Gypsy Rox
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History:The George Harrison Tributes are shows celebrating the music and life of the "Quiet Beatle." They began January 18th, 2005 at the Cactus Cafe in Austin, Texas hosted by Ky Hote and Owl. Everyone recognizes the name George Harrison (Feb. 25, 1943 - Nov. 29, 2001), but many people can't name any of the songs he wrote. Dubbed the "Quiet Beatle" or the "Spiritual Beatle," Harrison's guitar playing established the Beatle sound as much as Lennon & McCartney's songwriting. His well crafted guitar solos were never showy and he never wasted a note. On Rubber Soul, Harrison broadened their sound with the use of the sitar (Norwegian Wood) and Indian inspired compositions (Love You To). Frank Sinatra called Harrison's Something "the most beautiful love song ever written" Other Beatle classics he penned include Here Comes the Sun, Taxman, and If I Needed Someone. Although Lennon was thought of as the "political Beatle," Harrison wrote the most scathing commentary of the ruling class (Piggies). After the Beatles' breakup, Harrison recorded the first "solo Beatle" hits with All Things Must Pass and Give Me Love. Organizing The Concert for Bangladesh set the precedent for Live Aid and its many permeations.
The goal of the Tributes were not to imitate his music, but emulate it. We celebrate George as a songwriter, an instrumentalist and a spiritual guide. We've invited musicians in the community to come bring their favorite Harrison song or add a solo or harmony to the arrangements. Some musicians were recruited for their specific appropriateness for a song. Many of the musicians were unfamiliar with much of George's work and developed an appreciation for his music by getting involved.
Exhausted by Beatlemania and always being in the limelight, Harrison spent much his life living quietly with his wife Olivia and son Dhani. He founded Handmade Films to produce Monty Python's Life of Brian. Harrison never failed to appreciate laughter and even during his most devotional periods he included jokes in his album covers. Known for his affinity with the Krishna Consciousness Movement, Olivia Harrison said this about him, "he embraced the essence of all religions… he would gladly spend hours discussing God with an interested person." We play songs from his whole career and demonstrating his integration of Indian music and western pop. We try to have some old vinyl artifacts as well. The first four Tributes ended with a medley of Brainwashed, including the lovely chanting that it finishes with, followed by My Sweet Lord. Other musical highlights include Isn't It A Pity featuring Guy Forsyth on vocals and saw, Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) arranged for banjo, Within You Without You featuring Oliver Rajamani playing tabla and Owl Morrison on viola and guest vocalists every year and the hard-bop jazz version of Blue Jay Way where a trumpeter appeared on stage totally impromptu.
George continued recording music and perfecting the slide guitar sound that was to be one of his distinct trademarks up until his death in 2003. In the late 90's he connected with the critics again with his release of Cloud Nine and his instigation of the Traveling Wilburys (with bandmates Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne). He was working on his album Brainwashed when he died of throat cancer. Finished by his son, Dhani, it stands as a fitting epitaph for a brilliant artist and a person who tried to spread light and joy with his works. His last words were "Love one another." back to top Songs we've covered so far: (numbers in parenthesis indicate number of shows featured)
