Furious World Blog

Peter Himmelman’s Furious World – Feb 10, 2009

Directed by Michael Sean Wright, nicefishfilms

The Band:
Peter Himmelman, lead vocals, guitar, keys
Willie Aron, guitar, backing vocals
Al Wolovitch, bass
Kristin Mooney, backing vocals
Andy Kamman, drums

Marc Jacobs, sound, live switch
Daniel Vendt, doing-a-little of everything

Special Guests:
Jon Gibson
Robert Scoble
Brian Roy
Marc Cantor

Recap by Ellen J. Berman

Tonight was an incredible night for Peter Himmelman’s Furious World – a night of life altering music and great talent from both the music and technology communities.

Song: Raining Down from Satellite – (from upcoming album) well received by the audience – Way to set the tone!

Song: Sit Tight (from upcoming album)
Great song – I first heard it last summer at an artist showcase Peter did at one of my favorite little clubs in NY in Soho called The Living Room. To see live footage of this song, check out my youtube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gu92Ms5idE

Segment: Phantoms of the 405 – latest episode
Features Peter reminiscing about celebrating the Passover seder at his cousin’s house back when Peter was in high school in MN. That day Peter’s father purchased his cousin Doug’s guitar, and Peter was sure the guitar would be his “liberating Moses.” — What can I say? Even as an adolescent – the guy knew his destiny.

Be Part of Turtle Talk!!!
Love King Ferdinand? Want to tap into wisdom of the ages?!
Film Yourself asking a philosophic question. Must be 20 seconds or less in length.
Submit it to Peter at http://seesmic.com/kingferdinand

Special Guest: Jon Gibson of Prince and Stevie Wonder fame – Phenomenal r&b soulful Solo Performance (not sure of song title)

Latest installment of Turtle Talk featuring the oracle otherwise known as King Ferdinand : )

Song: Beneath Your Watching Eyes (Synesthesia) – Peter Himmelman did a great duet with Jon Gibson! Wow that guy Jon has a gorgeous voice!

Special Guest: Robert Scoble – videoblogger at FastCompany.tv — an ultra nice guy who was truly sharing the love of Peter Himmelman’s music and our Furious World! : )

Song: Fatherhood (Himmelvaults — probably vol. 3???, which was bundled with Unstoppable Forces)

Song: Ever So Slightly (from upcoming album) – great song – has an anthemic quality – Kristin Mooney and Willie Aron on backing Vocals.

Special Guest – Brian Roy – Emerging Technology guru at Intuit – created a special app called the Wombat Tracker for our new furiousworld.ning.com community. The app pulls from twitter to alert us of other Furious World/Peter Himmelman fans – so cool – Brian’s a long time fan of Peter’s and discovered Furious World through a twitter message
from Leo Laporte who was a guest on Furious World a few weeks ago. It’s great when technology actually works the way
it’s supposed to! Yay, Leo! Yay, Twitter! Yay, Brian! : )

Another tech guru and fan by the name of Marc Cantor was spontaneously patched in during Brian’s segment which
prompted:

Song: Waiting for Things to Happen Improv (good job, Marc Jacobs, on making things happen!)

Song: Phone Call from Chicago (From Strength to Strength)
– Great to hear this gem performed on Furious World

Latest installment of: Intern Learns a Lesson

Peter Himmelman mentors his intern Daniel Vendt. The focus of the lesson was about turning a liability into an advantage : ) As Daniel’s ailing car billows vast amounts of smoke, Peter turns this trial into a great rock video effect!! Way to rock the adversity, Peter!!!

Song: Measure (From Strength to Strength) – Another Great one!! “There are no songs, no violins, no sweet perfume which even begins to say how much I love you.” Who writes like that? PETER HIMMELMAN. That’s what I’m talkin’ about.

Song: Jacked in the Board with Marc improv (very soulful groove – also highlighting the behind the scenes technical
prowess of the great Marc Jacobs!)

Song: Listen Up (pre-Peter Himmelman Band – first released on Sussman Lawrence’s Pop City) Tremendous rocker and the band did the song proud!

Secret Aftershow – Peter Himmelman with Jon Gibson

So secret I almost missed it as I was writing this blog…

Caught it already in progress – but with the help of the ustream archives, here is the complete review.

Peter’s guest Jon Gibson sings solo and then comments on the fact that he’s more of a folkie but sounds like Stevie Wonder.

Jon apparently started pursuing music after he got out of the Army. He never finished high school, and ended up in the Army because of deciding to follow in the footsteps of his brother. He realized he wanted to pursue a career in the arts, and started playing guitar after finishing his time in the service.

Jon and Peter get into a discussion about how Jon learned to play, and Jon mentioned having recently learned another way to play a Maj 7th chord, which prompts Peter to start playing Time Just Flew.

Jon Gibson mentions that he plays by ear, but isn’t the kind of person who can pick up a guitar and just play with anybody. He then refers to keyboard player Bernard Wright, who is apparently a genius at just being able to play anything with anyone. Jon had apparently asked Bernard how he’s able to do that, and Bernard’s response was: “I don’t hear notes, Jon – I see colors and I play them.”

Peter tells Jon about David Morgan, a fabulous pianist trained by Ellis Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis’ dad. According to Peter, David always seems to know where the music is going to go and can just hear it. On a personal note, I had the good fortune of seeing David Morgan perform with his trio at the Blue Note for a live concert recording years ago, and more recently, saw him join Peter at the Jewish Museum for a wonderful kids concert. If you want to have a good laugh, check out my youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly2NEKon9UY – The guy’s so good, he even plays great with his NOSE. Yes, his NOSE.

Peter then goes into a Maj 9th jam and afterwards, he and Jon perform

Song: Amazing Grace

Peter starts playing really fast on guitar an intro which I think could have evolved into A Million Sides, but switches gear and performs:

Song: Georgia Clay (upcoming album)

Beat jam with Jon Gibson – scat singing by Jon Gibson – Jon claims to be a baritone who sounds like a tenor. He
apparently sings a full step down from Stevie Wonder who is a true tenor.

Song: Love and Pain – Great rarity of Peter’s – He and Jon jam on this song and start recording it live while ustream continues to broadcast!! Bird’s eye view into Peter’s work in the studio!! YAY!!!!

Peter talks to Jon about Alexander O’Neill and the old days of Prince who was in a band called Champagne. Morris Day was the lead singer of that band. Peter recounts the time he saw Prince do his first solo gig in North Minneapolis in support of his first album For You. Prince kicked Bobby Z off the drum – Peter wanted to quit music altogether because he thought Prince was just so good.

Jon vocalizes with Peter accompanying him on acoustic – FABULOUS.

Song: Solo finale by Jon Gibson – Stevie Wonder – Have a Talk with G-d

OUTSTANDING way to end the best episode of Furious World EVER!!!

Thanks everybody who participated and especially those who volunteer to help make this a great show and a great
community!