As the month of January winds down we have our sight set on our upcoming spring tour. We'll be discovering new venues like Tuscany in Napa, California (to the south) as well as hitting some familiar spots like Doe Bay on Orcas Island (to the north) . We'll also be expanding our footprint in the McMenamins universe starting with the Sand Trap on the coast in Gearhart (our only show in Oregon in February) and Edgefield on the outskirts of Portland Oregon in April. All of this is very exciting for us.

In the meantime, work continues in the studio. That's me (in the photo above) laying down acoustic guitar for 'Remain in Light' yesterday.

Our 3 state ARTB Spring Tour officially kicks off in March (after we get back from little vacation in Maui) and the details can be found on the calendar page of this site. We hope to see you soon!

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One of my favorite parts of being a full time musician is the fact that I can sleep in as late as I want most days. But these days I get up early and head straight to the studio. We took December off from stage performance and have been spending the time (with family and) recording our songbook. That studio work will be ongoing through to spring I suspect, but we will also have a full performance schedule in January.

We are posting the studio work in progress on the music / video page of this site and giving you updated tracks as the work progresses. So far the two songs in production are Peace of Mind and My Old Neighborhood. In addition to our normal crew, guest artists for these sessions include Nancy Durham (drums and percussion) and Hershel Yatovitz (guitar).

Each song will be released as a single on CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon and the like. Once we have about 10 or so done we will make the collection available (as an 'album') on CD and vinyl. Pretty cool. I'm excited. 

Once again, Happy New Year to you and yours. And remember, in addition to the coming Year of the Dragon, this is also the last year of the Mayan calendar! Better get out and hear some live music while there is still time. 

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(Alan Alexander III and Susan Peck of ARTB)

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom… just a few more weeks left in 2011. Our show last week at McMenamins Hotel Oregon was our last show of the regular 2011 performance calendar. It's been a GREAT year; with new venues, audiences and players as well as our familiar festivals and crew. Thank you for your ongoing support of ARTB. We could not do this without you. 

Sarah Linderman, Whit Draper, Susan Peck and I would like to give a big shout out to the guest musicians who performed with us this past year including Nancy Durham (drums), Hershel Yatovitz (guitar), Jared Snyder (guitar, bass), Mark Simon (drums), Art Alexander (percussion) and Newel Briggs (guitar). It's an honor to have the opportunity to play the ARTB song book with such fine musicians. Thanks!

I was just reflecting on the fact that this web site is now 4 years old! The first entry to this journal is dated January of 2008! And I had already been performing as Alexander's Real Time Band a year before that. Its been a fast and rewarding five years. Music is a gift that I (with a little help from my friends) am honored to share with you. 

I'm wishing a happy holiday season to you all and I hope to see you next year (if not before).

In service …-alan

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Sitting in Blueberry Hill, my favorite restaurant in St. Louis (actually University City). It's in the Delmar Loop district. This was my hangout during my high school days at UCity High and later as a college student at Washington University, St. Louis. Now several decades later I find myself here being served by a very cute red headed waitress named Audrey (who reminds me of an old girlfriend) waxing nostalgic about my youth.

Blueberry Hill and the Pageant (both owned by St. Louis entrepreneur, Joe Edwards) are also at the musical heart of the Loop district, featuring regional and national touring acts. St. Louis native, the legendary Chuck Berry, is a regular performer here.

Like Seattle's Paul Allen, Edwards has invested a chunk of his wealth in music memorabilia. Album jackets, photos of Edwards with celebrities, old juke boxes, etc adorn the establishment.

My attempts to find a commercial venue in the Loop to host my concert have failed (although I will be doing a house concert in UCity Saturday). But this visit to Blueberry Hill has made up for that. It feels like coming home. And I highly recommend the Grilled Trout!!

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(ARTB trio on Orcas l to r: Sarah, Alan, Susan)

Ok. So summer 2011 is over and fall is really here. I hope yours was as grand as ours. We finally gave up the ghost last weekend with a trip to our favorite resort destination, Doe Bay, on Orcas Island. This is my fourth year playing Doe Bay and each time is just as much fun as the last. Our performance trio for this trip consisted of Sarah Linderman (drums, voice), Susan Peck (keyboards, voice) and myself. We also need to give a shout out to Rihana for her tour support and the crew at Doe Bay (Jami, Shannon and Remee). In addition to a great show we also got to do some hiking in beautiful Moran State Park (where the band photo above was taken).

Even though summer is over, the road still calls. I am currently (as I write this) aboard the Empire Builder. That's the Amtrak train that runs between Portland and Chicago. This is a solo journey that will involve a few performances and a bit of time with family. This is the second time that I have taken the ARTB songbook to the Midwest. I am looking forward to playing for new ears. I'll be posting photos and musings right here over the next next few weeks. So come back, if you are interested.

But for now I just want to say thanks to all of you who made 2011 the best summer performance season yet for ARTB. We really appreciate the support. Pacific Northwest audiences are the best and I'm looking forward to returning home in November to share more music with you.

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Hard to believe that the summer of 2011 is starting to wind down. Its been a great one for friends, fairs, festivals and music!! This year's Helsing Junction Sleepover / K Records Fest was the best yet (seven years and counting). Susan and I want to give a big shout out to Nancy Durham (drums) and Jared Snyder (guitar and bass) for siting in and making it a very special set indeed! But summer ain't over yet!! It's still a few weeks before the official start of fall and we are playing every weekend until the end of September. Check out the calendar for details. We'll be taking the month of October off for studio and travel. But we'll be back in November for our big all ages Fall Concert at Tabor Space November 5th. Watch for more info right here as the date approaches. In the meantime we hope to see you at one of our September shows. Oh, and here is my favorite joke from our travels this summer...

Q: What do you do for a drowning guitar player?

A: Throw him his amp!

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What a great summer so far! I just returned from an intensive week of study at the Mel Brown Summer Jazz Workshop  at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, Oregon. I enrolled as a bass player and was fortunate to attended master classes led by the extraordinary Tim Gilson (pictured with me above) and Brazilian bassist Wagner Trindade. My assigned combo was led by tenor sax great Renato Caranto and I even got a chance to play with Mel Brown himself. It was a week of music that I will remember for a long time and I learned a bunch. I'll definitely be back next year! Here's a video of Tim and Wagner performing 'Meditation' for a morning master class....

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It's official! Summer time has arrived. Our 4th annual summer solstice at Artichoke was a lot of fun. Sold out crowd. Great audience participation! Thanks for clapping and singing with us. It makes all the difference. Artichoke audiences are some of the best in the world. 

Susan Peck opened the show with a set of her originals, stating with this one (The Ocean).

Then the whole band kicked off our set with the Randy Newman classic Lonely at the Top.

But I think one of my favorite moments was the audience chorus on Suspend Disbelief.

Thanks to Artichoke and Portland Community Media for making this a magic evening. We'll post a few video clips soon. And we'll do it again next year. In the meantime we hope to see you at one of our summer performances.

Hey! Just checkin' in. It's been few months. I have been taking some much needed R and R for the months of of April and May. The only exception was backing up Susan Peck at Artichoke last month when she was the featured songwriter  of the April 7th Songwriter Roundup. I had a blast playing bass for her set (photo above by Kai Hayashi). And Artichoke audiences are some of the best in the world.

But now it's time to start gearing up for our summer performance season. As usual, it begins June 18th with our fourth annual Summer Solstice show, once again at Artichoke. We have also confirmed an evening Oregon Country Fair performance for Fair Family in July and the 6th annual K Records festival in August. There will be more dates posted soon. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of spring!