blakejonesmusic
local music, local arts, The Underground Garden

playing over the internet at Twirl Radio in Sacramento

Our Sacramento adventure began with Martin and I heading up
the 99. As Martin would say, “It was a good day for a putt.” There had been a
spate of rainstorms on the previous few days, but today, it was all billowy
clouds and intense, blue skies. We were stopping first at James and Raina’s
house in Elk Grove. These are the kind of friends you gotta have: ones that’ll show
you the local record shops, and even let you bed down at their place after a gig.

They took us over to Broadway and 16^th, the site of the
original (as in, first in the whole-wide-world) Tower Records. The drug store
that once  had a record department
destined for fame is gone, but the building with it’s tall, white deco-style
tower that gave it its name, remains. Just next door was a great place simply
called “Records”, cuz that’s what’s inside…and we dug through a bunch of ‘em—best
prize might’ve been James’ “Star Wars Funk” album…just for the cheesy cartoon
cover.

record store cat

Next, it was off to see Mike Lidskin (and the rest of the
band) at Access Sacramento, home of the internet-streamed show “Twirl Radio”. Mike
was his usual super-welcoming self.  We
played a couple-three songs, talked a bit on-air, and generally had a
Twirl-of-a-Time. Simultaneous to Mike playing a bevy of independent pop-centric
music, there’s always a rapid discussion happening on his Facebook page. Here’s
where many of the folks who’s music he
plays and their friends connect. It’s a real nexus for this fervent
bunch of popfans—people chime in from all over the U.S. and all over the world.
Music is traded, connections made, and plans are hatched.

When it was time to go, Mike’s gracious and lovely wife
Amber gave us directions to a good place to eat and relax until we had to get
on to the gig.

The show itself was at Shine, a café in an older building that
was cozy, arty and inviting, with an old fashioned counter/display case that promised
plenty of good eats and drinks.

Trike Shop at the Shine Cafe' in Sacramento

I believe they were set up primarily for smaller, acoustic
acts; special thanks to booker Josh and owner Rena for letting us stretch the
template a bit.

It was a good gig: we got to play in a new place, made some
new friends, had some fun playing an extended set, and it seemed like
management would be happy enough to  have
us come back…so it’s all good.

It’s true, we started off a bit tentatively (or maybe it was
just me), ‘cuz: feeling out a new place, playing a bit soft at first so as not
to overwhelm the PA, having a smallish crowd that hadn’t yet built for the
night ( usually on  your home-turf, even
smaller gigs are well-peppered with friends to hoot and holler you on to
something good)—all of these things kept me from finding my groove for the
first couple of songs..

But in the end, the crowd
built up a bit, and we had some people singing, clapping and reaching a general
state of Rock Ecstasy (ok, but on a really small café’ scale! [laughs]) –and BONUS:
Mike from Twirl came out and sent the show streaming live on the ‘net—thanks
again Mr. Lidskin!] special note: the band that closed the night: J.B. & the Wash..were a young band with a soulful singer-songwriter and a funk-tight bass&drum combo—check them out if you can.

The evening was young, and there was more fun to be had. We
went down one block, and around another, and we were at the Torch Club. As luck
would have it, Fresno boys the Mofo Party Band were bringing their
Chicago-style blues to Sacramento that same night. This small club (reminiscent
in mood of the original Olympic Tavern in our own hometown), was full of folks
dancing and eating it up. After having a couple of unsure moments playing at
Shine, it really made my night when in an extended set-closing number, Bill
Clifton was out in the crowd doing the whole bit: walking on the bar, playing
amongst the crowd, and when he came upon me, he slipped his guitar strap over
his neck and handed me his guitar—oh man! Nice. I slipped it on and played
over a few choruses. (If you’re reading this Bill, that *did* make my night!)
In the words of the Mofos “We’re known all over the world and in parts of Ripon.”

on the club floor at the Torch Club with the Mofo Party Band --Sacramento

And still more was to come. Martin and I headed 15 minutes
south to James & Raina’s place where we were promised a late night in their
lounge…spinning the records we’d bought and having some nice and cool, after-midnight
refreshments. Thank you James & Raina, for spoiling us well!

James and Martin and Raina

So, thus ended this music-filled April weekend.

