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Music of CHOTCHKE, part two

We're back with another installment of improvisations and songs from bassooncore legends Chotchke, active in San Francisco from 1993 to 1998 (not counting a later reunion gig). As it happened, last time, I presented a rather bassoon-light batch of pieces (as pointed out readily by my exacting listeners and a band member or two) and so THIS time I strove to pick songs that ALL had a lot of Carrie Barclay's bassoon work on them.
The lineup heard this week features members: Jon Arnold : guitar,drums and vocals, Carrie Barclay : bassoon and guitar, Jon Fellman : guitar and vocals,  Jonathan Hess : bass guitar, vocals, and  Drew Dobbs : drums, percussion and vocals.
Today's selection contains improv.s, half-finished songs, and fully-polished 16-track renditions.
Enjoy ten fine slices of Chotchke history after the bump.

Three POE Readings by James Mason

 
According to Hesiod, Dreams are the children of Night, and brothers and sisters of Death and Sleep. Deceptive dreams issue from a gate of ivory, true dreams through a gate of horn.
The spirits of the departed, too, so long as they are not in the kingdom of Hades, have the power of appearing to the sleeper in dreams.
Later poets call dreams the sons of sleep, and give them separate names. Morpheus, for instance, only appears in various human forms. Ikelos, called also Phobetor, or Terrifyer, assumes the shapes of all kinds of animals as well as that of man: Phantasos only those of inanimate objects.

Today we serve up half of this round, black inanimate object, known as DL 9062, specifically the delicacy presented on side two: Three dramatic readings from Edgar Allan Poe as performed (with no directing credit) by James Mason, with creepy and dramatic organ stylings by Buddy Cole, who no doubt wore an Inverness cape for the occasion.

Rather than wax eloquent about Mr. Mason or the dear Mr. Poe, let us simply enjoy the delicious tones of his words as read by a master appreciator of same.

A larger copy of the full cover art for this gem is found HERE.

And the MP3s on display are:

The Tell-Tale Heart
Annabel Lee
Silence

Happy Hallowe'en All!

Another Trip With Doctor Memory

"Just like real life..." Another live slice of radio history from October fourth, 1970, as we re-live the second half of the episode: I Could Always Shoot Him With the Camera, as presented by the Firesign Theater in the white label version of their delirious Dear Friends series.

The tracklist for the second side (my recorded-off the-radio version is missing the last sketch)----

1 Orson Welles bit  2 Punter's Girls   3 Sound effects war    4 Fresh chef    5 Sex jail    6 Sex movies    7 W.C. Fields    8 FDR and Hitler    9 PP's The Mutt and Smutt Show

 

Someone would be wise to release all of the Dear Friends shows that exist in a new edition. The group themselves might not be too thrilled with their old material and airchecks, but there are so many brilliant and telling moments when hearing them riffing and supporting each other live on the air that these recordings really deserve a wider audience, as well as just being dissected and savored by the many existing fans of their work. It would file nicely alongside of Goon Shows on the radio and other such classic fare. Or perhaps some lucky collector who owns all of these records would be kind enough to post them all on their blog at high quality...ha ha ha..."dream on, laughing boy!"

Enjoy this little dollop of live surrealism.

I Could Always Shoot Him With the Camera

Celebrity Anti-Drug PSA's, Part Four

Under the pretext of drug control suppressive police states have been set up throughout the Western world. The precise programming of thought feeling and apparent sensory impressions by the technology outlined in bulletin 2332 enables the police states to maintain a democratic facade from behind which they loudly denounce as criminals, perverts and drug addicts anyone who opposes the control machine. Underground armies operate in the large cities enturbulating the police with false information through anonymous phone calls and letters. Police with drawn guns irrupt at the Senator's dinner party a very special dinner party too that would tie up a sweet young thing surplus planes.

"We been tipped off a nude reefer party is going on here. Take the place apart boys and you folks keep your clothes on or I'll blow your filthy guts out."

