Tweeners -Strong Woman Ep

Tweenage- one week for free

CD includes iron-on, poster by Jesse and possible mini zine with interviews with Godz, Henry Rollins and Kira Rosslar (two members in Black Flag smart enough not to try to reunite as senior citizens)

TWEENER -SHANTY EP+BONUS TRAX

SIDE ONE

SIDE TWO

Chamber Fables 54- The Sunset of the Golden Year Part 1

There seems to be a slight resurgence of new music in our lovely town by the bay.  We have seen some great new combos pop up (most notable Radios In Caves and Blood Gnome) and new consistent venues (most notably The Shanty).  But these next couple spots are going out to a time period when things seemed to be approaching  a nadir with respect to the quantity of live music and venues and such.   The hard work during these days was being dragged up a steep hill by the mightiest of mights Chamber Fables 54 and the bulk of bulk of their sugary sweet slime being slung at, what I am now dubbing as, "Pat's Lil' Red Lion" (even though he is not the owner nor nothing more than steward of the join but none the less accepting of music and people that he wouldn't have picked as a soundtrack and clientele of that joint... i.e. he took a chance where not many others would).  But all the same a conversation about the band that consisted of Christine, Donny, Ryan and Martin and how wonderful they were/are (we really aren't sure of the status of them at this moment) and I mentioned that I had some rough recordings done that may or may not be done....Life got in the way but at the very least my goal was to bring their music to the people the best that I could.  People all over the country love their powerful wizardry and as Jon and I (also a "John") concluded.  Chamber Fables 54 represent the best of Eureka music and deserve to be preserved some how.  So until there are gold records and grammies given to them this will have to do for the moment.


This sessions was the first of two.  It was done last year in the spring and the band was at the peak of their powers.  They rolled in and ran through The King Salmon Duo's giant tube circuitry and small drum kit.  Christine liked reverb so she was given the best we had....Donny had a big clean double 15 inches coming from behind; Marty powered over the kit in a way that only made Black Sabbath seem tiny like a junior high school marching band in comparison and Ryan would take breaks between fixing up his and his wife's new house with his carpentry expertise by walking down the golden brick road of melody and winning back the trombone from it's imprisoned years as the stereotypical crappy orange county ska revival instrument  (thanks Ryan...Neutral Milk Hotel almost did it but you definitely did!)

No song titles....just 13 lucky numbers done in April.  If you need to know names then go up to one of them and ask....they are all wonderful people that I am lucky to call friends.

13 Lucky Numbers

Alien Fuck Face- Welcome To Eureka (Where The Sun Don't Shine!) ep

Losing sleep; making deals; shaking hands and taking it all in -full fucking dong! This ep is a result of south coming to the north doing business and sharing feasts. No time for overdubs or session men... brain washing, beach combing, dog walking were the only ways to clear grass hazed minds to be clear enough to focus on the goods... and the goods were not music per say.... the music was done to be constructive in a working man's down time during days of full paranoia and crossing lines. Inspired by three parts Grandma Dolf, one part Katie Hennessy and one part Turbo Tyler. Alien Fuck Face are: Singus Mundo, Charlie Toolbox, and Hagbard Celine. They are ready and willing to ruin your evening for a couple of drink tickets per band member at the Lil' Red Lion- Accept No Substitutions!

Welcome To Eureka (Where The Sun Don't Shine!) Ep

1. Ten Inch Tyler (Slight Return)

2. Impassible Space (Minimum Wage)

2. Ten Inch Tyler (Full Dong!)

Download

Tweeners-Fall Ep

The Tweeners have been meeting weekly for over a year now and this there 2nd Ep (the first being the Summer Ep) is a bit darker....maybe it's the world....maybe it's enduring death this season....maybe it's Halloween....anyway. It's more groove oriented.... plus there is a cover of Soft Machine in their prime. Get it free....Artwork by Jesse (as always)....add the image to your desktop and itunes as I forgot it put it on the ep. The Tweeners will be playing at Arts alive November and at the Sean's 11-11-11 bash in Manila.....so they couldn't come empty handed.

