ping News Page

It was a long time coming, but the Mumble album is ready to make your ears happy! The band’s peculiar blend of pop, prog, punk, and psychedelia features John Hawthorne’s crafty lyrics and Mumble’s thrilling musicianship. “Happy Living” was produced by Jeff Elbel (Ping, Farewell to Juliet) and includes guitarist Eric Empson (The Hopescope).

Orders placed by December 20 will be shipped in time for Christmas. It’s an affordable gift that keeps on rocking!

Note to parents: John's words are heartfelt, meaningful, touching, clever and funny. Two of Mumble's songs include an instance of coarse language, used for deliberate effect. All lyrics are available at the band's website.

1:15-1:45 Jeff Elbel (solo/duo) @ East End Sidewalk
2:00-2:30 PING @ Cuyler & Harrison - Outdoor Stage
3:00-3:30 PING @ Val’s Halla Records, 239 Harrison - Indoor Stage
4:15-5:00 Harrison Street Ukulele Players @ Barrie Fest

I’m playing with the Krejci’s at Mike N Molly’s in Champaign, IL next Friday (9/17). I don’t know whether this band has a name yet, but I do know it’s going to be good. I first played music with Ping multi-instrumentalist Stacey Krejci and his talented wife Megan in 1992. Back then, Stacey’s art-rock band Animator needed a spare guitarist for a theatrical production of Pink Floyd’s The Wall, and Megan played the roles of the scary Wife and smothering Mother. This current project is less caustic, but very promising. Happily, I get to play bass for their first show.

The headliner will be a new band featuring Jim Hewitt from Last Gentlemen, with Stacey on bass.

I (Jeff) am nearing the end of production on the Mumble album Happy Living, which means that soon I’ll be back to work on our new album. The Ping songs sound like great fun so far. I’m looking forward to resuming progress.

Join us at the 2010 Cornerstone Festival! Ping plays Wednesday, June 30, 2010 at the Gallery stage. This link gives you a discounted ticket price, and supports Ping:

Drums (Andrew Oliver): 11 songs done
Bass (Stacey Krejci): 9 songs done
Guitar (John Bretzlaff): 6 songs done
Organ (Mike Choby): 10 songs done
Violin (Matt Gadeken): 5 songs done

I’ll be recording rhythm guitar and scratch vocals during the coming weeks. Bassist Stacey Krejci has penciled studio time for February, and I’ll be traveling to The Hive in Frankfort, IL to record guitarist John Bretzlaff next.

This set will feature the band familiar to the Gallery Stage crowd at the Cornerstone Festival, with Mike Choby on organ, and Kim Bretzlaff on vocal. We’ll try to coax percussionist David Dampier out of the backwoods of Kentucky and in front of a microphone, too.

Among other criteria, all scripts were required to include ten out of fifteen cornball phrases ("Take it and run; run like a giraffe!!", "If you liked it, you should have put a ring on it," etc.). So, the project was headed for cheese from the start. Perfect for me, I reckon. I'm not sure whether I should be proud or ashamed of imagining the story concept we ultimately used. Fortunately, our team included a gifted writer, Eric Wyatt, who wrote a truly clever script which forced the ten phrases into place

The story: While visiting Edman Chapel at the Wheaton College campus (just up the street from my house) on his DATA (Debt AIDS Trade Africa) tour, U2 frontman and international activist Bono (true story so far) is trapped in the green room by a raging fire (slightly more fictitious at this point).

Luckily, Lady Diva's (our brilliant Rachel Ehrhard's) dog Lucky (Rachel's miniature pinscher Lucy) hears Bono's impassioned cries for help (irony, there) and pulls the singer/activist from the blaze. This is enough to make a local hero of Lucky, winning front page status in the weekly paper. What earns him a statue in front of the chapel is what he does next: Lucky races back into the burning building to retrieve Bono's precious sunglasses.

On the day that the statue (a stone canine with a pair of Fly shades clenched between his teeth) is to be unveiled, Lucky is nowhere to be found. Will the heroic pooch be on hand when disgraced governor Rod Blagojevich (performed by your truly, because I had a cheap suit available) unveils the monument?

