ABC News toasts my buddy Paul

ABC News has published a story by a fraternity brother of mine, Steve Dorsey, about a fraternity brother, Paul Ruffner, and quoting another fraternity brother, Kevin Carter. Here's the article: "Stevie Wonder With a Sax?"

The Sound of Sight
Blind Student Plays Sax to Raise Money for Charity

By STEVE DORSEY

Dec. 14, 2007 — Not many people can say they have perfect pitch. But one man is taking his gift of pitch to the next level. Paul Ruffner, a junior at American University in Washington, D.C., has decided to use his talent to give back to a world in which he has struggled.

Ruffner has been playing charity concerts with his saxophone since September to raise awareness and money for large swaths of West Africa that were devastated by massive flooding in late summer 2007. But Ruffner has been fighting a problem that he can't even see.

He is blind -- and has been blind since birth.

"Being someone who needs and uses services, I think it is important to give back," he said. "If everyone neglects answering the call to service, then that effort is drastically scaled back."

Ruffner said he got involved in the relief effort over the summer while teaching at a language immersion camp for children.

Ruffner was teaching Spanish, and his French-speaking colleagues, many of whom have families in the devastated African region, asked him to play at these charity concerts.

"The average American citizen is not going to stop the genocide in Darfur, but what can be done with this flooding is having a great impact through grass-roots efforts," Ruffner said.

It takes only a few dollars to purchase mosquito netting and repellant, which can substantially reduce the spread of diseases like malaria, which is common after flooding, he said.

Ruffner seems to have developed a special relationship with music, which he uses to express the things he cannot see, and often uses it to connect with his world in ways others often cannot imagine.

"It's almost a religious type of feeling -- a spiritual sort of feeling [playing music]. John Knox, a Protestant reformer ... had a saying that when one plays music, one is essentially praying twice," he said.

The marriage between music and charity seemed only natural for him, he said.

Aside from Ruffner's musical abilities, his friends call him admirable.

"He's never let his blindness get in the way of anything he's wanted to do," Kevin Carter, Ruffner's fraternity brother, said. "I think Paul relishes these challenges, whereas others would struggle with such adversity."

Ruffner has a 3.88 GPA, is fluent in Spanish, and majors in international politics and Latin American studies. He is from Prescott, Ariz.

Copyright © 2007 ABC News Internet Ventures

Codine and stuff

I performed my untitled song of beauty last night at a private party. I was using a 12-string guitar sound on my keyboard to play the chords I had envisioned, which duplicated the guitar arrangement of Donovan's take on "Codine."

Then I went home and strummed out those chords on the guitar for the first time, accompanying myself on guitar. I have trouble with the A major chord. I can play an A power chord, but getting that C# to sound and make it an A major is what I have trouble with.

I also got my buddy Chris on the phone to talk about early Donovan. Chris has been watching Donovan's performance at the 1966 Monterey Pop Festival. I've been listening to the opening tracks of his two-CD collection Troubadour a lot lately. Until this morning, what I didn't realize -- and what Chris may not either -- is that two of those songs, "Codine" and "Universal Soldier," are originally by Buffy Sainte-Marie. They're on her album It's My Way! and also on her best-of collection.

• "Codine" was also covered by a group called the Charlatans, their version making it to Rhino's four-CD box set Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From the First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968. I have had this set for years and never realized, until today, it is the same song.
• Another group from that era, Quicksilver Messenger Service, also made a cover version. I haven't heard this one, but it's on the compilation Sons of Mercury (1968-1975), along with their take on "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You," which is of course originally by Anne Briggs and covered by Joan Baez before it was famously reinterpreted by Led Zeppelin.

A song of beauty

[Untitled]
Lyrics (c) 2007 Steve Sauer

I just came up with this text last night and today, and I'm going to set it to a melody over top of some acoustic guitar that reminds me of early Donovan.

Might I have your attention?
If it pleases the court,
I have now a case
One could easily support.

As to who is the fairest
Maiden in the land,
I offer a solution
You may understand.

In the matter of beauty,
My lady, you'll find,
Has a count'nance so striking
It boggles the mind.

