What’s Happenin’…
Freakin’ winter is here, however there are some cool gigs to play. Some fun NYC dates with James Chance & The Contortions as well as a whole new thing with The DeSilvas. I’m also busy with new song lesson videos for Guitarinstructor.com, prepping for an early 2019 cB3 recording session and finishing up RedRightReturn’s debut album. We did the all the tracking for the RRR record at Lakehouse Studios in Asbury Park, which is now being mixed by Nic Hard in Brooklyn. Finally watch for new TrueFire releases from me in early ’19 along with a whole something that will be nuts.
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A Selected Gigography
March 17, 2018 – First gig with legendary James Chance & The Contortions. We rocked Elsewhere in Brooklyn opening for The Sun Ra Arkestra.
January 18, 2018 – Kicked off my weekly residency at Clancy’s Tavern in Neptune, NJ. Oz Noy came down to help kick things off. Backed by the first chair rhythm section – Cody McCorry (b) & Joe Fadem (d) of Thank You Scientist – we got it going right.
September 29, 2017 – My new project RedRightReturn had its first club date opening for the Screaming Headless Torsos. This all took place at The Saint in Asbury Park, NJ.
August 4, 2017 – Sat in with Snarky Puppy at Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, NJ. I played fretless on “What About Me”. Good times!
April 30, 2017 – On this day Brookdale Guitar Show my prog-funk-effects smorgasborg project RedRightReturn debuted! It was great to back on stage with Zach Westfall & Kevin Groossman as well as Audra Mariel out front. It was a great first outing.
March 17, 2017 – I was back on stage with my buds Consider the Source at The Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, NJ. Once again I went head-to-head with fellow Vigier Guitars artist, Gabriel Marin!
November 12, 2016 – Sat in with my good friend and mentor David Fiuczynski and his insane trio project, KiF at The Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, NJ.
August 6, 2016 – I sat in with Consider the Source at The Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, NJ and went head-to-head with fellow Vigier Guitars artist, Gabriel Marin!
April 18, 2016 – Death Rig made its NYC debut at Rockwood Music Hall. The band is Emily Grove, Zach Westfall and Kevin Grossman.
March 14, 2016 – I sat in with not one, but two Snarky Puppy guitarists leading their own projects at Rockwood Music Hall. First was with Bob Lanzetti during his 11pm set and then with Mark Lettieri during his midnight set. Mark rocked with my all-time favorite rhythm section made up of Tobias Ralph on drums & Steve Jenkins on bass.
February 19, 2016 – I once again hit the stage at the Blue Note during their famed Late Night Groove Series with a group led by bassist Steve Jenkins. This one is called Red Eye Sinatra and features Snarky Puppy‘s Bob Lanzetti.
January 9, 2016 – I was at The Saint in Asbury Park, NJ with a new project that featured Emily Grove, Cody McCorry and Kevin Grossman. Along with Karmic Juggernaut we were there to support the Screaming Headless Torsos Asbury Park debut!
2015
September 18, 2015 – w/ Zappa Plays Zappa @ The Stone Pony!! I sat in for the second time with Dweezil and the band, this time during “Cosmik Debris” and with frets 🙂 With an Axe-Fx XL II leading the tonal charge for both Dweezil and I we rocked that place. HARD. Click here for the whole song and here for just my solo and trades with Dweezil.
March 28, 2015 – w/ Jon Francis @ Asbury Park Yacht Club. I’ve been playing music with Jon for a loooooong time and for good reason. The cast of characters I performed with to support Jon included members of Karmic Juggernaut, Emily Grove and Audra Mariel.
April 11, 2015 – w/ Jon Francis and Bob Lanzetti @ Palette Gallery. We did an improvised set of lunacy for the Asbury Park Music in Film Festival.
April 12, 2015 – Returned to the Brookdale Guitar Show where I’ll led not one, but two events. First I hosted a panel from 12pm-1pm called How To Be A Better Guitar Teacher. My guests were my old friend Matt O’Ree and the legendary Gerald Carboy. Then my new project Gerry and I cooked up called FUBAR hit the stage. The concept behind FUBAR is to take classic rock tunes and bravely re-arrange them to our delight with muso-approved instrumental fusion vignettes in-between. The first gig was killer.
July 14-17, 2015 – Was back @ TrueFire to shoot a three more Guitar Gym courses. In the can is Sweep Picking, Arpeggiation and Skipping Strings.
2014
March 2-5, 2014 – Was back at TrueFire for another Guitar Gym course series triple shoot. This time it was creating a new chapter in the series with three new titles on chord scales!
March 9, 2014 – I performed one set at the JAMMIN4 JOHN event. This was a fundraiser for my dear friend and mentor, John Clarizio, of Clarizio Music Center who is waging an epic battle against oral cancer. I debuted my Chris Buono’s Juiced Blues All-Stars project featuring Gerald Carboy, Charlie Mills and Dave Archer. Special guests were Eryn Shewell, James Dalton and Grammy-winner Bob Lanzetti from Snarky Puppy. We played from 2:40-3:20.
