the white sunglasses band

this photo and accompanying note came today from Peter, who just returned from a Japanese tour with my son, Spencer.


tour was amazing. went very smooth. spencer was received very well and we both made tons of comrades and friends while we were out there. he impressed numerous journalists with his extensive knowledge of japanese music. attached is a photo of our band we pieced together for our finale show in tokyo. the white sunglasses band. 2 bassists, guitar (T from green milk) me and spency.
enjoy,
will send more flicks soon!
peter

Riffing with Misha

I wasn't sure what to expect when I called Misha Mengelberg, one of the founders of the Instant Composers Pool on the last Saturday morning in March. I'd been told it might not be an easy interview, I figured I'd improvise, and honestly we both had a blast once we got rolling, talking about religion, politics, history, and sometimes music.
We began with confused conversation about when the group was coming to California, and furthermore what day of the week it was (the day before April Fool's Day). Misha was in a hotel in Washington D.C. ICP was set to play at the Library of Congress that night.

Tonight you play at the Library of Congress.
That's right. It's next door to where we are now.
What do you think about that?
I think Americans have some regard for our music, and are keeping all that stuff. You'd think they'd want to capitalize on it. I would think it's impossible to capitalize on our way of playing. That's hard I think. I don't think many people would put money on it. (laughs)
Has it been a hard way to earn a living for you?
Sometimes, most of the time...
But you've been at it for a long time.
Yes, but the people in Holland now say that we should skip all the provisions and subsidies for musicians and all that. And we should go and do real work. (laughs)
So there was public support for artists and musicians but it's changing.
Since World War II ended they were supporting the arts. Painting first because we have such famous painters, then music a little bit. There were some Dutch composers in the Middle Ages who did rather well, no financially, but with some fame like Orlande de Lassus and a few others. I could go on for a short while...
Was it church music?
Yes, the church put some money into composers writing masses and things like that.
I suppose you always have to find some way to get paid...
Oh sure, that's an important aspect of everything, even music.
I don't imagine you chose this path because you thought it would be a great way to earn a living.
Oh, no, no, no. Far from that.
You say if the government has its way you'll have to get a real job. What job would that be?
I could start a greengrocer or something. That might be helpful. I won’t do that, but maybe I should.
This may be a dangerous question to ask...
No, no, there are only dangerous answers.
OK, what is an instant composition?
Well, well, if I would know that maybe I would be rich now. And I am not rich. An instant composer seems to be somebody who is just fantasizing that he is a composer or something. It's more fantasy than reality I think.
Is it synonymous with jazz? Whatever that word might mean.
Yes, It's synonymous with freak and idiot, frauds, and maybe a little bit with somebody who makes music and thinks something of it.
What do you think of it?
I don't think. (laughs) I have no opinion. Well, if I have an opinion, it would be challenged immediately by everybody.
Is not thinking part of the idea, that you play without a preconceived idea of what comes next?
Yes. For sure yes. I think that's true. I have no idea what I'm going to do. Very well put.
But on the other hand, doesn't the group use sheet music and notes on the bar?
Sometimes, but the sheets don't help very much.
Maybe just to serve as a roadmap?
Yes, like a map, that's the theory, but you might take your boat to Greece and end up in Capetown or something. That's what musical theory is about. That's my thing, I studied that profession. I am a theorist, but I don't know or understand anything about music.
Do you play the same songs one night after another?
Sometimes we do that. And we play them just as we played them yesterday, but not completely, because somebody did not the labor to write down what he played exactly. And we all have that kind of sickness where we simply forget how we played yesterday. So we play each time something different. We cannot be outed for that because we do not promise anything other than that.
Do you record the shows?
From time to time we do, not everywhere. You are from Knoxville, is that right?
No, from Arcata, Humboldt County, in California. That is the home of Michael Moore.
Yes, Michael's father is there.
Jerry Moore is a professor here.
What does he teach?
Music.
What music?
Well, he teaches jazz. I think he may be retired now. But he also led groups that fit no category. He would draw on music from many cultures...
Or animals or whatever...
He might combine something from the classical tradition with jazz...
But do those words mean anything?
That's a good question.
(Laughs)
Perhaps I should ask you. Do those words mean anything?
That's a nice question. We'll leave it unanswered.
It's hard to find words for music as unique as what comes from the ICP.
Well thank you. But maybe it's not even music that we play. Sometimes I doubt that. But that won't make a difference. Music is what people call music. That may be a hackneyed way of putting it. You go further with a definition of that type than most others. What I mostly say is that: Music is what people call music.
Some people consider a bird's song to be music.
No, A bird song is a bird song.
To a bird it's just talking.
I had a parrot once, no my wife had a parrot. And he could imitate almost all the fragments I was singing or whistling in the house, in the bathroom or wherever. Most of the time I was whistling or whatever. That bird hated me so, he made a plan first then executed the plan: to imitate all the music that I could make, but not only that, to do it higher, better, snappier, I should think of some other qualities, but that was what he did. I recorded that. It made a very nice set of sounds. He used a Charlie Parker lick and ended with a shriek or something.
Was the parrot a musician?
No of course not, He was a parrot. He was grey red tail and they are well known for their brilliant imitations of things. He could also speak, but of course he did not know what he said.
You could also say the same about certain musicians.
Oh yes. There are a lot of musicians who never give a thought to what they are playing or doing. Of course, but that doesn't matter. It doesn't mean they are dumb, it might have something to say about their quality as technicians, and there is a certain technique involved in what those so-called musicians do, yes.
As an instant composer, it must be your job to go beyond that way of thinking. I wonder, do you feel restricted by the fact that you usually must start with the familiar? How do you create something new when you have to use old building blocks?
Oh that's done in history a lot of times. Taking old roads and building churches or something.
I don't think I understand.
Let's say Roman roads -- the Romans made roads through all of Europe. Then at a certain point nobody was asking for roads anymore. They were happy or unhappy where they were and stayed there their whole lives and never traveled.
So they would take up the stones from the roadbed to build churches...
Yes. That's what they did finally. They thought: what do we need with these stupid old roads. Let's make something useful with them. And they did in their way, I think. Of course I think it's a ridiculous idea to build a church at all, but that's not the point here. In the Middle Ages, the question was what shall we do with them?
You originally come from Ukraine, is that right?
I come from Russia, Ukraine, yes, from Kiif.
And when did you migrate to Netherlands?
In 1938. I was three years old.
Did you parents leave for political reasons?
Yes of course, but mainly it was because the Russians wanted them out. They said, well that woman is a German. She can be a spy.
Your mother?
My mother was German, yes, a German Jewish woman. And my mother was afraid that the Germans would come to Russia and she would be one of the first victims, because of her being Jewish. The mother of my mother, my grandmother, was Jewish, so in the female line, I was also a Jew. But that's not how the Germans understood the word Jew. Since I had a non-Jewish father and grandfather, they would not see me as a Jew.
Because they follow patrilineal descent not, matrilineal...
That's right.
Do you think of yourself as being a Jew?
(Laughs) No, no. Maybe half human, half something else. Being Jewish is not on my program.
So you spent almost your whole life in Holland, grew up there.
Yes, I was a little Dutchman. And now I'm an old Dutchman.
How did it happen that you discovered American jazz growing up in Holland?
