Month: January 2008

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From The Archives

Hey all –

Here’s a track that probably very few of you have or ever heard. It’s on a Beefheart tribute album called Fast & Bulbous that came out in ’88 (holy sh*t that sounds like a long time ago). It’s interesting for a number of reasons. First, it was recorded around the time of End of the Millenium, so we’re still messing around with samples and dance rhythms. Listen closely at the end, and you’ll hear the Ohio Players. That’s right, the Ohio Players. And it’s perfectly in tempo, and in the right key!

Then there’s also a “Big Flame-esque” section that we added to the song. It’s interesting as a historical artifact – it sounds a bit glued-in to my ears now – but taken on its own, it does sound “Beefheartian.” (I remember John O’Neill saying this about Circusville at our second or third gig at the Mean Fiddler in 1986) And it just goes to show the vast spectrum of music we were absorbing at the time – from Curtis Mayfield to Big Flame, Beefheart to Bambatta. It’s no wonder we encountered a few growing pains.

Anyhow, enjoy. I’m not sure whether to put this up as a podcast or a download – I guess for now I’ll put it up as an in-page player, and also as a link to download.

Oh – freakin’ far out. The PodPress plugin does it all automatically for you. Thanks, PodPress!

[display_podcast]

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The Politics of Dancing

As some of you have noticed in the forum, it has been awhile since we’ve posted to the blog, and there are rumours a-flying, so let me take a moment to try and put things into perspective.

Things were moving along very well – maybe a little too well. As noted below, we were accepted for a SxSW slot, and we made progress with both UK and US agents, secured digital distribution for the back catalog (the part we owned, anyway), and a few other things. Once things got to this point, we had to make sure we could meet all the committments, since it was getting close to the time when we’d have to start signing bits of paper.

As it turns out, we couldn’t.

Putting a band (back) together in your 40s is quite a bit different than it is in your 20s. There are jobs, marriages, kids, and hundreds of other things to consider. The matrix gets even more complex when you try to align these elements across all the band members. When one person can get time off, the other has a deadline at work. Where one person needs X to pay the bills, another needs Y. Suffice it to say that it’s a far cry from “Get in the van! We’re going to France!”

So where does that leave us?

The folks at SxSW were very understanding, and invited us back whenever we’re ready. The agents understand that this is going to be tricky. Ditto for distribution, publicity, etc. Hell, we never officially announced that this site was up and running. A handful of you true believers have found it, and that’s heartening in itself. So fret not – we’re not going to be on the road this spring as originally thought. The fall is a possibility, as is spring 2009. It’s still too early to tell.

But definitely stay tuned. It takes a little longer for old guys like us to get a full head of steam going, but we’re definitely headed in the right direction.