blakejonesmusic
local music, local arts, The Underground Garden

my newly-signed old LP copy of "Ragin' Full-On".

Friday began a musical weekend deluxe! On this evening, Fulton
55, the downtown Fresno club at which we’d just played that KFSR benefit, was
bringing in punk/funk/indie legends, fIREHOSE. Mike Watt and crew have been
heroes of mine for decades now.

Way, way, back-when, on a day-off putt to Ventura to check out
record stores and what-not. My old pal Ross lit up our freeway ride in his VW
bus with a  cassette of the Minutemen.
Here was a band of such energy, rawness and creativity, *and* it sounded like
three actual human beings playing the music they loved in someone’s living room
(and believe me, that last was a rarity in the mid-80’s). I loved it and felt
an immediate kinship (esp. since most of our music happened in a living room).
Later, the Minutemen lost their guitarist D. Boon to a road accident.
Eventually, along with Ed fROMOHIO, the surviving Minutemen formed fIRHOSE.

I only had the chance to see them live once before: at
the Palomino in North Hollywood. A few memories from that night still stick:

*Mike Watt breaking his bass—Nobody does this, esp. to a P-bass.  You can drive over one of these things with a
truck. And I don’t mean he pulled a Pete Townshend. No, just by his relentless
smackeroo-ing, he busted the bridge or the nut or something—had to borrow the
opening band’s bass.

• They covered the
  Who’s “A Quick One”, not once, but twice! They had said that they were
  recording that night for a CD release. When they did the song for the second
  time, for their encore, I thought they were making sure they got the perfect
  take for the record (though both takes were breathtakingly aggressive and
  wonderful). And when the record came out (Live Totem), it wasn’t on there!
• After the show,
  Watt didn’t go off to any back-stage or private retreat, he stepped off the lip
  of the stage, and started talking with the mob of kids around him. He was like
  the cooler, experienced, older Uncle of Indie. So down-to-earth. So proletarian.
  I loved it. Made a big impression.

It was this everyman approach
that made this impression so deep. Their “Indie” wasn’t a marketing term/radio
programming category, but Indie as a way to conduct your Music Life—real people
doing real honest things independently– bypassing marketing firms,  and fakeness. (One time we sent a tape of our
then-band to SST Records. We got a handwritten note from Watt himself…isn’t
that crazy? I hope Ross still has that somewhere…)

Stuff that stuck with me
about last Friday’s show:

• George Hurley ,
  the drummer, volunteering to get up out of his comfy pre-show relaxation chair
  and go look for Ed when I was seeking a full-set of autographs on the LP I was
  lugging around. I had to convince him to sit back down. He nodded but said, “We’ll make sure it happens.”
  Crazy, right?
• Watt watching
  Hurley the entire show. The entire show. Ok, not when he did the vocal on the
  maybe three songs he sang on, but the rest of the time.
• There was the occasional music cue: a nod, a mouthed “One, two, three..”, but mostly, he
  had a funny smirk on his face. It was all eye-contact and beyond-lingual
  communication with this guy who’d been his friend and musical partner since kid-times.
  Like some older guys sittin’ on the porch, watching a crazy world, and giving
  each other knowing looks.
• I finally got my other two autographs from Ed and Watt as they came off the stage –my pal Fran
  laughed and said “ah, I’d never seen the fanboy in you come out before this!”(Actually
  owner Tony Martin helped me get the last of the three by handing the record
  cover over to Ed as he was gathering  his guitar and pedals and stuff off of the stage.)Watt looked tired—a couple weeks of straight gigging and they were about to go on to Coachello the next day—not sure if he was trying to conserve his energy, or the touring had been exhausting, but he graciously signed a few autographs and posed for a couple of pictures with folks. I wish him well, and as it is with heroes that you don’t know personally, you can’t really *tell* them thank you so much, but you sure do feel it.

pic stole from John Shafer (who may have been responsible in a roundabout way...for getting me into SMiLE..but that's another story.