We put out false alarms on the police short wave directing patrol cars to nonexistent crimes and riots which enables us to strike somewhere else. Squads of false police search and beat the citizenry. False construction workers tear up streets, rupture water mains, cut power connections. Infra-sound installations set off every burglar alarm in the city. Our aim is total chaos.

Loft room map of the city on the wall. Fifty boys with portable tape recorders record riots from TV. They are dressed in identical grey flannel suits. They strap on the recorders under gabardine topcoats and dust their clothes lightly with tear gas. They hit the rush hour in a flying wedge riot recordings on full blast police whistles, screams, breaking glass crunch of nightsticks tear gas flapping from their clothes. They scatter put on press cards and come back to cover the action. Bearded Yippies rush down a street with hammers breaking every window on both sides leave a wake of screaming burglar alarms strip off the beards, reverse collars and they are fifty clean priests throwing petrol bombs under every car WHOOSH a block goes up behind them. Some in fireman uniforms arrive with axes and hoses to finish the good work.

William S. Burroughs / The Wild Boys

Chotchke : In the Rehearsal Studio, pt 1

The BASSOONCORE movement in the early 1990's consists of a short list of little-known bands and foremost among those is CHOTCHKE (1993-1998), who began life as a six-piece and went on through fluctuating memberships and styles to record a lot and release a little. During the construction of their unusual musics the band would record day after day of long and amazing improvisations, often sounding like arranged pieces, stretching and utilizing the multi-instrumental talents of its members and often spotlighting its talented bassoon specialist Carrie Barclay. To the eternal chagrin of the band, the finished, polished studio versions of songs and the  ever-changing sets used during tours and gigs rarely reflected the madness and majesty of the long and involved improvs created in the warm coccoon of the practice space. Anyone who has played more than twice a week with a group and tried to write music this way will empathize immediately. For one thing, re-playing inspired improvs tended to squeeze the 'life' out of them, and they never quite satisfied like the originals. Recently, while listening to the fantastic "Complete Jack Johnson Sessions" by Miles Davis I was tickled to hear that super-lineup grappling with many of the same issues, they come up with an amazing collection of sounds and riffs, and on the second and subsequent takes the piece begins to bend in all kinds of different  directions, not always as satisfying as the first take.
Today I will present the first in a series of studies of the unedited studio noodling of Chotchke, in various lineups and configurations. For instance in this first long six-part improvisation, taken from a ten-part 45 minute jam, the bassoon player is on a saxophone, and I believe plays guitar on the second stand-alone piece "F-Sharp Song/Blue Shorts". I enjoy hearing new ideas coalesce instantly while the members are playing, and crazy segues happen while the band is in motion. Let's get in the Wayback machine and slip into the groove.

Celebrity Anti-Drug PSA's, Part Three

Pull up a tattered divan, load another noggin of taduki into the hookah and listen to the reasoning of these wise sages, seven in number. This batch of psa's is a particular treat, taken alone, they would ably represent the fun and goofiness of the entire series of "Get Off" radio records.
But first, an obligatory quote:

Resemblances exist between snowflakes and leaves. Seeing it snow, we think we can see tiny flowers falling from the sky. Why are the leaves that fade in autumn goldenly beautiful, and why do we think the spring flowers have tongues, comprise a sort of conversation? At the sight of leaves we think of hands fingered as if with buds. The feathers of the birds, the leaves on the trees, the delicate, feathery, fingery snowing in winter are related, we think ourselves entitled to say. The wind seems a thoughtless creature, not to be trusted; the windless calm, sensible of its own beauty, is as sweet as obedience that blissfully flows about within itself. Does the wind sense its own windiness? Does the leaf know how beautiful it is? Do snowflakes smile and flowers bewitch themselves, and do curls have some idea of their curliness? A river resembles a supple, rushing wanderer in its flowing, and water in its tranquility is like a beautiful woman with white gloves and blue eyes. Thick foliage cloaks the delightful delicacy of the twigs. That lovely things exist is a lovely thought. Waves and branches have snakelike shapes, and there come moments when we know we are no more and no less than waves and snowflakes, or than that which surely feels, now and then, from its so wonderfully charming confinement, the pull of longing: the leaf.

