The Mescal Sheiks: News

Last Sunday Rick Solem, Dean Sterling, Phil Bloch and Rick Smith spent the day in the writing studio working on the finishing touches and arrangements for "Darkness Clears The Sky" and "Slacker Blues"

7/19/09 Indigo Lounge recap


Artist ---- Song Title

1. Ray Schinnery - Heavy Women (4:12)
2. Family Style - Walking Blues (3:39)
3. Sean Costello - Anytime You Want (3:43)
4. Reverend Blue - Southbound (3:20)
5. Bob Kirkpatrick - I Did Her Wrong (3:45)
6. the Detonators - Nine Kindsa Ugly (3:47)
7. Doug MacLeod - Long Time Road (3:16)
8. Steve Johnson - Wild Magnolia (3:36)
9. The Clam Daddys - Viper Jive (0:04)
10. The Midnight Flyers - Bartender (4:16)
11. Dave Arcari - Bound to Ride (3:11)
12. Harrison Kennedy - What A Way To Go (3:03)
13. The Steve Hill Trio - Love Me Right (3:18)
14. The Steve Hill Trio - Hey Now, Serena (5:32)
15. The Blue Voodoo - Monday Morning Blues (3:16)
16. Tommy Castro Band - Soul Shaker (3:54)
17. Axe Masterson - Key To The Hiway (3:28)
18. Mean Gene Kelton - Mean Guitar (4:46)
19. Bad Influence - Don't Forget Your Nightclothes (4:53)
20. The Mescal Sheiks - Looking Out 4 #1 (2:52)
21. Robin Sylar - Sugar Bee (2:14)
22. Percy Strother - Blow Wind Blow (2:28)
23. Maxwell Street - All Your Lovin (4:11)
24. Kane Daily - The Sun Don't Shine (3:34)
25. Edwin Holt - Down To The Bone (4:26)
26. Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band - Mud (2:43)
27. The Steve Hill Trio - The Dog in Me (3:44)
28. The Coggs - Devil's Knockin' (2:54)
29. Axe Masterson - Preachin' Blues (3:24)
30. P.W. Fenton & The Second Ward - Like Tears In Rain (3:10)
31. My Buddy Todd - Sings Like an Angel, Mouth Like a Sailor (4:15)
32. Nick Moss & the Flip Tops - Peculiar Feeling (5:27)
33. Zak and His Unhappy Guitar - Maggie Campbell (4:00)
34. Big Harmonica Bob - Go Out Laughin' (2:03)

Mescal Sheiks lyricist and harp player Rick Smith will be at Beyond Baroque Foundation on Sat., June 27.
He and others will be reading work from the anthology celebrating Lummox Press' 10th anniversary.
681 Venice Blvd in Venice, Ca. Phone 310-822 3000. That's 7:30 pm June 27, this Saturday.

After taking some time following Clabe Hangan's passing away, the Sheiks are headed back into Grandma's Warehouse to resume recording in August.

July will see us in the Alley, brushing off the cobwebs from the hiatus.

Sheiks Rick Solem and Phil Bloch are hitting the road starting this Spring.

Shakedown Mambo is a duo of New Orleans, Memphis, Kansas City, St. Louis....just about any kind of music you would hear going up and down the Mississippi River.

We're excited to be producing this music that you don't often hear.

For the music, video and information regarding Shakedown Mambo, it is available at;

www.myspace.com/shakedownmambo

"Walking To The River"

After the passing of Clabe Hangan in August, we've taken a few months to step back, absorb the impact of losing a very important person in our lives that we loved beyond words. Being side to side, shoulder to shoulder with Clabe for the last 8 years was such a gift.

We'll be getting back in the saddle after the first of the year and moving forward with Clabe always a part of us.

Paul Broucek went back into the studio this Fall with engineer Ed Cherney and has done a beautiful re-mix of the song we wrote together "Walking to The River".

"Walking" was a very special song as we wrote and recorded "This World is Not My Home" in 2004 -2005. Paul started writing it in the late 90's and put in on the shelf as he became heavily involved in some huge movie projects.

I always loved it, when we were writing for what eventually became "This World", as Paul was in Los Angeles in between London and New Zealand working on the soundtracks, Paul, Rick Solem and I got together and finished writing it.

We took it into rehearsal at The Alley and Clabe took it from a wonderful, beautiful song, and lifted it up into that very special place that only Clabe could.