* Here Comes the Sun (29)
* Something (27) * I Want to Tell You (24) * Taxman (24) * While My Guitar Gently Weeps (24) * Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) (23) * Beware of Darkness (22) * My Sweet Lord (21) * Art of Dying(20) * If I Needed Someone (20) * Old Brown Shoe (20) * I Me Mine (19)* Savoy Truffle (19) * Within You Without You (19) * Brainwashed (18) * Handle With Care (17) * All Things Must Pass (16)* Awaiting on You All (16) * Behind That Locked Door (14) * Any Road (13) * Isn't It A Pity (13) * Long Long Long (13) * Love You To (13) * Piggies (13) * Think For Yourself (13) * I Need You (12)* Living in the Material World (121) * Blue Jay Way (10) * Crackerbox Palace (9) * Don't Bother Me (9) * Heading For the Light (9) * Love Comes To Everyone (8) * Sue Me Sue You Blues (8) * Don't Let Me Wait Too Long (7) * It's All Too Much (7) * The Light That Has Lighted The World (7) * For You Blue (6) * Your Love Is Forever (6) * Let It Down (5)* When We Was Fab (5) * All Those Years Ago (4) * Be Here Now (4) * Blow Away (4) * Deep Blue (4) * Hear Me Lord (4) * Photograph (4)* The Rising Sun (4) * This Is Love (4) * Apple Scruffs (3) * Dream Away (3) * End Of The Line (3) *Faster (3) * I'd Have You Anytime (3) * Maya Love (3) * On The Bed (3) * Only A Northern Song (3) * What Is Life (3)* You Like Me Too Much (3) * Bangladesh (2) * Cheer Down (2) * Devil's Radio (2) * I Dig Love (2)* In The First Place (2) * The Inner Light (2) * It's What You Value (2) * Run of the Mill (2) * So Sad (2) * Stuck Inside A Cloud (2) * Sunshine Life For Me (Sail Away Raymond) (2) * Wah Wah (2) * Cloud Nine (1) * Cry For A Shadow (1) ** Here Comes The Moon (1) * In Spite of All the Danger (1) * Let It Roll (Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp) (1) * Looking For My Life (1) * Miss O'Dell * Not Guilty (1) * Save The World (1)* Wonderwall Music Medley (Red Lady Too/On The Bed/Party Seacombe/Wonderwall To Be Here) (1) Also: If Not For You (Bob Dylan)(14) Poem for George (Thom the World Poet) (7) Roll Over Beethoven Chuck Berry (2) Hurricane Son Ky Hote (1) * Devil in Her Heart (Richard B. Drapkin) (1) * Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby (Carl Perkins) (1) * Kirtan for George (improvised) (1)* The Man I Am (Ky Hote) (1) * The Parrot Skit (Monty Python) (1) * That's The Way God Planned It (Billy Preston) (1) * Three Cool Cats (Leiber & Stoller) (1) back to top Instruments used: (numbers in parenthesis indicate number of shows featured)
* acoustic Guitar (30) * vocals (30)
* electric guitar (21) * slide guitar (18) * drums (18) * electric bass (16) * viola (13) * violin (10) * harmonica (8) * tambourine (8) * ukulele (7) * flute (6) * accordion (5) * upright bass (5) * tung drum (5) * baritone sax (4) * cello (4) * piano (4) * tablas (4) * trumpet (4) * djembe (3)* electric keyboard (3)* kazoo (3) * mixed percussion (3) * sitar (3) * alto sax (2) * bass harmonica (2) * cajon (2) * classical guitar (2) * harmonium (2) * Jew's Harp (1) * slide whistle (2) * mandolin (2) * melodica (2) * oboe (2) * saw (2) * 6 string banjo (banjitar) (2) * 12 String Guitar (2) * bass guitar (1) * casio keypboard (1) * charrango (1) * dumbek (1) * glockenspiel (1) * lap steel guitar (1) * lute (1) * mridanga drum (1) * octave mandolin (1) * organ (1) * penny whistle (1) * sarod (1) * trombone (1)* udu (1) * washboard (1) * washtub bass (1) back to top Musicians who've performed at the Tributes: (numbers in parenthesis indicate number of shows featured) * Ky Hote (30) *Owl Morrison (16) * Ric Furley (10) * Michael Huebner (8) * Thom the World Poet (7) * Monte Mann (5) * Jay Sea Campbell (4) * Paul Erlich (4) * Allan Gill (4) * Jenifer Jackson (4) * Chris Huebner (4) * Brad Massengill (4) * Moses Morrison (4) * Bill Oliver (4) * Gretchen Phillips (4) * Drina Seay (4) * Banjo Lisa Zwier (4)
