dem old sinus pain & exploding drummer blues

-happy birthday to bomar... 29 again! thank goodness for friends, family, and loved ones. no man's an island, etc. etc. etc. my latest movie recommendation is "j'ai ete au bal (i went to the dance)"... it's a documentary about the history of cajun/zydeco. exhilarating!
-in less exhilarating news, why why why? here we go again. drummer number eight. i was tempted to go into a drummer diatribe, a cynical slideshow, a la nicholson in "carnal knowledge," of the many who've passed by... but that wouldn't be kosher. not copacetic. not kind. it would be rudely satisfying only to me, and quickly followed by guilt, inappropriate... wise, warm, crackling-with-life sister b said recently, "if we knew all, we'd forgive all." of course, i don't know the full story of why number seven is vacillating in his commitment. i just need to get this band out of his way... & begin the search for number eight, i guess!
-i asked my friend ruben (guaderrama) if it'd be easier to find steady, enthusiastic musical buddies if i lived down south, but he replied grimly, "no, it'd just be more complicated." even he is going solo these days, after near-40 years playing with his right hand man & life-long best friend. even that has dried up! i hear mento's drummer caesareo (sp) wrote a blog on the topic of "the cat versus the..." canary? the committed music lover versus the leaf in the wind-- brian p knows. i'm sure it's well-worth reading. you could find the link through nl belardes' site, i'd bet!
-so where is the bako equivalent of jerry angel? bill bateman? lisa pankratz? jose, why do you live in orange county??? or even, why are we here in backwardsville? why don't folks just want to play traditional, fun, rocking music here, get together and stomp feet, pound and saw, yell and purr and growl, tell stories in song, make melodies, make folks jump, dance and smile? so many drummers we've had have been held back by Life stuff like money, disapproving other halves, the drive... it really stinks. i guess the days of sitting on the porch playing all night are long gone. que lastima, as some would say.
- anyway, jose plays with cattie ness. he is not just a great drummer, but a quick study and a nice dude, also willing to drive and drive for the prospect of putting on a fun gig. bruce jones, olen taylor, you're local, you're the best, come back! you've rested long enough... haven't you? ...........oh well. i'll just watch movies for a while to keep the joy level up, i spose. and celebrate halloween, and the beginning of holidays season... all is not lost...
-however, there's this other problem: for the past couple of months, i've wished i could somehow live without my head, a reverse of "the brain that wouldn't die" -- just a torso walking around and pounding the keys. the pain in my skull is constant. it moves, too -- one day in the face, next in my ears, then over the eye socket. i told a recent drummer, a happy kind of guy, i'm looking at sinus surgery & he asked, "will that change your singing voice?" didn't even consider that, but the pain must go! the psychic pain of daily life can be enough at times. (ha! spoiled middle class american complaining... i really have no right, yet i do it!) adding physical pain to the mixture... well, what for, if it can be avoided, what for? the pain -- be it in my sinus cavities or sitting on a drummer's saddle -- must go.
-ha! there's my cheap shot. see? now i feel guilty. shouldna said it, but i did. at least keith moon exploded after putting in hundreds, thousands of heavy-pounding shows.... but i suppose he was keith moon, & exceptional, committed musicians are who they are for a reason. that fire & dedication is what separates them, maybe... but again, doesn't anybody just want to get together and make some happy noise, some rocking country blues, some hepped up, melancholy, jumping life music, just to do it, just for the wonderful release and pleasure of doing it?... the weird captain howdy clown face on the bootleg cover reflects the music-less situation. he's dressed for fun, but just sitting there... waiting. oh well. life goes on... though i complain here, as long as you and i are upright and breathing, there's hope. so it's movies for now, til the music comes back.

i'll go down swingin

nl belardes just put up the podcast that i got to do with him recently. it's an about 30 minute radio show titled "honky tonk girl [sic], jenny angel." you can find it at http://www.nlbelardes.com/musicrev.html
... i hope you enjoy listening, & happy weekend to all.