During the first complete run through, Clabe hit into the 3rd verse starting "Back in Richmond..." and took the song to this "place". I've been writing music for close to 40 years and have never been a part of some thing like that.

When we finished playing and singing the song, we just sat for a minute in a wave of emotion. I looked at Elizabeth (Hangan, Clabe's daughter) next to me, tears were rolling down her cheek. It was incredible, and something only Clabe was capable of. And now, as Clabe is bathing in the River, even more so.

Walking To The River
(The Mescal Sheiks)
Broucek/Solem/Sterling-BMI



"Walking' to the River "
Broucek/ Solem/Sterling 2006 BMI

I keep walkin
to the river overnight,
When the cold wind
makes me shiver I don't mind,
As I'm walkin to the river
So many walk with me,
And we're walkin to the river overnight.

Soon we meet
A band of angels bathed in light,
Their voices ring,
Like a 1000 church bells in the night,
As they sing, their voices raise up,
And we join in harmony,
As we're walkin' to the river overnight.

Back in Richmond
The rolling St. James runs wild and free,
I wanna turn back
And ask each question haunting me,
But the moment comes to nothing,
As I fix my eyes ahead,
And keep walkin' to the river overnight.

Nah, nah, nah....



As a very special piece of Clabe, we're making the new mix available to our web site community. It will be going out as a free mp3 to everybody on our Sheiks e-mail newsletter in December.

If you're not in our Sheiks community yet, you can become a part of it by entering your e-mail address here at our website

We'll e-mail an mp3 of the new "Walking To The River" mix before the holidays.



Dean Sterling
Mescal Sheiks Productions
Los Angeles, CA

Bring Yer Own Blues

Big Time fest goes small time

Buddy Seigal
Published on July 26, 2001

The Big Time Blues Festival seems to get a little more small-time every year, and that's jake by me. What festival organizer BERNIE PEARL lacks in high Q-factor names for his lineup is more than made up for in lesser-known but perfectly goddamned wonderful talent. This is as it should be; this is, after all, the blues. I'll trade you three Keb' Mo's for one Corey Harris and throw in a Kenny Wayne for free. No, I'll pay you to take the Kenny Wayne off my hands.


For example, there's singer/guitarist CLABE HANGAN, a guy I'd never even heard of before catching him a few months ago at the Adams Avenue Roots Festival in San Diego. Lucky me: the veteran, Arkie-reared songster employs an old-school, country-blues method that recalls such bad studs of yore as Brownie McGhee and Big Bill Broonzy. Like those gents, Hangan seasons his tuff but folksy music and storytelling with a most dignified style and intellect; this is a guy who knows and loves the blues' history, legacy and societal import as much as he loves the music itself.


Hangan's presentation, on the other hand, reminded me of Muddy Waters' legendary performance at the Newport Jazz Fest in 1960 (no, kiddies, I'm not quite so ripe that I saw the concert live, but a video of the event has been a staple in my VCR for years). When the spirit moved him just right, Hangan, like Waters, became giddily animated, clearly in the throes of some marvelous rapture that seemed almost religious in nature. He quaked and quivered, whooped and hollered, trembled and gesticulated, stomped and danced; I half expected him to start speaking in tongues. What Hangan does is tread a fine line between blues primitivism and collegiate sophistication. For all his earthy, down-home musical charm, Hangan is also a professor (he taught humanities and folk arts in the University of California and Cal State University systems) and a minister, and he has served as a youth probation officer. Hangan is a humble old fella, too; he bills his band as the Hangan Brothers even though he's clearly the star of the show and none of his band mates are actually siblings. Pearl says the handle exists because Hangan simply refuses to hog all the glory for himself. Go see Clabe tear up the Big Time Blues Fest Sunday at Gemmrig Park in Long Beach; he'll keep ya Hangan on!

Saturday, February 13th, 2010

Mardi Gras Mambo 2010 - 8 PM - Los Angeles, CA

This will be the Sheiks next live performance upon the completion of the Second Wind Sessions. So mark your calendars, and be prepared to party like you've never partied before! After a four year hiatus, the zombies of the second line will be rising!

Memorial Services will be held at 3 p.m. on Sunday, September 14, 2008
Monte Vista Unitarian Universalist Congregation
9185 Monte Vista Ave., Montclair, CA 91763

Clabe Hangan
Folk musician, educator

Pomona resident Clabe Robert Hangan died at home on August 9 , 2008 at the age of 74. A musician for a lifetime, Mr. Hangan steered his talent into the realm of education later in life, bringing inspiration to young people eager to absorb his valuable lessons in music and life.