Her hair and her skin
Are so soft to the touch.
It's really no wonder
That she is loved so much.

'Tis my pride to nominate
Such an attractive sight.
Every glimpse of my lady
Causes utter delight.

Who is this one lady,
This one and no other?
You know her well,
For she is your mother.

Weekend wrap-up: intense rehearsal, two gigs and some studio time

There were some firsts this weekend. It was my first time in Manassas, Virginia. It was my first time playing two gigs in one weekend.

Aside from these firsts, I did a whole lot of other things that made this weekend very fulfilling.

Friday night, I went to Arlington with my keyboard to play a show with Alowishious Farhatt. I'm not a member of the band, but I hear from them whenever they see playing a show in the D.C. area, and they let me play onstage with them at all the gigs I can make. We do lots of covers, and besides knowing how to play the music, we all also have good ears and can play together without rehearsal.

We played a wonderfully well received show at Ragtime, and I think there was a moment when every eye in the bar was on the band. It was a great show with a crowd that was very receptive to us. Many were strangers, but a few of my friends came out and had a blast.

On Saturday morning, I helped to initiate three awesome young men into my college fraternity at a lodge in Washington. This was a perfectly executed event, one in which I was proud to participate. One of the particular brothers is a guy I have respected for a long time, and it is great to see him fully initiated after all this time. I was so emotional; I sobbed the entire time he was going through the rite of passage and then for a few minutes afterward, which really surprised me. I don't consider myself to be an emotional guy, but I guess I have those moments.
On Saturday afternoon, Karlin drove me into Virginia to practice with our new band at Jameel's place. It was our last rehearsal before Thanksgiving. We still don't have a decision on who will be drumming, and there are still more people to be auditioned. However, we are constantly working on new songs and already have a dozen or so down. Once we get a drummer and solidify our sound with him or her, we will be ready to play shows.

What happened musically the rest of the weekend may actually help those shows take place.

It was during Friday's gig that one of the guys in Alowishious Farhatt mentioned they were playing a gig Saturday night in their home town of Manassas. They talked me into considering going out there to join them at the gig. It just so happened that I didn't have anything else going on Saturday night, so as long as I could figure out a way of getting my keyboard and myself to Manassas, I could play the show! It wasn't easy. Karlin got me as far west as Vienna, and Katie (sister of Alowishious Farhatt's bassist, Zach) picked me up from there and got me and my keyboard to the show.

In the back of my mind is the question of how I was going to get back home, or to my World Peace Party band rehearsal on Sunday afternoon elsewhere in Virginia. But that was to worry about later. First thing's first, and I had a show to play!

So we played the show, and since it was their home court, they knew almost everybody in the bar, and it was packed! We played an excellent show, and they brought another guy named Travis to the stage to play drums for a few songs at the beginning of the last set.

While that was happening, I was making friends with the staff at the bar: a bartender and a waitress. The bartender, Nick, said he wants to book me to fill some vacancies on the bar's upcoming performance calendar. He gave me his business card and jotted down his cell phone number for me to get in touch with him.

Also met a guy named Mike, or Moondog, who told me Farhatt used to play "Dear Mr. Fantasy" by Traffic, featuring the highly influential Steve Winwood on organ. So we played that at my request once we had the chance. It was one of many high points of the show for me, which also included sitting back and listening to the live debut of one of their originals. It is an incredible song, and they were tight playing it. And my fly was down the whole time they played it, Zach pointed out to me afterward. Oops!

When the show was over, it was late and all were far too impaired to drive, so we all took a cab and crashed at Rick and Katie's. That matter of getting out of Manassas would wait for sometime Sunday.

We woke up and went to the recording studio where Alowishious Farhatt was in the midst of recording an album. They had three songs recorded with hopes to get some good keyboard tracks in. I ended up learning all three on the spot, playing them back, and recording my parts. Now I'll be on their album!

And the studio engineer really enjoyed having me there, and I'm going to try to go back to get some work in his studio on weekends. Now I stand the chance of making some money on the side while playing music, one of my absolute favorite things to do! This was long overdue.