the killer, the king, the boss of the 88s

-WOW!!!!! elwood in sweden sent me a care package of cds, & i'm listening to jerry lee lewis at the star club and... ARRGGHHH!!! this is the kinda music that turned teens into rebels in the '50s, the musical equivalent of jekyll changing to hyde,... pure raw wild thumping raging rock & roll!!! if the other cds have this kind of primal power, respectable life as i know it is doomed.
-or i'll have to ration it... but how will that be possible???
-one of the first experiences i had like this, where my hair stood on end & my pulse pounded & my eyes bugged & i felt truly alive, was when i was about 16 & caught on public tv-kcet a showing of "don't knock the rock" (not to be confused with the bill haley-alan freed movie). it was a 1963 granada (british tv) show featuring (unbelievable, still) the animals, gene vincent, little richard, the killer, and more... the scenes with jerry lee are decadently thrilling -- he's leering, swaggering, swollen-faced, pot-bellied, long blond curls swinging, dancing and shaking on the piano like a go-go girl as teds and greasers adore him, pounding the 88s along with a sloppy, thundering band, looking drunk on star power, awesome, the greatest in that moment, the killer, the king...
-must...turn...off...music...now... must... exhale...

the rocking keyboard strikes, the ugly men of country are covered

- yesterday i got to do nl belardes' podcast, though solo. i'd've preferred the band to come along, but brian p's been m.i.a. (just became a granddad - maybe that's it :) ). the fellows ho showed up there (fattkatt, les paw, & of course, dj nick) (not the "ugly men" referred to at top, btw) asked, "why don't you go solo?" well, i much prefer playing music with others; it's so much more fun to be "a part of," & the guys i've played with are good musicians... but i do want to play music!! as is, the band has no openings to play for months & months. i've turned down many offers recently. other musicians drop their jaws when i tell them this. it does make me pause when three folks in past weeks have mentioned the "solo" thing. anyhow.
- i brought my little keyboard, the one dad bought me years ago to encourage songs i was writing at that time. got the keys set up, went to get some coffee since i've been so sick & needed perking up (saw students!), came back & they'd gotten all set up, so off we went. i started playing (no percussion, not even a wooden floor to stomp the foot), & the keyboard starting rocking back & forth wildly. messed up my time bad in a few spots...i'm no jerry lee, that's for sure! finally we stopped recording & took some time out & fattkatt fixed the stand.
- i think the interview went well, but i did pause when asked what the band's been up to... i do appreciate the others a lot, but a band's gotta play, or it's not a band, i don't think! hmm... maybe that's why candye kane goes solo. except that woman can SING! not to mention i just love hammering that piano, not really a solo kind of gig... i sing OK... when i can hear... & on the show today, les had the vocals dialed in well, so that was some fun. no effects, no band, 61 plastic keys on a wobbly stand & chair, in a room wearing headphones with 3 guys staring at me, but it was still better than not playing, so i took the opportunity and steamed ahead.
- between interview, i did four songs or so, then finally coaxed fattkatt into singing with me. we've done it before, & i love singing harmonies. we did really impromptu versions of songs by two of the most mythically ugly but strong-voiced singers i can think of, buck owens & roy orbison (well, the former's lost his voice, but in the don rich days, they sang soaringly, wonderfully): "tiger by the tail" and "pretty woman"... now, the first tune's no problem, but the second? complex! fun to sing, but getting the full-throated vocals AND the correct changes and rolls on piano with no practice... well, i'll just say there are some glitches. "that's what people love about live music," said les. "that's what makes it human!" amen, brother. he seemed like a real all-right guy, a solid type. :)
- thank you to nl belardes for the podcast shot & to fattkatt & les for being there. the show's supposed to be on-air/online next week, so i'll post again when it's up. maybe next time, the whole band will come.

lunatics need love, too

well, just heard show with blasters for tomorrow has been cancelled. "everything went kerflooey." blah. poo. rats. dang. peas & carrots. .... art must be more disappointed than we are... maybe the great gods were saving us from disaster, right?... nah; i think it was just hard knocks... oh well! better to have found out now than when trying to get thru smellay gridlock on a friday-at-5! i will appease, amuse, delude myself here with a little lunatic fan-addict photoshopping... i just know this'll be the bill onea these days (click ruby slippers 3 times)... (both pix by bomar the great)

chicken lips & legs; rocking with blasters

a new article about our band is posted at http://www.nlbelardes.com/blogger/2005/09/dusk-devils-at-dome-hurricane-relief.html from nick belardes, local writer and committed supporter of local artists. he took the pic you see here. i gotta go to work, so that's all i'll post for now... blasters show with art fein is tomorrow! woo-hoo!!

