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Archive for the ‘Les Claypool’ Category

An Evening with Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade (Fillmore Philly, Philadelphia, PA, October 25, 2023)

Posted in Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, Les Claypool, Les Claypool, Philadelphia, PA, The Fillmore Philadelphia on October 25, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: October 25, 2023] An Evening with Les Claypool’s Flying Frog Brigade

I have seen Les Claypool play with a variety of other people.  I’ve been a huge fan of Primus (although not their fans) and have always been interested in whatever Les has to offer.  I have seen him with the Claypool Lennon Delirium twice.  I really don’t need to see him any more, but there was one draw to this show–the band was going to play Pink Floyd’s Animals album straight through.

That’s one of my favorite albums and I knew that they would do a great job with it.

With the hindsight of two shows after this,  I can say that either I have no tolerance for people anymore or that people just have no clue how to behave at a concert.  This is Les Claypool, I expected lunacy and zaniness.  Costumes were encouraged for crying out loud.  It was supposed to be fun.

But there was a woman with calf-length dreadlocks slam dancing with nobody.  She just whipped her hair around and made everyone miserable.  I mean have fun, but don’t shit on everyone else’s party.  And there were two different men with deep booming voices on either side of me who just wouldn’t stop talking “No, that’s a bass saxophone.”  “Have you ever seen Claypool before?  He’s really good.”  During the freaking songs!

Holy shit.

So the band was pretty interesting.  Sean Lennon on guitar (so it was like seeing the Claypool Lennon Delirium, Harry Waters (Roger Waters’ son) on keys, the legendary Skerik on saxophone, Paulo Baldi (from Cake) on percussion, primarily vibes and a revelation on these songs.  And Mike Dillon on drums.

So pretty much all Claypool adjacent songs sound similar-thumping weirdo bass, varying guitar weirdness and everything else thrown on top.

They actually played songs from the Frog Brigade album, but I hadn’t listened to that in a pretty long time.  So I didn’t know the first two songs, but they were Primus-adjacent and there for interesting.

Their cover of The Beat’s “Mirror in the Bathroom” was super fun.  An early highlight of the night.  “That was worth the price of admission,” one of the loud jagoffs said loudly possibly three times, certainly twice.

There was the lengthy, trippy “Blood and Rockets” from the Delirium records.  And then an old Claypool song that I knew: “Hendershot.”  This is a simple straightforward song, a surf rock song that’s not all that weird.

However, the one big difference between the Frog Brigade and Primus is that the Frog Brigade is a jam band.  And they are more like a jazz jam band in which everyone gets a solo (except the drums, mercifully).   That meant that if one of them got a solo, you knew there were going to be three more.  Ho hum.  The saving grace was that they were chatting during the solos and Les is hilarious so any chat is good for me.  They were talking about surf rock with Les teasing Shiner (Sean) asking if that was the best surf rock guitar solo he had ever played.  Then he asked Harry about his surfing experiences and it was all in good fun.  But the loud jagoffs around me started complaining about this talking business.”  Play fucking music.”  I was pretty peeved by the end of the first set.

I seriously considered packing it in and going home.  But I knew the next set started with Animals and I really wanted to see that.

And I’m glad I didn’t leave because Animals was outstanding.

The set opened with Sean on acoustic guitar (on a stand) and Les singing Pigs on the Wing.  They jumped right into Dogs, the most rocking of the songs.  Sean’s guitar was great and Harry’s keys were perfect.  Paulo Baldi added delicate vibes here and there which really fleshed out the high notes wonderfully.  And Les’ bass was louder in the mix, letting us hear those bass lines properly.  Skerik was not included, which was great because there’s no sax (or need for it) on these songs.

In Pigs (Three Different Ones), everything was right on (even the crowd mostly settled down for these songs–except for the guy who kept bumping into me and the apologizing profusely.  Relax dude.  When it came to Dogs, everyone sang.  Sean sang the first line and when the long vocal note was held in the record, Les took over from Sean–sounding seamless and perfect.  It was really impressive.  Harry added vocals as well, and really, it was all a great exercise.

The ended as they begin with Pigs on the Wing and it was a glorious 40 minutes of music.

