Been a while. We're still playing once a month at Red Hill Books in SF. We love this gig. It's one of those rare places we play in which we're actually the loudest thing in the room.

We have a new 5 song EP out. It's called Please Betty. Produced by Ben Vaughn! He took us in a country direction and we love it. Many cool musicians on it, including one of my favorite guitarists, Tony Gilkyson, and drummer Kevin Jarvis. I'll post some of it as soon as I can figure out how.

Every time someone flushes a toilet in this building, a beautiful Bb below middle C sustains for about 10 seconds. It would be inspiring if I weren't in a hotel in Venice Beach.

The so-called supply-side economic system was begun by a couple of lunatics in the '70's. I mean really lunatics--not just right-wing jerks. Lunatics. The theory was bashed and reviled by pretty much everyone, Republicans included. Then all of a sudden we have a president (Reagan) who believes the nonsensical shit, it snowballs, and soon enough we have a chief who believes that cutting taxes for the very rich is the best response to any economic situation.

Here's a good article on the background of the handful of guys responsible for drawing up phony curves on cocktail napkins and making it catch on. click here 1/5/09--evidently the link doesn't work any more, but you can research out these guys elsewhere.

I got some music placed on the TV show 'Weeds'. The wonderful Gwendolyn Sanford and Brandon Jay (the composers; check out their various projects) invited me to work on some cues with them. We mainly just put together a bunch of cues to be placed later, so I didn't know what the scene would look like. I of course had to bite the bullet and turn the TV on to see how it played. This is evidently a very popular show. It's odd--there doesn't seem to be even one character on it that has a heart (or a soul for that matter). Not one! On the episode I saw, there were gangsta's from the 'hood with guns, Eastern bloc gangsters with guns, women selling drugs, neighbors stealing drugs, conscience deprived car thieves, pill poppers, and two guys arguing about and comparing dick size. Go Hollywood.

Ashley and I are starting work on a new cd. It'll be a lot different than all the others. So what else is new?

Make Out Room down to weekends. OUCH! And the Sweetwater--now that's downright sad. I have a lot of thoughts about this trend, but I'm better at discussing it over a beer or something. Remind me.

Miles Montalbano's movie 'Revolution Summer' is doing real well. Mick LaSalle gave it a guy clapping and smiling. I was out of town so I missed the opening show of a week long run at the Roxie, but there are a few more nights to catch it and I will.

Here's what I've been digging on lately: The Light Crust Doughboys (early stuff), Gilbert and Sullivan, Moondog

Ben Vaughn has a very cool radio show broadcast in Memphis. He's a fellow quirk aficianado. To hear archived shows and read full playlists click 'radio' at the bottom of his home page HERE

Ben also recently produced a really wonderful new album by Mark Olson. His myspace page is HERE

And what is going on with this wretched wind?

Ashley and I will be house band for three events at the 12 Galaxies on Mission St., SF. Hosted by the twistedly infamous Katy Bell (Cyclecide); Spass Guerilla is an amateur/variety/freak/gong show. We'll be playing our more obscure stuff. The shows are on Tuesdays--May 15, May 29th, and June 12th. Ralph Carney will be playing with us for the first show. You can try to learn more about Spass Guerilla at their myspace page here. Thanks.

In case you were wondering why you didn't see Ashley or me at the Grammy Awards, it's because our ex-limo driver was characteristicly late! Did we win?

1. Ben Vaughn's radio station here

2. Lennie Tristano

3. Doris Day

4. Live guitar music. Seek out SF locals Craig Ventresco or Kurt Stevenson

5. Old windows

6. William Faulkner

7. Ducks!

8. Cam Wo Tea

9. The art of Martha Sue Harris here

10. A certain frequency of the color orange

So I lost the hard drive on my computer. That means calendar, email addresses, phone numbers. There's really nothin' left. So instead of giving up totally on computers (which I have aspired to do since I first got one) here I am asking you to send me an email with your info. If you have friends that you know want to stay on the mailer, please send their info, too, or ask them to send it. I got a back-up program this time.

ted@octomutt.com

The written word, the spoken word, the sung word, poetry—all are rendered insignificant by a great series of forces the world has seen in the past fifty years or so. Not least of these are television and its steroid cousin, the internet. Madison Ave., Hollywood, Washington, D.C. have confused and deneutered language to a degree of hopelessness.