dead monitor blues don't get me down

as i seem to frequently write, last night's show was fun. you couldn't hear a dang thing, i had a dead monitor & weak mike, the sound bounced & reverberated off the dome's wrestling arena walls in a game of "find-the-beat, suckers," but it still was fun. we started playing, BOOM! and all these punk & emo teens came running out, trying to swing dance; they weren't sure what to do, so i yelled, "just jump up & down!!" later these same kids rolled & bounced off each other like puppies when the ramones-tempoed filthies played (heidi said they sound like green day, but i wouldn't know). mento buru's horns were so loud, your ears about bled (except paul perez -- he seemed to have the mike i'd gotten earlier, which was a shame). mento do that old oingo boingo song i remember off radio-- it says "who do you want to be today" -- at such a furiously-fast, slamming punk-ska tempo, with trombone & double sax/percussion, that if you don't move with it, call the morgue cause you're about-dead... the event was a sort of swarming, teeming one: about 20 bands, food out back, stupid jokes as the females ate hot dogs, musicians' tots with pink spikey hair & rocker clothes, black-clad, heavily tatted, heavily-gutted males guzzling suds & guffawing, skinny boys with eyeliner looking tres hollywood, etc. band dog jason observed the proceedings with a small smile, murmuring, "this is like the old days." every band of a certain age was there. yeah, lots of tattoos and mohawks. and us. ha!... anyway, when we played, it was great to see all those kids dancing uncontrollably, moved by the music. i wore some mardi gras rags & gave them to people in the crowd, later to jon-o & vince, who'd come "just to see you guys," they said. jerry drummer was being blasted by the keyboard monitor, so i said, "now, THERE'S a switch for ya!" i apologized to him later, tho it wasn't my fault (soundman jeff langston, brian p's friend, was there & saved us however he could), & told him, "your hearing'll come back, big guy. it always has!" brian p looked to be having fun, & his solos on "rock the joint" were spot-on. jason was, as always, cool as a cucumber... "the real" bruce wayne, local dj who looks like a movie star, gave us info on being on radio & offered me a swig of bourbon (not today, but thank you). in fact, i haven't been offered a drink so much in a long while. it was a good test. at about 7:30, ronna from bakotopia said she thought they'd raised about $2400 for the red cross -- not bad, not bad! nick belardes asked us to do his net radio show & took a pic of me that's either going to drive people away, or toward this band: lotsa leg! it actually was a pretty cool pic; nick is a talented photographer. well, better go now. adios, ciao, sayonara, hej da, see ya, good people!

stage-divin' piano, trippin' with fein art, walkin' in LA

READ BELOW ABOUT THE HURRICANE RELIEF BENEFIT SUN 9/18... the other night brian p & i got a wild hair & did the open mike at fishlips -- i did i'll go down swingin, me & my chauffeur blues, then he came up & we did heartbeat, let's go (paladins), rebound, red hot. it was rough fun! we heckled jason, who sat at the bar. he returned the favor by conspicuously leaving to use the can for our set. i played my little 61-key yamaha, my starter keyboard, & at one point it tried to stage dive (the stand was real rickety), but we grabbed it & i kept on playing. that evening started a series of fun days i've been needing... next morning i hopped in the truck & drove to art fein's lovely mansionito by the hollywood bowl. he described the lush, winding enclave as "the beverly hills of the silent era," an apt, witty, succinct & therefore artish description. then i was treated to a few hours of music-listening & video watching & lunch-eating... on 4 hrs sleep, i felt about as witty as a gerbil, but the reptilian brain was in full function, so i was prime for the great rock & roll music & oddball screenings & tales art dished out. i like how his eyes get all glazed & wacky when he's in the moment. he says things like, "if i'da seen this footage when i was a kid, i woulda jumped outta window. my head woulda exploded." then he'd put on bo diddley or joe maphis or the sparkletones & we'd jump up & down & laugh like crazy. what fun. he sent me off with a generous package of music, heavy on his all-time faves, the heaters... dig the cool pic of art with the zydeco king himself. all i can say is wow!. . . like things couldn't keep being so great, i next went to hollywood book & poster where my friend scott just happened to be working & gave me a huge discount on a something weird dvd & directions to amoeba, so there i went, on an impromptu walking tour of hollywood on a lovely breezy day with bougainvilleas blooming all around & shopped for music for a few luxurious hours (the meter was broken -- free parking -- yowza!), then headed inland to the pomona area to visit my dear friend & her family (tho dad ruben was off playing music all weekend). art called about an extremely fun sounding event at wacko, but my friend wasn't up for it, & i was in george romero land by that time, barely able to breathe from lack of sleep, so i had to beg off, feeling like a stinking dud anyway. i passed out that night real early. well then tonight my friend was too beat, so i hit the LA county fair solo, loving the nighttime lights, the happy throngs, the music, soaring over the glittery laughing fair city on the scary, exhilarating sky tram, the cotton candy & barbecuey aromas, the shiny swirling rides, the blast of fireworks, the fair, representing so much that's good about america, man, i needed it. i didn't "do some huggin' and lovin' at the county fair..." but it was a happy & lonesome, wonderful time that filled up my heart & gave me hope, dang it, hope.

