WoG 0005 - Almost Groovy!
Evan Cantor:
The cover art features a picture of Elvis with the words “Lies Lies Lies” beside him. This is a pointed commentary about celebrity culture. Two Elvis covers were featured on Almost Groovy!. One features Evan’s “straight” version of “Treat Me Nice” and then another is a quite stylized anti-rendition of “Hound Dog”. Nothing personal to do with Elvis, mind you. I have always enjoyed Elvis music for the most part, but this reflects more that he was, especially in the years following his death, an icon of celebrity excess.
The cover art features a picture of Elvis with the words “Lies Lies Lies” beside him. This is a pointed commentary about celebrity culture. Two Elvis covers were featured on Almost Groovy!. One features Evan’s “straight” version of “Treat Me Nice” and then another is a quite stylized anti-rendition of “Hound Dog”. Nothing personal to do with Elvis, mind you. I have always enjoyed Elvis music for the most part, but this reflects more that he was, especially in the years following his death, an icon of celebrity excess.
Almost Groovy! is a 90 minute cassette officially attributed to multiple bands all of which were later considered the "band" Walls Of Genius.
JOE COLORADO (Evan Cantor)
BIG MAN ON CAMPUS (David Lichtenberg and Evan Cantor) recorded Saturday, May 21, 1983
FRIVOLOUS LAUGHTER (EC, DL, Ed Fowler) recorded Saturday, July 9, 1983
K-9 (EF, DL, EC) Saturday, June 18, 1983
CHRISTMAS IN JULY (EF, DL, EC, Andrea DiNapoli, Leo Goya) Saturday, July 16, 1983
- All recorded at Natasha Brown's house in Eldorado Springs, Colorado
BIG MAN ON CAMPUS (David Lichtenberg and Evan Cantor) recorded Saturday, May 21, 1983
FRIVOLOUS LAUGHTER (EC, DL, Ed Fowler) recorded Saturday, July 9, 1983
K-9 (EF, DL, EC) Saturday, June 18, 1983
CHRISTMAS IN JULY (EF, DL, EC, Andrea DiNapoli, Leo Goya) Saturday, July 16, 1983
- All recorded at Natasha Brown's house in Eldorado Springs, Colorado
EC:
Band Names: Joe Colorado is simply me (Evan). “Big Man On Campus” was suggested by David (Little Fyodor). I believe “K-9” was one of Ed’s names. “Frivolous Laughter” was probably suggested by the beer-fueled zaniness evident at that session. “Christmas In July” was suggested by advertising around the time of the session (7-16-83), plus you hear me exclaim on the “bonus track” at the end of the tape, “It’s Christmas In July!” We likely took that as a hint.
Band Names: Joe Colorado is simply me (Evan). “Big Man On Campus” was suggested by David (Little Fyodor). I believe “K-9” was one of Ed’s names. “Frivolous Laughter” was probably suggested by the beer-fueled zaniness evident at that session. “Christmas In July” was suggested by advertising around the time of the session (7-16-83), plus you hear me exclaim on the “bonus track” at the end of the tape, “It’s Christmas In July!” We likely took that as a hint.
EC:
Andrea DiNapoli likely made a connection to us via David’s radio show and she had already jammed with us previously. She brought the drum-set to the Christmas In July session. Melissa is likely “Melissa Mojica” who was thanked on some future business, but I don’t recall what she did or why. She may have been one of Andrea’s lesbian friends. Ken Stock is again thanked (“Space”), our electronic repair wizard. David (Little Fyodor) has speculated that Rob Staton was thanked previously because I obtained my bull-horn from him. He is thanked again here and there is, indeed, another bull-horn number.
Natasha Brown is thanked as “N t sh”. I whited out the two a’s in response to our deteriorating landlady/tenant relationship. Notice, also, that the P.O. Box has changed from Eldorado Springs to Boulder (80306). Another indication that I thought I might soon be vacating Eldorado Springs.
By this time (late July 1983), Natasha’s neighbors had been occasionally calling her in New York City, alarming her over a parade of what they saw as weird characters coming to and from the house. Of course, it never occurred to me that I should not have my friends come to the house where I lived. Some of my friends were certainly oddballs. It apparently did not occur to Natasha that renting her house to a musical artist would mean musicians coming and going. Not all musicians look harmless. More about Leo Goya’s idiosyncratic appearance soon.