As a young teenager in a time when Marshall McLuhan, was making some interesting points, little did I know he was speaking gospel. “The medium is the message.“ Journalists interviewing journalists, talk show hosts hosting panels of talk show hosts. The twisted reality of the press. Twenty some-odd years of brag and boast song lyrics. If you get fed pointlessness for long enough, you begin to crave it. Lies—it becomes uncomfortable to live without ‘em. Banality is the new jazz. Nothing’s relevant. Nothing makes sense.

So if they actually come up with a flag burning amendment, would that cover any other forms of dessicration, or would it specifically cover burning only? In which case, wouldn't these dastardly flag-burners just come up with some other form of evilness? Such as making the flag watch American Idol, or listen to that country/western boy band that dance around with those clip-on microphones.

There were something like three cases of flag-burning in the past year; certainly good reason to amend the constitution. Right up there with abolishing slavery.

Seriously, America. If I can give you a bit of birthday advice--TURN THAT SHIT OFF!

We had a good show at the Troubadour with our friends The 88. We got a good review on a cool co-op web site--Ice Cream Man. At the bottom of the Ice Cream Man page, click on our show to see photos, etc.

It's going to be a great year. Here's how I know.

I didn't have to see or hear even one second of the Super Bowl. Not even inadvertantly by walking into a store with a radio on or something. BIG BONUS: I didn't hear anything from anyone about any of the commercials, who played, the half-time act, Janet Jackson's tit, or anything.

Then, joy--I didn't have to see any of the Winter Olympic crass commercialistic jingo bullshit.

I'm shooting for a hat trick with the Acadamy Awards.

Why all the fuss about Vice-Criminal Cheney shooting one of his ultra-right world-ruiners? I say give-em all beers and shotguns and put 'em out in a field together. I worry about the quails, though.

For some reason the past few days the song Up A Lazy River has been showing up a lot in my life. Like three nights straight it was either on the jukebox or being played live in a club I was in. Now I'm obsessed with it. I of course have to hear every version ever recorded. I have to learn to sing it. And it's difficult. It's one of those beautiful melodies that seems like it must have existed forever, like the sound of running water or rustling leaves. Hoagy Carmichael wrote it; there you have it.

Yay for our idiot governor's props going down the crapper. Boo for the fact that 40% or so of the voters voted with him; shouldn't it have been unanimous?

Yay for Kansas' corn. Boo for the fact that they're teaching BULLSHIT as science in their classrooms.

I think I have a lousy haircut. You be the judge. Oh wait, you can't be the judge because I still haven't figured out how to upload a photo to this blog page. I have to keep my notes on something other than kleenex and such. Anyway, I'm considering buzz-cutting my hair as many hairline challenged men do, but I'm afraid you see because...I have a POINTY HEAD.

Here's when the world REALLY started to turn screwy--when the words 'super' and 'model' got put together. Also, I was once at a dinner where the chef came out and took a bow; I hope THAT doesn't become a trend.

Yay for Kira Lynn Cain, my new local fave.

Ralph turned me on to Little Marcy. Uh, yay?

The more people that show up to vote in Schwarzenegger’s special election, the better chance of beating his criminally egregious agenda. It’s important that you show up at the polls and vote Fuck No on Propositions 73 through 78. I haven’t researched out 79 and 80 yet, but if he had anything to do with them you can bet that they’re utter shit.

73—More nut right wing abortion stuff.

74—Bill Rushing put it perfectly: “Why anyone would be trying to make it harder to hire and easier to fire a teacher in this day and age is utterly beyond me, but the explanation may be as simple as this: He's an asshole.”

75—This is the Republicans’ union-busting proposition.

76—It’s a phony and a bad idea. It’ll cut school funding by over $4 billion a year and eliminate voter-approved school funding guarantees. It also gives our idiot governor unlimited power over budget decisions. He’ll be accountable to no one.

77—Redistricting California to hand it over directly to the Republicans. It’s more of the same—take voting power away from people and give it to a couple of nut judges. As Burt Bacharach queries: “who are these people?”

78—Another phony that pretends to be a step in the direction of lowering prescription drug prices and in fact is just the opposite.

NO TO ALL; NO TO THE GROPINATOR; NO TO THE CORPORATE SUCK-ASSES. thank you, have a nice day

Since all major religions started out as urban legends by a bunch of rock-throwing, grub-eating barbarians, and since urban legend is a strong presence in today’s society I’m figuring that in a few hundred years there will exist such religions as The Church of the Headless Chickenlike Creatures of KFC. The Doctrine of the Chihuahua in the Microwave. Probably be running what's left of the country after the unholy rats we've got now get through with it.