The one side effect of this was not being able to make the scheduled rehearsal with World Peace Party on Sunday afternoon. I broke the news gently, and it was well received.

So there's a lot for which to be thankful this Thanksgiving!

Adieu to a great band; thanks for the jams

Last night, I said farewell to a great group of people I have had the pleasure of meeting this year, the members and entourage of the band Alowishious Farhatt. Hopefully, it's more of a "farewell for now" as they relocate from the busy D.C. area to the storied musical hotbed in Memphis, Tenn., which has called out to them. They're in search not necessarily of stardom but just appreciative audiences. "L.A.'s too far, and New York's too expensive," said Rick Patoray, founder of the group, last night.

The first time I saw his band was on April 14, a Saturday night out with some friends at a bar in Arlington, Va. We were seated in a booth, sipping down Red Bulls and vodka while munching on some quesadillas. We were trying to have a conversation when we all started to pay attention to the band performing on a tiny stage hidden behind some uninhabited tables.

Song after song, solo after solo, this classic rock cover band made our ears perk up. It wasn't just each member's abilities that made us take notice but also their song choices. For instance, they tore up the Rolling Stones' faux-disco radio staple "Miss You," and they strutted their way through a version of "Stray Cat Strut" that incorporated a small passage of Henry Mancini's "Pink Panther" theme. What topped everything else was when, at my sarcastic "like-they'll-ever-be-able-to-play-this" request, these guys impressively launched into the entire medley on the B-side of the Beatles' Abbey Road, using only guitar, bass, drums and their own vocals. These were things I'd never heard a band do before. Holy crap, are these guys for real?

It was obvious to me that they really appreciated good music. That's why it struck me odd to find out, upon further investigation, that they were all under the age of 24. It was a pretty amazing respect for music they possessed, something I also had at that age although I was unable to find likeminded individuals who were willing or able to put it toward forming a band that would play out for the sake of having fun and making good music.

During a break between sets that night, I chatted with these three guys and described myself as a frustrated keyboard player who can jam with the best of them. Casually, they invited me to sit in with them the next time they were around. Were they sure they wanted to take my word for it and let me sit in next time without first hearing me? Wouldn't they want to invite me to a few rehearsals first just to get some kind of inkling of what kind of player I am or what songs I know? No, said Rick Patoray, the oldest member and who started the band six years ago. He told me they are playing over 100 shows a year and never rehearse. Or maybe he said each show is a rehearsal for the next.

Either way, they called me a few weeks later to tell me when I should be at their next show at the same bar. Friends and I arrived early, towing my keyboard and minimal necessary components and wondered whether they would really invite me to the stage at some point, for a couple of songs in their last set maybe. We got there about an hour before they did, and so I'm sure I looked pretty silly trotting in a single giant keyboard and not knowing exactly where to stash it in the meantime. Finally, when they arrived, they told me to get set up right there with them. They would have me play the first few songs, and if it was good, I could jam all night.

On guitar and vocals, Rick Patoray was capable of squelching out solos in the vein of Stevie Ray Vaughan or whichever guitarist was appropriate for each song. Bassist Zach Bossart provided smooth support for every tune, also doubling on backup vocals. On drums and vocals (alternating lead duties with Rick), Kenny Thomas banged out some masterful rhythms and fills. And in the middle of it all, I was there, telling them between songs whether or not I could play the suggestion they made. Most of the time, it was a yes, and we just jumped right into it so quickly that we didn't even discuss what key we would play it in. But we all came in together, and it all worked out fine -- so fine that they invited me back for each of their monthly gigs. I gladly participated in three of them, including last night, and they warmly accepted me into the fold each time, even giving me the spotlight for some of their famous organ solos, namely Del Shannon's "Runaway" and the Animals' "House of the Rising Sun."

Now they're heading off to Memphis, where they hope things will go better for them. They've been around Northern Virginia for long enough to see that audiences generally don't take too kindly to the noise they're making. Here in the D.C. area, bars are full of guys who just want to "mack on chicks," and a loud band playing "daddy's music" is bothersome. That's exactly what we saw last night in Arlington, Va.