Robert Walser / Prose Piece

Here's How / To Mix Them

Imagine a forty-year quest for the "perfect steak" , which ends sadly with no perfect steak ever found, after thousands of slabs in the finest dining establishments in the world. This then, is the famous tragedy in the life of Maurice C. Dreicer, mixologist , radio personality, author and Manhattan native. Along with inventing a "device for testing caviar" and hosting the radio programs "Find the Phoney" and "What's It Worth?", Dreicer found time to record the best-selling 10" ep: Here's How / To Mix Them, which of course you recall is the "world's only verbal cocktail manual".

Music to Change Climate By

"I have been accused of considering nature no more than a free larder from which to take gourmet food, but this is not true. My love affair with nature is so deep that I am not satisfied with being a mere onlooker, or nature tourist. I crave a more real and meaningful relationship. The spicy teas and tasty delicacies I prepare from wild ingredients are the bread and wine in which I have communion and fellowship with nature, and with the Author of that nature."
--Euell Gibbons

Today I'm serving up a small salad gathered from wild ingredients, six of them vinyl, and one flexi-disc. Two 'mystery' artists, and two well-known names.

Celebrity Anti-Drug PSA's, Part Two

I'm back with more 1970's music celebrity Anti-Drug PSA's, to keep you on the right track, and away from the hard stuff.
Again, we have a wide variety of styles of presentation, as well as opinions and 'information' about 'hard drugs' and pharma abuse.
In this installment we begin to hear a few of the more 'informally' recorded PSA's, some of which appear to have been recorded while actually at work in a studio (such as the upcoming Curtis Mayfield PSA) and others that sound as if they were caught on the artist's home demo setup, such as this week's Seals & Crofts announcement.
There are so many favorites here, so many moods and colors of 'warning' and 'caution'. I'm always tickled by the light tone of the Linda Ronstadt piece,  the heaviness of James Taylor's (no wonder),  and the cold, hard logical approach of Mary Travers.
As I look ahead to the NEXT seven files in the series, my gosh, they get even better! Part three has some of my very favorite-est PSA's of all, so be sure to stay tuned for that next installment.
And remember:
"If you get high, be sure you don't die."
....................................................................

Linda Ronstadt

Seals & Crofts

Carly Simon

James Taylor

Cory Wells

Mary Travers

Robin Trower

Victor Flick, and the British Invasion of Sesame Street

Today's posting deals with two subjects dear to me heart: The ersatz, fake-o, bogus, unlicensed 'cover' album' (for kid's, in this case) on a 'knock-off' or low-budget label; and the work of legendary guitar specialist, composer, conductor Vic Flick.
  Mr. Flick's guitar artistry on dozens of hit singles and lps is well documented, but his work as a composer and conductor somewhat less so.
I discovered Flick's foray into the world of Sesame Street in 2002 whilst compiling Muppet/Sesame material for a music project. A collector pal brought over his latest Sesame record score and not only was it obviously unlicensed but credited Vic on the cover--a must-listen!

70's Celebrity Anti-Drug PSA's pt 1

With 'celebrities' of sorts on the mind, and perhaps muddled somewhat by extreme Heartland-style heat, I'll present the first seven of many Anti-Drug PSAs that I enjoy. There are 29 more of these mainly music-industry celebs that I'll get to later on, as well as the Mel Blanc ones, which I've been saving for some special occasion. Whatever that'll be. These files are from a cassette I made of the lp of radio-only PSAs, one of many interesting albums lying around KZSC in 1982. Upon basking in many of these at a time, one is always impressed at how carefully the 'bad/troublesome' drugs are segregated by the various personalities involved, as well as the ones recorded while apparently high, which kinda dulls the message a bit. I think actually many of these folks sounded loaded whether they were or not. The Peter Yarrow psa in particular is an old favorite. His seething anger and the final death threat are such a treat. Jon Anderson also steps up in this set with a nice little rambling and almost incoherent 'warning'.

