Dear Friends,
I slept in today and didn’t feel bad about it at all. Happy birthday to Eric!
Yesterday was a nice day. Made a friend from Australia and that was really nice. We had some coffee, talked music, and I took him to the airport. He came to town to see The Freeze and that’s about the coolest thing ever.
We had some family time last night, which was really great, too. We watched some silly Eddie Murphy movie about an evil Christmas elf and confronting desires and such. We munched on pizza and laughed, and Rhondi got a little tipsy. No harm, no foul, though, and we got to bed early.
*****
Friday night might be the last time I ever try and do double duty at a show.
For one thing, it is a lot for the brain to take in. One of the reasons that I still enjoy playing shows is getting to soak up the moments before, during, and after the set. I feel like I got a little shortchanged on the ‘after’ part for the Hillbilly set.
I thought we played pretty well. My voice could have been stronger, sure, but after a week of having a cold, I did okay. I would have liked to have been louder, but that’s a stage volume thing and everyone said it sounded good. I decided to trust the sound man.
Another thing, though, and maybe this is the most important to me at this point is that feel like all that time on stage kept me from being able to talk to people. I felt very shortchanged all yesterday that I didn’t get to say goodbye to a lot of people or catch up with a little face-to-face time. For example, I saw my friend, Andrew, and even though he was there to do a pinball tournament, I would have like to have spent more time with him. Same with Jeff and Michael and Eric and Jx…and that’s just a few off the top of my head.
I don’t even know that another opportunity to do double duty will come up, but if it does, I might have to have a long think about it.
*****
This should be a nice Sunday. Time with friends, time with the family, and some laundry tonight. Hopefully the Cardinals win.
I do have to include the fact that I watched the ASU game yesterday and it was rad. Proud time for us Sun Devils. It will be interesting to see who they draw for the college football playoffs.
*****
I used to write a fair amount for Java Monthly. It was a magazine that a guy named Robert put out here in Phoenix and it put me in contact with some musicians I wouldn’t have ordinarily had a chance (on inkling) to interview. That was one of the reasons why I liked doing it.
In 2018, I got the chance to interview Austin Owen and several of the other members of a band called Los Puchos. I have no idea if they are still making music. I didn’t look, but doing that interview turned me on to a record that I thoroughly enjoy called Droom Tapes. I have been listening to it ever since.
Droom Tapes is hopeful. That’s what I love about it. The recordings are poppy and super catchy and the songs make me want to be a better person.
“Floating On The Water” has a full Harry Nilsson vibe that I totally dig. I’d love to think that Owen and his bandmates were listening to The Point and decided to do something similar. I’d also like to think that they never listened to Nilsson and just came up with this beauty on their own.
But how could someone not love Harry Nilsson?
Most of the songs on Droom Tapes have a little Nilsson in them. It’s kind of like Nilsson went to South America and hung out in the jungle somewhere writing music. If I remember correctly, Owen had been in the Peace Corp. There is a lot of that kind of South American/Samba influence vibe happening and it’s great.
“Lotus Flowers” sounds like a song that could have been on the soundtrack of some Peter Sellers’ film. Maybe one where he is some suave, Argentinian businessman seducing Goldie Hawn. I know they did There Is A Girl In My Soup (which is a bizarre and wonderfully bad film that I love). Their chemistry was so odd, but I digress.
My favorite song on Droom Tapes is the fourth track, “Good Love.” At the time I first heard it, I thought there was no way that it wouldn’t be a huge hit and the ticket for Los Puchos to be a household name. Well, at least a household name here in Arizona and maybe in indie-pop loving households around the world
It’s a great fucking song. There is a little bit of Shins in the song, for sure. The world needs more Shins, too. I remember Owen telling me that he wrote the song about his now wife, Tina, when they were apart while he was out of the country. It’s a sweet song about love and even a jaded old bastard like myself needs a song like this now and again.
“I want that good love/the one I had/life is a drag/without that good love I had/I want that good love some way.”
The next few songs are all the names of different women. It makes for a cool middle vibe in the record. There is a cool line in the song, “Renee (Isolation Blues)” where Own sings, “now all I do is drink my blues from a bottle.” Dig it.
“Cecillia” is super pretty. The bass line is bad ass. I have forgotten who played bass on the record, so my bad, but it’s there in the mix and just dances like a silhouetted man with one hand on his stomach swaying in the moonlight. He’s wearing some sort of jaunty, South American style fedora, too.
“Suzie” dances along, too. I love how the song is so positive while giving a nice nod to Talking Heads. There is also a little Devo sound to it, too. I had forgotten how much I liked this one until dusting it off the other day. I still love “Good Love” the best, but “Suzie” might be second.
“Found Letters” was inspired by some letters that Owen found, if I remember correctly, in a house he moved into and he and his gal were entertained by them. I could be wrong, but it’s still a good way to be inspired to write a song. I’m always kind of fascinated by what inspires people to write a song. Sometimes the universe just wants a new song and sometimes the universe leaves gifts that inspire those songs.
“Soledad” is a laid back, full-on indie rock gem. Great guitar work, too. “Molly” has some that lazy, summer in the south feeling, too. Totally strong ending to the Droom Tapes, if I say so myself.
I highly recommend spending some time with this record. It’s streaming so there is not long-term commitment, but if so inclined, you can still get it on bandcamp, I believe.
*****
See you tomorrow.
AI..you so crazy. A free beer to anyone who can give me prompt I used for this one. Hint: you'll never get a free beer.
Comments