The Tweeners

The Fall Ep

1. The Lords Of Mrytletown Part 1 (The Wet Spot)

2. Rumpy Preeze

3. The Lords Of Myrtletown Part 2 (The Dark White Goblin)

4. A Certain Kind (Soft Machine)

5. The Lords Of Myrtletown Part 3 (The Growler-The Game Within The Game)

Link

Are The Kids Really Alright? Bummerfest 2011

To start this off I want to do some quick arithmetic estimations dealing with the population of Humboldt County. There are roughly 100,000 people (some say 120,00 but lets keep it as simple as possible for reasons of this mind fuck). So lets say half of those here are younger that 30 (maybe more may be less) 50,000 "kids". Let's say about 10% of those kids really like music... meaning that they go and check out live stuff....5,000. Now let's say 10% of those kids are into freaky stuff... musically speaking....500. I would expect to see about 500 kids or even people at Bummerfest.... maybe not the whole time but I was there both days, for most of the time (I missed a few acts that I wished that I hadn't but there is only so much strength in this aging sack of bones of mine). This is about the kids and for the kids right? Where were the kids? I think that the place maxed out with about 50 people (and that includes people working the joint)... I may have been tired and my eyes may have been deceiving me but that is my cranky observation.

Okay this is the part that I should have put first and thought that it went without saying (after a couple responses to this I see that I was wrong in my expectation of what I thought was the obvious): The people that put this thing on and did the organization are the REAL unsung heros.... it's hard to be some one that is actively involved with kids (regardless of being a parent or a teacher or high risk peer or who ever else is working with kids these days) to see how good these people are. One of the things that I was a little sad to see as well was that there wasn't more adult (or young adult) volunteering.... I understand that adults have "real lives" and I see that some people contributed their musical talents but there are always plenty of things to do in contribution...good to see old timers there as well (people like Julie and Mike that just can't stand aside without giving a hand to anything positive in the area): Renee and all deserve a pat on the back making this happen....above all, well done

So here is the other observation... minus a couple bands most of these performers were 25+ and a lot of them were beyond mid 30's. Not that age should be an issue... I like Henry Miller and Robert Pollard and even more so due to the age that they launched their gold.... but like a wise man said "If this is for the freaky kids and they ain't here then it's gotta be worrisome wondering where they are and what they are doing." At first I was a little freaked out by this because I would have loved something like this when I was young then it dawned on me... maybe the kids of today are not into what the kids of my youth were into. Maybe this whole thing is missing the mark all together. Maybe the tech savvy kids of today are doing things that are just as interesting and fresh as the things that the Placebo were doing back in the mid nineties but they are just different. Maybe this whole Idea of Bummerfest has become retro in a way and is more about the adults that really enjoyed this back when it was something that spoke to them as kids. Is there such a thing as an Adult Placebo group? Maybe this would be better served as something that is put together by freaky adults for freaky adults that love freaky music and the torch of what Placebo was for kids needs to be passed on to the kids to let them decide what kind of stuff keeps them away from drugs, alcohol and trouble making.... we may find that it's stuff like video games, or hiking or swimming or something we as adults are not aware of...

That being said, the music was (as always) top notch. Jesse Wiedel commented on how amazing it was that our small population has so many wild interesting rock groups... back to that 100,000 thing (minus the kid figuring). Manilapede were loud and messy and did a loud and messy Godz cover borrowing the loud and messy Erin of The Tweeners (who did their own mess -including a noisy collage that included Alec Baldwin chewing out would be salesmen)... they were good. I finally got to see the singer of Buffy Swayze et al perform and not just chat with him in Winco... and it turned out his solid drummer was the great Juaquin (who happens to have a wonderful mind for philosophy and a good sense of community- he brought generators to Doctor Don's thingy)...King Salmon Duo pulled off some great areas of music that we weren't aware that they touched on (aka "Forever Changes/Arthur Lee" inspired music) who would have thought that they were going for that with all the buzz you have to endure to see them at The Lil' Red Lion on any usual outing. The Monster Women were tight (take it both ways since we are talking about kids from the 90's). Jeeze Louise were tough (they may have been snapping gum during their set). Chamber Fables 54 were inventive and creative (as always); The Terrorist got the best kid vote from me... the people running the sound board kept asking if there was something wrong with the PA due to all the feedback these kids were generating.... in my mind that means they were doing something right. There were a lot of groups/ performers that I don't remember names from..... some one doing things under sheets (I hope they were kids)... a trio that were copping some good Link Wray riffs who were as well kids.... some one playing the acoustic and snarling like they came from Berkeley with an accent from London.... The band That I missed and wished I hadn't were the Eureka Garbage Co. the gents always put on a great show and it's different every time I have seen them...with my luck it was their best live show and I am getting too old to even stay up for it. It is has also been brought to my attention that the young band from Arcata that were so steeped in Black Sabbath was called IRB (starting off with Black Sabbath as part of your template is like starting off with an A+ in the early days of a class...keeping it smart early on)

So kids, if you are out there... could you tell us what you are doing? Most likely this whole blog thing is so outdated that kids don't even waste their time to read or respond (This blog could just suck as well).