Last night, we played: "One After 909" by the Beatles, "Pride and Joy" by Stevie Ray Vaughan, "Runaway" by Del Shannon, "Stray Cat Strut" by the Stray Cats, "I Shot the Sheriff" by either Bob Marley or Eric Clapton (our rendition was a mix of both), "Get Back" by the Beatles, "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" by Bob Dylan, "So Happy Together" by the Turtles, "Lady Madonna" by the Beatles, the traditional "Happy Birthday" for someone turning 21 followed by "Birthday" by the Beatles, "The Lemon Song" by Led Zeppelin (you bet!), and "Miss You" by the Rolling Stones.

For the beginning of set two, Rick handed off his guitar to Kenny and went over to play the drums. They trade instruments regularly for a few songs, and what's surprising is that Kenny has a fine command of guitar too! With this alternate lineup (shown in the photo at right), we played "Have a Cigar" by Pink Floyd, "No Sugar Tonight/New Mother Nature" by the Guess Who, "Karma Police" by Radiohead, "Psycho Killer" by the Talking Heads, and finally some song by either 311 or Sublime that I didn't know apart from fudging my way through it at each of my previous three gigs with them.

Thanks to my buddy Ben for the photo above.

The rest of our second set, with the normal lineup back in position, continued as follows: "Say It Ain't So" by Weezer, the Abbey Road medley by the Beatles (including that "Her Majesty" bit after "The End"), an impromptu "Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)" while Rick used the men's room, segueing nicely into "Don't Let Me Down" by the Beatles upon his return, and "Let It Be" by the Beatles. During that song, my note taker left, and all I can remember playing afterwards are "Up on Cripple Creek" by the Band, "My Name is Mud" by Primus (which I had never heard before and so I didn't play along until the second verse), "The Weight" by the Band, and we definitely closed with "Tomorrow" by Silverchair.

The audience reception last night to our sets was tepid and apathetic. A couple of dudes stood with their backs to the bartender to face us, applauded every tune as soon as they recognized it, and came up to us after each song to tell us how great it sounded. Other than these two guys, the place was packed with twentysomethings engrossed in conversations aimed at drowning out the band. One buxom blonde did approach me and asked if we could play requests, and I said yes, but there was no song title she particularly had in mind, so she went away and we didn't see her again.

This is typical for the area, Rick told me, adding that he hated that place in particular because the patrons there were always like that. Now he and his bandmates have themselves become jaded, apathetic and tired of the D.C. area, to the point that they would run through a song for the first time ever onstage, without any rehearsal other than telling each other what song they were about to attempt.

That's how our Guess Who cover came about. They said they'd heard it on the radio on the way to the gig and decided they wanted to try it out. It was the second song after the break. But the funny thing is that it actually comes off well whenever they try something new onstage. The reason is, Rick explained, that they've been together for so long -- six years -- that now they just instinctively follow each other.

Their overall notion for their shows in Northern Virginia has been that there's barely anybody who will be impressed. That also accounts for why they didn't bat an eyelash in telling me to come and jam with them at a gig, and then having me back month after month. Basically, they had nothing to lose when it came to these gigs. They were already assured of a testy reaction, so what would be so bad if they made a mistake in playing an unrehearsed song or inviting a total stranger to sit in?

As with their successful performances of unrehearsed songs (seven last night were things they never played together before), their decision to let me tag along was the right one. They said having me there broke up the monotony of those 100 similar shows a year. For instance, on the Beatles medley, Rick could sit back a little knowing I would play all the keyboard parts, whereas normally he would overextend himself to pick at them on the guitar. It also meant Rick could hand off solos to someone who wasn't playing bass or drums, and that he and I could do some back-and-forth interplay. We were doing this right from that first night I jammed with them.

With the lethargy of their listeners having grated on them long enough, now Alowishious Farhatt is actually doing something about it. Memphis, to them, represents greener pastures, where they're told nice folks go out to a bar with the specific intention of watching a band. And because alcohol is there, they drink too. The group may not make it big-time, but they are optimistic in believing there are more pleasant experiences to be had.

Farewell for now! I'll see you guys in Memphis someday.