It was the middle-80s and everything sounded like machines
to me:  gated snares, the midi-d  keyboards, the digital reverbs and drum machines. I remember
my  long-time pal and musical partner Ross played me Tom Waits (Swordfish Trombones or Raindogs) and Jonathan
Richmond. These, plus XTC’s “Skylarking” and whatever bits of SMiLE I could get
my hands on pretty much kept me going during this time. Real warm, human music.
I had a copy of what I think was the first widely released SMiLE bootleg, the
one Ross had got from Mike Thornton and we’d copied onto cassette, a year or so
before, but now I had that next generation one…the CD  that had the extended bits of “Heroes
&  Villians”, the SMiLE version of
Vegetables and several other choice bits. I remember being so excited when I
found it at Go Boy Records down in Redondo Beach. That find… it made the day so
good!

[I’d like to convey
the crazy obsession that I had with SMiLE at the time. I was reading the famous
David Leaf bio of The Beach Boys. I was trying to find the albums made just
after SMiLE---“Friends”, “20-20”, “Wild Honey” (I’d had Smiley Smile even
before I’d caught the SMiLE bug.) I searched all over Fresno for these albums,
but they were long out-of-print and hard to find. (I eventually found most of
them in Santa Cruz…used at Logos on Pacific probably.)I have a strong
summertime memory of reading that book, listening to these records while eating
pistachios and drinking Dr. Pepper!T he aforementioned Ross and I were trading
anecdotes we read about, or interviews we’d found, or videos we’d seen. I
remember assembling interviews and pics related to SMiLE found in music papers
and magazines and such and assembling them into a sort of collage that I put
into a frame and hung in the main living room of the house me and my band-mates
had first moved into when we moved down to Los Angeles. Then there was the strange
trips over and somewhere past  Simi Valley, to the guy who lived in his pajamas and dealt in bootleg records. He had some stuff on tape that *no-one* had heard: weird mixes of Bicycle Rider
and even a session tape from “California Girls”, a strange mix of McCartney’s
“Band on the Run”. He’d play this stuff and say “Do  you recognize this tune? Can you tell what’s
different here?” I think he was testing me.  He kept talking about assembling a new and
better version of SMiLE that would really blow everyone’s mind. (I don’t think
he ever did. Part of me wonders if he’s still in his pajamas, and another part
is thankful for the rare bits and pieces he shared with me.)]

I was fascinated with counter-point: melodies and parts
interlocking and raising each other up. This idea was all over Brian Wilson’s
music, and in SMiLE, he had *that* as well as all the interesting textures
(like Tom Waits) and the innocent heart-warmth (like Jonathan Richmond); all
these interests of mine came together and were amplified in multiple headphone
listens of SMiLE.

Years later:

I sat in my backyard and listened to Wilson’s 2004 version.
It really choked me up. All these bits and pieces had come together, and it was
lovely. I really loved the (Van Dyke Parks-made?) orchestral ‘link tracks’.
Several of the new tunes grabbed me..”InBlueHawaii”,etc.. One or two of the editorial
decisions weren’t ones that I’d have made (ha, like they’d ask me!)…but I loved
it. I loved the CD and loved the one opportunity I had to see it performed
live.

Now it’s 2011, and just yesterday, I pulled the fascinating
little contraption out of the treasure-box-like package. I didn’t want to rush
over to the disc player or turntable. I
had a commitment for the next few hours, and I didn’t want touch this
thing until I had some time to really give it my full concentrated attention.
So that night, I started with the vinyl (guessing it’d be the closest thing to
the experience of someone in 1966, if it had actually been finished at that
time).

Here are notes that  I scribbled late last night:

Nov.3rd

Most impressed by side
3’s Wind Chimes and the various building bits at the end.

And wondering ..was
that Brian Wilson’s vocal and not Carl’s on “Surf’s Up”?

New stuff?    Mostly
little tiny vocal overdubs onto tracks I’ve heard before.

Happy they used the
mostly original single version of Good Vibrations with some amusing additions.  /”Fire”+the
vocals from “Fall Breaks Into Winter” was very cool and disturbing(as that
piece should be). My reaction to the music as a whole was not as emotional as
when I heard Brian Wilson’s first completed version from his 2004 release…but
emotional reactions can be explained by many outside factors. I think I felt
that the 2004 version was a closure….the First Completion. The MasterWork is
finally finished and it’s beautiful. This version feels like the Ultimate Fan’s
version of the 2004 work.—-they got a free Christmas Day in the Capital
vaults and could assemble the Final Beautiful Fan’s Version…and it is
beautiful…with the young Beach Boys’
perfect blend and heart-breaking vocals.