And now, a short epilogue: On our drive home, I did have to slip in the appropriate
Creedence  CD as we approached Lodi. But this time, I took the off-ramp…and I
tells ya, Lodi is a *lot* more charming than I’d ever expected….for you Central
Valley folks, it’s a lot closer to ..say Hanford than maybe…Chowchilla (which
is more of what I expected from the tone of that old song). There’s a nice and
very alive downtown with 2-3 story brick buildings that have that early 20^th
C. look and tree-lined streets with gracious, old homes that look to be from
the teens or twenties.

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.

see "The Golden Strings of the Forbidden Planet"...part of this year's Rogue Performance Festival--the first weekend in March.

I’ve been spending hours obsessing over these tapes– every single night for about two weeks.

These recordings are the first fruits of our labors. Ellie Choate (harp), John Shafer (percussion), and myself are working up a body of material that will feature the harp and the theremin. One of our first public performances will be for the 11th annual Rogue Performance Festival. My friend Brad Hufft, through the non-profit new-music assosiaction “Orpheus”, is sponsoring this show, along with some others in the festival. Our recordings, along with the works of some local electronic music composers, will be released on CD compilation available in March. Our show is called “The Golden Strings of the Forbidden Planet!”..click here for more info.

So, on top of trying to put together a set of music to perform, we’ve also been hustling to get these tapes in shape. And while the theremin can sometimes be forgiven its rather ….unique approach to ‘tuning accuracy’ in-person (you know, with all that magical arm waving to distract the audience), on a recording, you need it to be just right—and this is straight to analogue tape. No Pro-Tools. No ‘auto-tune’. This brings us back to those words “obsessing” and “every single night”. But as of this morning, when just a couple more lines were re-recorded, and one last piece mixed (for the…upteenth time), it is signed, sealed and delivered.

Here is the list of our first performances. Come see them all—and buy the CD!

Sun., Feb. 26 at 3pm in the Ellipse Gallery of Fresno State’s Henry Madden Library.

Fri. March 2nd  6:15pm at Veni Vidi Vici–part of the Rogue Performance Festival

Sat. March 3rd at 3:45pm at Veni Vidi Vici–part of the Rogue Performance Festival

Sun. March 4th at 2:30pm at Veni Vidi Vici–part of the Rogue Performance Festival

Thurs. March 8th at 8pm at The Tower Theater–opening for Herman Rarebell of The Scorpions

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!

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.

Sunday, May 29th and Monday May 30th

—  London-Manchester-Bolton-Manchester-Fresno (via Philadelphia and Phoenix)

Today was the day for traveling home. Actually, Neptune had left late the night before.

Neptune trying on impossibly expensive but pretty cool clothes in The Face on Carnaby Street.

He’d taken a bus back up to Manchester for an early flight back home. Later, he related the adventure of a middle-of-the-night bus trip filled with disappointed Manchester football fans after Italy won the European Cup (see Saturday’s  post–”Day 8″).

John, Leland and I  had a Monday morning flight out of Manchester, so we figured we could get ourselves and our baggage over to Euston Station (from which we could travel to Manchester) and then perhaps do some last minute souveneir shopping or looking around. When we got to the train station, we checked our bags into the storage room and headed for the exit. I noticed on the map, that we were right next to the Bloomsbury neighborhood–a neighborhood that looms large in the legend of Virginia Woolf. Being a fan, I convinced John and Leland that it’d be great fun to go and explore a bit. They kindly relented. First, we found a big, beautiful bookstore (formerly “Dylan’s”..can’t ‘member the current name). I found a book about Virginia Woolf and scribbled down some local addresses.

Here’s the email I sent the band explaining the addresses soon after we returned:

note: in spite of what this blog implies, it's not commonly believed that Virginia Woolf ever viewed the film "That Hideous Sun Demon"

From 1907-1911 Virginia lived with her brother Adrian at 29 Fitzroy Square–the second place we visited.
They renewed these “Thursday Evenings” here, but I think the focus was more on discussions of the various
beat groups in Liverpool, and which ones had the tightest trousers.
 

the source for the discussion of 'Liverpool beat groups" amongst Ms. Woolf and her friends is of dubious quality.

