Category: Field Recordings of the Future

I liked “Rubber Soul” but I loved “Out Of Our Heads.” One blew away the other and the partisan divide began for me.

Rolling Stones incite near-riot in ’65

When the curtain went up the night of Nov. 1, 1965, there were 120 officers, War Memorial security, and ushers — the largest such show of crowd-control force in the venue’s history — ready to keep the crowd under control. Maybe they needed a few more. That Rochester show before an estimated crowd of 4,000 was perhaps the shortest Rolling Stones concert of all time, shut down by police slightly after 9 p.m. after only six songs. It was only their second-ever tour of the United States, in support of the album Out of Our Heads.

“The ones down front — particularly the girls — caused most of the trouble,” Rochester Police Chief William Lombard was quoted in the Times-Union. “They really started to get worked up when one Rolling Stone took off his jacket.” But what actually shut down the show was the promise — and the threat — of even more skin. “I knew when this one fellow took off his jacket and waved it at the girls while wiggling around that the next number would be the last,” Lombard said. “That’s the one where he strips to his undershirt.” The story did not indicate which of the British Invasion louts Lombard was referring to. One can only wonder if the police chief in hindsight regretted that move, as audience members reportedly threw popcorn, candy boxes, shoes and other items at the stage and chanted “We want the Stones!” Detective Lt. Andrew J. Sparacino was hit in the left eye and was taken to Genesee Hospital. As the Times-Union reported, “Lombard said he thought someone swung a bag of caramels at Sparacino.” And the photo accompanying the T-U story shows a glum looking Sparacino with a patch over one eye. Years later, he told a reporter he remembered talking to Stones lead vocalist Mick Jagger about being careful because of the crowd and the rock and roller responding “with some of the foulest language I’ve ever heard.”

Sparacino wasn’t the only victim of the night’s wildness. One 16-year-old Rochester fan was taken to Highland Hospital with a leg injury. And police removed “several youths” from the building for disorderly conduct. Who’s to blame? Lombard told media the crowd was noisy but for the most part civilized. “I appealed to them once to help them enjoy the show,” he was quoted as saying. “But when some of them really started to get worked up and began charging the stage, I thought someone would get hurt.”

After the show, guitarist and backing vocalist Keith Richards reportedly trash talked Rochester to the police, saying “This is a hick town. They were twice as wild in Montreal. They won’t get hurt. You were too hard with them.” The Rolling Stones reportedly flew out of town that night, presumably on their way to Providence, Rhode Island, and the next stop on their tour.
– MDANEMAN@DemocratandChronicle.com

I tried keeping the stage lights up at the Little Theater last night, not for the band but to light the six basketball players hanging on the wall behind the band. I close my eyes so it didn’t bother me. Bob had me turn them down before the second set. The month went fast. The show is over on Saturday and Richard Margolis’s goes up. I thinking about where to pile up the pictures I take down. Works on paper have a serious advantage when it comes to storage.

Our gig last week was melodic and expansive. Last night’s gig was dark and plodding. I found myself trying to apologize during the break but no one was buying it. We plan to see the Pulp movie, (A Film About Life, Death & Supermarkets) tonight. Maybe I’ll learn some tips.

This tree is monstrous. It’s a Champion Oak tree and it’s out back of Jeff and Mary Kaye’s. Down by the river that is, just like the Neil Young song, the one that came up in our shuffled library a few days ago. That damn thing still sounds good. Speaking of good. We heard “Bandit” tonight in the car. It may be time to watch “Greendale” again.

I came across this 1920 Charles Burchfield watercolor in my Tumblr feed this morning. It’s called “February Thaw” and it is in the collection at the Brooklyn Museum. Burchfield spent a good deal of his life in Buffalo and this is pretty much the way things look around here now.

My brother and his wife are headed to Spain for Holy Week. We have been enlisted to provide tips. I wish I could do more that that and join them. Peggi and I were in Granada for Holy Week about twenty years ago and it was unforgettable. Palm Sunday, the start of the week, is still eleven days away but but we are getting in the mood by playing Miles’ “Sketches of Spain.” There is a song called “Saeta” on the record that I really love.