Our story featured a salty vagrant (also performed by Rachel), an interviewer, and "man on the street" characters including a great cameo by an uncredited passerby who helped us work the tenth mandatory line into place. One of the film's minor characters is a local troubador who writes a song for Lucky, hoping to cash in with an all-star tribute. With only 24 hours from concept to delivery, the production team wasn't able to wrangle Kanye West, Taylor Swift and Paul McCartney for cameos in my little recording studio, but I did get to stand in downtown Wheaton with my guitar for forty-five minutes, busking without a permit.

I've never tried to write a melodramatic 80's-styled power ballad for an all-star benefit choir before, and I'm not sure whether I've succeeded with my fledgling forty-five minutes of effort. The words and chords for the song from the film are below. If it doesn't seem like much, good. That's "in character." ... That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. Eric Empson gave me a great "in character" electric guitar part, and Mike Choby's Hammond organ is more sublime than the tune deserves. The bottom line is that the whole process was as much fun as utter sleep deprivation can provide.

Happy Beatles Day! My “local tour” has been a gas. It started with five shows in four days with three bands, and added a fourth group yesterday. This coming Saturday, I’ve got two more sets before Mike Choby leaves on a three month real tour with Russian band Spasenie.

As usual, you can check Ping’s Shows Page for details. Here’s the quick version for Saturday:

Join Ping at the Gallery Stage on Weds, July 1, 2009 @ 4:15pm.
We'll be playing new music, and we'll have a blast if YOU are there!

Finished size is 1.75” high by 4.25” wide – just right to put over the right-side pocket of the Dickies 1574 work
shirts I wear all the time. These are being ordered with iron-on backing, so you’ll be able to either sew them on or heat-press
them onto shirts, backpacks, caps, etc.

AVAILABLE NOW (as of June 8, 2009)
Credit / Paypal	Click for Big Image	Item	Price	Note
		Ping 11th Hour Tour Embroidered Patch Made for fun, not profit - Buy this cool patch and join the band!	$3.99 + Shipping is $1.91 for one patch.	One size fits all. 4.25” x 1.75” Iron-on or sew-on. For shirts, caps, bags, etc. AVAILABLE NOW!

So, I've finally decided to let a track from Meet Your Maker loose, in case it takes aNOTHer ten years to finish the project (insert sheepish laughter here). I've been steadily busy working on other music, mostly great stuff for other great folks, and my projects mark time in between.

I had a bit of time on Sunday, though, so I edited Seventy-Sevens guitarist Mike Roe's last session at the Happy Club, during which he played the outro solo for "Here Comes the Sunburn." A different version of this song was released in 2001 on Ping's all-acoustic No Outlet CD. I'll load that into the ReverbNation player asap for sake of comparison.

Nick Amoroso: drums [Nick's playing and the sound of his drums are universally praised by -anyone- who has ever heard the bare tracks. Without fail. And they were recorded on the crummy old ADATs ... so it's not THAT making them sound great. It's Nick making them sound great. Having a great room helped a bit.]

Clint Davidson: bass [Rock solid. Clint introduced the groovy blues-rock bass riff from which the song sprang.]

Phil Madeira: Hammond B3 [Dude is currently touring Europe with Emmylou Harris. What does THAT tell you?]

Michael Roe: Fender Stratocaster (left side) [I heard Mike on this song from day one. How lucky to actually have him here?]

Andrew Carter: Gibson Les Paul Studio (right side) [Ditto Mike's comment, applied to Andy. Fingers full of soul.]

Jeff Elbel: G&L ASAT (Telecaster, up the middle), and guide vocal - I won't be singing on the "real" version

percussion - perhaps Andrew Oliver, whom I owe many favors and promised mastering efforts on his fantastic new music
violin - perhaps Jennifer Gillespie from SharpeWorldMusic Ensemble? I'll ask.
horns - trombones and cornet, by me. Maybe sax by John Bretzlaff, which would really cook - totally like the Stones.
lead vocal - plans forthcoming
harmony vocals - probably Kim Bretzlaff (pending availability) and/or me

Joe Mancuso of North (I recommend locating and acquiring their new Drowning in Sky CD promptly) bequeathed unto me a vinyl copy of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. I had been hunting for one to hang in the studio. DSOM hangs next to Asia's debut, with one of my favorite covers by Roger Dean. Joe gave me that one, as well. Thanks, Joe!

