Red Chuck

Interview with Chaz Sharp

I blame all of this on potatoes. In particular, those tiny, delicious potatoes sold by the Nufer's at the Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings. Because of my devotion to these potatoes, my wife and I started to get to know Rusty and Sue Nufer, the hardworking couple responsible for these scrumptious tubers as well as a wide variety of equally delectable organic produce. So during one Saturday visit with the Nufer's I learned that Sue has a son named Chaz Sharp who is a songwriter living in London, UK. Chaz fronts a band called The Red Fishes who have been recording this past year in different studios in both the UK and the US. One thing let to another, Sue told me that Chaz would be visiting this summer, and the next thing you know I was hooking up Chaz with a recordings studio here in town and also playing in an Arkansas edition of the Red Fishes featuring Michael Goodrich, Marcus Lowe, Chris Atwood, and Isaac Alexander. Before our second gig I recorded this quick Q&A with Chaz on a hand held recorder while driving from L Street Park to the White Water Tavern.

Ed note: Since this was recorded in a moving car, I thought I'd chop up the interview and post sections of it along the route we travelled to get to White Water Tavern. You can read this interview sequentially by clicking on the yellow Wayfaring note tags in the map. Each note tag corresponds roughly to a question I posed to Chaz. I fucked up the Wayfaring numbers so don't pay them any mind.

Red Chuck: We're driving to the gig. . . White Water. Um. You've been recording all day?

Chaz Sharp: I've been over at Jason Weinheimer's Sellout Studios in Little Rock, AR.

RC: Right. And you are recording this here and you've been recording this. . .

CS: Some in London. Yeah, we did. . . analogue recording in London and we recorded a lot of drums, some guitars, some vocals. . .

RC: Uh-huh.

CS: And then. . . I brought it over here cause we didn't finish off the mixes there and [I] wasn't quite certain about 'em yet. . . And then. . . came here to Arkansas, hooked up with you via. . . my Mom. . .

RC: Right.

CS: At the Rivermarket. . . And asked if anyone had a Pro Tools studio so we could get into the tracks. And. . . so be it. . . you. . .

RC: We made the connection.

CS: Yeah, you connected me to Jason Weinheimer and I connected into the Boondogs and seem to be connected right into the heart of the scene in Little Rock.

RC: Ha ha ha. . .

CS: Michael Goodrich.

RC: Michael Goodrich! You are definitely in the heart of the scene.

CS: The Parachute Woman.

RC: Um. Here's the one. . . the main thing I'll bet the Localist will want to know, is. . . what, first, is your connection to Arkansas?

CS: Oh, ok. Ahh. . . my Mom. Like, I grew up in Arkansas til I was 14.

RC: Uh huh.

CS: 13, 14. Then I went to high school in California, Southern California, did a little college in Los Angeles then moved to New York City. . . and. . . eventually made it over to London, but, yeah, I grew up in my teenage years in Arkansas. . .

RC: Right.

CS: So a lot of my roots are here, my Mom's been here for 20. . . 30 years, probably.

RC: And you grew up in Jerusalem, Arkansas?

CS: Jerusalem. Yeah. Up in the mountains. . . like. . . way up.

RC: Uh-huh.

CS: Bunch of hippie families with farms. People who came back to the land in the 70s. . .

RC: Right.

CS: And started living amongst hillbilly people and being perceived as quite weird but then, sort of ingratiated themselves into that society and now they are part of the woodwork.

RC: Right. . . Um. So then what. . . how did you get from Jerusalem to London?

CS: Umm. From Jerusalem to London. Let's see. Well, I ended up going. . . moving back to California, even though I was there when I was 4 or 5, I ended up moving back to California for high school, yeah, when I was 14, 15. Did 10th grade, 11th, 12th in San Diego then ended up moving up to Arkansas, My parents sort of split apart at that point. My mom, her heart was here in Arkansas, so she stayed on. My dad went back to the city, kind of. . . and he went back into sort of business and business ventures. He didn't really want to be a farmer, so then, and they both re-married. . . with their common interests. And, um. . . that's how I got to California. And then once I got to California. . . I started getting into all sorts of different things, I suppose. Well, I got up to Los Angeles. For a while I was interested in acting. And I went to USC for like a year and then I dropped out and I worked in restaurants as a busboy and a bar back and I was gradually starting to get into music. Music was sort of in my family. But then when I got to New York City and then I was studying acting and theatre stuff out there and then moved back to LA for awhile, I had a guitar at that point and started kind of getting. . . getting, ah. . . going towards song writing.

RC: Right.

CS: I don't know, have I gotten off the point?

RC: No, no. Actually this is where we need to go.

CS: But that's how I got there. Yeah.

RC: And so, what were you. . . were there certain influences, as a songwriter, that were from these areas, Los Angeles. . .

CS: Yeah, well sure. When I was growing up in Arkansas it was all top 40 music, right, cause that's all you heard on the radio living up in Arkansas.

RC: Right.

CS: And we were talking about this the other night, when I came back, I was like "They're still playing the same shit on top 40 here. . ."

RC Ha ha ha ha. . .

CS: Foreigner, Heart, stuff like that.

RC: Yeah.

CS: Yeah, so at first, I was into stuff like that. What I can remember that I liked from that era that I probably still like is stuff like the Doors. I remember hearing "Riders on the Storm" like in that sort of ambient. . . far out sound. . . Um. And then my parents were into stuff like The Band and Credence Clearwater. . . I mean, from the earliest memory was The Beatles so when I went to London I was like yeah, The Beatles man and The Rolling Stones. Those were central factors in my growing up. The Beatles, The Stones, there might have been some Crosby Stills & Nash records flying around.

