New Year's Eve at TAV CAFE

Celebrate New Year’s Eve 

with the Muddy Basin Ramblers 

TAV CAFE at Taipei Artist Village

In the old days, life was in black and white. Since we’re an old time band, the Muddy Basin Ramblers are kicking it old school this New Year’s Eve. We’re pulling out the stops, donning tuxes and tails, top hats and bowlers, spats and wing tips. It’s going to be a stylish affair, a Black and White Ball, with all the panache we can muster for the party of the year.  Admission is NT$800 per person, and that includes two drinks.

TAV CAFE at the Taipei Artist Village will swing to the sounds of the 1920s and 30s, as David Chen leads the Ramblers in a celebration of the music we love to play -- swing jazz, delta blues, jug band -- a mix of classic covers and originals. Tap your toes, wave your hips, and break a sweat on the dance floor. The music will be hot and fast, slow and smooth, tight and loose, but always with that unique spirit that sets the Ramblers apart.

The Muddy Basin Ramblers formed in 2003, so this show will mark the beginning of our tenth year of playing together. We hope you can join us at the Taipei Artist Village for what promises to be a night to remember (or just a hazy recollection, if you stay real late).

The Muddy Basin Ramblers are

David ‘Chillicothe’ Chen is front and center, calling the tunes, singing lead, and playing one of his vintage guitars or the banjo.

Conor ‘Ginger’ Prunty, our virtuoso harp player, is a shadow of the great Will Shade, and he does double duty on the washtub bass.

Will ‘Slim’ Thelin, the dashing cad on the end, tap dances, blows the jug and trombone, and sings up a storm (although it’s always “a beautiful day” when he’s at the mic).

Sandy ‘Sandman’ Murray, our dapper gent, wails for all he’s worth on the saxophone and strums like there’s no tomorrow on the ukulele.

Tim ‘Thumper’ Hogan puts his tourette’s hand to good use, scratching the Basin beat on the washboard and brushing the blues away on the snare drum and cymbals.

TC ‘Tuff Cat’ Lin plucks the cord of the washtub bass, made from the finest Taiwan PVC, and blows his trumpet like he never did on a Florida high school marching band.

Joining us for this show, and perhaps others if we’re lucky, is Serena ‘Bean’ Engel, cello prodigy, fiddle wrangler, and dulcet-voiced firecracker.

The Ramblers released our self-titled CD in 2007, and it's available at all of our shows, so if you feel like taking the Ramblers home with you after our last set, that can be arranged.

Intimate Show at Bobwundaye, Saturday, Nov. 24, 9:30PM

As a touring band, the Ramblers always seem to be on the road. Last month, we were in Taichung at the Jazz Festival. Over the summer, we spent more time on a boat in Tamsui than we did at the riverside in Bitan. For a change of place, our upcoming show will be a down home affair. We're not taking the medicine show to you; we're inviting you to our home-away-from-home -- Bobwundaye.

Date: November 24
Time: 9:30 P.M. (UPDATED)
Venue: Bobwundaye
Address: 77 Heping E. Road, Section 2, Taipei, Taiwan
Cover charge: NT$200

Scratch that information on your wall and clear your schedule. This promises to be a riotous affair.

Truth be told, the Ramblers gather almost every week at Bobwundaye (we call it Bob's), but we keep the security door down almost all the way. Inside, we're working on our music. We are not totally unnoticed, however. A fair number of innocents hear an unexpected blues or swing number in the air as they walk by on the sidewalk and bend down and peer into the darkness to look for the source.

Oddly enough, for as much time as we spend there, we've never had our own public show at Bob's. There was a private show for Dave's family once, and a few times when we shared the evening's stage with other artists, but this Saturday's show will be the first time we bring to bear the full Muddy on this bastion of bohemian basin bars, Bob's. Got carried away with the alliteration there for a moment.

Some call our music jug, others blues, but there's no denying the jazzy swing. You'll hear brass and strings, harp and horn, jug and board, drum and tub, songs old and new (but mostly old), and a tap or two. We'll be giving thanks the best way we know how, shaking the walls and rattling the panes with our wound up, twisted round, straight ahead, double-back, sweet yet savory sound.

Oh, yeah. It's an intimate show, so grab someone you care about deeply, or a stranger on the street that you'd like to know better, and come on along to Bob's this Saturday. We'll be raising a ruckus!

Taichung Jazz Festival 2012

The Ramblers are heading south this Saturday, October 20, to perform at the Taichung Jazz Festival.

We'll be appearing in a parade at 1:30 and on the J2 Stage at 4 P.M. If you've never been to this event, it's free and held on Civil Boulevard near Sogo. You can find directions and a map here.

There will be many great acts from the 20th to the 28th, including the Ellis Marsalis Trio with Jason Marsalis on the evening of the 28th.

This is a gig we've wanted to do for a long time, and we're glad to finally have the chance. This won't be our first trip to Taichung. We played at the first Blues Bash and also at the club 89K in November 2005. 

At 89K

The first Blues Bash was a warm-spirited but freezing cold inauguration to D.C. Rapier's more-than-annual celebration of the Blues. That year, Joanna Connor and Peter "Bonzo" Radvanyi, founder of the Dobrofestival in Trnava, Slovakia, were the headliners. David went out to Trnava to perform at the Dobrofestival in 2006.

Peter "Bonzo" Radvanyi

Memorable events for us at the first BSOT Bash were having our set interrupted by Taichung's mayor and (Sandy's old boss) Jason Hu, and the sight of flaming 50-gallon drums surrounded by musicians and fans trying to warm their hands in the courtyard of Tiger City Mall.