Also visible: A cover of the Styx album Kilroy Was Here signed by Dennis DeYoung, Ray Charles' Hallelujah, I Love Her So!, and the Bears' debut album. What a mix! If you like a couple of these, it’s possible that you HATE a couple of the others. I just can't help myself. Whether it's considered corny or cool, I love it all.

I worked the stage at a Dennis DeYoung show in August, and got to hold the actual Roboto mask in my own two hands. It's a bona fide icon of my youth and the region where I went to junior high and high school in north central Illinois. Illinois-based bands like REO Speedwagon, Billy Squier and Styx were mandatory listening. Unfortunately, so were early Bon Jovi and Loverboy. ... well, full disclosure: I actually still have a soft spot for the Loverboy song "Get Lucky."

Cheap Trick was from just up the road in Rockford, so they were huge. I've got Dream Police in another frame. When I got my first moving violation and had to go to traffic court at city hall in Rockford, I remember that they had a framed platinum album of Dream Police on display in the lobby. That was definitely the only cool thing I encountered that day, but that's another story ...

Somewhere, I've got a photo from 2007 with Rick Nielsen looking very fabulous and half of my face next to his, looking like a very happy nerd. A couple of small but important pieces of my drum set were given to me by Bun E. Carlos, who is better than Santa Claus. For one thing, Bun E. has played on a lot more of my favorite songs. Who d' king of the whole wide world? Bun E. is.

It wasn't until I moved away to Champaign, IL that I had any inkling of indie rock or what wasn't being played by WYFE, the biggest AOR rock station in Rockford (a station which, at the very least, I owe a debt of gratitude for playing U2's War album like crazy when it was fresh). In Champaign, I got hooked on R.E.M., Elim Hall, 77s, Robyn Hitchcock, The Choir, Adrian Belew (and the Bears and King Crimson), Poster Children, Camper Van Beethoven, The Replacements, Hum, the Boomtown Rats, and lots of other great but even more obscure music. In addition to more popular stuff like David Bowie, the Clash and Midnight Oil ...

Through my time-consuming-but-fun avocation writing about music (in much more coherent fashion than this, typically), my tastes have skewed predominantly toward brilliant, lesser-known records (all-time favorite: Laughing Stock by Talk Talk. recent favorites: Dig! Lazarus, Dig! by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and 100 Days, 100 Nights by Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings), but yeah ... I -will- still haul out that Asia album once in a while, and though its kind of hard to believe the conceptual hamminess of Kilroy came from fully grown men, you know what? It's still great campy fun, and there are some fine hooks on that album. "Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto." I wish I'd written it.

George Harrison's songs were played for about eight hours. My own set included "Behind That Locked Door," "Give Me Love" and a George-ish song I wrote for my band Ping. I played bass for the Dark Horse Tribute headliner Rex Van Zant, as well. I particularly enjoyed working up "Beware of Darkness" (though we ultimately didn't play it, I'll keep this one for later!)," "If I Needed Someone," and "Think For Yourself" (with its fuzzed-out lead bass line).

The ukulele players performed again, though in smaller numbers than at the recent Beatle fest. It has been great to brush up on my uke chords since then, and I've got the bug back. My favorite from Saturday was "Devil and the Deep Blue Sea," despite a tiny mental explosion during the first bridge during which the chords ran away from my fingers. At least I remembered the words. The six of us also played "If I Needed Someone" and "For You Blue."

The uke group wants to add Neil Innes' "My Little Ukulele" to their repetoire. It's a great little tune from the reissued version(s) of The Rutles' "Archaeology" album. If I'm able to join them for that, I'll do my best to remember to sing the word “clubs" (that's an in-joke for those who know the lyrics).

Apple Scruffs were a vocal group in the mode of the Mamas and the Papas. Several other acts performed, including The Meter Maids (with Fab Four FAQ author Stu Shea), Joe Dex, members of local tribute The Beatle Brothers, and others. There was also a belly dance troupe.

Danny Donuts, the comedian at Beatle fest with the groovy, home-built Yellow Submarine suit, performed several Beatles parodies. The highlight for me was "Batman," set to the tune of "Taxman." Very corny. Good fun. The song even segued into “Batgirl,” to the tune of the Beatles’ “Girl” from Rubber Soul. Danny (who performed the song in costume as the caped crusader) asked Joe Dex and me to “fight” with him during the guitar solo. At the appointed time, we rushed the stage, and I telegraphed my best stage punch. Danny, on the other hand, went ahead and socked me right in the gut, ostensibly so I could stagger off stage in defeat more convincingly. It was pretty funny, if you were there to see it.