During the war we had jazz records. We would have been shot perhaps if the German had found out. I had a 78, a little recording from "The Mooche," by the American, Ellington. I was a boy between 5 and 9, and with that music the horror of the German occupation was gone. I wanted to know about that type of music. I found out in 1947. My father (Karel Mengelberg) was a critic, a music critic for a Socialist daily journal, so he went to all kinds of classical concerts and took me with him. He wanted me to learn about Beethoven and Mozart and all that.
Was he also a musician?
My father could play music. He was a conductor and a composer. So he wrote music and conducted.
But he made his living writing about music?
Yes, because nobody wanted to have him as a conductor, and that was because they thought he was a Communist, and they were right. He was a Communist from when he was 12 years old living in Holland, then living in Germany. At first they had no children, then at 34, my father planted me, and my mother went to a new job, because in Europe there were no jobs for her. She played the harp all her life. In Ukraine they had a symphonic orchestra so she went there. Then I came along.
So both your parents were professional musicians.
Yes, that's right. But that was not their plan for me. They said don't do that because you won't earn enough money. You'd better do something else.
What did they have in mind for you?
Not anything really, but I had something in mind, which had not so much to do with music. I wanted at a certain moment, when I was 12 or 13, I wanted to become an architect. And maybe become famous and build some very big projects. Then I would have time to put all my time to music. Because music was the thing that I felt I would be the best in from all the professions. I had a talent for music more than for writing or making signs or whatever.
There's talent, then there's passion.
Yes, but you maybe should not answer those passions. But if they are strong enough, you somehow get lured into it.
You know my son has always had a passion for music, but when he went to college he decided not to study music, instead he chose philosophy.
That's better than music I think. As a philosopher when you have only one original thought in your life, you can bank on that. That's what most philosophers do or have been doing. Spinoza, the Jewish philosopher in Holland, he was an Atheist, but he never dared say that he did not believe n God. Instead, when all others in Holland would say, 'It's in God's hands to do this or that,' he said, 'Well, nature sometimes gives advice on what to do.'
Nature instead of God...
Yes, of course four centuries later, my father told me there is not such a thing as God. He did that because his father also told him that when he was a little boy. And my grandfather's father put him in an asylum thinking he was crazy, and he died there.
His father thought he was crazy because he did not believe in God?
And because he did not want to go to church any more.
That's a bit frightening.
It was for my father as well. So my father gave up religion also when he was six or seven. He told my grandmother, 'I also do not want to got to church on Sundays.' He said he'd prefer to be mad than to go to church every Sunday. He was adamant, and was allowed to become the first Atheist in my family. He taught that to me and to my brother, and not only are we Atheists, we are Anti-theists. We became very anti, anti-church and beliefs and all.
To turn this conversation back to music, I wonder, what role do you think music plays in society as a whole? What is the purpose of music?
The purpose. Another fantastic question. There is no direct purpose and I don't know what I'm doing. That's what I finally think. I have no special affection for music because all the music that I hear on the radio, in the department store, jingles on TV at 7 o'clock when I want to see the news. All those things I hate.
There's even music on the news to tell you how you should feel about the news you see.
Yes. sure, sure. You have happy music for happy stories and when there are 600 deaths you have the sad music. (laughs)
Something in a minor key in the background.
Yes. A minor key, yes, that creates the right atmosphere, yes. That's how I think about music. It is ridiculous most of the time.
But what you do is a rebellion against that sort of thing.
That's fine. Why not rebellion? Yes. That's a fine word. I have more contact with rebellion than with complacency, seeing what happens without reacting. There's nothing to be complacent about.
So is the idea of instant composition a rebellion against complacency?
When people ask me, why are you doing all those things playing all those notes? I say I really don't know and I don't want to know. That's my reaction to your question.
Tonight you play at the Library of Congress. Do you know what the pool will play?
No, no, no. I never have, so why would I know?
There's no set list?
No set list. Well, maybe we are going to play some certain pieces: they asked us, I have made some Ellington arrangements some years ago. And they want us to play some of those.
Any particular songs?
Yes, I think there is one guy at the library offices, Applebaum, who I think is the specialist on jazz affairs. So he is the author of the request I think. He asked, 'Please could you play some of those arrangements for us?' We do that sometimes, but not on order, that's something we do almost never, but maybe we do it tonight.
After the performance here there is a workshop: Instant Composing for Everyone. I like that idea. I'd like to see the application of instant composition applied to other things beyond music.
That could be the subject of some thought, things that can be done immediately on the spot.
We could all use more spontaneity.
I talk about that, spontaneity. It's a little word, there's fake spontaneity and real spontaneity. What that is, I really don't know anymore. Most of the time what I am doing has to do with some sort of pseudospontaneity. That's what I call it.
Pseudo, in that it's spontaneous and it's not?
You could say that.
I did say that, but is that what you meant?
Yes, that's what I meant to say and what I mean. For myself, I reject spontaneity as such because it gives you no clue in terms of if some empathy might come from it. And sometimes I think there is some value to it.
Are you still learning things yourself?
I am learning every time I think of certain music. What I most do with my time nowadays is not play anything, but only think my music. I could do this or that, would that give maybe an answer to the question of so and so and so? Could I do it? Or is it too difficult so I should I ask a real piano player to play it for me? I have written a piece in 1994 for Frederick Rojowski (sp?). Do you know that name?
I have to admit, I do not.
He's a piano player, a very good one. He is now as old as I am, a little older perhaps. He asked if I would write a piece for him. He said there was a restriction, he said, "I am now an old and lazy player, so don't write something too difficult." He knew very well what was difficult because he was the guy who played Stockhausen's 11 piano pieces, a very mind-breaking and technique-breaking piece written at the end of the '50s. He wanted something easier for an older avant-garde player, Ha ha. Whatever that is. So I started, but something happened that had never happened in my life. Within five bars the piece became very complex and very difficult to play. I thought he would never play it and he never did. We put it on the piano and he tried to play one phrase and said, "It's too difficult, I would make mistake on mistake." I admitted I had not kept my promise, I had to write this stupidly complex and difficult piece.
You had to?
My thoughts compelled me to write what I wrote.
Have you ever found anyone to play it?
Yes, I found a Dutch player, not a bad player. It's called "Left, Right," my piece. The left hand does one thing while the right is doing something else, then the left hand come back, then the right, and so it goes: left, right, left, right. This Dutch player could play about 85 percent of it. A very competent Japanese woman does even better, 89 percent.
What about you?
No. Ha. I am not a piano player.
I suppose it always helps to have skillful players to execute your concepts. Is that one of the reasons for the ICP?
Yes. I sometimes start to play something, and cannot, but I can think it and that's enough for me. That's enough because they can play it. There are always fragments I can take care of. With my piece, "Left, Right," I can hit perhaps 12 percent. I can play something like the far nephew of the piece. That's what I do when I improvise. You may still ask, why, what sense does all that make? And I still don't have any answer for you. Ha ha!
So you can't explain why you do what you do...
Don't ask that. You should know by now what my answer will be. Let's eat a good Indonesian spring roll. That's an answer for the question. Ha!

