Vishnu’s Bicycle
Last track on the album, and probably the easiest one to mix. Things just seemed to fall into place for this track, and I love the breezy feel it has. We also managed a pretty good breakdown in the middle, considering we couldn't all have eye contact in the studio. Thanks for listening, and we hope you enjoyed the album (and might even purchase it 
).
Good Neighbors
Somehow, gathering with a bunch of great people involved in New Orleans music and seeing Victor Wooten at the Howlin' Wolf yesterday got me down a little bit. Not that there wasn't talent, energy, and vibrancy in either place - it was obvious there was a ton of history and passion in what everybody did. But the gathering was the result of club owners and musicians trying to figure out how they can continue playing and performing in a city where labyrinthine zoning and permit regulations make it impossible to successfully manage a live music venue without a grandfather clause. In a place that gave (and continues to give) the world so much great music, it's technically illegal to rehearse in a home or have a poetry reading in a coffeeshop without a live music permit. It's just staggering. And unfortunately, there's a ton of legal work to perform in order to remedy this situation - although I'm an outsider at this point with no knowledge of the system here, I'm assuming this will be a monumental task. But we're talking about laws designed (in the words of one legal expert) to keep rock and roll out of the city - that ship has sailed. This city needs a full revision of zoning and permit laws to at least make it possible to work out live venue and performance rules.
At the end of the Victor Wooten show (which was a typically wonderful affair), he made a plea to just keep the video clips short when the audience inevitably posts on YouTube or other service and not give away the music. Obviously, there's differing schools of thought on how posting the video really affects sales and such (I point you to Steve Lawson for the extremely well-stated counterpoint to this). But it was a sad punctuation on an otherwise fine performance.
Through the whole day, the phrase "good neighbor" kept popping up in several contexts:
- Bar owners making sure to reduce the amount of trash, noise, and parking issues in their neighborhoods
- Neighborhood residents respecting the culture and history of neighborhoods they may have just moved into and not working to "Disneyfy" the place
- Working with neighborhoods to make sure your voice is heard and understood
- Respecting the wishes and needs of everybody in a neighborhood and being easy to live with
One of the lawyers at the meeting acknowledged her tendency to Pollyanna-ism, and I'm afraid this blog post tends to that as well. But wouldn't being a good musical neighbor go a long way here? Understanding that music is a part of culture everywhere, that it needs to be given room to grow and develop, and that both sides need to foster good relationships here to build on what we have (no need to review the RIAA and the textbook case of how they did EVERYTHING wrong).
Just a thought.
Buddy’s Lament
This is the only Playboy Psychonauts track with vocals. Live, I think it sometimes took the audience by surprise when we yelled something during the song - we even tried to avoid talking while on stage. Enjoy!
Bosoms of Kali
This is what happens when a psychedelic surf band decides to get a little funky. We included some funk numbers in the set (most notably "I Feel Good" and "Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf)"), and this one sprung from a jam. It's also the longest song we ever wrote. Otherwise, you just get a taste and it's on to the next one.
Playboy Psychonauts Theme and Ravi’s Rancor
'Cause Bandcamp makes it easy to embed tracks, and to help draw attention to the new Playboy Psychonauts EP, here's a change to listen to a couple of the tracks with some comments:
Every band needs a theme song, and this one was ours. First song we ever wrote, and for a long time we opened and closed every show with it (until "Tears of a Clown" won the closing spot).
Ravi's Rancor is another uptempo rocker, complete with Buddy's surprisingly menacing whispering. Plus, it's got a brief bass solo, so there's nothing wrong with that.
Playboy Psychonauts EP!
The band may not be performing anymore, but you can finally take the soul and spirit of the Playboy Psychonauts (in the form of 5 original songs) along with you wherever you go. The EP's Bandcamp page went live this morning, and I encourage you all to go visit and consider purchasing that music. It represents all of the original songs we put together during our time together (sorry, no "Tears of a Clown" - that's just between you and us, babies).
The recording sessions just took one afternoon to complete, but time and event conspired to make the mixing and mastering take a little longer. We explored a vinyl release as well (suitable for the spirit of the music), but in the end we decided to embrace the digital age and fully commit to Bandcamp for this release. Hope you enjoy, and please let us know what you think. All hail Casanovia one last time.