Heaven/hell, 40(?) virgins, tablet giving angels?

What I think home recording has done to music in general—first, it’s taken a lot of the spontaneity out of music. When you’re on the clock at a studio, you have to make things happen. And from these pressured sessions, often beautiful and visceral music will result. When a musician has unlimited time at home to ‘fix’ tracks, often beauty or vitality is compromised. Also, with everyone having the capacity to produce albums, you actually are going to have everyone producing albums. That’s not necessarily a good thing, sorry to say. But looking at the other side of the coin, of course cheap recording provides a way for unique musicians to get their music out—‘unique’ being a quality that hasn’t interested the music industry for years. But on the third side of the coin, ‘unique’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘good’. There is plenty of lousy unique music out there (don't tell anyone).

The criminals who are controlling this country are in trouble. Watch out for them to do something REALLY desperate now. And it's kind of funny seeing Clinton hanging around the Bushes. It's like getting a glimpse backstage at a World Wrestling match.

Leon ‘Whitey’ Thompson was one of the last inmates to be released from Alcatraz. After a life in crime and in prison he became a lecturer. His stories are amazing, chilling, heart-warming and thought provoking. He recently passed away. Allen Whitman and I were asked to play at his memorial on Alcatraz for a private remembrance by friends, family, ex-guards and ex-inmates. He was a unique and very HUMAN human being. Here’s a little of him: childhood

George Bush and his batch of rats (Rumsfeld, et al.) actually look to me like they could be demons from the third ring of Dante's hell.

I discovered a year or two ago when I started attending my nephew’s high school musicals that I can hardly keep from crying at them. Denise Funari (wonderful local musician) and I talked about this. She’s got the same thing. I’m not sentimental usually, so I don’t attribute this to some kind of sentimentality. Vinnie (nephew) also plays community theater and it kind of does the same thing. I love it.

Two pieces of music also bring tears to my eyes—Joan Sutherland’s Caro Nome aria from Rigoletto (I’m forever a sucker for Puccini; and Joan’s the greatest), and Brandi Shearer’s Portrait from her newest album The Sycamore. I’ve liked Brandi’s album, but only recently when she asked me to play guitar for one of her shows did I listen closely enough to this beautiful song.

Denise will be at the Rite Spot on August 21st with Jill Olson; Brandi will be at the Red Devil on September 8th; Vinnie Urdea is always in some play in the East East Bay; I think Ms Sutherland has retired.

Don’t miss Octomutt’s KZSU (90.1 FM) hour-long radio show on Tuesday the 16th (at I think 9 pm) with the Bawd Of Euphony.

Vernacular.

Architecture, music, even literature and art used to reflect the personality of a region. God knows that ain't the case no mo'. You hear a new artist on the radio, you can't tell what city he/she is from, let alone what country. This is of course a natural evolution, given the whole global village concept put forth by McLuhan. But it doesn't make it any better.

I'm posting on the internet right now and complaining about homogenization--I've got a good case. It's just that I come from a family of fifty-foot muffler men.

Swamping in a restaurant bar early on Sunday mornings, I learned that the smell of crème de menthe after a long night of screwdrivers could cause perfectly color-coordinated hallucinations. I’d leave work, though, walking slowly and feeling lowly.

I had lunch at Gratitude with Hope Bryson yesterday--I, being characteristically cranky concerning the local music ‘scene’. She asked me what I thought the problem was. Here goes: This is a small town with not enough interest in local original music in any genre; sad but true. And there’s not that much good stuff being offered by locals. It’s hard to tell what came first—the chicken or the egg. I personally think it was the egg.

Hope is cool. She plays bass with Wiggy’s Bedtime Story, but she’s a wonderful finger-picking acoustic guitarist and singer, too.

Back to the egg/chicken conundrum. When Bill Graham was the City’s music chief, the booking paradigm was to mix up acts. If people wanted to see Santana, they’d also get Miles Davis or Ry Cooder. If people wanted to see Eric Clapton, they’d also get Son House, or Roky Erikson. People were getting turned on to a lot of things. Of course in the bigger venues today, homogenization and the Clearchannel mentality are responsible for the trend. Here’s what you get: headliner—The Toiletheads; middle act—Toiletheadlike; opener—Acoustic Toilethead Lite. All Clearchannel friendly.

