All shots taken at Splinter Collective Tucson, 6/17/26.
Below: Truthsayer. Loopy sexy shadow play.
Above: CATyklysm brings modular questing and heavy Drone action.
Rainbow Cholla at Splinter Collective is a really cool new series that hopefully will continue!
Readers that are of a certain age and having had spent time interested in Rock music in the San Francisco Bay Area will surely recall BAM Magazine. It was a monthly or possibly even weekly trade journal for that general area and probably even a bit of a taste making apparatus for a while, especially during the Heavy Metal 1980's. When Disaster Amnesiac was first exposed to BAM sometime in autumn of 1989, an ad in the classified section jumped out at me: a long haired, caped guy with a Fu Manchu goatee that was holding a Stratocaster. It's not recalled if "Leland" was written above or below this image but it was certainly in one of those spots. Over the next several years, whenever an issue of the magazine was in my hands, I always made sure to check and see if Leland was still posting within the classified section. His image was always there and and it became somewhat iconic for me. Who was Leland? What did the music that he made with stat Strat sound like? Was he still living or had he passed away in some appropriately Punk Rock manner? It was likely in about 1996 when, while perusing the lower racks at the wonderful Open Mind Music on Divisadero St. that Live at Mabuhay Gardens, S.F., by Leland, was discovered by this obsessive crate digger. It added ninety five cents to the bill that day. It also provided some answers to those questions which had been formulated from seeing Leland's photo all of those times on the back pages of BAM. The sounds on the album were made by Leland on guitar and vocals, Razz Porter on bass guitar, and Larry Friedberg on drums. Collectively this trio raises some righteous, rockin' moods. An overall feel of raw and energetic and youthful exuberance characterizes the six tracks that make up Live at Mabuhay Gardens. The Punk Rock that had such an effect upon San Francisco musical culture can be heard as an element to the band's mix, along with what Disaster Amnesiac hears as strains of Heavy Metal. Leland's guitar soloing is deliciously noisy and aggressive to the point of making me wonder if he owned a copy of Raw Power or Funhouse. Razz and Larry pump and push and grind and blast behind Leland as he sings about poverty and impermanence and sickness and whatever other urban nightmares he's been exposed to. The band sounds at times as if they're going to go off of the rails but they always recover and give these jams that hit the exactly correct spot for any fan who craves blends of raw guitar Rock performances from the Punk/Heavy Rock/Psych Rock continuum. Dig especially on Feel The Pain for evidence of that. This album concludes with a track featuring the late great Dirk Dirksen as he questions the life choices of Leland while Leland, Razz, and Larry pump No Wave scrawls back in his direction. Oh how I wish that Leland could have had some of the success found by some of his 'frisco contemporaries. How much did he pay to get his photo into every damn issue of BAM, anyway?
https://youtu.be/qYhqKIG_gh4?si=GojSLT_h6GCJs2rU
Many thanks to Steev for taking some time to talk about it!
Desert Breath are a Drone trio with vocals, electronics, and bass clarinet. Tranced out stuff. Thee 23 Skidoo, Miami AZ 6/6/26.
It must be admitted that Disaster Amnesiac did not attend any Tucson Saguaros games last season. That said, my pal Evan, who is working at Kino Stadium as a part of Tucson's only professional baseball team, reminded me about their home opener. Last night I donned my Saguaros cap, hopped onto I-10 east, and spent some time watching the game. Saguaros beat the Pecos Bills 3-1! As is usual, opening night at Kino was spirited and characterized by much enthusiasm from the Sagauros faithful. After the collapse of plans to locate a Mexican league team here in Tucson last year, the Sagauros remain the only team in this town. Hopefully more games will be attended by this reporter this season, rain outs or not!
Below: Trumpet player. He played the Anthem to start, along with inter-inning punctuations etc.
It has to be acknowledged that No Sides Records is genuinely interested in presenting a diversity of aesthetic output and if you're doubting that statement Disaster Amnesiac begs you to look no further than their most recent release, Lump Sum and Then Some by Defense Mechanism. This Indianapolis based project presents eight tracks of generally good feeling electronic music that features flavors that cleave to brighter and sunnier side of the Avant Garde musical zone. As I've listened I've heard J Pop and J Fusion, video game bits, cascading rainbows of digital click and glitch and what is presumed to be Chip Core (a style I know next to nothing about). All of it done with what seems to be an ear towards fun times and most likely dancing. If one streams this album or perhaps plays the 3 inch CD version, one will surely find plenty of opportunities in which to move that booty along with being intrigued by its instrumentation and the implementation of said instruments. Tight arrangements characterize each and every one of the tracks on Lump Sum, which gives the record an impressive progressive Pop sheen. This music was clearly and cleverly thought out and produced and it's really breezy and fun. Play it after you dig into some of No Sides Records' darker releases as a way of bringing back some mirth into your sonic cloud!