We made another journey to the Central City to play at Luv Stock in 2010. That was an unforgettable event for so many reasons, not the least of which were Landis picking us up at the HSR station in his redneck jeep, a homemade airplane buzzing the former amusement park where the event was held, and the audience standing in an empty swimming pool in front of the stage.

If you're making plans for this weekend, come to the 10th annual Taichung Jazz Festival this Saturday.

An MBR Double-Header for the Ides of September

September 2012 is a busy month for the Ramblers; we've got two shows this weekend, and another next Sunday. We hope you can make it to at least one of these shows. Geographically, they're spread around the Taipei Basin, so one of them should be conveniently located.

I'm not really sure what the significance of a flying saucer (washtub) is, but Rambler TC's photographic artistry is undeniable. That's Slim at a park we affectionately call the Trainyard, since that is what used to occupy this space between Huashan Arts District and the Taipei Artist Village.

Tomorrow, Saturday, September 15, we'll be performing at the Black Town Music Festival in Nangang. We're on stage from 3:50 to 4:20 P.M.

Here's the poster for that gig. It's interesting that our band's name is listed in Chinese, while other groups have their English name posted instead.

You can find information about the venue via the link above, but we've also marked the spot on Google Maps. All of the Ramblers are looking forward to this gig because we'll be performing for people who probably haven't had much exposure to the type of music that we play. Plus, the old factory in Nangang where we'll be playing reminds us of performing at Huashan prior to its makeover by the city. We've previously worked with one of the promoters when we performed at an art gallery/workshop on Tihua Street, in Taipei's old Tataocheng district. Here's a video shot when we played on the sidewalk in front of that gallery. You can see we had a few swing dancers in attendance, and we expect that a few might follow us to Nangang as well. Here's a link to our Facebook page. Perhaps you want to advertise to your FB friends just how hip you are by liking it.

On Sunday, September 16, we'll be taking part in the Blues Queens Cruise organized by bluesman Cooky (from Cooky and Friends) at Asicom International. This is a charity event, with the proceeds being used to help the people of Orchid Island recover from Typhoon Tembin in late August.

Tembin flattened the supermarket on the island Aug. 28, destroyed six houses and damaged about 40-50 others when it slammed ashore.

The storm kicked up six-meter high waves that sank boats seeking shelter in Kaiyuan Harbor. Electricity was knocked out islandwide during the typhoon but had since been restored in most areas, according to the Taitung county government. The island's only gas station was also destroyed.

The Ministry of the Interior said it had transported 2,000 kg of food and 1,500 kg of other relief supplies to Orchid Island a day earlier. from Focus Taiwan

 If you heard about the Blues Cruise Maiden Voyage in July but were not able to attend, here's your chance to experience a blues extravaganza on the Tamsui River's only steamboat-esque party boat, the Ying Fong.

As far as I know, the only Blues Queen who will be performing is Japan's own Nacomi, who along with her amazing band, regularly makes the pilgrimage to Taipei to perform at the Blues Bash. Also appearing is Shun Kikuta, a Japanese blues guitar sensation who came to Taiwan via Chicago, where he was in Koko Taylor's band.

The Ramblers, the only band without a Japanese member to perform at this event, will be playing twice, once on the dock alongside the Ying Fong as passengers arrive to board, and once more on the third level of the boat. That's the best place to enjoy the view along the river and the famous Tamsui sunset.


Here's a video (shot by friend of the band G. Smoke) of us making waves on the dock in Guandu at the Maiden Voyage. The Blues Queens Cruise will be starting and finishing at the ferry terminal in Tamsui. You can find a map with directions on the Blues Queens Cruise website, but the easiest way to get to the boat is to take the MRT to Tamsui, take a left when you exit the station, and walk up the waterfront (that's downstream, if you're watching the way the water flows) for about 10 minutes. You'll see the Ying Fong in all her glory, and probably a crowd of locals checking out the Ramblers as we share our southern basin sound with a northern audience.

Tickets go on sale at 3:30, we'll play our first set at 4:30, and the boat leaves the dock at 5. Admission to this event is only NT$300 per person, but if you feel like kicking in extra for the recovery efforts on Orchid Island, I'm sure your donation will be welcomed.

Looking forward to partying with you this weekend, and if you can't make it to either of these two shows, we'll see you at Blues Bash 9 on September 23 at Taipei Artist Village.

August 25 at Taipei Artist Village

You are hereby invited to spend an evening with David Chen & the Muddy Basin Ramblers at Taipei Artist Village on Saturday, August 25.

The show will begin at about 8:30 and be finished by 12.

Entry is NT$350 and includes one drink.

Now that you've made plans to come see us, let me fill you in on what we've been up to.

We've been busy rehearsing over the summer. As much as we like air conditioning and privacy, we love playing down on the riverside at Bitan even more. We've had a couple of great Sunday afternoon/evenings with the crowds in Xindian.

Our most recent public event was July 28 on the Blues Cruise organized by the Blues Society on Taiwan (BSOT). A three-level riverboat carried 200 guests and seven blues acts, including Shun Kikuta, Bopomofo, the Blues Vibrations, BB Cooky, Nick Brown, Mike Mudd, and the Ramblers, from the wharf at Kuandu down to the mouth of the Tamsui River and back. It was an awesome evening. We played on the dock as people boarded the boat, and then once more on the top level as the sun set over Kuanyin Mountain. Here's a video shot by our friend Gary Smoke.

Looking ahead, the 2012 Blues Bash Party will be taking place at Taipei Artist Village on September 23 from 2 PM to 11 PM. The headliners this year are Magda Piskorczyk and Aleksandra Siemieniuk, both from Poland. Check the BSOT website to learn more about this event. The Ramblers will be there, and so should you.

If you haven't already, follow David Chen & the Muddy Basin Ramblers on Facebook. You'll learn about upcoming shows and find links to photos and videos.