"haunted" dome hosts hurricane relief show

Hurricane Katrina Relief Show... See The DUSK DEVILS and at least 15 other live bands Sept., 18 2005 / The Dome Arena, 21st & V St., Bakersfield, CA 93301. Cost: $10.00... From Mento Buru: A Hurricane Katrina Relief Concert is in the works right now. Please mark you calenders and stay tuned as we get you all the details. CONFIRMED- Mento Buru - The Dusk Devils - Throatshot - Rocky Nash - Karmahitlist - American Standard - This Plain Morning - Esiah - Give Impulse - My Dysfunctional Me - Vanity Avenue..more bands on the way. DJ's spinning all day long: DJ Mikey (Reggaeton / Hip-Hop / Roc En Espanol), DJ Jake aka Lord Bovver (Ska / Reggae / Punk / Soul), plus more on the way. Please support the cause!! The Red Cross says this is the ONLY music event being organized in Bakersfield to help right now. Here's your chance to help out!! All of the bands listed have MySpace pages, so check 'em out at www.myspace.com. Call The Dome at 661-327-0190 for more info. (This was MENTO BURU's release, btw.) The Dome long ago was called "Strongbow" and "Strelich Stadium." It was a well-known wrestling arena, now home to music and sports events and rumored to be haunted. Owner Chencho poo-poos the idea. This show, with proceeds benefiting the Red Cross, will give ticket holders the chance to see a wide wide range of local musicians at work.

don't shake me lucifer

"the world's a mess, it's in my kiss..." i don't think the following'll make much sense unless you're down in the valley, too...
1. a stupid tirade: the whole wide genre called "blues" was born in pain, not fashion, from the little i know. all kinds of variations then arose from that core, like the wonderful new orleans acadian / shuffle/ cajun/ zydeco tradition. such a core should be respected, not aped. the "fashion blues" attitude is what i don't like about the whole "blues brothers" thing. all them salaried middle-aged suburban guys in their ray-bans and bowling shirts playing "authentic delta blues" and singing willie dixon and jimmy reed between leers, swigs and high-fives with their weekend-warrior buddies creep me out. people shouldn't perform songs unless they're authentically felt to the toes, not because they think "the blues" will make them look cool. enjoying the music, or relating to it, that's another deal, but once i take on a song to learn and it starts coming from my mouth onstage, i'm saying i'm a piece of that song or want to carry forward its experience. that's why, unless my despair deepened significantly, or drug-hell resurfaced, though i love her music, i would never sing billie holliday.
2. the unforgettable books "go cat go" and "man in black" describe how carl p and john c (respectively) dealt with the darkness. they walked and kept walking and didn't give up. i guess.
3. roky erickson said, "don't shake me lucifer"... sometimes it feels that way, tho i ain't religious. i like roky's brilliant hallucination lyrics. maybe that's the smartest way to deal with tragedy and despair. some native cultures think the clown or kashari to be the most sacred character around. better to laugh than cry: is that the ticket?
4. johnny cash said, "i'm gonna sit right here until i die"... or maybe this is the ticket? nah. i've done this, and you just have to get up after a few days to go to the bathroom or eat. speaking of cash, maybe i should transfer these feelings into disgust over the casting of two talented but inappropriate-for-the-roles hollywoodians as johnny and june in the new "walk the line" biopic.
5. a lot of hank williams' catalog was joyful, ebullient honky-tonk/love tunes or sad songs so beautiful, they pull you out of the despair pit cause HE FELT IT, TOO, & expressed it so awesomely... these extremes, i guess, are associated with the creative temperament. just imagine if the man had lived... knowing these talents lived at all can help a person not want to hang oneself, yes...
6. john lennon screamed, "how can you laugh when you know i'm down?" great song, but nah -- too self-pitying.
7. blablablablablablabla... this ain't me usually, but "blog" starts like "blab," doesn't it? sometimes the blabbing gets dark. this is one...
what a profundity: when the world's all upside down, anybody can get sad. you need the dark to see the light. etc, etc. duhh. i guess all a person can do is keep walking. and laughing. and trying not to say, "i told you so." the chinese proverb says, "fall down seven times, get up eight." time to get up. i'm gettin. i hope.