The smaller clubs hold the key to a vital music scene in SF, but unfortunately the trend is for bookers to book a group and tell that group to put his/her show together (this is not absolute; some bookers ask whether you want to choose the other acts on the bill or if you want them to. This is cool for times when you know someone that people should hear. Octomutt has been fortunate to host one night a month at The Rite Spot, wherein we invite another group to co-bill, and in this situation it works fine. Annie who books the club also can put very diverse and cool shows together at Rite Spot and at 12 Galaxies). Now who do you think the group is gonna pick to co-bill? I'll tell you. Friends. With the same fans. No comprendo. Is it not the booker’s job to BOOK? I’m not the one with the phone numbers of all the groups in or out of town. If I were that organized, I’d get a job. If I put a show together, I’m gonna have to get people I know, mostly who have the same fans as Octomutt. Looking at it from a purely business angle I would think you’d get more people in the club with 2 or 3 different kinds of acts.

That’s not to say I know anything about business. Right now I’m sitting at a table at the Canvas Café on 9th Ave. checking email and such because I have no internet access at my place. So. How exactly does a place like this pay its rent? I’m drinking tea. The guy coughing at me from the table to my left is drinking tea. The guy coughing at me from my right is drinking tea. Both have been here since before I got here about an hour ago. About two of the twenty people in here are eating bagels. Everyone else—tea. Or nothing. Some people have nothing. And I guess I might be overlooking something here, but 20 people spending two dollars an hour could hardly pay the staff, let alone the rent. Right?

Rilke, in one of his amazing letters, said something to the effect that the future is fixed—it’s the present that’s infinite. That thought just floors me.

Another thing that has always floored me is James Brown’s phrasing on Please, Please, Please.

Now I realize that JB’s singing is an example of Rilke’s thought.

Obviously, Rilke was a funky mofo.

Reporting from Shanghai.

I thought New York was a big city until I came here.

Shocking to think the construction here has just begun.

Beatiful city, beautiful people.

xo

a

Reporting from Shanghai.

I thought New York was a big city until I came here.

Shocking to think the construction here has just begun.

A beautiful merge of old and new, a rich and poor, legends, landmarks, fake louis vitton bags and crazy driving. The food chain is vicious and goes as such: bus-car-moped-bike-pedestrain. The lower you are on that chain the faster your reflexes must be. When I cross the street from the Holiday in Pudung where I am staying, there are 4 rolex watch venders, three ladies of the night and a two beggers to greet. It feels a lot like SF but it feels safer and in sf there are not people on the streets selling fake rolexes....yet). Across that street you can have an amazing dinner for $3 that is in a resturant with decore fancier than any 4 star SF reasturant. Below the restuant is a massage parlor where you can get a 90 minute back massage for about $10. Needless to say this was quite the hot spot among the musicians of the festival I played at.

I have eaten foods I would gasp at before and endured the reality of a communist country where the individual gives up thier needs to serve the greater community. Quite a foreign thing to me. It is not like sharing a meal with someone who is hungry. It is more like showing up to work two hours early becuase someone else that shares your ride must be there then. I am loving Shanghai but really missing SF.

xo

a

I'm givin' up this pirate look. I can't walk the walk.

Conventional reality is static. It’ll never last.

What happened to the ‘roll’ in rock’n’roll?

Louis Armstrong said “all music is folk music; I ain’t never heard a horse sing a song.”

At what point in the quest for Paradise does Purgatory start looking okay? It beats the hell out of Hell.

Pierre Henri, a founder of musique concrete, had some great things to say about music, musique concrete's relationship to techno, and poetry. Here’s a link: Henri

Anything I hear by Reiko Kudo or her husband Tori Kudo just moves me. Her cd “Rice Field Silently Riping In The Night” is transcendent. His guitar playing and sense of melody is beautiful. His group “Maher Shalal Hash Baz” has a few albums out (not easy to find). Here’s a thought provoking interview and some poems posted by him: interview

DON’T—discount the conch shell as a start to a career in music.

oh yes..

birdman....

and then there is the lizardman or I guess I should say lizard people really.

They say that the lizard people plan to take over the planet in June of 2006?

