Floating Dreamscapes

Winter golf at Durand Eastman in Rochester, NY
Winter golf at Durand Eastman in Rochester, NY

We walked through the woods with our neighbors, Rick and Monica, and their dogs. We came out on the gold course and spotted this guy swinging at a dayglo orange ball. The temperature dropped overnight and we got about ten inches of snow so today we skied up to the lake with Olga. We hooked up with Brian Williams later on and I helped him with his computer. He had the same problem my father had with his iPhoto library getting too big for his computer only Brian’s problem was with his iTunes folder getting too big his computer. I wish I could find someone to help me with my php/mysql problems.

The Democrat & Chronicle’s Jack Garner reviewed our new cd over the weekend.
MARGARET EXPLOSION: LIVE DIVE. Rochester’s most unique band offers a new collection of live tracks, recorded over four years at various local venues. ME is certainly not everyone’s cup of tea (and what sort of artist would ever want to be?). They play spacey, floating dreamscapes with smart improvisational skill, carefully listening to each other as they move forward with their own slices of mercurial, musical mood. I’m reminded of some of the Scandinavian free jazz one would hear on ECM Records over the years. Most of the tracks are relatively abstract. One cut, though, offers what surely must be the most offbeat ode to a deceased artist. Who would have thought they’d create a tune called “Sleep Michael Jackson?” — Jack Garner

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White Boy

Durand Eastman Park Pond Winter 2009
Durand Eastman Park Pond Winter 2009

My favorite part of Christmas was watching our nephews play “Guitar Hero” while our nieces danced on the furniture. Kids and the avatars bring new life to old songs like “Play That Funky Music” (White Boy) and the Queen/Bowie “Under Pressure”. And I really dug the chick on drums. I was talking to Frank DeBlase at the Bop Shop Christmas party and he told me it’s hard to do if you know how to play guitar.

Chris Schepp used to have a band called “The Floating Anvils”. It figures there was a real heavy metal band named “Anvil”. “The Story of Anvil” worked its way to the top of our Netflix list. I can’t remember who recommended it. Maybe Rich? The movie is almost too real. It gets uncomfortable but we hung in there because Anvil are such sweet guys.

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Soul Power

Muhammad Ali in Soul Power
Muhammad Ali in Soul Power

Muhammad Ali is quoted as saying, “I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was. ” And he is even a bigger star than James Brown. We watched “Soul Power” at the George Eastman House’s Dryden Theater over the weekend. It’s really the outtakes from “When We Were Kings” which Peggi and I saw at the Little Theater with my father a few years back. But these outtakes are all music scenes from the 1974 concert and championship fight in Zaire, Africa. And it just when you think it couldn’t get any better than James Brown at his peak performing in Africa Muhammad Ali steals the scene.

Why didn’t we go hear Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings when they were in town last week because we are spoiled. We saw the Godfather of Soul (GFOS) a few times (Red Creek and the Auditorium Theater). In this movie James wore a wide scarf-like garment wrapped around his waist with “GFOS” printed on it and Peggi and I kept thinking of of Rochester’s “AKOS”, Mike Allen. But Mike could never get away with performing “I’m Black and I’m Proud” like James does here. I loved that song when it came out but that was easy. Duane went to a mostly black high school on Rochester’s west side and he said it was too much. James Brown even stopped performing the song because the song cost him a lot of my crossover audience. I noticed in the credits that Rochester’s Pee Wee Ellis gets co-writing credits for “I’m Black and I’m Proud”.

We finished our MySQL job and succesfully linked the first column of this page to a drawing with specs that come from the data base. Amazing. Of course we had help from Bill Jones and the flute player.

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Live Up

Margaret Explosion Abilene 11.25.09 CD release Party for "Live Dive"
Margaret Explosion Abilene 11.25.09 CD release Party for “Live Dive”

It was a trip to come home to this photo from Kathy Palokoff’s iPhone and this email from Frank Paolo.