Born in Ashdown, Arkansas in 1934 to Artomia (nee Ghoston) and John Hangan, Mr. Hangan grew up in Redlands, graduating from Redlands High School around 1950. He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Redlands.

“This was the late 50s, and there was the whole Beat thing going on, and [my parents] were, in their own way, involved in that Bohemian, Beat era. So sociology was the kind of field you go into if you were interested in alternative ways of thinking about social justice, etc.” said his daughter, Margaret Hangan. “Bear in mind, people were starting to see the African American Civil Rights Movement build at this time. There was a confluence of things going on, including a movement in the folk music scene, and he was at the forefront of all of this.”

In 1955, Mr. Hangan married Emily Gates, a fellow sociology student in college. He worked as a probation officer for a short time and then, during the 60s, built his career as a musician. He had started his music career as a young man singing with a gospel group called the Mu-tonic Singers in Redlands. In the early part of the decade, he began to play guitar and perform folk music with the Riverside Folk Song Society whose members included Sally and Jim Thomas, Keith and Rusty McNeil, Keith Chalmers, Roberta and Chet Roistacker and many more.

Mr. Hangan built his solo career by becoming a regular performer at local venues such as the Redlands Bowl and at the coffee house known as the Penny University in San Bernardino. He also performed at colleges and universities such as La Sierra College; the University of California, San Diego, with Sam Hinton; the Ice House in Pasadena; the Heritage in San Diego; the Bitter End in Greenwich Village, New York; the King’s Rook in Boston, Massachusetts; and the Lion’s Share in Sausalito. He recorded 2 children’s records on the Empire Label and was always willing to lend a voice for a just cause.

Also in the 60s, Mr. Hangan became very active in human and civil rights causes such as equal access to housing and education. He served as a counselor for young people through programs such as Brotherhood-Anytown of America and Upward Bound and, for a brief time, he was principal of a short-lived Freedom School in San Bernardino.

In 1968, the Hangan Family moved to Montclair where Mr. Hangan taught sociology and black history while working towards a master’s degree in sociology at The Claremont Colleges. Time spent around Claremont meant further entrenchment in the folk music scene and, specifically, the deepening of connections with the Folk Music Center. Always, music was a means of rich friendship with fellow artists for Mr. Hangan.

“In the folk music crowd, everybody knew everybody. Everyone was interrelated,” Mr. Hangan’s daughter said. “There was this great community of musicians, with everyone playing everywhere.”

In the 70s, Mr. Hangan and Joe Rael, his music and business partner for over 30 years, formed Music Americana, an education program for schools that combined Mr. Hangan's love of music, education and inspiring young people to learn. He continued to perform solo as well as with blues bands like the Hangan Brothers and the Mescal Sheiks, which also included his eldest daughter Elizabeth Hangan. In recent years, Mr. Hangan and his youngest son, Ali, established the Clabe Hangan Institute for Young Scholars to raise funds for a scholarship to support young African American students.

“He was probably one of the most charismatic people you’ve ever known. He had a warmth that just emanated,” his daughter said. “He walked into a room and lit it up. People gravitated toward him because of that ability to reach out and touch people and really care about them. Just about everybody who knew him thought he was their best friend. He had that effect on people.”

Mr. Hangan is survived by his 4 daughters, 3 sons and 13 grandchildren.

Memorial Services will be held at 3 p.m. on Sunday, September 14, 2008 at the Monte Vista Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 9185 Monte Vista Ave., Montclair, CA 91763.

It is with great sadness that we have to announce the passing of Clabe Hangan Saturday,
August 9th.

He died in his home in Los Angeles, apparently from a stroke.

As the Summer closes out, August sees us at Grandma's Warehouse finishing up percussion on the first eight songs.

We'll head into rehearsal for the next four songs in the weeks after Labor
Day and back into the studio to start recording them at the end of the September.

Since being released in January 2006 "This World Is Not My Home" has become the #21 selling Soul-Blues CD at CDBaby!


http://cdbaby.com/top/292?skip=0

Thank you very much.

Sheiks Producer Phil Bloch and engineer Andrew Bush spent the last two days at Grandma's Warehouse working on the eight tracks we laid down before the end of the year. The tracks "What's Holding Her Up", "Memphis Time", "Day To Day", "Medicine Man", "Nola La-La","You Bought The Ticket". "Blind Man's Trick", "Good Enough Ain't" are ready for some percussion tracks in the next few weeks before we go back into Grandma's Warehouse and lay down bed tracks for "Feet Are The First To Know", "It's A Dog's World", "Where There's Smoke" and "Alabama Chrome".