RC: Um, you're stuff has a real droning quality that reminds me of the Velvet Underground and some of your stuff reminds me of Nick Drake, a little. I mean are those valid influences?

CS: Definitely, definitely stuff I've picked up in the last 7, 6 or 7 years. Probably some of the first [Jeff] Buckley recordings I heard, "Live at Sine." That got me going. And then by the time I was headed to London I was listening. . . that was about 5 or 6. . . 5 years ago. . . I was listening to the popular music that was coming out of there, which was becoming big here, stuff like Radiohead, Bjork. And then when I got over there, that stuff had already passed there and that was kind of my first impression of it there, but then I started getting into, actually, punk music and garage and I guess that whole new wave movement of garage and stuff, The White Stripes and. . . that's what I thought was cool, I was like, "Aw, here's. . . here's blues and folk music blended with garage and punk" and then I kind of went, "Oh, I see that in the Beatles music, I see that in the Stones music," but then I also like music that was kind of droney and out there, stuff like Bjork's "Homogenic". . . subtle electronics, I am not opposed to that.

RC: Hell yeah. Nothing wrong with that.

CS: Yeah.

RC: Ha ha.

CS: Yeah, a little bit of everything and so, I guess that London is a melting pot of all sorts of influences.

RC: Um. So what do you think of Little Rock music scene?

CS: I like it man. I'm really happy to be like. . .

RC: I mean as to compared to being in New York or London. . .

CS: Yeah yeah. I like it down here. There's a rootsyness about the south that like. . . it goes all the way back into London and these places, supposedly the fashion centers. People that I know in London and New York City, there's just the rootsiness of soul that comes from Arkansas or the southern states. It's got a crack and a character to it and it's great. It's like. . . I like it! I like blues, yeah and like stuff like that, it's got a lot of soul to it and country music. Some of the old like Hank Williams. . . they're country singers. . . all those people are like soulful. It's great stuff.

RC: That's all from this part of the world.

CS: Yeah yeah. It's great. Yeah. People in London love that too.

RC: Right.

CS: They wanna go to the South. They wanna go to Sun Studios. Yeah. They love it.

RC: Cool. All right. Thanks.

Happy Birthday, Sonny

Sonny Rollins is 76 today!

This is STUNTROCK

And this is Sorcery.

And according to the Sorcery news page, Perry is working on a re-release of the "Stuntrock" movie.

And if you google "superhuman music magic" you get a page about Stockhausen.

The internet never ceases to amaze.

Our Seats

Tom Waits
Orpheum Theatre, Memphis, TN
Friday August 04, 2006 8:00 pm

Seat location: section MEZZ, row F, seats 101-102

Look Around You - Music

Crumbs

Crumbs - DJ Kels creates the first music instructional video mash-up I've ever seen.

Hey Wms, dig the Jaco wannabe on green bass.

Links:
Curved Air
sharpeworld

Etta James Aeronautics

So file this under cool and unusual things to do tonight in Little Rock - Etta James at IMAX.

Yep, AETN, KUAR, and The Arkansas Times are sponsoring an Etta James IMAX concert tonight at Little Rock's Aerospace Education Center. The concert is an Austin City Limits broadcast from 7/12/2005 and the reason they are showing it at IMAX is because. . .

Hey, it's free, it's air conditioned, it's on a big screen, what else do you need to know?

Links:

Boondogs in Arkansas Business

Cool post, thank you Nicole.

Bad Luck Meets Good Vibrations

This live music review of Wilco's March show in Fayetteville also can be read at the Localist.

Jeff Tweedy sure can talk. As a matter of fact, he got caught talking some shit about Fayetteville recently and “those poor sons of bitches who live there”—that from the stage of the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. To add insult to injury, he directed these comments at us the very night before his band, Wilco, was scheduled to play the Walton Arts Center. Don't worry; he got his just deserts. Karma came a calling in Fayetteville. Wilco's Arkansas debut was punctuated by minor equipment failures and technical setbacks. Tweedy's amp cut out, he broke a string on his acoustic guitar, and at one point, his trusty Gibson SG simply quit working (bad cable or bad luck?). So mid-show Tweedy cursed his own loose tongue and openly confessed to what he'd brought on himself. “I'll never talk bad about you guys again,” he promised from the stage. See what happens when you talk trash about the Natural State?
But technical difficulties weren't the only problems Wilco battled during last month's performance in Fayetteville. Arguably the greatest obstacle Tweedy faced that ill-fated Saturday night wasn't his gear, it was his fans. His admirers just wouldn't shut up. The front row was especially obnoxious. “TWEE-DEEY!! YOU ROCK!!” from a guy pumping both his fists in the air, front row and center. Unrelenting, this guy continued to yell during a quiet acoustic guitar intro until Tweedy actually stopped the show for him. “Excuse me, sir,” he said. “Yes you in the baseball cap. Listen. I know you're excited and I appreciate your enthusiasm, but is there any way you can hold off on all the shouting until we have actually finished playing the song?” And that wasn't it. From there Tweedy launched into an almost five minute lecture on proper concert etiquette. Like I said, the man can talk. But you know what? Somehow, while calling down his super fan, Tweedy didn't sound like an asshole. He was funny and polite, even a little self-effacing, as he gently reprimanded the overzealous Wilco-ite. And even though he was dead serious about getting this yahoo to rein it in, you also got the feeling that Tweedy wasn't trying to be a killjoy. He just wanted to make sure that everyone was having a good time, not just the front row. So Jeff Tweedy isn't an asshole after all. Hats off to him for being polite to a boisterous fan, for showing patience and good humor with gear glitches, and for singing like a damned bird.