b-o-p, bop, i said p-i-l-l-s: bop pills

today i was allergy-ill (of course), but had big music. first i went to record back-up harmonies along with jill egland for brit friend david nigel lloyd's latest irish-celtic LP, I mean, CD. on 58 east, we passed the turn off for caesar chavez' grave, then headed for dave odgen's clear creek studio at harte flat - nice mountain view, very state of the art equipment, very "live," they said. dave helped develop some akg mikes & so got this great spread as a result. we got going & i felt a little fish-out-of-water, but more comfortable on the last song, which is sort of bakersfield soundish. by the end, we were all laughing & adding in hollers and claps... after this, at home, i fortified myself with some peppy vitamins, put some girl clothes on, & headed out rosedale for larry mann's BD party. larry's played sax for little richard, bobby rydell, the comets, jerry lee, many you can name from that era. there were folks at the party from many bands in bakersfield -- i saw steve mayer and lou and bev marino, and met a bunch of others, too. jason never showed up, so, in a little richard configuration, two fellows named mark and herman BOTH filled in on bass... we were slamming!! we had to limit what we played, tho, so we wouldn't kill the bass players, & i couldn't hear well. as usual, i just shouted and pounded as best i could. we did about six songs, with larry sailing in on "roll 'em pete." afterward, folks were saying real nice stuff, so i guess it went over ok. and now, unfortunately, the vitamin hasn't worn off,... so here i sit... though not broken-hearted...

heartbeat-palomino-norselands, moolah

click here to listen to two songs... one's older (mean mean man) and one's brand new (heartbeat). you can even download them, i think. www.myspace.com/theduskdevils . they're both rehearsal tapes, but have good energy, i says.

this super cool pic is from the old palomino down south in 1976--that's rockabilly rebels jerry sikorski, wild-eyed ray campi, jackie lee waukeen cochran himself up front, colin winski. what a shot!

we are booking shows and collecting money for a trip next summer, hopefully out of this country. the farther north, the better, since bakingfield's so dang hot in summer. send your donations to www.duskdevils.com & we'll send you a postcard in return. feliz tarde a todos...

"the singing bikers"

we just got back from a 2-week motorcycle trip. this pic was in creede, co... terry (blonde) had swisher sweets & we were about to skip down the street back to the no-tell mo-tel. (the wood tastes better than the smoke, i must say. L to R are me, ceecee, terry, & virgie.) the group of 11 joked i should go to internet anonymous--i never stopped jonesing, even sailing thru the gorgeous aspens, breathtaking red & green & purple mountains, fragrant sage & flowers, snowy peaks, copper canyons, lovely lonely desert, etc. etc. etc. it was a bit embarrassing & pitiful. we listened to ronnie dawson live at the continental club, esquerita, chuck berry best of vol 2, etc. (the last was from brian p, who made a welcomed 11th hour stop before we headed out, to bring me birthday CD rips.) had good cloud cover most days, only two monsoons. (i, pure chicken, sat inside a gas station for 1.5 hrs to ride out the storm whilst the much braver others stayed in their tents.) met a bunch of nice folks & traveled with great friends, ate fantastic meals in ojo caliente NM & moab, climbed on petroglyphs, stayed in a train car, took mudbaths & mineral waters, loudly sang "king of the road" at every stop, attended a bizarre mormon boatride tour, balanced zingers with propel water, didn't send one stinking postcard... for my BD, bomar got me a very cool little roll-up piano that weighs about 2 lbs & i played along a little with the campfire marathons at the serenity run, but they were doing a lot of folky-pop stuff, so it'll be fun to dusk devil-it again... each year, tho, the friendships are unforgettable, and so i am grateful & must again say "thank you" to dear bomar that i was able to make this trip for the ninth time.

