 1905, Jones’ remains were identified by US Ambassador to France Gen. Horace Porter, who had searched for six years to track down the body using faulty copies of Jones’ burial record.

On January 26, 1913, the Captain’s remains were re-interred in a lovely bronze and marble sarcophagus at the Naval Academy Chapel  in Annapolis.

His ghost reportedly wanders the Academy grounds from time to time. He was allegedly pickled in alcohol for preservative purposes upon his burial in France. I wonder if it’s his intoxicated ghost, simply trying to find his way back to the chapel.

Now imagine these two old seafaring Scotsmen, stuck here on the brown water of the Chesapeake for eternity. One, a proud and decorated naval hero, ultimately buried in grand fashion on sacred ground. The other, a luckless privateer, who seemed to end up in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong people. The noose didn’t even work correctly. In the final indignity, his corpse was left in a cage to rot, under the constant glare of the local Londoners.

Kind of a ghostly odd couple.

That was a different time and a different place. Since moving into my quiet suburban enclave ten years back, I haven’t seen so much as a piece of toilet paper dropped on the ground after mischief night. I know that elsewhere, the night is celebrated with gusto (too much, as you see on the news).

I don’t mind a bit, since I have joined the ranks of property owners who would rather not spend October 31 cleaning toilet paper and egg off of my house and cars, replacing broken windows, and resecuring my mailbox to it’s post.

Just to be on the safe side, some of us spent mischief night at the Goshen farmhouse. Apparently, although the night does not seem to be currently observed by the local ghouls and goblins, the area is still aware of it’s existence, and you never know when some traditionalist will pick up the toilet paper, matches, eggs, and whatever tools of destruction they can find. An unoccupied house in the middle of the woods seems like a good place for rookie mischief makers to practice their craft.

Well, this year, like years past, the place was as quiet as a cemetery. While hanging out, I shot a bunch of pictures, just to see if some ghostly apparitions showed up. It works on Ghost Hunters sometimes. I didn’t expect much, though. The windows are all boarded up, and I suppose that any otherworldly beings inside would be perfectly happy to stay in there. Why come out just to give me a thrill? I don’t think ghosts are really into that kind of thing.

For next year, I’m going to get myself one of those emf meters that go off at random times for god knows what reason. Is it a ghost? I don’t know, but it’s good theater. Hopefully by then we’ll have the house open and we can spend some time inside, trying to scare the hell out of one another.

Anyway, another mischief night has passed, and our old farmhouse is still a preservation project, and not an archeological ruin.

Here’s a few of the pictures. I don’t see anything weird, let me know if you do.

The addition

the milk shed

Front

Old phone line

Track 13

BLUES ON THE BAY

OK, not a ghost story…but the horror….the horror!

This song is for anyone who ever spent more time getting to the beach than actually being at the beach, and any resident of the Broadneck Peninsula or Kent Island that is a hostage in their own homes on, well, just about every weekend these days.

It sounded cool, so we put it on the album.

By the way, the song snippet at the beginning is “Ocean City, Maryland”, one of Jeff’s tunes from the Jeff Archer Group, and voted one of the best Ocean City songs a few years back.

Preview and purchase the cd here:  http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/freaknfuzz1 or on Itunes