Sometime in 1911 Virginia meets Leonard Woolf (future husband and publishing collaborator) for the second
time at the 46 Gordon Square address, so the other siblings must’ve held onto that address for a bit.
 
There are other ‘big’ addresses in V.’s history..so probably even more plaques I can search out some day…like where the Woolf’s started their ‘indie’ pubishing house “Hogarth Press” which published V.’s books as well as T. S. Elliot.
 
The economist, who beat out V. for the plaque on that first house moved there in 1916. Below are some bits from wikipedia about who the heck John Keynes is…I think I’ve heard people use the term Keynesian…and I bet his books are even harder to read than Ms. Woolf’s. She is also more attractive.”

a view of Gordon Square

After this Virginia Woolf excursion, we found a nearby tube station and headed back to Tourist Central..which seemed to be around Leicester Square. There were still a few more William and Kate (royal wedding, you know) coffee mugs to buy! After a bit of shopping (Do they actually raise the prices on the weekends? It sure seemed like it.), it was time to get on the train up to Manchester.

It's sort of a "Where's Waldo?" pic in Picadilly Circus. Spot Leland and John.

On the train, it was our turn to experience the mass exodus of football fans back up to Manchester. We spent the entire trip sitting on our suitcases on the floor…sort of between the bathrooms and the dinner car. We were right in the line of traffic for the football folk to walk past with their massive shopping bags full of beer bottles a’ klinkin’. A nice enough trip in spite of the luxury commodations..we were in Manchester by dinner time…and time for another walk! (Oh boy!) We asked some locals where to get something good to eat…and c’mon Leland, Chinatown wasn’t all *that* far to lug our suitcases (laughs), and the Thai restaurant *was* pretty darn good! Then it was back to Bolton, where Olly and family graciously put us up for *another* night–bless the good people of Bolton! In the morning, he and his father drove us into Manchester to the airport…and we were off. Several long flights…Manchester to Philadelphia, Philadelphia to Phoenix (where we had fun reviewing pictures from the trip, and called home [Lauri and Tague were having a blast in Nashville after seeing my neice get  married in Kentucky..they live in NYC...long story with lots of  purdy pictures for another blog somewhere!]). Back home to Fresno by around 9:30pm . Todd picked me up—bless the nice people of Kingsburg!—-and that…is the end of this story.  Great tour. Great friends. Great time.

Had to stick this picture in somewhere. There's this old church...across the street from EMI Abbey Road studios...and the church has these two more modern wings--condos built onto either side. Interesting.

David Bash and the International Pop Overthrow Festival

David Bash mc'ing at The Cavern in Liverpool. (photo by the late-great Wil Woodrowe)

For years now, David Bash has put these festivals together. (The Los Angeles edition will have it’s FOURTEENTH (!!) annual run this summer.)

The “IPO” as it’s called for short, happens in many cities in the U.S. including: L.A., Detroit, Seattle, San Francisco, Phoenix, San Diego, Chicago (the list goes on) as well as internationally in Vancouver, Liverpool and London.

 More than just a festival, the IPO has created a network and a community amongst independent, melodic pop/rock bands that is immensely valuable. Both the Liverpool and London shows we did were part of the IPO in those cities. In fact, our Manchester appearances were  set up by one  Olly Neasham (see below)–whom we connected with through our mutual connection to the IPO. They’ve been a valuable resource to us and hundreds of other bands. Viva la IPO!

[Our next appearance at the IPO festival will be in Los Angeles on the afternoon of Saturday, August 13th at a club called Fais Do Do.]

for more info, visit:  www.internationalpopoverthrow.com

Olly Neasham

Olly last summer at Spinner's Records in Fresno

Neasham and his family took us in, housed us, fed us and treated us one of their own. We owe them great thanks.

Olly set up our gig at Manchester’s “Tiger Lounge” as well as an opportunity to talk with and perform for some of his fellow students at the music college that he attends.

Neasham is a soulful singer and songwriter who performs solo and with his band Jacksonville Skyline. Great stuff! Check his music out by clicking here.