We're running about six months behind schedule, however we're back on track - 2009 will see the first tracks released, and by this time next year all 24 tracks should be completed.



'til next time!



The Mescal Sheiks
Los Angeles, CA

Sheik Rick Solem escaped the Second Wind Sessions long enough to play a private event at the Emeritus Vineyards in Sebastopol, CA last weekend.

The Vineyard owner enjoyed Rick's work in the 90's with Dave Alvin. So Rick, drummer/producer Phil Bloch, bassist Lawrence Baulden and
guitarist Zeke Zirngiebel whisked their way up to California Wine Country for the weekend.

Upon returning, Rick's comment...."We're old, we're grumpy, and we don't travel well..."


Ah, the Sheik's motto once again rears it's head!

Well Sheiksters and Sheikettes, March and April still sees us in pre-production for returning to the studio at the end of May.

We had planned on being back dealing with the tracks at the end of last month, but as we’ve gotten into the heavy lifting, it’s taking longer than we expected. As things are moving along this summer, we’ll see if this will affect getting the first of the Sessions released in January. We’re hoping to make up time, and keep our schedule.

A bit of a teaser... the titles of some the of the 24 songs are;

Memphis Time
You Bought The Ticket
Medicine Man
NOLA La-La
Blind Man’s Trick
Good Enough Ain’t
Day To Day
What’s Holding Her Up
Alabama Chrome
Lift Me in the Water
Feet Are the First to Know
It’s A Dog’s World
Ain’t That the Way
Where There’s Smoke There’s You

As we’re back in the studio we’ll get more news out to you, the plan is to have a photographer getting pictures in the studio and we’ll get them up on the web site for you.


NEWS FROM THE “THIS WORLD IS NOT MY HOME” FRONT


Sheik friend, Producer, and co-writer of “Walkin’ To the River”, Paul Broucek, is taking “Walkin” into the studio next week with engineer Ed Cherney, and producing a new mix of the song. We’ll have it available for download on our Myspace page when it’s ready.


The Mescal Sheiks
Los Angeles, CA

January and February sees the Sheiks in pre-production for heading back into the studio in March.

We've got 22 of the 24 songs written and in process for arranging. All 24 songs should be done and arranged by the end of March .

We're also changing studios for the sessions and when we get back in we'll be at Grandma's Warehouse in Echo Park.

Producer Phil Bloch and engineer Andrew Bush will be going through all the tracks we’ve recorded through November in preparation for us recording more tracks again starting in April.
The first digital EP release from the sessions will be in next January, with a digital EP Release every three months until all 24 songs from the sessions are out.

As we get further into the year and our plans are more concrete we’ll bring you up to date.

MARDI GRAS MAMBO 2009

We've just set the date for the next Mardi Gras Mambo.

Due to our heavy recording schedule this year, we had to skip doing the annual party.

The Mardi Gras Mambo will Saturday, February 21, 2009.

We'll be announcing the compete bill and the venue here in Los Angeles this Summer, with tickets being available November 1st.

So set the date in your calendars and start polishing up dem dancin’ shoes?


The Mescal Sheiks
Los Angeles, CA

As we do every year we are setting aside 300 copies of our 2006 Blue Cap release, "This World Is Not My Home" at a special Holiday pricing.

Available through our website and our MySpace page, you can purchase "This World Is Not My Home" for $7.00 (postage included) OR two copies of "This World Is Not My Home" for $10.00 (postage
included).

We're making this available for
50% less per song than down loading them from ITunes!

If you would like more copies to give out as holiday gifts, we
will make any additional copy
(over two) available for $5.00 more per copy (postage included).

All you need do is send a check for the amount of copies you need

1 copy $7.00
2 copies $10.00
3 copies $15.00
4 copies $20.00

to:

Mescal Sheiks Productions

and mail it with your

name
address
city, state, zip code
e-mail address (for order confirmation) to:

Mescal Sheiks Productions
PO Box 491
Walnut, CA 91788-0491

and we'll get your CD (s) out to you.

To receive your order by December 24th we suggest getting it to us no later than December 15th. However we will accept these holiday orders through December 31, 2007!

Happy Holidays!