In case you haven't heard, Wilco is a many-headed beast of a rock 'n' roll animal these days. Having weathered several line-up changes over the past couple of years, the band's current lineup seems fixed. Along with longtime bassist Jon Stiratt, Jeff Tweedy is now joined on stage by ace keyboardist Mikael Jorgensen, drummer extraordinaire Glenn Kotche , avant-spazz guitarist Nels Cline, and multi-instrumentalist/windmill-aficionado Pat Sansone. With this cast of characters, Wilco has become a super-band of the sub-genre. The Fayetteville concert was proof positive. The band played admirably and left few stylistic stones unturned. The sweet and sour pop of “Jesus, Etc.” followed the kraut-rock groove-y “Spider (Kidsmoke).” The Velvet Underground -influenced “Handshake Drugs” lead into a Velvet-Underground-playing- Pet-Sounds version of “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.” Wilco played a country-tinged foot stomper called “Forget the Flowers” and a Southern rock sing-a-long named “Kingpin.” Taking a wide view, the show highlighted Wilco's newest release, A Ghost Is Born , a collection of songs ranging from Van Dyke Parks piano pop to Neil Young- style ballads. But more than that, the concert showcased Wilco's enviable powers as a live band.
To that end, Nels Cline in particular brought both an unbridled enthusiasm and his own brand of unconventional musicianship to Wilco's Fayetteville show. As guitarist for both the Geraldine Fibbers and Mike Watt, Cline has been blowing minds as a sideman in the alterna-concert world for years now. And the Walton Arts Center show was no different. Cline took every solo as a chance to indulge in playfully maniacal expressions. At times his guitar squealed and screeched as he raked his pick behind the bridge or scraped the neck with what looked like a long, screen-door spring. Dressed in high-water pants that revealed red-and-black stripped Pippi Longstocking- style stockings, Cline convulsed and twitched when he soloed. Head thrown back and shoulders quivering, his tremulous body language mimed the spiky, erratic flights of his breaks. When he wasn't attacking his frets, Cline hunched over a table full of effects and processors where he coaxed eerie sounds out of a wild collection of DIY tone generators (a toy ray gun, for one) and various audio devices (a Korg Kaoss Pad from the way he seemed to be playing it ).
As fun as it was to watch a performer like Cline on stage, the greater thrill of the night came from experiencing Wilco, the band, as a whole. This lineup breathed new life into the night's set list. Even Wilco's most recent songs were played with surprising new touches. The piano driven “Theologians,” for instance, trucked along with a Stones-y swagger, while “Hell Is Chrome” emanated an unsettling tension not heard on CD . As for the older songs, both the violin-less “Jesus, Etc.” and thermin- lacking “I'm Always in Love” worked well with guitars and keyboards covering for their hooks, but the highlight of the evening had to be the delicately played “Muzzle of Bees.” Starting with it's lightly picked guitar figure, the song, throughout, felt as if it was holding its breath. Tweedy sang softly as Kotche stirred a gentle pattern on his snare. In an intimate venue like the Walton Arts Center, the subtleties of this piece sounded particularly ephemeral. The song parts fluttered at a low volume, rising only slightly to fill the gaps left when Tweedy wasn't singing. And to that end, an entrancing instrumental coda grew out of song's final chorus, with Cline weaving graceful guitar lines across a rising chord progression. The moment was mesmerizing.
After a great show like the one at the Walton Arts Center I'll be the first one to say to Tweedy, all is forgiven.

Set list: At Least That's What You Said>Handshake Drugs>I Am Trying To Break Your Heart>Forget The Flowers>Hummingbird>Muzzle Of Bees>Airline To Heaven>Bob Dylan's 49th Beard>California Stars>Hell Is Chrome>Spiders (Kidsmoke)>Jesus, Etc.>Walken>Theologians>I'm The Man Who Loves You>A Shot In The Arm

Encore 1:The Late Greats>War On War>I'm Always In Love>Kingpin

Encore 2:Heavy Metal Drummer>Monday>I'm A Wheel

Palestine Texas

I know, I know, I'll take Marc Ribot over John Mayer anyday but I'm telling myself that Ribot ain't a Leno fan and therefore was unavailable for the gig. And sheez, even though Carla Azar's only swinging mallets, she still looks like she knows which way the groove goes. And as for Jim Keltner, man oh man do I wish I could make the six hour trek to Nashville to see him play this month. Also, don't be too harsh about the lyrics. For all T Bone's chatter, the latter verses are all that really matter. And what I do like about him as a singer is everything un-singer about him. He doesn't push and he doesn't pull. He's as straight forward as Jim Leher and twice as cool.

PS. Spinsouth, I'm posting this only because you won't.

PPS. Dad, maybe we should think about getting you an Airline Guitar.

Daydream Nation Makes 2005 National Recording Registry

Glancing at the list of this year's 50 additions to The Library of Congress's National Recording Registry I was surprised and pleased to discover that Sonic Youth's 1988 masterpiece, Daydream Nation, made the cut. Well alright!

It seems this was a banner year for the LOC audio archives. When you get a chance check out the inductees - Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Lester Young, Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, Gil Scott Heron. . . there's quite an interesting array of artists and recordings that made it into the vaults. It's good to know that someone in Washington DC is doing something right these days.