Any word of them in Alcatraz?

www.lighthink.com/new_page_14.html

and

www.subversiveelement.com/AliensReptoidsIckeShifters.html

oh, there’ve been other birdmen besides the birdman of Alcatraz.

there’s the Sing Sing Birdman, the Birdman of Angola, the Joliet Birdman, and more.

birdmen come a dime a dozen.

there were even multiple birdmen in Alcatraz itself.

none of these birdmen was portrayed in Hollywood.

no.

no pretty boys playing these guys.

these guys were real men’s birdmen.

and also: Alcatraz is not actually in the bay

but is in fact in the Pacific ocean

about a half mile off shore.

anyone who’s actually ever been to San Francisco

knows this.

monday—they tried to sell me something

tuesday—they thought I was their leader

wednesday—I don’t remember

thursday—I don’t remember that either

friday—they tried to tell me something

saturday—the lion’s den

sunday—someone or something or somewhere

monday—it’s monday again

Okay, there’s this group I’ve seen recently—King City. Octomutt did a show with them a few months ago and I saw them again last night. These guys are a blast. Tangos, rumbas, all with an edge (but not that bullshit contrived ‘edge’). Catch them when you can. Here's their web site. King City

Good time at Doc’s last night. We’ll miss our long run (as various configurations), and we’ll miss our extended family—Liz, Susan, Mark, Jeff, Steve, Dema and Todd, Trish, Victor and Lisa and many others. I’ve learned some great jokes from Liz (and I think I can actually tell them without screwing up the punchlines—better catch me quick). It remains to be seen where the Hula/Mutt Birthday Band will set up camp next, if anywhere. We might be there for a couple more weeks—email me to find out (click on the banner in the sky on the front page).

Next Monday Octomutt the duo will be at the Rite Spot with Lines In Analog Sounds and The Waltz Invention (from Olympia).

Next month we have some cool shows and a radio spot; I’ll be telling you about them.

Were it not for the Jeffs of the world I would certainly have given up performing long ago. So obviously an archbishop’s hat is the correct gift. More than five or six lords leaping around, and it can get a little hectic. And definitely no French hens. Unless we call them Freedom hens.

Sometimes it seems like birds and small animals don’t believe a word they read. Thank God they never came up with their own Gutenberg.

Faulkner said "the past isn't dead; in fact it's not even past."

"To say that someone is 'under the weather' is to say that they are not feeling very well. Example: 'What's wrong?' Answer: 'I'm a bit under the weather.' They probably have a simple cold or flu which will go away quickly. Being "under the weather" reminds us that a quick change in the weather can affect our health and the way we feel." ~goenglish.com

"This popular phrase for 'ill' dates back to 1827. It is commonly believed that bad weather can make you sick." ~idiomsite.com

"I believe that 'under the weather' is an old sailor phrase. When men were sick, they would rest below deck and thus were literally "under" the weather on deck." ~idiomsite.com

I am so looking forward to Jeff's Birthday at Doc's next Tuesday. I have been thinking all day about what the perfect birthday present for Jeff would be! Again the question of what to give one who seems to have it all? I was thinking of just going with the nine ladies dancing, but Michael had the good point that there is something to be said for ten lords a leaping. Ted...any thoughts on this?

One of my dearest friend Shannon O'Leary is having a party on Saturday to promote her new comic:

PET NOIR! http://www.marinaomi.com/petnoir.html

Balazo Gallery 2811 Mission St. @ 24th Street @ 7:00

About Pet Noir, the Comic: Pet Noir is a comic book

collection of strange but true animal tales to be

released in the Summer of 2005. Written by Shannon

O’Leary and illustrated by various artists, the

stories shed light on some of the odder crimes

committed in recent times, as well as question our

relationship with animals in society.

The artists that will be features at Blazo Gallery include:

August Bournique, Paul Musso, MariNaomi, Ric

Carrasquillo, Jen Feinberg, N8 Van Dyke, Peter Conrad,

Attaboy, Bitter Pie and more. A portion of the

proceeds from the sales of this comic will be donated

to IDA.

Yes, TV feels like one big medley of advertisements and can really be depressing.

It is hard to imagine what our culture would be like without it.

How cool to live in a time of book reading and letter writing.

As disgusted as I get by it there is the occasional documentary or indie film that changes my life perspective in a good way. Like a deep sea, scuba diving detective trying to figure out how a rare steam engine came to rest in the bottom of the ocean. I just don’t have friends that do that kind of thing...and to be able to see it is pretty cool. Or that documentary that explores ice caves in the Antarctic.

