Mike Keneally, Author at The Official Mike Keneally Website

THE ZAPPA BAND OPENING FOR KING CRIMSON IN THE U.S….AND A NEW 1988 ZAPPA CONCERT RELEASE

June 11, 2021 Mike Keneally News

Yeah, The Zappa Band are going to play seventeen shows with King Crimson in the U.S. in a couple of months from now. Yes I wish we were playing outside the U.S. too! But I’m highly grateful for every gig we’re getting. I’m starting to feel severely excited to get out and do some playing. Some aspects of coming out of hiding are unnerving. But getting onstage and playing some music isn’t one of those things.

The Zappa Band consists of Scott Thunes, Ray White, Robert Martin, Joe Travers, Jamie Kime, and me.

The Crimson band is the same three-drummer, four-non-drummer lineup that’s been making glowingly beautiful music live for a few years now. A truly wonderful ensemble.

Together it’s going to be a really, really good night of music (yes I treated myself to two “really”s there).

Patreon is a very worthwhile hang

June 8, 2021 Mike Keneally News

For something like a year now, I’ve been posting all sorts of things from my audio and paper archives to my Patreon page, along with exclusive videos and frequent livestream hangouts with patrons and all kinds of stuff. It is so freaking fun. I’m excited about creating a varied collection of my work there which is continually growing, and the connection with all the extremely cool people who have joined me there. I love being at Patreon, and if you’re interested in me and what I do, it’s really something you should know about.

One of the signature characteristics of Patreon is the “tiered” subscriber system – you can join at different money levels – and, on a lot of Patreon pages, the less you pay, the less stuff you get access to. Not at my page! Nuh uh! The main four monthly subscriber levels ($5, $10, $25 and $50) all get the same access to exactly the same posts – it’s just about how much support you, the patron, are generous enough to offer in return for the material I’m putting up.

It’s turned into a wonderful community, and it’s been a blessing in my life, during the last year and a half with absolutely no live music work, to have Patreon emerge as a support system. I’m grateful for everyone who’s a patron, and if you’re not one yet, I hope you’ll consider checking the place out soon:
https://www.patreon.com/mikekeneally

Mike Keneally/Marc Bonilla: Ravel’s Prelude from Le Tombeau De Couperin

June 6, 2021 Mike Keneally News, Video

It is hubris, given the history of the world, for me to refer to an indignity perpetrated by a record company upon me as “a wrong.” But still, making this video last year with Marc Bonilla did somehow “right a” very insignificant-in-the-scheme-of-things “wrong” for me, in that Warner Bros. Records forbade Marc Bonilla to record this duet with me on his second album American Matador back in 1992. They wanted Marc to occupy a Satriani/Vai-like guitar-hero spot on the label roster, and they were eager for Marc to play both guitar parts himself, which he did, and did brilliantly.

I must also say that, at that time, it was probably more “right” from a musical standpoint for Marc to play the second part, as I don’t doubt for a second that he executed the part more crisply and accurately than I would have back then. When he asked me in 2020 to finally do the duet he’d asked me to do with him all those years ago, I felt I was ready to finally do it justice. Of course, it still took me about a month solid of practice, to the exclusion of nearly all other human activity. My gratitude to Sarah for enduring weeks of my constant practice of my part over, and over, and over, and over again.

And thank you Marc for asking me to do this! It was fun, nearly impossible, and extremely satisfying.