But the 2004 version
flows in a more organic fashion. This does feel a bit more like a re-creation,
where your hoping-for-the-best fan imagination fills in the gaps made by some
odd digital leaps and skips.

I felt like I was
opening some lost religious icon treasure when I opened the box set and saw
it’s component parts.  The “Barnyard” “I’m In Great Shape” bits felt awkward and
ProToolzed-out.

Back to Nov. 4^th.

With today’s re-listen I like it even more. Yeah, there are
pieces missing, but I’m very very happy to
have this nicely put together package…what with it’s documentation and
much-improved-over -the-bootlegs soundquality. And though the 2004 version is wonderful…these recordings have that rich vocal blend…you know *those* voices.

[hahaha, I’m still listening to the sessions on the other
disc…and I just heard Murray Wilson butt in, and Brian saying “Come on, Dad.
Leave me alone.” Hahaha. A bonus for us super-geeks who know too much about
Brian Wilson’s dad and Murray’s  glass
eye.]

EARLY SUMMER
…in which we finish up two albums of stuff and play a couple of gigs

After physically recovering from the tour, or perhaps before, work on several projects began. We had promised our kickstarter.com fundraiser backers an unplugged CD, and we’d promised particularly generous ones a custom-made song. Most of the recording on the unplugged CD had been done before our trip.
There were a few overdubs..some guitar solos, some harmony vocals, etc. yet to do. First I had to get that done, and then mix it. It was done within a few weeks of our return. In fact we were so proud of the results that we talked about giving it a more general release. Perhaps we will.
And now on to the custom song: I had about 8 to write and record…it became a quickly made…sort of ‘album of demos’….similar maybe to that series that Pete Townshend put out called “Scoop”. But still…finishing two albums in maybe a month’s time..and right on the tail end of this tour, it *was* a busy time in the shag-carpeted wonderland of Whispermaphone Studios.
We also got a couple of live performances in: one, a show for our pals in Food Not Bombs over in Roeding Park, and our “Welcome Home Show” at Full Circle Brewery.

LATE SUMMER/ EARLY FALL
—in which I Iose my voice again and we work on getting more out-of-town gigs

I started to lose my singing voice at the beginning of August. We had another International Pop Overthrow Fest gig (in L.A.) on August 13th. It was painful. We only had to play a 25 minute set. We hedged our bets by putting in three theremin songs, and rehearsed “Everybody’s Got an Andy Story” with Leland singing the high part and me singing his lower harmony. It went o.k., but then we played a cool arrangement of the Kinks’ “Polly” that we’d worked out, and I just couldn’t do it. Luckily, the friendly crowd sang along on the ‘na na na’s’ and it wasn’t a total disaster…but it was scary. My voice was just not working.
This set off a series of doctor visits..and a series of mood swings between hope and depression. As of now (early October), the doctor says I *will* sing again. In fact, just last night (October 1st), we played in Fresno’s FUSE Festival. We did a show in which I sang several songs (though Tom Magill of Poplord sat in to cover “Virginia Woolf”, “Forestiere Gardens” and bits of “Fighting the Big Dumb Noise”). We have a gig in two weeks at a house party
in Sacramento, and then a gig up in Oakland. I’m hoping the doctor’s prescribed mix of medicine and a diet not unlike that of a cloistered monk, will get those vocal chords happy and cooperative. Any and all prayers and good wishes out there are much appreciated.