Who is Harry Shearer?


The name may not be familiar but I’ll bet you know Harry Shearer’s voice. He is Montgomery Burns, Waylon Smithers, Ned Flanders, Principal Skinner, Kent Brockman and many other on the satiric cartoon show The Simpsons. He’s also an actor (among many roles he was Derek Smalls in This Is Spinal Tap, a satiric mockumentary about a rock band and Mark Shubb in A Mighty Wind, a satiric mockumentary about folk music). He’s a novelist (Not Enough Indians: A Novel, a satiric tale about a Native American casino), a film director/writer (Teddy Bear’s Picnic, a satiric look at a powerful men’s gathering a la Bohemian Grove) and a playwright (J. Edgar, a satiric tale about the FBI director) and he’s the host of a radio show, Le Show, originating from KCRW in Santa Monica, and broadcast locally on KHSU (Mondays at 7:30 p.m.). The local station, currently in the midst of a fund drive, is serving as sponsor for Shearer’s stage show An Evening With Harry Shearer on Friday, March 30, at the Van Duzer.

Good morning and thanks for squeezing me into your busy schedule.
My pleasure.
You’ve been in the recording studio.
Yes, I’m doing a CD.
What is it?
It’s all songs that I’ve written, supposedly funny songs, some of them involved in the show I’m doing there Friday.
What is your stage show?
It starts out with remarks and sort of expands, goes into video and music, so it becomes a tiny but inspiring multimedia extravaganza, all with just one person.
You sing to pre-recorded tracks?
Yes. I don’t travel with a band. I have traveled with bands. I know what’s involved with that.
What is involved?
A lot more time, money and effort.
Debauchery and so on?
That’s known to happen as well, but it’s mainly time and money.
Should we expect a Spinal Tap reunion tour in the wake of The Police and Genesis reuniting?
Um, I don’t know. Spinal Tap is always a serious proposition that involves many more people than it should, and that’s not including the people you’re familiar with.
That sounds mysterious.
It is.
Is there a relationship between your stage show and Le Show?
To a certain extent. I talk about some of the same things I talk about on the radio program. I’m speaking in the same sort of voice I use when I speak as myself on the radio. I don’t do characters on stage, again that involves makeup and wardrobe, stuff I don’t carry with me. It’s really just this person who talk to you at the top of the show.
No makeup and wardrobe, which are not required on radio...
Which are not required on radio, which is one of the reasons I love radio. Nothing against the people in makeup and wardrobe...
Do I understand correctly that you got your start with Jack Benny?
Yes. That was my first broadcast. It wasn’t my first broadcast appearance, I was on a children’s radio show locally in L.A. when I was a kid, but Jack Benny was the first time I was actually paid as an actor.
How did that happen? Did you grow up in a show biz family?
No, not at all. It was a total fluke. I had a piano teacher who changed careers and became an agent.
And she liked your voice.
She liked something about me, I don’t know. It couldn’t have been my devotion to practicing piano, I’ll tell you that.
Do you think you learned something from Jack Benny?
I learned a lot form Jack Benny. As time has gone on I’ve thought a lot about him in the way I approach comedy, for instance the way I approach satirical characters. The flaws in his character and the flaws in the characters I play are all down to humanity, that is to say people are not flawed because they’re not monstrous, it is because they’re human.
Even with people whose politics and wielding of power I may despise, I ascribe their failings not to demonic qualities, but to the very things they share with me and everyone who’s listening: human stupidity. I think that comes from Benny.
A lot of satirists think the people they like are wonderful and those they hate are monsters. That way they become stick figures and kind of predictable in a way. Another thing I learned from Benny is the value of being around a bunch of other funny people. He always loved having people around who laughed. That’s not true of everybody in comedy.
What strikes me, when I listen to you, and listen to Jack Benny, is the use of deadpan, particularly on Le Show, which I assume is you.
It’s a form of me. It’s a kind of me, one of the varieties of me. Yes, I suppose...
Do you read newspapers all day and gather material for the show? Do you have a staff helping you?
No, it’s all me. I’m a voracious consumer of news junk.
Do you read the news on the Internet mostly?
Mostly, but I get the New York Times dead tree edition, but the vast majority I read is on the Internet, and I check in with broadcast media as well, the BBC, not the World Service, but their brilliant domestic talk service, and with Australian news, and satelite TV, like once a week I’ll look at Al Jazeera, all to try to get beyond, or ‘outside the bubble’ as I put it. It is amazing how much people in the rest of the world know about what’s going on that we don’t.
I watch the news on TV, then watch the BBC TV news and wonder, why didn’t they mention that?
As I said on last week’s radio show, just to check myself I went and searched NPR’s site to see if there was any mention of Army Corps of Engineers last week on All Things Considered or Morning Edition. It said, ‘Sorry your search has no results.’ Last week was the week they announced the results of the official investigation by the state of Louisiana, basically holding the Army Corps of Engineers predominantly responsible for the disaster associated with Katrina. You know, you’d think that would be newsworthy.
You live part of the time in New Orleans?
Yep.
And your house was OK?
We’re fine. Yes.
Obviously that has become a big topic on Le Show.
Yes, both because I am in New Orleans a lot and see what New Orleanians think about the situation, but also because I care about it.
Your show is broadcast in many formats, touching on all ways of delivering radio content.
Yeah, it goes from something as arcane and archaic sounding as short wave radio to something as up-to-date as a podcast.
I’ve been listening to the podcast because I can never seem to remember to tune in to radio shows the way I do TV shows. But I just found out that they cut the music out.
Yeah.
Why do they do that?
Because of all these rights issues.
RIAA business?
Yes. It’s money. In some ways it’s a rerun of what happened when radio first started playing records. What’s sort of reassuring is the the record business has not become dumber. The record business opposed playing records on the radio in the old days, not realizing that that was the greatest promotional device ever invented for the record business. They spent years and years and years fighting it. Now they’re doing the same thing with the Internet and podcasting, again not realizing it’s a great promotional tool and blah, blah, blah.
Are you familiar with Bob Lefsetz?
No.
He’s involved in radio down in L.A. and sends out a newsletter often dealing with that subject, the cluelessness of the record industry.
I think they’re not only clueless, they wouldn’t know a clue if they saw one, and wouldn’t know how to find a clue. They’re clueless as to what a clue might be. It’s an advanced state. It really is remarkable.
Being someone who reads the newspaper and absorbs all this information about what’s going on in the world, do you think that ultimately makes you cynical?
No. It makes you highly skeptical. The people I make fun of are the cynics. They’re the people, whether they are in broadcasting or the government, who think that people are saps, that people have an attention span of four seconds, that people won’t know if they’re telling the truth or not. Those are the true cynics. The skeptic’s job is to expose the cynic.
So you’re a skeptical satirist.
Yeah, well... I guess...
Maybe not?
Well, I was going to say that might be a redundancy, but on second thought, there are partisan satirists who are not skeptical, who basically campaign for one side or the other in an argument and lose their skepticism.
One more thing, should we call you Dr. Shearer now?
You know I did get an honorary doctorate. Yeah, but when you call people that, you set up all sorts of expectations...
What’s your doctorate in?
Oh, that’s such a good question. It’s in the drawer I think.

