LAUREN MURPHY - "Mystic" , My Guitar - Smashed & Christened 10-05-2006

My Brother,

I'm home from touring the South & Southern/Eastern Seaboard, and so happy
to share this story with you for your upcoming project. Judge was a rich
historian of not just California Rock History, but of History in
general....he was...."The Judge" ;)

Any how... My Story
_______________________________________________

"True" by Lauren Murphy (c) & (p) 1617 Can Road Music ASCAP  

"Mystic" , My Guitar....Smashed & Christened 10-05-2006

Mystic...She was not called by that , until near 10 years ago. James
McMurtry was billed headlining McNear's Mystic Theatre, in Petaluma, Ca.,
and Lansdale Station was on the bill opening. Our band was myself, the
late Judge Murphy on vocals, Jim Cucuzella on guitar, Chip Roland on keys,
Sammy Price from New Orleans on bass, and Brent Rampone on drums. Sound
was provided by Randy Teaford, who you could always depend upon in a large
venue, for top notch fidelity.

I remember meeting McMurty before the show, and Judge complimented him on
his award (Can't Make it here anymore-tour), "It's an honor to open for
you," to which McMurtry replied , "I feel sorry for you." He had just won
2 AMA's and a CMA.

Come to find out JM, McMurty that is, had peeved off the local press &
some hooligan got Riled! He decided to take out his political aggressions
upon any ax near by, thinking it belonged to the outspoken McMurtry. While
we all celebrated one of the best performances of our lives, my Taylor 314
CE Guitar was being mistakenly raped kicked in, totaled ...SMASHED.... by
a steel toed boot, hard case included.
But She was Still.......... in Perfect Tune

Frank Hayhurst of Zone Music heard of this travesty, and contacted Bob
Taylor of Taylor Guitars. They generously fixed "Mystic" and I became the
Taylor Guitar Road Show Girl for the next 4 years.

What takes a lickin' , keeps on tickin?

I owe Taylor Guitars a debt of gratitude and for my "Mystic", here's to
many more miles on the road together. I've also just been introduced to
"Flo". She's A Taylor waiting for me in Jackson, Ms.

Makes one wonder ;)

Peace & Love
Lauren

MY 1ST NATIONAL TOUR - "The Crystal Wind Ensamble"

There are a lot of different ways to travel around the country side. Planes, trains and automobiles come to mind, but there are few ways as much fun and exciting as climbing into a van with a small band of friends, hitching up your trailer full of gear and hitting the road for the promised land... or at least a good time! Looking back at my 1st National tour it's pretty nostalgic for me, wide eyed engineer playing on some great and not so great college circuit sound systems... that was school for me, problem solving 1a and a MASH course in making it work every day. I was fortunate to have my 1st tour Engineer offer come from a friend of mine, Bodhi (Keven Setchko), not only were we already good friends, but we share the same birth date and year... I refer to him as my doppelganger Brother and a personal synchronistic event that we've well noted.

 

 THE CRYSTAL WIND ENSEMBLE

Bodhi and his band "The Crystal Wind Ensemble" had signed with "Higher Octave" a record label that specialized in what was then called new age music and was planning a National tour insupport of their new album "Inner Traveler." The band had a decent following amongst electronic music and jazz fans and we played some beautiful college theaters and clubs across the country, but it wasn't until we arrived into the southern parts of the states that we really noticed something very odd... we had protesters outside our shows, marching, chanting and carrying signs that read "Down with the Devils Music" and "New Age Music is a Sin". The parallel was uncanny, 6 young nicer than the boy next door musicians playing lite jazz led by a flute player... mothers lock up your daughters!

On one evening after a Charlottesville South Carolina college show we checked into a dorm room / hotel room situation arranged by some well intentioned staff member I'm sure. We were handed our room keys by a rather demure young women at the front desk and directed which way to go, we were all dead tired and traveled all day and had played a long set for a good house... it was clearly the bed time of day. When we reached our 3 rooms and walked in we all noticed the same thing, there was only one king size bed in each room! What? was the general thought... I marched back down to the front desk with one of the members in the band to voice my objections and request the correct accommodations. I put on my best, I'm tired and cranky but a smile will work better face... and said, excuse there must be some mistake, our band was supposed to have 3 rooms with 2 double beds in each room not just one king size bed... I travel with these guys all day and work with them all night I'm certainly not about sleep next to them. The desk clerk smiled in the sweetest way and said without a blink of an eye "I'm sorry, we heard you were from San Fransisco so we didn't think you would mind." In retrospect my 1st tour taught me a lot about sound engineering, the music business and people in general.    

These stories consist of rough drafts that will be proof read and finalized

before being included in "Another Day Another Decibel"

www.ViralMediaArt.com

                          

"THERE'S A SPACE SHIP IN MY ATTIC"

Shortly after graduating high school (1972-73) my 1st wife Annie and I rented a wonderful old 2 story rectory house house next to a church on a street that was known as "Christmas Tree Lane" in Long Beach Ca. It was a classic old wooden structure that had 2 bedrooms, a bath and a great little room right above the front door with a window that opened from floor to ceiling. It wasn't a very large room as a matter of fact it was only about 5' wide x  6' long and had a bench to sit on that faced the window, we were told it was the prayer room. We lived in the house for about a year and found it was a great place for entertaining especially during the holidays because the street was lit up with Chritmas trees and people would travel for miles to drive up and down our street. Now, It might of been the eggnog and I am a child of the 70's so we'll say no more but, I'm not really sure how this idea came to me.