“So there I was all day telling myself positive sentences about seeing your launch tonight.  I actually got it together, showered/shaved, found some ‘not too dirty clothes’ (they passed the sniff test), and got on the bus at 6:15.  I confidently (pretending) walked down the street where Daisy Dukes is and NO ABELIENE – no one ever heard of it. Not in Moes, the Little – nobody in the whole East End. I slouched and stumbled back to my digs disappointed I couldn’t be there and give you a cheer.  BUT I tried – I REALLY tried.  One of these days I will again try to get good at life.
paolo.”

Funny that Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad (about three names too many) had a cd release party tonight for “Live Up” while we had ours for “Live Dive”. Maybe we can trade cds. I like that band. Thanks to all you that climbed the stairs at Abilene tonight. Thanks to the honorary Margo members, Jack Schaeffer and Phil Marshall for sitting in. Thanks to Bob Martin for the movies.

In the chill out room, after the show, the iTunes shuffle dj stacked Television (with Richard Hell still in the band), MX-80’s “Follow That Car”, Nod’s “I Get Around” and Wire’s “I Am The Fly”. Wow.

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Sparky’s Shed

Sparky’s Shed

We were one thousand five hundred miles late for our oil change at Jerome’s but Ted didn’t seem to mind. Our Honda has been pretty damn reliable. Ted was always delivering bad news when he serviced our American cars. I should say that the window sticker said our Honda was made in Ohio so maybe it is an American car after all.

After Jerome’s I stopped by to visit our former neighbor, Sparky. He showed me pictures of his car that was recently totaled while he was sitting in it, parked in front of a friend’s house. The driver of the other car was black as is often the case with antagonists in Sparky stories. I had keys to his garage and shed when we lived next door and I still had them on my key ring so we went out back to see if they worked. They did and I surrendered them. I miss that shed and took a photo of it on the way out. Invisible Idiot named a song after it so it lives on.

I organized a setlist to shuffle on our iPod at tomorrow night’s Margaret Explosion Abilene gig. I threw some Edith Piaf, Last Poets, Duke Ellington, George Jones and cumbia in there. In the old days, in other bands, we would have had a setlist for the band performance but Margaret Explosion doesn’t work that way. I stopped by Nino’s Pizzeria and prepared them for a big order. And we confirmed that Glen, the tech savy bartender at Abilene, has the right cord to go from our laptop to the VGA in on Abilene’s projector. Bob Martin rounded up some June Taylor like visuals and we plan to go into full screen mode with the Quicktime files. I’d be happy with iTunes “Visualizer” but I can do that at home.

When Duane was up here last he told us that humus made with bean other than chick peas was all the rage in NYC. So I tried black bean humus a few weeks ago and it came out more Mexican than Greek. Last night I made a batch and mistakenly opened a can of kidney beans along with a can of Garbonzos so I went with it. I put some roasted peppers in there too and a jalapeno and some Spanish paprika so it is very red. It is sensational. I plan to serve that at out T-day bash.

Tonight is the last painting class. I have resigned myself to the fact that I will be a lifelong student and plan to return in the new year.

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Live Dive

Margaret Explosion CD "Live Dive" (EAR 14) on Earring Records, released 2009
Margaret Explosion CD “Live Dive” (EAR 14) on Earring Records, released 2009

I think we might have missed the deadline to get any press for our cd release party this Wednesday night, the night before T-Day. We plan to order some pizza from Nino’s, give away some cds and show movies behind the band on the big projector in the VIP lounge, upstairs at Abilene. It’s a Happy Hour affair so it starts early at 5pm and only goes til 7:30 and it’s free. Jack Schaeffer is going to join us on guitar and bass clarinet.

The cd features all new material and was recorded over a four year period at various Rochester venues (Little Theater Cafe, Bug Jar, RIT, Flat Iron Cafe and Bop Shop). Guest artists include Pete LaBonne, Jack Schaefer, Phil Marshall and Charles Jaffe. We are really excited about this one because you can hear the expresso machine and the small crowd chatting while we play. At least that’s my favorite part.