With the sessions we completed last week and the holidays rapidly coming upon us, the Sheiks will be stepping out of the studio until January. We'll be concentrating on writing the last eight songs for the Second Wind Sessions through the end of the year.

After New Year's we'll be heading back into a concentrated recording schedule through the beginning of April.

We're still in the process of finding a suitable venue in the downtown L.A., Silverlake, Echo Park area for our monthly "Sunday Night with The Sheiks". If we can find a venue by the end of December we'll be starting the Sunday nights in March.

We'll keep you informed here at our website or you can check our MySpace page;

www.myspace.com/themescalsheiks

Have a great Thanksgiving!

As we're closing in on the end of the year, the Second Wind Sessions are getting some traction.

We now have 16 of the 24 songs written and most of the tracks for "NOLA La-La", "You Bought the Ticket", "Memphis Time" and Medicine Man" are completed.In November we'll be at ChessVolt doing the bed tracks for "Day to Day" , "Good Enough Ain't", "Blind Man's Trick" and "What's Holding Her Up (Is Bringing Me Down)".

After the 1st of the year (January and February) we'll be in ChessVolt finishing up the instrument and vocal tracks. In March we'll be starting on the tracks for the next four songs.
Scheduled release of the first songs is Nov-Dec of '08 with a release of songs through out 2008 and 2009.

We're still working on finding a venue so that we can start "Sunday Night with The Sheiks" in March. More on that as soon as we find the venue.



the Sheiks
Los Angeles, CA

SEPTEMBER RUMINATIONS

September has seen us busy at ChessVolt Studios working on new song tracks (as well as writing). We have some surprises in store that we think you'll like when you hear the finished songs.

Bass player Angus Thomas is off to Europe for an extended stay. Lawrence Baulden (bass) and drummer Phil Bloch will be in ChessVolt with us when we start the next songs in November.

We're working in some innovative ways of releasing the songs from the Second Wind Sessions. And as the decisions are made, we'll inform you in What's Sheiking? and on the news page in our web site.

MARDI GRAS MAMBO

We're looking for a suitable venue to hold a Mardi Gras Mambo in 2008. We'll be in negotiations with venue owners in October, and hopefully have an announcement of the date
and location in next month's What's Sheiking?.

MYSPACE PHISHED

Our my space page www.myspace/themescalsheiks was phished a few weeks ago and the hackers
sent out some porn bulletins with our name on them. We apologize for this, and hopefully it won't happen again.

CDBABY

We've reduced the pricing the "This World is Not My Home" from $13.99 to $9.99.
So if you'd like to send some copies (or replace your worn out copies) as Holiday presents
we're happy to save you $4.00 per copy. Our CDBaby page http://cdbaby.com/cd/mescalsheiks also allows you to download the complete album for $6.99 digitally.


That's it for September, and don't forget, if there's current news happening before next month's What's Sheiking? You'll be able to find it on the news page at www.mescalsheiks.com 24/7.

Take care.


the Sheiks
Los Angeles, CA

Clabe Hangan, Danny Broussard, Rick Solem and Dean Sterling are heading into ChessVolt tomorrow to lay down the vocals for the first four tracks; "Memphis Time", "You Bought the Ticket", "Medicine Man" and "Nola La-La". Rick Smith will be adding his harmonica tracks in two weeks and then these songs will be put to bed for now and we'll moving on to the next four tracks, to be completed by the end of the year.

AUGUST RUMINATIONS



If you look at the calendar here on our web site, you'll kind of get the idea of what's ahead of us.

We're a bit behind in our 18 month schedule of "The Second Wind Sessions". So to get us back on track to get the 21-24 songs done by the end of 2008, we're going to be in the studio through January of '08.

As we're going through the sessions, we'll be going back and adding diary entries to each session date, so you be able to be there "in the studio" with us.

So, this means we don't anticipate doing any live dates until February. As we get closer to the end of the year we should be able to start posting the live dates for Feb-April here on our web site, and our MySpace page,
www.myspace.com/themescalsheiks. The first eight songs should be mixed and mastered by the end of February.

We'll be working on some sort of contest where eight winners will be able to download each of the songs for free as they're done. So keep your eyes open for the contest after the first of the year. We're also working on a way to put up rehearsal tapes, outtakes, etc as mp3 files for you to download here on our web site.


As always, we appreciate you support and friendship, and look forward to get out in front of you live as soon as we can.


the Sheiks
Los Angeles, CA