* Austin Family Jewels (3) * Candace Bellamy (3) * The Better Halves (3)
* Jeremiah Birnbaum (3)
* Rob Halverson (3)
* Jim Hancock (3)
* Francie Meaux Jeaux (3)
* The Just Desserts (3)
* Pete Minda (3)
* Melissa Mulligan (3)
* William Mulligan (3)
* Chrissie Natoli (3)
* Jimmy Joe Natoli (3)
* Oliver Rajamani (3)
* Michael Rubin (3)
* Lisa Shawley (3)
* Michael Shay (3)
* Slim Richey Experience (3)
* Elizabeth Suggs (3)
* Paul Thornton (3)
* Larry Wilson (3)* David Amram (2) * Maia Archote (2) * Norm Ballinger (2) * Bill Bell (2) * Spencer Conklin (2) * Patric D'Eimon (2) * Danny Dolinger (2) * Ari Dvorin (2) * Danny Fast Fingers (2) * Guy Forsyth (2) * Kullen Fuchs (2) * Ruth Gerson (2) * Alicia Gill (2) * James Gwynn (2) * Joel Harrison (2) * Samuel Holden (2) * Homeboy Steve (2) * John Inmon (2) * Southpaw Jones (2) * Tamar Korn (2) * Katerina Korolov (2) * Erik Lawrence (2) * Michelle Levy (2) * Julie Lowery (2) * Alena and Joe Mac (2) * Lauren Morris (2) * Darin Murphy (2) * Bruce Newman (2) * Carolyn Norulak (2) * Frank O'Gara (2) * Monica Passin (2) * John Pinamonti (2) * Dahktur Sick (2) * Kevin So (2) * Oliver Steck (2) * Abhay Charan Das (1) * Michelle Alany (1) * Jorge A. de Armas (1) * Eric Ambel (1) * Alana Amram (1) * Johnny Barnett (1) * Shane Bartel (1) * Bedlam (1) * Jan Bell (1) * Garrin Benfield (1) * Bob Bielefeld (1) * Ali Birnbaum (1) * Lili Blessing (1) * Aimee Bobruck (1) * Craig Merlin Broer (1) * Kathena Bryant (1) * Emilie Cardineaux (1) * David Clauss * Carl Carrara (1) * Charles the flute player (1) * Chris the sitar player (1) * Shakey Bean Cobb (1) * Jackie Coleman (1) * Kiku Collins (1) * J. Bradley Collier (1) * Nick Connolly (1) * Dave (1) * Wendy Hale Davis (1) * Kris Deelane (1) * Lauren Dickson (1) * Drew (1) * Adam East (1) * Kat Edmonson (1) * Ana Egge (1) * Elizabeth! (1) * Trevor Exter (1) * Faux Paws (1) * Anton Fier (1) * The Finer Things (1) * Grant Foster (1) * Laura Freeman (1) * Conraldo "Charry" Garcia (1) * Suzanne Gilchrest (1) * Gregg the piano player (1) * Benjy Greenburg (1) * Mark Harris (1) * Renee Hart (1) * Gregor Harvey (1) * Sara Hickman (1) * Linda Hill (1) * Martin Hill (1) * Mike Hurewitz (1) * io (1) * Gretchen Lynn Janzow (1) * Tom Johnson (1) * Emory Joseph (1) * Josh (of Portland) (1) * Libby Kirkpatrick (1) * Alex Korolov (1) * Raina Leigh (1) * Leila (1) * Karen Lee Larson (1) * Tony Leone (1) * Adam Levy (1) * Dave Lindsay (1) * Todd Livingston (1) * The Lonesome Heroes (1) * Megan Malara (1) * Manu the tabla player (1) * Marcus the trumpet player (1) * Landry (Slydry) McMeans (1) * Jane Migliore (1) * Adam Minkoff Band (1) * Sonia Montez (1) * Barbara Morillo (1) * Owyl Mozey (1) * Amira Mudfaery (1) * Lazarus Nichols (1) * Nick Oddy (1) * Sunny Ozell (1) * Lynette Perkins (1) * Cindy Pitts (1) * Lorenza Ponce (1) * Jon Price (1) * Brad Robinson (1) * Jeff Rosenberg (1) * Tom Roudenbush (1) * Rich Russell (1) * Sankarshan Das Adhikari (1) * Scott the organ player (1) * Katie Scheele (1) * Lance Shriner (1) * Sedley Sinclair (1) * Sitardelik (1) * Linda Sriro (1) * Scott Stein (1) * Steven (1) * Jim Stricklan (1) * the Sugarhorns (1) * Timmy (of Portland) (1) * Rebecca Turner Band (1) * Anne Weiss (1) * Scotty Watson (1) * Jak White (1) * Mark Williams (1) * Vishnupriya devi dasi (1) also featuring the George O'Hara Singers the Harry Georgeson Rhythm Section L'Angelo Misterioso Rhythm Section the Jai Raj Harrisein Singers special thanks to
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