If you live in/around San Diego I advise strongly that you do the following:

check out this night of music at 4862 Voltaire St.
in Ocean Beach>>>>

Josephine Foster (Chicago, IL)

Sir Richard Bishop (Phoenix, AZ?)

Nick Castro (Los Angeles, CA)

Tiffany Anders (Los Angeles, CA)

Friday, June 3rd, 2005, 8:00pm
4862 Voltaire St. in Ocean Beach
$6 donation
all ages

OK, here's what you need to know... Sir Richard Bishop is the same Richard Bishop that, along with brother Alan and drummer Charles Gocher, formed the Sun City Girls in Arizona at the beginning of the 80's and proceeded to burn minds down to the ground for the last two decades. He has had a side project under the "Sir" moniker for the last while, doing solo guitar composition/improvisation (his first solo album came out on John Fahey's Revenant label in 1998). If you are a Sun City Girls fan/nerd, the answer to the question in yer mind is yes, he has been playing SCG songs on this tour, to the delight of many. To those who know nothing of SCG, Richard's live performance was recently described to me as "orgasmic in
execution."(!!) Pretty good for solo acoustic! His most recent album on Locust is excellent.

Josephine Foster has performed in a variety of combos, but for this tour will be accompanying herself on acoustic geetur, while singing in a voice to which the words I would use to describe do not give justice. She is an opera school drop-out who has gone on to sing in a form inspired by old appalachian singers, cabaret, british folk tradition, and much else. She is a damn honest treat to see, I've seen her twice and can vouch for the experience! If you can, check out her new album, it is great... the kazoo work is top notch.

Nick is becoming sort of an institution at Voltaire, which is of course a brilliant situation. He plays acoustic and sings, though often augments with a variety of exotic instruments, and I believe will be accompanied by his longtime partner Wendy. Acid folk, mostly structured, sometimes freak-out.

Tiffany Anders has performed once before at Voltaire, and we are happy to have her back. Her playing has much more of a country-fried sound to it, bringing a nice contrast to the other players.
Come early to see her shine.

We will have beers and wine for a small donation (to cover the cost of the beer, ice, etc), and we will be very happy to see you.

Come, come, come,

Dan

ps - feel free to spread the word around about this show!

How bout this: An opportunity to host a touring band fell into my lap last week, with exactly one week to plan it all out and let people know. I said yes, and so now this is what will happen:

Akron/Family (NYC)
Nick Castro (LA)
Sugar Rush Railroad (SD)
Naomi (SD)

will all perform tomorrow night (Thursday, May 5th) at 4862 Voltaire St. in Ocean Beach.

In looking around for info about Akron/Family (who I was only mildly acquainted with previous to last Thursday), I have found some great things written (much of it accessible, not surprisingly, on their label's website at www.younggodrecords.com/product.asp?P_ID=37). First off, it is important to mention that they are associates of Michael Gira of the infamous NYC group Swans, who now performs as Angels of Light and makes some very excellent music; not only is their album on his label, but on this tour they both open for him and play as his backing band. Unfortunately Gira will not be performing tomorrow night, but luckily we will get to check out Akron/Family, who do not make it down to San Diego all the time or anything (I am sure this is their first visit). Now, let me quote from a Stylus Magazine review of their album: "it’s an ugly, scatological desire that is captured musically on Akron/Family, with time and pitch-correction stripped away, drums bleeding into the red, old-timey holler-aping four-part choruses in outer-space, 90’s-era string emulators, acoustic guitars, and mandolins plaintively hymno-tizing flatulent trumpets and damaged Casiotone arpeggiation, wooing them into the center of songs that never congeal…songs that blow kisses to dead lovers followed by fart sounds." Here is how Gira introduces them: " Akron/Family are four extremely nice, sincere and well-mannered young men from rural America who came to NYC (in 2002) to make music, hoping to find a thread of real magic still winding through this city’s music scene. They certainly did just that, but they did it by retreating into a tiny Brooklyn apartment, where they made their own world instead, in complete and stubborn isolation. They proceeded (while simultaneously growing alarmingly long beards and developing a playful but hermetic quasi-religious/sonic worldview/creed known as “AK” or sometimes
“AK-AK”) to make several albums worth of recordings on crude home equipment – the material compulsively chopped, spliced, and orchestrated into fractal jewels of song and schismatically opposed atmospheres." AK-AK. I don't think I can really write more to pique your curiosity, just come check it out.

Nick Castro is a folk-obsessed, psych-obsessed guitar-and-singin' madman (also an admitted multi-instrumentalist) who comes down to SD (his hometown) from LA whenever he gets a chance... obstensively to play music, but I think we all know the real reason he makes the trip. It's because the commute is so darn fun! LA to SD traffic is a gas, we all know it, and this guy of course cannot get enough.

Naomi (part of the infamous Shuchter clan) is a longtime local artist who has made the decision to start playing her music out for the people. I have listened to her recordings... strange sampled beats and melodies with weird time signatures, and Naomi singing over the top in a compelling repetitive series of verses. I imagine it will be a bit trance-like live, even though it does not immediately strike one as such.

SD locals Sugar Rush Railroad (comprised of the former rhythm section of The
Moroccan) play summer-nostalgic psychedelic folk, are funloving, like sunset walks on the beach, maybe a cozy psychedelic glass of wine, a candlelit psychedelic meal, and are looking for someone to be lazy with under the California Sky. Psychedlic psychedelic psychedelic psychedelic. We need to think of another word for "psychedelic." Maybe we should just say "gnarly."
Wait, no.