One of the precipitating crises occurred when David and I took a backpacking trip to Grand Teton National Park. I got a fraternity brother, Chris Norden, to house-sit for me in Eldorado while I was out of town. I thought I was being a responsible tenant, especially in light of the two dogs and the cats. A neighbor alerted Natasha that not only had I disappeared, but a completely new guy was living there. Chris appears on a future recording as a participant in the Pots’n Pans Party, which occurred around the same time. Natasha’s neighbors might have caught wind of the strange sounds and called her about that. What must it be like to have experimental musicians living down the street? It never occurred to me that anybody outside the house might hear any of our music and, to this day, I don’t know for sure that they did.
“Mosquito Girl Beth” is thanked. She was my inspiration for the piece “Mosquito Bites”. She was a co-worker at The Trust Company of America, my employer at the time.
Andrea DiNapoli likely made a connection to us via David’s radio show and she had already jammed with us previously. She brought the drum-set to the Christmas In July session. Melissa is likely “Melissa Mojica” who was thanked on some future business, but I don’t recall what she did or why. She may have been one of Andrea’s lesbian friends. Ken Stock is again thanked (“Space”), our electronic repair wizard. David (Little Fyodor) has speculated that Rob Staton was thanked previously because I obtained my bull-horn from him. He is thanked again here and there is, indeed, another bull-horn number.
Natasha Brown is thanked as “N t sh”. I whited out the two a’s in response to our deteriorating landlady/tenant relationship. Notice, also, that the P.O. Box has changed from Eldorado Springs to Boulder (80306). Another indication that I thought I might soon be vacating Eldorado Springs.
By this time (late July 1983), Natasha’s neighbors had been occasionally calling her in New York City, alarming her over a parade of what they saw as weird characters coming to and from the house. Of course, it never occurred to me that I should not have my friends come to the house where I lived. Some of my friends were certainly oddballs. It apparently did not occur to Natasha that renting her house to a musical artist would mean musicians coming and going. Not all musicians look harmless. More about Leo Goya’s idiosyncratic appearance soon.
One of the precipitating crises occurred when David and I took a backpacking trip to Grand Teton National Park. I got a fraternity brother, Chris Norden, to house-sit for me in Eldorado while I was out of town. I thought I was being a responsible tenant, especially in light of the two dogs and the cats. A neighbor alerted Natasha that not only had I disappeared, but a completely new guy was living there. Chris appears on a future recording as a participant in the Pots’n Pans Party, which occurred around the same time. Natasha’s neighbors might have caught wind of the strange sounds and called her about that. What must it be like to have experimental musicians living down the street? It never occurred to me that anybody outside the house might hear any of our music and, to this day, I don’t know for sure that they did.
“Mosquito Girl Beth” is thanked. She was my inspiration for the piece “Mosquito Bites”. She was a co-worker at The Trust Company of America, my employer at the time.
EC:
The liner notes indicate both that Side 2 (“Christmas In July”) was recorded on 7-16-83 and 7-17-83. The reel-to-reel tape box (see below) indicates 7-16-83.
The liner notes indicate both that Side 2 (“Christmas In July”) was recorded on 7-16-83 and 7-17-83. The reel-to-reel tape box (see below) indicates 7-16-83.
Side A
JOE COLORADO - Treat Me Nice
BIG MAN ON CAMPUS - Far Cry
BIG MAN ON CAMPUS - Amerika Futura
JOE COLORADO - Mosquito Bites
BIG MAN ON CAMPUS - Chichen Itza Walk
BIG MAN ON CAMPUS - Hound Dog
FRIVOLOUS LAUGHTER - Drunk Again
FRIVOLOUS LAUGHTER - Call Me Gomez
FRIVOLOUS LAUGHTER - In The Belly Of The Pyramid
K-9 - Tone Death
K-9 - Are We Not Dogs?
JOE COLORADO - Treat Me Nice
BIG MAN ON CAMPUS - Far Cry
BIG MAN ON CAMPUS - Amerika Futura
JOE COLORADO - Mosquito Bites
BIG MAN ON CAMPUS - Chichen Itza Walk
BIG MAN ON CAMPUS - Hound Dog
FRIVOLOUS LAUGHTER - Drunk Again
FRIVOLOUS LAUGHTER - Call Me Gomez
FRIVOLOUS LAUGHTER - In The Belly Of The Pyramid
K-9 - Tone Death
K-9 - Are We Not Dogs?
