Yearly Archives: 2011
Keep the Magic of the Libraries Alive Rally
and Magic Show (for children)
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Posted in Shows Past
Your Second Steps
I’m grown. Most of my fans are. The new album is called “The Second Half of the Bet” because I felt like the songs were exploring what happens after the deal has been set. We may be in a place that’s very different than what we imagined when we were uncommitted and completely amorphous, but we have powerful choices to make. It may seem dark, one may be disillusioned, but I found myself becoming more and more hopeful as this album developed. I’d guess that most of us would find hope as we actively pursued a project and asked for our community’s involvement like I did with Kickstarter and other places. (Even if you think you don’t have a community, I bet if you started asking, you’d find out you weren’t so alone.)
So as I’m putting together the first celebration for my new album, I thought I’d ask a few of my friends to participate in the event by sharing art or thoughts on the subject of second steps towards a positive life. I thought it would be nice to also hear what those who can’t attend might have to say on the subject. Post your thoughts, links to songs, images, videos or poems. I’m excited to hear from you.
-->3/30: World Stage Feature, 8pm
Celebrate the new album with us at the World Stage Anansi Writers Workshop.
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Posted in Shows Past
Monday, 2/21: CD RELEASE Party, 4PM
Buy Download Now[purchase_link id=”5832″ style=”button” color=”white” text=”Add to Cart”][purchase_link id=”5832″ style=”button” color=”white” text=”Buy Now” direct=”true”]
Buy CD!
Download comes in a compressed folder (zip) containing 11 songs encoded at 256kbps (VBR) and an 18 page digital booklet (PDF).
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Posted in Shows Past
Songs @ Sit 'n Spin, Feb 17
Writers/Performers this Thursday are:
Amy Stiller,
Tom Saunders,
Eric Friedman,
Joe Smith,
Taylor Negron,
and I’ll be playing a couple songs and incidental sorts of things between — or during — the readings.
DETAILS:
Posted in Shows Past
Photos, Bio & Video for 2011
High resolution photos:
[nggallery id=33]
These are large files, so please right or ctrl click to save them.
And a short bio:
Click here for: [cref 2041 Alternative Bio] | [cref 2267 2 Lines] | [cref 145 Quotes] | [cref 2049 Works + Notables (incl. Literary)]
Jason Luckett sits in a hardwood studio untouched by time, tapping rhythm on a foot stool used by Andrés Segovia, singing through vintage preamps used on a Spice Girls tour…. OK, the story’s getting weird, but this sets the scene for recording The Second Half of the Bet (Hope Again), a warm collection of songs traversing the afterglow of youthful wagers. With an eye toward hope, the sounds of jazz, samba, reggae, bluegrass, soul and folk blend seamlessly into a coherent whole.
In the past two years, the Los Angeles based artist has performed with classical Indian musicians in Kerala, toured the western United States to promote healthcare reform, been published in the groundbreaking literary anthology The Black Body, and read as part of the prestigious ALOUD series at the Los Angeles Public Library and Sit ‘n’ Spin at the Comedy Central Stage. He also contributed a solo theatrical piece to The Emmett Till Project at Highways Performance Space and was featured at the Mixed Roots Film & Literary Festival twice, once for his musical work, once for his literary.
Jason recorded The Second Half of the Bet (Hope Again) as 2010 came to a close, layering guitars, bass, vocals and percussion in that magical wood-paneled studio mostly solo, with a couple loving assists from vocalist Nailah Porter, bassist David Sutton and engineer Ted Blaisdell. As wide-ranging as his activities of the past couple years, SHOTB, moves organically through folk, jazz, rock and world rhythm influences, retaining the strong personality of what Jason irreverently calls “groovy acoustic soul.”
“A lot of the work I did during the past couple years dealt with the diverse cultural influence in my life and how I was able to create a coherent identity bumping through the ‘mulatto moments.’ This album takes the jazz and Brazilian sounds I heard growing up along with the classic rock and post-punk that I got in the ‘burbs and integrates them better than I ever have before.”
Another byproduct of his recent literary work is the freedom Jason felt to leave his biography behind and dig deeper into the situations and stories in these songs.
“After a couple years of seriously mining my history for different projects, I found a real freedom in searching for emotional truths within largely fictional constructs. I no longer felt the need to portray myself in my songs.
“Still, these songs represent the questions I’m pondering now. It’s called The Second Half of the Bet because I like that we make these grand wagers in youth, then we have to figure out what they all mean. Then when I considered Steven Simko’s beautiful cover image, I knew that I had to append the title to include ‘Hope Again.’ There’s beauty in retaining youthful wonder as we move ahead with a bit more wisdom. Grappling with the imperfection of where we are personally or politically after making euphoric and idealistic decisions, I consistently remind myself to choose hope.”
Jason’s played festivals all over the world from Glastonbury to South by Southwest, recorded or played with musicians as diverse as the Indigo Girls, Melissa Etheridge, Kenny Burrell, and members of Bauhaus and Red Hot Chili Peppers, been a staff writer for EMI and is a published poet. Check jasonluckett.com for discography, publications, tours and more info on Jason, Segovia and the Spice Girls.
He’s released six discs on his Lucky Masala Head label.
Please contact me for more info.
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Posted in EPK
My City
I am operating on four hours sleep, but I’m feeling such love that I wanted to capture it before I drift off. And I want to do it publicly, because the feeling is so externally driven. Good word, actually, driven, because it was as I was driving home that I was almost in tears. I’d just left this beautiful, spirit centered gathering celebrating the love of one friend and her love, whom she’ll join on his walk from Los Angeles to Brazil (http://iamwalking.org/). And it was just around the corner from the spiritual center of my boozy early 20s, Al’s Bar. I’d try to tame that place with just my acoustic guitar, or play nasty blues in this band called “Victor’s Sister” that once got to pay with Big Jay McNeely.
I’d just received a glowing e-mail review of my new album from one of my favorite supporters, as I left Traction Ave to head by Olvera Street as I got on the 101 heading back home. I was thinking how great LA would be if we had some infrastructure investment somewhere before that horrible Melrose exit off the freeway. (Why is the gas at the “Petrol” station always so cheap?) I passed the old Anti-Club, Paramount Studios…. And that’s when I started to well up. I guess it’s just the diversity of experience from my organic spiritual type scene, to my DIY punk-ish life, to the silly Hollywood stuff I’ve done. Maybe it’s because I’ve been able to make music in all these places and I’ve just put my new album up for sale on my site?
But then it got even better, reaching the heart of Melrose where I worked at the Gap and the fancy Gelati per Tutti across the street. I used to play my demos and watch how the hipsters would react as they came in, bopping their heads to the guy scooping their cappuccino cones. As much as I loved living in the Los Feliz/Silverlake area, I kind of think I love WeHo even more. It’s definitely not as groovy, but I’m so beat today because I went up to a friend’s last night, ten minutes away up Laurel Canyon to share new music, finished and unfinished, over wine and pasta, then I got woken up early this morning to meet a friend of 20 years a block away from my house at Urth for breakfast. And this is the neighborhood where during college I lived down the hall from the bass player from Cheap Trick in a rent controlled apartment. And the next thing I knew Warren Zevon moved in across the hall.
But, really, it’s all of LA. So many good people and landmarks that are the healthy roots that allow me to grow. And I’ve been away for periods of time now, so I appreciate it even more. And now I’m blessed to be living in the most wonderful home, a home which still carries the creative vibe of the couple who lived here for 70 years just before I moved in. I’m not sure if I’ve said anything you don’t already know tonight. But I just wanted to share my love letter to the city.
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