March 30, 2014 – “With a Little Help From My Friends” was my own three-hour fundraising event for John Clarizio of Clarizio Music Center at The Saint in Asbury Park, NJ with some very talented friends. Charlie Hunter opened with a short solo performance (1:00) followed by a two-hour clinic performance called The Blues: Twisted and Juiced (2:00-4:00) that featured myself and Oz Noy backed by Steve Jenkins and Keith Carlock!
April 13, 2014 – It was time for another Chris Buono’s Juiced Blues All-Stars gig! This time at the Brookdale Guitar Show. The same lineup from March 9th (see below) was on hand ready to help me butcher the blues into my own warped vision. We rocked from 3:30 to 5pm in the Twins Lights Room of Brookdale’s Student Life Center. Little Walter will never be the same 🙂
July 10th, 2014 – w/ Zappa Plays Zappa @ The Newton Theatre!! Sat in for the encore during “Willie the Pimp” with Dweezil and Co. Turned it to be a major guitar duel between friends. All Axe-Fx and all fretless. EPIC. Check it out here!
July 12th, 2014 – w/ Southern Fried Funk featuring Larry Mitchell @ The Saint in Asbury Park, NJ. We hit at 11:15 and rocked stinky southern funk for 1.5 hours straight. Larry was ON and the band was totally killer. Such a good time.
August 2nd, 2014 – w/ Karsh Kale @ Joe’s Pub in NYC. I was psyched and honored to return to Joe’s Pub with KK once again, this time as part of his Collective Sessions residency. Every performance was different cast of incredible players throwing down. My night included Karsh on drums (a rarity these days) and Tim Lefebvre on bass! It was like the 90’s Izzy Bar scene all over again.
August 22nd, 2014 – w/ Dopapod @ Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, NJ! So happy to have jumped on stage for a few tunes with one of my former Berklee students, Rob Compa, and his crew.
September 18, 2014 – Was back @ TrueFire to shoot a funk course!! Comes out in April 2015!
2013
March 10-14, 2013 – I was at TrueFire shooting a new course for an upcoming series called In the Jam. My edition will be called NYC Funk [so far ;P] and it features live playing footage with myself, Steve Jenkins and Keith Carlock! The course will feature a very cool new TrueFire video playing experience where you’ll have the ability to mix the levels of all three us so you can be IN THE JAM however you want!
July 1-5, 2013 – Taught at the Dweezilla guitar boot camp alongside son of Frank himself, Dweezil Zappa, as well as representing Fractal Audio Systems. Other off-the-wall guitar thinkers that dropped their genius on the attendees including Oz Noy, James Santiago, Tom Qualye, David Walliman and Derryl Gabel. It was a total nerd fest full of total guitar awesomeness.
July 12, 2013 – @ The Brooklyn Bowl with Karsh Kale. This gig marked the return of the core trio that included myself, KK and the amazing Tony Grey to this outstanding venue. The set kicked off with special guest Max ZT on hammer dulcimer. Then we had MC’s Brooklyn Shanti and Mandeep Sethi on the mic as well as Meetu Chilana from Cirque du Soleil Zharkana on vocals. The set was dominated by KK’s hard-ass DJ tracks. It was killin’.
August 5-9, 2013 – I was back at TrueFire for a triple shoot where added to my Guitar Gym course series. The titles shot were Tapping, Arpeggios and Hybrid Picking.
August 17, 2013 – @ Rootwire Festival with Karsh Kale. It was another trio blow out with Tony Grey. Plus, we had Jamie Janover on hammer dulcimer. Being the Sat. night headliner was intense to say the least. It was rammed and it was AWESOME.
October 8, 2013 – @ Triumph Brewing Co. of New Hope | New Hope, PA was with Larry Mitchell. Sat in with his stellar trio to rock some of his tunes, some Hendrix and whatever Larry wanted to drop on me! It was an Axe-Fx II bonanza, lemme tell ya.
2012
March 18-21, 2012 – I was back in the TrueFire hot seat to film the beginning of an extended series of courses based on my Guitar Sherpa classroom, Guitar Gym.
April 15, 2012 – @ The Brookdale Guitar Show. Did a perplexing set of Jimi Hendrix tunes culled from Jimi’s classic albums Are You Experienced?, Axis: Bold As Love and Electric Ladyland exclusively on my Vigier Sufreter Excalibur Supra fretless guitar! I had Tobias Ralph on drums, Steve Jenkins and bass and Eryn Shewell on vocals. It was killin’! Check it out.
May 19, 2012 – @ Frankie’s P.M.I. I did a clinic based on my work with Rodney Holmes’ Lithium Tree. Had the Axe-Fx II rig and Jon Francis close by. Good stuff!
May 25, 2012 – @ Triumph Brewing Co. of New Hope | New Hope, PA with Rodney Holmes’ Lithium Tree. We rocked two sets that featured new music and new arrangements of Lithium Tree classics. I’ll not only rockin’ not only did my thing with my Axe-Fx II rig and my infamous Frostwave Resonator, but I also had in my hands a Rick Toone prototype that was incredible! Check out some video Rick Toone shot that night here.
June 2, 2012 – @ New York Amp Show | Embassy Suites, Seacaucus, NJ. I played three tunes in the Fractal Audio Systems room. Check out the videos here.