Sandalwood, a sitar ensemble including Clar and GiGi, performed traditional ragas, and also an "ancient raga" that incorporated "A Hard Day's Night." They performed "The Inner Light" with Rex Van Zant, who appeared as George Harrison. That was nice.

Rex appeared for his set in full 70s-George regalia, playing his "Rocky" Stratocaster. He told stories in the mode and voice of George, and played a set of George's solo and Beatle work. Toward the end, Paul Wrubel of Apple Scruffs and I joined him to play:

"If I Needed Someone"
"Think For Yourself"
"Nothin' Shakin' but the Leaves on the Trees"
"For You Blue"
"Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby"
"My Sweet Lord"

There are Ping shows in Chicago, IL and Ann Arbor, MI over the next two weekends. Check the Shows Page for details.

Ping is collectively looking forward to rocking on the Gallery Stage once again. Check your programs under "J" for Jeff Elbel + Ping. We're playing at 4:15pm on Thursday, July 3, 2008. It's going to be a great set ranging from old stuff to new stuff. In fact, the oldest of the old stuff will be dusted off. We're going to play the first song ever written for Farewell to Juliet, which was done in late 1991 - a few months before John Bretzlaff and I had even met. We'll throw in a couple of Ping favorites along with a pile of our future smash hits.

John Bretzlaff - guitar
Kim Bretzlaff - vocal
Mike Choby - organ
Dan Cullnan - drums
Dave Dampier - percussion
Jeff Elbel - guitar, vocal
Matt Gadeken - violin
Stacey Krejci - bass
... and possibly a couple more.

Please spread the word and help us build a crowd. We're not the biggest band at the fest, but we're the ... okay, we're not the best band at the fest either, but we love to play and have solid songs that are great fun. This iteration of Ping is a fantastic bunch of musicians and I'm proud to stand among them. Plus, Buddy's selling merch.

HELP WANTED: If anyone is willing to record our show to any digital format, please let me know (e-mail: jeff_elbel@yahoo.com ) if I could have a copy of the raw footage.

I'm playing upright bass for a full band show with Sharpe World Music Ensemble this Friday at Heartland Cafe in Chicago, IL. Check Ping's Shows Page for a map and details.

I just returned from a trip to lovely Huntington Beach, CA, for the wedding of wonderful lady Jackie King and dear pal Bill Bowman. Bill was recording/mix engineer and rhythm guitarist for the Andrewesley album Strength. We played together in the Andrewesley band until my move from CA to IL in late 2004. One of Bill's signature phrases inspired the Ping song "You Little Victim," which is one of my favorites.

Andy ("Andrewesley") Carter has been living in Panama as an instructor at Morro Negrito Surf Camp for the past year, and was in the states for the wedding. He looks scruffy and fit. He's back in Panama as of this Tuesday, until next September.

Congratulations, Bill! Be sure to call me anytime you need a fresh batch of unsolicited advice (which always begins with "don't take anyone's blasted advice").

Finally, there are some new photos of John Bretzlaff looking ridiculous. Make fun of somebody else for a while! I know I will.

Update: Now included are pictures of everyone else in the band: bassist Marc Ludena, drummer Andrew Oliver, percussionist Dave Dampier, organist Mike Choby, singer Kim Bretzlaff, and violinist Matt Gadeken.

These images were all pulled from footage shot at the Cornerstone Festival this summer, at which time I had a beard that Danny Galaxy dubbed "The Silver Bullet." I'm going through the footage and the live multi-track audio with an idea about putting together a proper concert DVD. It would probably lose a lot of money, but would be really cool. That description seems to fit most everything that Ping has done to date. It would be especially cool if we could all gather and do a commentary track.

I'm playing bass for a full band show with Sharpe World Music Ensemble tomorrow in Lisle, IL. Check the Shows Page for a map and details.

Here's a last-minute surprise ... I'll briefly be in Los Angeles this week, and my friends at the Talking Stick have booked me for a set following their regular open mic night this Wednesday. I'll play at 9:30pm, and it'll be over by ten.

