NEWS AND BITS

I will be posting here general news about the band and news from gigs that I cannot personally attend. If you want to write a review or have news worth sharing, please email me at maria27@catanddogdoctor.net.

Steve (AK) has a myspace page now hereCheck out all the cool new music there!

We are linked!!! Many thanks to Steve Jay for placing a link to my little Ak & Zuie gallery in his picture page. What an honor!

I heard it through the grapevine...The concert at LCSC was a success *happy dance of joy*. The guys played for close to 2 1/2 hours, even though they were scheduled for just 1 1/2 hours!!! It was well attended and everyone enjoyed themseleves immmensely.

There is a nice write up about the guys here. They are playing tomorrow night at 7 PM in the Student Union Building at the Lewis and Clark College in Lewiston, Idaho. Nice article, check it out!

Ak & Zuie has morphed into Akin Zuie! Jeff Elliot has joined Ak & Zuie in trumpet and keyboards. Reports from the attendants to this show is that they sound fantastic.

The Dean Guitars Web site has a nice little write up about Steve and some new pictures from the series where the pic from the Bass Player picture came from here.

*An article by Stephen Jay titled "Music as a life form" can be found in the July 2004 issue of Bass Player Magazine. Check it out!

*Ayarou Music annonces a new CD collection by Stephen Jay (AK). There are three CD's available now entitled Rounder Gaze, Friction and Plus. They are instrumental recordings that reflect Steve's continuing exploration of poly-rythmic funk. For more info go here.
A few commnets on this Collection....My favorite so far is "Plus" It contains a different musical arrrangement for "Go Like This" that totally rocks. The song acquires a totally different feel to it. Plus I love the sound a Saxophone any day hehe. This CD also has a piece titled "Headlands", in wich Miles plays the string Bass. It has a "bluesy/jazzy" (don't know if anyone would agree with me, but it is what it sounds like to me) feel to it that is somewhat of a departure to what Steve has us used to his music sounding like. While a lot of the pieces in this collection are the instrumental versions of his songs, they are worth for the chance of being able to hear the whole range of sounds without Steve's voice "getting in the way" ........... That is because the you can hear the subtle sounds in the background that normally you would not hear with vocal tracks present. Don't get me wrong I looooooove Steve's voice, but I also like to analize what I hear, it's the scientist in me :-). For example Odds Bodkins (in the "Friction" CD) works much better without vocals for me because the vocals are rather distracting on this song, so you miss a lot on the subtelties in the background, being that Odds is such a complicated piece. Bottom line... Do I think it is worth it? ABSOLUTELY! Go get them now!

* Steve's new CD "Outer Voice" is now available here. My review of this CD is here.