Photo- Manilapede lashing out at Olympia with Tweener Guitar (and strap) (By J. Gibson)

We're No Dummies, We Learned from the Meat Puppets that Chamber Fables 54 Rule!!!!!- 2nd Annual Beach Party In The Sky (the wrap up)

Many years ago (when I was a kid) I saw the Meat Puppets. Yes ...I am old and was an uncool kid in the 80's but they were great -not only could they play well; not only were they freaky; not only were they speaking to the alienated group of kids that I seemed to associate with at that point of my life but they were like almost every group on SST Records in the early to mid 80's- they were teachers and they were schooling us as younglings how to be strong and have self assurance and trust in your own imagination and creativity. Fast forward 25+ years into the what is now the present; the Meat Puppets were in town BUT the world is not the same place that the Meat Puppets socked it out in 1983 or around then. There are endless pockets of safe havens across the world that safely snuggle up to the post-punk-hippy-jamming-cynical-wink of bands like Ween, The Meat Puppets et al -Thank you Nirvana for making the sidewalks safe for tattoos, nose rings, colored hair and showing us that a little internet music trivia serves as a good shield against real thought and discussion (It helps me understand more why Kurt Cobain wanted to blow his head off)- That being said (my little rant) The Kirkwood brothers deserve a little pocket money, some grass, a quick lay by locals (read some literature about the perks that SST bands liked to fancy if you have issue with this comment) and some praise for their past efforts (those years between 82- and 85 are pretty grand) but lets face it- they are doing the same thing they have done since the mid 80's. Formulas work and people for the most part are idiots and love safe formulas that they can count on... this is a whole other subject that can be discussed on the streets (if you like)...even more so if it has a history that they can defend when following the safe formula. If you went to the Meat Puppets show don't get down on this cheap blurb-it's not all bad vibes coming from my keyboard... in fact, quite the opposite. This little/long rant is not about yesteryear-It's about celebrating that very thing that made SST Records one of the great cornerstones of the 80's-Imagination and resourcefulness in the face of the long bland road of humdrum excess and the safety of the same ol'- same ol' (even if it had its time somewhere in the past)-It just wasn't happening in Arcata that day but the best part of the the Meat Puppets legacy was still in the air all the same...

For purposes of making some baby boomer connection for the masses (people love the 60's) Beach Party review will be broken up into a "Monterey Pop Festival" part, "Woodstock" part "Altamont" part and I guess a "Manson" part... cause every nice thing has a really dark side, right?-Don't look into the terms too much... just some more cheap catch phrases of the day.

Monterey Pop Fesival

Somewhere north of Arcata, CA where the Mad River meats the Pacific Ocean among the dunes a group of dreamers saw their dreams reach full fruition. It wasn't enough to have people weakly tug some acoustics to sit around the camp fire and sing their favorite folk songs- The camp fire was huge and eternal and the amps were big and loud- there was no pansy footing or half assing the idea on this day.

From the very beginning when Greetings dropped their gooey sludge pop and Christine Walden announced that the food was ready the show definitely began. Space cakes were passed out/force fed and the trip began.

The Tweeners poked fun at any baby boomer dreaming by taking the gang down the fake path that was The Summer of Love by tying Grace Slick's first single ala The Great! Society with the worst of her last really famous vomit spew about some city being built on "rock'n'roll" and using Flipper to glue it together- they also (re)gave the crowd "Sweat Pea".

Barbara Manning (the returning native) was fun and friendly (and immune to THC) and blasted a set that was that of a renaissance woman of punk rock in stride; She also came equipped with her pal ,Simon Comber, who's music was erie and light like the fog that was drifting in as the sun went down periodically revealing the full moon that was out; his music fully examined some of the more interesting melody drone experiments done by his native fathers, The Clean- he also made this the first International Beach Party In The Sky (since he is from New Zealand).

Aimee Taylor's other thingy introduced her tough girl Lost Luvs who gave you the feeling that if tried to compliment them about their performance (that had elements of the best of Moe Tucker's drumming and Marti Rev's droning keys) that you might be faced with a switchblade- but that was what the Shangri Las strived for right?- tough girls!

Woodstock

By the time Manilapede lit the beach ablaze there were many stumbling long hairs gravitating to the falconi/ginn wizardry-black magic of the Gibson led mustang pushing 50 watts of dissonant cop hating fuzz through an overdriven 60 watt Acoustic Tower; long gone is the influence of any starving weirdo islamic wailing influence of the first Lp- it's been replaced by inner workings of earthy crust of suspicion and paranoia like a free clothing drop box of a homeless shelter by the beach- it might have sand fleas!