Andrew Hickey

Another friend we saw on this trip was Andrew Hickey. We met him after some internet correspondence during The Trike Shop’s last trip to Liverpool in 2007. Hickey is working on a multi-book project detailing the work of The Beach Boys on CD. I ordered his book at and devoured it within a few days. I’d t hought I’d read enough about this subject, but the mark of a good book of this type?—it made me want to go back and listen to the albums all over again to pick up on the things he was talking about. Fun too, that while the Beach Boys are such an archetypical California experience, here’s their recordings covered by someone who grew up nowhere around here, and has fun with the fact that the American high school experience and the surf/hot rod culture (and it’s lingo) is quite foreign to him.

check out this page to order: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/andrew1308 It features a few different books that he’s written, and hardcover, softcover and downloadable versions of the Beach Boys book.

Saturday, May 28th—London

Today was the date of our last show for the tour—another gig for the International Pop Overthrow Festival. We were scheduled for 4:15, but time slots can be a changeable  thing at a festival; the schedule might have flexed a bit, but it turned out great.
It was a nice slow morning. Leland was off in the neighborhood doing some souvenier shopping. Neptune had gone into the city center to do some recon for his journey home that was to begin tonight. I went wandering down the street. Popped into a shop or two and even into the local library (looked much like any small branch library back home).
Around mid-day, Leland and I took off for the gig. We had to find the venue, then take a cab to a nearby audio equipment rental place, and then get the keyboard back for the festival that afternoon.
This equipment place was massive. It seemed to have offices, a warehouse and, we think, a sound studio or two (for rehearsal? recording?).

Anyways, we got the keyboard, got into the taxi cab, who’s clock was ticking loudly and expensively, and got back to our venue: The Bull and Gate in the Kentish Town neighborhood of London.

We played through the door marked 'venue'. The more traditional 'pub' part of the building was just to the right--though they were sort of connected.

Since we were a bit early, and pubs don’t seem to serve tea, and I was still being careful with my voice, we stepped next door to a sort of luncheon cafe’ and had a cuppa.

The cafe'/luncheonette next door.

We heard a lot of good music that afternoon. In fact, I was much impressed by the high-level of excellence displayed by the bands we watched at both IPO Liverpool and London. The funny thing about today’s show, is that , in looking at the festival program, it doesn’t match up very well to the planned proceedings (laughs). First I heard   an excellent solo performer. Then came Squire–a terrific mod-style band. I commented to IPO director David Bash that they reminded me of The Jam, and he told me that they were a key band in the Mod Revival of that time. Soon afterward they played “Walking Down King’s Road” a single of there’s that I recognized from a compilation I had back in the day. Great fun. I can’t quite recall the exact order…but we heard The Mayflowers, a slamin’ three-piece of power-pop from Japan. I think we were next…

The Trike Shop at the Bull and Gate. ( I'm guessing'Club Fandango" must be some sort of recurring thing/promoter in this venue?)

Good gig. We felt confident and played well. Reports were, that the sound was very good. A very very satisfying last show for the tour (except it wasn’t quite the last…).

(thanks to Gene Day for this photo and the one just above!)

Then came the Beta Rays, another terrific band, and they were nice enough to say how they’d enjoyed our set. After this was Mini, a terrifically talented band—I’ve been calling them the Poplord of London. (…while we all know Poplord is from Fowler, Ca!). They all sang and played with great skill AND they had songs worth the playing! Good stuff.

Celebratory photo after (what we thought was) our last set of the tour.

Somewhere in here, David Bash informs us that one of the scheduled acts has had a breakdown on the motorway between here and Liverpool, could we play another set? And of course, the opportunity to play was accepted with happiness. The crowd was a bit thinner the second time around, but we had a great time and rocked it up, throwing in the songs from the tour that we hadn’t done in that afternoon’s previous set. Both shows were captured  very well on a three-camera video shoot with pretty good sound. My band mates had the foresight to make sure we acquired these. I’m sure we’ll put some of this material out…youtube?, copies for sale at gigs?… Anyhow, two very fun sets captured on ‘film’ for a great document of this week of music..

Neptune tunes while I scribble out an alternate set list for our second final show of the tour.

And after all that, another fantastic highlight was a Swedish gentleman called David Myhr. He played his first four songs solo on acoustic guitar, then closed his set with a number of songs with Mini backing him. Wonderful! I’m going to have to search out  this guys music, it’s pretty fantastic.