We have been fine tuning this act of creating songs on the spot and after ten years we can pull this off for most of the night as long as we don’t try too hard. It requires some long pauses between songs so we can clear the air. We edited those out.

“Live Dive” is all new material recorded over a four year period at various Rochester venues including Little Theater Cafe, Bug Jar, RIT, Flat Iron Cafe and Bop Shop. Guest artists include Pete LaBonne, Jack Schaefer, Phil Marshall and Charles Jaffe. And I can hear Maureen talking to Bill and Geri on a few tunes.

Listen to title song from new Margaret Explosion cd “Live Dive”

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I Like Light Leaks

Andrew Meyer photo used on the cover of Margaret Explosion's "Live Dive" cdLiveDivePhoto
Andrew Meyer photo used on the cover of Margaret Explosion’s “Live Dive” cdLiveDivePhoto

Following in the footsteps of Robert Frank, our nephew, Andrew, has been slowly driving across the US in his Toyota pickup, stopping wherever he likes to take photos. Favorite state so far – Nevada. It seems to have been a perfect match for his acute, observant sensibilities and that state’s raw material. He started in the bay area and is now in Rochester with a box of slides. He’s old school and is currently using a Canon 35mm with a manual light meter that overexposed his full western sunshine photos. They appear to have been taken on another planet, making them all the more startling. When we were setting up the Kodak projector I spotted a carousal of slides labeled “Porches” that I took back when I was about his age. Photos I took as I wandered around nearby downtown neighborhoods on my lunch looking at people’s porches. I threw them on only to confirm how good he is.

We saw some photos of prints of his on display in a gallery in Oakland and we chose two of them for the newest Margaret Explosion cd. The one above, the San Francisco Bay, was taken with a medium format Holga.

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Artist Statement

We sent our next Margaret Explosion cd off for duplication and I submitted the new tunes to CDDB through iTunes. I had to pick a category for the type of music it is before it would allow me to submit so I chose “Jazz” from the short list. In the iTunes application however you have a much longer list and you can even make up your own categories. I don’t usually think about describing our music until I’m in situations like this. I found a category in there called “Psychedelic Jazz” and pretty much works. I didn’t know there was such a thing.

There is a student show up over at the Creative Workshop and the director asked us to write a short blurb about what it is that inspired us to paint whatever it is we painted. Most art types balk at describing their work because the work is supposed to do the talking. Some people, though, love “Artist’s Statements” and long descriptions or histories of the artists. At many shows these days the placards next to the painting severely detract from the work.

That being said, I did spend some time thinking about why I paint what I do. And I came up with a succinct, two word statement of my inspiration. “Human Nature”. I am interested in exploring why I am drawn to the subject matter of my choice. I am interested in creating a dialog about this subject through the work and then I’m interested in how people around me react to what I put down.

They didn’t use my artist statement and that’s fine.

Here’s Pete LaBonne’s track “Artist Statement” from his Earring Records cd entitled “Glob”.

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You Can’t Reheat A Soufflé

Cuong Vu at the Bop Shop Atrium 2009
Cuong Vu at the Bop Shop Atrium 2009

I could have put on the Velvet Underground box set that I bought, ripped and then filed away but I was still diggin my new turntable so I reached for the “The Velvet Underground & Nico” lp which I noticed is only labeled “Andy Warhol” on the front of the album. And then there is that tiny type up top that says, “Peel Slowly And See”. My copy has the upside down Billy Name photo on the back but it’s beat to hell and the banana skin is missing. I put it on and played the Dean & Britta Warhol Screen Test dvd without the sound. The scratchy VU vinyl sounded fantastic and then ultra-fantastic when Nico’s screen test came on.

Our Friday night was just beginning though. We hopped in the car to ride over to the Village Gate where Cuong Vu was playing with Rochester’s Ted Poor on drums. On the way the Velvets came on the ipod and transported us. Cuong had two bass players and all sorts of knob twisting (see photo above). They were too loud for the space and a little too muscular when stacked against the Velvets but they sounded great once we were inside the record store. They reminded me of those early jazz rock combos like Tony Williams Lifetime and John McLaughlin’s Devotion.