From there, they got back to the wild business of Claypool.  Precipitation was a rollicking fun song.

But I was thrilled to hear them play “Riddles Are Abound Tonight” a great song from Les’ first spin off band Sausage.  I never imagined that I’d get to hear this song live and it was absolutely great to sing “huh, hoy yo!”

I also really enjoyed Les’ first solo album the Holy Mackerel so it was fun to hear “Running of the Gauntlet.”

There was more soloing from each member and Skerik came back for the last few songs.

I didn’t recognize immediately when they started “Cosmic Highway.”  I knew it but wasn’t quite sure how well knew it.  But a soon as that cool riff started–and genuinely sounded like a sitar–I really enjoyed the lengthy jam.

And then Les left the stage for a minute or so.  And he came back with … the Whamola–essentially a metal stick with a bass string on it.  You hit it with a drum stick and change pitch with a handle at the top.  I’ve seen this in videos but it was amazing to see him play it live.  The song “Whamola” is weird and fun and invites participation from everyone.

I had originally thought I might leave early but I’m so glad I stayed to see Whamola!

I could have gone to the show in Montclair the night before instead of this one.  But upon seeing the setlist I’m glad I didn’t choose that one.  Yes, they got Thela Hun Gingeet as an opener, which would have kicked butt.  But I much preferred Mirror in the Bathroom, plus we got the Sausage song, a great Cosmic Highway and the exceptional Whamola.  So the crowd may have sucked but the music was pretty great.

 

  1. David Makalaster [with Southbound pachyderm tease]
  2. Lust Stings §
  3. Mirror in the Bathroom [The Beat cover]
  4. Blood and Rockets: Movement I, Saga of Jack Parsons – Movement II Too the Moon Æ
  5. Hendershot Ψ
    Pink Floyd: Animals
  6. Pigs on the Wing, Part 1  @
  7. Dogs @
  8. Pigs (Three Different Ones) @
  9. Sheep @
  10. Pigs on the Wing, Part 2 @
    SET TWO
  11. Precipitation Ψ
  12. Riddles Are Abound Tonight ℘
  13. Running of the Gauntlet Ψ
  14. Rumble of the Diesel §
  15. Cosmic Highway ⊗
  16. Whamola ⊗


@ PINK FLOYD: Animals (1977)
℘ SAUSAGE: Riddles are Abound Tonight (1994)
Ψ Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel: Highball with the Devil (1996)
⊗ THE LES CLAYPOOL FROG BRIGADE: Purple Onion (2002)
§ LES CLAYPOOL: Of Whales and Woe (2006)
Æ THE CLAYPOOL LENNON DELIRIUM: South of Reality (2018)

 

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An Evening with Les Claypool’s Flying Frog Brigade (Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ, October 24, 2023) [DID NOT ATTEND]

Posted in Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, Les Claypool, Montclair, NJ, Primus, Wellmont Theater on October 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[DID NOT ATTEND: October 24, 2023] Les Claypool’s Flying Frog Brigade

This is yet another show that I bought a ticket for in Philly only to find out later that there was a show in Montclair.  Montclair is certainly easier for me to get to, although honestly I don’t live The Wellmont–I don’t know what it is, but I seem to have an iffy time when I go there.  Especially for a metal show.

I don’t think this is going to be a metal show, but I wonder who will show up.

By the same token, the last time I saw Primus, the meathead crowd was really high.  I hope they don’t come to my show since it doesn’t say Primus.

I’ll find out tomorrow.

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Chris Adrian “The Glass House” (New Yorker, January 10, 2000)

Posted in Cameras, Chris Adrian, Civil War, Death, Drinking, Funny (ha ha), Funny (strange), Huh?, Les Claypool, Negativland, New Yorker, Noise, Photography, Religion, Short Story, War, Yuck! on April 20, 2019| Leave a Comment »

SOUNDTRACK: NEGATIVLAND-Negativland (1980).

Negativland was (is?) a weird “band” who released absurdist sound collages.  Their purpose was culture jamming and they created quite a stor throughout their “career.”    The band was more or less created by David Wills (born 1954) also known as “The Weatherman”.. He was a cable repairman when he joined the group with a then-teenage Mark Hosler (1962) and Richard Lyons (1959-2016) also known as Dick Vaughn, Dick Goodbody, and Pastor Richard Seeland.