I'll drive straight from LAX to the Talking Stick, and expect to be there by 8:30pm. The main purpose is to see people, so if you can come early or stay late, I'll look forward to visiting.

Since it's open mic, feel free to jump in with your own music, or let me know if you'd want to play with me. Otherwise, I plan to play a handful of new PING songs you haven't heard. There's no cover charge, and all ages are welcome. Check the Shows Page for a map.

I've missed palm trees, Amoeba Records, Talking Stick's awesome Caprese sandwiches, and especially my good friends in California. Hope to see you there.

The lyrics for the Meet Your Maker album have been updated. To read them, visit Ping's Lyrics Page.

If I perform in the Great Performers of Illinois series with somebody else's band, does that make me a great performer of Illinois? More likely, it makes me an Accessory to a Great Performer of Illinois. Could I have that in writing?

Anyhow, I'll be assisting Tom Sharpe as upright bassist. Tom is certainly a great performer, and is definitely from Illinois. His Sharpe World Music ensemble plays this Saturday at 2:30pm. It's either IN the space-age, brushed aluminum confines of Chicago's famed (and somehow, acoustically beautiful) Jay Prtizker Pavilion, or on the Great Lawn immediately behind the seats. Either way, if you're on site, it'll be obvious.

Two weeks ago, I was stunned when we played to 1300 people in Rockford at Sinnisippi Park. I wonder what this is going to be like. Should be fun, no matter what. There are drum circles going all afternoon between the band slots, so there will be ample opportunity to dance with hippies.

And then on Sunday, the same series is bringing Lanterna, Poster Children, and Occidental Brothers African Dance Band International (or whatever their exact name is). All three of those acts are great. I'm going to try to make it for those.

A smattering of wonderful people continue to politely harangue me regarding Ping's apparently-shelved Meet Your Maker concept album. I began work on this project at the same time I started on the path that saw me moonlighting with other people's bands, producing albums, mixing and mastering. These days, those activities consume most of my studio time. But when there's a break in that action, I still love to tinker with Meet Your Maker, which lurches forward in fits and starts.

Meet Your Maker was always going to be the type of project that required more time than albums like The Eleventh Hour Storybook and No Outlet, both of which were started and finished within a reasonable matter of months. I don't want to give anyone the impression that Meet Your Maker is going to rival Dark Side of the Moon. It's not. But it's going to be a lot of fun. Even after so many years (recording began NINE years ago), the tracks are still exciting to me.

The past week offered opportunity for one of those aforementioned lurches. Hammond B3 whiz Phil Madeira recorded his parts for seven songs, which were a thrill to hear. Phil thrilled on these tracks:

Here Comes the Sunburn
Just Add Water
Going My Way
Pretty Birds
Miracle Rain
Bedouin Girl
Tomorrow

Over the past few days, I've been in touch with a couple of Ping guitar alumni, Peter Rhee and Matt McCabe , who also plan to participate. Peter sent a rough track for "Tomorrow," and it was nice and heavy.

I'll be making a few arrangement changes in order to involve Andrew Oliver. Andrew's been our live drummer at Cornerstone for many years, but my friend and monster drummer Nick Amoroso laid down the album tracks with bassist Clint Davidson and myself while I was still in California. Andrew is a very creative and musical percussionist, though. He's heard in this role throughout The Eleventh Hour Storybook, and the plan is to involve him in this way for Meet Your Maker.

Also interesting is the possibility of involving a violinist. Those who've seen the big band versions of Ping know that Emily Randle, Bernie Mauban and Photoside Cafe's Matt Gadeken have made great additions to the sound, and they keep John Bretzlaff from showing off as lead guitarist during every single tune. One can only experience so much of John's magnificence before swooning, and what good does it do to play for an unconscious crowd? I digress ...

Will Meet Your Maker be ready for Cornerstone 2008? I don't know. That would be ideal, and I'll try my best. But I've finally learned not to promise that. Will Meet Your Maker be ready before CDs are utterly and completely irrelevant? Gee, I don't know - that could be earlier than next summer!

Check the Shows Page to find info on upcoming PING and Sharepworldmusic Ensemble shows. Cornerstone is in two weeks. Can't wait.

An opening set by Jeff Elbel + Ping is still technically tentative for the July 1 show by the LOST DOGS in Bolingbrook, IL, but the possibility looks good enough to call it "likely." We'll be able to confirm on Monday, June 25th. Feel free to e-mail ping@marathonrecords.com for final details. I (Jeff) will provide technical assistance to the promoter and Lost Dogs for this show.