Antony appearing in Lou Reed's Berlin
Antony appearing in Lou Reed’s Berlin

Back home we put our latest Netflix selection on, “Lou Reed’s Berlin”. Lou’s guitar sounded amazing and there were some brilliant moments but Berlin was a pretty dreary lp the first time around and this monstrous production couldn’t disguise that. The Schnabel footage of models in heat was pure crap and the backup singer stole the show.

We cued up the extras a watched Elvis Costell interview Lou and Schnabel. Schnabel wouldn’t let Lou talk and when he declared that he and Lou were best friends we thought we saw Lou wince.

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Dean & Britta Screen Tests

Dean & Britta at Lovin' Cup in Rochester, New York
Dean & Britta at Lovin’ Cup in Rochester, New York

The dreary weather this morning was the perfect setting for viewing Dean & Bitta’s “13 Most Beautiful…Songs for Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests”. We bought the dvd from Dean Wareham after his reading at Record Archive yesterday. Released in conjunction with The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh the dvd features Nico, Lou Reed, Edie Sedgwick and Dennis Hopper sitting for Warhol’s silent film portraits. But the films aren’t silent anymore because Dean and Britta have provided a beautiful soundtrack.

We knew nothing about Galaxie 500, Luna or Dean & Britta except that Angel Corpus Christi likes them. And then Casey form Mex called with his offer to pick up tickets for Dean & Britta’s appearance at the Lovin’ Cup in Henrietta out next to RIT. It was total immersion for us, bartender John John playing Luna tracks at Mex and listing all the covers the band used to do, Dean reading from his tour diary at the Record Archive, Dean & Britta in concert and then the gorgeous dvd. The thing that ties all these projects together is the Velvet Underground, the best rock band of all time. How can you go wrong? We loved it.

Hotel Reverie opened the show last night and sounded great. You can almost forget you’re in the suburbs when the band starts. The club has the right idea with no chair or tables in front of the band and the room sounds great.

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Testing 1, 2, 1, 2

Rubble Bucket at Record Archive in Rochester, NY
Rubble Bucket at Record Archive in Rochester, NY

Alayna sent us a press release from the Record Archive announcing the appearance of Rubble Bucket on stage in the store at 5 o’clock last night. They were described as a “polyrhythmic nine piece dance band” with comparisons to Fela Kuti, James Brown and Bjork so we dutifully headed over there after work. We were late as usual but he band was running late too so we caught their soundcheck. Sound checks are often the most interesting part of a band’s performance. The interaction between members without their stage persona, what they play while getting their sound, the words they use to test the mics are all more revealing than the songs they perform.

Dick Storms told us the band was on Wease’s show in the morning and Scott Regan’s show midday but hardly anyone showed up for their free performance here. I think that says something about the demographic of those shows. This young jam band has all the right old school influences. I hope a younger crowd found them at their club appearance later last night.

We headed over to Casey’s to pick up the tickets he bought us for tonight’s performance by Dean and Brita. We hadn’t been to Mex in a while and I was happy to see the mural was aging gracefully after almost ten years. The plaster chips and scratches and dings all contribute to tipico ambiance. John played Luna tracks from his ipod in bar downstairs and the food upstairs was better than ever.

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Clunky Djembe

Paul Dodd and his Djembe
Paul Dodd and his Djembe

We played a gallery opening in the old Jazzberry’s space over the summer and I brought my djembe instead of the drum kit. The old firehouse space has high ceilings and all sorts of vintage printing equipment scattered about yet the sound is warm with just right amount of ambience. Bob Martin stopped by with a cd of this gig and I glanced over at my djembe as it started playing. There was a big crack in the goatskin head. This happened once before, about ten years ago when we were playing happy hours at the Bug Jar. I had Tom at Toko Drums in Ithaca put a new head on back then and he did a great job. So yesterday we drove down to Ithaca to pay him another visit.