One afternoon while I was sorting through some things in my garage I stumbled on a large 24' clear fiberglass bowl that was part of a water feature that was in the backyard. I noticed that if I turned the bowl upside down it looked a lot like a space ship! That's all it took to start me off on this space ship quest. I decided to paint the inside of the clear bowl with a green glow in the dark spray paint and add a black light bulb inside to make the ship really glow. In my teens I had been into slot cars and I even saved a few cars and a few motors, so I thought to myself, why not put a slot car motor into the bowl with the armature shaft sticking out the hole and attach something fun to the end of that! So, that's just what I did... I attached a bass guitar string to the shaft as best I could and then attached a painted florescent green 76 ball to the end of it. I hope you can see this image of a big glowing green space ship bowl with an antenna sticking out of it with a glowing orb on top of it, it was thing of beauty!

While I was building my space craft I was thinking about the possible locations around my house where I could put it to get the most effect, the back yard in a tree came to mind, on the porch in the dark, then I thought... the prayer room... of course! I took the completed ship up into the little room to see where I could set it up, it was so small there really wasn't much room at all. Then it occurred to me, if only that wall wasn't there or...

What if the space craft crashed into my house and landed in the attic!

Fortunately for me the wall had a fake panels that you can take down so you could store things away and that made my access really easy. I removed one of the panels and found a large cardboard box that I covered with a black piece of velvet and then placed the space ship as far back as I could. The attic was really dark and with the ship sitting on the black velvet box it really gave it the feeling of hovering, the effect was magnificent! I even made 2 switches so I could turn on the space ships black light bulb and the motor separately, that why I could surprise some one with an unexpected action. I was just about done when I realized that I need to add a little more back story to my tale. I drilled a small hole in the wall and burnt the edges of it to make it look like a laser had burnt right through it and then I put a burn mark on the far wall to show where the beam went. This house always inspired me.

My story was to anyone of our friends that came to visit, "I was sleeping last night when I heard a loud crash and thump upstairs in the attic. I ran up there and heard a weird whirring noise behind the wall. As I leaned in to get a closer look a huge sound like a crackling electric bolt flashed in the room and a beam of light burnt right through that wall, just missed me and hit the wall right over there!" One by one they fell into my trap, I'd lead them upstairs telling them my tale straight faced as possible and then turn on the space ships black light bulb when we all had arrived. "Go ahead" I'd say "take a peek through that hole and tell me there isn't something weird going on up here!" Some shook their heads at me in disbelief others were just plain confused by the possibilities of the situation.
Either way I had them, as soon they peeked through the hole to get a closer look and saw that glowing hovering object I turned on the motor inside the space ship. It whirred and bounced around like a crazy rabbit and with that glowing orb on top of the antenna spinning around, it gave the ship an almost unearthing noisy and colorful effect. Thats when I would yell...

"Look out... that's just what it did last time before it shot the laser at me!"

I only mentioned this story because it it sets up my personal creative path in life... make due with what you have at hand and always try to keep your friends laughing.

These stories consist of rough drafts that will be proof read and finalized

before being included in "Another Day Another Decibel"

www.ViralMediaArt.com

THE CARDIFF REEFERS - "The Art of Touring"

- THE GLOW STICK SMILE -

When you travel with a band for a long time you find yourself looking for new and creative ways to amuse yourself, anything to break up that long stretch of road ahead. With the Cardiff Reefers it was always easy, a nicer and more talented group of individuals and musicians I have never met. We logged a lot of miles together over a 3 year period, largely regional touring like the Pacific North West, Colorado Rockies and Southern California. From time to time we would strike out through the desert areas like Moab in Utah on our way to The Rocky Mountains. Over that period of time we played numerous late night shows in relatively small venues with a lot of miles in between.

I recall one late night after a gig we were traveling in our band van and the equipment truck through some pretty desolate desert surroundings and it was hard to keep focus after a long gig... I was sitting next to Andrew Rosales, the bands drummer who was at the wheel. I suggested that we pull over at the next gas station to fuel up and get a late night snack and within minutes we were signaling the van to follow us in. Half of the band was stretched out in the make-shift bed in the back of the van so only a few got out to stretch and refresh. 

 

It was a quick stop but me a fun one, I had found a large bag of multicolored glow sticks, the kind you crack the glass inside and the colors light up! After we had purchased our fuel and snacks we headed back to our respective vehicles and resumed our late night drive. It was a beautiful clear, dark desert night drive, lots of stars and next to no moon present. No one else knew that I had purchased the bag of glow sticks and when we climbed back into the truck and I pulled them out to show Andrew my bright idea he smiled ear to ear. "Watch this", I told as I tore open the bag and grabbed a handful of the sticks, these are nontoxic and if you crack the glass and then cut them open we can spray the colored rainbow all over ourselves the trucks cab, we'll be glowing like the Blue Man Group! We laughed at ourselves for even considering the possibilities and the mess of the clean up the next day, but late night antics won out and we quickly broke open a dozen or so sticks and started spraying the liquid all over us and the cab... It was an amazing sight and quite a potent effect... red, green, blue and yellow colors everywhere, against the dark night sky we were so bright that we might of been visible from outer space.

 

We were still following the van as usual when we applied all of our glow stick colors, except for 2 that we retained to use in our mouths to achieve that glow stick smile! As we sped up and pulled along side the van and gave the guys a chance to take a look at us... all eyes were wide open and you could hear the laughter all the way from the other lane. Granted, it was a messy late night goof but those fun moments are the glue that sticks all the friendships and travels together into something more memorial than just a job.