Treat Me Nice
by Joe Colorado EC: This is a simulacrum of what I was doing at Pachamama's Open Stage on Monday nights. I would play pop music in a hopefully seditious vein, but not the full-fledged mania that characterized Walls Of Genius. So this piece is almost Shaggs-like, not quite good enough as straight music ought to be, but not self-consciously maniacal like other cover treatments had been for WoG. It ramps us nicely, but in retrospect, is not one of my favorite renditions in this style. Obviously 4-tracked, I don’t know where this appears on the reel tapes. Little Fyodor (David Lichtenberg): Evan’s liner note comments to "Treat Me Nice" seem to indicate (to me, anyway) that the side of him that wasn’t entirely comfortable with the more "out there" side of WoG was already beginning peek its head above the waters, if only to be re-submerged, for a while at least, if not for good…. But yeah, "another side" of WoG, as Evan gets to show that he’s not just a Moron, while still mixing in a degree of silliness and irreverence, mainly via his vocals…. Far Cry by Big Man On Campus EC: BMOC was just David and I. This has a nice herky-jerky rhythm set up between David’s rhythm guitar and my bass. Some abstract vocals well up, almost monkey calls. This reflects our habit of falling back onto contrapuntal discordance to get an odd atmosphere and groove. Certainly some overdubbing going on here. LF: There was a naïveté to WoG that ya gotta love. Not that we really believed that everything we did was actual genius, but that we really thought we could try anything that occurred to us to try. Looking back I wonder how the fuck could I attempt to do this without an awareness of how ridiculous I was being! What I was trying to do was create funk music with an interplay between my guitar and percussion created by my mouth. That's not entirely absurd on its face, but I really only had the vaguest idea of what funk music actually was, and it's not like I'm such a whizz with vocalized percussion sounds that I could likely "pull it off" even given a spot on understanding of the genre. But hey, I did it anyway! Stop me if you've heard this already, but I once heard of a quote from Edgard Varèse in which he denied that his music was "experimental" because he did all his experimenting before the final realization of his music. Well, not WoG! We experimented on the fly, and recorded it all, and released it (well not all of it, but a lot of it!) as product for public consumption! I think Evan was a wee bit weirded out by this endeavor of mine and he might have indicated to me that this wasn't really funk music. I didn't care, and if Evan did, it wasn't enough to stop me! He even assisted in this foolishness! Somehow I remember the title coming from an old college buddy to whom we must have sent this to and described it to him as funk. His reply was that it was a far cry from funk! He was right, but I do believe I was conscious at the time of the idea that one could create something new by incompetently attempting something old…. Evan's chimpy overdubbed vocal is probably the highlight! I think it was the same college bud who inadvertently named the song who said the first song on the tape was pretty good but the second was AWFUL! Well, heh…. Amerika Futura by Big Man On Campus EC: This reprises the song that got me started with Rumours Of Marriage the year before. This is the first appearance of several versions for Walls of Genius and features my country-punk arrangement. At this point, I was still crediting the song to "Bellan & Thonesson", although later I would write a few additional lyrics and change the chorus arrangement and give myself credit as well. Nobody knows what has become of Michael Bellan and Riann Thonesson, whether they are alive or dead or what. The last known mention of Bellan anywhere is a "thank you" on R. Stevie Moore's website from the 1990s. LF: It was Evan's idea to grab "Amerika Futura" from out of the Rumours of Marriage barrel. He's played it in other bands he's been in since, so obviously he always liked the song a lot, written by the "leader" (charismatic?) of RoM, Mikal Belan. RoM did it as a straight ahead rocker, but Evan re-arranged it as folky type thing, though still with an aggressive vocal. We loved to do this live with Ed wailing on lead guitar, but we only had the two of us when Evan got psyched to record, so we recorded it as duo. I play the percussion on the little Jamaican drum (first described for the K-9 session in The Many Faces Of Mr. Morocco) and sing backup vocals that miraculously approximated a harmony part. I also get a verse or two on lead vocal – I think Evan liked the way I said "fuck"! Evan obviously overdubbed his harp, and I may have overdubbed something too, though I may have done my percussion at the same time I was singing. Mosquito Bites by Joe Colorado EC: This is just me reading a short poem. It was inspired by a co-worker bitching about mosquitoes. People