Just got back from the Tape Op Conference in Tucson, AZ. This was my fourth, and it was fantastic and exhausting and fun and educational - just like I'd hoped. AJ Wilhelm and I helmed the Logic panel on Friday, June 8. We had a good turnout, and I think everyone learned something. I certainly did. My favorite panels were the Mastering Demo Session and Potluck Studio's "Crazy Tracking" session, led by my hero Mark Rubel of Pogo Studio in Champaign, IL (the center of the universe, as Mark reminds us often). On Saturday, I helped stage a show from setup to teardown by DeVotchKa (great band, not only because Nick and Shawn are Logic users), John Vanderslice, and one of my very favorite bands, Calexico. I'm still sore from hauling PA around in the desert, but I'm glad I did it. Lift with the back, not with the legs. Is that right? Maybe that was my problem.

Pick up or log on to the Chicago Sun-Times on July 24 to see a feature that I wrote about the Cornerstone Festival. I was able to get quotes from Jason Martin of Starflyer 59, Mike Roe of The Lost Dogs and 77s, Glenn Kaiser of Resurrection Band and Glenn Kaiser Band, filmmaker Rob VanAlkemade, festival director and Resurrection Band drummer John Herrin, and Gallery Stage manager Glen Van Alkemade (also of Busker Kibbutznik).

We'll have a nice big line-up for our Gallery stage set at Cornerstone this summer. It'll be great fun. The players:

Who knows, maybe we'll be able to haul a few more people up there with us! We'll miss Stacey Krejci, Clint Davidson, and Andrew Carter, but it'll be great fun to have Mike Choby and Marc Ludena, who are both joining the Ping family for the first time. Dave Dampier and Matt Gadenken are making their first return engagements, so they're veterans. You could be next.

We're going to haul out an old Farewell to Juliet tune, particularaly for this show, that I don't think John and I ever played in FTJ. We may have played it at True Tunes Upstairs on the Grace and Dire Circumstances tour, but I don't think so.

Since the "festival version" of Ping is geographically challenged, we have to do a lot of rehearsal on our own. Before the big show, we gather to nail everything down. Here's the letter I (Jeff) sent to the band today, which sheds light on what these people have to put up with. Like it says in the song, "I lean on such good friends while they prop me up."

Below are links to download seven mp3 files. These links will expire on Monday, April 22. If you don't mind, please send me a note once you've gotten them.

These the "old" tunes in the set (the new ones will be demoed asap, I promise). What you hear are the arrangements and keys in which we'll play them. If you tune your instrument down 1/2 step (Matt, I don't know whether it would make it easier [or even work] to tune the violin down 1/2 step), you'll find that these fall into common, easy keys.

The charts I sent earlier are written as if the instruments were tuned normally. So, to play along with the audio, if the chart says "C," tune down and play what looks like a normal C major chord.

Argh, wait - there's an exception. "[secret song title]" will be actually played in B-flat (as heard on the audio). So, if you're tuned down to run through the other songs, it'll "look" like you're playing in B. I'll adjust the chart (currently written as Bb) to B and resend asap, in order to reflect this.

Mike, if we get the same KORG CX-3 organ, it can be pitched down and you could play easy/standard chords, too. Here's a link to the manual:

Whether this helps you for practice would depend upon whether whatever you have to practice WITH has a similar feature. I sent a note to Trevor Wiitala asking whether we could arrange the CX-3 again, but haven't heard back yet. If we were luckyenough to get a real B-3, you'd have to play in half-step-flat keys. I apologize again for this. Maybe this is why U2 has no analog keys on tour - pretty much all of U2's music is tuned flat like this. And Bono's a professional singer. ;-)

Some good news for Ping - we have secured a spot at the 2007 Cornerstone Fetival! Thanks to everyone who voted for us. I'll be working on some groovy new material for the band, and expect another great time in Bushnell.

