Entry #15 Spinal Tap Unplugged

My concert tickets for Unwigged and Unplugged at the Wiltern arrived this morning. Woo-hoo! The show is tomorrow (Sunday 4/26) night and my sister Christy and I can't wait!

Unwigged and Unplugged is Christopher Guest, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer. You know, the Spinal Tap dudes! To celebrate the 25th anniversary of This Is Spinal Tap, the famous trio is currently on tour performing all their Spinal Tap and Folksmen (A Mighty Wind) hits acoustically and it goes a little like this . . .



It's been a while since my last post. Been busy working on my new website ediemurphy.com which is up now! My blog is up on the website too.

My next post will likely be about the Unwigged show. I love everything about those guys. I dig what the do! When I grow up I wanna be Harry Shearer.

Entry #14 Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone! Thought I'd make a quick little post to brag about my friend Peter Kavanaugh. I'm so thrilled that Pete will be playing guitar for my big solo debut, and even more thrilled to discover that he's a songwriter too!

His tune "Pendulum Swing" aired on the Discovery Channel's show Time Warp ("Blades and Volts" episode) last Wednesday. Pete and his band we're also IN the episode too. Way Hollywood!!

So I proudly introduce to my under-a-dozen blog readers, Peter Kavanaugh's "Pendulum Swing" featuring Todd Eckart and Laura Jo DeWitt on vocals and the The Phat Cat Swinger horn section.



And if you're a swinging gate like me, I highly recommended this swingingest dance hall over in Pasadena with live swing music from none other than The Phat Cat Swingers with Peter Kavanaugh on guitar. See ya there, daddy-o!!

Saturday 4/25/09
7:30 - 11:00 pm
Pasadena Baptist Church
75 N. Marengo Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91101
Cost: $15.00

Get there at 7:30 if you want a fun, easy and quick swing dance lesson!!

Entry #13 Hollywood hangout to close the weekend

Another Hollywood live music venue that I enjoy supporting is The Grand Ole Echo over at the Echo, a cool club in that hipster neighborhood Echo Park. The GOE kicks off it's new season today.

My friend Christine Ortega will emcee today's big event and sing a few tunes too. The show will feature: Old Californio releasing their new record, Whispering Pines opening and the pride of the Golden State, I See Hawks In LA closing the night.

In between sets, head outside to the back porch for burgers on the grill and live acoustic music from banjo player Tommy Santee Claws.

The GOE is a free all ages show held every Sunday from 5 - 9 pm through the end of summer at The Echo, 1822 Sunset in Echo Park.

See ya there!

Entry #12 London calling

Happy April Fools Day everybody! What better way to spend it than doing taxes while watching all the G-20 hullabaloo in London.

Yep, this fool is tackling her finances while watching Londoners attack the Royal Bank Of Scotland and the GOP announce their budget proposal on MSNBC.

Right now the President and First Lady are heading over to 10 Downing Street for the G-20 dinner prepared by Jamie Oliver aka The Naked Chef.


It's wild seeing the throngs of protesters crowd the streets of London given that I was there exactly a year ago. It was a very quiet time then, and also very expensive. It was a little over 2 US dollars to 1 British pound. Now it's $1.43 to £1.00.


These are my pics of London I took last spring, including a sucky self-protrait in front of Buckingham Palace.

Entry #11 Where Is My Mind?

Well, I'm still busy making charts and demos for the guys. Thought I'd be done by now, but have 3 more songs to go. Hoping to knock out 2 later today.

My sister Christy insisted I post my latest DIY recording demo that I sent to the boys for reference. So here it is, my version of The Pixies Where Is My Mind? along with some web pics I found from surfin' the 'net.

BTW, I got the chords from a terrific fan site, FrankBlack.net, which has an awesome TABS section of pretty much everything Frank Black did as a solo artist and as Black Francis with The Pixies. So, thanks for the tab Derek (ProverbialCereal)!

This tune served as my introduction to barre chords. As you can hear, the G# chord gets botched a couple of times.

FYI for you younger hipsters, this song came out originally in '88 on the The Pixies Surfer Rosa album (pictured) and not from the Fight Club movie soundtrack, though a great film nonetheless; and a cool use of the tune!