- THE DEER STORY -

As my kids would say... "not the deer story!" It was another one of those late night drives after a long drive earlier and then a long show afterwards... if you repeat that formula and repeat it frequently you will become aware of a few interesting things, your frame of reference and center changes daily, what you held in your hand today might not available tomorrow. Time passes either very quickly or very slowly... I kept a day planner, more of a coloring book journal to keep track of the important details of my day. Anything and everything could go in it as long as I could carry it. I used multicolored markers to make most of my entries and drew as much as wrote. My Tour Journal allowed me to sort out and keep track of some of the more interesting experiences and fortunately I have all of them still.

One of my more unusual tour experiences came in the form of a late night out of body experience. It seems more often than not most of these occurrences happen in the after hours, late night driving, semi wake state still in motion. The Deer Story is a perfect example of that out of body feeling that most of us have had at one time or another in our lives, in my case it was more of a projection in time. On the night of this occurrence, the truck was leading the crew van on a dark highway somewhere traveling through Colorado. I was sleeping in the loft bed that we had made at the very back of the bus which was still following the equipment truck. 

 

All of a sudden I woke up, sat up quickly! "The truck just hit a dear" I told everyone in the van, "they hit it one right front passenger side and broke the headlight and then the dear limped off into the woods." Everybody looked at me liken I was crazy, or dreaming but no sooner had I said that than the truck signed quickly and pulled over to the side of the road. Matt and Andrew got out of the truck to check the damage and a couple guys from the van ran up to check in with them. "We hit a deer" they said, "It just leaped out of the woods hit our front headlight and disappeared back into the woods."

I think dumbfounded is a good word for how I felt after we all got back underway and I had a chance to reflect on what had just happened to me.

 

I see it like this, when you spend most of your time as a heated ball of energy generating around the planet daily your body tends to adjust or shift it points of reference to the real world. I believe what happened to me that night was a case of me astral-projecting into the future, maybe only a shift in time by milliseconds and certainly not a physical form shift... but merely an overlap in time caused by my constant forward motion. "Are you done yet" my kids would say.

- A HIGH PRICE FOR LOSING -

This story bares mentioning because it ranks as #1 in my longest mileage stretch for a tour in the shortest amount of time and what you can do to amuse your selves while traveling. The Reefers were hired to play a beautiful outdoor festival in Nanaimo on Victoria Island BC, an early morning slot as I recall. The weather was gorgeous and we had ferried over earlier that morning and enjoyed every bit of the journey. Little did we know it was just the start to our own Amazing Race. I don't know why we hadn't been concerned about it, but in the planning of this last leg of a July 4th Holiday weekend tour we had all realized that our next show was the very next night at New Georges in San Raphael Ca. easily a ----- mile trip! Our set finished around 12pm and we hustled are gear back in the truck and van and headed back to the ferry for the mad dash to Vancouver. and the border crossing. 

We were not new at the Canada USA boarder crossing game, a convoy of white Rasta boys from San Diego was fair game for any curious agent. When you travel like this and do busy in other countries you live by some general rules to get in and out safely and hopefully quickly, don't bring your stash or your favorite pipe and always leave your merch at a friends house near the border... the taxes are just to high. On one crossing while we where being detained an Agent asked me if any of the parts in our equipment were from Japan, I swear I don't know how I kept a straight face. Fortunately for us just as we were emptying out the truck and van for inspection one Agent calls to another and says "let them go, we've got something else coming in." as I turned around I saw everyone scrambling to repack the gear and pulling up to the crossing was Pato Banton bus... they knew they had bigger fish to fry!

 

Fortunately that wasn't the case for the border crossing this time and we breezed right through. I have to mention that this last time the band and I stayed in Vancouver BC we challenged our selves to a bout of Canadian 5 pin bowling. For those of you who aren't aware of the 5 pin method, it's played in a bowling alley pretty much just like the ones in the states, it's just that there are only 5 pins about the size of coke bottles and a bowling ball no larger than the size of a softball. It's a difficult game played this way and for a good reason there are signs posted. "NO LOFTING THE BALL" I know I certainly wanted to throw the ball at those damn pins! As luck and skill would have it... I lost and as my punishment I was subjected to the writings of William Shatner's "Tech Wars" for the entire drive south. Fortunately I wasn't the only loser that day, Andrew Rosales lost as well and since he was a huge fan of cream soda his punishment was to drink 1 cream soda every time we stopped the van no matter what... It was a self defeating challenge, the more we stopped the more he drank so the more we stopped, but it was great for a laugh and I kept a few cans next to my book just in case he ran out!

After crossing the boarder and a quick stop in Bellingham WA. to pick up our merchandise and stash... (thank god) we high tailed south the rest of the day and all night long... the goal, to make New Georges in San Rafael CA. in time for load in! 

 

Some how we did make the 5pm load in time too, our truck and van had had made there way from a small island off the coast of Canada through boarder crossing and now 3 states to make this gig happen... the unsung code that I have only broken once in my career, more on that later. The gig went great at New Georges and Patrick the club agent and host/DJ always took excellent care of us, even to the extent of a wasabi eating contest with open menu and bar at the local sushi restaurant on the bands last official gig. We ate, we played and recovered from the wasabi and open bar, kissed our loved ones good bye directly after the show climbed back into our van and truck and took off again because the holiday weekend wasn't over yet... we had a 4th of July afternoon outdoor festival gig in San Diego CA. with The Cadillac Tramps and our old friends the Beat Farmers. I cant tell you whether I drove that last leg from San Rafael to San Diego or someone else did but we did make that show and directly after it I checked into a hotel for a couple of days for some R&R... unfortunately the band didn't get that message of my where a bouts and after calling my wife and then putting out an all points bulletin thinking that I had disappeared or even worse... headed to Mexico, but that's another story.