I also applaud this quote from the Librarian of Congress, James H Billington:

“The National Recording Registry represents a stunning array of the diversity, humanity and creativity found in our sound heritage, nothing less than a flood of noise and sound pulsating into the American bloodstream.”

Wow. Billington's verbiage makes him sound like a cross between Walt Whitman and Kim Fowley.

Run Williams Run

Here's my embarassingly out of focus and woefully under lit (auto flash, where art thou?) shot of Williams pretending to hop the fence with his bass in tow after the backyard party the Boondogs played Saturday night was shut down by Little Rock's finest. Hey, I didn't think we were playing that loud but my ears as well as my eyes, nose, and throat are completely clogged with pollen these days. And yeah, I guess midnight is a little late for a band to be playing outside. And even though the party's hostess said that she would happily pay the fine for the noise violation if we would please keep on playing, we politley informed her that we would rather not go to jail. (Sorry ma'am. Parks closed. Moose out front should have told you.)

Oh what fun, I haven't played at a party shut down by the cops since high school. The three officers who appeared in the yard were not amused by our "low-watt avant-pop." They didn't come by to say we needed to turn it down. It was a very stern "why are you playing now?" followed by a "make sure you apologize to the neighbors" that once spoken thus became the closing remarks on a fun, lively, late night, outdoor soirée.

That said, the Boondogs survived the brush with the law and are readily available for bookings - private parties, outdoor receptions, barbeques, crawfish boils, May Day Parades, Literary Festivals, etc . . .

Beware the Ides of March

Boondogs at the Afterthought.
Wednesday Mar 15th. 8:30pm

Ali Farka Toure, 1939 - 2006

Link

Omnichord

Omnichords are cool. I want one. They're like autoharps but better. Autoharps have little strings and tuning pegs. Omnichords have chord generators powered by AY-5-1317A Semi-Conductors (basically P-Channel MOS ICs which accept 12 basic frequencies and output notes to form major, minor, and 7th chords). Omnichords also have a feature called the touch plate. You run your finger along the touch plate and the omnichord goes twinkle (blerrk skeetle doop OO kees dah) dee. It's like filtering an Autoharp through an Atari. Neat. I want one.

Googling "Omnichord" turns up this page.

Cool. They've updated the omnichord to the QChord. Interesting. I wonder what the QChord sounds like?

Uh-oh.

My favorite QChord artists:

Fat Possum T-Shirt

"Does your t-shirt say Fag Possum Records?"

No. But that's a funny, Miss Dyslexia.

Speaking of Fat Possum Records, the Fence Jumpers (SpinSouth, Dave, and I) will be backing up Jim Mize this weekend at Proud Larry's. We're opening for T-Model Ford.

If that new camera comes today I'll try to document our experiences in Oxford Town.

Breaking the Curse of Paul Simon

For over a year now, Helen, our three year old, has been fascinated by the music of Paul Simon. So much so, that every time we're in the car, she says:

Play Paul Simon.

Often if this request is not met, she will start screaming.

This is not good. Of course, the tantrum is inexcusable but. . . come on. I like Paul Simon as much as the next guy, but if I have to listen to Rhythm of the Saints again, I'm going to scream.

Helen is resolute. It's Paul Simon or it's screaming.

I've tried making substitutions. I've tried slipping some Simon and Garfunkel into the cd player. That didn't work. I've tried playing Reggae, Bahia, and African music, thinking maybe it's Simon's bands that Helen digs. Nope.

The other evening, Helen was in my car. As usual, she issued her request:

Play Paul Simon.

I looked around. There was no Paul Simon. Not on cd. Not in person. Not anywhere.

Time to make a stand.

Me: Helen, I'm sorry. I don't have any Paul Simon. Do you want to hear something else?
Helen: No.
Me: You know, I'm getting a little tired of Paul Simon.
Helen: Why?
Me: Well, I don't know. We listen to him a lot. And as a singer, he doesn't have any. . . any attitude.
Helen: Yes Paul Simon has attitude.
Me: Not really.
Helen: Paul Simon has attitude.
Me: OK. Well, not like other singers. How about we listen to someone else?

The question hung in the air.

I held my breath.

Nothing.

No screaming.

I was amazed. Could it be possible? Could this silence mean acquiescence? Could she actually be interested in listening to someone else? Quickly I turned the stereo on. Earlier that day I'd been listening to a Graham Parker mix tape so the cassette (yeah, I still listen to cassettes) was cued to this song:

Graham Parker - Howling Wind

Me: Helen. Listen to this guy. He sings with a lot of attitude.

The song played. I drove. She listened.

No screaming.

Wow. Was this it? Was Graham Parker breaking the curse of Paul Simon? I was dying to know. The song finished.

Me: So what did you think of him?

Once again, the question seemed to hang in air. I looked in the rear view mirror. Helen was looking out the window with a thoughtful expression on her face. She appeared to be collecting her thoughts. I looked back to the road. After a few more seconds came her reply.

Helen: You're right, he really has it all.

Afterthought Reminder

Tonight the Boondogs are playing the Afterthought. I've had a flyer in my links section for a while now so you've got no excuse. Also it's an early show. We're starting at 8:30 and here's the clencher - it's a NO SMOKING show. Once again, you've got no excuse. . .

Except for that it's a school night. OK. That's a valid excuse. So here's some tardy slips (Download PDF). Just download, print, and get Jason or Indy to sign it.