who live near irrigation ditches or even old, non-functioning irrigation ditches in Boulder tend to have mosquito issues. Beth lived in "Martin Acres", a late 50s development that overtook the Martin Ranch and, accordingly, there are the old irrigation remnants, plus Bear Creek running through the middle of the mostly flat neighborhood. Hence mosquitoes. LF: More inspiration from the venomous outdoors! Chichen Itza Walk by Big Man On Campus EC: This is a good example of our modus operandi. Start jamming in oddball scales and move back and forth between rhythmic grooves. The bass was likely overdubbed, since my rhythm guitar moves the piece into the ending section, based on what I always called "Conrad’s chords". Conrad Drennon was one of David and my fraternity brothers, a talented drummer, blues-harpist and all-round competent musician. Conrad worked in a professional band for many years after college (Tony Principato Band). He taught me those funny jazz chords at one point and I remembered them. The title is a Mayan-ruin reference, perhaps an attempt to conjure up the image of somebody being frog-marched to have their still-beating heart torn out of their chests atop the pyramid at Chichen Itza. There had been a hit song around this time called "Walk Like An Egyptian", so this may have been a response or joke on that. LF: "Chichen Itza Walk" was a guitar thing Evan arranged up that he invited me to play lead guitar on. This was probably the first and last time I ever played lead guitar as such through an entire song, and I felt very proud with the job that I did, if still not entirely without an aspect of naïve idiocy. I gotta hand it to Evan that he had faith in me to do such a thing, but then he always did seem to feel that anyone could do anything musically that they simply put their mind to. We both at first claimed rights to the overdubbing. I said I thought of this song as "mine" because of my lead guitar part. Evan said he thought it was his because he wrote the original part that I played to, which ultimately made a lot more sense to me and even made me wonder why I thought of it as mine to begin with. So I guess that’s him doing the mouthy stuff, which kind of ties it into "Far Cry", though we probably didn’t plan it that way…. I've since heard so much more about Chichen Itza and even visited it (and did the walk!) on a vacation trip in the 90’s, but I had never heard of it before Evan’s naming of this piece! |
Hound Dog
by Big Man On Campus EC: This is very similar to “Abandon Ship”. David is hammering out a rhythm on a heavily flanged electric guitar while I sing, in multiple funny voices, through the bull-horn. This reflects my abiding interest in Elvis, as did the cover art for the cassette. I had always liked Elvis’ early rockabilly period and played a lot of those songs in my straight repertoire. This is very “anti-Elvis”, however, in its approach. Nice clean ending, too, which I always appreciated in the face of all our fade-ins and fade-outs. LF: One funny thing about "Hound Dog" is that I certainly had no idea Evan was going to sing the old Elvis chestnut when I started playing these totally unrelated chords that I had, and it took a while of his doing so for me to even realize that’s what he was doing! So even here as we “do a cover song,” it was really still an improvisation of sorts. Evan is on the bullhorn again, just like on “Abandon Ship”, which was recorded almost immediately before but released on a whole ‘nother tape. I imagine I would have gotten writing credits for those chords I was playing if only Evan had sung something original rather than a big hit someone else had already written! No overdubs on this one! Drunk Again by Frivolous Laughter EC: This is my favorite piece on the entire cassette. Ed is playing the King Casio, which only demands a few fingers here and there while it runs itself. He is also working out on a fuzz-bass while David and I indulge in laughing simpering “dueling drunks”. David and I are both channeling drunken lunacy here. This is, indeed, the beer-fueled mischief with which Walls of Genius would become so identified. It could perhaps be more accurately called an “ode” to beer-fueled mischief. There is a reference to Louis Jordan’s “What’s The Use Of Getting Sober?” in the lines “No, I ain’t drinkin’… har har har…” The refrain is “Drunk Again, Drunk Again Today…” which I initiate at various times as we go along. You hear David playing the kazoo while I defend my drinking, obviously blotto, pretending to be nearly blind drunk. Laughter morphs into hallelujah-screaming, a dog barks and we go back to the refrain. It keeps going, the Casio is relentless since it plays itself. In response to some percussion, David exclaims “Church Bells! Heh heh heh!” in a drunken non-Fyodor voice-character that I occasionally referred to as “Smedley”. I exhort him to “Get ahold of yourself, man”… the piece culminates in me doing some Louis Armstrong