brother weldon

spent last night listening to weldon irvine's "sinbad" album about 6 times in a row. i have gone through intense weldon-listening periods in the past, but i have to say that "sinbad" is tops for me as far as his catalog is concerned. i just picked up the lp a week or so ago at amoeba in sf, but it was at the bottom of the pile and i spent more time with hampton hawes and the supremes album prod. by jimmy webb. but finally, weldon got his chance to shine.

if you are at all familiar with weldon irvine, you probably know that he took his own life. it really is intensely sad for me to know that someone who exuded such spirit, soul and joyfulness in his music felt existing was too much of a burden. i feel much the same way about the insanely talented donny hathaway. anyway, there is a track on "sinbad" featuring weldon by himself on the piano. it really takes me someplace else and offers a glimpse into the heart of this extremely talented artist. take a listen...



peace go with you, brother weldon...

waxidermy

this is one of those places on the internet i would end up spending hours of my life perusing in the portland state library while i was in school. throw on some headphones, write a short paper for spanish class, and then go way deep into waxidermy's seemingly endless trove of treasures. weird, bizarre, deeply spiritual (or deeply absurd)music sung by men, women and children from all walks of life and different spots of the globe. nancy is a good place to start! check out WAXIDERMY

joe rogan on dmt

wow, this is really the last person i thought i'd discover speaking on this subject!

we live in berkeley, baby!

not to toot my own horn, but i feel as though i have reached a major milestone in my life today. this morning, i picked up the keys and put down the first and last on a cozy little studio in berkeley. while this may seem to some an easy to achieve feat, to me it has been a long time in the making.

when i graduated from high school, my home turf was caught up in the dot.com boom, and rents were out of control. i remember at one time the only feasible option to me was to rent the closet in a friend of mine's room! crazy times. so, i left the californian motherland for pastures that weren't necessarily greener, but had cheaper rent. i found myself spending time in both athens, georgia and portland, oregon. while both these towns have a magic all their own, really nothing compares to the california state of mind.

so, i have made what i now can consider a triumphant return to the place of my birth. as my friend chris (who just moved to the intensely beautiful town of carmel valley) said to me a little bit ago: the california renaissance is beginning to bloom. flowerin'!

east bay rhythm

east bay all day!

gumby dharma

if i would have had a blog months ago, i would have written about art clokey for sure! so glad he entered my thoughts again so that i could possibly turn someone somewhere out there in the vast outer-internet-space onto the documentary with this amazing and inspiring man as its subject! check out Gumby Dharma!

fred hughes

passed this up at amoeba the other night. a little pricey. but the cover art is...um...price...LESS! for real, though. i might have to steal some ideas from this for the natural bridges album cover!

joni

joni mitchell's "blue" is one of my favorite records of all time. it always seems to find a way out of its sleeve and onto the turntable at just the right moment. i have known that i'll be good friends with someone instantly once the subject of our mutual love of this album becomes known. i had an ex-girlfriend who made me play this song over and over again in the car's tape deck. it really kinda perfectly encapsulates our relationship, looking back on it now. thanks, joni...

hampton hawes

stole this from amoeba at $2.99! this man is magic on the fender rhodes...i'm now determined to track down his album "northern windows" with axelrod! maybe try to get a hold of his autobiography as well...

O-let'-te Coyote-man, the Creator

david axelrod

stole this from my friend, lexx . i think it is super appropriate that axe is depicted on a brick wall. he seems like a tough dude!

leroy smart

wow...leroy sure has some happenin' album covers! i've been spending more and more time checkin' out album art as i decide what i want for this new album i've been mixing. such a deep decision!

little thinker tapes

slums

pulled this out and listened to it again after almost forgetting i had it. love galt's arrangement and production style.

old grey curtis

had to post this one! curtis mayfield is a huge inspiration to me, and i feel like this is some of the best performance footage of the man. i'm going to chicago later this month and am so ready to walk the streets that curtis may once have. chicago is a super soulful city, having counted curtis, donny hathaway, the dells, jerry butler, the chi-lites, tyrone davis, charles stepney, and the five stairsteps among MANY others as residents. hope i can catch some of the vibe!

jamaica, say you will

another old grey whistle test performance. i highly recommend the dvd's if you can find 'em. a friend of mine pointed out how awesome jackson's glasses are in this video, and i admitted that i had a similar pair in 7th grade!

withers and gadson

no wonder someone made a james gadson quilt, the man is BAD!!! wish i could find a drummer like that. the perfect combination of heavy funk while doing whats right for the song and making sure it comes first. not many can do that well.

still bill

playing october 8th at the grand lake theater as part of the oakland international film festival!

max romeo lee perry cassette portrait

by sami havia

marcia griffiths

if you can walk, you can dance, if you can talk you can sing

this print has followed me from athens, ga to portland, or and now back to california. can't wait to hang it up in the new pad!

berkeley barb

BART 1975

stir crazy

watched this in santa cruz after a long stretch of mixing. went great with gin and tonics and a little mind expansion. hadn't seen it since i was a kid!

van culture

hey, vandora! hallelujah!

high as a llama

i used to listen to the high llamas around the time of their "hawaii" album, but somehow never got around to the later stuff. now i am able to see the shuggie otis and todd rundgren influence, not just the beach boys, robert wyatt and nick drake vibes that permeate "hawaii". lovely stuff...

the night tripper

my three favorites. each evokes a completely different feeling, from the pure and dirty new orleans funk to ruminations on life and death to creepy voodoo psychedelia...

john and dave lamb

horace silver makes some important decisions...

the wizards

jack nitzsche

ruth copeland

breezin'

i love the shot in the beginning of the guy holding out the one note on his string synth! somewhere i have the 45 of gabor and bobby womack doin' this tune...

spoon collections

crossroads music

during the 5 year stretch that i lived in portland, oregon, i spent quite a bit of time sifting through lps in this store. i never came away empty handed after a visit to crossroads!

negative fusion

jazz forum

james gadson quilt

carole king

carol kaye

laura nyro

native funk and flash

sea ranch chapel

flip the cassette

sausalito houseboats

shuggie

klee

a gift from a flower to a garden

fractal broccoli

seven

seven has always been a powerful number for me. my first, middle and last name are all seven letters. my birth date, december 31st adds up to seven. however, the number seven can mean different things to different people. ""One day Joseph Hill had a vision, while riding a bus, of 1977 as a year of judgment -- when two sevens clash -- when past injustices would be avenged. Lyrics and melodies came into his head as he rode and thus was born the song "Two Sevens Clash" which became a massive hit in reggae circles both in Jamaica and abroad. The prophecies noted by the lyrics so profoundly captured the imagination of the people that on July 7, 1977 - the day when sevens fully clashed (seventh day, seventh month, seventy-seventh year) a hush descended on Kingston; many people did not go outdoors, shops closed, an air of foreboding and expectation filled the city."

riot

this was the mixing console used by sly stone to create his masterpiece, "there's a riot goin' on". you can feel the vibes coming through the computer screen...