And hopefully you won't be in trouble tomorrow at school or work.

Hopefully.

Thoughts on Derek Bailey + An Appreciation of Untamed Dissonance

Because I took a break from browsing the internet during the holidays, I missed reading the news that Derek Bailey passed away on December 23rd. Respectfully this week I've been listening to Saisoro and Music & Dance, two of several Bailey discs I own. I am continually awestruck by the vibrant, bracing music this man created. Bailey is the most curious and inventive guitar player I have ever heard. His technique is both brittle and brutal, delicate and demented, wooly and evanscescent. His improvisations challenge description. Cross-cut koto music with cubist rainfall. Invert thrash compacted be-bop doodles in a fun-house, puddle-punched mirror. Crystallize skronk. And that just goes for his electric guitar work. On acoustic you'll hear him stretching gossamer gut-string micro-atonalities from furious 6-string glissandi. (Williams, I think this is what Ribot was trying to achieve that night you saw him rubbing his guitar with an inflated balloon.) Intense, absurd, frightening, comical, heretical, organic, eclectic, Brechtian - in his most inspired moments Bailey sounds like a mechanical insect with typebar legs scurrying wildly across an amplified bed of gravel. And yeah, I mean that as a compliment.

For me, the appeal of Derek Bailey is two-fold. First and foremost, he worked at the extreme edges of the guitar, both literally and figuratively. From the nut down to the bridge, Bailey played the entire instrument. Through scratches, tugs, and plucks, he created a language on and around the fretboard that was wholly his own. Wait. "Language" may be a tad inappropriate when describing the work of a player know for a neo-primitive, free improvisational style. Bailey's instrumental voice is anything but grammatical. If this is language, it is a mad jumble of words. His solos speak in imaginative, dissonant clusters. Within these expressions, augmented chords and harmonic overtones bunch together in frantic phrases. Bailey's guitar playing re-enacts a writer crumbling up a sheet of paper more than it does a writer closing a sentence with a neat black dot. Radical atonality, klangfarbenmelodie, call it what you will, Bailey's sonic markings are unmistakable.

The second thing valuable about Bailey is his prodigious output. With a documented sessionography running from 1965 to 2004, he worked hard. There's a great deal of material to hear, if you can find it. Most of it exists on obscure European labels, making Bailey's discography extremely desirable from a collector's standpoint. Also he played with just about everyone - Pat Metheny, Dave Holland, Han Bennink, Keiji Haino, Gavin Bryars, Thurston Moore, Jim O'Rourke - the list goes on and on. But what really intrigues me as both a guitar player and a collector is a series of improvisations he released in 1973 called the Incus Taps.

From what I understand, the packaging of the "Incus Taps" were sort of a marketing gimmick. Initially Bailey released this series of solo improvisations in a reel to reel format. He custom labeled the boxes and literally made them to order. The idea was to highlight the spontaneity of these improvisations while also getting his music out in a cost efficient manner. No, I don't have any of these on reel. I wish I did. I do own the cd reissue put out by the organ of Corti label. The recordings are amazing - dry, angular, solo-guitar miniatures, punctuated by eerie harmonic chirps as well as daunting improv-chord flappings. They are weird, airy, and voluble, "out" with a brainy, bird-like, erratic energy, alternately spastic and poetic in their flights.

At the same time, the "Incus Taps" sound confessional. These are bedroom recordings - intimate, quirky, and personnal (also a little muffled) - and thus they feel, for lack of a better word, honest. Like diary entries, these recordings document a specific time and a place, an exact moment in the artist's development, an exhalation of musical thought caught on the glassy magnetic face of analog tape. It's one thing to hear Bailey reacting as a musician to other musicians but it's another thing entirley to hear him play solo. The "Incus Taps" showcase free musical expression in an incredibly private setting, making it a notably discreet product by a wildly unorthodox musician.

So thank you Derek Bailey for your music. Your guitar spoke in broken tongues. Your recordings captured dissonant spirits. Your legacy lives on.

Tonight at the Tavern

Flyer courtesy Loose Canon.

The Easys Play That Place in the River Market

A book cover seems appropriate here since tonight we are playing with The High Strung, a band famous for touring Michigan libraries last summer.

Also I thought the American Princes were suppossed to be sharing the bill but I'm not finding any information about this. Who started this rumor? Come on. . . Own up. . . you scoundrel. I think it must have been someone from the local babysitter's union, spreading tall tales that Wednesday would be a three band bill so all of us would schedule sitters for a long winters night. . . of ROCK!

Anyway, here's a link to Sticky ______ site (underscored because I refuse to type "Fingers" with a "z" instead of an "s" anymore).

From One Fence Jumper to Another

Jim Mize and the Fence Jumpers | Christmas in Mississippi
(right-click, save target as)

Here's a little Christmas tune we recorded last year in case you are interested in what Jim Mize and The Fence Jumpers sound like. Spinsouth did a nice job covering the Jim Mize basics. All I got to say is come on out to White Water this evening if you like what you hear.

Sgt. Pepper-Spray's Lonely Hearts Club Band

The loose cannon had some extremely nice things to say about the Easy's show last night at White Water Tavern. I especially like this:

I think someone used some pepper spray on the PA last night. The tunes were absolutely piquant.

I guess that would make us Sgt. Pepper-Spray's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Thank you, sir. We had big fun.

Of course its always great sharing the stage with 607. (Wish you'd caught some of that on your phone, lc.) We need to get off our asses and get that 607/easys recording project in the can.