voice scat-singing and gibbering. Then you hear me instructing Ed: “Turn it off! Turn it off! Eat Vinyl, Prokofiev!” which are lines from my poem “Dogshit Drool”. I wanted Ed to turn off the damn Casio, which would have played endlessly lacking the motivation to turn it off. LF: Something about the lurchy queasy dreamy rhythm of the Casio (heard only faintly) and Ed’s languid fuzz bass (Ed on bass!) inspired Evan and I to act like drunks! Evan probably started doing it first and I caught on. Kind of a fantasy of perpetual drunken stupor and the freedom of carefree idiocy the surrender to such a state would ostensibly bring…. Hey, I’m playing kazoo! I think Evan’s doing most of the banging. I think I had some good lines that got kinda obscured, but it’s not like you can do this kinda thing over, it’s a one shot deal! Evan seems to be reciting bits from “Dogshit Drool” as a way to tell Ed to turn off the Casio so we’d have a clean ending! Y’know, that refrain Evan came up with is pretty catchy. And didja notice one of us slurping a beer and burping for authenticity? We were big on authenticity…. (Probably no overdubbing on this one either, as it was already chock full of zaniness!). Call Me Gomez by Frivolous Laughter EC: My bass is soloing over slide whistle and moves into rhythmic patterns on and off. Ed is listed as being on keyboards, but I think he was playing the slide whistle. A nice bass line comes in. Gomez would have been an Addams’ Family reference. Who didn’t admire Gomez Addams? He was a paragon of “cool”. And, as I recall, he wore striped suit-coats. Would have been right at home with Walls of Genius. LF: We got Ed on bongos on the next one! While me and Evan duel on slide whistle and bass respectively. I like soloing on slide whistle, you don’t have to know any notes…. I believe the title came from something Evan said at work (“Call Me Gomez”)…. In The Belly Of The Pyramid by Frivolous Laughter EC: There’s a nice fuzz guitar lead by Evan over pulsing keyboard percussion and bells. I’m doing a lot of scratching on the strings to create a squealing effect. I was using an Electro-Harmonix Big Muff fuzzbox that “Space” had repaired for me. The track fades out. LF: Next we have Evan wigging out on atonal, scratched guitar strings, while I play the three-bell or whatever it’s called. Ed plays wood block. Then we switch to other percussive stuff. As always, there was no need to stick to the same thing! I might have started banging a beer can! I think you can hear it change tones as it gets smashed in…. Tone Death by K-9 EC: This title is a joke on “Tone Deaf”. Ed is back on the King Casio playing some melodic figures, with Evan on lead guitar. This is one of my best lead guitar tracks to date. It’s discordant and contrasts nicely with the mellow keyboard parts. The beat is relentless—give that to the Casio. David tries to trip up the rhythm with percussion, but gives up as the track fades out. LF: K-9 returns! I think Andrea plays flute at the start that Evan must not have heard when drafting the credits. Meanwhile Evan gets to strut his stuff on lead guitar. Wow, up to this point of the tape me and Evan have both played more lead guitar than Ed! But Ed does play some nice keyboard! I recognize my frantic bongoing. Once again we were just going for it! I especially like Ed’s keyboarding on the fade…. Are We Not Dogs? by K-9 EC: This title is a joke on the Devo song “Jocko Homo” with the refrain “Are We Not Men?”, which is itself a reference to the first film version of "The Island of Dr. Moreau" (H.G. Wells), in which Bela Lugosi utters those words to the crowd of half-men-half-animal beings. This film is echoed also by the Oingo Boingo track “No Spill Blood”. Once again, Ed is at the Casio, but he’s also manipulating the Echoplex. This fades out, likely another endless Casio groove. LF: More of the same with “Are We Not Dogs?,” except that we’ve switched around instruments once again. Ed’s back at his natural berth on guitar (I think maybe he’s playing Evan’s guitar, not sure though) and I think I’m playing that wacked, manic keyboard. Ed gets credited with keyboard, but I think it was me as it’s a little more manic than Ed’s style and Ed couldn’t have played both unless we overdubbed which I don’t think we did…. |
Side B
CHRISTMAS IN JULY
- David's Funky Riff #2
- Hangover's Suite
a). Early Dawn
b). Breakfast Lost
c). Aspirin/Struggle
d). Mud Brain
e). On the couch
f). Pretty girls
- Oral Fixation
- At The Bazaar
CHRISTMAS IN JULY
- David's Funky Riff #2
- Hangover's Suite
a). Early Dawn
b). Breakfast Lost
c). Aspirin/Struggle
d). Mud Brain
e). On the couch
f). Pretty girls
- Oral Fixation
- At The Bazaar
SIDE B