Paul Williams     Jackie Wilson     Johhny Winter     Bill Withers     Peter Yarrow     Jon Anderson     Jesse Colin Young

A Child's Garden of Noise

In June 1994, Drone Records released probably the least droney item in their catalog to date with the nutty single for children "A Child's Garden of Noise".
Always one of my favorites of the things I co-produced and engineered while with Big City Orchestra (now celebrating their 30th anniversary),
the first pressing, on clear vinyl, sold out in about a month and so a second edition on candy yellow with lovely red center was put out.
Since the originals ran at 33&1/3rd we knew the fidelity would suffer a bit, and so years later I finally got around to transferring the original tapes to CD. Thus the mix of Side One of the record presented here is not the exact same as on the record.
I had always wanted to hear the huge amount of bacon cooking/record surface noise that I'd wallowed in while making side one in a 'clearer' format.

Friend Brook Hinton had been meaning to use the title for years, and graciously let us release ours. What can ya do- it's a phrase I'm sure many have kicked around. I should mention the awesome vocal work of six-year-old Annie X on much of side two. Which I'm not gonna play, but check it out anyway.
Also included today is a bonus unreleased track from the same sessions using an American history record we all loved. Oh, yeah, and there's also the wonderful first edition covers- all different on both sides, all of the fronts drawn by children and the backs done in our studio using vinyl and rub on letters tediously applied in the dead of night by das.
Hoping your young'uns enjoy it---this is one of my few posts suitable for children- so run with it!

A contemporary review is here.
the MP3s:       A Child's Garden of Noise
                      The Santa Fe Trail

A Memory With Trip Lane Doctor Down

A lot of comedy groups have flung open the mind's ramparts over the years and many have coerced this writer's style and approach but few like the Firesign Theater and littler still like the mad fresh improvisation done on their live radio programs in 1970 and '71.

"It's Full of Holes / It's Full of Holes..."

Department of Musical Project Compost Pile(s) / part 2.
Here are some floor sweepings from an experiment planned for several years: To create a bizarre and multi-artist inclusive METAVERSION/crashup of the song Boll Weevil Blues. Last year I finally did create a first attempt at melting down all of my ideas for this song into a piece, but I'm not terribly impressed with my first try (despite it's imminent release); so here are some of the raw components for you to play with to create your OWN sick remix of BOLL WEEVIL. The song has been burrowing and crawling around since 1908 and was further spread when Charley Patton recorded his first version in 1929, with the later format that we know today somewhat codified by Leadbelly in his 1934 telling of it as recorded by Alan Lomax.
Since then there are hundreds of larval re-recordings of this flexible song, and the four elements we have here are portrayed by none other than a few of my favorite people: Homer and Jethro, Walter Brennan, the 'hit' version by Brook Benton, and most especially, a sly cross-referencing of the song's lyric by William S. Burroughs, as used by Spring-Heeled Jack in their piece 'The Western Lands', of which I'm presenting an abridged version here. In original discussion of the Burroughs inclusion in our own re-do of the song, we debated about whether he 'meant' to reference the song in his repeating of the refrain "it's full of holes / it's full of holes", but knowing Burroughs and his love of cutting-in lyrics and old-timey American fragments along with futuristic and ancient materials, I think that he must have been doing this 'consciously'.
Now your mission is to take these disparate versions, plus stirring-in other covers of Boll Weevil that YOU have and enjoy to create a 'new' and unique mix of the song. If people would like to actually submit their results, drop a line here, and I'll do a future post featuring the new offspring of this old bug.