[addendum: Harry was being cagey regarding the potential for a Spinal Tap reunion. It was announced at the end of April. I learned of it via Punmaster's MusicWire.]

Spinal Tap Reuniting For Live Earth Show

Spinal Tap is back, and this time the band wants to help save the world from global warming. The fictional heavy metal group immortalized in the 1984 mockumentary, "This Is Spinal Tap," will reunite for a performance at Wembley Stadium in London as part of the Live Earth concerts scheduled worldwide for July 7.

The original members of Spinal Tap will be there: guitarist Nigel Tufnel (played by Christopher Guest), singer David St. Hubbins (Michael McKean) and bassist Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer). Rob Reiner, who both directed "This Is Spinal Tap" and played the fake documentarian Marty DeBergi in the film, will also be in attendance.

A new 15-minute film directed by Reiner on the band's reunion will play tonight (April 25) at the opening night of the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. The festival is to open with a showing of several global warming-themed short films produced by the SOS (Save Our Selves) campaign. SOS is also putting on the Live Earth concerts, to be held across seven continents.

"They're not that environmentally conscious, but they've heard of global warming," Reiner says of Spinal Tap's often clueless members. "Nigel thought it was just because he was wearing too much clothing -- that if he just took his jacket off it would be cooler."

Spinal Tap has reunited several times since the film, but hasn't for a number of years. For the band, whose last album was 1992's "Break like the Wind," the occasion warranted a new single: "Warmer Than Hell."


Reiner provided a sneak peek at the lyrics: "The devil went to Devon, it felt like the fourth degree / He said, 'Is it hot in here, or is it only me?'"

The director said the new short film explains what the band has been doing with their lives lately. Nigel has been raising miniature horses to race, but can't find jockeys small enough to ride them; David is now a hip-hop producer who also runs a colonic clinic; and Derek is in rehab for addiction to the Internet.

Trey Anastasio interview Part 2
in which Trey names his next record and discovers that he has a MySpace page...

Your new record is on your new label, Rubber Jungle. Is that independent?
We have a distributor, but Rubber Jungle has just two employees: just me and Patrick Jordan. We’re distributed by Red (?garbled?)
When we spoke in 1993, Rift was just out and you were starting your experience working with Elektra. You had already been burned by another record label (Absolute A-Go-Go/Rough Trade). I asked if you thought the relationship with a major was going to work for Phish. Do you think that old model is gone at this point?
I tried it another time. When the Elektra contract ran out we did one record with Columbia. That was a big thrill because Columbia has such a history, Bob Dylan and Duke Ellington, but it was the same kind of problem: basically the fit between myself and the major label system. I think this is pretty much it now. It’s such a relief and sort of a dream to do this. I already have another record that will come out after this one, an instrumental record, no singing. It’s hard to explain, but it’s a 10-piece band with horns where the horns are layered. It’s out there. You know if this was on a major label, I’d have to explain it. Now I don’t have to explain it to anybody except Patrick Jordan my one employee.
Does it have a name?
Patrick Jordan?
No, the record.
The record, right now, is either going to be called The Horseshoe Curve or Cook Drive. I kind of like Cook Drive because most of the times I’ve listened to it I’ve either been cooking or driving. But I don’t know.
Cook/Drive? Or Cook Drive like an address?
Oh, Cook Drive... I like that. You just named it for me. That’s better than The Horseshoe Curve. You like Cook Drive? Thanks for naming it. That’s due to come out in March so it’s already done, mastered. That’s another thing. Major labels aren’t really set up to have something like Shine come out and then a month later having somebody standing in their office saying, ‘Can you put this one out?’ They’re like, ‘I don’t understand.’
Because they want to finish marketing the first one and fear that the second might interfere or whatever...
I think you’ll see more of that sort of thing.
And you have to take into account the state of the music industry in general, with the ongoing transition to the digital era. It seems like everything’s up in the air at this point. At least that’s what I hear.
I’ve been hearing a lot of that. Just this morning I was on the phone talking with someone about the whole song concept.
The song concept?
Well, I guess the album is becoming less important than the song. It’s because kids, like my 6th grade daughter, she’s never been in a record store. She gets all her stuff online. And when you buy online, you pretty much just buy a song, so the idea of an album disappears. I guess there are record deals being cut now where people will sign to do a song or three songs instead of three albums. That’s the wave of the future, so a lot of people are kind of saddened by the fact that you’re not going to get another Dark Side of the Moon that way.
The form will change to meet the new medium. You know when Duke Ellington was writing songs he wrote them to fit on one side of a 78.
Exactly. And I’m thinking, what if you kind of embrace that idea. Now that we have this vehicle, the Internet, where you can put something out very fast, you can be boom, boom, boom, done -- mastered on the Internet, available for download. That means you can maybe inject the time concept. You could put out a song, and then another song would come out on the heels of that song that refers back to the previous song. You know people have bought one song; they’ve heard the lyric and the melody. Now, two weeks late, I’m going to put out another song that follows it.
You know when Dickens was writing Great Expectations he put it out in serial form.
Interesting. Then eventually it would come out as a full book. You could do something like that on the Internet.
Right, after he put it out there one chapter at a time, he published it as a full novel. Similarly, you could release an album one track at a time.
And you could leave it up to people, explain that you mean for these songs to go together. When I put out Bar 17, it came out with this other album Baby Steps. A guy stopped me on the street a couple of days ago and told me he thought that four or five songs on Bar 17 really clearly refer to things on Baby Steps. He took four songs from Bar 17 and three from the other and made his own record with the quieter songs.
With something like iTunes your sequencing of an album can be thrown out the window.
And that’s kind of cool.
What exactly is “Bar 17”? Is it a particular point in that song?
It was that came to me when I was walking down the street one day. I thought if you had a really long intro...
So you have a 16 bar intro, then the real song starts...
Then the story starts...
And I guess that’s where you’re at right now: The intro is done and now it’s time fro the rest of your life...
That’s exactly what I meant. You’re the first person who kind of took it that way. That’s what I was thinking -- and it was a really long intro. (laughs)
Louise the publicist cuts in again: Guys, we need to wrap it up.
Okay, we’re being told we can’t talk any more.
You’re not going to believe this but it’s true. I remember your voice. I think I remember that interview from 1993.
You told me it was a different kind of interview that you were used to. We got into some deeper issues, partly because I don’t always adhere to the normal interview style. We were talking about growing up in Princeton and the Rhombus. Do you ever go back the Rhombus?
I have not been back to the Rhombus in quite some time, but I think it’s still there. I still talk with Tom [Tom Marshall, his childhood friend and songwriting partner].
I went to your MySpace page today...
I don’t have a MySpace page...
Believe me, you have a MySpace page. Posted on it today was a photo of you and Tom on stage playing together. Tom posted it.
On my MySpace? How does that work? I’m so sorry. I don’t have a MySpace page (he laughs).
There’s a page with your name on it. Maybe this person who’s listening in on the phone knows about it. Do you know about it? Are you still there?
Louise: Did someone ask for me?
Yes. Do you take care of Trey’s MySpace page?
Unfortunately I do not.
Does KSA? (the publicity company?)
Louise: No, it’s probably Patrick.
Trey: Yeah, Patrick, my employee in Rubber Jungle probably does it.
You partner in crime, well, not crime exactly.
My partner in putting out new exciting records...
Well, I know you have this set of new toys in the studio and you probably want to go play with.
I do. I’m standing in front of them right now.
I’m looking forward to this show coming up. I hate to admit it, but I haven’t seen you play since 1993.
You’re going to like this. It’s a really killer horn section, a great drummer, great bass player...
From New Orleans right?
Right, Tony Hall. You ever hear that song “The Maker” by Daniel Lanois. That’s him, he’s the money.
I have a couple more questions, but we’ll save them for another day. Good talking with you again after all these years.
Thank you.
Have fun with the new toys. Make some more great music...
Talk to you soon...
Bye.
Louise: Bye. Thank you.