CHRISTMAS IN JULY Evan Cantor: The entire side 2 of Almost Groovy! is dedicated to the jam on 7-16-83, called “Christmas In July”. This marks the first time that Leo Goya had joined the WoG ensemble. Leo worked at the Crystal Zoo, a place that fashioned little glass animals to sell as tchotchkes, and Andrea DiNapoli was one of his co-workers. Leo’s appearance was, and still is to this day, that of the iconic hippie. With his beard and long dark-blond shoulder-length hair, colorful home-made clothes hung off his lanky frame. He had a whole variety of home-made belts and hats. All his clothes were made by his partner, Jeanne Strzelewicz (now Jeanne Hatherly). Leo kept (and keeps) a journal in which he writes and draws incessantly. As of this writing, he has authored over 200 of these journals, filled with artwork, poems and prose. Leo Goya was born James Hatherly, but took the name “Leo Goya” when his telephone number once spelled out the letters “L-e-o-g-o-y-a”. He had an active background in theatre and art in New York City, as well as a service experience as a military policeman. As idiosyncratic as Leo’s appearance was (and still is), Leo gets along with every kind of person you can think of. He is one of the most creative and upbeat people I have ever known and I always considered him an inspiration. Still do. The Christmas In July session may very well have been the first time we ever met Leo. He brought his collection of off-the-wall instruments with him, including talking drum, siren, and golf-ball-in-a-bottle. Neither David nor I seem to recall exactly how Andrea DiNapoli became involved with Walls of Genius. I suspect it was via David’s radio program. She likely invited Leo Goya to this session and brought an actual drum set with her, as well as her violin. Little Fyodor: So! "Christmas In July" (name taken from an advert in the newspaper) sees the introduction of Leo Goya! (Not his “real” or given name; he said he took it from a phone number he once had and realized he could just tell people (especially girls!) to call Leo Goya and they’d automatically have his phone number! If they figured it out…) Leo was a co-worker and friend of Andrea DiNapoli who had first joined us for K-9. Leo was a revelation to WoG and ultimately had a huge impact on us. He is a genuine hippy from the sixties who never sold out and was still every bit as much a hippy as he ever was in the ripe old year of 1983 (and probably still is), maintaining as he did an alternative lifestyle centered around art and creativity. He had briefly attended Naropa University but quit not long after Allen Ginsburg chided his poetry for lacking commercial potential. He loves jazz and worships its icons and he carried with him lots of little music and noise makers, such as a series of little bells and a siren that hung around his neck and of course his beloved talking drum, all of which made him a perfect fit for WoG as he would similarly move from one of these items to another within any given jam. He also loved to recite his poetry to music, which he didn’t on this first day with WoG, but he was already doing it in a live setting with us only two weeks later! I remember Andrea worrying as we waited for a slightly late Leo that Evan’s sign out front saying “Punk Rock Haven” might have scared him away. Evan put the sign out there as a parody of another house in the little town that had been “named” Rock Haven (people often name their houses in little towns in the West). But Leo made mention of that sign first thing, saying that it helped him identify the right house and helped him feel right at home, mentioning that one of his influences was Talking Heads! A hippy who likes Talking Heads? I wasn’t ever the hugest fan of Talking Heads, but still, that seemed like a good sign! Well, there’s so much more I could say about Leo Goya, but I’ll leave it there for now. Suffice to say that while he never became a Moron outright, a cadre limited to Ed, Evan and myself, I’d certainly list him as one of the top candidates for “Fourth Wall”! And this was his entrance to the endeavor…. - David’s Funky Riff #2 LF: “David’s Funky Riff #2” slightly belies Evan’s liner notes claim that everything was written in the moment as this was a riff I already had though everyone else just improvises around that, of course, as usual. You can hear Leo’s siren right from the start! And THEN – GOLF BALL IN JAR! An instrument of Leo’s own design. Just put a golf ball in a jar, shake it, and voila! Then you hear Leo on his beloved talking drum. As its name might tip you off to, a talking drum is better for flourishes than for keeping time, and Leo’s playing of it would often cut across whatever rhythm was going on, but it was great for WoG caused we just loved expression and madness! Hmm, pretty weird noises being made by Ed…. EC: At the beginning of this, you hear Leo’s siren and golf ball. We’re jamming on David’s “funky” riff with heavily flanged lead guitar from Ed. Bass chord-blasts emphasize the beat (Evan). Leo’s talking drum comes out front as the bass tries in vain to change the key. Once the bass gives up on that effort, it picks up David’s relentless pace and goes back to the chord blasts. Ed has a nice lead section and