Dimitri Moderbacher’s Blog

Just spending the afternoon at Mandi LeBlanc’s pad. She and Jeremiah are moving to Austin at the end of the month and wanted to get some tracks down with the band. Tim Kuhl already laid down some drum tracks last week when I was out of town. I just added the bass to three songs, “Wreckless Driver”, “Better Part of Now”, and one cover, “The Promise”, and am now hanging out while Angela Ortiz is recording keyboard and background vocals. Starting to sound pretty good!

After this I’m headed over to Arlene’s Grocery for a gig with Kris Kelly. And that should be the end of a good bass day!

See ya!

Dimitri

Yup, one more tour with Angela Ortiz under my belt. This time she was taking the beautiful state of Vermont by storm. We had a show in Burlington at Nectar’s on Saturday night, then we had one more show last night at the Bee’s Knee’s in Morrisville.

The shows went well. We played some of the old songs off her first album, and of course all her new songs. It’s been a while since I’ve performed in the duo setting with her, so that was fun.

Since we had the day off on Sunday (my birthday, 3 guesses at my age) we bummed around the Stowe area. First we went to the Alpine Slide at the ski resort. An alpine slide, for those of you who don’t know, is a long concrete slide that snakes down the side of a mountain. You take a chair lift up, then grab a sled, and off you go. This place actually had two slides next to each other, so you can race. I won of course (never mind that I had the gravity advantage and that Angela wasn’t racing).

Then we took a ride in the gondola that runs to the top of Stowe mountain. The view from the top was breathtaking. We took that in, and then imbibed a cocktail at the bar. Nice nature experience…

So, we’re back in the big apple now, and preparing to record, and for Angela’s next show at Kenny’s Castaway’s on September 19th, 9pm. Definitely will be a great show, full band, and hopefully some more, new, great songs by Angela. Check out her website for more info.

Allright! Here we go! The day of the first show! We’re playing on a stage at the foot of the Seven Springs Innertubing slope. Check out the view from stage before the show:

Of course, at every good Soundcheck, there’s a someone just hanging out. For instance, here you can see the “Classic Hits Symphonette” in their natural habitat (i.e.: hanging out backstage during soundcheck):

Once the show started, the show really began to come together. The first set consists of each of the headliners doing a few of their songs. Then the second set features the Sgt.Pepper album in its entirety.

Well, we’re staying in the mountain lodge-like Seven Springs Mountain Hotel outside of Pittsburg, PA. Lots of wood paneling, and this nice sign:

Wait, did I say Pennsylvania? I meant Bavaria, of course!

We (when I say we I mean the “Classical Hits Symphonette”, which consists of myself and Tim Ruedeman on saxophones, plus a string quartet) saw our poster for the first time in the hotel lobby:

We had a good day’s worth of rehearsing. Have been going thru everyone’s songs and the Sgt. Pepper songs as well. It’s been fun to watch the guys (Todd Rundgren, Christopher Cross, Denny Lane, Bo Bice, Lou Gramm) getting their set together.

Yup, goin’ on the road today. Should be a fun two week tour.

I’ll be backing up Todd Rundgren, Christopher Cross, Lou Gramm (from Foreigner), and Bo Bice (from American Idol). We’re gonna be doing a tribute to The Beatles “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” Album, which was recorded 40 years ago. (see poster below)

We’re rehearsing tomorrow, then doing the first show on Friday. I’ll be updating this blog with info and pics and whatever else I can get my hands on.

Later,

Dimitri

Hello,

well, just started the Angela Ortiz tour. We’re playing in Columbia MD, Terra Haute IN, St.Louis MO, and Tulsa OK. If you know anyone in any of those cities, please let them know.

We’re sounding great! Angela’s singing and playing piano, I’m playing tenor saxophone and flute and using effects pedals. We’ve been doing these kinds of duo shows for years now, so the music gets to be pretty magical. Check out my shows page for more info.

Another cool gig I’m excited about is with RumbaTap at NYC’s Central Park’s Summer Stage on Friday August 1st. Great Afro-Cuban influence tap dance extravaganza.

I’ll be performing with Jamie Begian’s Big Band the day before we’re heading into a grueling two day stretch of recording his new compositions.
Plus I’ll be playing electric bass (my other white meat) at a few gigs in NYC in August.
Again, check out my shows page for more info.
Later,

Dimitri