Recorded live at "The Belly Up" in Solano Beach California

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZ8zYtBDjL0&list=PLnw7W8U7nB_RddqHDXnMWRf4tV3ehvYwm

THE CARDIFF REEFERS ARE:

Robert Melendez - Bass & Vocals

Peter Todd - Rhythm Guitar & Vocals

Matt Hale - Lead Guitar & Vocals

Gary Otake - Pocket Trumpet & Vibe

Chris Ballard - Keyboards

Andrew Rosales - 1st Drummer

Andrew Diamond - 2nd Drummer

Jon Schimke - 1st Sound Engineer

Randy Teaford - 2nd Sound Engineer

MAGNOLIAS - "The Beat Farmers"

If you were to ask me when was the hey day of music in Sonoma County, the strongest surge of bands and clubs I would have to point my finger to the 80's. We had a thriving music scene consisting of some of the best intimate venues to play and work in. The Cotati Caberet, The Inn of the Beginning, The Studio KAFE, Garbo's, The River Theater in Gurneville, I was lucky to have a hand in most of these venues in one way or the other, but for me one has stood out over time... Magnolias!

 There were a lot of 1st's for me at this little rock palace, my 1st booking experiences, meeting up with The Cardiff Reefers and taking off for 3 years of regional touring, it's also the place where I met my wife Christine while she was attending at a Dr Loco and the Rockin Jalapeno Band show...  So many bands hit that little stage in Rail Road Square, I came in with a proposal to owner Scott Goree right after The Studio KAFE closed. I wanted to produce and engineer some of the great harder rock bands that I had been introduced to around the Bay area, bands like The Smokin Rhythm Prawns, KAI KLN, Blu Chunks and Disciples of Ed ( DOE). I set up a Hard Rock Thursday night and got started... 3 bands a night $10 cover, cheap beer. I maintained the Thursday Night party for over a year and I hosted some real up and coming acts like Green Day and Primus. I booked the acts with an edge and Scott booked the cover bands and the perennial favorites like Roy Rodgers, Dave & Phil Alvin's "The Blasters" and one of my all time favorite bands... "The Beat Farmers". I've chosen to start this chapter with a short recall of one of nights with San Diego's Beat Farmers only because when I'm asked what does it take to make a good band, my reply has always been "honesty" and that's exactly what the Farmers brought to the table.

Rough, rude and overly honest front man Country Dick Montana's persona was a mix of Johnny Cash and Burl Ives fueled by beer and a quick trip to the bar. I'd tremble every time when I saw the advance comes across my schedule because I knew what it was like to stage a Beat Farmer show.  I'd have to run to the hardware store for some lite plastic visqueen and then cover all of the stage monitors because getting the stage and the band soaked with beer was all in a nights show. All of my lighting packs and amp racks had to be secured from the guaranteed onslaught of beer throwing carnage! Did it make a huge mess? hell yea and it made a hell of a lot of money too! For every pitcher of beer that was sold to drink there was another one bought at the same time just to throw on the band!

Dick would stand center stage with his cowboy hat on and a beer in his hand and lead the audience in song and story down a cowpunk trail of rock and roll debauchery as only he could tell it. The band that consisted of Jerry Raney, Joey Harris, Buddy Blue and Rolle Dexter Love would lead off into some  foundation for one of Dick's tall tales. Perhaps it was "California Kid" or their hit "Happy Boy" with a loyal chorus of juice-harps that endeared them to fans all around the Country or maybe it was just the way Dick could sing a raunchy tale while fronting a band. One of his antics on stage was to admit to the audience at some giving point of the set that it was time to "TAKE ME TO THE BAR"! Dick would then turn around and fall backwards into the arms of the audience, a reverse stage dive... now this got to be a dangerous trick if it was done to late in the evening as you might guess. After falling backwards Dick would be carried by the audience directly to the bar where he would be laid flat on his back as the owner, Scott would pound a few well deserved shots into Dick where he would then proclaim... "BACK TO THE STAGE"... the audience would once again pick him up and carry him back towards the stage. Somewhere along the way you'd hear Dick say "PUT ME DOWN GOD DAMMIT PUT ME DOWN" "I think that it's time for some campfire songs... everybody grab a beer and sit down"! The bar would get a quick surge of beer sales again as everyone else sat down on the sloppy floor for some raunchy campfire songs!

With beer mugs in hand and waving them in song and celebration Dick would sang the raunchiest versions of songs like "Big Rock Candy Mountain" and "Green Acres" as the band pounded out the back track to his story telling. After 15 or 20 minutes of solid drunken story and song, Dick would call the campfire session over and makes his way back to the stage, often with the help of the audience to resume the set.
As if The Beat Farmers presence wasn't already spectacle enough, and just when you think that this kind of performance couldn't  go on long much longer in this state of mind, you find yourself wrong! Despite any condition that Dick might have been in 10 minutes earlier he would again take the stage, seat himself behind the drum set and slam the band through some more great high energy American Rock songs in the vein of The Replacements or The Blasters. I had the pleasure of working with the band as Mags House Engineer through the later 80's and always had a great time with them and their Tour Engineer Tom Ames, I had a lot of respect for this band, there solid song writing, sense of humor and irreverence were completely honest and their audience recognized that fact. 3 high 5's and a hearty cheer to Country Dick Montana (RIP) and the boys!

see: Country Dicks Rules of the Road
http://www.countrydickmontana.com/cdick/cdick/road.html

These stories consist of rough drafts that will be proof read and finalized

before being included in "Another Day Another Decibel"

www.ViralMediaArt.com

"TALES FROM THE BIG BLUE CHAIR"

During my tenure as House Engineer and Booking Agent at the historic Inn of the Beginning in Cotati California which was roughly 1997 to 2000, I had the pleasure of working with a lot of great up and coming artist's and bands, probably to many even to count... The Inn was a small club, about 250 when slammed wall to wall, which was all to common in a small college town with 3000 Sonoma State University students right up the street. With 4 to 5 shows a week, I used to say it was like having a concert in my living room every night!