Thursday, May 5th, 8:00pm
4862 Voltaire St, between Sunset Cliffs Blvd and Cable St in Ocean Beach We will ask for a donation for the touring groups, though anyone without funds is encouraged to come regardless, cause the music needs to be heard regardless.
Oompah,
Dan
"Music is the Healing Force of the Universe" - Albert Ayler

Wednesday night, April 27th, at 8:00pm, at 4862 Voltaire St in Ocean Beach

Here we have an interesting deal for a Wednesday night in San Diego...

Monstronaut Spring Tour!!!, featuring:

Monster Dudes (Boise)

Glamorous/Transparent Pat (Portland, OR)

these are the lovely touring groups, and they will be joined by thee ever-excellent

Sex Affection (from SD)

Monster Dudes are comprised of three dudes... one dude, another dude and also that dude's 8-year-old (my guess) son. The meeting of boyhood and manhood in energetic stage-ruling is truly a sight to behold. Expect masks and young vocals and a good amount of chasing each other around the room.

Glamorous/Transparent Pat makes some gnarly music... some may remember Pat as one third of the Portland Bike Ensemble, the improv group that uses bicycles and contacts as their sole source of sound. I can't tell you much about what he does solo, but I can tell you that this is his "retirement tour"... for a good time, check his webpage: http://glamorouspat.tripod.com/

Sex Affection is Benny, Raquel, and Mike Bova. Nuff said! You might get a free t-shirt.

This will all occur on Wednesday night, April 27th, at 8:00pm, at 4862 Voltaire St in Ocean Beach (between Cable St and Sunset Cliffs Blvd). This is a weeknight show folks, which means it will have to start at 8:00 whether there are people around to listen or not... so don't lag! We will request a donation for the tourers, but as always nobody will be turned away for lack of funds. We will also bear witness to the musical-selection abilities of Michael J Stevens, whose tentative plan is to alternate Elvis cuts with Ayler cuts until the whole room is doing simultaneous backflips.

May 1st
Benefit show for Jacob Faust...

The show featured the awesome talents of:
That Mad Ahab
Sex Affection
Bunky
Business Lady
Skeets thee Clown
and more, all of whom were friends/acquaintances of or co-conspirators with Jake, in the always crucial effort to bring some good times around.

Jacob was murdered by the police on April 4th... all proceeds from the door went to the Jacob Faust Memorial Fund to help fight the legal battle that remains to be fought, in order that some sort of half sane conclusion may arise out of this bewildering/enraging/saddening situation.
Everybody was welcome and encouraged to come out and support Jake's family...
if you could not make it but would still like to help out financially, go to www.jacobfaust.com or www.jivejunction.com/jacobfaust

The trumpet call is sounded...At Voltaire
4862 Voltaire St in Ocean Beach
Saturday night, April 16, 2005
8 pm $6 donation
(added from an email from Voltaire)

Jennifer Gentle is not a person but rather a band from Italy. Residual Echoes is yet another group, hailing from the wooded reaches of Santa Cruz. Silver Sunshine is yet a third... you can almost tell them as local from the name.

All three will perform for us on Saturday night, April 16th... three days from now. Mark yer calenders and come out to Voltaire for a get-together hosted by we Voltairians for the express purpose of basking in and getting down to some new sounds.

Jennifer Gentle - my only experience with their music comes from their new album on Sub Pop, Valende (Sub Pop is really coming back into its own these days)... the first I heard of them they were collaborating with Makoto Kawabata of Acid Mothers Temple. I have come to find that heavy Barrett-Floyd flavors emanate from this Italian duo, lilting pop melodies colored by some sort of basic disassociation with normal methods of perception. Some definite rockers in there, but there is much more to breathe and relax to. We will see if that is the case in person, which is of course the fun in going and finding out. One thing I really like that I see in their album is that they don't take themselves too seriously. Also, it happens to be the kind of music that, each time you listen to it, the chance that you will want to hear it again grows exponentially (until you're just plain into it). Did I also mention they can successfully bring forth the tropicalian Mutantes flower and make it bloom?

Residual Echoes - again, my only experience with these folks comes from their album on Holy Mountain (home of the Davis Redford Triad and Six Organs of Admittance). When we flipped this number into the player, Connor and I nearly soiled ourselves. This is some high powered flag flyin rip tearin buzz flowin deep river type sound... what do they do up there in Northern Cal? Are the ghost spectres of Detroit rock getting together with the ghost spectres of San Fran freak-out so as to infiltrate and make heavy every guitar based band in the area ('cept for Six Organs)? If compared to Comets on Fire, this is more homegrown and less chops-y, more of a DIY din. Ruling in public, essentially.

Silver Sunshine - for some of you who have already seen Silver Sunshine, they need no introduction, and for those who haven't... this band is currently rocking hard in San Diego and it is your duty to keep abreast of such things. Do your part, know yer local freaks.

If you come at 8:00, you might witness Loyal Sons and Daughters do their thing too. This is contingent on whether or not they have anybody to play for at 8:00pm, so wtf? Check it! They come Bova recommended, if that means anything to ya. They also come Sayard recommended, which means that they have a double good-person endorsement.

So, all brohams (that means you) should arrive no later than 8:00 pm this Saturday night to bear witness to the beauty that will come not just from the music but also from the good feelings that always come from a bunch of open minds in one big room. We need to keep the show from going too late, so don't show up at 11:00 asking if you've missed anything... we will chuckle and think you're silly. Doors will be open by 7:30 pm.

There is a standing request for donation... this money goes, in its entirety, to the touring bands to help them with the often large expense involved in moving music making humans from town to town so that they can do their thing. We are asking $6, but even if yer pockets are empty you are still very welcome, cause we know what it's like and have been there before (are there at least twice a month, in fact).

4862 Voltaire St in Ocean Beach, between Sunset Cliffs Blvd and Cable St.
Look for the mural. We will have some brew for those who partake, and there is always some filtered water available, just ask.

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