Please click HERE. It’ll take you to our Kickstarter.com page. There’s an amusing video that tells you about our upcoming England Tour
(may 20-may 30). It’s kinda like Public TV…but with cooler premiums! For example…for a 20 dollar plege, you get an exclusive un-plugged CD that we’re recording just for this fund-raiser. A bit more gets you a song written and recorded *just for you*, and a bit more gets you a live performance for you party/event/etc. DANG—-you DO get some fabulous prizes! (and you’ll also be playing an important part in sending one of your most beloved local art-pop bands [smile] on their tour of Jolly ol’). Thanks for your consideration! No donation is too small or too large—but time’s limited…if we don’t get it by our kickstarter deadline of May 16, we get nothing…we even forfeit the pledges we’ve recieved so far….so please help us out. THANK YOU! (Pledging is super easy….and the page shows you how…you can even do it through your Amazon.com account…which, if you’ve ever ordered anything through Amazon…you already have–easy schmeasy!

So we’ve done our new Rogue Festival show twice so far.
They’ve been a blast.
Two dates left.
Friday, March 11th at 5:30pm
and
Saturay, March 12th at 2:30 in the afternoon.
Both shows at the Starline in Fresno’s Tower District.
Here’s the little descriptive paragraph from the festival’s program:

Police entanglements, Fresno city permits, hellhounds on their trail, pitiless club owners, wives and girlfriends on the brink of losing patience. Will the band ever fulfill their dream and make it to the Big Show? Long-time Rogue Festival favorites: Jamie Holt, Josh Tehee and Blake Jones & the Trike Shop (and a few special guest dancers from Baba For Now) take the stage in this rockshow-styled romp for those of us somewhere between dreaming and ripping our teeth out.

also..go check out Josh and Jamie’s show “Birds and Bees”…details at: http://roguefestival.com/rogue2011/?p=119
also also….our kickstarter campaign is taking off. THANK YOU. As of this writing, we’re 1/4th of the way there….with 69 days to go.
Help us out if you can. Watch the video at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1103229473/run-blake-jones-and-the-trike-shop-out-of-town?ref=lives….help

Yes, we’ve taken on quite a lot this Spring, but it’s all good stuff.
Friday night we’re doing our annual benefit show for Food Not Bombs over at Full Circle Brewery.
At the same time, we’re rehearsing for our Rogue Festival show: “Big Show or Bust” with Josh Tehee and Jaime Holt
and Todd Severson and the dancers Kara and Andrea from BabbaForNow….AND, I’ve been setting up
a kickstarter.com fundraiser for our English tour in May. Whew. Sort of tired tonight…but ready for the snowball to start rolling
down the hill (not a great metaphor for Spring activities….but the cartoon visual is apt).
[Pictured above is the Rogue show's 'pre-flyer'--the teasing flyer before the real flyer.]

Internet radio–the kind you can listen to while surfing the ‘net, doing your homework, or writing The Great American Novel on your computer–is a haven and fertile soil for underground/independent bands. Great thanks to PopGardenRadio, Twirl Radio, ShockPop, Don Campau’s No Pigeon Holes, and others for showing such over-whelming support for The Trike Shop and our fellow tune-ful indie-pop bands! Click on those links in the last sentence, find the schedules, and tune in!
—and also, big thanks to Endless Summer Quarterly..the long-standing magazine of surf music/culture. They have a virtual jukebox (it looks like a jukebox) that includes lots of musicians associated with Brian Wilson’s band, and the Beach Boys’ band [click here to see/hear it]—we’re honored to have a track of our own up there this week (among musicans such as The Wondermints, The Rip Chords and Jeffrey Foskett) : “Music to Change Clothes By” from the “Theremins of Mystery” album.

Planting seeds, getting your ducks in a row….whatever metaphor you wish to use, that’s what this last part of 2010 is about for me. It’s not a time for promoting or gigging…it’s a time for laying the groundwork.

The Trike Shop hasn’t played for the last two months, and probably won’t for at least another month or so. Leland’s knee is on the mend, and it gives us a good opportunity to take that smallish break from gigging and set things up for some big projects in 2011.

There’s a sort of mini-rock musical that we’re putting together for the Rogue Festival at the beginning of March. This looks like it’ll be great fun and quite a challenge. We’ll be collaborating with two friends: Jamie Holt and Josh Tehee who have run succesful Rogue shows for the last couple of years.

The other big project of early 2010 will be a tour of England. Four years ago we did a series of shows in Liverpool and a town in the central/northern part of England called Bradford. This time, with the help of several friends, we’ll be setting things up in the North again with Liverpool, Bolton and Manchester and then heading down to London. I can not wait…but there’s lots to set up to make sure that everything happens as we wish.