Their first record came out in 1980 and had twenty untitled tracks.  The “songs” were mostly sound effects, radio broadcasts and home recordings. There was some original guitar and drum machine, but mostly it is just collage.

About the tracks:

[SIDE 1]

1. You can hear a spoken word news announcer in the background as a guitar line comes in followed by a drum machine.  Then comes a woman (David’s mother, I believe ) reciting “This is Negativland.”

2. A ticking clock with a pretty guitar melody and then increasingly loud table saws (one in each ear)

3. A drum machine with a spoken word announcer.  This blurb comes from a fan on YouTube:

The man speaking, Mitch Werbell, worked for U.S. covert operations. At the time, (late 70s) there was a big problem with urban terrorism in Argentina. They had threatened to kidnap Coca-Cola reps in Buenos Aires. Werbell is explaining (on the ABC TV show 20/20) what he told the terrorists would happen if they tried, when he was hired to go help the executives escape the area.

4. Horns playing single notes.  It abruptly ends with ringing alarms

5. Guitars (electric and acoustic) playing and echoing.  This is the longest track at almost 5 minutes. Lots of spoken words among the trippy sounds and boopers.

6. Drum machines and noises and then after a violin line comes the most famous early phrase from NegativalndL “Seat Be Sate” (Play Black Sabbath at 78).  The “poem” is soon taken over by noise and a looped spoken word.

7. A menacing static noise and very sci-f sound effects couple with a German language instruction tape.

8. Static noises and de-tuned acoustic guitar strumming as someone sings a bit

9 A looping string of interesting sounds–booper, waves of sound and a clip o kids singing and then Don’s family speaking, all looped into a rhythm.  Finally a classroom rule about silent E

10. Drum machine with a whispered singing vocal and a catchy guitar riff with (of course) lots of distorted noises.

The lyrics:

Cara mia, why
Must we say goodbye
Each time we part
My heart wants to die
Darling, hear my prayer
Cara mia fair
Here are my arms
You alone will share

All I want is you
Forever more
To have, to hold
To love, adore
Cara mia mine
Say those words divine
I’ll be your love
Till the end of time

My cara mia
My cara mia
My cara mia

[SIDE 2]

11. French speaking and the an a loop of an older man saying “everything’s going fine, no trouble just get set and get going. Amen.

12. Warbled distorted vocals of a man and woman reciting the Hail Mary.

13. A family scene with people talking over a news broadcast (WCBS news time).  You can hear David saying “It’s not alive, Drew.”

14. Some more kids talking with all kinds of jammer sounds over them.  The final line has a woman saying “Reading the book by the seamen within would be very helpful.”

15.  Blues on an acoustic guitar (pretty well played) although by the end the solo is out of tune and crazy.

16. Boopers and outer space sounds.  Multiple radio broadcasts overlapping including one about a bedpans in hospitals.  And a joke ( I can’t guess the comedian, but he sounds a bit like Bob Goldthwait or Les Claypool, but it obviously isn’t) “I wouldn’t marry you if you were the last man on earth.”  The punchline is obscured then the laughter come in.

17. A slow drum beat and random noises on a guitar

18. A family scene David’s mother talking about the affordability of buying meat by the pound.

19. A low deep siren sound followed by this dire message from the Emergency Broadcast Network: “The office of civil defense has issued the following message “this is an attack warning” this is an attack warning.  An attack warning means an actual attack against this country has been detected.  Then there’s David inviting Everett to a barbecue that afternoon.  It’s followed by some audio from the American Airlines 191 plane crash from 1979.  This segues into a family scene where the dad is telling a joke about cannibals.  A man walked among cannibals with cases of Pepsi.  The cannibals drank the Pepsi and ate the man.  All except his thing.  When they were later asked why they didn’t eat his thing, they sang, “Things go better with Coke.”

20. The final track states, “Now hear how a real parakeet should sound.”  Then a woman says good morning and then a crazy raspy voice repeats here.  The album ends with this oscillator sound that my parents had in the 1970s–a kind of looping really fake bird chirping.  No idea why they had it.