Richard Thompson Arcata 12/1/06

This note came in today from my friend Gus Mozart, a very serious Richard Thompson fan (and a KHSU deejay among other things).
The photo came from concert photographer John Chapman (who sat right behind me at the
show) via CenterArts.

Gus (aka Russ) writes:

> I posted this to the RT discussion list, and thought y'all might like to read it. If you were there, you know of what I speak! If you missed it...... sorry!

> best, russneversleeps
____________________________________________________
"A holiday, a holiday..."

Mr. Thompson has certainly earned one.

His touring schedule for 2006 ended Friday evening with a truly phenomenal performance at the Van Duzer Theater at Humboldt State University. I've seen Richard close to 50 times, beginning in 1985, and this was easily one of the finest solo shows I've seen him do.

Obviously rested from the Hawaii trip, and in prime condition after the 3 night run at Montalvo, he didn't coast for one second of his 2 hour set. He opened and closed the show with new songs, both of them worthy additions to his prodigious songbook. In the last dozen years ago, he has started almost every show I've attended with new material. I've always been struck by the audaciousness of this move - generally, an artist wants to pull the listener in with something "up", and preferably instantly recognizable. Yet Richard doesn't play that game. Whether it's because he is simply being true to himself as an artist, believing as he does in the strength of his work, or just being playfully obstinate, either way, it's ballsy!

I might be disappointed by this habit, except that every time I hear these new tunes, I'm always bowled over. "Poppy Red" was gorgeous, and a perfect way to begin an exquisite evening of song by one of the best singer-songwriters on the face of the earth.

"Crawl Back" was riveting. He did a long guitar solo in the middle, very different than anything I'd heard him do on this song -- It was jagged, prickly, even a little odd, and I loved it. Then, at the end, when he repeats "crawl back", his voice built in intensity until he was roaring. It was an absolutely thrilling moment. A co-worker of mine, who'd never heard a note of Richard's music, was in tears.
"Oh my god, he's incredible!" she said at the end of it. Yep.

The second new one, "'Dad's Gonna Kill Me" was as great as I'd heard. A moving depiction of a soldiers' experience... stuck in a place he doesn't want to be, and can't get out of. This song, along with Tom Waits' recent "Road To Peace", are two examples of a new breed of songs inspired by the conflict in Iraq. Sad that war has to be the source of such inspiration, but perhaps when people hear these tales sung, more hearts and minds will be opened to the futility of this stupid military mess.

And what did he follow that with? A witty ditty like "Hots For The Smarts". I'd heard this once before, and only thought it okay, but RT was on a roll. He delivered verse after verse with comic timing, and the audience was thoroughly charmed. A broken string brought a singalong with "Sam Hall". "Persuasion" was lovely. "Vincent".... He does this virtually EVERY NIGHT, and it's STILL amazing. How he manages to make it sound fresh each time, I don't know. It's a tribute to his excellence as a performer.

I hadn't heard that he'd started doing "Matty Groves" recently, so I was
pretty surprised when he actually did it. Another epic story, expertly presented. Classic Fairport from the man himself, when you thought you'd never, ever hear him play it.

Then, the "1,000 Years portion of the set: "Shenandoah" was sung with such wrenching emotion. Breath taking. "Oops!" absolutely rocked, and he did the Britney-hand-movements around his eyes at it's close, which was hilarious. Pardon me if I don't relay a more detailed accounting of the set, and encores, because I'll run out of superlatives. Suffice to say that everything was superb.

Except I have to mention "Sunset Song". I'd read a few things posted on the discussion list about this song, but I was not prepared for how stunning it was. Wow. A beautiful melody,shifting timbre in unexpected ways. A lilting, heart breaking guitar figure that propels that melody. And lyrics that convey a wistful,longing, sadness, that, while melancholy, leave you with a warmth, and an ache, at the fragile and fleeting beauty of life.

The next album is going to be a real keeper!

Setlist:

> Poppy Red
> Walking On A Wire
> Crawl Back
> Down Where The Drunkards Roll
> 'Dad's Gonna Kill Me
> Hots for the Smarts
> I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight
> (broken string) jokes / Sam Hall
> How Will I Ever Be Simple Again?
> Cooksferry Queen
> Persuasion
> Vincent
> Matty Groves
> So Ben Mi Ca Bon Tempo
> Shenandoah
> Oops!
> I Feel So Good
> Cold Kisses
> Valerie
>
> (encore 1)
> 1 Door Opens
> Dimming of the Day
>
> (encore 2)
> Wall of Death
> Sunset Song
>
> (pre-show soundcheck)
> Goin' Back
> Withered and Died
> Drinking Wine Spodie-Odie
>
best, gm

Peter Walker Live at Synapsis

Guitarist Peter Walker performs a flamenco-influenced tune at Synapsis in Old Town Eureka, Novemember 2006.

a conversation with Trey Anastasio Winter 2006 part 1

Early in 1993, a rock band from Vermont called Phish came to play at Humboldt State while touring college campuses across the country. The band was on its way up, at the forefront of a new scene that was developing. Phish would eventually inherit the mantle of the Grateful Dead to lead the nascent jamband movement. Before the band played here I spoke with Phish’s founder and guitarist Trey Anastasio, the unintentional leader of a growing cult of Phish aficionados for an interview originally published in the now defunct Edge City Magazine.