the rhythm ramps up with him before this fades out. - Hangover’s Suite a). Early Dawn b). Breakfast Lost c). Aspirin Struggle d). Mud Brain e). On The Couch f). Pretty Girls EC: This represents selected sections of an endless jam that probably went on for over an hour. We parsed it down into sections, paralleling the “Rake’s Progress” as the day-after-a-binge, in other words, a hangover. LF: Okay, after that one, then yes, “Hangover’s Suite” was entirely cooked up on the spur of the moment. There was a trap set there, which Andrea must have brought over, and I got to play it! Awkwardly indeed, but I like my spastic flourishes. A nice tentative feeling accentuated by Ed’s spare psychedelic sounds. Evan gets to wander around on the bass, playing quirky ascending scales, which he might have later decided sounds like trying to first wake up with a hangover, thus “Early Dawn”. We didn’t think of any of this as being about a hangover till it was named later, probably by Evan. EC: “Early Dawn” features my bubbling bass and Ed’s guitar is making a kind of uncharacteristic yawning noise. Triplets on the bass lead into a pulsing rhythm. Ed’s guitar is edgy but understated. We return to the bubbling bass figures, Leo’s siren follows Ed’s volume knob effects and a new bass line comes in. The bass switches keys and this fades out. The next five sections, “Breakfast Lost”, “Aspirin Struggle”, “Mud Brain”, “On The Couch” and “Pretty Girls”, consist of one long un-edited un-interrupted piece. The breakfast starts with drums. Andrea had brought the drum set, although none of us really knew how to play drums, per se. This begins as a percussion piece as the drums start with Evan playing bells and devices. Leo’s talking drum and golf ball are featured prominently. Towards the end of it, I come in with a recorder solo. The struggle with aspirin begins as I initiate and lead the group in a cave-man grunting chant. There is a lot of grunting along with percussion and bells. The grunts devolve into scat-gibbering and tails off as percussion plays a melodic figure. There is some conversation captured by the microphones as the percussion continues. As Leo’s siren peeks through the “mud brain” percussion, Ed’s ubiquitous kalimba is heard. Now we are “on the couch”. Ed’s guitar comes up over David’s flanged rhythm guitar. Nice leads from Ed here. Good ramping up of the drums and percussion. At this point, I am on the drum set, and beginning to give it a good workout even though I’ve never played drums before in my life. The rhythm stops and the Echoplex takes over. We’re on to feeling better now with the “Pretty Girls” section. I’m doing a sort of lead drum or drum solo over Echoplex noises. David’s flanged guitar is making tentative whale sounds. There’s more out-front drumming—finally, someone (me!) is having a blast on these things. I was never shy about getting behind a drum-set in those days. As long as nobody expected me to play them traditionally… David’s flange guitar comes in with a rhythm, the drums fall into it. There are more nice leads by Ed with the Echoplex and the piece finally winds down to an end. |
LF:
“Breakfast Lost” starts with a lot of clanging that might be Leo’s “rebar-ang”, an instrument he made by hanging pieces of rebar down from another arched piece such that they could be played like chimes. We all shared each other’s instruments, so that might be others playing Leo’s stuff. Well, except for his talking drum, that was usually him. I’m still on drums. I liked it there! At times I’m playing a cymbal almost like it’s a gong, going for ascending and descending volumes. Then I switch to a “caveman” rhythm and Evan starts grunting! Leo also had an instrument made of wooden swatches with seeds or something inside, which you could shake or just turn to one side and then the other and they would make a sound just falling to the other side. Evan’s probably playing that clangy three-bell thing. I tried to keep my drumming simple since I didn’t know what I was doing, but I think I tried an awkward roll here and there! Sounds like I’m managing both the caveman rhythm and little cymbal crashes at the same time – how dexterous of me! Here it’s a little tough to say where the different parts of the “suite” transition to the next part. I assume Evan’s grunting ushered in a new part of the song since everything changes there, but Evan named this all on his own and I never questioned him about that! BTW, this is all recorded live, no overdubs. Then there’s a change as Ed’s back on guitar. I think this is the beginning of “On The Couch.” Now Evan’s on Andrea’s drums and I’m playing guitar, just a steady (well, as steady as I could manage!) riff over and over. My experimental connoisseur friend Brian said he liked this for the way my riff comes in and out and you can’t hear it at all for long stretches and then it’s there again! Wasn’t planned that way, but y’know once you start doing something repetitive in