June 13, 2012 – @ ShapeShifter Lab | Brooklyn, NY with Tony Grey. I took the stage once again with my longtime compatriot and fellow Karsh Kale touring band member, the incredible Tony Grey. I played on a few tunes during this monumental performance that included the legendary Mino Cinelu and Tony’s fantastic band members. It was an amazing show I will not soon forget.
November 15, 2012 – @ The Brooklyn Bowl with Karsh Kale. This was the return of the US touring band featuring Tony Grey and Brandon Epperson. We also had Brooklyn Shanti on the mic, Rajeev Maddela on the drums and a quick cameo from Meetu Chilana from Cirque du Soleil. The set was mostly a free improvisation mad house and it rocked.
2011
2011 kicked off with a short east/west coast run with Karsh Kale and the Midival Punditz…
January 26, 2011 – @ Highline Ballroom, NY, NY. Sold the joint out in the year’s worst snow storm. Took five hours to get home, but I could care less. It was SICK!
January 28, 2011 – @ Galaxy Theatre, Santa Ana, CA. Not much to say on this one. The venue sucked and the people who worked there sucked worse. Awful.
January 29, 2011 – @ UCLA Royce Hall, Los Angeles, CA. Who knew this would be the gig of the year for this band. Unbelievable sound!
April 10, 2011 – The Brookdale Guitar Show @ Brookdale Community College. The day was a busy one with two clinics based on my TrueFire course Blues Progressions and Blues Soloing. But, not before a set of Jeff Beck tunes cherry picked by myself and drummer Charlie Mills. Along with Arne Wendt on keys and Mike Burry on bass we rocked some tunes from Beck’s golden-era fusion records including Blow By Blow, Wired and There and Back with a special selection from Flash that the incredible Eryn Shewell joined us on.
Another lightning fast run with Karsh Kale as a member of Cinema Live…
May 26, 2011 – With Karsh Kale @ Highline Ballroom, NY, NY. Special guests electric mandolin master U. Rajesh and on vocals Monica Dogra and Todd Michaelsen.
May 27, 2011 – With Karsh Kale @ The Conga Room, LA, CA. Special guests Sheela Bringi on bansuri and DJ Cheb I Sabbah opening and closing the night.
May 28, 2011 – With Karsh Kale @ Yoshi’s, San Francisco, CA. Special guests Sheela Bringi on bansuri and DJ Cheb I Sabbah opening and closing the night.
This one-off with Karsh Kale was in front of nearly 18,000 people. Killer stuff…
July 10, 2011 – @ The Hollywood Bowl, LA, CA with Karsh Kale and very special guests Lili Hayden (violin), Salim Merchant (vox/keys), Roopa Mahadevan (vox) & Aditya Prakash (vox). That’s right: THE HOLLYWOOD FUCKIN’ BOWL!!! 18,000 peeps including Flea in the font row!! I’ll take this one to the grave for sure.
This fall/winter season was very cool with performances alongside some good friends.
September 17, 2011 – @ Music Hall of Williamsburg | Brooklyn, NY with Karsh Kale. Just myself, KK and Tony Grey did our thing for the Wanderlust Williamsburg event. All improvised, all out fun.
September 23, 2011 – @ Earthdance | Vallejo, CA with Karsh Kale. We rocked the Unity Stage right before our friends, Eoto. Hippies were EVERYWHERE!
October 2, 2011 – @ Cafe Volan | Asbury Park, NJ with Vernon Reid. In the 11th hour I ended up jumping in with the man himself sans guitar – only modular analog devices – as he took an intimate crowd through his video explorations whilst we did some sound sculpting. Good stuff, for sure.
October 15, 2011 – @ The Brass Lantern, Reading, PA with Rodney Holmes’ Lithium Tree. This was the first time I was throwing down with an old partner in crime. It was a night of some serious electronica-rock-sound diablo mojo. For a taste of what Rodney and I have done together, click here and check out the two tunes I played on for his debut solo album, 12 Months of October.
October 21, 2011 – @ B.B. King Blues Club & Grill | NY, NY with Karsh Kale plus special guests! For En Vogue fans it was quite a shock to what came through the door after the show – US! This was the final show for the Cinema band for 2011 ending a great run all over the place playing KK’s amazing music from his latest release, Cinema.
November 5, 2011 – @ Joe’s Pub | NY, NY with Karsh Kale. This was a stripped down affair where we Karsh put aside the electronics and drum kit for improvised meeting of the minds. It was KK, myself and special guests Hidayat Khan and Jon Francis. It was incredible. This night also was the first time I played my Vigier Surfreter fretless guitar!
December 16, 2011 – @ Triumph Brewing Co. of New Hope | New Hope, PA with Rodney Holmes’ Lithium Tree. This was my last gig of the year and what a way to cap it off! Lithium Tree made up of Rodney, Ken Dow, Jim Kost and myself rocked a set of hybrid electronica-dance/rock. It was also the night I put my hands on Rick Toone’s Sketch! For a taste of what Rodney and I have done together, click here and check out the two tunes I played on for his debut solo album, 12 Months of October.