HAPPY CHRISTMAS 2010 FROM BARRETT & GAB

HAPPY CHRISTMAS 2010 FROM BARRETT & GAB
Originally uploaded by Iburiedpaul

Captain Beefheart's 10 Commandments of Guitar Playing

1. Listen to the birds. 


That's where all the music comes from. Birds know everything about how it should sound and where that sound should come from. And watch hummingbirds. They fly really fast, but a lot of times they aren't going anywhere.

2. Your guitar is not really a guitar Your guitar is a divining rod. 


Use it to find spirits in the other world and bring them over. A guitar is also a fishing rod. If you're good, you'll land a big one.

3. Practice in front of a bush 


Wait until the moon is out, then go outside, eat a multi-grained bread and play your guitar to a bush. If the bush dosen't shake, eat another piece of bread.

4. Walk with the devil 


Old Delta blues players referred to guitar amplifiers as the "devil box." And they were right. You have to be an equal opportunity employer in terms of who you're bringing over from the other side. Electricity attracts devils and demons. Other instruments attract other spirits. An acoustic guitar attracts Casper. A mandolin attracts Wendy. But an electric guitar attracts Beelzebub.

5. If you're guilty of thinking, you're out 


If your brain is part of the process, you're missing it. You should play like a drowning man, struggling to reach shore. If you can trap that feeling, then you have something that is fur bearing.

6. Never point your guitar at anyone 


Your instrument has more clout than lightning. Just hit a big chord then run outside to hear it. But make sure you are not standing in an open field.

7. Always carry a church key 


That's your key-man clause. Like One String Sam. He's one. He was a Detroit street musician who played in the fifties on a homemade instrument. His song "I Need a Hundred Dollars" is warm pie. Another key to the church is Hubert Sumlin, Howlin' Wolf's guitar player. He just stands there like the Statue of Liberty-making you want to look up her dress the whole time to see how he's doing it.

8. Don't wipe the sweat off your instrument 


You need that stink on there. Then you have to get that stink onto your music.

9. Keep your guitar in a dark place


When you're not playing your guitar, cover it and keep it in a dark place. If you don't play your guitar for more than a day, be sure you put a saucer of water in with it.

10. You gotta have a hood for your engine 


Keep that hat on. A hat is a pressure cooker. If you have a roof on your house, the hot air can't escape. Even a lima bean has to have a piece of wet paper around it to make it grow.

via WFMU

An appreciation by Marc Masters

The Frozen Tennis Courts of Darien

Snow Covered Tennis Courts
Originally uploaded by derickcarss

I was once a young man here,
under different stars.

stone walls crisscross bare December woods
the industry of long-departed hands
dividing fields
creating boundaries
rendered meaningless over time.

centuries of toil
culminate in an inflatable plastic snowman.

Fourteenth Street Bus Barn Owls

the 14th street bus barn owls are: johnathan r. on drums, emily m. on flute and rhodes, gabriela s. (stereogab) on theremin and kaoss pad, and yours truly (Iburiedpaul) on guitar. the songs were recorded live one night in late October in a practice space across from an old trolley barn which is now a bus barn.

Bus Barn Owls - Storm Night by Iburiedpaul

Bus Barn Owls - Superstar by Iburiedpaul

Bus Barn Owls - Suburban Jungle by Iburiedpaul

Grin and Bear It

Grin and Bear It
Originally uploaded by Iburiedpaul

Blues for Matt

Matthew Reid Gauker

Two songs from my cousin Matt who died last week.

When I was 14, Matt gave me a copy of "Loaded" by the Velvet Underground. I'd never heard anything so good. He changed my life.

The Terrascope Reviews The Rrreverberationsss!!!

For many years I've been an avid reader of The Ptolemaic Terrascope, a zine (now online) dedicated to psychedelic music both old and new. So I'm very excited to read this review of The Rrreverberationsss in their August Rumbles column:

The self-titled disk of freeform psychedelic jams by The Rrreverberationsss is an EP of four tracks recorded live in classic drums, bass and wailing guitars mode. The playing is great, the band noisy and freaked out, the atmosphere strong. The first cut 'Black Friday Gas Chamber' is short and heavy, while the second, 'Nothing Ever Felt So Real,' is a little slower with dual guitars and trippy vocals, ending in a kind of lurching hyper-jam. 'Green Fuzz,' a brief third track of stoner proportions, interjects itself before 'Heavy Snow,' the closing eleven minute cut of slow, dense jamming. A band with potential for sure, with hints of Hawkwind, Litmus and Astra in the mix.

Sioux City Blues

This one's for you, Bob

Just learned that my friend Bob Isleman died last week. I had many good times in Chicago with Bob. He was a huge jazz fan with immense knowledge of jazz from the early 20th century. He turned me on to King Oliver, Mugsy Spanier, Mezz Mezzrow, and his alltime idol Sidney Bechet.