One of my greatest personal pleasures was having the ability to book myself!

One of my signature events was "Tales From The Big Blue Chair" which took place in a few locations around Sonoma County. I had been reading from Laurie Anderson's "Nerve Bible," her personal performance / life biography when I came across a concept for a show that really appealed to me, A self generating event that she would conduct on the streets of NYC. I've never been the one to invent the wheel, more of the one who would re-imagine it in a new and interesting way and make it my own. Quote: "A good artist borrows someone else's material, a great artist steals it and makes it his own." Laurie Anderson's street improv performances and technical abilities helped me to hone in on my own personal form of performance art, one that is more interested in the ? rather than the applause that one may get from its audience.

The Concept: To create and perform a self generating public event that would draw people in as spectators as well as performers. I called it "Tales From The Big Blue Chair." The premise was this,
place a comfortable big blue chair center stage in front of a large flat screen TV set and two other smaller satellite TV sets on each side of it. This chair was wired with lighting effects and even a fog machine, and given the opportunity I could make it appear as if it was going to shake, rattle and fly right off the stage. With these three TV screens around the chair I could create the illusion of motion in all most any situation, flying thru the clouds, hyper fast video from pieces like "Koyaanisquatsi" and "Baraka" to slo-mo video and lots of psychedelic imagery. It was quite a visual scenario to set up and I sat like a spider waiting for a fly to fall into my trap. One of the other important elements to these avant-garde performances beside the video aspect was the use of sound effects, music beds and back tracks to accompany each participant to help fill out their story or mood. The chair also came equipped with a manikins arm attached to it that was holding a mic directly in front of you so as you sat down it encouraged you to talk into it. I even had an effects processor on the vocal mic so that I could change the tone and pitch of the participant, anything from Mickey Mouse voices to the voice of Satan... it was always great for a laugh!

The Deal: The general public was offered two choices upon entering the Inn for one of these events, #1 pay $5, take a seat and watch the spectacle or #2 spend 5 minutes in The Big Blue Chair! My general feeling was that, knowing human nature and my audience, the guests would generally take the 5 minute Big Blue Chair option rather than part with their $5 bill. This was fine for me because every time someone took that option I had one more performer for my chair whether they realized it or not and after their 5 minutes were over in the chair, I now had my audience.

One by one they stood in line at the door making their decision of options and then approaching their designated spot to be responsible consequences of their actions. At first, before the word got out on the event I had random people sitting down and wondering what that should do while sitting there for the 5 minutes, which must of felt like an eternity to some. I had placed some of my favorite Chefs of Heaven and Lastas Palas scripts around a coffee table I also had on stage as well as some random notes and even some Snapple tops with all their clever facts to read to the audience to better prepare my performing guests. I remember a older man with a big gray beard sitting down and telling us the most fascinating Scottish tale in the deepest accent, it was almost unrecognizable as a language, It may have been his own unique accent or it may have been the ale that he was drinking as he spun his story but by the time I added some samples of bagpipes in the background with some rolling hills on the screens by the time he finished his tale everyone who heard it was almost in tears... Bill, The cook from the kitchen sat down one evening and read his shopping list for the week over a beautiful piano piece, A few of the local rapster's would bring there vocal styles as I asked them read the selected Lastas Palas scripts over some rap & hip hop beats all while sitting in this comfy big blue chair! Local's like Chris Marvin held court from that chair on many an evening and spent much more than his allotted 5 minutes of time.

Each performer when they finished their 5 minute turn in the chair would retire from the stage and typically buy a beer with that $5 that they saved at the door, always making the bar tenders very happy and me a very popular guy! I was sure to record as many of these performances as possible, I believe I did about 6 of them over a year period at The Inn and they were always a lot of fun. I had hopes of collecting and remixing some of these live improv stories into a commercial viable option for sale but time passed and I had moved on to other larger projects at hand.

The Big Blue Chair did however open the door for me to new ways of connecting with an audience with my work. A good bases to establish the much larger events that I wanted to be design!

These stories consist of rough drafts that will be proof read and finalized

before being included in "Another Day Another Decibel"

www.ViralMediaArt.com

PROPOSED COVER ART WORK

"Another Day, Another Decibel"

- Stories from The Dark Side of Sound -

"ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER DECIBEL" - FORWARD

You know them or at least you think you do, they the the people who are always back there behind the mixing board turning nobs, reading meters and answering questions like "do you really know what all those knobs do? and "where did you learn to do this?". You're really not quite sure what they're doing back there and while it always seems as if they have everything well under control there's always a hint of confusion and chaos around them. You're been a regular at this venue, theatre, club or church for years and you've made some great shows and memories there, and every time you've seen this person you've said to yourself. "He always does a good job... we're in for a great show tonight."

Such is the job of a professional Sound Engineer / Production Manager. You hold up your end of the bargain, to present a high quality show no matter what they throw at you. You try to never say no in this business and you always try to make it seem as if the performers as well as the audience can have any possible request... from the channel input lists and tour riders to the extensive guest lists and rowdy audiences... you treat it like it's another day at the office, after all they are all your guests!