Also, its worth mentioning that Scottie Pippen was hanging out at White Water last night. Yeah that Scottie Pippen. He's from Hamburg, Arkansas you know. He must be in the area for the holidays so its really not that surprising that he'd be at WWT on a Tuesday night.

Hey Sport, Time out! It's the Easys, Tonight @ WWT

In Space

Have you heard the new Big Star album? Not bad, not great either. I thought this review summed it up fairly well.

Localist, ho!

The Easys Website

New and improved!

Hella

So, in contrast to the previous post, last night's White Water show offered the inimitable Hella. Where Saturday night's Big Silver was even keeled and well tempered, Tuesday night's Hella was aggressively fuzzy and playfully unbalanced. Imagine Chewbacca on a free jazz binge and you get the idea of the kind of benevolent monster thrash these guys kicked out. The guitarist unleashed squalls of arthritic finger taps in counterpoint to the bassist's arrhythmic belching. Add to this theramin-ish keyboard squeals and/or the occassional 6-bit Ms Pacman melody as played by an unshaven fast forward button in blue, plastic-teethed Venetian blind sunglasses and you're getting closer to the action. But really these 3 wunderkinds only form the "H" in the band. The "ella" is the drums, a one man army with whirlwind chops and Big Foot stomps. Unamplified, he was the loudest in the room. Imagine a speed freak clear cutting Monet's Garden at Giverny and you get an idea of the destructive, manic art-energy this guy applied to his instrument. Unleashing relentless, righteous fills and flams, this dude and his tangled rhythms were the centerpiece in this glorious 4 panel squelch/clamor/growl/avalanche tableau. I was especially digging his cymbal work, paying particular attention to his buzzsaw blade ride and his rusty hubcap crash that went kerrprowwwshhh and dinkdunk respectively. So there you have it, 4 spastic muppets too "out" to make Oingo Boingo and too "new wave" for Beefheart. Unfortunately my ears can withstand a lot more than my eyes, and after 45 minutes I succumbed to all the cigarette smoke. Such a nasty habit. When will the kids ever learn? I guess I'll have to wait for Lightning Bolt to play the local oxygen bar if I ever want to see an entire set of sonic, action painting.

As a side note, I dedicate my freshest Garageband creation - Black Cloud (Batman Mix) - to all those lovely, chain-smoking, Marlboro plebes.

Big Silver

Big Silver played a terrific set Saturday night at White Water Tavern. Undoubtedly, the best set I have heard by them on that stage. Everything sounded perfectly balanced. Isaac's vocals were right up front where they should be and everyone in the band played with a relaxed confidence that was a pleasure to both witness and hear. I say all this because so often at White Water the bands battle ye olde lousy PA. Saturday was one of those great shows where everything felt right - sonic justice for the "Biggest Little Rock Band in the Nation."

It also doesn't hurt that Big Silver's new album is chock full o' incredible songs. Just listen to Berryhill Park if you need further encouragement.

Sitting Still

Sure wish I had been in Athens, GA last Saturday night. Kingspins Bowl & Brew sounded like it was the place to be.

Giant Killer

OK. Screw the behemoth (see previous entry). Based on this review, maybe I should get one of these.

Ben Harris Benefit Recap

So the Ben Harris Benefit was fun. Meshugga was great. How often do you get the chance to hear klezmer music at White Water Tavern?

And even though Greg and Chris's version of "Lets Get It On" was fantastic, the highlight of the night had to be the cover of this amusing song.

Hats off to Odie Blackmon.

And Greg Spradlin.

After the Goldrush Went Bust

The Memphis Flyer dishes out the goods on us Boondogs here.

As Williams pointed out, too bad they didn't plug our gig at the P & H Cafe this Saturday.

Its a well written article nonetheless. Thank you Werner.

Box Turtle

This evening, come hear some low-watt folk-pop (that's what the kids are calling it) in the car port at Box Turtle, 2616 Kavanaugh Blvd, Little Rock, 72205 - (501) 661-1167.

Uncle Steven

Friend Alan's friend Tom's friend Steven holds baby.

Boondogs Interview on WAI Radio

Jason & Indy were guests this week on the inaugural broadcast of the Arkansas Times Entertainment 120 internet radio show with Jim Harris. The topic of conversation was the new Boondogs cd Fever Dreams. Jim played 4 tracks from the cd and quizzed the talent on everything from recording techniques to marketing plans. If you are going to listen, let me warn you, there is some serious hum in the WAI Radio studio. Hopefully they are going to take care of that soon. Anyway, other than the rumble, the highlight of the show for me was Jim's off the cuff comparison of the Boondogs to Steely Dan. Wow, if Indy & Jason are Walter Becker & Donald Fagen that means Chris is Chuck Rainey, Isaac is Steve Gadd and I am "Skunk" Baxter. Wait a sec. . . I think I've got a Skunk picture around here somewhere. Yep, here it is. And you know what? There are some similarities. Check it out. . .

Credits: Ok, so obviously the "Skunk" picture is not from my personal archives. It came from this site where you can also find a nice biography and a "career highlights" discography. The Red Chuck picture is from last July's "Bad Idea" party. Mmmm nostalgia. You should've been there.