Bob Dylan 1966

Excerpts from a 1966 Playboy interview of Bob Dylan
PLAYBOY: "Mistake or not, what made you decide to go the rock-'n'-roll route?

DYLAN: "Carelessness. I lost my one true love. I started drinking. The first thing I know, I'm in a card game. Then I'm in a crap game. I wake up in a pool hall. Then this big Mexican lady drags me off the table, takes me to Philadelphia. She leaves me alone in her house, and it burns down. I wind up in Phoenix. I get a job as a Chinaman. I start working in a dime store, and move in with a 13-year-old girl. Then this big Mexican lady from Philadelphia comes in and burns the house down. I go down to Dallas. I get a job as a 'before' in a Charles Atlas 'before and after' ad. I move in with a delivery boy who can cook fantastic chili and hot dogs. Then this 13-year-old girl from Phoenix comes and burns the house down. The delivery boy - he ain't so mild: He gives her the knife, and the next thing I know I'm in Omaha. It's so cold there, by this time I'm robbing my own bicycles and frying my own fish. I stumble onto some luck and get a job as a carburetor out at the hot-rod races every Thursday night. I move in with a high school teacher who also does a little plumbing on the side, who ain't much to look at, but who's built a special kind of refrigerator that can turn newspaper into lettuce. Everything's going good until that delivery boy shows up and tries to knife me. Needless to say, he burned the house down, and I hit the road. The first guy that picked me up asked me if I wanted to be a star. What could I say?"

Who Lived In This House?

From Boyd's Directory of the District of Columbia:

1887 Charles Morrison, clerk and John H. Martin, porter.
1892 John Martin, laborer.
1903 Charles R. Martin, porter, and Della Martin, washer.
1908 Charles Martin, laborer

Father

On a Tower in Vermont
Originally uploaded by Iburiedpaul

We climbed mountains together.

Rest in peace.

Show This Saturday

3 Minutes of My Childhood

Nice Breeze

Nice Breeze - Lose it in the Sun by Iburiedpaul

More River Sessions

River Sessions

One song from the session

the entire session

The River Sessions from Barrett Jones on Vimeo.

You Are Beautiful

Life is Beautiful
Originally uploaded by Iburiedpaul

quote of the day

Happy people don’t create anything. I find creation hinges on being well-fucked-up.
Joe Strummer

Goldman Sachs = Gold In Sacks

Gold In Sacks
Originally uploaded by Iburiedpaul

Robber barons

Amazing Street Drummer in NYC

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Rrreverberationsss

Released today on the awesome 267 lattajjaa label, my latest musical project: The Rrreverberationsss

Recorded November 2009 in Austin, Texas
Gunnar Hedman - guitar, synth, vibes
Ian Hedman - drums
Barrett Jones - guitar, vocals
Dave Junker - bass, guitar
Gabriela Schneider - synth

You can order it here

Shadow Carousel

April 2010 Drones Club video

Boxer Girl

FUNK THE WAR!

I Miss You

White Mountains, New Hampshire
Originally uploaded by Iburiedpaul

March 2010 Drones Club

Rooting DC

Food Not Bombs

February Drones Club Video

Our Garden: The Video

Barb and Dave's (White) Wedding

Barb and Dave's Wedding
Originally uploaded by Iburiedpaul

January Drones Club Video

I just pooped a lil bit

Graffiti at Takoma Metro Stop
Originally uploaded by Iburiedpaul

graffiti on an ad for Metro drivers, Takoma Metro platform

The Birds

Life is Short

This is a painting by Laurence Pignarre Wyllie. I got to know her and her husband Andy through our mutual friend Hackmuth. They had some fun parties in their little run-down row house near N &13th St. NW. She and Andy were part of a scene of ex-Peace Corps people enjoying a last summer of slacking on their way to a State Department career.

I remember attending a couple of openings at galleries where she showed her paintings. She painted big, moody pictures, a contrast to her petite stature and wide smile. I think she was born in Paris. She spoke English with a thick French accent.

Andy's State Department job soon had them moving to Africa. At the going-away party they threw at their house, everyone came to say goodbye. I remember Laurence reclining on a blanket in the backyard. She was pregnant, smiling, having a good time. That must be six years ago now.

Yesterday I learned that she and her two sons are among the missing in Haiti.

My heart goes out to Andy. To lose the ones you love is a terrible thing.

UPDATE 1/21

via a Facebook comment dated 1/18:

Andy Wyllie is now in San Domigue with is brother and Father.
They will go to Haiti in a few days to get the bodies.

life in a time of zeros and ones

011110

Girard Children's Community Garden

WE ARE ART

Takoma Metro
Originally uploaded by Iburiedpaul