Tom is old school all the way. He still takes photos of his customers when they buy a drum, 35 mm photos on film, and puts them up on the walls like they do at Vic & Irvs but Tom has thousands. We still haven’t spotted the one he took of us when I bought a conga drum a few years back. He has a one page website and he doesn’t do email. His shop, in the same building as the Moosewood Restaurant, looks just like it has for twenty years. Percussion instruments, incense and funky hats, no drum sets or cymbals. He is a master craftsman when it comes to hand drum repair.

We strolled up and down the Commons and had dinner at a corner bar. Ithaca College and Cornell kids in flip flops were everywhere and some had their clunky parents in tow. The kids looked pretty clunky too and we felt like clunky strangers but it was all pretty dreamy. Stop out and see Margaret Explosion tonight at the Little Cafe. We have a dreamy set lined up.

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26 Years Ago Today

Peggi Fournier singing "Subscriptions Are My Prescription" at the Community Playhouse in 1983. Photo by Gary Brandt.
Peggi Fournier singing “Subscriptions Are My Prescription” at the Community Playhouse in 1983. Photo by Gary Brandt.

It was hot twenty six years ago today, real hot. Personal Effects rented the Community Playhouse on South Avenue where we were able to back project lights, slides, movies and liquid light on a giant scrim. The multi-media show was called “This Is It”. Duane Sherwood created a mind blowing special effects show, Don Scorgie provided the concessions and Al “Balloon Buffoon” Kerstein engineered the ballon drop. You can hear it on this song. Steve Lippincott in Portland has been after us for a copy of that show and I finally got around to digitizing a cassette recording.

Three members of Personal Effects play in Margaret Explosion and we have a show tomorrow night at the Village Gate in the courtyard at 6pm. We’ll be performing with fire jugglers, not at the same time of course. And we don’t play anywhere near as fast as we used to.

“Subscriptions Are My Prescription” by Personal Effects – Live from the Community Playhouse in Rochester, NY August 27,1983.

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New York Style Beach Music

Joe Plus N Trio at Durand Eastman Beach in Rochester, NY
Joe Plus N Trio at Durand Eastman Beach in Rochester, NY

We rode our bikes down to Durand Eastman beech to catch Joe Plus N’s Day Tour performance, the tenth annual, on Saturday. We have caught at least one stop all ten years except for the year we were in Spain on vacation. Joe had asked me to play with him that year too so I missed out twice as bad. This stop was billed as random trios and Joe Tunis was to play with Will Veeder of Hinkley and Scott Oliver of ORAA but Will didn’t show up. The duo sounded especially nice on the beach.

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I Remember Woodstock

Dodds and friends on Hawley Drive in 1969
Dodds and friends on Hawley Drive in 1969


Left to right, my mother, my brothers John and Fran, Brad Fox, my sister Amy’s four little buddies and Dave Mahoney

This is one of the first photos I took with my first camera. My father brought it home from the Camera Shop at Kodak. I took the photo in the summer of 69 but I don’t have any photos from Woodstock so I’m guessing I got this camera after the festival. Spevak had called me for some quotes for the article he was writing on Woodstock for the paper and then the editor emailed me to ask if I had any photos. Whatever I said was cut out by his editor but we did celebrate the 40th anniversary by seeing the director’s cut of the movie at the George Eastman House last weekend. They have a crankin’ sound system in the Dryden Theater.

As we sat there watching the movie I kept trying to remember who it was that had recently told me they were in in the movie. It wasn’t until near the end of the movie that I remembered that Holly Clarke from my high school class was one of the nude woman swimming in the pond. We got there a day early but still managed to get stuck in traffic. When it got unbearable we parked the car and started walking. I remember a long line of people going in one direction and an equally long line going in the opposite direction. No one was sure where the festival site was and we watched people turn around and switch directions on a hunch. I don’t remember packing any food, clothes or sleeping gear but we did have some acid they we planned on taking at the show. We couldn’t wait for that and took it the morning of the day before the show. We wandered around and tried purchasing some canned goods that a local family had arranged along the railing of their porch. It all looked so strange and we weren’t sure what we wanted or even how to conduct the transaction. We found the festival site and hung around in the blazing sun while the sound crew conducted an ungodly sound check. There were scattered groups of people with dogs on the hillside and the animals were howling at the stage.