Bose Endorsement

Eric loaned us one of these for our cd release party this weekend. It sounded amazing. We set the cylindrical radiator speaker column as a side fill. Amazingly there was no feedback even though the speaker was standing directly in line with the vocal mics. Now this is not exactly how Bose suggests this should be used. Their vision for this PA system is that everyone in the band plugs directly into their own column. I don't know if I buy it. Why? Cause to me an electric guitar sounds best through a tube amplifier. But setting up one of these for vocals and letting the vocal mics also carry the band's ambiance seems like it could be an ideal set up for us. Hey Bose, we like you.

New Flyer

Church Sign Generator

Thank you Tony.

Weird War

When I was 8 years old, I received a football uniform for my birthday. It consisted of a green jersey, shoulder pads, and a helmet with an elaborate 3 bar face protector. I was very excited by this present. I was just getting into football at the time and at that age, sports are all about the uniform. Therefore, I couldn't wait to try mine out. After eating a lot of birthday cake, my father agreed to take me to the neighborhood field to run some plays. Proudly sporting my new uniform, I walked with him.

When we got to the field, my Dad proposed that our first play be a long pass. I got in the ready position. He called out "hut" and I ran for the far end of the field. My temples were trobbing, sweat was pouring down my face, and before I could turn to catch the lobbed pigskin, I doubled over and vomitted. Brown bile dripped through my face guard as the ball bounced to the ground in the distance. It was the excitement, it was the heat, it was my nerves. Post-egestion, I remember my father patting me on the shoulder saying, "Son, we'll try again some other time."

Historically I do not perform well in a uniform. Therefore I respect those who can. Take Ian Sevonious. Here is an individual made for a uniform. I know because I have seen him perform in many. Once in a yellow, tennis ball fuzz-ish three button suit, once in maroon leisure wear, and last night in a military issue olive jacket.

Ian's new band, Weird War, is an abbrasive yet loveable psychedelic groove machine that made its Little Rock debut in the Downtown Music Hall around midnight. Ian struted onstage like James Brown or Iggy Pop. Throughout the set he struck furious funk poses while screaming like a banshee into the microphone. The show held 2 worlds together, it was punk rock aggression over flower power expression. It was both primal and soulful. And at its center, a man in a uniform.

Check it out.

AK-47

Live Music Thursday

6:30pm — Boondogs @ Box Turtle

9:00pm — Jim Dickinson @ Cornerstone Deli

11:00pm — Weird War @ Downtown Music Hall

People Say

Terry Gross held a great interview today on Fresh Air with one of my all time favorite bands, the Go—Betweens. Grant McLennan and Robert Foster sounded polite, witty, and intelligent, just the kind of repartée you would expect from an Australian rock band.

Here's the song they described as a cross pollination of The Monkees and Bob Dylan.

And here's part of the Robert Christgau quote that started the piece.

"There's no denying that the Go-Betweens are a bookish taste--if you're bored by the literary, you won't get 'em. But rather than lyric poets, as I once thought, Forster and McLennan are better conceived as short-story writers, with the concreteness and forward motion of voices and music compensating for imagistic technique and low word count."

—from A Long Short Story.

And since I am quoting Christgau today, here's his most recent Go—Betweens review:

Oceans Apart [Yep Roc, 2005]
Robert's songs more tuneful in their maturity, Grant's more atmospheric, they punch 'em all up to make a stronger impression than on their comeback album, thus proving that it was one. Settled down in real life, Robert recaptures his peripatetic past with a clear conscience and a sharp eye; still questing, Grant couches his romanticism in instrumental subtleties that soften his detachment. Robert so fond, Grant so elusive, both so beguiling, they're deeply civilized for the leaders of a working rock band. And for just that reason they can follow the calling until that distant day when strumming itself is too much for them. A

Links:
An Archive of Robert Christgau's Go—Betweens Reviews

Calling All Facial Hair

mp3

To celebrate the release of iTunes 4.9 (and to test iTunes 4.9), here's a garageband slow jam with a shout out to the big chief and/or someone with facial hair.

I got your podcast feed right here.

New iTunes in June

AppleInsider reports that the new, podcast friendly version of iTunes could be available by the end of the month.

M.I.A. in the Mix

M.I.A.'s Online Piracy Funds Terrorism is an interesting play on the whole file sharing and piracy conundrum. Here the Sri Lankan "hip-hop, ragga, dancehall, electro and, dare we say, punk" vocalist invites budding and or established music producers the oppurtunity to re-work her songs from the ground up. M.I.A. allows for her vocal tracks to be freely downloaded. You can then remix her vocals anyway you like and then upload an mp3 of your mix to her site. Your uploaded mp3 is in turn offered in streamable m3a form for review. Visitors are then encouraged to rate your mix and others based on M.I.A.'s 3 AK37s scale.

Why do I care?

1) I love the whole open source vocals idea. With everyone trying to protect their musical assets in this day and age, I love it that an artist is saying: here ya go, have at it, show me what you got.

2) I love what I think I see working on the server side of her site (Indy stop reading now because this is extremely nerdy). I think her ISP is using Apache::MP3 to handle the different file formats offered. Maybe I am wrong, but I can't imagine how else they could have created a streamable jukebox that so cleverly invites visitor interaction — download, mix, upload, vote. I also appreciate how the Online Piracy Funds Terrorism section offers several unique mp3 trafficing options that are uniformly easys to navigate and operate (1 click downloads for all formats). Hell, I even downloaded the vocals. Rest assurred, I'll post something both here and there if I ever get around to making a mix.

3) Ummm. . . I started thinking my previous post wasn't very funny and even had a faintly misogynist tone, which was not intended at all. So just to show you I ain't a chauvanist pig, I thought I'd hip everyone to M.I.A., who sounds like she could beat my lame-white-boy-snacking-on-a-woman's-energy-bar ass on a treadmill any day of the week.