This actual release of this record was accomapnied by all kinds of original magazine clippings and artwork. And the CD came with pins and other cool things.  It’s a weird artifact from the dawn of culture jamming.

[READ: April 20, 2019] “The Glass House”

I decided it would be interesting to go back to the year 2000 and to read all of the New Yorker stories up to the present.  I think as of now I have read through 2005.  By the time I have finished (next year, I’m sure) I’ll have 20 years of stories read.

This story is set during the Civil War.  The main character, Will, has just enlisted.  His brother, Sam, was killed at Bull Run and Will came to take his place.  His Captain was very happy to have him because Sam was a brave and well-liked man.  But Will, as he himself would admit, was neither of those things.

After Sam’s death, the Captain intended to go to Sam’s house personally to pay his regards to their family.  Had Sam’s mother seen the Captain, she would have spit on him.  But before that could happen, Will decided to enlist.  He forged his mother’s signature and didn’t tell anyone when he left. (more…)

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Les Claypool–South of the Pumphouse (2006)

Posted in Chuck, Drinking, e.e. cummings, Fishing, Les Claypool, Marriage Trouble, Oysterhead, Phish, Primus, Ra Ra Riot, Racism, Rasputina, Sex, Short Books, The Futureheads, The Who, Vampire Weekend, Violence, Wikipedia on May 31, 2009| Leave a Comment »

pumphouseSOUNDTRACK: RA RA RIOT-The Rhumb Line (2008).

raraI have a hard time describing this album.  It has a lot of ingredients that don’t make sense individually, yet which work very well. I would almost resort to calling them pretentious rock, but that seems so derogatory.  Vampire Weekend falls into this category of highly literate pop too, and we know how much  I love that album!

Ra Ra Riot play catchy indie pop, but their main instruments are cello and violin. And yet they’re not anything like Rasputina’s string-laden goth music.  Rather, they write catchy poppy songs that are punctuated with strings.  I even wanted to say they don’t have a  guitarist, (they do) but I guess that just shows how well his licks meld with the rest of the music. And, indeed, on some tracks, the guitar is up front and wonderful.

They also get labelled pretentious because one of their songs (and one of their catchiest) has lyrics from e.e.cummings, or rather, they use his poem “dying is fine)but Death” as the lyrics for the song “Dying is Fine.”  They also cover Kate Bush.  Now the Futureheads covered Kate Bush a few years ago, so perhaps Kate is the next go-to artist for covers.

Ra Ra Riot wins extra points for covering a fairly unknown, and utterly bizarre song, “Suspeneded in Gaffa.”  This happens to be one of my favorite Kate songs, so I’m a bit critical.  However, they do a very good job of making it a pop song (There’s enough weird stuff in Kate’s version to never give it mainstream acceptance).  And the strings work very well for it.

Ra Ra Riot was also featured on that paragon of good taste: the show Chuck [And since I have mentioned the  music of Chuck on many occasions, I would be remiss if I didn’t send a shout-out to this site which lists all of the songs in Season One–gotta update Season Two fellas].  Chuck played “Can’t You Tell” in a romantic scene, and it worked quite well.

So, after all that, what can I say about the band.  They may be too commercial for some, but I think their combination of strings, intelligent lyrics and good vocals is pretty great.  Incidentally, in case you were wondering, a rhumb line  (or loxodrome) is a line crossing all meridians at the same angle, i.e. a path of constant bearing. Following a rhumb line requires turning the vehicle more and more sharply while approaching the poles (thanks Wikipedia).

[READ: May 26, 2009] South of the Pumphouse

So this book is by Les Claypool, lead singer and bassist of Primus.

Claypool’s lyrics are typically stories, full of weird characters in weird situations.  Oh, and fishing.  Lots of fishing.  And that sums up this book pretty well.

The book is set in El Sobrante, California, a redneck haven that has not progressed along with the rest of the state.  Earl is a fisherman and meth addict.  In that order.  Fishing is Earl’s life.  His father fished every weekend, and Earl and his brother Ed went with him.  Rain or shine. (more…)

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