Thirteen years later Trey is coming back to Humboldt for a show at the Eureka Muni Dec. 6.

Last week I talked with him again.

P.R. Person: Trey?

Trey: Hey.

P.R. Person: Bob?

Bob: Trey?

Hey Bob, how are you doing?

I’m good and you?

Great thank you.

And where are you?

I’m in my new studio, which I just opened yesterday in New York City.

That sounds exciting.

It’s really exciting. I’m pacing around looking at everything.

All the new toys?

Yes. And a lot of old toys. I’ve been moving in. I’ve had a series of five or six little home studios in my life and I still have pieces of gear from the first one, which is where all the original Phish music was written back in New Jersey. A lot of the stuff went up to The Barn in Vermont. And now I’m doing this one in New York. Each time there’s new gear, plus all the old stuff.

Is The Barn turning into something else?

The Barn is changing. If you look inside the Bar 17 album [released in October] it says something about the Seven Below Fund. That has now started running. What we’re doing is, with help from my sister, we’re taking all the money raised on my last tour for philanthropy, and the money from the record, to go to a patron of the arts program.

For now The Barn has been divided into work spaces and we’re going to get three artists to come live and work there through the winter. The idea is that they work side by side and kind of vibe off each other, then they interface with this existing program in Burlington, a community of visual artists, metal workers glassworkers, etc. They’re in the city and the others are in the mountains at The Barn. And while the artists in residence are living in The Barn they’ll teach classes for Vermont school kids. So, the big [music] gear that’s in the Barn has been covered up as the space goes into its second life as an artist’s space.

The Barn is like a big piece of art in itself. It took five years to do. I didn’t do all the work myself of course, there were two brothers I worked with, but everything is made out of salvage. It’s really cool. Lots of local artists have put things in over the years, ramp ways, strange little elevators that go up into the cupola, crazy doors, so it’s very arty. I just needed a change after making seven albums in a row there. So there people will paint or sculpt or whatever, maybe put some piece of sculpture in the middle of the woods.

While you work in New York in what I assume is a very different sort of building..

The contrast is intense. I don’t even have any windows. I’m in a little hole in the middle of the city with a black ceiling. But it’s cool. I needed a change as I said.

I have to tell you a little story. I‘m calling from Humboldt County Calif. When you were going to play here last time, 13 years ago...

I went to the Co-op and saw Humboldt Bud. You know Bud?

I do. Bud Culbertson. He still works at the Co-op. He’s also a radio deejay. You stole his girlfriend away, well not exactly, not personally, but she went to work for you...

(Trey is laughing almost uncontrollably.) It was his wife by the way, not his girlfriend.

Shelly was with Phishnet, then she went to work for you guys in Vermont, didn’t she?

She did. I don’t know where she is now, she left a while ago.

I think she’s doing white water rafting or something like that.

Tell Bud I said Hi. He’s a very nice guy.

So, when I interviewed you, I didn’t know that much about Phish, but I was working at this restaurant, and our dishwasher was a big fan early on. With his help I did some research. When we talked on the phone we ended up yaking for something like 80 minutes.

We did?

I put the interview in a local music mag (Edge City) and someone from Phishnet transcribed it and posted it on the web. My dishwasher was so thrilled that I had talked with you and asked for a copy of the tape. I gave it to him. Not much after, he quit his job to follow Phish on tour.

Fast forward to a couple of months ago. I heard you were coming to play at the Eureka Muni in Dec. (on Wednesday, Dec. 6) and I wanted to send to interview to Matt, the guy who booked the show locally, another person who once worked for you. I did a Google search to find it and not only did I come up with the Phishnet interview transcription, I found the actual interview recording is being traded as a SHN file or as a BitTorrent download.

Really? Wow. I had no idea that was going on.

It made me wonder, what is it about Phish that inspired that level of unlimited devotion? What do you think?

I don’t know. There’s something about it. I’m probably the last person who could answer that question. But when things were sort of getting to be too much and then I guess I sort of pulled the plug. They certainly got mad. (He laughs again.)

So I hear.

I always thought that all the decisions made for the band were made from the heart. I think that’s why people liked us. I just try to do my best to do the right thing at the right time, then roll with the changes. I always thought that was what was cool about Phish. And I think when that change came it wasn’t what people wanted, but it came from the same place all those other decisions came from. When you go against an honest decision based on the heart it’s like trying to skip a stone across the Pacific Ocean. You know what I mean?

Again what I thought was so cool about Phish was that everything was so improvised and unplanned. It’s funny that the beginning of this conversation was about The Barn, because The Barn was made with no plans. That’s my space. I don’t have a MySpace, I have a barn. I did that as a pet project while Phish was going and it was all with salvage. At one point there was this school being torn down and we took the blackboards out. All of a sudden we had all this slate, so we used it to make a shower with a slate bottom because that’s what we had. The were no plans whatsoever. And there were no plans to start Phish or to have that happen, and there were no plans to stop it. I just knew it was the right thing to do at the time. And now, today, I’m standing alone in this studio in New York and I don’t know what’s going to happen. That’s the philosophy by which I’ve run my life, despite the reactions. If people are going to throw beers at you, there’s nothing you can do about it.

Getting back to the unlimited devotion question, I have my own theory, that Phish devotees and Deadheads use the band as something like a substitute for religion.

We filled in something that was missing in some people’s lives. Have you ever heard of “Dissolution of the Order of the Star” by Krishnamurti? Krishnamurti was going to be the second coming of Christ or whatever. In the ’20s he was trained in spiritual matters, raised to be the leader of this giant organization called the Order of the Star. The day they handed him this position, he went in front of all these people and said ‘Stop. What do you expect me to do? You had me read all this about spiritual matters. Well, I’m dissolving this organization. Spirituality comes from within, from your own heart. Stop following me around. Follow yourself. Listen to yourself.’ You have to read this speech, you can find it on the Internet. That speech has become a famous piece of spiritual writing. It’s an amazing thing.

When we talked years ago you described the growth of the band as a word of mouth cult thing.And with that cult comes a framework. You know I just got this disc, a new release from Phish, The History of Colorado 1988. It’s a live recording from 1988. It was interesting because I’d never heard the show. It sounded like so much fun. And there are about four people in the audience. What happened was we got more and more popular and more and more popular and suddenly we had 80 employees. We had to tour so many nights per year. Everything became regimented.

Now, talking to you today. I’m in this different place. I’m in this teeny hole-in-the-wall studio and I’ve given my barn to some artists and I have my own record label. It’s so exciting and I very happy because it’s all so unknown. Eureka is going to be the first night of this new nine-piece band I’ve put together. I’m bringing this horn section and a couple of guys from a previous band and Jeff Stipe on drums. It’s a brand new band playing the first night ever. To me that’s exciting. People were all excited to see Phish 150 times and I suppose it was exciting. And I have to say, being in Phish was the greatest experience of my life, but now here I am coming to Eureka to play the first night ever with a brand new band. I don’t know what’s going to happen. That’s real excitement.