*You're only as good as your last show.

From a house Sound Engineer to the Tour Engineers will all have our main objectives, In an industry that's based largely on word of mouth the goal is to complete the task at hand and keep your sanity and good humor while doing it. Many of my friends are top Sound Engineers and some of their road stories can be found here later in this book, we've all experienced things that are well beyond anything that could ever been written. Through the years we've all had the privilege of mixing some of the worlds greatest talents, not only in top class venues or our door concerts & festivals but crappy little dives and road house... the same creed holds true. The show must go on!

*We all have ways of making our day and our job a little more pleasant...

Touring is a fun, crazy world in a bottle that you shake up every night and recover from the next morning... In a world of unknowns and uncertainties I gave myself one little joke or shall we'll say a release in my busy touring schedule. As a bands Road Manager & Sound Engineer information is king... what time here, what time there and all the engineering variables in between, there was always one detail I always left unknown... "what kind of pie was I having that night?" I even left it open in  the hospitality portion of the contracts that I sent out... *RM requests 12" deep dish pie of local origin. A non specific request for an item that would show me one of two things... #1 they read the contract and #2 what kind of pie am I having tonight!
After doing this for a few years I found that this process gave me a good gauge on the amount of love coming my way. Some venues supplied me with fresh baked peach pie ala mode others past off Safeway apple pies or even in one case a mince meat pie, a poor excuse for a pie if there ever was one. My requests were not taken lightly and I even had in bold print at the bottom of the contacts: NO PIE NO SHOW! Every show I took on this pie challenge and after a while it became a symbol to me, that in a world of no control I could except the fact that I had absolutely no control over one thing... what pie I would receive on any given night... but there better be one!

after all, when you have pie at the end of the night you have friends!

These stories consist of rough drafts that will be proof read and finalized

before being included in "Another Day Another Decibel"

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"THE JAZZ ELEPHANT STORY LIVE" 1985

One of my many interests outside of world of audio and video is mythologies, more importantly how to create and propel your own original mythologies! As I've mentioned in previous chapters my mid 80's performances were based around a tight group of very creative friends, "The Chefs of Heaven."
There was Lastas Palas or "The Smooth Mouth Hound" as he was known in our circles of friends. Lastas had the gift of gab and the ability to turn a phrase in a way that I had never heard before, somewhat like the beat poets of the day, but more like a train of thought that was always perfect in it's conception and delivery. We had a long time working relationship which continues even to this day, he is the story teller and I am the picture framer. A few members came and went through the early years, but our core group consisted of a few close friends. Jon Hendricks Jr, oldest son the world renown jazz singer Jon Hendricks of "Lambert, Hendricks and Ross" fame was one of those core friends. Jon has the soul and voice of a great jazz performer as well as the guitar skills to back it up. Then came my older NYC brother from another mother, Ari Camorata. Ari brought the Sax and clarinet sensibilities to the group as well sporting a well manicured mustache at the time, his ability to find his way through some of the deepest avant-garde material we wrote always amazed me and the fact that his New York attitude  and style of playing was a welcome balance to the sometimes over powering spacial effect of the rest of us... a little like Wayne Shorter playing sax with Weather Report

On October 19th 1985 Claire and I were part of The Creative Arts Council, a non-profit group centered out of the Luther Burbank Center in Santa Rosa California and one  that supported creative art performance in our community. We had originally joined this council with the plan of introducing the counties 1st music and computer festival... something that had never been attempted before and only possible now because of the advent of current technologies. My plan was to present a full stage performance on the king pin of our mythological foundation, "The Jazz Elephant Story."

This is the story of a young elephant in a jungle pre-zoo setting on the planet who through a clan destined visit by his great Grand father elephant finds that he has developed some unusual talents, ones that actually lead him to discover and propel the first music ever heard on this planet.

The production centered around Lastas telling the Jazz Elephant Story over my programed tracks on the Mac+ and my banks of studio keyboards and samplers, some I owned some I borrowed from Stanroy's Music Center and Don Andres's music store. It was quite a big production to pull off, I had contacted Kathleen McDougle and her dance troupe and asked her to choreograph their performance to our computer generated score and to interpret the story into modern dance. As "The Chefs of Heaven" we were known for featuring food or metaphors for food into all of our performances, sometimes cooking the meal for the audience as the performance and serving it to them when we were done. This show was quite different however than the usual small venue or private functions that we were known for, we had the full use of the theaters sound and lighting as well as the 1,000+ seated room and at that point was the largest production that I had ever tried to write and direct.
Our production was received wonderfully and lasted about an hour.  It was the featured performance at culmination of a two day event that celebrated music and computers technologies in the arts.

 
It is even today, personally one of my greatest achievements because I felt like it brought attention to a new direction in the arts and brought with it a following of fans, followers and even a support group for our computer users called M.A.C.S.C.A.P. ie Music and Computers Society for Composers and Performers. These were the days of early electronics and the use of computers in stage and recording productions were just beginning...

These stories consist of rough drafts that will be proof read and finalized

before being included in "Another Day Another Decibel"

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"ALMOST PACHELBELS CANNON IN D"

A friend of mine by the name of Bob Williams, an instructor at the Santa Rosa Jr. College came to me with an interesting project. It seems that Bob was also the conductor for the Santa Rosa Jr Symphony and he had a featured pianist at the symphony's spring performance that had an unusual request. The pianist wanted to perform Pachelbels Cannon in D on the piano with the full Jr Symphony as well as an entire electronic version of the same composition in a featured segment to create an alternative symphonic electronic performance. Since I was going to assist on stage during the show by running the computer and a few keyboards and sound modules I was invited to add my own solo twist to this already unusual variation.