Certainly though that is not usually what people are watching. I think you are right about TV in public places though. I hate it when you go to a restaurant and one is on and nobody at the table can even talk or compete with the crazy distraction.

Probably the worst thing about my little face smashing incident the other night was the trip to the emergency room. What exactly is the deal with TV sets in waiting rooms? I effin’ hate TV anyway, let alone the imbecilic shows that are inevitably on in public places. What’s the problem with magazines? They worked fine for decades. Having a TV on is no different than having someone physically rub a magazine in your face. In fact, cigarette smoke is probably less hazardous to your lungs than TV is to your nervous system. If cigarettes are banned in public places, TV sets should also be. Especially in medical offices, where you can’t just decide to go to the other one down the street.

I’m walking down the street last night catching sets by groups at two different clubs. Then…well, I get punched in the face. Clocked by a random face puncher. He hit me hard (I didn’t go down; I was a little proud of that). I staggered back and turned to yell ‘what the fuck?’ to him. And at this point my main emotion was curiosity. He lunged at me again. I back-pedaled, still yelling at him. He swore at me and stopped and stared with utter hatred for about five seconds. Then strangely, for a short second I caught something close to remorse in his eyes. He walked backward, still staring, a few steps then turned around and walked away, faster and faster, finally going into a run and disappearing around the corner.

I wanted to find some kind of grand truth in this. There wasn’t any. Just some pissed-off jackhole mistaking me for someone who might in some way bring harm or misery to him.

Now came the difficult part—deciding what to do. I had an urge to just not mention it to anyone (I had friends at both clubs), but realized that I didn’t know what my face looked like at that time. On the way back to one of the clubs a good friend started talking to me (she had come because she thought Ashley and I were playing that night). It was awkward trying to carry on a conversation with the weird adrenalin thing going on. The good news was that she didn’t mention that my face looked like a bloody mess; but she probably wondered why I kept feeling my nose.

Anyway, I caught the end of the Winechuggers set (they were good) and wound up at Kaiser’s emergency room (broken cartilage, nasty upper lip swelling, no concussion).

Strangely, that night I had just learned that another friend was the recipient of a random face punching recently. I’ll have to compare notes with her.

I learned two things from my Jake LaMotta meets Sugar Ray Robinson moment: a) the La Motta role is painful, and b) bring a camera to the ER room; there would have been some great photos.

And I gained a couple things: trouble pronouncing the letter ‘b’; a rather large overbite: and an urge to go to the gym.

This morning, though I’m in more pain than last night, I’m thinking of how I kind of feel sorry for the guy. I can’t get his look of hatred off my mind, nor can I forget that other look he had before he left.

anything fusion and movies with wizards,

the fact California will some day have blizzards,

drilling in wilderness, sucking up lies

these are a few of the things I despise

baseball and football except when I'm gambling,

radio dj’s who never stop rambling

people who don’t want to open their eyes

these are a few of the things I despise

You think Coltrane would cover it?

Which reminds me--wasn't Gregory Corso great?

No BIG gossip or revelations to report today.

I have been listening to Emmylou Harris' 'roses in the snow' today.

I think that it is so strange that Bluegrass music only started in the 1940's. It is more modern then most Jazz.

Oh, maybe I do have some gossip after all.

Here is an interesting fact about Michael: If you send him a series of pictures of Michael Jackson 'through the years', (so that he can see for himself the metamorphosis that is intriguing to most) Michael will not open it. He is too afraid to look.

Oh yes and Ted is sporting a cool new look these days. He has taken to dressing like a pirate. I think maybe he was inspired by the eye patch Petey wore to Docs a few weeks back. Joann seems to dig it so I just go with it.

We'll be taking a small hiatus from the Tuesday night Doc's Clock parties. Liz is an angel. We'll let you know when we're back.

Here’s our new site. Click on the banner in the sky on the title page to contact us.

Each of our cd projects has a complexion of its own, though Ashley and I feel our collective musical personality comes through on each. A specific project may feature other musicians—Ralph Carney, Danny Frankel, J. Raoul Brody among others have participated in our recordings or live shows.

I’ll be adding to this blog when inspired. I won’t be telling about my dreams (and if I do I’ll be presenting them as conventional reality). I will NOT be explaining our songs or lyrics, or telling what inspired me to write’em. It’d make more sense for you to tell ME what’s up with them.

It’s a screwy world about now, and Ashley and I are going to do what we can to unscrew it.