Live shot(s) #120!

 Photos taken at a Desert Drone presentation within The Screening Room, Tucson 5/30/2024. 

Above: Cultural Detox Syndicate. Clanging contact mics/electronics paired with internet-sourced drone footage of destroyed Gaza (structures and humans).

Below: Guitarist Alex Oliverio leading a trio. He mentioned their moniker but I was distracted. Guitar trio dynamics with plenty of melody embedded within improvisation. Plus Marcel Duchamp film!

Above: Braniel, a Fusion duo working on trance and possibly dance movements. 

Below: Chelsey Lee Trejo. The most overtly Drone act of the evening. Acoustic guitar loops with poetry and bells blended. Rich atmospheres from nylon strings. Found her film clips to be the most interesting from purely aesthetic perspective.

Radom shot!

 

Alameda Estuary, facing east. Alameda/Oakland CA, circa 2013. 

Photographed and edited on iPhone.

Grateful Dead-Dave's Picks #50 Bonus Disc; Rhino Records 2024 (recorded 1977)

 

Several years have passed since Disaster Amnesiac enthused about anything Grateful Dead, and as stated at that time, there just isn't that much to be said anymore. At least if I don't want to be construed as a complete cult member. That said, I did in fact get a subscription for 2024's Dave's Picks series, and as such was ensured the bonus disc that annually shows up for others that have done the same, within the Spring installment. 

Recorded during the vaunted Spring 1977 East Coast tour, and a mere four days before that show, the material on this disc has the Dead playing with some seriously locked motion. Second set anthems such as Estimated Prophet, Scarlet Begonias (great quote of China Cat Sunflower from Bob here), Fire On the Mountain, Terrapin Station, and an epic Playing In the Band that features a dip into an absolutely haunted Comes A Time (where not even a bit of bewilderment on the drummers' part can stop the sublime) are all trotted out and rocked out and swung. The legendary quickness with which all the band's members were working is fully audible across the disc's entire duration. Donna sounds especially inspired throughout, and in fact it's her performance that Disaster Amnesiac has enjoyed the most and inspired this post into being. Well done, Mrs. Godchaux, especially during the transition into Fire On the Mountain from Scarlet Begonias! 

If you're not a Dave's Picks subscriber, this CD that documents 5/4/1977 in New York City will be tough to find. Pester your local hardcore Dead Head I guess.

Live shot #119!

 

Greg Ginn, Oakland Metro Opera House Oakland CA 2013. He doesn't seem to be playing his theremin anymore.

Live shot #118!

 

Bob Marsh 75th birthday celebration moment at Berkeley Arts Festival Building circa 2015. Stage right to left: Collette McCaslin, Donald Robinson, Scott Looney, Jim Ryan, Ron Heglin, Bob Marsh. Jim was presenting Bob with a staff of some sort. I wasn't privy to information on the significance of the staff, but it seemed like an important act of symbolism within that scene. RIP Jim Ryan.

Live shot #117!

 

Tucson-based Ambient/Drone artist Skincage. Golden Saguaro Tucson, 5/15/24. 

Also on the bill were several great films from Exploded View (Rebecca Barten/David Sherman) and Timoleon Wilkins. Films were original works and found footage. Some topics included Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty at Point Rozel UT, Yoko Ono, Emilia Earhart, big band promos and, tangentially, domestic violence. 

A chill evening at a super nice space. It will be rough knowing that they won't be having any more events until after September, but I can't see anyone really wanting to sit within its (lovely) confines during the long hot summer that's rapidly approaching. 

Timoleon Wilkins's film projector. It's a drone instrument in a certain sense.

Live shot #116!

 

Violin master India Cooke and upright bass master Joelle Leandre, Berkeley Arts Festival Building Berkeley CA circa 2015. Wish I'd recorded sound, too! An incredible set of improvisation.

Random [Live] Shot!

 

Snapped during Wonder Valley Experimental Music Festival in early April. This shot was taken during one of the after-dark sets, but I haven't a clue as to which one it was. Magical accident at work I'd say. Random Psychedelia! 

At this moment there is a live boot of Black Flag from 2013 playing at Casita de Amnesiac. Random voice from the crowd: "fuck the internet, this is awesome!" 

Please don't let yourself be too influenced by Influencers. You never know when they'll be dead wrong. Keep yourself alive into '25!

