November 10, 2011

Oakland—The Great Laundromat Gig and Occupy Oakland

Category: out-of-town shows — admin @ 8:05 pm

So , we’re pursuing this goal: to establish a toe-hold for the Trike Shop in the Bay Area . Little did we know
it would lead us to The Great Laundromat Gig!

I knew it was gonna be a good
day when , after finding the Norge Laundromat on Grand Street, we found parking right away! (That’s always a good thing
in the Bay Area.) The Norge itself was classic:
cool old machines with the cool old logos and looks—these
machines were definitely analogue not digital, tube not transistor (har har).
The ladies who ran the place were very cool as well. The place seemed like a
very neighborhood-y place—they knew the customers by name, and seemed to be
friends with many of them. So much so, that they were happily open to the idea
of a rock show in their store!
Thanks to the Clarences (Robert and Krystal) being one of
these friend/customers, it all came together.

We’d met The Clarences through our mutual connection with the International Pop
Overthrow Festival (now, how many times has that venerable organization played
this role? All you have to do is read this blog to know the answer. Thank you
IPO!).

We showed up, met the good folks of the establishment, and began setting up all
the doo-dads that make a music show (microphones, keyboards, speaker cabinets,
etc.)

The Clarences are a keyboard duo. Their glam-rock costuming and the action figures that
decorate their gear add to the spice, but the real substance here were the
quality songs. My favorites included one of my fave  pop devices: the counter-melody– Krystal’s
vocals coming in strong over Robert’s.

The Clarences!

Not only did their music satisfy, but their
hospitality was greatly appreciated.

A fun bonus was to have Fresno ex-pates John
Paulson and Paul Ruxton (ex-Central Valley trail-blazers in the world of
New Wave with their band The Directions) come by (along with a bevy of family
members) to see the show.

Our set was solid (even if I started off with a terribly out-of-tune E string).
John tore it up as usual, Martin laid down his flawless bass grooves, and
new-to-the-group Scott Hatfield did a terrific job. (This was Scott’s second
gig with us. He’s filling Leland’s shoes for most of our out-of-town gigs these
days.)

Scott and the soap machine

We even had one of those heart-felt stadium-rock moments with the
laudromat folks singing along to our rendition of “3 is a Magic Number” –even having
our new friend Tasha come on up and sing along!

She knew the verses of "3 is a Magic Number", so we had to invite Tasha up.

After the music, we headed into the heart of downtown to check out the newly famous
Occupy Oakland. It was a sobering experience. It had began to drizzle outside by
the time we got to the tent city that filled the square outside of City Hall.


There were some young activist folks, but a good deal of the people here looked
like they probably lived like this year-round. The area’s homeless were making
up a goodly portion of the crowd. Considering that this protest is a reaction
to the increasingly unbalanced proportions of wealth and opportunity in our
country, that made a lot of sense. I don’t think I felt inspired; I felt sad.
Here was a serious problem with not much hope of any immediate or easy answer.

 

Martin at Occupy Oakland

I wonder if we as a people have the moral will to confront it and deal with it.
It seems we often try to excuse it away, blame it away…or worse yet as we see
here in Fresno, sweep it away by destroying yet another ad hoc camp.

We spoke with a few people. Walked around. Checked it out.  My daughter had been  here at a more euphoric moment—the
Wednesday before when, as she described it, thousands of people were dancing in
the streets. (This was earlier in the day. It wasn’t until much much later that
apparently some things got out of hand—blame who you will.)We
ended our time by driving up to Berkeley, getting soaked (it was really raining
by now),  rummaging through Amoeba
Records on Telegraph, and then by having some Thai food just down the way.

The way home was fine, but I was exhausted. And why do I insist on occasionally
missing that turn-off for the 152….ach, that’ll add a few miles to you trip.

Thanks again to the Clarences. I look forward to setting up some equally cool and
creative kind of gig again soon!

 

 

November 4, 2011

So, SMiLE’s a big deal to me….

Category: Uncategorized — admin @ 9:20 pm

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. 4th.

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.]