In Spain the “saeta” is an unaccompanied song where the singer shows his or her ardent devotion to a particular image of Christ or the Virgin. A Jewish tradition dating to the 16th century, the saeta is often performed outdoors during Holy Week (next week ) as local parishes’ prized statues are paraded through the street in long, winding processions. A saeta performed from the balcony of an apartment overhead can be a stunning emotional experience.

The processions there are usually accompanied by a rag tag band and the band always stops for the spontaneous performance of a saeta. This song recorded last week at the Little Theatre and now entitled “Saeta” is in the spirit of those bands.

I was living with Peggi in a small rented house on the outskirts of town. We set up our bedroom on the porch. It was enclosed with wrap-around windows. We converted the bedroom to a band room and I was playing drums in there one night when someone knocked on the door. I opened the door and three guys were standing there. I was in my early twenties and these guys were old, well into their thirties. I was certain they were there to complain about the noise but they said they’d been outside listening and they wanted me to join their band. Apparently “Frank Canada” (listed on the card) had left the band and these guys were desperate. They had two gigs coming up that week.

This was Bloomington, Indiana I could tell by looking at them that they were talking about a kind of music I knew nothing about. I tried my best to talk my way out of this but a few days later I found myself out in the country, rehearsing in the living room of a trailer. Black velvet paintings on the wall and strange people sitting in the living room while we played songs I had never heard of. They kept asking, “You know that song called such and such?” and I would go, “No.”

Somehow we got through the gigs and rehearsed the next week in the bass player’s barn without the lead singer. Turns out the bass player, who had a sweet voice, and the rhythm guitar player, who loved Waylon Jennings, were conspiring to give Butch Miller (the cad) the boot and start their own band. They found a young guitar player with slicked back hair who worked at the Bloomington hospital and sang just like Johnny Cash. The three of them traded songs and we were booked every weekend and holiday for the next year and half in Eagles, Elks, Moose Clubs, American Legions, VFWs, coon hunts and anywhere cigarettes were smoked and Falstaff Beer was served.

I fell in love with the stuff, Classic Country by today’s definition. Eric and Amy’s version of Johnny Cash’s “I Still Miss Someone” was stuck in my head for a week after their recent “Homemade Airplane” concert so I decided to get serious about making a digital copy my “Stop The World and Let Me Off” compilation. Over the years I had picked up vinyl copies of the songs we used to do (by the original artists) and during the Napster craze I downloaded low res versions but it was time to do it up right. Ripping vinyl is a real-time exercise. It took me a few days but I assembled the collection with three versions of the title song. Now, it is time to plan a Honky Tonk party.

Amy and Eric got right into it last night. They rocked the Aerodome until the wheels did fall off. They played some great new songs about home remodeling and Sysco trucks on the interstate. They started “Astrovan” in three different keys before settling on “A” and they delivered a stellar version of “Do You Remember That?”

To my ears, Eric and Amy sound best the more stripped down their sound gets. Last night’s songs with Eric on acoustic and Amy on keys were brilliant. Amy Alison, Mose’s daughter, was the surprise guest and she sounded great. We’re going out of our way to avoid the Super Bowl today.

Ideolectic speech, the speech of the unique individual. I had intended to dive into my Christmas book, “Kansas City Lightning, The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker,” by Stanley Crouch but Louise brought over a book to borrow called “Speaking of Art, Four Decades of Art in Conversation” and that has been hard to put down. Artful interviews, conversation about art, as art, “Audio Arts” fits nicely in my “Field Recordings of the Future” category.

“Inmate Improv,” an editorial in today’s NYT was the perfect New Year’s gift for me. Anna Clark runs an improv workshop for prisioners in Detroit’s Macomb Correctional Facility and she she says she is more afraid of improv than she is of the prisoners. Improv makes the world go ’round.

Margaret Explosion will try to keep the world spinning tonight at the Little Theater Café. I’m thinking of bringing my djembe for the first number and I’m trying to figure out how we’re going to strap up my aging laptop so we can project some movies on the wall behind the band. The song below is an improv, an optimistic toast to the New Year. Here’s hoping we all find our ideolectic voice in the new year.