Geesh, this entry took a lot of time. I couldn't figure out how to upload an mp3 on Blogger and went to the trouble of creating a dang video instead. The upload took forever too! OMG! Kinda wonder if it was at all worth it. Gonna look into maybe starting a podcast or something on this blog.

Entry #10 Happy Pi Day and Happy Birthday Albert Einstein!

Ah yes, yet another geek reference. Oddly enough, I was terrible at math and science which makes me a dumb geek, but a geek nonetheless.

Shout out to my 3 followers . . . THANKS! Woo hoo! I'm on my way to internet stardom.

In other news, I'm so happy to announce that Dan Janisch will be headlining my birthday show May 13 at The Cinema Bar. His latest CD Medicine Man is really, really good so go ahead and buy it. I'm a big Dan fan and looking forward to his new album due out this spring, which means soon. Yay!

My sister and I are heading out to Taix in Echo Park for Dan's show tonight. Christy is uber fussy when it comes to music and doesn't like local music EXCEPT for Dan Janisch. Now there's an endorsement!

Been busy compiling my set list for the big birthday show. Hoping to finish all my charts and demo recordings for the guys by the end of this weekend.

Happy Pi Day everybody! I'll be celebrating with a visit to the infamous House Of Pies in Los Feliz.

Entry #9 I was a geek, I still am a geek, and I will forever remain a geek.

Things are back to normal at least for a little while. It wasn't so good last week. A lot of my friends and colleagues were laid off recently, and it got me nervous as well. Currently, I'm still employed and relieved.

Feeling optimistic about my artistic endeavors however small. Got a nice compliment from someone out in cyberland. Zuniwind commented on my YouTube Lou Reed cover saying "love your version, can you do another video breaking down the chords and picking ? keep up the great playing eddie !"

Okay so he misspelled my name, but how cool is that?!! I'd say way cool. Thanks zuniwind!!

Well, I've put together my band for the big solo debut birthday show on May 13 at The Cinema Bar. Peter Kavanaugh, guitarist, and Million Dollar Dan (aka Dan Dungan), upright bassist, will accompany me as I sing, fiddle, pick the mando and even strum a few chords on the guitar! I'm real excited. These guys are super talented and very dear friends. It's gonna be a blast!

I'm also booking a headliner act, but that still has yet to be confirmed. Stay tuned.

Okay, now to the geek portion of the show, er . . . uh . . . I mean entry . . .

Here's the thing. I love and admire top lofty musicians in all genres and can be musically snooty with the best of them. Ah, but those close to me (and now blog readers) know I have some scary skeletons in my music closet and every once in a while they creep out.

My TV viewing somewhat matches my musical taste. MSNBC , BBC America and VH1 Classic are the only channels I watch but that's another story or entry or whatever or not.

Anyways . . . the other day VH1 Classic aired, One With Everything, a live concert of Styx performing with The Contemporary Youth Orchestra, and damn it I enjoyed watching it. That concert took me back to the days of high school when I listened to REO Speedwagon while going to countless rehearsals/auditions/concerts with the BCC Youth Symphony, Florida All-State Orchestra, All-County Orchestra (in Broward), and Coconut Creek High School Orchestra (not to mention the numerous school musical pit orchestras). But I never had the opportunity to combine both! Rock out while playing the violin? Man, those CYO kids were so lucky. I wasn't a fan of Styx or Journey back in the day, but I dug all their cousin bands like REO, Loverboy, Billy Squier and countless others just as embarrassing. Check out the YouTube clip. You can't help but smile seeing those kids having so much fun and playing with such joy WITH Styx in 2006! Who da thunk?

Anyway, I was so inspired that I wanted to keep the geek flame burning and made a donation to VH1's Save The Music Foundation. Music education helped a tasteless violin geek from a cracker town trailer park develop a true understanding and appreciation of the finer arts.

Another great rockin' music program is Electrify Your Strings! led by Mark Wood of Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Viper Violins fame. Above is a pic of me test driving one of Mark Wood's Vipers.

Rock on trailer park orchestra geeks!!