So yeah…..lots of ducks to set up in a row…

Better and more complete coverage of this giant grass-roots effort of a festival can be found at thefresnan.com….esp. HERE.
or at the official festival site : www.fusefest.com
or check the expansive and wonderful coverage given
by the Fresno Bee. Click here.

I just thought I’d ramble on about my own festy experiences of that weekend:
For me, the whole weekend was colored by the fact that I was scabbed and limping from a bicycle crash I’d had the week before.
So the fest, as wondrous as it was, was seen through a cloud of Advil and a bit of leg pain.
Friday night we had a lot of fun in the un-likely (actually, nothing is unlikely at the FUSE fest! [laughs]) venue of The LampPost, a friendly but off-the-beaten path bar in Downtown Fresno. (Considering that Downtown Fresno is very off-the-beaten path for probably 75% of Fresnans, you can see how off-the-beaten path this place was.)
Strange Vine opened the night up and were one of the highlights of the whole weekend for me. This band has depth and power. Dare I say it?…they rock.
I played a couple of songs solo…started off shaky, but with the encouragement of friends, delivered the songs in fairly decent form.
Josh Tehee (our revered Leader o’ the Fest) did a couple solo tunes in one of the strongest solo sets I’d ever seen him do.
Saturday:
Unloading P.A.s. Deciding where they go. Hooking them up. Watching the clock click perilously close to opening time….this was the afternoon.
By the time I got to the Iron Bird Cafe’ (my station of duty), things were mellow. I set up the PA in peace. The first band arrived.
They played quite well, but didn’t seem to invite anyone to come watch.
The second act, was a piano playing man who played a sort of New Orleans-y sort of blues and boogie-woogie. Still the audience was light. (Most of the acts and venues were a couple blocks further down Fulton.)
The third act was my own band. We set up. Audience thickened out nicely. We played a very powerful set (if I may say so myself). Everyone locked in, and the spirit was good.
Next came Third Rail Power Trip. This was the fourth time I’d seen them, and the best they’d sounded so far. I only stayed for the first half of the set, because Lauri had come and I only had a short window of opportunity to go down and check out the other bits of the festival—-Kendall covered the venue for me. (and thanks to Kristy and Ray for their invaluable help at the door!!!)
We stopped for a drink at Tokyo Garden, then headed down to the Warnor’s end of the street. The venues looked great. We got to see a few songs from a jazz band under the marquee of the Warner’s Theater and a few songs from Fierce Creatures (they were a blast…and they benefited visually from the cool lights and shadows on that Frank’s Place stage). We also got to peek into the dance venue when DJ Bradley was spinning the records—it all sounded and looked good.
Then we drove (remember the limp) back down to Iron Bird and caught about half of J.J. Brown’s set.
Special thanks to Ray for helping load the P.A. afterwards—saved my life (and my knee!).
It’s true that we have some things to learn and tweek to make FUSE the sort of festival we dream it can be, but on the other hand, even those who’ve pointed out some of its imperfections would have to admit, better an imperfect (but awesome!) festival happening with more than 30 local bands downtown…..than no festival with 30 local bands happening downtown at all.
Here’s hoping FUSE IV climbs onward and upward towards super-wonderfulness.

Big thanks to Marcel for coming over and getting our new home computer set up. It’s great to have friends with mad skills.

But now my car’s crippled. *sigh* It’s always something…

THere ARE three cool Trike Shop gigs coming up in October:

1) This Friday (the 1st) –We’re providing the entertainment for Creative Fresno’s monthly ‘blender’. Info www.creativefresno.com

2) Sat. Oct. 9th—John Lennon Birthday Bash over at Full Circle Brewery. We’re playing with The Loungemen. Peppering the sets with plenty o’ Lennon tunes. Should be fun. Directions: www.fullcirclebrewing.com

3) Saturday, October 23rd—3rd annual Fresno Urban Sound Experience (aka The FUSE Festival). Multi-venue, multi-band showcase of more than 30 local bands + DJ’s in Fresno’s downtown. info: www.fusefest.com