 An example of Jam Factory - Interactive algorythmic tool

I could see it in their eyes as we started the piece, the Jr symphony stopped and it was our turn to pick up the melody and run with it... I pushed start on the Mac and we were off. I wish I could recall the name of our young featured artist but I do recall his interest and perseverance during our long recording sessions. He was to play the grand piano over the back track of symphony voices that we had programed and sampled like oboes, bassoons and cellos and I was mixing those instruments live to the house mix. As I looked out into the audience what I noticed most was what I would call "slack jawed with awe" expressions... one big question mark, which is exactly what I aim for in most for all of my personal performances! They were smiling and nodding and even one or two purists who were outraged at the spectacle, but the spectral had only just begun, it was time for my twist!
I had been experimenting with a new software by a company called "Jam Factory" and "M" by David Zicarelli and Intelligent Music, They were an interactive algorithmic compositional tools that allowed me to record and play back intelligent variations on my programed input. With this software I could direct four different MIDI players (or MIDI channels) at one time to do four different interactive algorithmic variations all based on the original input. It gave a very flowing... where's it going... feel to the piece of music or rhythm rather than the repetitive loop or sequence feel of electronic music.

My twist was just this... when it came to a certain part of Pachebel I was to switch the incoming information from the sequencer into the input of Jam Factory and therefore throwing the entire composition into an Interactive Algorithmic spin! All of the notes that we know to be Pachebels Cannon in D were now rearranged and in some cases upside down. The performance never lost a beat or even felt wrong, it just rearranged itself into another familiar cannon... same notes, same tempo... what just happened? We didn't hold that algorithmic variational change very long, maybe 15 seconds, but it left a memorable impression! As we concluded the piece and gave each other a big smile of accomplishment, I couldn't help but hear over the audiences clapping and cheering a few select Boos... I knew I had reached people, for better or worse they listened and it affected them!

These stories consist of rough drafts that will be proof read and finalized

before being included in "Another Day Another Decibel"

www.ViralMediaArt.com

THE SOUND SOURCE - Being Ichiban

One morning in my studio (The Sound Source 1985) I had a call come in from the stores sales floor that there were 2 Japanese sales representatives from the Yamaha Corporation here and they would like to talk with me about their products. The reason I even mention this short moment in my day is because it was on that day that I had chosen to wear my Japanese "Ichiban symbol shirt" as you can imagine when the two reps walked in and saw me wearing this shirt all i could hear from them was Ahhh Ohhh... In Japanese Ichiban means #1... we have most certainly come to the right man!

It's all about being in the right place at the right time!

At The Sound Source It was the use of the new keyboard technologies that allowed me to take on some really interesting projects. I created a nice little niche for myself by helping local musicians who were buying these new keyboard work stations and helping them expand and record their songs and compositions for performances and for CD masters. My wife at the time Claire, had taken on the public relations aspects of the business and played a vital part oin the promotions on our small team.

I had also taken on a new Engineer partner by the name of  Dave Armijo who brought to the table two Fostex G16's mulitrack 1/2 tape recorders. We locked the two G16's together through SMPTE (industry standard sync code) and MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) interfaces to my Apple Mac + running Performer's Mark of The Unicorn sequencing software and we were off and running in a brave new digital world. Since I was in charge of the keyboard department at Stanroys I had access to all of their keyboards and samplers, I had even run a long MIDI cable and an audio snake from the sales floor downstairs to my studio upstairs to better facilitate all of the banks of sounds and samples that were available to me. Those syncing and sound technologies combined with with some of the very latest synthesizers and samplers were for me, the proper tools for the proper results... a digital master.

As far as I can tell in 1985 The Sound Source was the only studio in Northern California offering a client service based digital format. This was still the era of the classic Otari 2" tape multi-track recorder with razor blade editing while you crossed your fingers and the audio police who dispelled the benefits of digitizing sound for true recording purposes. I sold my studio as a "digital production facility" to draw a line in the sand. I achieved that result by using Sony's 1st analog to digital converters, these convertors allowed me to put the sessions that were compiled on the two G16's with the synced Mac+ and the banks of keys in the studio and on the sales floor directly to a RAMSA console and digitally onto a Sony 8mm tape master. The costs of running my studio were a lot lower than other than the full audio giants like The Record Plant in Sausalito or even our local Prairie Sun, tape costs for one were less than a 1/3rd of the cost of 2" reels and I could record over and over with those 1&0's and never have any audio loss. In other words I could work cheep!

These stories consist of rough drafts that will be proof read and finalized

before being included in "Another Day Another Decibel"

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"THE CHARLES SHULTZ JUG SAMPLE"

One of the more notable projects that I worked on during the mid 80's at my Sound Source production facility was a film project with local celebrity Charles Shultz of "Peanuts" fame and a local guitar player and song writer by the name of Paul Rodriquez. I love to tell this story of our 1st meeting and the results that came from it because it drives home a favorite point that I like to make about creative people and technology always leading the major changes in our culture.

I was in the studio working on a new project that had come my way when the phone rang.
I picked it up and said "hello Sound Source" how can I help you, a voice answered... "My name is Charles Shultz and I was told that you may be the man to help me solve a small problem that I'm having". I remember stumbling a little bit as I collected myself and took the call. It would be a pleasure sir.. I said, What are your concerns. He begins to explain "It seems in my next Peanuts film I will need Snoopy to play a jug... now he can play the jug all right but the problem is that he can only play one note... two at best and I will need him to play an entire song".
The project as it turned out was the only animation and live actor film that Mr Shultz (Sparky, as he was known by some) had ever released, "The Girl In the Red Truck" starring his daughter Jill Shultz and the full cast of Peanuts characters. I was brought in to assist Paul Rodriquez in my facility and to co-ordinate our project results with Lee Mendleson Productions in Hollywood. A lofty project for me and at the time when technology and timing was on my side.