A nice picture of The Bull and Gate courtesy of Gene Day.

So that’s how the musical portion of the tour closed. A great time was had by all. (We even saw some more Fresnans. Gene Day (known locally for his work as a sound engineer) and his wife were in London on business and learned that we were playing. He also supplied a few of the photos in today’s posting.)

After the gig, we popped next door to the cafe’ for some food. We were all very hungry. John and Neptune hopped across the street ( I wish we had photos of the hopping) and got some pizza. I ordered my first ‘fish and chips’ of the trip there at the cafe’. After supper, it was time to head on back to Golders Green and see Neptune off for his long trip home.

cool building in Kentish Town on our way back to the tube station.

[special note: At the same time as our show, a huge soccer ...sorry...'football' match was going on in London. Spain vs. Manchester. The European Cup...which I guess is a  HUGE deal. (This may have accounted for the slightly thin crowd during our second set.) The 'pub' side of the Bull and Gate was packed with folks watching on the television. This game, and it's fall-out would affect our journies  home. (see more in the Last Installment of the UK tour!!! coming soon...)]

Good night Kentish Town.

Friday, May 27th   —London.

My journal entry for this day (from a notebook I was carrying) consists mostly of a long list of places that we saw as we walked through London with the help of Leland and his “Beatles Walking Tour” book. Of course, along the way, we saw many non-Beatle-related London-ey things as well. (This book had the details though: “here’s the Gentelmen’s toilets that Lennon posed in front of to promote the so-and-so TV appearance he did for Peter Cook’s TV special” and such.)

John leaps down to the loo in Broadwick Street.

another John...copying our idea!

It’s a testament to how many miles we walked and how tired we were that I only had the energy at the end of the day to make a list. The weather forecast called, as was usual for our London stay, a goodly chance of rain. The threatened rain, since this was our day set aside to be ‘tourists’, thankfully never came.

Here’s that list:

• Radha Krishna Temple

The Beatles gave the Krishnas a lot of support to set up in London.

• M.P.L.–Soho Square (McCartney’s business offices )

[reportedly has an exact duplicate of the Abbey Road Studio #2 in the basement...We should all have one of those.]

• Trident Studios

 ”Hey Jude” and “Dear Prudence” are among the handful of White Album-era songs recorded here. [They had an 8-track recorder a little sooner than EMI.] George Harrison recorded his first post-Beatles album, the triple-set “All Things Must Pass” at Trident.  Also many of the other artists on Apple Records were recorded here. Many other noted artists recorded here in the early 70′s, including Free, Genesis, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones…for more on Trident Studios…go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trident_Studios.)

mmmm. sandwhich break.

• The Toilets in Broadwick Street (see pics above)

• Carnaby Street 

Once a place where the pop stars shopped in the ‘swinin’ 60′s’,  it’s now mostly chain stores of the ‘Banana Republic’ sort.

Although this is just the sort of place that I would like to find on Carnaby St., I must admit, it's just me being a 'certain type' of tourist. They charged accordingly. Cool stuff though.

• The London Palladium

Ringo felt that if they ever played the Palladium, they would’ve really ‘made it’. They played here in ’63.

• Brian Epstein’s offices

• former “Bag o’ Nails” club

late night McCartney hang out (He met first-wife Linda Eastman here.) Also site of early Jimi Hendrix Experience gig.

• 3 Saville Row

  

  #3 Saville Row--the former Apple Records offices.

Apple Records office where the Beatles performed on the rooftop.

The famous rooftop of the famous Apple Records where they played their famous songs...

• Prince of Wales Theater

 (Beatle’s Royal Command Performance in ’63)

• Marlyebone Rail Station and the alley adjoining

(scenes from Hard Day’s Night filmed here, including the chase scenes at the beginning.)

Here's the alley. Cue film music...

Abbey Road EMI Studios (and the famous crosswalk outside)

another shot of the Abbey Road crossing...I hadn'd realized it was so close to the EMI Abbey Road studios...but that's them all in blue scaffolding.

We took a bus home. Check 'ride a double-decker bus' off the tourist check list.