Black Banana

Respect: 1 black banana, freezer burned to a crisp, rotten to a core now warm and mushy.

Blood, Sweat, & Beers

. . . and a broken pick up switch. But that's what a guitar should look like after an Easy's gig.

New Player

The new Red Chuck mp3 player came from here. I like this interface a lot more. That other thing was getting on my eye nerves. Anyway, lemme know if you notice anything annoying about it.

Billy Harvey

Have you seen this guy’s site?

RiverVest

You might ask, "What's RiverVest?"

Well its the Riverfest schedule that the music snobs here at Red Chuck Industries would like to see.

And yes, this is pretty much the same mark up as last year, if'n you saw that un.

Sorry. Some gags just don't get old around here.

For all you David Cross fans

This is awesome. David Cross addresses his own bad reviews in Pitchfork by parodying the hyper—hyperbolic writing styles of this indie rag's contributors. I particularly enjoyed this line about ButterFat 100:

Let its volcanic rapture overwhelm you like a 19th century hand-woven blanket made of human hair might have done back in the days when they enjoyed such things.

The empire burps crunk, indeed.

Secret Wall Tattoos

The Queens of the Stone Age are a rock band. When they go on tour they stay in lots of hotels. Rock band + hotel room = secret wall tattoos. Abstract art as nouveau rock god attitude.

Lou Reed Gear List

That means music equipment.

Pootenanny

With a name like Pootenanny — we wrongly assumed it was a raunchy soul singer — we felt like we needed to find out who or what the heck was happening at the White Water Tavern on Saturday, May 7. We found out it’s a local take-off on a hootenanny, with the webbed network of the Salty Dogs/Amy Garland Band/Big Silver guys, who get together and invite other area artists bring their instruments and sit in.

Says Amy Garland/Salty Dogs bassist Mike Nelson, “It’ll be us, along with Conway native Chris Lipsmeyer, as well as any other local musician we can con into coming down to the White Water Tavern to play songs we all don’t know. The only redeeming part of the show is that the musicians play semi-nude.” Music starts around 9 p.m. and admission is $5.

Just read this here.

This Saturday Night at Juanitas

New Go—Betweens Release May 5!

The Go—Betweens
Yep Roc
Redeye

Reviews:
The Guardian
Mojo
Uncut

Sadcore

So I'd never heard of this type of music until it turned its big rheumy eyes on me from the genre column of iTunes today. And then I realized . . . I am into sadcore. And what a pathetic admittance. Luckily, I'm not single. Likes — kickball, pho do bien, corduroy, sadcore.

Anyway, here are some sadcore records I've been diggin:

The Mix Tape

Thurston Moore writes in WIRED about the mix tape.

The Clientele

We Could Walk Together from Suburban Light for this British-ish day.

Saturday Night Podcast

swagger

It twas the night before Easter and...

a televangelist met an envelop filter in a dark alley haunted by playboy bunnies.

Your feed is in the same place as usual. XML

beta2 podcast

Plod

Feed:

http://media.soundscapes.com/Blog/index.xml

Notes:

Created using IXI software. All sound sources are from a 1962 Fender Jaguar recorded straight to a Tascam 4 Track. For the digital transfer, I used Sound Designer II.

O say can you say tape hiss?

Heavy Rotation

Dungen

Ta det lungt

1. Panda
2. Gjort bort sig
3. Festival
4. Du E För Fin För Mig
5. Ta det Lugnt
6. Det du tänker idag är du i morgon
7. Lejonet & kulan
8. Bortglömd
9. Glömd konst kommer stundom ånyo till heders
10. Lipsill
11. Om du vore en vakthund
12. Tack Ska ni ha
13. Sluta Följa Efter

Info:
The new album released in 2004.

Contributing musicians:Gustav Ejstes: all lyrics, music, vocals, guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, fiddle, flute. Reine Fiske: electric guitars on tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, bass on tracks 5, 8, 13, percussion on tracks 10. Fredrik Bjorling: drums on tracks 1, 3, percussion on tracks 8.Henrik Nilsson: bass on tracks 1, 3. Aron Hejdstrom: saxophone on track 5. Lars-Olof Ejstes: fiddle on tracks 4, 10. Anna Karin Palm: vocals on track 12.Tiaz Gustavsson: percussion on track 10. Frew Elfineh Taha: voice on track 5. Recorded at Konst & Ramar and the Bergstromska Institute. Recorded, mixed and produced by Gustav Ejstes. Executive producer: Stefan Kéry. Engineer: Pierre Carnbrand. Mastered by Tomas Tibert. Cover design: Stefan Kéry and Carl Abrahamsson.
Photos: Stefan Kéry and Ida Lauden. Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing Scandinavia. Henrik Nilsson appears with kind permission by Dust Music.
c + p 2004 Subliminal Sounds

SUBCD 10

beta Podcast

Summer Breeze

podcast feed:

http://media.soundscapes.com/Blog/index.xml

Confidentiality Notice: This recording is not intended to belittle the inestimable talents of either Seals or Croft or any musicians, engineers, or producers associated with either aforementioned artist considered either in the singular or as a conjunctive artistic entity commonly known as such by the insertion of the coordinating conjunction "and" between the names "Seals" and "Croft", appearing in the very same order as has been thus just recently committed to written form. Furthermore, this is not me singing.

Tonight at White Water Tavern