We left before the show was over because Dave Mahoney thought we had better get out before they ran out of food. On the way out we bought some mescaline from some high school friends that we ran into. Back in Rochester we went to an afternoon matinee of “2001” at the old Stutson Theater where Herrema’s is now and took the blue capsules. We were the only “adults” in the theater and we laid down on the floor in front of the screen. I have no idea what that thing was all about. I haven’t done any of that stuff since 69 but it kinda stays with you.

Richie Havens was great in the movie. Canned Heat sounded like the inventors of sludge rock. The Who tore it up but looked pretty silly. I never like the Tommy stuff. Only Queen can mix rock and opera. Ten Years After were wankers. Sha Na Na was hideous and Joe Cooker was over the top. (Is that a Beatles song.? “High with a little help from friends.”) Peggi leaned over and said, “You have to admit that was a good song from pre-bloated Crosby Stills and Nash” and I admitted it. The Jefferson Airplane tracks were goofy one. The rest must have sucked. They could be pretty rough live. I saw their Volunteers tour. I never had any of Santana records but he kicked ass. His drummer was amazing. Sly, Janis and Jimi were all great. It was pretty good show.

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Tear Me Up

We woke up to a few orders for Margaret Explosion cds and they were all from Rochester. It took us a bit to realize that the sales were a result of the rebroadcast of  the Margaret Explosion segment of WXXI’s “On Stage”. We were downtown out on the deck at Abilene listening to Bobby Henrie & The Goners so we missed the show. Martin Edic said it was on the tv inside the bar but we were busy watching the best band in the city. Besides, I was making a movie.

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NFS

Martha O'Connor art at Rochester Contemporary Lab Space
Martha O’Connor art at Rochester Contemporary Lab Space

Art work with an NFS (Not For Sale) tag is especially appealing. It is often the best work in a show. Duane was in town for the weekend and we met at the RoCo opening for “State of the City”. It was a funny mix of un-unruly (I want to say the opposite of unruly but I guess ruly is not a word) graffiti, polite hip hop and empty warehouse photography. We spent most of time in the small Lab Space looking at Martha O’Connor’s show, “Augurhood”. Duane wanted to buy the piece shown above but it was NFS. Martha explained that she drew this on the paper wrapping from some imported Italian cheese that she liked.

The soundtrack from the movie, “Short Cuts”, that we ordered from eBay thanks to a link that Joel sent, arrived yesterday and we love it. Its a dark California soundscape complete with helicopters, earthquake rumblings, songs by Peggy Lee, Duke Ellington, Dr. John, Iggy Pop, Igor Stavinsky and Horace Silver. It was 75 cents plus shipping. Funny that clunky old cds are sometimes cheaper than downloads now.

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Gritty City Jukebox

Hotel Reverie at the Boulder Fest in Rochester, NY
Hotel Reverie at the Boulder Fest in Rochester, NY

I stopped in our bank last Friday to make a deposit and cash a few checks. I don’t know where the tellers go but they move through this branch pretty quickly. I was asked to show my id and then the same teller asked if our business would be interested in doing a display in the bank for a week. He pointed to a tabletop display in the corner that currently featured a popcorn machine with fresh popcorn and a sign for a concessions company. The teller said he had a cancellation for next week and he wondered if we would be interested. I committed to it and printed up a few 8 1/2 x 11 posters with a blowup of an ad and some stuff from our website. He told me the bank opens at eight on Monday and I said there was no way I would be there at that hour.