I can certainly help you with that Sir and if you would give me about an hour I'll be in your office with an example of how I can help you. "In one Hour?" he said in disbelief, yes sir it can be that simple. It seems like such a non issue at this point in time with digital recording and computer graphic techniques, but in the mid 80's we couldn't record directly to CD yet and the world of keyboards, synthesizers and MIDI was just beginning. I took on the challenge by heading directly to the health food next door store to buy a bottled drink... but, more important than the drink itself was the size of the bottles mouth. I made the proper selection and headed back up to my studio above Stanroy's Music Center to get to work. I was currently in charge of the keyboard at Stanroys which gave me access to all of the latest release of trendy new keyboards and more importantly samplers that were hitting the market. Fortunately I had recently purchased the 1st consumer digital sampling Ensoniq Mirage keyboard and had integrated it into my 2 rooms of keyboards & synthesizers. The Mirage had a pretty low sampling rate even at it's fastest setting but is was good enough to put me ahead of the tech curve, secure me clients who needed my services and prove a point!
In my studio I opened the drink and drank about half of it, leaving just enough in the bottle to resonate the proper note... A few sips and I had it. I sampled the one blow off of the bottle top into my mic and then into the Mirage sampler where I preceded to play Vince Garaldi's famous 8 note Peanuts theme on the keyboard and then recorded the musical phrase onto the Nakimichi cassette recorder for a tape to bring to show Sparky.

I arrived at his office with the studio cassette and a small portable player to play it on. His receptionist guided me back to his personal office where I found him sitting at his desk next to a sketch board with some Peanut cartoon work-ups. He greeted me with a warm smile and hand shake... I could tell that he appreciated my timely approach to his dilemma! We talked briefly about my studio facility as I set the cassette player on his desk and inserted the tape. I explained to him my process of digital sampling and how I could manipulate sounds to suit his purpose, his eyes lit up when he heard my demonstration and the familiar 8 note theme being played on the bottle which I then showed him. "I think we can do something here" I recall him saying as we finished our short but fruitful conversation. I was then connected to Paul Rodriquez and Lee Mendelson Productions for a year of recording music segments as well as some other similar sound design projects. My thirst for technology had paid off.

These stories consist of rough drafts that will be proof read and finalized

before being included in "Another Day Another Decibel"

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THE CARDIFF REEFERS - My Best Near Death Story

We drove our over loaded gear truck from Sonoma County Ca. to a Mono Lake ski resort for a big out door concert with the band X and a few other rock acts. Matt Hale (center top) and I had decided to take the shortest of routes for us which meant traveling over the Sierra's on Highway 50 rather than take the more direct yet longer Hwy 89 to Mammoth over the pass. We had the weather on our side as we made our way up the mountain and as we enjoyed the view, all seemed perfect.

Once we had gone over the pass and made our way done the other side of this 1 lane windy Highway we began to notice the smell of breaks and grew concerned. At first we thought that it was the vehicles ahead of us but later found out at wasn't the case. It was that moment in time where I realized that my worst fears and I had little options to change anything! I had already been coasting downhill in 1st gear for quite a few miles and using my pedal breaks as little as possible, but at some point it wasn't enough and as Matt, holding his guitar in his lap, looked at each other... as I pulled for the emergency break, which unfortunately had not been repaired after the last few tours... he says to me "Should I jump with my guitar"? I think we laughed nervously but the fact remained that we were quickly loosing control and gaining speed as we now cut a crossed lanes and waved on coming cars to get out of our way. It didn't look good for a few minutes and as you looked over the side of the 1 lane highway you realize how little space there is at 30 miles an hour when you need every inch.

Just like in some movie ending to a run away drama we cut up the side of the hillside along the road and began to slow ourselves down, I dragged the wheels in the dirt and dodged the trees but finally brought the truck to a stop next to a creek bed. One of the cars that had been following us stopped to check and see if we were all right, we asked him how much further that we had to go to get to the bottom of the downhill grade... "you're there" he said.

Mat and I sat for 10 or 15 minutes collecting our thoughts, thankful for our survival and hoping that we could still make it to the concert load in which wasn't that far off. We decided to roll the dice again, through some water from the creek on our breaks and continue on. The rest of the day seemed almost effortless, I realized that nothing that I could possibly come up in my day was going to be anything close to what I had just lived through. Let it be said that Mat's offer to jump and save his guitar was quite admirable and I've never doubted his motivations for a moment. It's the real reason that when I'm with my family I drive every where we go... It's another control issue.

These stories consist of rough drafts that will be proof read and finalized

before being included in "Another Day Another Decibel"

www.ViralMediaArt.com

My first recollection of syncing.

THE PROFESSOR:

One of my 1st recollections of syncing was when I was about 12 yrs old. My dad, Max Teaford was a big band drummer and pilot with the past time of talking on a CB radio in his hobby room, which was next to my bed room. He loved to listen to Jimmy McGriff and Hammond organ jazz while he talked on the radio. I remember while I was in bed one night, turning down the TV in my room while a Bob Hope and Bing Crosby road picture was on and listening to my Dad's CB banter over the organ jazz background as Hope & Crosby sang & danced... some of my very 1st synchronicity experiments and with my dad's delivery, possibly my 1st introduction to hip hop / rap! Thanks Dad!