a jam, you kinda get scared to stop doing it! Though actually I got away from the riff and switched to just playing swoops up and down my strings which sound half way cool thanks to the heavy flanging. Once again, there’s no real telling where “On the Couch” becomes “Pretty Girls” (I think Evan chose the latter title after hearing someone say that), though maybe Evan had something in mind. Ah, there I am returning to the riff! I would play an “off” note every four times through it. Evan’s doing a lot more on drums than I did, he really IS dexterous! And then it’s the big cacophonous climax! But the very end maintains that spacey tentative feel thanks to ending on Ed’s last few guitar notes…. Again, the Suite was given six different parts with separate names, but it was really just three different jams arranged as a suite, and maybe Evan knows where it changes from one sub-titled part to another within two of the jams, and maybe it’s up to your imagination! All recorded live, no overdubs, all improvised on the spot with no forethought. Maybe I had thought of that riff I played in “On the Couch” before, but just as likely not, and I certainly hadn’t planned on bringing it out then or told anyone that I would do that. This piece was heavily influenced by the presence of Leo who really helped us expand our palette of “incidental noises”! It’s a little funny yet interesting that Andrea brought Leo over (as well as her trap set!), it’s clear she had a strong interest in what we were doing, but you rarely hear stuff that you can identify as her. She was just a little shy about playing. I’m a shy person socially, but give me stuff to bang on and I’ll bang away! - Oral Fixation EC: Ed, Evan and David are all trying to follow each other on this piece. Ed is playing the main theme and manipulating the Echoplex, David is making sounds on what we credited as “violin guitar”. He likely had Andrea’s violin wired through some effects device to get an odd sound. Just another off-the-cuff jam on weird scales. Origin of the title eludes me. LF: Once again, I play a riff I had worked out previously, this time it being my attempt to play Rick James’ “Kinky Girl”. It says “Kinky Girl” on the reel to reel box, but on the release, Evan had changed it to “Oral Fixation,” which I recall as being meant to have some tangential connection to the original title, though I forget what, though maybe it’s a reference to one of the ways one can get kinky. So you might say this was the one “cover” song of the Christmas In July session, though it wasn’t presented as such! I’m not sure why Evan called my guitar a “’violin’ guitar”, except maybe he thought it was Andrea’s violin when he listened to it until I told him that was my guitar? -At The Bazaar EC: Finally, I hear Andrea playing the violin! She is leading us in a discordant Arabian theme with a Bo-Diddley beat on the drums and violin. The title was chosen to reflect this Arabian sounding theme. LF: Andrea finally steps out on At The Bazaar, on her violin. I remember the earnest look on her face as she played this! I think she was nervous about doing something “wrong.” Leo also had ocarinas that I believe he plays on this, a few notes here and there and then onto something else! Like golf ball in jar! Or a few notes on the siren! BTW, if you’re wondering what this siren thing is about, you can hear the same (or a similar) device on a Dylan song, think it’s “Highway 61 Revisited”. Ed’s acoustic guitar playing is a nice subtle touch underneath the ruckus…. - Stupid Shit Blues EC: Then… unlisted on the liner insert… is a “bonus track”. This is identified, quite obviously, on the reel-to-reel recording as “Stupid Shit Blues”. I am playing a blues progression on the rhythm guitar and you hear me exclaim “It’s Christmas In July!”. I must have had the blues-harp on a rack as there is no overdubbing happening with these tracks. David is vocalizing off-the-cuff. It’s a short piece and fades out soon. LF: I get to do my wacked out vocals at the end for the unlisted “Stupid Shit Blues”, judging by the reel to reel box notes. Bad blues was a theme we returned to often, it looks like there’s a bunch of them on the reel boxes that we didn’t release, and there were a couple that we did. The unreleased ones probably represented us at our most goofing aroundish. This one’s short and not even listed and it’s funny when Evan says, “It’s Christmas in July… Ed!” Which puts a nice tag on the whole thing. It certainly was Christmas in July for us! Leo’s toys and energy was a gift that inspired us to just spend the whole afternoon in free-form jamming without worrying about stopping to come up with little mini ideas. We loved doing both of those things, but Leo’s presence really helped motivate us towards the former! |
above: description from One Sheet Tape List, July 1983
below: from Walls Of Genius Catalogue #2, The Brand Of The Bozo
below: from Walls Of Genius Catalogue #2, The Brand Of The Bozo