So the show was fantastic! The audience was freaking excited, the band had the guts and the ferociousness of a lion, the music was all played professionally with a high degree of ACCURACY and I loved it so much. It was also really great to see all my friends again...I can't believe I hadn't been back in four years, but I feel like we made up for lost time. You guys really showed me the love and it did so much for my heart. Thank you. We will be doing this again! Currently, we're planning to do a Northeast tour with this line-up, so if anyone has any ideas, please let me know.
Speaking of thank yous, the show wouldn't have been nearly as fun if it weren't for all of the following people:
Andre' Cholmondeley, the leader of Project/Object, for putting the whole thing together and for having such an awesome attitude. There's no way this could have happened if it wasn't for your efforts and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
C.J. DeAngelus (who has been playing my music since 1997) for randomly being in NYC and bringing his bari sax! Your impromptu solo on "The Park Bench Canal" was one of the most surreal moments in the show. Great job. REPO!
Dr. Dot for singing "I'm the Slime" with us and for being the one who suggested that I get Project/Object to be my back-up band for a New York City show.
Hugh Gilmartin @ Korg for the assistance in getting a Triton for the show.
Dave Johnsen for the hot bass solo in "Tanya's Song." It was nasty.
Kelda & Mike Keneally for sending out e-blasts about the show to their respective mailing lists.
Louis Lagonik for 1,000 stamps and for driving us all around NJ (some things never change!).
Daniel Opperman (a.k.a. Dan-O, DWO, Dad) for being such a cool dad in general and for dinner Friday night.
Denise Opperman (a.k.a. Mom) for finding the perfect flight for my trip and booking it for me. Also, she's my mom. I wish you could have been there.
Sarah Opperman (a.k.a. my sister) for taking cool pictures and videos and having her pantry stocked with Mountain Dew, Haribo brand gummi bears, and a freezer full of dumplings! You rock.
Kelvin Ortega for giving me cab fare to get to Newark Airport when it became shockingly apparent that his and my sister's estimate of how long it would take to get their by bus was way off, and for being one of my best friends for as long as I can remember.
Mr. Ortega for cutting up those mangos even after Lou and I insisted that we couldn't possibly eat anything else.
Jeff Paitchell for proving himself big time! He did a great job and if you're a NJ or NY-area band (or you're a singer/songwriter playing a show in the area) and you need a guitarist, let me know and I'll give you his contact information.
Mr. & Mrs. Paitchell + Lisa who smiled as we invaded their home over the course of two afternoons and cranked our amps to 11.
Jordan "J-Ro" Shapiro for playing everything right and for the cool solo in "Gen-Ebulous."
S.I.R. for not being around after the show when we tried to bring the keyboard back (even though I was assured when we picked up the keyboard that we would be able to do this) and then charging me $100 to come and pick it up from my sister's apartment the next day. Turns out that no one was there that night because they all went to a party. Oh, wait, "thank you" wasn't the phrase I was looking for.
Eric Slick for knowing that the "2" sign meant to play TWICE as many drums and for answering the question "What would John Bonham's drumming have been like if he had been trained by Frank Zappa?" Also, I found out that he's only 18, not 19 (Sorry, Mrs. Slick!). He's deadly and he's ready to tour!
Tanya Smith for all the wonderful memories of our time together, for inspiring "Tanya's Song" and for making me get a haircut and a shave before the show.
Mr. & Mrs. Smith (not the movie) for giving me a place to crash right down the street from where we rehearsed, plus Mrs. Smith's amazing breakfasts (which included taylor ham) and one amazing dinner that deserved better than the "eat it and run!" action it got due to time constraints.
Alyson, Alexa and Mr. & Mrs. Thelin for coming out to the show and for over a decade of friendship. Congrats Alyson on your upcoming wedding! I'm really proud of you and I'm glad that you've found your true love.
John Von Achen for being a musclebound Eagle Scout (see above). It's always good to have one of those in your pocket at all times! Watching him fit the Korg Triton (inside the S.I.R. plane case) inside his Saturn Coupe and then taking it to my sister's 4th floor apartment by himself (since S.I.R. wasn't where they were supposed to be) was really a superhuman effort and I would have been in all kinds of trouble if he hadn't been able to do such a thing, so I'm EXTREMELY grateful. I told him I'd apologize to him for chasing him with a snowblower when he was 13 (and MUCH smaller) as a reward, but he told me he didn't want me to because it was really fun. So I bought him a Diet Coke instead.
Erin Woodward for making cool flyers for the show and handing them out around NYC before the show.
I would also like to thank everyone else who came to the show to watch us rock out (especially the groupies)!