Made It!
For the most part, I'm here and functional in my new home of New Orleans. Moving a ton of musical gear is never an easy feat, but compressing it into a smaller area than before is truly a challenge. On the plus side, I managed to turn up three or four pedal power adapters I'd forgotten about - that pedal board will be much happier with less batteries now.
Now that everything is back together, I should be able to get the Playboy Psychonauts EP uploaded to Bandcamp for sale to the general public within the next week or so. Still tweaking the files a bit, but everything else should be ready to go.
And Victor Wooten is in town next week, with a bonus Anthony Wellington clinic earlier in the day, at Howlin' Wolf. Gotta manage my work schedule.
And, of course, gotta find a gig now. So I'll be hitting the streets - let me know if you hear anything, okay? And if you're just running across this blog for the first time, feel free to peruse sound samples at my SoundCloud site.
My Old Scene
My time spent playing music in Indianapolis consisted of a bunch of wonderful musicians being far too kind to me. When I first got to town and joined the union, I was attempting to play jazz in a fill-in gig with Dick Dickinson (and folks like Pookie Johnson and Jimmy Coe when they would drop by the regular Wednesday night gig). "Attempting" is the key word here because, quite simply, I was muddling my way through it and just wasn't that good. Nevertheless, they tolerated my learning efforts, encouraged my playing, and then probably walked away shaking their heads. I am amazed and gratified by the tolerance, kindness, and immense talent they displayed.
My blues gig with Dwight Edwards was better for both, I think, and it provided me the memory of trying to play while rabid Star Wars fans (testing the Slippery Noodle's tolerance for costumes pre-convention) swung plastic lightsabres at my feet. It also got my feet wet with 3-set-a-night gigs and the tolerance and stamina it took to get through those. Such great players in this band, too.
From there, I started playing more rock and funk, and it's about this time that Indianapolismusic.net came into my life. The people involved in that website and community were far too kind by not stringing me up when it came to No*Star and such things. The website resides in the Internet equivalent of mothballs now, but it was such an important part of my musical life for so many years - it's hard to quantify or explain how much it meant to meet and interact with all the musicians and good people associated with it. Especially the club owners that put up with our shenanigans. I can only hope I paid back a small fraction of what everybody gave to me in my time with it.
And finally, the musical theater folks who let me perform what might be the perfect job in the universe - walk in to a gig, play a show with amazingly talented musicians, and leave without having to move an amplifier. I can only assume the next life provides us with some variation of that activity when we receive our final reward. John Austin Butsch and the Q Artistry folks (Ben Asaykwee and Will McCarty) - thanks so much for letting me be a part of it.
Because Indianapolis bands never break up (seriously - so incestuous) and because there's always new folks on the way (like my current neighbors, who still play far too loud for their own good - seriously, save your ears), I'm not intending this to be a final summary or review in any way. I just wanted to say thanks for the kindness.
Searching for a Home
Hey, this blog missed a post last week - never put anything out regarding the music in Fountain Square that weekend. Promise that I have a really good reason for it.
My wife and I were looking for a new home in New Orleans.
In a couple of weeks, we'll no longer be Fountain Square residents, and the reality of leaving such a wonderful neighborhood in such a wonderful city sinks in slowly. While we won't be strangers (too many friends and family in the area, plus the need for business travel), we will sell our house and pack everything up and eventually leave for our new city.
That also means that we have a lot of people to thank and wish well (both inside the neighborhood and out), and I'll do that next week while we're actually packing the boxes and such. In the meantime, I do want to leave you with a great resource that will do a wonderful job of keeping you up-to-date with the happenings in Fountain Square - http://discoverfountainsquare.do317.com. The folks over there not only list all of the events taking place in Fountain Square (musical and otherwise), but the do317 Lounge in the Murphy Building brings some great acts into a wonderfully intimate space. Dodge and Josh and the rest at do317.com have been around music for quite a long time now - you're in their hands now.
It's First Friday - go out and enjoy Fountain Square. It's a fantastic place, and I'm more than a little sad to leave it.
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