O2 deprivation, glamour girls, sweating bullets

(flyer at left for The Show That Ain't Gonna Happen)... i'm exhausted from last night's show with cattie ness & the revenge! there were about 15 bands at the "rock the tower" show, mostly young folks dressed up & hanging out in the big dressing room... i panicked for several days prior when cattie requested that we all wear turquoise... TURQUOISE!! but i found a "gown" and hope i looked appropriately like a revenger, tho i still didn't feel much glamorous! we were sweating all evening: first from the despicable & debilitating heat, then 'cause drummer jose called at 6 pm and was still in smellay!! had to work & four bums had called in sick on a saturday! driving at speeds certainly exceeding legal limits, he arrived at the tower & fell out of his car 15 mins before we were to be onstage... then the sound! same thing that happened at the elvis show cursed us: the drummer had no monitors! train wreck! by the end of the set, i thought, i might sprain both arms, but i'm gonna go for it! and pounded those keys like the sloppy little imitation killer that i sometimes delude myself i am... the audience cheered its head off!! so all in all, as bomar said, "you guys hung in there and pulled it off." and as cattie said, batting her glamorous eyelashes, "well, we looked good." i dig her punk rock attitude...

read below about the show!

how it went

it was 104 degrees in bakingfield on the night of the link wray show... my biggest problem was my hands wouldn't stay on the piano keys due to the extreme heat/resulting sweat! at one point, my wet fingers slid clear off the keyboard, but the audience was laughing, dancing, enjoying themselves throughout. thank you to shawna & kipp for having us! soundman jeff dialed us in perfectly, so i was able to have some fun on the vocals. brian p. nailed all his solos with confidence, while jerry and jason were solidly in the pocket from start to finish. this tall bunch of fellows is one great band! afterward, even when link wray came on & shredded everyone's ears with his raw, delinquent sounds, folks asked for the dusk devils! lots of friends were there -- brian b, eric, lisa, heidi, jenine, gary & darrell, tim r., tim c., francis, henry, larry & co., rhonda, just a lot more people than i'd hoped. if i believed 1/4 of the compliments people gave me/us after the show, i'd be really stuck-up! one guy even wanted an autograph. imagine that! it was a rocking & successful show!

that ph # is 661-324-2557, if you can't read it from there!

DUSK DEVILS & LINK WRAY, 7/15 - read next post!!

dusk devils & link wray fri. july 15

"link wray is the all-time legend" (conan o'brien)...
One night only... "Mr. Guitar" L I N K W R A Y
-- "The Godfather of the Power-Chord" --
"Rumble," "Rawhide," "Comanche," "Jack the Ripper" & more...
& bakersfield's THE DUSK DEVILS
fri. july 15 at fishlips 1517 18th st., bakersfield ca usa
call 661-324-2557 for tickets

candye, candye, candye

what a fun weekend! we saw candye kane's show the other night, right here in town. she's a big beautiful blues-belter with a heart of gold, & while my feet were tapping away & spirits soaring, i kept thinking of words like "inspiring," "authentic," ones that don't usually jump to my mind at a rock'n'roll & blues-roots show. what a fantastic woman! i wish i had just part of her singing voice. we rounded out the weekend watching talented 8-piece local legends Mento Buru at the BBQ Factory... who knew this caliber of talent & fire was gigging away all the time here in bako & throughout the state?.... probably everyone except the fool who writes this! ... as mehitabel would say, be "toujour gai," everyone, "toujour gai!"