Mister Moonbeam was here in full form fresh from his national tour- he is a refined older gentleman with big gentlemanly ideas that he works hard before hand so as to cast the spells of smiles and integrity-there was one point the grove was so heavy and repetitive that I saw Shiva and felt at peace.

The King Salmon Duo did their best to remind people that they were in The North West and even though The Wailers and Brave New World didn't exorcize the spirit of Albert Ayler and Ornette Coleman that logger rock did and still does swing like a 20 ton pendulum knocking over sky scrapers.

It should go without saying that Chamber Fables 54 are the best group in town and it is hard to confine anything they do in a small write up- there are good groups in our area but there is not one in the area that is as unique and inviting and rewarding as them... no one! I can only say that I am looking forward to hearing their full length Lp and I haven't been excited about an Lp since I was young and dumb and full of gum! They were the best band that day and are the best band around (can I say "period"?).

As to be expected there was mystery/questions if The Monster Women would play. Gary seemed to rally the troops and they played a short concise set of their standards but with Mr. Silver blasting through the Zach Lewing Burl Stack so it added some ? and the Mysterians grind and some Jesus and Mary Chain squeal (ala mic feedback) that is unfortunately missing from their usual sound and this made for a unexpected treat from their personal planet-Thank you Mr. Silver!

Altamont

As The drag of exhaustion started to kick in and it was clear that it was past the point of no return, White Manna made a out of the ordinary set... This was akin to the Shows when The Velvet Underground was doing shows while Lou Reed was recovering from Hepatitis... No David Johnson at this show (heard he was tanning in the Bahamas) and the gents of Fickle Hill were up to the duty... Cody West's twisted young man/new world blues style is finally starting to take on a style of his own and even though he complained about the cutting out of his pedal board science project, I have to say that it gave me the chance to enjoy my favorite part of the this version of W.M. which is the heavy kick drum grooving rhythm of Nate, Johnny, and unbeatable Taven "BOOM-BOOM" Anderson -They sounded like an 18 Wheeler with no breaks lumbering down the 101 delivering a truck bed of pure LSD to the unaware masses down south of us.

White Manna also brought some pals with them from the bay area (I believe). I was so exhausted at this point that I couldn't focus on anything other than how to help get the rest of the stuff across the sand to the cars and trucks so that people could start thinking about getting home and sleeping... this is where the visions of Manson's sixites may have started to raise its ugly head... past out lovely little girls face down in the sand in the dark as we made trips back and forth in the sand; kids getting pissed at people "bumming out" their scene; people who worked hard to make things run smooth and just make this thing happen being jeered and hassled... it had to happen but in the end within the darkness I was given yet another "small world situation" (which are pleasant in my miniscule world) when I kid from the final band came up to me and ask my name and when it was clear who I was he said he used to be a student of mine when I was teaching Chemistry in a Catholic school down south... he mentioned that he always remembered that I had a copy of "The Stooges Complete Funhouse Sessions" that I would play in class... as well as teaching Chemistry, Calculus, Physics, and some other classes I would would also hold a music appreciation group to have an excuse to listen music that I liked in my class at lunch and give the loners a refuge from the lameness of high school (keep it to yourself that I have a soft spot... as far as you are concerned -I am a Jerk)... anyway this kid now is playing stooge inspired music in his own group and in the true teacher payoff (kind of like what the Meat Puppets would have experienced had they come and seen 2nd Annual Beach Party In The Sky... which in part is influenced by the family of Greg Ginn) I am glad to see that things do reach full circle and some people do take the "SST learned path". Even if The Meat Puppets of today are cashing in and (mis)leading the masses down a well packaged path that gives you a little safe "Beatlemania" nostalgia... the kids are smart and alright and I can attest as a teacher that they seem to be on the right path!

Some things that should be mentioned that don't often get celebrated when mentioning great gatherings like this one; There were a lot of really great people that put in a lot of great (non music playing) work to make this run smooth. Christine Walden arranged and brought out some of the best eating that I have had in months... she didn't make everything (space cakes come to mind) but she forged the organization of the food; Doctor Don of course... what can be said?; Ryan (Stretch) even with a mangled hand was organizing the sound and amps and such for bands that needed to use other people's stuff; Joaquin (man who too the pic for this post) provided the generator so that bands could have power in place otherwise would not have rendered the loudest amp useless and Marty who created and maintained that lovely fire for the WHOLE DAY so that people could be warm... and probably a lot of other people who I am unaware of their contribution.

The past is easy and safe.... I am glad there are some forward thinking people willing to take chances in our area.