There are a lot of bands out there doing their Christmas songs this week. Watkins & the Rapiers have been doing them all month. But nobody does a better batch than Bobby Henrie and the Goners. We caught their annual Xmas show at Abilene on Saturday night and didn’t leave until it was all said and done. Jingle Bell Rock, Baby, It’s Cold Outside with Jimmy playing sleigh bells on the intro and outro!

A few years ago they were especially tight, knocking out songs in rapid succession. I think they had a string of Christmas parties that year. This year they were especially loose taking five minutes or so between songs. They tear it up either way. Jimmy, reliably late with the snare, Brian right on and Bobby, as always, an incredible player with a great voice and an explosive, live wire. The band, in their thirtieth year as a trio, is equal parts rock and roll. Most bands today have dropped the roll and I miss it. It allows the Goners to mix country, jazz and blues with their old fashioned r&R.

The five day forecast in these parts is all grey. I kind of like the mood. Margaret Explosion will provide a soundtrack to the weather tonight at the Little Theater Café. We promise not to play any Christmas music. Here is a song from a few weeks back.

The car was all packed and we were getting ready to leave when Noel emailed from the Little Theater. Due to almost a foot of snow they were planning on closing the café early and canceling the band for the night. They didn’t have to do that. We were ready and already looking forward to a quiet night, a situation where the band can sound especially good. Margaret Explosion is somewhere between the band in John Cassavetes’s “Too Late Blues” and the band that was playing on the Titanic when it went down. These are ideal conditions for us.

Like magic our new cd became available at CDBaby on the morning of yesterday’s release party. Scott Regan played a cut on his morning show and WRUR’s playlist showed the cover graphic from iTunes. We had our ducks in a row. Peggi and I hand painted some oversize cd covers and hung them over the grand piano. The place was packed but oddly the band was in a detached sort of mood. in the break Martin Edic suggested we “get wild” so we tried to accommodate him. If that piece sounds as good as I remember it I’ll post it here in a few days. Here’s one from the new cd.

Margaret Explosion – Fisterra

Here’s Jeff Spevak’s review from the Democrat & Chronicle:
“The sound of “Disappear” is immediately recognizable. Margaret Explosion is a narcotic soundtrack, sinuous improvisation on original impulses. Peggi Fournier not so much plays the soprano sax as breathes it. Paul Dodd’s drums are notable not only for the precision of his carefully selected notes, but the notes that he seems to not play. Like bassist Ken Frank, Dodd’s often in a hypnotic state. Guitarist Bob Martin is one of the wondrous curiosities of the local scene. He sits with his instrument and a vast array of effects pedals and buttons at his feet, creating sounds with the drawn-out elegance of Bill Frisell.

Disappear includes work by two like-minded, frequent guests of the band, bass clarinetist Jack Schaefer and Pete LaBonne on grand piano. It’s ethereal stuff from a prolific group that never rehearses, just plays. And posting much of it — including the clatter of plates and utensils from Little Café patrons eating — on its web site free for your downloading.”

Please join the band on Wednesday evening 7:30-9:30PM as Margaret Explosion releases our first cd in five years. 12 songs recorded live at the Little Theatre Café in living stereo and packaged in a handprinted, limited edition sleeve. $10, includes shipping, available at MargaretExplosion.com. Here’s a song from the new cd.

Silk screening is a very tactile experience. You can follow the directions and watch YouTube videos but when the ink hits the screen and precious paper is slid under it, the way you handle the squeegee determines whether you got clearly shaped letter forms or nasty blobs.

We kept our front door ajar while we knocked out one hundred cardboard cd covers. We were expecting Pete and Shelley but they never showed. We came up with all sorts of reasons why they might be late but none were convincing. We were pulling the last prints when Shelley came down the stairs. They had been sitting in the car for two hours while we were cranking the tunes. Patsy Cline was playing when they walked in.

Dave Anderson had the first of the “Disappear” CDs ready for us so we swung by Saxon Recording on our way downtown. He was working on some tracks with Ed Downey and Chris Reeg when I walked in. We popped one in the car player and were on the second track when we pulled up to the Little for the Margaret Explosion gig. Here’s a track with Pete from his last visit.