The New Order-s/t; Cleopatra Records, 2023

 

The swordsman in the middle, the one with the odd pageboy haircut is drummer Dennis Thompson. News is breaking that Dennis has passed away. It feels kind of odd to Disaster Amnesiac in that I've been digging Cleopatra Records re-issue of the music of The New Order, Thompson's mid-1970's band, a lot of late. It's not clear to this writer if The New Order was the first band that Dennis joined after his grinding time manning the drums for the MC5, but I do know that at the time former and future Stooges guitarist Ron Asheton joined him within this Los Angeles-based Heavy Rock group. As one listens to The New Order, one is treated to a rockin' assortment of for that time contemporary stabs at the sounds and feels that rocked. Rock 'N Roll Soldiers could serve as their calling card and mission statement within those parameters. Every time that Disaster Amnesiac hears it, I reflect on Asheton's noting that The New Order played with a nascent Van Halen; the latter took the glory alluded to with the song's lyrics, while the former, sadly, dissolved after a few years of fun within what reads as a pretty surreal Los Angeles underground assortment (if you're inclined to believe a few more of Ron's anecdotes, which I do). Other standout songs include I Can't Quit Ya with its Power Pop inflections, especially the version on which Jeff Spry sings, the slinky 7/4 time Sidewinder and the heavily "Deetroit" jams of Lucky Strike and Declaration Of War. Thompson rages on his drums on all of these tunes and more, of course. Disaster Amnesiac has read somewhere that when the MC5 were recording their major label demos, the consensus among a lot of the suits was that a better studio drummer would be needed by the Sonic Smith and his dudes, and I can hear what they were missing. This is by no means meant to throw shade at Dennis's drumming. The wildness of his style is not that suited for Pop Hits. This can be a cool thing, and indeed Dennis Thompson's drumming is very cool. Just not that "subtle". In a word, crazed, and crazy is a feeling that the various members were intimately familiar with, as the evidence presented within The New Order shows.

Random shot!

 Looking west from Coyote Hills, Newark CA 2018. Southern end of the San Francisco Bay.

Steve Albini RIP

 

A fond memory of Steve Albini. Some time in the twenty teens, my pal Scarp and I went to see Shellac play in Oakland CA. I'd seen them before, and was well aware of their nature as an ass kicking Rock band. At some point in this show, however, Steve started talking into the mic about the capacities for human wonder and gratitude. This talk lasted more than a few minutes, and it was eminently clear that Steve Albini was completely sincere with this talk. It was one of the most fascinatingly raw moments that I've ever experienced in the live music setting, and obviously it's not been forgotten. Nor will Steve Albini be. He was a paragon of artistic integrity and non-bullshit approaches to the work of musical production. His leaving is a huge loss to a segment of society that will recall his work and personality. Rock on to your next destination Steve Albini.

Live shot #115!

 

Mooncake, Berkeley Arts Festival Building ca. 2016. Biggi Vinkeloe, Yuka Honda, Emily Hay.

Live shot #114!

 

Caroline Partamian at Wonder Valley Experimental Music Festival; The Palms Restaurant, Twentynine Palms CA 4/6/2024. Guitar, electronics, and metal percussion. Her sounds seemed through-composed to me, and when I mentioned this she suggested that she hadn't really had much time to do that. Either way she played a cool set.

Gary Floyd RIP

 

Along with seeing him sing, and OH! what a singer he was, Disaster Amnesiac would sometimes see Gary Floyd out and about in San Francisco. He was one of those people that, when espied in the wilds of the City, would make me smile. I have no doubt that there are countless others across the country who feel the same way. Such a great frontman and probably a good person to have as a friend as well. RIP Gary Floyd!

Live shot #113!

 

Guitarist, composer, visual artist Jacob Pek at Berkeley Arts Festival Building ca. 2015. I've posted a different shot of Jacob here, from the same event, but saw this one recently and just had to post it as well. Too cool of a shot not to! 

The small festivals that Mika Pontecorvo organized under the moniker of Hardly Strictly Personal were generally sparsely attended affairs. It seemed to me that the participants would use them as opportunities to work out ideas that they were entertaining, or to possibly try different configurations of personnel to see what worked or did not work. They were always fun, albeit somewhat exhausting. As Jim Ryan said to me during one of them, "festival fatigue" would set in after a bit. Still, I have very fond memories from them, as one can probably tell. 

I have a large cache of photos from the 2024 Wonder Valley Experimental Music Festival, and hope to post some of those here in the coming months (and this despite the fact that the flash on my camera did not work for several exposures that night!) 

Go out and hear some live, local music.