Sure enough the bank called this morning and wondered if we were still planning on setting up a display. Peggi told them we were on the way. When I got there I was the only customer in the bank and the tellers were discussing what satellite radio station to tune into. One of the tellers told another that she couldn’t stand it when customers sang along with the songs so she suggested they choose an instrumental station. I arranged the three posters on the backdrop and spread some business cards around on the table surface and I scattered some Margaret Explosion matches around for good measure.

The soundtrack for my trip down Titus Ave. to the bank was the Hotel Reverie cd that Jen gave us after their sensationally understated performance at the Boulder Fest on Sunday. Jen’s right-on rhythm guitar, dark, enchanting vocals and high heels complete the package while her brother, John, plays drums and carries the equipment. I say this as someone who walks in his shoes. Hotel Reverie has a pretty active calender.

Nod closed the show in style while a cowboy walked in circles in front of the stage. Maybe tomorrow I’ll post some video of that performance.

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Bar Band In Heaven

Captain Beefheart drawing at Red Creek in Rochester, New York in 1977
Captain Beefheart drawing at Red Creek in Rochester, New York in 1977. Photo by Greg Prevost.

I digitized some vinyl the other day. I go tape out of our stereo amp into Quicktime on our laptop and then edit it in Audacity. One of the things I digitized was an old Personal Effects 45. Peggi’s voice and sax sounded too high. Peggi got her sax out to play along and we confirmed that our turntable runs fast. We changed the pitch by -110 cents and it came out fine.

Brad Fox sent me a 33 1/3 book on “Trout Mask Replica” and I’ve been reading that and thinking about the cassette recording I made of Captain Beefheart at the Red Creek in Rochester in 1977. I remembered Beefheart saying something nasty about Drumbo (aka John French) between songs. And of course there are a lot of quotes from Drumbo in the book, some of them lambasting Beefheart. So I got an old cassette deck out of the basement and put the tape in but the deck wouldn’t go into play. It was just sort of froze in the eighties. Luckily we had another old deck down there and I transferred the tape. I posted one of the songs below with the quote from The Captain. You can hear Brad Fox scream as the band begins this song.

I remember there was some dreadful magic act (someone saw Magic Band and thought why not?) that went on first and there were two shows. We went to the second. I still have the ticket. When we got there Greg Prevost (Chesterfield Kings) and Carl Mack’s (Zenith Effluveum get compared to MX-80 in this review) were interviewing The Captain in the parking lot. I think Kevin Patrick’s wife, Corrine, took this photo of him and gave me a print. The stage was still in the front of the room there. The Captain mentioned the the chocolate pie that owner, Jeff Springut, gave him before the show. The band was amazing and included Jeff Moris Tepper, Eric Drew Feldman, Denny Walley and Robert Williams. They faithfully recreated the older material and went on to record “Doc at the Radar Station”.

When David Greenberger was here he was telling us that he was in a Boston band in the eighties called Men & Volts and they did Beefheart covers and Beefheart-like material. I told him about seeing the Trout Mask Replica tour in Columbus at Ludlow’s Garage with Hampton’s Grease Band and the Screaming Gypsy Bandits opening. And he said he was talking to the Bandit’s Mark Bingham in New Orleans about doing a project. And then along comes this little book from Brad.

Captain Beefheart Band at Red Creek in Rochester, NY
Captain Beefheart performing at Red Creek in Rochester, New York in 1977. Photo by Greg Prevost.

Bruce Fowler was also on the Bat Chain Puller lp and by another coincidence we just saw him playing in the band that appeared throughout Robert Altman’s “Short Cuts”. We’ve been watching the entire Altman catalog in order but have been breaking it up with other stuff. It took us three nights to watch that one because I kept falling asleep. So each time we came back to it we re-watched large portions. There is such a large cast in this one and all these interweaving stories that it worked well in small doses. Tom Waits’ character hangs out in this bar where Annie Ross from Lambert, Hendricks and Ross sings with Terry Adams from NRBQ on piano and Bobby Previte on drums and Bruce Fowler on trombone.

Here is my recording of Captain Beefheart Live at Red Creek in Rochester, NY

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