P.R. person intrudes: Guys, time to wrap it up...

We continue out talk and move on to discussion of Trey’s upcoming album, the meaning of Bar 17 and more... Check back when I return from vacation. Right now it’s time to pack...

9 Questions for Richard Gilewitz

Those who enjoy the sound of fingerstyle guitar will want to check out Richard Gilewitz, who plays at Jambalaya Wednesday, Oct. 18.“It’s an unplanned night, no set list,” said Gilewitz calling from Florida before taking off on tour. “The music I play can be anything from ‘Embryonic Journey’ to a prelude by Bach to a John Fahey tune or something I’ve written. I play a little bit of everything in the fingerstyle guitar realm and in between I tell tales of life on the road, talk about origins of tunes or maybe about how I once mailed a fingernail to Leo Kottke.” Gilewitz is currently working on a book for Mel Bay called Nylon to Steel. He wrote another called Fingerstyle Acoustic Guitar Workshop. “It’s basically everything I know, even a chapter on how to deal with the sound man. That’s some of the stuff I’ll do in the workshop.” The workshop he refers to is the following night, Thursday, Oct. 19, from 6-7:30 p.m. at Arcata Music in Sunnybrae. “It will be a combination of me playing, and a Q&A session afterwards; all levels of players are invited,“ said Gilewitz.

We had our own Q&A session via e-mail...

Who are you?

My name is Richard Gilewitz and I have been playing acoustic fingerstyle guitar for 34 years. I have been fortunate to have performed in concert as well as the conducting of seminars in 48 states and 8 countries. I have also released 6 recordings and Fingerstyle Guitar Workshop Books and DVD's for Mel Bay Publications with worldwide distribution. I mention 'fingerstyle' guitar which is another way of saying I DON'T play flatpick style guitar. The pick kept falling in the hole.

Where are from?

I was born in San Diego, CA, grew up in my formative years (I made up the 'grew up' part) in New Jersey, attended high school and college in Alabama and have been a Florida resident since the late 1980's.

What do you do?

I continue to compose for the acoustic 6 and 12 string guitars along with a few other 'toys', record, tour in concert, conduct acoustic guitar camps, conduct music industry sponsored guitar 'music dealer' store events, teach privately, write for the national music publication Singer and Musician magazine, and still dig out music I couldn't play in college to take a fresh 'crack at it'.

Why do you do what you do?

For many years my pat answer was to say "I didn't want a real job". In reality I have begun to realize the absolute absolute! necessity to stay on one's toes, work extremely hard, be creative, and more than anything fight like mad to maintain something along the lines of that passion that made (probably most of us) start playing in the first place.

What are you working on?

I recently compiled my entire repertoire in every tuning for every guitar to determine with the much feared 'metronome' exactly where my tunes 'live'. In other words, having the groove is one thing but having the 'click' is another. This became apparent in recent years as I have had the fortune of playing with tremendous players and the need for them to 'tap in' is crucial for them to be able to become absorbed in the music, have no doubt, release and add the most possible. Additionally I am playing a few old tunes that accidentally got shoved into the attic and working on a few new pieces. Some by J.S. Bach, a couple of refinements of my teacher David Walberts pieces, and conjuring up a new tune or two.

What’s next?

I have an interesting instrument called a Banjitar which is a 6 string Banjo type instrument tuned and played like a guitar. Along with experimentation with that I am seeking out workable tunes with a Breedlove synthesiser guitar to see 'what my work'.

When will you be here?

Solo shows: Oct. 18th - 9pm Jambalaya - concert 707-822-4766

Oct. 19th - 6 pm Arcata Music - guitar seminar 707-822-3531

Website?

www.richardgilewitz.com

Chinese zodiac sign: The Boar

Anything else you want to add?

Many years ago I recall working for an agency and I was helping them to book dates for one of my guitar heroes as a youngster, John Fahey. I recall booking him in Eureka/Arcata area somewhere and I remember him thanking me and telling me how much he specifically enjoyed your area. I have always wanted to play there myself and with all the touring I have done for many years this apparently seems to be my first opportunity. Ya never know how the wind blows.

Lou Reed tours ahead of 'Berlin' premiere
including a stop in Arcata...

Bob Asks - the Uke Man Speaks


Who are you?

I’m “the Ukulele Man,” a tag hung on me 15 years ago by the owner/promoter of Stach’s (now Little Brother’s) *1 (*relates to links at bottom), a revered night club in Columbus, Ohio.

I’m a crusty old bard (61 yrs.) seasoned by Joe McCarthy, the 60’s, and the education wars (31 years in an 8th Grade English class – the last 18 years as local union president too). I write songs and sing them, write poems and speak them, see what’s going down in our country and the world and resist it.

I’m an Ex-Boy Scout, an Ex-Catholic, an Ex-Good Boy – but I’m NOT a “Grumpy Old Man.” “Grumpy” is a constant state. I’m generally a “Sweetie.” It is true, though, that I have no patience with stupid, conniving grown-ups who, for example, still swear Saddam was behind the NYC and Pentagram attacks. I’m an active activist (I’m told that Humboldt County understands that term). And, finally, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it any more!”


Where are you from? (originally/now)

My Mom was from a small town, Chillicothe, Ohio – the first state capital. My Dad was from Kendallville – a small agricultural town in the northern Indiana. I was born and grew up in Columbus – the present capital and hotbed of right-wing/business clap-trap. Twenty-eight years ago, I moved to Circleville (“Home of the Pumpkin Show” ta-daaaa!!! *2) – located south of Columbus and north of Chillicothe – another small town and – it turns out - more politically backward than Columbus – you know: the kind of place where if you ever get to the point where you no longer know what you’re doing, lots of folks can tell you.

Looks like I haven’t gotten too far; but I HAVE traveled – East and West coasts, from New Orleans to Minneapolis-St. Paul, and to Europe twice. Now I’m traveling to California again.


What do you do?

I write songs and sing them, accompanied by my Uke or by my Band, “Ukulele Man & his Prodigal Sons” *3. I write and perform poetry, and sometimes “act.”

I “play out” regularly with the band or solo. All seven of us toured New York *4 and Boston *5; three of us did Santa Cruz *6. We play Festivals*7, clubs, and bars in Central Ohio, and have done our share of benefits. Periodically I get to NYC for the Ukulele Cabaret*8 and for the public-access TV Show “Midnight Ukulele Disco.”*9

I’ve appeared in two films: the short Auraprint *10 playing a gay-porn producer and in the full-length Man of Faith playing Rev. Leroy Jenkins’ degenerate neighbor. I recently performed in a stage production, Dr. Danga Grimaldi’s Exhibition Fantastique, part of the month-long Columbus Fringe Festival.