Lately, I've been coming up to speed as double bassist (upright electric) for another project called Sharpeworldmusic. I met Tom Sharpe through my friends in North from Michigan. Tom is a former drummer for North, and sat in for a Ping show in Ann Arbor several years ago. In the meantime, he has made a considerable name for himself as a composer, instructor and percussionist in the world music field. He is a two-time (at least) winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest in that category. His ensemble features lots of percussion, of course, but has roots in progressive music a la Genesis and Peter Gabriel. Gabriel's Passion soundtrack, a personal favorite, informs Tom's sound. The arrangements are tricky, so it has been a fun process. My first show with the ensemble will be in mid-April at Elmhurst College. More details to come.

And, of course, I intend to have some Ping or solo shows to invite you to as well. Thanks for visiting.

I'll reconstruct Ping's Press page as soon as possible (the old page was deep-sixed by the nefarioius hacker). In the meantime, I'll post a fresh review here in the News column.

Scott "Dr. Music" Itter wrote a thoughtful review of Ping's The Eleventh Hour Storybook CD. Scott writes about music with depth and passion; you can read his new work weekly at drmusic.org, as well as HERE. Here's Scott's review of Ping:

Jeff Elbel is a real original. You might not like it …you might love it, but one thing is definite – Jeff Elbel and his pop outfit PING are true originals. Taking acoustic-based pop melodies with hooks bigger than Ali and Spinks, and wrapping them tightly around coy and playful lyrics, Elbel + PING create a disc of nursery rhymes for adults.

If you're a parent, you might be familiar with melodic artists such as Ralph Covert and Laurie Berkner that are writing catchy pop songs for children. Elbel crafts his songs in a similar fashion, but instead of gearing his songs to the kids, he uses metaphoric craftiness and adult themes to motor his tunes into your heart. And, make no mistake; it is the heart that takes the full frontal blow here. These songs that are included on PING's "The Eleventh Hour Storybook" are a slice of "Americana," if you will. Elbel is a storyteller that almost anybody can relate with. In "Bark Along With Cody," he tells us of the headaches that come with his neighbor's barking dog. The song has a large dollop of humor and realism, and has been featured on the classic "Dr. Demento Show." He also covers the realism of pregnancy in the same humorous and creative manner by way of "Muffin In The Oven," another song that has made its way to Dr. Demento. These are very real issues that Elbel toys with, and his songs are a real comfort to the ear. Let me share one of my favorite lyrical passages, which comes from a song called "Goodnight, Rabbit" - it goes something like this:

"This is how I mix my metaphors / Stop me if I used this one before / Any nimble tongue can stumble / That's the way the cliché crumbles."

Besides featuring Elbel's writing skills, "The Eleventh Hour Storybook" has some wonderful musicians and studio people involved in the project as well. Hammond B3 player Phil Madeira (Emmylou Harris) plays on three tracks, and the mastering is done by Dan Stout of Wilco fame. Everyone involved with this disc seems to be on board with Elbel's style, which makes for a very solid recording. Do yourself a favor, come home to the sounds of Jeff Elbel + PING, and most of all ….have some fun.

So, apparently a clip of "Radio Flyer" from the No Outlet CD was used during episode 27 from the sixth season of MTV's Made. The episode subject was "Miss Teen Arizona."

"On every new episode of MADE, one willing candidate embarks on a mission to transform his or her life. Wheter it's to become a varsity football player, a BMX biker, or a surfer, each teenager has a dream to break out of their shell and find out who they reall are."

"What girl wants to be known as a tomboy in black? Not Stephanie. She wants to shed that reputation and be MADE into Miss Teen Arizona. ...

In the Miss Teen Arizona pageant, Stephanie doesn't make the top ten, but wins Miss Teen Congeniality. Through this MADE experience, Stephanie found herself."

Jeff Elbel + Ping aren't listed among the featured music artists - probably because the "Radio Flyer" clip used was between 11 and 20 seconds long. But we're proud to have added some acoustic pop jangle to brighten Miss Stephanie's path to self-discovery.

Hi! Check the Shows Page for details on a Chicago area Christmas-themed shows next week.

The voting ballot is online for just a little bit longer at the Cornerstone website. Ping would loooove to return to play on the Gallery Stage in 2007. Please visit the link below and vote for "Jeff Elbel + Ping." We're listed alphabetically under "J."

The Ping website was just hacked, and we lost all of our News, Shows, Audio, and Press info. Since I (Jeff) have been busy mixing albums and whatnot, I've let other important things (like backing up the website) fall by the wayside. Spilt milk now ... I'll rebuild asap.