Homer and Jethro / Boll Weevil

Walter Brennan / Boll Weevil

Brook Benton / Boll Weevil

Spring-Heeled Jack / The Western Lands

Samuel Pottle / Unforgetable Fur

Department of Puppet Audio / Part 1
Today let's visit the tasteful and clever arrangements of Sam Pottle along with his various songwriting partners, during his tenure as music director on Sesame Street from seasons six through nine.
My two selections are from the Grammy-nominated lp The Sesame Street MONSTERS! (1975).

FUR features the full Broadway blitz of Pottle styling and fantastic lyrics by David Axelrod. As well as this lp appearance, it came out as a single in 1976. The words are included herein in full for your furbulous edification:

Fur! I am covered with fur / From my snoot to my spur / I'm a furry fella./ Fur! When you stroke it I purr / When you poke it I grrr / It's maroon and yella. / Fur! Keeps you warm when it's brrr / Don't you wish that you were / Fairly bursting with fur, fur fur ! / Yes, fur is beautiful / fur is clever / furthermore I'll love it forever / Fur! Unforgettable fur. // Now you may find fur too frightful but / I'd never switch / I find my fur delightful but / boy, does it itch./ You may see fur as horrible / I say no sir / To me my fur's adorable / and I'm covered with FUR! (I kinda grow it) ...(repeat second verse)

And one of my favorite slow, bluesy ballads from Sesame Street (more in upcoming posts): I Can't Help It, written with Joseph A. Bailey and David Axelrod. This one has a lovely melody that sounds so familiar that I can't figure out if it's copped from some tin pan alley song from the 'teens or not. If so- I want to know what it is. This lp has a terrific cover and is full of great material. A good place to start a Sesame Street album collection. Actually I could virtually throw out all of my others, if only this one had Bert and Ern.  Many of the lps in the SS series have only a handful of songs I want to hear more than once but this one is paced so well I always tend to leave it on until it's done. In a future post we'll explore the Vic Flick/Sesame Street connection. In the meantime, enjoy these gems.

FUR

I CAN'T HELP IT

A Tummy Tickler from The Soul Clowns : Skillet & Leroy

Department of Less-Than-Hilarious Comedy Albums/ Today's offering:  The Okra Eaters.
A scandalous, shocking, nasty damned dish.
They really need little introduction, just pour a libation, settle down and get ready to laugh until some okra comes up.
This is the complete 1974 adults-only lp, with ripping incidental music by the Johnny Otis Show, and another lovely (?) Laff Records cover designed by Howard Goldstein with Bud Fraker photography. Oh, and I fixed the tracklist- the original lp had the cuts listed wrong on the cover and the label. But who would care or notice? Tracklist schmacklist.
Again--if you didn't glean this already--This is NOT work-safe or even safe for pets or children, for that matter- just very down and dirty.  It hovers somewhere just short of 'foul' and nearby to 'cute'.

70's Culture Quiz: The concept "Karate Jaws" is a send-up of an ad campaign related to what 1970's icon?

Here is the link to the corrected cover art, and here are the 13 tracks:
01  Bazooms     02  House of Pleasure     03  Miscarriage     04  Eat My Okra     05  Chocolate Ice Cream     06  Proud     07  Hold That Tiger     08  Son in Law     09  To Be Sure     10  Bad Weather     11  Blowin' Mule     12  Big Mary     13  Dr. Weightoff

Stain, Afterburn, and Echo / the Aftermyth of Throbbing Gristle

The immersion. A stinging. There is only color. No shape. No front or back, simply orbits rippling back from a central disturbance. Some lighter bodies become vapor rather than resolve into the growing hum that shoots through mass and time.

Birth and Destruction: Rise and Decline of a California Teenage Girl - aka - Rad Chick Eats Sh*t

I'm a huge fan of Pause Edited Cassette Art. To use a famous example, there is an ingenious Captain Beefheart piece (forgive me if I'm remembering Trout Mask incorrectly) "The Dust Blows Forward and the Dust Blows Back" which is poetry that he created by recording each line separately, pausing the tape while he thought of the next one. I used that method 30 years ago as well, and recommend trying it for yourself.