I’m a member of NION (Not In Our Name), an activist group dedicated to opposing the Bush agenda*11. Besides attending/marching-in various protests in New York City these last six years, I initiated the organization of “Ukuleles for Sanity,”*12 a group who marched together first in the “No RNC” (“No Republican National Convention”) protest (we marched along near the Green Dragon that someone set on fire soon after passing Madison Square Garden and Foxxx News). During that time we also organized and performed “Dubya’s Ukulele Farewell Party”*13. It didn’t work, but we’re still trying.

Having given up on effectively haranguing the local news-rags via “letters,” I’ve started a blog*14 (http://www.ukuleleman.net/blog.html) and have developed a growing number of readers. Check it out!!


Why do you do what you do?

Because it’s there (to do)? Because I must? There’s some truth in that.

Also, I was a little naïve as a “young person” – remember the “Boy Scout / Good Boy” reference above? Emotionally, I was with the revolution of the 60’s, but didn’t have a clue about how to get involved physically. I’m trying to make up for that.

At the same time, what I “see” (I’d like to say “as an artist”) makes me pretty “far out” in the context of this Midwestern, Red State, Conservative, Republican, Bible-thumping “oasis in a world of sin” that is Ohio.

A fellah has to do SOMETHING to stay sane living in a nuthouse.


What are you working on?

Well, we’re still trying to get rid of Bush, and will be joining with World Can’t Wait and others on October 5 (it’s nationwide) to “Drive Out the Bush Regime.” The point is to organize people around the knowledge that the only way real change will happen is if the People themselves demand it.

Musically, I’ve got most of my tracks laid down for my third CD (all original stuff, as with the first two*15 ). We’re starting to lay down band tracks now.

A poetry book has been in the planning stages – on and off – for a while now too.

And I’m working like crazy going over my set lists for the California trip - and practicing (old guys think they have to do that).


What’s next?

A few days after I get back to Ohio we play the Pumpkin Show – it should be interesting – it’s the centennial year for it. But I guess the next Big thing will be planning a trip to the UK to see some friends and play some music, particularly in Glasgow while visiting Alistair Hulett*16 and the Centre for Political Song.*17


When will you be here? With who?

I’ll be in the area from October 7 through the 10th. I’m playing Six Rivers Brewery October 10, and I’m bringing two Ukuleles with me.


Who's that?

Tentatively it’s a new Ovation “Applause” soprano uke and an old-reliable tenor “Fluke.”


Website? Links?

Please check out my Blog (# 14 below) and any other sites that seem interesting!

1. Little Brothers: http://www.littlebrothers.com/ 2. Pumpkin Show: http://www.pumpkinshow.com/
3. Band My Space: http://www.myspace.com/ukulelemanandhisprodigalsons 4. NYC – Bowery Poetry Club: http://www.bowerypoetry.com/ 5.Boston Sky Bar: http://www.skybar.us/ 6. Santa Cruz – Uke Fest West: http://www.ukefestwest.com/perf.html 7.COMFEST (Community Festival): http://www.comfest.com/schedule.htm and Columbus Arts Fest: http://www.gcac.org/fest/ 8. Ukulele Cabaret: http://www.ukulelecabaret.com/ 9. Midnight Ukulele Disco: http://www.ukuleledisco.com/ (may be under renovation)
10. Auraprint: http://www.alienstevens.com/vid_aud_pix/artflixx_m/auraprint.mov 11. NION: http://www.notinourname.net/index.html 12. Ukuleles for Sanity: http://www.ukesanity.org/ 13. Dubya’s Ukulele Farewell Party: http://ukesanity.org/concert.htm 14. My Blog: http://www.ukuleleman.net/blog.html 15. CD’s, “SumoNinjaLele” and “Crazy Old World.”: http://cdbaby.com/found?artist=Ukulele+Man&soundlike=&album=&style= 16. Alistair Hulett: http://www.alistairhulett.com/ and http://www.folkicons.co.uk/alistair.htm 17. Centre for Political Song: http://www.caledonian.ac.uk/politicalsong/


Anything else you want to add?

Well, I think I’ve said enough, except for:

I hope everybody comes out to the Six Rivers Brewery on October 10. That’s my one chance to see everyone!!! I understand it’s not a real late evening; so stop by. The Uke and I will be goin’ at it from early to closin’.

Yours - Ukulele Man

p.s. Here’s a short list of my “roots” & “influences”:

Dad, Big Billy Goat Gruff, Mom, Horton, "Hippity Hop Bunny," Captain Video, Howdy Doody, Pinky Lee, Captain Kangaroo, Scrooge McDuck, Sister Ann Mary, Alfred E. Newman, Mark Twain, Li’l Abner, Tarzan, Uncle Vern, Turok Son of Stone, Aunt Sis, Laurel & Hardy, Hank, Sally Flowers, Soupy Sales, The Kingston Trio, The Mouseketeers, Pete Seeger, Little Richard, Ed Sullivan, Elvis, Sherlock Holmes, Chuck Berry, the Plymouth, Honorable Ball Peen Man, Woody Guthrie, Edgar Rice Burroughs, the Beatles, Edgar Allen Poe, Dylan, "Brown Eyed Girl," Inherit The Wind, Herman’s Hermits, Herman Melville, the DeSoto, the Temple of Psychic Prophecy, The Monkees, the "Jones-Lawrence Memorial Award," Don Quixote, Indian Ike, Twilight Zone, MLK, "The Conqueror Worm," Star Trek, Malcolm X, Robert Frost, Dr. Strangelove, Venice, The Rolling Stones, Fellini, "Ozymandias," Don McLean, Edvard Munch, Animal Farm, Al Crapp, the TR3, Emily Dickinson, Kung Fu, T.S. Elliot, The Crucible, e.e. cummings, Leaves of Grass, Jung, Steven Crane, the Bug, Joe Cocker, Brave New World, Carlos Castenada, "Eldorado," Bob & George, New Orleans, Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, Kenny Sparky Mona and Ray, John Lennon, Café Du Monde, San Francisco, "The X-Files," Waiting for Godot, Oscar Wilde, the Redwoods, The Simpsons, Manhattan, the Eldorado.



thanks, Bob

WE are Coming For Your Gold!!!

Who are you?
Jollyship the Whiz-Bang

Where are from?
Band members originate from all over the country, from Anchorage Alaska to Austin Texas. our current home is Brooklyn, New York

What do you do?
A multimedia puppet rock opera about pirates.

Why do you do what you do?
to combine all the best elements of pop, rock, theater and performance art. To be more than a band and less than a theater troupe
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What are you working on?
currently we are recording a new album of songs from our last show and writing a script for our next show.

What’s next?
a show about a pirate battle of the bands, an east coast tour, and plans to abduct more slaves for our Groupie Galley.

When will you be here? With who?
September 7th at the Six Rivers Brewery with the Rubberneckers

Who's that?
your favorite local cowpunk band!

MySpace?
myspace.com/jollyshipthewhizbang

Webpage?
www.thewhizbang.org

Anything else you want to add?
this is our first west coast tour and we are incredibly excited about it. if you like quirky rock songs, high energy performances and absurdity-laced narratives then you will most likely enjoy our show.

thanks, Raja