Just under an hour of Barney Cauldron trance-ing out at Scarp's pad in West Oakland. He had his basement sent up for all kinds of musical wildness, which was super fun very often!
Listening to this clip, I was saddened by how the group ended (a phone call to a jet lagged me, wrapped up in the SF Giants historic World Series run), but whatever, that's life. The tapes remain, and I'm nowhere near done with this archive project, so take that, cruel world meanies!
This gig was my second or third with Ear Spray. Getting to know Ann and Carlos was really interesting. They are both really sweet people, and their sincerity in the pursuit of weird Noise music as real, at least to me. It seemed to me that there were people within that scene that saw Ear Spray as maybe a bit of a poser type of situation, but I can attest that the group was just as legit as any of the others. For me, Noise is a kind of Folk Music, in that anyone can do it, and it remains a pretty individualistic, hermetic pursuit. Anyway, we were really excited to play this gig at West Oakland's Life Changing Ministries, which was a funky old Evangelical church that had been turned into a squat-like space, with music, art, craziness, etc. all occurring constantly. I don't know if they're still in operation, but I hope that they are. Great memories of watching people get sloshed on mimosas, jamming the Noise, and just having a wonderful late morning/early afternoon in Weird Oakland circa 2014 here. Thanks, Ann and Carlos, you both are wonderful.
I remember the Helmet drummer giving me the stink eye in Manhattan. I remember losing valuable gear and the tour booking agent wanting to kill me (thanks, Ned). I remember almost not being able to get my stick bag (given to me by Birdsaw guitar player Dan) onto the plane back to SFO. Touring: FUN!
I also remember floating in the ocean outside of Nag's Head, and beautiful weather in Brooklyn, seeing Monticello, and a neat ferry ride into Delaware, and watching Robin destroy some heckler at a University. Touring: FUN!
It was on this tour that I first started realizing the Birdsaw was perhaps not going to get the audience that we desired; things slowly declined for the band after the tour, and it ground to a halt about a year later. Still, in hindsight, it was more fun than not fun. As we used to say in our vehicle: "thank you for not killing me".
Today marks two years since I did any kind of public performance. Little did I know on 5/8/2020 that twenty four months later I'd be basically retired from that sort of thing. At the time, I was riding high within a small, but very rich, musical world. I absolutely loved running around and playing at any show or jam or rehearsal that I could be part of. Seriously, homey was into it. I had long before given up aspirations beyond anything more than those rather humble musical activities, and was fine with appreciating just being able to do those sorts of things. So, on this day, 5/8/2022, I have to say that I savor any and all memories and mementos from those times, because they're pretty gone. It's been painful at times, but I've also had many insights and blessings as I've moved away from that sort of musical pursuit. My life has changed drastically, which, really, has been super cool and groovy, despite of the absence of music (except for listening to recordings).
Many musicians have started to get back to their musical pursuits, and bully for them! I'm happy for them, and I wish for all their successes, in whatever way that means for them. I will continue my "absent for the foreseeable future" stance as regards those pursuits of my own. I now reside about 1000 miles away from my musical stomping grounds of the years 1989-2020, in a town where I don't have contacts. At 51 years, I can't really fathom the idea of "breaking into the scene", nor would I even want to do that. There are plenty of hard charging kids out there, and they rock, and swing, and jam, etc. My fun's been had, let 'em have the space. Rules for participation have changed, and the new rules are abhorrent to me, so there's that, too.
Ultimately, I have given it to God. If it's needed for me to be active in music again, He wills it. If He does not, then that is God's will, and that's fine too.
OK, I'm digging in to Metallica's Lulu CD, so I'll leave it there until whenever.........