Today I want to play for you one of my all-time-favorite one-of-a-kind cassettes: Birth and Destruction: Rise and Decline of a California Teenage Girl - aka - Rad Chick Eats Sh*t.

This 30-minute side of tape was sent in to me when I was doing IT'S BEEN REAL, my first radio series, and one in which I invited submissions of audio from listeners.

Santa Cruz radio station KZSC in 1983 was a great laboratory to experiment on-air. Format restrictions were few, cuss words and smut were mitigated by a preceding "disclaimer" announcement.

Nana Kwame Ampadu I and the African Brothers International

From the liner notes: " In short, this beautifully performed and superbly recorded album is a fitting musical excellence from Ghana's longest-lived group. It's therefore not surprising that Nana Ampadu is the most brilliant musician and wonderful lyricist who works in a standard and modern format using traditional rhythms and innovations to give the best to his large audience. Nana Ampadu is always together with his people. The people with Africa Feeling."
Well, I could hardly put it any better than it is expressed on the back of this Makossa Records International pressing of the 1981 lp "Agatha".

A joyful and deliciously polyrhythmic slice of Cote de Ivoire highlife, the 'single' version of Agatha came out in 1979. In the decade prior and the ones following, Nana has recorded at least "400" songs as singles and over "70" albums. From the Nana Ampadu website: ( http://www.nanakwameampadu.com/mylife.htm )  ...These styles are based on 'yaa amponsah', heard in its purest form on the band's hit single "Agatha" , and embrace other less-well-known regional styles such as odonson, a street rhythm performed by percussionists and singers, and osode, a music sung by Ghanaian fisherman in the west of the country. Ampadu's lyrics, almost invariably sung in one of the Ghanaian languages rather than English, are steeped in street and tribal lore, sometimes including coded criticisms of government policies and personalities."

Personally, I can say that since a friend loaned me this lp a few years ago, I have gotten a lot of joy from listening to and DJing these songs. I've always found this genre of West African music to be almost a guaranteed 'uplift' to my mood in any situation, and I think that this album is a splendid example of the best of the form.  Even better, it has only four long cuts, which allows me to wallow in the permutations of the groove within each of the songs to an orgasmic degree.

The availability of this music seems sketchy; there is a cd repackage (minus the original art) that is possibly out of print, and three of the four tracks pop up on several other Nana Ampadu CDs, with the exception being "Akwantifi Wuo", which seems to not be found on CD at all. Being fond of the original package and song list, and not having heard back from Nana's website, I'm going to go ahead and pass this lovely record along.

I've placed a mockup of the full lp cover here, and since my version of the cover art is merely a color copy made for me by the owner of the record, I've re-typed the wonderful and extensive liner notes on the back of the record, as my original copy is very hard to read. The text is just as charming as can be. "Thank God you've had this beautiful Album." Well, thank you, Nana Ampadu I and the band!

the four MP3s:   01  Agatha     02  Menye Osansani     03  Akwantifi Wuo (Mother)     04  Momfa Nto Meso

January Bird Migration Racket

Down through the ages, as I've done field recordings in Missouri, I've become used to most of them having a comfortable mix of frogs, crickets and other critters mixed with the chatter of hundreds of avian breeds. January, however, saw a noisy migration of Grackles and the sheer excess of them in our yard and trees was such that I HAD to record a slice of the soundtrack. Being the middle of winter, the birds are unadulterated by any other sound. Not necessarily a good thing!

The finished recording was frightening and disturbing in it's intensity and complexity; it reminds me of the work done by Remi Gassman for Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, more than anything else. The pattern of massing/the sound growing by the moment/and then all flying off loudly in one rush of thousands of wings is dramatic and chilling. Here is a slice of the full recording. Enjoy the sounds- you've been warned, though!

The MP3, 10:22 in length:  January Bird Migration