The band was:
Chris Opperman (keyboards, vocals)
Andre' Cholmondeley (guitar, vocals)
Jeff Paitchell (electric guitar)
Jordan "J-Ro" Shapiro (keyboards)
Dave Johnsen (bass guitar)
Eric Slick (drums)
With special guests C.J. DeAngelus on baritone saxophone and Dr. Dot on vocals.
We played:
Melodious Monk (solo)
Haasis (solo)
Beware of the Random Factor
Hella Good/Hella Bad (Yes, the song by No Doubt which we used as music to introduce the band to)
The 22nd Overture
Miles Behind
The Park Bench Canal + Jam
I'm the Slime (Zappa)
T. Williams (solo)
Tanya's Song
Bender Dr. (improvised)
Gen-Ebulous
Sophia's Dream
Chunga's Revenge (Zappa)
I can't wait to do it again! My sister took some cool photos that I will upload to my website soon, but in the meantime, here are a couple blog entries people wrote about the show:
Dr. Dot - www.puredrdot.com
Mrs. Slick (the drummer's mom)
http://inherownwrite.blogspot.com/2005/07/chris-opperman-and-eric-slick-at-lions.html
Phew! The audio and video from this show is on it's way to me, so I will likely upload some stuff to oppymusic.com so stay tuned.
Tale of Two Shows
Friday, June 3 2005 - 12:41 pm
Whereas the bulk of the last several weeks has been spent focusing on the Special Opps studio recordings and writing arrangements for the upcoming NYC show with members of Project/Object, most of my music time this week was spent on stage!
On Tuesday night we played our last Level One show for a little while for a decent-sized crowd. Highlights included a stunning rendition of "Sophia's Dream" featuring some great work between guitarist Chris Spilsbury and drummer Craig Bunch, as well as a quite nasty version of Frank Zappa's piece "Chunga's Revenge" which became a low-end cacophony of musical noise. Daren Burns also played bass on that date.
The next night was quite a different event altogether as it was the debut performance of Chris Opperman & the Monster Truckers, a band that was thrown together for an LA Music Awards-sponsored jam session at B.B. King's at Universal CityWalk. They wanted something different from what I usually do, especially since my band had just played the night before, and we delivered!
I don't know if it was the giant stage, the LOUD sound system, or what, but I went totally berserk throughout the entire concert. The band was myself on keyboards, Jeff "Pesci" Grey on electric guitar, Daren Burns on bass, and my dear friend Clark Freeman on drums. We played for 75 minutes even though we only knew a couple songs as a group ("Beware of the Random Factor" and "Miles Behind"), but we lived up to our name delivering a devastating set of music.
We also jammed out on "Chunga's Revenge" which evolved into a heavy drum solo which evolved into this piece that I started building on the stage slowly driving it over the edge of a cliff when I finally got on the keyboard and played an awesome solo. Speaking of awesome solos, I followed that up with a nearly 15-minute keyboard solo in Ab that was pretty transcendent. Since we were at B.B. King's we played the blues, but of course it had to be minor and it had to be in 6/8 and I decided to sing a song about some cheatin' woman that I subsequently shot down for her sins and Clark dutifully hit his snare drum as I counted off the bullets!
Jeff "Pesci" Gray also played better than I?ve ever heard him play before. He stumbled a bit during the first song, but then came back with a vengeance playing with so much courage and fire. I was really proud of him. I was really proud of everybody! Getting up on stage and making up 70 minutes of music while keeping the audience interested and excited is no easy feat, but we accomplished it.
It was the most fun I?ve had playing a show in a while, the audience adored it, and the LA Music Awards committee was suitably impressed (even though they knew it was going to be great since it was their idea!). One of the MCs got on stage after with a big smile and was like, "They just improvised that!!!" I had a really wonderful time, so I'd like to thank Shannon B. for setting that up and I'd like to thank everyone in both of my bands who played so well for well. I'm so privileged to be surrounded by such great musicians.
I can't wait to play in NYC and I can't wait to play with Special Opps again!
Anyway, I hope that you are all well and that you have a great weekend.
Musically yours,
Chris Opperman
Idaho Potato
Monday, May 31 2005 - 12:46 pm
Well, on Saturday we went into the Mothership to work on the last song on the album, "Idaho Potato." I was extremely nervous about the session because I knew that I was going to have to cut a vocal track, but at least I knew that Kat Parsons would be there to make up for my inadequicies in that department.
Because this song is the most personal thing I've ever written (and I intend to keep it that way), because it means so much to so many people already who have seen me perform it live, and because it's the last song on the album, I really wanted to get this right and do it justice and I was afraid that I would fail like I failed when we recorded "Shipped to the Sky" so many years ago.
So I made sure that I surrounded myself with some of the people in my life that I love and care about the most for this session, people who have known me for years that I knew would be supportive but honest, and went for it. It worked.
We spent the morning cutting basic tracks which meant a scratch keyboard track (which we'll probably keep) and drums. Clark came in and we worked out some parts and went for it. That way when Kat came in she'd have something to sing to.
Kat got to the studio around 12:30 just as we were finishing up the drums. Then we got her set up to sing and we cut her tracks. She did a wonderful job and her voice is as beautiful and dreamy as ever. She's just so amazing. Then we did several Kat overdubs so that we'd have every part recorded in case my vocal tracks didn't work out. Then we listened to the song a few times, made a couple fixes, and Kat went on her way.
Then it was time for me to cut my track. Neil set up the microphone, I did one pass, we listened to about two lines of it, and I immediately fired myself. I wasn't about to ruin another one of my songs, especially one that's as important to me as this one is, by insisting that I sing it myself. Neil was a less harsh critic of my singing than I was, however, and he convinced me to keep just enough of it so that my voice was still part of the song and it does sound great.
I've been around long enough to know that I shouldn't ever use words like "never" or "always," but that will likely be the last vocal session I ever do. Although I'll probably still do about as much singing as I do now in my shows (which is almost none), as far as studio sessions go, it will be hired guns from this day forward.
All that matters is that at the end of the day we did justice to the song that I wrote and it sounds beautiful (and will sound even better once Jen comes back from Japan and cuts her cello part). There's also a deep sense of mystery and intimacy to it that I enjoy and it is a fitting ending to what is going to be a very intense album. I can't wait for you all to hear it.
Christopher
Third Eye Opp
by Clark Freeman
Thursday, May 12 2005
I've known Chris for, what some people might call, a while. His frenzied energy and wandering focus is summed up by most people who know him as an integral part of his powerhouse of musical ability. I was lucky enough to be asked into the studio this past week to record some tracks on his upcoming album, and Opperman opened up an entirely new door into his universe.
Recording at Steve's Vai's studio, I walked into a world that Chris has obviously dreamt of for a while, and probably lost plenty of sleep over. His focus is nothing less than razor sharp, knowing exactly what notes he wants to hear from his musicians as well as what kind of sound he wants to get from his engineer. He never loses, however, his ability to throw an obstacle in for a performer, to keep everything fresh:
"I just want you to scream for a while. . . ."
His assembled crew for Special Opps, some of the most exciting musicians I have seen in a while, and his engineer Neil Citron (who is a god in a man's suit) are putting together an album that should shock, amaze, and teach it's listeners for quite a while to come. I don't know about you, but I would get pretty damn excited. . . ."
-- Clark Freeman
SPECIAL OPPS Studio Sessions Begin Tonight @ the Mothership!
Friday, May 6 2005 - 5:30 am
Hello. I hope you don't mind the second e-mail this week. I'm just so excited that we're FINALLY going in the studio tonight to begin sessions on an album I've been dreaming about for my entire adult life that I can't even sleep. I tried and I even made sure I had tonight completely open so I could be home resting up for this weekend but my mind is just racing with daydreams about what the music is going to sound like and production ideas and logistics on top of everything else that I normally think about.
We had our "dress rehearsal" last night at drummer Craig Bunch's house in Sierra Madre and it was a really wonderful, creative evening. We really got into the songs in a way that we just haven't before adding in orchestration ideas and tweaking the arrangements for maximum emotional impact. This latest incarnation of Special Opps is an ensemble that knows that it's not enough to just play their parts accurately, that it needs to go *beyond* accuracy, that it needs to have a raw blazing fire to it in some spots and a gentle morning mist in others, as well as everything else in between.
My sincerest hope is to craft an album that is going to delight the living daylights out of everyone who is a fan of this music, especially those who have supported me for so long. I also hope that it's going to be a giant fist in the face of the doubters and the naysayers I've met along the way. Maybe that's wrong of me, but I don't care.
And what's the album going to be about?
It's partially about war and peace, anger, dating in Los Angeles, lust, the 21st century, hope, caring, longing, wondering about the world, smiling, sadness, Ray Bradbury, red states and blue states, being true to one's self, self-doubt, getting back on your bicycle after taking a spill, forgiveness, failure, death, friendship, cryptic messages in fortune cookies, being great, F. Scott Fitzgerald, daydreams of fatherhood, being imperfect, passion, victory, and God.
But mostly it's about true love, real life, and wonderful music. Sweet, sweet music.
Music is the best. I hope you all have a beautiful day. I'm going to try to go back to sleep now.
Christopher
